The basic steps to teaching sign language

Establishing Operations, Inc. has a series of videos titled Teaching Verbal Behavior in the Natural Environment that lay out the basic concepts in order to teach your child how to communicate. I will be focusing on the video that explains how to use sign language with your child. Using sign language does not mean that they cannot or will never be able to communicate vocally, but rather that they have weak echoic skills and need another way to communicate with those who may not be able to understand them.

Here are some of the first steps in teaching sign language:

How to teach sign:

If the child has poor motor imitation, start off with modified signs that are as close to original signs as possible. If your child does not like to be touched, begin doing exercises where you pair touching their hands with reinforcement and once touching their hands is no longer aversive, you can begin physically prompting signs.

A) Model

B) Prompt

C) Give

Say the name of the item with each step. Model the sign, prompt the child to imitate the sign, and then give the reinforcement. Be quick with steps to avoid a battle over the reinforcement; you can cut out the model step if they are grabbing at reinforcement. Make sure to give reinforcement within seconds of the sign. Prompt what the child is focused on rather than what you are trying to teach; be sure to follow child’s motivation.

Manding Guidelines:

• Teach mands in the natural environment: use child’s motivation for objects in situation to teach manding
• Motivation must be present before prompting the mand, make sure motivation is present and high for the object you are manding for
• Practice teaching mands before you work with child, mistakes with the child makes it more likely that they will get upset
• Teach mands in a variety of locations; they should be able to generalize to outside situations
• Capture and contrive many opportunities each day to teach mands, you have to actively set up situations in which they will be motivated to ask for something
• Track the number of mands each day; use tally counters to keep track of how many mands child makes per day
• Be a giver, not a taker: give a little bit at a time so that the child has to keep coming back to you for more, rather than taking back items to get more mands, do not kill value of the items by taking them away and making them ask for them
• Sanitize the environment so that you can control the reinforcers: set up environment strategically, know how to make each activity better before the child comes over
• Avoid killing the motivation: don’t make them ask for every little piece, keep number of demands fair, give them a few pieces for free
• Be sure to fade prompts: try to get the best quality of prompts with the least amount of prompting
• Avoid placing unnecessary demands on your child when teaching mands: do not ask for names of items or ask them to play with objects a certain way
• When teaching the first mands avoid teaching: yes, no, more, help, please, give me, and eat or anything that can turn into a generalized mand for many things, teach individual item names rather than a general name
• Avoid teaching mands for the removal of something aversive: leave, bye bye, move, go, break
• Want children to learn that when they talk good things happen rather than bad things go away

Teaching sign language should be fun and easy! As the teacher, you just have to stay one sign ahead of the learner and watch their motivation level to keep the child engaged in the activity. Learning signs can take many trials, so be patient and consistent. Never be afraid to reinforce!

Happy signing!

Functions of Language

In everyday language, our words serve various purposes that flow seamlessly in conversation and do not normally get noticed. However, the functions of these words are crucial in the way that we communicate with those around us. Sometimes children on the Autism spectrum do not learn the nuances of language and the different functions that words serve on their own. Typical children pick this up through social cues and everyday interactions but as Behavioral Therapists, the process of correctly using language is something that we teach often. Here I will discuss some of the main types of verbal relations and their importance so that parents may better understand the functions of their children’s language and have some pointers about how to increase the proper functions of communication.

ECHOIC

An echoic is when a child will repeat what they have heard another person say. They might have a favorite line from a T.V. show that they repeat after the character says it. It is important to encourage this if the child rarely makes sounds and the parent wants to promote talking. Children naturally go through a babbling stage in which they practice making noises and forming words; echoics is similar and while it is a more basic part of language, it can be important in a child’s development.

TACT

A tact is simply a label, or what an object is called in everyday conversation. Tacting occurs when a child looks at a picture and begins naming things that they see. They are not asking for these objects, but merely saying the names aloud. Learning tacts is important but is often a lower priority for Behavioral Therapists than mands. In comparing tacts and mands, Jack Michael states in his book, Concepts and Principles of Behavior Analysis, “the mand permits the speaker to alter the environment through someone else’s behavior, and the tact permits the listener to react to the behavior of others,” (p. 204).

MAND

A mand is a request, or when the speaker asks for a reinforcer. In conversation, it sometimes may be difficult to distinguish what is a mand and what is not. However, mands are used more often than we realize. Parents most often want their children to learn how to mand for objects so that they can communicate what they want with the parents. The best way to train your child to mand is through practice; set up situations in which the child is directly reinforced for manding. Have a favorite toy or snack on a table and have your child come over to you. Let them sample the reinforcer and then gently remove it again. Try to encourage them to ask for the reinforcer, whether through verbal words or sign language. If they attempt at all (not whining, but a close approximation of the word or sign), reinforce them! Once you have established a system in which they get reinforced for attempting to communicate, they will most likely do this most often. Practice with many trials a day; make sure to change the level of response that you are reinforcing. It should be slightly increasing each time. If you know they can say to whole word, don’t reinforce part of it. This will help to teach them how to ask you for things and better communicate their wants.

INTRAVERBAL

An intraverbal is perhaps the most advanced function of language. Intraverbals are discussing objects that are not in the room, categorizing objects, filling in the blanks of common phrases and more. This requires a higher foundation of language because the child has to be well versed in features of objects, functions of objects, common phrases, etc. and understand how to interact with another person when discussing these things in conversation. For example, a more elementary intraverbal would be to fill in the phrase “Ready, Set, ___!” or saying what number comes next when counting. These are abstract ideas that the child has to learn how to fill in through the social environment beyond basic conversations.

Knowing these functions of language can improve the way that you understand your child’s language and the ways in which to help them learn to better communicate with you. Further research on the subject of the functions of language can be found in the works of B.F. Skinner or Jack Michael.