APPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS
Proactive Strategies
• Organize play areas to pro-
vide more space, including
an area for breaks from the
action
• Create a list of playtime rules,
using pictures to illustrate
• Introduce new games by go-
ing over the steps and rules
• Create plans for sharing
toys (who gets what, for
how long)
Teaching Skills
Managing Consequences
• Teach Tristan to ask for what
he wants using pictures or
pointing to items • Join in when the children are
playing cooperatively, praising
positive behavior
• Teach Tristan to share the
toys, taking turns or setting a
timer • Change toys and games after
every 10 minutes of cooperative
play to maintain novelty
• Teach children to get a parent
when frustrated (with Tristan
signing “help”) • Remove toys if children are
fighting over them
• Teach Emily to prompt Tristan
to use his words
• Limit conversation following
problem behavior, while still
keeping children safe
• Provide snacks/meals before
play and schedule playtimes
when Tristan is well-rested
Using the Plan
Once the strategies have been developed, it is
important to carefully plan how they will be put
in place and maintained. If professionals are in-
volved, they should serve as coaches, rather than
implementing the interventions themselves when
possible so they are building the capacity of the
family. If children’s skills cannot be established
without additional practice, it may be helpful to
conduct additional “trials” (e.g., having Tristan
practice using picture cues to request items),
while continuing to support the routines. Really,
the emphasis is on teaching—arranging the en-
vironment, prompting skills, and rewarding chil-
dren for increasing success and independence.
Example: To put the playtime plan in place, Tristan’s
behavior specialist helped Savannah reorganize the
family room and landing between the children’s bed-
rooms. They put the games into plastic bins so that
all the pieces were together and created a “time-out
box” for toys that caused arguments. They bought
a “sharing timer” and created rules with pictures
of the children playing cooperatively. They made
picture cards for Tristan’s favorite activities and
toys. They selected five of the children’s favorite ac-
tivities and reviewed and practiced their steps and
rules with the children. They reviewed the plan with
24 | Autism Parenting Magazine | Issue 72
Grandma, who watches the children regularly. The
behavior specialist modeled some of the strategies
at first, but then quickly removed herself and simply
provided support and feedback.
Monitoring Progress
It is important to objectively track whether chil-
dren’s behaviors are improving—making sure
that skills are increasing and problem behavior
is decreasing, as well as whether overall goals
are being met. With objective information, fami-
lies are more prepared to tweak aspects of plans
that are not working—and celebrate successes.
Monitoring by behavior specialists and other pro-
fessionals can be pretty complex (e.g., recording
every time a behavior occurs), but monitoring
progress may be simplified in everyday family life
by using something like a rating scale.
Example: To monitor the plan and outcomes, Sa-
vannah decided to record how long her children
were able to play cooperatively (without screaming
or aggression) each day. She noted the times on the
family calendar. She also rated how well Tristan ad-
hered to each of the playtime rules each day using
smiley (good), straight (OK), and sad (poor) faces
using the following chart. She reviewed these data
with the behavior specialist and other family mem-
bers every week.