Lesson 5 Non-Verbal Communication or Non-vocal verbal behavior
Contents
It is estimated that 70 percent of communication is non-verbal or non-vocal. It is critical for us to teach children with autism to attend to, respond to and use non-verbal communication.
Paring
Pairing Experience – pairing people with reinforcement/establish social reciprocity/engagement- non-verbal behaviors exhibited by 2 people for the function of sharing reinforcing interactions. (many may be considered requests for the interaction to continue- imitate as a mand for the “listener” to repeat the behavior.)
Mirroring
Mirroring Behaviors:
- Shared affect- Reinforced by adult imitating the child’s affect in an exaggerated manner.
- Social imitation- reinforced by continued presence of adult/child who’s attention has been established as a conditioned reinforcer.
Manding
Mands/Requests - non-vocal behaviors exhibited by the child that serve the function of obtain an item or action
- Look- reinforced by obtaining access to the item being looked at.
- Reach (+ look)- reinforced by obtaining access to the item being reached for.
- Point (+look)- reinforced by obtaining access to the item at which the child pointed
- Give to activate (+look)- reinforced by activation of the object/toy.
- Action to sustain (+look)- reinforced by repetition of the action.
Gestural Listener
Gestural Listener- responding to gestural mands/requests of others to exhibit a behavior.
- Follow point – reinforced by adult attention or other conditioned reinforcer
- Follow gaze- reinforced by adult attention or other conditioned reinforcer
- Follow yes/no- reinforced by adult attention or other conditioned reinforce.
Combined
Combined - chains of behaviors that involve looking to request information then following a non-verbal receptive instruction.
- Look + follow point- look is reinforced by having information provided and follow point is reinforced by conditioned reinforcement
- Look + follow gaze- look is reinforced by having information provided and follow gaze is reinforced by conditioned reinforcement
- Look + respond to head nod/shake (yes/no)- look is reinforced by obtaining information and response to yes/no reinforced by conditioned reinforcement
- Point and look + respond to head nod/shake (yes/no)- point and look reinforced by obtaining information and response to yes/no reinforced by conditioned reinforcement.
Joint Attention
Gestural Bid for Joint Attention - child exhibits non-verbal behaviors for the function of drawing another’s attention to an object, event, or other environmental stimulus. The attention of the adult must be established as a conditioned reinforcer. (True Joint Attention as defined in behavioral literature)
- Show object (+look)- reinforced by affective response/attention of adult/child
- Look at object (+ look at person) reinforced by affective response/attention of adult/child
- Give object (+look)- reinforced by affective response/attention of adult/child
- Point at object (+ look)- reinforced by affective response/attention of adult/child
Teach in Reinforcing Activities
Attached you will find a sample handout on teaching these skills in the context of a block activity but it is important to determine what type of activity would be most reinforcing for your particular student. A sample data sheet is also attached.
Tracy Vail,MS,CCC/SLP
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| (3.06)+Hierarchy+of+NonVocal+VB.doc | 35 KB |
| (3.07)+Blocks_Activity_Teaching_Procedures.doc | 39.5 KB |
| (3.09)+Blocks+Datasheet.xls | 40.5 KB |