Discrete Trial vs. Natural Environment

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 1/8/00 6:11:36 AM Pacific Standard Time, scampos@...

writes:

<< I am concerned about offending the consultant when we tell her we have an

appointment with Partington soon. >>

I'm very excited you have this appointment and so should your consultant be.

It is my understanding that this is a long waiting list and that we should

all be happy for you. A professional consultant wants what works for the

child, their pride NOT being involved. On our team, I have several

professionals who have been working in the field for some time, one for 15

years, and they have all been completely receptive to the change of therapy

methodology. This is due to a. the excellent communicative skills of Dr.

Carbone, who makes an excellent, clear cut presentation but also and

importantly b. the people I have working for me want the best for my child

and put everything they have into that. I have had people who were easily

offended on my team in the past and they were hard to manage and not good

team members.

So, you consultant must not be offended. This would be a reflection of self

interest, not a reflection of her concern for your child. Let us all know how

the appointment goes. I " ve very thrilled about it for you. much love,kat

[Guest guest]

I have an appointment on Monday and need help quickly! Has anyone had any

positive experience in talking to their current consultant about Partington/NET?

We are currently doing ABA in our home, and are doing primarily discrete trial

teaching (with the exception that we are doing errorless learning and have used

the ABBLS for evaluation). I have looked in the Sundberg/Partington book,

" Teaching Language to Children with Autism or Other Developmental Disabilities " ,

and in chapter 13 there is a great table which compares the two types of

teaching. However, I am looking for more specific reasons, examples, etc.

I am hoping to convince my consultant (who is going to the Carbone conference)

to rely more on Partington techniques. When we began, the consultant claimed

that she was using many types of teaching. This appealed to me, but now that we

are into the program, she is really doing DTT more than I would like. I would

like to have a valid arguement, but I do not know enough about each type of

teaching to " form a case " and talk to her in an educated way.

I am concerned about offending the consultant when we tell her we have an

appointment with Partington soon. I don't want her to give me a " my way or the

highway " response. I am not sure how to explain this delicately and handle this

well. I do NOT want to loose her, and am interested in incorporating NET into

our current program.

Here are some specific examples relating to his program that I already have:

1. When my son began the program, he responded very well to social praise. Now

he is beginning to loose that because of the heavy use of edibles. I would like

to see more natural reinforcers paired with social reinforcers. (more NET)

2. My son used to respond very well to a therapist playing with a stimulus item

that was functional within the interaction. Now he asks for a reinforcer. (more

NET)

3. My son responds well verbally to his therapist playing outside with a ball. I

would like to see consequences more relevant to the response (giving ball for

identifying the ball- instead of giving an edible)

4. My son hates to be " wrong " and often reacts physically when he is wrong. I

prefer errorless learning so we don't have negative consequences to being

" wrong " . (more NET)

5. If there is a difficult task at hand, my son will avoid coming to the table

and will get physical, tantrum etc. I would prefer different places for therapy

besides his room and the table. (more NET)

I would appreciate any advice anyone could give.

Take Care,

Shelby