Final Assessment 2
Analize the benefits and limitations of embedded instruction on the learning of various
academic, social and communication behaviors on students with autism.
It may be possible to prevent escape-maintained behavior by changing the qualities of the
demand to decrease the aversive nature of the task by modifying the features of instruction. It is
essential for special education teachers as well as general education teachers to embed
instructions into preferred activities instead of activities that ASD children associate with being
aversive. By evaluating a student’s IEP, the teacher can identify the areas of skills which need to
be targeted and embed them into the activity. Boutot (2017) states that for example, a teacher
may arrange a series of preferred activities (in the classroom, school, community, or home) and
identify ways that instruction in reading, social skills, communication, writing, money math, and
so on, can be embedded into each activity. These are student led activities which can be
strikingly different from what many educators in public school are used to. There are benefits
from embedding instruction. Instead of blocking out periods of time to focus on one or two
specific skills/behaviors a teacher could embed demands into reinforcing activities which in turn
can yield many more opportunities to practice variations of a skill/behavior.
However, there are also limitations to using embedded instructions for learning various
academic, social, and communication behaviors on students with autism. Embedding demands
(i.e., activity-based intervention) will require significant planning and organization as the
emphasis is on arranging the environment in ways that are conducive to skills and behaviors that
are targeted for intervention (Boutot, 2017). This can take much more time since the activities
are based off each individual student you are working with on the spectrum. It is not a “one fits
all” approach to teaching.
Final Assessment 3
The goal of embedding instruction is to create an environment for the autistic student that
provides multiple opportunities for the student to be able to practice variations of the targeted
skill throughout the daily activities. By incorporating many opportunities throughout the day, and
by requiring variations of the same behavior across different situations, the embedded approach
promotes functional skills acquisition that are generalized across stimuli and behavior (i.e.,
stimulus generalization and response generalization) (Boutot, 2017).
Describe the 4 verbal operants of Skinner and detail the suggested methods of instructing a
student with ASD in the verbal operants.
The four verbal operants of Skinner are mand, tacts, echoics and intraverbals. Mands are
a very essential part of language development when an individual is just beginning. Mands are
often the first verbal operant acquired and serve as an interactive tool between children and
adults (Boutot, 2017). Manding is the desire or motivation of a student and it directly benefits the
learner and is considered the only type of verbal behavior that does so. A mand provides strong
ties to a reinforcement. Boutot (2017) provides an excellent example, if a child is hungry, they
can mand for “cookie” and immediately receive a cookie; this has satisfied their current
deprivation state of hunger and in turn reinforced the mand “cookie” for the future when that
motivational operant (MO) is present. There are many strategies to teach manding to a child with
autism. First, you can place several preferred items down in front of the child and see which ones
the child chooses. Sometimes children with autism exhibit low motivation so it is essential that a
variety of reinforcers be made available to them. For verbal autistic children you can use
incidental teaching which includes blocking sabotage and missing items.
Tacting is a nonverbal stimulus in the environment also known as expressive labeling.
Students will need the knowledge of tacting to be able to mand. Tacting is defined as the part of
Final Assessment 4
language where the speaker names or labels things for which they’ve had direct contact with in
their environment (Boutot, 2017). If you show an autistic child an item, see if they can name
what it is, if they cannot then tacting is a great option to work on with them.
Echoics is described as someone’s verbal behavior which includes them imitating or
echoing a word. Basically imitating someone else’s verbal behavior. This is also a key
component of verbal development. Boutot (2017) provides an excellent example of using echoics
with young typically developing children can be seen in play: The caregiver says, “that’s a doll,
can you say doll.” When the child echoes, “doll,” the caregiver praises and will probably give
more echoics as they continue to play. That is one way that young children can add new
vocabulary to their expanding language.
Intraverbals are also described as someone’s verbal behavior, but it is when a student
answers questions. This is one key area my son is constantly working on in ABA therapy. The
two types of intraverbals are fill in a blank and answering questions. Fill in a blank is normally
taught using rhymes or familiar songs and answering questions is most associated with who,
what, when and where questions.
Describe in detail an evidence-based strategy to teach a student with ASD daily living skills.
There are many daily living skills that children need to learn as they develop. For
children with autism this can be extremely challenging. For young autistic children this would
include using the toilet, brushing their teeth, combing their hair, washing hands, playing in
groups, play skills, and working in groups. As the child gets older other daily living skills need to
be taught such as using the telephone, shaving, preparing a meal, even setting the water to a safe
temperature so they can take a shower or bath.
Final Assessment 5
Evidence-based instructional strategies are based on the methodologies of applied
behavior analysis and should be utilized when teaching daily living skills and functional routines
(Boutot, 2017). Task analysis is an excellent behavior analysis strategy to teach daily living skills
to children with autism. Boutot (2017) describes task analysis as breaking a complex skill into
smaller, teachable units, the product of which is a series of sequentially ordered steps or tasks.
Task analysis would require each step of the daily living skill listed and gone over one by one.
When task analyzing daily living skills and functional routines for individuals with autism and
other developmental disabilities, we would take the same step-by step process to each routine
that we will be teaching (Boutot, 2017).
A great example would be learning to brush your teeth. This is a daily skill which my son
practices at ABA therapy. He has a laminated sheet with each step listed and a picture that
coordinates with each step. With a bit of prompting, he reads each step and completes it and
when he’s done, he has successfully brushed his teeth. The sequential ordered steps have been
extremely helpful and easier for him to understand instead of me just telling him to go brush his
teeth. With a lot of practice, he will eventually remember each step and will not necessarily need
the “cheat sheet.” Task analyzing the skills and routines lets the educator and caregivers know
where to step in and help with certain tasks or behaviors while allowing the individual to be as
independent and successful as possible throughout daily routines (Boutot, 2017).
Describe/Summarize key research findings on effective instructions and intervention for
students with ASD in reading, writing and mathematics and explain how these strategies
can be implemented.
In the past couple years, there has been an emphasis on the need for educators to
understand instructional practices and which ones are based on research. In addition, they needed
Final Assessment 6
to know how these instructional practices can be implemented with the goal to improve a critical
component contributing to the development of students with ASD: long-term academic success.
For children with ASD learning reading, writing and mathematics can be extremely challenging.
This is an area of research in its infancy, so more research is needed.
The National Reading Panel assessed components of instruction for reading. What they
found was five key areas of instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and
reading comprehension. There has not been much research in the area of reading and ASD
students. Boutot (2017) states that Whalon et al. (2009) examined 11 studies and found that when
provided intervention, ASD students improved in reading. Boutot (2017) also stated that Whalon
et al. (2009) discovered that phonics instruction resulted in improved reading skills for students
with ASD, and explicit and systematic instruction (e.g., clear procedures, modeling, guided
practice) should accompany instruction and providing time for students to practice reading
fluency using research-based practices resulted in fluency gains.
Research in the area of writing skills for children with autism is even more limited than
that of reading research. Writing is an important skill which all students need to acquire,
including students on the spectrum. Research to support writing skills in students with ASD,
such as sentence and paragraph composition, grammar and punctuation, and other genres like
persuasive writing, is necessary to help students meet standards (Boutot, 20174). The framework
of instruction should include independent practice by the student, modeling and guided practice
if the student hopes to meet expectations.
Mathematics is also a key skill that autistic students need to meet grade appropriate
expectations. There is a lot more research in the area of mathematics and students with autism.
There are also several different techniques which educators can implement to assist the students,
Final Assessment 7
with research to back it up. Boutot (20147) states that for teaching concepts and skills to students
with autism, direct and explicit instruction has shown to be effective according to Donaldson &
Zager (2010). They also found concrete-representational abstract has shown to be effective for
high functioning autistic students.
How can play materials be adapted to increase engagement and functional use for young
children with ASD.
It is possible for play materials or toys to be adapted to increase engagement and
functional use for young children with autism. There is vast research on social skills and
communication of autistic students but not very much in the area of play instruction. Our
textbook tells us that the intervention which is most used to teach autistic children to play both
symbolic and functional play would be modeling. Modeling involves demonstrating to the child
what behaviors or behavioral chains to do and assisting the child in replicating this model
(Boutot, 2017). Modeling can be a very effective strategy to meet expectations for various
different skills. Teaching is considered a naturalistic strategy and modeling is basically teaching
so I can understand with modeling is the most common intervention for teaching an autistic child
how to play.
The second most effective intervention to teach play to children with autism is systematic
prompting that is paired with contingent reinforcement. This intervention has been successful to
teach both functional play skills and symbolic play skills in children with autism. Boutot (2017)
states that the use of contingent reinforcement, for play skills in particular, has been shown to
produce long-term positive effects, including the development of intrinsic reinforcement
following initial use.
Final Assessment 8
When my son was first diagnosed with autism he did not actually “play” with his toys are
they were intended to be played. He would just line things up but never “act out play” with them.
After being in ABA for nearly a year he now plays with toys are they are intended. Ex: he has
Peppa Pig characters, accessories, houses, furniture, vehicles etc. but he would never “play” with
them. He now sets up the house with furniture and accessories and has the characters talk to each
other. This is a big accomplishment for him. Group time at ABA has been beneficial for my son
learning how to play and play properly with others while attempting to respect their space. Group
time has been beneficial for all the children at ABA. They are able to practice their socialization
skills, play skills, and many other necessary skills they need to functional in society with others.
“As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth.DHis disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned,
this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Neither this man nor his parents sinned, said
Jesus, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.” (ESV Study
Bible, 2008, John 9:1-3).
