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

2. 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)

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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?

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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 !!!

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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)

19. 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)

20. 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)

21. 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)

22. 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

23. 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

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

25. 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

26. 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

27. Resources
Shapiro, L.E. (2004) Ways to Teach Children Social Skills
PEAK

28. 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