Below is a general skill sequence for getting learner’s started with greeting others.

Greetings often serve as the initial steps in social reciprocation. Beginning with a straightforward gesture, such as a wave, can pave the way for more advanced social interactions in the future. For successful initiation, it's essential that the learner can orient themselves towards another stimulus when guided by the speaker's voice. Additionally, developing fluency in maintaining eye contact can be advantageous for the learner. It's crucial to ensure that the experience is highly reinforcing, which will, in turn, strengthen the association of social interactions with positive reinforcement.

How this skill area relates to your assessments!

This skill area aligns with various assessments and their respective domains, with milestone and domain codes provided for reference. Additionally, DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for Autism are included to help clinicians identify how this skill area potentially supports medical necessity in relation to the diagnosis.

VB-MAPP (Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program)

• Listener Responding, LR 2-M, Responds to hearing his own name 5 times
• Social Behavior and Social Play, SBSP 3-M, Spontaneously makes eye contact with other children 5 times (TO: 60 min.)

AFLS (Assessment of Functional Living Skills)

• Social Awareness & Manners, SA1, Returns appropriate greetings
• Social Awareness & Manners, SA18, Greets and interacts in a socially acceptable manner
• Basic Skills, BS38, Greets other employees
• Phone, PH3, Returns greetings over phone
• Retail, RT17, Greets and assists customers

DSM-V Diagnostic Criteria for Autism

• A2, Deficits in nonverbal communicative behaviors used for social interaction, ranging, for example, from poorly integrated verbal and nonverbal communication; to abnormalities in eye contact and body language or deficits in understanding and use of gestures; to a total lack of facial expressions and nonverbal communication.

CDC’s Developmental Milestones

• 12 months, Language/Communication milestones, Waves “bye-bye”

Treatment Plan Goal Ideas

This is a list of treatment plan goals. These are different from the goals you will find in the skill sequence below. Your treatment plan goals encompass any number of goals from the skill sequence. Sometime they will include multiple goals from the sequence (”Learner will label 5 toys”) and sometimes the treatment plan goal will be simply consist of a really important goal from the skill sequence (”Will label caregiver”). An analogy I like to use goes as follows: Each skill sequence goal (commonly known as a “target”) represent each stair in a flight of stairs. The treatment plan goal is the flight itself.

Treatment plan goal ideas for this particular skill area are as follows:

• Learner will wave at a peer when greeted in exchange for a highly preferred item or activity.
• Learner will wave at a peer when greeted in exchange for social reinforcement.

Component Skills

Your learner may need to be fluent in these component skills first before introducing this goal/skill area. Component skills for this skill sequence may include skill areas that are fundamental to other areas. Fluency in the skill areas listed below may increase the likelihood that your learner will succeed in this skill sequence and those afterward.

Intro to Reinforcer/Preference Expansion

Single Actions with Common Toys

Following Gestures

Intro to Eye Contact

Skill Possibilities

Below is a possible skill sequence for working on increasing your learner’s ability to complete nonverbal greetings. Note that every learner is different and that you likely will need to tweak and vary some programming to their needs. Click the triangle icon to view the full description for each skill in the sequence/area.

Concurrent Skills

Working on these skills at the same time could help with goal mastery. Maybe your learner has mastered these skills already. Perhaps they are already listed as component skills above. That’s okay! Targeting other learning channels might help your learner.

Intro to Peers

Intro to Sitting

Intro to Handholding

Intro to Token Economies

Approaching Others When Asked

Composite Skills

These are the possible next steps for learners who have mastered, or are mastering, the skills listed above. Note that new skill areas may require fluency in other component skills not listed above. Also, you can introduce composite skill sequences prematurely to keep your learner progressing, as generativity may occur earlier than expected.

Greetings (Verbal)

Follow the link below to better understand component-composite analysis.

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