Make it Meaningful Gerhardt & Bahry · a practitioner’s guide

The book

Make it Meaningful

Creating programs that matter into adulthood for learners with autism spectrum and related disorders — Peter F. Gerhardt, Ed.D. and Shanna Bahry, Ph.D., BCBA-D.

Make it Meaningful book cover
The practitioner’s guide

What this book is

There is no shortage of writing on how to teach. There is very little on what to teach, and almost none of it aimed at the years when the answer starts to matter most.

This book is a practical framework for that first decision. It walks through choosing targets that hold up in adult life, teaching them in the environments where they will actually be used, writing goals that survive contact with a real week, and then checking honestly whether any of it worked.

It is written for behavior analysts, special educators, transition coordinators, clinical supervisors, and program leaders — anyone responsible for deciding what a person spends their instructional hours on.

ISBN 979-8-218-26443-7

Contents

Four sections, seventeen chapters.

1

Section One — What to Teach

  1. Teaching Meaningful Skills
  2. Meaningful Goal Guide: An Open-Ended Interview Tool for Practitioners
  3. Futures Planning: Writing Goals with Long-term Considerations
  4. Breaking Down Barriers: Turning Educational and Medical Necessity Requirements into Meaningful Goals
2

Section Two — How to Teach

  1. Adaptive Behavior and Applied Behavior Analysis
  2. Considerations in How to Teach Meaningful Skills
  3. Identifying Meaningful Leisure Skills
  4. Meaningful Community-Based Instruction
  5. Targeting Meaningful Employment
3

Section Three — Goal Building

  1. Goal Quality Considerations
  2. 20 Questions for Writing Meaningful Goals
  3. Balancing Value, Effort, & Risk in Meaningful Instruction
  4. Structural Integrity Considerations for Meaningful Goals
4

Section Four — Assessing Quality

  1. Meaningful Outcome Measures
  2. Measuring and Meaningfully Incorporating Social Validity
  3. Quality Assurance for a Meaningful Program
  4. Leading a Meaningful Program

Plus Final Thoughts, thirteen appendices, references, and an index.

Who it is for

If you decide what someone spends their hours on, this is for you.

  • Behavior analysts and BCBAs writing treatment plans for adolescents and young adults
  • Special educators and transition coordinators responsible for IEP goals that have to point somewhere
  • Clinical supervisors training newly certified staff in goal selection
  • Program directors and agency leaders building or rebuilding transition and adult services
  • Graduate faculty and students in ABA and special education programs

Order

Available worldwide.

The book ships from every major Amazon marketplace. Pick the one closest to you — the edition is identical everywhere.

Ordering from a country not listed? Any of these marketplaces will ship internationally, or search your local Amazon for ISBN 979-8-218-26443-7.

Bulk orders, coursework, and staff training

The book is used in staff onboarding, graduate coursework, and program-wide training sequences. Get in touch about bulk pricing, discussion guides, or pairing the book with a training sequence.

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