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EAP Public Workshop March 2019 Highlights

On the 16th of March 2019, we had our EAP Public Workshop, on the topic of ‘Managing Aggressive and Self-Injurious Behaviours in Children with Autism’. This workshop was presented by Kerry Hoops, Board Certified Behaviour Analyst (BCBA) and Clinic Director for Wisconsin Early Autism Project Green Bay.

The workshop was held at HELP University ELM Business School, with almost a hundred members of the public in attendance! Amongst the list of participants included: Dr. Kama bin Shaffeei (Assistant Director of Special Education Department), representatives from Permata Kurnia, Persatuan Kanak-Kanak Istimewa Ampang, Pusat Dalam Kommuniti Sinar, and Perdana University, to name a few.

We kickstarted the Public Workshop with a speech by our EAP Director, Jochebed Isaacs, to officiate the event. During the workshop, Kerry presented on the importance of identifying the functions of challenging behaviours by utilising a functional behaviour assessment. Some of the common functions of challenging behaviours included: getting attention, getting something tangible (e.g. food, toys), getting a desirable sensory input, as well as escaping a work, task or aversive situation.

Kerry had also trained on developing behavioural intervention plans in order to effectively manage and reduce challenging behaviours. A comprehensive and effective behavioural intervention plan should analyse the antecedent, behaviour and consequence, and include the following strategies:

  1. Teaching strategies (teaching replacement behaviours, communication, or tolerance)
  2. Proactive strategies (how to alter the environment and schedule to help prevent a behaviour from occurring)
  3. Reactive strategies (how to handle the behaviour in the moment)

Whilst presenting on the various strategies, Kerry had utilised case studies and real life examples to illustrate her points. There was even a break out session where participants were grouped together to discuss different scenarios and to develop a behavioural intervention plan, whilst the discussions were facilitated by our own team of EAP Supervisors. We ended the workshop with a Q&A Session with Kerry and Jochebed to answer specific questions and scenarios from the participants.

During the workshop, we also launched our Autism Awareness Merchandise in the lead up to World Autism Month in April, and it was a hit with the crowd! This year’s range of merchandise include T-shirts, tote bags, notebooks and wristbands, with all proceeds going towards The Hope Project.

We hope the content of the workshop was helpful and that the strategies provided would be beneficial for all in helping to manage and reduce challenging behaviours in children with autism!

We will be having our next EAP Public Workshop coming up on the 5th of October 2019. This upcoming workshop will be presented by our very own EAP Director, Jochebed Isaacs, on the topic of ‘Autism At Home’. Stay tuned as we launch the online registrations for the workshop on the 1st of April 2019, where you can enjoy the Super Early Bird rate!