MANDS = 14
Whitney during the am:

Parker and I worked with Tony for the first hour of therapy. He was happy to see both of us. We kicked off our morning with the usual Wiggles show. He has some pretty cool new dance moves as a result too! After his show was over and he had eaten, Tony decided it was time to get down to business. We worked on intraverbals to start with. He’s doing really well with “Your name is Tony.” Parker and I usually have to momentarily take away a desired object in order to get him to pay attention. Tony remains patient when we do this because he knows if he makes an effort, he’ll get the item back. We also worked on teaching “wait.” Tony manded for “turtle” and “cup.” Parker told Tony that he needed to wait with me while she got them. He sat in my lap and we counted on our fingers until Parker returned (about 4 seconds later). Later on, he manded for crayons (a more powerful reinforcer almost). He whined at first when we told him he had to wait, but after I sat him in my lap and we counted he calmed down. He was heavily reinforced with the crayons and the verbal praise Parker and I gave him for waiting.

Jay, I wanted to ask you about the potty learning situation. Many times, Tony refuses to get on the potty. He says “No”, tries to leave, or says “all done” immediately. I think it may be necessary to change our teaching procedures. Maybe add a powerful reinforcer to pair with the potty? What do you think about giving him crayons while he’s on the potty? Write back when you get a second. Thanks!

Parker pm:

Well, while Whitney was cleaning Tony and I worked on receptives and motor imitation. We used cards today and he answered (physically, not vocally of course) correctly for the most part when he answered at all. Some of the time, however, he was just not receptive! (ha ha!) The motor imitation we accomplished was spread out throughout the day. Many of these he did in only one try.

Tony got the green Play-Dough out and we played with it on the table. Sometimes when he goes for something like crayons, paint, or Play-Dough which are mobile activities I ask him whether he wants to use it on the floor or the table and let him have the choice. He picked the table. He handed me different size blobs and asked me to make balls out of them and I got him to mand ‘roll ball’ with one of these creations.