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?
This skill involves having self-calming strategies, having other activities to occupy one’s time and having a plan for making contact (involving a calendar, scripts, reminders and possibly other visual supports). All of these are used within the framework for understanding the waiting process. If he is unclear on the waiting process, that is your first step. Chaining and combining his self-calming plan, his use of a list of other activities, and his use of visual supports to make professional contacts may be a slow and methodical process. Build on successes and avoid overwhelming the student with too many unfamiliar judgments and varying situations.
Is the student extremely rigid in keeping to time frames, or is he more flexible? For example, if he was told he will be contacted in 2-3 days, will he experience significant anxiety if he has not heard by the third day, or will he be able to cope with a longer wait? Does he have interests or activities that he can continue to participate in during the wait time? For some students, the basic skills of handling waiting and occupying their time appropriately would be where to start. These skills themselves are critical for success in all areas.
What visual supports (scripts, instructions, reminder cues, etc.) will you use to help the student rehearse the expected behavior or skill?
For some students, understanding the process is a step toward the reduction of anxiety. Provide a graphic organizer to show the sequence of events after the application or interview so the student understands what to expect.
For some students, the most important component of this skill might be the ability to wait and stay occupied with other productive activities. Practice in using an activities list (see Visual Cues) for engagement might need to be emphasized.
A graphic organizer could be added to depict the four possible things that might happen after the interview or application. Setting up a concrete plan for follow up would involve teaching the use of a schedule or calendar for how and when to make contact, along with defined rules.
The use of visual scripts to practice follow up by phone will be important. Also consider that some scripts might be used during actual phone calls (at least the basic introductory and purpose statements to use at the beginning of the phone call). Some of these scripts might need to include pictures or icons and be much simpler depending on the level of the student. For some students, the scripts may need to be developed specific to the individual situation. It could be a simple script for the student to give his name and simply ask if a decision has been made for the position. For others it might be a script that includes giving their name, asking for a specific person or department, reminding the person of when they interviewed, and then asking if a decision has been made.
Follow up via email could be taught and practiced with the use of a script template or graphic organizer.
What type of prompting might you need to provide in the initial learning phase?
The specific target identified during the task analysis will determine what the initial instruction will be. Practice in using coping skills, selecting and engaging in appropriate activities, and practice in phone call follow up will involve direct instruction along with modeling by the instructor. Verbal feedback during student role-play and practice of those tasks will also be important. Some students will need continued practice in making phone contact guided by your verbal and gestural prompts to the scripts or reminder cues.
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?
The goal is for the student to feel confident and comfortable responding to the sequence of events after the interview or application process. The faster the student can learn to refer to and use the visual supports, the more independent he can become. Fading out the verbal or gestural prompts will be dependent on the student’s anxiety level, and ability to handle the various steps in the process. How can you prompt so the student is successful in using the supports yet also so that he moves toward initiation in using those supports independently?
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?
Role-play and video scenarios can be effective in showing appropriate and inappropriate responses during phone follow-ups. The importance of tone of voice, attitude, and self-regulation responses can be modeled and practiced.
Are you arranging frequent practice opportunities to build fluency through repetition?
In addition to targeting the specific skill of following up via email or phone after an application or interview, consider how these communication skills impact interactions across a much wider variety of contexts (e.g., arranging a time to get together to see a movie; emailing a teacher to ask a question about an assignment; calling to make a doctor’s appointment). Engage the student in multiple opportunities to practice making appropriate contact by phone and email to clearly and appropriately exchange information with a communication partner.
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?
All schedules, rules, reminder cards, scripts and graphic organizers should be shared with every instructor for consistent practice in the targeted skills and how they are used. The goal should be for the student to have confidence in his ability to use the visuals, so all instructors should be prompting to those visual cues in order to build independence.