Guest guest Posted October 11, 2000 Report Share Posted October 11, 2000 Pair yourself with a good reinforcer. Find out something he likes a lot, make one or a few requests, give him the reinforcer, when this works,increase the number of requests before giving him the reinforcer. He has to learn to associate his therapy room with something fun. Try to not let him have this thing he likes a lot freely, so that way you won't loose the value of this reinforcer , but mainly when he's in his therapy room it can be a favorite movie, book, toy, etc ) [ ] Any suggestions? > Dear Listers: > > I am the father of a 2.0 year old son recently diagnosed with " atypical > autism " . His ABA program started this week, and I am wondering if anyone > has any advice about behavioral problems encountered at the very beginning > of a program. Our son can clearly do some of the drills we have started, > such as " Come here " , " Sit down " , " Give me 'object' " . However, when we > take him up to his therapy room, he quickly cries, and lays down on the > floor tantruming. It is getting to the point that he starts crying the > moment he sees one of his therapists. What do we do? Do we " muscle " > our way through a few drills prompting him physically, despite the > tantruming, and proceed in hopes that his compliance will improve. Do we > try to do the same drills in a different environment (such as outside in > the front yard where he loves to be) where cooperation is much better? Or > do we do something else? My concern right now is that we don't make his > ABA drills so aversive that he won't cooperate. > > Thanks for any advice. > > scott > smc14@... > > > VISIT www./community/ for informative FILES, LINKS page, and ARCHIVE searches. You will need your password for egroups to use these services. > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 28, 2000 Report Share Posted October 28, 2000 I sure would like to know is the DTT classroom public or private and in what state? We use little pieces of paper for each word and tap out the word. Or clap or hit your knee. Get a rhythm, da, da, da. 3 words are great you can say lots of things in just 3 words. Here are some good functional phrases to use Give me that I want it I'm all done I did it I don't know No thank you Take off shoes Tie shoes please Put on coat Take off shirt We've been working on this for many months, I've been trying different things all year, this seems to work the best. It is not as easy as you would hope, combining words is a very abstract thing to do. So we are just filling him up with common things. At 01:08 PM 10/28/00 -0400, Sally Gamez wrote: >I hear from Putter's tutor that he is having difficulty with verbal >imitations of three words; he has no trouble, oddly enough, saying a three >syllable two word phrase, such as " Here kitty " (that is his tutor's >example). The phrase they mention is " I need help " (in my experience Putter >never believes he needs help so maybe that is part of the problem!) but he >is working on other three word phrases as well. He just moved up from >single word imitations which he has been doing great on. Has anyone ever >run into this? Any ideas or suggestions? Putter is in a DTT classroom with >three tutors, his alone (they work with him individually in a booth most of >the day), one right after another, each taking him for a two hour shift so >he is there six hours a day five days a week. The school suggests I might >want to really push this too so we can get him over this hump. > >Salli > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 28, 2000 Report Share Posted October 28, 2000 How about the most common 3-word phrase of all for kids: The " I want __ " mand? It strikes me that this would be the most inherently reinforcing way to build up 3 word phrases. Just by his varying the item manded for, he'll be adding dozens of 3-word phrases to his repertoire. Other things that you could try include textual prompts, such as sentence strips that he can use as cues. You can teach the words as sight words and then expand to sentences. You can also try backward chaining, building up to the 3rd word slowly. You can start by adding certain " general " 3rd words, such as " please, " " thanks, " or the listener's name. More generally, you can shape up the expanded phrases, differentially reinforcing longer ones. My thought is that if there's no separate reason for this difficulty, i.e., apraxia, then the trick is to find enough reinforcing 3-word phrases to get him into the habit. Once the reinforcing phrases are in his repertoire and, as was suggested, some stock phrases (that was a great list), adding new ones should come more easily. Hope this helps. Best, Burk, M.A. ABA coordinator & consultant www.BurkABA.com (under construction) BurkABA@... playB.A. director www.playBAgroup.com @... Moderator, VerbalBehavioreGroups Moderator, AutismABAeGroups Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 29, 2000 Report Share Posted October 29, 2000 I noticed in your post you said that he can do one word imitations well. have you moved to 2 word imitations? Also, when he mands how many words does he use? I have found that echoic or verbal imitation trials are often very frustrating for a child so maybe try to work on the 3 word phrases within in the mands. If you know that " I need help " is hard for him then I would contrive situations where it would be appropriate for him to use that phrase. For example, put something he likes to eat out of his reach but in his sight. When he tries to get it prompt him to say " I need help. " It will be much more motivated to say it then because he will be able to get the item he wants. Just a suggestion. Jenn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 29, 2000 Report Share Posted October 29, 2000 Connor did not ask for help on things for a long time. He would just get frustrated over anything that he could not do and wanted to. What we did was make sure he had things he wanted to do but would need help with and when we saw him rising in frustration, modeled " say Help " . We moved on to " help me " and then " help me please mama " . He now asks for help using the full sentence. The most important thing was to have something he really wanted to do but couldn't. Example for Connor was opening something, (marker top, box for Mr. Potato head, wrapping off his favorite chocolate....etc) The thing he wants has to be a very strong reinforcer to get him to say the help sentence. After we modeled it many times with different things, we then phased out the modeling to " you know what to say " . This works for Connor as a Que., not sure that will work for all kids but you might come up with a Que. of your own. To get your child to ask for help for something they really don't care about would be tough. Start with those strong reinforcers. As for the technical terminology, I too forget half of them. I don't think anyone on this list minds if posts are more in layman's terms. So don't worry about that at all. I hope this helped some. [ ] Any suggestions? > I hear from Putter's tutor that he is having difficulty with verbal > imitations of three words; he has no trouble, oddly enough, saying a three > syllable two word phrase, such as " Here kitty " (that is his tutor's > example). The phrase they mention is " I need help " (in my experience Putter > never believes he needs help so maybe that is part of the problem!) but he > is working on other three word phrases as well. He just moved up from > single word imitations which he has been doing great on. Has anyone ever > run into this? Any ideas or suggestions? Putter is in a DTT classroom with > three tutors, his alone (they work with him individually in a booth most of > the day), one right after another, each taking him for a two hour shift so > he is there six hours a day five days a week. The school suggests I might > want to really push this too so we can get him over this hump. > > Salli > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 29, 2000 Report Share Posted October 29, 2000 After posting my question about my son Putter's difficulties with three word verbal imitations, I thought I'd tell you what just happened. We have two cordless phones in our house (well, we really have three but Sophie called a friend once and we have never seen it since...); one, an old black one, needs a new battery and the other, a new phone that is a beautiful clear red plastic, Putter doesn't like anyone to use because it belongs on the hook. Now this feeling of Putter's can be handy because when we carelessly leave the phone lying around, he always returns it to its place so it is not getting lost, but he hates for people to talk on it which is a problem. I was talking to my husband on the phone, just now when Putter came up to me anxiously, " Put it back " he said clearly, " Put it BACK. " No one taught him that, there was obviously no prompting, just his strong desire to have that phone back in its rightful place! Ain't motivation wonderful! Making OCD work for us here! I quickly said good-bye and was delighted to oblige Putter this time, but we are going to have to use it sometimes! Salli Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 30, 2000 Report Share Posted October 30, 2000 > How about the most common 3-word phrase of all for kids: The " I want __ " > mand? It strikes me that this would be the most inherently reinforcing way > to build up 3 word phrases. Just by his varying the item manded for, he'll > be adding dozens of 3-word phrases to his repertoire. Oh, yes, Putter has been doing this one since July. In fact, he has been making them four word phrases frequently by spontaneously adding " please " to his " I want ___ " He is pretty strong on his mands now, and I think his program director is concerned about expanding him beyond that. I have got " I need help " out of him several times this weekend by refusing to help him when he wants help unless he says that. It has seemed pretty easy to me; he is asking for stuff all the time and a lot of time he needs help. Maybe the school should just let him roam around removing batteries from his brother's gameboy and then trying to get them back in and trying to take things from the freezer and put them in the toaster and dropping trains under my bed, all of which have occurred this weekend and from which I have got a nice " I need help. " I had been viewing those situations as " I wants " and now I am trying to view them as " I need help " which a lot of time they are. s that you could try include textual prompts, such as sentence > strips that he can use as cues. You can teach the words as sight words and > then expand to sentences. You can also try backward chaining, building up to > the 3rd word slowly. You can start by adding certain " general " 3rd words, > such as " please, " " thanks, " or the listener's name. More generally, you can > shape up the expanded phrases, differentially reinforcing longer ones. Good suggestion. We'll try this too. > My thought is that if there's no separate reason for this difficulty, > i.e., apraxia, then the trick is to find enough reinforcing 3-word phrases to > get him into the habit. Once the reinforcing phrases are in his repertoire > and, as was suggested, some stock phrases (that was a great list), adding new > ones should come more easily. Putter was diagnosed with apraxia; he started talking with a horrible growly voice, but after we did a lot of work on certain sounds, the horrible growly voice disappeared and a sweet little voice appeared. It is possible that the motor planning issues of the slightly longer phrases are still an issue. Perhaps the reason he doesn't have problems with three syllable, two word phrases and something like " I want " is that he sees them as fewer words in his mind (the way good readers read phrases and sentences and chunks instead of individual words) and this somehow reduces the motor planning issues (I suspect him of considering " I want " to be one word; after all in many languages it is one word, so he would not be alone in that belief). I still think that those reinforcing phrases ought to do the trick eventually, perhaps just a bit more slowly. > Hope this helps. You betcha! Thanks, ! Salli Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 20, 2005 Report Share Posted May 20, 2005 Mindy, With the garlic and drinking plenty of water, you should be well prepared for your surgery! You're going to do really well! Life begins again . . . with a whole new appreciation for its beauty! God Bless, Rogene Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 Hi Jen - Just wondering if you noticed that adults can be even more insensitive than children regarding the difference in appearance. I remember when was 3 years old, just before her surgery, a woman (stranger) pointed to her from 2 feet away and said (loudly), "Can she SEE?" I stared at her as though she were an alien for a moment, then replied, "Yes, and if you don't mind, she can HEAR too!"Many strangers and mere acquaintances would ask questions (some more blatantly than others). If I felt they were sincere in their curiosity, I would offer an explanation. If not, I just let them wonder,,,,,,,,, I never understood why it was so important for them to know. To me, it was no big deal, as it was not a life-threatening illness Sometimes I just stated that she had Droopy Eyelids (DUH!) Without realizing it, it made the person look so foolish for asking. Love when that happens!Just wanted to share those experiences. They were painful at the time, but I can look back at them now and (almost) snicker.scoppeyes <minsco72@...> wrote: Hi. My daughter Jenna had her transnasal wiring surgery in April 06 - has not had to have the lid lift as yet - she was 4 when she had the surgery - now 6 and more AWARE of other kids who might stare at her, or who whisper to other kids about her apppearance...last night she cried to me and it really hit home...she told me that other kids stare and say things to her and she is strong enough to voice back that "everyone is different"...how can I help ease the pain? I encourage her to be strong and to know that she is beautiful just the way she is - that God gave her beautiful "angel" eyes...she's just not buying into it anymore...we go back to Boston for her check up in April and I think I'll have to explore the option of having the lid lift surgery...any suggestions how I can talk to my 6 year old openly about her eye condition and what she should/should not say when other kids poke fun at her??? I want her to be strong and KNOW that she is NO different than anyone else just because she has smaller eyes... Thanks. ~Jen Never miss a thing. Make your homepage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 14, 2008 Report Share Posted January 14, 2008 Hello Jen, I think you are doing great - my feeling is that it is always best to instill eloquence in our kids with BPES, especially in regards to their eye condition. My experience as a child with BPES was that once I was able to explain myself clearly to both adults and children alike, I received immediate understanding and respect, regardless of who was doing the asking. As the parent of a kid with BPES, the most difficult thing for me to do is to back off when someone questions my daughter Leah about her eyes, and to let her do the talking. It is especially difficult when the person asking the questions is closer to my age than my 5 year old daughter’s. The interesting thing that I find is that Leah is actually quite a bit more relaxed than I am about the questions that come at her. I have never seen her wither under questioning, whereas I want to swing in all directions when I hear even the slightest disrespect shown her. If someone asks her if she can see, she tells them that she can. If someone asks her if she is sleepy, she tells them that she is not. After each of these interactions (at least the ones I am privy to), I try to sit with her and see how she is feeling. To the best of my knowledge, she has come through most of these encounters with her head up. I am not trying to say that these interactions do not hurt. Sadly, sometimes they do. That said, I believe that Leah (and all of our kids) will be the one who is in charge of both demanding respect, and providing understanding. On another note – I find that the people who make the most outrageous comments are actually the easiest to deal with. Their questions usually only require a one line answer. “Are you blind”. “No, I’m not.” Case dismissed. The harder ones, I find, are the adults who do not ask anything directly, but you can see the assumptions piling up in their mind. Those are hard to address. Let’s talk about other kids taunting our kids with BPES. This one is fairly interesting, as the playing field is usually pretty level when it comes to how kids pick on each other. One child may pick on my daughter for having small eyes, but that is because everyone else is teasing that child for being overweight, or badly dressed, or for the fact that she stutters. The point here is that kids are on each other all the time, and usually the kids who throw the most arrows are the ones nursing the most hurt, having had the exact same done to them in spades in the past. My point here is that kids are hard on each other, and that everyone gets a piece of the hardship at one time or another. I know that this does not make seeing your child feel sad any easier, but worth noting. All the best, Micah From: blepharophimosis [mailto:blepharophimosis ] On Behalf Of donna haskins Sent: Saturday, January 12, 2008 1:58 AM blepharophimosis Subject: blepharophimosis any suggestions? Hi Jen - Just wondering if you noticed that adults can be even more insensitive than children regarding the difference in appearance. I remember when was 3 years old, just before her surgery, a woman (stranger) pointed to her from 2 feet away and said (loudly), " Can she SEE? " I stared at her as though she were an alien for a moment, then replied, " Yes, and if you don't mind, she can HEAR too! " Many strangers and mere acquaintances would ask questions (some more blatantly than others). If I felt they were sincere in their curiosity, I would offer an explanation. If not, I just let them wonder,,,,,,,,, I never understood why it was so important for them to know. To me, it was no big deal, as it was not a life-threatening illness Sometimes I just stated that she had Droopy Eyelids (DUH!) Without realizing it, it made the person look so foolish for asking. Love when that happens! Just wanted to share those experiences. They were painful at the time, but I can look back at them now and (almost) snicker. scoppeyes <minsco72@...> wrote: Hi. My daughter Jenna had her transnasal wiring surgery in April 06 - has not had to have the lid lift as yet - she was 4 when she had the surgery - now 6 and more AWARE of other kids who might stare at her, or who whisper to other kids about her apppearance...last night she cried to me and it really hit home...she told me that other kids stare and say things to her and she is strong enough to voice back that " everyone is different " ...how can I help ease the pain? I encourage her to be strong and to know that she is beautiful just the way she is - that God gave her beautiful " angel " eyes...she's just not buying into it anymore...we go back to Boston for her check up in April and I think I'll have to explore the option of having the lid lift surgery...any suggestions how I can talk to my 6 year old openly about her eye condition and what she should/should not say when other kids poke fun at her??? I want her to be strong and KNOW that she is NO different than anyone else just because she has smaller eyes... Thanks. ~Jen Never miss a thing. Make your homepage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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