Naturalistic Instruction

1. Four Main Characteristics of NET

Here are four main characteristics of naturalistic teaching strategies.

1. Focus on use of patient’s current motivation/MO

• Patient directed; the behavior technician follows the patient’s lead.
• If the patient’s motivation changes, the activities follow.
• Activities may be embedded within regular daily activities.

EXAMPLE

Camille is hungry and wants strawberries, her favorite snack. While in the kitchen prepping the snack, the behavior technician incorporates manding, objects, colors, functions, and quantitative concepts as natural opportunities arise within the activity:

• Manding/requesting: “I want strawberries.”
• Objects: “What is it?” and pointing to plate.
• Functions: “What do you cut with?”
• Quantitative Concepts: “Do you want more or less?”

2. Functional relationship between the task and the reinforcer

• Reinforcers given are directly related to activity, not arbitrary.
• Natural consequences are provided for responses.

IN CONTEXT

Let's explore some examples of this functional relationship between the task and the reinforcer in practice.

• Judah mands for juice and is given juice.
• Savannah’s dad draws fun pictures as she recalls objects by color (e.g., “Let’s think of some red things.”)
• Felicia practices quantities while making her snack.
• Michel identifies the items needed to go swimming, then goes to retrieve the items and gets to go to the swimming pool outside.
• Lamond mands, “I want hot pizza, please,” and the pizza gets warmed in the oven.
• Kaysen uses problem solving skills to create a tent from a blanket and chairs, and then gets to play “camp out” with his play date.

3. Taught in the patient’s environment in a playful manner

• Include use of functional stimulus items.
• Have more naturalistic transitions.
• To an untrained individual, it may appear as if the behavior technician and patient are just playing.

EXAMPLE

Sofia learns to request using color-object combinations while blowing up balloons and letting them fly with the behavior technician.

EXAMPLE

While building a race track in the backyard the behavior technician incorporates targets from the objects, functions, features, and attributes lessons.

4. Focus on reinforcing any appropriate attempt to respond

• Shaping leads the patient to emit the correct response.
• Less focus on “correct” vs “incorrect” responses.

EXAMPLE

While building with blocks, Ricardo’s behavior technician has him name various colors, count, and give different quantities. When Ricardo makes an error, the behavior technician does not give an informational “no” but instead prompts him for the more correct response. The behavior technician may say, “Hmm, let’s count those again,” etc.

2. General Components of NET

Here are some of the general components of NET:

• Naturalistic instruction delivery
• Experiential instruction
• Following the motivation of the patient

2a. Naturalistic Instruction Delivery

It may be necessary to start first with mastered S^Ds within NET activities and then gradually fade to more natural instructions, using a pairing procedure or a mastered S^D as a prompt.

S^Ds are often interspersed with other comments and instructions, not repeatedly presented in the same way.

EXAMPLE

“I wonder how many wheels it has?” rather than “Count, how many?” or “Wow, I wonder what that is?” rather than “What is it?”

2b. Experiential Instruction

IN CONTEXT

Here are several "real world" examples of experiential instruction.

While coloring, the patient indicates the need for a new crayon. The behavior technician presents a selection of several crayons and waits. The patient mands/requests, “I want a yellow crayon.” (Manding/Requesting, Colors)

While playing grocery store, the patient and behavior technician make a list of items to buy. The behavior technician asks, “What do you think are some foods we might need?” The patient responds, “Apples, cookies, and peanut butter.” (Categories)

While playing outside, the patient asks the behavior technician to go for a bike ride. The behavior technician asks, “Ok, what things do we need for a bike ride?” The patient answers, “Shoes, bike, and my helmet.” They go retrieve the items and go for a bike ride. (Functions, Planning)

During snack time, the behavior technician calls Josephina’s name. Josephina looks up and the behavior technician asks, “Do you want more ketchup?” Josephina says, “Yes,” and gets more for her french fries. (Eye Contact, Yes/No)

2c. Following the Motivation

• Increases motivation
• Targeted skills become more functionally relevant
• Primarily patient directed, but also instructor-directed at times, such as contriving learning opportunities, implementing behavior intervention plans (BIPs), and guiding interaction by presenting interesting activities

3. NET Prompting Strategies

As with DTT, prompting strategies vary depending on

• the patient
• generalization or teaching new skills
• rote responses or conceptual targets

Let’s take a closer look at the seven types of NET prompts:

1. Rephrasing the Question

The behavior technician re-phrases the S^D using different language or terminology. Rephrasing the question is adding more detail to the question to allow the patient to figure out the answer on their own.

EXAMPLE

The behavior technician asks, “How would Dad feel if you gave him football tickets?” and then re-asks, “If you were giving Dad a birthday present, and you gave him his favorite thing, tickets to a football game, how do you think he would feel?”

2. Leading Questions

The behavior technician asks a question or series of questions, or gives a series of statements that guide the patient to the correct response.

hint

It is important to note that behavior technicians should never give the correct answer as a part of the question or statement.

EXAMPLE

The behavior technician presents an S^D: “Why is your shirt wet?” after the patient comes inside from a rainstorm.
Questions: The behavior technician then asks, “Where did we just come from? What is happening outside?”
Statements: “Think about where we just came from. Look out the window.”

3. Acting Confused

The behavior technician pretends not to know information that they do know to get more information from the patient. You can act confused by using a facial expressions of confusion or by specifically saying something like, “I haven’t heard of that before,” or “I don’t know.”

hint

This is different from leading questions.

EXAMPLE

The behavior technician pretends he does not understand when the patient says, “It was big,” to describe the Statue of Liberty, by giving a look of confusion and saying, “I’ve never seen the Statue of Liberty,” to have the patient give more descriptors.

4. Choices

The behavior technician gives the patient answer choices.

EXAMPLE

The behavior technician asks, “Does your sister look confused or frustrated?” when the sister is acting frustrated.

5. Hypothetical Scenarios

The behavior technician tells a made-up story similar to the target concept to guide the patient to the appropriate answer.

EXAMPLE

The behavior technician asks, “What should you do when you feel annoyed at your brother?” then makes up a story about the patient and their brother playing and unpleasant consequences, such as the brother getting upset and leaving, when the patient reacts inappropriately.

6. Experiential

The behavior technician “puts the patient in another’s shoes” and allows the patient to experience what another person is experiencing. This is called a sensory perspective taking program.

EXAMPLE

The behavior technician asks, “Can Grandma hear us talking?” while Grandma is in the kitchen and they are upstairs in the patient's room, and then takes the patient downstairs to the kitchen while the sister talks upstairs in the patient's room.

7. Indirect Visual or Textual Description

The behavior technician draws a social story, social comic strip, or illustration, or writes a list or description of a target concept.

EXAMPLE

The behavior technician says, “What does 'You hit the nail on the head' mean?” and then draws a social story of someone solving a problem perfectly.

think about it

Come up with your own visual to describe an idiom. Can you create a social story to demonstrate bullying?