Choosing the correct target behavior to teach is fundamental for parents, teachers, therapists and other professionals working with people with autism and other intellectual disabilities. While early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) for young children diagnosed with autism can produce large gains in social, cognitive, and language development, choosing the appropriate curriculum for adolescents and adults warrants some further reflections. Starting from puberty and adolescence, the focus of teaching should move from what the student is missing with respect to typically development peers to what the student needs to become an effective adult, with the final outcome of “making a life”. Applied Behavior Analysis is effective in teaching functional skills, adaptive skills, daily living skills, safety skills, sexuality, physical exercise, self-advocacy and other often overlooked skills that can contribute to the improvement of the quality of life of people with or without disabilities. Research suggests that working on functional skills provided through a meaningful curriculum leads to a more independent life. During this presentation the contribution ABA can offer in developing a meaningful curriculum for adolescents will be reviewed. Particular focus will be placed on using Behavior Skills Training (BST) and other environmental manipulations to teach safety skills to adolescents and young adults with autism spectrum disorders. Examples of safety skills include abduction prevention, seeking help if lost, inappropriate physical contact and information disclosure. The use of technology in teaching safety skills to students with a poor repertoire of verbal behavior will be discussed.

Following the learner’s motivation is fundamental when teaching new skills to people with autism. Novel verbal behavior, play skills and functional skills are easily acquired by the learner when they directly benefit him.But sooner or later the variety of teaching opportunities available to the teacher may be hindered by restricted interests and limited motivation for social consequences. The severity of this barrier varies across the learner’s profile and features, but the challenge has to be faced at some point. Behavior analysis can help, by providing powerful strategies with which to overcome these barriers and expand teaching opportunities. Analysis of the Transitive Conditioned Establishing Operations (CEO-T) describes how, when access to a terminal reinforcer is blocked or denied, the environment operates to condition new stimuli as reinforcers [16; 12]. To date, several studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of strategies derived from the analysis of the CEO-T in teaching verbal and nonverbal behavior [6; 2]. The variety of target behavior taught suggests that teaching opportunities based on this analysis are countless, but despite its power in explaining behavior and inspiring teaching strategies, the concept of CEO-T has been overlooked in the teaching of skills other than manding. The defining features of the CEO-T will be discussed and a list of teaching ideas will be provided in order to stimulate a broader use of the analysis of CEO-T in clinical practice.

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