Teaching Children with Autism: Strategies for Initiating Positive Interactions and Improving Learning Opportunities

This practical sourcebook equips both parents and professionals with much-needed information regarding autism. Providing a comprehensive approach to behavioral intervention, this user-friendly guide begins with an overview of characteristics and long-term strategies and proceeds through discussions that detail specific techniques for normalizing environments, reducing disruptive behavior, improving language and social skills, and enhancing generalization. Teachers, professionals, and parents working with individuals with autism, as well as professors and students in education and psychology, will turn to this resource for information, guidance, and support.

Robert Koegel, Ph.D., is a senior researcher at the Stanford School of Medicine. His research is in the area of autism, specializing in language intervention, family support, and school integration. He has published over 200 articles and papers relating to the treatment of autism, and several books on the treatment of autism and positive behavioral support. He is the Founding Editor of the Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions. Models of his procedures are used in public schools and in parent education programs throughout the world. He has trained many health care and special education leaders in the United States and abroad.

Lynn Kern Koegel, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, is a clinical professor at the Stanford School of Medicine. She has been active in the development of programs to improve communication in children with autism, including the development of first words, grammatical structures, pragmatics, and social conversation. In addition to her published books and articles in the area of communication and language development, she has developed and published procedures and field manuals in the area of self-management and functional analysis that are used in school districts and by parents throughout the United States and have been translated in other major languages. Dr. Lynn Koegel is the author of Overcoming Autism and Growing Up on the Spectrum with parent Claire LaZebnik, published by Viking/Penguin and available in most bookstores. In addition, she appeared on ABC's hit show “Supernanny” working with a child with autism.

William D. Frea, Ph.D., BCBA, Chief Clinical Officer, Autism Spectrum Therapies, 6001 Bristol Parkway, Suite 200, Culver City, California 90230. Dr. Frea is the co-founder of Autism Spectrum Therapies (http://www.autismtherapies .com), an agency providing comprehensive applied behavior analysis services to individuals with autism. He and his agency specialize in intensive behavioral interventions, positive behavior supports, and social skills across the life span. Autism Spectrum Therapies also works closely with school districts to develop state-of-the-art autism programs.