One of the hallmark signs of autism is failure
to respond to your name. So I know when Lucas was a young child, he
would not respond to his name and that was a warning sign of autism. So I know now as a behavior analyst, how to
teach response to your name. So today it's all about that skill. Hi, I'm Dr. Mary Barbera, autism mom, Board
Certified Behavior Analyst and bestselling So one of the biggest things about teaching
response to your name for a young child, who's, who's showing that that sign is to stop using
a child's name so much. So I remember when Lucas's first therapist
came to our home, or she was our first consultant, and, uh, we were, you know, we had Lucas in
the room and we're like, Lucas, my parents were there, the three therapists that were
going to work with him were there, I was there. We're all like, Lucas, come here, Lucas, touch
your nose, Lucas in. And she said, okay, stop, stop. Everybody stop saying Lucas. He's the only child here. It's not helping the situation. He, we don't have any ability to make him
do anything at this point. So, number one, stop using a child's name
so much. So if you're a teacher or professional working
with kids, I see this all the time is, is Johnny touch your nose, Johnny, come here,
Johnny. And at home, I see a lot of, whether it's
a typically developing kid or a child with autism or showing signs of autism,
I hear a lot of names paired with negative responses. Johnny, no stop Johnny, I said no. And those sorts of things. So we are actually pairing a child's name
in either condition, whether we're yelling at the child or reprimanding the child, we're
pairing it with a negative or when, whether you're a teacher, pairing it with a demand,
Johnny, touch your nose is pairing a name with aversive. uh, aversive control. You know, it's not positive, so we want to
stop using a child's name and we want to then pair it up to be a positive response. So on page 106, I talk about, um, how to do
that. So we want to have the child, uh, be playing
and, or stimming or whatever the child's doing alone, and we want to come up with, um, a
gentle tap and we want to, uh, say the child's name. So we, we come up from behind, we, we pat
them on the shoulder or whatever, right, and we say, Johnny, and then we present a reinforcer,
whether that's an edible reinforcer, whether that's bubbles, whether that's an exaggerated
phase, whether that's like a peekaboo kind of thing, if that's reinforcing for the child. So we're going to come up, we're going to
touch and we're going to say the name and then present the reinforcement. We can also do this throughout the day when
we are delivering reinforcement. So say the child, you know, says “water”
or says “push” on the swing or, or just as smiling and, you know, they like it, then
we can say, oh, Johnny push, push Johnny likes the push Johnny, you know, and make little
songs up. I know for Lucas, you know, I had made songs
up like la la Lucas, la you know, just be silly. Pair names with good things, not with aversive,
not with no. Um, start pairing the name when the child's
already happy, engaged, like I said, with pushing on a swing, use the consumables, the,
the edibles or the bubbles. Um, and then tap, say the name and reinforce. You're going to want to do several trials
of this, not just once a day kind of thing. You might want to even do several trials in
a row. So it's, you know, Johnny, you know, and then
deliver. And then Johnny, and now this time you're
a little bit farther behind. Um, you are a little bit, um, over to the
side. You are not as exaggerated and, but they know,
you just said the name and you just delivered. Now you said the name and they might start
turning around. We want the child to look up. They don't, we don't want to have them have
to, you know, turn their whole body. But, um, the more we compare the name with
positive reinforcement the more the child will attend to their name and for professionals
out there, you know, come up with a data sheet, do 10 trials of name calling, uh, a day. And with reinforcement slowly, gradually fade
out the distance that you're calling, the volume that you're calling and then start
intermittently reinforcing the name call. So you only then would maybe get an edible
every three times, uh, the name is called or every two times. So we want to eventually, uh, start spacing
that out, but the two keys are basically stop overusing the child's name, especially when
placing a demand or saying no. And the second point is gradually shape it
up to, uh, say the name, deliver reinforcement, and then gradually space that out to be less. Hopefully you like this, these little tips
for increasing the response to name, and if you would like more information about, uh,
these steps, you can, if you have the book, look at page 106, but if not, you can get
a free cheat sheet at marybarbera.com/name. I hope to see you right here next week.
