Five major recommendations to teachers (189.75 kB)

Vince LaMarca, certified behavior analyst and editor at the Lovaas Institute - Indianapolis

After I offered a careful and highly informative overview of the techniques and principles of behavior analysis is usually used with autistic children, one of the teachers were in the audience brought me back down to earth, saying, "I do not have the time to graduate in analysis behavior, but many of the ideas you mentioned I like. If you were to remove all the theory and tell me 5 specific key things to do to improve the results with a good chance of a child to school, what would you say? "

And here's what I said

1) Choose a verification system that rewards skill rather than the best effort to complete a task.

This is not conventional wisdom, too often when a task finishes school also ends its effect. Because of the importance given to the performance of work, many children do not learn the value of its quality. Some children do exercises in calligraphy and decorative arts and crafts activities with little attention to color and cut, and generally receive more reinforcement for having completed their work.

Instead, find ways to reward a child for his best effort. Every time a child writes a letter in a correct exercise of calligraphy, put a star next to the letter. When the child has won 8 star operation is finished. To earn enough stars may suffice as a line may need a second sheet. If a child persists in cutting over the edges, Take away the figure each time he does, and Give him another.

Of course other factors are considered, as the intensity of the prompt that you must give the child and the difficulty of the exercise, but one of the key factors is the constant reinforcement of the quality of work rather than his conduct.

2) Do not rely too heavily on visual prompts.

As can be useful in many situations, visual prompts are not the answer to everything. Many times children learn to follow routines that are imitating other children or making them help early. These techniques often require a more careful planning and supervision, but have the added benefit of focusing on other important skills like learning to imitate others or listen to a peer.

Other times the visual prompt may serve to inhibit a behavior (eg, a picture of two lips with a finger on them to call for silence during the time of the circle). Although over time these images may serve to suggest what to do, are often not sufficient (nor are the most important) to inhibit behavior. You should spend more time defining the function of the behavior and the way in which the antecedents and consequences of behavior should be modified or what new skills should be taught. When the answer to a problem of behavior is simply the use of a visual stimulus, beware, there may be other factors to consider.

3) Stop telling a child what to do and show him what to do or help to start doing it.

Often if a child shows difficulty with a task, teachers come to him and repeat the instructions or reformulate the question. The problem is that many autistic children have a deficiency in the understanding of language, and then rely on it to deal with a new concept or starting a business is not always helpful. For example, was once told a child to draw a graph that shows how many cubes of each color had. The child has not started immediately and the teacher went to him for help, the instructions explained again and asking him questions like "How many red cubes are there? Where is number five on the chart? Find your red pencil. Now color up to that number. "In spite of these could follow each instruction, the child was in constant need of help to continue the work. The situation changed when an adult has begun to show how, pointing to a series of cubes and start counting, "One, two ...". The child has counted the other cubes. The adult took the pencil and draw points on the graph by repeating what was being counted. Then he gave the child a pencil and said, "Paint." The child has colored that section. Given this basic procedure, the adult is able to reduce the help with the next set of cubes and the child has reached the final in a totally autonomous. It is likely that children learn by doing rather than mediated through any verbal explanation.

4) Given the lack of response as a failure and interaction do everything possible to prevent it occurs.

Teachers tend to constantly repeat the questions or terminate the interaction if a child does not respond. It is normal, and often seems the only possibility. After all, what would you do if a child does not respond "hello"? But it also means to teach a child that is acceptable to ignore you. The goal of behavioral therapy is to maintain good results for at least 80% of its duration. This means that if a child skips a question, you must succeed in the four interactions later. How can you get this? One way is to ensure prompt, effective use. For example, if a teacher asks a child to identify an image and the child does not answer the question, the teacher may repeat the question and start the answer to the child, "tartare ...", or even give the whole answer, "turtle." The child may not have had the opportunity to name the figure alone, but has had the opportunity to learn that when he is asked a question you expect an answer. What happens if a child does not say anything? Change the type of response required. For example, instead of asking the child to name an animal, tell him to "touch the turtle" showing the figure. Again, if necessary give a prompt to make sure 80-100% that the child will respond correctly. Teachers in the short term are the easiest questions, change requests and the prompt use most frequently are often surprised at what a child can do once it has begun to be responsive.

5) Revise, revise, revise

Autistic children do not only need a systematic teaching of skills, but also and often of their review.

The work not only retains the ability to review, but often has the added advantage of maintaining a child's motivation, allowing them to perform easy exercises while working on new and more challenging activities. The work of revision must be monitored so that you can gradually reduce (and only if a child continues to demonstrate the capacity). For example, a child who has learned to identify the coins should start by practicing at least three times a week. If you continue to answer correctly will be sufficient once or twice a week, then once a week and then once a month. Of course, some skills are improved faster than others, and the distance between the skim can be extended in less time.

Looking back, I know I could have mentioned other things, such as the identification of appropriate reinforcements, the data collection, etc., but from the practical point of view the five I listed are things that teachers can recognize and immediately put into practice with results extraordinary.

Original document from the site of ' Lovaas Institute Translation by This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it >George Antonioli