Parent Education Series

Supporting your child by understanding their behavior and how it’s shaped by the environment. 

• What Is Behavior? – Understand what behavior is and why it occurs. 
• The ABCs of Behavior – Learn about Antecedents, Behavior, Consequences in everyday life. 
• Functions of Behavior – Identify why behaviors happen: attention, escape, access, or sensory. 
• Consequences and Reinforcement – Understand how outcomes influence behavior in everyday situations. 
• Proactive and Reactive Strategies – Learn to prevent problem behaviors and respond effectively based on function. 
• Replacement Behaviors – Learn how to teach new, functional behaviors that serve the same purpose as challenging ones.   
• Prompting Hierarchies & Fading – Guidance on supporting new skills and gradually reducing assistance to encourage independence. 

Build trust and cooperation to support your child’s success. 

• Positive Interaction Strategies – Play, attention, and shared activities. 
• Building Trust Through Consistency – How routines and follow-through foster security. 
• Reinforcing Positive Parent-Child Interactions – Highlight and encourage engagement and cooperation. 
• Effective Communication with Children – Clear instructions and reducing power struggles through language. 

Support your child’s independence at home and in the community. 

• Home Routines – Dressing, hygiene, chores, and self-care skills.
• Community Routines – Grocery stores, restaurants, and other public settings.
• Teaching Skills in Context – Embed learning opportunities naturally throughout the day.
• Using Positive Reinforcement – Encourage participation and cooperation in daily tasks.

Make daily routines predictable, consistent, and supportive of skill development. 

• Morning/Evening Routines – Step-by-step strategies for independence.
• Transitioning Between Activities – Reduce challenging behaviors during changes.
• Embedding Learning Opportunities – Turn routines into skill-building opportunities.
• Consistency Across Environments – Align home, school, and community routines.

Support your child’s functional communication through everyday opportunities. 

• Verbal Operants Overview – Mand, tact, intraverbal, echoics explained for parents.
• Creating Communication Opportunities – Prompting naturally to encourage communication.
• Supporting AAC or Other Modalities – Guidance for children using augmentative communication.
• Reinforcing Communication Attempts – Encourage functional language in daily interactions.

Promote positive interactions and social engagement. 

• Understanding Social Behavior – Recognize social cues and reciprocity.
• Modeling & Prompting Social Interactions – Support interactions conceptually, without direct therapy.
• Encouraging Play and Peer Interaction – Strategies for home and community.
• Reinforcement of Positive Social Behavior – Using natural outcomes to encourage engagement.

Help children cooperate, manage emotions, and stay engaged in learning. 

• Understanding Motivation – Learn how preferences and interests drive behavior.
• Using Reinforcement Effectively – Encourage cooperation and skill practice conceptually.
• Supporting Self-Regulation – Identify triggers, teach coping strategies, structure routines, and reinforce self-regulated behavior.
• Parent Modeling & Coaching – Parents learn how calm, consistent guidance supports regulation.

• Toileting Support – Strategies for promoting independence and consistency.
• Sleep Strategies – Healthy sleep routines and environmental supports.
• Mealtime & Food Repertoire – Expanding food acceptance and variety in the least restrictive way.