Built for Meaningful Teaching in Real-Life Contexts

Event-Based Teaching is designed for teachers, educators, behavior analysts, and other professionals supporting groups of learners with complex needs.

For some, this course will be a starting point—a practical introduction to designing instruction around meaningful events. For others, it will be a continuation of work already underway with the Essential for Living curriculum and assessment. Wherever you are beginning, the goal is the same: to help learners acquire functional skills in the contexts where those skills matter most.

What Is Event-Based Teaching?

Since its emergence from the Essential For Living (EFL) framework, Event-Based Teaching (EBT) has extended EFL’s quality-of-life orientation by organizing instruction around meaningful, naturally occurring events rather than isolated skills or academic sequences.

Grounded in the same evidence-based teaching and measurement principles that define EFL, EBT provides practitioners with a practical system for identifying teachable moments, embedding instruction into daily routines, and evaluating progress based on functional outcomes that matter to the individual.

Within the Essential for Living Practitioner’s Handbook, authors Dr. Patrick McGreevy and Troy Fry recommend that essential skills be taught within events. This course shows you how to put that recommendation into practice across classrooms, programs, and the full day.

If You Have Felt Stuck, This Course Is for You

If you have felt stuck in your practice—wondering how to help learners acquire meaningful skills they will need for the rest of their lives without frustrating them—this course is for you.

If you work in a self-contained classroom with complex learners who span a spectrum of skills, this course will help you create groups using learner profiles, advance skills at each student’s pace, and keep happiness indicators and Quality of Life at the center of instruction.

What’s Included

• 9.5 BACB® Learning CEUs — Comprehensive continuing education with all 4 Ethics CEUs included.
• 20 video lessons — Led by Emily Beal Wilkinson, M.S., BCBA, LBA, and Kristina Montgomery, M.A., BCBA, LBA.
• Event-Based Teaching overview — Approximately five hours covering what EBT entails, how to arrange environments, how to collect data, and practical tips and tricks for successful implementation.
• Live demonstrations — Approximately two hours of Event-Based Teaching implemented through gardening, coffee cart operations, potting, and leisure activities.
• Panel discussion — Approximately 50 minutes on how Event-Based Teaching and the Essential for Living curriculum shape instructional decision-making, learner outcomes, and program design across real-world settings.
• Practitioner reflections — Approximately 25 minutes focused on the event and on implementing Event-Based Teaching in practice.
• Hands-on learning — Role play and interactive breakout sessions help you practice what you learn.
• Bonus interview content — Exclusive interviews with EFL leaders offer additional insights and perspectives.
• Downloadable course workbook — A guided companion and reusable planning tool with reflection prompts, learner profile worksheets, event-design templates, data-collection tools, skill-stacking examples, space-design planning pages, and blank design sheets.
• Fully self-paced access — Begin any time after enrolling and move through the course on your schedule.

What You’ll Learn to Do

• Identify teachable moments inside meaningful, naturally occurring events.
• Arrange environments that support participation and instruction.
• Stack multiple skills into everyday experiences without making learning feel forced or overly instructional.
• Create learner profiles and effective groups so students can advance at their own pace.
• Collect data and evaluate progress based on functional outcomes.
• Design instruction around happiness indicators and improved Quality of Life.
• Use the workbook to plan new events, train staff, and evaluate learner progress over time.