Re: Am I doing this right?

January 26, 2000

.. Jake wants a Barney tape, he

> is able to say " Nanny " , but he won't. We have been sitting here for 1/2

hour

> trying to get him to say it. (We have beeb throwing in motor imitation

during

> this time too) We are saying " What do you want...Barney? " and all he does

is

> try to climb up to get the Barney tape. We have also tried just saying

" Barney "

> He is silent, not uttering any sound. Are we doing this right?

It sounds to me that your child does not know what is required of him to get

the reinforcer. Your current " de-mand " on him seems to be too high. In an

30 minute peroid, he needs lots and lots of practice.... not waiting time.

I understand how that can be very frustraiting to him... and to you.

Thus... it is not going to be a very reinforcing session.

You need to prompt him with the answer first. Does he have a lot of

language or have you only occasionally heard him talk? If so, you need to

consider whether you need to be teaching the sign for Barney along with

saying it vocally. (you can make up a sign if you do not know the sign for

dinosaur....just something that will help you get over the thresh hold).

You may want to consider doing easier tasks for the video, so he learns " I

do, I get. I do, I get. " Then move to the harder aspect of trying to get

him to talk.

Basically, start with things he knows how to do. Does he come here when

asked. Can he put a block in a bucket. Will he imitate an action. If not,

physically prompt him to do so then reinforce it with a quick blurp from the

video. As he learns what is expected of him .... then move to vocalization.

When we are

> doing the motor imitation during this time we are either doing hand over

hand or

> making a huge deal if he does it on his own. Is that right?

yes this is correct. Try using the video for the reinforcement with these

motor imitations before you require a much harder task from him ... like

speaking.

I know it is very hard to start this type of teaching without a consultant.

BUT please everyone remember.... A LEARNING SESSION SHOULD BE FUN FOR YOUR

CHILD. Especially in the beginning.

So if you are just starting out. Use things that are reinforcing. MANDING

should be the very first thing you work on.

Good luck. Rhonda

January 26, 2000

I agree with Rhonda that manding should be the starting point . . .

however, you may find that if you are just starting and your child is not

used to being " asked " to do anything . . . you may need to earn his trust.

S/P speak of " pairing " yourself (and all therapists) with reinforcers

initially. So once you establish some reinforcers than the first thing you

do is get them under control (child has no access to them on his own) and

you deliver these with very little contingecy. In the case of reinforcers

that go away on their own (food, drink,) then you just deliver if he looks

at you, or makes a sound. Be sure to praise verbally whatever he does to

get the reinforcer ( " great looking Jake " , " I love the way you talk to me " ).

You may establish a particular type of response for a reinforcing activity

(my daughter would have to look at me to get more bubbles) or you may expect

a number of responses (looking, vocalizing, pointing), etc. Be sure to be

very reinforcing - keep the " session " very reinforcing - if you find that

Jake begins to lose interest, then move onto something else or give him

" down time " . IF the reinforcers do not go away on their own (a book) then

you need to teach him to give them up intially. For us, it was those

" wind-up TVs " . She would hold on to them with dear life - so at first I

would wind it, and then ask for it " Give mommy " , and try to remove. She

would push back and after a split second I would say " great job " , and would

wind again, within a couple of trials she would not push back, but still

wouldn't let go. Again, I would praise and give immediately. In no time

she was letting go - big time wind-up. Eventually, I would hold onto it for

a longer period of time and began making it disappear. It wasn't until she

would give me, watch it disappear and wait for it that I began to introduce

a different trial (NVI) and soon taught her to mand for it using sign

language. How long pairing takes depends on how he responds.

The whole idea of pairing is that you want to gain your child's trust,

and you have to develop a history of " good things " happening when he comes

to you, and does as you ask.

Dr. Partington and Siri Ming (BA, Inc. trainor) stress that especially

at this point success is measured by how often your child comes to you and

is willing to " comply " - (they don't use that word).

So at this point, I would keep the sessions short if needed and the

demands to a minimum and the reinforcers to a maximum. Slowly you will turn

that around. Right now Jake needs to come to you and the whole process

should be highly rewarding to the both of you. This is where you begin to

take cues from him as to how well things are going.

Vary your reinforcers, slowly place demands on him and show him that

this is gonna be worth his while! This is almost a discovery period for the

two of you . . . think of it that way.

Also, just because Jake can say something doesn't mean he can repeat it.

Echoics may be something that you also have to shape. " Nanny " may be a

difficult one to begin to imitate upon hearing the Sd., try monosyllabic

sounds " ma " " ba " " pa " and again, as you begin slowly, heavily reinforce his

willingness to work with you.

I agree with Rhonda that at this point you may want to begin with motor

imitation that he is able to do. Do NVI with objects - ring a bell, tap on

a drum, (if you need a list let me know). These are easy to prompt and Jake

can see that getting the Barney video is not that hard. Remember to remove

your prompt as fast as you can - but keep him successful.

I also agree with the idea of using signs to teach him to mand.

Especially since his echoics don't seem to be " strong " . Once the echoics

get strong, then you can make the transfer. Be sure to pair the word

everytime as you teach him the mand and when he signs to you. The two

should go hand-in-hand until he begins to use the words on his own.