The Stories of EFL Users
Laya from Brooklyn, NY… brings us 3 new speakers… Laya Cohen, a BCBA and LBA from Brooklyn, NY sent us word about 3 new speakers: two six-year-olds and one 14-year-old.
Kimberly from South Carolina…brings us 19 new speakers !!!… Kimberly Snyder, a BCBA from Dorchester School District Two in Summerville, SC sent us word about 19 new speakers ranging in age from 4-12…with primary speaker response forms and back-up methods…
Outstanding, Kimberly… I understand there may be more new speakers ‘in the wings’… please keep us updated !!!
The Victory Academy in Sherwood, OR: Emily Beal Wilkinson and Kristina Montgomery…Bring us an online testimonial for EFL…https://vimeo.com/401524366/f3d9ffab59?fbclid=IwAR22UoJkcBs_A0kLmqwjyRjlB-IOr61zuEUnB7kNP3jau_E1ob0HB1AQRrM
Amy from Pennsylvania…bring us a new speaker… Amy Naccarelli from Pennsylvania sent us word about a 16-year-old with a first-time method of speaking — idiosyncratic signs… new speaker #37
A Story from Dr. Chiara Pezzana and the Staff of Centro per l’Autismo Enrico Micheli Novara… In Novara, Italy… Dr. Pezzana and the staff of this school serve young adults with autism. Many of these terrific young people are essentially non-verbal (few to no spoken words)…In the past six months, six (yes, six) of these individuals BETWEEN THE AGES OF 20 AND 30, have become speakers for the first time in their lives using idiosyncratic signs to make requests for highly preferred items and activities…in their honor, the number of ‘new speakers’ attributable to teachers using Essential for Living will be incremented from 20 to 26…Congratulations to these individuals — Andrea, Ilaria, Giorgio, Giacomo, Federico, and Maria Grazia, their families, and the school staff… The following video shows one of the young men, Federico, expressing a request for pasta, which is now the sixth Item or activity he can request without prompts…
VIDEO-2018-12-21-08-28-05Download
A Story… from Vickie Leahy and her EFL team from the Hedgewood School in Hillingdon (London), UK
Signers (imitation):Rice, kit Kat, ice cream, tickles, Starburst, skittle, cooking, pea etc
Signers (physical prompts): Read(me a book), song, biscuit, clap, etc
Picture wearers [HER WORDS !!!]
- (Pick me) up, push, cake, and socks from r8 etc
- Lid, Pringle and cake etc
- Biscuit, bag and skittle etc
- Bombay mix, cheese, chocolate, bubble wrap etc
- Song, orange, biscuit etc
- Song, biscuit, orange etc
Another note… from Vickie Leahy and her EFL team from the Hedgewood School in Hillingdon (London), UK: You may also need to update your speaker count. We have another 8 new speakers since my last update. Three signers and four picture wearers !!!!! We also have a speaker for whom we converted echolalic responses into spoken-word mands (requests).
September 2, 2020: A note from Jeremy Walker, Behavior Analyst… A 9 y/o girl with cerebral palsy and severe problem behavior just learned to ask for “cookie” by touching one palm with her other hand and “milk” by opening and closing her hand. A few people thought I was crazy when I said I planned on teaching her some signs.
December 23, 2020: The team at Upstate Cerbral Palsy in NY had begun teaching functional skills in the context of frequently-occurring events… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wr5hK5wWOb4