Oops not quite

Sometimes we think our students have mastered a skill because they can produce the correct response to a stimulus. Unfortunately one of the characteristics that is important to watch for in children with autism is the ability to generalize. This means that a child might appear to have acquired a new skill. However, it is often the case that the child has learned this skill in a specific context. For example, I have one student who appeared to have mastered an imitation skill. However, this kid only mastered this skill when presented with a very narrow range of objects. The worst part is that no one noticed this until we thought the skill was mastered so now we need to go back and nearly start the program over from scratch. In this case the child is learning an association between an activity and an object instead of paying attention to the imitation stimulus. This is true of almost anything we could possibly teach children. It can be challenging to think of how to add variety to activities or make something different, but it is a way to be creative and develop a different perspective on life and learning.