Presented by Cosmin
G. Colţea
ASD Consultant,
Sunrise Health Region
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)
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
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 inschool services


General consultations
Mostly for transitions
Verbal Behaviour Assessment
1. BLA (Behavioral Language Assessment Form)
2. ABLLS-R (The Assessment of Language and Learning Skills)
3. VB-MAPP (Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and
Placement Program)
1.
Barriers assessment
4. PEAK (The PEAK: Relational Training System)
1. evaluation and curriculum guide for basic and
advanced language skills
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
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
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?
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
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
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 !!!
ABLLS-R
1. Completing the assessment
1. By person responsible for programming
2. Info obtained from:
1.
2.
3.
3.
4.
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
ABLLS-R
1. Completing the assessment
1. 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
ABLLS-R
2. Assessing:
5. Prompting responses !
2.
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)
1.
Some items include prompting
E.g., asking with item present
1.
1.
2.
1.
2.
ABLLS-R
Basic skills (ABLLS-R)
3.
1.
15 skills (A-P)
4. Critical skills for nonverbal students
1.
Visual performance (B)
2. Receptive language (C)
3. Motor imitation (D)
4. Vocal imitation (E)
5. Requesting (F)
6. Social Interaction (L) (Partington, 2014)

I’d add Instructional Control- for teachers
ABLLS-R
5. Program development
1. It’s both science and art
2. Where’s the FUN?
3. Fluid
4. Building on existent strengths
5. Team work
6. Aim for goals that can be reached within 3 months
1.
2.
Recognize steps needed to achieve goal
Reaching small targets reinforces staff involvement
ABLLS-R
BLA examples (Sundberg & Partington, 1998):
6.
Level 1:
1.
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
2.
Intervention:
Requesting items
Respond to others’ instructions
Labeling items through play
1.
2.
3.
Possible goal for requesting:
3.
1.
1.
Student will spontaneously ask for at least 10 wanted items using a
specific response (F5)
Few other steps in between baseline and goal
ABLLS-R
6. BLA examples (Sundberg $ Partington, 1998):
1.
Level 2:
1.
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
2.
3.
Intervention:
Requesting items
Increase of motor/vocal imitation
Labeling/Receptive
1.
Possible goal for requesting:
Requesting missing item needed to complete task (F9)
1.
2.
3.
ABLLS-R
6. BLA examples (Sundberg $ Partington, 1998):
1.
Level 3:
1.
Usually cooperative with adults/ Hard to understand language/
Imitation of others’ behaviour if prompted/ matches identical
items/ Labels about 10 items/ etc
2.
3.
Intervention:
SLP
Requesting
Receptive/labeling/etc
1.
Possible goal for receptive:
Selects X pictures and objects named by teacher (C20)
1.
2.
3.
ABLLS-R
6. BLA examples (Sundberg $ Partington, 1998):
1.
Level 4:
1.
Attending to tasks up to 30min/Very rare minor problem
behaviour/ Requests many reinforcers/ Good gross motor
imitation/ 15 RFFC/ Labels 100 items/ etc
2.
Intervention:
Intraverbals
Receptive/labeling/etc
Social skills (with peers not adults)
1.
2.
3.
3.
1.
Possible goals for intraverbals:
Fill in item given class/ class given items/ features given
item/item given features/ (H14/16/17/18)
ABLLS-R
6. BLA examples (Sundberg $ Partington, 1998):
1.
Level 5:
1.
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
2.
3.
Intervention:
Intraverbals
Requesting
Receptive/labeling/etc
1.
Possible goal for intraverbals:
What/Where/Who/Whose/When/Which/How/Why(H23-33)
1.
2.
3.
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
Establishing Operations (EO)
 EO = environmental event momentarily affecting:
1. The value of a reinforcer
2. 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
AFLS
 For students with limited skills
 Early start -> better results
 Can be used in combination with ABLLS-R
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
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
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/
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