Therapeutic PATHWAYS training involves two days of workshop and 3-5 days of intensively-supervised sessions at the start of program implementation.

Instructional Assistants, Parents, other family members, and other caregivers participate at various levels in these trainings before and shortly after the onset of intervention.

Topics covered during the 2-day Introductory Workshop include basic Applied Behavior principles and procedures (including Discrete Trial Methodology), typical and atypical speech and language development, and ways to capitalize on existing communicative intent. In addition, a summary of current research findings regarding the cause and treatment of Pervasive Developmental Spectrum Disorder is also presented. These topics are especially relevant to members of the child's immediate and extended family.

Other workshop topics are primarily designed for the Instructional Assistants assigned to that child's team. During this portion, treatment components such as specific programs and stimuli, prompting and correction procedures, data collection, methods for transitioning in and out of therapy, ways to use existing reinforcers and methods for establishing new ones, etc. are presented. Behavioral difficulties likely to be encountered when working with each child, and the appropriate strategies for addressing them, are also explained.