Education Programs for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders
The Deron APEX Program
Deron’s APEX program focuses on developing skills for students with Autism Spectrum Disorders, to maximize their independence and community inclusion. Acquiring these critical social and communication skills promotes safety and expands the students’ opportunities. The APEX program addresses the following areas, along with functional academics and recreational skills:
- Social interaction skills
- Recognizing “personal space”
- Using appropriate conversational skills
- Communication skills
- Asking for preferred items and activities
appropriately
- Asking for help
- Asking for a “break” from work
- Understanding idiomatic expressions (e.g. “a piece of cake” means “easy”)
- Expanding interests and appropriate behavior
- Introducing and encouraging engagement with a wider range of activities
- Tolerating transitions, new things and changes in familiar routines / experiences
- Encouraging use of different statements as opposed to use of repetitive language
The following criteria are considered in determining a student’s program:
- Current skill levels
- Behavior of a typically developing child (e.g. what a child of similar age would say and do in the same situation)
- Student preferences gathered through assessments, observation and inquiries of the child
and family (to be incorporated into teaching materials, targets, leisure skills, work placement and/or
motivation systems)
- The family’s vision for the student’s future
- The likelihood of the student’s behavior being supported in environments other than school (home, community settings, etc.)
Teaching is based in Applied Behavior Analysis and may include:
- Providing multiple opportunities to practice skills
- Breaking down complex skills into small steps, teaching step by step (e.g., preparing a snack)
- Using visual schedules (pictures and/or words)
- Teaching and encouraging choice-making
- Providing clear instructions regarding expected behavior
- Reinforcing appropriate and independent behavior
- Not reinforcing inappropriate and prompted behavior
- Teaching discriminations
- Working on quicker responses, not just accuracy, to make a skill truly practical (e.g., when buttoning a shirt)
- Assessing and, if needed, working on generalizing skills to occur in multiple settings, with a variety of people and materials
- Practicing social skills through role-playing activities
- Viewing & discussing videotaped examples of appropriate vs. inappropriate behavior
- Teaching students to self-manage (discriminate, monitor, reinforce their own behavior)
- Adjusting teaching procedures as needed for measurable / successful results
- Either removing temporary help for the child to complete certain skills or planning for assists that can remain with the child
APEX Professional Advisory Board
Peter F. Gerhardt, Ed.D.
Director of Education, Upper School, McCarton School, New York City
Dr. Gerhardt has more than 30 years experience using the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis in support of adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorders in educational, employment, residential and community-based settings. He has authored and co-authored articles and book chapters on the needs of adolescents and adults with ASD, and has presented nationally and internationally on this topic.
Dr. Gerhardt serves as Chairman of the Scientific Council for the Organization for Autism Research, is on the Editorial Board of Behavior Analysis in Practice and on numerous professional advisory boards, including the Autism Society of America. Dr. Gerhardt received his doctorate from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey’s Graduate School of Education.
Dr. Gerhardt’s research interests include issues related to: intensity of behavior analytic instruction with adolescents and adults; community integration and employment; development of adaptive behavior competencies; positive behavior supports with complex individuals; and the use of technology to support community safety and independence.
Linda S. Meyer, Ed.D., MPA, BCBA-D, CPT
Executive Director of Autism New Jersey and a consultant in private practice (Linda S. Meyer Consulting LLC)
Linda is the co-founder of the Alpine Learning Group in Paramus, NJ and served as its founding executive director from 1989 until 2005. She serves on the professional advisory boards of several schools and agencies serving individuals with autism spectrum disorders.
Linda has presented at regional, national and international conferences; and has authored articles and book chapters on various special education, nonprofit management, and personal fitness topics. She has taught doctoral and masters level students in educational and clinical psychology programs, and is currently an adjunct professor at Caldwell College, in Caldwell, NJ. She is a member of the NJ Governor’s Council for Research and Medical Treatment of Autism.
To learn more about the APEX program, please contact: Daphna El-Roy, Ph.D., BCBA-D
Assistant Director
Deron School of NJ, Inc.
(908) 206-0444
del-roy@deronschool.org
