Role of ASD Consultant and use of ABLLS-R Presented by Cosmin G. Colţea ASD Consultant, Sunrise Health Region

Summary Role of ASD Consultant Verbal Behaviour assessment ABLLS-R: Use of assessment data Program development ABLLS-R candidates AFLS (The Assessment of Functional Living Skills) Social skills (overview)

Role of ASD Consultant For preschool age children: Screening for Autism Spectrum Disorder Summer programs Coordinate ASD program (SLP, OT, PT, SW, ASW) Consultations with schools, daycares, others Parent training

Role of ASD Consultant For school age children: Screening for Autism Spectrum Disorder Summer programs Family support General consultation Accessing ASD services: Contact ASDC/OT/PT/SLP/ECP after exhausting in-school services General consultations Mostly for transitions

Verbal Behaviour Assessment BLA (Behavioral Language Assessment Form) ABLLS-R (The Assessment of Language and Learning Skills) VB-MAPP (Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program) Barriers assessment PEAK (The PEAK: Relational Training System) evaluation and curriculum guide for basic and advanced language skills

Data collection Assessments useless without good data collection Trial by trial data collection Probe based data collection Collect – Graph – Analyze - Make changes Collecting Correct responses and Errors E.g., looking at rate of correct vs errors over time

VB- review Language = learned behaviour based on the influence of environment (Skinner, 1957) In other words reinforcement and punishment drive language. Listener and Speaker Teach both Conversations Pinnacle of language Comprised of all the other verbal elements

VB- language classification Mand: Asking/demanding items of interest E.g., Demanding Juice because thirsty Language controlled by motivation Tact: Naming/Labeling objects/activities/etc. E.g., saying Truck after seeing a truck Language controlled by observing items around Intraverbal: Having a conversation/Answering questions E.g., Saying Lamb after someone else said Mary had a little… Language controlled by somebody else’s words/language Students who respond to some questions but not other! What do you drive when going home? What do you wear when going home?

VB- language classification Echoic: Hearing and repeating E.g., Saying Truck after hearing someone else saying Truck Language controlled by somebody else’s language Receptive: Following instructions E.g., Turning book page when told to do so Language controlled by someone else’s language

VB- language classification TFFC/RFFC: Labeling/Recognizing items/activities by Function, Feature, Class E.g., What has 4 legs? Dog; Point to something that barks- Dog. Language/Gestures controlled by someone else’s language Textual: Reading words E.g., Saying Car because student sees the word Car Language controlled by written information Other

VB strategies Important: Check for language use and source of control Analyse student’s language E.g.: Student saying What’s the matter? when falling , I want to go home for escaping/avoiding demand Student scrolling for correct response Student using scripted language Learning occurs based on where the attention goes !!!

ABLLS-R Completing the assessment By person responsible for programming Info obtained from: People working directly with the student Student observation in different environments Formal presentation of tasks Score based on what the student does or can do when required Underestimate if not sure

ABLLS-R Completing the assessment Suggested reading: Sundberg and Partington (1989).Teaching Language to Children with Autism or Other Developmental Disorders Partington, J (2010).The Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills (Scoring Instructions and IEP Development Guide) Partington, J. (2014). Getting Started: Developing Critical Learning Skills for Children on the Autism Spectrum

ABLLS-R Assessing: Prompting responses ! Some items include prompting E.g., combining nouns and adjectives Q: What’s this picture all about? A: It’s a big red fire truck vs Q: What colour is this fire truck? A: Red truck(simple labeling) Some items include prompting E.g., asking with item present

ABLLS-R Basic skills (ABLLS-R) Critical skills for nonverbal students 15 skills (A-P) Critical skills for nonverbal students Visual performance (B) Receptive language (C) Motor imitation (D) Vocal imitation (E) Requesting (F) Social Interaction (L) (Partington, 2014) I’d add Instructional Control- for teachers

ABLLS-R Program development It’s both science and art Where’s the FUN? Fluid Building on existent strengths Team work Aim for goals that can be reached within 3 months Recognize steps needed to achieve goal Reaching small targets reinforces staff involvement

ABLLS-R BLA examples (Sundberg & Partington, 1998): Level 1: Limited attendance to tasks/ Lack of social interactions/ Doesn’t imitate others/ Uses gestures, grabbing others for access to his wants/ Engages in problem behaviour if tasks presented/ Doesn’t label objects in his environment/etc Intervention: Requesting items Respond to others’ instructions Labeling items through play Possible goal for requesting: Student will spontaneously ask for at least 10 wanted items using a specific response (F5) Few other steps in between baseline and goal

ABLLS-R BLA examples (Sundberg $ Partington, 1998): Level 2: Not following along with group/Difficult transitions/Very limited requesting/Some gross motor imitation/Few words approximations/follows instructions without contextual cues/Problem behaviours/etc Intervention: Requesting items Increase of motor/vocal imitation Labeling/Receptive Possible goal for requesting: Requesting missing item needed to complete task (F9)

ABLLS-R BLA examples (Sundberg $ Partington, 1998): Level 3: Usually cooperative with adults/ Hard to understand language/ Imitation of others’ behaviour if prompted/ matches identical items/ Labels about 10 items/ etc Intervention: SLP Requesting Receptive/labeling/etc Possible goal for receptive: Selects X pictures and objects named by teacher (C20)

ABLLS-R BLA examples (Sundberg $ Partington, 1998): Level 4: Attending to tasks up to 30min/Very rare minor problem behaviour/ Requests many reinforcers/ Good gross motor imitation/ 15 RFFC/ Labels 100 items/ etc Intervention: Intraverbals Receptive/labeling/etc Social skills (with peers not adults) Possible goals for intraverbals: Fill in item given class/ class given items/ features given item/item given features/ (H14/16/17/18)

ABLLS-R BLA examples (Sundberg $ Partington, 1998): Level 5: Inability to form complete sentences/ Asks for reinforcers / Strong responding to one-step instructions, difficulties with multiple steps/ Answers identifications questions/ Answers few WH questions/ etc Intervention: Intraverbals Requesting Receptive/labeling/etc Possible goal for intraverbals: What/Where/Who/Whose/When/Which/How/Why(H23-33)

ABLLS-R Program development summary: 50-70% of targets from Basic Skills (A-P) Increase complexity of existent skills Social skills included/adjusted for each student The number of programs varies based on level: Few for early learners (e.g., 5-10) Many for advanced learners (e.g., 15-20) Consideration of EOs (Establishing Operations) Can be used with students with limited language Younger or older

Establishing Operations (EO) EO = environmental event momentarily affecting: The value of a reinforcer Behaviours associated with getting the reinforcer EO : Unconditioned and Conditioned Explains behaviours that occur “out of the blue” Manding (Requesting) relies on manipulating Eos Thirsty after gym, more likely to engage in asking for water Teaching walking instead of running- better after gym E.g., student with known history of self-injurious behaviour (SIB), aggression. Telling student that a non-preferred activity is next may result in student engaging in SIB or bystander aggression while walking to it

AFLS For students with limited skills Early start -> better results Can be used in combination with ABLLS-R

Social skills Individualized Task analysis Spectrum: Coaching model: From “eye contact” to “playing rules based games” etc Coaching model: Presenting task and/or modeling/video modeling Practice with one adult (artificial/real environment) Practice with confederates (artificial/real environment) Practice with peers

Summary Different verbal operants, under different stimulus (Motivation, Items, Language): Mands Tacts Intraverbals, etc Using ABA principles Data collection is paramount for: Knowing where to start Measuring progress Knowing how high to aim

Resources Shapiro, L.E. (2004). 101 Ways to Teach Children Social Skills http://sociallyspeakingllc.com/my-mission-for-socially/free-pdfs/101_ways_to_teach_social.pdf PEAK http://www.peakaba.com/104-2/

References Partington, J (2010).The Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills (Scoring Instructions and IEP Development Guide) Partington, J. (2014) Getting started: Developing critical learning skills for children on the autism spectrum Sundberg and Partington (1989).Teaching Language to Children with Autism or Other Developmental Disorders