See
‘Applied Behavioral Analysis’
Each student within TeachTown: Basics will need to have their own TeachTown account. Their private account allows TeachTown: Basics to customize the Curriculum for the individual student and to carefully control who can access the student’s data. Individuals that work with the student, “Facilitators”, can be added and removed from the student as needed. Facilitators have TeachTown Memberships rather than Accounts.
Activities
are off-computer exercises that a Facilitator can
do with a child that complement the on-computer Lessons. The off-computer Activities help students generalize what they’ve learned on the computer to
the real world. The Curriculum contains Activities for learning Domains that aren’t covered in the on-computer Lessons such
as pretend play, social interaction, imitation, expressive language, and motor
skills. TeachTown: Basics is most effective when
the Activities are used in conjunction with the on-computer Lessons. The Activities are based on best practices
and have been written by Dr. Whalen and other professionals who have years of
experience working with children with autism. As the child progresses through the TeachTown Curriculum, the software will show the Facilitator which
Activities are appropriate for the child and automatically make recommendations
based on the child’s developmental level.
Applied
Behavioral Analysis is a scientifically based behavioral treatment that
incorporates the principles of learning and reinforcement to change behavior. TeachTown:
Basics incorporates the best practices of applied
behavioral analysis.
The Curriculum is the set of all Lessons and Activities included in TeachTown: Basics organized into learning Domains and ordered by Rank (developmental level).
When a Trial is presented to a student, in addition to the correct answer, one or more incorrect answers may be given as possible choices. These incorrect choices are also knows as Distracters.
All Lessons in the TeachTown Curriculum are separated into one of four learning Domains based on what skills they teach: Social-Emotional Understanding, Independence-Life Skills, Academic-Cognitive, and Comprehension-Receptive Vocabulary. A student’s developmental level within each Domain is represented by a Rank. Activities cover five additional learning Domains: Pretend Play, Social Interaction, Imitation, Expressive Language, and Motor Skills.
Errorless
Learning is a method of teaching that begins by showing a Lesson
with the correct answer as the only possible choice. This has been shown to be effective when the
concept being taught is particularly difficult for the child. It also helps to keep the child’s motivational
level high. After several Trials, distracters (incorrect
choices) are gradually brought in. If
the child answers questions with distractors correctly, the distracters become
more prominent. If the child starts to
answer incorrectly, the distracters are again faded out. See Prompting for
more details.
Verbal
or non-verbal (e.g. picture communication, sign language, gestures)
communication with others.
A
Facilitator is a person that either works directly with a child using the
TeachTown treatment or is a person who is able to view the child's data. A
Facilitator could be a parent, teacher, relative, clinician, or anyone who
provides care for a child. Each
Facilitator should have a separate TeachTown Membership. (There is no charge for creating a
Membership.)
A
Facilitator is able to grant another person Facilitator status for a particular
child by accessing the Facilitator menu in TeachTown:
Basics. Any person who wishes to
become a Facilitator must read and accept all of the TeachTown Facilitator
agreements regarding privacy and confidentiality of student data.
Fees
for TeachTown: Basics are per
student, so having multiple Facilitators for a student incurs no additional charge. See “How do I add a Facilitator to my
Student?” for more information on adding Facilitators.
Fine
Motor skills are those that require small, coordinated movements such as tying
a shoe, using scissors, doing sign language, etc.
A
functional relationship is one in which two or more things are related to each
other based on the function (or purpose).
For instance, scissors and paper have a functional relationship because
they can be used together in a purposeful way.
Generalization
is when a learned skill is carried over to other objects, settings, people or
responses. For instance, someone has
learned a concept, such as “Bus”, rather than just memorizing a picture of a
bus. An example of true generalization
would be when a child can identify a ball in a classroom or home setting in addition
to being able to identify various balls from flash cards. Generalization is
critical to a child's development and it is one of the most important goals of
TeachTown's program.
An
IEP is an Individualized Educational Plan written by schools with parents and
clinicians to establish goals for a child with special needs.
A Trial that is scored as “Incorrect” is one in which the child picked the wrong answer or did not answer within the time limit for the Trial. Trials can also be scored as Prompted Correct or Unprompted Correct. To Master a Lesson, a child must get 80% Prompted Correct.
A
schedule of reinforcement that is random and not
predictable by the user. This is one of the most scientifically proven and
effective reward schedules.
Joint
attention is the ability to share attention about an object or event with
another person by coordinating language and social skills.
See
‘Domain’
A
Lesson is an on-computer learning activity consisting of a series of Trials about a specific subject matter. For instance, “Transportation
1” is a Lesson about Cars and Planes. There are three types of Lessons: Pre-Tests, Post-Tests, and Exercises. Lessons
are grouped into developmental areas known as learning Domains. (See also ‘Activities’).
A
Maintenance Trial occurs when a Trial is presented from a
Lesson that the child has previously mastered
in the middle of an un-mastered Lesson.
In TeachTown: Basics,
Maintenance Trials are interspersed approximately every five trials during
every Exercise.
This keeps success rates (and motivation) high, helps children with
shifting attention and helps the child to not lose previously learned
skills.
A Pre-Test, Post-Test or Exercise is considered to be Mastered when the child has answered 80% of the Trials correctly without Prompting.
Each individual (or “Facilitator”) that works with a child should create their own TeachTown Membership. This allows members of the child’s team to see who worked with the child and to keep and share notes about the child’s progress. Creating a TeachTown Membership is free as billing occurs on per-child basis. Students within TeachTown have Accounts rather than Memberships.
Modeling
is a technique in which an action is demonstrated to a child with the goal of
having the child imitate the action. The
“model” is the person that demonstrates the action.
Multiples
Cues refers to Trials that contain more than one
component to which the child must attend. For example, the question "Where
is the big, blue car" has multiple cues, “blue” and “big”. Multiple Cue learning is a pivotal skill, meaning
that learning how to attend to multiple cues will positively affect many other
areas of development including attention, language, and cognitive abilities.
When non-contingent reinforcement is used, the presentation of Reinforcers does not depend on the child getting the correct answer on a Trial. In other words, Reinforcers are presented randomly every 3-5 Trials regardless of the correctness of the answer. Non-Contingent Reinforcement is used during Pre-Tests and Post-Tests as it allows TeachTown to more accurately assess the student’s developmental level.
Object
Imitation is a task in which a person demonstrates an action with an object. The child must repeat that action with the
same or similar object.
After
a student has Mastered all of
the individual Exercises for a particular Lesson, they are given a Post-Test to determine if they
have mastered the material being covered by the entire Lesson. Additionally, the Post-Test uses different
images and video than the Exercises.
This helps TeachTown test for Generalization. A Post-Test consists of 25 Trials. If the student fails to get 80% of the Trials
correct, the child will return to training Exercises
within this Lesson.
Post-Tests
use Non-Contingent Reinforcement,
meaning that rewards are given but they are not contingent on the child getting
the correct answer. The student is also
not given Praise for getting the correct answer, but
rather statements of encouragement are given randomly after the end of
trials. Additionally, Prompting
is disabled. Non-Contingent
Reinforcement, encouragement rather than Praise and the disabling of Prompting,
allow TeachTown to more accurately assess the student’s performance.
Praise
is a verbal affirmation (such as “Good job!”) that occurs when a child chooses
the correct answer on a Trial. Praise only occurs during Exercises. During Pre-Tests
and Post-Tests, students receive intermittent
words of encouragement before the start of the next Trial (such as “Keep
going!), rather than Praise. This
allows TeachTown to more accurately assess the student’s developmental level
during Pre-Tests and Post-Tests.
The first time that a student takes a new Lesson, they are given a Pre-Test. The Pre-Test determines if they already know
the material included in the Lesson. A
Pre-Test consists of 25 Trials. If
the student fails to get 80% of the Trials correct, the child will move on to
training Exercises within this Lesson.
Pre-Tests use Non-Contingent Reinforcement, meaning that rewards are given but they
are not contingent on the child getting the correct answer. The student is also not given Praise for getting the correct answer, but rather
statements of encouragement are given randomly after the end of trials. Additionally, Prompting is disabled. Non-Contingent Reinforcement, encouragement
rather than Praise and the disabling of Prompting, allow TeachTown to more
accurately assess the students performance.
To
“prompt” is to assist a child in selecting a correct
answer during a Trial or more generally to assist them in
performing a behavior correctly. In TeachTown: Basics, prompting is done by fading the distracter
choices during a Trial to make them less prominent to the child. The amount of prompting can vary, all the
way from Errorless-Learning, in which the
distractors are completely invisible, to distracters with are just barely
faded.
Prompting
is only used during Exercises, not on Pre-Tests or Post-Tests. During Exercises, TeachTown: Basics automatically adjusts the amount of prompting
based on the child’s performance during the Exercise. If the child is having difficulty, the amount
of prompting increases. If they are
doing well, the amount of prompting decreases.
The Prompt Level is the amount of Prompting used during a Trial. TeachTown: Basics sets this automatically based on the child’s performance. (See ‘Prompting’)
A Trial which is scored as “Prompted Correct” is one in which the child picked the correct answer but with Prompting. Trials can also be scored as Unprompted Correct or Incorrect. To Master a Lesson, a child must get 80% Prompted Correct.
Lessons within the Curriculum are
positioned in a developmental sequence.
A Lesson’s “Rank” represents its position within the sequence, with
larger Ranks representing more advanced developmental levels. Lessons are also grouped into learning Domains.
TeachTown: Basics tracks a child’s
developmental level within each learning Domain by
assigning the child a “Rank” within that learning Domain. When a new student is created, the initial
Rank is determined by a ranking questionnaire.
After student creation, the Rank is adjusted based on the student
performance during Lessons.
When
a Session is started, the software program automatically
picks the Lessons available to the child according to the child’s Rank within
each Domain and available Lessons in the Domain.
As
a child’s rank within a Domain increases, their skills and developmental level
within that Domain should also increase, not only on the computer, but also
through off-computer activities.
A
child may have a higher rank in one Domain compared to another Domain. This highlights where the child is doing the
best and where your child may need more work. TeachTown:
Basics automatically adjusts the available Lessons
to balance out the child’s skills so that the child does not go too far in one
Domain while the other Domains fall behind.
Receptive
Language is the ability to understand or comprehend language. For instance, being able to follow
instructions or understanding what the word "chair" represents.
A
Reinforcer (or “Reward”) is anything that increases a child's behavior. In the TeachTown:
Basics program, reinforcers take the form of small games that take place
during Lessons. For
many children, the lessons themselves may be reinforcing too!
(See “Reinforcer”)
Sensory
Development is the development of senses including sight, sound, smell, taste,
and touch. Many children with special
needs have sensory sensitivities and these must be considered when using any
treatment program. In TeachTown: Basics, adult facilitators
may remove Rewards that might negatively affect a
particular child's sensory sensitivities.
Many of the Rewards are designed to stimulate sensory development but it
is important to review these Rewards before presenting to the child as each
child is different.
A
user-defined period of time that begins when child starts using TeachTown: Basics and ends after the
chosen times elapses. Before a child begins
a Session, the Facilitator chooses the amount of
time that the Session will last during the setup process. The session length is
defined by the time clock and can be as short as 10 minutes or as long as 60
minutes. At the end of the Session the
Facilitator can leave a note on the Session about how it went that will be
available for other Facilitators on the child’s team. (See “How do I add a Facilitator on the
Software?”)
A
Trial is a single task shown to a child during a Lesson.
A Trial consists of a Cue (such as “Show
me the dolphin?”), the child’s response (via mouse or touchscreen
selection), and Praise (when appropriate). Data is automatically recorded for every
trial the child takes and is coded as recorded as Prompted Correct,
Unpromted Correct
or Incorrect.
A Trial which is scored as “Unprompted Correct” is one in which the child picked the correct answer without Prompting. Trials can also be scored as Prompted Correct or Incorrect. To Master a Lesson, a child must get 80% Prompted Correct.