Essentials for Living
Invited Workshop |
Description Dr. Patrick McGreevy presents Essential for Living (EFL), a life skills curriculum and assessment instrument designed for children and adults with moderate-to-severe disabilities and limited skill repertoire. Unlike traditional curricula, EFL prioritizes quality of life by equipping individuals with functional skills that promote independence, expand choices, reduce problem behaviors, and enhance community integration—regardless of their communication method. In this workshop, participants will learn how to conduct an initial quick assessment to determine a learner’s current skill level and ensure that they have an effective, lifelong method of speaking. They will also explore strategies for recording small increments of learner performance to track progress over time. The workshop will cover how to teach the Essential Eight Skills within everyday living contexts until fluency and generalization are achieved, as well as how to manage problem behavior while teaching these essential life skills. Learning Objectives At the conclusion of this workshop, participants will be able to:
Date and Time 25 July 2025 8:30 - 3:30pm Duration 6 hours (with breaks and lunch) Professional Development 6 ABAA PDU/BACB CE Target Audience CBA, CBAU, BCBAs, BCaBAs, behaviour support practitioners, educators, parents |
Get to Know Dr. Patrick McGreevy Patrick McGreevy received B.S. and M.A. degrees in Psychology and Special Education, respectively, from the University of Iowa. He was a special education teacher for eight years, working with children and young adults with moderate-to-severe developmental disabilities. He received the Ph.D. degree in Education from Kansas University under the guidance of Ogden R. Lindsley. Dr. McGreevy served as an assistant research professor in the Institute for Community Studies and the Department of Special Education at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and as an assistant professor in the Department of Special Education at Louisiana State University. He taught courses in applied behavior analysis, as well as, curriculum and instruction for students with moderate-to-severe disabilities. He is the author of Teaching and Learning in Plain English, an introduction to Precision Teaching, and the founder and first editor of the Journal of Precision Teaching and Standard Celeration Charting. He is a recipient of the Ogden R. Lindsley Lifetime Achievement Award of the Standard Celeration Society. He is also the author of nine journal articles and a book chapter on teaching B. F. Skinner’s analysis of verbal behavior. He is also the first author of Essential for Living, a functional, life skills curriculum, assessment, and professional practitioner’s handbook for children and adults with moderate-to-severe disabilities. From 2005-2014, Dr. McGreevy served as an assistant professor in the Behavior Analysis Program at the Florida Institute of Technology. He taught on-campus courses and seminars, and online lectures, with an emphasis on the application of principles and procedures from Applied Behavior Analysis. For the past 30 years, Dr. McGreevy has provided consultations for children and adults with developmental disabilities and hands-on training for their families. He has also provided consultation and training for school districts, residential programs, and hospitals in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Italy, Australia, Norway, Switzerland, Spain, UAE, and Brazil, specializing in the treatment of aggressive and self-injurious behavior in individuals with limited communication or language skills. Dr. McGreevy has also conducted workshops on teaching communication skills and language in the context of severe problem behavior, which are based on B. F. Skinner’s analysis of verbal behavior.. |