Making the Community Successful

Parent Training

Monroe Township Public Schools

Department of Pupil Personnel Services

Teresa Herrero-Taylor, Ph.D. BCBA-D Board Certified Behavior Analyst- Doctoral

NJ Certified School Psychologist

District School Psychologist

Karitssa Fernandez Barry, MEd BCBA Board Certified Behavior Analyst

NJ Certified Special Education Teacher

District Behavior Specialist

Topics Covered Today

• General Community Strategies

• Child-Directed Planning

• Preparation

• Dentist Visits

• Doctor Visits

• Supermarket

• Restaurants

• Haircuts

• Final Points

2

Should My Child Attend?

• Assess what your child could gain.

• There must be a real benefit for this child that goes beyond sharing in family time.

• If it's a family event, make sure there's some experience with other family members that takes up part of the event that is just for them (i.e., game, reading a book with them, playing).

• If you don't know what is in this event for your child after analyzing the situation, you don't have to go (If you feel like you do have to go, then bring along activities just for the child.)

• The outing should be a positive experience for all

General Community Strategies • Reinforcement (specific verbal praise; tangible)

• Contingency Maps

• Video and in vivo modeling

• Desensitization (short, frequent visits that ends on a positive note)

• Task analysis (break visit into small steps and implement them as a chain skill)

• Distraction procedures (music; DVD)

• Pain reduction procedures

• Extinction

• Visuals

• Schedule/list/social story

• Practice ahead of time (role play)

• Set time limit for outing

General Community Strategies • Teach useful skills

• Make the environment predictable

• Provide consistent routines

• Avoid sudden changes

• Avoid Rushing!

• Give facts in an unemotional tone

• Model positive acceptance

• Sequence of upcoming events

• Provide information about time periods

Immediate Antecedent Events (Predictors)

(O’Neill et al., 1997)

Time of

Day

Physical

Setting

People Activity

6

DISC

Deprivation

• How long has it been?

Immediacy

• 3 seconds

Size

• The amount must be worth the effort

Contingent

• Only available when the desire behavior occurs

7

How do we make Reinforcement Effective?

ABCs of Behavior A

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Be

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1) Identify 2 community locations outings that you want to prioritize. 2) Identify the best antecedent factors for each one (time, place, people, activity).

Child-Directed Planning

• Pick places where your child will be welcome

• Go at off times and when your child is not tired or hungry

• Choose your seat (i.e., in a restaurant, at a birthday party, on an airplane) with consideration to your child

• Set a time limit

• Figure out how long your child can control their behavior in the environment, then subtract 10 minutes.

• Build in opportunities for choices

Child-Directed Planning

• Understand what motivates your child.

• What gets them excited? (What gets them too excited?) What stresses them out?

• What does he/she need to feel comfortable? Who should be with them? (A sibling can be a comfort, but if grandma would be embarrassed seeing a loud tantrum in public, maybe they are not a good choice.)

Investigate & Plan • What do you know about the venue?

• What can you learn about the event? Is it likely to be crowded? Auditorily or visually noisy?

•Is there a seating chart? Can you get reserved seats close enough to see what's going on?

•Is there a place to walk around if the main event is proves too much to take?

•Where's the bathroom? How long is the walk from the exit to your transportation? When does it get crowded, and can you go to a venue at an off-peak time, like the first movie of the morning, or the last hour the gym is open?

Preparation

• Prepare your child.

• Priming: Preview of what's coming up with your child.

• Schedule of events (beginning, middle, end) helps them to understand the order of events

• Spell out explicit, concrete expectations for appropriate behavior

• Focus on the most important rules that must be enforced

Preparation

• Social Stories: You can try writing a story that explains what to expect.

• Especially useful for going to places like the doctor, dentist, a family dinner, school, or at the start of a new program.

• With other activities, the child's reaction to the preview also can be a tip off to you about the activity's attraction. This may be the key factor in a successful outing.

• Use pictures/video of the activity/event

Escape Route

• Try to end the activity on a positive note.

• Have an exit strategy. If things don't go well, it's good to have one-on-one coverage – i.e., mom or dad -- to play defense.

• Use tricks you use at home to calm and comfort your child, get them to focus on you and your voice and your words. The idea is to get them to avoid non-compliant behavior that will, in the end, prevent them from having any fun. If that effort fails, hit the eject button.

Dentist Visits: Preparing Ahead

• Skills that need to be practiced at home, prior to the visit:

• Consistent tooth brushing

• Keeping mouth open for period of time

• Tolerating instruments touching each tooth

• Remaining seated with arms and legs down

Doctor Visits: Preparing Ahead

• Skills that need to be practiced at home, prior to the visit:

• Taking temperature

• Blood pressure check

• Eyes & ears checked

• Open mouth with tongue depressor

• Checking extremities/limbs

Doctor Visits

• Additional skills that may need to be practiced:

• Multi-step hearing and sight exams

• Cleaning wounds

•Application of ointments and Band-Aids

Strategies for Dentist/Doctor Visits

• Shaping procedures at home

• Using tools similar to the dentist/doctor at home

• Reinforcement for practice trials

• Video or visual cues of the office reviewed at home

• Video modeling of the office/visit

Strategies for Dentist/Doctor Visits

• Token systems or immediate reinforcement while at the visit

• Behavior contract established ahead of time

• Task analyze steps of visit

•Complete partial steps and build up

• Distraction techniques (music)

Going to the Supermarket

• Skills needed for a successful visit:

• Waiting

• Scanning

• Tolerating crowded areas

• Being denied a request (preferred food/snack)

• Remaining with parent or near proximity

Supermarket Strategies

• Have child push the cart or carry the basket

• Teach child to find things per aisle

• Use visuals/lists

• Initial visits should be brief and not when you plan to do the major food shopping

• Make sure child is not hungry prior to going

• Provide reinforcement for a successful trip

• Go at times when the store is less crowded

Going to Hair Salon or Barber

• Skills needed for a successful visit:

• Remaining still for a period of time

• Keeping head straight

• Wearing a cape or robe

• Having a towel around the neck area

• Having hair wet (washed or spray bottle)

• Tolerating the noises (crowd/hair buzzer)

Strategies for the Hair Salon/Barber

• Go when it’s least crowded

• Will salon open a little earlier?

• Be mindful of auditory and tactile stimulation

• Desensitization at home for these stimulation

• Desensitization to electric buzzer at home

• Towel around neck

• Frequent powder brushing

• Allow child to stand instead of sit

Going to a Restaurant

• Skills needed for a successful visit:

• Remaining seated in close quarters

• Waiting for food

• Tolerating crowds

• Using utensils and napkins

• Not grabbing items

• Food from another person’s plate

• Condiments on table

Strategies for Restaurant Visits

• Choose family friendly locations

• Speak to host/hostess prior to entering restaurant to request specific seating

• Request a table that is to the side or booth

• Bring activities your child enjoys for wait time

• Bring small snacks to use as “appetizers” or order an appetizer for your child

• Start with fast food or buffet restaurants if your child has difficulty waiting; preorder for other restaurants

Strategies for Restaurant Visits

• Try to frequent the locations to increase familiarity

• Use visuals for assistance with ordering foods

• Go during off-peak hours

• Initial visit may be for dessert or appetizer only

• Request extra napkins and to go containers in advance

• Ask for the bill right away

• Use dessert as a reward

1) Identify what strategies you would like to try. 2) What other issues need to be addressed for community success?

Appreciate Steps In the Right Direction

• Celebrate small, partial victories….it's unlikely that any event will be a purely wonderful experience.

• Appreciate moments that do work-- one ride at the carnival, one song at the concert, one segment of the religious class, one treat at the birthday party…where they are fully engaged in experiencing something.

Final Points

• Every child is different, has his/her own unique issues and conditions that represent both opportunities and challenges for a successful community outing.

• The more you prepare yourself, and your child for what to expect, the better. If it's going to be a noisy parade, with fire engines and clowns and horses and marching bands, look for ways -- in words, photos and videos if easily available -- to share that information with your child.

Final Points • If something unexpected happens, make a show of

shrugging it off. Hey, they squirted water at us from the parade float! That's OK! Let's go dry off and then we'll have more fun! It may not work, you may not recover, but then again, you might.

• Take stock, have some perspective on where you've been. Think about where your family was a year ago, what you could do and what you didn't dare do.

If at First You Don’t Succeed…

• Don't give up. It's essential to keep trying, even after a failure. Learn from what happened.

• What were the conditions there? Was the mall too crowded, noisy? When does it open, and is it quieter then? Did we give a good preview of what to expect? Did the child expect something else? Did we expect something else? Are the child's preferences changing? It could even have been a bad day.

• Look for and create opportunities to have great ones.

Thank you for coming !