Many teachers, curriculum coordinators, and behavior analysts are struggling with what to teach children with moderate-to-severe disabilities or limited skill repertoires, including many children with autism. In public schools, they are often instructed to adhere to the Common Core State Standards, while in private behavior analysis programs they are often offered only developmental curricula designed to help young children catch up to their typically-developing peers. When they look for alternative sources of more functional skills, they often find few available options. Dr. McGreevy will describe Essential for Living, a verbal behavior based functional, life skills curriculum and teaching manual, and demonstrate how to use this instrument and small-group instruction with children and adults with moderate-to-severe disabilities.
6 BACB Learning CEUs, SW CEUs, SCECH CEUs, and APA CEUs
Patrick McGreevy received B.S. and M.A. degrees in Psychology and Special Education, respectively, from the University of Iowa. He was a special education teacher for eight years, working with children and young adults with moderate-to severe developmental disabilities. He received the Ph.D. degree in Education from Kansas University under the guidance of Ogden R. Lindsley. He has served on the faculties of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, Louisiana State University, the University of Central Florida, and the Florida Institute of Technology. He is the author of Teaching and Learning in Plain English, an introduction to Precision Teaching, and the founder and first editor of the Journal of Precision Teaching and Standard Celeration Charting. He is the author of ten journal articles and a book chapter on teaching verbal behavior. He is the first author of Essential for Living, a functional skills curriculum, assessment, and professional practitioner’s handbook based on B. F. Skinner’s analysis of verbal behavior for children and adults with moderate-to-severe disabilities. For the past 30 years, he has provided consultations for children and adults with developmental disabilities in school districts, residential programs, and hospitals, specializing in the simultaneous management of aggressive and self-injurious behavior and the teaching of communication and language skills to individuals with limited repertoires. He has given hundreds of presentations and workshops, and is the recipient of the Ogden R. Lindsley Lifetime Achievement Award of the Standard Celeration Society.
