TROUBLESHOOTING
COMMON PROBLEMS
My child exhibits
behavior problems when it’s time to begin therapy.
First and foremost, reconsider whether or not your
reinforcer is still effective. Is your child CURRENTLY (at the time of therapy)
excited about getting whatever you are using as the reinforcer? If not, pick
something else!
Second, show him the reinforcer before you tell him it’s
time for therapy. When he reaches for it, tell him excitedly “You can play with
it/eat it at the table, come on!” and start walking towards the table. When he
comes and sits at the table, give it to him for about 30 seconds before you
have him do any therapy.
Third, make sure you are doing therapy at the right time.
Don’t do therapy when your child is tired, exceptionally hungry, or cranky for
any other reason (although a hungry child will find edible reinforcers
particularly motivating, so if you are using edible reinforcers then you will
want to start therapy an hour or two before a meal!). Pick the time of day when
your child is feeling his best and is generally the happiest.
Fourth, don’t come to therapy straight from something super
fun. Start therapy when your child is either not engaged in doing anything, or
is engaged in an activity he sort of likes, but probably wouldn’t mind leaving.
Give him a warning first, too: “Guess what?! In five minutes, we are going to
do therapy and earn some M&Ms!!” and set a timer.
Fifth, make sure your tone of voice communicates that
therapy is fun! If you are barking out orders like a drill sergeant, or if you
are saying things like “Now it’s time for therapy, and you’d BETTER be good or
you will get NO M&Ms and go to time out!” then your child will not get the
message that therapy is a good thing. When it’s time for therapy, act excited about
it and remind him frequently that therapy is awesome because he gets to earn
M&Ms (or whatever the reinforcer is).
If you are doing all these things and you are still
experiencing problems, there are more things you can do. Just leave a comment
and I will help you further!
My child doesn’t pay
attention during therapy.
If your child is exceptionally distractible, you may need to
create a distraction-free area for therapy. Pick a corner that doesn’t have any
toys or pictures or anything around and put your table there. You sit on the
side of the table that is by the wall, facing away from the wall, and your
child sits facing you, towards the wall.
My child does the
actions randomly when she wants something, outside of therapy, without me
asking her to imitate anything.
You don’t want to teach her that just doing the action gets her a reinforcer – teach her that imitating you doing the action when asked gets her a reinforcer.
Outside of therapy, if she does this, ignore it and hold her hands down. Wait
about 5 seconds, then give her another way to ask for the thing she wants. Help
her point, sign, or whatever it is that she usually does to let you know what
she wants. Only then should you say “Oh, you want ____? Good pointing/signing!”
and then give it to her.
What do I do if my
child does the wrong action (e.g. you were testing to see if he’d do it
himself, and you modeled patting the table and he patted his head instead)?
1)
Say nothing. Don’t give the reinforcer.
2)
Take his hands and reset them in the “wait”
position and wait 3 seconds.
3)
Give your instruction again (“do this” and pat
the table).
4)
Before he has a chance to get it wrong again,
immediately physically prompt the correct action.
5)
Give praise and reinforcer as usual.
6)
Keep physically prompting this skill every time
until your next therapy session or even later. He should have little to no
chance to practice the wrong thing.
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