1. Visual Supports: Sequencing
Going Fishing
Put on boots
Put on hat
Get bucket and fishing pole
Catch a fish

2. Teaching Matching: Object with Picture

3. Teaching Program and Data Collection

4. Other Visual Support Books
It’s Time for a Picnic

5. Baseline - Picnic

6. After Teaching with Visuals- Picnic

7. Supporting Dramatic Play Visual Supports
Incorporating socialization
When creating visual supports it’s helpful to incorporate social components within the visual sequence
Examples: kissing baby, sharing with the bear, sharing with peer

8. More Complex Dramatic Play
Create more complex scripts that fit well in a routine
Choose activities that are either high interest or will be reinforced in the natural environment
Model, prompt, reinforce, fade (visuals are helpful too!)

9. Pizza Parlor

10. On your Flashdrive: Dramatic Play Script Examples
Pizza parlor
Grocery store

12. Activity

13. Maximizing Learning Opportunities Focus Area 3: Increasing Learning Opportunities in Play for Individual Students

14. Play Skill Targets for Individual Students: Domains of Play Skills
Early toy play skills
Imitation
Pretend play
Blocks & manipulatives
Vehicle play
Figure play
Dramatic play
Game play
Movement & social games

15. For More Information on Basic Play Targets
Teach 2 Talk -
Video example teach me to talk videos
Smith, M. (2001). Teaching play skills to children with ASD

16. Play Skill Targets for Young
Children with ASD
Get out this handout… We will reference this document throughout this section

17. Think about the students in your classroom
Which of your students are making good use of play time, and which students are not?
As a team, identify a target student who would benefit from additional support during play activities. Think about this student as we go through the next several sections.

18. Developmentally Appropriate Practice Draft Statement, National Association for the Education of Young Children, 2008 (naeyc.org)
Teachers plan the environment, schedule, and daily activities to promote each child’s learning and development.
“Teachers present children with opportunities to make meaningful choices, especially in child-choice activity periods. They assist and guide children who are not yet able to enjoy and make good use of such periods.” (p. 18)

19. Ideas for Play Skills Targets

20. Domain: Early Toy Play Put together/ Take apart Put in/ Take out
Activity
Examples
Put together/ Take apart
Nests cups
Completes simple inset puzzles
Puts shapes in shape sorter
Stacks rings
Put in/ Take out
Places varied items (blocks, bears, cars, etc.) in and out of containers (baskets, boxes, bags, etc.)
One action sensory toys
Uses toys that pop up or light up when a button is pressed
Plays appropriately with jack-in-the box
Turns/shakes snow globe, wave bottle, lava lamp, or rain stick
Drums with drumstick

21. Domain: Play with Blocks & Manipulatives
Activity
Examples
Builds/connects using manipulatives
Stacks blocks
Puts together train track
Strings beads
Builds with manipulatives to make pretend objects
Makes “train” with 4 blocks
Builds a tunnel with bristle blocks
Makes snake from strung beads
Builds with manipulatives to make pretend objects and voices or labels play
Creates “train” from blocks, says “choo-choo”
Builds a rocket ship from bristle blocks and says “Psssh” or “blast-off” as it shoots into space
Builds with manip’s to make pretend objects and adds figures/toys
Makes bed from blocks, puts figure to sleep (“shh, good night”)
Builds tunnel, drives car through (“vroom”)

22. Domain: Play with Vehicles
Activity
Examples
One action play with vehicles
Pushes car/train on ground
Flies airplane in air
Voicing may be used (“choo-choo”, “vroom”), but is not required
Plays with vehicle in a scene
Plays with cars on road mat (drives car, parks)
Pushes pirate ship through the water
May practice crashing, sinking, filling with gas, picking up passengers, towing, etc.
Voicing may be used (“crash”, “I’ll help”), but is not required
Plays with vehicle in a scene, voices, involves others
Narrates or comments while playing
Involves others (adults or peers) in play scene

23. Domain: Play with Figures or Stuffed Animals
Activity
Examples
One action play with figures or stuffed animals
Feeds baby doll
Swims dolphin in water
Voicing may be used (e.g., “mmm,” “whoosh”), but isn’t required
Plays with figures or stuffed animals in a scene
Creates zoo with animals
Sets up birthday party for stuffed animals
Voicing may be used (e.g., “tiger,” “Happy Birthday”), but isn’t required
Plays with figures or stuffed animals in a scene, voices, involves others
Narrates or comments while playing
Involves others (adults or peers) in play scene

24. Assessment
Start with an understanding of what the student can and cannot do based on his/her age.
Use your district/program’s preschool assessment or…

26. Strategies for Teaching Play Skills
Teaching Early Play Skills
Direct Teaching of Play
Embedded Teaching
Teaching Imitation
Video Modeling
Peer Support

27. Direct Teaching of Play Skills

28. 3 Rs Teaching Basic Play Skills
For early learners, play skills may need to be explicitly taught
Adults set up specific, structured learning opportunities to teach basic toy play skills using the 3Rs. For example:
“Put on” (blocks)
“Shake” (maraca)
“In the car” (put boy in car)
“Throw the ball”
“Scoop the sand”
“Eat the apple”
3 Rs

29. Teaching Play using the 3 Rs
Adult: Put train on the track
Child: Does not respond or gives an incomplete response
Adult: Physically assists child to put the train on the track

30. Early Skill Development: Put in

31. Teaching Basic Play Skills

32. Direct Teaching of Playing Catch

33. Activity-Based Instruction with Embedded Teaching Trials McBride and Schwartz (2003)
Adding intentional teaching to a play situation increased:
Teacher obligatory and non-obligatory statements
Student engagement and correct responses to target objectives

34. Teaching Imitation

35. First year priorities and beyond
REMINDER: Top 3 Targets for Intervention
Teaching Requesting (Manding)
Social responsiveness
Responsive to requests
Responding to initiations
Imitation Skills
First year priorities and beyond
(Weiss & Zane, 2010)

36. Imitation is often an area of deficit for children with ASD
This may be due to impairments in joint attention
Like other early learner skills, imitation may need to be systematically taught

37. Preparing to Teach Imitation
What if a student is not attending to others in order to learn imitation?

38. Reciprocal Imitation

39. Reciprocal Imitation
Studies show that some children will respond to others who are imitating them by increased looking and social engagement; this is called reciprocal imitation

40. Reciprocal Imitation Video

41. Reciprocal Imitation
Reciprocal imitation training (RIT) is a naturalistic behavioral intervention that teaches imitation to children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) within a social-play context.
RIT has been shown to be effective at teaching spontaneous, object and gesture imitation.
Improvements in imitation are associated with increases in verbal imitation and spontaneous language (Ingersoll & Lalonde, 2010).

42. Reciprocal Imitation Why does it work?
This is what we do with very young children when they are developing social interaction skills
Also, try imitating anyone and see what happens

43. Reciprocal Imitation: What toys work best?
Toys that make music or sound (not electronic devices)
Toys with big pieces and not too many pieces (e.g. food sets, bus and a few figures)

44. Imitation/Reciprocal Imitation Technique
Imitate actions of the child. Make the imitation distinct.
Intermix with modeling play actions with objects. Make sure actions are distinct (“big,” noisy) so the child will notice them
Describe the action
Use wait time. Give the child the opportunity to imitate action spontaneously.
Prompt imitation. If the child does not imitate after the third model, physically or verbally prompt him to imitate the action.
Initially, expect to imitate the child more often then they imitate others.

45. Do not imitate problem behaviors
Reciprocal Imitation
Do not imitate problem behaviors

46. Direct Teaching of Imitation

47. Teaching Imitation
If the child is attending to the environment, but does not imitate others naturally, you will need to use direct teaching of imitation.

48. Teaching of Imitation using the 3 Rs
Adult: Shakes a maraca and says “Do this”
Child: Does not respond or gives an incomplete response
Adult: Physically assists child to shake the maraca and says “This is shaking”

49. Embracing Play

50. Teaching Imitation
When teaching imitation, it is often helpful to start with imitation with objects, especially toys
Start with toys or movements that will come easily with minimal prompting

51. Teaching of Imitation using the 3Rs: Have a goal in mind
Adult: Pushes a toy bus and says “Do this”
Child: Does not respond or gives an incomplete response
Adult: Physically assists child to push the bus and says “This is pushing the bus”

52. Direct Teaching of Imitation What Does it Become?
Continue to teach imitation skills such as:
Put the boy in the bus
Drive the bus to the school
Honk the horn on the bus (beep beep)
Take the boy off the bus and go to school
The targets are sequenced to become a meaningful play activity. The toys are made available in the classroom play area and visuals are provided along with adult support to implement the play sequence in another setting with other children.

53. Guidelines for Teaching Imitation
Identify toys that are interesting to the child. Don’t over-persist with toys that are of little or no interest
Stick with a few toys to achieve competency and fluency
Teach a set of target behaviors that lead to a meaningful play sequence or could eventually become part of a sequence

54. Embracing Play

55. Embracing Play Video
Note that many of these examples show both “imitation” and “following directions” simultaneously
Imitation is a skill that needs to be taught independent of following directions

56. Guidelines for Teaching Imitation
Imitative play may occur on the floor or at a table depending on the child
Have matched toy sets if possible to allow for immediate imitation

57. Prompted Imitation using Modeling
Once the child can imitate through direct teaching, move to imitation using matched toy sets.
Model the action and use verbal or gestural prompts as needed to help the child follow your actions.
Peers are great as models. An adult can prompt or you can teach peers to prompt.

58. Observational Imitation
Goal is to teach students to learn observationally, or learn from the environment
Children with ASD should be taught to watch peers or adults and imitate their behaviors

59. Observational Imitation

60. Setting Up Observational Imitation
Identical toy sets
Model how to play with the toys slowly and systematically
Use repetition early on
Limit number of toys initially
Sit across from each other and limit space between

61. Circle Time “Charades”
Observational Imitation in the Natural Environment
Circle Time “Charades”
Child
Task
Child A
Pulls picture from surprise box, imitates action depicted in picture
Child B
Imitates Child A when prompted to “do what (Child A) is doing”
Child C
Answers questions: “what are they doing?”

62. Domain: Imitation Single actions with play objects
Activity
Examples
Single actions with play objects
Rolling a car
Banging a drum
Feeding a doll
Single actions without props
Waving
Pretending to sleep, drink, stir (without props)
Single actions not connected with toy function
-Brush hair with a block
Use lego as cell-phone
Imitates play actions by peer
Pushing car
Making play-doh snake
Putting animal in barn
Flying a superhero

63. Visual Supports and Video Modeling

64. Visual Supports
First: Play with Friend
Then: Swing

65. Use Visual Supports on the Playground
Use visual supports to cue the student to engage appropriately with playground activities

66. Use Picture Sequences

67. Activity Books

68. Video Modeling
Multiple studies have shown that video modeling is beneficial for teaching play skills (Fragale, 2014)
Video modeling can be used to teach solitary play and social play

69. Video Model – Build with Blocks

70. The Power of Peers as Models
Duck Duck Goose

71. Video model examples
Dollhouse -
Car wash -
Tea time -
Playing catch -

72. Video Modeling: Guidelines for Implementing Shukla-Mehta, Miller & Callahan (2009)
May need to add prompts, reinforcers and error correction procedures
Make video length and content based on knowledge of the student’s skills in attending, imitation, and visual processing and comprehension
Children who are able to attend for 1-min are more likely to benefit
Keep the videos brief; more viewings are better than one time
All types of models seem to be effective

73. Peer Support

74. Opportunities with Typical Peers is an Evidence-Based Practice
National Research Council Report (2001)
Rogers & Vismara (2008)
Many More

75. Options to Increase Peer Opportunities in Early Childhood Programs
Reverse inclusion
Coordinating with partner programs (Headstart, Great Start, Regular preschool)
Sharing time with another program (e.g. morning ASD class / afternoon regular preschool)

76. Key Reasons to Emphasize Peer Support
Adults don’t play as well as kids do
Kids may respond better to peer prompts
Visual supports study and Isabelle
You won’t have to work on generalization later
Trained peers support their friends with ASD

77. Peer Support during Games

78. Peer Support during Dramatic Play

79. Reciprocal Conversation

80. How would each of these scenarios looked with an adult?
Whack a mole
Fireman
Reciprocal conversation

81. Training Peers

82. Peer Training
Examples of Instruction Cards Used to Train Peers
To get your friend’s attention, talk to him and hand him a toy
Play with the toys your friend is playing with
When your friend talks, you say something too
Ganz & Flores, 2008

83. Peer Training Praise “That’s great!” Show me Take a turn “Let me see”
Examples of Instruction Cards Used to Train Peers
Make a choice
“Which one do you want?”
(Picture here)
Praise
“That’s great!”
(Picture here)
Show me
“Let me see”
(Picture here)
Take a turn
“My turn”
(Picture here)
Based on Ganz & Flores, 2008

84. Play Skills with Peers
As students are preparing to transition to Kindergarten and other integrated placements, they need to be taught skills to play with peers

85. Play Skills with Peers Basic social behaviors such as giving to a peer
Phrases to use with peers
Examples: “can I play”, “here,” “what’s next?”, “not right now”
Support students with visual cues, as necessary,
The names of key classmates and teachers in the integrated setting

86. Play Skills with Peers
How to play with toys in the integrated classroom
Borrow toys (dress-up clothes, kitchen set, blocks) to increase the student’s skills and familiarity with the materials
How to make play choices
Choosing a center tag, placing on the board

87. Play Assessment Play Skill Targets for Young Children with ASD
Social-Play Skills Assessment

88. Activity

89. Verbal Behavior/Manding
Communication
Verbal Behavior/Manding
Yes/No

90. Verbal Behavior
Overview of Concepts

91. Verbal Behavior … is communication
… focuses on the function of language
… can also include sign language, picture systems, gestures or assistive technology

92. An Overview of Verbal Behavior:
1957 – B. F. Skinner wrote the book Verbal Behavior
“Understanding why people say what they say and accounting for it is the most important thing we can study regarding the human condition….. and will be the most valuable analysis”
Language = Behavior that is influenced by Reinforcement and Motivation
Verbal Operants = the functional categories of language

93. Verbal Behavior The same word has many different functions (e.g., mom)
Say “mom”
I see mom
I want mom
Where is mom?

94. Verbal Behavior
A word is not defined by its form but by its functional category

95. Verbal Operants The functional categories of language
Mand – to request; ask for what you want
Tact – to label; say what things are
Intraverbal – answer questions; verbal responses to others’ verbal behavior
Receptive – a non-vocal response following instructions
Echoic – repeating utterances heard through vocal imitation

96. Verbal and Non-verbal Responses
Echoic
Mand
Tact
Intraverbal
Non-verbal/Receptive
Matching to sample
Receptive discrimination
Motor imitation
Following directions

97. Mand
Requesting for what you want (food, drink, tickles, hug, objects, activities, etc.)
Controlled by the individual’s motivation
Motivation
Mand
Outcome/ Consequence
Playing outside on a hot day
“I am thirsty” or signing drink
Drink is provided
Given a new coloring book
“Color”
Crayon is provided