Mon 9 Jan 2006
When I came in the door today Tony yelled. He had been having a good morning but since Marlaina was gone today I think he was expecting to see mommy instead. Tony was upset for a short while but I took him for a walk and he calmed. As soon as we made it to the sidewalk Tony clearly said “walk”. He also requested “jump” atleast 10 tens repeatedly and jumped all over the place. Then he tacted “tree” before asking to come inside by saying “bye” and running back towards the house. Once inside I pulled out the tacts and we went over the pictures. Since Tony was eating we matched the pic of the chips to his really chips. He didn’t tact the word but he instead made the eating sound. I just said “chip” and “touch the chip” having his hand touch the card. We matched colors by using his primary colored large bowling pins, having a basket of red, blue, and yellow. He matched to “put with same” after I placed the pin in his hand. He then put the right color in the basket. He tacted “blue” and “red” today. We also went over the colors with construction paper and Tony colored with his crayon to “do this”. Tony tacted “a ball” and requested “bounce”. He also requested “aah boom” and “wake up”. I think Tony said “cool” once, too, since I think he’s saying that. He also matched different balls and his different dinosaurs. We worked on “touch the” w/body parts but I used physical prompting. Tony requested “open” (if it was a request for the door then I said “open door”), “all done”, and “clean up” and sang the “Clean Up” song as he placed all his play cards back into their box. He also called for “dada” and then whined. He started to shut down and then eventually cried and told me “bye” several times, led me to the gate, and when I made it to the front door he said “open” and waved goodbye. He was really ready for me to leave. Tony just whined at the end and I couldn’t get him back on task so he went down for a nap. We worked for an hour but Tony just seemed too tired to get anything more from him. What we did in a short time was nice, though.
January 9th, 2006 at 4:07 pm
It looks like we continue to move right along with Tony’s communication and skill development. Just a few reminders, remember the ABC format for the delievery of tasks/questions with (A) representing the instruction (e.g., “Do this”, “What’s this”, “What do you want?”, etc.) (B) Tony’s verbal and nonverbal behavior, and (C) reinforcement. If prompts are needed provide them early (after antecedent), then “go back” and see if he can do skill with prompt delay or lesser prompt…….provide more reinforcer if he does. This is really the essence of teaching skills in my view.
Also, have you guys tried to count the mands? Remember, with mands the antecedent could be “What do you want?” or simply Tony’s motivation for a specific reinforcer (e.g., spontaneosly says “open”)………..then therapist provide response specific reinforcement.
Go ahead and attempt to count mands……….and post here.
Jay