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| Children and adults suffering from autism
need a lot of help in order to learn. I don't
mean helping them to do things or get around.
I mean they need us to define the behavior
to be learned clearly and analyze the learning
situation carefully for them, and present
it in a systematic fashion to them. Systematic
means consistent, repetitive, and criterion-based.
A discrete-trial training format is an essential ingredient in helping autistic people learn. I came to this realization while developing the first autistic program for the Metro Toronto School Board in 1971, 34 years ago. The basic premises is like this: training is always expressed in terms of numbers of trials. A trial is prefaced by a clear definition of the stimulus condition, which may involve the therapist's instruction, the materials presented and the training setting, and by a clear definition of the mastery skill which may be a verbal answer or a physical behavior to be emitted by the patient. The amount of training is measured by the number of trials over a specific time (the session time), and learning is defined by number of correct (acceptable) trials over total trials. Without the discrete trials, learning is often hit-and-miss and reduced to a general gussing game or subject to wishful-thinking. And more importantly, treatment effectiveness cannot be ascertained. I have always maintained that whereas many regular children require only coaching or even merely observation to learn new things, making autistic children learn represents a test of the therapist/trainer's analytical skills and thus true teaching. Homepage Autism Diagnoses Soar Programs offered by Academic Guidance Services Dr. Hung's Biography Articles from It's Academic, published by Academic Guidance Services Myth and Facts about ADD/ADHD Contact us at: DavidHung8@cs.com |
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