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 Fostering Belonging Through Person-Centered Assessment, Strength-Based Treatment, and Compassionate, Assent-Based Practices |
| Friday, May 23, 2025 |
| 8:00 AM–11:00 AM |
| Marriott Marquis, M2 Level, Marquis Salon 15 |
| Area: AUT/DDA; Domain: Service Delivery |
| CE Instructor: Kathleen I Dyer, Ph.D. |
| KATHLEEN I DYER (Endicott College), ANNA LINNEHAN (Endicott College) |
| Description: A growing body of research highlights the importance of compassionate, assent-based intervention within the behavior-analytic community, particularly in addressing diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) (Abdel-Jalil et al., 2023; Alai-Rosales et al., 2024; Dyer et al., 2024; Linnehan et al., 2023; Roher & Weiss, 2023; Syed et al., 2024; Taylor et al., 2018). This workshop introduces a framework for behavior analysts to support neurodiverse individuals and communities. Participants will receive tools for conducting person-centered assessments, setting individualized goals, and implementing strength-based interventions to foster community, connection, and belonging within neurodiverse populations. The workshop will also address common barriers to intervention and critiques of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) from the neurodiversity movement. In addition to highlighting areas for improvement, the session will emphasize the foundational principles necessary for serving diverse neurological profiles. Strategies for promoting social inclusion and belonging will be shared, focusing on genuine assent, individualized interventions, and collaborative approaches with families and communities. All tools and strategies will be framed within a compassionate clinical practice, guided by the seven dimensions of behavior analysis. |
| Learning Objectives: Participants will be able to describe collaborative approaches to person-centered support related to increasing the quantity and quality of social connections in neurodiverse individuals Participants will explain barriers to effective intervention and discuss criticisms of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) raised by the neurodiversity movement. Participants will describe tools and strategies framed within an assent-based compassionate approach to person-centered assessment and strength-based treatment for improving social connection with neurodiverse individuals |
| Activities: Workshop objectives will be met through: 1) lecture 2) applied exercise on concept analysis of belonging; 3) small group breakout on applying tools for assessment of socialization and belonging, person-centered goal development, assent-based intervention, evaluation, and modification. Supplemental materials will be provided for 1) constructional interview; 2) indirect assessment of belonging; 3) direct assessment of belonging; & 4) outline for steps of intervention. |
| Audience: Beginning level |
| Content Area: Practice |
| Instruction Level: Basic |
| Keyword(s): assent-based practice, belonging, inclusion, neurodiversity |
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| Trauma: The Invisible Elephant Underlying Challenging Behavior |
| Friday, May 23, 2025 |
| 8:00 AM–3:00 PM |
| Marriott Marquis, M4 Level, Liberty M |
| Area: EDC/CBM; Domain: Service Delivery |
| CE Instructor: Jeannie A. Golden, Ph.D. |
| JEANNIE A. GOLDEN (East Carolina University), SARAH HAYES (Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools), MELISSA GLENN (Nationwide Childrens Hospital), PAULA Y FLANDERS (Private Consultant) |
| Description: Behavior analysts are often charged with the responsibility of dealing with challenging behaviors and may be unaware of the impact of underlying trauma on these behaviors. These challenging behaviors are frequently not amenable to traditional functional behavioral assessments (FBAs) and positive behavioral interventions (PBIs). This may be because behavior analysts are reluctant to incorporate distal setting events, discriminative stimuli, and motivating operations into their FBAs, which is essential to the incorporation of trauma into these analyses. One of the key impacts of trauma is on challenging behaviors which often leads to disciplinary referrals, suspensions, alternative placements, and inaccurate diagnoses disproportionately for students of color. Additionally, racial trauma is a form of trauma which has devastating consequences and is often overlooked. Further, it is necessary to acknowledge the impact of verbal behavior in implementing effective interventions, as covert thoughts and feelings often are the establishing operations that motivate challenging behaviors. This workshop will familiarize participants with FBAs that incorporate trauma as well as with strategies that use verbal behavior in conducting interventions. Participants will see role-play demonstrations of these strategies and practice these strategies with feedback and correction. They will also be provided with PBIs specific to their own caseloads. |
| Learning Objectives: (1) Explain why youth who have experienced trauma are more likely to exhibit challenging behaviors; (2) Describe how to incorporate distal setting events, discriminative stimuli, and motivating operations into functional behavioral assessments of youth who have experienced trauma; (3) Describe how private thoughts and feelings often serve as establishing operations that motivate challenging behaviors; (4) Describe trauma’s impact on challenging behaviors which often leads to disciplinary referrals, suspensions, alternative placements, and inaccurate diagnoses disproportionately for students of color; (5) Explain why verbal behavior is important in implementing effective interventions for youth who have experienced trauma; (6) Describe some of the verbal behavior strategies that could be effective interventions for youth who have experienced trauma. |
| Activities: This workshop will include presentation of lecture, modeling, video demonstrations, group discussion, live demonstration, role-play, feedback and practice. Handouts that enhance learning will be provided for take-away. |
| Audience: Behavior analysts, psychologists, teachers, social workers, counselors, administrators and psychiatrists would be appropriate audience members for this symposium. This presentation will be at the intermediate level and audience members should have the ability to apply basic behavioral concepts such as positive and negative reinforcement, motivating operations, and discriminative stimuli. |
| Content Area: Practice |
| Instruction Level: Intermediate |
| Keyword(s): challenging behavior, de-escalation strategies, trauma, trauma- informed |
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