Name:

Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: EDUC4731

Assignment 1: Assessment for Students with Special Education Needs- deciding what to teach
Name and student number: Koh Jia Min (2169812)
Lesson Overview
Curriculum Area Functional Communication Year level -
Content Descriptor Kay & Woolfolk (2010) stated that early intervention that targets on communication and
relationships with others are significant for children with ASD. In addition, according to
Hornby (2014) teaching guidelines for children with ASD, teachers should work on their social
skills such as requesting. As a result, the targeted curriculum area for him is on functional
communication, which describes the skills in which one get his basic needs known (Speech
and Language Kids, n.d.).

For this program, learner will be using PECS to communicate. It is an approach that commonly
teaches learners who cannot communicate effectively with speech. It is a functional
communication system that helps develop early expressive communication skills with the use
of pictures. By using PECS, it decreases the frustrations of child and allows him to initiate and
express his needs and wants in a socially acceptable manner (Frost & Bondy, 2002). Due to his
present communication style, by engaging in this programme, he will be able to effectively
and appropriately make his basic needs and wants known to familiar and unfamiliar adults in
the future.

To allow students to acquire particular behaviours and knowledge, educators have to
purposefully create conditions that will facilitate these types of learning (Westwood, 2004,
O’Donnell et al., 2015). Hence, this program will create experiences where the student is
learning in a deliberately set out task that allows him to acquire the skills of initiating with the
use of pictures.

Adding on, Westwood (2004) mentioned that it is important that teachers help students
connect new knowledge to various contexts instead of expecting that transfer of learning to
occur spontaneously (generalisation). With this in mind, this program will create conditions
where the student would recognise situations where requesting of skill using PECS can be
applied. For students with learning disabilities, it is especially critical to adapt curriculum to
make it meaningful so that they will recognize the relevance to his life (Downing, 2010).
With the goal that learner will understand that PECS can be used to make requests, it can
then be further extended to other communicative functions such as asking questions or to
label objects. Hence, learning this skill will create an opportunity for him to socially
communicate and follow a common curriculum at his level if he were to enter an inclusive
classroom in the future. This strategy is known as partial participation, and it keeps students
with disabilities motivated (Willis, 2007) as they are able to work within their comfort zones
and at the same time, access the general education curriculum just like their typically
developing peers.

Students and their LDs or This learning program is for a 4 years and 6 months old child. He is diagnosed with Autism
challenges Spectrum Disorder (ASD) at the age of 3 years when his mother expressed concerns regarding
his delay in speech and learning as compared to other neurotypical children. He
communicates using body language and gestures with no spoken language with familiar
adults around him. He has recently joined an Early Intervention Centre (EIPIC) 4 months ago
to help equip him with communication, social, cognitive and self-help skills.

Recently, it has become evident to caregivers and teachers that child needs a way to initiate
his needs and wants. To this point, he has utilized a combination of gestures to indicate his
desires. He is able to request for needs and wants as well as assistance by reaching out or
pulling familiar adult by her hand to what he wants. For example, to play his favourite music,
he would pull the teacher to the CD player. The parents have reported concerns that at times,
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 Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: EDUC4731
he gets frustrated and throws tantrum whenever they are unable to understand what he is
requesting for.

Eggen & Kauchak (2012) noted that identifying topics to learn is the first step in planning.
Teachers have to decide whether the topic is important enough to be taught and whether it is
applicable to the real world. This is also emphasized by Lewis & Doorlag (2011), which stated
that teachers should pick learning tasks or skills that are functional for the learner both
present, and in the future.

With this in mind, his educational team has decided to target “Functional Communication” as
the curriculum area to work on. They will implement Picture Exchange Communication
System (PECS) as a tool to work on his consistent communication skills, emphasising on
initiating communicative interactions with familiar adults around him.

Desired Learning When using PECS in a therapy session, the student will be able to spontaneously pick up a
Outcome picture of a desired item from a choice of 3 and place the picture into the hand of a
communicative partner (teacher, parent or peer), 9 out of 10 opportunities, without any
physical prompt or open-hand cues from the teachers.

Learning objectives By the end of these 4 lessons, students will By the end of these 4 lessons, students will
(LO) understand that… know …
• By communicating clearly to
another partner, you can meet • How to indicate a want using PECS
your needs, desires or wants. stage 1

By the end of these 4 lessons, students will The overarching big idea(s) the students will
be able to (skills) … grasp is: (open ended and very clearly linked
• Initiate a communicative act to the understandings)
• Request for desired item • PECS can be used to initiate
• Generalise the skills to different communicate with people around him.
reinforcers and settings in the
school

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 Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: EDUC4731
Assignment 2: Instruction for Students with Special Education Needs: Implementation of an

instructional program

1) Unit and Lesson Plan

As mentioned, child is currently enrolled in an EIPIC school and is the only child in that session for that
particular classroom and therefore, he is having one to one therapy session with the teacher.
Summary of lesson sequence for selected Performance Objective
(4 lessons)
Identified performance At the end of the 8 sessions with teachers using PECS stage 1, the student will be able to
objective spontaneously pick up a picture of a desired item within reach and place the picture into the
hand of a communicative partner, 8 out of 10 opportunities, with fewer than 2 physical
prompts or open-hand cues from the teachers (i.e. communicative partner and physical
prompter).

Lesson 1&2 Student will learn to pick up a picture of a desired item or activity within reach at the gym and
place the picture into the hand of a communicative partner who holds her hand open, with
hand-over-hand/ physical assist from physical prompter. I.e. Physical prompter will interrupt
learner reach for desired item and physically redirect learner to pick up picture and continue
to assist learner to reach and release picture into open hand of communicative partner.

Lesson 3&4 Student will learn to pick up a picture of a desired item or activity within reach at the gym and
place the picture into the hand of a communicative partner who holds her hand open, with
partial physical prompt (e.g. mild touches or gesture prompt) from prompter. Physical
prompter at this stage will fade the amount of physical guidance of the prompting sequence
(i.e. the pick up, reach and release).

Lesson 5&6 Student will learn to pick up a picture of a desired item or activity within reach at the gym and
place the picture into the hand of a communicative partner with fewer or no open-hand cues
and partial physical prompt from physical prompter (in accordance to child’s behaviour, e.g. if
child pick up a picture and did not continue the steps; communicative partner may hold her
hand open).

Lesson 7&8 Student will learn to generalise the skills of PECS stage 1 at other settings (i.e. snack room and
classroom) by picking up a picture of a desired item within reach and place the picture into
the hand of a communicative partner with fewer open-hand cues and partial physical prompt
from physical prompter (in accordance to child’s behaviour).

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 Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: EDUC4731

Lesson Plan 1 & 2

Curriculum Area Functional Communication Year Level
Learning objectives for By the end of this lesson, students will By the end of this lesson, students will know …
this lesson (will not be understand that… • How to indicate a want using PECS
the same as the same as • By communicating clearly to stage 1 with open hand cues and
the PO) another partner, you can meet physical prompt
your needs, desires or wants.

By the end of this lesson, students will be Essential Questions open ended - the Big Idea
able to (skills) … • Why is using PECS to communicate
• Initiate a communicative act and with people around him important?
request for desired item with • Do we always get our wants met
prompts even when we successfully complete
• Perform the desired actions the picture exchange?
required for the exchange to take
place through open hand cues from
communicative partner and full
physical prompt from prompter
(i.e. to pick up picture, reach
towards communicative partner
and release the picture onto hand
of communicative partner)

Length of lesson 25 minutes
Lesson Sequence content
Time Lesson Content Support and Strategies
5 mins Intro
Transit student from the classroom to the gym.

Introduce student to the gym equipment and
demonstrate how to play with them.

15 mins Main Content


Student centred teaching

Learning Environment
• Child will have free play in the unstructured
To meet the necessity of the physical environment,
learning environment (gym). He will be
teachers have arranged the implementations of this
able to explore the different gym
program to take place at the gym and free choice
equipment that teachers have identified
area in the classroom where the targeted learner
earlier on that could be of his interests.
will be able to discover and gain access to gym
These identified gym equipment would be
equipment and varieties of toys. Discovery learning
his reinforcers for PECS:
in the environment such as child-initiated activities
- Ball (within sight but out of reach)
are fundamental to early learning (Allen & Cowdery,
- Swing (requires help to swing)
2015). At every developmental milestone, children
- Lycra swing (requires help to get up)
should be provided the opportunities to play and
- Gym Ball (requires help to get up)
have the access to play materials.
- Gym Tunnel (within sight but need

assistance to open up)




The needs for a positive teacher-student
• Communicative partner will position
relationship is met when the teachers (i.e. both
herself directly across the student with a
communicative partner and physical prompter) who
physical prompter behind or beside to
would be teaching learner in this programme are
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Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: EDUC4731
assist in developing the desired actions familiar teachers that the child knows for at least 5
(e.g. pick up picture) that will take place months. They are aware of the student’s profile
when the picture exchange happens. such as his sensory needs, attention span and his
likes and dislikes and will be able to interact
positively with him. As Killen (2007) highlighted that
learning environment is more than the physical
space that learning takes place; it also includes how
students and teachers interact and the relationships
they built with one another.


• Communicative partner and prompter
(Teachers) will be vigilant and whenever
the student displays his desires to request
for his wants, i.e. reaches out to desired
item or to communicative partner to
request for assistance; picture exchange
will take place.

Teacher Centred Teaching: Teaching Strategy:
Backward Chaining and Two-Person Prompting Two-person prompting and Backward Chaining:
• Sequence to teach PECS Stage 1: Prompting is provided to student from outside of
• Communicative partner opens her hand the interaction in order to facilitate fading of
after the student initiates the request. prompts (Frost & Bondy, 2002). Deskin (2013)
described prompts as the instructions or
• When student reaches towards the desired demonstrations to increase the opportunities for
gym equipment, the prompter who is children to make accurate responses. There are
behind him will interrupt the reach and different types of prompts and it will be based on
redirect the child to pick up the picture by the student’s learning style. The strategy for this
providing a Full Physical Prompt (FP). program requires two teachers. The first teacher
• *Note that in PECS stage 1, one picture is will be the communicative partner who interacts
presented at a time. socially with the learner. She prompts learner by
opening her hand to cue the learner that a picture is
• Prompter will continue to assist the required to exchange for the desired item. The
student using FP to place the picture in the second teacher will be the physical prompter who
open hand of the communicative partner. will facilitate student to develop the desired actions
from the back. She does not interact with student in
• Once the communicative partner receives any social way. Physical prompter will then fade off
the picture from the child, she will name prompt using the teaching strategy of backward
the item while providing the child with the chaining until the learner has developed the
reinforcers that he wants. required skill.

• For example: Backward Chaining
- Ball (Retrieve ball and give student) In “Backward Chaining”, a student is physically
- Swing (swing child) guided through each steps of the learning process
- Lycra swing (assist child to get up) with the exception of the last one, which the learner
- Gym Ball (assist child to get up) will perform independently (Fisher, Piazza & Roane,
- Gym Tunnel (open up for child) 2011). For this program, the learner receiving the
reinforcer is the last learned step. For the next few
sessions, prompter will prompt the student through
the first few steps of the chain and fade off the
“back end”. To summarise, learner will master the

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Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: EDUC4731
final step (i.e. receive the reinforcer), then the last
two steps (i.e. releases picture in the open hand of
communicative partner and receives the reinforcer)
and then the last three steps, and so on until the
child develops and is able to perform all desired
actions independently.



Learning Environment
• Child will immediately be rewarded with A responsive environment encourages learners to
the desired wants after this exchange. He continue to explore the environment. Gargiulo &
will be allowed to play with the reinforcers Kilgo (2014) defined a responsive environment as
for 5-10 minutes. one that provides children with expectable and
immediate result from any environmental
• Teachers will allow child to continue to interactions. Therefore, to encourage the student to
explore by following the child’s lead. PECS continue to explore the environment in relation to
training will take place each time the child requesting for what he wants, the physical
expresses indications of wanting to explore environments chosen (i.e. gym, free choice and
a gym equipment. snack room) would provide him with predictable
and immediate outcomes from the interactions, e.g.
student would be able to immediately swing at the
swing once a picture exchange takes place.

When the needs are met, learner will be engaged in
quality learning environment that is supportive of
his needs and focused on initiating a communicative
act with the choices he have. It will motivate
students and create conditions in which they can
achieve to reach their full potential (Killen, 2007).

Active Participation Strategies
In this program, effort has been made to alter to
cater to the targeted learner’s needs. As he does
not communicative with speech (i.e. child is non-
verbal), teachers would get him to response to the
skills of PECS to communicate using signal
responses; and that is to pick up the picture of
reinforcer, reach out and release it to the hand of
the communicative partner in exchange for what he
wants.

Next, teachers have decided to make use of
involvement strategy to keep the learner attentive
which was to place him in an environment that he
likes to explore and will be comfortable in. Adding
on, teachers would apply the use of rehearsal
strategy that provided him lots of opportunities in
the activities to practice the desired actions
required for PECS; thereby allowing him to
understand that by communicating clearly to
another partner, he would be able to meet his

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 Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: EDUC4731
needs, desires and wants (learning objectives for this
program).

5 mins Closure
Inform the child that gym time will be finishing
soon.

Teacher will start to count down and lead him to sit
on the mat.



Teacher and student will sing a “Finished” song to

allow learner to knows that gym time is over.
Check for understanding Data will be collected to monitor the level of assistance the child requires to perform the
at lesson end desired actions and thereby know whether the learning objectives were met.
i.e. informal, formal
assessment
- Did the child initiate a communicative act and request for desired item?
- Track whether the student completed each step of the exchange independently or requires
a full physical prompt or partial physical prompt.
(i.e. to pick up picture, reach towards communicative partner and release the picture onto
communicative partner’s hand and whether is there any open-hand cues from the
communicative partner).

Using the collection data below, we will monitor the progress of how much the child
remembers and understands in executing the actions to request for what he wants. Because
of the use of teaching strategies of Backward Chaining and Prompting, it will also allow
teachers to know how much prompts or which step of the exchange should the teacher be
facilitating child.

The data collected will be used as formative assessment for lessons 1 and 2 and child will be
able to proceed to the next lesson when Full Physical Prompt is given for all opportunities.

*Trial-by-trial data adapted from Frost & Bondy (2002).
Date: 18 August 2016 (Lesson 2)
Trial: Pick up: Reach Release: Open-Hand Picture:
cue:
1 FP FP FP Yes Tunnel
2 FP FP FP Yes Tunnel
3 FP FP FP Yes Tunnel
4 FP FP FP Yes Swing
5 FP FP FP Yes Swing
6 + FP PP Yes Swing
7 + + PP Yes Swing
8 FP + + Yes Tunnel
9 PP PP + Yes Gym Ball
10 FP PP PP Yes Gym Ball

+ = Independent, FP= Full Physical Prompt, PP= Partial Physical Prompt
Visual, verbal, tactile and • Visual supports- Pictures of reinforcers
technological supports • Two person prompts support

Instructional approaches Teaching Strategy:
e.g. teacher directed, Two-person prompting and Backward Chaining:
strategy instruction, Prompting is provided to student from outside of the interaction in order to facilitate fading
chunking, student
of prompts (Frost & Bondy, 2002). Deskin (2013) described prompts as the instructions or
interests … Justify
demonstrations to increase the opportunities for children to make accurate responses. There

7
 Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: EDUC4731
are different types of prompts and it will be based on the student’s learning style. The
strategy for this program requires two teachers. The first teacher will be the communicative
partner who interacts socially with the learner. She prompts learner by opening her hand to
cue the learner that a picture is required to exchange for the desired item. The second
teacher will be the physical prompter who will facilitate student to develop the desired
actions from the back. She does not interact with student in any social way. Physical prompter
will then fade off prompt using the teaching strategy of backward chaining until the learner
has developed the required skill.

Backward Chaining
In “Backward Chaining”, a student is physically guided through each steps of the learning
process with the exception of the last one, which the learner will perform independently
(Fisher, Piazza & Roane, 2011). For this program, the learner receiving the reinforcer is the
last learned step. For the next few sessions, prompter will prompt the student through the
first few steps of the chain and fade off the “back end”. To summarise, learner will master the
final step (i.e. receive the reinforcer), then the last two steps (i.e. releases picture in the open
hand of communicative partner and receives the reinforcer) and then the last three steps, and
so on until the child develops and is able to perform all desired actions independently.
Resources or • Reinforcers/ Gym equipment (ball, swing, lycra swing, gym ball, gym tunnel)
supplementary materials • Pictures of reinforcers
Lesson Student enjoyed his time in the gym even though he was being interrupted to execute the
reflections/Evaluations actions for picture exchange training. Thus, I believed that a learning environment that is
(to be done on highly motivating and of the child’s interest with familiar teachers around is significant in
completion of each allowing the child to expand his attention span and be comfortable to learn for this program
lesson during to take place.
professional exp.)
For lesson one (data collection not reflected here), the child required Full Physical Prompt for
What strategies all 10 opportunities. However, towards the end of lesson two, the child seems to finally
worked/didn’t? understand that by exchanging a picture of the reinforcer, he will be able to exchange and
Why/Why not? What could I change request for what he wants. As indicated by the data collection, he was able to independently
next time?
How does this information release the picture to the hand of a communicative partner two times.
impact/inform the next lesson?

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 Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: EDUC4731
*Words that are highlighted are the differences between the previous lessons

Lesson Plan 3 & 4

Curriculum Area Functional Communication Year Level
Learning objectives for By the end of this lesson, students will By the end of this lesson, students will know …
this lesson (will not be understand that… • How to indicate a want using PECS
the same as the same as • By communicating clearly to stage 1 with open hand cues and
the PO) another partner, you can meet physical prompt
your needs, desires or wants.

By the end of this lesson, students will be Essential Questions open ended - the Big Idea
able to (skills) … • Why is using PECS to communicate
• Initiate a communicative act and with people around him important?
request for desired item with • Do we always get our wants met
prompts even when we successfully complete
• Perform the desired actions the picture exchange?
required for the exchange to take
place through open hand cues from
communicative partner and partial
physical prompt from prompter
(i.e. to pick up picture, reach
towards communicative partner
and release the picture onto hand
of communicative partner)

Length of lesson 25 minutes
Lesson Sequence content
Time Lesson Content Support and Strategies
5 mins Intro
Transit student from the classroom to the gym.

Introduce student to the gym equipment and demonstrate how
to play with them.

15 mins Main Content

Student centred teaching
Teaching Strategy:
• Child will have free play in the unstructured learning Backward Chaining
environment (gym). He will be able to explore the
In “Backward Chaining”, a student is
different gym equipment that teachers have identified physically guided through each steps
earlier on that could be of his interests.
of the learning process with the
exception of the last one, which the
• Communicative partner will position herself directly learner will perform independently
across the student with a prompter behind or beside to (Fisher, Piazza & Roane, 2011). For this
assist in developing the desired actions (e.g. pick up program, the learner receiving the
picture) that will take place when the picture exchange reinforcer is the last learned step. For
happens. the next few sessions, prompter will
prompt the student through the first
• Communicative partner and prompter (Teachers) will be few steps of the chain and fade off the
vigilant and whenever the student displays his desires to “back end”. To summarise, learner will
request for his wants, i.e. reaches out to desired item or master the final step (i.e. receive the
to communicative partner to request for assistance; reinforcer), then the last two steps (i.e.
picture exchange will take place. releases picture in the open hand of
communicative partner and receives
Teacher Centred Teaching: the reinforcer) and then the last three
Backward Chaining
steps, and so on until the child
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 Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: EDUC4731
• Sequence to teach PECS Stage 1: develops and is able to perform all
• Communicative partner opens her hand after the desired actions independently.
student initiates the request.

• By this lesson, the exchange steps should have been
established. Thus, when student reaches towards the
desired gym equipment, the prompter who is behind
him will fade physical assistance; providing only Partial
Physical Prompt (PP), e.g. mild touch or gesture
prompts.

• Prompter will continue to assist the student using PP to
place the picture in the open hand of the communicative
partner.

• *The amount of prompt provided will depend on the
child’s actions.

• Once the communicative partner receives the picture
from the child, she will name the item while providing
the child with the reinforcers that he wants.

• Child will immediately be rewarded with the desired
wants after this exchange. He will be allowed to play
with the reinforcers for 5-10 minutes.

• Teachers will allow child to continue to explore by
following the child’s lead. PECS training will take place
each time the child expresses indications of wanting to
explore a gym equipment.
5 mins Closure
Teacher and student will sing a “Finished” song to allow learner

to knows that gym time is over.
Check for understanding The data collected will be used as formative assessment for lessons 3 and 4. If Full Physical
at lesson end Prompt is required for 5 out of 10 opportunities for all desired actions, it will initiate similar
i.e. informal, formal lessons as well as practices before proceeding to lessons 5 and 6.
assessment
*Trial-by-trial data adapted from Frost & Bondy (2002).
Date: 24 August 2016 (Lesson 4)
Trial: Pick up: Reach Release: Open-Hand Picture:
cue:
1 FP FP FP Yes Gym Ball
2 FP FP FP Yes Gym Ball
3 PP PP PP Yes Gym Ball
4 PP PP PP Yes Gym Ball
5 PP PP PP Yes Lycra Swing
6 + PP + Yes Lycra Swing
7 + + + Yes Lycra Swing
8 + + + Yes Tunnel
9 PP + + Yes Ball
10 + + + Yes Ball

+ = Independent, FP= Full Physical Prompt, PP= Partial Physical Prompt
Visual, verbal, tactile and • Visual supports- Pictures of reinforcers
technological supports • Two person prompts support
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 Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: EDUC4731

Instructional approaches Teaching Strategy:
Backward Chaining
Resources or • Reinforcers/ Gym equipment (ball, swing, lycra swing, gym ball, gym tunnel)
supplementary materials • Pictures of reinforcers
Lesson Child had not approach the teachers yet to open the tunnel that was in sight from lesson 1 to
reflections/Evaluations 3 and finally during lesson 4, he showed his interests in wanting to get into the tunnel that
? was closed with Velcro. Even though it was his first time using PECS to request for tunnel, he
surprised the teachers when he looked for the picture of the tunnel (that was placed in front
of him) and completed the picture exchange independently. From this simple move, we can
inferred that he might have understood that he can communicate using PECS rather than
pulling the hands of an adult to request for help.

Teachers were very pleased with today’s effort from student. He also surprised the teachers
by completing a few picture exchanges spontaneously and independently.

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 Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: EDUC4731

Lesson Plan 5 & 6 - no more than 1 page long each

Curriculum Area Functional Communication Year Level
Learning objectives for By the end of this lesson, students will By the end of this lesson, students will know …
this lesson (will not be understand that… • How to indicate a want using PECS
the same as the same as • By communicating clearly to stage 1
the PO) another partner, you can meet
your needs, desires or wants.

By the end of this lesson, students will be Essential Questions open ended - the Big Idea
able to (skills) … • Why is using PECS to communicate
• Initiate a communicative act and with people around him important?
request for desired item with • Do we always get our wants met
prompts even when we successfully complete
• Perform the desired actions the picture exchange?
required for the exchange to take
place through fewer open hand
cues from communicative partner
and partial physical prompt from
prompter (in accordance to child’s
behaviour, e.g. if child pick up a
picture and did not continue the
steps; communicative partner may
hold her hand open).

Length of lesson 25 minutes
Lesson Sequence content
Time Lesson Content
5 mins Intro
Transit student from the classroom to the gym.

Introduce student to the gym equipment and demonstrate how to play with them.

15 mins Main Content

Student centred teaching

• Child will have free play in the unstructured learning environment (gym). He will be able to
explore the different gym equipment that teachers have identified earlier on that could be of
his interests.

• Communicative partner and prompter (Teachers) will be vigilant and whenever the student
displays his desires to request for his wants, i.e. reaches out to desired item or to
communicative partner to request for assistance; picture exchange will take place.

Teacher Centred Teaching:
Backward Chaining
• Sequence to teach PECS Stage 1:
• Communicative partner opens her hand after the student initiates the request.

• When student reaches towards the desired gym equipment, the prompter who is behind him
will fade physical assistance; providing only Partial Physical Prompt (PP), e.g. mild touch or
gesture prompts.

• Student will continue to place the picture in the hand of the communicative partner (i.e. no
more open-hand cue). By this lesson, communicative partner fades he use of open-hand

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 Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: EDUC4731
prompt.

• *The amount of prompt provided will depend on the child’s actions.

• Teachers will allow child to continue to explore by following the child’s lead. PECS training will
take place each time the child expresses indications of wanting to explore a gym equipment.
5 mins Closure

Teacher and student will sing a “Finished” song to allow learner to knows that gym time is over.
Check for understanding The data collected will be used as formative assessment for lessons 5 and 6. If Partial Physical
at lesson end Prompt is required for 5 out of 10 opportunities for all desired actions, it will initiate similar
i.e. informal, formal lessons as well as practices before proceeding to lessons 7 and 8.
assessment
*Trial-by-trial data adapted from Frost & Bondy (2002).
Date: 25August 2016 (Lesson 5)
Trial: Pick up: Reach Release: Open-Hand Picture:
cue:
1 + PP FP No Tunnel
2 + PP FP No Gym Ball
3 PP PP FP No Gym Ball
4 PP PP FP No Swing
5 + + PP Yes Swing
6 + + PP No Lycra Swing
7 + + + Yes Lycra Swing
8 + + + Yes Ball
9 + + + No Ball
10 + + + No Ball

+ = Independent, FP= Full Physical Prompt, PP= Partial Physical Prompt
Visual, verbal, tactile and • Visual supports- Pictures of reinforcers
technological supports • Two person prompts support

Instructional approaches Teaching Strategy:
Backward Chaining

Resources or • Reinforcers/ Gym equipment (ball, swing, lycra swing, gym ball, gym tunnel)
supplementary materials • Pictures of reinforcers
Lesson During the start of lesson 5, child appeared to be somewhat confused when communicative
reflections/Evaluations partner did not display an open-hand cue. He turned his body round when no cue was given.
(to be done on Prompter then facilitated learner by following through with a Full Physical Prompt to teach
completion of each child what to do to complete the exchange. After a few rounds, child was able to complete
lesson during the last learned step independently.
professional exp.)
In lesson 6, teacher decided to paste the picture of reinforcer (one at a time) on the front
What strategies cover of a communication book to see whether child understands that no matter where the
worked/didn’t? picture is being displayed, he can retrieve it to communicate what he wants. Child surprised
Why/Why not? What could I change teachers when he pull out the picture from the communication book and reach out to the
next time?
How does this information communicative partner.
impact/inform the next lesson?
In additional, teachers have also decided to place the communication book slightly a few
steps away (i.e. not in child’s view for the last few trials of lesson 6) to assess informally
whether he knew the significant of the picture exchange/communication book. Child turned
around to look for the communication book spontaneously and completed his exchange by
himself. Teachers were very pleased with his progress, especially when there was no
indication of frustration as from now.

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 Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: EDUC4731

Lesson Plan 8 Generalisation Skills- Snack room

*Lesson plan 7 is conducted at the choice area of classroom whereby the steps are similar to the previous lessons.
Curriculum Area Functional Communication Year Level
Learning objectives for By the end of this lesson, students will By the end of this lesson, students will know …
this lesson (will not be understand that… • How to indicate a want using PECS
the same as the same as • By communicating clearly to stage 1
the PO) another partner, you can meet
your needs, desires or wants.

By the end of this lesson, students will be Essential Questions open ended - the Big Idea
able to (skills) … • Why is using PECS to communicate
• Initiate a communicative act with people around him important?
• Request for desired item • Do we always get our wants met
• Generalise the skills to different even when we successfully complete
settings in the school (i.e. snack the picture exchange?
room and choice area)
Length of lesson 25 minutes
Lesson Sequence content
Time Lesson Content
5 mins Intro
Transit student from the classroom to the washroom to wash his hands and then to the chubby hole to
retrieve his snack box (biscuits) and water bottle.

Student will then be transit to snack room for tea break.

15 mins Main Content

Student centred teaching

• Before child opens his snack box, teachers would have already taken out a few of his biscuits that
would be used for the training. Other than biscuits from the child, biscuit sticks would be another
reinforcer.

• (Background information: Usually after child finishes eating his own biscuits, he would ask the
teachers to give him some of the biscuit sticks that are provided by the school and are placed in a
container on the table)

• Communicative partner and prompter (Teachers) will be vigilant and whenever the student
displays his desires to request for his wants, i.e. reaches out to desired item or to communicative
partner to request for assistance; picture exchange will take place.

Teacher Centred Teaching:
Backward Chaining
• Sequence to teach PECS Stage 1:
• Communicative partner opens her hand after the student initiates the request.

• When student reaches towards the desired gym equipment, the prompter who is behind him will
fade physical assistance; providing only Partial Physical Prompt (PP), e.g. mild touch or gesture
prompts.

• Student will continue to place the picture in the hand of the communicative partner.

• *The amount of prompt provided will depend on the child’s actions.

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 Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: EDUC4731
• Teachers will allow child to continue to stay in the snack room until time’s up (15 mins). PECS
training will take place each time the child expresses indications of wanting to have a snack.
5 mins Closure
Inform the child that snack time will be finishing soon.

Teacher will allow child to finish his last piece of snack.


Teacher will transit student to the washroom to wash his hands.
Check for understanding The data collected will be used as formative assessment for lessons 7 and 8. Child should be
at lesson end able to independently and spontaneously pick up a picture of a desired item within reach and
i.e. informal, formal place the picture into the hand of a communicative partner, with fewer than 2 partial physical
assessment prompts or open-hand cues from the teachers. It will initiate similar lessons as well as
practices before moving on to the next few lessons.

*Trial-by-trial data adapted from Frost & Bondy (2002).
Date: 31 September 2016 (Lesson 8)
Trial: Pick up: Reach Release: Open-Hand Picture:
cue:
1 PP + + No Biscuit
2 PP + + No Biscuit
3 + + + No Biscuit
4 + + + No Biscuit
5 + + + No Biscuit
6 + + + No Biscuit Sticks
7 + + + No Biscuit Sticks
8 + + + No Biscuit Sticks
9 + + + No Biscuit Sticks
10 + + + No Biscuit Sticks

+ = Independent, FP= Full Physical Prompt, PP= Partial Physical Prompt
Visual, verbal, tactile and • Visual supports- Pictures of reinforcers
technological supports • Prompt supports
Instructional approaches Teaching Strategy:
Backward Chaining

Resources or • Reinforcer (biscuits and biscuit sticks)
supplementary materials • Pictures of reinforcers
Lesson Today was the last lesson and teachers were excited and interested to find out whether child
reflections/Evaluations would be able to generalise his skills from gym to choice area in the classroom and also to
snack room.

At the snack room, child did very well, after the initial two promptings for the “pick up”, he
was able to complete the rest of the trials exchange spontaneously and by himself. In fact, the
picture that was pasted on the communication book was placed at least 5 steps away from
the child; he was able to look for the communication book without any prompts.

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 Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: EDUC4731

2) Learning Environment

The physical environment is also known as the “third teacher” in the classroom as it communicates and provides
guidance to children and adults about the appropriate behaviour (Swim, 2004). Hence, it is significant that teachers
carefully reflect on and arranges the physical environment for this program to take place. This would be
endeavoured by establishing a mutually respectful relationship with students to increase their motivation for
learning (Porter, 2000).

To meet the necessity of the physical environment, teachers have arranged the implementations of this program to
take place at the gym and free choice area in the classroom where the targeted learner will be able to discover and
gain access to gym equipment and varieties of toys. Discovery learning in the environment such as child-initiated
activities are fundamental to early learning (Allen & Cowdery, 2015). At every developmental milestone, children
should be provided the opportunities to play and have the access to play materials.

A responsive environment encourages learners to continue to explore the environment. Gargiulo & Kilgo (2014)
defined a responsive environment as one that provides children with expectable and immediate result from any
environmental interactions. Therefore, to encourage the student to continue to explore the environment in relation
to requesting for what he wants, the physical environments chosen (i.e. gym, free choice and snack room) would
provide him with predictable and immediate outcomes from the interactions, e.g. student would be able to
immediately swing at the swing once a picture exchange takes place.

Lastly, the needs for a positive teacher-student relationship is met when the teachers (i.e. both communicative
partner and physical prompter) who would be teaching learner in this programme are familiar teachers that the
child knows for at least 5 months. They are aware of the student’s profile such as his sensory needs, attention span
and his likes and dislikes and will be able to interact positively with him. As Killen (2007) highlighted that learning
environment is more than the physical space that learning takes place; it also includes how students and teachers
interact and the relationships they built with one another.

When the above needs are met, learner will be engaged in quality learning environment that is supportive of his
needs and focused on initiating a communicative act with the choices he have. It will motivate students and create
conditions in which they can achieve to reach their full potential (Killen, 2007).

Active Participation Strategies

Himmele & Himmele (2011) mentioned that a stand-and-deliver approach seems to describe today’s teaching,
whereby teachers may simply stand in front of the classroom and present the content that has to be taught.
Education that is built upon the notion of listening to what the teachers have to teach or rather, a stand-and-deliver
approach is not the way young children learn, not even for adults.

Therefore, Himmele & Himmele (2011) emphasized that student engagement in classroom is an important key
element in helping students be successful in their learning. High level of active engagement is essentially one of the
components that teachers have to plan ahead other than the learning environment that was mentioned above.

There are different types of active participation strategies and responses that can be embedded into the activities
or lessons. Responses can be written responses such as writing answers on a chalkboard, oral responses such as
discussing ideas with partners and signal responses such as actions like holding up cards (Price & Nelson, 2014).

As for the strategies, they are divided into 3 types. First of all, involvement strategy that is designed to keep
students attentive. Next, rehearsal strategy that provides learners with opportunities to practice the information
that was taught. Lastly, processing strategy that helps increase deeper understanding by giving learners
opportunities to discuss about the content (Price & Nelson, 2014).

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 Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: EDUC4731
However, teachers should keep in mind diversity when they design active participation strategies such as the
student’s skill level. For example, teachers have to think of how to provide opportunities students who do not have
the ability to respond orally in non-verbal ways.

In this program, effort has been made to alter to cater to the targeted learner’s needs. As he does not
communicative with speech (i.e. child is non-verbal), teachers would get him to response to the skills of PECS to
communicate using signal responses; and that is to pick up the picture of reinforcer, reach out and release it to the
hand of the communicative partner in exchange for what he wants.

Next, teachers have decided to make use of involvement strategy to keep the learner attentive which was to place
him in an environment that he likes to explore and will be comfortable in; gym, snack room and choice area. Adding
on, teachers would apply the use of rehearsal strategy that provided him lots of opportunities in the activities to
practice the desired actions required for PECS; thereby allowing him to understand that by communicating clearly to
another partner, he would be able to meet his needs, desires and wants (learning objectives for this program).

Last by not least, in the last few lessons (lesson 7 & 8), he would generalise the skills of PECS to other areas like the
choice area and snack room. It is important that teachers take students beyond simple engagement. Teachers
should ensure higher-order thinking by allowing students to reflect on, explore and justify the concepts learned;
making connections to the “real life” (Himmele & Himmele, 2011). With this in mind, this program will create
conditions where the student would recognise situations where requesting of skill using PECS can be applied.

3) Final Post-Assessment Task and Student Results (not to exceed 1 page)

Please see Appendix A for the pre-assessment, post-assessment tasks and analysis of results.

Pre and Post Assessment Part 1

At the time when post-assessment task was done, parents had just been introduced to PECS and the functions of it.
Parents had seen child used PECS stage 1 twice at gym and in snack room to request for what he wanted. Parents
were being briefed afterwards about what they saw by the teachers (e.g. the teaching strategies and the steps for
stage 1). As stated in the Post-Assessment, parents were quite excited to implement PECS at home as they would
like to find out what child has been wanting to express to them as well as to decrease the frustrations he has due
to the ineffective communications (child uses body language and gestures).

The parents’ positive feedback would increase the likelihood of child accomplishing the learning objectives of this
program and i.e. for him to understand that by communicating clearly to another partner, you can meet your
needs, desires and wants and PECS can be used to do so.

However, this assessment would not be useful in allowing us to know how much the child understands that he can
communicate using PECS at home because firstly, the parents did not know much about PECS except for the short
briefing and secondly, parents did not implement it at home. Perhaps by getting parents to place pictures of his
desired item/toys at home to see how he would react would be a better way to find out whether he is able to
generalise the idea of communications using picture exchange at home.

Pre and Post Assessment Part 2

As we compared and analysed both pre and post assessment results (part 2) as well as the analysis of results, we
can infer that child’s communication is effective and socially appropriate in the post assessment. The performance
objective was also clearly met because child used PECS stage 1 to spontaneously initiate a communicative act to
request for desired item. At the same time, he was also able to generalise the skills learnt to different reinforcers
and settings.

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 Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: EDUC4731
The teachers know the child well enough to set up the environment to get him to request for what he wants, hence
no indication of frustration or giving up to communicate (as seen in pre-assessment) was observed in the post-
assessment tasks. However, what if the child sees a highly preferred item, which was not taught during the
lessons? How would the child react to such situations?

A post assessment part 3 that creates such situations can be done so that we can accurately assess how much a
child understands in terms of the PO. For example, when a reinforcer at a new setting is placed in sight but out of
reach, would the child continue to search for the communication book to complete a picture exchange? This may
better measure the PO because the term, “spontaneously” refers to a natural manner that happens without
rehearsal.

4) Evaluation of the Instructional Program

5.1)

At the end of the 8 sessions with teachers using PECS stage 1, the student will be able to spontaneously pick up a
picture of a desired item within reach and place the picture into the hand of a communicative partner, 8 out of 10
opportunities, with fewer than 2 physical prompts or open-hand cues from the teachers (i.e. communicative
partner and physical prompter).

This was the chosen Performance Objective (PO) for this program. From the formative assessment done after each
lesson: Trial-by-trial data that was adapted from Frost & Bondy (2002), we can easily analyse the data to know
whether we have achieve the PO as well as the learning objectives that were set for each lesson. As mentioned
th
earlier, the PO was met because at the end of the 8 lesson, child was able to initiate a communicative act
spontaneously to request for desired item, with fewer than 2 physical or open-hand cues from teachers.

We can conclude that the PO chosen was attainable and developmentally appropriate that catered to his learning
needs and challenges that were mentioned in the previous assignment. The child is also progressing moving
towards the medium term goal.

The PO for this program is a behavioural objective. Cohen, Manion, Morrison & Wyse (2010) stated that even
though it is measureable, observable and can be easily communicated to teachers and students, one of the biggest
weaknesses is that it lead students to be the passive recipients of the curricula and lead to predictable behaviours.
As a result, part of the reasons how the child responds during the trial could be because it is a learnt behavioural
due to the sequential lessons that were conducted (refers to evaluation of post-assessment part 2). That is, the
“spontaneous” picture exchange that was observed could be a predictable move that the child assumed he has to
do and not that he understands PECS can used to communicate what he wants, which is the arching big idea that
the teachers want him to learn for this program.

In addition, many children with autism have a problem with generalisation, that is behaviours that have been
acquired in one situation may not be displayed elsewhere. When educators teach a skill, it should be taught across
a different variety of situations (Keenan, Kerr & Dillenburger, 2000). As mentioned in the previous section, PECS
has only been used in this program at three different places and with only 1 teacher. Hence, again the PO was not
clear enough, because it did not state the number of settings that the child should complete the exchange.

5.2)

Several ideas and strategies on planning, assessing and teaching the targeted learner were considered when
teachers were planning for this program.

Firstly, teachers have to identify exactly what to teach the child (topic/skills) and how to create conditions that will
facilitate students to acquire the particular behaviours and knowledge (Westwood, 2004, O’Donnell et al., 2015).

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 Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: EDUC4731
The teachers had already identified the child as a potential student to teach PECS in relation to his functional
communication. It had became evident to both caregivers and teachers that he needed a way to initiate what he
needs and wants with the outbreaks of frustration towards adults when they could not understand what he was
requesting for. By using PECS as an alternate method to communicate, it decreases the frustrations of child and
allows him to initiate and express his needs and wants in a socially acceptable manner (Frost & Bondy, 2002).

Moving on, teachers have then decided to use seven characteristics of Nightingale and O’Neil high quality learning
(Killen, 2007) to determine and assess whether any high-quality learning in this program occurs (and to find out
how the child demonstrates the learning taught).

Characteristics of high-quality learning: What the targeted learner had done to demonstrate
the skills:
Students are able to apply knowledge to solve Unknowingly to child, he had solve his problems of his
problems previous ineffective communications (when he used
body language and gestures to communicate his
needs) when he demonstrated the ability to look for
his PECS book to initiate a communicative act towards
the end of the last few lessons. .
Students are able to communicate their knowledge to Child communicated his knowledge to communicative
others partner when he successfully and spontaneously
picked up the picture of his reinforcers in exchange
for what he wanted.
Students are able to perceive relationships between He was able to make sense of the skills learnt in PECS
their existing knowledge and the new things they are when he demonstrated his ability to generalise the
learning knowledge learnt to different reinforcers and settings
in the school (with some prompts during the initial
stages).
Students retain newly acquired knowledge for a long This program was carried for 3 sessions in a week for
time 3 weeks and child was observed to retain the
knowledge of picking up, reaching out and releasing
the picture to his teacher.

*Child’s session in the early intervention program is 3
sessions per week.
Students are able to discover or create new When the teachers set the situations in slightly
knowledge for themselves different scenarios (such as placing the picture of the
reinforcer on the front cover of communication book
or placed the communication book a few steps away
from the child), child was able to discover new skills.
He pulled out the picture from the Velcro instead of
picking it up and he was also able to look for the
communication book that was not in view.
Students want to learn more Unable to observe

As we are unable to observe whether the student wants to learn more, we can only inferred that some high-quality
learning had occurred during the program.

Moving on, Killen (2007) noted that there are different aspects to think about when teachers select a teaching
strategy, however, the most important area to think about is to remember that the chosen teaching strategies are
according to what it is that teachers want learners to be able to do as a result of the teaching. Hence, after careful
considerations, teachers have chosen the below teaching methods for the lessons:

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 Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: EDUC4731
Two-person prompting and Backward Chaining

Prompting is provided to student from outside of the interaction in order to facilitate fading of prompts (Frost &
Bondy, 2002). Deskin (2013) described prompts as the instructions or demonstrations to increase the opportunities
for children to make accurate responses. There are different types of prompts and it will be based on the student’s
learning style. The strategy for this program requires two teachers. The first teacher will be the communicative
partner who interacts socially with the learner. She prompts learner by opening her hand to cue the learner that a
picture is required to exchange for the desired item. The second teacher will be the physical prompter who will
facilitate student to develop the desired actions from the back. She does not interact with student in any social way.
Physical prompter will then fade off prompt using the teaching strategy of backward chaining until the learner has
developed the required skill.

In “Backward Chaining”, a student is physically guided through each steps of the learning process with the
exception of the last one, which the learner will perform independently (Fisher, Piazza & Roane, 2011). For this
program, the learner receiving the reinforcer is the last learned step. For the next few sessions, prompter will
prompt the student through the first few steps of the chain and fade off the “back end”. To summarise, learner will
master the final step (i.e. receive the reinforcer), then the last two steps (i.e. releases picture in the open hand of
communicative partner and receives the reinforcer) and then the last three steps, and so on until the child develops
and is able to perform all desired actions independently.

These two teaching methods were proven to be effective and efficient in accordance to the child’s learning
capacities and abilities as inferred by how child has demonstrated that high-quality learning happened through the
therapy sessions (as above).

5.3)

In terms of whether this program was successful, I believe that it was even though there was the contradiction of
whether the child truly comprehends that PECS can be used to communicate. This is because I feel that the child has
discovered and gained the most important knowledge. And they are, 1. He understands that there is an alternative
way to communicate what he wants instead of pulling the adults to what he wants and 2. The undesirable
behaviours of throwing tantrum to get the desired item would be eliminated when the parents were so keen to try
out at home (refer to post-assessment), especially after they observed how teachers conducted the therapy
sessions. After parents have try out and is successful in carrying out PECS stage 1 at home, child can move on to the
next stage of PECS.

Additionally, with the goal that learner will understand that PECS can be used to make requests; it can then be
further extended to other communicative functions such as asking questions or to label objects. Hence, learning this
skill will create an opportunity for him to socially communicate and follow a common curriculum at his level if he
were to enter an inclusive classroom in the future (child is currently only enrolled in Early Intervention Program).
This strategy is known as partial participation, and it keeps students with disabilities motivated (Willis, 2007) as they
are able to work within their comfort zones and at the same time, access the general education curriculum just like
their typically developing peers.

5.4) Future Planning

When reflecting upon the program in general, teachers discovered that even though it is important to ensure the
PO was met, the teachers were glad to try out and challenge the learner. They discovered that when the situations
were set in slightly different scenarios (such as placing the picture of the reinforcer on the front cover of
communication book or placed the communication book a few steps away from the child), child was able to
problem solve and discover new skills by himself. This is an important piece of information because teachers would
be able to assess how much the child understands in terms of using PECS to communicate.

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 Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: EDUC4731
Teachers believe that this would be an excellent program to teach learners about PECS skills in the future and it is
important to modify the methods according to the child’s needs, i.e. to challenge or to lower down the demands
(e.g. providing more physical prompts or more practices). The environment, active teaching strategies as well as
the teaching methods would definitely have to be determined in accordance to the child’s learning styles and his
interests (which were found out in pre-assessment and teachers’ experiences with him).

5) Self-Reflection

Reflecting on the success of this program, there was not much challenge along the way because the child’s interests
(e.g. types of reinforcers that he likes) and learning styles could be easily determined to create the lesson plans
accordingly. He is able to acquire and understand the use of PECS rather quickly because:

1. He has the motor planning ability to complete the actions required (pick up, reach and release)
2. He has an array of interests and motivations towards exploring the things around him
3. He displays a desire to communicate with people around him.

However, there is another student of different therapy session from the targeted learner that requires a means to
communicate but has not yet been taught to use PECS. With similar challenges faced just like the targeted learner,
i.e. displaying frustrations because he was unable to communicate effectively, teachers and parents are looking for
ways to teach him alternate methods to communicate. However, due to his low motivations and interests to things
around him (e.g. does not play with toys and does not have good appetite towards food, etc), teachers and parents
are struggling to look for something that keeps him engaged and interested. They are facing challenges on how to
find out ways to educate him with regards to his communication skills.

With such issues, I am wondering how can we engage in active learning strategies, teaching methods and learning
environment to assist him towards functional communication?

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 Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: EDUC4731
References

th
Allen, K. E., & Cowdery, G. E. (2015). The exceptional child: Inclusion in early childhood education. (8 ed.).
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Downing, J.E., (2010). Teaching core curriculum and students with moderate to severe intellectual disabilities. In
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