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Academics
C H A P T E R
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Academics Michele R. Bishop, Carolynn Bredek Pre-academic skills are the foundational skills (e.g., knowing colors and how to hold a pencil) that prepare a learner for acquiring more advanced academic skills (reading and math) taught in kindergarten and elementary school. While deficits in academic behavior are not a defining feature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), learning disabilities are prevalent among children with an ASD diagnosis (Mayes & Calhoun, 2006; Montes & Halterman, 2006). Mayes and Calhoun reported that 67% (n = 124) of the children with ASD whom they evaluated also displayed a learning disability. Furthermore, achievement in early academic skills is associated with continued academic success in elementary school. Given the relationship between pre-academic skills and success later in school, it is important that an adequate proportion of time is dedicated to teaching pre-academic skills to children diagnosed with ASD. A well-developed repertoire of pre-academic skills will prepare a child for successful integration into a kindergarten classroom. A common misconception of applied behavior analytic intervention for learners with ASD is that it primarily focuses on teaching children to memorize academic content, such as shapes, letters, numbers, and counting by rote. As is described in the other chapters in Section III of this manual, the vast majority of behavioral intervention time in applied behavior analysis (ABA) programs is spent teaching communication, social, play, and other skills, not academics. Nevertheless, behavioral intervention programs can play a crucial role in providing a foundation for the academic curriculum that children with ASD may be expected to master when they go to school. In addition, some very good-quality ABA-based schools offer alternatives to public education, such as the Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD) Academy (see Chapter 8), and are therefore responsible for teaching all of the academics a child might need. The majority of ABA services for children with ASD, however, tend to occur before children enter school full time and/or tend to be supplementary to the academics
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Copyright © 2014 Doreen Granpeesheh and Jonathan Tarbox. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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that are taught in schools. For these reasons, and for the sake of space, this chapter will provide a brief overview of how to teach only pre- academics and the earliest foundational academic skills. We will use the term academic skills from here forward in the chapter to refer both to pre-academic and academic skills. This chapter will describe how to teach these skills across two broad areas: 1) language arts and 2) mathematics. Specifically, this chapter will address the core academic skills that help to build the foundation for successful learning in a classroom setting and will describe strategies and specific teaching procedures that can be used for teaching these skills. See Table 15.1 for example lessons. Our goals in teaching pre-academic skills are to make the transition to learning in a classroom setting as smooth as possible and to facilitate long-term academic success for the learner. Learning in a classroom setting requires a host of prerequisite skills, including, but not limited to, the ability to sustain attention, divide attention, attend in the midst of distraction, follow group-based instructions, learn through observation, wait and inhibit behavior, and initiate and complete work independently. Mastering these skills can be a challenge for many children with ASD. When demands to learn academic content are added, many children with ASD have an uphill battle to fight. Teachers often introduce new concepts in a language-rich manner, include a great deal of discussion that is not always critical to the core meaning of the concepts being taught, and introduce a variety of different materials and concepts simultaneously. For many children with ASD, this can be overwhelming. While our goal is for TABLE 15.1 Commonly Targeted Academic Lessons Domains
Lessons
Language Arts
Colors Letters Community helpers Handwriting and penmanship Listening comprehension Phonics Phonemic awareness
Phonological awareness Sight words Decoding Print concepts Spelling Reading comprehension Independent writing
Mathematics
Quantitative concepts Counting and quantities Shapes Numbers Patterning Quantitative comparisons Calendar Ordinal numbers
Addition Time of day and daily activities Sequencing numerals and ordering groups Charts and graphs Skip counting Money Telling time Subtraction
Academic Domains
275
the learner to acquire new skills directly in the classroom setting, we can help to prepare the learner for the initial school transition and promote long-term success by teaching some of the foundational academic skills before the learner enters the classroom setting. Our initial goal on entering a classroom setting is for the learner to generalize the foundational skills taught in the home program and to ensure that the learner demonstrates the prerequisite skills required to learn in the school setting. Providing the learner with a basic understanding of the some foundational academic concepts will increase his confidence and his likelihood of success and will enable him to focus on acquiring the prerequisite skills required for group-based learning.
ACADEMIC DOMAINS The CARD Academic curriculum is organized into Language Arts and Mathematics domains, each consisting of multiple lessons. Appendix H provides an outline for the entire Academic curriculum.
Language Arts Language arts lessons focus on teaching skills that will lay the foundation for reading and writing. For example: 1) the Letters, Phonics, and Sight Words lessons prepare the learner for decoding and reading comprehension; 2) the Listening Comprehension lesson is critical to the learner’s ability to participate actively in classroom conversations related to written material; and 3) the Handwriting and Penmanship lesson is critical for the learner to complete in-class assignments that require written responses, as well as to learn to write about objects, events, and experiences. The CARD approach to teaching any of these skills is to break them down into small, teachable components. For example, when teaching phonics, the following components are targeted: • Single Letter-Sound Correspondence • “Give me (sound).” (in the presence of letter cards) • “What sound does (letter) say?” (in the presence and absence of the letter) • “What letter says (sound)?” (in the presence and absence of an array of letters) • Initial/Final Consonants • “Match this letter to the object that starts/ends with it.” (in the presence of an array of objects) • “Give me the one that begins/ends with (letter).” (in the presence of an array of objects)
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• “Give me the letter that (word) begins/ends with.” (in the presence of an array of letters) • “What letter does (word) begin/end with?” (with and without letter options present) • “Tell me something that begins/ends with (letter).” (with and without object options present) • Short Vowels • “Match this (letter card) to the one where (letter) is heard in the middle of the word.” (in the presence of an array of objects) • “Give me the one where you hear (letter) in the middle of its name.” (in the presence of an array of objects) • “Give me the letter that you hear in the middle of the word (word).” (in the presence of an array of letter cards) • “What letter do you hear in the middle of the word (word)?” (with and without letter card options present) • “Tell me something where you hear (letter) in the middle of its name.” (with and without object options present) • Consonant Blends/Digraphs • “Give me (consonant blend/digraph).” (in the presence of an array of cards with consonant blends, such as “br” and “cl,” or digraphs, such as “ch,” “th,” and “wh” written on them) • “Read this.” (in the presence of a written consonant blend such as “sl” or digraph such as “ch”) • “Match this (written card with consonant blend/digraph) to the one that begins/ends with (consonant blend/digraph).” (in the presence of an array of objects) • “Give me the one that begins/ends with (consonant blend/ digraph).” (in the presence of an array of objects) • “Give me the card that (object) begins/ends with.” (in the presence of an array of cards with blends/digraphs written on them)
Mathematics Early math lessons, such as 1) Numbers and 2) Counting and Quantities, focus on teaching foundational skills that will help prepare learners for more advanced math concepts. As with language arts, math concepts are broken down into component skills. For example, the Counting and Quantities lesson is broken down into the following units: • Rote Counting • “Count to (number).” • “Count from (number)” or “Count from (number) to (number).” • “Count backward from (number) to (number).” • One-to-One Correspondence • “Match one (object) to each (object).” (e.g., “Match one spoon to each bowl.”)
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• Rational Counting and Cardinal Numbers • “Count the (objects)” and “How many (objects) are there?” (in the presence of an array of objects) • “Point to the group that has (number).” (in the presence of groups of objects) • Representing Groups • “Show me (quantity).” (e.g., “Show me five blocks” in the presence of a pile of objects) • “I have (base quantity) (objects), but I want (goal quantity). Can you get me more (objects) so I have (goal quantity)?” (in the presence of a pile of objects) • Matching Numerals to Groups • “Put with same.” (e.g., in the presence of an array of grouped objects, the learner matches a card with the numeral 3 written on it to a group of three bears) • “Touch the number that tells how many (objects).” (in the presence of an array of numeral cards)
TEACHING PROCEDURES Evidence-based procedures for teaching skills to learners with ASD are described in Chapter 4, but we briefly review the most useful ones for academics below, with specific examples from academic lessons.
Discrete Trial Training When using discrete trial training (DTT) to teach academic skills, an instruction is presented, the learner responds, and a consequence is delivered indicating if the response was correct or incorrect (see Chapter 4). The instruction presented by the therapist states the skill to be performed (e.g., “Read”; “What sound does M say?”; “Trace the letter W”; “Count to 10”; “Touch 6:30”; “What is 4 minus 2?”). Then the learner provides a vocal or nonvocal response, depending on the instruction. Since the instruction of basic pre-academics starts early, the use of the DTT format is a natural choice, and it mirrors the format that an academic tutor would normally use with a typically developing child. DTT has several advantages for teaching academics. One is that the instruction is specific, and another is that the feedback for the learner’s response is clear and immediate. The DTT approach to teaching academic skills begins with breaking down a skill into its simplest components. The learner is then taught each component to mastery before progressing to the next skill target. Further, the stimuli used in DTT are clear and lack distractions. For example, when teaching letter identification in DTT, therapists typically teach one or a few letters at a time. Uppercase and
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lowercase letters are generally separated, and letters with a dissimilar appearance are usually taught first. Further, the stimuli used in DTT contain only a single letter, with no additional pictures or information. Let’s contrast this with how letters might be introduced in a classroom setting where academic skills are usually taught in more complex ways. The teacher might introduce a single letter at a time. However, both uppercase and lowercase might be introduced simultaneously, and the letter sounds, as well as the name, are introduced. Additionally, the teacher may discuss different words that begin with the target letter, and different pictures of objects beginning with the letter may be included on the representation of the letter itself. Additionally, immediate individualized feedback is rare in a classroom setting, simply because teachers are responsible for too many students to be able to give each student immediate attention and feedback. While this method of instruction and the rate of feedback are effective with typically developing children, children with ASD may find them challenging. By breaking down the skills and also ensuring that the target is clearly defined in DTT, we can ensure success and then work to increase distraction and generalize the skill to the classroom. Our goal in behavioral approaches to teaching academics is always for the learner to be able to learn in a classroom setting eventually. However, we can increase the learner’s opportunities for initial success by first teaching the foundational skills that allow for generalization of what is taught in the classroom, as well as acquisition of more advanced concepts.
Multiple Exemplar Training Academics might be the one curriculum in which many targets need to be memorized; multiplication facts and sight words are examples of this. However, whenever memorization is not the goal, multiple exemplar training (MET) can assist with the generalization of academic skills. For example, a therapist may teach the learner to read and spell many different words that all contain the phonics being targeted, to skip count starting at various different numbers, and to add and subtract a variety of quantities. MET such as this encourages generalization of the skill being taught, so a learner does not merely memorize the correct answer to particular stimuli used during teaching but, rather, forms the generalized operant skill being taught.
Natural Environment Training Academic skills can also be practiced as opportunities are captured and contrived in the natural environment. For example, when the learner shows interest during play in a particular item or activity associated with language arts or math concepts, the therapist might instruct the learner
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to identify colors, shapes, and numbers, count items, and/or sound out words. With typically developing children, many academic concepts become part of their language in daily life. For example, when playing hide and seek, the child must count to ten while the others hide. Highly preferred arts and crafts projects can also be great natural environment settings in which to practice basic academics. For example, when drawing, the therapist can have the learner name the shapes she would like the therapist to draw. Or when painting, the therapist can have the learner sound out the names of the colors written on the tubes of paint she wants before handing them to her. Regardless, the key to using NET effectively is to ensure that the natural environment activity is preferred by the learner and that the consequences that occur for the learner engaging in the behavior are preferred and meaningful. For example, the therapist who merely asks the learner to read random words that she sees while engaged in an unrelated activity is going to be far less effective than if he asks the learner to read the words printed on an item the learner wants and then receives after she reads the words. Utilizing NET procedures for teaching academic skills can be critical to ensuring that the skills taught become meaningful for the learner in that she learns to apply them to useful situations in everyday life.
Worksheets Worksheets are also commonly used to target academic skills. A worksheet contains multiple opportunities for a learner to practice a skill while also targeting the learner’s ability to complete work independently. Initially, prompts may be necessary, including reading the instructions to the learner, assisting the learner with difficult questions, providing reinforcement for each item on the worksheet, and encouraging the learner to stay on task. Over time, the learner will learn to follow the written instructions on the worksheet without the addition of vocal instructions from the therapist. The ultimate goal is for the learner to complete the worksheet independently, asking for help when needed, because the goal is always to prepare the learner for real-life situations, such as the classroom setting.
STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS Teach Independence Sometimes great emphasis is placed on producing a perfect finished product that requires adult assistance rather than teaching the learner to complete assignments independently. If adults consistently help a learner
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to complete assignments without a plan to reduce and ultimately eliminate the additional assistance over time, the learner may become dependent on the extra help and struggle to complete assignments on his own. It may be helpful to target independent work completion as a separate skill in itself, providing reinforcement for independently completing assignments before teaching the learner to ask for assistance with particularly difficult tasks. To do this, start with small amounts of a mastered task, such as a worksheet with only a few easy problems that the learner has already mastered. Fade out adult presence and prompting, and make positive reinforcement contingent upon the learner’s completing the worksheet accurately and without asking for assistance. As the learner becomes successful while working independently, gradually increase the size and difficulty of the tasks. Of course, don’t forget to practice across multiple different types of tasks, different times of day, and different work areas (desk, kitchen table, etc.).
Teach Test-Taking Strategies The assumption is often made that, if a child has mastered an academic skill, he should be able to demonstrate that mastery when he takes a test. From a behavioral perspective, a child does not automatically replicate a skill in an environment (i.e., classroom) that differs greatly from the one in which he learned that skill (i.e., home). Simply put, this assumption is relying on generalization of a skill without programming for generalization. Performing well on a test is a particularly stressful sort of generalization, and you may want to consider giving your learner explicit practice and reinforcement for taking tests. Simulating testing during therapy can help the learner adapt to the particular stimulus conditions present during testing.
Readiness to Learn in the Classroom A successful early intervention program prepares a learner for continued learning in a classroom environment by teaching her the prerequisite skills that are needed for success in that environment. Many children with ASD, even after great success in home-based behavioral intervention programs, still do not develop many skills that are fundamental to success in the school environment. Some basic skills to consider targeting include: • • • •
Responding to group instructions Completing assignments independently Understanding the meaning of grades Raising one’s hand to get the teacher’s attention (rather than speaking out)
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• Responding to instructions delivered at a distance (e.g., a teacher standing at the front of class) • Standing in line for recess or to participate in sports • Responding to group instructions from the teacher (even though the teacher is not speaking directly to the learner) • Looking to peers as cues for what to do in the moment when the learner misses the teacher’s request As with any other skill taught in an ABA program, the skills listed above can be taught through prompting, reinforcement, prompt fading and generalization training. Some creativity is needed to simulate classroom settings, and role-play may be needed to simulate situations involving teachers or peers. In addition to teaching fundamental school-readiness skills, make sure to set the learner up for success by consulting with the school to determine whether it uses particular language arts or math procedures and incorporating those procedures into the learner’s ABA program. By incorporating these variables into the learner’s home-based therapy before she enters school, you can help ensure that the stimuli in the school environment will already cue the desired behavior when the learner arrives in the classroom.
Collaborate with the Academic Team Before a learner enters school, it is helpful to meet with the school-based team to discuss the transition, including the learner’s strengths and weaknesses, parent and teacher concerns, expectations for classroom behavior, teaching procedures, communication between the parent and teacher, and whether additional classroom support is needed. When the learner starts regularly attending school, frequent communication between the teacher and parent will allow the parent to provide supplemental reinforcement for the learner’s classroom successes and rapid remediation of any weaknesses. See Chapter 24 on interdisciplinary collaboration and Chapter 8 on communicating between home and school settings.
Promote Generalization to the Classroom Setting To promote generalization to the classroom, ask the classroom teacher how skills are practiced at school; then ensure that the instructions, stimuli, and responses used during therapy sessions are similar to those used in the classroom. For example, if the learner is expected to provide an oral response at school, practice an oral response in therapy, or if the learner is expected to complete a worksheet independently at school, practice independently completing worksheets during therapy. Other procedures that assist with generalization include practicing the skill in different settings,
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using variable instructions delivered by several different people, and using the skill to complete various types of assignments. Perhaps the most important variable for ensuring generalization is teaching the learner to apply newly learned academic skills in ways similar to how they will be used in the classroom. All too often, poor-quality ABA programs use DTT to teach learners to memorize letters and numbers receptively and expressively without any concern for how and when the learner will actually use those skills in the classroom in the future. Care should be taken to identify how the classroom teacher teaches the skill and what the next several steps are in using that skill, so the learner can be taught to apply the skill in those ways. For example, perhaps a teacher in a mainstream classroom gives the students worksheets involving letters and asks them to write letters, match letters to pictures of objects that contain the letter, or respond in unison by labeling a letter to which the teacher points. After mastering letters receptively and expressively in DTT, a learner who is going into this classroom in the near future could practice using letters in all of these various ways as part of her homebased therapy program, thereby ensuring that the learner will actually have the opportunity to use the academic skills she has mastered at home.
Maintenance Academic skills need to be fully incorporated into the learner’s everyday life and practiced on an ongoing basis, as with any other skill – perhaps even more because they tend to be abstract and may not always be directly useful. Maintenance can be improved by implementing a variable reinforcement schedule (see Chapter 4), so the learner is not able to determine when a reinforcer will be delivered. When reinforcers are delivered less frequently, the learner is allowed to experience the naturally occurring consequences of the behavior. Consider blending traditional forms of reinforcement and feedback used in schools, such as letter grades, stickers, and stars, with other forms of reinforcement and feedback used during therapy sessions. For example, when a learner completes a worksheet with 100% accuracy, assign a letter grade of “A” and deliver a highly preferred item. Modify the value and magnitude of the preferred item with the accuracy of the assignment and letter grade. That is, if the learner completes an assignment with 70% accuracy, assign a letter grade of “C” and deliver a small amount of a moderately preferred item. Then begin delivering the preferred item intermittently while continuing to assign appropriate letter grades.
Fluency-Based Instruction Fluency-based instruction is often incorporated into a maintenance and generalization plan to ensure both speed and accuracy of performance
Common Pitfalls
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in reading, math, and handwriting. Fluency is critical across a variety of pre-academic skills, as the demonstration of fluent responding with basic skills sets the foundation for performance on later emerging and more complicated skills. For example, a learner may slowly count money with 100% accuracy, but if she is not fluent with basic counting, then any type of problem-solving or practical application that requires counting money will be more difficult for her. Further, consider how important it is for a learner to demonstrate fluent handwriting skills. If the learner is slow to write responses, it will take him longer to complete in-class assignments and tests, as well as make it difficult to keep up in small and large group lessons where written responses are required. Fluency-based instruction involves timing the learner for 10 to 60 seconds, recording how many items (e.g., words read, math problems completed, etc.) the learner completes accurately, and increasing the amount completed across timings until she is able to respond rapidly and without hesitation. See Chapter 4 for more on fluency (see also Kubina & Yurich, 2012).
COMMON PITFALLS Progressing to Advanced Skills Before Foundational Skills Are Fluent When a learner struggles to learn academic skills, the skills may be too difficult. Before introducing more advanced academic skills, it is important to ensure that the learner has mastered the necessary prerequisite skills and to monitor performance regularly with maintenance lessons. If a learner continues to struggle with prerequisite skills, delay the introduction of further academic skills. Also, consider increasing the mastery criterion for prerequisite skills (e.g., require 90% correct across 5 days, instead of 80% correct across 3 days), and run maintenance lessons more frequently.
Overfocusing on What Is Age Appropriate or Being Taught in Class Avoid introducing skills solely because they are age appropriate, being taught in the learner’s classroom, and/or a part of a standard curriculum. Instead, determine if the academic skills are functional for the learner and meet her individualized curriculum goals and whether the learner has the necessary prerequisite skills.
Irrelevant/Nonfunctional Avoid teaching academic content for content’s sake. In good-quality programs, each acquisition target should be logically and strategically
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linked to an outcome that will make the learner more independent and happier in the future. Unfortunately, poor-quality ABA programs (as well as non-behavioral special education programs) all too often attempt to make children with ASD memorize as many academic skills as possible without any meaningful plan for how the skills will benefit the child in the future.
Too Difficult or Too Easy When the focus is on teaching age-appropriate or grade-level academic skills, you can easily fall into the trap of teaching skills that are either too difficult or too easy for the learner. A better approach is to determine the standard for the learner’s grade level and then assess where he falls in relation to the standard. If the learner is behind grade level, it is necessary to work on prerequisite skills first. If the learner is above grade level for a given skill, the time you would have spent teaching that skill can be used to teach something else the learner needs to acquire in order to get caught up to grade level.
Difficulty with Handwriting and Written Assignments Handwriting skills require the learner to grip a pencil and make small movements with his hand and fingers to create letters. If a learner is struggling with the acquisition of handwriting skills, ensure that he has sufficient fine motor strength and visual motor skills for proficient performance. Deficits in these motor skills can be remediated by introducing lessons that specifically target these skills (see Chapter 14 on motor skills). When a learner struggles with handwriting, the learner is also likely to have difficulty with written assignments. For lessons that include a written response, first determine whether the written response is a necessary component of the target skill. If a written response is not essential, consider accepting an alternative response form, such as an oral or typed response, while the learner continues to work on handwriting skills.
Decoding Versus Comprehension Do not assume that, because a learner can read words (“decode” them), she also comprehends what she is reading. Make sure that comprehension is targeted during reading instruction. Just as important, probe for comprehension by having your learner read new passages that she has never been taught and then asking comprehension questions that she could only answer if she actually comprehended what she just read (as opposed to repeating what she has been taught to say in the past).
Summary
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Working on the Same IEP Goals for a Long Time Individualized Education Program (IEP) goals are regularly monitored to assess learning gains, with data being collected on accuracy of the skill and prompts needed to assist the learner in making a correct response. It can be helpful to graph these data in order to visually inspect progress over time. If the learner is making slow learning gains, consider reviewing the teaching procedures to determine whether any modifications will accelerate her learning rate. If progress has ceased for a significant amount of time, it is necessary to review the IEP and assess whether the goal is still appropriate for the learner and/or whether the teaching procedures are adequate (see Chapter 19 on clinical problem solving).
SUMMARY This chapter outlined several instructional procedures that are useful when teaching academic language arts and mathematics skills. Initial instruction focuses on discriminating among basic letters, numbers, colors, and shapes. Then these skills are used to develop more complex academic skills. Satisfactory acquisition of academic-readiness skills will assist learners in their transition to instruction in an elementary school classroom, providing the foundation for more advanced skills taught later in their educational careers.
15
Academics Michele R. Bishop, Carolynn Bredek Pre-academic skills are the foundational skills (e.g., knowing colors and how to hold a pencil) that prepare a learner for acquiring more advanced academic skills (reading and math) taught in kindergarten and elementary school. While deficits in academic behavior are not a defining feature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), learning disabilities are prevalent among children with an ASD diagnosis (Mayes & Calhoun, 2006; Montes & Halterman, 2006). Mayes and Calhoun reported that 67% (n = 124) of the children with ASD whom they evaluated also displayed a learning disability. Furthermore, achievement in early academic skills is associated with continued academic success in elementary school. Given the relationship between pre-academic skills and success later in school, it is important that an adequate proportion of time is dedicated to teaching pre-academic skills to children diagnosed with ASD. A well-developed repertoire of pre-academic skills will prepare a child for successful integration into a kindergarten classroom. A common misconception of applied behavior analytic intervention for learners with ASD is that it primarily focuses on teaching children to memorize academic content, such as shapes, letters, numbers, and counting by rote. As is described in the other chapters in Section III of this manual, the vast majority of behavioral intervention time in applied behavior analysis (ABA) programs is spent teaching communication, social, play, and other skills, not academics. Nevertheless, behavioral intervention programs can play a crucial role in providing a foundation for the academic curriculum that children with ASD may be expected to master when they go to school. In addition, some very good-quality ABA-based schools offer alternatives to public education, such as the Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD) Academy (see Chapter 8), and are therefore responsible for teaching all of the academics a child might need. The majority of ABA services for children with ASD, however, tend to occur before children enter school full time and/or tend to be supplementary to the academics
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Copyright © 2014 Doreen Granpeesheh and Jonathan Tarbox. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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that are taught in schools. For these reasons, and for the sake of space, this chapter will provide a brief overview of how to teach only pre- academics and the earliest foundational academic skills. We will use the term academic skills from here forward in the chapter to refer both to pre-academic and academic skills. This chapter will describe how to teach these skills across two broad areas: 1) language arts and 2) mathematics. Specifically, this chapter will address the core academic skills that help to build the foundation for successful learning in a classroom setting and will describe strategies and specific teaching procedures that can be used for teaching these skills. See Table 15.1 for example lessons. Our goals in teaching pre-academic skills are to make the transition to learning in a classroom setting as smooth as possible and to facilitate long-term academic success for the learner. Learning in a classroom setting requires a host of prerequisite skills, including, but not limited to, the ability to sustain attention, divide attention, attend in the midst of distraction, follow group-based instructions, learn through observation, wait and inhibit behavior, and initiate and complete work independently. Mastering these skills can be a challenge for many children with ASD. When demands to learn academic content are added, many children with ASD have an uphill battle to fight. Teachers often introduce new concepts in a language-rich manner, include a great deal of discussion that is not always critical to the core meaning of the concepts being taught, and introduce a variety of different materials and concepts simultaneously. For many children with ASD, this can be overwhelming. While our goal is for TABLE 15.1 Commonly Targeted Academic Lessons Domains
Lessons
Language Arts
Colors Letters Community helpers Handwriting and penmanship Listening comprehension Phonics Phonemic awareness
Phonological awareness Sight words Decoding Print concepts Spelling Reading comprehension Independent writing
Mathematics
Quantitative concepts Counting and quantities Shapes Numbers Patterning Quantitative comparisons Calendar Ordinal numbers
Addition Time of day and daily activities Sequencing numerals and ordering groups Charts and graphs Skip counting Money Telling time Subtraction
Academic Domains
275
the learner to acquire new skills directly in the classroom setting, we can help to prepare the learner for the initial school transition and promote long-term success by teaching some of the foundational academic skills before the learner enters the classroom setting. Our initial goal on entering a classroom setting is for the learner to generalize the foundational skills taught in the home program and to ensure that the learner demonstrates the prerequisite skills required to learn in the school setting. Providing the learner with a basic understanding of the some foundational academic concepts will increase his confidence and his likelihood of success and will enable him to focus on acquiring the prerequisite skills required for group-based learning.
ACADEMIC DOMAINS The CARD Academic curriculum is organized into Language Arts and Mathematics domains, each consisting of multiple lessons. Appendix H provides an outline for the entire Academic curriculum.
Language Arts Language arts lessons focus on teaching skills that will lay the foundation for reading and writing. For example: 1) the Letters, Phonics, and Sight Words lessons prepare the learner for decoding and reading comprehension; 2) the Listening Comprehension lesson is critical to the learner’s ability to participate actively in classroom conversations related to written material; and 3) the Handwriting and Penmanship lesson is critical for the learner to complete in-class assignments that require written responses, as well as to learn to write about objects, events, and experiences. The CARD approach to teaching any of these skills is to break them down into small, teachable components. For example, when teaching phonics, the following components are targeted: • Single Letter-Sound Correspondence • “Give me (sound).” (in the presence of letter cards) • “What sound does (letter) say?” (in the presence and absence of the letter) • “What letter says (sound)?” (in the presence and absence of an array of letters) • Initial/Final Consonants • “Match this letter to the object that starts/ends with it.” (in the presence of an array of objects) • “Give me the one that begins/ends with (letter).” (in the presence of an array of objects)
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• “Give me the letter that (word) begins/ends with.” (in the presence of an array of letters) • “What letter does (word) begin/end with?” (with and without letter options present) • “Tell me something that begins/ends with (letter).” (with and without object options present) • Short Vowels • “Match this (letter card) to the one where (letter) is heard in the middle of the word.” (in the presence of an array of objects) • “Give me the one where you hear (letter) in the middle of its name.” (in the presence of an array of objects) • “Give me the letter that you hear in the middle of the word (word).” (in the presence of an array of letter cards) • “What letter do you hear in the middle of the word (word)?” (with and without letter card options present) • “Tell me something where you hear (letter) in the middle of its name.” (with and without object options present) • Consonant Blends/Digraphs • “Give me (consonant blend/digraph).” (in the presence of an array of cards with consonant blends, such as “br” and “cl,” or digraphs, such as “ch,” “th,” and “wh” written on them) • “Read this.” (in the presence of a written consonant blend such as “sl” or digraph such as “ch”) • “Match this (written card with consonant blend/digraph) to the one that begins/ends with (consonant blend/digraph).” (in the presence of an array of objects) • “Give me the one that begins/ends with (consonant blend/ digraph).” (in the presence of an array of objects) • “Give me the card that (object) begins/ends with.” (in the presence of an array of cards with blends/digraphs written on them)
Mathematics Early math lessons, such as 1) Numbers and 2) Counting and Quantities, focus on teaching foundational skills that will help prepare learners for more advanced math concepts. As with language arts, math concepts are broken down into component skills. For example, the Counting and Quantities lesson is broken down into the following units: • Rote Counting • “Count to (number).” • “Count from (number)” or “Count from (number) to (number).” • “Count backward from (number) to (number).” • One-to-One Correspondence • “Match one (object) to each (object).” (e.g., “Match one spoon to each bowl.”)
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• Rational Counting and Cardinal Numbers • “Count the (objects)” and “How many (objects) are there?” (in the presence of an array of objects) • “Point to the group that has (number).” (in the presence of groups of objects) • Representing Groups • “Show me (quantity).” (e.g., “Show me five blocks” in the presence of a pile of objects) • “I have (base quantity) (objects), but I want (goal quantity). Can you get me more (objects) so I have (goal quantity)?” (in the presence of a pile of objects) • Matching Numerals to Groups • “Put with same.” (e.g., in the presence of an array of grouped objects, the learner matches a card with the numeral 3 written on it to a group of three bears) • “Touch the number that tells how many (objects).” (in the presence of an array of numeral cards)
TEACHING PROCEDURES Evidence-based procedures for teaching skills to learners with ASD are described in Chapter 4, but we briefly review the most useful ones for academics below, with specific examples from academic lessons.
Discrete Trial Training When using discrete trial training (DTT) to teach academic skills, an instruction is presented, the learner responds, and a consequence is delivered indicating if the response was correct or incorrect (see Chapter 4). The instruction presented by the therapist states the skill to be performed (e.g., “Read”; “What sound does M say?”; “Trace the letter W”; “Count to 10”; “Touch 6:30”; “What is 4 minus 2?”). Then the learner provides a vocal or nonvocal response, depending on the instruction. Since the instruction of basic pre-academics starts early, the use of the DTT format is a natural choice, and it mirrors the format that an academic tutor would normally use with a typically developing child. DTT has several advantages for teaching academics. One is that the instruction is specific, and another is that the feedback for the learner’s response is clear and immediate. The DTT approach to teaching academic skills begins with breaking down a skill into its simplest components. The learner is then taught each component to mastery before progressing to the next skill target. Further, the stimuli used in DTT are clear and lack distractions. For example, when teaching letter identification in DTT, therapists typically teach one or a few letters at a time. Uppercase and
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lowercase letters are generally separated, and letters with a dissimilar appearance are usually taught first. Further, the stimuli used in DTT contain only a single letter, with no additional pictures or information. Let’s contrast this with how letters might be introduced in a classroom setting where academic skills are usually taught in more complex ways. The teacher might introduce a single letter at a time. However, both uppercase and lowercase might be introduced simultaneously, and the letter sounds, as well as the name, are introduced. Additionally, the teacher may discuss different words that begin with the target letter, and different pictures of objects beginning with the letter may be included on the representation of the letter itself. Additionally, immediate individualized feedback is rare in a classroom setting, simply because teachers are responsible for too many students to be able to give each student immediate attention and feedback. While this method of instruction and the rate of feedback are effective with typically developing children, children with ASD may find them challenging. By breaking down the skills and also ensuring that the target is clearly defined in DTT, we can ensure success and then work to increase distraction and generalize the skill to the classroom. Our goal in behavioral approaches to teaching academics is always for the learner to be able to learn in a classroom setting eventually. However, we can increase the learner’s opportunities for initial success by first teaching the foundational skills that allow for generalization of what is taught in the classroom, as well as acquisition of more advanced concepts.
Multiple Exemplar Training Academics might be the one curriculum in which many targets need to be memorized; multiplication facts and sight words are examples of this. However, whenever memorization is not the goal, multiple exemplar training (MET) can assist with the generalization of academic skills. For example, a therapist may teach the learner to read and spell many different words that all contain the phonics being targeted, to skip count starting at various different numbers, and to add and subtract a variety of quantities. MET such as this encourages generalization of the skill being taught, so a learner does not merely memorize the correct answer to particular stimuli used during teaching but, rather, forms the generalized operant skill being taught.
Natural Environment Training Academic skills can also be practiced as opportunities are captured and contrived in the natural environment. For example, when the learner shows interest during play in a particular item or activity associated with language arts or math concepts, the therapist might instruct the learner
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to identify colors, shapes, and numbers, count items, and/or sound out words. With typically developing children, many academic concepts become part of their language in daily life. For example, when playing hide and seek, the child must count to ten while the others hide. Highly preferred arts and crafts projects can also be great natural environment settings in which to practice basic academics. For example, when drawing, the therapist can have the learner name the shapes she would like the therapist to draw. Or when painting, the therapist can have the learner sound out the names of the colors written on the tubes of paint she wants before handing them to her. Regardless, the key to using NET effectively is to ensure that the natural environment activity is preferred by the learner and that the consequences that occur for the learner engaging in the behavior are preferred and meaningful. For example, the therapist who merely asks the learner to read random words that she sees while engaged in an unrelated activity is going to be far less effective than if he asks the learner to read the words printed on an item the learner wants and then receives after she reads the words. Utilizing NET procedures for teaching academic skills can be critical to ensuring that the skills taught become meaningful for the learner in that she learns to apply them to useful situations in everyday life.
Worksheets Worksheets are also commonly used to target academic skills. A worksheet contains multiple opportunities for a learner to practice a skill while also targeting the learner’s ability to complete work independently. Initially, prompts may be necessary, including reading the instructions to the learner, assisting the learner with difficult questions, providing reinforcement for each item on the worksheet, and encouraging the learner to stay on task. Over time, the learner will learn to follow the written instructions on the worksheet without the addition of vocal instructions from the therapist. The ultimate goal is for the learner to complete the worksheet independently, asking for help when needed, because the goal is always to prepare the learner for real-life situations, such as the classroom setting.
STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS Teach Independence Sometimes great emphasis is placed on producing a perfect finished product that requires adult assistance rather than teaching the learner to complete assignments independently. If adults consistently help a learner
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to complete assignments without a plan to reduce and ultimately eliminate the additional assistance over time, the learner may become dependent on the extra help and struggle to complete assignments on his own. It may be helpful to target independent work completion as a separate skill in itself, providing reinforcement for independently completing assignments before teaching the learner to ask for assistance with particularly difficult tasks. To do this, start with small amounts of a mastered task, such as a worksheet with only a few easy problems that the learner has already mastered. Fade out adult presence and prompting, and make positive reinforcement contingent upon the learner’s completing the worksheet accurately and without asking for assistance. As the learner becomes successful while working independently, gradually increase the size and difficulty of the tasks. Of course, don’t forget to practice across multiple different types of tasks, different times of day, and different work areas (desk, kitchen table, etc.).
Teach Test-Taking Strategies The assumption is often made that, if a child has mastered an academic skill, he should be able to demonstrate that mastery when he takes a test. From a behavioral perspective, a child does not automatically replicate a skill in an environment (i.e., classroom) that differs greatly from the one in which he learned that skill (i.e., home). Simply put, this assumption is relying on generalization of a skill without programming for generalization. Performing well on a test is a particularly stressful sort of generalization, and you may want to consider giving your learner explicit practice and reinforcement for taking tests. Simulating testing during therapy can help the learner adapt to the particular stimulus conditions present during testing.
Readiness to Learn in the Classroom A successful early intervention program prepares a learner for continued learning in a classroom environment by teaching her the prerequisite skills that are needed for success in that environment. Many children with ASD, even after great success in home-based behavioral intervention programs, still do not develop many skills that are fundamental to success in the school environment. Some basic skills to consider targeting include: • • • •
Responding to group instructions Completing assignments independently Understanding the meaning of grades Raising one’s hand to get the teacher’s attention (rather than speaking out)
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• Responding to instructions delivered at a distance (e.g., a teacher standing at the front of class) • Standing in line for recess or to participate in sports • Responding to group instructions from the teacher (even though the teacher is not speaking directly to the learner) • Looking to peers as cues for what to do in the moment when the learner misses the teacher’s request As with any other skill taught in an ABA program, the skills listed above can be taught through prompting, reinforcement, prompt fading and generalization training. Some creativity is needed to simulate classroom settings, and role-play may be needed to simulate situations involving teachers or peers. In addition to teaching fundamental school-readiness skills, make sure to set the learner up for success by consulting with the school to determine whether it uses particular language arts or math procedures and incorporating those procedures into the learner’s ABA program. By incorporating these variables into the learner’s home-based therapy before she enters school, you can help ensure that the stimuli in the school environment will already cue the desired behavior when the learner arrives in the classroom.
Collaborate with the Academic Team Before a learner enters school, it is helpful to meet with the school-based team to discuss the transition, including the learner’s strengths and weaknesses, parent and teacher concerns, expectations for classroom behavior, teaching procedures, communication between the parent and teacher, and whether additional classroom support is needed. When the learner starts regularly attending school, frequent communication between the teacher and parent will allow the parent to provide supplemental reinforcement for the learner’s classroom successes and rapid remediation of any weaknesses. See Chapter 24 on interdisciplinary collaboration and Chapter 8 on communicating between home and school settings.
Promote Generalization to the Classroom Setting To promote generalization to the classroom, ask the classroom teacher how skills are practiced at school; then ensure that the instructions, stimuli, and responses used during therapy sessions are similar to those used in the classroom. For example, if the learner is expected to provide an oral response at school, practice an oral response in therapy, or if the learner is expected to complete a worksheet independently at school, practice independently completing worksheets during therapy. Other procedures that assist with generalization include practicing the skill in different settings,
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using variable instructions delivered by several different people, and using the skill to complete various types of assignments. Perhaps the most important variable for ensuring generalization is teaching the learner to apply newly learned academic skills in ways similar to how they will be used in the classroom. All too often, poor-quality ABA programs use DTT to teach learners to memorize letters and numbers receptively and expressively without any concern for how and when the learner will actually use those skills in the classroom in the future. Care should be taken to identify how the classroom teacher teaches the skill and what the next several steps are in using that skill, so the learner can be taught to apply the skill in those ways. For example, perhaps a teacher in a mainstream classroom gives the students worksheets involving letters and asks them to write letters, match letters to pictures of objects that contain the letter, or respond in unison by labeling a letter to which the teacher points. After mastering letters receptively and expressively in DTT, a learner who is going into this classroom in the near future could practice using letters in all of these various ways as part of her homebased therapy program, thereby ensuring that the learner will actually have the opportunity to use the academic skills she has mastered at home.
Maintenance Academic skills need to be fully incorporated into the learner’s everyday life and practiced on an ongoing basis, as with any other skill – perhaps even more because they tend to be abstract and may not always be directly useful. Maintenance can be improved by implementing a variable reinforcement schedule (see Chapter 4), so the learner is not able to determine when a reinforcer will be delivered. When reinforcers are delivered less frequently, the learner is allowed to experience the naturally occurring consequences of the behavior. Consider blending traditional forms of reinforcement and feedback used in schools, such as letter grades, stickers, and stars, with other forms of reinforcement and feedback used during therapy sessions. For example, when a learner completes a worksheet with 100% accuracy, assign a letter grade of “A” and deliver a highly preferred item. Modify the value and magnitude of the preferred item with the accuracy of the assignment and letter grade. That is, if the learner completes an assignment with 70% accuracy, assign a letter grade of “C” and deliver a small amount of a moderately preferred item. Then begin delivering the preferred item intermittently while continuing to assign appropriate letter grades.
Fluency-Based Instruction Fluency-based instruction is often incorporated into a maintenance and generalization plan to ensure both speed and accuracy of performance
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in reading, math, and handwriting. Fluency is critical across a variety of pre-academic skills, as the demonstration of fluent responding with basic skills sets the foundation for performance on later emerging and more complicated skills. For example, a learner may slowly count money with 100% accuracy, but if she is not fluent with basic counting, then any type of problem-solving or practical application that requires counting money will be more difficult for her. Further, consider how important it is for a learner to demonstrate fluent handwriting skills. If the learner is slow to write responses, it will take him longer to complete in-class assignments and tests, as well as make it difficult to keep up in small and large group lessons where written responses are required. Fluency-based instruction involves timing the learner for 10 to 60 seconds, recording how many items (e.g., words read, math problems completed, etc.) the learner completes accurately, and increasing the amount completed across timings until she is able to respond rapidly and without hesitation. See Chapter 4 for more on fluency (see also Kubina & Yurich, 2012).
COMMON PITFALLS Progressing to Advanced Skills Before Foundational Skills Are Fluent When a learner struggles to learn academic skills, the skills may be too difficult. Before introducing more advanced academic skills, it is important to ensure that the learner has mastered the necessary prerequisite skills and to monitor performance regularly with maintenance lessons. If a learner continues to struggle with prerequisite skills, delay the introduction of further academic skills. Also, consider increasing the mastery criterion for prerequisite skills (e.g., require 90% correct across 5 days, instead of 80% correct across 3 days), and run maintenance lessons more frequently.
Overfocusing on What Is Age Appropriate or Being Taught in Class Avoid introducing skills solely because they are age appropriate, being taught in the learner’s classroom, and/or a part of a standard curriculum. Instead, determine if the academic skills are functional for the learner and meet her individualized curriculum goals and whether the learner has the necessary prerequisite skills.
Irrelevant/Nonfunctional Avoid teaching academic content for content’s sake. In good-quality programs, each acquisition target should be logically and strategically
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linked to an outcome that will make the learner more independent and happier in the future. Unfortunately, poor-quality ABA programs (as well as non-behavioral special education programs) all too often attempt to make children with ASD memorize as many academic skills as possible without any meaningful plan for how the skills will benefit the child in the future.
Too Difficult or Too Easy When the focus is on teaching age-appropriate or grade-level academic skills, you can easily fall into the trap of teaching skills that are either too difficult or too easy for the learner. A better approach is to determine the standard for the learner’s grade level and then assess where he falls in relation to the standard. If the learner is behind grade level, it is necessary to work on prerequisite skills first. If the learner is above grade level for a given skill, the time you would have spent teaching that skill can be used to teach something else the learner needs to acquire in order to get caught up to grade level.
Difficulty with Handwriting and Written Assignments Handwriting skills require the learner to grip a pencil and make small movements with his hand and fingers to create letters. If a learner is struggling with the acquisition of handwriting skills, ensure that he has sufficient fine motor strength and visual motor skills for proficient performance. Deficits in these motor skills can be remediated by introducing lessons that specifically target these skills (see Chapter 14 on motor skills). When a learner struggles with handwriting, the learner is also likely to have difficulty with written assignments. For lessons that include a written response, first determine whether the written response is a necessary component of the target skill. If a written response is not essential, consider accepting an alternative response form, such as an oral or typed response, while the learner continues to work on handwriting skills.
Decoding Versus Comprehension Do not assume that, because a learner can read words (“decode” them), she also comprehends what she is reading. Make sure that comprehension is targeted during reading instruction. Just as important, probe for comprehension by having your learner read new passages that she has never been taught and then asking comprehension questions that she could only answer if she actually comprehended what she just read (as opposed to repeating what she has been taught to say in the past).
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Working on the Same IEP Goals for a Long Time Individualized Education Program (IEP) goals are regularly monitored to assess learning gains, with data being collected on accuracy of the skill and prompts needed to assist the learner in making a correct response. It can be helpful to graph these data in order to visually inspect progress over time. If the learner is making slow learning gains, consider reviewing the teaching procedures to determine whether any modifications will accelerate her learning rate. If progress has ceased for a significant amount of time, it is necessary to review the IEP and assess whether the goal is still appropriate for the learner and/or whether the teaching procedures are adequate (see Chapter 19 on clinical problem solving).
SUMMARY This chapter outlined several instructional procedures that are useful when teaching academic language arts and mathematics skills. Initial instruction focuses on discriminating among basic letters, numbers, colors, and shapes. Then these skills are used to develop more complex academic skills. Satisfactory acquisition of academic-readiness skills will assist learners in their transition to instruction in an elementary school classroom, providing the foundation for more advanced skills taught later in their educational careers.