R-C-R Assembly Line

The first type of RCR pattern we've done with Pooh is the assembly line pattern. That is basically a Me-You-Place pattern. For example, i can set up an activity like putting crayons in a box and i would pick up a crayon, hand it to Pooh, and he would put it in the box. That's the pattern. Now, once I see that Pooh recognizes that pattern and sees his competent role, i start making JND's or Just Noticeable Differences. That means i would start changing the way that i hand Pooh the crayon to see if he can still notice the pattern and make the adjustments. I may put the crayon on my head, in a pocket, under my foot, etc. During this time, we try to remain as non-verbal as possible and use our faces to communicate. If he's drifted off mentally, i may clear my throat to catch his attention, open my eyes real big, look at him and then look at the crayon he's supposed to take, then look back at him. I'm letting him know with facial gazing what he needs to do. All of this is so that he can see that he can remain a competent part of the activity despite differences in the way we do things. He's looking to me to guide him in the activity. It's teaching him to trust me to only give him an activity or role that he can handle. Autistic children have a lot of anxiety about the world around then. That's why they want everything the same. They lack the awareness to judge what people are going to do, how they going to do it and the appropriate reactions. If you were constantly put in situations where you had no idea what to expect from one minute to the next, you'd be a little anxious too. You may have trouble trusting people. You may avoid people and activities that you expect would be too much for you, even if you don't KNOW that they are too much for you. Establishing Guided Participation is the answer to this lack of trust.

Pooh did great with the assembly line pattern. He took to his role and we had a lot of fun with it. Our consultant was impressed with all the activities i came up with for a first timer, so i thought i would put a compilation here. These are by no means all the ones we did, but this is part of a list I'm compiling for my consultant and myself so that i can refer to them later for ideas as necessary. Here goes.......

OOOOOOkkkkkkkkaaaaayyyyyyyy! I guess my kids deleted the document off my computer. So, tune in another time, when I've RETYPED them.

Sigh