Behavioral Interventions and Solutions
Snap Together Stories are the perfect addition to the millions of building bricks you have scattered around. Do you have a child who enjoys playing with LEGOs? A few years ago when I was working as a special education teacher, I had a classroom full of boys who LOVED LEGOs. I searched high and low for brick design cards to… Read More
Visuals are a necessity when supporting children with special needs. I recently wrote a blog post for Especially Education all about the importance of using visuals in the classroom. You can read that post here. One of the most significant areas where visuals can be helpful, are in assisting with the development of PLAY SKILLS. For many children with Autism… Read More
Does your child struggle with pretend play? Pretend play is a critical part of early development. However, it can be a difficult concept for many children, as it is actually made up of a variety of smaller skills. For children to be able to engage in imaginative play, they need to utilize language, social, and problem-solving skills, in addition to… Read More
Do you use a behavior reward system at home or in your classroom? If not, continue reading!
This weekend I was tagged on IG by one of my followers. She wrote an excellent post about how she uses my Puff Up Tags in her classroom and gave me permission to share her post.
"Let's talk puff up tags!! Dana, fellow BCBA, created these babies and boy do we love them in my classroom! My students earn these little tags that we hole punch and put on a necklace throughout the day for anything and everything that we want to reinforce. I came from a 3-5 classroom and was skeptical about the buy-in for this concept in my new K-2 class. Well, my students are borderline obsessed with earning and collecting these and have been since September! I wrote a social story to go with them and relate them to a sticker chart and prize box. To be honest, they don't even care about the prize box. They just want these tags! I have even been able to use them to help potty train one of my Kindergarten students."
Reward tags are an easy, tangible way to reward positive behavior and will help increase the likelihood that those behaviors will occur again in the future! Click the link in the comments to see this product and more!
Did you know that Boston Parents Paper puts out a yearly resource guide entitled, “Your Child with Special Needs,” featuring a variety of articles written for parents, by professionals in the field? This year I was asked to contribute a column about Addressing Challenging Behavior and How it Relates to the IEP Process. You can find it on page 36 of the guide. Read about this topic and more via the link in comments.
Spending my Saturday at the NHABA Conference! #nhaba2019 #biasbehavioral #foreverlearning #bcbalife #appliedbehavioranalysis #collectthoseceus #continuingeducation #behavioranalyst
Everyone knows that grandma's rule is to eat your veggies before you can have dessert, but did you know that this is a behavioral concept known as the Premack Principle?
Many of you are probably already using this strategy without even realizing it. Premack Principle, which is also known as "grandma's rule" or "first/then language," occurs when a preferred activity is used as reinforcement for a non-preferred activity. It is an easy way to increase motivation and provide access to preferred items (reinforcers) in a controlled way.
When using this strategy, make sure that your child (or student) completes the "must-do" task BEFORE, gaining access to the reinforcer. It is also essential to make sure that the reinforcer is something the child REALLY wants and ensure it stays powerful by limiting free access to it.
Does your child or student struggle with Halloween? 🎃
For some children, Halloween is a chance to stay up late, dress up in a fun costume, and eat candy. However, for others, it is a stressful day full of changes in routine, heightened senses, and too much sugar.
One way you can make things easier is with a few visual supports. Visuals (like the ones pictured below) are designed to help include, accommodate, and prepare children for experiences that are outside of the norm.
Check out this great Halloween resource designed to do all that and more! The best part is, it's on sale from NOW until Halloween! Don't miss out!
