Role of ASD Consultant and use of ABLLS-R

1. Role of ASD Consultant and use of ABLLS-R Presented by Cosmin G. Colţea ASD Consultant, Sunrise Health Region

2. Summary • Role of ASD Consultant • Verbal Behaviour assessment • ABLLS-R: • Use of assessment data • Program development • ABLLS-R candidates • AFLS (The Assessment of Functional Living Skills) • Social skills (overview)

3. Role of ASD Consultant • For preschool age children: • Screening for Autism Spectrum Disorder • Summer programs • Coordinate ASD program (SLP, OT, PT, SW, ASW) • Consultations with schools, daycares, others • Parent training

4. Role of ASD Consultant • For school age children: • Screening for Autism Spectrum Disorder • Summer programs • Family support • General consultation • Accessing ASD services: • Contact ASDC/OT/PT/SLP/ECP after exhausting in-school services • General consultations • Mostly for transitions

5. Verbal Behaviour Assessment • BLA (Behavioral Language Assessment Form) • ABLLS-R (The Assessment of Language and Learning Skills) • VB-MAPP (Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program) • Barriers assessment • PEAK (The PEAK: Relational Training System) • evaluation and curriculum guide for basic and advanced language skills

6. Data collection • Assessments useless without good data collection • Trial by trial data collection • Probe based data collection • Collect – Graph – Analyze - Make changes • Collecting Correct responses and Errors • E.g., looking at rate of correct vs errors over time

7. VB- review • Language = learned behaviour based on the influence of environment (Skinner, 1957) In other words reinforcement and punishment drive language. • Listener and Speaker • Teach both • Conversations • Pinnacle of language • Comprised of all the other verbal elements

8. VB- language classification • Mand: Asking/demanding items of interest • E.g., Demanding Juice because thirsty • Language controlled by motivation • Tact: Naming/Labeling objects/activities/etc. • E.g., saying Truck after seeing a truck • Language controlled by observing items around • Intraverbal: Having a conversation/Answering questions • E.g., Saying Lamb after someone else said Mary had a little… • Language controlled by somebody else’s words/language • Students who respond to some questions but not other! • What do you drive when going home? • What do you wear when going home?

9. VB- language classification • Echoic: Hearing and repeating • E.g., Saying Truck after hearing someone else saying Truck • Language controlled by somebody else’s language • Receptive: Following instructions • E.g., Turning book page when told to do so • Language controlled by someone else’s language

10. VB- language classification • TFFC/RFFC: Labeling/Recognizing items/activities by Function, Feature, Class • E.g., What has 4 legs? Dog; Point to something that barks- Dog. • Language/Gestures controlled by someone else’s language • Textual: Reading words • E.g., Saying Car because student sees the word Car • Language controlled by written information • Other

11. VB strategies • Important: • Check for language use and source of control • Analyse student’s language • E.g.: • Student saying What’s the matter? when falling , I want to go home for escaping/avoiding demand • Student scrolling for correct response • Student using scripted language • Learning occurs based on where the attention goes !!!

12. ABLLS-R • Completing the assessment • By person responsible for programming • Info obtained from: • People working directly with the student • Student observation in different environments • Formal presentation of tasks • Score based on what the student does or can do when required • Underestimate if not sure

13. ABLLS-R • Completing the assessment • Suggested reading: • Sundberg and Partington (1989).Teaching Language to Children with Autism or Other Developmental Disorders • Partington, J (2010).The Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills (Scoring Instructions and IEP Development Guide) • Partington, J. (2014). Getting Started: Developing Critical Learning Skills for Children on the Autism Spectrum

14. ABLLS-R • Assessing: • Prompting responses ! • E.g., combining nouns and adjectives • Q: What’s this picture all about? • A: It’s a big red fire truck vs • Q: What colour is this fire truck? • A: Red truck(simple labeling) • Some items include prompting • E.g., asking with item present

15. ABLLS-R • Basic skills (ABLLS-R) • 15 skills (A-P) • Critical skills for nonverbal students • Visual performance (B) • Receptive language (C) • Motor imitation (D) • Vocal imitation (E) • Requesting (F) • Social Interaction (L) (Partington, 2014) • I’d add Instructional Control- for teachers

16. ABLLS-R • Program development • It’s both science and art • Where’s the FUN? • Fluid • Building on existent strengths • Team work • Aim for goals that can be reached within 3 months • Recognize steps needed to achieve goal • Reaching small targets reinforces staff involvement

17. ABLLS-R • BLA examples (Sundberg & Partington, 1998): • Level 1: • Limited attendance to tasks/ Lack of social interactions/ Doesn’t imitate others/ Uses gestures, grabbing others for access to his wants/ Engages in problem behaviour if tasks presented/ Doesn’t label objects in his environment/etc • Intervention: • Requesting items • Respond to others’ instructions • Labeling items through play • Possible goal for requesting: • Student will spontaneously ask for at least 10 wanted items using a specific response (F5) • Few other steps in between baseline and goal

18. ABLLS-R • BLA examples (Sundberg $ Partington, 1998): • Level 2: • Not following along with group/Difficult transitions/Very limited requesting/Some gross motor imitation/Few words approximations/follows instructions without contextual cues/Problem behaviours/etc • Intervention: • Requesting items • Increase of motor/vocal imitation • Labeling/Receptive • Possible goal for requesting: • Requesting missing item needed to complete task (F9)

19. ABLLS-R • BLA examples (Sundberg $ Partington, 1998): • Level 3: • Usually cooperative with adults/ Hard to understand language/ Imitation of others’ behaviour if prompted/ matches identical items/ Labels about 10 items/ etc • Intervention: • SLP • Requesting • Receptive/labeling/etc • Possible goal for receptive: • Selects X pictures and objects named by teacher (C20)

20. ABLLS-R • BLA examples (Sundberg $ Partington, 1998): • Level 4: • Attending to tasks up to 30min/Very rare minor problem behaviour/ Requests many reinforcers/ Good gross motor imitation/ 15 RFFC/ Labels 100 items/ etc • Intervention: • Intraverbals • Receptive/labeling/etc • Social skills (with peers not adults) • Possible goals for intraverbals: • Fill in item given class/ class given items/ features given item/item given features/ (H14/16/17/18)

21. ABLLS-R • BLA examples (Sundberg $ Partington, 1998): • Level 5: • Inability to form complete sentences/ Asks for reinforcers / Strong responding to one-step instructions, difficulties with multiple steps/ Answers identifications questions/ Answers few WH questions/ etc • Intervention: • Intraverbals • Requesting • Receptive/labeling/etc • Possible goal for intraverbals: • What/Where/Who/Whose/When/Which/How/Why(H23-33)

22. ABLLS-R • Program development summary: • 50-70% of targets from Basic Skills (A-P) • Increase complexity of existent skills • Social skills included/adjusted for each student • The number of programs varies based on level: • Few for early learners (e.g., 5-10) • Many for advanced learners (e.g., 15-20) • Consideration of EOs (Establishing Operations) • Can be used with students with limited language • Younger or older

23. Establishing Operations (EO) • EO = environmental event momentarily affecting: • The value of a reinforcer • Behaviours associated with getting the reinforcer • EO : Unconditioned and Conditioned • Explains behaviours that occur “out of the blue” • Manding (Requesting) relies on manipulating Eos • Thirsty after gym, more likely to engage in asking for water • Teaching walking instead of running- better after gym • E.g., student with known history of self-injurious behaviour (SIB), aggression. • Telling student that a non-preferred activity is next may result in student engaging in SIB or bystander aggression while walking to it

24. AFLS • For students with limited skills • Early start -> better results • Can be used in combination with ABLLS-R

25. Social skills • Individualized • Task analysis • Spectrum: • From “eye contact” to “playing rules based games” etc • Coaching model: • Presenting task and/or modeling/video modeling • Practice with one adult (artificial/real environment) • Practice with confederates (artificial/real environment) • Practice with peers

26. Summary • Different verbal operants, under different stimulus (Motivation, Items, Language): • Mands • Tacts • Intraverbals, etc • Using ABA principles • Data collection is paramount for: • Knowing where to start • Measuring progress • Knowing how high to aim

27. Resources • Shapiro, L.E. (2004). 101 Ways to Teach Children Social Skills • http://sociallyspeakingllc.com/my-mission-for-socially/free-pdfs/101_ways_to_teach_social.pdf • PEAK • http://www.peakaba.com/104-2/

28. References • Partington, J (2010).The Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills (Scoring Instructions and IEP Development Guide) • Partington, J. (2014) Getting started: Developing critical learning skills for children on the autism spectrum • Sundberg and Partington (1989).Teaching Language to Children with Autism or Other Developmental Disorders