Discrete Trial Training

My daughter is almost 5 and nonverbal. It didn't
occur to me to pair signs with her Sds until we
started teaching her to receptively identify her
letters. Most letters "sound" the same at the end. A,
E, D, B, etc... We feel she normally processes the end
of what she hears best, so I wondered about signing
the letters as we said them to her. I then thought I
read somewhere in Sundberg and Partington's literature
that all Sds should be signed if the child's main form
of communication is sign language.
Can anyone help me here?
Thanks,
Amy
=====
Amy Gudal

IMFAR
International Meeting For Autism Research
November 9 - 10, 2001
San Diego, California
FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT
Dear Colleagues
We are pleased to announce that plans are now under way for the first annual
International Meeting For Autism Research (IMFAR). The meeting, a satellite
event of the Society for Neuroscience Meeting, will take place in San Diego,
California on November 910, 2001.
As currently conceived, IMFAR is a two-day scientific meeting comprised of
keynote presentations as well as slide and posters sessions All types of
research, from molecular biology, to neuropsychology, to treatment research
are to be represented at the meeting. Funding for this meeting is
underwritten collaboratively by Cure Autism Now, the M.I.N.D. Institute and
the National Alliance for Autism Research.
A Call for Abstracts will be issued shortly. The Program Committee will soon
begin the selection of keynote presenters and to organize the abstracts into
cohesive sessions.
Please reserve the dates of this important meeting. We would greatly
appreciate your assistance with the distribution of this announcement to all
of your colleagues who have an interest in autism research.
For more information, please email to barbara.david@....
With kind regards,
IMFAR Planning Committee
* * *
Program Committee:
David Amaral, Ph.D
Margarel Bauman, M.D.
Diane Chugani, Ph.D.
Edwin Cook, Jr., M.D.
Geraldine Dawson, Ph.D.
Eric Fombonne, M.D.
Daniel Geschwind, M.D., Ph.D.
Francesca Happé, Ph.D.
Tom Insel, M.D.
Ian Lipkin, M.D.
Catherine Lord, Ph.D.
Michael Merzenich, Ph.D.
Karin Nelson, M.D.
Sally Ozonoff, Ph.D.
Margaret Pericak-Vance, Ph.D.
Joe Piven, M.D.
Sally Rogers, Ph.D.
Robert Schultz, Ph.D.
Marian Sigman, Ph.D.
Helen Tager-Flusberg, Ph.D.
Christopher Walsh, M.D., Ph.D.
Robert Yolken, M.D.

Hi,
Our son, 7 1/2 yrs old, is presently in an inclusionary Kindergarten setting
in a Newton, Massachusetts public school . Currently, he has a 1:1 shadow
aide at school who is excellent. This person also works two afternoons per
week at our afterschool home program 2:30 - 5:30 pm in order to stay current
with skills being taught at home & to perform incidental teaching &
generalization . Our afternoon home program runs M-F, 3 hrs/day.
Next September, we would like to do approx. 1/2 day ( 2 hour ) pullouts in
which the aide would be performing DTT in a room outside the classroom . We
would train the aide in basic DTT practices, since we've been at it for about
5 yrs now & have a pretty good grasp on that. We also have some DTT training
tapes.
There is one other Kindergarten child requiring services; so, each child
would most likely need 3hrs-5hrs/week of program development-supervision at
the school &
2 hrs/wk home program coordination. So, the total number of hours for the
program developer -supervisor would be 10-14 hrs/wk at approximately
$40-$50/hr.
We would prefer someone who has a Masters Degree & who is equal to or greater
than the caliber of an ex-employee of NECC with classroom teaching
experience ( possibly head teacher ). There may be someone who is an MA
ABA grad from Columbia, NU or a person with an Masters degree from Simmons in
Special or intensive Special Needs. The person might be a grad from the WEAP
program or a UCLA grad w/ programming experience or an ex C.A.R.D. employee
w/ programming experience. THe above are just some examples of the type or
level of qualifications we would like the person to have.
If you have an interest in this job opportunity please contact Larry or
Janice at 617-969-5398 or e-mail us at LR2000@...

Jennie,
I tried to send this to your email address yesterday and it bounced back.
Penny had asked some questions about NET too so I thought I would just post
it to the list.
Following are some notes I took about doing NET with David in our last
consult, plus a couple of other issues we had questions on. But the bulk
of this is about NET.....the first part is some general guidelines and the
second part are some examples of how you take specific stimuli and work to
try to get your child to talk using those stimuli.
Notes on working with David in the natural environment...................
Be very careful not to kill the EO in the natural environment.....if we
push for too many responses or responses that are too difficult, we could
kill the EO and then we will have to go through the pairing process again.
We want to keep the responding in the natural environment as easy and as
fun as possible....so prompt responses when needed. Keep the EO strong.
Volume and latency (how long it takes him to respond) will determine
whether we do transfers on these prompted NET responses. If his volume is
strong and he is quick with his responding, then we can go for a transfer.
If the EO is weak and thus his volume is soft and he is slow to respond,
then don't do a transfer....just get the prompted response.
With all these responses we are contriving, make them as conversational and
as functional as possible. Use lots of fill-ins.....they may be part tact
but they are still mands.
Work on increasing the length of utterance with the echoic mands.....open
the lid, get the bag, etc.
You do want to block reinforcers to get mands. You don't want to block him
doing skills he can perform independently to get a mand....in this case you
can use tacts and intraverbals.
If we want to work on David manding for potty at school, we need to pick
out a couple days where we are plying him with lots of juice. There will
be more opportunities for him to mand for potty because he will really have
to go, and then we can practice him manding for potty inside the classroom.
Keep track of all unprompted responses using a clicker.
Other notes:
When we are playing with David with the mat in the workroom and if he is
getting compulsive about wanting us to play with him all the time, do the
following procedure:
1. When he is at the mat, call him to the other side of the room, i.e.,
"Come here."
2. Say "wait" and do a counting procedure.
3. Go back and play with him some more.
4. Repeat the procedure, and then gradually fade in demands so that he
becomes tolerant of having to wait for us to play.
Work on establishing other typical recreational behaviors besides the tv
and computer:
- reading books
- doing puzzles
- playing with Legos
If we want to work on him not increasing the volume of the tv:
1. Turn the video off.
2. Tell him to keep the volume down.
3. Wait for a few seconds before turning it back on.
4. If he screams, use the counting procedure and then have him mand for it
to be turned on.
This next part is picking stimuli and figuring out how to build responses
to practice with your child. What you do is take all the stimuli that the
child comes in contact with each day, and figure out what goes on around
these stimuli in terms of steps or language. Then you look at the very
last thing you do before the child gets the item they want or if it is a
contrived situation to get a mand, look at the very last step in the
process, and begin prompting them to mand for that part of the process.
Actually the place to start is to teach them to mand for the
item.......then when they can do that then you go to the last step in the
process. So, if you take "bed" for instance.......he is not going to mand
for bed, but he does want me to lay down on the bed with him at night, so I
just stand there until he has an EO for me to lay down and then I prompt
him to ask me to "lay down". Once he learns this, then I would go to the
next to last step. The trick here is you have to have an EO....so in some
cases you have to contrive one. You want to make this as natural as
possible too so you would be doing some tacting and intraverbals along with
contriving these mands.
STIMULI TO USE IN NATURAL ENVIRONMENT TEACHING
These are some of the examples we teased out to work on for David. What we
did was think about each room of the house and outdoors and then all the
stimuli in each room....then we looked at how we might interact with David
with these stimuli or how we are already interacting with him......and
wrote down the steps in the process. You work backwards, starting with the
last step and seeing if you can contrive a mand. If there isn't a big EO
around the stimuli, then you are better off to just do some intraverbals
and tacting around it.
Narrate the steps you aren't working on so that he becomes familiar with them.
(Words in capitals indicates that he does mand spontaneously for that item.
Words in small case indicate that he cannot mand for that.)
DAVID'S BEDROOM:
Bed- While I am sitting on the bed, he asks me to "lay down", I am standing
across the room and he says, "Mom, come here", I block the bed and he says
"get in bed".
BLANKETS- "Put on the bed", "Come with me" (when we are 3 ft from bedroom),
take them out of the tent by color "Get the pink one", etc, "Open the flap"
to get the blankets out, "I want my blankets" when it is time to go to bed.
Pillow- Put the pillows away in the closet so that when it is time to go to
bed he needs to mand for the pillows, and then to get the closet open he
has to say, "open the closet". We can also do intraverbals on where the
pillows go (on the bed) and what do we lay our head on at night (pillow).
BOOK-
A. We take a book off the shelf and he mands "I want book". We block him
putting it back and he mands "move".
B. When reading a book with him, we do some tacting and intraverbals and
have him mand for us to "turn the page".
SHADES UP- "open the shades"
lamp- TURN LIGHT ON. Then do an intraverbal with him...... "What do we
turn on?" and he responds "lamp".
Clothes:
A. After bath.....first go and get the clothes before we go in the
bathroom....start by just narrating getting them and then after awhile I
can start having him mand for each piece. After his bath when it is time
to get dressed, have him mand for each piece of clothing....underwear,
shirt, pants, socks.
B. In the morning.....have him mand for each piece of clothing.....shirt,
pants, socks. Also have him mand for shoes and coat when it is time to go
to school.
Do not have him mand to take his clothes off since he can do that
independently.
Top bunk- we can block the way to the ladder and have him mand "move over".
Then we can do an intraverbal....How do you get to the top.... "Climb the
ladder".
Games: since he is good at following through in playing a game, we could
have him mand for opening the box and taking out the pieces, setting it up.
Toys: have him mand for the name of the toy and work on some intraverbals
associated with
the toys.
Puzzle- have him mand for the pieces, and every few pieces do some other
intraverbals or
motor imitations, then have him mand for some more pieces. Can also have
him mand for
"Dump the puzzle" and "Open the box".
Turn on/off vaporizer (turn on/off)- Mand for "on/off" and then do an
intraverbal on what we are turning on and off....the vaporizer.
BATHROOM:
SOAP:
A. At bathtime, mands "bubbles", to get them you "squirt the soap", to
be able to do that you "open the lid".
B. For washing hands have him mand for the soap only because this is an
independent skill that we don't want to get in the middle of.
Bathtub: Block him getting in the tub so he can mand for "I want to get
in", mand for cups (below), do intraverbals and tacting on toys he wants,
mand for soap (procedure above), use toilet, take clothes off (just
narrate), "pull on the plug", "turn water on".
Just do an intraverbal on "bathtub".
Towel- just mand for the towel.....no others....after bath, after washing
hands.
CUPS used as toys: mand for colors of cups, "open (the drawer), do an
intraverbal on what we open....the drawer.
BALLOONS-
A. Water balloons: mand for "tie it", mand for "fill it (with water)",
mand for "put it on (the faucet)", mand for the color of balloon he wants,
mand to "open" (the drawer).
B. Filled with air: "tie", "blow up", mand for the "color", "open drawer".
Bathtub toys- mand for the name of the toy and do some intraverbals.
Bubbles in a bottle- "blow", "dip" the wand, take the "top off", "open" the
cabinet to get the bubbles out...may need to contrive this.....blow a few
then put them in the cabinet or drawer.
Lynda

Jennie,
I think you should still be going for at least 200-300 mands a
day.......you want to keep that going because that kind of talking is very
reinforcing. When you are doing manding and he has to be prompted, make
sure that you immediately do a transfer to try to get an independent
response. He will learn that he gets what he wants quicker if he asks for
it independently. If he has to be prompted and then you do a transfer,
there is a slight aversive there because he has to wait longer. Of course
if it is a mand that he has not mastered, you definitely want to prompt and
go for a transfer, but the transfer might be prompted initially too since
it is new.
Lynda

Jennie,
We put out five pictures.....three that he knows really well and two that
we are working on. We start out the sitting with doing some intraverbals
(not ones related to the cards on the table), or some echoics and motor
imitation....maybe 5 or 6 to get him responding well and paying attention.
Then we point to one of the known tacts and ask what it is, then go
immediately to the one next to it that is a target and ask what it is but
prompt, then do a transfer, then pop to another known one and ask what it
is, then go to the other target and ask what it is and prompt, then do a
transfer, then go back to a known one, then to a target.........after doing
both targets once, then flip out of that to something easier....like
echoics or intraverbals not related to what's on the table, or you can do
some receptive id or RFFC for the ones on the table (typically we would do
that if his attention to the cards is a little shaky) and then go back to
the cards on the table and tact each one another two times.
Sometimes we will work on two known and one target, then do something
easier, then go back and work on the other target and two known tacts, then
something easier, then do all of them one more time and let him go. It
depends on his level of attention. But we try generally to get each one in
3-4 times in a sitting.....that way, you get 10 trials of the targets in in
about 2-3 sittings and then you can do a probe. We are working on ten new
tacts at a time.
We work on tacts in almost every sitting since they are David's weak point
and we are really focusing on them right now. His aide at school is
working on table work and the college student who works with him 3-4 times
a week does only NET with him.
Lynda

Hi Listers!
I am relatively new to VB and recently attended the parent workshop with
Vince Carbone this year. I was trying to practice his techniques on my own
and am stumped.
My son is nonverbal but loves to sign, from time to time we hear a word but
nothing ever consistent. All I want to do at this point is get my son to say
or "mand" for something he wants. I would like him to vocalize if possible
because I know he can.
Vince talked about presenting a reinforcer three times to get the child to
say something. I have tried this several times on his favorite food french
fries and the most I get is the sign. Should I accept the sign?? or wait for
the word?? I call it a
"fry" so I think this is a good way to get him to attempt. Help!! I am stuck
and want to move on. I don't want to confuse him by not accepting the sign
if that is all he can do at this point or is it??? What do you think??? Most
times I wait for him to show
the correct sign but right now I'm stumped. I would be thrilled if I could
him to say it any ideas on getting started??
Thankyou
MattPatrice @ AOL.COM

Hi Everyone,
I thought this thread was interesting, as we have similar issues with Kenny. He
has mastered all sorts of intraverbals, but when it gets to tacts, he is stuck.
I do something along a similar line.
I'll put the cards out on the table, and then say
"Something that says 'meow' is a ____" and Kenny fills in 'cat'.
Then I say "Point to something that says meow" and he points to the cat.
Then I say "What is it?" and he responds "cat".
I know this sounds entirely backwards, but it seems to be working for him.
Until now, I've been prompting with either the initial sound, or a hand cue for
the initial sound, and we didn't seem to be moving forward.
I know that he KNOWS the tacts, he's just stuck on getting them out of his
mouth. But giving him the intraverbal prompt seems to help.
P.S. Until we started doing VB, I had NO idea that Kenny was an auditory learner
rather than a visual learner. He just HATES to look at cards. I think it is
because he just can't focus his eyes properly on them. I've been trying to tell
people for years that he has a vision problem. I have finally discovered that
indeed, kids who are mercury poisoned like Kenny really DO have vision problems!
Cindy (Cary, NC)
persistentC@...
http://www.rtphome.org/mariposa

Penny,
Our consultant has a client who in the past has not worked well at the
table. I think some kids you have to find other places to work or be very
creative and get the work in during the activities that they find
reinforcing.
On the days when the therapists were just coming for manding sessions and
doing things he liked, did he still get upset when they walked in the door?
Lynda

My son is 4.8 y.o. and has been in ABA for two years. Our program is
VB. He gets approximately 25 hours per week and goes to a PPI preschool
for 12 hours per week.
We recently went backwards in our program and began pairing the tutor
and the table with reinforcement. The table was only for manding. He
could mand for food, toys and the all mighty video. For a while it was
going great. He would run to the table. We would do very simple,
mastered skills on the floor. We also started doing mastered skills in
sprints on the floor. Still good but not introducing anything new. We
then moved the sprints only to the table so he could now mand and had to
do alittle work with sprints. I'm talking short sprints...three to five
responses. We also have been doing alot of fun outings with the tutors,
which of course he enjoys. Still we're not introducing anything new,
which drives me crazy. Anyhow, the problem is the last couple of days
he's doing terrible at the table. He's basically not interested in
anything and non responsive. I've been reading the thread on the next
sd is the reinforcer and that always makes me laugh, cause my son
doesn't care. It still seems as though he's happy enough to just be
goofy or stim. Even with the fun things we've been doing he still
associates the tutors with work and gets upset when he sees them. I
have them play with him in the beginning and he likes that but he just
doesn't want anything to do with anything that requires a demand from
him. I feel like we are never going to get anywhere in his program
because of all of this. My son is the one I've spoke about before as
the master of the fleeting EO. It's like he says "oh, if you're going
to ask me something, I'll just pass on that fun thing." Also he has a
huge problem with tacts. He does fine on receptive and well on
interverbals with those same tacts but when you ask him to name the
object he gets stuck. He can pick it up receptively, he can echo it so
I know he can say it. So what's that all about?
I don't really expect any answers to this problem and just wanted to
vent. But if you do have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them. I'm
just concerned because he will be five this summer and I can't even
imagine him ready for kindergarten in a year. HELP........
Thanks as always,
Penny

Hi...
My 3-year-old daughter is a great helper in my 5.5-year-old son's life!
She's his sole companion, friend, sister....she is too young to understand
that her brother has a problem but she probably knows he's different.
Regardless, her love and affection for him doesn't get affected. She asks
him simple questions, prompts him when he doesn't care to answer, and
actually rewards him by saying..."good job, Varun" when he does respond. She
is far too advanced for her age. Probably because despite being the younger
one, she has to be the one to understand a lot of times. It's harder to make
him understand.
Sometimes they play a lot together, at other times when my son wants to be
alone, he doesn't want her around...often that hurts my daughter's feelings,
because as far as she's concerned, her brother is the greatest! He's her
role model...she wants to do whatever he does, whenever he does! When she
does feel ignored, I try to explain to her that her brother doesn't like to
talk too much or he is not in a mood to play right now. But...you should see
her asking him questions...within six months, I may not have to look out for
therapists anymore, she's one in the making. :)
Seema

Hi listmates,
Just to let you know that I will be writing on a new email address due to new
computer purchase. It came with a year of free AOL, but I had to sign up
under a new name. So, you will see me writing under macksmimi@... from
now on. It still me, though!
Amy Velazquez

www.unlockingautism.org
AUTISM AWARENESS EVENT
Wednesday April 4th, 2001
12 Noon to 2 P.M.
The Statehouse Atrium
Free & Open to the general Public.
Speakers include:
Donna Carver: Ohio Representative for Unlocking Autism
Sondra Williams: Ohio Representative for Unlocking Autism
Marty Anglim: President, Autism Society of America, Central Ohio Chapter
Tom Linscheid Ph.D.: Dept. of Psychology Director, Columbus Children's Hospital
Jacqueline Wynn Ph.D.: Director of Columbus Children's Hospital
Autism Center
Michelle Worthington: Past President of Central Ohio Families for Effective
Autism Treatment (C.O.F.E.A.T.)
Other speakers not yet confirmed will speak on:
School Funding/ Full funding of IDEA
Medical & Nutritional issues
Vaccine/ mercury/ environmental issues
The need for research:
Education on Autism for public service personnel
Increased Adult services/residential needs
For More information contact Donna Carver sdcarv@... or 419-946-3324
Or Sondra Williams hfa2@... or 419-884-3394

With regard to Precision Teaching, "mvmts" means
"Movements", or more specifically, "Behavioral
Movements", which is the number of correct and
incorrect responses per minute on a timed probe.
To clarify, Precision Teaching is not an
instructional approach used to develop fluency, or
teach skills, ala Discreet Trial Teaching, Direct
Instruction, or Errorless-Learning.
Precision Teaching is an informal assessment technique
used by educators to document a students progress on
select skills, based upon timed daily probes, which
are charted on a Standard Celeration Chart. It
documents the students progress from the Acquisition
Phase, to Fluency, to Maintenance, to
Generalization.
Fluency is a product of "good teaching", and fading
of instructional prompts, so that the child responds
quickly and accurately. Precision Teaching documents
the students progress toward fluency and mastery, and
the data is used to determine if the type of
instruction being used is effective, and/or whether
the skill in question is appropriate, too easy, or
too difficult.
Professionals and others use the word "fluency" often,
and talk of its importance. Unfortunately, an equally
important concept which is rarely spoken of, is
"generalization". Generalization is the step beyond
fluency. It does little good for a child to be fluent
in a particular skill, if those reponses only occur
under the stimulus conditions under which they were
taught. Therefore, once a child has demonstrated
fluency in a particular skill, it is important to
take steps to teach the skill in multiple settings,
with different people, and a variety of stimulus
materials.
This is the step that professionals often times fail
to provide adequte programming for.
Perry

Can anyone recommend a good oral motor therapist in So Florida (near Ft
Lauderdale or Boca area)? Our daughter Jamie has Down Syndrome and
autism; she is progressing well in a verbal behavior program and is
beginning to speak but because, due to GI issues, she has never eaten
solid food, she needs alot of work on facial muscles etc. I would like
to work some OM exercizes into her VB program at home. Is there a
definitive text on oral motor issues? Anything I can study to learn
more? She doesn't travel well and really needs to be seen at home or on
a consultant type basis. I feel (as does our lead therapist) if we can
get a bettr handle on what needs to be done and in what order with the
oral motor issues we can then work them into an ABA approach. Thanks in
advance,
Sherry M mom to Jamie 12 Down Syndrome and Autism

We are Looking for smart, caring,& highly motivated individual for shadowing
our 4yo son in preschool. Must have experience in shadowing & verbal
behavior/ABA therapy
Call Tina (972)849-2174 or e-mail dashinvenu@...

I was having a very blue kind of day today so off I went to oneof my
favorite places. The Library. I took out several books today on parenting
children with special needs. started going thru them over lunch and
suddenly felt as if I had met an old friend. One of the books is: From the
Heart On being athe Mother of a Child with Special needs. In the book I
came upon a very funny and poignant piece written by a Mother of a child
with autism. She speaks about her son being an ambassador from "Autism"
Well after I laughed and cried alittle over the piece I turned to the back
to read about the author. Lo and Behold its "our" Jennie talking about
"our" Isaac.
I bet you never knew that when you wrote that piece about Isaac at six you
would be helping this mother of Greg seven years in the future.
Just wanted to say Thanks.
Marge Foti

Hello,
What is Lang masters,could somebody explain please.

In a message dated 3/21/2001 9:54:06 PM Eastern Standard Time, Lake260 writes:
<< Hi, I just got back from Workshop #1 and am trying out a few things. My
son has lots of tacts and some manding and intraverbals. I was trying to
increase his manding today and was lost. Can someone give me some
hints/suggestions on how you get so many mands doing natural environment
teaching. I get my son to ask for what he wants/help he needs but that
doesn't add up to hundreds or thousands of mands. What else do you try to
get them to mand for?
Thanks
Mary

Hi,
Sometimes we find that we "teach to the task" too well and spend too much
time on one skill and should have moved on quicker to introducing the other
part of a drill , should have taught part/whole much earlier in the game,
and should have taught same different mixing same different right from the
start instead of focusing on same same same etc. and then moved on figuring
different would be a cinch since he knew SAME soooo well. Well, we were
wrong. He had same in his brain. Don't know if that's the problem for you
as well. For a lot of our drills now we used visual cue cards and for
same/different we did as well. We wrote out the words on cards and put
them under the grouping. SAME went under objects that were identical in a
group and the word different went under objects or object that was
different. Give me same and he gave us the same objects. We then held up
the card for him to read when we asked expressively. What are they? he
would read Same. We did the identical for different. For my son, seeing the
words written as well as hearing them helps him make the distinction, so we
do that a lot to help differentiate.
I have also found with my guy that he learns to the visual set up of a
drill and if he can only learns one piece of information from this. So,
when he would see the set up for same/different for instance, he would
automatically think he just had to say same to be correct and wasn't
listening or thinking that within this same visual format there could be a
completely different question to answer. So, our solution to that is not to
teach to one target, but to teach to several targets at the same time.
Teach same, and go right on to different immediately so he doesn't memorize
the set up.
Hope that makes sense.
Cate

Listmates,
I just wanted to share this story with my internet family. It will be published
in a local magazine next month.
Cindy
*************************************************************************
CATERPILLARS INTO BUTTERFLIES
Cindy Peters of Cary talks about her journey as a parent and how
her adopted son came to suffer from autism as she triumphantly
turned a tragedy into a blessing, for her family and our community.
Cynthia A. Peters is the mother of a seven year old child with autism. For the
past five years she has devoted her time toward helping her son overcome many of
the challenges of autism. Ms. Peters was the President of BASIS, Inc. for seven
years, a small computer software consulting company, following a successful
career with Unisys Corporation where she was a technical manager of software
development. She has since left her professional career to do extensive research
in the areas of education and biomedical treatments in the field of autism. This
woman's commitment and dedication to her son was a great challenge that some may
have not chosen to take. Her research led her to new answers that were shocking
but informing others about these findings is her vision and now taking her into
a greater cause for autism and its possible prevention.
Q: Cindy, please tell me briefly about your family and your experiences with
autism.
My husband and I have been married for 16 years, and we are the parents of two
wonderful children, both adopted from Korea. Kira is now 11 years old and Kenny
will be 8 in May. I want to tell you Kenny's story. He was 6 ½ months old when
he arrived on December 8, 1993. He was happy, healthy and big, and
developmentally on target despite his premature birth at 32 weeks. Two weeks
after joining our family, Kenny received his first DTP vaccine. It was the start
of a chain of events which would forever change our lives. A week later we had
to rush him to the ER in the middle of the night after he began having
difficulty breathing in conjunction with a high fever. He was diagnosed with
croup and we were sent home. Two days later on Christmas Day, I was back at the
hospital with him because his heart was racing, his fever was up, and he was
again struggling to breathe. Three days after that a rash appeared on his trunk
and gradually spread over his entire body. During the next few months he
developed sensitivities to many foods and medicines, especially anything
containing artificial flavoring or coloring. We were repeatedly assured that he
would outgrow these problems.
Q: So, at this point, you thought that everything was being treated and that
your son was just coming through some severe medical problems?
Yes, despite the recent health problems, life was good and Kenny was happy. He
was playing well with his sister and we thought we had addressed all of his
medical issues. He showed every sign of keeping up with Kira -- intellectually,
emotionally and physically. When he was with other children, his eyes would
light up. He was a very friendly and social little boy, and he loved to be held
and cuddled.
Q: What happened to change this picture?
At his 15 month "well baby" check up, Kenny received a combination of the DTP,
MMR and OPV vaccines. He had a slight reaction which manifested as hives but I
was told to take him home and that everything would be okay. Everything was not
okay. My once happy little boy was cranky and wouldn't stop crying. He was
lethargic. Something wasn't right. I took him back in to be checked a few days
later. Then, on the morning of the sixth day after the vaccinations, my husband
and I were awakened at 5 AM by a blood curdling shriek from Kenny's room. I had
never heard such a sound before in my life, and hope I never will again. We
rushed into his room to find his temperature was 104.6. My husband filled the
tub with water to cool him off while I called our pediatrician. I remember
saying "I think he's having a reaction to the MMR," and the response from the
doctor was "Its too late for that now." I was told to bring him in at 8AM that
morning and was advised that it was, "Probably just a virus."
Over the next few months Kenny gradually began to lose his skills and his
speech. It happened so slowly that we didn't notice at first. But then came a
time when it seemed his speech not only wasn't progressing but it had
disappeared. We were referred to the Developmental Evaluation Center for an
assessment.
Q: How long did yours son's condition deteriorate and what happened?
One year after the vaccinations we were told that he was "severely autistic" and
that he might even need to be institutionalized at some point in the future. I
remember standing in the empty parking lot after we walked out of the building
with the news, crying on my husbands shoulders, knowing there would be nobody to
talk to about this for the next three days since it was Labor Day weekend. In
retrospect, by reviewing the home videos of Kenny, it is easy to see the
regression occurring. There was noticeably less vocalization and it was harder
to get his attention. There is a marked contrast of Kenny gleefully opening
presents for his first birthday versus his total unwillingness to even look at a
present after the last vaccination. Head banging and toe walking, other common
symptoms of autism, also began after that fateful day.
Q: I am sure you were devastated at this news Cindy. What did you decide to do?
I decided that my new "career" would be working full time as Kenny's advocate. I
began by researching educational treatment approaches. Since he was nonverbal, I
felt he would be more successful in a one-on-one situation rather than a group
setting. I concluded the best approach would be to implement an intensive ABA
(Applied Behavior Analysis) program for 6 hours a day, 7 days a week. Many
professionals advised me against taking this approach, stating that it was "too
hard on the family." Indeed, it has not been easy, and there were times I felt
very discouraged. Also, Kenny's medical issues made learning even more difficult
for him. I began trying to understand the cause of these, and looking into
traditional treatments as well as alternative therapies. Many people advised me
to "get on with my life." But I couldn't do that. I felt strongly that it was my
responsibility to do what I could to help Kenny.
Q: Tell me briefly about your research on mercury poisoning?
Early in the spring of 2000 I became aware that there were some suspicions that
the increase in the occurrence of autism from 1 in 10,000 children in the early
1990s to 1 in 250 today might be related to the thimerisol used as a
preservative in the DTP, Hepatitis B and Hib vaccines. It is 49.9 % mercury,
which is a known neurotoxin. A paper was about to be published showing a
striking comparison between the symptoms of autism and mercury
poisoning. After thoroughly reviewing this I became certain that mercury
poisoning was at the root of Kenny's medical problems. We flew down to Baton
Rouge, LA to meet with a physician who was successfully treating her own son for
mercury poisoning. He also suffered from autism, and had similar symptoms to
Kenny, but was now almost completely recovered. After examining Kenny and
looking through his test results she confirmed what I had suspected. She
believed that he was indeed mercury poisoned. We immediately began treating him
with oral chelation therapy and observed tremendous progress in the ensuing
months.
Q: Did you continue with his educational therapy during this time?
Yes, a few months earlier I had attended a 2-day conference to learn about a new
approach to ABA therapy called Verbal Behavior, which places an emphasis on
teaching children with autism to understand the function of language. I was so
excited after the first day I could barely sleep that night. Before the
conference was over, I was already beginning to think about the possibility of
setting up a Verbal Behavior classroom in the RTP area. As soon as I got home, I
immediately put what I had learned into practice and was amazed to see how much
Kenny really did know, but hadn't been able to demonstrate to us. By Christmas
2000, he could sing the ABC song, count to 10, and answer many questions. He was
also making requests using phrases and even a few sentences. It was the best
Christmas present I have received in years! I attribute his success both to the
new teaching techniques as well as the chelation therapy, which created the
opportunity for him to learn.
Q: What are your future plans for autism and helping other families with this
life changing condition?
The autism diagnosis can be devastating, and most parents have had no prior
preparation for dealing with its many challenges and obstacles. There are
numerous specialists in this area but there is little attempt to integrate
interventions with each other. In the past five years I have spent a great deal
of time guiding families with newly diagnosed children, and helping them
to look at their child's complete picture. My vision is to continue this mission
of outreach and support from a new school which will integrate all of the
necessary therapeutic services into a comprehensive program individually
tailored for each child. With this goal in mind, my husband and I, with several
other parents and dedicated professionals, founded "The Mariposa School for
Children with Autism" in December 2000. Mariposa is Spanish for
butterfly, and is an excellent metaphor for the children who are emerging,
through their own hard efforts, from the cocoon of autism.
We have already identified an excellent facility in Raleigh where we will share
space with another private school, and plan to begin operating in September,
2001. The staff will consist of an educational consultant, a behavior
consultant, a speech therapist, and an occupational therapist who will work as a
team to oversee the direction of each child's program. The students will also
have individual instructors who will work with them on a one-to-one basis. The
school will have strict indoor air quality control and natural task lighting, as
many children suffer from environmental sensitivities. Another part of The
Mariposa Schools mission is to provide community services and resource programs
for the autism community. We hope to inform parents about the many treatment
options available, funding resources, and medical intervention. Special training
sessions will include regular courses discussing the characteristics of children
with Autism Spectrum Disorder, training for parents who are beginning intensive
home programs, techniques to increase communication skills in the home
environment, ways to deal with behavioral difficulties, and instructor training.
We will also host parent support groups in order to provide an opportunity for
parents to learn from each others experience and to lend support in difficult
times. Finally, we will provide consultation services for parents as well as
other schools needing input on inclusion techniques.
Initially we need $500,000 to outfit our school with the necessary therapeutic
equipment and supplies and to recruit qualified teachers and staff. We hope that
by informing our community about this great facility, we will receive the funds
and support necessary to finish this important work.
For more information about our school visit our website at:
http://www.rtphome.org/mariposa/
Cynthia A. Peters is the President and founder of the Mariposa School for
Children with Autism. She resides in Cary, NC with her husband and two children.
Cindy (Cary, NC)
persistentC@...
http://www.rtphome.org/mariposa

The Dr.'s that wrote this book
Activity Schedules for Children with Autism: Teaching Independent Behavior
Lynn E. McClannahan Patricia J. Krantz
have also done some research which has been published about the use of the
Language Master in sparking spontaneously reciprocal language between kids.
I don't have the reference but it is recent. I think you might be able to
find a audio tape of one of their talks at an autism conference last year.
I heard them speak at some conference, I think it was at Cal ABA last year,
but they didn't tape it. They used it in a classroom setting with older
children.
I borrowed a Language Master from my schools SLP for the week. It is a
slow moving device and the sound is not that good. It is something like
$300.00.
If your low on cash but have some time. You could use your computer and
microphone and go to
Start, Accessories,Entertainment,Sound recorder
and with a microphone attached to your PC record some phrases save as .wav
files. Then make a quick webpage that links to the files with some pecs
icons. You would then need to have your child click the picture to hear
the phrase said, then he imitates it.
Another thing you can do is just use a regular little tape recorder. Only
work on one phrase at a time, have the student press the play button. The
fancy thing with the language master is you insert cards into the machine
that are easily programmed to say a phrase, thus you have a ton of
different phrases at your fingertips. It makes sense for kids who have
word retrieval problems, they search for a card, run it through the
machine, the machine says it and they repeat it. You can attach a picture
or words or both to the card.
I have yet to be convinced that this is less intrusive to a child then just
telling them what to say. Especially if your doing programming at home.
But I haven't actually done it yet with the Language Master. I think it
might make more sense when kids are doing it in front of each other so they
don't feel so obviously prompted by the teacher. But when your at home
their is no one to feel embarassed in front of and it is so much faster to
just verbally prompt it.
Diana

Hello all,
I am new to this list and also have just recieved the oportunity to begin
aba with a great little boy. Though I am
very new to aba I am really excited about the chance to work with him and I
was wondering if anyone had any
suggestions as to how to make his program better and a success for him. I
will be working with him four days a
week doing 2 hour sessions in conjunction with two other therapists. Any and
all resources would be wonderful.
Thanks so much!
Laura Guise
lauraguise @ hotmail.com

Hi - I wonder if anyone has suggestions for the following hitch we have
encountered with my 6 yr old son? :
He well understands matching, same, and can easily sort things (pics or
objects) into categories for classes (eg furniture, toys, etc). He seemed to
catch on to this effortlessly - we just probed and he seemed to get it. He
is also pretty good at saying what class something belongs to or receptively
IDing the proper member of a class when asked. He can also hand you the one
that is "same" when you just show him a picture or object and ask for "same"
(he can do this quite easily in a field of 8 or more objects.
Problem:
We have started to ask him for the one that is "different". He doesn't seem
to get it! Since it seems that he can discriminate minor differences or the
more abstract idea of classes, I thought that the problem we are having
therefore seems to be one of communication (or how we are asking for it -
getting it through to him what we want). We are asking the following: "Give
me the one that is different". We've also tried "Give me the one that is NOT
same". We started with 3 objects that were identical and one that was
different in every way. He couldn't do it. We had him give us each that was
the same and he could do this and we went through and said "same, same, same,
DIFFERENT" when we got to the last one that didn't match.
When we go through like this, he gets it right next time. But can't transfer
this to the next trial (same deal, different objects). So, he is obviously
not getting what we are asking and seems to think we are now just making up a
new tact for the last "different" object.
I hope I explained the problem clearly. It seems like someone somewhere must
have run into this problem before (I hope!). If anyone has any ideas for
getting through to him on this (a better SD?), I would most appreciate it.
This seems like an important skill for pre-math skills like
equalities/inequalities or more/less.
THanks,
Maura

Hello everyone,
I am a therapist in Oklahoma. I have several families looking for additional
therapists. Cities available are Chandler, Moore, and Tulsa. Please email me
at aokkids2000@... or www.aokkids2000.bigstep.com
Thank you,
Deborah

Hi All,
Just a little FYI for anyone who is interested in Precision Teaching for
Children with autism.
Dr. Rick Kubina from Penn State will be presenting a workshop in the
Harrisburg, PA area and also in Parsippany, NJ area. Here are the
details:
April 27 from 9:00 - 4:00 at the Holiday Inn & Conference Center PA
Turnpike Exit 18 & I-83, Harrisburg, PA.
May 18 - 9:00-4:00 Holiday Inn, 707 Route 46 East, Parsippany, NJ
Fees: $95.00 - Students & Parents
$125.00 - Professionals
Made payable to: HSC Training Institute, 1150 Wyoming Ave., Wyoming, PA
18644
Agenda of the day is as follows:
8:00-8:30 - Check In/Registration
8:30-9:00 - Overview of ABA programs for Autistic youngsters
9:00-10:15 - Intro to Precision Teaching
10:15-10:30 - BREAK
10:30-11:30- Using the Standard Celeration Chart (Pt. 1)
11:30 - 12:30 - LUNCH
12:30 - 1:30 - Using the Celeration Chart (Pt. 2)
1:30 -2:30 - Adding Fluency to Existing Programs (Pt. 1)
2:30 - 4:00 - Adding Fluency to Existing Programs (Pt. 2) Maximizing
Learning.
If you would like more info or a brochure, call (570) 714-2350, ask for
Charlie Vacarro.

Hi everyone!
I am new to the world of aba and need advice. My son is almost 5
years old and only recieves 20 minutes a day of discrete trials a
day, 4 days a week in pre-school.
Is it to late to go full swing into a 40 hour a week aba program?
Is there such a thing in New Hampshire?
Where can I learn about this?
If you could reccomend one book on ABA what book would that be?
Does the state... school... insurance ever cover these costs?
What type of a Doctor or Therapist might reccomend ABA?
Thankyou all in advance for your help!
(It's been a really hard day here and I wonder what I can do to help
my son. We still dont have a dx after seeing 12 doctors. We see a
new batch of Doc's in May)
Donna in NH

I am brand new to this list and relatively new to VB. I have struggled with
pairing but I am very keen to get it right ( very motivated after attending
Vince's workshop a couple of weeks ago). My 6 year old attends public school
kindergarten 1/2 days with a 1:1 aide. He has been struggling to sit through
circle(has been darting to the BR 3-4 times in 1/2 hour) Stopping him leads to
full blown tantrums - not a good scene. My suggestion is to reinforce sitting in
the circle with edibles(his favorite reinforcer) encourage the teacher to call
on him more with questions he knows -more opportunity for reinforcement. The
school wants him to take breaks from the circle but I'm sure this will only make
circle more aversive. Shouldn't the reinforcement be at the working area the
same as at home.Even backwards chaining circle I think is problematic. He knows
the routine , happily comes to circle but when the content goes over his head,
he can't sit still and the desire to escape is overwhelming. I'd appreciate any
suggestions. I'd like to feel I'm on the right track before I talk to the
school. Thanks,
Janet

We are seeking a therapist for weekend and/or evening work to join an
established program for our 3 year old ASD son. Our son is in a
typical preschool full time and receives speech, PT and OT support.
This position also offers the opportunity to receive training from our
consultants (Rutgers Austism Program and Dr. Vince Carbone's group) on
at least a monthly basis. If you like working in a fast-paced,
fluency-oriented verbal behavior program with some of the leaders in
the VB field, please contact me for additional details.
ann lovell
610-522-1773 (phone)
610-522-0359 (fax)
lovell@... (e-mail)

Hi everyone,
My DH might be considering becoming a contractor instead of being
hired as an employee, and I've question about insurances... So, if
that is the case, we would have to buy our own insurance, and does
anyone of you know if insurance will deny our application since my DS
has autism? Any insurance company you know of have better coverage
for medical, OT, speech, ABA.... etc....
Thanks a bunch,
Joanna.

Dear Jack,
My son is also a great video scripter. What we did was target a few different
situations and made videos ourselves which showed appropriate dialogue for that
particular situation. My son loves watching mum and the therapists acting out
scenes and actually asks to watch them quite a lot.
A lot of phrases he uses now are taken from these videos.
Eg . grandpa rang him last week and asked him to go somewhere, his reply was
"That sounds good" - I nearly fell off my chair! This was taken from a script
we made of two friends talking on the phone. We have also done restaurant
scenes, shopping, playing with dolls, playing train rides etc. We originally did
them to promote imaginative play, which they did, but the phrases are also
spilling over into real life. Best Wishes,
Robyn
PS
pace.We also acted out the scene, swapping roles between actors for four or five
times one after the other so that there was a lot of repetition without having
to rewind.

Thanks to DH everything is gone from my computer, I can't find the website

I am looking to recruit another therapist for my son's program in North
Carrollton.
Anyone interested email me privately jodiemuse@...
Thank You!

Hi List,
Our son has been in a "traditional" ABA program for 3.5 years. I recently
attended one of Vince Carbone's workshops (#1).
I had a question about pairing. From what I understood, the objective of
pairing is for the child to eventually see the therapist as very reinforcing
(and therefore will "work" for longer periods of time before accessing a
reinforcer) and that the technique for doing so is to have the therapist pair
him/herself with the child's reinforcers. The therapist, in essence, becomes
the vehicle to having the child access these reinforcers and is viewed as an
"improving set of conditions", versus a "worsening set of conditions".
I recognize that what pairing looks like will obviously differ from child to
child, and may be different between a child and each of his/her therapists.
However, what I'm confused about is the relationship between "pairing" and mand
training.
When you are first starting a VB program, what does this "pairing" stage look
like? Say for example the therapist has decided to pair themselves with a video
- one of the child's favourite reinforcers. The child comes to sit with you to
watch a video. While sitting there, they mand for other reinforcers (coke,
cookie), which they want while they are watching the video. I'm assuming that
you would reinforce these requests by giving the child these items. I
understand that should the child decide just to get up from the table that you
would turn the video off and say "sit down for Video XX". Say then the child
decides they are "done" with the video after only a few minutes and they get up
to go to the trampoline. Do you simply have them mand for it first and then
follow them to the trampoline? Then when they decide that they want something
else you give them that too if it is requested?
I don't know if I'm making myself clear or not but I guess what I'm not
understanding is this:
1) for mand training, it would seem that the goal is to increase the number of
mands the child makes (and over time increase the complexity of these mands).
(And I also understand that, eventually, of course, it is not reasonable to give
the child everything he/she mands for).
2) for "pairing" the goal is to help the child view you as an improving set of
conditions, and this can be done by being the vehicle to help the child access
his reinforcers. However, what we're also trying to do is to increase the
length of time that the child will "work" at the table before accessing these
reinforcer....
It would seem to me that the goals for #1 and #2 can sometimes be in conflict.
Your comments concerning the above would be greatly appreciated.
Lynne

Hi, all. Hope to see you tomorrow, March 5th, at my AVB chat,
starting at 7:00 EST. We'll be discussing general ideas and topics for
future chats. Join us at:
www.ChristinaBurkABA.com/Chat.htm
Best
Christina
Christina Burk, M.A.
Behavioral Consultant (AVB specialization)
www.ChristinaBurkABA.com
ChristinaBurkABA@...
Director, playB.A. inclusion socialization group
www.playBAgroup.com
Christina@...

Hi
My name is Katie and I am re-subscribing to the list after a
break. I
live on a Scottish island and have my 8 yr old ASD son,
Jamie on a VB
program for 30 + hours a week at home.
I urgently need help on something and wondered if anyone out
there in
DTT-NET land could possibly help.
We have been running Jamie's program for over 3 years now
with great
results taking into account the severity of his autism. Our
local
education authority however have been totally unsupportive
of us and
insist that all Jamie needs is a bit of TEACCH in school.
Because of where we live, Jamie attends a mainstream primary
school part
time where he is taught alongside the other kids. The TEACCH
program the
ed. auth. are implementing is poor and full of gaps, run by
untrained
teachers. They are stressed out anyway and the teachers tell
me that
without Jamie's ABA/VB program running at home, his school
inclusion
would be a nightmare if not impossible.
The ed. authority refuse to fund us to provide Jamie with
his home
program and we have nearly run out of money, motivation and
the will to
fight them anymore, yet we know for Jmaie we must.
The problem is that we are about to go to court to prove
that Jamie
needs his ABA/VB program as it is an essential part of his
educational
and general development, without it he would undoubtedly
have to be
institutionalised.
What my lawyer needs is some kind of research or credible
article/s
which compares TEACCH with ABA in a favourable way for the
latter.
Please don't misunderstand me, I think aspects of TEACCH
have been and
continue to be really useful for Jamie in school but it is
not and
should never be an exclusive approach.
If anyone has any information at all, I would be really
grateful, I need
it by Monday night (GMT).
My sincere thanks in advance.
Katie MacLellan

We are looking for a new monitor system for our therapy room. This time we
would like to go wireless and color if possible. I'm certain there must be a
unit with a camera in the room that sends a signal to any TV or monitor.
Would like to find a system with several cameras because we do therapy all
over the house. If anyone knows where we can order one, please e-mail me
privately.
Thank you,
Linda

1ST ANNUAL PennABA CONFERENCE
PLACE:.................. The Best Western Inn & Suites Conference Room
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 888/
868-5952 (reservations)
DATE & TIME:..... Friday, March 16, 2001, 9am 5 pm
FEATURED SPEAKERS INCLUDE:
Richard M. Foxx, Ph.D., Kimberly A. Schreck, Ph.D., & Rick Kubina,Ph.D.
Penn State Harrisburg
Edward Tiryak Attorney
Saul Axelrod, Ph.D. Temple University
TOPICS INCLUDE:
Autism, Developmental Disabilities, Education,
Certification of Behavior Analysts, and Legal Issues
Behavior Analysis Certification Board Continuing Education Credits for BCBAs
and BCABAs!
On-site registration is available from 8:30 9:00 am.
Pre-registration form: http://fishscales.virtualave.net/PennAba/index.htm
or see PennABA and Conference registrations in this issue of BAT.
8:30 - 9:00 On-site registration & sign-in for
those pre-registered
9:00 10:15 Presidents Welcome Address -- Richard
M. Foxx, Ph.D.
Tenge Familia: Behavior
Analysis in Pennsylvania
Opportunities and threats, friends and foes
10:30 11:00 Business Meeting
11:00 12:00 What is generalization and why can't
children with autism do it?
Rick Kubina, Ph.D.
12:00 1:00 Networking Lunch (included with
registration fee)
1:00 1:30 Wraparound Services: the Kirk T.
Litigation and Federal Law."
Edmond Tiryak, J.D.
1:30 2:30 Treating childrens sleep problems:
Efficacy of behavioral interventions
Kimberly A. Schreck, Ph.D.
2:30 3:30 Teaching self control through
trigger analysis Saul Axelrod, Ph.D.
3:30 3:45 Break
3:45 4:45 Panel discussion: Behavior Analysis
in Pennsylvania
Richard M. Foxx, Saul Axelrod, Rick Kubina, Kimberly A. Schreck, Edmond
Tiryak, and Beth Rosenwasser
4:45 5:00 Closing Remarks Richard M. Foxx,
Ph.D.

Does anyone have an opinion as to what sort of programs a child should start if
he can mand consistently and tact fairly well things like letters, numbers, and
animals? I would like to do some intraverbals
but don't want to miss a step.

In a message dated 2/28/01 2:41:39 AM Central Standard Time,

I misplaced the information on this conference. Can someone post it again
and also I would like to have their web address.
Thanks,
Mariko

Hi,
We are struggling with similar though different issues with school as well.
My son is 6 and will be 7 over the summer. He is included in a regular
kindergarten, and it is a great set up for him. It's a separate classroom
from the big school, and he has an area for d.t. etc. The child study team
director suggested we keep him in kindergarten an extra year, and I thought
about it since it so comfortable right now and is working well, but I had
to ask myself IF repeating the year there would offer him any benefits or
will he have maxed out what he has needed to gain from this experience by
the end of the year. I asked myself that and I decided that he needed to
move on, despite how scary this will be.
I think maybe if you do a check list of what he is learning right now and
ask yourself IF at the end of the school year will he have gotten all he
can from this program and will repeating it essentially be boring and
repetitive for him. Will he have mastered all the tasks that this
preschool has given him by the end of this year. Though it sounds like a
great program, and I would be tempted to keep him there as well, if he has
accomplished and mastered the goals for this particular setting, it might
be necessary to send him on to tackle new tasks so he doesn't get bored and
essentially be doing the same thing next year. If he is still developing
new skills and at the end of this year you can see that next year will
still offer him challenges, then I would think keeping him there would be a
good setting for him, and allow him more time to mature.
It is inevitable that he will need to move on at some point and maybe
moving him forward you will need to become involved and push to make the
next experience for him as solid as his current one. I am facing similar
dilemmas so I really understand your worries.
Cate

List,
I *thought* I had tried to teach the signs for "eat" and "drink"
enough apart so my son would not mix them up. I guess i was wrong
because here we are months and months later and he *still* is giving
us the "eat" sign when he wants "drink". We prompt, we imitate, but
he's still mixing them up. Any thoughts on how to "fix" this?
My own thought was drop "drink" for now and take it back up at a
later date(?). Or, change the "drink" sign to something else related
to drink (i.e., "juice" )? What are your thoughts?
Thank you,
Eileen

Hi, all. Just wanted to let you know that I've added a calendar (and
some other features) to my website, which includes scheduled chats on AVB.
There's a chat tonight at 7:00. Hope to see you there!
www.ChristinaBurkABA.com
Best,
Christina
Christina Burk, M.A.
Behavioral Consultant (AVB specialization)
www.ChristinaBurkABA.com
ChristinaBurkABA@...
Director, playB.A. inclusion socialization group
www.playBAgroup.com
Christina@...
Moderator, VerbalBehavior@eGroups.com
Moderator, AutismABA@eGroups.com

Has anybody attended a Mark Sundberg conference like the one which is
going to be in Chicago in April? I am wondering if it would be
worthwhile for me to attend. I have already attended
Carbone/McGreevy workshops I and II. If you have any opinions,
please email me. Thanks.
Sue Henderson

Dear Listmates:
I'm trying to make the decision whether to send my son to the kindergarten
program in our school system or to keep him in the preschool program in our
school system. My son's preschool program (through lots of hard work and
education) has developed into a very strong ABA program that has a large
component of Verbal Behavior. My son's teacher, SLP, and tutors are
wonderful and well trained in ABA. My son also has many home hours. This
aspect of the program is run by our very talented consultant who has been
with my son from the start. She actually was the original consultant for our
son at the school as well and is still very involved in my son's overall
program.
The problem is that I have heard from parents that the kindergarten
program is not nearly as strong and the staff not as well trained. The
system's consultant for this program does is not as strong. My gut feeling
is to keep my son in the preschool program even though he will be five in
April. Any thoughts either way would be greatly appreciated.
Rosie

Hi all,
I just saw/heard Dr. Carbone speak at the POAC Conference in New Jersey and
was very impressed and enthusiatic about his methods. I would like to know
who on this list is using his methods and what success or problems they've
had with it. The video Dr. Carbone showed of the children tantrumming at the
table are just like my son and so far through 3 schools, they've been unable
to correct this behavior. My son just turned 7 and has limited but growing
verbal abilities. I signed up for the New York Workshop but would really
appreciate any opinions/suggestions you may have.
Thanks in advance
Mary

Listmates,
Has anybody tried doing very rapid switching of SDs (visual and verbal) to
break down the perseverative way of thinking for most autistic kids ? We know
about the
verbal processing part - try to present 25-30 questions a minute - in the
RFFC, FFC,
multiple exemplars mode - however have people tried to rapidly switch the
visual
stimulus as well, so that the child can respond to the new visual stimulus
(there is
a Wisconsin Card Sorting test, where the same set of cards are supposed to be
arranged in different rows, each row has a rule - for example the first row
has the cards in ascending order of numbers, the second row has the same set
of
cars arranged according to color - the idea is for the child to perceive the
hidden
rule and continue the sequence. Too often our children tend to perform the
samew
way when presented with the same material without switching).
Thank you
Uttiya

Just a quick reminder of the rules of the list.
Jenn :)
PURPOSE: The focus of the DTT-NET list is meant to be constructive
discussions about all the components of ABA and how they work together. It
is a place that allows parents and professionals to ask/provide program
problem-solving questions/suggestions for individual members. Please keep
your discussions ABA related. Key focus is the language component
(Skinner's) many ABA programs seem to lack.
NO PERSONAL REPLIES: DO NOT post simple "I liked your post." or "could you
send me that pamphlet you spoke about?" and similar messages to the list.
These messages are meaningful only to the person to whom you are speaking and
therefore should be sent directly to that person. We are expecting this list
to grow and want to limit posts that address specific questions and answers
regarding DTT-NET teaching.
NO FLAMES - Love thy neighbor. If you have a problem with another
subscriber, address your problem to the list moderators and see if it can be
resolved peaceably.
NO OFF TOPIC POSTS: Our list is growing. People have joined this list for
one reason. To teach/learn more about the ABA components: DTT-NET w/ support
of Skinners theory on language. Off-Topic posts are not permitted and are
grounds for restricting you from posting messages.
List moderator are:
Jenn (ABAqueen1@...)
Kimberly(OneLessRck@...)
Jennifer Godwin
ABAqueen1@...
Current Listowner

Seema,
You could always try experimentally totally eliminating tv, videos etc for 2
months and see if you think it helps. We found that it did help tremendously. I
think they have to find other more normal activities that are equally
reinforcing to them---much easier said than done. I think the longer they stim
in a particular way the harder it is to get rid of it. Stimming behavior is
hard to figure out sometimes. Sometimes I think total saturation works. Our son
went through a time period of really stimming on digital clocks...and digital
numbers in general. He went on a field trip with my daughter and a group at
church and cried in someone's van because he didn't have a good view of their
van's clock!!! We had everything covered up with slips of paper or tissue!!!
Well, we also had trouble with him getting up too early...and waking up
everybody else. So, my husband had the idea of putting a digital clock in his
room and telling him he couldn't get up until it was a certain time. I thought
he would stay awake all night watching the numbers turn!!! Well, it worked! It
worked to keep him in his room quiet for longer. He also must have gotten his
fill of clocks because he quit looking at them. He doesn't pay any attention to
the one in his room now or anywhere else!! I thought it would only make his
stimming worse. Another Mom told me her daughter had a thing about carrying
around a certain little toy doll..She bought tons of them and left them around
everywhere and her daughter quit being so interested. We still do not let our
son watch tv or videos without "earning" them.
Truly

A new tutor will be working with my sone 3 afternoons a week begining tuesday.
I am thinking of preparing a record book for her so that she can record what she
did with Jacob. As this is her first time writing such things I was wondering
if anyone has guidelines for their tutors/therapists when writing reports after
each session. Also does anyone knoww how I can get her to take data during
these sessions. She is a playschool teacher so she will mainly be doing
playschool activities.
Thanks!
Prue
Sabah, Malaysia

Hi all!
For any interested parties, here is a rather long list
of research articles that have helped me to better
understand some of the instructional issues the list
has been discussing as of late.
Assistance Procedures to Facilitate the Transfer of
Stimulus Control.
Education and Training of the Mentally Retarded,
March, 1986, Vol. 21(1) pgs. 62-74.
Fading Extra-Stimulus Prompts with Autistic Children
Using Time Delay.
Education and Treatment of Children, Vol. 11(1),
February, 1988, pgs. 29-44.
A Natural Language Paradigm for Non-Verbal Autistic
Children.
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, Vol.
17(2), 1987, pgs. 187-200.
Behavioral Momentum in the Treatment of Noncompliance.
Journal of Applied Behavioral Analysis, #2, Summer,
1988, pgs. 123-141.
The Influence of Task Variation and Maintenance Tasks
on the Learning and Affect of Autistic Children.
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, Vol. #37,
1984, pgs. 41-64.
Errorless Learning, Reinforcement Contingencies, and
Stimulus Control Transfer in Delayed Prompting.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, #2, Summer,
1984, pgs 175-188.
The Simplest Treatment Alternative: The Law of
Parsimony Applied to Choosing Appropriate
Instructional Control and Errorless-Learning
Procedures for the Difficult-to-Teach Child.
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, Vol.
9(4), 1979, pgs. 361-382.
Analog Language Teaching (DTT) Versus Natural Language
Teaching: Generalization and Retention of Language
Learning for Adults with Autism and Mental
Retardation.
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, Vol.
21(4), pgs. 433-446.
Motivating Autistic Children Through Stimulus
Variation.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, #4, Winter,
1980, pgs. 619-627.
Functional Assessment of Aberrant Behavior Maintained
by Automatic Reinforcement.
Research in Developmental Disabilities, Vol. 21(5),
Sept-Oct. 2000, pgs. 393-407.
Stimulus Control Terminology.
Behavior Analyst, Fall, 1985, Vol. 8(2), pgs.
259-264.
Establishing Operations: Implications for the
Assessment, Treatment, and Prevention of Problem
Behavior.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, Fall, 1999,
Vol. 32(3), pgs. 393-418.
You can find related articles in the reference section
of each of these articles.
Perry

Thank you very much for the information
about Dr. Buck.
We could contact with him.
Thank you again.
Yuko

Hi
I'm a mother who has 7years old autistic son.
It may be a wrong place to ask, but I would
like to get the information about Greg Buch.
School district offer district program for
my son and a head teacher received
training from Greg Buch.
We would like to check her qualification.
If someone knows about him, please
send me the direct e-mail to the address
below.
yukos@...
yuko

Hi, all. I just wanted to let you know that I added some more new
things to my site, including an FAQ (commonly asked questions and answers)
and a discussion of the difference between AVB and Lovaas, as well as the
chat and message boards I added yesterday. I'd enjoy feedback on all of
these additions.
www.ChristinaBurkABA.com
Thanks,
Christina

Hi,
I was wondering if anyone could give me any info on Distar? (Or other direct
instruction reading programs.) Specifically - if you've used it with your
child and whether or not it worked - research behind it?? The philosophy
behind the approach?? I'm taking a class on teaching reading/language arts and
we're doing group presentations on commercial reading programs. Any info would
be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Jessica

Hello Friends,
Over the last 5 years, I have come to think of the people on these two lists as
part of an extended family. Some of you I have even had the chance to meet at
conferences, and the friendships have become even stronger.
So I hope you won't mind if I share my excitement with you about the new school
we are starting -- "The Mariposa School for Children with Autism." (Mariposa
is Spanish for butterfly, which is a perfect metaphor for our kids who are
emerging from the cocoon of autism as the beautiful butterflies they are.)
The school will be based on the Verbal Behavior methodology. We will use the
ABBLS to design an individual curriculum for each child.
Our hope is to open our doors this coming fall. This, of course, depends on our
ability to raise enough money to do so by then.
We are a non-profit organization, and are hoping to raise enough money so that
the children who attend won't have to pay enormous tuition fees.
If anybody is aware of organizations that might be interested in making a
donation, please email me.
We want to offer the kids who live in NC something other than TEACCH, which is
currently the only show in town!
Cindy (Cary, NC)
persistentC@...
http://www.rtphome.org/mariposa

There have been a number of informed comments about this post - but
i thought i would add a thought from my perspective of working only with my
son
It seems to me that the pace would be very slow here:
HOH prompt to touch blue, then the child receives a sticker reinforcer,
Well i am not that good at peeling off stickers that i could give one for
and then deliver an sd two seconds later to go for an unprompted trial -
which is
what we try to do. Also I don't think i could work in 'thats touching blue
'
at any point !
For my son the errorless teaching serves as a reminder to him that he
has to respond, but on its own it isn't enough to make him stay on task.
It has to be at a fast pace with opportunities to mand in between.
Teaching this way hasn't been a miracle for our son - but it has
drastically reduced self stimulatory behaviours during work.
Catherine UK
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CONFIDENTIALITY: This communication and any attachments are confidential and may
also be privileged.
If you are not the named recipient, please notify the sender immediately and do
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(NOTE: I tried to post this to both the ME-List and DTT-NET a couple of days
ago, but never saw it show up on the DTT list. I apologize if this is a
duplicate post.)
Hello Friends,
Over the last 5 years, I have come to think of the people on these two lists as
part of an extended family. Some of you I have even had the chance to meet at
conferences, and the friendships have become even stronger.
So I hope you won't mind if I share my excitement with you about the new school
we are starting -- "The Mariposa School for Children with Autism." (Mariposa
is Spanish for butterfly, which is a perfect metaphor for our kids who are
emerging from the cocoon of autism as the beautiful butterflies they are.)
The school will be based on the Verbal Behavior methodology. We will use the
ABBLS to design an individual curriculum for each child.
Our hope is to open our doors this coming fall. This, of course, depends on our
ability to raise enough money to do so by then.
We are a non-profit organization, and are hoping to raise enough money so that
the children who attend won't have to pay enormous tuition fees.
If anybody is aware of organizations that might be interested in making a
donation, please email me.
We want to offer the kids who live in NC something other than TEACCH, which is
currently the only show in town!
Cindy (Cary, NC)
persistentC@...
http://www.rtphome.org/mariposa

We have been working with ABA for more than 5 years now and are currently
blending traditional "Lovaas" with DTT-NET with good results. Our current
consultant is primarily working with very young clients, (our daughter is 10)
and feels we need to recruit a consultant fully versed in DTT-NET (errorless,
east coast, Carbone, Sunberg/Partington, "what-ever") format and who has some
experience with older kids and their needs. Any suggestions welcome...we
live in Anderson South Carolina and our program is funded through the school
district.
Thanks for any and all suggestions.
Denise116@...

teaching the item, we use errorless. His wrong answers are usually not
because he doesn't know it but because for some reason he wasn't paying
attention (which we then address).
I need an attending program but don't want to go back to the old "look
at me" As was mentioned above, many times my son doesn't get something
but he decides to look off elsewhere. Please don't mention reinforcers
because unfortunately that's a tired issue with me. But I would really
appreciate an attending program.
Thanks
Penny

Please note the dates for the Orland Park,IL workshop are 4/5 through
4/7.
Teaching Advanced Language Skills to Children With Autism
A two day advanced workshop on language assessment and intervention for
children with language delays, with a one day introductory workshop for
those beginning a language program
by
Mark L. Sundberg, Ph.D.
Behavior Analysts, Inc./STARS School
Beginning a Language Intervention Program April 5, 2001
Teaching Advanced Language Skills
April 6-7, 2001
Georgios Hotel and
Conference Center
Orland Park, IL
(Chicago Area)
Beginning a Language Intervention Program
May 8, 2001
Teaching Advanced Language Skills
May 9-10, 2001
Holiday Inn
Concord, CA
(San Francisco Bay Area)
Teaching Language Workshops
P.O. Box 21272
Concord, CA 94521-1272
A workshop for parents, special education teachers and aides, speech and
language pathologists, behavior analysts, psychologists, in-home
trainers,
students, direct care staff, program specialists, administrators and
other
human service professionals.
The Workshops
The introductory one day workshop will cover the basic elements of B. F.
Skinner's analysis of language, language assessment, and beginning a
language intervention program for a child who has little (less than 100
words) or no verbal skills. The objectives of this workshop are to teach
participants how to:
Use a behavioral approach to language assessment (e.g., mands, tacts,
and
intraverbals)
Establish an effective individualized language intervention program for
children with autism
Utilize motivational variables to teach language in structured sessions
(discrete trial training), and in on-going daily activities (natural
environment training)
Write language based IEPs and use the most efficient data collection
system
Determine if augmentative communication is necessary, and if so, which
type
might be best for an individual child (e.g., sign language, PECS,
writing)
The two day workshop will follow the first day and will focus on more
advanced language training. This workshop is designed for individuals
who
are somewhat familiar with behavior analysis and Skinner's analysis of
language (e.g., mands, tacts, and intraverbals) and are working with
children who have at least a 100 word tact and receptive vocabulary.
The
objectives of this workshop are to teach participants how to:
Analyze a child's language skills, including language problems such as
echolalia, rote responding, and overcoming linguistic barriers using the
tools of behavior analysis and Skinner's (1957) book Verbal Behavior
Develop intervention programs to teach RFFC, and intraverbal skills
Develop intervention programs to teach multiple component tacts (e.g.,
subject-verb-noun), and advanced tacting (e.g., prepositions,
adjectives,
feelings)
Develop intervention programs to teach manding for missing items,
manding
for information, and manding to remove aversives
Develop intervention programs to teach social interaction, classroom
skills, and academic skills
Analyze instructional decisions such as school placements, inclusion,
discrete trial vs. natural environment approaches, as well as
alternative
treatments for autism
These workshops can be helpful for individuals who work or live with
children with autism or other developmental disabilities. All
participants
will receive a 75 page handout covering these topics, and a certificate
of
attendance.
About the Presenter
Mark L. Sundberg, Ph.D. received his doctorate degree in Applied
Behavior
Analysis from Western Michigan University (1980), under the direction of
Dr. Jack Michael. Dr. Sundberg is a licensed psychologist who has been
conducting language research with children with autism and other
developmental disabilities for over 25 years. He is the Senior Behavior
Analyst for Behavior Analysts, Inc. and STARS School. He is the founder
and
past editor of the journal The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, and is the
co-author (with James W. Partington, Ph.D.) of the books Teaching
Language
to Children with Autism or Other Developmental Disabilities, and The
Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills: The ABLLS. He has
published over 35 empirical and conceptual papers, manuals, and book
chapters. He has also given over 300 conference presentations and
workshops on methods of language assessment and intervention for
children
with autism and other developmental disabilities, and has taught over 70
college courses on behavior analysis, language, and child development.
Continuing Education
BCBA credit available for Behavior Analysts, California ASHA
(provider #PDP61), MCEP (provider #BEH015), & MFT/MFCC
(provider #PCE1303) credit pending. Regional Center of the East Bay
service provider vendorization is also pending. Call or email 2 weeks
prior to event for status. These workshops are co-sponsored by Teaching
Language Workshops and Behavior Analysts, Inc.
Workshop Schedule
One Day Workshop
8:00-9:00 am Registration
9:00 -10:30 am First morning session
10:30 -10:45 am Break
10:45 -12:00 noon Second morning session
12:00 -1:30 pm Lunch break (on your own)
1:30 - 3:00 pm First afternoon session
3:00 - 3:15 pm Break
3:15 - 4:30 pm Second afternoon session
Two Day Workshop, First day
8:00-9:00 am Registration
9:00 -10:30 am First morning session
10:30 -10:45 am Break
10:45 -12:00 noon Second morning session
12:00 -1:30 pm Lunch break (on your own)
1:30 - 3:00 pm First afternoon session
3:00 - 3:15 pm Break
3:15 - 4:30 pm Second afternoon session
4:30 - 6:00 pm Social Hour/Cash bar
Second day
9:00 -10:30 am First morning session
10:30 -10:45 am Break
10:45 -12:00 noon Second morning session
12:00 -1:30 pm Lunch break (on your own)
1:30 - 3:00 pm First afternoon session
3:00 - 3:15 pm Break
3:15 - 4:30 pm Second afternoon session
Accommodations
Gerogios Conference Center 4/5-4/7
8800 West 159th Street, Orland Park, IL 25 minutes from O'Hare
International and 15 minutes from Midway airport. Special $90 room rate
for reservations made by March 22nd, and by indicating you will be
attending the Teaching Language Workshop. For reservations, directions
or
ground transportation options call (708) 403-1100 or www.georgios.com.
Holiday Inn Concord 5/8-5/10
1050 Burnett Ave. Concord, CA 25 minutes from the Oakland airport or 45
minutes from the San Francisco airport. Special $90 room rate for
reservations made by April 24th, and by indicating you will be attending
the Teaching Language Workshop. For reservations, directions or ground
transportation options call (925) 687-5500 or www.holiday-inn.com.
Refunds
Refund policy: Refunds will be provided until 3/28 for the
Orland Park, IL workshop, and until 4/30 for the Concord , CA workshop.
There will be a $20 processing fee. No refunds after those dates.
Registration
____Orland Park, IL April 5-7
registration must be postmarked by 3/24/2001
____Concord, CA, May 8-10
registration must be postmarked by 4/28/2001
One day beginning workshop fees:
____ $95 Workshop registration
____ $75 Special parent rate
____ $130 Two parents or members of the same family
____ $60 Student rate (Students must be enrolled in at least
two college courses and submit a copy of their course schedule)
____Group rate $80 each for 5 or more persons
(groups must be mailed together with a separate form for each person,
any
combination of workshops can qualify for group rate)
Two day advanced workshop fees:
____ $180 Workshop registration
____ $140 Special parent rate
____ $250 Two parents or members of the same family
____ $120 Student rate (Students must submit schedule)
____Group rate $160 each for 5 or more persons
All three days:
____ $250 Workshop registration
____ $180 Special parent rate
____ $290 Two parents or members of the same family
____ $165 Student rate (Students must submit schedule
____Group rate $225 each for 5 or more persons
Optional materials: delivered at the workshop
____Teaching Language to Children With Autism or Other Developmental
Disabilities, by Sundberg and Partington ($42)
____The Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills: The ABLLS, and
The ABLLS Scoring Instructions and IEP Development Guide by Partington
and
Sundberg ($59)
____ A Collection of Reprints on Verbal Behavior by Sundberg and Michael
($42)
____ Sales tax on books for California residents (8.25%)
$_______ Total fees and book orders
On-site registration will be an additional $25. Purchase orders
accepted.
Name:

Could someone help me in my search? I am a mother of two autistic sons from
Fort Lee, NJ trying to hire special ed or psychology students to do
discrete trials with my kids (aged 4 and 1 1/2). We live very close to
Manhattan. I am prepared to pay $15-25 per hour depending on experience.
My kids are good learners and working with them, though sometimes
challenging, is also very rewarding.
Natasha
nataleo@...

Dear Listmates:
Jer has a traditional ABA program that has Verbal Behavior as a main
component. We finally are getting closer to how Jer learns best. We use
errorless teaching, random sets, multiple exemplars. Once we know Jer has
truly learned an item, and at some point he gets the answer wrong, we
immediately give him feedback in some version of "try again" (which is a "no"
prompt sequence) -- just like you would a typical child. Lately, we don't
have to do this much because he is learning things fluently, and as we're
teaching the item, we use errorless. His wrong answers are usually not
because he doesn't know it but because for some reason he wasn't paying
attention (which we then address). Every child is so different, you may have
to come up with your own "rule" for your child. And again, if the child
isn't getting it or becoming prompt dependent, you need to look at the
teaching and reinforcement. Just some thoughts.
Rosie

To follow up on Mark's comment on turning stims (video scripts, songs) into
reinforcers--we've also used the songs that Charlie stims on by humming the
tune on a kazoo (we have one in French horn shape, great sound!) and on the
piano (a "real" instrument and a toy plastic version). As usual, one can
build a lot into mands here, asking a child to mand for the horn, music,
song, specific song.....
Kristina

Hi,
I was wondering if any of you use "self management" techniques to decreased
unwanted behaviors/stims? I am just learning about it, and it seems like
it would be/could be a very effective way to decrease behaviors/stims in
children who could be taught to self regulate, thereby promoting
independent self-monitoring from the children themselves without the need
of teacher's prompting being necessary or even for the teacher to be present.
I am not certain exactly how to put a plan in place and I was hoping if
some of you were using this that you could elaborate on how you implemented
it. For those of you who haven't heard of this (I only read this recently
as well), the basic steps are to: 1. Specify the behavior to be
observed-it could be stereotypic behavior, verbal stimming etc. This
would be the target behavior.
2. Identify functional reinforcers. 3. Design or choose a self management
method and device. A notebook with sticks or pencil a wrist watch with an
alarm or a timer device can be used to signal time periods. 4. Teach the
individual child to use the self management device--a child then learns to
identify their own target behavior by observing both appropriate and
inappropriate behavior modeled by the provider and receiving reinforcement
upon accurate identification of each. Next the child is prompted to
engage in the appropriate behavior and self record the occurrence or
nonoccurrence of the behavior. Initially verbal and tangible reinforcers
are provided on a continuous reinforcement schedule for accurate self
recording of inappropriate behavior. As the child's abilities to self
manage behavior improve, the schedule of reinforcement is gradually reduced.
Then, independent self management (.i.e. without prompts or consequences
from others \) is taught in a number of ways. Prompts to self manage
behavior (i.e. engage in the target behavior and self record when
appropriate), are gradually reduced, and the amount of time the child
spends self managing behavior is increased.
These techniques were used to teach children with autism from the 9-14 year
old level but functioning in the 2-5 year old range to self manage
disruptive stereotypic behaviors. These kids wore wristwatch alarms for
self monitoring.
I was wondering if any of you have tried this and if so was it successful,
and if you have any tips on how exactly you implemented this that would be
interesting to hear. We all have talked from time to time about how do we
get our kids to stop verbal stimming or a variety of other quirky stims
that set them apart. This technique seemed like it might work for a lot of
kids who could self manage their behavior.
The authors relate that with one child whose stereotypic behavior occurred
in a park at 100% level after taking self management materials with him his
behavior decreased to 0-20%.
I thought that so many of the kids are so incredibly bright figuring out
rewards and consequences that this type of self management techniques might
work for a lot of them, (my own child at some point as well), and these
stims are so hard to wipe out or decrease, BUT if the child could be taught
to self regulate they would have their own system built into them, and
would not require an outside source to shut them down when they occur.
Any thoughts, I d love to hear them??
Cate