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Following one step directions


Following 1-Step Instructions - How to ABA

 

 

You love working on arts & crafts projects and are currently working on a card for the holidays, “Pass me the scissors!” you state to your partner sitting across the table from you.

A furnace needs some cleaning and maintenance before the season changes – “Can you give me the screwdriver?” the HVAC technician asks his apprentice.

Following 1-step instructions is a big part of our daily functioning and is more prevalent than we initially realize. We can see how this simple and basic skill can be applicable for work and academic tasks, as well as in social situations. Following a 1-step instruction paves the way for following more complex requests with additional steps.

The teacher calls out to the class, “Get your history and geography notebooks, then sit at your desk.”.

Your boss gives you a new project that involves multiple steps before completion.

A friend has a surprise birthday party coming up, and you need to follow the host’s directions on where to park and how to enter through the back of the house to not ruin the surprise.

If we want our learners to be able to engage in similar activities, we need to teach them to follow 1-step instructions.

Why Are Instructions Important?

As you can tell from the examples above, following instructions is part of our everyday activities. If we want our learners to excel in the classroom, the workforce, as well as socially, then we need to start with simple 1-step instructions.

Our goal is that the learner will comply with the instruction on the first request, without engaging in stereotypy.

How Can We Accomplish This?

Start with skills already in the learner’s repertoire to ensure compliance and to gain instructional control. Once you have gained their attention, present your instruction (the S D), and provide reinforcement for appropriate attending behaviour.

Example:
SD: “clap your hands”
Learner claps hands

What If…?

What if the learner errs or engages in stereotypy? Bring the learner back to the spot where you initially gave the instruction and re-present the SD. Here you will need to physically prompt the learner to complete the 1-step instruction.

Example:
SD: “clap your hands”
Learner taps on the table
You may need to re-gain the learner’s attention before presenting the SD again
Re-present the SD: “clap your hands”
Use a full-physical prompt to clap the learners’ hands

What Next?

Now that you have a basic understanding of the importance of teaching 1-step instructions, and what to expect when teaching this skill – what requests should you give to your learner?

Below is a breakdown of the 6 types of instructions to present to your learner.


1-Step Simple Instructions – Cued
This first set of target responses are cued instructions. This means that there is a cue in the environment which will help direct the learner on how to successfully complete the task.

Example:
SD: “high five”
Instructor holds up their own hand

1-Step Simple Instructions – Not Cued
The second set of simple instructions is not cued. These do not include cues in the environment for how to successfully complete them.

Example:
SD: “clap your hands”

1-Step Instruction Involving Distance
These instructions differ from the previous two steps, as it involves the learner travelling a short distance to complete the task.

Example:
SD: “Put this in the garbage”

1-Step Instruction to “Go Get” an Item
This step requires the learner to have the pre-requisite skill of learned receptive labels (check out our blog post on Discrimination Training). Here the student will need to combine the learned skills of following 1-step instructions involving distance and discrimination training (being able to identify the item requested).

Example:
SD: “Go get the water bottle”

1-Step Instruction – Increased Distance
The goal of this step is to expand on their previously mastered skills. To ensure that learners can apply these skills in multiple contexts, we want to increase the distance between the learner and instructor to mimic a classroom setting.

2-Step Instructions
Now that our learner can follow learned and novel 1-step instructions in different contexts (e.g., sitting, standing, while moving, etc.), we want to teach them to follow any combination of instructions.

Example:
“Clap your hands, and wave”, should not always be presented together.

When it comes to providing 2-step instructions, you can choose from any previously learned 1-step instruction. The main thing to remember when teaching this step is to not always pair the same two combinations together. The more variety in the instruction, the better for your learner!

Following Directions For Toddlers - Speech Therapy Tips — Toddler Talk

Now that your child is following 1-step directions with your help, we’re going to work on helping them complete directions unrelated to what they're already doing. Completing these directions requires your child to shift their focus, which will be more difficult than completing directions related to their current activity.

Practicing at this level will give you greater insight into what words your child actually understands, and it will help the child work toward following more novel directions independent of your help.

Tips for your at home speech therapy practice: Direction following

Tip 1 - The right directions at the right times

For the purposes of this lesson, you should give directions that are unrelated to whatever activity your child is already engaged in. For example, if your child is playing with blocks, you can tell them “Go put on your jacket.”

It’s important to wait and see how your child responds BEFORE providing them with any context clues that it may be time to leave the house, like putting on your own jacket or grabbing your keys. This will ensure that your child is responding to your words, NOT a memorized routine.

And remember, a one-step direction should always:

  • contain a specific verb (or action word) and a specific item or object,

  • relate to something outside of an everyday routine,

  • and serve a specific purpose. It helps if your child knows they are following your direction for a reason. 

Tip 2 - Reduce the amount of help you provide over time

Now, I’ll provide you with step-by-step instructions to incrementally reduce the amount of help your child needs to complete unrelated one-step directions:

Attempt 1: In your first attempt, ask your child to follow a direction, and do not offer any help. For example, tell your child, “Bring me your cup.” Do not point to the item, indicate where it is, or suggest in any other non-verbal way what you want your child to do — don’t even look toward their cup. If at any point your child successfully completes your direction, you do not need to move on to the other attempts. Instead, move on to practicing a new direction.

Attempt 2: If your child does not complete the direction, now say “Bring me your cup” while pointing to where their cup is.

Attempt 3: Tell your child the direction again, this time pointing directly to their cup and gesturing with your hands for them to bring it to you.

Attempt 4: Finally, ask your child to complete the direction one more time. As you say “Bring me your cup,” give them the cup and help them hand it back to you. At this level, you are doing the task together.

Remember, repetition helps your child learn faster. This requires a lot of patience in the beginning stages, but it will soon pay off! 

Tip 3 - When following novel directions, repeat vocabulary to learn

One simple reason your child might not follow an instruction is that they don’t yet know the meaning of all the words you used.

This often happens when you practice following novel directions, or directions you haven’t asked your toddler to do before. You might be practicing with directions with action words or names your child hasn’t learned yet. These situations are great opportunities to help your child learn new words.

If you find that your child doesn’t know what the word “pear” means, for example, incorporate a pear into one of your daily activities. Give your child the choice of a pear or an apple at snack time every day that week, or have their toys pretend to eat a pear during playtime. It is best to practice with one or two new words at a time.

You’ll know your child understands a new word when they can successfully complete directions containing the word several days in a row, without any help.

Download our at home activity guide for 3 activities to help your toddler learn to follow new 1 step directions ↓

Following Novel Directions At Home Activity: Toy combinations 
Materials:

Pick 2-3 toys activities that don't typically go together in your house.  

ideas include: 

  • dollhouse + firefighters + flowers 

  • play food + dinosaurs + magnatiles 

  • animals + cleaning accessories (mop, broom, washcloth etc) + cardboard box 

Set-up:

Pick 2-3 toy activities that don’t typically go together in your house. This provides opportunities for new directions to follow, that are not the typical ones with that specific toy. Some examples are above. Choose your items and have them all available in the play space.

What to do:

Give your child a direction that combines these toys in a new play action such as “sweep the roof” or “feed the dinosaur some pizza”. These directions will depend on what play items you have provided. Your child may only want to play with one play item at first, in his more typical way, and that’s ok. Give the direction and offer support, then model these new play combination ideas to help your child be flexible in their play actions.  

If your child is still reticent to play in seemingly strange ways, offer a direction that more closely resembles how they typically play with the item such as “sweep the dinosaur’s floor’ (instead of just “Sweep the floor” that might be more expected, but not as strange as “sweep the roof”)

What to say:

Examples of unique or novel 1-step directions for the toy ideas above might include: 

  • build a big flower on the roof

  • squirt that flower down

  • help the firefighter go potty 

  • hide the baby under the flowerpot 

  • dinosaur wants to drink hot coffee

  • build dino a big big house 

  • put dinosaur’s lunch in the box 

  • sweep the bear’s roof

  • wash the big windows 

  • hide the broom under the house 

Download PDF activity guide for this activity + 2 More ↓
© 2020-2022. Stephanie Keffer, MS CCC-SLP. All Rights Reserved.

 

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Answers to your top questions about speech and hearing

May marks the start of Speech and Hearing Month, a time to celebrate the power of communication! Our amazing speech therapists, audiologists and communication disorder assistants have teamed up to answer some frequently asked questions from caregivers and people with developmental disabilities. Keep reading to learn about developing literacy skills, complementary and alternative communication, and hearing health!

Frequently Asked Questions: Can people with developmental disabilities learn to read and write? Is this something we can improve on?

Answer: Yes! People with disabilities may need special training or extra time to develop literacy skills. Not everyone will progress at the same rate or progress that far, but even basic literacy skills can be life-changing. The ability to follow simple written directions, fill out personal information on forms, read labels, or send text messages are essential life skills. Literacy skills are essential for independent living, employment and social connections.

Frequently Asked Questions: Should I speak more than one language with my child or use only English?

Answer: We recommend that you speak in the language you are most comfortable with so that your child will hear the best example of the language. Rest assured, speaking more than one language will not result in a language delay. it will allow your child to interact with their extended family and community! If your child has a developmental delay or mental retardation, they can still learn more than one language. It is perfectly normal for all children learning multiple languages ​​to change languages ​​frequently and have one stronger language. When using more than one language at home, try to keep them consistent. You can ask a parent to speak the same language to help your child distinguish between two (or more!) languages.

Frequently Asked Questions: What is AAC and will it prevent a person from using speech?

Answer: AAC stands for Augmentative and Alternative Communication and includes signs, graphic symbols, speech generation devices and written text and is commonly used by clinicians to provide clients of all ages with speech and language delays. The use of AAC will not interfere with the use or development of verbal speech. In fact, we know from many studies that when AAC is administered, an AAC user either has an increase in speech production or no change, and none of the studies have shown a decrease in speech. Although the degree of improvement in speech varies from person to person, in general, using AAC promotes communication!

Frequently Asked Questions: I understand everything the person I care about wants. We communicate in our own way. He points to things or goes to get what he wants on his own. Why should I use AAC?

Reply: Pointing or showing objects is a great way to get your message across. We all use multiple ways to communicate every day. For example, we can smile at a friend, nod our head to say yes, say hello, or send a message. Pointing to objects or showing them can be part of a general communicative approach that supports all the methods that a person can use to express themselves and understand others (gestures, speech, gestures, images, etc.). However, if this is the only way someone communicates, this can be a limitation. This means that you can only communicate about things that are physically present in your immediate environment.

Using AAC is one way to expand communication beyond the here and now. It gives you the opportunity to talk about your feelings, school activities, tell a joke, ask someone for directions, and more! AAC also gives you the opportunity to talk about action words (e.g. go, dance), describing words (e.g. happy, blue) or places (e.g. school, park) that are almost impossible to express with objects. If your child finds it difficult to be understood outside of the home, using AAC can be a tool to help them better understand and connect with others.

Frequently Asked Questions: The person I care for has a history of frequent ear infections. Could this affect her/his speech or language development?

Reply : Speech and language may be affected. Although there is no direct causal relationship between chronic ear infections and speech or language delay, it is generally believed that people with this history are at greater risk of developing communication disorders. It would be helpful to have an audiological examination to determine if there is a hearing impairment and monitor it closely.

Frequently Asked Questions: How often should I have my hearing checked?

Answer : It depends on many factors. Everyone should have a hearing screening at birth through the Infant Hearing Program, as early detection of hearing loss is key to successful intervention. Hearing is often tested in diagnosing problems related to tinnitus (ringing in the ears) and problems with balance. It is also commonly tested in the initial diagnosis of autism and certain syndromes associated with an increased risk of hearing loss, such as Down syndrome, Fragile X syndrome, and Treacher-Collins syndrome. If you have a confirmed hearing loss, we recommend having your hearing checked at least every two years for monitoring purposes. People with recent changes in social behavior, such as increased social isolation or less response to auditory stimuli, should also have their hearing tested.

Frequently Asked Questions: What happens during a hearing test?

Answer: There are various approaches based on individual level of functioning and chronological age, but in general the audiologist records the quietest level that a person can hear over the entire frequency range. To do this, they are asked to either press a button when they hear a sound, play a game when they hear a sound, or teach them to turn their head in response to a sound. There are also physiological tests that an audiologist can perform with the client to ensure the results are accurate.

Frequently Asked Questions: How much do hearing aids cost?

Answer: Hearing aids are often paid in full by Surrey Place customers. One source of funding is the Assistive Device Program (ADP), which covers $500 for each hearing aid. For clients on the Ontario Disability Assistance Program, the remaining number of hearing aids is covered. Child clients may also be eligible for funding through the Assistance Program for Children with Severe Disabilities (ACSD).

To find out if our services are right for you or your child, please contact us at 1-833-575-5437 for children under 18 or 1-855-372-3858 for adults 18 and over.

Why do some children have difficulty doing tasks?

We bring to your attention one of the successful strategies on how to teach a child (and not only) to follow instructions:


I am a mother of two daughters. My youngest, Anyuta, was restless and had attention problems, which prevented her from completing my tasks. When she was about 7 years old, she often refused to do what I asked.

At school Anya was nice, accommodating and helpful. But at home, my seven-year-old became stubborn and cocky when asked to do simple housework. Requests to put away their toys and brush their teeth were ignored or carried out with conditions or tears.

My husband and I tried everything we could think of:

Logic: “Anna, if you don’t put your Lego away, you might lose the pieces and then you won’t be able to continue playing. ”

Negotiation: “Okay, you can watch TV for another 10 minutes and then you can leave.”

Threats: “I'm counting to five, if you don't get away, I'll take your Lego. Five... four... three...”

Typical result: an epic hour-long fight with tears and screams.

What I regret - that I didn't know before: I need to give simple commands

My husband and I described the vicious circle we found ourselves in to a psychologist. The doctor explained that we had to give simple commands - one-step or two-step. An assignment with more than two steps—for example, “Go to the nursery, put away toys, brush your teeth, and pick up clothes from the floor”—may be too difficult for a child to remember and follow.

We also had to stop negotiating, begging and threatening.

The psychologist gave us a specific set of instructions, which were: Look your child straight in the eye, calmly say her name, pause, give the two-step task, and end with "now.

Learn more