Using Behavioral Skills Training to Jumpstart Social Skill (PDF)

Using Behavioral Skills Training to Jumpstart Social Skill Instruction MSLBD Rich Simpson Autism Conference October 10, 2019 Sabrina Mitchell, Ph.D., BCBA Danielle Wesley, MSEd Angela Chambers, MSEd, BCBA  Workshop Objectives ● Identify Behavior Skills Training components ● Identify evidence-based practices for social skills instruction ● Identify how to incorporate evidence based practices into a behavior skills training framework.  Today’s Agenda: Instruction Where do I start? What is Behavioral Skills Training (BST)? Why use Behavioral Skills Training (BST)? How can we use various evidence based practices to teach social skills in a BST framework? Modeling Sample BST lesson. Rehearsal Group collaboration to plan a BST lesson. Feedback Peer feedback *Generalization Planning a BST lesson for your classroom next week.  Where do I start? Assessment Informal Social Skills Checklists TRIAD Social Skills Assessment Specific Curricula-Based Assessments Observation and Task Analysis Required Learner Prerequisite Skills: ● Attending ● Generalized Imitation ● Language and Comprehension ● Rule Governed Behavior   Task Analyzing Social Skills ● Once we have identified the specific skill we are going to target, it is important to consider how socially competent individuals perform that skill during everyday interactions. Sample Task Analysis for Starting Individual Conversations: 1. Casually look over at the person. 2. Look for a common interest. 3. Make a reference to the common interest. 4. Trade information about the common interest. 5. Assess interest. 6. Introduce yourself.  What is Behavioral Skills Training (BST)? ● Evidence-based strategy for teaching new behaviors or skills that consists of: instruction, modeling, practice, and feedback. Instruction Description of the skill. Modeling Rehearsal Generalization Feedback Demonstration of the skill in person or via video modeling. Role play & practice Positive feedback for correct demonstration of the skill and provide corrective feedback as needed. Check for demonstration of the skill during naturally occurring situations in a variety of settings.  Why use Behavioral Skills Training (BST)? ● Evidence Based ● Behavioral Skills Training has been found effective to teach parents to be social skills trainers of their children with ASD (Dogan, et. al, 2017) ● Behavioral Skills Training has been used to effectively teach skills such as (Leaf et. al, 2015) ○ conversation skills ○ responding to peers ○ greetings ○ giving compliments ○ taking turns ○ abduction prevention ○ eye contact ○ appropriate affect  Behavioral Skills Training Steps: Instruction ● Describe the social skill you will be working on. ● Describe why this skill is more successful than other behaviors students might be utilizing in social interaction. ● Highlight the most important components of performing this skill. Instruction Description of the skill.  Evidence-Based Practices: Instruction ● Social Narratives ● Scripting ● Functional Communication Training ● Task Analysis ● Visual Supports ○ Scales (emotion, rating) ○ Consequence Maps/Behavior Mapping ○ Visual Schedule/Routine Schedule Instruction Description of the skill.  EBP: Social Narratives Social Narratives Use text images to highlight certain aspects of social situations. They providing relevant cues, explanation of the feelings and thoughts of others in the social situation, and descriptions of appropriate behavior expectations Social Narrative Tips ● Individualized ● Short ● Written from the perspective of the learner ● Story written for learner’s comprehension level ● Language simple and developmentally appropriate ● If appropriate, include learners in helping to write it ● Use pictures ● Incorporate learner interest if appropriate  EBP: Scripting A visual or auditory cue that supports learners to initiate or sustain communication with others. ● Match script to the language level of the student ● Teach the learner the script ● Reinforce use of the script ● Fade any adult prompting and the script. Questions for Small Talk Script: It was such a nice day today. I’m so ready for fall. How was your day today? Do you have plans for the weekend? How was your weekend?  EBP: Functional Communication Training (FCT) Functional communication training (FCT) is most frequently used to replace interfering behaviors (e.g., disruptive, repetitive/stereotypical) or subtle, less clear communicative forms (e.g., reaching, leading) with more conventional communicative forms (e.g., pointing, picture exchange, signing, verbalizations). Replacement Behavior: ● functionally = ● efficient ● appropriate for environment & learner ● recognizable ● REINFORCE!  EBP: Task Analysis Task analysis is the process of breaking a skill down into smaller, more manageable components. ● Once a task analysis is complete, it can be used to teach learners with ASD a skill that is too challenging to teach all at once through chaining.  Visual Support: Emotion & Rating Scales The Incredible 5 Point Scale - Kari Dunn Buron 5pointscale.com Size of Problem - Social Thinking Curriculum The Zones of Regulation Socialthinking.com