About HANDS
Practical, individualized, and built for implementation
HANDS in Autism® is CBSI's signature applied model and training initiative. Founded in 2004, HANDS helps autistic people, people with developmental disabilities, families, professionals, teams, and organizations use evidence-based behavioral and educational practices in real-world settings.
From Knowledge to Confident Use
Learning is connected with practice, feedback, and support
Lasting change requires more than information alone. People need opportunities to see practices in action, try them with support, receive feedback, solve problems in context, and build routines that make continued use possible. HANDS connects instruction with demonstration, practice, feedback, coaching, and mentoring so participants can strengthen both their skills and the local conditions that support implementation.
This approach is designed for the settings where people live, learn, work, receive services, and participate in community life. Support begins with strengths, needs, goals, culture, setting, team, and response to support, then develops as people learn from practice and data.
At the Center of HANDS
Individualized Practice
Evidence-based practices selected and combined for the person and context.
Hands-On Learning
Instruction, modeling, practice, feedback, coaching, and mentoring.
Real Partnership
Working alongside the people closest to the work.
Local Capacity
Skill, leadership, ownership, and capacity for continued implementation.
A Research-to-Practice Foundation
More than two decades of development and implementation
Since 2004, HANDS has systematically developed, studied, refined, and implemented evidence-based practices across settings. Its research-to-practice work has grown through hands-on training, consultation and coaching, demonstration partnerships, virtual learning, ECHO series, workforce pathways, community-informed networks, and practical resource development.
Across these efforts, the focus remains practical: understand what helps an approach fit, what supports high-quality use, and what is needed for people and organizations to sustain it.
Who HANDS Supports
Relevant across roles while grounded in autism and disability practice
HANDS works with educators, paraprofessionals, healthcare and behavioral health professionals, first responders, direct support professionals, community providers, individuals, families, supervisors, leaders, and organizations. The form of support can be adapted to different roles, settings, goals, and levels of readiness while maintaining a shared commitment to person-centered, culturally responsive, and neuroaffirming practice.
HANDS Within CBSI
A strong foundation with broader reach
| HANDS Remains | CBSI Builds From That Foundation |
|---|---|
| A distinct initiative with its own identity, history, curriculum, and tools | Interdisciplinary applied research across broader questions |
| Practical foundation for training, coaching, and consultation | Organizational and workforce improvement |
| Resource development and tiered implementation support | Systems consultation, facilitation, and evaluation |
| Autism- and disability-focused work | Partnerships that may extend beyond autism and disability |
This relationship allows HANDS to retain its recognizable identity while creating a clear pathway for questions that reach across populations, professions, organizations, or systems.
Explore the HANDS Approach
Learn how the HANDS Model connects individualized practice with hands-on learning and implementation support.