The purpose of this toolkit is to present ways for early childcare providers to better manage challenging behaviors in a childcare setting. It describes intervention strategies and positive behavioral supports to help class time go more smoothly. This toolkit also briefly describes Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), basic developmental milestones, and potential developmental red flags to monitor. Although the behavior techniques discussed in this toolkit are suggested to be used for children with ASD, they can be used for ANY child. Children with behavior problems that are similar to ASD in some ways can benefit from these interventions — for example children with attention concerns, anxiety, intellectual disability, and social skills deficits can benefit from many of the strategies in this toolkit.

The tool kit is broken down into 3 sections:

• Learn the Basics: Includes overview of autism, understanding behavior, myths and misconceptions and more.
• Putting into Practice: Includes strategies to use, function communication training, task analysis, visual schedules and more.
• Extras: Includes teaching children to ask for help, visual supports, reinforcer assessment grid and more.

Developed by the Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and related Disabilities (LEND) Program in the Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, an Autism Speaks Autism Treatment Network (ATN) site, through a generous grant from Autism Speaks