COMMUNICATION IN ACTION

Student will demonstrate purposeful behavior.– Means

Ways to Refuse ◊ Ways to Obtain

Why?

A child born without disabilities typically has several means of attracting attention without necessarily intending to; such as crying, cooing, gazing around environment, and kicking.  These behaviors serve to attract the caregiver’s attention and cause the behavior to be treated as intentional communication, thus creating opportunities for social interaction.  It is through these interactions that children gain awareness of and interest in their environment.  Children with limited repertoires of behaviors, often due to motor or sensory impairments are much less likely to attract attention and therefore have fewer experiences to learn about their world.  This puts them at a risk of not developing any means or desire to communicate.

Identification of interests as well as behaviors that are within the child’s motor abilities can be shaped to give the child a means and a reason for attracting attention, continuing an action or gaining more of an object.  This is an essential step for a child at Level I.

Transdisciplinary IEP Goal Examples

Student will demonstrate purposeful behavior through differentiated rate of responding in the presence vs. absence of positive social or non-social stimuli, as measured by teacher, OT, PT, SLP.

Student will demonstrate increased head control as demonstrated by maintaining upright head position for 3 seconds in order to activate a switch for preferred reinforcement or to engage in social interaction, as measured by PT.

Video Examples