Having your child to complete routines with little or no help creates independence for the child, increases his/her awareness to his environment and increases his attention in accomplishes a given task. However, a routine can often be disrupted when the child loses his/her attention or being distracted by the environment, resulting in parents having to provide reminders for them to continue or guiding them quickly to finish the routine.
In the following, I will be sharing with you how we can adjust the choice of routine and the assistance provided to your child to increase his/her independence and reduces the need for constant supervision from an adult.
For your child to perform/learn a routine effectively, he/she would need to have some prerequisite skills such as the skills to complete the individual step of the routine, able to use a visual schedule, able to sustain attention for a period of time.
Choice of Routines
Although we would like our children to accomplish the given task on their own, it will be necessary to understand your child’s strengths and decide which routine to start, or to teach! The routines should consist of skills that your child had already acquired earlier on. For example, a routine that involves changing/wearing of shoes would require the child to already have the skill to put on his/her shoe with minimal assistance. Focus on basic, simple routines before moving to complex routines to develop your child’s independence.
| Type of routines | Simple | Complex |
| Getting ready for school | Changing into uniform | Changing into uniform follow by packing of school bag |
| Mealtime | Washing of hands | Washing of hands follow with setting up cutlery/dining area |
| In school | Placing school bag into the right cubby and bring along snackbox/bottle into class | Placing school bag into the right cubby and bring along snackbox/bottle into class follow by taking attendance on classroom chart |
Assistance
Types of assistance
Physically guiding the child or telling them what to do for each step of the routine decreases the child’s independence. Usually a visual schedule will be selected as a prompt as it minimizes the assistance from an adult and heightens the child’s attention and awareness to his/her environment.
Visual schedule can come in different forms. It can be a flip chart (like a calendar), a strip of pictures indicating each step or a written checklist.The choice of which visual assistance to use depends on your child’s strength. If he/she has prior knowledge in using a flip chart, then a flip chart will be a more preferred mode of assistance for your child.
Providing the assistance
Start by placing the visual schedule in a location easily accessed by your child. For example, if you are doing hand washing routine, have the schedule by the sink or on the wall. This reduces complexity for your child and allow him/her to continue each step of the routine with ease.
Initially you may want to fully guide your child through the routine to ensure he/she understands what each picture/description of the step means. After a few rounds of practise, begin to fade off your assistance. I’ve provided an example below of how assistance can be faded off in a systematic way.
Phase 1: Gesture to the picture and guide your child physically to finish the step
Phase 2: Gesture to the picture and point to the item/location for your child to finish the step
Phase 3: Gesture to the picture without providing any further guidance to complete the step
Phase 4: Allowing your child to complete the step on his/her own
Encouraging Independence
Adult’s Supervision
When your child is able to complete the routine on his/her own, start reducing the supervision you are providing to create more independence. Gradually increase the distance between you and your child until you are able to be out of the room. If the routine requires supervision for safety reasons, you can progressively reduce your attention given to the child while being in the same room. It can look like this:
Phase 1: Adult is watching the child within a small distance
Phase 2: Adult is watching the child 80% of the time within a small distance
Phase 3: Adult is watching the child 50% of the time within a small distance
Phase 4: Adult is watching the child 20% of the time within a small distance
Fading of Visual Schedule
When your child is more fluent in completing the routine, you may begin to fade the visual systematically in a few ways.
- Fading out the pictures/sentences: For pictures, you may fade out the colour of the pictures so that it will not be as obvious. For sentences, you may replace some of the words with blanks.
Example:
- Fading out from the last picture/sentence: Leave a blank space of the last step of the routine to reduce the visual assistance provided to your child. Continue to delete the next last step until you are left with the initial picture/sentence.
Example:
Ideally, a visual schedule should be faded off completely. However, depending on the child’s learning abilities and the complexity of the routine, a visual schedule may be helpful for your child to continue to use in his/her daily routines to achieve minimal adult’s supervision.
Tips for Success
- Practise makes perfect! For a child to perform routines smoothly, he/she would need time and opportunities to practise. Pick a time that you are not in a rush to practise the routine with your child. When a mistake happens, it gives you time to correct and practise with your child again.
- Start with routines that are meaningful for your child. If your child enjoys going to the playground, a meaningful (and motivating) routine to start with will be getting ready to go out or changing of clothes.
- If your child makes a mistake while doing the routine, stops your child from continuing and provide a feedback to let him/her know why he/she got it wrong (eg. “That’s wrong, you did not turn on the tap”). This helps to increase independent learning and reduces the reliance of others to assist him/her after mistake.
- Routines can be a difficult task for young children. Providing lots of positive attention (eg. praises) and reinforcement ensures future success from your child!
Information provide by:
Renee Pang, Autism Partnership Senior Case Supervisor (Bsc.)
Renee Pang holds a Bachelor of Science and Graduate Certificate in Education Studies from Monash University, Australia. She joined Autism Partnership, Singapore, in 2010 and worked with children on both one-on-one and group settings and provided shadow-aide support in mainstream schools. In 2013, Renee became a Program Supervisor where she worked on designing and tailoring curriculum for the child’s needs under the supervision of the consultants. Additionally, she also ran social groups in mainstream schools and collaborated with teachers and principals to devise integration plans. Renee also provides staff and parent training sessions locally and overseas. She is also fluent in English, Mandarin and Cantonese. Since 2019, Renee currently works with Autism Partnership, Hong Kong, to provide consultation, parent training, and staff training for clients in Shanghai.
Please share to let more people know about ABA Therapy Skills.
Facebook: APautism
Wechat: AutismPartnership_HK
Learn more about our ABA Services [:zh]
讓孩子獨立完成日常常規能培養獨立性，提高孩子對環境的認識，並增加孩子的注意力。有些時候，孩子因為受環境影響干擾或缺乏持續注意力而無法獨立完成常規任務，導致家長要提醒孩子繼續或指導他們才能完成常規。
以下，我將與你們分享如何調整常規的選擇和向你的孩子提供幫助，以提高孩子的獨立能力，減少家長的輔助監督。為了培養孩子的獨立性，需要一些必備技能如：有能力完成常規裡的步驟，能應用視覺表和有能力持續關注一段時間。
做出常規的選擇
雖然我們希望孩子能夠獨立完成更多常規，我們也需要理解孩子的長處，決定從哪個常規開始或教導。常規的步驟應該包含著孩子已經學會的技巧。例如，如果常規的步驟需要孩子換鞋，他們需要先有能力獨立脫/穿鞋。在轉向複雜的常規之前，先關注或練習基本、簡單的常規，以發展孩子的獨立性。
| 日常常規 | 簡單 | 複雜 |
| 準備上學 | 換上校服 | 換上校服接著收拾書包 |
| 午餐時間 | 洗手 | 洗手過後接著準備餐具 |
| 學校裡 | 把背包放進櫃子裡，然後拿出水杯/點心盒到課室裡 | 把背包放進櫃子裡，然後拿出水杯/點心盒到課室裡。接著自己向老師點名 |
協助
協助類型
肢體輔助孩子或用語言告訴他們如何完成常規，會降低孩子的獨立性。為了提高孩子的注意力和觀察力，視覺表會比較適合學習目標的實現。另外，利用視覺表也能減少孩子對家長的依賴性。你也可以用不同視覺表教導常規。例如可以是翻轉頁類型（像個日曆）, 圖片條或工作清單。根據孩子的能力選擇符合他的視覺表。如果孩子能使用翻轉頁類型，教導過程就能利用同翻轉頁類型教導常規。
提供協助
開始的時候，把視覺提示擺在孩子能看見的地方。例如在教導洗手這個常規任務時，視覺提示可以放在桌面或牆上。 這樣能減低操作的複雜性，也能讓孩子能更順利跟從視覺表。另外，剛開始的時候，你也可以指導孩子完成所有常規的步驟。過了幾個回合的練習，你就可以開始淡化協助。以下例子顯示如何漸漸淡化協助。
第 1 階段：根據圖片做出指示然後引導孩子完成所有步驟
第 2 階段：根據圖片做出指示並指向完成步驟的物件或位置，讓孩子自己完成餘下步驟
第 3 階段：根據圖片做出指示但不指向完成步驟的物件或位置
第 4 階段：允許孩子自己獨立完成步驟
發展獨立能力
家長的監督
當您的孩子能夠利用視覺提示獨立完成常規時，您可以開始減少對孩子的監督。逐漸增加您和孩子之間的距離，直到您能夠走出房間。如果出於安全考慮，需要和孩子在同一房間內，您可以嘗試逐漸減少您對孩子的關注，讓他嘗試自己獨立完成。以下我列出如何能減少您對孩子的關注的例子：
第 1 階段：成人在小段距離內關注孩子
第 2 階段：成人在小段距離內，80% 的時間關注孩子
第 3 階段：成人在小段距離內，50% 的時間關注孩子
第 4 階段：成人在小段距離內，20% 的時間關注孩子
循序漸進減少視覺表的輔助提示
如果您的孩子開始熟練常規的步驟，您也可以開始逐漸減少視覺表的輔助提示。- 淡出圖片/句子：對於圖片，您可以淡出圖片上的顏色，把它變成沒那麼明顯。如果您有清單，可以把句子中的的一些單詞換成空格。
例子:
- 淡出最後一張照片/句子：在常規的最後一步留下一個空格。繼續刪除最後的一步，直到留下初始圖片/句子。
例子:
理想情況下，視覺提示應該完全淡出，孩子不需要依賴視覺提示完成常規。但是，這也需要根據您的孩子學習能力和常規任務的複雜性而定。視覺提示能説明孩子在日常生活裡繼續獨立完成常規，並減少成人的關注或監督。
幫助你成功的小貼士
- 要讓孩子順利地完成常規任務，他需要時間和機會練習。選擇一個恰當時間，在您不著急的時候與您的孩子練習常規任務。如果他們做錯，您可以糾正或與您的孩子反復練習步驟或常規。
- 選擇有意義的常規！如果您的孩子喜歡下樓到公園玩，一個有意義的常規可以是換衣服或準備下樓玩。選擇對孩子有意義的常規也能讓孩子有動機完成所有步驟。
- 如果您的孩子在步驟上犯了錯誤，阻止孩子再繼續，並提供回饋讓他知道自己做錯的步驟。例如，「不對的，你沒把小手擦乾」。這能增加孩子獨立學習的機會，也減少做錯後依賴成人幫助他做出改變的情況。
- 對於年幼的孩子，日常常規可是一項巨大的任務！當孩子能獨立完成常規，大力表揚和提供強化物，確保未來孩子也能順利完成同樣的常規。
資訊提供:
彭嘉恩 Renee Pang, 高級行為分析治療課程監督(理學學士)
彭嘉恩在澳大利亞蒙納士大學獲得教育研究學士學位和研究生證書。在2010年，嘉恩加入 Autism Partnership 新加坡中心，擔任 ABA 行為治療師。除了一對一和小組干預，她也到幼兒園和小學當了影子老師。2013年嘉恩開始出任行為分析治療主任, 在顧問的指導下, 負責設計課程。此外，她也到學校裡組織社交小組團隊，並與教師和校長合作制定融合計劃。嘉恩也在當地和海外提供員工和家長培訓課程。她能用英語、普通話和粵語交流。2019 年起，嘉恩與香港 Autism Partnership 合作，為上海家庭提供咨詢、家長培訓和員工培訓。
請分享，讓更多人了解自閉症及學習更多應用行為分析（ ABA）的治療技巧。
Facebook: APautism
微信號: AutismPartnership_HK
