A client recently shared with me this picture of when their child was little, and we were working on teaching him to sit at the table for longer periods of time. I thought that this would be a great picture to share “A picture is worth a thousand words”.
Parents, teachers, and therapists may face the challenge of having children work at a table, and instead display challenging behaviors like inattention, wandering, or walking away from tasks. I have noticed that small changes have a great impact. By providing some form of subtle blockage and positioning your body, table, and chair in a strategic arrangement, you could control the environment by restricting movement and enhancing the completion of tasks at the table. Of course, these external variables will be gradually faded as soon as the children start showing intrinsic motivation to stay around and play at the table or complete simple activities at the table. It is key to teach the child to love to play or promote their motivation to complete tasks, to improve their likelihood to comply and learn new skills.
Applied Behavioral Analysis helps us to understand how behavior works, how behavior is affected by the environment, and how learning takes place. I invite you to learn more about the infinite benefits of ABA therapy.
