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Specialized Instructional Strategies
Assignment 1 – Discrete Trial Training (15%)
This assignment relates to the following Course Learning Requirements:
• CLR 3: Recommend and/or modify intervention strategies and adapt the environment as needed to
increase learning success and reduce problem behaviour.
Objective of this Assignment: The purpose of this assignment is to provide recommendations regarding
specific teaching strategies (based on the protocols and procedures of discrete trial training and the principles of
applied behavior analysis) to a preschool that has several learners with ASDs.
Instructions:
1. Read the description of the preschool and the learners in this preschool provided below.
2. Choose one learner to focus on for your assignment.
3. Write a brief report summarizing your specific recommendations to the preschool for the learner. In the
report, include:
a. A brief explanation of ABA (using non-behavioural language)
b. A brief explanation of DTT (using non-behavioural language)
c. At least one description on how each of the seven arrange antecedent conditions can be used in
order to enhance learning for the child with ASD.
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Preschool
ABC Learning Centre is an integrated preschool with 23 learners, 3 of whom are diagnosed with ASD and
5 staff. The preschool is located in an old Victorian house with multiple rooms and individual work
spaces. The space is quite ‘busy’, with lots of materials scattered in the rooms and lots of pictures and
paintings on the walls.
Learners attend the preschool for the full day and their day is comprised of the following activities: free
play, circle time, snack, craft, gross motor activities, lunch, story time, nap time, and music.
The preschool staff report feeling challenged and unsure how to create the best learning environment for
the learners with ASD. There are three children in the preschool. A summary of each of the children is
below:
Jack – Age 3
Jack is a very busy young boy. Day care staff have a hard time getting him to stay still for even short
periods of time in order to focus with activities. He is highly attracted to Dawn (one of the staff) but
won’t engage with the others. He has a few words to ask for items he wants, limited play skills and does
not interact with peers. He is an early learner. The pre-school would like to help him learn to sit and
complete a simple task like beading to start.
Abbey – Age 4
Abbey has been at the pre-school for just 3 months. She will sit quietly and flip through books for hours if
left to do so. She prefers to carry a book with her during the day and becomes upset if she is required to
set it down. She can engage in limited play skills, including doing one piece puzzles and shape sorters.
She also has limited language. Most of her verbals are scripting (repeating) lines from Dora the Explorer.
The preschool staff report wanting to help teach her to label (name) common items.
Martin – Age 3.5
Martin is also very busy. He enjoys bouncing and if allowed to sit on a bouncy ball will sit for circle. He
enjoys his peers and will follow them during the day, but lacks the skills to interact with them
appropriately. The preschool staff would like to involve Martin in circle by teaching him to label pictures
of animals used when they sing “Old MacDonald”.
The staff at ABC Learning Centre is dedicated, receptive to feedback and willing to implement
any strategies to help these learners, but they have little understanding of ABA or IBI.

How does McGuire’s effort to put black women at the center of her story depart from the ways that the Civil Rights Movement is typically characterized? Point to at least two specific pieces of evidence which illustrate the implications of this shift.

To receive full points for this assignment your response must:

1) Address all questions included in the prompt

2) Point to specific evidence in the reading that supports your claim

3) Cite anything you paraphrase or quote from the reading with a page number

4) Demonstrate a strong grasp of the main ideas expressed by the reading(s)