Below is a general skill sequence for helping learners matching familiar community locations.
Making our learners' immediate environment familiar and recognizable is important. The more language develops around familiar people and locations, the more likely a learner will be able to communicate and navigate these areas more easily. This skill area aims to teach learners to match certain buildings or community locations with which they might be familiar or might typically see on a drive or walk in the community. As learners gain fluency, they also gain the ability to potentially identify these locations receptively and then label them as well.
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)
- Visual Perception/Match to Sample, VP-MTS 6-M, Matches identical objects or pictures in a messy array of 6 for 25 items.
- Visual Perception/Match to Sample, VP-MTS 8-M, Matches identical objects or pictures in a messy array of 8 containing 3 similar stimuli, for 25 items (e.g., matches a dog to a dog in an array that also contains a cat, pig, and pony)
AFLS (Assessment of Functional Living Skills)
- Basic Communication, BC12, Labels locations (locations in home, community, school)
- Community Knowledge, CK18, Identifies locations of objects found in community
- Community Knowledge, CK30, Labels community locations
DSM-V Diagnostic Criteria for Autism
- A1, Deficits in social-emotional reciprocity, ranging, for example, from abnormal social approach and failure of normal back-and-forth conversation; to reduced sharing of interests, emotions, or affect; to failure to initiate or respond to social interactions.
CDC’s Developmental Milestones
- 30 months, Cognitive Milestones, Shows simple problem-solving skills, like standing on a small stool to reach something
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 match five pictures of familiar community locations in an array of 15 pictures.
- Learner will match 10 pictures of familiar community locations in an array of 15 pictures.
- Learner will match 15 pictures of familiar community locations in an array of 15 pictures.
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 Scanning 
Intro to Matching (Visual Perception) 
Following Gestures
Matches Common Items in 2D Array 1.0 (Identical)
Matches Familiar People in 2D Array (Identical)
Matches Familiar Locations in 2D Array (Identical)Skill Possibilities
Below is a possible skill sequence for working on increasing your learner’s ability to follow instructions with multi-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.
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.
Matches Familiar Locations in 2D Array (Identical)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.
Matching Community Helpers in a 2D Array (Coming Soon!)
Receptively IDs Community Locations in a 2D Array (Coming Soon!)
Follow the link below to better understand component-composite analysis.
Problem? Question? Suggestion? We want to hear from you!
Email us at bxmastery@flatrockadvice.com
We’ll try to get back with you as soon as we can!
â’¸ 2022-2025. Flatrock Advising, LLC. bxmastery.com.