Launching into 2012!

We are twenty-three days into the New Year and we are off to a great start! Our goals are set and motivation is high! Over the last year we have spoken to our clients as well as experts in the industry and, although our goal was to train others, they taught us as well.

Through knowledge gained from our clients, we have launched a free resources section to our site that highlights best practices for schools, universities and service providers. Our end goal – to support you and your organization’s needs.

Free resources will be published through an ongoing series of-

• Case Studies 
• Research Papers
• White Papers
• Surveys
• Interviews with Experts
• Webinars
• Videos

The resource section is something we are all excited about and we want to know what you think!

Do you have ideas for upcoming research, interviews, webinars, surveys, case studies or videos?  We want to hear them! Email us

The Impact of Autism on Families

Autism does not only affect the individuals with the diagnosis, it has a profound impact on their families as well. Families usually are not prepared for the diagnosis of autism. It changes the direction of a family’s life, in ways that they could never imagine.

Some common challenges for  families include:

Strain on the Marraige. One parent may be in denial that their is anything wrong while the other is out aggressively looking for treatments and getting little support from their spouse.
Siblings. Taking care of and balancing attention with siblings of the individual with autism. The effects of having a sibling with autism can be very stressful for families for a number of reasons. The child with autism may be aggressive towards his siblings. Or it could just be having to develop a relationship with a sibling where the siblings do not have anything in common, or can’t communicate with each other as typical siblings do. Many will need support in learning how to interact with their autistic brother or sister.

Recreation and Quality of Life. Some families hesitate to take part in leisure activities such as the beach, and community outings like the grocery store, due to the embarrassing behaviors that have become part of daily life.

Responsibility. Families also have many new responsibilities and appointments they have to juggle. Parents may get overwhelmed with all of the new information that they have to learn, and choices they have to make. Some people refer to autism as a puzzle, and for families, it is like putting the many pieces of the puzzle of autism together. And sometimes the pieces do not fit together so easily.

Being sensitive to all of these issues when working with a family is important.  Often times we, as professionals, forget that after we work with the individual, we hand them back over to their parents and return to our lives.  The parents continue to care for the individual 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  These individuals will only be temporarily part of our lives. For families who have individuals with autism, the person is a part of their life forever. These families love and care for their family member with autism but the weight of the responsibility and challenges, is often overwhelming for some.

If you have not found out already, the love a family has for their children overcomes many of the challenges they face, and many families do find hope and acceptance of the differences. Many learn to embrace them.

Parent Training for Parents of Typically Developing Kids Too?

It has been a few months since our last BLOG, but we are back! We have been working hard on the ATS website, added content, and Facebook presence. I wanted to share a recent event that was very meaningful for us.

We recently did a parent training for parents of typically developing preschoolers (at my daughter’s preschool). We titled the training, the ABCs of Behavioral Parenting. We had about 25 parents and teachers attend this event. We started the training by talking about ABA, what it is, and how it is useful not only for teaching children with ASD, but as a way of life. Many parents had their own stories to share, one about not being able to get a full night’s sleep because her 4-year-old daughter would wake up at least 5 times per night. Another shared about her twins and their non compliance. Other’s shared frustrations about being at the park and not being able to get their child to share, listen or the like.
Their issues were not polarized much from some of the issues we deal with in the world of ASD. What was really most memorable was watching the faces of the parents in the audience as we taught them the 4 “functions” of behavior, and how to analyse “why” their child was doing the behavior first, and then to come back next time to learn how to plan to address it. These parents and teachers were empowered with the knowledge that behavior analysts have, and voiced their thanks to us over and over.

The environment has the answers. We just have to analyse the environment to find out why the child is using that specific behavior to get his or her needs met. Usually functional communication training, or mand training will solve many of these parents issues. It was a pleasure to do this training pro bono for the school, and we look forward to doing more work with them in the future!

Let us know what your training needs are? Are you a parent? Professional? Share your “roadblocks” or “speedbumps” in the training process of your staff or team! WE love hearing from you!

Reinforcement Ideas~ The last of em!

1. Cornstarch! Play with cornstarch and water. It makes a terrific tactile effect.
2. Musical Chairs! Play musical chairs, marching, or silly dancing and then FREEZE when the music stops. Be impressed by the child’s frozen poses.
3. Magic Tricks! Pull a candy out of the child’s ear. Transfer a reinforcer magically from one hand to another closed fist (the child doesn’t know you had it there already). Or even into a sealed container (where it already was).
4. The Glomulator! Draw buttons on paper, have him press one – it makes you “glom” (make something up!) press another one, you stop, another, you hop. The child never knows quite what will happen.
5. Horsy Ride! Ride the child on your back while you crawl on all fours. Be sure to vibrate the child. Try a bucking bronco ride, or just a very gentle ride.
6. Echo Cup! Blow or say silly things into a cup to hear the echo.
7. Why Are You Stomping! Hold the child’s ankles and gently stomp their feet on the floor. Or stomp onto your feet, and complain, “Ouch!”
8. Pavarotti! Sing lines of a favorite song, especially with a bombastic silly voice.
9. Earthquake! Shake the child’s chair like an earthquake.
10. Creep-a-Mousey! Crawl a “mouse” hand up the child’s leg, tummy, and arm and then quickly tickle them under the chin while making sounds that indicate, “I’m coming to get you…”
11. Massage! Practice gentle or pressure massage the way the child likes it.
12. Train Ride! Line up the chairs, one behind the other and go for a train ride. Who’s the engineer? Who’s in the caboose?
13. Go Swimming! Manipulate the child’s arms and legs so they are “swimming” or doing a “cheer”.
14. Blast Off! Turn the chair into a “rocket” which lifts off after a countdown.
15. Musical Bounces! Sing silly songs while you bounce the child on your knee.
16. Singing Your Song! Sing songs using the child’s name within the song. Imitate a favorite character as you sing.
17. Puppet Nibbles! Use a puppet to nibble on toes and fingers.
18. Secret Joke! Whisper something silly in the ear.
19. Eskimo Kisses! Rub noses with the child or on their cheek gently.
20. Human Broom! Hang the child upside down and pretend that they are a broom.
21. I’m a Real Character! Imitate lines and characters from the child’s favorite movies or cartoons, i.e. Pumba saying, “Hakuna matata,” Donald Duck saying, “That was just wonderful,” or Curly saying, “I’m trying to think but nothing’s happening!”
22. Kissing Machine! Have the child push an imaginary button to turn on a “kissing machine.”
23. Chase! Play chase games, especially when on the way outside or to a favorite activity.
24. Jack-in-the-Box! Crawl into a large box and pretend to be “jack-in-the-box.” “Pop goes the weasel” is a great song for this.
25. Lady and the Tramp! Suck strands of spaghetti quickly into your mouth.
26. The Big Sneeze! Fake a long build up into an exaggerated sneeze.
27. Commando Attack! Plan a commando attack on Dad. Sneak up and throw water at him.
28. The Pokemon Polka! Dance to Weird Al’s Pokemon Polka. Try to sing as fast as he does.
29. Rubba Ribs! Tickle the child’s ribs by rubbing your knuckles on them. Say, “Here comes the big one! Rubba Ribs!”
30. Domino Disaster! Set up a domino chain to knock over.
31. Balloon Chase! Blow up ten balloons and chase them all around the room simultaneously, with lots of laughter.
32. Calling Daddy! Call Dad for praise on an intercom or walkie-talkie.
33. Nesting Rewards! Place a treat inside multiple nesting boxes and lift each as a reinforcer.
34. Adjective Search! Teach colors or other adjectives by hiding a reinforcer under one of many colored boxes. Tell the child, “It is under the “red” one, for example. In this way, the child is motivated to find the correct color to find the reinforcer more quickly. This works for other adjectives as well.
35. Hide and Seek! Have someone hide and go find them. They can leap out to “scare” the child.
36. It Wasn’t Me! Simulate the sound of passing gas, and act embarrassed.
37. Go Ahead and Get It! Cut two holes in each end of a box. “Secretly” put one hand in the box. Then drop a reinforcer in the box with your other. Let the child reach in to get it, but grab their hand when they do.
38. I’ve got ya! Trap the child in your legs and let them struggle to get out.
39. Jumping Animal! Squeeze a wet foam animal tightly into your hand and open it to let it spring out to the child.
40. Pan Parade! Hold a parade with pots and pans.
41. Garden Hose Surprise! Spray Dad outside with a garden hose for each correct trial. Go outside to do the trials.
42. Dryer Time! Have child sit on the dryer while it is running.
43. It’s Coming Baack! Hang a soft toy from a long rope and let the child hit it away from them. “It’s coming baaack!”
44. Dancing to Ernie! Get a mechanical musical toy (Ernie, or the fish, or the sunflower) and dance to its song.
45. Chattering Teeth! Get chattering mechanical teeth and throw them on the table by surprise.
46. Watch it Go! Set up a remote control car and tell the child to “look at the car.” When they look, turn it on to reinforce compliant eye contact. When they turn away, stop the car, and repeat the instruction to turn it on again.
47. Get Her! Tie a stuffed animal to a string and place it on the table. Let the child race you to grab it before you yank it off the table and vice-versa.
48. What’s So Funny! Find a suction toy that will stick to your forehead.
49. I’m Batman! Give praise while wearing a new mask.
50. Bombs Away! Drop water balloons from the second story.
51. Hula Dad! Have Dad dress up in a grass skirt and lei’s and dance the hula for the child.
52. The Limbo! Set a broom handle across two chairs and do the limbo to Caribbean music.
53. Ham It Up! Do your favorite silly actions and noises from your childhood

Have fun and most of all, be creative!

Reinforcement Ideas~ THE 2nd 50

We are posting over 100 ideas for reinforcement! This is the 2nd set of 50 ideas~!

1. Banana Ears! Say, “Ohhhhh, you want a (food) in your ear?” “Nooooooo.” “In your nose?” “Noooo.” “On your head?” “Nooooo.” “Oh, in your mouth!” In an unpredictable fashion.
2. Mr. Froggy! Put the child on your lap and say, “Mr. Froggy’s sitting on a rock, along comes (therapist), and the Froggy goes “kerplop!” Throw the child on couch or beanbag chair. (Or let the child fall through your legs).
3. Thumb Wrestle! Thumb wrestle by hooking fingers together with the child, with your thumbs on top. See who can trap the other person’s thumb. Do it with both thumbs sticking out a large, stretched-out sock, or through a cardboard wrestling ring.
4. Puppet Teacher! Have a stuffed puppet praise and tickle the child. Have the puppet give the instructions.
5. Mandy! Sing Barry Manilow songs with either a good or an outrageously bad voice.
6. Funky Dancing! Sing and dance to really funky songs. Hold the child in your arms, or on your feet.
7. Cookie Monster Praise! Practice your imitations of kid show actors, such as Barney, Goofy, or Cookie Monster. Give praise in their voices.
8. There’s a Monster at the End of This Book! Play with the Sesame Street Book, “There is a monster at the end of this book.” Ham up the Grover parts. Use each page as a reinforcer.
9. Blow Raspberry’s! Give Raspberry’s (blowing and making noises) to the belly or fake tickles kissed to the ticklish part of the neck.
10. Hair Torture! Lay the child down and gently sweep your hair over their face with “oh, no” or whatever to let them know it is coming.
11. Pillow Fight! Have pillow fights.
12. Let Me Draw! Try to draw on paper with the child pushing your hand to wreck the picture.
13. Motor Cycle Racer! Put the child on your lap, facing away from you, for a motorcycle ride. Use your fists as handlebars and rev up. Go around curves by leaning the child left or right with all important motorcycle sounds. Then crash!
14. Monster Palm! Draw a monster on your palm. Use the other hand to hold the wrist of monster palm so it can’t get you. However, we all know monster palm is stronger. Elicit the child’s help to get rid of monster palm.
15. Feed Me! Have the child feed you. Will he smear you?
16. Shall We Dance! Sing, “shall we dance” from the King and I with the Tango, where you hold the child cheek-to-cheek, then walk one way, then turn your body and cheeks and walk the other way. Freeze and play up the anticipation of lunging to “Shalala… Weeeee… DANCE! Dum Dum Dum!
17. It’s Time to Mambo! Do the “Mambo,” with your best John Candy imitation. Head upstairs to get Dad in on the dance. Dance a chain through the house to get Mom and siblings into it.
18. I’m Trying to Talk But Nothing’s Happening! Put tape over your mouth and try to talk – or pretend you’re trying to keep your hand from covering your mouth but can’t.
19. Macarena! Dance the Macarena. Learn all the moves in gross-motor imitation and build it together.
20. Who Let the Dogs Out! Sing, “Who let the dogs out?” with exaggerated arm motions.
21. Media Player! Work with the computer on, and Microsoft Media Player turned on. Set it to a song or punch line that the child likes to hear, and click start to play it while the child watches the light show.
22. Tower Disaster! Set up a tower ten feet away and let the child run at it.
23. Who Let the Boy Fall! Hold the child up in the air and sing, “Who let the (boy) fall?” (to the tune of “Who let the dogs out?”) While pretending to drop the child.
24. I’ve Got a Secret! Tell the child, “I have a secret,” and when they listen up close, blow quiet raspberries to the ear.
25. Soft Tickles! Give soft ticklish back, arm, leg or foot rubs by slowly drizzling your finger tips over their skin.
26. Jump! Sing, “Jump” by Van Halen with a model and jump when the song tells you to.
27. I’m Shocked! Fall completely over with surprise and shock that the child answered the question correctly.
28. Car Ride! Line your chairs up next to each other and go for a car ride. Put seat belts on. Checks left and right for traffic, beep the horn, etc.
29. Electro-Glide! Do a line dance such as the “Achy breaky heart dance.”
30. Blanket Pull! Pull the child by a blanket wrapped around their waist in circles then tease, “Nope we got to go left, no right, no left…”
31. I’m a Little Teapot! Sing, “I’m a little teapot” and act it out, but have water to tease that you will pour on the child.
32. Aladdin’s Magic Carpet! Put the child on a towel or blanket and pull them across floor.
33. Chest Vibrator! Hit the child’s chest gently with your palms while they vocalize so they can hear the funny reverberation.
34. Kick the Can! Play kick the can by racing to be the first one to kick the can over. The child doesn’t know which trial you’ll let him go on, so you’ve got a head start. The anticipation of trying to race you keeps his attention. (But don’t cheat by going when he’s not attending!)
35. Water the Plants! The child helps water plants with a small pitcher.
36. Imitate the Child! The child says, “Uh” and puts their hand on table and you imitate. After a while the child realizes he can run the show in reinforcement.
37. Elevator Rides! Pick the child up – “First floor!” – Higher – “Second floor!” – “Do you want to go to the third floor?” Then, “Oh no! The elevator is going sideways!”
38. Chair Rides! “Fasten your seatbelt! Hold on to the chair!” Begin to lift chair off ground slowly. Then take off like a racecar!
39. Chair Tipping! “Fasten your seatbelt! Hold on to the chair!” Tip back just a bit at first. Next time a bit more, unpredictably.
40. Music Video Shots! Set up a music video on the VCR. You control the remote to dole out parts of the song as a reinforcer.
41. Butterfly Kisses! Put you eye next to their cheek and blink your eyelid onto it.
42. Piggyback Ride! Go some place fun (imaginary!). Watch out for the potholes in the road! Weave around drunkenly. Run unexpectedly. Be sure to bounce the child on your back.
43. Hand Spiders! Run your hand around on the table like spiders. Then let the child SPLAT them. Run at him and crawl onto him, if he’ll let you.
44. Removing body parts! “I got your nose (holding your thumb between two fingers, to look like a nose) – I’ll put it in my pocket – want it back?”
45. Big Bear Wants In! Stuff stuffed animals down the back of the child’s shirt, up the pants leg, in the sleeves.
46. The Big Spin! Pick the child up by the armpits for a big spin (don’t fall over!).
47. Pump Me Up! Say, “It’s time to pump me up!” Mimic two-handed bicycle pump while inflating your cheeks. Now you can’t talk, but hold the child’s hands and have them POP your mouth. You can also mime inflating your entire body by slowly lifting up onto your toes, and expanding your arms and stomach (in rhythm with the child’s pumping action).
48. Hot Hands! Place the child’s hands on yours. They have to pull them away before you can gently slap them.
49. Choosing Firsts! Take turns putting your hands hand over hand over hand over hand with the child – flat or on a pole, as you would do when choosing ‘firsts’ with a baseball bat.
50. Science Tricks! Baking soda dropped into vinegar makes a nice fizz volcano!

Reinforcement Ideas from UCLA~ THE FIRST 50

Here is a list of ideas from Scott Cross and the folks at UCLA. These are just a repost from Megan DeLeon of www.navigationbehavioralconsulting.com…. Thanks Megan for sharing!

Here’s a fun list of silly reinforcing social activities to try with your child. This list goes way beyond a simple “101 ways to

praise” type of list, because every child is different and wants different reinforcers at different times. Many aren’t as interested in what you say, but in how you say it. Remember that your excitement, smiles, laughter and interest in their success is often what is most important. Rely on engagement with observably effective reinforcers to result in positive motivation. Many of these ideas will work much better after the child has been able to sample them and build some anticipation for you to “do it again.” Be sure to look for their reaction and adjust to use the ideas that get a positive response. Vary the exciting actions with quiet, gentle reinforcers, to suit the mood. Don’t let these reinforcers go stale. Keep a list of effective reinforcers and rotate them off of the list before the child becomes routinely “bored” with them. They can be brought back several weeks later with renewed enthusiasm. Be sure to use them as reinforcers (the child earns them –) rather than only as entertainment (provided noncontingently to gain their interest).

1. Basket Airlines! Put the child in a laundry basket and pick them up and fly them around the room as if they are the pilot of a jet plane (with sound effects).
2. Squirt Gun Attack! Let the child squirt you with a squirt gun. Be sure to act up like you don’t want them to get you. Let them chase you around the room.
3. To Infinity and Beyond! The child is Buzz Lightyear. After hesitating to build anticipation, shout, “To infinity and beyond!” and then throw the child over your shoulder onto the bed.
4. Paper Spool Surprise! Hide your hand in a large round wrapping paper spool and cover it with a towel. With mock suspense tell the child to look inside. When they lift the towel, push your hand out to “scare” them.
5. I’m Gonna Eat Your Toes! Shout, “I’m gonna eat your toes!” Take the child’s foot toward your mouth with pretend chomping sounds. Build anticipation with repetition.
6. Scare Me! Say, “do this” and make a roar sound. When the child does, act terrified and fall off your own chair. Try other silly actions.
7. Washing Machine Vibrator! When the washing machine is running, go sit on it to feel the vibration. Imitate drone noises to go with it.
8. The Big Dipper! Hold the child in your arms in front of you and dip forward, lowering the child to the floor. Let them hold on tight while you unpredictably dip and pull. Pretend to drop them and act scared, like you can’t hold them.
9. Whipped Cream Shower! Have the child decide who gets sprayed with the whipped cream.
10. Scary Dinosaur Cave! Build a cave with a table and blankets. Sit in the cave to run programs, while Dad stomps around outside like a dinosaur sumo wrestler. The reinforcer is getting to open the blankets and look out at the scary dinosaur.
11. Confetti Sneeze! Put confetti in a shallow bowl and “sneeze” into it to blow it everywhere. A bonus reinforcer might be to vacuum up the confetti.
12. Get the Maid! Try to pick up toys while bending from the waist. Let the child push you over whenever you try to bend over.
13. Whistle Praise! Try to praise with a whistle in your mouth, which forces you to simulate talking with a whistle (or blow-out noisemaker, sound vibrator, guitar amplifier or microphone).
14. Magician’s Chain! Make a magician’s chain of kerchiefs and stuff them all in your sleeve. Let the child pull them out. When will they end? Possibly tie a reinforcer onto the end of the chain.
15. Wind-up Hand! Wind up your hand like it’s a toy – use cranking sound effects – then let it go and flap your hand wildly over the table and child’s tickle spots in a flip-flop motion.
16. Laughter Zone! Bury your head into the child’s stomach, burrowing your head in a wiggly way. At the same time laugh and shout, “it’s the laughter zone!”
17. Let’s Not Go Play! When you tell the child, “let’s go play,” surprise them by pulling them back to you by the back of their shirt. Do several times. It usually builds a smile and a lot of times when you don’t grab the shirt the child will back up to you to do so.
18. Tell Me What to Do! Model an instruction to do something silly, and then comply with the child’s instruction when they say it. For example, give the instruction, “say, ‘walk like a duck.’” When the child says so, start crouching on the floor and struggle around while quacking like a duck. Try other silly actions, like falling down or imitating “Barney.”
19. Train Ticket Tokens! For a child who likes trains, wear a conductor’s cap and punch their ticket as token reinforcement. Print up tickets with a train on them to look like train tickets.
20. Wake Up! Fall asleep and snore loudly on the child’s lap. Then wake up suddenly for the school bell — “ding ding ding!”
21. Emotional Clown! Act out silly, exaggerated emotions like sad — with a real sappy “boo hoo hoo” and drip water on your face for tears (all very fake) or happy – with a silly song and dance.
22. Paper Cup Shower! Poke some holes in a paper cup. Then sit Dad in a chair with the empty paper cup balanced on his head. Pour water into it until…
23. Keep My Arms Down! Put one of your arms out and when the child pushes it down, make a cranking sound, and raise the opposite one up. If they try to hold both down, raise a foot.
24. Milk Carton Spray! Punch holes in a milk carton, and pour water into it. Pour water in until the shower starts.
25. Where’s My Hand! Say, “Give me five” but lose your hand in your sleeve – have child help you find it and then lose the other hand.
26. Keep It Up! Cooperate keeping one balloon floating in the air.
27. I’m Pouring! Hold a spring water bottle above the child’s head – tilt ever so slightly in anticipatory way —drop droplet. Fair play, however, is allowing them to get you. But they are usually less reserved about the amount they drop!
28. Drink from the Squirt Gun! Put juice in a squirt gun to deliver it that way.
29. Where’d He Go! Take the child’s arms in yours behind your back, and then lean over until the child leans on your back. Then pick them up, hanging behind you, and start calling out, “where is (child)?” “(Child’s name)–where aaaarrrreeee you?”
30. Lost in the Hood! Wear a hooded sweatshirt with a drawstring and make your head disappear as you tighten the string. Ask the child to help to get you out.
31. Crack an Egg! Crack a pretend egg in their hair. Put the fingertips of your hand together and touch them to the top of the child’s head. Then gently bop the top of the hand to simulate “cracking the egg.” Then slowly drizzle your fingers down their hair.
32. Bubble Gum Bubble! Blow a big bubble of bubble gum and pop it with a big pop.
33. Hand Grenade! Deliver reinforcers like a hand grenade. Instead of giving an M&M, pretend to send it through the air with a whistling sound until it gets to child’s mouth then explodes (i.e. you make an exploding sound). Run from the child and toss the (soft) reinforcer back to them.
34. Reinforcer Presents! Wrap the reinforcer like a real present. Sustain the anticipation by gradually unwrapping across many trials.
35. Treasure Hunt! Hide the reinforcer and go on a treasure hunt, giving out clues for each trial.
36. P-U! Smell the child’s feet with a dramatic “P-U” and pass out on the floor. Most children will proceed to put their feet in the proximity of your nose. Then wake up and chase after them.
37. Break Dance! Put the child on a table or slippery floor for some break dancing. Lay the child’s stomach on the table with their head toward you and feet away. Put your left hand by their feet and your right by their head to generate a pretty good spin.
38. Foot Flying! Make the child fly on your feet. Then say, “Its Barney’s turn” and make Barney fly on feet, then child again.
39. Silly Telephone Calls! Make a ringing noise and pick up the telephone and say, “it’s for you, (child)!” Add in silly praise dialog. Alternatively say that you’ve got to call Mickey Mouse to praise the child’s performance.
40. Face Machine! Have the child push your nose to make your tongue come out, or pull left ear to move your tongue right and vice versa. Have them push your stomach to make you blow air in their face.
41. Barney’s Working! Make Barney, Buzz, or Woody doll do trials.
42. Where’d the Tickles Go! Look for the “tickles.” Be surprised, asking, “Where’d they go?” Then find them: “Oh, there they are!”
43. Intense Edibles! Try out intensely flavored edibles, like red hots, war heads, pop rocks, breath-mints, or taco sauce.
44. Hide Behind the Table! Turn the table on its side with the legs toward you. Hide until the child stands up to find you and then either roar or act scared.
45. Stayin’ Alive! Break out your best John Travolta Disco imitation.
46. I Won’t Drop You! Hold the child, worry and say, “I hope I don’t drop you…” Then drop and catch them pretty low to floor (without letting go) with a, “Whew! Thank goodness!”
47. Table Tent! Use the table for a tent with a blanket over it; crawl underneath for chasing or quiet hiding.
48. Cardboard Fan! Swing cardboard in front of the child to create wind.
49. We’re So Quiet! Sit close to the child and whisper gently next to their ear. Keep it up till they talk back in a whisper. Get a simple conversation going, or just echo each other’s whispers.
50. Sock Imitation! Put socks on the child’s hands then say, “do this” and clap or other wacky commands.

Manding: Your turn vs my turn

Tonite I played Memory and Don’t Break the Ice with my 4 and 6 year olds. It made me think of blogging about Memory, and more specifically, Don’t Break the Ice, and how it could be used to set up and contrive many opportunities for mands for taking turns with children with ASD. As a pre-requisite, I would make sure to have a well-established number of mands for items, and actions, and terminations, under the control of the item and the MO.

First I would set up the game, and model the action for which to imitate, then once I had hit my piece of ice, I would wait for the learner to “grab” or “reach” for the hammer. Given this indication of motivation or MO, I would give an echoic prompt “My turn”, and the child would echo those words, and then I would give them the hammer.  You could then reverse this, and wait to accept the hammer from the learner, until after he echoes “your turn”, and then take your turn. This can be vollied, my turn, your turn etc. or if you have a learner who may benefit from just learning “my turn” at this time, you would only work on this side of the mand for now.

You would want to make sure to get a “transfer” trial, so that the mand would transfer from being under the control of the echoic prompt, and become under the control of the MO and item (hammer). To do this, you may want to make sure the learner has a few successful trials of manding under the control of the echoic, then withhold the hammer once he mands “my turn” given the echoic prompt. You will basically use extinction, and wait like 2 seconds to see if he mands spontaneously, when not given the hammer after responding to your echoic prompt. It would look like this:

Adult: “my turn”

Child: “my turn”

Adult: (waits to hand over the hammer- 2 seconds)

Child: “my turn”

That in a nutshell is a “transfer trial” and transfers stimulus control from a prompted trial to an unprompted trial. The subsequent trials, you should try to get spontaneous mands for “my turn” by not giving the echoic prompt anymore, and just waiting for the spontaneous mand.

Best of luck! Next blog I will talk more about games, and motivation! I would love to hear about your experiences with this game and manding for turns!

The Importance of Manding

I recently did an assessment on a boy with ASD who had just turned 4 years old. He was functionally non verbal, had a PECS book, but never used it, had an early learner profile. No one at school was able to get him to talk in the year that he had been receiving intervention.

He was uninterested in what I had to offer him, or in me at all. He was very interested in watching his video on TV, and jumping on the couch. After some time spent interviewing dad, I observed him go to the kitchen counter, and grab a glass and go to the water machine and pour a glass of water. At this point, I got up and walked over and watched him. When he finished, he put the glass down. Later, I predicted when he would go to the water cooler, and I grabbed the glass, filled it with some water (a half inch) and provided an echoic prompt “water”, “water”, “water” 3 times. On the third time, he echoed “water”, I just about fainted as I handed him the water. His mom was in the background jumping up and down and screaming! Later, as we continued to talk, I observed him go to the pantry, searching for food. He grabbed a small package of cookies. I got the cookies, broke them up into smaller pieces, and held one up to him and said “cookie”, “cookie”, “cookie” and he echoed “cookie”. Again, mom was just about in tears at this point. I then encouraged mom to continue the manding session with him, as I coached her. She was brilliant. She then got him to echo “popcorn”. Same thing, this kid who had never uttered a word, was talking for the first time!! He was asking for things he wanted. We would still need to fade out our echoic prompt and transfer it, but in 20 minutes, he was able to mand for 3 things he had never asked for before!
Moral of the story: Never underestimate the ability of children with ASD, and always start with MANDING!!! In 20 minutes, we were able to change the course of this kids life! Go mom and dad!! My heart felt so happy when I left his house, knowing what he was capable of in such a short time!

Always start with pairing and manding! Slowly add other programs based on your language assessment, but always the highest value on the manding repertoire area!

Teaching Handwriting to Children with ASD

Learner using the Stamp N See

Teaching handwriting to children with ASD can be a daunting task for the child as well as the parent or therapist or teacher!  I have found several tools and created some shortcuts to make this journey more pleasant for the child as well as the therapist/teacher/parent!!!I hope these ideas help you in your programs!

Handwriting Without Tears is an amazing curriculum  http://www.hwtears.com/. These products were developed by Jan Z. Okson in an attempt to help her son in 1st grade over 30 years ago. Let me tell you what products we use first, and then I will discuss how we use these materials and developed a SD leveled curriculum based on it for our learners with ASD.

Must  haves:

1. Wood Pieces Set for Capital Letters (1, 2, and 3 are great for teachers to invest in as “center”or table

activities for pre-k and k or even sped classrooms)

2. Capital Letter Cards for Wood Pieces

3. Mat for Wood Pieces

4. Slate Chalk Board and sponge (or you can cut up a sponge from home!)

5. Stamp N See Screen

6. Roll A Dough Letters (for those kids who love playdoh!)

7. Letters and Numbers for Me (workbook gr. K level) * You may want to purchase the teachers manual too!

8. My Printing Book (workbook for gr. 1 level) * You may want to purchase the teachers manual too!

9. Grey Block Paper

Once you have your materials, buy a plastic box to store it all in so you know where your HWOT tools are!
Now that you have your materials, you are ready for teaching. Jan Olson has grouped all the capital letters that are formed the same way together and labeled them Frog Jump Capitals, Center Starting Capitals, Corner Starting Capitals, etc. This is why you need the teachers manual. We created skills tracking sheets on an excel spreadsheet that list the groups on the left bottom, with each member of that type of letter group, as well as it’s “jingle” as we call it. For example, on the left column of the spread sheet you would see:

Frog Jump Capitals

E “big line, little line, little line, little line” – for each of the members of the Frog Jump Capitals.

You would have a table to track the intro date and mastery date of each letter, across each step, or SD level. Depending on the learner, I may introduce 1 or even 2 or 3 letters at a time from the same group.

On the top of your sheet, you would have your teaching steps listed. We created the following teaching steps for our learners with ASD. However, we modify these depending on the individuality of each learner.You would go thru each step, with each letter, mastering off one group at a time. You would use errorless learning to teach and fade your prompts so that to master off each step, the learner would do without prompting.

Step 1:  SD:  “Make a Letter __” R: Learner takes the wooden pieces and matches to sample (MTS) on the corresponding letter card while echoiing, or saying the “jingle” for that letter.

Step 2: SD: “Make a letter __” R: Learner takes the wooden pieces and creates his own letter on the blue mat while saying “jingle”.

Step 3: SD: “Make a letter __” R: Learner makes letter on the Stamp n See board with the magnet sticks while saying “jingle”

Step 4: SD: “Make a letter __” R: Learner makes a letter on the Stamp n See Board using the mini magnet doodle (writes it). * Can add in the playdoh type activity for those who benefit from this tactile approach

Step 5: SD” Make a letter __” R: Learner makes letter on the chalkboard with a wet sponge ( Wet, Dry, Try), then makes it with a dry piece of small papertowel or tissue, to dry the wetness, and then again with mini piece of chalk- hence the wet, dry, try approach.Make sure to keep jingle, as it can help prompt the learner to create the correct lines in the correct order.

Step 6: SD: “Make a letter __” R: Learner makes letter on the grey boxes. You can modify this and have him create 5-10 letters of the same.

Step 7 and beyond: I usually get them proficient with the formation and jingles, and then later move them into the workbooks or work on the corresponding workbook page at the same time.

These are just suggestions for your teaching continuum. Please make sure to individualize to your learner! We hope to create a video to illustrate this in our ATS video library in the near future! We love HWOT and we hope you do too!

Meaningful Holiday Gifts for Learners with ASD: 11 Video Ideas

Have your in-laws ever asked what your child with ASD needs or wants for the holidays or birthdays? Have you not really known what he needs that could help him learn? Not know what toys would be the best to compliment his ABA program?

Well here is a helpful list to get you going. I always am searching for new toys that can be used as reinforcers or learning materials. As I have previously said, I am a “toy fanatic”. But, with that said, I am very selective about the toys I buy. I am also a fan of yard sales, and again, I stress, I am looking for functional toys, and learning toys to add to my collection.And yes, I have my own children “test” them out first to know whether they get a thumbs up or not!

I have organized the list into categories to help you with your decision making.In this blog I will only talk about the videos, and the subsequent blogs I will discuss the other toys in other categories.

Educational Videos (ages 3-8+):

1. Leap Frog Letter Factory  – this one teaches the letter sounds with a nifty song, that you can take and use for teaching letter sounds in your ABA/VB program as intraverbals.

2. Leap Frog Talking Letter Factory- this video teaches combinations of CVC  words, and sounds them out in an entertaining yet educational way

3.Leap Frog Talking Letter Factory 2- Code Word Caper- this video expands on the Talking Letter Factory by going to the next level, and teaching the silent e, and other sound combination.

4. Learn to Read at the Storybook Factory- basically is the next step, and takes a look at some comprehension too!

5. Math Circus- This video teaches simple math concepts of addition and numbers.

6. Preschool Prep- Meet the Sight Words 1, 2 and 3- these three videos do a nice job teaching sight reading, and use prompt fading to fade the character prompt  and morph it into the word itself. They also sell “flashcards” to accompany the videos which I have found very useful!

7. Magic Schoolbus- All about science! Great explanations of many general knowledge facts and interesting science content within a plot about an ecentric schoolteacher and her class. So many titles I cannot name them all! the books are always at the library, and my kids love them !! Make sure to search for “Magic School Bus” on http://www.Amazon.com If you do not find the new videos here, they also sell them on www.Scholastic.com.

8. Your Baby Can Read: Language Development System (This sells for about $70.00 for 5 videos and flashcards). My kids love this series. I like it because children state the word vocally and simultaneously present the textual or sight word on the screen. It is great for teaching kids to echo the children in the video!

9. Teach 2 Talk – http://www.teach2talk.com/ These videos are some of my favorite for kids in the spectrum! If you have a learner who learns from watching others, or video modeling, these are IT!!! Peruse through their collection of videos and find the ones that suit your child’s needs. I for one, was not disappointed in mine,  and I bought all of them! Well worth the investment!

10. Baby Bumblebee and Bumblebee Kids- they have opposites, action words, and basic vocabulary words!  This is a step up from Baby Einstein, which I am not really a fan of, but at least this one has vocals to talk about the actions, and vocabulary being shown. A little more pricey, but…..

11. Teach Town http://web.teachtown.com/ this is not a video, per say, but a subscription based site for teaching and learning using the principles of ABA. Subscription includes on-computer lessons, off-computer generalization activities, data tracking and communications tools that keep the whole team connected. This is great for teaching receptive language, including teaching features, functions, and classes, and it tracks your child’s progress!  I think this is a great investment for those kids who love computers! And they have free trials, it was created by a BCBA and there is research to support it!

Many of these videos above are about $7.99-#12.99 on www.Amazon.com, and they also offer FREE SHIPPING! Many of the Leap Frog videos were recently revised, so make sure to get a 2009 version of the DVD! Just to to Amazon and search for “Leap Frog Videos” and see what you come up with!

I am very much a fan of videos for helping get the most out of our kids! I feel there is alot of bang for the buck in these videos. The only caveat…….I am not aware of any research that supports  learning or teaching children with ASD using these videos yet. Guess I will have to start digging, huh? Great thesis or dissertation topic though! So maybe using these videos for more “reinforcement” value, would be the best way to highlight them!

Next blog I will write about educational electronic toys, and manipulative/building toys. For instant ideas on games to buy for your ASD kids, please read  our October 13, 2009 ATS blog entry entitled Games.

Happy shopping! And please forward our blog link to those (e.g Grandma and Grandpa!) who may need some helpful gift hints for the holidays! And be sure to let us know of other videos that deserve to be mentioned!

Your Baby Can Read: Early Language Development System