The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel • State College, Pennsylvania

Call for Poster Proposals (due June 28)

In order to highlight scientific and promising practices within educational programs serving students with autism, the conference is actively seeking submissions for presentations at the conference poster session.

All poster submissions are due June 28 and must designate a primary presenter, author, contact information, and author affiliation. Poster presentations may be submitted in one of two categories:

  • Research in autism education
  • Program exposition and reports

Download the Poster Submission Proposal Forms:

Research in Autism Education Poster

Submissions for acceptance in this category will be evaluated based on scientific merit, quality of design and control, and relevance to the fields of autism assessment, intervention, staff training, basic conceptual understanding, and program design. Additional consideration will be given based on the relevance of the research topic to the scientific literature/research base in the fields of special education, autism treatments, psychology, and behavior analysis. Consideration will be given to the degree that experimental control is demonstrated, including threats to internal and external validity as well as reliability of dependent variable measurement. Preference will be given to studies that include measures of inter-observer agreement for the dependent and independent variable as well as data related to treatment fidelity.

Criteria:

  1. The proposal will include definitions of both dependent and independent variables. Baseline measurements of dependent variables are required for all submissions.
  2. The proposal will need to include evidence of a research design such as:
    a. Various single subject designs used in isolation or in various combinations including reversal designs, multiple baseline, alternating treatments, and changing criteria designs.
    b. Case study designs (AB format) that include a high standard of rigor including consideration of treatment integrity and inter-observer reliability.
    c. Inter-group designs. Inter-group design studies will need to include clear hypothesis statements, a description of population sample, and clear statement of sample size and methods of analysis.
  3. Data will be included and presented in a form that allows visual analysis. Posters should include graphs and charts allowing a fairly efficient analysis of the data. Inter-group design studies are to include clear charts summarizing experimental data.

Program Exposition and Reports Poster

This category of poster presentation is included to serve the purpose of allowing educators, service providers, and other agencies affiliated with autism services to showcase practices that may have value to others in the field of autism service. The standards for these posters are not solely based on quality of evidence.

Criteria:

  1. Program exposition and reports poster submissions will need to include references of published evidence (citations) for the model in relation to established practice. Consideration will be given to the degree to which empirical studies supporting the practice are available.
  2. Research design is not required; however, quantitative descriptions of aspects of the program, such as demographics (number of students served, staffing patterns, etc.) as well as baseline and outcome data (performance of students or clients) are required. Preference will be given to exposition poster submissions that provide quantitative data.

Suggested Guidelines for Poster Presentations

  1. Poster presentations will be most effective if they are organized into clearly defined sections such as title, author, author affiliation, abstract, background, methodology, data, results, conclusion, references. Exposition posters may include alternate sections such as program or practice description, evidence for the model or practice, and program outcomes.
  2. Use 16-point lettering or larger for the title, author, and author affiliation.
  3. As a general rule, the content of the poster should be readable from a distance of five feet.
  4. Avoid difficult-to-read fonts.
  5. Be concise in the presentation of content. Avoid wordy descriptions.
  6. Design graphs, charts, and tables to show results. Avoid presenting too many variables on a single graph or chart.
  7. Providing copies of the poster for those in attendance at the poster session of the conference is encouraged.