Re: Re: LF students with autism in middle school

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We have used much the same approach with our 4 year old since he first started sign, then PECS, then speaking. If he wants something that we know he can say/sign/recognize a card, then he must ask for it nicely in one of those methods - no whining! We don't understand whining in this house. He still uses a combination of methods - if I don't reconize the word he says he'll pull a card off his board and give it to me, or he'll use sign to emphazize that he wants more to eat if he doesn't think I'm moving fast enough to get more food! Once he's said or signed a word, he's expected to maintain it and expand the complexity of the sentence over time. It really doesn't take long to move through these steps, as said. It does take a lot of attention on the adult's part, though, until it becomes habit. This method has also helped test and expand his vocabulary, since if he wants something like a lollipop, he has to

ask for it by color. Before he couldn't say colors, he could at least point to the specific one he wanted and say "Pop, please." then I'd repeat the color and make him point again, then he could have it. Food motivators work! This has also worked well for enforcing basic politeness. He progressed quickly from saying "Milk" to "Milk, please" since we'd always made him sign Please to get something before he had any nouns. His speech phrases now include "please" automatically, and he says Yes/No Ma'am/Sir most of the time, too. We figured that since he's going to need adult help for quite a while, it would be good if he didn't sound rude to adults who don't know him well. Plus, living in the South means politeness is expected and appreciated Finally, we have used a combination of PECS cartoon-style cards and photo-realistic flash cards. The PECS

cards are more cartoonish, and worked well for objects he was already familiar with. We've used photo flash cards to introduce new vocabulary. --andrea wheeler <wheelertrio2002@...> wrote: With any early leaner manding (requesting) is key. The rule in our house with our 5 year old daughter with autism is if you want it you ask for it. We use sign and/or approximations of words. Whatever motivates or interests the students is the place to start. If you have to you can shape

the word for the student. Some people use the phrase, "what do you want" but we actually just use the word so she doesn't get "trained" to always respond to the question. An example would be if she wants a cracker. She would see the cracker and hopefully say cracker. If not, I would prompt her to sign cracker and then see if she can do it on her own (transfer trial). If she is also approximating the word then I would have her "echo" the word up to 3 times to see if I can get an improvement in the word. This sounds like a lot of steps but it goes quickly. We use this for everything from food to tickles. She just yelled, "cup" because the measuring cups that she loves so much are behing a locked door and she must ask for them to get the door open. Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Search.

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