WORKSHOP TITLE: Understanding and Implementing the PEAK Relational Training System

INCLUDES:  8.0 CEUs for BCBAs & free lunch!

SPEAKER:  Dr. Mark R. Dixon, BCBA-D

DESCRIPTION:
This workshop will introduce attendees to the power that contextual behavioral science has for developing meaningful, robust generalizing repertoires for children with autism. Dr. Dixon will provide an overview of the PEAK Relational Training System – our field’s most empirically validated assessment and curriculum. All four PEAK modules will be discussed which include: programming for simple motor responses and verbal operants, social emotional comprehension, advanced generalization, stimulus equivalence, and relational framing. PEAK has rapidly become the ABA protocol leader in terms of dynamic skill acquisition. Peer reviewed research has shown correlational relationships with IQ, convergent validity with expressive and receptive language tests, factor analyses of curriculum items, exceeding alternative ABA assessments / treatments in complexity, inter-rater reliability and perhaps most importantly treatment gains in a randomized clinical trial. At the completion of this workshop, attendees will be able to effectively use the PEAK assessments, understand the procedures for data collection and management when running ABA programs as well as use the treatment protocols to promote skill gains. Dr. Dixon will also explore the potential that higher level therapeutic interventions such as ACT can have for children and young adults with autism. He will take attendees through the direct links between traditional ABA therapy and its connections to RFT and ACT, and provide many of the exact treatment protocols used in his clinic and in schools across the world.

BIO: 
Dr. Mark R. Dixon, BCBA-D, is a Professor and Coordinator of the Behavior Analysis and Therapy Program at Southern Illinois University. For the past ten years he has also served as the Director of an SIU initiative (Behavioral Consultant Group) to infuse behavior analysis within schools, alternative education, and residential facilities serving individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities. Mark also runs the Language and Cognition Development Clinic at SIU that delivers RFT and ACT interventions to children with autism on a daily basis. Dr. Dixon has published 10 books, over 150 peer reviewed journal articles, and delivered over 500 presentations nationally and internationally. Dr. Dixon is recognized as one of the most skilled programmers of behavior analysis research and data collection systems worldwide. His software has been distributed across many countries and has been translated into foreign languages. Mark has been the Editor of the peer-reviewed journals, Behavior Analysis in Practice and Analysis of Gambling Behavior. He is also a former Associate Editor for Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis and Associate Editor for the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management. Mark’s research and/or expert opinions have been featured in Time Magazine, Newsweek, The New York Times, National Public Radio, This American Life, and local affiliates of ABC, CBS, PBS, and the Southern Illinoisan. Most recently Dr. Dixon has developed an animal laboratory which uses cockroaches and octopuses as models of the applied challenges associated with autism.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

1) Describe the current state of science related to autism assessment and treatment.

2) Conduct full scale assessment of language and cognition in persons with autism.

3) Demonstrate the ability to design a comprehensive language and cognition training curriculum for children with autism based on assessment results.

4) Describe how the four learning modalities of the PEAK Relational Training System are similar and different.

5) Interpret the results of various PEAK assessments allowing for the creation of educational and clinical reports for ABA services for children with autism.

6) Explain the empirical and conceptual links between RFT and ACT when treating persons with autism.

7) Demonstrate treatment delivery of both RFT and ACT protocols for use with children with autism.

8) Write progress reports and generate data-based graphical summaries of treatment success.

9) Describe remediation procedures when lack of progress is encountered.

10) Apply RFT and ACT techniques for children with autism with confidence.