Andresa De Souza and Meral Koldas collaborate with international colleagues on autism intervention during multi-country tour

Andresa De Souza and Meral Koldas collaborate with international colleagues on autism intervention during multi-country tour

by Burk Krohe | Oct 19, 2026

Andresa De Souza and Meral Koldas had a busy summer, to say the least.

The University of Missouri-St. Louis faculty members spent the intersession break crisscrossing Europe and Western Asia, connecting with international colleagues, presenting research on applied behavior analysis, delivering autism intervention trainings and furthering the College of Education's international collaborations and partnerships.

De Souza, associate professor of applied behavior analysis and director of the ABA Graduate Program, and Koldas, assistant professor of applied behavior analysis, kicked off the tour at a professional conference and workshop in Pescara, Italy, in mid-July before traveling to Greece, Georgia and Azerbaijan. This summer's outreach work stemmed from the pair's shared research interests in autism intervention and applied behavior analysis.

"We wanted to see how autism services are delivered in different countries and to connect with professionals working directly with children and families in those contexts," Koldas explained. "This is not just visiting the place but seeing the differences and common challenges in autism services and how practitioners and educators overcome these challenges, which is directly related to our research topic. I think it gave us a clearer idea for future research collaborations."

Applied behavior analysis, or ABA, is a long-established area of psychological science focused on understanding the variables that affect behavior. ABA takes those insights and then utilizes them to manage behavior through individualized interventions.

The goal is to increase social-communicative behaviors and reduce interfering behaviors, which ideally will make meaningful positive change in people's lives. ABA can be employed in a variety of contexts, but in the past several decades, it has become particularly known for its effectiveness with people with autism and developmental disabilities.

Summer tour

De Souza and Koldas developed the itinerary based on existing relationships and a few new connections made attending international professional conferences. De Souza has regularly worked with Fondazione oltre le Parole, an organization based in Pescara focused on making ABA therapy more accessible.

This year, the organization invited to De Souza to facilitate a workshop and Koldas to speak about her work at its annual conference. De Souza has been working with Mark Sundberg and Caio Miguel on a newly developed assessment tool aimed at evaluating verbal and non-verbal generative learning skills. It is grounded in Sundberg's influential Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program, or VB-MAPP, and focuses on an individual's ability to attain new communication responses based on previous knowledge. The group led a session on how the new assessment can be useful in early interventions for children with autism.

After Italy, the next stop was Greece. De Souza had previously attended two conferences in Alexandroupoli and became acquainted with a woman who runs a center for adults with disabilities. De Souza and Koldas visited the facility and discussed how their expertise could help support its operations.

The third leg of the trip sprang from a chance occurrence at the International Society for Autism Research 2026 Annual Meeting in Prague this past spring.

"I happened to connect with some people during a lunch break, and they were from Georgia," De Souza said. "One of them was a doctor who had a clinic for children and adults with autism and other developmental disabilities. We exchanged information, and then we reached out to them. We went to their center in Tbilisi, Georgia, and talked about our research and how we can support them and provide training. They were very excited, and we were very warmly received."

The pair capped their journey at a clinic in Azerbaijan, where Koldas had contacts with a scholarly couple who have a child with autism and established one of the first autism clinics in the country. Koldas quickly built a rapport with their Azerbaijani counterparts as the country has many cultural and linguistic similarities to her homeland, Türkiye. The pair's hosts were enthusiastic about the visit, and they invited Koldas to present a webinar for their staff at the end of August and discussed plans to collaborate on vocational training research.

Global perspective

The trip shed light on the disparities in available resources for people with autism and developmental disabilities globally. For much of the 20th century, they often did not receive the care they needed. However, ABA interventions and research, particularly in the U.S., began to show promise with this population, teaching people new skills and helping them live more independent lives. Additionally, the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 affords protections against discrimination and subsequently established a baseline of care.
De Souza noted that access to autism services and funding varies considerably across countries.

"There is not a whole lot of insurance support or federal support, if you will," De Souza said. "So, in the U.S., because research has driven the bus with autism intervention, the advocacy started much earlier here. Children with autism, if they have a diagnosis, they have typically secured intervention. Insurance is obligated to pay, and schools need to provide support. They have the right to receive those services and are protected by law."

Absent these protections in other countries, the responsibility for intervention and education often falls to parents and nonprofit organizations. Koldas pointed to another difference that's become evident. ABA is well-known and utilized in other countries, but it is often exercised in a more rigid manner.

"We also experienced the importance of the dissemination of evidence-based intervention, individualized assessment for autism services and staff training everywhere we go," Koldas said. "They usually ask how we can train practitioners, clinicians or educators who work with children with autism or individuals with autism or other developmental disabilities. They're usually trying to do more structured teaching with those individuals, whereas Dr. De Souza and I, we are implementing more naturalistic, individualized programs. They are very interested in how they could train their staff to learn those new techniques and natural, environmental teaching in their practices."

Future collaboration

De Souza and Koldas have already made plans to advance their collaborative initiatives. Their counterparts in Azerbaijan are exploring the possibility of securing a Fulbright Scholarship for De Souza to further support their collaboration. Their Georgian partners are considering a visit to the U.S. and may also invite De Souza and Koldas to Georgia to conduct workshops and provide staff training, while Koldas plans to expand her research with colleagues in Italy. The faculty members will also speak at a conference in Prague hosted by the Association for Behavior Analysis International and the European Association for Behaviour Analysis later this month and lead a training workshop in Kosovo in November.

Overall, the summer was remarkably rewarding for De Souza and Koldas. In addition to enriching their research and professional development, the jaunt also advanced Dean Marius Boboc's mission to increase the international reach of the College of Education.

"I think this does speak to this initiative that he has to increase collaboration and visibility, and as we branch out, we also bring UMSL with us," De Souza said. "I've been recently getting more emails from students internationally, 'Oh, I want to come study. Can you talk more about your program?' So, I think that speaks to how we bring UMSL's image and name outside of the region."

For De Souza and Koldas, these international experiences represent not just opportunities for professional growth, but the beginning of lasting collaborations that will continue to expand UMSL's global impact. In doing so, they are helping bring UMSL's mission to transform lives beyond the region and across the world.

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