Natural Environment Teaching (NET) Discrete Trial Teaching (DTT ) and Table Teaching

1. Natural Environment Teaching (NET) Discrete Trial Teaching (DTT)and Table Teaching By: Samantha Copp, BCaBA

2. Natural Environment Teaching • Is teaching new skills or reinforcing current skills in a less structured environment. • Client • Behavior Specialist • Motivating Operation(MO) VIDEO CLIP

3. Skills that work in NET • Task Analysis • Self-Help Skills • Manding • Intraverbal • Tacting • Social and Play • And many more

4. Why it works • It allows for skills to happen in their natural occurring environment • Reinforcement is apt to resemble the natural schedule or contingencies in which natural reinforcement would occur • Allows for generalization and behavior cusp to occur without formal training

5. How to be successful • You must pair yourself as a natural reinforcer. i.e.: Conditioned Fun Person= instructional control • Plan ahead/contrive situations to teach example: in hallway step in front of child wait for mand or teach mand “excuse me”, “move please” • Limit the client’s access to items so they need you in order to gain access example: Put toys up if teaching manding. Stop video to teach manding. Show 2 cars say: hand blue to mommy.

6. Other Teaching Methods • Incidental Teaching varies from NET in that it is not planned ahead of time.  The focus is usually to expand or enhance language that the client is already exhibiting.    • Time delay technique is used in the following way:  When you notices that your client wants something, rather than prompting right away, wait to see if your client is going to attempt a request.  If the client does request but not "correctly", another delay occurs, where you waits to see if the client will offer another request.  If client doesn't or is not successful, the mand-model procedure is used.   • Mand-model procedure is as follows:  When you notices the cliientwants something, first you asks the client what he/she wants.  If your clinetdoes not respond or responds incorrectly, you models the correct response.  When the client imitates the response, he/she is praised and given the desired item.

7. Other Teaching Methods Continued • Waiting Protocol is used when wanting to decrease inappropriate behaviors that occurs when client is told wait or reinforcement is delayed. Tell Client to wait: count aloud and/or fingers. Then deliver reinforcer and verbal praise. If behavior occurs begin to count again. • Count and Mand is used when inappropriate behavior occurs due to attention. To use: don’t address the behavior, prompt the appropriate behavior and count, then prompt correct way to access attention. If behavior occurs begin count again

8. Ways to transfer to DTT &Table Teaching • Simply prompt to table • If there is an issue here are two methods • Interruption/Transition: move a little bit away from client. Offer a reinforcer with demand to transition to table. If client transfers reward once at table with reinforcer and praise. • Proximity: Complete task out of play environment but close to the table. Each time move the task closer and closer to the table. Pair DTT time with reinforcement

9. Discrete Trail Training • One-to-one instructional approach used to teach skills in a planned, controlled, and systematic manner. • Discriminative Stimulus (SD) • Response (R) • Reinforcing stimulus (Sr+) - a stimulus that strengthens or weakens the behavior that occurred prior to it.  • Inter-trial interval (ITI), which is the time between the Sr+ and the start of a new trial. VIDEO

10. Skills that work for DTT • Academic • Mands • Tacts • Imitation • Attending to instruction • Social Play (taking turns) • Adaptive Behavior

11. Why it works • Takes away the distractions often found in the natural environment • Ability to present skill multiple times; where as you may only have the opportunity to present once of twice in natural environment • Can teach skills before child comes in contact with them in the natural environment

12. How to be successful • Errorless teaching: Don’t allow the client to make an incorrect response. You fully prompt the response until the child can do it. This allows for the client to always experience success and never have the frustration of failure • Transfer Trials: Rather than following a set prompt level to criterion, it is preferable to use most-to-least prompting and adjust your prompting moment-to-moment according to the client's responses. A good rule of thumb to follow is that for every prompted trial you run, immediately run an unprompted, or transfer, trial. • Mixing/Varying task: switch among mands, tacts, intraverbal, receptive ID, LRFFC, motor imitation, echoics, etc. Also vary difficulty: 80% easy 20% hard • High P /Behavior Momentum: Intervention were you present 2-5 easy task that are in learners history of compliance are presented quickly before requesting the target task. • Premack Principal/Grandma’s Theory: You make the opportunity to engage in a high p behavior contingent on engaging in a low-frequency behavior

13. NET and DTT • They go hand in hand. You should have a good balance of both in your sessions with clients. • ALWAYS take DATA!!! The data will let you know what you need to work on and what is mastered. Use it to help plan your sessions • Remember to fade prompting and reinforcement to natural occurring levels in the environment once mastered.