kansas earlyabsc.ku.edu/sites/absc.drupal.ku.edu/files/files... · times that the university of...

Edna A. Hill ChildDevelopment Center

Kansas EarlyAutism Program

Kansas Early Autism Program1000 Sunnyside Avenue

4001 Dole CenterUniversity of KansasLawrence, KS 66045

Ashley KingsleyProgram Adminstrator

Edna A. Hill Child Development Center(785) 864-3498keap@ku.edu

http://www.cdc.ku.edu/keap/index.shtml

The Edna A. Hill Child Development Centerprovides preschool programs for children, withand without disabilities, who are 12 months to 6years old. These children and their families receivethe benefits of participating in enriched earlyintervention programs that utilize empiricallysound and effective procedures and instructionaltechniques.

A primary function of the Center is to provide anacademic setting for the instruction ofundergraduate and graduate students in theDepartment.

The Center also provides classroom settingswhere research on the development of bestpractices in early intervention and education isconducted by faculty and graduate students withundergraduate student assistants. Projects aredesigned to develop and evaluate the mosteffective procedures for teaching childrenappropriate skills and reducing inappropriatebehavior.

Our Program

Missions

KEAP is part of the Edna A. Hill Child DevelopmentCenter in the Department of Applied BehavioralScience at the University of Kansas.

We serve children 12 months to 6 years old whohave a diagnosis of autism or a diagnosis of one ofthe other disorders on the autism spectrum (suchas pervasive developmental disorder not otherwisespecified and Asperger’s Disorder).

KEAP provides intensive teaching services basedon the principles of Applied Behavioral Analysis(ABA). These principles utilize our currentunderstanding of learning and motivation andhave been empirically evaluated with many youngchildren with autism and other developmentaldisorders.

Our first mission is to teach young childrenwith autism the skills that they will need tolive in the community as normally aspossible. The selection of skills to be taught isbased on the needs of the child and asagreed upon by the parents and the staff.The most common skills that we teach are:

The teachers of the children areundergraduate students who havecompleted a number of courses inApplied Behavioral Science. Theseteachers are directly supervised bygraduate students in the Ph.D. programin Behavioral Pyschology in theDepartment of Applied BehavioralScience. All of the graduate studentsupervisors have extensive experience inteaching children with autism. Theyare: Ariana Boutain, Nikki Call, andTodd Merritt. The faculty supervisor isJames A. Sherman, Ph.D., BCBA.-D.

Our hours of operation:8:30 am to 4:00 p.m. Monday-Friday during thetimes that the University of Kansas is in session.

Typically, each child with autism whom we serveattends KEAP about 36 to 38 hours each week.

• Communication skills (such asimitation, learning how to makerequests of other people, andinitial speech).• Social behavior (such asfollowing instructions, interactingappropriately with adults, andplaying with peers).• Self-help skills (such as eating,using the bathroom appropriately,and brushing their teeth).

Our second mission is to teach ourundergraduate students how to teachyoung children with autism.

Our third mission is to conduct research todiscover the best ways of teachingchildren with autism.

Our Staff

KEAP is in session during the fall, spring andsummer semesters (for a total of 10 monthsper year). The tuition for KEAP is $1000 eachmonth (or $10,000 for an entire year).

Tuition