Pieced-together presents: Chore Therapy! What is it? What does Chore Therapy mean? It’s a term I have coined and it means when you are doing the everyday things in your life, involve your children! In working with children on the Autism Spectrum it is important that you help them to generalize the skill in many settings. For us that means to take the everyday work and teach them how to do it. Teach them directly how to do the skills so that they will gain independence. I mean afterall, you are going to be washing, cleaning, making dinner anyway, so take that time to work with the your child and teach them. I involve many children at the same time to help with peer modeling and reinforcement as well.
In working with Rosie for this video I am working on the following skills: following directions, peer modeling, and language skills. (You will also see prompts and reinforcement happening to make sure she follows through with the task). I have 2 other children helping in the chore and doing peer modeling for Rosie. I prompt her to look at what they are doing and reinforce with my prompt. She is also following directions: I give her a direction to do show a model and then she follows through. In building the language I am signing the same signs over and over for her to encourage vocabulary but also for her to then expressively sign them to me. She is more hesitant to express the words, but as more practice and more exposure happens she will begin to express more and more.
As you watch the video, look at the different prompts that I use to guide her through the work. Look at the peer modeling from her brother and sister. See how Rosie takes the direction and follows through with the work. I can’t wait to hear from you! Please share with friends so that I can help many others who are working with children on the Spectrum! Happy Watching!