Upcoming Events

Fostering Belonging in Autistic Individuals

This workshop explores evidence-based, person-centered frameworks to assess and foster a true & felt sense of belonging for autistic individuals across educational, vocational, and community settings. The session describes a constructional approach to fostering belonging, with dynamic, assent-based clinical programming. Participants will learn to look beyond physical inclusion to design meaningful curricula and strength-based targets that promote long-term autonomy and authentic social connection.

● Participants will be able to identify direct and indirect assessment methods for the assessment of autistic students’ belonging.
● Participants will be able to identify collaborative approaches to person-centered support related to increasing the quantity and quality of social connections in autistic individuals.
● Participants will be able to select tools and strategies for use in clinical practice that are framed within an assent-based compassionate approach to strength-based treatment for improving social connection and belonging with autistic individuals.

ASHA and ACE Course

Reciprocal Imitation Training (RIT) in Early Intervention

Reciprocal Imitation Training (RIT) is a focused, play-based Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Intervention (NDBI) that teaches young children to imitate spontaneously during natural, back-and-forth social interactions. This session situates RIT within evidence-based practice and the NDBI framework, then walks through its core components — contingent imitation, linguistic mapping, and an embedded model-prompt-praise teaching sequence — using video demonstrations of the techniques in action. Participants will learn how to sequence imitation targets to a child’s developmental play level, prepare and run a session, measure implementation fidelity, and collect meaningful data. Drawing on the primary research base, the training also examines RIT’s outcomes and limitations and how parents, siblings, and behavior technicians can implement it with coaching. Designed for BCBAs, behavior technicians, educators, and caregivers working in early intervention.

• Describe the core components of Reciprocal Imitation Training — contingent imitation, linguistic mapping, and the embedded model → prompt → praise sequence — and explain how each targets the social, spontaneous use of imitation.
• Identify at least three empirically supported outcomes of RIT and state the approximate intervention dose associated with meaningful gains, based on the current research base.
• Apply RIT procedures to a clinical scenario by selecting developmentally appropriate imitation targets, outlining the model-prompt-praise sequence, and specifying the fidelity components and data to be collected.

ASHA and ACE Event

Staff Reinforcement Strategies to Increase AAC Access and Student Communication

Students cannot communicate with AAC systems that are not available, charged, modeled, or actively incorporated throughout the school day. This professional development session focuses on practical reinforcement systems and staff engagement strategies that increase consistent AAC access and usage across educational environments. Participants will explore how behavior principles, positive reinforcement, data collection, and team-based accountability systems can improve staff implementation of AAC supports. Real-world examples, including March Madness-style implementation brackets and “December Data Challenge” interventions using momentary time sampling, will be shared to demonstrate how schools can build buy-in while increasing student opportunities for communication. Attendees will leave with actionable tools to strengthen AAC implementation fidelity, improve staff participation, and create communication-rich learning environments for students with complex communication needs.

• Identify barriers that impact consistent AAC device access and staff implementation across school environments.
• Apply reinforcement and motivation strategies to increase staff consistency in prompting, modeling, and supporting AAC device use throughout the school day.
•  Use simple data collection methods, including momentary time sampling, to monitor AAC implementation and guide team-based intervention efforts.

ASHA and ACE Event 

Professionalism, Boundaries, and Effective Communication for Direct Care Teams

This course provides front‐line staff with practical, actionable skills for maintaining professionalism, establishing healthy boundaries, and communicating effectively across home, school, clinic, and community environments. Participants will learn observable professional behaviors, strategies for navigating role clarity and expectations, and communication practices that reduce crises and strengthen collaboration with families and supervisors. The training emphasizes compassionate, culturally responsive care and equips direct support professionals with tools they can implement immediately.

● Identify at least three observable professional behaviors that support effective service delivery.
● Describe appropriate role boundaries for direct care staff across home, school, clinic, and community settings.
● Demonstrate communication strategies that promote clarity, reduce escalation, and strengthen collaboration with families and supervisors.

ASHA and ACE Course

The AAC Ethics Roundtable: Learning From Real Client Scenarios

In this course, participants will review ethics codes related to collaborative services. Ethical scenarios involving supporting students who are good candidates for or who are using AAC will be addressed. Discussion and case studies will be used to illustrate these points.

Learning Objectives 

• State 3 ethical codes related to collaborative services.
• List 2 journal articles that can be used to navigate collaborative services for clients.
• Define 3 ways to utilize the ethical code in simulated case studies.

ASHA and ACE Event