News
25/08/2013 - 3rd QUART Conference Report
25/09/2013 - MSc in Applied Behaviour Analysis (MScABA)
25/09/2013 - Promoting Inclusion, preventing exclusion: Training workshops (2013-2016)
25/09/2013 - Educational Inclusion for young people with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
25/09/2013 - Social Skills Training Programmes for 15-20 year olds with a diagnosis of Autism
02/08/2013 - Hon Research Fellow Dr Neil Martin appointed to UKSBA Board
26/07/2013 - Prof Karola Dillenburger elected Treasurer of the EABA
26/07/2013 - Carers NI awarded research tender from the NIHRC
24/07/2013 - CBA Deputy Director passes her PhD viva in Madrid, Spain Update
24/07/2013 - ASD postgraduate student talks about her experience at QUB
24/07/2013 - Dr Carl Hughes wins International distinguished service award from SABA
24/06/2013 - CBA student Mary Rose Gaw to present at TAGteach international seminar
24/06/2013 - 3rd QUART Conference Preparations Underway
24/06/2013 - Katerina Dounavi (CBA) visits Futuroschool in Paris
24/06/2013 - Grant awarded to CBA from the Queen's Collaboration Fund
06/06/2013 - Visting Research Fellow to address cross-party briefing
30/05/2013 - STAMPll Team News
17/05/2013 - Understanding, Collaboration and Synergy-Building (University College Dublin)
17/05/2013 - NUI Galway Conference 11-12 June, 'Autism Spectrum Disorders: From Research to Practice'
03/05/2013 - CBA collaborating with PEAT
30/04/2013 - Katerina Dounavi awarded the prize at the Conference of the Division of Behaviour Analysis
30/04/2013 - Launch of Open Learning course 29th April
22/04/2013 - Seminar to mark the launch of the NILT 2012 Life and Times survey results
22/04/2013 - Research Showcase Event March 2013
16/04/2013 - Prof Bill Heward: Helping School aged pupils with Autism succeed in mainstream classrooms
16/04/2013 - Prof Bill Heward: Using science to improve educational outcomes for all students
18/03/2013 - Prof Dillenburger gives talk at the Kennedy Shriver Center
07/03/2013 - Professor Karola Dillenburger speaks at conference in Brussels
04/02/2013 - Prof Dillenburger appointed to the NI Autism Strategy Research Advisory Committee
31/01/2013 - New Open Learning Course - Understanding Autism Spectrum Disorder
The 3rd annual QUART conference (on 20th September 2013) attracted 160+ delegates, MLAs, policy makers, teachers, social and health-care professionals, students, parents/carers, and individuals with ASD.
Welcoming delegates to QUB, Prof James McElnay (Acting VC) reminisced about our 2005 Honorary Doctorate Dr Gina Green (Executive Director of uAssociation for Professional Behaviour Analysts) and the long history of excellence in Autism research at QUB/CBA. Edwin Poots, Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, opened the conference and emphasised the importance of cross-sector collaboration.
Dr Lorri Unumb Esq. (Autism Speaks; Vice President for Government Affairs), Invited keynote speaker, lawyer and mother of 12-year old autistic son Ryan, gave an inspirational speech about parent power achieving seismic change, i.e., today evidence-based medically necessary ABA-based treatments are covered by law in nearly all States in the USA. STAMPPPII (FP7 Leonardo funded) was launched with presentations from the European Association for Behaviour Analysis, UU, PEAT, and partner countries Italy, Iceland, Sweden, and Netherlands who outlined how the locally produced SIMPLE STEPS multimedia tutorial was used across Europe to educate parents and professionals. For STAMPPPII report click here. Short paper presentations were followed by student keynote speaker Lisa Ruddy (CBA) on the use of technology to enhance communication of children with ASD.
For more information contact Professor Karola Dillenburger
(A video of the key note speakers is currently in production, and will be posted on this site.)
The CBA are finalising the MSc in Applied Behaviour Analysis. This Master’s includes a sequence course approved by the BACB® providing a unique opportunity to professionals from a wide range of backgrounds to acquire expertise in ABA, applicable to mainstream and special needs education, inclusion, curriculum and pedagogy.
CBA and parent-led charity, 'Parents’ Education as Autism Therapists (PEAT)', are collaborating in major 3-year Big Lottery grant to enhance educational inclusion for children and young people with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Bi-monthly workshops will take place at CBA over the next 3 years (total of 15 workshops) developing range of knowledge and skills including ASD, Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA), behaviour management in the classroom, achieving social confidence, and understanding and improving challenged behaviour. For details about these events please contact PEAT or telephone 028 90 324 882
For Training for Teachers and Parents Flyer click here
Do you know a child with autism who is currently excluded from school or is at risk of being excluded from school, aged 8-20? PEAT has a new project that would provide one to one intervention to children and young people with autism who are currently excluded from school or facing exclusion. This could include formal suspensions or expulsion as well as involuntary suspensions and/or exclusion from peers and from classroom. For more information contact PEAT on 028 9032 4882 or e-mail info@peatni.org
For Educational Inclusion Flyer click here
Do you know a young person with autism who needs help improving their social skills? PEAT is running eight week training programmes for 15-20 year olds with a diagnosis of autism across the province commencing on 30th September 2013 in 5 locations. Additional sessions for 8-14 year olds will take place in early 2014. Further groups will also be offered throughout 2015 and 2016. For more information contact PEAT on 028 9032 4882
For Flyer click here
The inaugural UKSBA elections were held in April and six members were elected to the Board of Governors. The Board then appointed these individuals to the specific roles within the organisation. Jennifer Austin was appointed as President, Louise Denne was appointed as Secretary, and Kate Grant was appointed as Treasurer. The remaining three members were appointed to At-Large posts and include Carl Hughes, Katy Lambert, and Neil Martin. The affiliate members also elected Jane McCready and Mandy Williams as their representatives on the board. Typically one representative would be elected to this post, but given that the votes for the two candidates were tied, both were invited to serve on the board and to share the affiliate vote. Jonathon Beebee was elected as the representative for student members. For the link to the UK SBA website please click here
Prof Dillenburger joins the committee lead by President Dr Robert Mellon, Secretary Dr Børge Strømgren, Basic Science Representative Dr Martti T. Tuomisto, and Applied Science Representative Dr Neil Martin. The European Association for Behaviour Analysis (EABA) is an international organisation that aims to promote Behaviour Analysis in Europe and to provide an international forum within Europe for the study and discussion of matters relevant to behavior analysis. One of the main functions of EABA is to organize congresses in experimental and applied behaviour analysis. At present these are held every two years. Click here for more information.
Carers NI have been awarded a research tender from the Northern Ireland Human Rights Council to provide an evidence base on the needs and rights of carers. There are 215, 000 carers in Northern Ireland saving the economy £4.4 billion each year through their unpaid health and social care contribution. However there can be a heavy cost to the carers, who can experience poverty, social exclusion and poor health due to their caring role. The more substantial the caring role, the greater the likelihood both of a carer being in financial difficulty and also of mental health problems. CBA have previously carried out a number of research projects on the role of caregivers and parent education and will be engaged as consultants to the project.
Congratulations to Katerina Dounavi, Deputy Director of the Centre for Behaviour Analysis, on passing her PhD viva today in Madrid, Spain. We are very proud of you Dr Katerina!
To view Katerina's staff profile click here
Check out our Postgraduate students talking about their experience at QUB, including Stacha talking about the MScASD. Stacha is now on her way to a placement in Australia together with two of other MScASD students. We look forward to hearing more of their work in Melbourne soon. To view the videos click this link Student Videos
Congratulations to Dr Carl Hughes, Keynote speaker at 2nd QUART conference in Nov 2012. Carl won the International distinguished service award from the Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis. For further details about this award click here
Preparations for the 3rd QUART Conference that will be held on the 20th of September 2013 from 9.30 – 4.30 have begun. It has been confirmed that the keynote speakers will be Dr Lorri Unumb from Autism Speaks, Vice President for Government; the STAMPPPII Launch Team from Italy, Iceland, Sweden, Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Norway, and England; and Lisa Ruddy, PhD student from QUB. The title of the conference is “Evidence-based practice for participation and inclusion”. The Call for Papers and Posters is now open and researchers, students, professionals, parents, and individuals affected by ASD are welcome to present their findings from evidence-based behaviour intervention and learning under the following themes: Autism Spectrum Disorders, Applied Behaviour Analysis, Evidence-based methods for inclusion, and Participatory methods in and out of school.
Katerina Dounavi (CBA) visits Futuroschool in Paris to conduct an on-site supervision of the centre's educational programme, to meet with parents and offer training to professionals. Futuroschool is part of the Association Vaincre l'Autisme and is one of the few centres in France that offer interventions based on applied behaviour analysis to children, adolescents and young adults with ASD and their families.
The CBA has been granted the Queen’s Collaboration Development Fund in order to develop in partnership with PEAT and Advanced Study Guide for Simple Steps, a multimedia tool translated in several European languages that offers training to professionals and parents of children diagnosed with ASD and empowers them to take action. Simple Steps includes a study guide for foundation and intermediate levels of knowledge and this project aims to develop a study guide for advanced level practitioners (e.g., certified behaviour analysts) who wish to obtain a deeper look at particular topics and obtain CEUs. This project will be completed in the following 2-3 months.
Centre for Behaviour Analysis presents STAMPPP at a workshop at the 2nd International Autism Conference entitled “Autism Spectrum Disorders: From Research to Practice", organised by The Irish Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Research at NUI Galway in collaboration with Autism Speaks on the 11th and 12th of June.
Over two days there will be key-note addresses as well as workshops aimed at providing practitioners, parents and researchers with the latest evidence based approaches to diagnosis, clinical management and adult service provision. Workshops are aimed to provide practical solutions for parents in the home as well as the latest health and educational approaches for health and educational practitioners.For the Conference Programme please click here
For further Conference information and to register see the conference webpages here
Registration is €120 for professionals and €60 for parents and students. Early registration closes May 20th.
The Centre for Behaviour Analysis (CBA) is a collaborating partner with PEAT in a new grant funding from the Big Lottery under their Reaching Out Programme.
The PIPE project (Proactive Inclusion through Preventing Exclusion) will help young people who are disengaged from education or at risk of exclusion and disengagement. The project will provide support to individual young people in their home/school setting, as well as social skills groups in each of the education board areas and a virtual buddy app for young people.
Training for parents and teachers will be provided in collaboration with the CBA at Queen's University Belfast which will also be involved in research, evaluation and consultation for the project.
Self-referral from parents, teachers and other professionals will all be accepted. The project should be up and running for the new school term (Sept 2013). For more information about this project please contact PEAT directly on 02890324882 and or email Lynsay@peatni.org
Science and the treatment of autism: A multimedia package for parents and professionals (STAMPII). The STAMPPII team is meeting in Iceland at the end of May, as Simple Steps is being developed in more European languages.
Three of the CBA’s PhD students are taking part in this conference. Lisa Ruddy is a member of the organization committee and is also giving a presentation on “Technology and autistic spectrum disorder: The use of iOS 'apps' in enhancing communication and social skills in children with ASD”. Mary Rose Gaw is presenting on “Examining methodologies for investigating evidence-based practice of off-horseback Equine Assisted Activities and Therapies for Autism Spectrum Disorder: A pilot study” and Catriona Martin ;s presentation is entitled “Improving Behavioural Safety - Using behaviour analysis to teach water safety to children with Autism”.
This course, facilitated by Nichola Booth (BCBA, PEAT), was launched today and will take place on Monday evenings for 5 weeks.
Katerina Dounavi (Centre for Behaviour Analysis, School of Education, QUB) was awarded the prize for the best poster in the 7th Annual Conference of the Division of Behaviour Analysis (The Psychological Society of Ireland) held on the 26th and 27th of April 2013 in Galway, Ireland. The poster entitled “Using progressive time-delay to teach tacts to an adult diagnosed with post-stroke aphasia” presented an evidence-based procedure derived from the science of Behaviour Analysis to teach to an adult diagnosed with global aphasia to name pictures. The picture to the right is of Katerina Dounavi receiving the prize for the best poster by Dr Patrick Friman.
To celebrate World Autism Awareness Day 2013, Prof Bill Heward gave the Invited School talk on effective and evidence-based strategies that help increase academic performance, decrease disruptive behaviours, and facilitate the overall inclusion process of students with Autism in the mainstream classroom.
On Monday, March 18 from 12:00 – 1:30 Karola Dillenburger, PhD, Professor of Behaviour Analysis and Education, Queen's University Belfast will present a talk entitled, “Autism Spectrum Disorder: A European Perspective.” Prof. Dillenburger is also the Director of the Centre for Behaviour Analysis at QUB.
In the USA, behaviour analysis is generally embraced as the key to effective educational and health practice in ASD. Recent advances in information technology (principally, the exaltation of touch screen activated devices) are 1- utilized in behaviour analytic ASD programs and 2- enhanced with behavioural technology, especially in the development of Apps for Autism. Dr. Dillenburger will first outline the prevailing European perspective on ASD interventions and then present SIMPLE STEPS, an innovative multimedia training resource for parents and professionals.
Note: This talk is approved for 1 CEU for BCBA’s.
Lunch will be provided.
Please contact Ellen Isley at 781-642-0124 or ellen.isley@umassmed.edu if you plan to attend either talk or need additional information. The talks are open to the public.
Ellen Isley
For Flyer please click here.
On Thursday, March 07 Professor Karola Dillenburger together with other international experts gave a talk entitled “Global Challenges and Global Collaboration in Assistive Technologies” as part of the EU Science: Global Challenges Global Collaboration Conference held in Brussels.
As a result of the Autism Act (NI) 2011, the DHSSPS is leading on the development of a cross-departmental Autism Strategy and Action Plan for N.Ireland. A multi-agency Autism Strategy Project Board was established to direct and manage the development of the Plan which was launched for public consultation at the end of November 2012, with a closing date of Mid-March 2013. In parallel with this work, the Minister for Health Social Services and Public Safety established a Research Committee. Prof Dillenburger said of her appointment, ‘I am honoured and delighted to represent QUB on the Northern Ireland Autism Strategy Research Advisory Committee and to be able to contribute to ensuring that services and education for individuals with ASD are firmly based on research evidence’.
These helping strategies will be taught in a practical interactive way, using multimedia training resources, so that participants can utilise them at home or work settings.
This course will be taught by Nichola Booth (PEAT) in Collaboration with Centre for Behaviour Analysis. This course carries 5CATS points at Level 1. For more information visit our Open Learning pages.
