Autism Spectrum Disorders

Catalog description

This course focuses on facilitating an understanding of behavioral interventions and learning strategies for students diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The course content focuses on understanding and supporting autistic individuals from primarily a behaviorally-analytic lens. However, the course also incorporates the positionality and experiences of advocates and self-advocates within the autistic community in its approach. Topics include philosophical underpinnings of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and its application to understanding autism-focused assessment and intervention, historical perspectives of autism, behavioral assessments including behavior reduction and skill acquisition procedures, educational assessments, and behaviorally-focused evidenced-based interventions for autistic individuals to increase socially significant behaviors in school and community environments.