Once the skill is performed accurately and independently under one condition, are you arranging multiple opportunities for the student to practice the skill with different people, and in multiple settings? Are you arranging opportunities for the student to practice the skill in various tasks and with different materials?
After teaching the routine for handling change in the classroom, arrange opportunities to practice in the work setting as well. When arranging practice opportunities, remember that change is not always negative or upsetting. Arrange for neutral or positive changes to occur as well. Make sure you provide the student with the opportunity to practice coping with changes during various parts of the day and while engaging in different tasks.
Are you arranging opportunities for the student to practice the targeted skill in natural environments and under natural conditions?
Have you adapted visual supports so that they can remain in the natural environments that this student encounters now, and in the future?
If you are using a situational story to prepare the student for change, make a sentence or two from that story available to the student during their workday. For example, you may have the saying “Sometimes things change and that is OK” posted on their computer, desk, or agenda. This labeling statement may then lead to the use of a coping card in their wallet with short bullet points such as:
“When something changes,
These visual supports are not intrusive and can be very helpful in alleviating anxiety and frustration over change. See Visual Supports sections for printable versions.
Are you collecting data to make adjustments to the teaching and to ensure that the student is tolerating change and applying needed coping strategies across multiple conditions?
When you are on an intervention topic page, and you click on the word “Communication Systems and Scripts” within the A &I graphic, here is what appears in the window:
Communication Systems, Scripts, and Scenarios:
Does the student need a communication script to support practice of self-advocating requests that relate to change (e.g. requesting advanced notice of changes, or seeking clarification related to changes)?
On the script card, does the student need additional picture or word cues to define his body position, facial expression, gestures, etc. during the use of the script?
What scenarios might you present (using scenario Act it Out cards) to help students produce their own dialogue and interactions to practice or role-play in a scene?
Role-play may be helpful in teaching the student appropriate ways to cope with change. Teach the student to engage in a specific response to change using a visual support. Then, role-play that response across a variety of scenarios. Provide “pretend” situations in which change occurs. Then, see how the student handles change. Discuss their reactions afterwards.
What video scenarios might you present to help students make accurate discriminations between appropriate and less appropriate responses?
You may want to film scenarios of actors handling change appropriately as well as less appropriately. Then, determine if the student can identify which videos are appropriate as well as WHY they are appropriate versus inappropriate. If the student has difficulty with a dialogue discussion about the videos, try a written format, such as a worksheet. The questions on the worksheet could be open-ended or provide more guidance by giving answer choices. This is transforming a verbal activity into a visual activity, which may help the student learn more effectively.
Are you arranging frequent practice opportunities with visual scripts and scenarios to build independence and fluency through repetition?
In order to align this intervention topic area with the unique needs of the student, do you need to create scripts or scenarios in the View2do program?
