Mindful Continuing Education

1. Evidence-based practice has become the current benchmark for professionals in medicine, psychology, education, and other healthcare fields and includes a combination of the best available scientific evidence, professional expertise and understanding of __________________.

2. Assisting persons with autism spectrum disorders and their families to achieve positive outcomes is a continuous and ongoing process and interventions for ASDs vary in scope, focus, purpose, intensity, duration, and methodology.

3. For most clinical and community-based services, the needs, priorities, and resources of the individual with an ASD and his/her family are understood to be the primary focus and are respectfully considered throughout the intervention process.

4. Healthcare, developmental screening, and care coordination are considered which type of services under the community collaboration model?

5. Recent technological advances have enhanced diagnosis of ASDs based on brain imaging and have led to the support of direct biological therapies for these individuals.

6. Community collaboration is imperative to assist those with ASDs, as gaps in communication and lack of collaboration among providers and service systems consistently are identified as a source of significant confusion and challenges for individuals with ASDs and their families.

7. Individual characteristics that are often central to intervention selection include each of the following EXPECT:

8. When working with individuals with ASDs and their families, consideration of individual characteristics includes cultural sensitivity and regard for diversity of cultural values, language, religion, education, socio-economic, and social-emotional factors that influence the family's intervention preferences and participation.

9. One component of assessment for intervention planning is cognitive functioning, which evaluates day to day functioning in domains relevant to the individual's developmental level.

10. Assessment of the essential domains for individuals with ASDs are guided by clinical indicators the individual's intervention history, data from prior assessment and:

11. For young children and other individuals with cognitive impairments, a principal focus of intervention is the development of communication intent and functional communication, as functional communication remains one of the strongest predictors of adaptive outcome for ASD individuals across the lifespan.

12. While objectives are intended to focus on current areas of functioning, goals are designed to focus on long-term results such as improved quality of life.

13. Different techniques used to collect data in order to monitor progress may include:

14. Families of ASD individuals often report difficulties navigating and coordinating the complex health and educational systems, but can be very critical in facilitating the sharing of information among them.

15. The scope of practice for medical and other health professionals is determined by state licensure requirements, other related regulations and professional standards of care, and under some circumstances, funders of ASD intervention services also have an important role in defining the scope of practice for healthcare professionals.

16. Which of the following are NOT likely associated medical problems for children with ASDs?

17. Behavior analysts often play a significant role in the intervention process for individuals with ASDs and may assist in modifying ____________________ and making changes in interactions between the individual and their family or other support systems.

18. In order for students to be eligible for special education services under the autism category of the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), they must have a medical diagnosis of an ASD.

19. Since today's teachers tend to be focused on unique learning styles and needs of individual students and differentiate instruction in response to those factors, there are children with autism and other disabilities who do not need special education services or who require fewer or less intensive special education services than might be expected.

20. When selecting evidence-based interventions for those identified with special education needs, each of the following factors should be considered EXCEPT:

21. Healthcare transitions from childhood to adulthood are most effective when preceded by collaborative discussions involving the healthcare providers, patients and their families, and when these conversations begin years before the anticipated transition.

22. For many parents, the transition from First Steps (birth to 36 months) into pre-school services (age 3 to 5) is challenging because the focus changes from a family-centered and family outcome driven system to an educational focus and educational outcome driven system.

23. Compared to individual research studies, systematic reviews provide unique advantages in terms of the _______________ quality, and strength of their conclusions.

24. While behavioral interventions are based on environmental modifications, medical and Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) interventions are based on introducing or restricting intake of an external substance or:

25. Of the cognitive behavioral interventions that were reviewed by experts, parent implemented and social communication interventions were ranked as having the highest level of effectiveness.

26. ASD interventions focus on communication goals, which are those that involve social engagement, play, and problem solving skills.

27. The medication that was proven to be most effective for individuals with ASD according to research reviews was:

28. Which of the following is an accurate statement about the effects of medication on specific ASD behaviors or symptoms?

29. Components of comprehensive behavior intervention programs for youth include each of the following EXCEPT:

30. Structured teaching is based on neuropsychological characteristics of individuals with ASDs, and involves a combination of procedures that rely heavily on the physical organization of a setting, predictable schedules and individualized use of teaching methods.

31. Prompting is a behaviorally based antecedent teaching strategy in which a verbal, physical, or gestural cue is presented to a child to stimulate a response, and it has been proven to be effective for individuals ages:

32. Behavioral package interventions are designed to reduce problem behavior and teach functional alternative behaviors or skills through the application of basic principles of behavior change.

33. A behaviorally based strategy that withdraws or terminates the reinforcer of an interfering behavior to reduce or do away with the behavior is known as elimination.

34. The technique of reinforcement uses both positive and negative reinforces to increases future positive behavior and decrease future negative behavior.

35. Cognitive behavioral interventions (CBIs) are designed to change negative or unrealistic thought patterns and behaviors and focus on:

36. Parent Implemented Interventions recognize parents as the most effective teachers of their children and have them use individualized intervention practices with their child to increase positive learning opportunities and acquisition of important skills.

37. Pivotal response training (PRT) focuses on targeting 'pivotal' behavioral areas such as motivation to engage in social communication, self-initiation, _____________, and responsiveness to multiple cues.

38. Social communication interventions are particularly important because even when children and adolescents with ASDs are able to communicate verbally, they often display poor ability to understand most of what is communicated during social conversation.

39. Social skills interventions uses social skills groups to teach ways to appropriately interact with typically developing peers.

40. Structured work systems is an evidence-based strategy that focuses on enabling a person with an ASD to secure and maintain a paid job in a regular work environment by providing appropriate training and support.

41. Although aripiprazole is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treating irritability in those 4 to 20 years old with autistic disorders, it may cause significant side effects such as marked weight loss and sleep disturbances.

42. Evidence indicates that methylphenidate, a psychostimulant, is effective in reducing symptoms of _________________ in children with ASDs.

43. Which of the following is NOT an accurate statement about the use of risperidone to treat individuals with autistic disorders?

44. The National Professional Development Center on Autism Spectrum Disorders (NPDC) has identified efficacious evidence-based ASD practices for children and youth in each of the following domains EXCEPT:

45. For higher functioning children with ASDs, impaired social interaction and impaired emotional expression are addressed using cognitive-behavioral techniques that teach interpersonal problem solving skills and skills for understanding their own emotions.

46. Of the several studies that reviewed interventions for transitioning youth 17 to 21, only ____________________ was found to be Level 1 evidence-based.

47. For adults with ASDs, structured teaching interventions are used to design an individualized, comfortable learning space to incorporate basic behavioral prompts and techniques known to promote learning.

48. While language training interventions have been shown to be effective evidence based level-one practices for ASDs, massage/touch therapy techniques are considered emerging or level two.

49. Auditory Integration Training, Exercise, and Exposure Packages are all considered unestablished interventions because of the poor quality of studies or the lack of studies that show positive results.

50. Of the eleven established interventions identified by the national standards report (NSP), comprehensive behavioral treatment for young children was the only strategy that showed increased skills in the areas of academics and self regulation.

51. Music therapy is an emerging intervention for ASDs that targets a skill such as counting learning colors or taking turns by initially presenting it through song or rhythmic cueing and eventually fading the music.

52. Stratagies that are designed to teach individuals with ASDs to recognize and identify mental states and to be able to take the perspective of another person to predict their actions are known as ___________________ interventions.

53. The Agency of Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) conducted research in the areas of ASDs in order to support treatment decisions in children ages 0 to 2 years at risk of ASD diagnosis and children 2 to 12 years with ASDs.

54. Although the AHRQ found that early intensive behavioral interventions may improve cognitive, language, and adaptive outcomes in certain subgroups of children, they found strength of evidence to be low and determined that more research is needed.

55. AHRQ reviews showed that rispendone has a high level of effectiveness for reduction in behavior such as emotional distress and self-injury and that aripoprazole is moderately effective in reducing abrupt changes in mood and irritability.

56. AHRQ found sufficient evidence to conclude that _____________ does not result in improvements in core ASD or other associated symptoms.

57. While risperidone and methylphenidate were the only medications proven by START to be effective for ASDs, some research indicated that certain digestive enzymes and fatty acids may show positive effects with regard to impaired social interaction.

58. In behaviorally based strategies,__________ reinforcement is used to focus on alternative, incompatible, other, or lower rates of the interfering behavior in order to replace it with more appropriate behaviors.

59. Treatment fidelity is a scientific term that describes the degree to which an intervention is delivered in a way in which it was designed to be delivered.

60. Techniques that used structured interactions between children and parents or facilitators to improve greetings, spontaneous initiations, eye contact imitation, or the child's ability to engage in symbolic play are known as communication skills interventions.