Icon Exchange

Discrimination Phases

We’re not talking about race and gender, what we are referring to is being able to choose between a preferred item and a non preferred item. Which icon will get me something cool, and

which one will get me something crappy?

Always have the correct icon for each item If you do not have the correct icon, ask for it

Reinforce the response within ½ second Use a variety of tutors and items, both prefered and non-prefered Tutor should set up for next trial while child is engaging with the item Number of icons on bottom strip is phase

specific

Remember kids: There should never be more than 4 icons on the bottom strip for discrimination phases

A preferred item is an item the child consistently likes and eats/engages with for a 10 – 15 second interval Eating goldfish Putting a puzzle together Flipping through a book

A non-preferred item is an item the child consistently does not like, and will not engage in for the 10 – 15 second interval of time A spoon A shoe A piece of paper

Again a non-preferred item is an item the child consistently does not like and rejects by either not taking it from you or pushing it away. Paper towel A sock

A neutral item is an item that is non-preferred but used functionally: Using a fork to eat Drinking from a cup Putting on a shoe

If you find a neutral item for your child do not use it in the discrimination trials.

In phases 3 and 3A of the icon exchange, we start teaching the child how to discriminate between a reinforcing preferred item and a non-preferred item Previously the child always got something

good from exchanging the icon, now they have to look at the icons to make sure they are getting what they want

Question #1: What is the

maximum number of icons that can be on the bottom strip of the PECS

book?

Enticing a child to “want” an item is different from prompting a child to ask for an item

Examples of prompting with an item: “WOW look at this COOL car!” “OOO this is a YUMMY cheeto!”

Examples of enticing with an item: Pretend to eat an edible without attending to the

child Play with the car by yourself

An incorrect trial happens when the child chooses a non-prefered icon and rejects it when it is presented to them Examples of rejection include:

Not taking the item from you Throwing the item Pushing the item away Dropping the item

If rejection of the item occurs, move into the 4 Step Error Correction

In certain instances of rejection the child may respond emotionally or aggressively If the child cries or tantrums:

Do not give the child a different prefered item to calm them

Work through the rest of the trial, giving prompts as needed

After completing the trial do as many ELOs as necessary to get compliance and move on to the next trial

If the child aggresses: Block it and continue to work through the trial After completing the trial do as many ELOs as

necessary to get compliance and move on to the next trial

Question #2: Which is an example of rejection?A. The child grabs the sock and makes a hand puppet.B. The child eats the cheetoh.C. The child ignores the item and pretends to sleep.

Allow the child to play with the preferred item for 10–15 seconds before the trial begins

1 preferred item and 1 non-preferred item is used Do preference assessments every few trials to find

both preferred and non-preferred items “OOO the new”

Reinforce the childs correct reaching response Make a reinforcing “OOO” sound as the child reaches

for the correct icon during the trial For incorrect trials go straight into the 4 Step

Error Correction

Question #3: Silently reading a child’s book is an example

of what? Question #4:

“VROOM VROOM, this car is so much FUN!” Is an example of what?

Again allow the child to play with the reinforcer for 10-15 seconds or allow them to eat the edible

2 preferred icons and 1 non-preferred icon Pay attention to amount of icons used

Remember number of icons on bottom strip is phase specific

Do preference assessments every few trials No longer “OOO the new” For incorrect responses go directly into the 4 Step

Error Correction

Question #5: If a child is given a sock and puts in on

his/her foot, what kind of item is it? A: Prefered B: Non-prefered C: Neutral

Question #6: What phase do we “OOO” the new?

Step 1: Model Step 2: Practice Step 3: Distract Step 4: Repeat

Gesturaly prompt to the correct icon If gestural prompt is

not effective, move to partial physical prompt and full physical prompt if necessary

That is all step one requires move on to step 2

Let the child give you the icon you prompted towards

Label item but do not give it to the child, this is just for practice

Move on to step 3

Flip the book over and do an ELO: Clap hands Tap table Touch nose

Move on to step 4

Flip book back over

Wait for the child to make an independent response. Entice if necessary

If child makes incorrect response, repeat the 4 Step Error Correction

Children’s preferences may change often If the child changes reinforcers often, make

sure you do frequent preference assessments to ensure that you have what the child will be motivated enough to ask for

Finding a non-prefered item can sometimes be difficult If you are having trouble finding a non-

prefered item, keep doing a preference assessment until you find one, or ask a supervisor for help

Question 7: What are the 4 steps

in the 4 Step Error Correction?

Switch icon positions only after a correct trial on the initial trial DO NOT switch icons after a correct response on the

“repeat step” of the 4 Step Error Correction After 3 incorrect initial trials, which include the

4 Step Error Correction, stop the procedure Continuing the procedure then punishes responding

Get a supervisor to code the data sheet, end that PECS session and move on using the reinforcer the child tried to grab for another procedure

How should the supervisor

code it?

Your supervisor should use the Implementation Problem code (IP) or the Off

Task Code (OT)

The 4 step error correction cycle can be repeated up to a total of 3 times if necessary If you do complete 2 full cycles of the 4 step

error correction & the child still has not responded correctly, remove the incorrect icon and repeat the 4 steps so the child can only make a correct response. Replace the incorrect icon move on to the next initial trial

This means in 3 initial trials, if you had to go through the 4 step error correction you could have gone through a total of 9 cycles of 4 step error correction (3 full cycles for each of 3 initial trials)

Note: If you do 3 consecutive initial trials & have to go through the 4 step error correction each time, STOP THE PROCEDURE & GET IT CODED BY A SUPERVISOR

If you have to go through the 4 step error correction a few times, you still only take

data on the initital trials, which means you should

never have more than 10 +/- marks on your sheet

The initial trial is the chance when the child gets to independently make a response and choose what item they want. If they reject the item they chose only then do

you go into the 4 step error correction. Although the 4 step error correction comes

right after an incorrect response it is not part of the initial trial, it is the correction procedure When the child rejected the item they received a –

on the data sheet and that was the end of the initial trial.

So, if I start the initial trial and the child rejects the item, I mark the data for the initial trial as -

and do the 4 step error correction, with the possibility of

doing the 4 steps up to three times

That’s right!Then what do I do?You start the

next initial trial, and take your next data

mark.

4

4

4

3

3

3

2

2

2

1

1

1

Child chooses icon

Correct on data sheetIncorrect on data sheet

Practice-Child exchanges preferred icon

-Label, but do not give item

Distract-Turn book over

-Do ELO

Repeat-Turn book back over-Turn book back over

-Child independently -Child independently chooses iconchooses icon

-Label and give item-Label and give item

Model-Gestural prompt to preferred icon

Model Practice Distract Repeat

Model Practice Distract Repeat

Go onto next trial

Go onto next trial

Go onto next trial

Do preference assessment

Go onto next trial

Rejects item

Rejects item

Accep

ts ite

m

Accepts item

Accepts item

Rejects item

Accepts itemRejects ite

m

On repeat they get the treat!

TAKE DATA TAKE DATA HEREHERE

Read from top to bottom following the arrows as necessary

Remove the incorrect icon and repeat the 4 steps

Phases 3B and 3C teach discrimination between preferred items

For incorrect responses you still use the 4 Step Error Correction

Correspondence checks are necessary for 60% of the trials

We do not label the items during correspondence checks in phases 3B and 3C

What do I do during a

correspondence check?

Instead we offer them both items at once to check that they want

the item that did the icon

exchange for

After the icon exchange the tutor holds out both preferred items and says “Go ahead, take it” Trial is correct if the child chooses the item

corresponding to the icon they gave you Trial is incorrect if the child chooses the item that

does not correspond to the icon they gave you Block the incorrect response and go directly into

the 4 Step Error Correction Start with pointing to the item the child should have

taken( Teach to their reach)

So we can label the

item during a

correspondence check

right?

Absolutely NOT!REMEMBER!!! We do not label the item

2 preferred items Do correspondence check to make sure child

is discriminating between preferred items If the child chooses the item they didn’t ask for,

go into the 4 step error correction

4 preferred items Do correspondence checks using all 4 items

For this phase it is easier to put the items on a bin lid so that they are spread out and easily accessible to the child

When items are not spread out and accessible, tutors can easily mistake which item the child is reaching for

Trial is correct when child chooses the item they asked for

Trial is incorrect if child chooses a different item then what they asked for Use 4 step error correction for incorrect trials

Question 8: True of False: We label the item during correspondence checks?

Question 9: How many data marks ( +/- ) should be on the PECS data sheet?

Question 10: How often should you do correspondence checks in phases 3B and 3C? A: Never B: 20% of the trials C: 40% of the trials D: 60% of the trials

4

4

4

3

3

3

2

2

2

1

1

1

Child chooses itemCorrect on data sheetIncorrect on data sheet

Practice-Child exchanges preferred icon

-Label, but do not give item

Distract-Turn book over

-Do ELO

Repeat-Turn book back over-Turn book back over

-Child independently -Child independently chooses iconchooses icon

-Correspondence check-Correspondence check

Model-Gestural prompt to preferred icon

Model Practice Distract Repeat

Model Practice Distract Repeat

Go onto next trial

Go onto next trial

Go onto next trial

Do preference assessment

Go onto next trial

Incorrect item

Incorrect item

Corre

ct ite

m

Correct item

Correct item

Incorrect item

Chooses correct itemChooses incorrect ite

m

On repeat they get the treat!

TAKE DATA TAKE DATA HEREHERE

Remove the incorrect icon and repeat the 4 steps

Remember we do not take data on the 4 step error correction, we only take data on the initial trial There should never be any more than 10 +

or – on the data sheet Note: If you get three consecutive incorrect

responses on the initial trials, stop the procedure and get it coded by a supervisor

Contact the PECS/IE system manager: [email protected] or ask a Croyden supervisor.