Workshops

What is a workshop?

All of our workshops are ready to be scheduled for presentation to your group in a dynamic format with accompanying handouts and materials. Additional workshops focusing on specific clinical and behavioral issues that meet the needs of you and your children can be developed, please inquire.

Teaching Language in the Natural Environment

This two-day conference is designed to provide Parents, Consultants, therapists, and SLPs who serve as their child’s primary therapist with an introduction to teaching language to children with autism of all skill levels. Participants will view a wide range of video-taped illustrations of methods of effective language instruction. This introductory-level, twelve-hour workshop is geared for parents, teachers, speech pathologists, behavior analysts, and others who wish to implement ABA language intensive or verbal behavior programs.

(UPDATED) Using the ABLLS-R (Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills-Revised) to Develop Language-Based IEP Goals for Individuals with Autism or Other Developmental Disabilities

The Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills – Revised (ABLLS-R), provides a mechanism to understand learner skills, develop a comprehensive language-based curriculum, and track skill acquisition for individuals with autism or other developmental disabilities. The workshop will provide participants with the necessary information to use The ABLLS-R to develop and monitor educational programs. Participants will gain a thorough understanding of the multiple uses the information gained from The ABLLS-R can provide in the development and adjustment of an intervention program. Specific topics will be covered with relevant examples including administering and interpreting The ABLLS-R, analysis of the learner’s skills, curriculum development, educational planning, the evaluation of priorities, and determining IEP objectives.

(UPDATED) Asperger’s Syndrome

An overview of Asperger’s Syndrome is presented with an emphasis on children and adolescents. Recent research on the effectiveness of Cognitive-Behavior Therapy for Anger and Anxiety is reviewed and techniques are presented for incorporating this approach into working with youth. Dr. Montgomery has been involved with people with Asperger’s for nearly two decades and brings both professional and personal experiences to this presentation. Issues relating to identification and interventions are reviewed with a focus on how to address concerns that limit the person’s ability to more completely and naturally function across the environments of their life. Emphasis is placed on balancing the need to acknowledge that no two people are alike with the knowledge that outcomes are best when what the science has to say about interventions is incorporated as completely as possible in any set of interventions.

Asperger’s Syndrome a Developmental Perspective: from Pre-School to High School

Aspergers is frequently misdiagnosed and misunderstood because parents, teachers, and professionals often have a stereotypic view of what constitutes “Aspergers”. How Aspergers presents varies in many ways but one fundamental issue is how it varies across the developmental span from pre-school to High School. Understanding how Aspergers may present, the variations and themes, and most importantly how to support the person is essential in helping the person with Aspergers achieve to their potential. Dr. Montgomery’s presentation follows the same format as his new book The Essential Guide to Asperger’s Syndrome.

Autism: Language as the Key

The number of children with Autism who need language training is increasing every year. The National Academy of Sciences’ report Educating Children with Autism (2001) makes it clear that early intervention with programming that is well-supported by research is essential to giving children the best possible future. Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) has the best research support among the programs reviewed by the National Academy of Sciences. This workshop is designed as a Two-Day presentation focusing on the essentials of the Verbal Behavior Programming approach to language development characterized by the Sundberg & Partington work. In addition to didactic presentation, role-playing, and case review, a variety of video clips of actual language services are used to illustrate the technical material presented and bring it alive for the audience.

(NEW) Pediatric Sleeplessness: Identification and Intervention

Pediatric sleeplessness and sleep disruptions are among the most common concerns of parents. Excessive sleepiness in a child is a symptom that is often under recognized and misinterpreted, but when left untreated can lead to serious behavioral, academic, developmental, and medical consequences. Pediatric sleeplessness is widely prevalent and often behaviorally based. Research supports that pediatric sleeplessness can be treated effectively with nonpharmacologic interventions. This workshop reviews the nature of sleep and sleep disruption (including common pediatric sleep disorders), and introduces the participant to behavioral treatment strategies (e.g., extinction, parent education, positive routines, sleep hygiene). Finally, behavioral interventions for children with special needs are also discussed (i.e., developmental disabilities, ADHD, and mood disorders). This workshop was presented at the 32nd Annual Convention of the Association for Behavior Analysis – International in Atlanta on May 26, 2006.

(NEW) Introduction to the Autism Diagnostic Observations Schedule (ADOS)

The ADOS is a semi-structured assessment can be used to evaluate almost anyone suspected of having autism—from toddlers to adults, from children with no speech to adults who are superficially verbally fluent. The ADOS consists of various activities that allow you to observe social and communication behaviors related to the diagnosis of pervasive developmental disorders. These activities provide interesting, standard contexts in which interaction can occur. This workshop is intended for those seeking to accurately differentiate between those children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder and those with other impairments.

Pediatric Bipolar Disorder: Issues in Assessment and Treatment?

Pediatric Bipolar disorder is currently receiving a great deal of attention in the media. In this workshop Dr. Montgomery examines the status of Pediatric Bipolar from the viewpoint of what the empirical research has to say on the subject. Topics covered include: diagnostic formulation, comobidity and differential diagnosis, medical issues, treatment interventions, AACAP treatment guidelines, and a review of the current treatment outcome literature on medications from NIMH and the Expert Consensus Guidelines.

Collaborating with Physicians: Developing a Data-Based process for serving children with psychiatric and neurological needs.

A new workshop covering areas of behavior problem identification, operational definitions, data-collection and collaboration with treating physicians in maximizing the effectiveness of any pharmacologic intervention while minimizing the amount and variety of medications necessary to achieve measurable changes in children’s behavior. Discussion of identification of side-effects vs. main-effects of medications and how to track such manifestations in ways that can be shared with parents and physicians is a focus of the workshop. Demonstration of state-of-the-art software to assist non-medical personnel in identification of medications and their possible side-effects is included as well.

Educating Children with Autism: Meeting the Standards of the National Academy of Sciences.

In this workshop the focus is on what the National Academy of Sciences report Educating Children with Autism has to say about improving service provision by the public schools. This report, issued by a panel of internationally recognized experts, should cause parents, public schools personnel, and boards of education to reevaluate their positions on intensive early intervention and to increase the focus on early intensive services in order to meet these emerging standards. What the literature says about effective interventions, which programs meet the NAS standards, and how to access those programs are the focus of this workshop.

Applied Behavior Analysis: Introduction

This workshop is designed for those with little training and experience with Applied Behavior Analysis and those wishing a refresher on this material. The four term contingency is the basis for this course. A detailed presentation of the role of environmental factors in determining behavior is central to this workshop. The emphasis is on Antecedent control, individual positive programming, and Positive Reinforcement.

Functional Behavioral Assessments: The Essentials for Compliance with IDEA

The new IDEA language in which Functional Behavioral Assessments are specifically called for lays out a broad outline for FBAs and when they are to be conducted. How they are conducted is not detailed in the regulations but there are professional standards for appropriately performing an FBA that is sound. However, most school personnel are unfamiliar with the processes involved in performing a Functional Behavioral Assessment. This workshop presents a three-tier approach to performing Functional Behavioral Assessments in the schools. Staff will receive instruction in direct observation for Functional Behavioral Assessments along with material designed to guide them through the first two stages of the process.

Positive Behavioral Programming

The emphasis of this workshop is on identifying, targeting, and reducing problem behaviors in the classroom by using positive interventions. All too often punishment is the only technique considered in attempting to reduce undesirable or dysfunctional behaviors. This workshop offers alternative strategies for decreasing these behaviors. A variety of case examples from actual classroom interventions will be provided to illustrate this process. Intended primarily for audiences that have a basic understanding of behavior analysis.

Applied Behavior Analysis: Intermediate

This workshop is designed to build on those skills developed in the Introductory workshop of the same name or provide more advanced instruction to those already familiar with ABA and FA. A more interactive format which relies on the participants bringing specific student examples will allow participants to walk through the process with ongoing feedback.

The Challenge of the Dually Diagnosed

Due to the State’s withdrawal from treatment provision for children and adolescents and sweeping changes in private insurance coverage, agencies are being called upon to provide services for more and more significantly disordered students. This workshop focuses on the special needs of those who present with cognitive limitations and serious mental illness. A team approach, incorporating staff, SLP, OT, counselor, psychologist, and consulting clinical psychologist and psychiatrist, is the model presented for this demanding population.

Differential Diagnostic Issues: Emotional Disturbance and Social Maladjustment

The laws and guidelines available outlining and mandating special education services provide a variety of criteria for determination of eligibility. There has been significant confusion regarding the difference between Behaviorally and Emotionally Disturbed and Socially Maladjusted classifications. A process model of assessment utilizing a combination of traditional psychometric, functional behavioral assessment, and informant information is offered as a vehicle for better and more reliably distinguishing between those students who present with true emotionally based behavior disturbances and those who are socially maladjusted.

Establishing a Behavioral Peer Review Process

The goal of this workshop is to provide a rationale, set of tools, and a philosophy for developing an internal process of peer oversight and collaboration on behavior change strategies for your setting. A formal process of feedback and review based upon functional assessment data is at the core of the process. This is an advanced workshop intended to provide an administrative framework for both Functional Assessments and Applied Behavior Analysis (see workshop descriptions). Ongoing program evaluation and development are at the core of the BPR process.

Aggression: Its Causes and Prevention

Aggression by those with serious special education needs is a serious problem across schools. The safety of other students, the staff, and the student them self is of essential concern. The focus will be on determining the cause and function of the aggression and eliminating the aggression through modifying the environment and teaching alternative appropriate skills to the student.