AFIRM

AFIRM Modules are designed to help you learn the step-by-step process of planning for, using, and monitoring an EBP with learners on the spectrum from birth to 22 years of age. Supplemental materials and handouts are available for download.

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New EBPs identified in the latest 2020 National Clearinghouse on Autism Evidence & Practice report (see Steinbrenner et al., 2020, p. 30 for details)

  • Antecedent-Based Interventions (ABI)

    Arrangement of events or circumstances that precede an activity or demand in order to increase the occurrence of a behavior or lead to the reduction of the interfering behaviors.

    Time to Complete: 2 hours
  • Augmentative & Alternative Communication (AAC)

    Interventions using and/or teaching the use of a system of communication that is not verbal/vocal which can be aided (e.g., device, communication book) or unaided (e.g., sign language)

    Time to Complete: 2 hours
  • Ayres Sensory Integration® (ASI®)

    Interventions that target a person's ability to integrate sensory information (visual, auditory, tactile, proprioceptive, and vestibular) from their body and environment in order to respond using organized and adaptive behavior.

    Time to Complete: 2 hours
  • Behavioral Momentum Intervention (BMI)

    The organization of behavior expectations in a sequence in which low probability, or more difficult, responses are embedded in a series of high probability, or less effortful, responses to increase persistence and the occurrence of the low probability responses.

    Time to Complete: 2 hours
  • Cognitive Behavioral/Instructional Strategies (CBIS)

     Instruction on management or control of cognitive processes that lead to changes in behavioral, social, or academic behavior.

    Time to Complete: 2 hours
  • Differential Reinforcement (DR)

    A systematic process that increases desirable behavior or the absence of an undesirable behavior by providing positive consequences for demonstration/non-demonstration of such behavior. These consequences may be provided when the learner is: a) engaging in a specific desired behavior other than the undesirable behavior (DRA), b) engaging in a behavior that is physically impossible to do while exhibiting the undesirable behavior (DRI), or c) not engaging in the undesirable behavior (DRO).

    Time to Complete: 3 hours
  • Direct Instruction (DI)

    A systematic approach to teaching using a sequenced instructional package with scripted protocols or lessons. It emphasizes teacher and student dialogue through choral and independent student responses and employs systematic and explicit error corrections to promote mastery and generalization.

    Time to Complete: 2 hours
  • Discrete Trial Training (DTT)

    Instructional approach with massed or repeated trials with each trial consisting of the teacher's instruction/presentation, the child's response, a carefully planned consequence, and a pause prior to presenting the next instruction.

    Time to Complete: 3 hours
  • Exercise & Movement (EXM)

    Interventions that use physical exertion, specific motor skills/ techniques, or mindful movement to target a variety of skills and behaviors.

    Time to Complete: 2 hours
  • Extinction (EXT)

    The removal of reinforcing consequences of a behavior that interferes with the learner's safety or learning in order to reduce the future occurrence of that behavior.

    Time to Complete: 2 hours
  • Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA)

    A systematic way of determining the underlying function or purpose of a behavior so that an effective intervention plan can be developed.

    Time to Complete: 2 hours
  • Functional Communication Training (FCT)

    A set of practices that replace an interfering behavior that has a communication function with more appropriate and effective communication behaviors or skills.

    Time to Complete: 2 hours
  • Modeling (MD)

    Demonstration of a desired target behavior that results in use of the behavior by the learner and that leads to the acquisition of the target behavior.

    Time to Complete: 2 hours
  • Music-Mediated Intervention (MMI)

    Intervention that incorporates songs, melodic intonation, and/or rhythm to support learning or performance of skills/behaviors. It includes music therapy, as well as other interventions that incorporate music to address target skills.

    Time to Complete: 2 hours
  • Naturalistic Interventions (NI)

    A collection of techniques and strategies that are embedded in typical activities and/or routines in which the learner participates to naturally promote, support, and encourage target skills/behaviors.

    Time to Complete: 2 hours
  • Parent-Implemented Intervention (PII)

    Parent delivery of an intervention to their child that promotes their social communication or other skills or decreases their behavior that interferes with their safety or learning.

    Time to Complete: 2 hours
  • Peer-Based Instruction & Intervention (PBII)

    Intervention in which peers directly promote autistic children’s social interactions and/or other individual learning goals, or the teacher/ other adult organizes the social context (e.g., play groups, social network groups, recess) and when necessary provides support (e.g., prompts, reinforcement) to the autistic children and their peer to engage in social interactions.

    Time to Complete: 2 hours
  • Prompting (PP)

    Verbal, gestural, or physical assistance given to learners to support them in acquiring or engaging in a targeted behavior or skill.

    Time to Complete: 3 hours
  • Reinforcement (R)

    The application of a consequence following a learner's use of a response or skills that increases the likelihood that the learner will use the response/skills in the future.

    Time to Complete: 3 hours
  • Response Interruption & Redirection (RIR)

    The introduction of a prompt, comment, or other distractors when an interfering behavior is occurring that is designed to divert the learner's attention away from the interfering behavior and results in its reduction.

    Time to Complete: 2 hours
  • Self-Management (SM)

    Instruction focusing on learners discriminating between appropriate and inappropriate behaviors, accurately monitoring, and recording their own behaviors, and rewarding themselves for behaving appropriately.

    Time to Complete: 2 hours
  • Social Narratives (SN)

    Interventions that describe social situations in order to highlight relevant features of a target behavior or skill and offer examples of appropriate responding.

    Time to Complete: 2 hours
  • Social Skills Training (SST)

    Group or individual instruction designed to teach learners ways to participate in their interactions appropriately and successfully with others.

    Time to Complete: 2 hours
  • Task Analysis (TA)

    A process in which an activity or behavior is divided into small, manageable steps in order to assess and teach the skill. Other practices, such as reinforcement, video modeling, or time delay, are often used to facilitate acquisition of the smaller steps.

    Time to Complete: 2 hours
  • Technology-Aided Instruction & Intervention (TAII)

    Instruction or intervention in which technology is the central feature and the technology is specifically designed or employed to support the learning or performance of a behavior or skill for the learner.

    Time to Complete: 2 hours
  • Time Delay (TD)

    A practice used to systematically fade the use of prompts during instructional activities by using a brief delay between the initial instruction and any additional instructions or prompts.

    Time to Complete: 2 hours
  • Video Modeling (VM)

    A video-recorded demonstration of the targeted behavior or skill shown to the learner to assist learning in or engaging in a desired behavior or skill.

    Time to Complete: 2 hours
  • Visual Supports (VS)

    A visual display that supports the learner engaging in a desired behavior or skills independent of additional prompts.

    Time to Complete: 2 hours
AFIRM