Have Fun During Play

For many newly diagnosed children with autism, play may seem foreign and not enjoyable. Certain rigid patterns may form since they don’t know how to play. When an ABA therapist comes to work with children, they show how fun play is and how varied play can be. In the beginning, place low or no demands in order to build a rapport with the child. This is achieved with following the child’s lead during play and making fun contingent on your presence. Here are some examples of pairing yourself with fun things:

• Sing Songs The Child Likes – sing a variety of songs during play and if you get eye contact, start pausing to see if you can get some communication to sing more.
• Help The Child During Play – if the child likes putting shapes in a shape sorter, gather all the shapes and let the child request each piece either non verbally or verbally. This shows the child that they need you to complete a fun activity.
• For Older Children, Play Social Reinforcing Games – This includes pretending to sleep and having the child wake you up, or playing chase while you run around like an alligator ready to chomp. Games you can make “your own” will be powerful reinforcers for the child.
• Add Funny Noises During Play – Make cool sound effects when playing cars or be dramatic with play. Many children enjoy crazy fun play with toys such as stuffing your shirt with toys and sneezing them out or wrapping playdough on animals and pretending they got hurt and need a cast.
• Have A Bag Of Goodies – This is highly important when you become an ABA therapist. This bag of toys will come home with you and are your own personal reinforcing toys. Go to your local dollar store and pick up a variety of toys such as slime, squishy balls, bouncy balls, slinkies, vibrating toys, light up toys, toy cars, bubbles and stretchy toys. Continually add toys as you get to know your children. Some children may like Bob the Builder so finding a Bob The Builder book can be highly reinforcing.

Pair Yourself

The best tip to give new therapists is to pair yourself with good things. Try to make every activity you do with the child reinforcing only because you are there. Since many children with autism enjoy being alone, a therapist has to be extra fun in order to hold the attention of the child. Here are some activities to pair yourself:

• Bubble Fun – Many children don’t know how to blow bubbles but enjoy bubbles. This is a fun activity to encourage communication and to pair yourself with.
• Gross Motor Fun – Many children love jumps, spins, lifts and anything to do with gross motor. Blanket rides, magic carpet rides, tub rides are all great fun activities that a therapist can pair themselves with.
• Special Books – There are many touch-feel books that children love. If children love regular books then you can use them to pair yourself with reading their favorite books.

Related posts:

1. How To Play Effectively With Children With Autism
2. Reinforcement for Older Children With Autism
3. Tips on Delivering Reinforcement

How Does Video Modeling Work?

Two studies* have been done in this area and they have concluded that videos depicting appropriate behaviors proves to be effective in helping children and adolescents with autism learn various social and daily living skills.

Getting Started

Usually the supervisor of your ABA program will suggest doing a video model of a social skill or daily living skill. Sometimes ABA therapists will act out in the video or get a brother or sister or even the child with autism to perform the behavior on video. Teams may also add an additional of reenacting the behavior after watching it on TV. Practice is essential in an ABA program.

There are also companies that supply videos of various social skills. Some great websites are -

• Model Me Kids
• Teach2Talk
• TD Social Skills
• Watch Me Learn

References

*Bellini, S., Akullian, J., & Hopf, A. (2007). Increasing social engagement in young children with autism spectrum disorders using video self-modeling. School Psychology Review, 36, 80-90.

*Bellini, S. & Akullian, J. (2007). A meta-analysis of video modeling and video self-modeling interventions for children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders. Exceptional Children, 73, 261-284.

Related posts:

1. How To Play Effectively With Children With Autism
2. Social Stories Help Children With Autism
3. A General Overview of Autism and ABA Therapy

A great resource to use to help children with autism are Social Stories. Developed by Carol Gray, a Social Story describes a situation, skill, or concept in terms of relevant social cues, perspectives, and common responses in a specifically defined style and format. It explains what is happening and why it is occurring. It is primarily used for social behaviors and routines you want to increase and those situation that are new and anxiety-provoking. Stories are always personal, positive and short. Within an ABA program, Social Stories are used to help with transitions, school routines, dentist trips, hair cut trips and any other social behavior you want increased.

Components Of The Social Story

All Social Stories should have certain components in order to make it a Social Story. There are four types of sentences found in a Social Story.

1. Descriptive Sentences – Sentences that describe where the situation occurs, the individuals involved and what they are doing and why. They also describe the social setting and the steps involved for completing the activity within the situation.
2. Perspective Sentences – These describe how other people feel and how they react to the situation. These are used primarily to reflect others’ perspectives.
3. Directive Sentences – These describe the responses the child should make and the actions to complete the activity. The behavior the child should exhibit is always described in positive terms. Since the stories are personal, sentences usually begin with, “I will try to,” or “I will work on.”
4. Control Sentences – The child usually writes these sentences and they are strategies to remind them about the social story’s information. This step doesn’t have to be used for lower-functioning or smaller children.

Social Stories Characteristics

Social Stories should always be written in the first person and describe a present or future social situation that the child is having difficulty with. A key characteristic of Social Stories is pictures or illustrations as many children with autism are visual learners. Vocabulary is appropriate to the development of the child.
When writing the story, maintain two to five descriptive sentences for every directive sentence, no matter the length of the story. Read the story to the child several times and it is always a good idea to model the behavior afterward.

Do The Following When Writing Social Stories

• Describe the setting in simple terms
• Use 1-3 sentences per page with visual representations to simplify the story
• Name the people in the story
• State the events in order
• Provide reasons why things occur
• Provide responses for the child that is appropriate for the situation

An Example Of A Social Story

Asking To Play

At school, there are many toys to play with like: cars, trains, blocks, puzzles and bead mazes.

When it is play time, all the children pick toys to share and take turns. If I want to play with a toy I must remember to:
– First go to the person and ask, “Can I play with you?” or “Do you want to play together?” or “Can I join you?”
- Next I need to wait and listen. They might say, “Okay” or “Sure” and they might say “No.” This is no big deal.

It’s important to always ask to play with a toy. When I remember to ask, my teachers and friends are happy with me.

Related posts:

1. Social Reinforcement for Verbal Children
2. A General Overview of Autism and ABA Therapy
3. Understanding Autism and Autism Treatments

Within an ABA program, there will be many opportunities for prompting a child with autism to succeed. It is sort of the cornerstone for a child with autism to learn and to succeed. If a therapist never prompted, a child will be incorrect and therefore motivation to learn drops. Prompting is just another word of helping or assisting the child to a correct response. Prompting is seen outside of an ABA context as it is a useful tool in school settings, corporate settings and home settings. Ever pointed to a puzzle piece with the intention of helping when doing a puzzle with your daughter? That’s prompting.

A Little More On Prompting

• Prompting always assists the child to a correct response
• It ensures the child to succeed and reduces frustration so that the therapist can deliver reinforcement
• A prompt can be anything as long as the therapist or family member knows they are using a prompt
• A prompt should be available to all therapists, teachers and family members.
• Prompts should be faded over time to ensure an independent response from the child. Some children will need a “built-in” prompt for a period of time for a success to occur. Such examples include training wheels on a bike, floaties for swimming, or a verbal reminder to wash hands after you use the bathroom.
• For new tasks that the child is learning always use the most intrusive prompt to ensure a high rate of success. For tasks that are mastered and known to the child, use a least intrusive prompt before moving on to more intrusive prompts. There will be some behaviors, though, that a more intrusive prompt such as a full physical prompt, is more appropriate than a less intrusive prompt like modeling the behavior. You can see this when teaching a child to imitate actions of a therapist. Most likely a therapist will say, “Do This” and make an action such as tap table. It is best then, that therapist physically guide the child to the behavior as the instruction already includes a model of the behavior (tap table).
• Be careful about inadvertent prompting, assistance that you are not aware of. Examples include looking at the correct response, mouthing the answer and leaning towards the correct response. Therapists may not even realize they are doing these behaviors.

When Does A Therapist Use A Prompt While Teaching?

• In Discrete Trial Teaching the prompt is delivered immediately after the SD, also known as the instruction:
  

  SD (prompt)→ R→ Consequence

• When a therapist is teaching a new skill or behavior. Prompting is always the heaviest when you are teaching a new skill to ensure success and therefore reinforcement.
• Prompts can be built into the teaching sequence if you find the child struggling with an independent response. Be careful that the child doesn’t become Prompt Dependent, whereby the child is waiting for the prompt. This usually occurs when the therapist cannot fade the prompt. You can get rid of prompt dependency by putting the behavior on hold and working on another behavior or getting a more experienced therapist to try and fade the prompt effectively

Types Of Prompts

• Full Physical Prompt aka HOH – HOH or hand-over-hand prompting is a full physical prompt. The therapist does the entire action while physically prompting the child.
• Partial Physical Prompting – Therapist partially assists the child to a correct response. If the therapist is teaching to “wave bye-bye” a partial physical prompt can look like tapping the elbow for the child to raise their hand and to wave.
• Model – Therapist models the correct behavior. If the therapist asks the child to “stand up” a therapist can model the stand up behavior.
• Positional – Many teaching opportunities require objects or 2D cards on a table. To utilize a positional prompt, the therapist can move the object or card closer to the child. This will make the child reach for the closest object or card.
• Within-Stimulus – This prompt is part of the object or 2D card. For example, when teaching Wet and Dry, having a wet cloth next to a dry cloth is a within stimulus prompt.
• Response-Delay – This type of prompt is useful for children who respond too quickly and may not even hear the instruction. So a therapist can give the instruction and then inhibit the child from responding for x amount of seconds. This will give the child time to process the instruction. A response-delay prompt shouldn’t be used on whim. It is a very specific prompt for a specific behavior response.
• Verbal – a full verbal prompt is saying the entire phrase or word. For example, if you are teaching the child to recognize objects and verbalize the object, a therapist can give the instruction, “What is it?” while hold up an object or 2d card and then give the prompt, “Say bear.” A partial verbal will fade back “say bear” to “bear” and then if needed, “buh.”
• Inflection/Deflection – used for verbal responses. A therapist may inflect a certain part of the word or phrase if you find the child not saying that part. For deflection, a therapist may note that the child is over emphasizing a sound or over inflecting a sound in a word so a therapist will model the correct way with a deflection prompt.
• Gestural – pointing is a common gestural prompt.

Related posts:

1. Differential Reinforcement and ABA Therapy
2. Discrete Trial Teaching
3. How To Play Effectively With Children With Autism

Once children can learn to imitate the therapists’ actions, imitation may involve going around the house and playing following the leader. As well, imitation of more than one action is also targeted as a method to teach a variety of skills such as putting on your shoes and even language production. Imitation can be targeted to doing fine motor tasks or oral motor tasks to work on writing skills and sound production.

So what does DTT actually look like? Within DTT, there are 3 components to effectively teach children with autism: the discriminative stimulus (SD) or the command, the behavior of the child, and the consequence of the child. Using these three simple components as well as using effective prompting strategies to help the child achieve success, children with autism soon begin to learn skills that they lack such as imitation, language, play, social skills and academic skills.

When done right, DTT ensures consistency across people since it always incorporates those three essential components. Consistency is also key to helping children maximally learn. When I mean consistency I mean that every one in the child’s life is doing the same thing each and every time. For example, if a team decides the child must request verbally for food or drink, then the parents and other care providers must also agree to this. It is extremely crucial, no matter how exhaustively draining it is, to be consistent as much as you can.

A properly run in-home ABA program for younger children will have consistency across therapists and family members, community outings, discrete trial teaching, pre-academic programs, leisure skills, self help skills, social programs, language promotion, behavior interventions, generalization of previous taught skills, play programs, and peer play when applicable.

Below is an instructional video on Discrete Trial Teaching or Discrete Trial Instruction. The video does state the DTT is composed of 4 parts, one of them being the “get ready” tapping prior to instruction. This is not necessary in DTT. Therapists should deliver the instruction 1-2 seconds after reinforcement was given for the previous trial.

Related posts:

1. A General Overview of Autism and ABA Therapy
2. How To Play Effectively With Children With Autism
3. Differential Reinforcement and ABA Therapy

Not only do therapist use verbal praise, but token systems can be used as well as stickers and access to toys.

Below is a compilation of various types of reinforcement for older children with autism.

1. High Fives: Therapist can do high fives or high tens. Therapist can do the high five game: “Gimme five..up high..down low…too slow” or play an anticipatory game by pausing before you giving a high five. There are many ways a therapist can give a high five or ten. For example, when the child is going to give you a high five/ten, therapist can quickly close their hand—this becomes the, “see if you can give me a high five/ten” game for the child. A therapist can also act goofy and do “impossible” high fives/tens such as having the therapist’s arms wide out and then having the child try to give the therapist a high five/ten.

2. Thumbs up: A sly way of saying, “good job”

3. Stickers: Find what character the child likes such as Scooby-doo or franklin the turtle and grab loads of stickers for them.

4. Grab Bag: Buy little boxes or bags and fill them up with things the child likes, either food or toys. Examples might be, jewelry, various slime products, stickers, music tapes, arts and craft material etc…

5. Treasure Hunt: Hide some toys for the child and after every program, hunt for all the toys. For children who can read, therapist can make up simple clues for the child to follow.

6. Verbal Praise: Develop YOUR own familiar words like “AWESOME” “SUPER-DEE-DUPER.” Therapist can also say them in various tones. Child will soon learn which therapist says which words.

7. Singing: Have the therapist and child sing a favorite song.

8. Computer Access: For parents who don’t mind, rotate favorite computer games the child likes, and after “X” amount of programs with good behavior, have the child play on computer for 5 or 10 minutes.

9. A +: For good work, write on their paper 100% or A+. At the end of the session tally up the good marks for a toy or favorite snack.

10. Temporary Tattoos: Give each other tattoos. Therapist picks a tattoo for the child and the child picks one for the Therapist. Show the child how to put on a temporary tattoo and then let the child put on one you. Oh, by the way, let the child decide where they want to put the tattoo on the therapist! Don’t be surprised if they decide to put a funny tattoo on Therapist’s face!

11. Pretend You’re A…: For children who like to act out characters or animals, have them take turns deciding what to be. For the next program, pretend to be that character or animal.

12. Crossword Puzzles: Have therapist design their own cross word. “ Word pick” should be based on what the child likes. For example, Disney characters, popular music artists, favorite foods or animals, names of family members/therapists/friends, or pick goofy, funny words. At the end, therapist and child can either make up a story about the words in the cross word or make a new list of words for a new cross word.

13. Sand Dig: Therapist gathers little plastic animals and sand. Therapist fills up bucket with sand and hides plastic animals in it. Child and therapist go on an, “archeological dig” and compete to see who gets more animals. Afterwards, you can use animals in a play skit.

14. Theme Day: Therapist can choose to do a theme day once a week or for a whole week. Decide ahead of time what a good theme would be. Examples could be: Insects, Dinosaurs, Summer, Outer Space, Scientific Experiments, Plants, Musical Instruments, the Zoo, the Ocean, Magic, Disney etc..

On each day, focus on one aspect of your theme and dedicate the whole session to learning about this topic. For example, for the Outer Space theme day, all reinforcement for the week will have something to do with outer space such as plastic space aliens or spin tops as spaceships.

On Monday, child and therapist will learn about the planet Mars. Arts and crafts can be to paint a Styrofoam ball red.

On Tuesday, child and therapist can learn about the stars. Therapist can bring glow in the dark star stickers and with parent’s permission, stick them on the wall in child’s room or bathroom. Turn off the light and pretend you are flying in outer space.

15. Sample Magic: Purchase or rent a kid’s magician book and teach the child simple magic tricks that will amaze his or her parents. For a peer date, set up a magic show and have the child entertain his or her peer. Afterwards, have the child teach the peer some of the magic tricks.

16. Giant Cards: Child and therapist make giant playing cards out of 8×11 paper. When all are done, play a game of go fish. The cards alone will create a lot of laughter, let alone trying to hold a few in your hand!

17. Mexican Jumping Beans: Pretend therapist has “magic beans.” Tell the child to be absolutely quiet and to really concentrate on the beans. Present the beans and wait. When a bean jumps, act surprise and say, “How did THAT happen?” and close your hand. If the child requests to look at them again, slowly open your hand. Children will be amazed at Therapist’s jumping beans.

18. Body Drawings: Get two big sheets of paper and outline child’s body on paper. Have child do the same for therapist. Have therapist draw the child’s face and clothes and have the child do the same for you. For added fun, color the child’s nose green and face purple. Put rainbow streaks in their hair and exclaim, “Isn’t this a split image of you?”

19. Beat the Clock: Get a timer and use a page from a book or a room in the house and list as many things as possible within the time frame. This is a good method to teach rapid responding.

20. Is there something in your ear?: Look at the child with a quizzical expression and say, “Is there something in your ear?” look into his ear and magically pull out money, toys or food. Therapist and child can think of crazy things to pull out of each others ears such as shoes, books, socks, big stuffed animals…you name it, the child will pull it out of a therapist’s ear!

21. Oops!: Have therapist “accidentally” sit on a whoopee cushion as they are about to do a drill. Have therapist look surprised and say, “(child’s name)! Was thaaaaaaaat you!!!??”

22. Feet Dragging: Have the child lie down and grab their feet. Therapist then pulls them and takes them on a ride around the room.

23. Salt Pepper: Pretend to eat the child for lunch/dinner/breakfast. Gather all the ingredients and “pour” them over the child. When it comes to the pepper, either have the therapist sneeze or get the child to sneeze by prompting them, “Hey, I just poured pepper all over ya!”

Related posts:

1. Reinforcement and ABA Therapy
2. Tips on Delivering Reinforcement
3. Toy and Physical Reinforcement for Non-Verbal Children

For a behavior to re-occur, reinforcement must be contingent on the desired behavior. As well, if a therapist wants to decrease inappropriate behavior, reinforcing APPROPRIATE behavior and ignoring the inappropriate behavior will decrease the frequency or duration of the inappropriate behavior and increase the likelihood of appropriate behavior.

In the beginning of an ABA program, reinforcement is delivered in high frequency in order to shape appropriate behavior and motivate the child to learn. Common reinforcers in the beginning are food and drink, as these are natural reinforcers for any living creature.

Social praise is always paired with food to teach the child to enjoy verbal praise, a type of secondary reinforcement.

As the child ages in an ABA program, the style of programming changes. Programs taught formally at the table have been moved and generalized in the environment.

As well, time sitting at the table will resemble the time the child must sit at school. Reinforcement during this time is faded in frequency and in type.

Big reinforcers such as computer time are saved after long periods of program work and smaller toy, food, or verbal praise occur intermittently within programs.

Food should be faded so that the child only receives food during snack time or for behaviors that need to be heavily praised such as peeing in the toilet.

Related posts:

1. Differential Reinforcement and ABA Therapy
2. Tips on Delivering Reinforcement
3. Toy and Physical Reinforcement for Non-Verbal Children

What I found most challenging was that I had to make toys reinforcing since many children did not know how fun a toy can be. I also had to make myself socially reinforcing by doing wacky things and being a, “goof-ball.” Although at first I was extremely rigid and hesitant to let “loose,” I learned that children absolutely love when adults act funny and do weird things with toys.

Over time I developed my own style of reinforcement. Sometimes I am loud and spontaneous, other times I am quiet and relaxing.

Below are reinforcement ideas specifically for children who are familiar with reciprocal interaction. Most of these reinforcers are social and lack toys, but toys and other “props” can be used.

Social Reinforcement for Verbal Children

1. Making Silly faces: Scrunch up your nose, stick out your tongue, mess up your hair and make funny noises. This is a great way to encourage facial imitation for highly motivated children without demanding it!

2. Word Games: For children who have some language, a therapist may use phrases or words in a silly way to involve reciprocal interaction and spontaneous requesting. Words or phrases can be paired with physical reinforcement.

Example phrases could be: “ex-sqeeeeeeeeze me”- Therapist says this in a high-pitched voice while squeezing child or various body parts; “uh-oh spaghettios!” can be paired with holding the individual and letting go unexpectedly; “quit it!” while “annoying” the individual in a silly way. For instance, while messing up their hair or covering their face; “rock the boat” while rocking the chair back and forth; “that’s mine!” therapist plays a tug-war game with an object in a fun way. For instance, if playing with a toy, the therapist can snatch it away and say, “that’s mine!” and have the individual echo it back or request it. A couple of trials of this can turn into a great game of spontaneous language and developmental appropriate behavior.

3. The Ah-Choo game :
Version one—build up excitement by rubbing your nose and dragging out the “ah-ah-ah” part. Then, in an exaggerated way say, “Choo!” and fall back. After a few times of this, have the child complete the phrase. Children quickly learn that when they say, “choo” the therapist falls back.

Version two- for higher developmental individuals, a therapist can gather up stimuli to sneeze out. This can turn into an involved skit. For example, say to the child, “oh, I think I have to sneeze..ah-ah-ah…no..no I don’t…wait…my nose is itchy” The child may be waiting anxiously as to what is going to happen, and as the therapist sneezes, pieces of paper fall out all over the child. Therapist then says, “oh dear, did I get you? Oh my goodness, your covered! Here, let me help you!” Children soon learn this little skit and can think of many things for the therapist to sneeze out!

4. Body Part Games: Therapist can use squirt guns, bubbles, tickles, massages, squeezes, stickers, air etc.. about anything to label body parts. A therapist can either ask or demonstrate while labeling: “Squeeze/Squirt/fan/massage/blow bubble on nose/hand/feet/elbow/fingers/cheek/ear/etc..?” This teaches body parts and expands language for those who have little language.

5. Deep Pressure Massages: For those who enjoy deep pressure, therapist can rub child’s arms, legs, eyebrows, cheeks, head. Using a vibrating toy is also a nice sensory enjoyment.

6. Wrap me up!: Therapist can use a blanket and wrap child up like a burrito. Therapist can also use this at the table. For instance, for children who are verbal, therapist can ask, “Do you want wrap me up?” and wrap child up in the chair. Then ask, “Tighter?” and if the child requests it, wrap the blanket a bit tighter. A Therapist can do this a few more times and then exclaim, “Phew! Too tight!” and quickly release. This is a nice little game before or after doing a program.

7. Using your tone of voice: Children may enjoy when a therapist uses a very low-low voice or a squeaky voice when praising. For example, if playing with a toy that goes up and down, a therapist can change their voice according to when the toy goes up and when it goes down. A therapist can also sing a song in a particular tone of voice. A therapist can ask the child, “Sing (song) in funny voice/deep voice/sqeeky voice?”

8. Spider-SPLAT! : Traditional Way: The therapist’s hand is the spider. Crawl the spider on the table while whispering and slowly increasing to a louder voice, “spider…spider…spider” and either HOH the child to splat or have the child do it independtly. When the child covers your hand to stop the spider, yell, “SPLAT!” and have the child repeat it.
Another way: have the spider crawl up the child’s body and when the child goes splat, tickle the child all over.

9. Roadmap: Use toy cars and drive up the child’s arm, tummy, legs, back etc… Therapist uses car noises and has the child imitate the noises. For reciprocal interaction, have the child drive the car up the therapists arm.

10. I’m Stuffed: Have the child stuff the therapist’s shirt with toys or stuffed animals. This alone may be enough for a fun-filled activity. But, for some added fun, have the therapist stand up and release all the toys on the child’s head (if soft) or lap. Therapist can label it, “it’s raining toys! Here comes the rain!” There are many variations to this game. For instance, a therapist can pretend to eat the toys and stuff them down their own shirt. The child could do the same by having the child pretend to eat the toy by making eating noises and have them stuff it down their own shirt.

11. Famous Chair Rides: Have the therapist swivel the chair, lift the chair up and down, tilt the chair back, pretend there is an earthquake, and rock the chair like a boat. Therapist can bring in excitement and anticipation by slowly tilting the chair back or quickly rotating the chair at various times. There are many things a therapist can do with a chair so these are only some ideas

12. Row Row Row Your Boat: Child and therapist are on the floor, sitting “criss-cross applesauce”. Grab the child’s hands and rock back and forth while singing “row, row, row your boat.” Therapist can pause and have the child fill in words to the song. When the child fills in the word/words, continue with rowing and singing. Therapist can also change the speed of rowing and can ask the child if they want to row “fast” or “slow.”

13. Buzzing Bee: For younger children , have a toy bee and slowly fly the bee while saying, “Bzzzz.” Fly the bee to the child and when the bee touches the child, exclaim, “Ouch!” Do this a few times to encourage spontaneous requesting.

14. Head Bonk: Lightly tap the child’s head with your forehead. Ask the child, “Head bonk?” When the child learns this game and initiates bonk by leaning towards you, call out, “Owwww!” and touch your forehead with your hand and pretend that it really hurts by using exaggerated facial expressions. Do not let the child tap your head too hard and only reinforce light taps.

15. Walk-Run: Grab hold of each of the child’s legs and slowly move them as if walking. Therapist says, “walk, walk, walk” and increases the walk to a trot and finally says, “ruuuuuuun” and move the child’s legs really fast.

16. Spaghetti-Arms: Grab the child’s arms and slowly move them up and down in opposite motions while saying, “One……..two………..three (make this pause especially longer than the other two to increase excitement) SPAGHETTI!” and quickly move the child’s arms up and down. Therapist can also tease the child by counting to 4 and then doing spaghetti arms.

17. Squeeze Machine: Grab the child’s arms and cross them across their chest so that it looks like they are hugging themselves. Therapist asks, “Do you want squeeze?” and child replies either by verbal prompting or independently saying, “Squeeze me.” Slowly pull on the child’s arms so that his arms are squeezing his own body. You can encourage more language by asking, “More squeeze?” or using different phrases such as, “Tighter?” “Do it again?” “What do you want?” “Squeeze me harder?” etc…

18. Jungle Call: Say to the child, “Do this—AHHHH” and as the child is saying this, tap on the child’s chest so that their voice is vibrating. For reciprocal interaction, have the child tap on your chest while you exclaim in your best jungle call, “AHHH—AHHH!”

19. Arms Up: If the child already has this receptive command then ask the child, “Arms up”. If the child does not have receptive understanding or does not have this particular command, then model it or physically prompt him to lift his arms up. As soon as he does this, tickle his or her armpits. Do not do this too often as the child may not want to put his arms up if you ask him during a program. I would probably use this during floor time or at the end of a program.

20. Rebounder fun: This is a good reinforcer for children who enjoy jumping. Therapist and child can jump together, therapist can hold child while jumping, or the child is the only one jumping. Therapist can play anticipatory games by holding the child’s arms while jumping and saying, “Stop” and stop the child from jumping. If the child has language have them say, “Go” or “I want go” or any combination of phrases for more jumping. Therapist can also hold the child under their armpits and help the child jump higher and faster.

21. This Little Piggy: This traditional nursery rhyme can be a fun game for young children. Sing the rhyme the traditional way by using the child’s toes. At the last part, “and this little piggy, went weeweewee all the way home” have the therapist prolong this by exaggerating, “AND this little piggy…THIS little piggy…THIS little piggy went WEEWEEWEE all the way home.” At the “weeweewee” part tickle the child’s leg and tummy.

22. Loud Kisses: Pucker up and kiss the child’s hands, cheek, neck or the many other body parts. This reinforcement is sensory and auditory.

23. Raspberries: Do a raspberry on the child’s tummy, check or hands. This is very similar to the loud kisses and many children enjoy the slobbering effect! Therapist can also pretend to whisper in the child’s ear, but then do a raspberry instead.

24. Roar!: In a scary, grunted voice, scare the child by saying, “ROAR” but tickle him instead of attacking him. You can also turn this around by telling the child to say, “roar” and when he does, Therapist falls back in fear. Therapist can turn this into a chasing game by having the child run from you. The child, though, will want you to say roar so you can catch him and tickle him and will mostly likely spontaneously request it. If not, prompt the child.

25. Emotions: Have therapist do an exaggerated sad face, happy face, scary face, or frightened face. Pair the expression with a verbal statement. For example, for the sad face, be loud and say, “Boo-hoo! Waaa!” and pretend you are crying. For a frightened face, have the child say, “Boo!” and have Therapist hide under a blanket or table.

26. Pull My Finger: Don’t worry, the child will not let out gas for this game! Gently pull the child’s fingers or toes. For children who are verbal, have them request it. For non-verbal children, wait to see if they lift their hands or feet for you to pull them.

27. Stretch: Grab the child’s arm and their leg on the opposite side and pull them while saying, “Streeeetch!” Repeat this by using the child’s other arm and other leg on the opposite side.

28. OWWW!: If the child touches your hand either during play or at the table, surprise him or her by saying, “OWW!” and pull your hand away. Then put your hand near the child and see if he will touch your hand again. Most likely he or she will!

29. Catch Me: Therapist holds the child and by “accident” let goes of the child, but catches them just in time. Pair behaviour with, “Uh-oh” so that child can request this again by using this phrase.

30. Soft Tickles: Whisper to the child, “Soft tickles” and you tickle the inside of their arms, their legs, feet, cheeks and tummy. This can be a relaxing activity or spice things up for those who are ticklish!

31. Soft/Rough: Use Velcro fruit or pieces of Velcro and rub them on child’s cheek. Label them as you are rubbing them on the child, “Soft, oooo” “Rough, Ouch!”

32. Feet/Hand Feast: Grab the child’s feet or hands and say, “I’m gonna eat ya’!” and make loud, exaggerated eating noises while pretending to eat them. Initiate requesting by pausing to see if child gives Therapist their feet or hands or verbally asks you to “Eat my (feet/hand)”

33. P-U!: Smell the child’s feet. After smelling them, Therapist scrunches up nose, waves hand in air and in an exaggerated way says, “P-U! Your socks are SMELLY!” Therapists who can really ham it up will get a lot of laughter from the child

34. Here comes the Train: Hold onto the child’s arms and move them slowly like a train. Therapist slowly says, “Chugga, Chugga.” Therapist then moves hands faster and faster while saying, “Chugga, Chugga” faster. At the climax, therapist says, “Choo-Choo!” and pretends to pull a cord in the air. Have the child imitate this action with the verbal saying.

35. Snoring Monster: Therapist lay down and pretends to be sleeping. Therapist makes very loud snoring noises. Prompt the child to tap you and say in a loud voice, “Wake Up!” Once the child says this, quickly get up but act sleepy and fall back asleep. Do this until Therapist is “wide awake.”

36. Too Hard!: Use a toy that requires pushing in pieces like Mr. Potato Head, pegs on a peg board or even legos. Therapist can put the piece in by himself or herself or help child to put piece in. To make this more fun, pretend Therapist is having a hard time pushing in the piece. Make “pushing” noises while doing this. Have the child imitate “pushing” noises.

Related posts:

1. Toy and Physical Reinforcement for Non-Verbal Children
2. Tips on Delivering Reinforcement
3. Differential Reinforcement and ABA Therapy

For example, if a child pretends to cut velocro fruit and offers a half to a therapist to eat, then the child is preforming a reciprocal interaction. Some children with autism may lack this and must require extra efforts from therapist’s to engage the child. Therefore, a therapist may need to really exaggerate their facial expressions as another way to show how fun reinforcement is. There will be times when a therapist will try anything to make a child smile. Therefore, it is necessary to do a reinforcement assessment to find what will make a child laugh or smile.

A reinforcement assessment is a method therapist’s use to find what is reinforcing for a child at a particular time. Therapist’s can hold out two objects or food and wait for the child to communicate which one is more desirable. A therapist can then hold up the desirable with another toy (or food) to find out which is even more reinforcing. By doing this, a therapist can find a range of reinforcers that are good, great, and to die for.

Toy reinforcers can and should be used with older children as long as it is appropriate. For example, toy helicopters, balls that light up slime and whoopee cushions are all appropriate for children over 7 years old.

For children who are chronilogically older but may be a few years behind developmentally, types of reinforcement should be taken into consideration. For example, if a child who is chronicalogically aged 8 but is deveolpmentally functioning at age 4, gross physical reinforcement should be encouraged. Examples can be jumping on a trampoline, playing tug-o-war, tickling or pillow fights. These types of reinforcements are suitable to older children and, therefore, will not cause the child to be socially isolated from his peers. At the same time, these reinforcements will be reinforcing for a child who is developmentally aged four.

Toys should also represent what the child’s Self-Stimulatory Behaviour is. If a child enjoys things that spin, then a therapist should bring spin tops, fans, and helicopters as toys a child can earn at the table.

Many toys can be purchased at a dollar or party store for reasonable prices. To avoid satiation, a therapist should think of around 3-5 different things you can do with that particular toy. For example, “goop” can be used to stretch it, wrap it around body parts, make a eye mask, bounce it, throw it at the wall or window to see what happens or roll it out on the table.

It is also important to try for communication with non-verbal children. Working on sound production, sign language, PECS, eye contact, pointing, or tapping the therapist’s hand should all be practiced during toy reinforcement and physical reinforcement.

Related posts:

1. Tips on Delivering Reinforcement
2. Differential Reinforcement and ABA Therapy
3. How To Play Effectively With Children With Autism

• Always pair a social praise with food or a toy. This is a method to teach the child to enjoy social praise and to fade food and toy reinforcers as the child ages.
• It is a good idea to bring a bag of reinforcers from your home when you do a session. This avoids satiation from “normal” reinforcers that are present on a daily basis and sparks interest in the child. Reinforcers should be changed every time a Therapist does a session so that the child keeps guessing at what a Therapist has in their bag.
• Remember to use the Premack Principle throughout your session. The Premack Principle states that a child will do a less desirable activity in order to get a more desirable activity. In this sense the activity becomes the reinforcement for the child. If the more desirable activity is contingent on a less desirable activity, then the less desirably activity is more likely to occur.

Presenting and Delivering Reinforcement is KEY

• Presenting – Therapist can buy or use little party bags, fuzzy change bags, boxes, or canisters to carry reinforcers. Therapist can also wrap reinforcers individually for added fun. By presenting the reinforcers in this manner will increase the desirability of the reinforcer and make it much more motivating to work towards.
• Delivering -When delivering reinforcement, Therapist should do the following -
  - Be in eyes view of the child (i.e. the child should not be looking up to you, but should be eye-to-eye)
  - Be genuinely happy

  - Don’t be too loud or monotone (make sure your reinforcement sounds different from other forms of a consequence such as a “No”)

  - Do not forget to reinforce good sitting, hands quiet, and compliance.

  - Use age appropriate reinforcement (i.e. tickling an 11 year old is inappropriate as using a lot of language for a child who cannot yet discriminate receptive language)

It is very important to learn to read the child. If the child is not enjoying the Therapist’s reinforcement, change it or do a program. As well, if the child is full of energy, using soft, soothing types of reinforcements will help the child to calm down therefore increasing maximum learning.

Related posts:

1. Differential Reinforcement and ABA Therapy
2. How To Play Effectively With Children With Autism