In addition to being a supporting member of the Association of Professional Behavior Analysts (APBA), FirstSteps is proud to be an active participant in the autism and behavior analytic communities.

Upcoming Events

FirstSteps hopes all families are enjoying the fall! In the coming year, we are looking forward to attending the events below, hope to see you there!

• 2010 Association for Behavior Analysis International Autism Conference. January 22 - 24, Chicago, IL. Translational Science + Effective Practice. Click Here for More Information
• 28th Annual Western Regional Conference of California Association for Behavior Analysis (CalABA). February 18 - 20. Irvine, CA. www.calaba.org
• Walk Now for Autism Speaks. Saturday, April 24, 2010. Rose Bowl, Pasadena, CA. Click Here for More Information
• 36th Annual Convention of the Association for Behavior Analysis International. May 28 - June 1. San Antonio, TX. Click Here for More Information

May 2009

The 35th Annual Convention of the Association for Behavior Analysis International was help in Phoenix, AZ. Several members of Team FirstSteps attended the conference so as to be kept abreast of the latest advances in evidence-based practice, as well as to contribute to the field by presenting successful interventions with FirstSteps children. These included:

• Stoddard, L. (2009, May). Teaching Perspective Taking Repertoires to Children with Autism. Address presented at the Association for Behavior Analysis International Conference, Phoenix, AZ.
• Lanagan, C., Harris, J., and deDomenico, R. (2009, May). The Use of Multiple Schedules in the Treatment of Vocal Stereotypy Displayed by Young Children with Autism. Address presented as part of the Novel Approaches with Vocal Behavior session of the Association for Behavior Analysis International Conference, Phoenix, AZ.
• Lanagan, C. (2009, May). The Effects of Figurine Role-Play in Teaching Simple Games with Rules to a Child with Autism. Poster presented a the Association for Behavior Analysis International Conference, Phoenix, AZ.

April 2009

Team FirstSteps was excited to participate in the annual walk now event for Autism Speaks on April 25, 2009, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA. As in previous years, we worked closely with a variety of local businesses to help increase awareness of autism, as well as raise funds for autism research. Together with our partners, including Rubios, Cold Stone Creamery, and Heroes for Autism, Team FirstSteps was successful in raising approximately $15,000 for Autism Speaks.

March 2009

The 27th Annual Western Regional Conference of the California Association for Behavior Analysis, was held in Burlingame, CA, March 12-14, 2009. Several FirstSteps Program Directors and Lead Instructors presentied their research on a variety of topics, including interventions to increase play skills and perspective taking skills, improving compliance with haircutting, and levels of spontaneous communication among typically-developing preschoolers.

• Stoddard, L. (2009, March). Teaching Perspective Taking Repertoires to Children with Autism. Address presented at the California Association for Behavior Analysis Conference, Burlingame, CA. 
• Lanagan, C. and Mauch, L. (2009, March). Teaching Play Skills to Children with Autism: Experimental Case Studies Across Functional Pretend Play and Games with Rules. Address presented at the California Association for Behavior Analysis Conference, Burlingame, CA.
• Carmi, K., Stoddard, L., and Malmberg, D. (2009, March). Determining Normative Levels of Manding and Tacting in Typically Developing Toddlers. Poster presented at the California Association for Behavior Analysis Conference, Burlingame, CA.
• Gaudet, J., Lanagan, C., and Stoddard, L. (2009, March). The Treatment of Maladaptive Phobic Responses to Hair Cutting: A Case Study. Poster presented at the California Association for Behavior Analysis Conference. Burlingame, CA.

The Annual Cal-TaSH Conference supporting Equity, Opportunity & Inclusion for People with Disabilities, occurred in Manhattan Beach on March 6 and March 7, 2009. Clinical Director, Lisa Stoddard, relished the opportunity to present a successful case study of a FirstSteps client as part of the panel discussion, The Autism Learning Collaborative: Interagency Collaboration for Best Practice in Service Delivery, chaired by Soryl Markowitz of Westside Regional Center.

January 2009

Executive Director, Dr. Jennifer Harris, and Clinical Director, Lisa Stoddard, were invited to give a presentation to the Los Angeles Families for Effective Autism Treatment (LA FEAT) on January 12. With the goal of giving parents knowledge to enable them to better participate in their children's behavior intervention programs, Dr. Harris and Ms. Stoddard covered a variety of topics, including understanding the A-B-Cs of behavior, functional assessment, prompting strategies, and suggestions of activities to do while waiting on a waitlist.

• Harris, J., and Stoddard, L. (2009, January). Parent Education 101: Parents are part of the treatment team too!. Invited address presented at the Los Angeles Families for Effective Autism Treatment, Manhattan Beach, CA

November 2008

Program Director, Kristen Carmi, presented an informative guest lecture to the students of California State University, Northridge's Principles of Behavior and Learning class. Entitled Clinical Applications in Behavior and Learning, Ms. Carmi informed students in the many ways learning principles may be applied in a clinical setting, such as to help those children receiving services at FirstSteps.

Program Director, Rosi deDomenico, provided graduate students studying education with an enlightening presentation on understanding autism and classroom-based interventions.

• DeDomenico, R. (November, 2008). Understanding Autism & Using Behavioral Principles in the Classroom to Reduce Problem Behaviors. Address presented at the University of San Diego’s satellite Master’s Degree program in Education at John Tracy Clinic, Los Angeles.

September 2008

Program Director, Courtney Lanagan, presented a guest lecture to the students of El Camino College's class in Working with Children: Autism. Her lecture, entitled, Applied Behavior Analysis: Behavior Intervention for Children with Autism, proided students with an overview of the emperical support for ABA as a treatment of choice for young children with autism, as well as an introduction to some basic behavioral principles.

April 2008

Team FirstSteps was a proud participant in the annual Walk Now event on April 26th, 2008, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. Our goal was to help raise funds for autism research and increase awareness on the prevalence of autism. The family-friendly event was well-attended by FirstSteps staff and families alike, as we all enjoyed decorating balloons with the hundreds of children in attendance as well as participating in the walk. In addition, Team FirstSteps was extremely successful in our fundraising efforts, raising approximately $16,000 for Autism Speaks. Way to go FirstSteps!

 

February 2008

The 26th Annual Western Regional Conference of the California Association for Behavior Analysis, held in Garden Grove February 21st-23rd, was an exciting event for the FirstSteps team. Notably, two of our Instructors took the initiative to examine the effects of innovative interventions. First, Lead Instructor Courtney Lanagan sought to extend previous research on the use of tactile prompts (a small vibrating pager) to help children with autism initiate social interaction with peers. In her study, Courtney successfully used a pager prompt and reinforcement to increase a child’s responsivity to comments and questions made by peers in the school setting. In addition, Instructor Steve Ngo designed an ingenious teaching strategy built upon our children’s interests. Specifically, Steve observed that many of our children enjoy imitating things from their favorite cartoons. Therefore, he hypothesized that if cartoons were made to teach new skills, this might be a fun and motivating way to capture a child’s interest while expanding their skill base. Steve created individualized cartoons for some of his clients, and presented his initial findings at the Cal-ABA conference. He plans to further explore this line of work.

• Lanagan, C., Stoddard, L., & Harris, J. (2008, February). The use of pager prompts to occasion social language in children with autism. Poster presented at the California Association for Behavior Analysis Conference, Garden Grove, CA.
• Ngo, S., Stoddard, L., & Harris, J. (2008, February). Teaching young children with autism simple discrimination tasks via animated video modeling. Poster presented at the California Association for Behavior Analysis Conference, Garden Grove, CA.

November 2007

November proved to be a very busy month for Team FirstSteps! Our Directors were invited to present guest lectures at local elementary schools and universities. The topics were broad, as were the audiences, including Program Director Laurie Mauch's presentation about classroom behavior management to teachers at American Martyrs school on November 2, and Clinical Director Lisa Stoddard's guest lecture to an undergraduate class on November 6, 2007.

• Mauch, L. (2007, November). Managing Problem Behavior, Strategies for the Classroom. Workshop presented at American Martyrs School, Manhattan Beach, CA.
• Stoddard, L. (2007, November). Punishment: Procedural, clinical, and ethical issues. Guest Lecture presented at Claremont McKenna College, Behavioral Psychology class.

May 2007

The Association for Behavior Analysis International held their annual convention over Memorial Day weekend at the Manchester Grand Hyatt, San Diego. The convention provided a forum for the discussion and dissemination of behavior analytic theory and research. Several members of the FirstSteps team presented, including Dr. Jennifer Harris, who discussed "executive functioning" in autism, Lisa Stoddard, who presented her work on teaching pretend play skills to children with autism, and Instructors Courtney Lanagan and Jaime-Lyn Gaudet, who presented their work on the use of tactile prompts to promote social initiations in children with autism.

April 2007

Team FirstSteps participated in Cure Autism Now's annual WALK NOW fundraising event. The event was held at the Rose Bowl on Saturday, April 28th, 2007, and was another fun-filled, successful outing for Team FirstSteps! We are very proud to announce that our team of almost 60 walkers raised over $15,000 to support finding a cure for autsim!

March 2007

FirstSteps Directors Jennifer Harris and Lisa Stoddard presented a talk on issues related to parent training on March 12th, 2007 at the Los Angeles Families for Effective Autism Treatment in Manhattan Beach, CA. It was an informative and fun night for all!

February 2007

The 25th Annual Western Regional Conference of the California Association for Behavior Analysis, held in the San Francisco area February 7th -9th. Lisa Stoddard prepared a presentation for the conference, regarding the promotion of varied pretend play repertoires in children with autism. Pam Mock and Lynn Gallo presented a poster analyzing the influence of verbal imitation on spontaneous manding in autistic children.

• Stoddard, L. (2007, February). Promoting Varied Pretend Play Repertoires in Children with Autism. Paper presented at the California Association for Behavior Analysis Conference, San Francisco, CA.
• Gallo, L & Mock, P. (2007, February). Can Verbal Imitation Increase Spontaneous Manding in Autistic Children? Poster presented at the California Association for Behavior Analysis Conference, San Francisco, CA.

May 2006

The 32nd Annual Association for Behavior Analysis Convention was held in Atlanta, Georgia May 26th-30th. Directors Jennifer Harris, Lisa Brownfield, and Rosi deDomenico, as well as Clinical Supervisor Laurie Mauch, presented at the conference of 4,000 attendees from around the world, made up of professors, researchers, students, parents, and teachers in the field of behavior analysis.

• Harris, J. & Brownfield, L. (2006, May). Enhancing Child and Family Outcomes: A model for parent education, collaboration, and community outreach. Paper presented as part of the Behavioral Intervention with Very Young Children session at the Association for Behavior Analysis Annual Convention, Atlanta, GE.
• Brownfield, L. & Harris, J. (2006, May). “Knowing:” A Practical Approach to Teaching Perspective-Taking as Applied to Advanced Conversation Skills. Paper presented as part of the Knowledge and Motivation and Autism Intervention session at the Association for Behavior Analysis Annual Convention, Atlanta, GE.
• Mauch, L. & Harris, J. (2006, May). Need fails to predict service allocation… What’s going on? (ABA). Poster presented at the Association for Behavior Analysis Annual Convention, Atlanta, GE.
• DeDomenico, R. & Harris, J. (2006, May). Establishing Mands Using Automatic Reinforcement and Direct Echoic Training Procedures: Is there a difference? (ABA). Poster presented at the Association for Behavior Analysis Annual Convention, Atlanta, GA.

April 2006

The FirstSteps team came out in full-force to support WalkNow for Cure Autism Now on Saturday, April 22nd 2006. The WalkNow event, including a 5K walk and resource fair, brought together families and professionals to raise awareness and funds for Autism research.

Team FirstSteps included over 30 walkers, comprised of parents, children, Program Directors, Instructors, and their friends and family. Our spunky team not only had a ball decorating balloons at the the FirstSteps booth, but raised over $15,000 for Cure Autism Now! We are all looking forward to participating in the wonderful event again next year!

 

On April 19, 2006, Program Director Rosi deDomenico participated in a televised segment on Univision's morning program, Primera Edicion (First Edition). Ms. deDomenico informed interviewer Gabriela Tiesser and the Spanish-speaking viewing audience on the topic of autism, identifying early signs and symptoms, and the importance of early screening and intervention.

February 2006

FirstSteps Directors seized the opportunity to attend the 24th Annual Western Regional Conference of the California Association for Behavior Analysis, held in the San Francisco area February 16th -18th. Dr. Jennifer Harris and Lisa Stoddard prepared two presentations for the conference, discussing both the concept of a "theory of mind," and the parents' role in a child’s therapy. Rosi deDomenico’s poster presentation analyzed the teaching strategies currently implemented for children with Autism and explored other strategies not yet in place.

• Harris, J. & Brownfield, L. (2006, February). You Know What I Mean? - Training in the Concept of 'Knowing' and Generalizing to Social-Communicative Interactions. Paper presented at the California Association for Behavior Analysis Conference, San Francisco, CA.
• Brownfield, L. & Harris, J. (2006, February). Increasing Independence: A Clinical Protocol to Empower and Educate Parents of Children Receiving Intensive ABA Services. Paper presented at the California Association for Behavior Analysis Conference, San Francisco, CA.
• DeDomenico, R. (2006, February). Establishing Mands Using Automatic Reinforcement and Direct Echoic Training Procedures: Is There a Difference? Poster presented at the California Association for Behavior Analysis Conference, San Francisco, CA.

October 2005

FirstSteps Directors Jennifer Harris and Lisa Brownfield presented at LA FEAT.

• Harris, J., and Brownfield, L. (2005, October). On the road to positive outcomes: Leave early, stay on course, and use a great map. Invited address presented at the Los Angeles Families for Effective Autism Treatment, Manhattan Beach, CA

September 2005

FirstSteps Directors Jennifer Harris and Lisa Stoddard attended an evening hosted by the Autism Society of America, Los Angeles Chapter.

• Harris, J. & Brownfield, L. (2005, September). Expanding Language Skills Using Applied Behavior Analysis. Invited address presented at the Autism Society of America, Los Angeles Chapter.

May 2005

FirstSteps directors enjoyed traveling to the "Windy City" to address their colleagues at the 31st Annual Convention of the Association for Behavior Analysis. FirstSteps’ Director Jennifer Harris presented her research regarding first-year treatment intensity in ABA programs, while Lisa Stoddard presented her work on the development of comprehensive programs for teaching complex play skills and social behavior.

• Harris, J. (2005, May). Starting-out Strong: Treatment Intensity Predicts Outcome. Paper presented as part of an International Symposium at the Association for Behavior Analysis Annual Convention, Chicago, IL.
• Brownfield, L., Tarbox, J., Tarbox, R., & Granpeesheh, D. (2005, May). Teaching complex social behavior: The CARD social curriculum. Paper presented at the Association for Behavior Analysis Annual Conference, Chicago, IL.
• Brownfield, L., Tarbox, J., Tarbox, R., & Granpeesheh, D. (2005, May). Teaching complex play skills to children with autism: A comprehensive program and case description. Poster presented at the Association for Behavior Analysis Annual Conference, Chicago, IL.

April 2005

The FirstSteps team came out to support Cure Autism Now's efforts in increasing awareness and research at their WALK NOW fundraising event in Los Angeles.
In addition to participating in the walk and raising over $3,000 dollars for CAN, the FirstSteps team had a wonderful time decorating balloons with the hundreds of children that stopped at our booth.

March 2005

FirstSteps Directors Jennifer Harris, Lisa Stoddard, and Rosi deDomenico enjoyed an evening with the Montessori School of Manhattan Beach Parent-Teacher Organization, where they presented, Enhancing education: Strategies for the home and classroom.

February 2005

FirstSteps Instructors had the benefit of attending informative workshops and lectures at the 23rd Annual Western Regional Conference of the California Association for Behavior Analysis. In addition, Jennifer Harris and Lisa Stoddard presented their work on treatment intensity, play skills, and complex social behavior.