Overview
One common characteristic of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is the frequent engagement in repetitive and restricted patterns, or special interests. Although these special interests may appear to prevent new learning opportunities for people with ASD, recent research has proved that incorporating special interests into daily activities may increase both social and academic behaviors. This module will present several examples of how to embed special interests into interventions to increase desired behaviors.
Estimated Time to Complete: 1 hour
- What's Included
- 28 pages
- Pre/post-assessments
- Free Certificate
- Describe the importance and value of special interests to individuals with autism.
- Describe how to use preference assessments to identify highly preferred special interests to incorporate into interventions.
- Identify several ways to incorporate special interests into daily activities to increase social and academic behaviors.
- Identify ways to incorporate special interests into behavioral interventions to decrease problem behavior.
Bobby Huffman, MA ABA
Bobby Huffman is an intervention and behavioral specialist for Jones Middle School in the Upper Arlington school district. Throughout his teaching career, Bobby has worked with children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) ages 18 months to 12 years old in both the school and home settings using special interests to increase learning opportunities. Bobby received his master's degree in applied behavior analysis at The Ohio State University where he published research on using special interests in classroom settings. In addition, Bobby is a part-time research assistant for the Ohio Center for Autism and Low Incidence (OCALI).
Module Content
You can download a document that includes all content from the module, with the exception of videos. This resource can support your learning while completing the module or be saved for future reference.
Additional Documents
Self Monitoring No Special Interest
Self Monitoring with Special Interest
Task Analysis With Special Interest
Task Analysis Without Special Interest