PRE-TEEN PROGRAMS
Life Skills Program- Some Early Learners over the age of 8 years may also need additional prioritization of skills that will improve their quality of life. Typical goals for this profile include:
- Independent toileting and feeding
- Useful augmentative communication
- Brushing teeth, bathing, menstruation
- Household chores, light meal prep, independent leisure skills
We utilize a combination of both intensive teaching and natural environment teaching which vary depending on the profile of the learner and the particular skills being taught. Most of this teaching is not intuitive but has been shown to be the most effective of any other treatment.
Intensive Teaching is the modern version of Discrete Trial. It maximizes opportunities for responding, averaging 16-25 responses per minute, so that skills are learned fluently and opportunities for reinforcement occur more frequently. The variables that influence reinforcer effectiveness are critical to understand for successful intensive teaching.
Natural Environment Teaching (NET) capitalizes on the child’s motivation as the foundation for learning. It produces opportunities for generalization of skills learned in an intensive format, and makes them relevant and useful to the child.