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Autism Spectrum Disorders
MODULE: DISCRETE TRIAL TRAINING (DTT)
STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS
Step 1. Deciding What to Teach: Assessment and Summarizing Results
- Team members decide which of the learner’s IFSP or IEP objectives will be taught using a DTT approach.
Some learning objectives are better taught using DTT than others. Objectives that involve fine and gross motor skills, recreation, self care, cognitive, and academic skills are very often appropriate for DTT. DTT is only used when a learner is not making adequate progress in other more naturalistic teaching formats.
- Team members discuss the planned use of DTT for the particular learning objective with other team members, especially parents/family members.
Team members who either have expertise in areas related to the objective or who will be teaching the skill should be consulted. This discussion could occur during the IEP/IFSP planning or progress review meeting.
- Team members examine the target IEP/IFSP objective and refine if needed.
Since the DTT format relies on discrete behaviors which have a clear beginning, middle, and end; the learning objective needs to clearly state the desired antecedent, behavior, and criterion for mastery. For example, a language objective for a learner with ASD is to give two objects to an adult. To address this objective using DTT, team members would need to refine it so that the antecedent, behavior, and criterion for mastery are identified in the following ways.
Antecedent : Adult says to the learner, “Give me two _____.” Behavior : Learner gives two objects to the adult. Criterion : Learner gives two objects to the adult during 80% of the trials.
This refined objective would then read:
When an adult asks Michael, to “give two” objects (antecedent phrase), Michael will pick up the two objects and hand them to the adult (behavior phrase) in 80% of opportunities across three consecutive days (criterion).
Step 2. Breaking the Skill Down into Teachable Steps
- Team members complete a task analysis of the skill, identify each step of the skill, and list steps in sequential order from entry to mastery level.
Autism Spectrum Disorders
MODULE: DISCRETE TRIAL TRAINING (DTT)
The cornerstone of DTT is the break down of skills into small teachable steps (Cohen, Amerine-Dickens, & Smith, 2006; Eikeseth, Smith, Jahr, & Eldevik, 2002). To complete a task analysis or lesson progression, each step of the skill is broken down and listed in sequential order. For example, the steps in a lesson objective involving naming pictures in a book might look like this:
Target objective for a 5 year old: When looking at a book with an adult, Steffie will answer the adult’s question “What’s that?”, accompanied by a point to a picture, by naming 10 or more different pictures of animals and vehicles in five different unfamiliar books, during 90% of opportunities across three consecutive teaching sessions.
Mastery for each step is set at 90% correct independent responses during three consecutive teaching periods.
- After completing a task analysis for each skill, team members list the steps clearly in a lesson progression so any team member can complete the trials if necessary.
Lesson Progression:
- Name 2-3 animal pictures with partial verbal prompt
- Name 2-3 animal pictures independently
- Expressively identify 2-3 animal pictures in one familiar book
- Expressively identify 4-5 animal pictures on cards
- Name 4-5 animal pictures in five different books
- Name 2-3 vehicle pictures with partial verbal prompt
- Name 2-3 vehicle pictures independently
- Name 2-3 vehicle pictures in one familiar book
- Name 4-5 vehicle pictures on cards
- Name 4-5 vehicle pictures in five different books
For more information on how to complete a task analysis, please refer to the Evidence- Based Practice Brief: Task Analysis (National Professional Development Center on ASD, 2009).
When listing the steps, the directions from the instructing team member (the antecedent , which is the Sd), the range of responses that are or are not acceptable, the prompting or assistance from the adult in the form of a physical, gestural, or verbal that may be required, and the consequence that the instructing team member must present to reinforce the desired behavior or to discourage an undesired behavior should be included.
Reviewing other evaluations/assessments may be useful to provide information about current levels of proficiency and where your teaching steps might start. Evaluations that could be referenced include:
Autism Spectrum Disorders
MODULE: DISCRETE TRIAL TRAINING (DTT)
places to record the dates when trials are introduced and mastered Graphing sheets Data sheets which are both trial-by-trial and graphing in one (i.e., self graphing) Other necessary data sheets (toileting, food intake, etc.) Summary sheet for each session
Step 4. Designating Location(s)
- Team members generate a list of possible locations in which the teaching can take place.
Selecting an appropriate location or locations for teaching is a very important part of planning DTT instruction. When the team meets either during the IEP/IFSP meeting or separately, it might be helpful to generate a list of possible locations where the teaching can take place. Each location should be carefully examined to determine the advantages and disadvantages of that location. Considerations might include:
a quiet place without too many distractions, sufficient space for instruction and for breaks, easy access to peers for generalization, and adequate lighting and seating (seat and table that fits the learner’s body, with feet and back supported by the chair and hips, knees, ankles, and elbows at 90 degrees).
- Team members select location(s) for DTT.
Often, two or more locations are better than one, because multiple locations can be helpful when working toward generalization.
Step 5. Gathering Materials
- Team members assemble materials to be used during the teaching.
Having the correct materials will make your program easier and more efficient to run. Below is a list of materials that will be helpful in setting up your program:
notebooks/ binders for data collection and team communication preference list or menu based on preference assessment variety of tangible reinforcers (edible and non-edible) pictures or icons of preferred social activities (reinforcers) instructional materials (letters, shapes, colors)
Autism Spectrum Disorders
MODULE: DISCRETE TRIAL TRAINING (DTT)
object related materials (blocks, toys, real life materials) pens, pencils, markers bins for storage which can be clearly labeled
Step 6. Delivering the Trials
- Team members assist the learner to transition to the teaching location.
When it is time to start teaching, learners must transition to the teaching area. To help transition learners, it is sometimes helpful to give them a warning (i.e., “five more minutes of play time”) or other cues that are meaningful and motivating. When thinking about different ways to cue transitions, remember the goal of generalization. The more natural and commonly occurring the cue is (i.e., an actual clock instead of a timer), the more likely it is that learners will generalize the ability to transition from one activity or setting to another, from one stimulus to another, and/or from one partner (e.g., adult or peer) to another.
- Team members obtain the learner’s attention and, together, select reinforcers.
After the learner is seated, team members should make certain that they have the learner’s attention. If necessary, the team members may need to show the learner an array of reinforcers to choose from. Reinforcers may include:
a desired toy or object, an action or movement that the student enjoys, a picture or icon of a pleasurable activity that can take place after the trial is completed (i.e., shooting hoops), food or drink (this should be used cautiously), a few seconds of video or music, and a token that can be exchanged for a tangible reinforcer.
- Team members provide the instruction or other Sd (antecedent) and wait for a response.
For example, the instruction for naming pictures is the question “What’s this?” This instruction serves as the antecedent to trigger the child’s behavioral response.
- If the learner responds appropriately (for example, by saying, “dog” after the team member points to a picture of the dog and says, “What’s this?”), team members deliver a reinforcing consequence or reinforcer and mark the trial as correct.
Autism Spectrum Disorders
MODULE: DISCRETE TRIAL TRAINING (DTT)
can be extended into additional steps. For example, with a writing task after successfully writing straight lines, it’s possible to shape the behavior into letter writing.
Massed trial teaching is often used to establish a fluent foundation of responding before targeting discrimination or generalization of the same skill. Consider mass trial teaching as heavy practice of a specific skill before using that skill in a more natural or target setting. As you read the following teaching sequence, remember that the team member is delivering a reinforcer after each correct trial performance by the child.
- Team members begin the teaching episode with a maintenance trial (demonstration of a skill already mastered) and record the result.
- Team members present the teaching step, if the learner passes the maintenance trial.
- If the learner responds correctly on the first trial of the current teaching step, team members repeat the teaching step several more times and record the results.
- Team members then present a task at the next level of difficulty if the learner has reached the mastery criterion for the step (e.g., 90% success for three consecutive teaching sessions).
- If the learner does not pass the trial step correctly, team members administer the trial again.
- If the learner is successful, team members repeat items 3 and 4 above until mastery is accomplished.
- If the learner is unsuccessful on this second trial, team members repeat the trial adding an increased level of assistance (for example a physical prompt) to assure that the learner performs the skill and is reinforced.
This is an example of least to most prompting. Assuming a baseline assessment has been done, this means prompting on the very first trial of a new step or skill and fading the amount of prompt support gradually after a couple of consecutive correct responses until the learner is independently responding. However, research indicates that most-to-least prompting is better than least-to-most for learning completely new skills. For more information on prompting please consult the NPDC Evidence Based Practice brief and module on Prompting (2009) for a more complete description of prompting procedures.
- Team members repeat the step with the prompts, 3-5 more times.
- If the learner is consistently successful, team members then repeat the trial without the prompt several more times.
- If the learner continues to fail the unprompted trials, team members will add the prompt again for several more successful trials before ending the teaching for the day.
Autism Spectrum Disorders
MODULE: DISCRETE TRIAL TRAINING (DTT)
- Team members review mastered steps (maintenance trials) once or twice during each session and teach new steps following the massed trials format until all steps of the skill have been mastered.
In DTT, it is extremely important that trials are reinforced. For more information about how to implement reinforcement with learners with ASD, please refer to the Evidence-Based Practice Brief: Reinforcement (National Professional Development Center on ASD, 2009). Failed trials lead to behavior problems. Thus, in the face of learner failures, the adult moves quickly to simplify the task by moving back to the level of prompting that the child needs to respond correctly and thus be reinforced. Once there, the adult slowly works back down the prompt hierarchy.
Once the step being targeted is at mastery criteria, that step will be carried out only once or twice a session, for maintenance, and the next step becomes the targeted step. This process of reviewing mastered, or maintenance skills, and teaching the new step using massed trials, continues until all steps are mastered. At that point, the objective is mastered.
Step 8. Conducting Discrimination Training
An important aspect of DTT consists of teaching a learner a new response to a stimulus. When teaching a new response, the learner must be taught to discriminate the stimulus from other similar stimuli. Teaching a learner the concept of “blue” involves teaching the learner to first discriminate the color blue from all others, and then to perform a specific behavior in response to the instruction. The steps for teaching the learner to discriminate a novel stimulus are as follows:
- Team members present the new stimulus to the learner without any other items to choose from, provide the instruction, prompt the target behavior, and reinforce.
- Team members systematically fade prompts until the learner independently and consistently performs the skill with the one stimulus object.
- Team members present the target stimulus as usual, but also present another stimulus, the distracter, in the periphery; give the instruction; elicit the behavior; and reinforce.
For example, if you are teaching the color blue and using a blue block, then a red block would be a good distracter. It should vary from the target only on the specific dimension you are teaching. Assuming the learner responds correctly, change the position of the distracter on each trial, moving it closer to the target, until the two are side by side. Once the learner is consistently responding correctly to the verbal cue, move the two stimuli around, reversing sides, placing them vertically, etc, until the
Autism Spectrum Disorders
MODULE: DISCRETE TRIAL TRAINING (DTT)
Step 9. Review and Modify
- Team members continuously review the learner’s progress and modify the program to reflect the progress the learner has made.
- Team members modify the program to reflect the progress the learner has made by changing steps (either to higher or lower levels) if needed.
- Team members should review mastered programs and continue to teach them as ‘maintenance’ trials.
- Maintenance trials are specifically targeted for generalization. Generalization may mean:
a. practicing the trials in other settings, b. with different adults, c. with different reinforcers, and/or d. with different instructions/stimuli.
- Team members meet regularly to report on the learner’s progress and identify potential changes to the learner’s program.
NEXT STEPS
Once the learner has made progress and mastered a set of skills with discrete trial teaching, the educational team may choose to meet and report on the learner’s progress. At this point it is important to identify additional skills that may benefit from discrete trial training.
It is important to promote generalization of skills mastered with DTT. Once the skills are maintained and utilized the learner should generalize these skills to other settings. Utilizing the skills in natural environments is the ultimate goal of DTT. So, it will be important to note examples of generalization to other settings. For example, it may be important to gather information from the learner’s family regarding the generalization of the skill in the home environment.
