Sat 3 Dec 2005
Today was a little rough with Tony because of all the construction work going on outside (if only he knew). The noise was distracting, there was a lot of activity, and also Tony really wanted Anton to be inside. He kept walking up to the back door and saying “dada” and walking around. He was whining in the beginning so Morgan and I took Tony outside. I tried to work on the verbalization “walk” when we got outside but Tony was upset and distracted because Anton was leaving to get wood at the store at the same time. Once we got a little down the sidewalk Tony calmed down and actually started counting his steps. I worked on “jump” and “ahh boom” outside but Tony kept wanting to go over to the grate where he lost his puzzle pieces a couple weeks ago. I redirected him using “jump” and we did “fall down” when we got on the other side of the yard. As soon as we did “fall down” Tony immediately ran back over to where the grate was and started whining when I scooped him back up. He looked at Morgan and signed and said “all done” while he was crying. We went back inside and Tony took 5 for awhile so he could calm down and eat some waffle. We got back on track about 15 min. later. I asked Tony if he’d like to sing the “head shoulder-knees-toes song” and he stated doing the motions and then sounds of the song. So we did the song and I got Tony to echo “toe” “head” and “knees” (I think shoulders is a little hard).
We did bubbles. I tried manding with the bubbles but Tony didn’t verbalize until I had blown the bubbles…so more of a tact but nonetheless good. For motor imitation “do this” we did stomp feet as well as clap hands..Tony did both on the first try. I worked on the cards with tacting and Tony successfully identified “ball” out of the cards but he was fading by this time….rubbing his eyes and all. I didn’t get to match to sample today but I didn’t want to throw him into fit since he was getting irritable. So today was hard because Tony seemed out of sorts with all the action going on at the house but I feel like it was still an OK day given the circumstances.
December 5th, 2005 at 7:48 am
Looks like you guys are moving right along with the identified goals. I think construction like you guys are going through would throw any 2-year off a little so don’t worry too much about a rough day Sat. Although we didn’t target interverbals, it sounds like Tony may have a tendency to complete “fill ins” (beginning interverbal skills). If he does this throughout the session, reinforce heavily with mand (specific reinforcer) trial.
At this point, teach Tony the objectives when you can when his motivation is high for reinforcement. THis is called incidential teaching……..We will work on teaching “at the table” later (when the room is completed)……….so hurry up Anton! BTW, I think we are going to put a back seat in my bus later today. Then I can actually take people for a ride!
See you guys on Wed.
Jay