Pick of the Week: “Fitting In and Having Fun” Vol. 4: High School Life

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There are many behaviors that high school students are expected to recognize and display. Students need to be aware of these implicit expectations in order to make good choices, become more independent, and form healthy relationships. This week only, we are offering a 15% discount off of the video modeling program “Fitting In and Having Fun”, Vol. 4: High School Life to help your high school student improve their social awareness. Enter BLOGFITN2* at checkout to apply these savings to your online order.

This video modeling DVD follows a teen named Jon as he learns to navigate high school by becoming more aware of the unspoken rules his teachers and peers expect him to know. The DVD includes the TD Social Skills exclusive “What they’re thinking” insight windows to help students realize the impact of their behavior on others. Actual high school peer mentors who offer advice on how to solve teen problems are also featured. “Springboard to discussion” questions explore each topic further to help students to better understand and improve social exchanges.

Watch the video below for a preview!

Fitting In and Having Fun, Volume 4: High School LifeThe social situations reviewed on this DVD are:

  • Getting Organized
  • Classroom Protocol
  • Sharing Conversations
  • Staying Calm to Problem-Solve
  • Showing Empathy
  • Manners Count
  • Dealing With Stress
  • Embarrassing Situations
  • Falling Head Over Heels

This week only, save 15% on your order of “Fitting In and Having Fun”, Vol. 4: High School Life by using the promotional code BLOGFITN2* at checkout!

*Offer is valid until November 5, 2013 at 11:59pm EST. Not compatible with any other offer. Be sure there are no spaces or dashes in the promo code at checkout!

Tip of the Week: Do It Again

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Teacher and Student In A Classroom At SchoolTeaching learners with autism or other developmental delays can frequently be a complicated, stress-inducing labor of love. This is why I especially appreciate that one of the most useful strategies in working with learners of all ages is just three simple words: “Do it again.”

The basic idea behind “Do it again,” (Or “Try it again,” or “Do it better”) is that you are calmly stating that the learner must try an action again and do it better than previously done. You are not yelling, you’re voice isn’t even raised. And you are communicating to the learner that you know he/she is capable of doing more.

In some cases, working with learners who may require more invasive prompts such as physical prompts, it may be necessary to have two adults for this to work best. Below are a few example scenarios of how this might work.

Scenario One

  • Teacher asks student to hand a paper to her.
  • Learner drops paper on desk next to her hand.
  • Teacher: (Hands paper back to student.) Try it again. (Holds hand out for paper.)
  • Learner places paper in hand.
  • Teacher: Thank you.

Scenario Two

  • Non-verbal learner wants to get attention from teacher. Grabs teacher’s shirt and pulls.
  • Second adult (possibly another teacher or paraprofessional): Try it again. (Provides hand-over-hand assistance for giving a light tap to get teacher attention.)
  • Teacher: What do you need, _____?

Scenario Three

  • Learner: S@*!
  • Teacher: Try again.
  • Learner: S@*!
  • Teacher: Try it again. (calm, even tone)
  • Learner: I’m mad.

Scenario Four

  • Learner is running across the room to get a toy.
  • Teacher: Go back. Try again. (The learner must return to the point in which he/she began to run.)
  • Learner walks across the room.

Behaviors to use this with:

  • recurring behaviors in which you know the student knows the rule, or you have repeated the rule many times
  • behaviors that are maintained by attention or desiring “shock value” such as cursing, insulting, or using rude language
  • increasing behaviors related to polite speech
  • decreasing behaviors that could cause injury (such as running in the classroom or being rough with peers or adults)

Why it works:

  • you are demonstrating a calm sense of control
  • you are demonstrating that you have and enforce high expectations
  • you are willing to spend the time to have your learner complete requests correctly
  • the learner is still receiving attention, but it is low-quality attention. You should differentiate the quality of the attention you provide based on the quality of the learner’s behavior.
  • the learner still gets what he/she desires, but only after behaving in the desired manner. It is important that the learner still receives the tangible, attention, or escape instead of being punished for finally engaging in the desired behavior, EVEN IF the learner has to “do it again” multiple times. Over time, the learner will engage in the appropriate behavior more quickly because it increases the speed with which they receive the desired item or activity.

 

Pick of the Week: AFLS School Skills Assessment Protocol

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We’re excited to let you know that the AFLS School Skills Assessment Protocol, the latest protocol in the Assessment of Functional Living Skills Series (AFLS), is now available. This assessment, skills tracking system, and curriculum guide assesses and develops a variety of skills, routines and social situations that are critical for success in educational settings. This week only, we are offering a 15% discount off your order of the AFLS School Skills Assessment Protocol. Apply our promo code BLOGAFLS5 to your order at checkout to redeem your savings. Note that this Protocol is only available to registered users of the AFLS Guide. Your registration number will be required upon ordering. This five-digit number begins with “FS” and can be found printed on the lower left hand corner of your AFLS Guide.

The skills included in the School Skills Protocol are essential for successful functioning in different types of classrooms, in all parts of the school campus, and with peers and various staff.

The AFLS School Skills Assessment Protocol also incorporates skills that are necessary in a wide range of classroom environments (i.e., special day classes, “pull out” classrooms, inclusion, regular education), and considers the individual’s level of development (e.g., language, behavior, and cognitive abilities). All age levels of education (i.e., elementary school, middle school, high school, college) are addressed. The School Skills Protocol includes:

  • Classroom Mechanics
  • Routines and Expectations
  • Meals at School
  • Social Skills
  • Technology
  • Common Knowledge
  • Core Academics
  • Applied Academics

This week only, save 15% on your purchase of the AFLS School Skills Assessment Protocol by entering in the promo code BLOGAFLS5 at checkout!*

*Offer is valid until October 29, 2013 at 11:59pm EST. Order must include AFLS Registration number located on the front lower left-hand corner of your AFLS Guide. Be sure to exclude spaces and/or dashes in your registration number and promo code!

Sam’s Hints for the Holidays: 6 Tips for Success on Halloween

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TrickorTreatHolidays can be challenging for everyone in the family. Your to-do lists get longer, your routines are switched around, and all the little stresses can be especially difficult for your child with autism. Here are a few tips to ease the difficulties related to Halloween.

For Preschool & Elementary Children

  • Practice – Invite your neighbors to have a “rehearsal” for Halloween so your learner can practice the steps. If this isn’t a possibility for you, it may be helpful to watch youtube videos of trick-or-treating.
  • Prepare – Let your child know the trick-or-treating route in advance. In the days leading up to Halloween, make yourself aware of houses to avoid based on decorations that are gory, include excessive lighting, have strobes, or any other aspects that you know will make your learner uncomfortable.

For Teenagers

  • Consider alternatives – You may want to join with other parents to throw a Halloween party that is autism-friendly based on the needs of your learner and the needs of other party guests. Another suggestion would be to celebrate with a themed activity, such as Halloween activities at local museums or art institutions.
  • Give a task – Let your child have a job such as giving out the treats at the door, managing an activity for younger children, or helping with decorating your home.

For All Children

  • Be flexible – Think about what is necessary for your learner, what your learner is interested in, and what success looks like in terms of Halloween. Maybe success means you visit three houses, or maybe success means your learner chose a costume. The idea is to keep it fun.
  • Remember it’s okay to stay at home! – You can create your own Halloween tradition that fits your family’s needs. This could include a special movie night, creating Halloween-inspired foods together, or anything that is fun for the whole family.

Meet Natasha Yamane, Sales & Marketing Coordinator

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Natasha joined us out of Barnard College with a Bachelor’s in Psychology. She’s our resident graphic designer and computer guru, creating beautiful content for our site, blog, and email campaigns. She also works directly with our content contributors, distributing their expert tips and articles every week. Inspired by her time at Different Roads communicating with educators and parents on a daily basis in addition to her research experience in mother-child relationships, Natasha hopes to earn a doctorate in Clinical Psychology in her future so she can continue to work closely with special needs families.

Fun Fact: Natasha is certified in teaching Pilates and enjoys giving classes on the side during her free time.

Pick of the Week: Three Bear Family Counters & Sequencing Cards

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Teaching sequencing to our early learners is important for developing logical order of thinking. Practicing hands-on sequencing skills makes discovering abstract concepts even more enjoyable with these manipulatives. This week only, save 15% on the set of Three Bear Family Counters and Sequencing Cards. Just enter in the promo code BLOG3BFC at checkout to redeem your savings.

These adorable counting bears come in three sizes, three weights and 6 colors for counting, size and weight comparison, categorizing by color and for developing pattern and sequencing skills. These bears are also proportionally weighted and can be used on a balance for measurement discoveries. This 96-piece set contains 24 Papa, 24 Mama, and 48 Baby Bear counters.

Perfect for use with the Three Bear Family Counters, these sequencing cards can help develop your child’s ability to recognize size, color, patterns, and logic, as well as early math skills. Children can actively explore and discover abstract concepts through hands-on learning. This set also comes with 30 full-color activities and a teacher’s guide.

Remember, this week only, take 15% off your order of the Three Bear Family Rainbow Counters and Sequencing Cards by entering in the promo code BLOG3BFC at checkout!*

*Offer is valid until Oct. 22nd, 2013 at 11:59pm EST. Not compatible with any other offer. Be sure there are no spaces in the promo code at checkout!

Tip of the Week: Always Be Pairing

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Yesterday, we introduced you to Sam Blanco, BCBA-extraordinaire and Different Roads’ wonderful new consultant. Today, we’re thrilled to commence her new weekly segment, the “Tip of the Week.” We’re sure you’ll find them to be as interesting and insightful as we do.

TeacherStudentHighFiveAlways Be Pairing

If you are familiar with ABA, you have probably heard of the term pairing. The idea behind pairing is that you will establish and maintain a positive relationship with the child by pairing yourself with preferred items or activities. Pairing is important not only in establishing a relationship with a learner; but also in maintaining the relationship, preventing boredom, and increasing motivation throughout your relationship with the child.

Below we address four common misconceptions with pairing.

Common misconception #1: Pairing only takes place when you are building a relationship with the child.

Many therapists I’ve supervised tell me that they pair for the first 1-4 weeks, then start teaching. But pairing shouldn’t end there (nor should it necessarily take so long as we’ll see with common misconception 2.)

Before each session, you should engage in “pre-session” pairing. This means that you are providing free reinforcers without placing demands. For early learners you might start off a session with blowing bubbles or playing with a parachute. For older learners you might start off a session with a game or sharing a book the child enjoys. Usually, it’s a good idea to present the learner with options during pre-session pairing. Involving choice frequently increases motivation, and it also increases the likelihood of delivering a more highly reinforcing item.

Some people feel that pairing every session eats up valuable instructional time. However, pre-session pairing increases motivation and cuts down on maladaptive behavior, which actually increases the amount and the quality of your instructional time for a given session.

Common misconception #2: Pairing takes a long time, and a provider or teacher should not start placing demands until the pairing process is complete.

In some cases, pairing may take a long time. However, in many cases, you are able to start placing demands during the first session. This does not mean that you’ll necessarily start doing discrete trials on the first day, but you can begin placing simple demands to build instructional control while you are pairing. It’s helpful for gaining instructional control to incrementally increase the number of demands placed across sessions, while always starting with a pre-session pairing session.

Unfortunately, pairing is not an activity that can be measured, and it’s important to recognize that the pairing process is never complete.

Common misconception #3: Pairing should involve sensory toys because all children with autism are highly motivated by such toys.

For some learners, sensory toys are highly motivating. However, a common error is using the same pre-session pairing with every learner. What you believe is reinforcing in general may not be reinforcing for your learner in particular. If the learner is not engaging with the item, ignoring it, putting it down, or displaying maladaptive behaviors when the item is presented; then the item is not reinforcing.

Another consideration is that big aspect of pairing is that the learner associates these motivating items and activities with you. While it is beneficial to be the purveyor of fun sensory items; it may be even more beneficial to engage in activities with the learner, such as cause and effect toys or games or physical activity that requires your involvement.

Common misconception #4: A learner will always be motivated by the same items.

Several times when a provider calls me to come in and assist with behavior problems, I discover that there is not enough novelty within their pairing sessions. A learner may love a marble run one session (which happens to be one of my all-time favorite toys) then have no interest the next session. Or, what I see much more often, is that the learner loves the marble run for two months, then suddenly has no interest in it. The provider or teacher is uncertain about what happened and depended too heavily on that reinforcer. Then, without a powerful reinforcer to use throughout the session, the learner displays a drop in motivation and sometimes an increase in maladaptive behaviors.

There’s a word for this: satiation. Learners display a wide range of satiation levels. Some learners you work with may satiate on reinforcers within minutes, while other may prefer to see the same items over and over from session to session. A learner’s satiation can vary based on many different variables, so you should be prepared to address it.

One way to address this is to choose not to bring the same reinforcers to each session. This way, if a battery dies, you forget to bring a favorite toy, or something breaks you have not set yourself and your learner up for failure. A second way to address satiation is to remove the item while the child is still motivated to engage with it, instead of waiting until he/she has lost interest before introducing other choices.           

When pairing is consistent, specific to the child’s interests, and involves a variety of items and activities learners will maintain motivation and you will be more easily able to maintain instructional control.

Meet Sam Blanco, BCBA, MSEd and Consultant to Different Roads

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Sam Blanco, BCBA

Sam Blanco, BCBA

When we stumbled across Sam’s blog, we thought we had died and gone to ABA heaven. Here she was, in New York, with this incredible passion, expertise, dedication to ABA and data collection, and she organized her toys according to what tasks they could be used for in the ABLLS-R and VB-MAPP!? It was like a dream come true! We went to lunch and we happily agreed to work together and bring Sam’s vast experience and expertise to you, our readers.

We’re thrilled to announce that starting tomorrow, Sam is going to be bringing us a “Tip of the Week” touching on everything from strategies for changing frustrating behavior to maximizing the impact of your smartphone. Sam is going to bring the breadth of her experience to create modified instructions for games and follow-up ideas for extending the lesson for mainstream toys and products. She’s also going to focus on creating resources that specifically support paraprofessionals and SEITs working with kids on the spectrum. Sam is an organized force of knowledge and know-how and we’re so excited to be collaborating with her.

If you haven’t visited her blog on teaching through play, we suggest an immediate visit to www.samblanco.com. You’ll find incredible tips on how to use games, apps and toys to teach foundational skills through play and a thoughtful, insightful voice on teaching children with autism.

We asked Sam a few questions so that you can get to know her and her approach…

 A lot of people think still think of Applied Behavior Analysis only as discrete trial, as a rote teaching style. You utilize ABA in all of your teaching, specifically in play. Tell us a bit about what ABA truly is and why you’re such a believer?

At it’s core, ABA is really about understanding the principles of learning and the function of a behavior, then making changes that benefit the learner based on that understanding. This can be applied to skills and behaviors related to language, social skills, daily living skills, academics, and more. Discrete trial instruction is a piece of that, but natural environment teaching has always been an important part of ABA. Over the years, I have found that isolating skills in discrete trials then practicing those skills during play has produced great results for the lives of my learners. And research backs that up!

Your blog is all about toys, games, books and apps and we consider you a bit of an aficionado on the topic of play. If you had to name your absolute top three, what would they be?

I don’t even know how to begin to answer this question! I think because I travel around the city so much for work, I always love things that are small, lightweight, work with a range of age groups, and are still highly motivating. With those characteristics in mind, I’d have to say I love the Melissa & Doug Sandwich Stacking Game, Math Activity Mats, and the Saxoflute. Oh, and marble runs and Creatures Card Game! And Math Dice. (Sorry, I just can’t narrow it down to three.)

Bio

Sam Blanco is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst, an ABA provider for students ages 3-12 in NYC, and the creator of a blog (at www.samblanco.com) devoted to teaching students with autism through games, apps, toys, and books. 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. 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.

 

Pick of the Week: Early Learning Language Library

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Help your young learner build vocabulary, expressive and receptive language skills with the Early Learning Language Library. This week only, we are offering a 15% discount on this set of 160 photographic learning cards to help you stimulate conversation and social awareness in your student or child. Just enter in the promo code BLOGELL7 at check out.

Suitable for children in preschool and kindergarten, these cards include photographs of everyday objects and people with guided questions and encouraging prompts on the back of each card to help teach effective communication skills and improve critical thinking.

Each card measures 8 ½” x 5 ½” and the set even comes with a resource guide with word lists and activity ideas in English and Spanish!

Save 15% on your purchase of the Early Learning Language Library by entering in the promotional code BLOGELL7* at checkout!

*This offer expires on October 15, 2013 at 11:59 pm EST. Not compatible with any other offer. Be sure there are no spaces in the promo code at check out!

Meet Abigail Schlaifer, COO of Different Roads

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Abigail PhotoAlmost everyone who calls our office has talked to Abigail at some point over the last 13 years. She’s our go to person for all questions big and small. If you’ve had a question about a product, if for some reason something went wrong with your order, or if you created a something new and fabulous, you’ve probably spoken to her.

Abigail is head of operations here at Different Roads and really, so much more. She’s our merchandiser, shaping our product line and catalog with the best materials out there for supporting ABA and VB Programs. She does her best to stay on top of what parents and teachers need and what’s available, carefully curating our product line to include only the most useful and practical teaching tools. In addition to sourcing and selecting many of the great products you’ve come to love, she also creates and manages all of our print and catalog content, keeps our website current and accurate, and generates our blog and social media content. She keeps things over here running smoothly and efficiently.

She wears many hats at Different Roads which always keeps her on her toes. She is our go-to person regarding the ins and outs of each of our products; how they work, why you use them, if there happens to be a tortoise included in the Animals flash cards…you catch our drift. She’s been our lead project manager on all of our Apps, collaborating with Julie and Stacy on content to bring our vision to technical reality.

Abigail and Julie also work closely together to stay abreast of changes and innovations in the autism community so that we can bring our customers not only the best products, but a reliable source of information from accredited resources and professionals.

Abigail joined Julie at Different Roads in 2000, fresh out of Brown University, back when we operated out of the hallway in Julie’s apartment. It was an immersive education, learning about how to run a small business and what it actually meant to have a child on the spectrum.  Julie’s daughter Miranda was always in a therapy session or watching the Muppets Take Manhattan down the hall. Operating out of Julie’s home gave Abigail a deep insight into the realities and needs of children with ASD as well as their families in addition to the intensive behavioral therapy so crucial to their growth and success.  Abigail has a deep connection to the community and an empathy that drives her each day.  Her top priority remains supporting teachers and families in their quest to help their kids.