Participants will explore sensory processing and its relationship with regulation, learning how to identify and respond to different states of arousal and stress. The course covers sensory regulation strategies—such as proprioceptive and vestibular activities—to help children manage sensory input and develop coping skills to maintain engagement. Co-regulation techniques will be introduced, emphasizing how adults can model and scaffold calming behaviors, providing a supportive environment to optimize learning.
Participants will learn to follow the child’s lead, set up play routines, and create predictable, motivating environments that foster independence and choice. Strategies to boost engagement include adapting activities to the child’s interests, using play routines with developmentally appropriate toys at the child’s play level and embedding supports to foster success.
The course delves into joint attention—an essential early communication skill—by teaching how to recognize and support different states of joint attention, such as shared gaze, pointing, and turn-taking.
Foundational communication skills are addressed through play routines that embed opportunities for requesting, commenting, and sharing. Participants will learn how to set up play scenarios that naturally prompt communication, use modeling and prompts to expand expressive and receptive language, and encourage social communication within adult-child interactions.
Review the foundational skills needed for communication (Part One: 35 minutes)
Introduction to regulation differences in children with autism (Part Two: 10 minutes)
Strategies to increase regulation and engagement (Part Three: 15 minutes)
Strategies to increase joint attention and communication (Part Four: 25 minutes)
Designing play sessions (Part Five: 40 minutes)
Embedding evidence-based strategies (Part Six: 25 minutes)
Identify regulation challenges that impact engagement and communication.
Name 3-5 specific evidence based co-regulating strategies to increase engagement.
Identify the different states of joint attention.
List at least 3 foundations skills a child needs to be able to communicate.
Name 3-5 evidence-based strategies to increase engagement during a play-routine.
Design an effective play session that encourages increased engagement and communication.
Since 1998, Nikki McRory, MA CCC-SLP, BCBA, CAS, has dedicated her career to working with children and families impacted by autism spectrum disorder. She has established a variety of specialized center-based programs at her transdisciplinary pediatric private practice, McRory Pediatric Services, Inc. that focus on helping children reach their highest potential.
Nikki lectures locally, on the subject of ASD and has published articles in the Autism Parenting Magazine. Families from across Los Angeles and the surrounding areas travel to McRory Pediatric Services, Inc. in Tarzana and Santa Clarita to participate in intensive, specialized therapy programs. McRory Pediatrics offers renowned speech- language, occupational therapy, physical therapy, child development and applied behavior analysis (ABA) in their centers and home-based autism programs.
McRory Pediatrics has been awarded the "Best of Encino" award for their speech-language therapy services and has had articles featured in LA Parent Magazine and LA Voyage Magazine.
Speaker Disclosures:
Financial — Nikki McRory is the Owner and Executive Director of McRory Pediatric Services, Inc.; ownership interests.
This course is offered for .25 ASHA CEUs (2.5 hours): Intermediate Level; Professional Area, BCAB CEUs and QABA CEUs.
This course is intended for speech-language pathologists (SLPs), board certified behavior analysts (BCBAs) and qualified autism services practitioners (QASPs).
ASHA CEUs: McRory Pediatrics online courses are registered with ASHA and are offered for ASHA CEUs. The number of ASHA CEUs is noted above. Note that 0.1 ASHA CEU = 1 contact hour = equals 1 CEE.
ASHA CE Registry: During the enrollment process, if you select to receive ASHA credit for this course and if you complete the provided CE Participation Form, McRory Pediatrics will automatically submit your CEU information to the ASHA CE Registry after successful course completion (80% on posttest). This submission happens once per month, during the first week of the month. For example, if you complete your course on June 7th, McRory Pediatrics will submit all June online course CEUs to ASHA during the first week of July. When ASHA inputs the information into their database, they will mark the course as completed on the last day of the month in which it was completed, so June 30th using this example. The certificate of completion available for you to print immediately, however, will reflect the actual completion date, June 7th in this example. Due to ASHA processing procedures please allow 3-4 weeks, from the submission date, for the course to appear on your ASHA transcript.
ASHA CEUs: Attendees must meet at least one of the following conditions to be eligible to earn ASHA CEUs:
If an attendee is not an ASHA member or CCC holder but meets any of the above criteria, they may inform the ASHA CE Registry of their eligibility by visiting this site.
Licensing Boards: Most state licensing boards DO accept CEUs earned online (usually classified as home-study credits). Some state boards do, however, place a limit to the number of credits that can be earned via home study/online courses. For the most current information, we suggest that you contact your licensing board or agency to verify acceptance policies and/or any credit limits related to home-study courses prior to registering for this course.
Additional accrediting agencies by which McRory Pediatrics is an approved CE provider:
Coming Soon: "Engaging Autism"
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