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Incidental Teaching Steps

Skill: Ellie needs to learn to Label Objects

A child's initiation might look like this:

Ellie says, "That stuff. That stuff." (This is Ellie's attempt to initiate communication with an adult about something she is interested in.)

An adult may engage or suggest that the child elaborate in a way that might look like this:

Her teacher makes a request for elaboration by saying, "What do you need Ellie?"

A child response after waiting might look like this:

Ellie responds by pointing to the towel.

Adult support might look like this:

Her teacher provides full modeled help by saying, "Say, I need a towel please."
Ellie makes a correct response by saying, "Towel please."

A confirmation (natural consequence) might look like this:

To confirm Ellie's response, she gets the towel. This is a natural consequence: She got what she asked for.

NOTE: Sometimes all the steps of incidental teaching don't happen. For example, if your child responds correctly when you suggest something (encourage elaboration), there is no need to give help. In that case, you would confirm what your child did and immediately offer the natural consequence. Sometimes it is necessary to repeat the help step. For example, if you request elaboration and your child's response isn't complete, you would provide help, but if the next response still isn't complete, you might have to provide additional help.

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Time to Stop and Think

Can you identify and describe the five steps of incidental teaching?