3 Ideas on Bringing the VCR-Reinforcer to School

[Guest guest]

We have also wrestled with the vexing problem of what to do for

reinforcers in school when, at home, videos have often been the only

strong reinforcer for both structured learning and NET. Three ideas

have proved particularly effective for us.

THE HANDHELD DIGITAL RECORDER. Handheld digital recorders can store

up to an hour of audio clips in up to 100 numbered spaces on the

recorder are now readily available (Office Max, Staples, etc.; $50 or

so). You record snippets (we mix and vary length) of favorite videos

your child will recognize, and send it in to school. The therapist

uses each clip as a reinforcer. The clips remind the child of the

videos and can be very reinforcing. (As the therapist develops skill

with the recorder, he/she can make decisions about reinforcer

strength that day on the fly, replaying ones that are really hits,

avoid ones that bomb, etc.) Each night, we take 15 minutes and

change all or when we're too tired at least some of the clips every

night. The reinforcing effect can be further enhanced by the

surprise element of the clips. You can also record from computer

CDs, or anywhere or anything else the child likes, even

conversation. Advantages of the recorder: renewable; reinforcers

are " self-ending " , dispensable in " small portions " , less susceptible

to satiation (each clip is different from another), usable everywhere

(we've done it in classrooms, malls, restaurants, parks, etc.), and

(sometimes important if you're working towards trying to set up a

situation with TD peers) not that different-looking from listening to

MP3 music clips or a Walkman.

PRINTING FROM VIDEOS. More computers now include video-editing

programs. The problem is that most of the many videos we all own are

on videotape, not in digital form. A device called DAZZLE (available

on Dell website, e.g.) that costs about $200 lets you convert

portions of tapes into digital video clips on your computer. (You

plug one end into a cheap VCR and another into your computer, then

play the tape in the VCR and capture clips as they show on your

computer screen.) Once you've got the clip, you can take " snapshots "

of individual frames on your computer, and print them out. We print

out lots of pictures of favored scenes, and send them in to school.

If child can read you can print words from the scene or dialogue on

the page. Drawback: we use a lot of ink (shrink image before

printing). But on the other hand, it helped us teach the mand, " we

need ink " .

" DRAWING " FROM VIDEOS AS A CONDITIONED REINFORCER. As part of our

mand training at home, we got our son to ask us to " draw " different

things seen on the video as part of his mand training (thin

multicolored markers, plain white paper, paper holding remote and

controlling access to TV/VCR). Example: freeze frame on favored

scene, echoic prompt " Draw Charlie Brown " . This has created a huge

supply of mandable requests at home whose complexity we have

increased over time (draw Charlie Brown and Linus eating in the Mess

hall .... another place you eat is [a restaurant], etc.). But as a

side benefit, us drawing for our son, due to the association of this

activity with the videos, itself (having us draw for our son) became

a conditioned reinforcer--it was so reinforcing when we did it at

home in NET with the videos that if we simply bring the pens and

paper along (e.g., to school), our son will now ask to have the

person who is with him draw things. Once drawing had been

established as independently reinforcing, we began using it in

different environments, most recently to set up a pairing situation

at camp this summer (we had our son mand for stuff and other kids in

his group draw them for him).

These are 3 ways in which we were able to bring some of the

reinforcing aspects our VCR into school and other non-home

environments without yielding to the temptation to actually wheel the

thing around with us. I hope that the above is useful.

Steve Kieselstein