You hear parents suggest to their children to “use their words” to identify what they are trying to say. But if you don’t know how to say it, how can you say it? This is a minor problem Bryce has. He’s great at parroting anything you say, but their are some words he just doesn’t know.

With the guidance from our Behavioural Consultant we have come up a communication objective.

Long term objective: Bryce will independently tact 250 items in his environment with 90% accuracy on three consecutive probe trials. This will include a range of items from across home, school, community settings, body parts, and action words through echoic to independent labeling.

Here is what we are currently working on with Bryce.

1. Find 4 flashcards with pictures of words you don’t think your child knows. (You can also use your own pictures, or books with single pages of the item you want your child to label.)

2. Hold up a flashcard at a time and tell your child what it is on the flashcard. Continue labeling all 4 flashcards, then mix up the pile of flashcards.

3. Show a flashcard and wait 3 seconds for a response. If child responds correctly, praise your child verbally. Check out our 98 ways to say “Very Good” post for some excellent suggestions of praises. If the child doesn’t respond correctly, re-label it. Continue showing a flashcard and waiting for a response for all 4 cards.

4. Mix up the pile of flashcards and repeat #3 until you have gone through the 4 cards, 5 times for a total of 20 times labeling.

Make sure you keep a paper record of how many times out of the 20 times of labeling your child labeled correctly.

Criteria for success: If your child is able to independently label an item with 90% accuracy in two consecutive 20 trial sessions.

Use the words your child has learned in their environment. Point out and label words at school, home, community settings, body parts, and action words. This will help your child understand the word more.

Thanks for reading,
Tanaya