The instructor working with students struggling with social skills may confront many roadblocks. Specific issues of motivation, focus, prompt dependency and generalization are a few of the obstacles that may appear as the instructor navigates towards building competencies. What is evidence-based best practice in assessment and intervention? How does the instructor develop a plan of instruction to optimize student performance?
Assessment & Intervention provides a description of the process of instruction, emphasizing proven elements of instructional strategy for students. It is primarily intended as a companion volume to the JobTIPS Transition Toolbox. However, the user will find that the tools here can support instruction for individuals of all ages. All of the steps in this process are important in providing good instruction. Some of the visual supports (specifically graphic organizers, social narratives, video modeling and role-play scripts) are intended for individuals with an ability to conceptualize or use verbal, written or pictured information. All steps and strategies assist in avoiding the roadblocks to successful instruction for all learners.
Note that this process represents a blended model of assessment and intervention that identifies how to combine proven behavioral strategies with visual supports in an effort to assist independent student performance. Years of research, educational practice and clinical practice suggest that both behavioral strategies and visual supports are critical elements of quality instruction.
Assessment: What to Teach & Why?
Quality in assessment and intervention requires beginning with the end in mind.
- What skills will help the student be successful in future environments?
- Can the student use the skill in multiple settings?
- Can the student determine when and how to use the skill in new environments?
In other words, can the teacher take a methodical approach to the instruction, application, and mastery of a skill so that it can be applied wherever needed? The post-school outcomes and the projected future environments for the student are the fulcrum for the process of assessment and intervention in all areas of instruction, including transition planning.
Student Self-Assessment
A
s
the teaching team determines a preliminary set of priorities for
instruction through review and assessment of skill levels, our
educational system prioritizes the opinions and values of the student
himself. A choice of goals for instruction is significantly affected by
the student’s preferences and motivation. Within the Self-Assessment
Unit is a kit to support the student’s individualized self-evaluation
that aligns with the three principle areas of Career Planning, Job
Seeking, and Job Keeping. Methods of documenting student preferences and
feedback on priorities of instruction are discussed and exemplified.
The tools require adjustment and individualization by the teaching team
to obtain good information from the student that will support target
skill selection.
Guiding Questions
- What does the student like to do?
- How can instruction address the student’s strengths?
- Based on student interests, what choices should be set up for the student?
- If the student has limitations in communication, what data shows the student’s preferences and interests?
Given information generated by student self-assessment, the teacher is better able to move toward generating long-term goals for instruction.
Teacher-Generated Assessment
Beginning with the end in mind requires having specific assessment tools
that define a range of required skills in measurable terms. The JobTIPS
Transition Toolbox represents one such set of assessment documents. It
provides an organized framework of three categories of measurable skills
for employability that the instructor can use to define targets of
intervention in transition planning. In general, using an expansive and
detailed assessment is critical to targeting the most important skills
to teach.
Assessment tools to define a range of skills: Based on the student’s assessment of his own strengths and needs, the instructor’s knowledge of student performance and direct assessment of performance in various environments, the instructor selects and pinpoints targets of intervention. The instructor refers to one of these three assessment tools and, based on prior knowledge of the student (student self-assessment), identifies skills that are within the student’s present level of performance. When the teacher has any question about student ability with a skill, informal assessment occurs to determine student ability. The instructor then evaluates skill levels and determines priorities for intervention.
Guiding Questions
- What assessment tool will I use to assess student performance?
- Given what I know about the student, what can he do now and at what level?
- If unsure, how will I set up informal assessment of the student to identify all skill levels?
- What is important to the student’s future success in adult environments?
Target Skill Selection & Task Analysis
As
noted, first use a unit of the JobTIPS Transition Toolbox in direct
assessment to identify important long-term goals in instruction.
Starting with the end in mind (the long-term goal), consider how to
break down the skill into achievable components, sub-skills, or
performance levels that the student can perform.
The desired starting point for instruction is a point at which the student can move quickly to consistent (80%) successful performance within limited trials. This is the initial performance target in the intervention process. Success in instruction requires defining the specific target skills within a limited range of difficulty that can be shaped into measurable successive approximations of the long-term goal.
Choosing a target that is well beyond the capacity of the student will quickly lead to frustration, signs of boredom, and avoidance. A target requiring frequent prompting that cannot be faded suggests that the target is beyond the student’s capacity. Data on performance levels drives instruction. If the student succeeds every time, it is time to work on a more complex use of the skill. If the student requires constant prompting over several sessions, back up and choose a less complex response that is clearly within the student’s capacity to initiate.
Using principles of task analysis to define the components or steps of the skill is essential in targeting skills. By breaking down the skill into steps or sub-skills that can be either chained together or shaped into more acceptable responses, the teacher finds initial targets that can move quickly to consistent successful performance in a few trials.
Selecting targets requires prioritizing. There are only so many skills that an instructor can teach at one time. Within any training or community environment, choose 3-6 target skills on which to focus. Achieving a demonstrable level of success with a few targets is superior to limited success with a wide array of targets in community-based instruction.
Guiding Questions
- How will I task analyze the skill into steps or components that can be chained or shaped to successively approximate the long-term goal?
- How will I select the target skills to work on in a specific instructional setting so that I am working on only a few skills at a time, thereby assuring a balance of maintenance and acquisition skills?
- What is the long-term goal?
- What is the student’s present skill level? What can he do now on a consistent basis?
Review all of the Target Selection and Task Analysis subsections in order to address these questions, and more.
Intervention: How to Teach?
Beyond the process of assessment and target selection, providing quality in instruction requires the ability to apply behavioral strategies and visual strategies in a coordinated manner that leads to student ability to apply skills in various, new situations.
Research evidence demonstrates that both meaningful visual supports and sound behavioral principles in teaching are required of instructors. It is our contention that neither takes precedence and that both “technologies” should be blended to create quality in instruction and generalized skill development in students.
Simply, the technologies should be applied “hand in hand.” It is not possible to apply visual supports for proficiency without using behavioral principles. Using one “set of tools” without the other may not promote independent performance. The instructor needs to be comfortable with the tools in the behavioral toolbox and in the visual toolbox. When applying one tool from the visual toolbox (i.e., visual schedule), do I apply behavioral principles of shaping, reinforcement, prompting and fading to assure that the student can use the schedule independently in a variety of circumstances?
Behavioral Principles
The first step in intervention requires us to identify what is motivating to the student. A review of motivation,
involving a preference survey, helps define the impetus we can use to
change behavior. During the assessment process, the instructor has
hopefully used both instructor assessment tools and student
self-assessment materials to determine motivation. However, a more
detailed survey of reinforcement is encouraged within the section on motivation.
Priming is the process of introducing the new behavior or skill to be learned. This intervention tool involves drawing on prior knowledge and experience, identifying a new skill, getting agreement with the student, and connecting motivation to the new skill to be learned. Within the priming process, a host of visual supports may be used, including a schedule, a to-do list, a graphic organizer, a social narrative, a video model, etc.
The process of modeling & practice is based on two basic teaching principles. The first is the gradual release model. First, I perform a skill and you watch me. Then I perform the skill and you help me perform it. Then you perform it and I help you succeed. Eventually, you perform the skill and I watch you succeed. Obviously, the gradual release model must be adapted according to the needs of the student. However, the efficacy of this teaching principle is well-established.
The second teaching principle is one of repeated practice. As an instructor, I want to provide repeated opportunities for the student to perform the skill and to gain confidence in his skill.
Once again, note that within modeling & practice, a variety of visual supports will be needed to support the performance. Will the teacher provide visual or written cues to help the individual initiate aspects of the skill? Does the student watch a video model prior to performance? Or does the student refer to a social narrative prior to practicing the skill?
Shaping successive approximations of the target skill supports confidence and performance. Shaping requires naturally reinforcing a partial performance of the skill systematically with a gradual movement toward more complete performances.
Prompting can be very effective if properly applied. However, it is crucial that the prompt be faded as soon as feasible. Efforts must be made to avoid prompt dependency and techniques for using prompts to support initiation by the student are delineated in detail. The choice of type of prompt depends on both the student and the context in which the skill is applied.
Though we have discussed motivation previously, there are issues of reinforcement that require careful attention. Besides assuring that reinforcement is individualized to sustain motivation, the instructor must time reinforcement to assure connection between expected behavior and the reinforcement. Reinforcement must be natural and related to the expected behavior or skill.
There is significant evidence that individuals may learn a behavior or skill in one setting and not be able to apply it in other settings or with others. A focus on generalization requires systematic adjustments of instructional context to help the student recognize where and when to apply the skill, where and when to initiate it. The section on generalization provides a description of how to approach instruction so that the student can apply the skill in future environments.
Behavioral Principles Guiding Questions
- As an instructor, am I sure that I know how to capitalize on the student’s motivation when building a new skill or behavior?
- How will I use priming to prepare the student for instruction and to get commitment by the student to work on a new behavior?
- What principles of modeling & practice should be applied to assure success in student performance?
- How can I use shaping to sustain and improve performance levels of a targeted skill?
- How will I use prompting to support skill initiation by the student?
- What reinforcement principles will assist performance?
- How will I systematically alter practice conditions (the environment, people, materials, etc.) so that generalization of the skill is developed?
Review all of the Direct Instruction subsections in order to address these questions, and more.
Visual Supports
Students benefit from visual supports that help them focus on and attend to concepts and details that are crucial to effective performance. Swimming in a sea of details and often chaotic environmental stimulation can prove exhausting. Environmental design to reduce stimulation or to focus attention on relevant details is a powerful tool for improving success. Even for individuals with verbal communication skills, additional communication systems may be necessary to assist the individual in communicating specific messages more effectively. The visual script can assist the individual in successfully practicing social communication skills, and later remembering key verbal and non-verbal components under generalized conditions.
Time concepts can prove confusing as well. The visual schedule can help the individual know where and when to use specific skills or to engage in preferred activities. The to-do list is a powerful tool for organizing and sequencing the steps, tasks and behaviors needed in a set of activities. Within any environment in which a student will perform there may be a need for additional visual cues (instructions, highlighting, color-coding, organizational structures, etc.) to help the student focus on critical information needed to perform a skill accurately and independently. Graphic organizers can help in many ways. They may help clarify decisions, help problem-solving, or help organize behaviors, feelings, or expectations so that the individual can better define what to do where. The social narrative is a remarkable instrument, both pictured and written, for connecting the details of situations so that the individual can see a clear course of action or can connect the details of social situations. Video modeling has proven extremely successful in illustrating the expected behavior for the student. Review of a video model prior to performance has been shown to improve skill performance.
Again, it is important to emphasize that blending the use of visual supports and behavioral principles can better assure quality of instruction. The user is encouraged to refer to both sets of guiding questions, visual supports and behavioral principles, when planning instruction.
Visual Supports Guiding Questions
- How will the instructor adjust environmental design to support focus and to help assure student success in performance?
- Does the individual need a communication system to assure that he can communicate (and initiate) messages to others? Will a visual script help the student to more accurately perform key verbal and non-verbal behaviors within simulated and real social communication exchanges?
- Does the visual schedule help clarify when and where the student will use or practice the skill?
- How does the to-do list define the steps of the skill or how to use it within an activity?
- Can the instructor set up additional visual cues within the student’s environment to support his initiation and use of the skill?
- How can a graphic organizer clarify either the importance of the skill or organize the student’s performance?
- Does a social narrative connect the relevant details of a situation so that the student can apply the skill when it is needed?
- Does viewing a video model help the student perform the skill more precisely and independently?
Review all of the Visual Supports subsections in order to address these questions, and more.