Below is a general skill sequence for helping learners increase their range in reinforcers.

Teaching Listener Responding and Imitation Programs? Take a Look at This.

A month or so back, I introduced a well-received article on the first steps to teaching a learner to match in an array. I was provoked to write the article thanks to seeing so many clinicians start by having a learner match pictures in small arrays.

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Teaching Listener Responding and Imitation Programs? Take a Look at This.

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 imitate an action with a familiar toy or object where the toy/object typically performs only one action (i.e. ring on a ring-stacker).
Learner will imitate 5 different actions with 5 familiar toys or objects where the toy/object typically paired with only one action (i.e. ring on a ring-stacker).
Learner will imitate 10 different actions with 10 familiar toys or objects where the toy/object typically paired with only one action (i.e. ring on a ring-stacker).

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

Imitates Actions with Preferred Items

Imitates Actions During Familiar Routines

Skill Possibilities

Below is a possible skill sequence for working on increasing your learner’s ability to imitate with uni-functional toys . 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.

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#1 Imitates stacking ring on ring-stacker (Ao1)

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#2 Imitates putting shape in shape-sorter (Ao2)

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#3 Imitates pop-up action with pop-up toy (Ao3)

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#4 Imitates spinning fidget spinner (Ao4)

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#5 Imitates placing large inset puzzle piece (Ao5)

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#6 Imitates closing a book (Ao6)

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#7 Imitates stacking block (Ao7)

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#8 Imitates shaking rattle (Ao8)

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#9 Imitates putting binoculars to eye (Ao8)

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#10 Imitates drinking from toy cup (Ao9)

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.

Imitates Actions During Familiar Routines

Performs Actions with Uni-Functional Toys (LR)

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.