Earning Instructional Control

"There's a world of difference between insisting on someone's doing something and establishing an atmosphere in which that person can grow into wanting to do it" - Fred Rogers

Really enjoyed delivering a presentation to a group of teacher aides yesterday about the ' 7 Steps to Earning Instructional Control' strategies. Created by Robert Schraam and Dr Megan Miller, instructional control is simply the establishment of a positive working relationship. Developing fun and trusting relationships with students is essential to positive learning. This particularly applies to the tricky ones! Here's some tips -

• Show the child that you are fun and you can be trusted so they want to follow your instructions and earn sharing experiences with you.

• Initially, always reinforce after each positive response, then thin reinforcement as the relationship strengthens with the child.

• Access to reinforcement is only contingent on the instruction being fulfilled.

• Keep track of favourite items and activities and share this information with others who work with the child.

• Accept that the formation of a positive working relationship may take time.

• Forcing the child to come back and work just increases the motivation to escape.

• Always keep in mind - the goal is to develop positive learning behaviours!

#Education #ABA #School #Teaching #Positivelearning