University of Massachusetts Medical School
E.K. Shriver University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities
200 Trapelo Road
Waltham, MA 02452
The E. K. Shriver Center, University of Massachusetts Medical School, would like to invite you to participate in the field test of a new online course we have developed, entitled Behavioral Interventions in Autism- Practitioner Skills. The course is supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health to The E. K. Shriver Center, UMass Medical School.
Behavioral Interventions in Autism- Practitioner Skills is a three-module course for parents, family members, paraprofessionals, teacher aids, and providers who work with children with autism or related developmental disabilities and have little to no training in behavioral interventions. Topics include: Positive Reinforcement, Pairing and Gaining Cooperation, and Prompting and Prompt-Fading. It is our intention to expand this course in the future by including many more modules that cover other important core procedures in behavioral intervention.
The course is presented entirely online, and includes short online lectures, practical exercises, and video demonstrations of procedures. Study questions and frequent short online quizzes are also provided to mark learning and give you feedback as you proceed from module to module. The course is self-paced and has no instructor. Participants will need to invest approximately 4-8 hours to complete all three modules. This can be done at your own pace during a three-week window of time.
Please note that since this is a field trial of a course that is being developed, Continuing Education Units (CEUs) cannot be granted.
The course will open on Monday, April 21, 2008, and run until Monday, May 5, 2008. Participants who complete the course in its entirety will receive a $50 stipend. Please relay this opportunity to any parents/family members of children with autism, paraprofessionals, or providers you think would be interested in participating.
This is a time-limited opportunity and slots for participation are very limited (no more than 50 participants), so please contact us as soon as possible if you are interested in participating.
We hope you will consider participating in this course and providing us with your valuable feedback. If you would like to participate, or have any questions, please email me your name and email address you'd like to use for the course by April 1, 2008.
Sincerely,
Leslie Morrison, M.A., BCBA
Research Associate
University of Massachusetts Medical School
E. K. Shriver Center
200 Trapelo Road
Waltham, MA 02452
Leslie.Morrison@umassmed.edu 
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