Meaningful Programming for Adults with Autism: Session 279 with Peter Gerhardt and Shanna Bahry

Drs. Peter Gerhardt and Shanna Bahry join me to talk about a range of topics centering around supporting adults with ASD and related disabilities. They are the authors of the new book, Make it Meaningful: Creating Programs that Matter into Adulthood for Learners with Autism Spectrum and Related Disorders. In this conversation, we talk about how ABA services are skewed towards younger populations, how programming for younger learners might look different if practitioners knew more about the unique needs of adult service recipients, risk aversion and other barriers to promoting independence, their 'wishlist' of skills that they'd like to see all adults with disabilities learn, having difficult conversations with parents, and lots more. Of course we discuss their book, the resources their book provides, and how these resources relate to other functional skills curricula that are out there... such as Essential for Living. You're also going to want to stay tuned for the entire conversation, because we close with some fantastic advice for just about everyone in this field. Here are links to some of the resources discussed in this episode: Where to get more info on the book, Make it Meaningful. Meaningful Hope ABA. The Epic School. Dr. Bahry on LinkedIn. Dr. Gerhardt on LinkedIn. Essential for Living. Bannerman et al. (1990). Balancing the right to habilitation with the right to personal liberties: The rights of people with Developmental Disabilities to eat too many doughnuts and take a nap. Rubin (2018). The Happiness Project, Tenth Anniversary Edition: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun. This podcast is brought to you by the following: ACE Approved CEUs from .... Behavioral Observations. That's right, get your CEUs while driving (maybe even this episode!), walking your dog, doing the dishes, or whatever else you might have going on, all while learning from your favorite podcast guests! The 2024 Stone Soup Conference! Behavior Analysis' premier online event is taking place on October 25th. Come hear from pod faves including Drs. John Austin, Lina Slim, Jim Moore, and many others! 8.5 Learning CEUs are available, and when you use the promo code PODCAST24, that comes out to less than 8 bucks per credit. Learn more here! The Behavioral Toolbox. thebehavioraltoolbox.com is a new education and training site that my colleagues Anika Costa and Dr. Paulie Gavoni and I have been working on for over two years. We have two courses available: our first course, Ready, Set, Consult! and our newly released course, When Not to FBA: 5 Quick Strategies for Improving Behavior in Classrooms. Behavior University. Their mission is to provide university quality professional development for the busy Behavior Analyst. Learn about their CEU offerings, including their 8-hour Supervision Course, as well as their RBT offerings over at behavioruniversity.com/observations. Don't forget to use the coupon code, PODCAST to save at checkout!