Establishing Operations, Inc. specializes in providing a series of hands on training workshops to train parents and professionals in implementing the procedures of applied behavior analysis and specifically, Skinner’s Analysis of Verbal Behavior, to set up and run/monitor language based programs for children with autism and other developmental and language delays. Our workshops are catered to consultants, therapists, tutors and other professionals as well as to parents who are taking an active role in their child’s language development.

• Teaching Verbal Behaviors: Strategies for Getting Started
  
• Teaching Verbal Behavior in the Intensive Teaching Environment
• Teaching Verbal Behavior in the Natural Environment
• Teaching Verbal Behavior: Comprehensive Program Development
• Individualized Verbal Behavior Workshop
  
  

WORKSHOP #1:
TEACHING VERBAL BEHAVIOR: STRATEGIES FOR GETTING STARTED WORKSHOP:

This TWO-day workshop presented by Holly Kibbe, MS, BCBA and Jennifer Donnelly, MADS (candidate), BCABA, is designed to provide parents, therapists, teachers, consultants and other professionals with information and strategies to teach individuals with autism and other related disorders. During the two-day workshop, participants will learn about ABA/Verbal Behavior with the use of many video taped illustrations as well as role-played examples of effective teaching strategies. Participants will learn how to teach children with autism across various learner levels (early through advanced) in both the natural environment and the intensive teaching environment:

• What is ABA/VB/IBI?
• What is Natural Environment Teaching?
• What is Intensive Teaching?
• Valuable Errorless Teaching Procedures to use in each teaching environment;
• How to make learning FUN and maintain learner cooperation when teaching;
• Using the ABLLS and ABLLS-R to develop verbal behavior programs;
• Determining why problem behavior is occurring;
• Using Antecedent Manipulations to prevent problem behavior;
• Teaching an unwilling learner to willingly relinquish reinforcing items/activities;
• How and when to use prompts while teaching;
• How and when to use reinforcement;
• Using stimulus-stimulus pairing to make new toys/activities valuable to your learner;
• Teaching children of all levels to engage in independent play with socially appropriate toys;
• How to use errorless teaching procedures;
• Learn how to prevent child errors when teaching;
• How to use the error correction procedure;
• Problem Solving Strategies;
• How to contriving and manipulate motivation;
• How to teach requesting;
• How to teach the child to generalize skills across environments;
• Teaching Conversation to Advanced Learners;
• Teaching early learners to request items and activities;
• Teaching language to non vocal learners using sign language;
• Transitioning from sign language to vocal verbal behavior;
• Data collection including how and why to take data;
• How to start a home program;
• And much more!!

WORKSHOP #2:
TEACHING VERBAL BEHAVIOR IN THE INTENSIVE TEACHING ENVIRONMENT

This TWO-day workshop conducted by Holly Kibbe, MS, BCBA and Cherish Twigg, MS, BCBA, provides consultants, therapists other professionals and parents (who serve as their child’s primary therapist) with guided practice in implementing the methods described in Introductory Verbal Behavior Workshops. This two day workshop is devoted entirely to teaching in the Intensive Teaching Environment (ITT). The participants will spend much of their time practicing the methods of effective instruction as demonstrated in videotape illustrations during the workshop. Participants will receive precise feedback on their teaching methods. This workshop will address the areas of:

• Establishing instructional control with an unwilling learner;
• Manipulating motivating operations (MO) during teaching opportunities to maintain learner attention;
• Using the ABLLS to develop an intensive teaching program;
• Video examples and guided instruction to teach objectives indicated in the ABLLS;
• Teaching early to advanced receptive, visual performance, motor imitation, tacting and intraverbal skills;
• Teaching social skills to early through advanced learners;
• Organizing your program materials and data recording methods including hands on practice for datarecording;

WORKSHOP #3:
TEACHING VERBAL BEHAVIOR IN THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT

This TWO-day workshop conducted by Holly Kibbe, MS, BCBA and Cherish Twigg, MS, BCBA, is designed to provide consultants, therapists, other professionals and parents (who have an active role in their child’s language program) with guided practice in teaching children with autism of all skill levels in the natural environment. The participants will spend most of their time viewing video taped illustrations and practicing the methods of effective instruction demonstrated during the Introductory Workshop. Participants will have the opportunity to develop natural environment programs at all learner levels and will receive precise feedback on their teaching methods. The conference will cover, in detail, the following objectives:

• Using the ABLLS to develop a natural environment teaching program for early to advanced learners;
• Guided instruction and video examples of NET objectives indicated in the ABLLS;
• Lesson Plan Development for early to advanced learners with hands on practice and guided feedback at each learner level;
• Teaching the early learner to request items and activities;
• Manipulating motivating operations (MO’s) to compete with the value of self stimulatory behavior when
• Teaching the mand;
• Teaching non vocal early learners to communicate using sign language;
• Teaching vocal sounds to non-vocal learners;
• Transitioning from sign language to vocal verbal behavior;
• Data Collection in the natural environment across all learner levels;
• Teaching the receptive, tacting, intraverbal and motor imitation repertoires in the NET for early to advanced learners;
• Teaching the intermediate learner to mand (request) using sentences, actions, missing items, requesting help, using “yes” and “no” and many others;
• Generalizing skills taught in the intensive teaching setting into the natural environment;
• Teaching advanced learners to request information using WH questions;
• Teaching the advanced learner to answer novel WH questions and recall past events;
• Teaching the mand (request) for attention;
• Teaching the intermediate to advanced learner to follow multiple step receptive instructions;
• Teaching the advanced learner to request items with prepositions, adjectives and pronouns;
• Teaching reciprocal conversation for the advanced learner;
• Teaching children of all learner levels to engage in independent play with socially appropriate toys;
• Teaching peer interaction for the early to advanced learner.

WORKSHOP #4:
TEACHING VERBAL BEHAVIOR:
COMPREHENSIVE PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP

This FOUR-day workshop conducted by Holly Kibbe, MS, BCBA and Cherish Twigg, MS, BCBA, is designed to provide consultants, therapists and parents who serve as their child’s primary therapist with guided practice in implementing the methods described in the Introductory Verbal Behavior Workshops. This workshop combines both the workshop entitled Teaching Verbal behavior in the Intensive Teaching Environment (ITT) and the Workshop entitled Teaching Verbal Behavior in the Natural Environment (NET), into a full four day workshop. During the first two days, participants will spend most of their time practicing the methods of effective instruction demonstrated in videotape illustrations during the Introductory Workshop. Participants will have the opportunity to develop intensive teaching programs based upon a completed ABLLS grid and to receive precise feedback on their ITT teaching methods. During the last two days of this workshop, participants will receive precise methodology to teach children with autism across all skill levels in the natural environment. The participants will spend most of their time viewing video illustrations and practicing the methods of effective instruction demonstrated during the Introductory Workshop. Participants will have the opportunity to develop natural environment programs of all learner levels as well as to develop lesson plans for these programs. The participants will be provided supervised practice in the areas of:

• Establishing and maintaining instructional control with an unwilling learner;
• Manipulating motivating operations (MO) during teaching opportunities to maintain learner attention;
• Using the ABLLS to develop an intensive teaching program;
• Video examples and guided instruction to teach objectives indicated in the ABLLS;
• Teaching language to non vocal children using sign language;
• Teaching early to advanced receptive, visual performance, motor imitation, tacting and intraverbal skills;
• Organizing your program materials and data recording methods including hands on practice for data recording and graphing acquisition of targets;
• How to use your data to guide program recommendations and decisions;
• Using the ABLLS to develop a natural environment teaching program for early to advanced learners;
• Guided instruction and video examples of NET objectives indicated in the ABLLS;
• Lesson Plan Development for early to advanced learners with hands on practice and guided feedback at each learner level;
• Teaching the early learner to request items and activities;
• Manipulating motivating operations (MO’s) to compete with the value of self stimulatory behavior when teaching the mand;
• Teaching non vocal early learners to communicate using sign language;
• Teaching vocal sounds to non-vocal learners;
• Transitioning from sign language to vocal verbal behavior;
• Data Collection in the natural environment across all learner levels;
• Teaching the receptive, tacting, intraverbal and motor imitation repertoires in the NET for early to advanced learners;
• Teaching the intermediate learner to mand (request) using sentences, actions, missing items, requesting help, using “yes” and “no” and many others;
• Generalizing skills taught in the intensive teaching setting into the natural environment;
• Teaching advanced learners to request information using WH questions;
• Teaching the advanced learner to answer novel WH questions and recall past events;
• Teaching the mand (request) for attention;
• Teaching the intermediate to advanced learner to follow multiple step receptive instructions;
• Teaching the advanced learner to request items with prepositions, adjectives and pronouns;
• Teaching reciprocal conversation for the advanced learner;
• Teaching children of all learner levels to engage in independent play with socially appropriate toys;
• Teaching social skills for the early to advanced learner.

WORKSHOP #5:
INDIVIDUALIZED VERBAL BEHAVIOR WORKSHOP

This TWO or THREE day workshop, conducted by Holly Kibbe, MS, BCBA and Cherish Twigg, MS, BCBA is designed to provide participants with guided practice in teaching language to children with autism and other developmental disabilities. The content presented in this workshop is selected entirely by the hosting party from the content list we provide, and based upon the specific needs of their group. Tailored manuals and video examples are created to assist with the presentation of information. All areas presented can cater to one specific learner level or across all learner levels. Each content topic available can include group hands on exercises tailored to and providing precise feedback for the participants involved. For clinical groups meeting the training requirements set forth, we may be able to provide the option of hands on practice with children following the discussion of topics. A sample of the content available follows…
Review of important topics discussed at the intro workshop:

• How to establish Instructional control
• Behavioral Classification of Language
• Intensive Teaching Transfer Procedures
• Intensive Teaching Error Correction Procedures
• How to maintain Instructional Control in the intensive teaching environment;
• How to determine the necessity of, and properly implement extinction procedures in the intensive teaching environment;
• How to track your own Variable Ratio (VR) and Response per minute (RPM) Data when teaching in the ITT;
• Teaching specific skill areas in the intensive teaching environment across various learner levels…
• How to develop an intensive teaching program from a completed ABLLS grid; Tact, Receptive, Intraverbal, Visual Performance, Motor Imitation
• Problem solving in the intensive teaching environment (common problems ranging from behavioral issues to slow acquisition rates across skills, and strategies for correcting these);
• How to collect/organize data across skill areas when teaching in the ITT or NET;
• How to organize program materials for teaching in the ITT or NET;
• Teaching in the NET for the Early Learner...
• Beginning Manding
• Pairing: Before Mand Training
• Manding with Sign Language
• Teaching the echoic
• Teaching in the NET for the intermediate Learner...
• Generalization of mastered skills in the NET
• Teaching intermediate learner manding skills
• Teaching in the NET for the Advanced Learner...
• Teaching advanced manding repertoires
• Teaching your learner to answer novel WH questions regarding past events
• Teaching reciprocal conversation and story telling
• Teaching socialization and independent play skills;
• How to implement strategies for reducing “every day” inappropriate behaviors;
• Potty training children with developmental disabilities;