The Seven Steps to Earning Instructional Control with your Child by Robert Schramm, MA, BCBA.
This is excellent work by Mr. Schramm, MA, BCBA, written especially for parents, in which, he explains the way to earn control over your child in order to make him/her wants to be part of learning opportunities. We share it with you because we recognize its value as a tool to use in everyday basis.
Parents working to help their children overcome the effects of autism face many challenges on a daily basis. As a consultant working with the sciences of Applied Behavior Analysis and Verbal Behavior I seldom get through a day where I am not asked a question that entails the phrase “How can I get my child to ______?” That question typically ends with “stay seated during meals”, “not run into the street”, “use the toilet,” or any one of a thousand different things that children with autism might not choose to do when asked. The problem with these questions is that they are all symptoms of the same problem. Brainstorming ideas to affect one of these symptoms only provides a patch until the next symptom arises. The root problem for all of these questions is that the family has not effectively earned their child’s instructional control. Until they do, life will always be about trying to put out one fire after the other and hoping to get some teaching in amongst the flames.
Earning Instructional control is the most important aspect of any autism intervention or learning relationship. Without it you are powerless to consistently help guide your child. Void of your guidance your child’s skill acquisition is reliant on his interests. Unless you are able to help your child to overcome his own desires and participate in your learning activities you will not be able to help him in meaningful ways. Instructional control can be thought of as nothing more than a positive working relationship. Depending on your choice of interventions you might have heard instructional control described in terms such as, compliance training, developing a master/apprentice relationship, or earning your child’s respect. Regardless of what type of intervention you use with your child, you are not going to be able to teach your child everything you want him to learn if you do not earn his willingness to follow your lead.
To better help our families develop a lasting relationship of instructional control, I began to pioneer my own guidelines based on the methods we used to resolve the problems families were still having due to the weaknesses of normal instructional control procedures. These guidelines eventually became a series of seven steps that allow parents to enlist the environment as an ally in their battle against autism. Once you have systematically applied these seven steps your child’s environment, you will no longer need to actively control your child. Your child’s natural desires will become his motivation to participate in joint activities, follow instructions and share in the responsibility of maintaining social interactions. He will begin making the choice to actively engage in increasingly more difficult tasks because you have earned his desire to maintain your interaction. It is only when your child is making the independent choice to maintain and prolong your interactions that you can begin teaching beyond the limits of what he was formally willing to learn.
The seven steps work because they act as a barrier, blocking off your child’s access to unearned reinforcement. This leaves items and activities that act as reinforcement available for you to apply them to the behaviors you actually want to increase. However, the failure to adhere to even one of the following seven steps can upset the entire balance and your child will likely be able to find a way to avoid the benefits of your teaching.
1. Show your child that you are the one in control of the items he wants to hold or play with and that you will decide when he can have them.
Anything your child prefer to do or play with while he is alone is potential reinforcement for his positive behavior choices. Your control over these items is essential in the early stages of earning instructional control. Your child should not be deprived of prized objects. Rather, he should be expected to earn time with them by following simple instructions and behaving appropriately. The best way to use control of your child’s reinforcement to teach is to begin deciding what items your child can have in his environment and what he can do to cause you to introduce or remove them. To restrict reinforcement, begin by removing preferred items from your child’s room and the remainder of the house. Put these objects in a place where they can be seen but not accessed by your child. At the very least, make sure that your child knows where they are now being kept. A clear container should suffice for younger children. A locked room or a locked cabinet in the child’s room may be needed for older children. Restriction of reinforcement becomes more important once you begin working with your child. Whenever you see him put down a reinforcing item you must immediately put it away. If he walks over and begins to play with, hold, or look at something that you haven’t thought to restrict, take note of that item and when he is finished remove it from the environment. This way you can reintroduce it as a possible reinforcer. If your child has favorite activities, consider ways that you can control these as well. Mini-trampolines can be hung against the wall, window shades can be closed and swings can be lifted up and out of reach when not in use.
2. Show your child that you are fun.
Make each interaction you have with him an enjoyable experience so that he will want to follow your directions to earn more time sharing experiences with you. In the best ABA/VB Programs approximately 75% of every interaction you have with your child should be reserved for the process of pairing yourself with fun activities and known reinforcement. Pairing activities should be led by your child’s motivation and should include mostly non-verbal and declarative language. You should practice sharing your thoughts and ideas with your child in silly and exciting ways without requiring anything in return. What is he showing you about what he desires? To pair yourself with reinforcement, follow your child around and when he shows interest in things play along with him…READ MORE
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