One of the most important sources of learning motivation is reward. Rewards are not necessarily food or toys. It can also be games, activities, attention, escape, satisfaction, peer recognition, etc. Rewards can promote effective learning, but to use rewards effectively is not as easy as it says. It requires knowledges and skills, especially applying for children with ASD.。
Firstly, rewards don’t have to be the things we normally think that children would love.
Considering the limited interests and limited communication skills of children with ASD, we need to observe and analyze their behaviors carefully when choosing effective rewards.
Taking toys for rewards as an example, you could observe if the child reaches out to grab the toy actively, expresses happiness, or shows reluctance or resistance when the toy is taken away. If the child displays no reaction or refuses to accept the toy when you pass the toy to him or her, then it is not an effective reward, no matter how valuable we think this item is or how much the child liked it before.
Teaching Tips:
The timing of giving rewards is critical.
(1) For children who have just started to communicate verbally, to encourage them to speak more, we should give them rewards immediately when they speak.
For example, if they have requested the toy they wanted, we should give them the toy immediately, letting them understand the power of speech and improve their motivation to speak.
On the contrary, if they couldn’t get the toy after speaking for a moment or two, they will learn that speaking is useless. If they have tried other methods, like screaming, and got the toy, even our intention was to give out the reward after they have spoken, but since the reward was delayed, they would assume screaming is the effective communication way.
Teaching Tips:
(2) For children with ASD who have a certain degree of speaking ability, they might take advantage of the power of speech and make many different requests all day long. Since we cannot satisfy all their requests immediately, some parents and teachers would rather stay quiet or shift their focus on other matters.
However, when children with ASD found that speaking does not achieve their wants and being quiet is not likely to get obvious benefits, they may start to display their dissatisfaction through behaviors like disobedience, complaints or screaming, etc. When things become difficult to control, teachers or parents might offer a bride, for example, ‘I will buy fries if you are well-behaved.‘ or ‘You can play with the computer if you keep quiet.’
Seemingly, the usage of bribery not only resolves the children’s behavioral problems instantly but is also easy to apply, even for people without professional training.
However, potential risks are hidden behind these benefits: if bribery is always offered right after the behavior problems, then these behavior problems will be strengthened conversely. Children with ASD may learn that no positive attention or benefits will be achieved when they are compliant. Only disobedience or screaming could get generous benefits from parents and teachers.
Teaching Tips:
In summary, to effectively stimulate the learning motivation of children with ASD, not only does it acquire great skills in applying rewards, but also needs to constantly evaluate and adjust the situation based on the children’s reactions and behaviors.
If parents or professionals could apply the above techniques with good judgments, I believe that the learning motivation of children with ASD can be greatly stimulated and improve their learning efficiency.
Information provided by:
Raymond Fung, M.S. ABA, BCBA (Autism Partnership Training Director) |
Raymond Fung Raymond is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) with a Master of Science in Applied Behavior Analysis from St. Cloud State University, and currently pursuing his doctoral degree at the University of Bristol in education. Raymond was the clinical director of 2 AP international offices, a conference chair of Hong Kong Association for Behaivor Analysis (HKABA), and a part-time lecturer of a master program of ASD in the Open University of Hong Kong. For over 20 years, Raymond has been teaching individuals with ASD of different ages and functioning levels in 1 on 1, group and school settings at Autism Partnership under the on-going training from Dr. Ron Leaf and his associates. Since 2004, he has been specializing in professional training for therapists, supervisors, schoolteachers, and parents internationally. In 2014-15, Raymond developed 6 mobile applications for individuals with ASD. He consults in China, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Korea, South Africa, and Russia. Currently, he is the training director of AP Hong Kong, and the voluntary consultant of AP Foundation. Raymond has been actively promoting autism awareness and effective treatment by conducting workshops, writing articles for his 2 columns, and hosting a radio program. |
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[:zh]學習的動力來源，其中一樣最重要的是獎勵。獎勵不一定是食物和玩具，獎勵亦可以是遊戲，活動，關注，逃避，滿足感，朋輩認同等。獎勵能有效推動學習，可是如何真正有效運用獎勵，卻大有學問，尤其是教育星孩。
首先，獎勵不一定是你和我認為一般小孩喜歡的東西 。
由於星孩的興趣狹隘及特別，而且時有轉變，加上他們未必懂得運用語言表達自己的喜好，我們選擇獎勵時必須細心觀察他們的行為以作判斷。假如用玩具作為獎賞，可觀察星孩有沒有主動伸手抓取，是否露出喜悅的表情，拿回玩具時觀察他們會否反抗，或顯露不捨之情；如果給予玩具時星孩全沒反應，甚至拒絕接收，縱使我們認為那玩具是多麼的好玩及珍貴，星孩曾經對它是多麼的愛不惜手，那玩具當時已經不能作為一件獎品。
教學方法:
提供獎賞更要掌握時機。
（1）假如對剛懂得發聲溝通的星孩，如果想他們多説話，便應在他們發聲表達時立刻給予獎勵，例如要求自己想要的玩具，我們應立刻提供該玩具，幫助他們體驗發聲溝通的威力，提升他們發聲的動力；若然星孩發聲表達後一段長時間都不能得到他們想要的玩具，他們會學到説話是沒用的。若等到他們嘗試其他方法，例如亂叫大喊後才得到玩具，縱使我們原意是要以玩具獎勵之前的口語表達，但因為獎勵來得太遲，星孩只會學到亂叫大喊才是有效的溝通方法。
教學方法:
（2）提出賄賂，例如：「若你聽話，便帶你到快餐店食薯條！」或「若你乖乖保持安靜，一陣便可以玩電腦！」這些利誘不單能即時處理星孩的行為問題，而且方便易用，沒有接受訓練的人也可隨時掌握。可是，這些好處的背後其實隱藏着極大的代價：若然提出利誘的時間每每在行為問題出現後，行為問題便會被強化，星孩大有可能會學到合作聽話時，不能得到任何正面的關注或利益；不服從甚至大吵大鬧卻可換來注意及家長和老師開出優厚的條件。
教學方法:
綜上所述，激發自閉症兒童的學習動機不僅需要有技巧的獎勵，更要不斷根據孩子的情況進行適時適當的調整。若家長或專業人士能夠善用上述技巧觀察並作出合理判斷，相信可以大大激發自閉症兒童在訓練中的學習動機，進而提升學習效率。
資訊提供:
馮耀文 應用行為分析碩士, 國際認證行為分析師 (Autism Partnership 行為分析治療培訓總監) |
馮耀文 馮耀文(Raymond)為國際認證行為分析師 (BCBA)，擁有聖克勞德州立大學「應用行為分析」碩士(M.S. ABA)學位，現正修讀布里斯托大學的教育博士(EdD)課程；他曾任2所AP海外支部的臨床總監，香港行為分析學會 (HKABA) 會議主席，香港公開大學自閉症碩士課程兼任講師。Raymond自2000年香港大學畢業後便加入Autism Partnership (AP) 成為行為分析治療師，同時繼續進修並接受自閉症治療權威專家Dr. Ronald Leaf 和其顧問團隊的培訓。Raymond治療不同程度患有自閉症的兒童、青少年及成年人超過20年，不僅為本地個案、小組及學校提供支援，亦定期前往世界各地培訓治療師及提供諮詢服務，包括新加坡、日本、南韓、菲律賓、中國、馬來西亞及南非等地。 他現正擔任香港AP的行為分析治療培訓總監，愛培自閉症基金義務顧問。2014-15年，Raymond開發了6個以「應用行為分析」(ABA) 概念而設的iPad互動學習應用程式。2016年，開發了一個專為中學生而設的到校社交課程 ACTION! 。近年，Raymond積極推廣關顧自閉症，曾為香港電影擔任自閉症顧問，並為《親子頭條》及《Oh!爸媽》定期撰寫專欄。2018年與幾位自閉症成年朋友製作廣播節目《星球人有話兒2》，節目於香港電台廣播。 |
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