Transcript Activity Schedules

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Activity Schedules
Presented by: Abraham, Brenda, Ruth, & Marcia
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What is an Activity Schedule?
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Activity Schedules (AS) are a visual schedule comprised of
pictures and/or words that show the sequence of steps
needed to complete an activity.
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Importance of an activity schedule
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Children with autism usually process visual information
better and therefore faster than auditory (spoken)
information (reference)
Increases on-task behavior
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It is easy for children with autism to become interested in
something else
To decrease inappropriate behaviors
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Socially unacceptable behaviors occur when individuals haven't
learned to regulate their own behaviors in response to other
people's actions.
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Importance of an activity schedule
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To facilitate smooth transitions from one step to the next
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To increase independence
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Eventually, the student should be able to use the activity
schedule without adult support.
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To promote self-management
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building change into an activity schedule can teach children
to tolerate changes in routine.
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Importance of an activity schedule
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Going through a sequence of steps or activities repeatedly
moves the child toward mastery, and helps children carry a
sequence or process through to completion
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An AS can enable children with autism a chance to make
choices and participate in decisions about their own
activities and daily schedules.
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When can you use an activity
schedule?
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School, home, fieldtrips, community
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It can be used at anytime for any situation
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Toileting
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Dressing
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Cooking
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School work
Any others……
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Theory
Operant conditioning (BF skinner)
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Uses the relationship between behaviors and respective
consequence to influence the ocarence volunterly
Classical conditioning (Pavlo)
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involves presentations of a neutral stimulus along with a
stimulus of some significance
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over a time to evoke voluntary behavior
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Both theories use fading of reinforcement to gain
independence
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What does the research say about
activity schedules?
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Most research supports the use of activity schedules.
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One study showed students ability to increase on-task behaviour
with the use of activity schedules. The students also requested use
of the activity in other environments.
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In Marchalicek, Shogren, Lang, et.al’s (2009) research, activity
schedule intervention is used to increase play activity and
decrease challenging behavior for 3, children with moderate to
severe autism. The result showed that all the 3 children responded
positive to the intervention
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What does the research say about
activity schedules?
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Four children with autism were taught to play Guitar Hero 2
using an activity schedule, simultaneous video modeling and
the training of multiple exemplars of songs. (Blum-Dimaya,
Reeve, S.A., & Reeve, K.F. (2010).
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Are these schedules harmful?
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We have not found evidence of AS’s being harmful but there
are some concerns….
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the teacher must insure that the student has the prerequisite skills
to use the schedule (McClannahan, 1999).
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Children must be able to distinguish pictures from a background
and match a picture to the respective objects.
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Concerns
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The child accepting manual guidance from the teacher.
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A child must also be able to follow a sequence.
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A child becomes dependant on the schedule
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Prompting fading (McClannahan, Krantz, 1999)
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http://www.asatonline.org/intervention/videos.htm
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A child learning to identify pictures
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A child completing a chore list with an AS
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Who can use AS?
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Teachers
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Family members
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Professionals
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Children, and students
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Where are they being used?
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Locally, case support workers and teachers are using activity
schedules at Children’s Autism Services of Edmonton
(CASE), and the Glenrose Hospital school.
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St. Albert Catholic High School, Leo Nickerson Elementary
School
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Linda Hodgdon, Communication Specialist, CCC-SLP
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Early intervention programs, autism organizations
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The majority of the research found has used activity
schedules with students who have a developmental disability
(machalicek, Shogren, Lang , et al, 2008) but it is not limited
to them.
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Demonstration
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Implementation of an AS in a school setting
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Primary school science project: “Dancing Raisins”
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Exploring cause and effect relationships.
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Materials
Pour raisin
Cup
Pour pop
Reward
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Conclusion
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This is a useful, practical educational tool
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Research shows AS are effective in moving children with ASD
toward independent task completion, social interaction, and
acquiring workplace, educational, and leisure skills
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Because we all use them, they are inclusive.
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Research shows that the skills and practice the child learns in
following an activity schedule often generalizes to other
settings and other activity schedules
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Activity schedules can begin very simply and gradually
increase in complexity; they can “grow with the child”.