Bringing Aba to Home, School, and Play for Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders and Other Disabilities

Debra Leach, Ed.D., BCBA, is Assistant Professor of Special Education at Winthrop Universityand a Board Certified Behavior Analyst. She previously served as a public school teacher,as an early intervention provider, and as Associate Director for the Florida Atlantic UniversityCenter for Autism and Related Disabilities. Her main research interests include autism spectrumdisorders, inclusion, applied behavior analysis, positive behavior supports, and early intervention.She enjoys training preservice teachers and working with school districts, families,and community groups to support the successful inclusion of children, adolescents, and adultswith autism spectrum disorders in home, school, and community contexts.

Dr. McWilliam is the Siskin Endowed Chair of Research in Early Childhood Education,Development, and Intervention at Siskin Childrena€?s Institute. He is also a professor ofeducation at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and an adjoint professor of specialeducation at Vanderbilt University. He has formerly been a professor of pediatrics atVanderbilt University Medical Center, a senior scientist at the Frank Porter Graham ChildDevelopment Institute, and a professor of education at the University of North Carolina atChapel Hill. Dr. McWilliama€?s research centers on infants, toddlers, and preschoolers with andwithout disabilities, with a specific focus on child engagement, service delivery models, andcollaboration with families. He has provided consultation, training, and technical assistanceacross the United States and in some countries overseas on providing early intervention innatural environments and on the Engagement Classroom Model. His Routines-BasedInterview (RBI) is a widely used method of assessing familiesa€? needs and developingindividualized family service plan (IFSP) outcomes and individualized education program(IEP) goals.

Travis Thompson, Ph.D., L.P., Graduate Faculty Member, Special Education Program, Department of Educational Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, and Consulting Psychologist, Minnesota Early Autism Project, 7242 Forestview Lane North, Maple Grove, Minnesota 55369

Dr. Thompson is affiliated with the Autism Certificate Program in the Special Education Program of the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Minnesota, and he is Adjunct Professor in the Department of Applied Behavioral Science at the University of Kansas, Lawrence. He is a collaborator on a multisite project on challenging behavior in developmental disabilities including the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Maryland; the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center, University of Massachusetts, Amherst; and the University of Kansas, Parsons. He is a licensed psychologist.

Dr. Thompson completed his doctoral training in psychology at the University of Minnesota and completed postdoctoral work at the University of Maryland. He spent a year at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom and a year as a visiting scientist at the National Institute on Drug Abuse in Rockville, Maryland. Dr. Thompson was Director of the John F. Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development at Vanderbilt University and Director of the Institute for Child Development at the University of Kansas Medical Center—a clinical, training, and research institute. Dr. Thompson has served on several National Institutes of Health research review committees, including chairing reviews of the applicants for Collaborative Programs of Excellence in Autism awards in 2000, 2003, and 2007. He has been a member of American Psychological Association (APA) task forces concerned with the practice of psychology and psychopharmacology. He is a past president of the Behavioral Pharmacology Society, the Division of Psychopharmacology and Substance Abuse, and the Division of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities of the APA.

Dr. Thompson has received numerous