Contriving Motivation

One of the things I see the most often when taking on new clients is a lack of training / awareness around contriving motivation. More specifically, I see staff who open a toy bin, take out a single toy of their choosing and then try to encourage the child to get engaged with the thing of their choosing.

The reason this ‘doesn’t work’ is because the point of any good ABA program is to build skills children will use in their everyday lives - for me personally the biggest of which is: requesting for what they want. So, if the staff is not opening the bin and encouraging the child to look at the options, or taking out multiple options and playing with each a little until the child has shown preference, they are missing an opportunity to work in requesting. While these opportunities don’t seem like a big deal in the minute, they are one less opportunity where the child can learn that what they say matters. One less opportunity for them to get what they want through appropriate means. One less opportunity to use skills they are actively being taught.

This is a big priority for me, even early on when teaching and something I will continue to beat my drum about. At the end of the day, it’s their world - we just happen to be in it!