SFGate: Skills® Launches a Tool to Combat Challenging Behavior in Children with Autism

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Tuesday, May 1, 2012 (SF Gate)

Skills® Launches a Tool to Combat Challenging Behavior in Children with Autism

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Skills® releases a one-of-a-kind tool for positive behavior support

planning that allows professionals and families of children with autism to

create a comprehensive, online behavior intervention plan (BIP) for

challenging behaviors. Nationwide (PRWEB) May 01, 2012

The Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD) announced today that

Skills®, its online autism solution, now includes a feature for

challenging behavior. This new feature is designed to give professionals

and families of children with autism access to tools for creating

comprehensive, evidence-based BIPs for challenging behaviors.

" We are proud to add this new feature to the Skills® program because

it gives users an even greater resource for autism intervention and it

focuses on improving efficiency and effectiveness. Users are led to choose

evidence-based and least intrusive interventions and can create a BIP in

minutes! " , says Skills® Director, Adel Najdowski, PhD, BCBA-D. " The

Skills® program's focus on teaching new skills coupled now with this

new feature to deal with challenging behavior truly offers global access

to tools for designing comprehensive, top-quality ABA-based intervention

programs. "

With this new feature, users can create a BIP in two simple steps. The

first step is answer a short series of questions that leads to the

creation of a BIP. The second step is to review and customize the BIP and

begin implementing its strategies.

Skills® is based on the principles of applied behavior analysis

(ABA), which has been empirically proven to be the most effective autism

treatment and is recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the

U.S. Surgeon General. It is designed to give users access to the most

comprehensive assessment of a child's development ever created. The

results of the assessment are linked directly to a set of eight

developmental areas that provide individualized lesson plans with

step-by-step instructions for teaching children the skills they need.

Skills® also serves as an effective management tool by supplying a

clinical timeline, charts, and graphs for tracking treatment progress and

the impact of various events (including other treatments and life events)

on the child's progress. And now, Skills® offers the ability to

create BIPs for challenging behavior.

" Unlike other ABA-based assessment and curriculum tools for the treatment

of autism, Skills® provides users with developmental milestones for

every skill and offers assessment and curriculum for nearly 4,000 skills

including high-level complex skills such as executive functioning

(planning, problem solving, memory, attention, self-regulation, etc.) and

social cognition (perspective taking), " adds Najdowski. " Each lesson comes

with supplemental worksheets, visual aids, and other teaching guides to

ensure that what the child learns applies to his or her real life. In

addition, users are provided with IEP goals and progress charts to help

guide treatment planning. And now, Skills® also provides BIP

reports. "

Skills® was created as a tool for any individual involved in the

assessment and treatment planning of a child with autism. This could

include professionals (ABA providers, speech language pathologists,

occupational therapists, etc.), school teachers, and parents. Skills®

was created with the aim of promoting a multidisciplinary approach in that

everyone on a child's treatment team is able to input data on the

interventions they are implementing with the child and view their effects

on learning all at once. It is highly recommended that at least one person

on a child's treatment team using Skills® is a board certified

behavior analyst (BCBA). The role of this individual is to design and

direct the child's curriculum program within Skills®.

For more information about Skills®, visit:

www.skillsforautism.com

www.facebook.com/skillsforautism

http://twitter.com/#!/skillsforautism

For the original version on PRWeb visit:

www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2012/5/prweb9460418.htm

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Copyright 2012 SF Gate