Functions of Behavior Workshop in February

< Understanding how and why behavior works is essential to the treatment of autism. When you understand behavior, you get to be a more effective teacher to your child. Come to the workshop and learn more. Please register online and we will contact you with more details.Fee for this workshop is MYR 80. All proceeds will go to reaching out to more families that have children with diagnosed with autism, and teaching parents the skills necessary to be able to sustain a good behavior plan for their child. Proceeds will also go to ongoing teacher training at schools that desire our help in training. Workshop will be held from 10A.M to 1 P.M. Light refreshments will be provided.

Looking forward to see you all there!

Php forms powered by 123ContactForm.com | Report abuse

Helping your child understand the good and the bad.

Holidays are an amazing time. You spend a ton of time with family, eat good food, laugh, dance and really not worry about all the calories you are consuming. You also are busy and your children may get away with some things.

For the holidays this year, I got to spend time in Dubai with my amazing family. My cousin has two little boys and her oldest is 4 years old. He is an amazing, intelligent, handsome, and a very smart little boy. He recently welcomed a little brother and has been engaging in behaviors that may be attention seeking. In addition, his routine has changed. There are people visiting, his meal times have shifted, all these people are giving him so much attention and even more attention to his brother. It's very hard for a little kid to understand that his little brother is still a baby. Even harder for him to understand that he is not the only little kid in the home anymore. So what are parents to do? My cousin actually designed a motivational system for her son. It has the seven planets on it, and when he displays "good attitude" the planets moved closer to earth. Once it lands on earth, he gets access to his favorite movie "The Avengers!! ".

This is exactly what a child needs.
1) A visual
2) A set contingency: when you display good behavior you get something you like
3) following through.

In this scenario, the three term contingency is very clear: Antecedent ( He sees a toy that he likes) ------> Behavior ( He asks for it appropriately)---------> Consequence ( You displayed awesome attitude, your planet gets moved closer to earth)

On the contrary, if he/she displayed inappropriate behavior, the planet moves down and he loses access to the avengers movie and does not get access to the toy.

Things to remember and consider when using a motivational system especially for a younger child:

1) First things first, understand the function of the behaviors that are being displayed ( please refer to the previous blog for more information on this). 

 2) Make sure the visual is very clear. It should be kid friendly with very minimal distractors as possible so your child easily sees when he gains or loses something. Visuals are very important.

3)  When your child displays inappropriate behavior and he loses a spot on the motivational system, remember the very next time he displays good behavior, move the planet all the way up so he gets reinforcement for the good behavior he did display. This is because you want the motivational system to be meaningful to him and want that motivational system to be more reinforcing than punishing.

 4) Always magnify learning and shape good behavior in small steps. So if this is the first time your child is using a motivational system, get him access to the preferred item that same day. You are teaching your child an incentive. Therefore, to teach this and in order for them to make a connection with that motivational system, they have to value it. Eventually, once he/she starts learning the set contingencies, you can start fading when he/she gets access to the preferred choices.

5) It's always great to give your child choices. Give him/her three preferred choices to choose from. Display these choices on the motivational system itself.

6) Follow through and be consistent. This is the most important component of using a motivational system. Remember, if you are inconsistent, it will make the inappropriate behavior even stronger. This is because your child will be confused and is learning that at times he is getting access to things he likes by acting out. When this happens, he/she is going to try everything and anything to get access to the things that they like again. So be consistent. When your child displays inappropriate behavior, give them clear consequences. Black and white. There should never be grey areas.

 7) Last but not least. Celebrate success in a big way ! go all out ! make your child the happiest person ever !! :) Here's an example of a visual for a motivational system.

Here's an example of a visual for your child:

As always, please email me if you have any questions :) and wishing everyone a very happy 2013 !!!

Why do we do what we do?

"The function of a behavior refers to the source of environmental reinforcement for it."

Tarbox et al (2009, p. 494)

Everyday and in the very beginning of life, as an infant, we have learned to do things because of the consequences that were put in place. These consequences were put in place based on the environment that we were in. For example: A baby has learned to cry when hungry so he/she will be fed, cleaned or picked up.

Therefore, in applied behavior analysis, behavior is maintained by several functions. In other words, behavior happens for certain reasons and understanding the reason why certain behaviors occur, will help us understand why a person does what he/she does. Behavior could be maintained by the following functions: attention, escape/avoidance,  tangible/activities or automatically maintained. Sometimes, behavior can serve multiple functions. For example, a child might learn to hurt themselves during class to get out of having to complete academic tasks and then also hurt themselves in the playground to get attention from the teachers.


Attention

You tell a joke and your friends laugh. You love your friends laughing at your joke because you absolutely love the attention, so you tell another joke. This joke telling behavior, is maintained by attention. You are more likely to tell a joke in their presence again because you love the attention.

Another example, your child kicks his sibling and his mother gives him attention for this. The child continues to kick his sibling because every time he kicks his sibling, his mother takes away attention from the sibling and giver her attention to the child kicking. His kicking behavior then is maintained by his mother's attention.

It may seem weird that a person would engage in a behavior to deliberately have someone scold them. However, it can occur because for some people it’s better to obtain “bad” attention than no attention at all (Cooper, Heron & Heward, 2007). 

Escape/Avoidance

Not all behaviors occur so the person can “get access” to something. Some behaviors occur because the person wants to get away from something or avoid something (Miltenberger, 2008).

For example, You see a cop on the road while you are speeding, you slow down. The reason why you slow down is because you want to avoid a speeding ticket.

Another great example is that you keep putting off your dentist appointment even though your teeth needs attention because going to the dentist is aversive and you want to avoid going as much as possible. 

Tangible/Activities

Your child cries or screams whenever they want a specific toy (tangible) in the store until you buy it for your child or your child kicks and cries every time he wants to go to the pool (activities) because every time he does this, you take him to the pool.

Automatic

Some behaviors, have no particular environment function. Some behaviors we only do because it feels good when we do it.  It is pleasing to us internally or in other words, they are “self-stimulating” (O’Neill, Horner, Albin, Sprague, Storey, & Newton, 1997) For example, rocking back and forth and twirling our hair while we read a book.


Behaviors always occur for a reason and it is very important to understand the reasons as to why these behaviors occur. Understanding the reasons, will help us determine how to improve a behavior or decrease an undesired behavior.

If you wish to learn more, please sign up for the following workshop on functions of behavior.

Php forms powered by 123ContactForm.com | Report abuse

What makes a good ABA instructor?

Parents always ask me this question about ABA instructors and what makes a good one. Like any other professional that sees to your child's needs, an ABA instructor has to be very well qualified.

A good ABA Instructor has to possess the following skills:

1) Acquired vast knowledge of ABA from an accredited university program

2)  Has been trained and supervised by a professional from an accredited university program

3) The supervisor that has supervised the instructor must possess a masters in Applied Behavior Analysis and/or possess a BCBA board certification. 

4) Has worked with children with autism for a minimum of 2 years under the supervision of a     qualified supervisor

5) Has attended workshops on professional development in topics such as : shaping, reinforcement, prompt fading, principles of ABA, extinction, etc

6) Has presented posters or research on current topics in Applied Behavior Analysis or the application of it.

7) Has excellent references.

8) Loves working with children with autism

9) Always makes child centered decisions and constantly consults parents for input

10) Always recruits feedback and attends ongoing training to improve skills

11) Instructor fee:

Based on current market research Instructor's with 1 year experience charge MYR 40 an hour, Instructors with more than 2 years experience can charge up to MYR 70 an hour, a masters holder should charge minimum MYR 100 per hour and max MYR 150 an hour.

I advise parents to please be aware of the above requirements when hiring an instructor. We at Little Steps do help parents with this process as well. We can do the interviewing process for the staff that you choose and can furnish you all the requirements. We also do train staff in a systematic process and provide staff evaluation.

Contact us for more details

Shaping workshop in December in full gear !

We got the place confirmed and the workshop is in full swing !!! We are so excited about this workshop because shaping is a procedure that is very important in teaching any skills that you would like to teach your child in order to make them more independent or introduce them to something that may be aversive to them. Shaping is a great tool and we at Littlesteps are so excited to share all our knowledge with you.  Hands on training will be provided on the day of the workshop, articles on current research will be shared and most importantly we will be able to exchange some ideas on how to teach your child or student skills that are important to their development.

Please fill out the form below to register and payment will be made the day of



php form powered by 123ContactForm.com | Report abuse

Shaping Workshop

From the previous blog, we now know that shaping is an incredibly useful and important tool to teach your child with ASD skills that are important for their well being. This December 20th 2012, I am happy to be announcing that my team and I will be organizing a Shaping workshop for parents, teachers and caretakers. Below are the details.


Venue  : The Canvas Malaysia
             G6C, Jalan PJU 8/3A, Damansara Perdana, 
             47820 Petaling Jaya, Selangor. 

Price:  MYR80 per person

Time: 10 am to 1pm

Please email for addition details at littlestepsmalaysia@gmail.com. More information will be posted tomorrow. All participants will be required to complete an online registration form. Payment can be made the day of. Thank you !!!

    













                                                               

Teaching your child how to co-operate during dentist and doctor visits

Doctor and dentist visits are never easy for a child. I remember when I was young, I used to be so petrified of going to the dentist (even though the dentist was my dad!). The smell and the look of the office made me shudder. I think the thing about doctors and dentists are that even though it's a routine yearly check up, what happens in the office is unexpected, because sometimes you do get sick unexpectedly or sometimes the dentist finds a cavity and you have to co-operate with the dentist/doctor in that situation at that very moment. A child with autism or any typical developing child may have a hard time understanding this concept of sometimes things happen unexpectedly and now we have to adjust our behavior to make this visit successful. So how do we teach our children this?

One of the first things we can do especially if a child has receptive and expressive language is reading a social story. This usually should be paired some behavioral contract or a rule. For example, "Remember when you let the dentist check your teeth nicely, we get to go get Mcdonalds after !". Remind your child throughout the dentist/doctor that he/she is earning something he/she really likes. Throughout the visit, tell your child that they are doing a really nice job and it's okay to be specific. For example: "I love how you are letting the doctor check your heartbeat" etc. In addition to this, something else you could do is to role play at home with some doctor/dentist tools to prepare your child for the visit.

If your child does not possess enough receptive or expressive language or does not understand contingencies well, you can try a procedure that is used widely in our field. It is called Shaping.

Shaping is "—Process of systematically and differentially reinforcing successive approximations to a terminal behavior". (Heward et. al, 2000) In other words, shaping is the process of breaking things down in little steps and reinforcing those little steps leading up to the end goal.

Therefor during a dentist visit and depending on the child's needs, one of the first things we teach is merely opening their mouth for 10 seconds when given the directions "say ah" or "open your mouth so I can take a look". When the child opens his/her mouth for ten seconds, reinforcement is provided. Once the child has mastered that, the next step would be to increase the time and maybe use our fingers to touch the teeth for a specified amount of time. Another thing to consider is some children cringe at the sight of gloves. Therefore, maybe starting the shaping process by introducing gloves. For example, the child sits down and the parent/teacher puts on the gloves in front of the child. Once this is mastered, then we can teach the child to open their mouth. 

When conducting a shaping procedure, a task analysis is used. A task analysis is a list of behaviors that we have shape. Below is the task analysis for cooperating with the dentist. Task analysis are going to vary depending on each child. Some child may master something more quicker than the other. Also, each step in the task analysis has to be broken down further. 

Walk in
Sits down
Dentist puts on gloves	This can be broken down even further. For example some children need to be taught to tolerate gloves for only couple of seconds and build up that time.
Dentist puts on dental bib	The breaking down of this skill may be required as well. For example, some children need to be taught to tolerate the bib for a couple of seconds and slowly build up to tolerating it the entire dentist visit.
Dentist turns on light
Dentist tilts head back
Dentist prompts mouth open	This may need further breaking down same as above.
Dentist uses fingers to count teeth	This may need further breaking down same as above.
Dentist uses mirror	This may need further breaking down same as above.
Dentist uses pick	This may need further breaking down same as above.
Dentist uses tool to polish	This may need further breaking down same as above. Since we at home do not have the polishing tool, we can use an electric toothbrush to simulate dentist tool.
Dentist provides water to spit
Dentist turns off light
Dentist takes off bib
Dentist gives instruction to leave

The above is just an example of what a task analysis should look like for a child visiting a dentist. Remember, when the dentist visit is successfully shaped at home, it does not mean your child will be successful at the dentist. Further programming for generalization maybe required. For example bringing your child to the dentist just to sit and wait in the office, then bringing your child to the dentist again and practicing laying on the dentist chair. For these purposes, it might be helpful to find dentists that are willing to cooperate with you and allow for training to occur at their office. Choosing a practice with several dentist will also help programming for generalization.

Last but not least, before beginning any shaping procedure an important aspect to think about is the motivational system. What motivates your child? Does your child use a token board, if so he/she would have a visual when reinforcement is available. Choose a reinforcer that is portable and immediate so when your child is appropriate, reinforcement is available immediately. Some parents and teachers have used non-contingent reinforcement. This means that if your child likes a movie, the movie is played the entire time your child is at the dentist. Depending on your child, this can be faded out as your child becomes more successful. 

Below are some simple guidelines for shaping :

Pryor's Ten Laws for Shaping

1. Raise criteria in increments small enough so that the subject always has a realistic chance of reinforcement.
2. Train one aspect of any particular behavior at a time. Don’t try to shape for two criteria simultaneously.
3. During shaping, put the current level of responses on a variable ratio schedule of reinforcement before adding or raising the criteria.

4. When introducing a new criterion, or aspect of the behavioral skill, temporarily relax the old ones.

5. Stay ahead of your learner: plan your     shaping program completely so that if the learner makes progress, you are aware of what to reinforce next

6. Don’t switch teachers midstream. You can have several teachers per student, but stick to one shaper per behavior.
7. If one shaping procedure is not eliciting progress, find another.
8. Don’t interrupt a training session.

6. If behavior deteriorates, “go back to to kindergarten.” Quickly review the whole shaping process with a series of easily earned reinforces.
7. End each session on a positive note

 More guidelines for Shaping

• —              Select the terminal behavior         
•         Determine the criterion for success
• —                Analyze the response class
•        —  Identify the first behavior to reinforce
•          Eliminate interfering or extraneous stimuli
•          Proceed in gradual stages
•                 Limit the number of approximations at each level
•         Continue to reinforce when the terminal behavior is achieved

Shaping is a procedure that takes careful planning and consistency. If not thought out or planned thoroughly one might be shaping an undesirable behavior. Therefore, take the extra time to plan out what exactly you want to shape and how you are going to shape it. Any behavior that is observable or measurable can be shaped. Any behavior can be shaped, as long as it is done systematically using little steps at a time.

Here is an excellent video of a shaping procedure:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZORgZh4qK8

As usual, please email me with any questions. 

—

DAN doctors. Chelation. Let's talk about this.

Since I have been back to Malaysia, I have come to realize that biomedical treatment in Malaysia is a huge treatment of choice for autism. I am very surprised and deeply saddened by this.

Firstly, let me start by stating that Autism is a diagnosis that is diagnosed and defined behaviorally. When a pediatrician looks to diagnosis a child with autism, the pediatrician observes a child's behavior, conducts formal and informal assessments and makes conclusions based on those evaluations in place. There are no blood test, saliva swabs, MRI's etc involved in the diagnosis of autism. The cause for autism is unknown.

So the dilemma is this, when choosing a treatment for you child, what should a parent do? In Malaysia, there is still no organization to date that supplies parents with information on autism treatment. So, finding the correct treatment for your child becomes even more difficult. The thing about treatments is this, there are many treatments out there for autism but the effectiveness to each treatment is always not clear. It is not always based on evidence, outcomes and science. Instead it is a form of pseudo science. Parents really have to research and that's why we have google !! It is an amazing tool, and we should feel very empowered to use it. No knowledge is better than the knowledge we learn ourselves. The more we know, the better it is for our children. There are several things to look out for that we call red flags in regards to those ineffective treatments,

1) Most pseudo scientific/fad treatment claim to "cure" autism: the main problem with this is that there is not cure for autism.

2) Caregivers are not provided with a whole lot of training.

3) Non-individualized treatment: the problem with this is that autism affects each child differently and one single general treatment that is not individualized, will not yield effective results because each child is different.

4) Effectiveness of treatments are usually based on testimonials and case studies: the problem with this is that there are no evidence to back up claims therefore making the treatment questionable. 

Let's use an analogy, if you were trying to lose weight,and had to choose a method of treatment, 1) diet and exercise (proven to work and yield results) or 2) random weight loss pills ( supported by mostly testimonials you see on tv). What would you choose for yourself? I would hope it would be 1, because choosing diet and exercise not only will treat your weight loss, it will also improve your quality of life. Therefore, to relate this back to autism, choosing a fad treatment or a treatment that is not effective will only be a waste of time, money, and always remember that wasted time can never be returned. Time is important when it comes to treating autism, the faster we treat with a treatment that valid, the faster we see results. Lastly, choosing an effective treatment will improve the quality of your child's life.

So what are some fad treatments out there?

1) DAN doctors: DAN doctors claim that autism is the result of biomedical factors such as toxins and immune system deficiencies. DAN doctors often prescribe treatments and diets that mainstream doctors and scientists do not usually agree with.  Till date, there are no published evidence there are or  research studies supporting the effectiveness DAN doctors. In addition, many of the techniques practiced by DAN physicians are considered to be harmful by the medical community, for example, chelation therapy. Lastly, DAN doctors, only have to attend one day workshops to get certified. Wouldn't you want a specialist to do more than that for your child? Where is the peer reviewed research? and Where is it published that autism is caused by immune system deficiencies?

2) Chelation therapy: Chelation was used to treat autism in the early 1980s. It claims to stop further damage that is caused by mercury poisoning. They basically remove these foreign metals by IV or oral medication. Chelation is used in the medical community to treat lead poisiong or any other heavy metal poisionong. There is no evidence to support that autism is caused by heavy metal poisoning, therefore making chelation therapy a big NO NO in the treatment for autism. In 2008, research on chelation was stopped due to dangers associaiated with the treatment. The cause for autism is unknow, it is not caused by heavy metal poisoning, therefore chelation is not a good treatment for autism. There is no published evidence to date to support that chelation "cures" autism. This leads up to the third point, which is autism and mercury.

3) This is from the Association for Science in Autism Treatment website, mercury in vaccines do not cause autism. Which further proves that chelation is not a good treatment for your child

National Organizations and their positions on Vaccines:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)	"Many studies have looked at whether there is a relationship between vaccines and autism. The weight of the evidence indicates that vaccines are not associated with autism."18
The National Institutes of Health (NIH)	"There is no conclusive evidence that any part of a vaccine or combination of vaccines causes autism, even though researchers have done many studies to answer this important question. There is also no proof that any material used to make or preserve the vaccine plays a role in causing autism. Although there have been reports of studies that relate vaccines to autism, these findings have not held up under further investigation."19
American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)	"Scientific data does not show a link between vaccines and autism."20

Parents, my advice to you is to please do your research. If you need help, please don't hesistate to email me for information. I will provide you with all the help I can get. Remember, time wasted in treatment cannot be returned. Always look for evidence based practices that present peer-reviewed articles/research that can be replicable. Last but not least, always question who claims the treatment will help?

Please please please, email me with questions or go on asat website for more information http://www.asatonline.org/treatment/treatment.htm Choosing the right treatment will only help increase the quality of your child's life. Help yourself be informed.

Look into my eyes.

The eyes are the window to the soul. Everyday when we are having a conversation with someone, we look at them while they talk to us. We also engage in other non-verbal body language such as nodding, smiling, frowning, etc. These are all requirements in order to have a successful social relationship with a person. Why do we look at people when they talk? What contingencies have we learned from not looking?

Why do we look at people when they talk?

This is because, we as typical developing human beings have contacted the social reinforcing qualities associated with looking. For example, when we look at our friend talk, we are being a good friend because we are showing interest in what they are talking about and in return, we get our friend's approval. We feel good about ourselves when we are good friends. In addition, we also look at a conversation partner out of respect. It is socially acceptable to be respectful to the conversation partner. It makes us feel good when we are playing the right part based on society's standards.

What contingencies have we learned from not looking?

We have learned that when we do not look at our conversation partner, we are being impolite, rude, and disrespectful. We have also learned then when we look away, our conversation partner stops talking. Unless we want to be the snob of the party and the person that is not interested in anyone else other than themself, I think we have learned then when we look at our conversation partner, our conversation partner continues talking and perhaps, if it is a conversation we don't want to have anymore, he might soon stop. Realistically, if it is a conversation that we are not interested in, we do tend to look away and engage in other non-verbal behaviors such as eye rolling, squirming, etc. Hopefully, these signals get picked up on and the conversation is switched.

Children diagnosed with autism, tend to engage in limited or no eye contact during a conversation. How do we teach children diagnosed with autism to maintain eye contact during a conversation?

1) If your child has limited or no eye contact start by calling his name. If your child does not look, a prompt should be used by guiding your childs head to the same level as your eyes and waiting for eye contact. When your child looks, give him/her a preferred edible/toy.

2) Once your child is looking at you independently when you call his name, in the absence of prompts, you can start teaching your child to look at you during a conversation.

3) Remember to magnify learning and start with little steps. So, start with a sentence that lasts for 5 seconds for example "Hey ___, I like your shirt!".  In the 5 seconds, if your child looks away, pause your voice and wait for him to look at you again so you can finish your sentence. So if you say "Hey ___, I" and your child looks away, pause your voice, and when he looks back at you say "like your shirt". If your child looks, deliver a small amount of reinforcer. Reserve the big gun reinforcer for when he looks at you the entire time.

4) When teaching eye contact during conversation, a good environment to start teaching your child is in an environment where there are no distractors and your child is not engaged in an activity.

5) Once your child is maintaining eye contact for 5 seconds, keep increasing the time and changing up the environment. Introduce distrastors, talk to your child when he/she is engaged in an activity, initiate conversations in the community to asses the generalization of this skill. If teaching is needed in the community bring your child out and practice with him/her.

6) Once your child has established eye contact with you, you can teach your child to respond to his peers! Next blog entry will be on teaching your child to respond to his peers!

Like always email with questions please :)

Update on workshop

Hi Everyone !

Wanted to remind everybody that is interested in attending the workshop to sign up quick !

Good news ---> We have discounted the price of the workshop to MYR 75 per person and payment can be made the day of.

The most important thing is to email littlestepsmalaysia@gmail.com to register, or call 010-221 4028.

Registration must be made by October 10th.

Thanks and Hope to see you all there !!

Below are the topics that will be covered, hands on training will be provided to attendees.

Topics that will be covered: 1.  Brief Introduction to Applied Behavior Analysis (A.B.A) 2.   Relationship Building 3.  Managing Contingencies using Applied Behavior Analysis 4.  Increasing your child's independence at home Details Venue: D'tandoor Restaurant Subang Jaya, No.7, Jalan Ss 15/5A, 47500, Subang Jaya, Selangor  47500 Price: MYR 75, payment can be made day of. Price includes coffee/tea and light meal Stationery and workshop packet will be provided to parents/educators. See you all there ! Please send your name and contact details to littlestepsmalaysia@gmail.com or call/text 010-221 4028

You do what I do.. Imitation.

When I first ventured to America to pursue my undergraduate studies, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I arrived at the airport, imagined to see big buildings, fancy cars, beautiful large highways, and quite honestly I imagined Hollywood. Little did I know, Indiana was far from Hollywood. I was greeted by a friendly elderly man and was directed to a van. On the way to Bloomington, I saw corn fields, corn fields, more corn fields and finally after 1 hour I saw the  Indiana University Bloomington Campus. It was a beautiful campus with a population of 30,000 students.

A 30,000 student population did not intimidate me. In fact, I wanted to attend a large school. The next day, I excitedly woke up, got dressed and made my way to my first class, "creative writing 101." I pushed open the doors and to my surprise, there were more than 150 students in this huge auditorium style classroom. I was mortified. I did not know what to do. So, I scanned the room for a person that seemed to be in a similar situation to mine, I watched his every move and then I did what any other person in a social situation like that would, I did what he did. I made my way to an empty seat, took out a notebook, said "hi" to the person next to me and then waited anxiously for the class to start.

This is called Imitation. I imitated what another person did when I was unsure of what to do in a social context. Most of us do this whether we realize it or not. Imitation is a huge part of our life. When we exercise with Jillian Michaels, we imitate her moves to stay healthy, at our first day at a job, we imitate our co-workers, when we are learning how to use something, we imitate the person teaching us to use object, when we visit a different country, we imitate the cultures and norms of that country, etc.

Imitation can include a simple task such as copying an action, or a more complex skill such as vocal imitation or learning an entire social routine. Imitation is pre-requisite to having an appropriate social interaction. The ability to imitate others is critical in the development of social relationships (Meltzoff and Moore, 1992)  This is why the first steps in teaching a child diagnosed with autism social skills is to teach them Imitation skills first.  Not only do we teach them how to imitate, we have to teach them generalized imitation skills. This means that imitation should occur across different people, settings, materials and situations without reinforcement that may have followed imitating behavior in the past. An example of this is when a child sees his peer put shoes on a doll may later select similar shoes for a different doll while playing at  home. Here, the reinforcement is naturally occurring and adds more value for the child to imitate other behaviors that he/she might see in his/her environment.

There are several way to teach imitation skills:
(a) video models

(b) live models (Peer or adult)

When teaching imitation, a teacher can go in order of the following :  gross motor imitation, object imitation, verbal imitation of sounds, words and sentences, fine motor imitation, imitation of kids songs, video imitation (objects, toys and social interaction).

If you are a parent, and have successfully built some rapport with your child, you can start teaching your child imitation skills.

1) Choose a time of day when you and your child can sit together to play

2) Choose a reinforcer ( a snack or toy that your child prefers)

3) Make sure your child is sitting across from you and is facing you.

4) Provide the model ( First start with basic models such as clapping or hands up)

5) Provide the preferred toy and snack paired with lots of tickles and social praise

A few things to consider:

If you know your child does not have this skill, anticipate that an error will be made and after you provide the model, come in with your hands and help him clap. This is called a prompt. After you provide a prompt, provide your child with the preferred toy or snack. This is important to remember, if you use a prompt, remember to fade the prompt as quickly as possible. This means that if you have provided your child with a hand over hand prompt initially, it is important for you to fade your prompts to the wrist now. The fading steps could be as follows : Hand over hand, wrist, forearm, elbow, bicep, shoulder and then shadow. If you observe tyour child acquiring the skill faster and not needing prompts, feel free to start fading the prompts quicker. This is just a suggested sequence. In addition, if you are fading your prompts and your child makes an error, always go back to the previous prompting level where your child was last successful. Don't forget to provide reinforcement in order for your child to stay motivated and on task.

Please remember like any other skill, everything takes time and you want to make learning a fun experience. Start small and build up to big.

Once your child has learned to imitate basic motor imitations, you can feel free to introduce more complex set of models for your child to imitate and transition into video models as well. 

Here's a great video of Imitation and how to teach it. Please watch it as you will be see prompting strategies. As usual, if you have any questions or are interested to know more about Imitation, please email us at littlestepsmalaysia@gmail.com

Imitation Video






Little Steps | 

We are what we learn to do..

I was browsing on the internet and I found this picture about "tantrums" and "autism meltdown." This picture describes two separate behaviors that parents often observe among their children diagnosed with autism. These behaviors are also often observed in children of typical development.

This picture paints an inaccurate image of how behavior should be observed and does not provide an accurate reflection of how most behaviors function. Behaviors be it a tantrum behavior or an "autism meltdown" is a function of the environment. Because each child with autism is affected differently by autism, each behavior is unique. We as human beings also respond differently to the same set of environmental conditions.

Therefore, to say that a tantrum is "Want directed" for example is a generalization. It can be "want directed", but we don't know this until a formal functional assessment is done. Some children with autism, tantrum due to routine changes, unexpected events, sickness, etc. We will never know why a behavior happens until a formal assessment is done. Therefore tantrum behavior and the antecedent for that behavior will depend on the child and the child's current environment.

In addition, I don't quite comprehend what is an "autism meltdown". All behaviors in our environment especially when dealing with a child with autism, should be objective and well defined. In other words, how do we know if a child is "overstressed or overwhelmed?" How do we measure this subjective behavior? But, we as behavior analysts can measure screaming, crying, shouting, etc and based on those observable behaviors that can me measured, will determine why the child is doing what he/she is doing.

"As each of us experience varying contingencies of reinforcement, some behaviors are strengthened and some are weakened.....We are what we do and we do what we have learned to do." ( Cooper, Heron & Heward, 2007)

We do what we have learned to do. Children with autism have learned to do what they do through contingencies set by their environment. Behaviors have four functions:

1) Attention maintained
2) Escape maintained
3) Automatically maintained
4) Play maintained

A functional behavior analysis should be done to determine the function of a behavior. In other words, if you child is engaging in "tantrum behavior" or an "autism meltdown," a good behavior analyst should determine the function of these behaviors through (a) a functional analysis, (b) descriptive assessments and (c) indirect assessments. Please ask your provider about these assessments when looking at behaviors of concern such as the above. The less assumptions we make about behavior the more effective teachers we will be to our children.

For more information on these assessments, please feel free to email littlestepsmalaysia@gmail.com

psst...excuse me..

I have a 5 year old little sister and she is a ball of energy. She's very enthusiastic, loves talking, constantly asking questions, loves soccer and she thrives on social attention. She's constantly urging us to look at things that are interesting to her and asking us questions about it. She's constantly engaging us and seeking to share her excitement. I am always so amazed with her.

My amazement lies in how hard we work to teach these skills to children with autism. Yet, my five year old sister has learned social contingencies just through observation. It is truly incredible. Once again, like everything else, I start breaking it down in my head. In learning social contingencies there's so many pre-requisite skills a child must have for example, eye-contact, generalized imitation skills, pointing, labelling, responding to initiations, following rules, giving/receiving directions and most importantly, learning the value of social contingencies.

To illustrate my point better, here's another story about my sister.  Yesterday, at the grocery store,  she saw a man in a wheelchair. She stared at him briefly and then pulled me aside to make sure the gentleman in the wheelchair was not looking at her. She pulled my arm down so she could get closer to my ear and whispered, "why is that man in the chair?". How does a typical 5 year old know that if she says that loud, she might offend him or hurt his feelings? Where has she learned to whisper? or to pull my arm down discretely to get my attention making sure the gentleman was not looking at her? Where has she learned this social contingency? Through observation, imitation and perspective taking.

Children diagnosed with autism invariably experience difficulties with social skills (McConell, 2002). From an early age children diagnosed with autism find it challenging to initiate and maintain social interactions with peers and adults. This impairment in social interaction in one of criteria used to diagnose autism ( American Psychiatric Association, 2000).

Important social skills that a child with autism should know are:

1) Conversational skills ( commenting, asking questions, imitating, initiating conversation, joining in)
2) Co-operative social behaviors (helping others, including others, following directions/rules)
3) Non-verbal skills (giving/receiving affection, smiling, Identifying emotions)
4) Pivotal behaviors ( eye contact, joint attention, perspective taking, empathy)
5) Play skills (turn taking, sharing, sportsmanship, pretend play)

Every social skill intervention used should be individualized to a child's needs. If a child has limited verbal repertoire, perhaps it will be more useful to teach you child eye contact, smiling appropriately, getting attention appropriately, sharing, joint attention, empathy, helping other, waiting, etc. If your child has significant language, social interaction can be more focused on play, sharing, joint attention, sportsmanship, etc. For the next few days, I will be discussing each component of social interaction and will be giving you an overview on how to teach your child specific skills based on your child's verbal repertoire.

Any comments and questions are welcome !

We are on Facebook now, so Like us ! :)


Little Steps | 

More than words..

Language  is a very complex skills. Applying language to a social context is even more difficult. For a child with autism, initiating conversation is challenging. This is because they have a language deficit and a social deficit. In other words, children diagnosed with autism have not contacted the reinforcing qualities to engage in a conversation.

In general, children with autism find it more reinforcing to engage in self-stimulatory and repetitive behaviors such as spinning a toy non-contextually, engaging in body rocking, hand-flapping etc. Because of this, teaching your child appropriate language and behavior is so important. We want to help our children look more like their peers and engage in social behavior just like how we do.

In addition, some children diagnosed with autism have a limited verbal repertoire and some children are non-verbal. These children have a long history of gesturing for what they want when they want it. And guess what we do as parents and teachers? We give them access to these things as soon as they gesture for it. What's wrong with this? The problem here is that your child is learning that his/her gestures are getting him/her access to what they want. Therefore, why talk when I can tug at your hand and show you what I want?

Parents always have a concern that their child has had a long history of gesturing. Thus, if they change their behavior, they are afraid their child will engage in tantrum behavior. So parents want to avoid that and "give in". So what do we do now? How does a parent prevent "giving in"?

1) Don't be afraid: You are your child's number one advocate. You are the only person that can teach your child what is appropriate and what is not. I always ask parents this " What if your child was not diagnosed with autism? Will you be teaching him appropriate behavior?" and the answer I always get is "yes". So my rationale is that autism or no autism, you child is capable of learning. He/she deserves the right to learn and this requires you to be a warrior. A warrior is someone who is brave and not afraid to address change. Therefore, don't be afraid. You are a warrior and you can do this. :)

2) Magnify teaching and start small:  If your child is non-verbal or has limited language repertoire, start small. We do not want to frustrate our child and make language punishing. The first steps to teaching language is to teach small sounds that you know they can make. Some example are "m," "aah," "oo," etc.

3)  Now we will use "incidental teaching" to teach language. Incidental teaching is defined as a method for increasing expressive language by observing what your child initiates for in their environment and we are required to respond in a way that requires language or more language from your child.

Here are the steps we will use:

• The child initiates
• We ask the child to elaborate & prevents access to the item
• The child eloborates
• The child gains access to what he/she wants

Here is an example:

• The child initiates for a cookie by gesturing
• The adult looks at the child and request an elaboration  "cookie" & prevents access to the item
• The child says "cookie"
• The child gains access to the cookie

Initially, your child might engage in tantrum behavior or other behaviors of concern, so when this happens, remember to lower the expectation for your child.  By doing this, you are setting your child up for success. Do not give your child access to any preferred item when he/she is engaging in tantrum behavior. This is very important. You do not want to teach your child that when your child engages in inappropriate behavior, he/she will gain access to the preferred item.

So this is a suggestion as to what you do if and when your child is engaging in tantrum behavior.

• The child initiates for a cookie by gesturing
• The adult looks at the child and request an eloboration "cookie"
• The child tantrums or starts crying

At this point, go back to a word or sound that your child knows, say "coo" or "o". If your child is still engaging in tantrum behavior, do not let your child escape this situation. Wait till your child is quiet or is not engaging in tantrum behavior, offer your the cookie again and expect only eye contact. When eye contact is given, give him/her access to a small piece of cookie. Remember, he/she only gains access to the whole cookie when he/her emits a sound or language. Also, remember WE DO NOT WANT TO PUNISH LANGUAGE.  Now, if your child has been engaging in tantrum behavior for awhile, but now has calmed down and has given you eye contact and gained access to the small piece of cookie, let him/her go play for awhile come back to teaching later.

The next initiation for the cookie, expect language even if it is a sound, and when your child finally emits the sound/language, give him/her that whole cookie and celebrate that success ( give him two cookies if you'd like!)  You always want to end with success and you want to make it clear to your child the expectations you have for him/her. You do not want to punish learning or language. Always keep that in mind. Start small and build up on that, so your child can be successful.

Raise the bar when you observe an environment  that is going to co-operate with you and lower the bar when you observe that the environment is not co-operating with you.

Practice makes perfect, therefore with more practice, learning occurs more frequently and your child is slowly learning a new repertoire of behavior.

You can use incidental teaching for learners that are more sophisticated in acquiring language. Here's an example of that: 

• The child initiates for a cookie by saying "I want cookie"
• The adult looks at the child and request more language  "Mommy, can I have a cookie please?" & prevents access to the cookie
• The child says "Mommy, can I have a cookie please?"
• The child gains access to the cookie

Remember, language is an important part of our life and we want to continue teaching our children language daily and keep embedding it in their behavior repertoire. Be your child's language warrior and you will see with the right contingencies, your child will start learning what they are supposed to be learning. Last but not least, I can't stress this enough, make learning fun. This is something new your child is going to be doing and the last thing you want is to make learning  language feel like a challenging process. 

I hope this was not too much information for you, if you have any questions, please leave a comment and I will try my best to help as much as I can. Thank you !!