NVLD

Start Date: 01/01/01

End Date: 09/02

This program took something like “gestures” and went a step further. Again, if your child can’t describe, cant identify emotions, this is not a program to start. This is a high level program. This was taught at the same time as the “I Feel” program.

This was taken DIRECTLY from “Teaching Your Child the Language of Social Success.” By Marshall and Nowicki. We took their “program” and broke it up into discrete trials. The gestures program was to teach “sign language”. The NVLD program was to teach Lukas how to read body language and NONVERBAL language. Now, this program sounds like it is more of the same of People Watch. We did this program at the SAME time as People Watch. People watch was for “generalization” of what we taught in NVLD. This program also generalized such Lovaas programs as Emotions, Gestures, Is/or, opposites, pretend , imitation, etc.

Target	Introduced	Mastered
1. Paralanguage: identify the various noises we make and what they mean. **see below	01/01/01	1/05/01
2. Identify Paralanguage sounds + show me a “hard tone of voice” + when do you use it?	01/01/01	01/09/01
3. Identify Paralanguage sounds + show me a “soft tone of voice” + When do you use it?	01/01/01	01/26/01
4. Identify Paralanguage sounds + show me a “ loud tone of voice” + When do you use it?	01/01/01	01/26/01
5. Identify Paralanguage sounds + show me a “quiet tone of voice” + When do you use it?	01/01/01	2/02/01
6. Rate of speech: what is the rate of speech for each emotion (mad, happy, sad, surprised, scared, excited, bored, just okay, etc)	1/26/01	2/06/01
7. Matching paralanguage in a pretend scenario ** see below	2/07/01	2/8/01
8. Annoying paralanguage. What is the difference between good paralanguage and bad? *see below.	2/8/01	2/20/01
9. What do our eyes say?	2/20/01	2/28/01
10.space: sit close?	2/28/01	3/02/01
11. Space: don’t sit close?	2/28/01	3/02/01
12. Zone 1	3/6/01	3/15/01
13. zone 2	3/10/01	3/15/01
14. zone 3	3/15/01	3/21/01
15. zone 4	3/26/01	3/31/01
16. time idioms	3/31/01	4/17/01
17.how long something should take	4/10/01	4/17/01
18. personal space vrs public	4/17/01	4/20/01
19. Go slow versus fast	4/20/01	5/7/01
20. stress of words	5/3/01	7/18/01
21.mental space	7/23/01	8/14/01

Target 1: **paralanguage is the various noises we make to communicate a thought, emotion or idea. It is hard to write but things like “ymmmm” when we like something. Or “uh-oh” when we drop something. Or ‘ugh”when we see someone pick their nose. We did not have to list out the dozens of noises human makes and teach each one separately because Lukas sorta already knew this. We just did a massive probe and said things like “what kind of noises do you make when you like the ice cream your eating?” What kind of noises does someone make when they think you are stupid ? (DUH!) Think of the sounds we make when we want to say: I don’t know, ah- isn’t that cute?, watch out!, you’re gross, etc.

Target 2-5: Tone of voice was also included in paralanguage. A hard tone of voice is not the same as a loud tone. Some times, when people are using their harshest tone possible, they are actually speaking very quietly. We wanted to show Lukas that there are two ways to have a harsh tone: loudly and softly. You have to discriminate the harshness to see if the person is mad versus the volume. Also, there are various places that you can use a soft tone and why would you use a soft tone? You might say something like: what tone of voice would you use in a library? What about at a construction site? Again, Lukas was far enough along in our program, that I didn’t have to break each one of these down into the smallest bit to teach in isolation (Which is the goal of ABA- Get them to learn without DTT!)

For target 7, we had Lukas and the tutors do various activities. They would write a short play. The tutor then would pick an emotion that she wanted to read her part in. She would use the appropriate paralanguage to read that play. Lukas would read his parts by matching his paralanguage with hers. So, if she read her parts in an angry tone of voice, he would match her by reading his in an angry tone of voice. Lukas LOVED this. Sometimes a tutor would switch paralanguage in the middle of the play. She might be angry one minute and then sad the next. He had to match it. Look at this “mini” play and think how the meaning changes by the tone of voice used:

The goose: Hey Mr Elephant. Would you sit on my eggs?

Elephant: Oh sure. That is something I would love to do!

The Goose: You are just so kind to help someone like me.

Elephant: That is what I live to do!

This could either be the most sarcastic thing in the world or it could be the two world’s politest animals. J

Lukas could read, so having scripts like this where he made up the dialogue with us was easy.

You can take a lot of children’s stories and fairy tales and do the same thing.

Target 8: we have all been in a conference with a speak who says “uhhhh” between every sentence. This can be annoying. The child with stimmy “tongue clicking” is annoying sometimes. People who hum constantly are annoying at times. The idea is for the child to recognize okay noises to make (yum!) versus annoying “vocal tics or uhs or grunts, etc.”

Target 9: our eyes say a ton! I can “glare” at you and it means you are stupid or I am mad at you. I can wink at you to tell you “hey, I am just kidding”. I can roll my eyes. I can look at you out of the corner of my eye that shows that I am about to do something tricky. Again, Lukas caught on quickly so we didn’t have to break this down into isolation. We did things like “tell me that you think I am dumb with your eyes.” Or “watch the two people and tell me what she is saying with her eyes.” Again, a good online and FREE resource is Do-To-Learn

On online resource that we were able to use was from the Do-To-learn website. It is a facial expressions

Game. It doesn’t show just static pictures. The model moves her head a little (you can freeze it if you need to)

And you can adjust minor details in her face such as raising one eyebrow or snarling her lip, narrowing her eyes, etc.

You can do it to degrees as well. You can have her glare a LOT or just a little sneer.

http://www.dotolearn.com/games/facialExpressions/face.htm

Target 10: Personal space: is it okay to sit close We just gave various scenerios: your teacher is trying to show you a math problem- okay. A friend? Okay. Your mom? Heck, you can sit in her lap! If he didn’t get this, I would have taught a few black and white rules like strangers are bad and then I would have put this into the discrimination training program (listed on our website). Luckily, he got it.

Target 11: Personal space: when is it not okay to sit close? Like target 11. Stranger? NO! Kid who isn’t nice to you? NO! We usually targeted this with Target 10. Again, if he didn’t get this, I would put it in discrim training.

Target 12: Four space zones; Zone 1 inimate zone 0-arms length

Who can enter this space and when?

(ie, your doctor might need to in order to listen to your heart. The butcher does not.) We also targeted what to say if you must enter this space: if you dropped your pencil and it rolled next to the student you were sitting next to. You might need to bend down and say “excuse me” as you pick it up under their feet.

This zone is for very close friends and loved ones.

You also use this to discuss very private things (oh look at him. He is such a jerk)

This is the zone that you use a quiet tone.

Target 13: Personal -Four space cones Zone 2: 18inches -4ft

Friends in everyday situations enter this zone.

Give the child a list of names and ask him if these people fall into the personal space zone or not:

Grandma, the walmart checkout lady, your dog, a strange dog, your sister, the mailman’s sister.

Target 14: Social: 4feet to 12 feet Zone 3

Use a slighter louder tone of voice.

A zone to use when you just meet someone.

A new classmate, etc.

Target 15: Public 12 feet and beyond Zone 4

Talk louder.

Saying “hi” and “bye” to people you don’t really know (by waving)

This is not a zone that you have a conversation at.

Targets 12-15: Several activities could be done to show discrimination. Sample Activities the book gave:

Lay out a six foot strip of masking tape on the floor. Have your child stand at one end and you stand at the other

End. Shout out imaginary people and he should show you how close he might stand to that person:

Mom= close Stranger= far Stranger in front of you a the line in the walmart= 4ftish. Your best friend=close

The kid who always punches you on the playground= far.

Time 16: Discuss Time idioms. This generalized our “slang” program. It also brought in the concept of how time can mean different things. Slow as a snail, fast as a cricket, Time Flies, get a move on, who lit a fire under you?. Whats your hurry?, etc.

A stitch in time, borrowed time, right on time,

Target 17: How long should something take? (short, medium, long, nanseconds): brush your teeth= short time

Coming inside when your momsays: short time , your home work= medium, building a star wars 3000 piece lego

Set? = LONG TIME. Keep a list of things you probed and talked about so that your tutors aren’t running over

The same five activities. There should literally be over a hundred things he does in a day that you can ask him about.

Target 18: Personal space versus Public space: Your bedroom is a personal space. You don’t enter other people’s bedroom without invitiation. I have seen a number of young people violate this rule. Whenever I was “getting something” from my bedroom, my tutors instinctively stopped at my bedroom doorway. Once, I had a teenage boy that I didn’t know very well

Follow me right into my bedroom when I said “hang on, I will get my shoes on”. It really made me uncomfortable that he entered my bedroom. Growing up, we all knew that mom’s purse was WAY OFF limits. These are the things to think about.

Your friend’s desk at school? Personal space even though it is in the public classroom. Your mailman can get into your mailbox but he doesn’t walk into your house! You can NEVER go into another person’s mailbox. There are dozens upon dozens of places like this you can probe.

Target 19 : When do you go slowly and when do you go fast? Present scenerios. Ie: your half crazy mom wants you to come into the house NOW!!!!!!= move quick. Think of this: you are in the checkout line. The person in front of you pays for her groceries. She then stands there and puts the receipts away neatly in her billfold and chats to the check out person. She balances the total in her checkbook. She fumbles for her keys. This happened to me the other day at the grocery store and I about screamed! LOL! She took almost five minutes after she paid and her things were bagged, gathering up her stuff. This is not a place to move slowly. But what about a bike path? Do you ride slowly or fast? Why? What about a project that you need to get done NICELY? Slow or fast? What about coming in from recess? Fast or slow? What about catching your bus? What about walking in church? Do you speak quickly or slowly when you want to ask your mom a question and she is trying very hard to get dinner ready on time?

Target 20: Stress of words: this is discussed on page 153 of Marshall’s book. Think of these sentences. The bold words are the words that are stressed more. Think how it affects meaning:

You have to look under the bed. = not your sister, not me, YOU!

You have to look under the bed. = you must, you need to, There is no option.

You have to look under the bed = quit looking on top!

You have to look under the bed. = quit looking in the closet!!

We started by making worksheets with the same sentences written on them. The tutor then read the sentence over and over again with a different word stressed. He had to identify the stressed word (we called it the “important” word- the word the speaker wants you to pay the most attention to) We then took it a step further and asked him WHY it was important. (because she wants me to look, not someone else, because maybe I am not looking in the right spot?)

Target 21: Mental Space

What is mental space? Mental space is the area that we don’t enter when talking to people.

What happens when we “overstep our bounds?” the other person doesn’t always become angry.

Sometimes they change subject rapidly, they shrug off your question, they mumble, they look away from you and look

To others to talk to, etc. These are usually highly personal areas (Do you have hemorroids?)

Sometimes, they are not always “black in white” in nature. For instance, if you said , “so where do you work?” to a person who has been unemployed for a long time, their reaction will tell you to drop it. “oh. I was laid off six months ago.”

You wouldn’t say: oh? Well, why haven’t you found a job yet? Mind you, you have to keep the age of your child in mind when targeting 21. I wouldn’t expect most children 5-7years of age to make the mature discrimination. BUT, they should be able to recognize the body language that says it is time to move on in topic. Additionally, these are topics that are off limits to strangers and that means, YOU SHOULDN”T TELL YOUR PERSONAL BUSINESS TO THEM EITHER! No one wants to hear about your bowels. J Mom does. The walmart lady doesn’t.