![]() ![]() ![]() I usually go with what the parents want to do. Decide in advance before you begin teaching vocal imitation if you are focusing on vocal production, articulation, or both. Instead of "zebra" the child says "ee-a". The child is imitating the echoic, but their articulation is very poor.Another tip is to drop the word "Say" and just say to the child "BALL". Ball (speak over the child if necessary)". I usually fix this by going to a 0 second prompt where once I give the SD I immediately give the child the correct answer. If the therapist says "Say ball" the child responds "Say ball". The child is imitating the entire phrase, not just the target word. ![]() Some common questions/problems I get asked about in regards to teaching Echoics are: There is a massive volume of research on baby babble, speech production, and first words. If you do not have access to a Speech Therapist, then do some research on child development and look at what sounds develop first, and in what order. Certain sounds and words develop quicker than others and are easier for children to produce. So if the child is only able to babble, you wouldn't start asking them to say complex words like "Helicopter".Īlso, it can be very helpful to consult with a Speech Therapist to find out where to begin when selecting sounds or words. Depending on the child's current verbal abilities, you want to start where they are and build from there. There is definitely a hierarchy when writing a vocal imitation program. When I write a vocal imitation program for a client, typically I start with simple sounds that come easily off the lips ("Ba"), then more complex sounds, simple words ("Up"), complex words ("Hospital"), and eventually numbers, sentences, and short phrases (such as, "Ready, Set, Go"). The therapist would say to the child (with no stimuli present) "Say ball" and the child should respond "Ball". The first step in teaching vocal imitation using Echoics, would be to teach the child to repeat or echo words/sounds on demand. You make the language requirement progressively more difficult over time. Example of shaping: the child is taught to say "Buh", then "Buh-ll", and finally "Bubbles" in order to receive access to the bubbles. You reinforce language (even approximations of language) to pair the language with the item. Example of stimulus-stimulus pairing: the child says "Buh" while looking at some bubbles, and you hand the child some bubbles. Research supported methods for teaching language to children with Autism include Echoics (this is a Verbal Behavior term for vocal imitation), stimulus-stimulus pairing, alternative means of communication such as PECS, and shaping. In order to teach the child new and novel labels/words they need to be able to imitate you. If a child cannot imitate on request their language won't be very useful to them, in terms of other people being able to understand what they want or need. The ultimate goal of teaching vocal imitation is so the child will learn imitation skills, to get the child's language under instructional control, and to be able to prompt the child. ![]() That is a common part of teaching a young child to talk. From there, parents will talk to the baby/toddler and say things like "SAY Mama.Dada.". Vocal imitation is one of the first few programs I write to start working on language, because young babies learn language by imitating the sounds they hear. ![]()
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