Promoting Desired Lifestyles Among Adults With Severe Autism and Intellectual Disabilities

Dennis H. Reid is the founder and director of the Carolina Behavior Analysis and Support Center. His company has more than 25 years of experience providing assisted employment to persons with severe disabilities. Dr. Dennis Reid has more than 45 years of experience working with individuals with severe intellectual and developmental disabilities, including autism, in educational, residential, vocational, and community support settings. He has provided advice to human services organizations in most US states, as well as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. He has written or co-written 15 books and more than 140 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters on applied behavior analysis. He earned the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities International Research Award in 2006 and Fellowship membership in the Association for Behavior Analysis International in 2007. Mary Rosswurm is the mother of an adult son with autism and Chief Executive Officer of LittleStar ABA Therapy. She has 18 years of professional experience working with individuals with autism. She has held various leadership positions in the field of disabilities, including those with the Council of Autism Service Providers and the Association of Science in Autism Treatment. She has also held leadership positions on the Indiana Commission on Autism and the Indiana Providers of Effective Autism Treatment, both of which she founded. She has numerous professional articles, such as in Behavior Analysis in Practice and The Behavior Analyst Today, and she co-authored The Training Curriculum for Supervisors of ABA Technicians. Mary has made many presentations at professional conferences such as the Autism Speaks Law Summit and Conference of the Association for Behavior Analysis International. She is currently completing her doctoral work in Leadership and Organizational Development at Benedictine University.

Section I: Introduction To Promoting Desired Lifestyles 1. Overview of Promoting Desired Lifestyles Among Adults with Severe Autism and Intellectual Disabilities 2. The Critical Roles of Behavior Analysis and Person-Centeredness 3. Laying the Foundation I: Evidence-Based Identification of Individual Desires 4. Laying the Foundation II: Identifying Valid Indices of Happiness Section II: Promoting Day-to-Day Happiness 5. Actively Promoting Good Relationships 6. Providing Choice Opportunities 7. Ensuring Access to Preferences 8. Making Undesirable Situations More Desirable Section III: Special Considerations in Promoting Desired Lifestyles 9. The Qualified Role of Teaching 10. Person-Centeredness, Behavior Analysis, and Treating Challenging Behavior 11. Training, Supervising, and Motivating Front-Line Staff 12. Treating with Dignity Section IV: Selected Readings