Skills®, Online Autism Curriculum, Receives High Ranking by Behavior Analysis in Practice

July 9, 2013 - PRLog -- Skills®: The Online Autism Solution received a high ranking in a review from the peer-reviewed journal, Behavior Analysis in Practice (BAP), for its comprehensive curriculum organization, user-friendly website design (www.skillsforautism.com) and functionality for users working to treat individuals with autism spectrum disorder.

BAP is a peer-reviewed journal designed to provide research-based, best-practice information pertinent to those who are at the forefront of service delivery in behavior analysis, including practicing behavior analysts, educators and related personnel, staff in settings where behavior analytic services are provided, and scientist-practitioners.

Dr. Josh Pritchard of Florida Institute of Technology reviewed Skills and recommends it to practitioners for its time-saving qualities, saying, “Get the program if you want a comprehensive curriculum, can understand behavioral jargon, and want to allocate more of your time on therapy and less time typing out programs.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 1 in every 88 children in the U.S. is diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), making it more prevalent than juvenile diabetes, pediatric cancer, and childhood. Skills was created by researchers at the Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD), the world’s largest provider of state-of-the-art, early intensive behavioral intervention for individuals with ASD, in an effort the address the global need for affordable access to an effective and comprehensive autism curriculum.

“This tool will allow you to focus your time and resources on teaching skills that matter without having to worry that you are missing steps in sequence or teaching things sooner than you should,” says Dr. Pritchard in the publication.

“Skills offers the first and only ABA-based comprehensive social cognition, and executive functions curricula available. It’s also one of the only online programs available that provides the ability to write behavior intervention plans for challenging behavior,” says Adel Najdowski, PhD, BCBA-D, senior content development contributor and director of dissemination and research. “When creating Skills, we really tried to make it as comprehensive and self-explanatory as possible with the goal of achieving positive results with every child who is treated using Skills.”

Unlike other curriculum design tools for the treatment of autism, Skills has an assessment with a corresponding curriculum that addresses every skill a child learns in typical development from infancy to adolescence, across every area of human development. It is designed to give the educators of children with ASD access to the most comprehensive assessment of a child’s development available. The results of the assessment are linked directly to a set of eight curricula that provide individualized lesson plans with step-by-step instructions for teaching children with ASD the skills that they need. Skills is based on empirically-supported treatment, and while the system will automate lessons for users, it allows users the flexibility to tailor the program to the child’s unique needs. Each of nearly 4,000 lesson activities also includes IEP goals, worksheets, visual aids, tracking forms, and lesson videos.

Teachers, parents, and practitioners can also use Skills as an effective management tool, as the online program evaluates treatment progress one child at a time. Skills provides charts and graphs that track treatment gains and the impact of various events (including other treatments and life events) on the child’s progress. Plus, by allowing the user to look at progress across a number of children, the user can evaluate treatment integrity down to the individual teacher.

Skills features:
1. An approach based on over 40 years of research on the use of ABA-based treatment for ASD;
2.  24/7 access from any computer anywhere in the world;
3. An individualized assessment linked to a comprehensive set of curricula across eight developmental areas:
(1) Social, (2) Motor, (3) Language, (4) Adaptive, (5) Play, (6) Executive Functions, (7) Cognition and (8) Academic Skills;
4. Age of typical development for skills assessed and within lesson plans;
5. Almost 4,000 lesson activities;
6. Easily accessible lesson activities, teaching guides, and tracking forms;
7. Lesson activities that are customizable to meet the child's needs;
8. Printable, fun, and creative worksheets, tracking forms, and visual aids;
9. Clear, brief, and visually-appealing demonstration videos;
10. Detailed treatment progress and clinical timeline chart;
11. Ability to track and view the effect of challenging behaviors and alternative treatments on learning progress;
12. Access to assessment, treatment, and progress tracking all in one place;
13. Lesson plans tailored to individualized educational plan (IEP) goals and benchmarks;
14. Ability to write behavior intervention plans (BIP) for challenging behavior;
15. Ability for teachers, professionals, and parents to work together as a team in one online location;
16. Multiple student viewing at one time (view all of a teacher's students in one account);
17. Ability to share access to students' accounts with other teachers and/or members of the treatment team;
18. Ability to compare the effectiveness of teachers; and
19. Unlimited live assistance via Web chats.

For more information about Skills, visit www.skillsforautism.com.

About Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD):
CARD treats individuals of all ages who are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) at its 25 treatment centers around the globe. CARD was founded in 1990 by leading autism expert and clinical psychologist Doreen Granpeesheh, PhD, BCBA-D. CARD treats individuals with ASD using the principles of applied behavioral analysis (ABA), which is empirically proven to be the most effective method for treating individuals with ASD and recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the US Surgeon General. CARD employees a dedicated team of over 1,000. For more information about the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, visit: http://www.centerforautism.com or call (855) 345-2273.