Dr. Thomas S. Higbee

Professor and Department Head, Executive Director, ASSERT Autism Program, Department of Special Education and Rehabilitation Counseling, Utah State University

Dr. Thomas S. Higbee is Professor and Department Head in the Special Education and Rehabilitation Counseling Department at Utah State University, where he has worked since 2002. He is also the Executive Director of the Autism Support Services: Education, Research, and Training (ASSERT) program, an early intensive behavioural intervention program for young children on the autism spectrum that he founded in 2003. He is a doctoral-level Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA-D) and a Licensed Behavior Analyst in the state of Utah. The primary focus of his research is on the development of effective support for children on the autism spectrum and with other developmental disabilities. His secondary research focus is on the development of effective strategies for supporting the parents and professionals who love and support these children. He is a former associate editor for the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (JABA) and the European Journal of Behavior Analysis. Dr. Higbee is committed to the broad dissemination of evidence-based support for students on the autism spectrum and with related disabilities and has helped to create intensive behaviour analytic preschool and school programs for these children in Brazil, Russia, Portugal, and throughout his home state of Utah. He is the past president of the Utah Association for Behavior Analysis (UtABA) and has served as a member of the Practice Board of the Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI) and the Utah Psychologist Licensing Board.

SESSION

Strategies for Promoting Complex Social Play in Children with Autism Using Photographic Activity Schedules

October 21, 2022 - 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM

Many students with autism and other developmental disabilities have difficulty sequencing their own behaviour during free-choice situations. Rather, they rely on adults to prompt them to engage in particular activities. Many do not interact appropriately with play materials or may select one activity and engage in it for an extended period of time. Photographic activity schedules have been shown to be an effective tool to teach children to sequence their own behaviour and transition smoothly between multiple activities. Children learn to follow the visual cues in the activity schedule to make transitions instead of relying on adult-provided prompts. Activity schedules also provide a context for teaching basic and complex choice-making behaviour. As children develop verbal behaviour, social scripts can also be added and then later faded to promote social interaction. Activity schedules have been used successfully in a variety of settings with both children and adults with various disabilities. They are easy to use and can be adapted to most environments. In this session, participants will learn how to use activity schedules with clients/students as well as learn about recent research on using these techniques to promote complex social play.

SPEAKER PREVIEW