The Importance of Antecedent Control and Positive Reinforcement In the Classroom or “There is a whole heck of a lot you can do before Johnny and Tommy write all over each other with permanent markers and how about rewarding them when they actually color like they are supposed to?”
So, pretend you are a fly on [...]
The Importance of Antecedent Control and Positive Reinforcement In the Classroom
February 6th, 2011Reciprocation of Personal/Social Information for Children with Autism
February 1st, 2011I was asked the following question by a therapist: What are some good ways to teach the reciprocation of personal/social information for children with autism?
Teaching reciprocation of sentences can be a good introduction to learning how to have a conversation. If this is being taught with a really good group of children and adults [...]
Applied Behavior Analysis for Teachers
January 16th, 2011A Great Book: Applied Behavior Analysis for Teachers (8th Edition)
by Alberto and Troutman
Since many teachers are now using Jacobslessons.com, I wanted to share a resource that I love and think that all of you teachers will love it too. Applied Behavior Analysis for Teachers is a pretty thorough course in ABA but it is full [...]
Amelia Bedelia and Autism
January 9th, 2011Some children with high functioning autism or Asperger’s Syndrome may have difficulty understanding figurative language. We use figurative language when we want to describe, compare, emphasize, clarify or make a statement or question more interesting without being literal. Here are some examples.
Idioms: “She broke the vase so she was in hot water.”
Exaggerations: “The man [...]
I want my child to talk
January 2nd, 2011When I am seeing a new family for the first time I always ask them what they feel are the most important things they want their child to learn at that point in time. And many of them say, “I just want my child to talk” And that is very understandable because [...]
Getting started with ABA: What to expect from a professional.
December 19th, 2010I recently spoke to a mom of a child with autism about the process of beginning ABA with her child. There are certain basic things that you can and should expect from a professional or organization that is going to provide applied behavior analysis for your child with autism.
1) They should be able [...]
Hierarchies in Matching
December 12th, 2010You will notice that there are quite a few activities involving Matching on Jacobslessons.com. Matching is a great activity for young learners on the autism spectrum because of several factors. Many children with autism learn using their visual modality first vs. the auditory one. For example, matching a yellow duck to an identical yellow duck [...]
Why does my child do that?
December 5th, 2010Before we decide what to do about a behavior that we want to reduce or eliminate we have to figure out why that child is engaging in that behavior. This doesn’t just go for children with autism or other disabilities, it goes for your neuro-typical children as well. There are four main functions [...]
What is extinction?
November 28th, 2010You may have heard people say “You need to put that behavior on extinction”. But what does it really mean? Extinction just means that you won’t be providing any consequences after a child emits a behavior. The theory is that if you don’t provide a child with a consequence (in particular, [...]