Cognitive Development in Autism

The course focuses on the diagnosis, assessment, and intervention of children with autism and other severe disabilities. Students are first introduced to key tenants of respondent and operant conditioning. Afterwards, various methods of behavioral assessment (e.g., descriptive assessment, functional analysis) are delineated and used to teach student how to select appropriate behavioral intervention strategies. Specifically, students are taught to use, organize, and interpret behavioral data to enhance the social validity and contextual support of interventions used and outcomes for behavioral interventions; identify measurable intervention strategies for teaching communication, spontaneous language, and social skills; design environments that enhance maintenance and generalization of skills and reduce the need for long-term behavior support; and modify intervention strategies based on data informing clinicians how children with autism are responding to treatment.