Motivation/Manding

[Guest guest]

" Contriving motivating situations is one of the key elements of a good VB

program. "

I think this is a HUGELY misunderstood element that many people just don't

seem to " get " when teaching our kids. My son is in a classroom where it is

being said of late that he is " not motivated by anything " and that " We can't

find anything he likes " . This is bizzarre to me because it is a classroom

which calls itself a VB class. Since he has been in this class he has

learned " maybe " 3 new signs in about 5 months or more. During his previous

homeprogramming he learned 40+ signs in 3 months and almost every day now I

am teaching new ones at home to the point I can't keep up. Also at home he

is manding about 700 times from the time he is picked up until around supper

time. (1:30 - 5:30) and that is with me or my husband or daughter .. while

we are still having to deal with the rest of home/family and don't have 6

or more teachers to help

I think it is not enough to simply lay out a few things a child " had been "

interested in yesterday ... and expect them to mand for these things. Which

in this case end up being tacts (as my son will usually sign for whatever is

shown to him but doesn't mean there is an MO for it).. When I began

learning of VB I was told off the bat to ALWAYS remember that " The MO is in

the INTERACTION not in the OBJECT " and my training came from some of the

people that this classroom has apparently been following (via workshops etc)

but doesn't seem to have a conceptual analysis of how these things look in

action. And also motivation or desire for something changes from minute to

minute. And all reinforcers are not to be considered " reinforcers for life " .

I shouldn't sit at a " table " with 3 things he liked yesterday and expect him

to " work " for them. (If he doesn't want any of them). I consider it the job

of the educators (including myself and ANYONE working with him) to CONTRIVE

motivation .. arrange the environment before hand and consciously attempt to

get the child interested in something, an action, a motion, a song, a toy,

and of course edibles if need be. To say a child has NO interests

(especially mine who is VERY actively exploring everything at home) just

makes me mad. Can you please share your thoughts on the importance of this

very basic principle that is SO important. Somewhere along the line in my

son's case the goal for " Increasing his motivation for novel toys,

interactions, activities " and then " Teaching the sign for these things " and

then " Shaping the sign/vocal " and " Fading the prompts " seems to all have

been wiped away. I never get data on the number of new signs ... nothing in

the NET .. and only his rote programs during table teaching. So frustrated.

Maybe someone else can put this in better words. Thx,

ann

[Guest guest]

Sometimes what is missed even in a good ABA program is the

" student-initiated "

aspect of NET or incidental teaching, or actually following a child's lead to

determine

momentary MO's. What often seems to happen is that instructors bring items or

model activities to a child seated at the table, hoping to hit the MO lottery.

Of course,

if the right thing isn't presented, then the child apparently has no interests

or MO's.

We have had very interesting and pleasantly surprising results when we have

allowed students to explore an environment and (sometimes literally) lead us to

what

interests them. We have observed students engaging with items and activities

that

would not have been guessed by the instructors.

So why doesn't this happen more often in schools? Sometimes the environment

simply does not contain items or activities that a particular student finds

interesting.

But I also think that good instructors are often trying to be efficient and

productive

with instructional time, and following a child around & waiting for the child to

show

an interest in something can be time-consuming and result in fewer training

opportunities. But classroom staff need to be assured (and shown) that the

benefits in

identfying and capturing momentary MO's through student-initiated instruction

can

often result in better " quality " responding with students who seem difficult to

motivate.

Todd