I went to a Partington Conference hosted by a FEAT organization. Dr. Partington was going to explain a little bit about verbal behavior and about IEP development. I admit that listening to a conference about IEPs is about as exciting as sitting through one. While I certainly think this part of the lecture would have actually been good for my SLP since she is beginning to work with more and more autistic children in the district, I engaged in distractive behaviors.

So, I made notes on this incredible session I was going to have with my son. I would do 10 minutes of "work" at the table. I would then yawn and act bored and ask him if he wanted to work some more or cook. Hoping he would say cook, I would ask him if he wanted to make squash or cake. [ yes/no desired activities program would be hit]

I would ask him what we do before we cook (wash hands) where do we wash hands and what room? (rooms, wh discrim questions) From there I had every program hit in the making of a cake- from complex instructions to even writing (we would be writing

the recipe down for his grandmother ). I would have to take advantage of every moment. For instance, I would tell him that I needed eggs and I forgot where we keep them (in the fridge. oh what is a fridge for?) I would tell him to not give me brown

eggs but give me three white eggs (colours, complex instructions and 1:1 counting) Where do eggs come from? What sound does the chicken make? Tell me an animal that doesn't make eggs. (exlusions, animals, environmental sounds, etc) I would have

him break the egg in the medium bowel (there would be three bowls in front of him..) I would tell him to stir and then stop him and tell him that he needed to stir like this (imitation) and I would tell him to stir and not give him a spoon

(thus hitting the impossible task program...)

Anyway... It didn't turn out quite like the flow i had in mind... J

His siblings wouldn't nap and kept coming out and asking for things and

fighting with each other. He went

to throw away a napkin and as he put his hand on the counter

to stabilize himself while he used his foot to press the button

for the lid of the trashcan , he knocked over 300 coloured

beads on the floor.

Turns out we lacked an ingredient that was crucial to both our ABA targets for the day and for the cake. It is very hard to come up with a suddesubstitution to tapioca flour.

Telephone marketers called- not once but twice right when I issued a SD to Lukas. If I didn’t answer the phone, Lukas would look at me and tell me the phone was ringing.

Lukas wouldn't be rote about answering questions so that I could move on to the next target. J I would get sucked into conversation that wouldn't lead naturally back to where i planned to go. I know... nice problem to have but damn if I didn't need to

hit some programs.... I was in a greedy mood. I wanted to get rid of some programs!

Overall, the session was good, he was happy to be with me but it wasn't this smoooooooth easy natural thing. I have to learn that ABA is not just about data collecting and hitting programs in a book. Verbal Behavior methods are not always taking place in isolated rooms with no distractions. Sometimes it actually has a little too much real life in the mix. :