teaching alphabet/numbers-pairing with reinforcment

[Guest guest]

Shauna,

What is the child's VR? Are you mixing in different operants during

ITT....imitation, receptive directions, etc.? It sounds like this child likes

to

tact and likes the language builder cards specifically.

I would put the language builder cards on the table in a larger field and

start with receptive ID...touch dog, where's the cat...clap hands, do this....If

ITT does not look like this, I would start to make it look like this because

you can't let the child control what materials you can and cannot use. Once

you get him tolerating a very mixed VB session with 80% easies (maybe he is

already there)...I would add two letter and/or two numbers to the field and

use a mixture of receptive to tact and echoic to tact transfers until these

targets are mastered. Make sure you select 2-3 letters to target and 2-3

numbers to target....pick letters/numbers that sound and look differently and

choose out of order numbers....1, 4, and 6 and A, C, O for example....letters

in

the child's name and numbers in the child's phone number/address also are

good to consider. Make sure these targets are mastered with 3 cold probes

before proceeding to new number/letter targets.

My recent publication with Rick Kubina: Using transfer procedures to teach

tacts to a child with autism..... published in the Analysis of Verbal

Behavior (volume 21...2005) outlines these transfer procedures.

Hope this helps.

Barbera, RN, MSN, BCBA