Fluency-Based Instruction: Producing Efficient Outcomes for Learners

We invite all of SARRC's Clinical Team members to join Dr. Amy Kenzer for a presentation on Fluency-Based Instruction.

The presentation will be hosted in person at the Phoenix Campus for Exceptional Children at 18th Street. In addition, live Stream Group Viewing will be available at our Scottsdale Campus in the auditorium and the breakroom at our Tempe Campus.

Fluency is the combination of speed and accuracy that allows a learner to perform competently in the natural environment. If a learner can perform a skill correctly but only very slowly, that skill may no longer be functional for them in their everyday life. Likewise, if a learner performs quickly but with many errors, the learner is not yet competent. Fluency-based Instruction is an intervention method that focuses on increasing accuracy and performance speed for newly learned skills. The research literature on fluency-based instruction has demonstrated a critical relationship between the speed of accurate responding and retention, endurance, and application of skills. These relationships have been demonstrated across learner populations (including college students, individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and children with learning disabilities), target skills (including pre-academic, academic, fine and gross motor skills), and learning channels (including listening, speaking, writing, and doing). Fluency-based instruction methods, outcomes, and applications with various learners and skills will be described.

Dr. Amy Kenzer is a licensed and Board Certified Behavior Analyst who began working with young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in 1997. She was fortunate to have joined the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) Early Childhood Autism Program as an undergraduate student. In that program, Dr. Patrick Ghezzi and Dr. Sidney Bijou introduced her to behavior analysis. That introduction shaped the future of her education and career. She went on to complete her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology (2000), Master’s (2004), and Doctoral (2007) degrees in Behavior Analysis at UNR. 

Through her study and work at UNR, Amy had the opportunity to work in a variety of applied behavior analytic settings and populations, including precision teaching with typically developing children and teens at the Center for Advanced Learning (now Fit Learning), supervision of intensive, comprehensive treatment for adults with developmental disabilities at the Pre-vocational Assessment, Treatment, and Habilitation (PATH) program; consultation for an adult residential program; teaching undergraduate courses at UNR and Truckee Meadows Community College. She also continued to work in the Early Childhood Autism Program as an Assistant Director and Training Supervisor during her graduate program. 

Amy moved back to Phoenix in 2007 and began working as a Research and Development Manager at the Center for Autism and Related Disorders. While there, she focused on applied research in behavior analytic treatment of ASD. She then spent nearly a decade at the Southwest Autism Research & Resource Center (SARRC), where she focused on providing meaningful services to individuals with autism across their lifespans and helping build a supportive and inclusive community. Dr. Kenzer is currently the Co-Founder of Joyful Learning Services. Her current professional activities involve behavior-analytic services for children with learning differences, including ADHD, Dyslexia, and ASD, with a focus on providing academic learning services. 

Host or Publisher Southwest Autism Research & Resource Center