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5 Steps to Teaching Self-Management Skills to Children with Autism
 From the July 2001 Disabilities newsletter.Because children with autism have difficulty adapting to changes in their environment and exhibiting appropriate behaviors as their environment changes, they often need individual instruction in self-management. In their book, Teaching Children with Autism: Strategies for Initiating Positive Interactions and Improving Learning Opportunities, authors Robert L. Koegel and Lynn Kern Koegel outline five strategies for designing a successful self-management program for students with autism, starting with defining the behavior that needs to be managed: 1. Operationally Define the Target Behavior The initial step in a self-management course is to specify the behavior to be observed. Precise definitions facilitate communication and maintain consistency among observers. For example, a certain child's "stereotypic behavior" might be defined as flapping hands at shoulder level for at least 3 seconds, rocking the upper torso forward then backward for at least 3 seconds, and any vocal noise made by the child that can be heard outside the child's room and does not involve recognizable sounds. Target behaviors may be self-managed individually or several behaviors may be self-managed as a group by labeling the behaviors with a term the child understands. 2. Identify Functional Reinforcers An effective reinforcer is an event that has been proven through observation to increase the future rate of the behavior that it follows. To ensure that reinforcers are functional, it is a good idea to allow the child to assist in their selection. If the child appears uninterested in rewards, the rewards may be "discovered" by analyzing the function that the inappropriate behavior is serving for the child (i.e., assessing what consequence usually follows the inappropriate behavior). Once the function of the inappropriate behavior is determined, it is often possible to select an appropriate reinforcer that will serve the same function as the inappropriate behavior. For example, if an inappropriate behavior generally results in the termination of a work situation, a functional reinforcer might be a period of free time immediately following appropriate behavior. 3. Design or Choose a Self-Management Method and Device Self-management devices depend on the target behavior of the individual. If specific occurrences of a behavior are being monitored, a golfer's wrist counter or a notebook with pencil or stickers enables the child to record each occurrence of the behavior. If the person is measuring periods of time with the absence (or presence) of a behavior, a wristwatch with a chronograph alarm or a kitchen timer can be used to signal time periods. 4. Teach the Individual to Use the Self-Management Device A child learns to identify their own target behavior by observing both appropriate and inappropriate behavior modeled by the provider and by receiving reinforcement upon accurate identification of each. Next, the child is prompted to engage in the appropriate behavior and self-record the occurrence (or nonoccurrence) of the behavior. Initially, verbal and tangible reinforcers are provided on a continuous reinforcement schedule for accurate self-recording of the target behavior, whereas only verbal reinforcement is provided for accurate self-recording of the inappropriate behavior. As the child's abilities to self-manage behavior improve, the schedule of reinforcement is gradually reduced. 5. Teach Self-Management Independence Independent self-management (i.e., without prompts or consequences from others) is taught in a number of ways. Prompts to self-manage behavior (i.e., to engage in the target behavior and self-record when appropriate) are gradually reduced, and the amount of time the child spends self-managing behavior is increased. In addition to requiring that more self-recording responses be made before earning each reinforcer, the schedule of reinforcement is also reduced by gradually increasing the time period between opportunities to self-record. Finally, the child can be taught to self-administer consequences on completion of the predetermined number of points.
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