Gina from The Autism Helper demonstrates reinforcement strategies for table time with autistic children. She uses visual supports like First-Then cards to pair work tasks with preferred activities, token systems with counting bears or pom-poms that kids dump as rewards, and scaffolded puzzles with just one or two pieces at a time to prevent overwhelm.
Hi everyone, this is Gina from The Autism Helper. I'm here today to give you a few tips on reinforcement once you get your student or child to the table for table time. So say they're there and they're able to sit for a minute or two and you want to try some other ways to reinforce, maybe besides an edible, or maybe something that you've picked up that's highly reinforcing is too difficult to transition the child out with for quick trials and tasks. Here are just a few things that I like to use First and foremost, you can always use a little schedule with the child's picture and name on it, and then a 1-2-3 box, or maybe just 1 and 2. Maybe just start with 1 box on there and just have their tasks and then a reinforcing activity following that task. So for this student, they do their shoebox work task, and then they love Bingo Dauber, so they get to have that first. Sometimes even if you're trying to get your student to the table first, maybe they start with something like Bingo Daubers, Shoebox, and then they have Bingo Daubers again. So you can always pair this in any way that is fit for your child. Another visual that you've probably seen is the First Then. So if you need to bring it— break it down even more for the student and start showing them that visual, first they have Shoebox and then the Bingo Daubers, you can also use one of these. And store your pieces, your extra pieces on the back. Another way I like to reinforce kids as they're going through tasks or trials is just taking a simple cup, and if you have counting bears, or I have these little animals, after they do a task, so say they match the apple picture to the apple, "Good job matching! Okay, next one." They match another one, "Good job!" And you're filling up the cup. You can do pom-poms if you want, as they're completing the activity, and then they get to dump them out into your hands, and then you can start over for your next trial. So that's another way you can reinforce. And I also wanted to take a little look at puzzles. Puzzles to us can be really, really fun and engaging, but to some kids, especially if they haven't started with puzzles, it can be very challenging. So this is a, like, a mid puzzle, which I wouldn't start with a kid until they're maybe have done 3 large pieces. But if you do start with something like this, I like to have it on the table in front of the child and only pull out maybe like 1 or 2 pieces and have them sit on the board so that the child only has to just kind of slide them in easily and match. Okay? And then by then you could also be reinforcing using your bears or animals or pom-poms. So just take out maybe a few at a time if this is too overwhelming of a puzzle. And I like to start with the puzzle pieces down at the bottom that's closest to them, and then you can work your way up to the top. Lots of different activities. This one's identical matching, which I love. They have the little prongs to help with fine motor. And then you can bring it up to your face. Dog, dog, dog. And then they can put it in dog or woof, woof, woof. You can do the sounds. So those are just a few quick ideas for pairing at the table and reinforcing and doing fun activities at your table time.
