Where is the student now? Where do you want him to be? Given the sub-skill you selected within your task analysis (your starting point for instruction), how can you shape this behavior into a practical skill for the future?
As an example, let’s consider the student whose response to a question is too brief, without sufficient detail (“I worked at a grocery store” – Which grocery store? When? What did you do there?). Imagine that this behavior is represented by one block. As the student is able to add one more detail to his response, another “block” is added to the stack. For some students, your initial goal might be to build a tower that only contains two blocks – I say the specific name of the place where I worked, and what my job was (“I worked at Southern’s Foods, and I bagged groceries.”). Over time, you guide the student in adding one detail about this work, then another detail, and so on. In this way, you are shaping the response into one that is more complete, one “block” at a time.
What visual supports (scripts, instructions, reminder cues, etc.) will you use to help the student rehearse the expected behavior or skill?
The primary tools you use to support interview rehearsals will be scripts, scenario cards, and visual reminder cues. These tools can direct the student’s attention to key behaviors and statements that help him to generate responses that are adequate, relevant, and appropriate.
As you introduce the topic, you might use graphic organizers to visually and concretely connect the student’s strengths and experiences to the strengths and experiences that the employer(s) is looking for to support perspective-taking. Social narratives may also prove important as you introduce the interview process, explain why certain behaviors are expected, and emphasize how those behaviors are perceived by others.
What type of prompting might you need to provide in the initial learning phase?
Modeling and verbal prompts may be necessary in the initial stage to support the student in successfully performing each of these steps:
1) Identifying the question and the reason for the question = model what to think in that moment (e.g., “They are asking this because they want to know if I can stay calm at work”)
2) Using repair strategies when necessary = verbally model and prompt what to say and how to say it (e.g., “Can you please repeat the question?”)
3) Generating a response to the question = verbally model and prompt a response that is adequate, relevant, and appropriate
4) Self-regulating = model what to think in that moment (“I should not talk about video games” or “I need to wait until they are finished talking) and model what to do and say instead
What is your plan for systematically and quickly fading out your prompting? How do you time and fade the prompt to support the student in initiating the target behavior?
As you issue verbal and modeling prompts to support the student in generating responses, direct the student’s attention to the visual supports that illustrate what you are modeling. As the student attends to these supports (e.g., the scripts, the reminder cues), use less intrusive prompts (gestures to the visual supports and partial verbal prompts – one word or phrase instead of the whole sentence), until you are able to fade those prompts out completely.
Can the student discriminate between the more versus less appropriate response in a given role-play scenario? Are you arranging opportunities for the student to make such discriminations and to label when the instructor or someone else performs the behavior incorrectly?
Use live role-play demonstrations and video scenarios to depict the appropriate response to an interview question contrasted with the less appropriate response to an interview question. The complexity of the responses you depict hinges on the needs of the student. In some cases, you might begin by showing very obvious examples of inappropriate responses juxtaposed with very obvious examples of appropriate responses. Other students might be ready to observe and label more subtle behaviors that comprise an appropriate or inappropriate response. Select examples that are most relevant to the student. The instructor can pause the film or “freeze” the live role-play to point out verbal and non-verbal cues to teach and to practice social attribution skills. Furthermore, the observing student can also label what he sees.
Are you arranging frequent practice opportunities to build fluency through repetition?
Repeated rehearsals across increasingly generalized conditions are crucial to the development of this skill. Also consider how the student’s anxiety will likely reduce as he feels more confident in his ability to respond to interview questions.
What steps do you need to take to ensure that everyone targeting that skill applies the same level of prompting and fades it out at the same rate to support initiation by the student?