ABA Resources

[melpara]

Hi!!! I am a para for special education!!!! I was wondering if anyone has resources for the Applied Behavior Analysis program that would work for a non-verbal student. Also, I could use any behavior management ideas for a non-verbal student. Thanks!!!

[christiw]

I absolutely love the Pyramid Approach. It has worked wonders with my non-verbal students (verbal too for that matter). Small visual boards with First - Then are used showing the work (first) reward (then). My non-verbal students do better with a picture schedule. so much of the behavior comes from not knowing what is happening or having a way to communicate about it. Using some sort of picture exchange system is quite valuable for everyone.

[leafy seadragon]

You've probably heard that all behaviour is communication a million times but it really is. I have found with my non-verbal students once we managed to communicate that the behaviour settled rapidly. The key is what form of communication will work best with this child. PECS is great but I've also had a lot of success with Makaton which sign just key words in a naturalisitic gesture and you still verbally communicate. some students who have difficulties looking at your face and are not really interested in pictures will be fascinated by the movement of your hands. Also some students find 3D representations of things that they can touch and feel (lots of texture very senory) will prefer to work with those than flat boardmaker images, different things for different kids but once you get through the communication barrier, you start to work together more. Not always smooth sailing but smoother.

[Dreya]

Can you give an example of how to use 3d pictures in an activity schedule...

where do you find the pictures?

[leafy seadragon]

I make a lot of my stuff, but also sometimes find small toys in junk shops etc. that can be moved from one container to another (to be done) then finished. You can get books and small items like world globes (for geography), tiny computers and tiny plastic books etc that go in dolls houses. With one student, I used these to match to the boardmaker pictures so that eventually the boardmaker pictures became interesting to him, then I faded the toys. When I want to enhance a picture I stick on material that is high in sensory satisfaction to make it more interesting. It's about drawing their attention to things. Some children dislike really looking but will eventually look at something they find interesting. I was also lucky enough to find some posters that were 3D with body parts, vegetables, animals, letters etc. that came from China, but I'm not sure where you'd find them. Some kids become overly fascinated with things they can touch so it can be a distraction, for others it works. I teach an autism class and we all have individual schedules on our desk and a class schedule up the front that we go through each day before we start.