Tag Archives: Applied Behavior Analysis

Tip of the Week: Scanning – Best Teaching Practices

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Scanning is one of the first skills we teach learners with autism. This skill, (looking at each item presented and using that information to make decisions,) is essential for almost every other skill we teach children in early childhood. Historically, we have taught scanning skills through matching and listener responding activities by lining up 3 pictures or objects, then having the learner choose the correct match out of the three items or point to the item we have named. However, this is not representative of the way scanning skills are used in the natural environment.

Toddler boy reaching for carrots in grocery storeConsider how you use scanning in your own life: searching a row of books on a shelf to find a particular title, trying to find your favorite tomato soup in a supermarket aisle filled with soups, or looking through a box of Legos for one blue square Lego to complete a structure. None of the ways we scan in the natural environment present materials in a field of 3 neatly lined-up items.

There are steps you should take in order to help prepare your learner for scanning in the natural environment. When working on matching items or identifying items, you should quickly reduce prompts (as discussed in this previous post) and increase the difficulty of scanning. There are two ways to do this: (1) increase the number of items in the field and (2) make the array of items messy.

If we take a look at matching, here is a sample of the steps for a matching program you might use to help teach the skill:

  1. Match an object to 1 of 3 objects placed on the table
  2. Match an object to 1 of 5 objects placed on the table
  3. Match an object to 1 of 5 objects placed in a messy array on the table
  4. Match an object to 1 of 8 objects placed in a messy array on the table
  5. Match an object to 1 of 10 objects placed in a messy array on the table
  6. Match an object to 1 of 5 objects with similar but non-matching items in the messy array (example: you’re trying to match a red car, in the array there will be a red car as well as a blue car and a red truck.)
  7. Match an object to 1 of 8 objects with similar but non-matching items in the messy array

As the learner masters each step, he/she is getting closer to what that skill looks like in the natural environment. Lastly, here are a few examples of how children use scanning in the natural environment. These can be used to practice the skill in ways that are motivating to your individual learner:

  • searching for all the pieces to a costume for dress up play
  • finding a specific piece to complete a puzzle or block structure
  • looking for his/her favorite candy or snack at the supermarket
  • finding a specified item in a picture (for example, if I have a learner that loves Elmo, I’ll find many pictues with Elmo shown and have the learner point him out)
  • retrieving shoes from a shelf or closet
  • picking out a nail polish color
  • choosing their favorite tv show from a DVR or computer menu
  • playing “I Spy”
  • finding the right tool from a messy utensil drawer for a cooking activity
  • retreiving his/her favorite train from a bucket of trains

Tip of the Week: Using a MotivAider to Help Parents Give Positive Reinforcement

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Several years ago I worked with an eight-year-old girl named Stella in her home. Gina, her mother, was at her wit’s end. She had Stella, a four-year-old daughter, and an 18-month-old son to care for plus household duties, balancing work and home life, and maintaining her marriage. She constantly felt stressed, which was compounded by the fact that Stella was not yet speaking or communicating any needs beyond what she wanted to eat, was still not toilet trained, and made a mess everywhere she went. Gina felt that she spent her days following Stella around the house, picking up after her, and yelling at her to stop. She frequently would find Stella dumping out a bin of toys or sweeping all the books off of a shelf, then try to distract her with a Youtube video or a snack.

At this point, Gina was feeling hopeless.

DRT_382_MotivAiderSo you can imagine that she was highly skeptical when I suggested that using the MotivAider, a simple device that vibrates at timed intervals, might make her life easier. And while she was prepared for me to try to change Stella’s behaviors, she was not expecting me to suggest she change some of her own behaviors. However, she decided to give it a try.

She set the MotivAider to vibrate every two minutes, then clipped it to her waistband. Her instructions? Every time she felt it vibrate, she should go find Stella. If Stella was engaging in appropriate behaviors (sitting calmly, looking at a book without damaging it, playing with a toy she enjoyed, or watching a video) Gina would give her some positive reinforcement. This included but was not limited to giving her hugs, presenting a snack, watching the video with her, or bringing up her favorite Youtube videos if she was doing something else. If Stella was engaging in an inappropriate behavior, Gina would ignore it (as long as Stella was not in any danger.)

To Gina’s surprise, Stella quickly stopped dumping out bins of toys and making a mess all over the house. All Gina needed was an easy reminder to catch Stella doing something good.

The MotivAider is one of my all-time favorite tools. You can program it to vibrate on a fixed or variable schedule at different duration and intensity levels. I use it for many things, but I’ve had great success in using it with parents. It’s easy for them to use independently, they can use it even when I am not present, and it fits into their busy lifestyles.

Many parents (and teachers) get stuck in the same cycle as Gina did, consistently reinforcing undesirable behaviors by providing attention whenever those behaviors are present. With the help of the MotivAider, Gina was able to change that contingency. (It should be noted that this intervention would not work as described above for a behavior that is not maintained by attention.)

While I was brought in to help change Stella’s behavior, we also changed Gina’s behavior. When we started, Gina provided reinforcement to Stella at every two minute interval in which she found her behaving appropriately. Over time we increased that interval, so that Stella wasn’t receiving such a high rate of reinforcement.

Gina reported that the house felt more calm now, and she had more energy during the day. It also gave her a confidence boost. Having success in this one area made her feel more hopeful and invested in creating success in other areas. Other families I’ve used it with have experienced similar results. One simple tool can lead to massive change for a family.

**Names and identifying characteristics have been changed to protect the identities of my clients.

Tip of the Week: Avoid Prompt Dependence When Teaching New Skills

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“She won’t say hi unless I say ‘Say Hello.’” “He will only wash his hands if I put his hand on the knob to turn on the water.” “He won’t use his fork until I put it in his hand.”

I hear statements like this all the time from both parents and providers working with learners what autism. What they are describing is “prompt dependence,” which is when a learner requires a prompt from a teacher or parent in order to complete a task. So how do you avoid prompt dependence with your own learners?

Let’s start with the prompt itself. There are many different ways to prompt which can be divided into levels by how intrusive the prompt is. Below is a sample of a prompt hierarchy, with the least intrusive prompt at the top and the most intrusive prompt at the bottom. Your goal is to quickly move through the prompt levels to move your learner to independence.

Prompting Hierarchy

Now let’s look at two different examples to show these prompt levels. In the first example, the goal is for the learner to greet a person who walks into the room. In the second example, the goal is for the learner to pull up his/her pants after using the bathroom as a part of a toileting routine.

Prompt Chart

Research shows that least-to-most prompting increases potential for errors and slows down rate of acquisition for new skills. Therefore, most-to-least prompting is preferred for teaching new skills. This means that you would start at a full physical prompt, then move your way up the prompt heirarchy until your learner achieves independence with the task.

In the past, when working with discrete trials, it has been common practice to have a learner master a skill at a certain prompt level, then move to a less intrusive prompt and have the learner master the skill at that prompt level, steadily moving towards independence. This can actually encourage prompt dependence because the learner remains on the same prompt level for too long.

Instead, you should try to quickly move up the prompt hierarchy in a way that makes sense for the skill you are trying to teach. Below are some tips to help you help your learners achieve independence.

  • Follow the rule of three: Whether you are teaching with discrete trials or in the natural environment, once your learner has successfully responded to a demand three times consecutively, move to a less intrusive prompt.
  • If you are taking data, make a notation of what prompt level you are using at each step. (And remember, that only independent responses should be counted towards the learner’s percentage of correct responses.)
  • At the end of a session or group of trials, note what prompt level you were at by the end of the session. Then start at that level during the next session.
  • If your learner does not respond correctly when you move to a less intrusive prompt, then move back to the most recent prompt level. Once they respond again correctly at that prompt level three times consecutively, move again to a less restrictive prompt.
  • Remember that verbal prompts are very difficult to fade. Though they are less instrusive, you should avoid using them when possible.
  • You can pair prompts and then fade out the more intrusive prompts. For example, with the sample of pulling up pants described above, you can pair a visual prompt with a gestural prompt by showing the symbol for pulling up pants while pointing at the pants. Over time, you stop using the symbol and just use the gestural prompt. The gestural prompt can be faded by moving your point further and further away from the pants.
  • Write down what the prompt levels will look like for the specific task you are teaching. This way you will be fully prepared to quickly move your learner towards independence.
  • Differentiate your reinforcement! If you move to a less intrusive prompt and the learner responds correctly, then you should immediately provide a stronger reinforcer than you did for previous responses. If a learner spontaneously responds without a prompt, you should do what I call “throwing them a party” by combining reinforcers (such as tickles and high fives) or providing a highly desirable reinforcer.

Prompting can be very difficult to do well, but following these tips should help set your learner on the path to independence.

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!

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.

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 Stacy Asay, LMSW, ABA Provider and Different Roads Consultant

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StacyDo you believe in fate? Many years ago, after a particularly grueling day, Stacy thought, maybe it would be nice to have a 9-5 job. On a whim, she contacted Different Roads inquiring about job opportunities. When we saw her resume and credentials, we nearly jumped out of our seats with excitement. Of course, luckily for all of us, Stacy realized her calling was in the field working directly with children but she’s been consulting with us ever since.

Stacy has worked with us on so many projects, each one intended to bring our customers the best materials we can and create a community for all of us to be a part of. She has provided invaluable input on product selection, contributed informative and practical blog posts and been an irreplaceable source of information on the realities of providing ABA services and being an Early Intervention Provider. We don’t know what we would do without her!

Stacy worked on the development of our robust app, Tell Me About It! Teaching Language by Receptive Function, Feature and Category. She developed and created Hooray for Play! Leading Learners Along the Path to Play. These flashcards break down the components of 31 individual play schema cards into the three organized sections that provide a memorable framework for socio-dramatic play. The Do! Section explains the various roles, Say!! outlines possible scripted statements by the involved actors and Play!!! offers suggestions for props and set-up.

We asked Stacy a few questions about her work and what keeps her inspired:

Tell us about a particularly influential child you’ve worked with and how it impacted your approach to EI?

Wow, this is a really hard question!   Without a doubt each student I have had the privilege of working with has provided insight into my work with children and families in invaluable ways.  I can’t pinpoint one student out of all of my sixteen years that has single handedly impacted my approach in any quantifiable way because the process has been more cumulative than that.  However, I have learned to accept that I will constantly be surprised by my students and am reminded everyday to just set the bar high no matter what the initial presentation of the student is.  It is only natural that parents and colleagues take the current level of the child’s functioning and try to extrapolate that because facing the unknown is always hard but I try and remind myself and others that programmatic decisions can’t be made based on what we think might happen or how we assume learning and development may unfold.  Instead we should enlist our creativity and collaborative efforts to teach what is socially relevant and appropriately challenging for that particular student in that moment.

If you had one piece of advice to teachers or therapists just entering the field, what would it be?

I would have to say “Be flexible!”  Our students have a diagnosis characterized by rigidity in thought and behavior and often ABA therapists meet a child’s rigidity with their own rigidity about the right way to teach something just because it worked with the child before. Or perhaps you will teach “Sam” to tact colors using flashcards because that is how it is “supposed to be taught” without any consideration to individualizing the teaching conditions, addressing individual specific motivational issues or without concern for the lack of generalization or increased prompt dependency.  ABA is a science that employs a systematic analysis of external conditions or factors that either increase or decrease the likelihood of a behavior.  Within that we have infinite possibilities to harness the science in a way that is best for an individual child and a myriad of opportunities to model flexibility for our student through our own behavior.

BIO

Stacy L. Asay, LMSW is a licensed social worker, providing home-based Early Intervention services to children and their families in the New York City area.

After graduating from Hunter College with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology, she went on to complete a Master’s of Science in Social Work from Columbia University in 2006 and completed the course requirements toward board certification in May of 2013.

With nearly sixteen years of experience, her work with special needs children integrates a strengths-based, holistic approach to child and family augmented with the tools of Applied Behavior Analysis, a methodology that allows for reliable measurement, objective evaluation of behaviors, and the systematic teaching of language and learning skills.  This results in an individualized curriculum that equips children with the tools they need for learning and living while honoring their unique spirit.

Currently, Stacy’s professional interests lie in the realm of developing new methods and tools for the effective teaching of play skills.

Pick of the Week: Visual Schedules

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schoolSummer is winding down and for most it’s time to get back to a routine. For many of our students and children that means getting a handle on a busy new schedule of self-care, school, therapy sessions, extra-curricular activities, play dates and special occasions. A visual schedule or an activity schedule can help pull all of the parts of a hectic day together for a child and increase independence, build organizational skills as well as improve comprehension skills. A visual schedule provides clear expectations, utilizes a child’s visual learning strengths, can reduce anxiety or difficulty with transitions, and can increase flexibility.

This week, we’re offering a 15% discount on some of our favorite products to help you get a visual schedule up and running. Just enter the Promo Code BLOGVS13 to redeem your savings and get organized.

DRP_928_Clear_Schedule_Token_StripClear Schedule with Token Strip: This is an option that is easy and portable for those who want to customize and create their own schedule pictures. There is a token economy that runs alongside which is great for learners who require a thick schedule of reinforcement and need to earn a token for each step of the schedule and can be used for any age.

DRP_062_On_Track_Responsibility_Chart

 

On Track! Responsibility & Behavior System: This product is a great tool for children 8 and up. It is a wonderful resource for keeping the whole family on track across multiple daily routines and behavioral objectives. The detailed instructional guide walks you through the implementation and execution of the system is an added bonus.
DRP_916_EasyDaysies_Magnetic_Schedule

 

 

EasyDaysies Magnetic Schedule for Kids: The simplicity of this is fantastic. The Magnetic Fold & Go schedule board travels with you easily and can adhere directly to any metal surface. The imagery is very clear and easy to understand and the To Do and Done Columns are intuitive and easy for even the youngest child to use. The starter kit includes 18 magnets that cover all the basics in your learner’s daily routine but as proficiency increases there are supplemental packs are available to include more specific magnets covering Chores & Special Times, Family & Extracurricular Activities, and Get Dressed & Bathroom routines.

*This offer expires on September 24, 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!