Reading and Writing: A Brief Introduction

Reading and Writing: A Brief Introduction

Nina W. Lovaas and Svein Eikeseth

The Reading and Writing (R&W) Program is the most recently developed program in this manual, hence the program most in need of more research and subsequent revisions. Despite this state of affairs, we judge it appropriate to introduce the program in part because experienced parents and aides have worked through preliminary drafts and offered many improvements. We hope that the R&W Program will stimulate empirical research, making it even more efficient to teach and thus more beneficial for students. Watthen-Lovaas and Lovaas (2000) describe in detail the portions of the R&W Program briefly introduced in this chapter, along with many additional reading and writing tasks, such as colour, shape, and size concepts; writing short phrases, observations, and requests (e.g., 'I see . . . ,' 'I have . . . ,' 'I want. . .'); and typing object labels and short sentences using a desktop or laptop computer (see Watthen-Lovaas & Lovaas, 2000).

Many or most students with developmental delays have difficulty acquiring vocal language and may be called visual learners as opposed to auditory learners Auditory learners usually acquire the language skills of typical individuals. In contrast, most visual learners acquire some vocal language, but they often obtain scores within the delayed range on language scales such as the Reynell Developmental Language Scales (Reynell & Gruber, 1990). Visual learners also typically obtain relatively low scores on scales of intelligence containing many verbal items (e.g., the Wechskr Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition [Wechsler, 1991]), but perform better on nonverbal scales of intelligence (e.g., the Merrill-Palmer Scale of Mental Tests [Stutsman, 1984a, 1984b]). Even though the R&W Program is likely to be particularly helpful for visual learners, auditory learners and typical individuals must learn to read and write as well. Thus, although the present program was developed for teaching students with developmental delays who have difficulty acquiring vocal language, it may also be useful for teaching auditory learners and typical individuals.

Certain informal observations of visual learners who possess little or no receptive or expressive language may give rise to optimism regarding their ability to attend to certain stimuli. For example, some students enjoy looking at books and pointing to pictures contained therein, anticipating sequences of visual material as the pages are turned. Others are interested in letters and memorize the order of the alphabet, and many are able to complete age-appropriate puzzles. Some have the capacity to memorize complex visual stimuli, such as printed strings of numbers and specific routes of travel. On a more dramatic scale, some students who otherwise seem oblivious to their surroundings are observed absorbing complex information when they watch certain videos. For example, a student may watch a certain video for the first time and observe a frightening scene, such as a bad animal attacking a good animal. When this student watches the same video in the future, she may anticipate the frightening scene and back away from the television set, cover her ears, or leave the room, returning as soon as the scary scene passes. This sort of scenario suggests that even visual learners with little or no vocal language skills are capable of assimilating certain kinds of information.

Prior to introducing the R&W Program to students, teachers should be made aware of the large range of differences among visual learners, differences that become apparent through the extent of mastery of the program. For instance, out of 20 visual learners exposed to the R&W Program, an estimated 5 may learn to read and write messages using a computer and communicate sentences such as 'I want juice'; type the answer, 'My name is (student's name),' to their parents' typed question, 'What's your name?'; and request outings such as, 'Let's go to the zoo.' This level of communication may be observed in students who have made significant progress in nonverbal programs (such as those described in Chapters 12 and 13) but who have failed to acquire even the simplest forms of vocal receptive and expressive language despite months of intensive one-on-one intervention implemented by highly qualified teachers. In contrast, some students fail to master even the most elementary reading and writing skills (e.g., word-to word matching and object-to-word associations) despite extensive teaching efforts. At present, we are unable to predict at onset to what extent a particular student will succeed in the R&W Program. No current theory of autism or other developmental delays can account for these differences, but leads may be found in future research on language disorders.

The R&W Program is not the first program proposed for helping individuals with autism and other developmental delays communicate by means of visual stimuli. In the mid-1960s, O. K. Moore's 'Talking Typewriter' was designed to help meet this need. More recently, strong sentiments were expressed for the benefits of Facilitated Communication (Biklen, 1991, 1992; Biklen, Morton, Gold, Berrigan, & Swaminanthan, 1992; Biklen et al., 1991; Crossley & Remington-Gurney, 1992; Spake, 1992). The claims made by proponents of these programs, however, were not supported by empirical research (Eberlin, McConnachie, Ibel & Volpe, 1992), possibly because of the many misleading assumptions that exist regarding individuals with autism. For example, in the case of Facilitated Communication (and psychodynamic theory), the assumption is made that an informed and knowledgeable individual is hidden within a shell of autism. Little or no evidence supports such an inference. In contrast, the R&W Program is based on scientifically sound learning-based research on teaching students with developmental delays to communicate by visual means (see Dube, McDonald, Mcllvane, & Mackay, 1991; Hewitt, 1964; Mackay, 1985; Sidman, 1971; Stromer & Mackay, 1992).

The R&W Program, as introduced in this chapter, takes the reader through the progression of the following tasks: (1) matching printed letters, (2) matching printed words, (3) associating printed words with objects and objects with printed words, (4) using a R&W Board to facilitate early reading and writing skills, and (5) using letters to spell words. Note that throughout this chapter, letters and words printed on cards are denoted by placing them inside brackets. For example, [i] refer to a card with the letter i printed on it, and [banana] refers to a card with 'banana' printed on it. The word banana without brackets (and without quotation marks) refers to a 3-D banana or a picture of a banana.

The R&W Program closely parallels the vocal language programs described in this manual. For example, in the Verbal Imitation Program (Chapter 22), the student is first taught to verbally imitate (i.e., match) the teacher's expressions of sounds such as 'ah' and 'm,' then spoken words, and finally combinations of spoken words.

In the R&W Program, the student is first taught to match the same units but presented as visual rather than vocal stimuli, such as matching printed letters and, later, printed words. In the receptive portion of the vocal language programs, the student is presented with a vocal stimulus and taught to act upon it. For example, the student is taught to identify (e.g., by pointing to or touching) a picture of a banana after the teacher says, 'Banana.' Analogously, in the R&W Program, the student is shown the printed word [banana] and then taught to identify the object or the picture of a banana. In the R&W Program, the printed word replaces the teacher's vocal word. In the expressive portions of the vocal language programs, the teacher presents a visual stimulus, for example, a cup, and the student is taught to vocalize the correct response, saying, 'Cup.' In the expressive portion of the R&W Program, the teacher presents the same visual stimulus, a cup. The student is taught to describe the cup by selecting the corresponding printed response [cup] from a display of several word cards. Later the student learns to spell out the word 'cup' longhand or type it on a computer keyboard. The written or typed response replaces the vocal response.

It is entirely possible, however, for a student to learn to read words and strings of words without knowing their meanings. Such behaviour is referred to as 'testing' in contrast to 'reading.' Hewett (1964) referred to this problem in teaching his student to read. The meanings of words are acquired by learning the environmental context with which they are associated. The more a student is taught to interact with and attend to the environment, the more extensive and useful the R&W Program will become. Consequently, we recommend that the R&W Program be taught in conjunction with other programs in this teaching manual.

It is important to read the entire chapter and become familiar with its overall progression before going on to teach the skills introduced in it. In addition, experience with programs presented earlier in this manual (including programs with an emphasis on vocal language) will help you administer the R&W Program more effectively. It may also help you to practice some of the teaching steps presented in this chapter on an adult before introducing the student to the program.

Prerequisites for the introduction of the first phases of the R&W Program (Matching Letters and Matching Words) consist of the student's ability to cooperate with you and mastery of basic matching and nonverbal imitation tasks (Chapters 12 and 13, respectively). In addition, you must show that you can teach these tasks successfully.

Matching Letters

The materials needed to teach letter matching consist largely of 3 x 5- or 4 x 6-inch index cards with letters printed on them.

Learning to match letters may be facilitated by presenting relatively large letters, at least 1 inch high, whether handwritten or typed (e.g., in point size 72, bold font). If the letters are handwritten, all the letter cards should initially be written by one person and later generalized to other persons' handwriting.

To facilitate the student's discriminations, begin with letters that are maximally different in appearance. For illustrative purposes, the letters [S], [I], and [O] correspond to SD1, SD2, and SD3, respectively. Note that in the following steps, the letters [S], [I], and [O] displayed on the table represent the samples. Duplicate letters [S], [I], and [O] represent the matches that are handed to the student one by one to be matched with (placed with) the corresponding samples on the table. Throughout the following steps, you and the student should be seated across from each other at the table (assuming you have good control in this situation).

Step 1

Mass trial SD1-R1 to mastery (the student matches [S] to [S]). Place the sample [S] on the table in front of the student, then hand him the match [S] while stating, 'Match.' Prompt the correct response immediately either by pointing to the sample [S] or by manually guiding the student to place his [S] (the match) on top of the sample. Reinforce the correct prompted response. While mass trialling SD1, place the sample in random positions on the table. Remove the stimuli between trials, presenting the stimuli again at the beginning of each trial. This procedure maximizes the discreteness of the stimuli presentation and thus the likelihood that the student will attend to them. Keep the intervals between trials at less than 5 seconds to help inhibit self-stimulatory and other off-task behaviours. Over the next several trials, fade all prompts and maximize reinforcement for unprompted correct responses. Set mastery at 5 out of 5 or 9 out of 10 unprompted correct responses.

Step 2

Mass trial SD2-R2 to mastery (the student matches [I] to [I]). Place the sample [I] on the

table and then give the student the match [I] while saying, 'Match.' Adhere to the same teaching procedures and criterion for mastery described in Step 1.

Step 3

Intermix SD1 and SD2. Place both samples, [S] and [I], on the table, equidistant from the student's midline. Allow approximately 4 to 6 inches between the two letters. Present SD1 [S] and immediately prompt Rl in order to avoid a nonreinforced trial. Mass trial SD1 while fading all prompts, including removal of the match from on top of the sample after each trial. Place mastery of SD1 at 3 unprompted correct responses in a row with the left-right positions of the samples [S] and [I] randomly interchanged and equidistant from the student. Within 2 seconds of the student's achieving mastery of SD1-R1, present SD2, the match [I], with both samples [S] and [I] on the table. Immediately prompt the student's correct response. Mass trial SD2 while fading all prompts. Set mastery of SD2 at 3 unprompted correct responses in a row. Over the next several trials, alternate back and forth between blocks of SD1 [S] and SD2 [I], requiring 2 unprompted correct responses before shifting SDs and then 1 correct response before shifting SDs. Randomly interchange the left-right positions of the samples [S] and [I] throughout this process. Place mastery at 5 out of 5 or 9 out of 10 unprompted correct responses with the presentation of the SDs and the leftright positions of the samples randomly rotated.

Step 4

Mass trial SD3-R3 to mastery (matching [O] to [O]). Follow the teaching procedures described in Step 1. Once SD3R3 is mastered in mass trials, go on to Step 5.

Step 5

Intermix and differentially reinforce SD3-R3 (matching [O] to [O]) and SD1-R1 (matching [S] to [S]), adhering to the discrimination learning procedures described in Step 3. Once the SD3-SD1 discrimination is mastered, intermix SD3 with SD2 (matching [I] to [I]), adhering to the same procedures. Finally, intermix SD1, SD2, and SD3. Remember, to eliminate extraneous and inadvertent cues, you must randomly rotate the positions of the three samples on the table and the presentation of the matches.

Once the student can place five or more matches with their samples displayed simultaneously on the table (preferably in two parallel rows), alternate between giving the student one match at a time and handing the student a stack of two and then three letter cards to be matched. With an increasing number of matches in hand (maximum four) and samples on the table (e.g., 12 displayed in three rows), the student's attention to the task (i.e., persistence) is likely to increase. Keep in mind that increased attention and work output are functions of how reinforcing the particular task is for the student. For most students, matching becomes very reinforcing.

After the student masters the matching of uppercase letters, teach the student to match lowercase letters by following the teaching procedures just presented for uppercase letters. After the student masters lowercase and uppercase letter matching separately, it may be appropriate to teach the equivalence of lowercase and uppercase letters. However, it is likely that the student will make larger educational and functional gains by learning this skill concurrent with typing. Procedures for teaching the equivalence of lowercase and uppercase letters as well as the skill of typing are described in detail by Watthen-Lovaas and Lovaas (2000).

Matching Words

In this phase of the R&W Program, the student learns to match printed words; that is, she learns to attend to (discriminate among) words. Later, printed words will be placed in context with objects and actions, making the words meaningful and functional.

Use approximately 1-inch tall words typed or handwritten in lowercase letters on 4 x 6-inch index cards. The first four to six words should be maximally different from one another in appearance (e.g., [cat], [dinosaur], [apple]) to facilitate the student's discrimination among them. The teaching procedures are the same as those detailed in the previous section on letter matching and are simply summarized in this section to reduce redundancy.

During mass trial procedures in Steps 1 and 2, teach the student to place the match [cat] with the sample [cat] (Step 1) and to place the match [dinosaur] with the sample [dinosaur] (Step 2). During discrimination learning procedures in Step 3, teach the student to match [cat] to [cat] and [dinosaur] to [dinosaur] with the left-right positions of the samples [cat] and [dinosaur] randomly interchanged on the table and equidistant from the student. Hand the student the match cards one at a time in random order. Set mastery at 5 out of 5 or 9 out of 10 unprompted correct responses for each step. New words should be introduced and intermixed according to these same procedures.

Once the student masters matching 10 to 15 words that have obvious perceptual differences, gradually increase the complexity of the task by reducing these differences (e.g., [milk] and [mom], [book] and [bottle], [swing] and [frog]). Eventually, teach the student to discriminate between words such as [car] and [cat] and [truck] and [duck]. Once such discriminations are mastered, words that play more functional roles for the student should be introduced. For example, introduce words denoting favourite foods (e.g., spaghetti, muffin, juice, chips, cracker), close persons (e.g., mom, dad, names of siblings and teachers), common clothing (e.g., shirt, shorts, pants, dress, shoes, hat), common furniture (e.g., table, chair, couch, bed, dresser), and animals the student shows interest in (e.g., cat, dog, horse, duck, giraffe, lion, monkey). Also introduce words such as crayon, marker, paper, scissors, glue, paint, and brush (if the student is learning art skills) and actions such as open, tickle, kiss, eat, and swing (if the student enjoys engaging in these behaviours). Keep in mind that even if the student is able to match words (whether in their auditory or visual form), there is no reason to believe that the student knows the meanings of the words. The skills of associating printed words with their corresponding objects and associating objects with their respective labels are introduced under the later section 'Associations.'

Areas of Difficulty

Discriminating between words of similar appearance may be difficult for some students. Visual prompts such as underlining the letters that mark the difference between the words (e.g., underline the 'r' in 'car' and the 't' in 'cat') may prove helpful in such a situation. Marking the discriminative letters with different colours or printing discriminative letters in a larger font may also facilitate the student's attention to them. Remember, all prompts must be faded for the student to establish the correct discrimination.

Associations

In an attempt to facilitate the student's success in subsequent stages of the R&.W Program and his acquisition of more flexible reading and writing skills, we have constructed two preliminary steps: (1) Associating Printed Words with Objects (which later extends into reading) and (2) Associating Objects with Printed Words (which later extends into writing). At this point, we do not have enough data to ascertain whether these preliminary steps are necessary for progressing toward the more advanced reading and writing stages; however, by establishing these associative skills, you are provided with an effective means of prompting the student's progress in subsequent portions of the R&W Program, thereby facilitating his discriminations.

Associating Printed Words with Objects

In the preliminary steps of early reading, place objects on the table and teach the student to place a word card directly below the object denoted by the printed word. As previously advised, the stimuli involved in the initial discriminations should be as different from one another as possible to facilitate the student's acquisition of these discriminations. In illustrating the following steps, SD1 is an airplane, SD2 is a sock, and SD3 is a pig. The teaching steps are virtually identical to those described in the previous section on matching letters and are therefore described in relative brevity below.

Step 1

Mass trial SD1Rl to mastery (the student places [airplane] with the 3-D airplane). With the airplane (as the only object) positioned on the table, state, 'Match,' while handing the student [airplane]. Prompt the correct response (i.e., the placement of [airplane] directly below the airplane). Reinforce. Fade the prompt over subsequent trials. Set mastery at 5 out of 5 or 9 out of 10 unprompted correct responses. Once mastery is achieved, go on to Step 2.

Step 2

Mass trial SD2-R2 to mastery (the student places [sock] with the sock). The sock is the only object on the table. Follow the procedures described in Step 1 until mastery of SD2-R2 is reached.

► Step 3

Begin with the objects airplane and sock placed on the table equidistant from the student's mid-line, allowing a space of about 4 to 6 inches between the two objects. Intermix SD1 and SD2 according to discrimination learning procedures (see Step 3 of the section 'Matching Letters'), and set mastery at 5 out of 5 or 9 out of 10 unprompted correct responses.

If the student makes an error during discrimination training in Step 3 (e.g., by placing [airplane] with the sock), interrupt the response by retrieving the match and give an informational 'No.' Immediately repeat the SD, prompting and reinforcing the correct response. Over successive intermixed and differentially reinforced trials, the student should make fewer and fewer mistakes and eventually master the discrimination. That is, the associations between SD1Rl and SD2R2 are strengthened because they are reinforced, whereas mistakes such as SD1-R2 and SD2-R1 are weakened because they are not reinforced. Set mastery at 5 out of 5 or 9 out of 10 unprompted correct responses.

Areas of Difficulty

A student may experience difficulty associating printed words with 3-D objects, particularly when the associations involve 3-D objects with which the student has a history of learning. It may be that such objects cue behaviours (e.g., retrieving or manipulating the objects) that are incompatible with the placement of a printed label below the objects. Introduce new and unfamiliar objects to help avoid this problem. If the problem persists with entirely new objects, place the task on hold and introduce an alternative task: associating words with 2-D objects. To create the stimuli needed for this format, photograph the target 3-D objects against a neutral, solid-coloured background. All photographs should be of equal size (e.g., 4x6 inches). To facilitate this requirement, choose relatively small objects and photograph them close-up. To maximize the benefit of using 2-D stimuli, teach the student to match picture to picture and then pictures to their corresponding 3-D objects as prerequisite requirements to associating words with their corresponding 2-D pictures.

Associating Objects with Printed Words

In the preliminary steps of early writing, the words and the objects used as stimuli should be maximally different in appearance. For example, if the object car placed with the printed word [car] is the first association, then dinosaur with [dinosaur] may be a good choice for the second association, and baby associated with [baby] would be appropriate for the third association. Discriminations may also be facilitated by presenting objects in which the student has shown some prior interest. The discrimination learning procedures are the same as those described in the previous section 'Matching Letters.' Steps 1, 2, and 3 are summarized below.

In Step 1, teach the student to place the object car below the word [car]. Position the word [car] in random positions on the table across trials. In Step 2, teach the student to place the object dinosaur with the word [dinosaur] that is randomly positioned on the table across trials. In Step 3, teach the student according to discrimination learning procedures to place the objects car and dinosaur with their corresponding word cards, [car] and [dinosaur], both displayed simultaneously on the table and in random positions.

Introduce and intermix new associations (e.g., associating the object baby with [baby]) according to these same procedures. Once the student masters 10 to 12 associations among 3-D objects and their corresponding printed words, teach generalization from 3-D objects to 2-D representations of objects, followed by generalization across non-identical 3-D objects (i.e., keep the classes of the objects consistent but vary their size, shape, and colour). Continue to teach new associations between 3-D and 2-D objects and their corresponding printed words. Gradually increase the number of word cards displayed on the table to six or more placed in two parallel rows.

Areas of Difficulty

If the student excessively manipulates any of the 3-D objects, select other objects that are less interesting to him. If the student is confused as to where to place the objects, prompt correct placement as follows: Place a white sheet of paper on the table and position the word card (e.g., [car]) on the upper half of the paper. With a pencil, draw a dotted outline of the object car on the paper directly below [car] to help prompt the placement of the object. Present SD1 by stating, 'Match,' while handing the student the car. Manually prompt the student to place the car inside the dotted area. Fade the dotted outline by gradually erasing more and more of it on each subsequent trial. Finally, remove the paper. If the student fails to respond correctly at any point, go back and introduce the least amount of prompt necessary to reinstate correct responding, and then start fading the prompt again at a slower rate.

Using an R&W Board

In this phase of the R&W Program, the student is taught to use an R&W Board to facilitate early forms of reading and writing. In the Early Reading Skills section, the student learns to generalize the association of printed words with objects from the table to the R&W Board; that is, a printed word is presented at the top of the board and the student is taught to read the word and to identify the object or behaviour described by the word from several alternative stimuli displayed further down on the board (in the response field). In the Early Writing Skills section, the student learns to generalize the association of objects with printed words from the table to the R&W Board. That is, an object is displayed at the top of the board and the student is taught to select the printed label corresponding to that object from a display of several words on the Board. The Early Writing Skills section is a precursor to more advanced writing programs, such as those describing how to use letters to compose words when instructed to label objects, behaviours, and desires. We have found it easier to teach writing tasks by beginning with whole words (i.e., word cards) rather than individual letters. Spelling out words is taught in the later section titled 'Writing Object Labels.'

A basic R&W Board can be made as follows:

Create an approximately 20 X 18-inch rectangular board using %-inch thick white cardboard, poster board, or dry erase board. Adjust the size of the board according to the size of the student.

Attach a '/-inch wide strip of black Velcro horizontally across the top of the board, 1 Yi inches from the top and 1 inch in from either side of the board. Attach instructions on this horizontal strip, referred to as the instruction strip.

Attach two strips of black Velcro vertically on the board 1 to 2 inches in from the sides (one strip on each side) and about 3 inches down from the top and up from the bottom of the board. From these two vertical strips, referred to as the choice strips, the student will choose stimuli in response to the teacher's instruction.

Attach a strip of black Velcro horizontally across the board about Wi inches from the bottom of the board and 1 inch in from either side of the board. The student places the stimuli she selects in response to the teacher's instruction on this strip, referred to as the response strip.

In the middle of the board, on the area between the two black choice strips, attach two white strips of Velcro (prompt strips) parallel to the choice strips and about 2 to 3 inches apart. Visual prompts may be attached to these two strips. Use the hook side of the Velcro for all strips on the board. (See Figure 29.1 for a sample R&.W Board.)

Use a bold font of approximately point size 56 when making word cards to be used on the R&.W Board and use cards that are 3x5 inches. Laminate the word cards, or use contact paper if lamination is not available. Each word card should have a Velcro dot or strip on the back so that the student can attach and remove the cards from the choice strips and response strip with ease. Use the loop (soft bushy) side of the Velcro on all word cards and other 2-D material. The board should be placed flat on the table within easy reach of the student or at an angle on an easel.

For teaching an early reading task, a printed instruction, such as [Touch] [duck], is presented on the instruction strip. A 3-D duck is displayed on the lower half of the Board (i.e., in the response field). The student is taught to read the instruction and to identify the correct object by touching it. Gradually, additional objects are displayed in the response field. When teaching an early writing task on the board, the teacher presents a printed instruction, such as [What is it?], with an object, such as a 3-D duck, adjacent to it on the instruction strip. The student is taught to attend to this SD, select the word card [duck] that is displayed on a choice strip, and place the word card on the response strip. In a sense, the student 'writes' her response using a word card. Additional word cards are gradually displayed on the choice strips while one object is presented on the instruction strip with the printed instruction [What is it?]. When spelling is introduced, the teacher presents the instruction [What is it?] and, for example, a duck on the instruction strip. The letters [d], [u], [c], and [k] are displayed on the choice strips and the student is taught to spell the word by placing the letters one by one in the correct order from left to right on the response strip. Gradually, distracter letters are added to the choice strips.

Matching Words on the R&W Board

Familiarize the student with the R&W Board by generalizing her word matching skills from matching on the table to matching on the board. Place the board on the table in front of the student, and sit next to her. For illustrative purposes, SD1-R1 is matching [cat] to [cat], and SD2-R2 is matching [juice] to [juice].

► Step 1

Place the sample [cat] centred on the board and positioned just above the response strip; that is, place the word card on a prompt strip. In this position, the word card is close to the response strip and, therefore, facilitates a correct response. Hand the match [cat] to the student while saying, 'Match.' Prompt the student to place the match on the response strip directly below the sample. After this stage is mastered, position the match word [cat] on a choice strip instead of handing it to the student, and teach her to remove the word card from the choice strips and then place it on the response strip directly below the sample word [cat]. Over trials, gradually move the sample up to the instruction strip while the student continues to use the response strip for placement of the match. Display the match card in random positions on either choice strip. Place mastery at 5 out of 5 or 9 out of 10 unprompted correct responses.

Step 2

Follow the procedures described in the previous step to teach the student to pick the match [juice] from a choice strip and place it on the response strip with the sample [juice] on the instruction strip. Place mastery at 5 out of 5 or 9 out of 10 unprompted correct responses.

Step 3

Present the samples [cat] (SD1) and (juice] (SD2) one at a time on the instruction strip, starting with [cat], and display the matches [cat] and [juice] simultaneously and in random positions on the choice strips. Intermix SD1 and SD2 according to discrimination learning procedures. After mastery is reached (5 out of 5 or 9 out of 10 unprompted correct responses), teach the student to match additional words, gradually increasing the number of word cards (matches) displayed on the choice strips to 6 to 12 cards (while only one sample card is presented on the instruction strip at a time). After each completed correct response, you should return the match to a random place on one of the choice strips to limit inadvertent prompts.

Once the student learns to match 15 to 20 words on the R&W Board, begin teaching the student early reading skills as outlined in the next section.

Early Reading Skills

There is a great deal of overlap between the Early Reading Skills section of the R&W Program and the Receptive Identification of Objects Program presented in Chapter 17, and we recommend that you become familiar with the procedures used in that chapter before introducing this section. In the vocal language program in Chapter 17, the student is taught to identify (e.g., point to or touch) an object after you verbally request the student to do so. In the present section, you replace the verbal request with a printed request; effectively, the student is taught to generalize the skills taught in the previous section 'Associating Printed Words with Objects.'

When you present printed instructions in this section, we recommend verbalizing them in addition to pointing to them. This recommendation is based on the informal observation that some students begin to understand your vocalizations when they are combined with their visual counterparts. That is, over time, some students learn to identify the target objects without the written word present. Although such incidental teaching is often effective for typical students, little formal research has shown its effectiveness for children with autism or other developmental delays. Nonetheless, informal observations warrant use of this procedure unless it becomes apparent that your vocalizations actually interfere with the student's learning to read. For students who have mastered Receptive Identification of Objects (Chapter 17) prior to the introduction of this section, however, we advise that you say, 'Read,' while pointing to the printed instruction without verbalizing the printed SD. The steps that follow are illustrated using this format. In this case, the printed SD should be verbalized only when used as a prompt; otherwise, there is no reason for the student to attend to the printed word. Fade the verbal prompt over trials to ensure that the student actually learns to read.

Stimuli from discriminations mastered in earlier sections of the R&W Program may facilitate the discrimination tasks taught in this section. To further facilitate the student's acquisition of early reading skills, we recommend beginning with 3-D objects. Note, however, that some students have difficulty learning when 3-D stimuli are used. If this is true for the student you work with, shift to 2-D stimuli, but continue to proceed according to the following steps.

For illustrative purposes, SD1, SD2, and SD3 correspond to the printed word card [Touch] in addition to [airplane], [sock], and [pig], respectively.

► Step 1

Mass trial SD1-R1 to mastery (the student reads [Touch] [airplane] then touches the 3-D airplane). Begin by placing the airplane in a prompted position 2 inches below the instruction strip (i.e., on a prompt strip). Next, place the printed instruction [Touch] approximately 3 inches from the word card [airplane] on the instruction strip, positioning the word card [airplane] directly above the airplane. Point to the word card [Touch] while saying, 'Touch,' then immediately point to [airplane]. Manually prompt the student to touch the airplane as she attends to [airplane]. Remove the stimuli between trials and fade the manual prompt over the next few trials. Note that the close proximity of the airplane to the word card [airplane] functions as a prompt. Fade the prompted position of the airplane by gradually increasing the distance between the airplane and the instruction strip both in vertical and horizontal directions, eventually randomizing its position in the response field. This prompt fading procedure teaches the student to search for the airplane once she reads the word [airplane]. In this way, irrelevant stimuli are reduced while scanning for the correct object is facilitated. Set mastery at 5 out of 5 or 9 out of 10 unprompted correct responses. Once this step is mastered, go on to Step 2.

If the choice strips, vertical prompt strips, and response strip interfere with the placement of the 3-D objects on the board, turn the board over and use the back for reading tasks. Place a black Velcro instruction strip lengthwise at the top of the board and two white prompt strips parallel to the instruction strip and spaced about 3 to 4 inches apart for the display of 3-D stimuli.

Step 2

Mass trial SD2-R2 (the student reads [Touch] [sock] then touches the 3-D sock). Follow the teaching procedures described in Step 1. Set mastery at 5 out of 5 or 9 out of 10 unprompted correct responses.

Step 3

Centre the airplane and the sock on the lower half of the board in the response field and begin with presentations of SD1. Intermix SD1 and SD2 according to discrimination learning procedures.

Once the student can discriminate between SD1 and SD2, generalize mastery of this discrimination across all teachers before introducing SD3. SD3-R3 (reading [Touch] [pig], then touching the pig) should initially be taught in mass trials and then intermixed with SD1 and SD2 as previously described.

As the student masters new SDs, increase the number of object choices presented at one time in the response field from three to six or seven, depending on the student's rate of progress and the size of the board. With several objects placed randomly on the board, it is likely that irrelevant and interfering stimuli will be reduced or eliminated, thereby solidifying the student's mastery of the discriminations. Once the student learns to discriminate among the printed labels of 10 to 15 objects, introduce 2-D representations of the 3-D stimuli (see the following section, 'Areas of Difficulty,' for guidelines on teaching this skill). As the student learns to generalize to 2-D stimuli, continue to teach new 3-D objects. Once the student has established mastery of approximately 25 discriminations in the original format, generalize to non-identical 3-D and then non-identical 2-D stimuli. Teach 15 to 50 object identifications, depending on the student's rate of learning.

Areas of Difficulty

When you verbalize the entire SD in addition to presenting the printed material (e.g., you say, 'Touch airplane,' while pointing to the word cards [Touch] and [airplane]) and use the word 'touch' across many objects, there is no reason to believe that the student learns the meaning of the word 'touch.' In fact, the introduction of the word 'touch' may interfere with or block the student's acquisition of the meaning of the word identifying the object.

If the student encounters difficulty with instructions such as [Touch] [airplane] when contrasted with other instructions such as [Touch] [sock], increase their discriminability by removing the [Touch] word card. Once the discriminations are made between the most relevant portions of the instructions (i.e., [airplane] vs. [sock] in this example), reintroduce [Touch].

Some students experience difficulty associating 3-D objects with printed words. If this is true for the student you work with, try using 2-D pictures instead of 3-D objects (see Figure 29.2). A visual prompt (similar to the prompt described in the earlier section 'Associating Objects with Printed Words') may be helpful, and is described in the following steps.

► Step 1

Mass trial SD1Rl to mastery (reading [Touch] [airplane], and then touching the picture of the airplane). Begin by placing [Touch] and [airplane] on the instruction strip. Display a picture of the 3-D airplane in a prompted position about 2 inches below the instruction strip. Place a duplicate word card [airplane] (i.e., a prompt card) directly below the picture of the airplane. Point to the instruction [Touch]; say, 'Touch'; then point to [airplane] on the instruction strip. Manually prompt the student to touch the picture of the airplane. Remove the stimuli between trials. Over the next several trials, increase the distance between [airplane] on the instruction strip and the picture of the airplane until the picture is positioned anywhere on the lower half of the board (i.e., the position prompt is faded). In addition, fade the prompt card [airplane] over trials by gradually sliding it under the picture of the airplane. Set mastery at 5 out of 5 or 9 out of 10 unprompted correct responses.

Step 2

Mass trial SD2R2 to mastery (reading [Touch] [sock], and then touching the picture of the sock). Follow the procedures described in Step 1.

Step 3

Place the picture of the airplane and the picture of the sock 3 to 4 inches apart on the lower half of the board. Reinstate the prompt cards (i.e., place the prompt cards [airplane] and [sock] below the corresponding pictures). Start by presenting SD1 ([Touch] [airplane]) and intermix SD1 and SD2 according to the discrimination learning paradigm. First fade the manual prompt, then fade the prompt cards by simultaneously and in gradual increments sliding them under their respective pictures. Probe unprompted trials in an effort to reduce the number of prompted trials. Randomly rotate the positions of the pictures to avoid position prompting. Place mastery at 5 out of 5 or 9 out of 10 unprompted correct responses with the SDs presented in random rotation.

Early Writing Skills

You should be familiar with the Expressive Labelling of Objects Program (Chapter 23) because much of the information concerning the teaching of expressive vocal language pertains to teaching visual learners how to express themselves using printed language. In this section of the R&.W Program, the student is taught to label an object using the printed word that corresponds to it.

We recommend starting with stimuli the student was exposed to in earlier sections of this program. For illustrative purposes, dinosaur is used as SD1, car is used as SD2, and doll is used as SD3.

► Step 1

Mass trial SD1-R1 to mastery (the object dinosaur cues the placement of [dinosaur]). First, place [What is it?] on the instruction strip and [dinosaur] on the choice strip in a prompted position close to the response strip. Next, centre the 3-D dinosaur on the R&W Board about 3 inches above the response strip (i.e., in a prompted position). Point to the printed instruction [What is it?]; say, 'What is it?'; and then immediately point to the dinosaur. Prompt the student to remove [dinosaur] from the choice strip and place it on the response strip directly below the dinosaur. You may have to manually prompt the student's movements. After fading the manual prompt, gradually fade the position prompt by moving the dinosaur away from the response strip and toward the instruction strip. Display the word card [dinosaur] in random position on the choice strips. Once the student can correctly retrieve the word card from random positions, gradually move the dinosaur to its final position adjacent to [What is it?] on the instruction strip. Place mastery at 5 out of 5 or 9 out of 10 unprompted correct responses.

Step 2

Mass trial SD2R2 to mastery (the object car cues the placement of [car]) by following the procedures outlined in the previous step. Again set mastery at 5 out of 5 or 9 out of 10 unprompted correct responses. Once mastery is achieved, go on to Step 3.

Step 3

Place the instruction [What is it?] and the 3-D dinosaur on the instruction strip and the word cards [dinosaur] and [car] on the choice strips. Starting with SD1-R1 (the dinosaur cues the placement of [dinosaur]), intermix SD1 and SD2 according to discrimination learning procedures. Prompt as necessary. Set mastery at 5 out of 5 or 9 out of 10 unprompted correct responses with the SDs presented in random rotation. Generalize mastery of this discrimination across teachers.

Introduce SD3 and subsequent items by following the procedures employed in Steps 1 through 3. As the student masters new items, gradually increase the number of word cards displayed simultaneously on the choice strips. For example, to label the object presented on the instruction strip, the student will learn to identify the corresponding word from four to five word cards on each choice strip (i.e., a total of 10 to 12 word cards). In other words, the student is taught to scrutinize the environment in order to make increasingly complex discriminations.

After the student masters writing (i.e., labelling) 15 to 20 objects, teach the student to label pictures of the mastered 3-D objects (see Figure 29.3). Once the student masters approximately 10 pictures, it is recommended that non-identical examples of the mastered 3-D and 2-D items are introduced to help ensure generalization. By being able to use both 3-D and 2-D stimuli, the teacher gains flexibility in helping the student acquire the labels of a number of functional items around the house and, later, the labels for colours, shapes, and sizes.

Areas of Difficulty

The presentation of the printed instruction [What is it?] together with the object the student is asked to label may cause a problem identical to that which some students in the vocal language program encounter when the teacher asks 'What is it?' while presenting of the object the student is asked to verbally label. This problem may be solved by initially withholding the printed instruction [What is it?] and then fading it in after the student has learned to write the labels of approximately 15 to 20 objects.

Responding to Printed Instructions

In this section, the student is taught to read and act upon printed instructions. The long-term goal is that the student will read and then follow elaborate chained instructions, such as [Go to the bathroom, brush your teeth, then come back to Mommy]. To reach such a complex stage, a foundation of basic skills must first be established. Thus, the initial objective is to teach the student to read and act upon elementary single instructions such as [drop block], [stomp feet], [wave], and [clap]. More complex and chained instructions are gradually introduced after this beginning goal is attained.

Note how closely this section parallels the Early Receptive Language Program (Chapter 15). Given the heavy overlap, teaching the skills introduced in this section will be facilitated if you are familiar with the procedures detailed in Chapter 15. If the student mastered the Early Receptive Language Program, you may prompt the correct response when teaching the student to read instructions by verbalizing the instruction (e.g., 'Drop block') after saying, 'Read.' This verbal prompt must be faded.

The student should possess strong nonverbal imitation skills and word matching skills before being introduced to this reading task. It will also be helpful for the student to have already mastered matching the target printed instructions (e.g., matching [stomp feet] to [stomp feet]). Through matching, the student shows that she can discriminate among (attend to) the stimuli.

We recommend that the initial instructions require a response that involves object manipulation (objects provide clear-cut visual cues for the student, and the actions are relatively easy to prompt). You may present the printed instructions on the instruction strip on the R&W Board or on some other surface that allows the student a clear view of the instructions (e.g., an easel). At a later stage, instructions may be presented on a computer screen. The instructions [drop block], [talk on phone], and [stomp feet] are used to illustrate SD1, SD2, and SD3, respectively, in the steps that follow.

Step 1

Place a block and a bucket on the table, present the printed instruction [drop block] on the instruction strip, then say, 'Read' (or 'Drop block'), and while pointing to the instruction card. It may be necessary to display the instruction card distinctly in front of the student's eyes concurrent with the verbal instruction. Prompt the correct response by modelling the behaviour. Place the criterion for mastery at 5 out of 5 or 9 out of 10 unprompted correct responses.

Step 2

Mass trial SD2 [talk on phone] to mastery by following the procedures described in the previous step. In the current step, a toy phone placed on the table replaces the block and the bucket.

Step 3

Position the block and the bucket close together and approximately 4 to 6 inches away from the phone on the table. Intermix SD1 [drop block] and SD2 [talk on phone] according to discrimination learning procedures, starting with SD1.

Step 4

Mass trial SD3 [stomp feet] to mastery. Stomping feet is a relatively easy action to prompt and therefore functions as a nice transition to actions that do not require object manipulation.

Once SD3 is mastered, intermix it first with SD1, then with SD2, and then with both SD1 and SD2.

Continue to introduce instructions by following the previously outlined procedures. In deciding upon prospective instructions, refer to the list of behaviours provided at the end of Chapter 15. Procedures for chaining two-part instructions are described in the R&W Program manual.

Areas of Difficulty

Some students need prompts beyond those described in the preceding section. One such prompt proximity prompt) may be implemented as follows: When introducing SD1 [drop block], first prompt the correct response by placing the instruction card near the block and bucket on the table. Next, hand the student a duplicate instruction card [drop block] (i.e., a prompt card) and help her match this card to the instruction card, then immediately manually prompt the student to perform the action of picking up the block and dropping it in the bucket. This position prompt is helpful because it reduces the distance between the instruction and the response (the SD-R relationship occurs closer in time and space). Over trials, first fade the prompt card, then move the instruction card up to the instruction strip. To use a similar proximity prompt when teaching [stomp feet], place the instruction card next to the student's feet, then immediately prompt her to stomp her feet. Gradually move the instruction card up to the instruction strip (see Figure 29.5).

Using Letters to Write Words

Copying Words

As a precursor to teaching the student to identify objects by spelling their labels, the student is taught to copy words. We use the term copy at this point because of the common use of this locution in education. Note that, conceptually, copying is analogous to matching.

The meanings of words copied by the student are not taught in this section. The objective here is to teach the student to copy any word presented by the teacher (as a prerequisite to teaching meaning in the next section). Copying, and later spelling, words on the R&W Board are taught as preliminary steps toward teaching the student to type on a computer keyboard.

The materials needed in this section are either (a) lowercase letters (point size 72 bold) pasted on small squares cut out of white poster board with a Velcro dot attached to the back of each letter for use on the R&W Board or (b) magnetic tile letters for use on a magnetic board (e.g., 'Wonder board, Fun with Letters' by Dowling Magnets, Sonoma, California, Phone: 800/624-6381; in Europe, Dowling Magnets Europe Limited, Ashley Road, London N179LN, UK). The student is initially taught to copy short words by selecting letters, one at a time, from a group of letters that collectively make up the word to be copied. Later, longer words are presented and distracter letters are added. When this step is reached, the student is taught to select only the letters necessary to copy the particular word displayed.

The following steps illustrate how spelling may be taught on the R&W Board as opposed to a magnetic board. The first SD may be any two-letter combination. In the following steps, SD1 is the combination of the letters 'u' and 'p' to make the word [up].

Step 1

Place the letter combination [up] (the sample) in the middle of the board (i.e., in a prompted position). Leave a 1-inch space between the letters in the sample word [up] to facilitate the match. Place the letters [u] and [p] (the matches) on the table directly below the board. Verbally instruct 'Match' and immediately prompt the student to move the match letters [u] and [p] into position on the response strip below the sample ([u p]). The letters should be moved one at a time and in order from left to right (i.e., [u] first, then [p]). The left-to-right order signals the beginning of writing with letters, and it is essential that you follow this rule from the beginning. Reinforce the student after placing the final letter [p]. Fade all prompts over subsequent trials.

Step 2

Teach the student to copy the same combination of letters used in the previous step ([up]) with the match letters placed in a random order on the table. Should the student match [p] to [p] first (rather than follow the order from left to right), initially avoid consequating the response with an informational 'No' because the match in and of itself is correct. Instead, put the match letters back on the table, repeat the SD, and prompt the correct order. Place mastery at 5 out of 5 or 9 out of 10 unprompted correct responses. Once the SD is mastered, copying in an incorrect order may be consequated with an informational 'No.'

► Step 3

Move the match letters from the table onto a choice strip, initially placing the first letter of the combination ([u]) closest to the response strip. Once mastered, introduce random positioning of the match letters ([u] and [p]) on the choice strips, and incrementally move the sample combination [up] to the instruction strip. Gradually add distracter letters onto the choice strips until a total of 12 letters (10 of them being distracters) are placed on the choice strips in random order. This procedure necessitates that the student scan for the correct letters.

Introduce new letter combinations by following the procedures described above. As the student gains proficiency in copying, present more commonly used words. Gradually increase the number of letters included in the sample words until the student can copy words composed of six to eight letters with distracter letters present the first time the words are introduced.

Eventually teach the student to copy combinations of words. Start with two-word combinations and systematically increase to a maximum of four-word strings. The teacher may need to prompt the student's correct placement of the letters by pencilling in prompt boxes on the response strip (one box for each word in the SD).

Writing Object Labels

The student's mastery of copying words and strings of words does not imply that the student understands the meanings of the words he copies. In this section, the student is taught to associate the meanings of the labels he spells with the objects to which they correspond.

Pictures of the objects shoe and duck are used to illustrate the following steps in teaching the student to spell the labels associated with objects.

► Step 1

Mass trial SD1-R1 to mastery (a picture of a shoe cues the student to spell the word 'shoe'). Position the four letters that compose the word 'shoe' on a choice strip such that the letter [s] is closest to the response strip, [h] is the second closest, and [e] is the farthest. Present a picture of a shoe on the board about 3 inches above the response strip (i.e., in a prompted position). Place a prompt card [shoe] directly below the picture of the shoe. Place the printed instruction [What is it?] on the instruction strip; point to it; instruct, 'What is it?'; and point to the picture of the shoe. Manually prompt the student to spell the word 'shoe' by placing the letters, one by one, ordered from left to right, on the response strip directly below the prompt card [shoe]. Over the next several trials, fade the manual prompt, then fade the prompt card [shoe] by gradually sliding it under the picture of the shoe until the prompt card is completely hidden. Throughout the prompt fading procedure, occasionally probe unprompted trials. Once manual and visual prompts are faded, begin randomizing the positions of the letters on the choice strips to help prevent inadvertent position cues. Gradually add distracter letters to the choice strips until the student learns to select the letters [s], [h], [o], and [e] from a total of 12 to 15 letters. Set mastery at 5 out of 5 or 9 out of 10 unprompted correct responses.

Step 2

Mass trial SD2R2 (a picture of a duck cues the student to spell the word 'duck') by following the procedures described in the previous step.

Step 3

Place the letters [s], [h], [o], [e], [d], [u], [c], and [k] on the choice strip, then intermix SD1 and SD2 according to discrimination learning procedures. Begin by presenting SD1. To respond correctly, the student must learn not to select any of the letters included in the word 'duck.' If necessary, facilitate this discrimination by adding the letters of the word 'duck' to the choice strips one at a time. Once the SD1-SD2 discrimination is mastered, gradually add up to seven distracter letters, giving the student no more than a total of 15 letters to choose from. Continue to teach and intermix new labels according to these same procedures.

Although the acquisition of spelling according to the format described in this section is an important achievement, learning to write in a more flexible and efficient manner would benefit any student. Two common methods for efficient writing are longhand and typing. Procedures for teaching the student to write longhand are described in the Arts and Crafts Program (Chapter 20). Procedures for teaching the student to type using a computer are presented in Watthen-Lovaas and Lovaas (2000).

It is difficult to predict whether a student will make more progress writing longhand or typing. It is also difficult to predict whether a student will encounter serious problems with either method. Therefore, it may be best to explore the introduction of both types of writing, and then decide what works best for the individual student. For some students, the Picture Exchange Communication System (see Chapter 30) may be of more value than either method of writing.

Concluding Comments

Working knowledge of the vocal language programs outlined in this manual and the beginning steps of the R&W Program described in this chapter should prepare teachers and parents for making informed decisions regarding whether the R&W Program would be beneficial for the student. If it is deemed appropriate to introduce the R&W Program, an extremely detailed presentation of the program is described in a separate R&W Program manual (Watthen-Lovaas & Lovaas, 2000).