Resources

Reflection Questions

The Reflection Questions document can be downloaded at any time and used in a variety of ways. You can view it before starting your work so that you know which questions will be asked in the videos and/or on the webpages. You can also access it at the end of your work so that you can see all your responses to the questions. This tool can be helpful for documenting your learning and referring to later or for sharing it with others in group discussions or as demonstration of your online progress.

Discussion Questions

The Discussion Questions provided below can supplement and extend your individual learning and be used by facilitators or coaches to prompt meaningful discussions.

1. Why are pivotal response interventions thought to be critical for facilitating learning and development?

   A correct answer could include statements such as:

   • Pivotal response interventions increase the responsivity of children with ASD to cues and stimuli in their environment.
   • The techniques can be implemented throughout a child's day in natural settings, thereby (a) increasing the amount and type of environmental and social stimulation, (b) facilitating more learning interactions, and (c) resulting in a wider impact on development.
   • Targeted goals and collateral gains can be made using PRT.
   • Using the motivational procedures can lead to more learning opportunities and positive social consequences for learners.

2. What might be some behavioral characteristics of a child who is motivated?

   A correct answer could include any of the following:

   • Self-initiating behavior such as approaching others, responding to social and environmental stimuli
   • Increased responding to stimuli presented during interactions
   • Decreased latency to respond to opportunities presented
   • Improved affect, such as increased interest, enthusiasm, and happiness
   • Decreased or eliminated problem behavior (e.g., tantrums, agitation, avoidance)

3. How can response to multiple cues lead to widespread improvements in children with autism?

   A correct answer could include a statement such as:

   • Responding to multiple cues corrects the tendency of children with ASD to respond to a selected portion of cues in the environment or on a secondary or less relevant cue
   • Responding to multiple cues enhances attention to social cues and increases learning and generalization.

4. What is the goal of self-management? Briefly describe the procedural steps.

   A correct answer could include a statement such as:

   • The purpose of self-management is to demonstrate the widespread generalized use of newly learned behaviors that lead to independence.
   • Self-management leads to independence
   • Self-management fosters generalization of appropriate behaviors across settings and interactions with others while reducing the need for constant and/or long-term support from others
   • Self-management can promote a cycle of experiencing positive relationships, as the learner begins to self-administer reinforcement for self-directed goals in the natural environment
   • The general procedure involves teaching the learner to discriminate between when they are demonstrating the goal behavior and when they are not, and then to actively record correct responses and to administer self-rewards

5. What are different forms of self-initiations or strategies to increase initiations?

   A correct answer could include a statement such as:

   • Self-initiations may include early joint attention behaviors, such as alternating eye gaze to pointing/showing something of interest to another; to expressively requesting, commenting, asking questions; to engaging in elaborate social conversations.
   • Peer-mediated strategies consist of teaching peers to initiate, reinforce, and maintain ongoing interactions with learners. Common strategies include sharing materials, organizing play episodes, taking turns, offering choices, varying materials, and responding positively to their communicative partner.
   • Learner-initiated strategies involve teaching the learner with ASD to initiate and maintain interactions with peers. Target skills include initiating social interactions with others, developing play schemas, generating on-topic comments, using repair strategies to maintain conversations/interactions, asking questions, and ending interactions in an appropriate and timely manner.

Activities on this page are provided at both the introductory and advanced level and can be copied and used within existing professional development or university coursework.

Activities on this page are provided at both the introductory and advanced level and can be copied and used within existing professional development or university coursework.

Introductory Activities

1. Write a Goal & Create a Data Sheet

   Write a learner goal and create a data sheet for the following:

   • Using a vocalization to request items
   • Using action words in simple sentences (e.g., "The dog is running," "The girl is dancing")
   • Following instructions involving objects and a variety of prepositions (e.g., in front, next to, behind)
   • Asking peers questions
   • Drawing others' attention to objects verbally and gesturally to comment, show, and share

2. Plan Activities

   Using the implementation checklist on motivation linked here, identify activities where you may be able to embed learning goals for the examples below and how you would use the strategies to teach:

   Case examples

   1. Riley, a 12-year-old with autism, does not like to write. He can become agitated and occasionally aggressive (e.g., slaps adult's hand) when instructed to pick up his pencil to take notes, complete assignments, and so on. Riley enjoys typing, gamification, doodling, kawaii stickers, and scented markers.
   2. Henry is 18 years old and has autism. Henry has difficulty maintaining attention during long periods of teacher instruction and limited group involvement for longer than 15 minutes, at which point he interrupts the teacher to make comments, jokes, and/or gets up from his chair to pace back and forth at the back of the classroom. Henry is an avid artist and can sit for extended periods of time drawing sketches; occasionally the teacher allows him to do this to keep him seated and minimize distractions. Henry enjoys group and cooperative work, talking with peers, and movement in the classroom.
   3. Brodie is a 5-year-old preschooler with autism. Brodie is working on vocally identifying the beginning phoneme of words, by making the sound and identifying the beginning letter of the word. Brodie enjoys magnetic tiles, books, and playing outside.

Advanced Activities

1. Devise Teaching Activities

   Using the implementation checklist on responsivity to multiple cues linked here, identify teaching activities to target responsivity to multiple cues to an early childhood, elementary, and high school student.

2. Developing a Self-Management Program

   Using the implementation checklists on self-management linked here, devise the steps you would take to create a self-management program based upon the information provided in the case examples below.

   Case examples:

   1. Charlie is a verbal 8-year-old child with ASD who elicits attention from his peers by making loud screams and pinching their arms or hands. He exhibits these behaviors primarily during free time when the other children are engaged in play.
   2. Charlotte, a 13-year-old autistic student, continually interrupts her peers in mid-conversation with irrelevant comments. For example, a peer might be talking about the show Gilmore Girls, and Charlotte will cut her off by announcing that she sees a pink elephant. As a result, the peers exclude Charlotte's attempts at interaction, saying she cannot join them in play, or ignoring her all together.
   3. Ryder is 16-year-old and is extremely fascinated by death. He enjoys showing the other students gruesome books about torture techniques, drawing unacceptable pictures, and interrupting the teacher to make inappropriate comments. The students are afraid of him and do not know how to respond to his behavior.

Design Self-Initiation Plan

Using the implementation checklist on self-initiations linked here, describe how the following strategies might be embedded in an intervention plan to promote self-initiations for an early childhood, elementary, and high school student. State in your plan the reasons for including specific strategies.

• Peer-mediated strategies
• Learner-initiated strategies
• Question-asking (i.e., "What's that?," "What happened?," "What's happening?")