Individuals with an autism spectrum disorder often have difficulty developing friendships and intimate relationships. There are limited data describing optimal social skills to guide clinical practice. The purpose of this talk is to describe assessment and interventions for conversational skill deficits. Conversations are requisite to more advanced social skills. I will discuss how to identify conversation skills in need of intervention and how to design relevant teaching contexts. I will review findings from my lab’s recent research on teaching conversation skills.

Learning objectives: 

At the conclusion of the presentation, participants will be able to:

1. Describe how to assess relevant conversation and social skills,
2. Understand how multiple control applies to conversation and social skills,
3. Describe how to program relevant stimulus conditions to teach conversation and social skills, 
4. Describe how to program differential attention as a reinforcer. 

About the Presenter

Stephanie Hood

Stephanie A. Hood, PhD, BCBA, is an assistant professor and the academic director of the Masters of Science in Applied Behavior Analysis program at California State University-Northridge. She earned a Bachelor’s of Applied Science in Psychology and Special Education at the University of Minnesota- Duluth. She earned a Master’s of Science in Behavior Analysis and Therapy from Southern Illinois University- Carbondale. She received her Ph.D. in Behavior Analysis from the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Munroe-Meyer Institute. Her current research interests are related to determining the extent to which efficacious teaching procedures produce socially important behavior change and promote maintenance and generalization. Her primary line of research is related to the development of efficacious and preferred treatment procedures to increase advanced conversation, social, and job skills.