Interventions and Techniques for use with Stereotypic Behaviors

Course overview

Stereotypic behaviors are a core descriptor and predominant symptom of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), interfering with skill acquisition and social conversations. Individuals exhibiting stereotypic behaviors may only pay attention to specific components of an object, such as wheels on a car, or become fixated and inflexible to certain routines or rituals that are part of their daily schedule. As these behaviors are both challenging for a clinician to treat and for an individual to experience in their day-to-day activities (i.e., fixated and inflexible to routines), an effective intervention that will decrease these behaviors to socially acceptable levels is necessary. In this course, participants will learn (1) the symptoms associated with ASD, (2) key aspects of stereotypic behaviors, (3) different antecedent and consequence-based strategies for decreasing occurrences of stereotypic behaviors.