Isn’t He Too Young For (So Much) Table Time?
By Mary Barbera, PhD, RN, BCBA-D
I teach children mostly at the table, even very young children. Many Early Intervention providers such as Occupational and Speech Pathologists and even other Behavior Analysts recommend teaching young children on the floor and using more Natural Environment Teaching.
While many people advocate for teaching in the natural environment, ie, on the floor, in my clinical work I have seen significant gains with children with autism using ABA techniques at the intensive teaching table.
During instructional time with me and/or the behavior technician, and here’s why:
Having the child sit at a table with you begins to build instructional control. The child soon realizes that you (the teacher/parent/therapist) are the giver of all the good things. When your child or client is sitting, attending, and eventually requesting, he will receive preferred items and activities.
With most families, I usually only provide ABA oversight for 2-3 hours a week or every other week. With limited time, I’ve got to get in there and assess and plan carefully. Then I need to train one or both parents and other professionals to carry out the program. I need to modify the environment so it is most conducive to learning. If I have a 2-year-old client, for example, who is flitting around the house, then every room has to be sanitized (free of reinforcers and distractions) and there isn’t time for that. My clients are usually severely delayed and the more time I spend following the child’s lead, the more behind they get!
But, when the table and table materials come out, the child knows it’s time to learn, so much more can be accomplished! Sure it may take time to pair the table and the materials and to gain instructional control but once that is done, we tend to see much more progress. Also, it’s a lot easier to train parents or others with less experience to teach at the table. I find that instructional control comes so much easier at the table than in the natural environment, especially for young children with significant impairments.
Do you want to know more about implementing an ABA program at the table? See my 3-part video series, including Video 1 (Two Tips to Teach at the Table) and other workshops today,
I really love this. In my work, both in home and in public school settings, I am faced with this question often. I will be printing this out and using it with parents, teachers, related service providers, and school administrators as a resource to support the benefits of working at the table for all ages! Thank you Mary!!
Thanks Kristen for the feedback! I’m glad you found these ideas helpful!
Please help! My school system wants to take your e-course. When does it open again? I am a Speech-Language Pathologist and just finished the course. I absolutely loved it! The school system I contract with is very interested. I also need to to know how much a group rate would be. Thank you so much!
HI Kendra, Thanks for recommending my e-course (Autism ABA Help: Online Training for Professionals and “Gung-Ho” Parents). We are processing your school district’s order of 14 memberships now. I’m so excited as this is our first larger group taking the course together! Thanks again! Please contact us at [email protected] with any questions or special requests!
I agree with you. Even with significant gains made through ABA the kiddos can be behind for a long time. I think of our work as “knitting a new brain” and we need to maximize that time and get instructional control. Depending on the child I may stick in some ball work or gross motor work via imitation but every case is different and instructional control is paramount.
Thanks for your input Ann-Marie and thanks for supporting my work!
In a time when there is so much focus on teaching during play, I can’t agree more. If children with ASD learned under everyday “natural” social contingencies, they wouldn’t need our extra help to learn. That’s the crux of the problem! Consider anything else we want to learn … Basketball, piano, dance … All of these require intensive drills focused on skills. Once we learn those skills we use them in the game or performance. We don’t learn them there. If you want to teach a person to be good at basketball, we don’t expect he or she will learn to shoot hoops exceptionally well if we just let them go at it in a scrimmage. Instead, we get them to shoot without other competing variables (eg no opponent). We also teach them to dribble, pass, etc., and we do multiple trials of this. Only then do they start to become become good at the game. Same for piano, dance, math … It’s endless. That said, the idea of “table teaching” can occur without an actual table when it’s appropriate. I’ve had small children on a mat or in a room on the floor designated as a teaching space. We’ll do trials with the shape sorter, puzzles, etc. It could be done just as easily at a table. The point is that I’ve set up contingencies that give me instructional control. The other point to consider is ensuring an appropriate sized table when using a table with little ones. Can you imagine using your computer when the table it sits on comes up to your chest? This is what I sometimes see with little ones. I’ve spent many sessions sitting in chairs that are at my calf level because that height suits the small child.
Thanks for your comment Jennifer! I’ve also used small blankets on the floor to “mark” a teaching spot but I do think that as we progress with matching pictures, receptive ID, coloring, etc. the table works much better than the floor.