Category Archives: Behavior

Join us TONIGHT for an ABA Q&A with Sam Blanco, BCBA

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Join us for a live ABA Q&A with Sam Blanco, BCBA TONIGHT from 7:00 to 8:00pm ET! Our primary focus will be on Managing Difficult Behaviors. Here is a chance to get your specific questions answered in real time by a Board Certified Behavior Analyst. Just visit our Facebook page and post your question here. For details of the Q&A, visit the event page here.

If you can’t make the live Q&A with us on tonight, you can post your questions in advance, and we’ll make sure your questions are answered. Don’t forget to check back to the app for Sam’s answer!

Q&A with Sam_Revised 04.15.14

Different Roads to Learning reserves the right to remove or delete any questions and comments deemed to be of an inappropriate, offensive, and discriminatory nature. All answers are intended as suggestions only. Programming decisions and interventions should always be discussed with trained professionals prior to implementation. All programs should be individualized for a particular child or student and overseen by a qualified behavior analyst.

Pick of the Week: EasyDaysies Classroom Management Tools

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Say goodbye to spending valuable time making your own classroom organizers. These classroom magnets can easily be used on a whiteboard or in a pocket chart so that students can confidently understand their daily routines in the classroom. With clearly printed text and fun illustrations on each magnet, these classroom organizers will help reduce students’ anxiety while improving cooperation throughout the school day. This week only, you can save 15%* on your order of our newest EasyDaysies Classroom Management Tools for PreK through K and Grades 1 and Up. Just mention or apply our promo code EASYDAYS9 when you place your order with us over the phone or online.

Each set contains 18 magnets measuring 2.5 inches long.

The Kindergarten Kit includes Art, Centers, Circle Time, Clean Up,
Exercise, Exploration, Field Trip, Language, Library, Lunch, Music, Numbers,
Pack Bag, Play Outside, Snack Time, Wash Hands, and 2 blank magnets.

The First Grade Kit includes Art, Assembly, Clean Up, Field Trip, Gym,
Language, Library, Lunch, Math, Music, Science, Silent Reading,
Snack/Recess, Special Guest, Social Studies, and 3 blank magnets.

Don’t forget—this week only, save 15%* when you order the Pre-K/Kindergarten and/or the First Grade sets of EasyDaysies magnetic organizers when you use our code EASYDAYS9 at checkout!

*Offer expires at 11:59pm ET on April 29, 2014.  Not valid on past orders or with any other promotions and offers.  Be sure there are no spaces or dashes in your code at check out!

Ready Set Play! Strategies for Modifying Games

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In continuing our celebration of Autism Awareness Month, we’d like to share with you another article from our very own Sam Blanco, BCBA on how to modify games for learners with autism.  Sam focuses on helping educators and parents understand how to thoughtfully integrate games, toys, and technology for students with autism and other developmental delays, and here she presents a few simple, yet effective, ways of adapting every day games and toys to meet the needs to students on the spectrum.

Ready Set Play! Strategies for Modifying Games
by Sam Blanco, BCBA

Choosing games for learners with autism can be quite challenging, especially when your goal is to provide social opportunities through playing games with peers or siblings. Sometimes you find a game that you think your learner will find highly motivated, only to discover there are aspects of the game that make your learner lose interest quickly. Here are a few tips to help modify games to meet the needs of your individual learner.

One of the easiest and best modifications you can make is to shorten the duration of an activity. Most of the games and activities you will find on this website take 10-15 minutes. For longer activities, I will set a timer and let the learner know that the game will last for 10 minutes (or less, depending on the learner) or allow the learner to choose the duration of the game. Also, though it may feel unnatural, (especially if your learner is engaging with you when he/she rarely does) I try to end the activity when the learner’s interest is at its peak. This will make the learner more likely to request or be interested in the activity in the future.

If the game is too difficult for the learner, you can do some of the steps for your learner. For example, for some of my early learners, I will complete one or more steps in the game Roll & Play. Some of my learners struggle with grasping the cards between their index finger and thumb. I can pick up the card for them, and then continue with the game. This allows us to maintain a quick pace in the game, maintain the learner’s interest, and continue the focus on the skills presented in the game. It’s important to remember that just because you are completing some of the steps, it does not make the game less valuable. Usually, I am practicing grasping objects in other activities and will eventually introduce it into the game, but I want to maintain focus on only 1 to 2 skills when I am teaching through games. Otherwise, the game can become very slow and less motivating for the learner.

Another easy modification is to simply remove some parts of the game. S’Match is a fantastic memory game that helps learners match items based on three components: shape, color, and number. For some learners, I remove the spinner so that I can introduce the game with just two components. I’ll either verbally tell the learner “This time, we’re matching by color,” or I’ll have a textual cue. This way, I can focus on the skills of matching, while making the game easier for learners who might struggle with the skill of remembering three different components of each picture in the memory game. Once my learner has mastered the game with matching by two components, I introduce the spinner and matching along all three components. (There are also games I play with my learners that just involve the spinner, which you can find here.)

Increase your expectations as quickly as possible. For each of my learners, I typically have two categories of games: Emerging and Mastered. With emerging games, the learner still requires modifications, but I am trying to fade those modifications and increase expectations as quickly as possible while still maintaining the learner’s interest and motivation to play the game. With mastered games, the learner is able to play the game as designed with peers or siblings and I can focus on social goals instead of game-related goals.

Games provide a wide array of opportunities to teach academic, non-cognitive, and social skills. Modifications such as those listed above can open up these opportunities for your learner in age-appropriate and fun ways.

Sam Blanco is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and an ABA provider for students ages 3-12 in NYC. Working in education for ten years with students with Autism Spectrum Disorders and other developmental delays, Sam has developed strategies for achieving a multitude of academic, behavior, and social goals, by organizing resources in an easy-to-use way that also directly connects to data collection and increasing progress in learners with autism. She is the lead contractor for Theatre Development Fund’s Autism Theatre Initiative, working to modify Broadway shows such as The Lion King and Spiderman. She also provides workshops for professionals and parents about assessment, managing difficult behaviors, verbal behavior, and using games and technology effectively in teaching practices. You can follow Sam on Twitter: @SamBlancoBCBA.

Pick of the Week: Early Intervention Resources

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It’s a fact that Early Intervention leads to positive outcomes for our children. Understand the key principles of Early Intervention approaches with our two newest additions to our early intervention books, The Early Intervention Workbook and Early Intervention Every Day! These reference books cover evidence-based intervention approaches, as well as the best practices on implementation.  Buy one or both of them this week only and save 15%* by using our promo code DRLEI15 at check out.

The Early Intervention Workbook: Essential Practices for Quality Services was written for current and future early intervention providers of all disciplines who are looking to maximize their efficacy. The entire early intervention process is broken down into seven key principles with detailed tips, activities, and strategies on both what to do and how to do it. The workbook covers referral, initial visits with the family, evaluation and assessment, IFSP development and implementation, and supporting a smooth transition out of EI. The authors strive to empower professionals to make positive change happen on both a personal and systemic level by identifying and focusing on successful evidence-based intervention approaches and providing guidance on actual implementation. This is a comprehensive book for group training or independent work, and a great reference.

Effective early intervention doesn’t stop when the provider leaves a family’s home. For parents and caregivers, Early Intervention Every Day! is a practical sourcebook packed with research-based strategies that demonstrate how take a consistent, active role in supporting young children’s development. Targeting 80 skills in six key developmental domains for children birth to 3, this guide also gives professionals loads of ready-to-use ideas for helping families embed learning opportunities into their everyday routines. The guide empowers families to work on IFSP goals during recurring activities, such as grocery shopping or riding in the car, and to give children opportunities to practice and reinforce new skills throughout the day, along with many other strategies for helping children with developmental delays participate more fully in family life.

Remember – this week only, you can save 15%* on your order of either or both The Early Intervention Workbook or Early Intervention Every Day! by using promo code DRLEI15 when you check out online!

*Offer expires at 11:59pm ET on April 15, 2014.  Not valid on past orders or with any other promotions and offers.  Be sure there are no spaces or dashes in your code at check out!

Tip of the Week: Choose When to Battle

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Instead of choosing your battles, choose when to battle.

Recently at a workshop I was providing, a parent shared a difficult behavior that her 8 year old son with autism was exhibiting. When it was time to play with trains, he wanted a specific train. He would scream and cry until his mom found the specific train he wanted, and sometimes she was unable to find it at all. The screaming often lasted 30-60 minutes. She said this frequent behavior was stressful for both her, her son, and her other two children.

My suggestion to her was to tell her son “wait quietly,” and that she not search for the train while he was screaming or crying. As long as he was quiet, she would search, but when he started screaming or crying she would stop searching. We talked about the importance of just asking one time to “wait quietly,” and whether or not her son would benefit from a textual prompt (such as a paper that said “Wait quietly. I’m looking.”) As we discussed this, the parent said, “I just know I can’t do that all the time. I have to pick my battles.”

It’s important to note here that I have very different expectations for teachers and parents when it comes to implementing interventions. A teacher’s sole purpose when they’re with your child is to teach in a way to meet their unique needs. Teachers should be implementing an intervention 100% of the time.

Parents, on the other hand, are in a very different situation. Parents are frequently trying to implement the intervention while also cooking dinner, answering the phone, taking care of other children, etc. Unless the intervention is addressing a dangerous behavior, I don’t expect parents to be implementing the intervention 100% of the time. It’s unrealistic given the different environment the parent is working within.

But I’m not letting parents off the hook! Let’s go back to the example from the workshop.

My response to this parent was that picking your battles doesn’t necessarily mean choosing to address other, less stressful behaviors instead of this behavior. Instead of picking your battles, think of it as picking when to battle. For this parent, she would direct her son to “Wait quietly” when she knew she was ready to implement the intervention. When she knew she wouldn’t be able to implement the intervention (because she was excessively tired or she had the other two siblings with her and no other adult support) she would not say “Wait quietly.”

This may seem a bit silly at first, but over time, the child learns that when mom says “Wait quietly,” she means it. I also suggested that the first time she tries it, she should set herself up for success. Have her mother babysit the other two children, have a therapist or teacher come provide support or coaching if possible, and make sure she has enough time to follow through on implementing the intervention successfully the first time. While it takes some time and planning, the long term benefits can be powerful for the whole family.

I do not know if this particular parent tried out any of my suggestions after the workshop, but I have used this strategy with many other parents over the years. Two things tend to happen. One: the child figures out the parent means what he/she says. Two: As the child learns this and the parent experiences success, the parent uses the intervention more frequently creating a calmer, less stressful environment for both parents and children.

Sam Blanco, PhD, LBA, BCBA is an ABA provider for students ages 3-15 in NYC. Working in education for sixteen years with students with Autism Spectrum Disorders and other developmental delays, Sam utilizes strategies for achieving a multitude of academic, behavior, and social goals. She is also an assistant professor in the ABA program at The Sage Colleges, and she is the Senior Clinical Strategist at Chorus Software Solutions.

Pick of the Week: Snap Shots Critical Thinking Photo Cards

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Promote higher-level thinking with these cards that combine critical thinking and visual literacy to teach students to look at the “big picture” as they investigate complex ideas and reach reason-based conclusions. Save 15% on your order of the Snap Shots Critical Thinking Photo Cards this week only by entering in our promotional code SNAPSH6 at checkout!

Sample

We have two beautiful sets of photo flashcards available for students in PreK and Grades 1 and up. The photos on these cards are all brain-teasing, eye-sharpening scenes that press students to look a little deeper as they develop complex ideas such as cause and effect, predicting, and making inferences. Each photo flashcard depicts a scene on the front and contains four accompanying questions on the back of each card. Over 150 prompts in each set encourage personal responses from students and help boost speaking, listening, and writing skills.

The PreK set contains photo cards that depict scenes of young children in various playtime, home, and classroom activities, such as cooking, reading, gardening, blowing out birthday candles, playing piano, and much more.

The photo cards in the Grade 1 set depict scenes of nature, as well as children and adults in various situations and settings, such as hitting a baseball, packing and moving, cooking, grocery shopping, and much more.

Remember – this week only, you can take 15%* off your purchase of one or more of the PreK and Grade 1 levels of the Snap Shots Critical Thinking Photo Cards by using code SNAPSH6 when you check out online.

*Valid through March 25, 2014 at 11:59pm EST. Not compatible with any other offer. Be sure there are no spaces or dashes in the code at checkout!

Prompting Behavior Change: A Guest Post by Steve Levinson, PhD, Inventor of the MotivAider

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We’re thrilled to bring you this exclusive article written by Steve Levinson, PhD, Inventor of the incredible MotivAider. We’re all familiar with the incredible versatility of the MotivAider in facilitating behavior changes and here, Dr. Levinson explains how behavior modification works. We’re so grateful to Dr. Levinson for this fantastic article. You can find more exclusive articles from leading experts in the field in our new catalog.

Prompting Behavior Change by Steve Levinson, PhD

If you’re a parent or a teacher who’s trying to change a child’s behavior, you’re probably frustrated. It’s not easy to change a child’s behavior. But before you blame the child, consider this: It’s not all that easy to change your own behavior either! Even when you have a good reason to make a particular change, and you’re really serious about doing it, changing your own behavior is rarely a snap.

Why it’s so hard to change behavior  So, what makes it so hard to change behavior? If you think it’s simply a matter of motivation, think again. Motivation is certainly important, but many behavior change attempts fail not because of insufficient motivation. They fail because of insufficient focus.

You can’t change your own behavior unless you can keep your attention focused on making the desired change. While it’s easy to do things the old way because the old way is automatic, doing things the new way requires focus.

Unfortunately, whether you’re a parent, a teacher or a child, it’s not easy to stay focused. That’s because, amazingly, the human mind has no built-in mechanism to keep our attention focused on making the changes we want to make. So it’s really no wonder that our good intentions keep getting lost in the shuffle.

If you’re not convinced that (1) focus is an essential ingredient in the recipe for behavior change and (2) we’re not well-equipped to stay focused on the changes we want to make, here’s an example that should help. Suppose you have a bad habit of slouching. You realize that slouching is not only bad for your back, it’s bad for your image. So you promise yourself that from now on that you’ll sit up straight and stand up tall. How hard could that be? Yet soon—very soon—after setting out to improve your posture, you’re right back to slouching.

So, what happened? Did you lose your motivation? No. You lost your focus! You failed to make a change you genuinely wanted to make because you simply couldn’t keep your attention focused on making it.Yes, it’s hard to change behavior because changing behavior requires focus, and none of us—not parents, not teachers and especially not children—are particularly well-equipped to stay focused.

So what can we do to stay more focused on the positive changes we want to make? And what can we do to help our children or our students stay focused on the positive changes they want to make?

Prompting: A simple way to facilitate behavior change  One solution is to use “prompting.” Prompting is a simple behavior change method that uses frequently repeated signals to keep your attention focused on making a desired change.

To illustrate how and why prompting works, let’s return to the posture example we used earlier. Only this time, after you promise yourself that you’ll sit up straight and stand up tall from now on, I’m going to follow you around and every few minutes—whether you’re slouching or not—tap you on the shoulder and whisper in your ear, “You’re no slouch.”

With me reminding you frequently, I guarantee that you’ll stay focused on improving your posture. What’s more, soon I’ll be able to stop whispering because just feeling the tap on your shoulder will be all it takes to send you the associated message, “Yes, I’m no slouch.” Sometimes when you feel the tap, you’ll find yourself slouching, and you’ll straighten up right away. Other times when you feel the tap, you’ll notice that your posture is already fine. It doesn’t matter whether you catch yourself slouching or you catch yourself with perfect posture. Either way, you’ll be making progress in replacing your bad posture habit with a good posture habit. Before long, you’ll automatically be sitting up straight and standing up tall.

Fortunately, there’s a more practical and even more effective way to use prompting. Instead of relying on a dedicated person to follow you around and keep tapping you on the shoulder, all you really need to implement basic prompting is a timer or other mechanical or electronic means that’s capable of sending you frequent private signals automatically. The process is simple. First, you devise a brief personal message that urges you to make the change you want to make. Then, you associate the personal message with the signal—the same way we associated “You’re no slouch” with a tap on the shoulder in the example above. The result is that whenever you receive the signal, you’ll focus your attention on making the change you want to make. And by making certain that you receive signals often enough, you’ll stay focused.

Prompting isn’t magic, but it can do amazing things. What’s more, because it allows us to overcome an obstacle that all of us—parents, teachers and children—share, it’s remarkably versatile. The same simple method that can be used to help a young child do a better job of staying on task can also be used to help parents and teachers consistently stick to an effective technique they forget to use when they’re busy or frustrated. The same simple method that can be used to help a child make a constructive keystone change in her social behavior can also be used to help parents and teachers stay cool, calm, collected, and constructive when interacting with a defiant child.

Pick of the Week: Circle Time Learning Activity

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Teach math skills in an active way! Sharpen early math skills, along with shape, number, and color recognition through a variety of kinesthetic games with the All Around Learning Circle Time Activity Set. Gathering for circle time has never been so much fun. This week only, save 15% on your order of the All Around Learning Circle Time Activity Set by entering in promo code ALLCRC7 at checkout.

Circle Time Set

Learning through play will help encourage gross motor skill development and group cooperation skills, as well as increase self-esteem and positive attitudes in your students. This set includes: one lightweight, wipe-clean vinyl mat that measures 4 feet in diameter and folds easily for storage; five inflatable cubes (5 inches each); five canvas bean bags in red, orange, yellow, green, and blue (3 inches each); and an Activity Guide that offers suggestions for activities, such as Color Find, Circle Around the Colors, Number Line-Up, Number Toss, and more. This circle time mat is a wonderful addition to the classroom and in the home for more structured learning.

Don’t forget – this week only, you can take 15% off your order of the All Around Learning Circle Time Activity Set by using code ALLCRC7 when you check out!

Pick of the Week: “Executive Skills in Children and Adolescents”

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Executive function in individuals with autism has become a hot topic, and this is the bestselling guide that helped put executive skills on the map for school-based clinicians and educators.  This week only, you can save 15% on your copy of the second edition of Executive Skills in Children and Adolescents.  Just use our promotional code EXECSK5 at checkout.

This manual explains how these critical cognitive processes develop and why they play such a key role in children’s behavior and school performance. Concise and practitioner-friendly, the manual provides step-by-step guidelines and practical tools to promote executive skill development by implementing environmental modifications, individualized instruction, coaching, and whole-class interventions.

Included in this book are sections on developing behavioral objectives and measuring intervention effectiveness, strategies to intervene at levels of the student and the environment, routines in getting ready to begin the day, collecting homework, writing papers, studying for tests, managing open-ended tasks, managing anxiety, and much more. With these strategies, you will be able to address executive skills such as task initiation, sustained attention, working memory, planning, organization, time management, emotional control, and response inhibition, among others. More than 24 reproducible checklists, questionnaires, planning sheets and assessment tools are also included to empower readers to immediately help teach executive skills.

We’ve also included a sample chapter on our site so you can have a sneak peek at this edition!  Don’t forget – take 15% off your order of Executive Skills in Children and Adolescents: A Practical Guide to Assessment and Intervention by using EXECSK5 at checkout this week!

Visual Schedule to Improve Independent Play Skills in Children with Autism

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Parents, caregivers, therapists and teachers alike work so hard to teach a variety of play skills but what happens when your child or student doesn’t make that leap from facilitated play to independent play? Independent play is such an important skill that will allow him or her to better connect with their peers, build friendships, expand problem-solving skills and structure downtime.  A successful transition from demonstrating play skills with adult support to playing independently can be impacted by a myriad of variables.

Some of my students struggle with independent play because it is difficult to move from a thick schedule of reinforcement of 1:1 adult attention to a thinner one of just having an adult “check in” once in a while.  Other learners have impairments impacting executive function, specifically the organization and sequencing of steps for meaningful and reinforcing play as well as on-task behavior, task completion and working memory. Additionally, in some cases the skill of independent play is elusive because teachers struggle to find ways to fade out prompts or to successfully thin out the schedule of reinforcement.

Below is the visual schedule with data sheets for measuring acquisition and progress that I have created.  I have found it useful with learners with very different skill sets and abilities.  Click here for a comprehensive Task Analysis on teaching independent play using a visual schedule.

Keep in mind that this is for learners that:

  • Have successfully acquired a varied repertoire of play skills
  • Do not require visual schedules that break down every step of the play
  • Are able to complete activities with delayed reinforcement

In order to prepare this for use with the learner:

  • Set up a toy organizational system that has toys bins
  • Print the materials and laminate the schedule strip and the cut out shapes.
  • Attach Velcro dots to the bins, schedule strip and shapes and to the work surface if you like
  • Identify activities that are suitable for this schedule

Remember that any open-ended activities like building blocks or coloring can be turned into close-ended activities by limiting the number of pieces or by teaching the learner to use a timer.

As you would when teaching any schedule, use a most-to-least prompting strategy, only use verbal instruction for the initial direction or SD (e.g. “Go play.”), and prompt only from behind and out of view.

The schedule I have been using has a smiley face at the end of the schedule indicating a “free choice” time which all of my students understand.  However, if you are using this with a learner that requires a visual reminder of what they are working for, you could easily adapt this by putting a picture of the reward in the place of the smiley face.  Time to play!

*Don’t forget to download your free visual schedule and data sheets here!