RPM

The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinions of the author and do not represent the
opin-
ions or thoughts of the publisher. The author has represented and warranted full ownership and/or legal right to
publish all the materials in this book.
Developing Expressive Language in Verbal Students With Autism Using Rapid Prompting Method
All Rights Reserved.
Copyright © 2016 Soma Mukhopadhyay
v2.0
Cover Photo © 2016 thinkstockphotos.com. All rights reserved - used with permission.
This book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in whole or in part by any means, including graphic,
electronic, or mechanical without the express written consent of the publisher except in the case of brief quota-
tions embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Outskirts Press, Inc.

http://www.outskirtspress.com
ISBN: 978-1-4787-7119-7
Outskirts Press and the “OP” logo are trademarks belonging to Outskirts Press, Inc.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Learning styles – how this applies to verbal

autistic students.................................................. 1
Sensory learning channels.........................................................2
What do we mean by generalized learning channels?..............4
What happens when learning channels are not generalized? .... 7
Stim......................................................................................... 12
Chapter 2 Types of speech that Verbal Autistic Students

display............................................................... 14
Different types of speech seen in verbal students..................15
1. Speech as a verbal stim.......................................................15
2. Speech as an obsession ......................................................20
3. Speech due to echolalia.......................................................28
4. Speech limited to rote information ....................................30
5. Social speech, but are struggling to learn beyond a
certain stage ....................................................................... 33
Chapter 3 Unlearning the Irrelevant Speech habit - using

Choices and Spelling.......................................... 37
Chapter 4 Understanding Why there may be Differences in
Motor Skills and how to address them............... 56
Reasons why verbal as well as non-verbal autistic people have
different motor skills...............................................................56
Chapter 5 Introductory session with a verbal autistic

student ................................................................ 71
Chapter 6 Why do verbal students get stuck in ‘scripts’?...... 111
Chapter 7 Exercise 1
Modifying language by Growing words
around one word ............................................ 116
Examples of using familiar ‘nouns’ as the lesson topics........116
Examples of using familiar ‘verbs’ as the lesson topics.........121
Examples of using familiar ‘adjectives’ as the lesson topics....123
Modifying language through Reasoning -
Cause and Effect Relationship ......................... 136
The teacher begins a sentence and shows the student
how to complete it using cause-effect..................................137
Developing discussion skills through a picture..... 162
Discussion helps a person to share ideas and be tolerant
toward other’s opinions: ......................................................162
Chapter 10 Merging Mathematics and Language ............... 189

Verbal students need help blending the mathematical
ability of calculations with word problems...........................189
How to teach the relationship between language
and numbers......................................................................... 190
Foreword
I am calling this book - “DEVELOPING EXPRESSIVE LANGUAGE

IN VERBAL STUDENTS WITH AUTISM USING RAPID PROMPTING
METHOD.”
This book is different from my previous books:
Understanding Autism through Rapid Prompting Method

Curriculum Guide for Autism using Rapid Prompting Method
Developing Communication for Autism using Rapid Prompting Method
Developing Motor Skills for Autism using Rapid Prompting Method
Harnessing Stims and Behaviors in Autism using Rapid Prompting
Method
This book was written for a group of students with autism who have
speech--enough to state requests or recite dialogue but not enough
to discuss a topic.
Why did I write this book?
Verbal autistic students may have functional speech but it may be

difficult for them to extract the right words/language at the right
moment as required. Expressive language may lie dormant and the
student may need a way to bring these thoughts to the surface.
Spelling a word may be an easier approach for these students than
saying a word or thought aloud. Also, many verbal students may
experience a roadblock toward intentional communication beyond
the previously learned functional or social speech. If the speech is
rote / habit /stim, people may be deceived by their speech and be-
lieve that the student cannot think beyond those uttered words.
This book will describe the ways I have found to successfully work
with verbal and semi-verbal students with autism who may have
functional speech but are struggling with educational progress. I
have included exercises--chapters to map a communication formula.
I am in no way interfering with the already existing speech produc-

tion of the student or the other therapies. This book aims to sup-
ply tools to add on to the existing abilities. If I had no involvement
with students who have some speech I wouldn’t have written this
book. Only after successfully implementing the tools of RPM (Rapid
Prompting Method) do I have the confidence to write about it.
This book wouldn’t have been possible without feedback from Sue
Finnes and Stacey Lewis.
Sue Finnes has supported RPM, helping it grow and gather momen-
tum through the parent support group ‘Unlocking Voices - Using
RPM’. Her suggestions helped me organize the chapters. Stacey
Lewis has coordinated HALO activities since 2008 and has helped
me organize my books since 2009.
My sincere thanks to my students who were patient with me while I

learned how to grow my own skills and better my teaching.
And to my son, Tito Rajarshi Mukhopadhyay, without whom I can-

not imagine any word called RPM.
Soma Mukhopadhyay
Chapter 1
Learning styles – how this applies
to verbal autistic students
There are individual differences within the autism spectrum. Every

autistic person has his strengths, weaknesses and differences in
learning styles based on individual learning channels - Visual,
Auditory, Tactile and Kinesthetic.
There are verbal children and adults on the autism spectrum as

well as non-verbal children and adults (with autism), both of whom
may need help with education and communication.
RPM can address both these needs.
Most of the time the focus of helping with communication and edu-
cation is centered around the non-verbal autistic students. The lack
of verbal speech is understood by professionals and parents as lack
of language.
Verbal students on the other hand get less help because many of
them can selectively verbalize their wants and needs, likes and dis-
likes and manage as best they can. The speech produced by verbal
1
students (even if it is rote or limited to asking for wants and needs)

is taken for granted as meaningful speech beyond which the per-
son may or may not get a chance to progress. As a result many
verbal students continue to grow up stating the same requests,
memorized scripts, words, pieces of information learned long ago
(or use some social speech) because they are not given a different
way to grow further.
If verbal students have generalized vision and generalized kines-

thetic learning channels (I will discuss them later in this chapter),
they can adapt some social gestures and social speech. Some of
them may get a chance to be integrated into a regular-ed classroom
until they reach high school. Beyond this they do not proceed be-
cause no one knows how to teach them further.
Sensory learning channels

RPM is a teaching method tailored to each student’s open learning
channels. I have discussed these in detail in my previous books but
will give an overview again here - particularly focusing on how they
impact autistic verbal students.
The four learning channels are:-
Auditory
Visual
Tactile
Kinesthetic
These sensory LEARNING CHANNELS work differently in autistic

people compared to typical people.
2
Learning styles – how this applies to verbal autistic students
Typical people respond to EXTERNAL and INTERNAL environments

based on the needs and priorities of a situation. They have enough
sensory control to choose the relevant components of the envi-
ronment and react to them as needed, discarding the irrelevant
components.
Autistic individuals may be overwhelmed in many situations, espe-

cially those environmental situations that are new. They may not
be able to select the required sensory components of the EXTERNAL
environment in that NEW SITUATION. Then there are the compo-
nents from his INTERNAL environment that can compete with those
of the external environment.
External components of the environment include - environmental

sights, sounds, movements, smells, touch like temperature of the
room, texture of the chair, proximity of others’ presence which can
be detected through our sense organs.
Internal components include - thoughts, plans, ideas, anxiety, ob-

sessions, pain and memory.
All the components of the external as well as internal environments

COMPETE WITH EQUAL INTENSITY.
It is easy for typical people to discard or IGNORE the unwanted

components and to ATTEND TO COMPONENTS that are needed.
The reason they can do this is because they have generalized learn-
ing channels.
3
What do we mean by generalized learning channels?

Generalized Vision:
This is when the student can ignore unwanted visual components

of the environment and focus his visual attention only on what is
needed.
The student does not struggle with distance or depth perception.

He can look at a distant object if needed or a diagram or a word that
the teacher is showing without a visual struggle or defensiveness.
It is when he can focus on a page of the book and track the words
with his eyes without getting visually overwhelmed.
It is when he can walk to or around the objects when necessary

and find the required object instead of being visually distracted by
selective objects.
It is when he can watch any program on the television or a movie

rather than a specially selected program or movie.
Generalized Auditory:
This is when the student can ignore the unwanted external noise
generated from the outside environment, like a radio sound or peo-
ple talking around him.
It is when he can ignore internal sounds generated from his in-

ner environment like a memory, an obsession, some emotional
thoughts that he is thinking about (thoughts manifest as language
and language is always an auditory stimulus).
4
It is when he can pay attention to the teacher’s voice and respond

in an adequate way instead of hyper-focusing on selective words
which are mechanically verbalized through his voice.
Note: The auditory learning channel is a very hidden learn-

ing channel. Unlike the vision, which can be tracked, the
auditory learning channel cannot be detected. The teacher
has to see how the student is responding. Based upon the
student’s response the teacher can detect whether he is be-
ing interrupted by other thoughts.
Generalized Tactile:
When a student can ignore the tactile discomfort of the tempera-

ture of the room - whether he is feeling hot/cold
It is when he can sit at a place/chair and work regardless of how

uncomfortable a chair feels
It is when he can hold a pencil to perform - write, spell etc. without

any tactile discomfort in holding it and when he does not have the
urge to fight or struggle with the tactile challenges in the learning
environment.
Generalized Kinesthetic:
This is when he can use a good posture without needing to rock or

have the urge to move beyond what is necessary and stay present
in the situation instead of walking away or escaping.
5
It is when he can handwrite or spell relevant words that are mean-

ingful and in the correct context as purposeful motor movements
which are not impulsive and random.
It is when he has the right motor skills to display appropriate social

gestures when needed.
For example:
If a typical person (who has GENERALIZED AUDITORY, VISUAL,

TACTILE and KINESTHETIC learning channels) wants to hear a mes-
sage from a phone and has to write down a certain phone number,
he can -
a) ignore the unrelated auditory components: He can ignore the

sounds of people talking, refrigerator humming, street sounds outside,
children’s commotion, his own competing thoughts, plans, ideas or
memories that are appearing in his mind as words and language…….
and yet concentrate on the phone message that required attention;
b) ignore the unrelated visual components: He can ignore the ap-

pearance of the furniture, the television program (in case it is show-
ing something interesting), pictures on the walls, patterns on the
floor, social images like people-watching and the social looks if he
has company……… and yet find a paper and pen to write down a
number that was in the message that needed his attention;
c) ignore the unrelated tactile components: He can have the tactile

adjustment and not be hyper focusing on how hot or cold the en-
vironment is, how comfortable a chair is ………… and yet select the
6
right objects - that is, a pen and piece of paper out of probably a
number of objects and take down the number;
d) ignore the unrelated kinesthetic components: He can ignore the

movements happening on the television program, the movement
of a rotating fan, a car moving outside the window etc…….. and yet
execute the relevant movements to find a paper and pen and write
down a phone number from the message instead of writing his own
‘stim’ words (Writing is also a kinesthetic activity).
What happens when learning channels are not

generalized?
For autistic individuals, each learning channel can be either selec-
tive (hyper focusing on one selected aspect which may not be rel-
evant) or global (unable to focus on any detail).
Like non-verbal autistic students, verbal students can have one or more
selective open learning channels and/or one or more global learning
channels, along with one or more generalized open learning channels.
Selective Vision and Global vision:
When an individual visually seems:
• to ignore or
• cannot visually focus
on what seems to typical people, to be relevant components in the

environment - (like what the teacher is writing or teaching)
7
and if he keeps his visual focus locked on his iPod game/movie clip
or picture book instead, he has selective vision.
If he shows annoyance or distress when his visual stim gets inter-

rupted, his selective vision becomes an EXCITATORY STIMULATORY
ACTION.
Some verbal students may engage themselves in talking about

these selective visual topics (pairing up the auditory stimulation
with vision).
• If they are watching a movie, they may talk about a memo-

rized character’s dialogue to enhance the stimulation.
• If they have memorized information about maps they may
verbally engage by talking about places and capitals.
• If they show selective eye contact with a parent they may
make abrupt verbal requests and expect the person to an-
swer their request in a certain way.
Selective vision is different from global vision. With global vision

the student is unable to focus his visual attention on any particu-
lar object and his vision seems to wander away from location to
location.
Global vision is usually calming.
Selective Auditory and Global auditory:
A verbal child may verbalize
• the same dialogues generated from memory or
8
• talk only about the memorized information in the picture

book, or
• sing a song from one of his selective song list
irrespective of where he is looking.
If his selective auditory channel through his verbalization intensi-

fies it can become an EXCITATORY STIMULATORY ACTION.
If it becomes an excitatory ‘stim,’ the student may engage his

emotions toward the chatter and become distressed when inter-
rupted or asked to stop. Excitatory ‘stim’ INHIBITS the student’s
PERFORMANCE.
Sometimes there may be a sudden social request or statement that

may intensify with repetition over and over again – “I want ______”
or “ I love Mom” or “ Where is the mailman?”
(There is nothing wrong in social talk as long as it doesn’t become

excitatory and interrupt the learning/performance.)
Selective auditory is different from global auditory, which is where

the student keeps himself detached from the particulars of language
because his auditory focus is on the ‘sound’ component of the audi-
tory environment rather than the ‘words’–something that can hap-
pen to any one of us at a busy shopping center where we just cannot
focus on any words because we hear the collective ‘noise.’
The teacher can detect a global auditory person if he chooses

wrongly, or shows weariness and lethargy in performing (spelling,
handwriting etc.)
9
To have better student participation the teacher may change the

topic or switch to numbers (or mathematics to bring about an au-
ditory freshness). She may find the student paying attention once
again to the lesson.
Selective Tactile and Global tactile:
Verbal as well as non-verbal students have tactile preferences.
• where they want to sit?

• what they want to hold?
• whether they want to hold a pencil and work or hold some-
thing else?
• how far the table should be?
• should they feel better chewing something like a toy/chew-
ing gum?
• should they sit close to the table or feel secure working
from a couch?
• will the legs dangle or will they sit criss cross?
However if this selective preference gets over-focused, so it pre-

vents the student from working, it may interrupt the learning be-
cause it will become EXCITATORY in nature.
Many times verbal children will say they - “don’t want to sit on the
chair,” or they “don’t want to spell by touching at the letters,” or
they- “don’t like the teacher being too close.”
Selective tactile is different from global tactile. In global tactile the

student is not discreet about what he is touching. He does not care
whether he is wearing shoes or whether he has a sweater. GLOBAL
10
TACTILE may turn excitatory. If this turns excitatory, he will look at

any object, touch it, sometimes mouth it, discard it, then reach for
another object as if exploring the environment with touch. There
will not be any tactile preference if the student has global tactile.
Selective Kinesthetic and Global kinesthetic:
Different students have different kinesthetic skills. If a verbal stu-

dent wants to write or type the same words (previously learned)
over and over again and is emotionally scared to learn a new mo-
tor activity, he is selectively kinesthetic. A selectively kinesthetic
student will know how to open a candy wrapper but may not how
to tie his shoelaces. He may be able to draw a dinosaur but not a
house.
The student who has done an activity - like spelled the word ‘HORSE’
several times may acquire a MOTOR MEMORY over time. Even if he
means to spell the word HOUSE …….he may end up spelling the
word HORSE because of his motor memory (habit).
Students who can write and who have practiced writing the same
words over and over again acquire this selective kinesthetic skill
and cannot generalize their writing to other words.
Selective kinesthetic skills can become EXCITATORY in nature if he

is so hyper-focused on drawing the same pattern that he won’t do
anything else, like spelling an answer required in that situation.
Selective kinesthetic is different from global kinesthetic. A student

who is global kinesthetic will wander around moving anywhere. He
would not sit still and may feel the need to get up and walk around
11
more often than others. His walking or moving may or may not have
any particular direction. Most of the time he will be like a free mol-
ecule without much control of his movements. Global kinesthetic
students will have poor hand control to handwrite or spell a word.
Since his movements are random, the teacher may not expect
him to sit still. If his random movements become EXCITATORY the
teacher may have to put chairs and other hurdles around to slow
his random movements in order to work with him.
If he is verbal, he may accompany some words with the movement

like - “Let me be out of here,” or “I can’t sit down.”
Stim:
A ‘stim’ is different from a behavior. A ‘stim’ is a sensory

necessity which is determined by how overwhelmed a stu-
dent is.
There is a need for an autistic person to indulge in a self-

stimulatory activity or ‘stim’ as a defensive mechanism to
shield the senses from an overwhelming sensory load.
The sensory system of the person gets overwhelmed when the ex-
ternal and internal components in the environment compete with
each other to seek attention.
12
There are so many components making up the environment and

each one tries to compete with others to get attention. While typi-
cal people can readily discard the unnecessary components, autis-
tic people get overwhelmed by the choices. Hence as a defense
mechanism to minimize the stress they select a visual or auditory
or tactile or kinesthetic component to focus on. This defensive activ-
ity is called stim or self-stimulatory activity.
Excitatory and Calming stims:
However helpful a stim can be to the sensory system, if it gains

momentum as an EXCITATORY STIMULATION, it may create a hin-
drance to the student’s learning and performing. The EXCITATORY
stimulatory activity can take up so much emotional energy of the
student that it will be difficult for the student to focus on other
tasks offered during the rpm session - spelling, writing, saying aloud
the appropriate words...
The teacher usually tries to compete with it during the lesson.
CALMING STIM on the other hand helps the student to perform

better. The teacher can recognize the calming self-stimulatory ac-
tivity as a passive engagement and allow it during the RPM session.
The next chapter will address this more.
13
Chapter 2
Types of speech that Verbal Autistic
Students display
Verbal students may or may not have all their learning channels
generalized. Their speech may sound purposeful at times but may
be a sensory mechanism that has become an established motor
pathway rather than ‘reasoning’-based talk.
Words which are generated as speech would sound ‘selective.’ In

‘selective speech’ there will be selective choices of certain words or
phrases which will sound repetitive.
If a teacher gets a chance to work with such a student, the first task
of the teacher is to recognize what type of speech the student is
engaged in.
Autistic people who are verbal do not possess the same type
of speech. Hence we cannot just categorize VERBAL learn-
ers under the same class. In the same way that non-verbal
students with autism have their differences, verbal students
have their differences too.
14
Types of speech that Verbal Autistic Students display
Only after RECOGNIZING THE TYPE OF SPEECH the student has, can
the teacher proceed toward setting up the education and commu-
nication goals.
Different types of Speech seen in Verbal students:

1) Speech as a verbal stim
2) Speech as an obsession
3) Speech due to echolalia
4) Speech limited to rote information
5) Speech limited to social talking
1. Speech as a Verbal Stim -

When we see students using a particular word, phrase, clause or
sentences, or movie dialogues that are:
• unrelated to the existing situation

• creating a pattern through repetition
we can classify that as a verbal ‘stim’.
A Verbal Stim is different from a Vocal Stim:
In a vocal stim, the student utters just random sounds whereas a

verbal stim has repetition of actual words.
Both verbal and vocal stims are AUDITORY STIMS and one of the
open learning channels of the student is auditory.
15
How a verbal stim manifests:
A verbal stim manifests in different ways.
• Repeating a word or phrase - Some students tend to latch

on to certain word combinations like – “washer and dryer,”
“go and be there,” “Blues-clues,” “all done,” - these are just
some of them.
• Repeating a dialogue from a script running in his head -
This is common when students are so used to watching the
same video clip over and over again, that even if the clip
isn’t playing in front of them, they are mentally replaying
it to stimulate their minds. When they recite the dialogue
aloud repeatedly these become ‘auditory stims.’
A selective learning channel may lead to excitatory stims:
If there is a presence of any (one or more) SELECTIVE learning chan-

nel, it often becomes a doorway to EXCITATORY STIMS.
EXCITATORY STIMS can inhibit learning because the students put

their emotional energy into them. Excitatory emotions manifest as
either of the following:
Enhanced laughter
Enhanced stress
Verbal students may become SELECTIVELY AUDITORY in an

EXCITATORY WAY -
16
• If the student verbalizes a certain word or phrase over and

over again
• if his verbal speech creates a sound matrix to such an ex-
tent, that he dismisses other language components in the
environment (like listening to what the teacher is trying
to teach), wanting to hear himself repeat the same words
again
• if he begins to be emotionally engaged while repeating
those words, where he may derive pleasure or show annoy-
ance while repeating the words
Teachers often have to COMPETE WITH EXCITATORY STIMS so that

the session is productive. A productive session will allow the teach-
er to complete her teaching objectives. Otherwise the session time
gets wasted.
An excitatory stim is clearly different from a CALMING STIM.
CALMING STIMS assist learning. The student is more relaxed by

being passively engaged in calming - holding a toy, slowly twirling
a string, etc. without showing emotions like stress, or over-excite-
ment while learning and responding. Teachers ALLOW students to
ENGAGE IN CALMING STIMS.
Verbal stims can also be calming if the student allows the teach-
er to talk and is able to work through the session by spelling and
responding to the teacher’s questions despite his passive verbal
engagement.
17
Sometimes students oscillate between excitatory and calming

phases of self stimulatory activities while engaged in the same
stimulatory activity.
How will the teacher detect when a calming stim turns

excitatory?
The teacher would detect this through the student’s:
• Changes in emotional involvement within the session: the

student may be engaged in a passive utterance of a word
at the beginning of the session, then all of a sudden be-
comes stressed or excited in the middle of a session. In this
case the student may display anxiety, lack of tolerance and
sometimes may begin to show aggression.
• Changes in Performance: The student who has a calming
verbal stim can perform (choose the right answer, cooper-
ate in completing the lesson goals by spelling and answering
the teacher) despite his verbal engagement. If in the middle
of the session he suddenly becomes reluctant to perform,
buries the teacher’s voice with his own, or becomes very
slow or distracted while responding to the teacher, puts up a
fight, hyper-focuses in the verbal-stim rather than respond
by choosing the answers/spelling/writing the teacher can
identify it as an excitatory verbal stim.
18
Example 1.
Verbal stim related to an external environment:
An autistic person who is focused on his selective visual, auditory

and kinesthetic component of a DVD movie, his attention locked,
may fail to focus on what the teacher is writing. If he is verbal and if
he has memorized the dialogues, he may say them aloud to stimu-
late his auditory channel.
Sometimes he may try to ‘fit’ in socially and start greeting people

- familiar individuals and/or strangers because he has learned over
the years it is important to be a ‘social pleaser’.
Example 2.
Verbal stim originating from an internal environment:
A person who is anxious about whether his routine will be followed

or not may continue to say aloud the list of things he will do. Then
he will replay the list over and over again, ignoring the fact that
there may be other important words he can try saying. It may sound
something like – “First work, then lunch, then home.”
Or he may say – “I want to go to Mommy.”
Many times the list is longer and until and unless all of them are
articulated in order, the student won’t complete his ritual.
19
If an autistic person remembers an event from memory, he may

recite something like – “Year 2013, summer vacation, we went to
Disney World.”
2. Speech as an obsession
What is obsession?
An obsession is a cycle which generates from the caudate nucleus

of the brain. Then the stimulus goes to the prefrontal cortex. Finally
the message goes to the cingulate nucleus. Then the stimulus re-
turns back to the caudate nucleus, thus returning to cycle again.
A ‘stim’ on the other hand is a sensory defensive mechanism de-

pending on the sensory overloading.
An Obsession grows from an Excitatory stim:
When an excitatory stim becomes a motor signature, and gets

caught within the loop of primary emotions - (excitement, stress,
anxiety) we see it becoming an obsession. Similar to a stim activ-
ity, the motor pathway of obsession becomes an established motor
pathway.
Students with autism (especially those who have selective or global

kinesthetic skills) have very limited motor pathways. When such a
student indulges in an excitatory stim, and if a particular (stim) mo-
tor-action is repeated it becomes like a signature motor activity of
that particular student. Every time he gets excitatory he repeats the
same selective actions due to the lack of his generalized kinesthetic
20
skills. Over time the same motor activity manifests each time the
student faces primary emotions:
• Anxiety
• Anger
• Excitement
Example:
An anxious student who uses the motor activity of pushing people

out of his way if he is claustrophobic will seldom pinch or bite if
‘pushing’ is a motor memory that is so well established that the
student automatically executes a ‘pushing’ activity in stress.
If that excitatory pathway gets into an OBSESSION LOOP fed by its

own emotion, it can be difficult to break.
For SELECTIVELY VERBAL students, speech can become obsessive.

Speech production is a motor action although we associate lan-
guage with it.
But speech sounds do not necessarily represent language for autis-

tic students.
Language areas (Wernicke and Broca areas) need to sync to the mo-
tor areas responsible for the mechanics of speech in order to pro-
duce meaningful speech.
In typical people, language and speech areas sync and so we hear

meaningful word sound. Even typical people find themselves strug-
gling to find words when they are emotionally excited (angry, in-
tense trauma).
21
In autism there is under-connectivity of neurons. Many times the

language in an autistic person’s thought may remain as an isolated
occurrence and speech may never happen because the speech area
(mechanics of motor movement of the tongue, putting a pressure
to generate a voice and creating the right articulation as needed )
may not sync with the language area.
Verbal children happen to say specific words, phrases, requests

that they have repeated over time and say them when they are
anxious or in an excitatory state to release their internal discom-
fort. (Non-verbal students intensify their stim activities too when
they feel emotional discomfort.)
Excitatory verbalization may then tend to turn into the obsessive

loop (if not recognized and redirected) where the student cannot
stop - requesting the same thing, talking the same words or phras-
es, unable to stop, creating further stress.
In an RPM session, obsessive speech doesn’t lead to happy end-

ings. Since the teacher has to teach using the auditory stimulus of
language, the auditory component of speech can often collide with
the teacher’s teachings and take up larger ‘auditory space.’
An obsession can grow from a hyper-stimulated behavior:
Behavior is different from stim. How is it different?
A stim is a defensive mechanism where the student’s overwhelm-

ing senses tend to pick up one component of the environment:
Visual - watching a DVD
22
Auditory - listening to music/ generating his own vocal sound/ gen-

erating his own speech
Tactile - touching objects/ carrying a blanket/ mouthing objects/

eating
Kinesthetic - pacing/ running/ rocking
The degree of the student’s stim can be classified as calming or

excitatory.
Behavior on the other hand is FIGHT or FLIGHT - ACTION driven by

impulse and emotions.
Sometimes students are engaged in motor activities caused by an

impulsive fight or flight emotional engagement called behavior. If
this same motor pathway is repeated many times - a person tries to
escape (flight), spits at a teacher (fight), swears (a verbal usage to
show anger) it can become something similar to a ‘signature’ motor
pathway.
Anytime emotions are triggered the student uses the same motor
action, partly because of very few alternative choices and partly
because of obsessive compulsion, unable-to-break the cycle.
Emotions involved in a fight-flight circumstance can heighten the

obsessive motor pathways. Then we see the unstoppable injury, ag-
gression and other emotionally drawn activities that turn into the
cycle of obsession.
23
Students who are verbal may grow a VERBAL OBSESSIVE LOOP to

escape or to show aggression like -
“I want to go home!”
“I want to bite my pencil please.”
“I want to push Ms. _______.”
“Can I use the restroom?”
Such requests when continued over time, develop into a chronic

obsessive loop creating a VERBAL-TANTRUM.
Like other behaviors, a verbal-tantrum disrupts a learning set up.

Learning needs a generalized auditory pathway so that the student
can listen to the teacher’s language. Verbal-tantrum creates a se-
lective auditory pathway and shuts away the teacher’s statements.
In a typical classroom verbal students may create problems for

themselves if they get locked in a verbal loop. Teachers in a regular
ed classroom, who do not know about autism may tend to find an
excuse to send an autistic student to a special ed classroom, argu-
ing that the verbal-tantrums of this student are disruptive in the
class and he does not fit in a regular ed room.
Obsessive speech can make the student’s speech turn against him
in this way.
24
Obsessions manifest in different ways
There could be:
• a combination of kinesthetic and tactile activity like re-

peated and unstoppable self-injury, unstoppable obsession,
paired with anxiety or anger or laughter .
Eg. Student may start playing with spit and immediately
smearing it around the table to entertain himself.
• kinesthetic activity like running around, pacing, drawing
the same picture using the same memorized motor path-
way to draw, unable to stop paired with the same primary
emotions like anxiety or anger or laughter
• tactile activity like, touching the body parts that can embar-
rass him in public, mouthing something unable to stop, spit-
ting at someone/something and unable to control it, pulling
people’s hair and forgetting the motor pathway to un-en-
tangle the hands from the hair, accompanied with anxiety,
anger or laughter
• visual obsession like watching a cartoon, movie, picture of a
train or even targeting intense ‘eye-contact’ one particular
person and drawing primary emotions like anxiety, anger or
laughter
• a combination of visual and auditory activity - trying to
seek eye contact from a particular person and verbalizing
the same request over and over again involving anxiety, an-
ger or laughter
25
Obsessive speech becomes difficult to divert:
Like other obsessive actions, obsessive speech grows out of an ex-

citatory verbal stim. The verbal stim turns out to be excitatory if it is
allowed to continue and is encouraged or reinforced by creating situa-
tions where the students are given opportunities to repeat those same
words. For instance, the student verbalizes something, then to encour-
age him to speak more, we tend to induce him to repeat it (even if
there is no relevance of that speech to the immediate environment).
This creates a learned pathway and the mechanics of speaking ‘only
those selected words’ get established as a motor pathway.
Obsessive speech can be triggered by a familiar stimulation like a

familiar:
• eye contact with a particular person,

• a particular person’s presence,
• when the location is familiar
Speech is always encouraged as a primary means of communica-

tion. So when autistic children verbalize their needs -
• “I want candy please.”

• “I want iPad please.”
• “I want to swim please.”
• “I want french fries please.”
Or,
• “I want ‘all-done’ please,” they are rewarded for requesting ver-

bally in the hope that there will be more verbal communication.
26
These verbal requests become so settled and memorized - more as

a ‘process’ that there is no further addition toward speech.
Other types of speech like -
• “The weather is very pleasant.”

• “I wish it rained.”
• “I wonder what I can find at the store!”
are not rewarded as much as “I want something” speech.
If the requests are not met, then students (who are used to getting
a reward after a request) may become very anxious because the
‘ritual of the process - ‘request - reward - next request - reward’ -
series’ doesn’t happen. Over time the neural pathway becomes so
accustomed to the completion of this cycle -
‘verbal request, request granted, next verbal request, request

granted, and the next request…..’ and so on that the student does
not learn to tolerate it otherwise, because of the routine and
expectation.
As teachers we must identify obsessive speech patterns so that

we can help the students to begin to create new motor path-
ways through lessons specially constructed around those obses-
sive words (as mentioned in my book HARNESSING STIMS AND
BEHAVIORS USING RPM).
27
3. Speech Due to Echolalia

In a typical person, functional speech occurs through a ‘reasoning
pathway.’ We think about what to say and why we are saying it and
then say it.
What is echolalia?
Echolalia happens when there is a hyper-functioning of the mo-

tor mechanism of speech prior to any cognitive reasoning about
what to answer. So there is a MIRRORING BACK OF THE SPEECH
that is addressed to the person - called echolalia.
The student tends to speak aloud the addressed words before

questioning himself -
Why am I saying this?
What should I choose to say instead?
Am I supposed to answer a question?
What will I choose to answer?
We hear the repeating back of the question or the last part of the
question.
Example -
If someone asks the student:
“”Did you have your breakfast? Yes or No.”
28
The student may repeat back – “Yes or No.”
Or the student may latch on to the latter choice:
“”Did you have breakfast? Yes or No?”
The student repeats aloud - “”No” because he heard ‘No’ last.
Then when asked:
“”Did you have breakfast? No or Yes?”
This time the student may do a formality of answering a “Yes”

because that was what he heard last. It becomes difficult to get
an opinion or a reasonable response beyond the mirrored words
through verbal speech. Many times echolalia happens with a
group of students who answer a question as a ‘reflex’ rather than
communication.
This is different from a purposeful speech because the reasoning

component is missing.
Student who have echolalia have good imitating skills and may be
able to handwrite through imitation. Diluting echolalia using a
slower kinesthetic activity such as ‘spelling the answer first and
then reading it aloud’ work best.
29
4. Speech limited to Rote information

Sometimes students verbalize memorized passages of information
or topics based on their individual interests. Many times we hear
them answering questions in a tangent.
Example -
When asked – “What do you like about school?”
We get an answer like – “Kangaroos live in Australia. Koalas love

eucalyptus leaves ……” and so on, instead of the answer to what
was asked.
Many times such information usage becomes a hindrance to any

meaningful communication. People who are new to a rote-talker’s
speech are initially impressed by this ‘focused knowledge.’ But then
they discover that the same information gets VERBALLY repeated in
other situations -
When asked again – “Would you enjoy hearing me read a story?”
We may get the answer like – “Kangaroos like to jump around. But
koalas love ….etc.”
People who are new to this type of verbal autism look at this as an
interest area - see the depth of information the student has on mar-
supials and may buy them more informational books on kangaroos.
I am not disputing the intelligence of the student. I am talking about

the type of speech and how it is used. As a teacher I would want to
30
grow the student’s interest beyond these limited topics so that he

can enjoy talking about other facts also.
Some students memorize all the countries in the world with their
capitals but refuse to learn anything new about the grasslands of
Africa or try out word problems in arithmetic.
Over time a learning plateau on one topic is reached which closes

the door on the possibility of new information.
There are others who may be interested in the calendar. They often
ask about the birth-dates of people and calculate back which day
of the week they were born but are unable to communicate about
what they like in school. Gifted? Yes. But why should the gift be
limited toward just calculation of birthdays?
We would want to empower the student with new learning so that

he can explore his gifts beyond calculating the weekday.
Maybe one day he will write a book about how he can calculate the
days of the week! But to write a book he needs to grow his skills to
communicate.
What stops new learning (speech, language or informa-

tion) from taking place?
Learning is a two-step process:
Assimilation
Accommodation
31
What is assimilation and accommodation?
Assimilation is when we recognize a new situation based on our

prior knowledge of it.
So when we learn the new concept of addition and subtraction in

arithmetic we grow our previous exposure to counting forward for
addition and counting backward for subtraction.
When we learn about the habitat of a new animal - example ‘bison’

we grow our information linking it to previously learned facts - ex-
ample, to a cow that lives on a farm and also eats grass, but this
new animal ‘bison’ (we are learning about) lives in the ‘prairies’
although it eats grass.
We learn to differentiate bison from a cow as a wild animal that was

hunted rather than domesticated like a cow.
The concept of grassland again grows out of previously learned

facts about grass: green. This way we link new concepts to our ex-
isting concept.
When we fail to link the previously learned facts to the new facts
we are afraid to take on-board new information. That happens
because of a lack of assimilation - meaning that some previously
learned facts become final and refuse to link with new informa-
tion. So a student will learn about a favorite topic--say, trains—but
refuse to learn how to solve a word problem on speed and distance
linked to a train, or would not want to listen to a story with trains
in it.
32
Accommodation is when we modify our existing knowledge, add-

ing new information from the new situation after we assimilate.
When we are not resistant toward facing new information and rec-
ognizing new facts, we connect them to our previous knowledge
and we add or modify our learning.
So we recognize that multiplication is a special type of addition and

grow our outlook on addition.
When we are in the first grade we probably connected the words -

water, drink, wash, rain, umbrella, wet, dry.
As we grew up we added precipitation, dew, frost, mist, fog, evapo-

ration, condensation, boiling, flood, drought.
Then we added water-pollution, acid rain, water treatment, aque-

ducts, bore-wells.
Every piece of new information we learn goes through these two

doors - assimilation and accommodation, including the usage of
words and speech.
5. Social speech, but are struggling to learn beyond a

certain stage
Social talk is close to or almost-typical speech:
Social talkers are difficult to be diagnosed with autism. They adapt

better in sensory-stimulating situations. One wouldn’t see them
with ‘stim’ activities. They will have social gestures which adapt to
33
social skills very well. They may have enough motor skills to pass as
typical.
They can handwrite, type, ask questions like - How are you?
They have enough social language to state their wants and needs.
Many times doctors declare them as ‘cured from autism.’
Since they have social talk and better sensory adaptations they are
able TO BE INTEGRATED into a regular ed classroom.
Why some verbal autistic students who adapt socially

are sent to the special-needs classroom in higher classes?
In many cases, as the student starts growing up, his learning differ-
ences become more prominent from his typical peers. The student
may begin to slow or stop learning new concepts. Teachers in the
general-education system may not know how to solve his learning
needs and so the student is sent to the special needs classroom.
The reason for this learning difference can be related to difficulty in

assimilation and accommodation, along with a lack of initiation to
clarify problems in class.
Although these students had enough social talk or gestures, they

did not have enough initiation to ask and clarify where they were
having difficulty understanding a concept.
As more new information began to be added it became harder and

harder to assimilate and accommodate more information.
34
Profiles of social talkers:
Social talkers have two kinds of profiles:
Mild - When they submit to people telling them what to do if they

cannot decide for themselves, owing to the lack of self confidence.
They allow themselves to be bullied by peers because they do not
find the initiative to defend themselves.
Stressed - when they are paranoid of everything and person and

express verbal revolt like:
‘I won’t go!’
‘I don’t trust you!’
‘Stay away from me!’
They show more stress-related anger if asked to work.
Many times this anger may lead to violence toward self and the
teacher. I have seen an iPad getting smashed on the floor as a result
of this stress-related anger.
Why the disruptive behavior from stress?
Self-control is a purposeful motor action (that uses the reasoning

pathway). Self-control, as a kinesthetic objective can be practiced,
perhaps in a totally different setting so that it can keep the impul-
sive pathway from destroying things further.
35
In this book, I am not talking about people who have great

learning capabilities and can live independently and ‘at the
age of thirty discover they have autism.’ They do not need
help with learning using RPM. I am talking about students
who have learning challenges and are placed into the spe-
cial education classroom after their fifth or sixth grade or
are struggling in their high school.
Social talkers have enough language to manage their way through

the social world but may not be able to compose a letter or write
an essay about a topic.
Before I complete this chapter let me say this:
I have experienced working with all these students whose verbal

profiles I have described. I wouldn’t be daring to write this book if I
did not have enough experience with them.
36
Chapter 3
Unlearning the Irrelevant Speech habit -
using Choices and Spelling
If a student can talk why should he spell the answer on

the letter-board? Can’t he just say the answer?
Speech may/may not be the correct representation of a thought for

a person with autism. Real thoughts may be buried by the mechan-
ics of:
• self-stimulatory talk
• obsessive talk
• impulsive talk
Many times the person cannot pull out enough information to an-
swer a question like -
“What do you like about this song/ movie/ place?” ….verbally.
37
Talking as an instinctual action vs. talking as a result of a

cognitive reasoning are two different pathways in the brain.
Example: We do not have to reason and recite, “Twinkle

twinkle, little star.” But if someone asks us - “Can you see
the stars clearly when there are clouds,” we have to reason
and answer.
or,
When someone uses an impulsive need, can say aloud, “I

want to have french fries.”
But when asked, “Why wouldn’t you want to write a story

instead of having french fries?” there would be the need for
reasoning.
Spelling a word can SLOW THE RESPONSE of the verbal student, giv-
ing him the OPPORTUNITY TO USE the reasoning pathway rather
than the learned instinctual speech.
It is important to understand that in order to learn how to do some-

thing relevant, in this case HOW TO ANSWER USING APPROPRIATE
LANGUAGE (that will grow toward relevant speech) one must un-
learn the habit of irrelevant speech (arising from impulse, stimula-
tion or obsession).
38
Unlearning the Irrelevant Speech habit - using Choices and Spelling
The way this is achieved using RPM is by first teaching the verbal
student to respond by pointing to choices/spelling (and later fol-
lowing the spelling by saying aloud the letters/words).
This section will describe how to implement, taking into account

the different motor skills of the students. For the benefit of those
who are new to RPM, there will be some repetition here of things I
covered in my previous books.
RPM is a method in which the teacher adjusts her

teaching.
• using the right sensory activities like writing key words,
showing a diagram or map, making paper models to make
her lesson sensory-stimulating
• using the right prompt to initiate a response from the stu-
dent like offering answers written on paper choices, holding
the stencil boards/letter-boards at the right angle accessi-
ble to the student, choosing the right stencil size for the stu-
dent, when and how to give verbal prompts if the student
is stuck,
……… and so it marries with the student’s per-

formance, where the student demonstrates
what he understood by:
• choosing the answers from the choices presented by the
teacher where teacher presents the written choices either
on two separate pieces of paper, choices written on either
39
side of a folded paper - where the student has to choose

one answer using reasoning skills
• spelling the answers on the letter-board where the student
spells out the answers of the teacher’s question on a stencil
board or letter-board if his motor skills allow him to touch
the letters accurately
Every RPM session has -
1. Cognitive - understanding of the concepts, learning a

spelling, reasoning
2. Skill - spelling and growing it toward independent typ-
ing/ writing/merging speech
3. Tolerance - increasing the amount of time the student
will attend to the lesson
4. Communication objectives - expressing thoughts arising
from the lesson, working from single open-ended words
and growing it toward communicating in full sentences
and paragraphs.
I will discuss the student performance below because it falls under

the skill objectives. In RPM the student performance begins from
the very beginning.
40
Skill objectives are based on the student’s current

level of performance:
The teacher must make sure that the skill-objectives of the lesson
are based on the student’s current level of performance.
There will be individual differences in the motor skills of students

- verbal and non-verbal. It is important to note that having speech
does not mean that the student has competent choosing/motor
skills.
It is important that the teacher fully accesses the skill levels of all
students:
1. Can the student choose the answer from the field

of two choices?
When students are new to the RPM learning setting, they may have
to grow their motor skills, beginning with selecting answers from
two choices using their reasoning skills (which choice is the right
answer?).
They may not be successful on the letter-board right away (if

the kinesthetic skills are not generalized enough to navigate the
letter-board).
A letter-board has twenty-six letter choices. Choosing the answers

from two choices will put less performance-stress on the student.
Verbal students as well as non-verbal students start their RPM ses-

sion with varying performance-stress/anxiety.
41
The teacher can make a complimentary statement - “I can see you

are looking good in your blue shirt.”
a) She can ask - “Are you looking good in RED or BLUE?” offer-
ing the written choices of RED and BLUE to a person who
has LESS STRESS.
b) But if a student is MORE ANXIOUS, he will be provided with

a more contrasting choice to enhance chance of success.
So she will ask - “Are you looking good in PHILADELPHIA or
in BLUE?” offering the written choices of PHILADELPHIA and
BLUE ,deliberately keeping the incorrect choice with a long
disconnected word - PHILADELPHIA and one correct choice
- BLUE, luring the STRESSFUL student to reason and choose
the right choice through discrimination. This initial feeling of
success will motivate the student to take a risk and choose.
Example:
The teacher states aloud, writing the key words (stimulating the
student’s auditory, visual and kinesthetic learning channels) a sen-
tence from her lesson:
“Some birds like ostriches do not fly.”
She asks the student - “Which bird cannot fly?”
She presents the answer choices by spelling aloud while writing

down the answer-choices on two torn pieces of paper, placing the
one she said first to the student’s left and the second choice to the
right side (because we read from left to right).
42
The tearing the pieces in front of the student as auditory, visual and
kinesthetic prompts to initiate responses) and asks …
“Is it GOOSE or is it OSTRICH?”
For a stressful/anxious student she can ask - “Which bird did I say
cannot fly? Is it OSTRICH or NEOSPORIN?” deliberately keeping the
big difference between the correct and incorrect choices so that
the student may feel successful.
She will hand over the pencil to the student as a tactile prompt to ini-
tiate a response so that the student can choose or circle the answer.
Once the student selects the right answer the teacher takes back
the pencil to give the student a tactile break. Then she moves on to
teaching the next statement of her lesson.
Taking the pencil away allows the student to make an association with
pencil to performance. Otherwise the pencil can be included within a
stim object and will become a distraction to the learning process.
Do not have one pencil for yourself and one pencil for the student.
The SHARING OF THE PENCIL creates a PERFORMANCE RHYTHM

of TURN TAKING:
A) The teacher writes down the key words using the same
pencil.
B) The student uses the same pencil to answer by touching the

right answer or circling the right answer.
43
Even though choosing by pointing (from two choices) looks

like a simple task the student is learning:
1) To pay attention to the teacher’s teaching (auditory

tolerance).
2) To reason and make a decision rather than wait for
somebody to decide even though it is not a personal de-
cision (yet).
3) To learn a new motor task and be responsible for his
choice (because the teacher will re-teach the statement
if he chose the wrong answer).
2. Can the student choose the answer from a field of

two choices and spell on the full 26 letter stencil
board/letter board after selecting his answer?
If the student successfully chooses the correct answers a few times
in the session, the teacher may want to pair the student response
with letting him select the answer first and spell the word on the
stencil / letter-board.
It may not be appropriate to use a 26-letter stencil in the begin-

ning for some students. The choice of the stencil will depend on
the student’s:
• concentration level
• tolerance level
• motor skill
44
The teacher can make a quick initial assessment of the student’s

pointing ability by holding a 26-letter (A through Z) stencil and ask
the student to touch the letters on the four corners of the stencil
with -
“Can you touch A?”
then “Can you touch E?”
then “Can you touch U?”
and finally “Can you touch Z?”
If the student is UNABLE to easily choose the letters on the full A

through Z stencil board the teacher will CHANGE TO THE SET OF
THREE STENCILS. These stencils break the alphabet into three: let-
ters A through I, letters J through R and letters S through Z.
Because they have just 9, 9 and 8 letter choices, the students would
have better success than a 26 letter stencil.
Initially the teacher tries to give auditory prompts - making the

phonetic sounds so that the student connects each sound to a let-
ter or a pair of letters.
Example: spelling the word CAT:
If the word to be spelled is CAT, the teacher may say - “Let’s find the
letter that makes the C sound. Should it be letter C or letter M?”
When the student selects letter C, the teacher continues ….
45
“Now let’s find the letter that makes the A sound. Is it letter L or is
it letter A?”
And once the student selects letter A, she would ask ….
“And do you think letter T would make the T sound…or letter Z?”
This way the student will select the letter T and complete the spell-
ing of the word.
Example: Choices and spelling as part of the lesson
The teacher states and writes the key words (stimulating the stu-
dent’s auditory, visual and kinesthetic learning channel ) to teach -
“Long ago, people navigated their way looking at stars at night.”

and asks the student:
“How did people navigate their way at night long ago? Was it by
looking at the SEA …..or looking at the STARS?”
She writes (kinesthetic and visual prompts) the choices on two

separated pieces of paper - SEA and STARS by spelling each word
aloud (auditory prompts) and hand the pencil to the student (tac-
tile prompt) to initiate a response.
The student chooses the correct answer.
The teacher takes back the pencil from the student’s hands to give
the student a tactile break from the pencil (since pencil is the tactile
prompt to initiate a response).
46
The teacher hands back the stencil to the student and asks the stu-
dent to find the letters and spell the word STAR.
In the beginning the student may hesitate if SPELLING IS A NEW

ACTIVITY. Hence the teacher may give auditory prompts with pho-
nics, kinesthetic and verbal prompts like saying - “Move your hand
to the left side,” or “Raise your elbows slightly.”
If necessary she may help create a motor pathway TO SPELL by

MOTOR-MODELING, which is doing the activity jointly once or
twice and asking the student to perform it independently, explain-
ing - “This is how we move our hands to the right side and reach for
letter E” ..etc.
If using a set of three stencils, she shows the stencil with letters S
through Z (visual prompt) hands the pencil to the student (tactile
prompt) and asks the student (auditory prompt) to touch the first
two letters of the word ‘STAR.’
She takes the pencil away from the student (as a tactile break) to
write the letters ST (that the student spelled) as visual affirmation
of the correct student response.
After the student touches the letters S and T she continues to

prompt the student , using visual, tactile and auditory prompts -
but NOT giving any physical support as we are working on totally
independent pointing.
47
SO, JUST TO SUMMARIZE THE PROMPTS:
Visual prompt: Showing the stencils A through I to find the letter A,

then showing the stencil J through R to find the letter R.
Tactile prompt: Handing the pencil to the student each time for ini-
tiating a response and giving a tactile break after every successful
student performance by taking away the pencil.
Auditory prompt: Encouraging the student to touch the letters, if

necessary, making the phonetic sounds of the letters so that the
student associates the sounds with finding the right letter.
Prompting:
It is to be noted that the teacher will slowly fade out the au-
ditory prompting as the session progresses when she feels
the student has understood the association of linking the
phonetic sounds with the letters of the alphabet.
If the student has better motor control and the teacher sees he
is capable of spelling the complete word on a full twenty-six let-
ter stencil, she may skip the large set of three stencils and ask the
student to spell the correct answers on the full alphabet stencil/
letter board.
The teacher is always thinking about the next skill level, so before
the session ends it’s worth giving a try.
48
She can give five-word dictation practice to the student, selecting

those five words from the lesson itself, in order to grow the stu-
dent’s spelling confidence and accuracy of pointing.
By practicing spelling skills through a few sessions a student will

gain enough confidence to grow the spelling performance.
Slowly the teacher can fade the paper choices.
3. Can the student spell the answer directly on the

stencils - bypassing the step of choosing the cor-
rect answer on the paper choices?
It is important to note that DIFFERENT STUDENTS ATTAIN THEIR
CONFIDENCE LEVEL SPELLING THEIR ANSWERS ON THE LETTER-
BOARD at different times.
If the student is confident and accurate enough, then it is

better for the student to choose from paper choices first
and then to spell. The teacher thus knows which word he is
spelling and can give appropriate verbal prompts. Otherwise
the student may touch a letter next to/above/below the let-
ter he wants and the person who is trying to read what the
student is spelling may misread the word.
Some students with generalized kinesthetic skills move faster with

spelling skills - They can spell on the letter-board from the very be-
ginning and some of them may not need the ripped paper choices.
49
The teacher has to decide who has the:
1) Confidence
2) Motor-skill (to accurately and independently spell the
answer)
Example: introducing the set of three stencils (A through I, J through

R, S through Z)
The teacher states and writes the key words (stimulating the stu-
dent’s auditory, visual and kinesthetic learning channels) - “Newton
discovered the reason why things drop on the ground.”
She may use either the three set of large stencils (with letters A
through I, J through R and S through Z) or a full twenty-six lettered
stencil/letter-board.
IF SHE IS USING THE SET OF THREE LARGE STENCILS:
She holds the stencil with letters ‘J through R’ (visual prompt)

and asks the student - “Who discovered why things drop on the
ground?”
She offers choices on the stencil - “Is the first letter N for Newton
….or….O for Onion?”
She hands the pencil to the student as part of the tactile prompt to
initiate his response.
NOTE: ‘J through R’ has nine letter choices. The student has to:
50
visually eliminate seven letters and pay attention to just letters N

and O without getting visually distracted.
Next the student has to remember what the teacher taught and
further eliminate letter O.
Finally the student has to use the right motor action to touch the
letter N independently and accurately.
Once the student makes the selection by touching letter N, the

teacher takes the pencil back (giving a tactile break to the student)
to write the letter down confirming the student’s correct selection.
Next the teacher holds other relevant stencils from the set of
three -
Stencil with letters ‘A through I’ for the student to select letter E by

asking - “Which letter should be next after N? Is it letter A or is it
letter E?”
This way the teacher gives the student enough choices to complete
the spelling of the word NEWTON.
IF SHE DECIDES THAT THE STUDENT WILL USE THE TWENTY-SIX

LETTERED STENCIL OR FULL TWENTY-SIX LETTERED-BOARD:
Example: using the full 26 lettered stencil / alphabet board
If the teacher is teaching about spiders, and her teaching point

is - “Spiders are Arachnids,” she states and writes the key words
51
(stimulating the student’s auditory, visual and kinesthetic learning

channels) on the worksheet paper.
Next she holds the full twenty-six lettered stencil board in front of
the student (as visual prompt to initiate a response); the distance
of the letter-board is based on:
• the student’s posture

• hand reach of the student
and hands the pencil to the student (tactile prompt).
She asks the student - “Do you think spiders are I - for INSECTS or
A - for ARACHNIDS?” (auditory prompt).
When the student chooses the letter A, she asks the student -
“What should the next letter be? Is it letter R or is it letter G?”
This way the student completes the whole spelling through letter
choices on the full twenty-six letter stencil.
In the beginning the teacher needs to give the student choices of

letters on the letter-board to grow the student’s skill of eliminating
the unnecessary visual distractions of other letters and focus only
on what is relevant to continue spelling.
Later on she can fade giving the verbal choices away.
It is important to fade the prompts as the student becomes more

confident with the kinesthetic activity of spelling the answers.
52
Once the student becomes confident with spelling, and his

verbal stims or obsessive speech are reduced, the teacher
may encourage the student to use his voice and say the let-
ters that he is spelling. But it is important to understand
that to learn something relevant (answer using speech) one
must unlearn the irrelevant habit (stim speech or obsessive
speech).
4. Can the student spell the answer in a full

sentence?
If the student has the:
• tolerance
• skill
to spell the answers in more than one word, the teacher can en-
courage the student to spell the answer in a whole sentence.
A question often arises:
If a student can talk why should he spell the answer on the letter-
board. Can’t he say his answer?
If the student answers correctly (and he is in a generalized auditory

state where his answers are relevant and based on reasoning) and
the teacher is satisfied enough with the answer, there is the gen-
eralized communication of speech. But all verbal students are not
53
the same. They may/may not say the relevant speech all the time.
So even if some verbal answers are relevant, others may not be.
So if the teacher taught a lesson on - ‘Railroad’ and asked the stu-

dent a question like -
“How did the railroad help people during the Industrial ages?”
and if the student cannot pull out enough information to answer

verbally the teacher may decide to try using the help of spelling.
As the student starts spelling the answers and un-learns the hab-
it of interrupting the conversation with a stim / OCD speech, the
teacher can encourage the student to speak as he spells.
5. Can the student spell and write his answer?

Some children have a previously acquired kinesthetic skill of
handwriting.
If the teacher includes handwriting as one of the objectives then

the student is free to simultaneously find the letters and write them
down in the student’s response.
However the teacher needs to be aware that some students may

hyper-focus on the kinesthetic activity of handwriting and this can
distract them from learning. The students may:
• Take a long time to form and ritualistically decorate each

letter
54
• Continuously interrupt writing a word by erasing it over and

over again
• Forget about the word he is supposed to write
• Have an emotional outburst if redirected toward writing the
related word
In this case the teacher may postpone the kinesthetic goal of writ-
ing to the latter part of the session so that the student continues to
focus on the auditory learning channel through the teacher’s teach-
ing language.
But for a student who writes fast and is not trapped by his rituals:
The teacher asks the student (after she taught a science lesson on
FRICTION) - “What causes a rolling ball to stop rolling?”
The student whose skill goal is to include writing the answer will -
• either write the answer down instead of spelling on the

letter-board,
• or use the letter-board as a visual guide to find the letters in
the answer FORCE OF FRICTION and then write (if the stu-
dent cannot write the word without visual reference). Here
the teacher hands the pencil to the student (tactile prompt
to initiate spelling) and holds the letter-board in front of the
student (as visual prompt). The student touches letter F as
a visual reference. Then the student writes the letter F. The
teacher asks the student (auditory prompt) to find the next
letter and write it down….. This way the student completes
spelling the whole answer FORCE OF FRICTION.
55
Chapter 4
Understanding Why there may be
Differences in Motor Skills and
how to address them
Autism includes a large spectrum of sensory differences as well

as performance differences. Different individuals with autism will
have different motor abilities which may affect their performance.
Some students will be able to spell on full 26-lettered stencils or
letter-boards while others may need more practice.
Reasons why verbal as well as non-verbal autistic

people have different motor skills:
1) Challenges in the imitation skills
2) Challenges due to selective or global kinesthetic skills
3) Challenges due to selective or global tactile skills
4) Interruption by actions generated by impulse/stim/
obsession
5) Affect of the student
56
Understanding Why there may be Differences in Motor Skills and how to address them
1) Challenges in the imitation skills:

Imitation happens when we
• understand
• accept
• copy
a motor action like a gesture/facial expression or speech or writing.
In autism there may be -
Generalized imitation: where the student can imitate any social ges-
ture. Students with generalized kinesthetic skills usually have gen-
eralized imitation skills. They can have BETTER SOCIAL POSTURES
because they have LEARNED MOTOR PATHWAY through imitation.
They can copy by HANDWRITING or TYPING words.
However, some of the words they type may not be the product of
their reason but mere imitation if their kinesthetic skill to write
does not link with the auditory skill of verbal reasoning.
Application of reasoning as a skill has to be acquired/taught

through practice (for a group of students)- specially if a student
grows up merely listening to commands and instructions rather
than being part of a conversation ( if a student is not included in a
social discussion because of his limited speech production).
57
To be able to type a word that is relevant one must have the

co-working (pairing) of generalized auditory channel (lan-
guage) and the generalized kinesthetic channel (say, write
or type).
When the teacher offers two choices and if the person has the imi-
tation skill but not reasoning skills, he may tend to write down both
the words instead of choosing the right answer through reasoning.
Here the teacher has to TEACH THE STUDENT HOW TO CHOOSE
where the teacher STATES and asks and possibly shows the student
how to choose just one through MOTOR MODELING so that the
student unlearns the reason-less imitation.
HOW CAN THE TEACHER MOTOR MODEL THE MOTOR ACTION

OF MAKING A CHOICE IF, INSTEAD OF CHOOSING THE ANSWER,
THE STUDENT WANTS TO MERELY COPY THE WORDS FROM THE
WRITTEN CHOICES?
The teacher takes the student’s hands and circles the right answer
from the two choices to show him he has to select the correct answer
and not copy a couple of times as a JOINT ACTIVITY of choosing the
answer to create a motor pathway. Next she asks the student to try
circling the correct answer as a REVISION ACTIVITY independently.
After a couple of demonstrations the student will resist the tempta-

tion to imitate and start to initiate his responses through listening
to the teacher and reasoning which answer to choose.
58
Selective imitation and absence of imitation: When the students

imitate a few selected signs/gestures/words;
or
when they cannot imitate any gesture at all or there is an absence

of imitation
Here the teacher has to practice MOTOR MODELING - using a joint

activity (performing the motor action two times along with the
student ) and letting the student perform independently the third
time. This creates a temporary MOTOR MEMORY. Over time it gets
generalized.
This applies to all the required skills.
• choosing the answer

• spelling
• handwriting
Many verbal/non-verbal students who have selective imitation

skills may sporadically touch random letters if they are imitating
the kinesthetic gesture of touching anywhere on the letter-board
instead of reasoning what letters they are touching. The teacher
will need to help the students through motor-modeling to point at
the correct letters and complete the word.
Hyper-imitation: Here the student tends to do copy-cat actions/

gestures.
59
Many times students with autism become ‘social pleasers’ and try
to imitate everything the teacher does without pausing to reason
first.
This happens if the REASONING PATHWAY is dormant and not used.
It is necessary to help the student UNLEARN THE HABIT OF

HYPER-IMITATION.
Example:
If the teacher states - “The sky is BLUE,” and asks “What is the color
of sky? GREEN or BLUE?” offering two choices GREEN and BLUE, the
student tends to repeat and touch both the word choices -
“What did I say? GREEN or BLUE.”
The teacher needs to present the choices using a word the student
cannot pronounce easily like -
“What is the color of the sky? Is it PHILADELPHIA or is it BLUE?”
Usually children avoid saying PHILADELPHIA and would prefer to

say just BLUE and this way unlearn the habit of hyper-imitation.
If this does not work then the teacher can further the choices with -
“Is the color of the sky 34765 or BLUE?” (creating a bigger CONTRAST
between the two choices).
This way the student will learn to ELIMINATE THE INCORRECT

CHOICE THROUGH REASONING.
60
So the question may arise:
What did the student learn? Did the student learn to reason or did
the student learn the fact that the Sky is BLUE?
Initially the teacher must focus on the student’s learning to reason

and choose. Learning facts becomes parallel as the student rea-
sons more, rather than mere imitating the gestures/speech of the
teacher.
2) Challenges due to selective or global kinesthetic

skills
The performance of the student is affected by his kinesthetic skills.
For example:
The student can touch the letter-board approximating the positions

of letters but cannot touch the letters accurately,
or,
if the student just has random movements of his arms and hands,
cannot control his hands purposefully - he may have global kines-
thetic skills.
If the student can spell selective words, play selective videos or

games, he has selective kinesthetic skills.
61
Many times students who are verbal and have a selective kines-
thetic skills MAY show a KINESTHETIC RESISTANCE to learn a new
activity - like spelling a new word or choosing the answer.
Why do some students resist learning to spell the new words?
This is because the student has learned to write or draw the same
words or patterns over and over again and the repeated motor
pathway becomes so overused that it is difficult to perform a new
motor task like spelling a new word.
Many students find it difficult to and are scared to try a NEW

KINESTHETIC ACTIVITY to SPELL a new word that they haven’t
spelled before. As a result they want to stay in their comfort zone
of spelling or writing what they already know.
In order to help selectively kinesthetic students we need to con-

sider how people learn:
All learning (cognitive, skill, tolerance) takes place through the

combination of:
ASSIMILATION which is understanding a new concept or skill based

on previous learning
and
ACCOMMODATION: modifying the previous learning and adding

the new concept to the previous learning.
62
RESISTANCE: unlearning a new skill is the outcome when there is

the lack of assimilation and accommodation.
So the best way to help these students is by the teacher starting

with something with which the student is already familiar and com-
fortable (which would include a previous learning ) and then add
onto (modify) this as a lesson.
Example:
If the student is comfortable writing the word like FRENCH FRIES,

then the teacher can grow a brief lesson around it.
Maybe use the following teaching points -
1. French fries are made of potatoes.

2. Farmers work hard to grow potatoes for those french
fries.
3. French fries are best when they are hot.
4. Although french fries don’t make us strong, they help us
feel happy.
5. Fast food companies have to buy loads of potatoes to cook
FRENCH FRIES.
Since the student finds comfort in spelling FRENCH FRIES through

his previous learning, the teacher can satisfy his gratification with
her first question after stating the first statement of her lesson (
“French fries are made of potatoes”),
“What are made from potatoes? Is it FRENCH FRIES or COFFEE?”
63
Offering the choices of FRENCH FRIES and COFFEE for the student to
either - choose from two written word choices or spell the answer.
The teacher may try asking the student - “Would you spell the word
POTATO for me?”
If the student hesitates, she can give auditory prompts thus - “Let’s
find the P sound for potato.”
When the student finds the letter P, the teacher gives an auditory
prompt - “Let’s find letter making the O sound…” etc….
(helping the student to grow an understanding of the relationship

between the phonetic sounds and the letters of alphabet)
Then she continues with the next statement - “Farmers work hard
to grow potatoes for those french fries.”
She can ask the student to spell his comfort word - FRENCH- FRIES
with, “Let’s see you spell FRENCH FRIES again.”
It is always good to reassure the student that the comfort word of

FRENCH FRIES will not leave him.
Then she pairs it up with the next question on the same sentence
- “Who grows the potatoes for your FRENCH FRIES? Is it letter F for
FARMER or letter C for CARPENTER.”
This way the teacher continues to ANCHOR on the familiar word

while still growing the student’s generalization of spelling outside
that word and desensitizing him toward spelling new words.
64
3) Challenges due to selective or global tactile skills

Many students have an aversion toward sitting on a new sitting
space, holding a pencil, or even the proximity and the position of
the teacher. Tactile defensive and selective tactile students will
need a great deal of assurance before they begin to adapt to a new
situation.
Here the teacher has to find suitable -
• positions for both student as well as herself so that the ses-

sion can begin - tactile tool or means for the student to per-
form the choosing or spelling of an answer (if the student
refuses to hold the pencil to select an answer or spell a word
due to tactile defensiveness). For example: the teacher may
substitute a pencil with a spoon/straw or the student’s own
fingers to touch the letters if the student can isolate his in-
dex finger.
If the student does not want the teacher to remain close to him, the
teacher may want to try:
1. Positioning herself further from the student, possibly from

a distance, giving the student some TACTILE SPACE. (If the
student does not wish to sit behind a table he is fine to work
without it. If the student is comfortable on a couch he is
free to sit at a couch and work.)
2. Continuing to write the key words as she talks but show-
ING those words from a distance as VISUAL, KINESTHETIC
and TACTILE STIMULATION.
65
Since the student is not sitting in front of a table she will use A
CLIPBOARD to place the worksheet paper where she is writing the
key words.
3. Talking with a softer voice, enough for the student to hear

her but not causing any AUDITORY THREAT. Speaking in a
calm voice dilutes the anxiety of the student.
4. Holding the answer choices high up in the air and asking
the student to select one if he is TACTILE DEFENSIVE toward
holding the pencil. To draw visual attention of the student
to the answers the teacher can mildly shake each answer at
a time (KINESTHETIC PROMPT) as she says - “This is where I
wrote the word ______ and this is where I wrote the word
_______.”
Example: Lesson where the student is anxious about a new place
Lesson points will be aimed toward reducing the student’s anxiety:
1. Many of us are anxious about a NEW PLACE.

2. We know that FEELING ANXIOUS is not a pleasant feeling.
3. New places are not FAMILIAR to us.
4. The POSITIONS of chairs and tables are different from what
we are used to seeing.
5. We have to ADAPT to the new place.
6. If we both try to ADAPT we can help ourselves better. (teach-
er has to include herself to reduce the student’s anxiety)
66
After completing those points, she can do a little discussion topic

on ADAPTING by stating -
“We may see how we can ADAPT to the new place…”
etc.
The teacher may want to talk about different situations as to how

we adapt - “Like during winter we adapt by wearing warm clothes,
etc.” (Continue the session)
The lesson will be presented as previously described - writing key

words, giving choices, spelling answers.
As the student begins to trust the environment, he will get desen-

sitized toward the learning surroundings and his performance will
get better.
4) Interruption by pre-engaged motor actions gener-

ated by impulse/stim/obsession
Pre-occupation with a certain type of motor activity like a stim, an
impulse, an obsession or behavior can lead to sub-performance in
the PURPOSEFUL ACTIVITY of choosing or spelling as required.
The teacher has to first find out WHAT kind of activity the student
is engaged in.
STIM ACTIVITY - will follow a KINESTHETIC pattern. The student

will engage in twirling an object, flapping his body part, rocking,
shaking. Stim activity is usually a mechanical movement that the
67
student has developed over time through the over-usage of a par-

ticular motor pathway.
IMPULSIVE ACTIVITY - Impulsive action is SUDDEN. It is generat-

ed from the amygdala region of the brain. It involves an INTENSE
DESIRE to act upon a stimulus right away without pausing to reason.
OBSESSION - A motor action arising from obsession is stuck in a

loop and is a product of an EXCITATORY STIMULATION where the
student cannot help but engage in that action. The student may or
may not enjoy the action but since he is stuck he may feel himself
trapped doing that activity.
BEHAVIOR - It is a purposeful action that arises from the FIGHT-

FLIGHT situation. Many times the student who is threatened by
new work or teacher or disciplined work may try to revolt against
the situation and engage in motor activities to either escape or hurt
self or the teacher.
To deal with these actions the lessons must INCLUDE THE STUDENT’S
actions. This is explained in detail in my ‘HARNESSING STIMS AND
BEHAVIORS USING RPM’. I include a brief example here.
Example: Lesson points when a student keeps pushing things off

the table
1. I can see you love to PUSH things from the table.

2. PUSHING is a force that makes objects INCREASE DISTANCE
from the force.
68
If the student is young the teacher can continue stating ……
3. PUSHING is a force that makes objects GO AWAY from you.

4. I can see the pencil has gone FARTHER from the papers.
5. But the papers you just dropped on the floor are NEARER.
6. If the door of this room is far, a TREE outside will be farther.
7. If door is near, a PENCIL will be NEARER.
The teacher can modify her points based on the age of the student.
She can include how it is easy to push a lighter object but not heavi-
er objects.
5) Affect of the student

Affect includes the feelings or emotions we experience in different
situations and how it influences the behavior. Affect plays a big role
in the confidence of a student and his performance.
• The student is NERVOUS and not sure of his potential: RPM

involves an active participation of both teacher as well as
the student. The teacher as well as the student have their
roles in the teaching-learning process. The teacher states
and writes down the key words of the lesson, asking the
student to participate by offering the different prompts (of-
fering choices, holding the letter-board, handing the pencil
for the student to spell or choose the answers, verbal en-
couragements to perform) to initiate a response. The stu-
dent chooses the answer and/or spells the answer on the
letter board as part of his turn-taking. After this the teacher
69
teaches the next part of the lesson. If the student is not sure
of himself and is nervous, his responses may be incon-
sistent (make incorrect choices) he may be distracted or
touch the letters with less accuracy to spell.
• does not BELIEVE the teacher: Some students undergo dif-
ferent kinds of therapies and some of those therapies make
the student undergo miserable failure. Over time the stu-
dent not only begins to feel horrible about himself but also
begins to mistrust the teacher. Mistrusting the teacher is
a learned emotion. This may lead the student to REVOLT
AGAINST the teacher. A motor action that is generated to re-
volt: the situation can INTERRUPT A PURPOSEFUL ACTIVITY
of spelling/choosing the answer.
• does not FEEL CONFIDENT in a new situation: Many times
students may find themselves in a new situation - session
room, teacher, type of expectation, roles of teacher and
student. The lack of ENCODING (where the student rec-
ognizes his external environment and tries to adapt to it)
may lead to change in performance. Many students who
have done years of other kinds of communication/
therapy may find it difficult to adapt to the new MOTOR
ADAPTATIONS where they have to perform independently.
How will a teacher address the emotions? The teacher must not
mention that the student is ‘working’ if the student is hypersensi-
tive to the word ‘work.’ She can, however, mention: “Let’s see how
well you are listening to me and learning how to spell”…. just to set
a session goal for the time.
The next chapter is dedicated to what the first session will be like.
70
Chapter 5
Introductory session with
a verbal autistic student
Points to remember before starting the session:

Anxiety:
I have found that many verbal students may initially be very

ANXIOUS.
A verbal student who has some speech and tends to repeat the
same sets of sentences or words or engage in social talk may face a
performance challenge when confronted with a new set of words
he is supposed to learn.
It may cause an emotional pressure if the student has to move

outside his ‘comfort-zone’ that involves his familiar auditory/visual
world of words.
It is not that he doesn’t ‘know’ what that world includes - history,

geography, mathematics, current events and more. He probably
does know much more than is expected of him but he never felt
71
the need to be a part of it or use his knowledge beyond what was

expected of him (because no one thought of exploring his knowl-
edge beyond his limited verbal speech) leading him to believe this
would be too difficult for him, hence the anxiety..
Many people still have this belief that the language areas:
Brocca and Wernicke areas ….
……are the same as the speech producing motor areas. The

person with autism is judged on the basis of verbal speech.
If an autistic person has limited speech it is believed that his

language is limited too. So he is not given a balanced educa-
tion that is age appropriate. If the motor mechanism of the
same rote- speech is over-used, that is, the student keeps
repeating the same words/requests/sentences/ topic of in-
terests, it becomes just an established mechanical speech
pathway.
There will be a clash between the student’s own selective lan-

guage and the teacher’s language in the beginning (that she uses
to teach the student) which may cause resistance that will manifest
itself in anxiety and behaviors.
This resistance could be due to the auditory overwhelming situ-

ation that the student has to undergo. The student who has not
learned to eliminate his own thoughts and listen to what the
72
Introductory session with a verbal autistic student
teacher is saying will have an auditory confusion due to the clash-

ing of two different topics:
A) His own thoughts

B) Teacher’s language
Responses from an anxious student:
The natural responses of an anxious student will be -
Covering his ears: Many times shutting out a new auditory stimu-
lation (teacher’s voice) will be the only way to focus on the self-
generated auditory habit (listening to self talk).
The teacher must be understanding here and tell the student gently
- “It is important to hear others talk too. The Listening skill (toler-
ance) is an important learning skill in an RPM session,” instead of
an authoritative command - “Stop covering your ears.”
Escaping from the situation: Some students may try to escape from
the situation and move away from the teacher’s voice in order to
refocus on what his own thoughts are used to producing.
The teacher can limit the escaping space by creating some hurdles
- spreading chairs around, having some bean bags in front of the
path, etc. That way the student will not have freedom to randomly
run. The teacher may also speak to the student and work on the
student’s tolerance skill - “I understand it is important for you to
leave but let’s just try to learn a new skill. It is called ‘WAITING’.”
73
The tolerance skill is an important objective in RPM. The student

has to develop listening tolerance and performance tolerance to
move ahead and improve.
Disruptive action: If the teacher’s voice generates an emotion of

anger the students may disrupt the learning environment by push-
ing all items from the table - paper, pencil, stencil-boards down
onto the floor.
The teacher should start a session with patience and if possible add
some humor stating - “Yes! Let us keep this room really messy! Do
you agree?”
Keeping a tone of humor and not trying to manage the behavior

helps to build the relationship into one of friendship instead of be-
ing adversarial.
Many times addressing a behavior can lead to a confrontative situ-

ation between the teacher and student. This just takes time away
from a learning opportunity - creating a lesson around ‘Keeping the
environment clean.’
Showing aggression: Depending upon how impulsive the student

is, he may show an aggressive behavior toward himself or the
teacher if he is overwhelmed.
Dealing with an aggressive student needs to be handled carefully.
The teacher can distance herself, placing a chair between herself

and the student and saying - “I understand you need space. So let’s
74
keep some distance between ourselves while we talk about how to

spell the word aggression…….”
In my book - HARNESSING STIMS AND BEHAVIORS USING RAPID

PROMPTING METHOD, I have given examples on how to turn a dis-
ruptive behavior into a constructive lesson.
Verbal interruption: Many students find a way to verbally interrupt

the lesson. While the teacher talks about rain, they may interrupt
with requests like -
“May I spell my name please?”
“May I use the restroom please?”
“Can I be done please?”
“Who is the king of Egypt?” etc…..
The teacher can set some rules. She can tell the student - “When
we finish with this page, you may write your name/use the rest-
room/ tell me the name of the king of Egypt.”
About the “Can I be done?” request, the teacher can show a visual
timer and say - “You and I have to learn to respect time, because
time is very important. We grow up with time. We cannot grow up
without learning to respect time.” This way she can create a lesson
around ‘the importance of time.’
Some students may have better adaptability and begin to re-

spond right from the beginning. They may encode the learning
75
environment right from the first session itself and the teacher can
begin her teaching based on a prepared lesson plan.
Objectives of the first session with a verbal student
Session objective for the introductory session:
By the end of the first session the verbal student would be

able to RESPOND to the teacher.
It is not important whether the student is getting every an-

swer correct at this stage.
The verbal student has an option to spell the answer using

his voice or to spell it on the letter-board if he finds that
easy.
The teacher can then use the ‘key words’ to begin intro-
ducing the reasoning skills (choice-making between two
answers)
The PRIMARY OBJECTIVE of the first session for an anxious verbal

student would be getting him to respond to the teacher. Most stu-
dents who are verbal have fairly good motor skills to choose, spell
or write. But RESPONDING TO THE TEACHER IN AN APPROPRIATE
WAY may be a new skill for the student to learn. Knowing how to
choose/spell /type is a different discipline from knowing how to
respond to the teacher and being able to utilize that skill at a time
76
when it is required. Some students will need a session to adapt to

this learning system.
It can be HARD for people TO ACCEPT how some verbal autistic

students who use their motor skills and can speak, spell, write or
type can also struggle to produce the same word or integrate their
abilities in generalized situations. Instead these students may:
• Say the same words or talk about the same topics memo-
rized many years ago
• Copy words using very good handwriting skills instead of
generating words
• Selectively answer some social questions but they do not
generate words to enable participation in the discussion of
unfamiliar/new topics
• Are unable/resistant to learning new concepts that require
reasoning skills
The challenges identified above mean that despite having these

skills the student may have difficulty adapting to a typical class-
room, particularly as he gets older and the curriculum demands
more from his reasoning skills. Then the student may have to go
back to a special needs classroom after a certain age.
77
A verbal-autistic person may or may not adapt to a new

situation easily.
It is advisable for the teacher to begin the first session with

a topic that is not demanding.
She must not intimidate the student with new information

in the first session and should create lessons within the
comfort limits of the student.
If the student adapts well to the lesson the teacher can

progress to the more academic-type lessons.
The teacher should keep in mind that most verbal students have
good motor skills to spell, but they may/may not have the skill to
reason and select an answer.
By reasoning skills I mean the student may say aloud/handwrite/

type - “I want to go to the park,” or “I want french fries.” However
he may not be able to answer a question requiring the use of rea-
soning skills -“Why do you like french-fries?”
Many students get nervous when they hear a question that does
not have one of their modeled or rote answers. The permutation
of words --selecting the right word for the right situation--needs
reasoning skills. The teacher may have to work on developing these
skills during successive sessions.
78
Choice of topic for first session

In the beginning: in order to make the verbal autistic student feel
comfortable, the teacher will ensure that the student is able to use
the previously learned skill of spelling a familiar word in response
to the teacher’s statement. The choice of topic will be particularly
important for the first session.
To begin working with a verbal student who has anxiety the teacher
will get the best results if she begins with an easy topic: –
She should choose topics that are ABOUT THE PRESENT

ENVIRONMENT (information that is existing around the student’s
present environment/stim/interest/obsession) and use the STATE-
ASK equation (where the teacher states a sentence and the student
responds by spelling a word from the statement).
If the teacher chose topics which were OUTSIDE THE

FAMILIAR ENVIRONMENT (new information and concepts), even
using the TEACH-ASK equation, it is likely that the sound of a new
word/information may create an auditory threat for the student
and cause an increase/flare up of his anxiety.
79
Examples of sessions using topics about

the present environment:
Topic 1: Complimenting the student about the shirt

he is wearing:
The teacher plans five generalized sentences where she will use a
very conversational tone.
1. I like your ______ hat. (let’s use ORANGE )

2. ORANGE color reminds me of the setting SUN.
3. When you LOOK good in a hat you FEEL good about yourself.
4. It is IMPORTANT to feel good.
5. Your spelling SKILLS must be making you feel good too.
The words written in capital letters can become the spelling objec-
tives for the student to respond.
TEACHER PARTICIPATION: The teacher begins with a STATEMENT -

“I like the SHIRT that you are wearing,” and “I specially like your
ORANGE hat.”
(She may write the word ORANGE to stimulate the student’s visual
and kinesthetic learning channels).
This kind of complimentary sentence produces no demand on the

student. There is NO NEW INFORMATION LOAD, as the teacher is
not teaching any new concept. The verbal student would have no
80
objection to a complimentary statement (auditory stimulation) be-

cause the teacher is not yet ‘teaching’ anything.
STUDENT’S RESPONSE: The teacher will suggest - “Would you touch

the letter O to help me spell the word ORANGE?”
There can be two possibilities that may happen at this spelling

request:
Student readily touches the letter
Student is reluctant to perform
a) If the student readily touched letter O on the stencil board or let-

ter-board without getting annoyed, the teacher may ask - “Would
you practice touching letters R and A?”
The teacher acknowledges the student’s correct performance by

writing the letters down as the student spells.
This way the student completes spelling the complete word.
b) If the student is reluctant to touch the letter O the teacher may

not force the student to spell the complete word. She can just say -
“You and I are both going to take turns spelling the word ORANGE.”
“First it is my turn, and I touch the letter O.”
She touches the letter O.
She next INVITES the student to take turns and touch the letter R.
81
Next she says aloud and writes the letter A and invites the student
to point at the next letter N…..and so on to complete the spelling.
Turn-taking to spell is another way to encourage the student re-

sponse - where teacher and student participate together in spelling
a word.
The teacher sets an example that she is participating too and NOT
demanding something from an AUTHORITATIVE standpoint.
If the verbal student is younger the teacher can pretend or stage

up a show in which she is trying hard to search for a letter - “Where
is the letter O?” and “I need someone to ‘help’ me find the letter-
O…” etc. while spelling and asking the student to help her find it
(because - she explains to the student, she is not as good as the
student at finding the letter O). Usually a younger student likes to
feel helpful.
Core point: Do whatever it takes to get the student to

respond….
A verbal student who may know how to spell may NOT NECESSARILY
WANT TO spell. He may ask himself - “Why should I spell that word?”
This is when using the joint activity to spell the word is impor-
tant, particularly if it is a long spelling word that requires more pa-
tience (performance tolerance). The teacher will ensure she shows
an equal response participation.
The teacher continues with her plan:
82
TEACHER PARTICIPATION: She STATES (auditory stimulation) -

“ORANGE color reminds me of the setting SUN,” writing the words
ORANGE and SUN (as visual and kinesthetic stimulations).
STUDENT RESPONSE: The teacher asks the student with a sugges-

tion - “How about you spelling the words HAT and SUN?”
(deliberately keeping the spelling words easy and confined to HAT

and SUN - something the verbal student knows how to spell and so
would be successful with).
Some verbal students may choose to verbally spell or write

down the spelling. The letter-board may not be needed as a
visual prompt. That is fine.
RPM uses letter-boards when the student needs a visual

prompt to respond adequately (eg. the student gets dis-
tracted before completing the response). If the student’s
verbal response is spontaneous and purposeful then the
teacher may not need the letter-board for that particular
response.
The LETTER-BOARD isn’t the goal of RPM. The goal is to em-

power the student to respond appropriately to the stimulus
created by the teacher in the situation (session).
83
What about introducing some communication outside

of the state/ask model?
The statement - “ORANGE color reminds me of the setting SUN,”
has a potential of communication (which we will discuss later)
BUT
…if the student resists spelling, just spells fragments of words or

has difficulty in encoding the new learning situation, the teacher
SHOULD NOT TRY COMMUNICATION at this stage. She would con-
tinue with the next statements:
TEACHER’S PARTICIPATION: The teacher makes the next statement

- “When you LOOK good you FEEL good about yourself,” and writes
the key words that the student will spell/say (auditory, kinesthetic
and visual stimulus).
STUDENT RESPONSE: The teacher asks the student - “You can show
me how to spell the words LOOK and FEEL.”
A verbal student may verbally spell the word LOOK and FEEL.
Feeling successful is key in this session to attract and main-

tain the student’s interest. Most verbal students have good
motor skills. Therefore the teacher may not have to use mo-
tor modeling as is done with students with low motor skills
to teach them how to find a letter on the alphabet board or a
stencil .(Motor modeling = doing the activity jointly a couple
of times and asking the student to perform independently).
84
How to introduce communication beyond state/ask:
If the student performed well spelling the words ORANGE and SUN
and without any resistance to performing, the teacher can intro-
duce CHOICES/REASONING by asking -
“I am wondering which side of the sky I must turn to watch the

sunset.
Would I start the word with letter E for East or with the letter W for
West?”
The teacher tries to INTRODUCE CHOICES here to check whether

the student would be open to reasoning and making a choice.
(Questions in RPM are planned using a communicative tone -

Instead of a direct question - “Where does the sun set?” the teacher
begins with a less threatening - “I am wondering…” in which she
shows the student that she is participating equally in the thinking.)
If the student hesitates to choose the answer W, the teacher may

introduce some teaching at this point (if he has a good visual
focus - the four directions), which direction the sun sets.
If the student does not have a good visual focus or is visually dis-
tracted - the teacher can teach the student - “Let’s learn…..the sun
sets on the WEST side. If your right side is EAST then LEFT side will
be WEST.” …etc.
And can ask - “Can you show me how to spell WEST? ….”
85
If the teacher wants some more communication out of the state-

ment AND if the student is responding well so far she can continue:
STUDENT RESPONSE: The teacher asks - “Do you like looking at the
setting sun?”
She suggests - “You can either spell or say a YES or a NO.”
(Note :This question is a personal question with an easy YES or NO

answer – so it is not testing knowledge)
The student answers a YES or a NO. At this point the teacher WILL
NOT OVERWHELM THE STUDENT with “WHY YES?” and “WHY
NO?” questions because this is the first session where the student
is adapting to a process of back and forth - teacher participation
and student response.
If the verbal student chooses to answer verbally it is enough, as

long as he is responding and participating in the session with the
teacher.
Topic 2: Complimenting on how well the student is

manipulating his iPad (even if the iPad looks too
excitatory):
If a student is pre-occupied (a self stimulatory engagement) with an
iPad the teacher plans five statements to state and help the student
learn how to respond:
1. I wish I could play and ENJOY the game you are playing on
your iPad!
86
2. PLAYING games on the iPad needs us to have very good

SKILLS.
3. You have to LOOK at the iPad SCREEN.
4. Your HAND must move very FAST to keep up with the game.
5. Games are a GOOD way to SPEND TIME.
The words in capital letters can be used as spelling words for the
student’s performance.
(As I said before, the teacher isn’t giving any new information in the
first session for an anxious student. Students come with different
fears. Verbal students often have the fear of learning any new in-
formation and the fear of making mistakes while learning the new
information.)
TEACHER’S PARTICIPATION: The teacher can begin with an OPENING

STATEMENT which is a compliment - “I wish I could play and ENJOY
the game you are playing on your iPad!”
As in the previous example the teacher is NOT TEACHING ANY NEW

INFORMATION, which could threaten the student who does not
feel motivated toward learning anything new.
87
Complimenting on a student’s interest is a good way to be-

gin building a friendly relationship. If the teacher begins to
demand discipline in the beginning, the student will fight
for his rights and develop the idea that nothing is achieved
without a good fight. This will grow toward the NEGATIVE
LEARNING that - “During a session my rights will be taken
away and I must fight for them even if I have to hurt some-
one in the process.”
STUDENT RESPONSE: The teacher asks the student holding the letter-
board/ stencil-board in front of him (as a visual prompt to compete
with the visual excitatory stim of the iPad) - “Can you find the letter
E for me so that I can write the word ENJOY as you help me spell?”
Once the student touches letter E the teacher would move the
letter-board/stencil-board away and write an E on the worksheet
paper as an acknowledgment. If possible she can show the student
that she has written the letter E by bringing the worksheet paper
briefly to the visual field of the student.
The teacher approaches the student and briefly brings the stencil
to the student’s visual field (as a visual prompt to stimulate a re-
sponse) and asks the student to touch the second letter N of the
spelling ENJOY.
Once the student touches the letter - N, the teacher can move the
stencil/ letter-board away to give the student some visual break.
She would write the letter N next to the previously written letter E.
88
This way ……
…. after every successful student-performance, the teacher re-

moves the letter-board from the visual field of the student. Also
- writing and saying aloud after the student’s performance gives a
positive feedback to the student.
The teacher asks the student to find the next letter and thus begins
growing a relationship between herself and the student through
TURN-TAKING with both teacher participation and student re-
sponse. This way she will have the student complete the spelling.
Some students may have the self-control to pause the game (he is
playing on the iPad) briefly, spell the complete word on the letter-
board or spell aloud the complete word.
If the student can spell the word aloud the visual prompt of a letter-
board / stencil may not be required.
It is important to understand that the student is visually en-

gaged in the game he is playing. Holding the letter-board
BRIEFLY can interrupt the game without spoiling it. If the
teacher holds the letter-board longer and demands the stu-
dent to spell the complete word first and then play, the stu-
dent may miss making some points in the game and may
be less forgiving in future. The teacher may not get the stu-
dent’s future cooperation.
89
Those students who take longer to encode the new learning envi-
ronment, will need visual breaks and the teacher will have to move
the letter-board away each time the student touches a letter to
spell.
If the student spells the word without getting annoyed:
The teacher can ask the student to spell more, using the word he
just spelled. In this example the word ENJOY has potential to com-
municate so the teacher tries asking: “Do you enjoy eating FRENCH
FRIES?”
Here she asks the student to either touch letter Y for YES or letter
N for NO.
Answering YES and NO is the first step toward reasoning although

there is the predictability. Sometimes the sound of the word
FRENCH FRIES can compete with the EXCITATORY GAME and may
help getting the student more interested in the lesson.
If the student spells YES (usually the student does), the teacher
links it to the next question based on the word FRENCH FRIES:
STUDENT RESPONSE: The teacher acknowledges - “So you DO

like french fries!” Then she asks - “You prefer eating them HOT or
COLD?”
The verbal student may respond by saying aloud HOT.
90
If the verbal answer is appropriate the teacher may ask the student
- “Can you help me write the word? Which letters should I write to
spell the word HOT?” etc.
Then the teacher can go back to the planned lesson…
TEACHER’S PARTICIPATION: The teacher states (auditory stimula-

tion) the next lesson point: “PLAYING games on the iPad needs us
to have very good SKILLS.”
She writes down the key words (visual and kinesthetic stimulation).
STUDENT RESPONSE: The teacher asks the student - “Would you

spell the word PLAY for me?”
(keeping it to the mechanics of spelling)
If the student spells the word readily:
The teacher may try to ‘use’ the word PLAY to create more situa-
tions for the student to respond.
STUDENT’S RESPONSE (extended to the word PLAY): The teacher

asks, “Playing can be FUN! Isn’t it?”
If the student hesitates, she can encourage the student - “Go ahead!
You can say or spell YES!”
Keep the answer predictable with YES or a No and understanding

that the student will answer a YES.
91
Once the student answers, the teacher acknowledges - “You and I

agree - YES! Playing is fun.”
Why does the teacher talk so much?
It was believed that autistic people do not like people talk-

ing to them because they get overwhelmed. However the
world continues to talk around them, to each other and
autistic people have a very limited role communicating be-
cause they have not learned to adapt to people talking to
them. Their contribution toward communication is limited
to requests. The teacher’s complimenting, discussing and
encouraging enables the student to adapt to communica-
tive speech.
(By the way, obviously I am not talking here about the small
group of very able autistic people who go around the world,
flying independently, giving lectures about autism and who
can live independently)
STUDENT’S RESPONSE (continued) - The teacher asks the student -

“Let’s spell the word SKILL.”
If the student can verbally spell or handwrite, the teacher allows it

by complimenting - “You are right! You spelled it correctly.”
If the student hesitates to verbally spell, the teacher can hold the
letter-board/stencil-board in front of the student’s visual field (as
92
visual prompt to initiate a response) and hand him a pencil to point

at the letters and spell (tactile prompt to initiate a response).
She moves on to the next statements:
TEACHER’S PARTICIPATION: The teacher states aloud (auditory

stimulation) and writes down the key words as she states (pair-
ing the auditory stimulation with kinesthetic and visual stimulus),
“Your HAND must move very FAST to keep up with the game.”
This statement has possibilities to grow ‘discussion words’ around

the words HAND and FAST before the teacher makes the next state-
ment . So for the STUDENT RESPONSE ….. (after the student spells
the words HAND and FAST)
Like… What else the student like doing with his hands other than
playing?
Does he like using his hands and playing Lego blocks?
Does he want to try writing some words using his hands?
Which word relates to FAST? Could it be the word SPEED or the

word BROWN?
When he travels in a car does he like it to move fast?
How about being in traffic?
etc.
93
Topic 3: Talking about the weather

If the teacher cannot think of any topic she can begin talking about
the weather. She quickly constructs five statements:
If the weather is fine and pleasant:
1. Isn’t it a beautiful DAY?

2. The SUN is shining.
3. Birds are very BUSY gathering food.
4. Gathering food is an IMPORTANT part of a BIRD’S day.
5. Maybe a WALK in the sunshine will be NICE afterwards.
If the weather is not pleasant:
1. I wish today was BRIGHTER.

2. The SUN hasn’t been out since this MORNING.
3. I did not see any BIRD today.
4. There was a BIG puddle OUTside.
5. Today is a good day to have SNACKS and watch the RAIN.
The words that are in capital letters can be used as spelling words.
Let’s take the first example of the weather being bad:
TEACHER’S PARTICIPATION: The teacher states aloud her question

(stimulating the student’s auditory learning channel), “Isn’t it a
beautiful DAY?” She may write the key words BEAUTIFUL and DAY
(to stimulate the student’s visual and kinesthetic learning channels).
94
STUDENT’S RESPONSE: The teacher asks the student holding the

stencil/letter-board and handing the pencil to the student (audi-
tory, visual and tactile prompts) to spell the word DAY.
Why doesn’t the teacher give the student a bigger word like
BEAUTIFUL to spell instead of a simple word like DAY?
The goal of this first session is to BUILD A LEARNING DISCIPLINE -

where the student learns to RESPOND and participate in the session.
If the opening spelling is easy, it will be less stressful to spell. And

if the student feels that the task is as simple as spelling a word like
DAY, he may be eager to listen more and cooperate. This is not say-
ing that a verbal student who has spelling capabilities, does not
know how to spell the word BEAUTIFUL aloud – the teacher is sim-
ply trying to reduce anxiety.
If the verbal student spells the word verbally it is fine as long as the
spelling is relevant.
Some students spell aloud or spell on the letter-board without

stress while others find this new situation – ‘new performance ex-
pectation’ is stressful.
If the student spelled the previous word ‘DAY’ without any stress:
The teacher may ask the student to take turns and spelL the
word BEAUTIFUL …..where the teacher writes by saying aloud the
first two letters - BE, and invites the student to spell AU, takes her
turn to spell aloud and write TI and invites the student to complete
the spelling by adding FUL.
95
To create a conversational tone the teacher may add a comment -

“It’s always nice to see a beautiful day. “
(These conversational sentences may not have a spelling goal but

create a friendly auditory stimulation)
AND … if the student ENCODES the situation well, understands his

role -
‘to listen to the teacher and respond,’ the teacher may use the
word BEAUTIFUL as a link to a communication source by asking ….
“Which word would you link to BEAUTIFUL? Could it be the word

PRETTY…or ….HUNGRY?”
This question will require the student to choose, and making any
kind of choice REQUIRES THE STUDENT TO REASON. It is important
that the student feels successful -so the choices here have so much
of a CONTRAST(one being more obviously correct). As the student
gets used to reasoning the teacher can bring the choices closer - by
asking “Will the word BEAUTIFUL be linked to PRETTY or DUSTY?”
The teacher will move on to the next statement.
However, if the student was too stressed out to spell the word
DAY:
The teacher moves forward by stating and writing the second state-
ment, not asking him to spell beyond the word DAY.
96
She can still make a comment like - “I like the way you are doing
your best today,” before moving on.
If the student is in a volatile mood the teacher may say a brief - “I

understand you aren’t happy today. Right?”
Then try a YES or NO answer from the student.
If the student is resisting response, the teacher may move on in-

stead of putting performance pressure on the student.
TEACHER’S PARTICIPATION: The teacher states aloud (stimulating

the student’s auditory learning channel) the next statement - “The
SUN is shining.” She writes the key word SUN (stimulating the visual
and kinesthetic learning channel) on the worksheet paper.
STUDENT’S RESPONSE: The teacher asks the student holding the

letter-board/stencil-board (auditory and visual prompts) handing
the pencil to the student (tactile prompt) - “Will you help me to
spell the word ‘SUN’?”
The student responds either by spelling aloud or by spelling on the

letter-board.
The teacher may proceed toward getting a communication re-

sponse from the student:
TEACHER’S PARTICIPATION: Teacher says aloud in a communicative

tone - “I can think of a word with sun …hmmm… let me think …. OK.
My word is ROUND! How about your word?”
97
She asks - “Can you think of any other word?”
(Here she tries to find out whether the student can spontaneously
come up with a word or not).
A verbal student may/may not say aloud a word linked with sun.
If the word the student spelled aloud/used a letter-board to spell

related to the ‘sun’ is relevant and related to sun:
The teacher can honor the verbal answer that is appropriate and
write it down.
If the word is not related to the ‘sun’ or the student is searching to

get his voice to say something:
The teacher can INTRODUCE VERBAL CHOICES saying aloud -

“Would you want me to use the word TEXAS to relate to the sun or
the word BRIGHT?”
This is to proceed steadily toward GROWING THE REASONING

SKILLS of the student.
98
I am not disputing any student’s cognitive understanding.

But the application of reason may be a new experience for
him in a language-based RPM session where there needs to
be more reasoning skills:
• “Which word should I say/spell in this situation?”

• “How can I explain this answer better?”
It is important that the teacher does not rush the reasoning

skill. Choice-making is a reasoning skill and students who
are always told what to do may have to ASSIMILATE this
new way of RESPONDING - by reasoning first, selecting an
answer and then responding.
Assimilation is when the student recognizes a new learning

(here learning to respond) based on his previous exposure/
knowledge of it.
eg. Someone may know the rules of a tennis game but to

play the game and respond to an approaching ball is totally
different.
If the student hesitates to choose or chooses the incorrect word:
If the student chooses the word TEXAS and not BRIGHT, the teacher
can ‘explain’ - “Texas can FEEL VERY HOT during summer……but the
word BRIGHT would be a better choice.”
99
This way the student won’t feel embarrassed.
The teacher will make a mental note - Next time she will present
choices that have even more contrast.
So instead of giving TEXAS and BRIGHT as choices, she would

make more CONTRAST BETWEEN THE CORRECT AND INCORRECT
CHOICES TO MAKE THE STUDENT FEEL SUCCESSFUL.
So she can ask the student - “Do you think the number 45 will be
closer to the word SUN or is it the word BRIGHT?” where it would
be more obvious that 45 cannot be the choice.
How to address an incorrect answer made by the student?
The best way is to put oneself in the student’s shoes.
If the student is anxious about the task, he may make a

mistake. There would be more opportunities in the session
where the student may be required to make choices. If from
the beginning he feels horrible about himself for making a
wrong choice, his self esteem may be affected in the future.
So the teacher must avoid saying - “No,” or making a nega-

tive remark at this stage.
Moving on to the next statement ….
100
TEACHER’S PARTICIPATION: The teacher states aloud (auditory

stimulation) and writes (visual and kinesthetic stimulation) the next
statement - “Birds are very BUSY gathering food.”
This way the teacher will try to STIMULATE the student (using - the
different learning channels) to pay attention to her statements and
prompt the student to RESPOND - either through speech or spelling
the words.
What can create a challenge with student performance

during the first session:
Student gets distracted by an obsessive thought
If the student is visually distracted or engaged with a different

thought - obsession, stim, or his to-do list…… the student may in-
terrupt himself many times over a spelling.
The student who is DISTRACTED WITH AN OBSESSIVE THOUGHT

may respond by interrupting himself and diverting away from the
purposeful activity of spelling the right word.
He may begin spelling the word and remember he has to recite his
‘to-do’ list and abandon the spelling.
The teacher should REDIRECT the student every time so that he

CREATES A HABIT of completing the task (completing the spelling
response).
101
The teacher may have to REDIRECT the student’s focus more

often in the first session to create a new learning - to focus
on what the teacher is telling.
Once the habit of responding to the teacher develops, the

student will learn to IGNORE THE OBSESSIVE (THOUGHT)
DISTRACTIONS and be able to pay attention to learning new
information and interacting with the teacher appropriately.
Once the student has learned to respond to the teacher’s request

to spell, the teacher can grow this toward TEACHING a few facts
eg.about weather - how we get rain, etc….
Student has echolalia and the teacher is introducing choices. The

student repeats last choice:
In the example we looked at earlier with the IPAD, the teacher has
expanded the discussion to include french fries and tries to intro-
duce reasoning. “Do you like your french fries hot or cold?”
If the student has ECHOLALIA the student may say aloud - “HOT or
COLD” or repeat the last choice he heard - “COLD” because speech
happens as a mirror response before the reasoning occurs.
If the student hesitates to answer anything verbally or echoes aloud

the words, the teacher may ask the student, showing the letter-
board/ stencil-board (as visual prompt to initiate the answer) —
“Will you help me to choose - letter H for HOT or letter C for COLD?”
102
In cases where the student remains inert the teacher may have to
ASK THE STUDENT TO RESPOND by stating (as a last resort to stu-
dent response) - “I am sure you like your french fries hot!”
“Let’s touch letter H to spell HOT.”
When the student touches letter H, the teacher asks the student to
touch letter O and this way helps the student to learn that he has
to RESPOND as part of the session rule.
Student ignores spelling or performing due to pre-occupation

with a familiar activity (playing the game) :
The teacher must understand that some students need more time
to encode a new learning-performing situation and adapt to it. The
ability to encode new situations, being flexible to new learning, un-
derstanding one’s expected role and the goals of a situation differ
from one student to another. With more and more practice, the stu-
dent will slowly adapt to the session. Hence the teacher has to give
the student enough time and maintain her own patience without
giving up on the student.
In the IPAD example, let’s say the teacher has tried turn-taking to
spell ENJOY but the student still resists. Before moving to the next
point she may, however, state a compliment like, “I ENJOY watching
you play too. I am sure you are winning the game!” Then she can
add ….”Maybe you may enjoy spelling too!”
She is keeping the conversation friendly and understanding, and

initially just growing the student’s adaptability toward hearing a
communication.
103
What I would NOT ask the teacher to do is: Take the game
away. That will cause the student to ‘feel’ hostile toward the
teacher and there will be a loss of trust. It may be an uphill
task in future sessions to regain the student’s cooperation.
Motor modeling is a good way to introduce the student to purpose-

ful activities - choosing, finding the letters etc. and ‘allowing’ the
student some freedom to engage in the familiar activity in between.
So the teacher can motor model - “We are going to find the letter E
together while the game is paused” (she motor models by finding
letter E as joint activity).
She asks the student - “Why don’t you practice touching letter E
before playing again?” and hands the pencil as a tactile prompt.
The student will have the rush to go back to the game and so com-
plete the process of touching the letter E.
The student begins the game.
Then the teacher hands the pencil back and says - “Why don’t you
help me find the next letter N while the game is paused?”
The student who has the urge to go back to the game will find the
letter N so that he can return to the game.
104
Then he can go back to the game for a few seconds and the teacher
can continue having the student meet the performance goals of the
session.
Student becomes emotionally reluctant to respond during the

session:
For the student who is reluctant/resistant to respond, the teacher

must still continue.
In the IPAD example where the teacher asks the student - “Let’s
spell the word SKILL,” if the student does not respond, the teacher
can say:
“I understand the spelling is too easy for you! Isn’t it easy?
Yes or No?”
She can suggest -“You can either touch Y for YES if it is easy and N
for NO if is hard.”
She can continue - “Now you pretend and become my teacher and
tell me how to spell a word ……”
She holds the letter-board/stencil-board and asks….
“Okay Help me! I am trying to spell the word SKILL as SCILL. Which
letter must I replace?…. Letter C or letter L?”
The teacher needs to try her best to dilute the student’s hesitation
and non-performance by -
105
1) ignoring what the student cannot do
2) understanding that someone who can play a game can also spell
3) continuing the stating and asking (knock the door and it will open
theme)
TEACHER PARTICIPATION: The teacher continues stating aloud the

next sentence - “You have to LOOK at the iPad SCREEN.”
She writes down the words LOOK and SCREEN on the worksheet
paper (as visual and kinesthetic stimulation).
STUDENT RESPONSE: (By now the student slowly encodes his role
after the teacher’s turn from his previous experience).
The teacher asks, “We can spell the word LOOK and SCREEN by
pausing your game.”
She assures him, “You can go back to it once you spell these words.”
(The teacher here slowly begins to create some rules. Obviously by

this time most students find it less threatening to follow a simple
suggestion like - pausing the game because they can go back to it
after the STUDENT PERFORMANCE is done.)
Once the student performs the spelling of the words (by spelling
aloud or spelling on the letter-board) that were asked by the teach-
er, the teacher can compliment him by saying - “I like the way you
tried practicing self-control to spell.”
106
STUDENT RESPONSE (using the concept of ‘SELF-CONTROL’ from

the teacher’s compliment): The teacher may ask, “Was it HARD or
EASY to pause the game for a minute?”
Since it is an opinion-related question, either answer is okay.
If the student spelled EASY (verbally or through spelling on the letter-

board/stencil-board) the teacher can comment - “That is very BRAVE
of you. Brave people are NOT SCARED to try doing the right thing.”
She can ask the student to spell the word BRAVE with a casual sug-
gestion like - “It would be nice of you to spell the word BRAVE.”
If the student spelled HARD (verbally or by spelling on the letter-

board/stencil-board) the teacher can comment - “It may look HARD
in the beginning but it will get easier through practice.”
She can ask the student as a suggestion - “You can tell me how you
will spell the word PRACTICE….. Do you want to write it down …..or
would you rather spell on this letter-board?”
If the student hesitates, the teacher can sound the letter-sounds

phonetically and verbally prompt the student to complete the
spelling.
Summary of Introductory session:
When planning an introductory session for a verbal child:
• Be aware that there may be increased anxiety which can

result in behaviors
107
• The prime objective will be to teach the skill of responding

appropriately to the teacher - verbally or using spelling
• The secondary objective will be to introduce reasoning
(through choices). Only introduce this if the student is
comfortable and responding well.
• In order to reduce anxiety the topic should be something
from the student’s familiar environment .
• The teacher can plan how to adjust the session if the stu-
dent has an obsessional thought, has echolalia, shows
resistance from the start or shows reluctance to respond
during the session.
How is the introductory session with a verbal autistic

student different from a non-verbal autistic student?
Autism is a wide spectrum. Every autistic student is different.
There is a difference in:
learning channels:
Whether the student has selective/generalized/global - vision, au-

ditory, tactile and kinesthetic learning channels
anxiety and confidence level:
Some students are scared of a new situation - teacher, topics to

learn, fear of failing or being tested, difficulty in encoding a situ-
ation and understanding his role in the session - listening to the
teacher and showing what he heard
108
assimilation and accommodation:
Understanding and recognizing new concepts/new way of respond-

ing - based on previous exposure to a similar concept and modifying
his old learning
Differences relating to motor skills:
With a non-verbal student we are working on the motor skills as

one of the primary objectives, helping the student to learn how to
move the hands and choose from a field of two choices and grow-
ing the field toward more if the student’s motor skill serves it.
To teach the motor skills - responding by choosing the answer, spell-

ing the answer on the stencils or letter-board, the teacher has to
motor model in the beginning to show the student how to respond.
A verbal student usually has better motor-skills and may know how
to say the words (sometimes selective in his verbal responses). So
the teacher may not have to motor-model and show the student
how to perform unless the student has hyper-imitation and copy-
cats every activity of the teacher.
Differences related to learning how to spell:
A non-verbal student who never experienced spelling can begin to

learn how to spell using phonic sounds and grow his skills. Many
students who are auditory learners pick up an understanding - how
to spell using phonics in the first session itself.
109
If a verbal student has selective motor skills to spell certain words

and not the other, the teacher may need to give more auditory
prompts - pronouncing each phonetic sound so that the student
can develop an understanding of how to spell. Once he gets an un-
derstanding he can generalize his spelling skills. Otherwise he may
be limited to spelling just selective words or looking for a word
model to copy.
Some verbal students with selective spelling skills may be auditorily

confused when they realize they may need to spell words that they
have never spelled before.
Sometimes there may be emotional anxiety or frustration if the

verbal student discovers that he cannot spell a new word as easily
as his selectively learned words. Hence the teacher has to begin the
session with a very generalized topic without new information to let
the student feel comfortable.
That is why the first session with an anxious verbal student will be
revising his existing knowledge, using words that are familiar to him
and easing him out of his anxiety. No student (typical or autistic)
can learn under stress. Later on the teacher can create cognitive
goals.
Once the teacher sees that the student is getting comfortable emo-
tionally, trusting the teacher, she can create cognitive objectives
and go by a lesson plan.
110
Chapter 6
Why do verbal students
get stuck in ‘scripts’?
Scripted talk leads to doubting the language compre-

hension of autistic students:
It is a general observation that verbal students with autism use
language that is often formatted differently from typical people.
People who ‘hear’ verbal children find that there is a kind of ‘lan-
guage wall’ that students create and sometimes their own speech
can become this wall.
Many verbal students feel secure staying within this boundary of

their own speech.
Those who do not realize how the language - speech relationship

in autism works, judge the comprehension of a student based on
speech output. Many verbal autistic students who begin speech
early in their lives may get stuck repeating the same words and
phrases, as they are reinforced by their own repetition, thus creat-
ing a verbal loop. This verbal loop may get further reinforced when
111
people respond to them in a certain ‘predicted’ way that may turn

into an auditory expectation.
‘Language = Reward’ Equation:

A student at an early age learned to say some words--words of
request and greeting—and people reinforced the requests with -
“Use your words” command, rewarding each time the request was
made, assuring the student that was the way of the world.
Maybe the students grew some more words around names, places
of interest that rewarded the speech.
No doubt he heard others communicate, and undoubtedly he un-

derstood more than his spoken words but he kept himself out of it
not trying to involve himself. Not that he did not learn language but
he saw no reason to try to speak beyond what was asked because
he was taught the equation:
Language = reward.
Language usage seemed to be for ‘others’ and so he did not feel it

was a necessity to include himself. He was conditioned to the linear
- reward based ‘language system that ended with awards’ worked.
Even if it wasn’t a request but a labeling - the student said some-

thing verbally like - “That is the sun!” or “Look! Monkeys!” or may-
be “That monkey is climbing a pole!” and looked at someone. He
received assurance with a nod or acknowledgment (which was the
reward). And that utterance was ‘enough.’
112
Why do verbal students get stuck in ‘scripts’?
Who will think about sitting at a zoo and teaching facts about mon-
keys and then ask the student to explain back what he understood?
Or perhaps create a story around a mischievous monkey?
Speech can remain the equation:
Speech = reward.
Language beyond the ‘certainty’ of that formula speech may re-

main dormant in a verbal autistic person if not stretched.
Initiation toward any purposeful activity like speech does

not happen spontaneously in autism. And prompting isn’t
advocated in most therapies that the student went through.
Lack of initiation and lack of prompting for the purpose-
ful activity--to grow words around the words can create a
speech plateau.
After the first sessions (discussed in the previous chapter) where

the student adapted to the new environment and his anxiety
calmed down, the teacher would spend some sessions doing aca-
demic lessons.
Adapting to language through an academic session:

Academic sessions would help the student to grow a discipline to
learn and adapt to spelling and language.
113
Although I have discussed these academic sessions in my previous

books, I am summarizing it for those who do not have my books.
During these academic sessions, the student and teacher would

work around the:
Cognitive objectives - where the teacher chooses an age-appropri-

ate lesson, then uses a state-ask method to teach the student. She
states a lesson point and asks a question to the student from that
lesson, pointing to spell the answer on the letter-board (or say the
answer aloud)
Skill objectives - Student will learn the spelling and grow the skill to
answer the teacher by spelling the answers related to the questions
Tolerance objectives - Student grows auditory tolerance of listen-

ing to the teacher, grows time tolerance to sit longer, creates a work
discipline, develops a tolerance toward learning new topics and be-
ing less resistant.
Communication objectives - This objective is a by-product of the

lesson. The student will learn to express doubts, give opinions
through spelling--spell his disagreements or understanding of a
topic.
Once the student begins to adapt to the academic lessons, the

teacher may try to merge the student’s speech with spelling
communication.
In the next chapters I have shown some examples to achieve this.
114
Why do verbal students get stuck in ‘scripts’?
These exercise sessions would be done separately after the aca-

demic sessions. The purpose of these exercises is aimed toward
modifying the existing speech by bringing speech and spelled words
closer.
However if these exercises are tried prior to the academic state, the
student may not have enough discipline to maximize his potential.
Again every student has his individual adapting clock. Some stu-
dents may show eagerness to try them after a few sessions while
others may take more academic sessions.
115
Chapter 7
Exercise 1:
Modifying language by Growing
words around one word
For a student who has the existing verbal skill of labeling objects
around his environment--names, places, animals and things--the
teacher can use those labeling words to create discussion lessons
and attach more words to them.
As I said in the previous chapter, this exercise must follow

the most important objective of RPM and that is academic
education. Because more we know the facts, better is our
communication is better.
Examples of using familiar ‘nouns’ as the lesson topics:

Example 1:
The teacher chooses a familiar word - a noun from the environment.
116
Modifying language by Growing words around one word
Say the noun is a body part - ARM.
Discussion points:
1. Spelling the word to begin with (using the student’s existing

spelling skills)
2. Structure of the arm - shoulder, elbow, wrist, knuckles, fingers
3. Functions of the arm - pick, lift, hold, push, pull, write, draw,
wash, shake, throw, catch ….
4. Growing and attaching words around each functions -
Picking an object vs. lifting it - discussing words like weights:
lighter objects vs. heavier objects
(Which is correct option - pick a table or lift a table)
Pushing vs. pulling - toward vs. away from the body, discuss-
ing whether lighter bodies are easier to push than heavier
bodies (introducing the terms ‘less resistance’ and ‘more
resistance’ - if necessary), discussing distance.
Holding - discussing responsibility
Writing vs. drawing - language vs. representation, skill,
practice, (optional point to discuss - what is the difference
between a meaningless scribble and a painting?)
Washing - discussing words like cleanliness, using soap and
how soap molecules can stick dirt molecules to their own
molecules (if the teacher wants to include science).
Hand-shaking - discussing social gesture, who to shake
hands with
117
Throwing vs. catching - discussing games like baseball, bas-

ketball, discussing the importance of those skills in sports.
5. Optional topic (if the teacher wants to involve more science
topics)
Arm as a machine - what is a lever – fulcrum? (point around
which the arm moves to perform an action - elbow), the
force or effort (the arm) and the load (the object to be
picked up)
6. For an older student - discussing words like efficiency, skill,
surgery, sculpture, pottery, etc.
7. Creative writing - At the end of the topic the student spells
why he appreciates his hands.
If the student wants to write longer prose he can write an
essay about whether robotic hands can replace the human
arm? Will it help soldiers who lost an arm?
8. Encouraging speech - The student will try to read out his
paragraph/essay aloud.
118
How to encourage the reading habit:
Best way to encourage reading aloud is teacher and student

beginning with a chorus reading so that the student grows a
tolerance toward the purposeful activity of reading.
In the beginning it may seem that the teacher is producing

ninety percent of the words and the student is just offering
a tail-sound but with more and more practice the student
grows the confidence and begins participating more.
Slowly the teacher fades away her voice.
Example 2:
The teacher chooses the word - MIRROR (already known to the

student)
Discussion points:
1. Spelling the word MIRROR as an introduction to the topic.

2. Discussing the function of the mirror - reflection
3. Discussing the image -
Lateral inversion (If the teacher does not want to mention the term
‘lateral inversion’ she can keep the discussion to ‘how left side is
inverted to right side’ in the image),
119
Image being of the same size as the object,
Distance from the mirror to image is same as object to mirror
4. Purpose of mirror -
• Personal grooming
• Mirrors are used for decorative reasons- teacher can
include a Did you know fact: in the Palace of Versailles
there is the Hall of Mirrors
• Increase the candlepower/light to the room - long ago
candles were placed in front of mirrors to create more
light
• Many scientific instruments use mirrors (since the pur-
pose of this is not learning science, the teacher may not
worry about the details )
5. Ancient mirrors: (optional) Did you know facts -
• In Mesopotamia, mirrors of ancient copper were used
• The earliest manufactured mirrors were pieces of pol-
ished stone such as obsidian which is volcanic glass
• And in China a particular composition of silver and mer-
cury was used
6. Creative writing: Student composes a paragraph on why he
likes/dislikes mirrors
Or
Constructs a story with a mirror in it.
Encouraging Speech: Student is encouraged to read aloud or with

the teacher the story/paragraph he just constructed.
120
Examples of using familiar ‘verbs’ as the lesson topics

Example 3:
The teacher can select verbs and grow more words and language
around them.
The teacher can select a familiar verb - WALK
1. The introduction will be the mechanics of spelling the word

‘WALK.’
2. Talking/spelling about the body parts involving the activ-
ity of walking - the legs (if necessary, the teacher can add
words like - muscles, bones and joints – otherwise, cover
those terms in a separate academic lesson), why snails have
to drag themselves (optional)
3. Observations from nature -
How insects walk, animals with four legs walk, birds like pi-
geons walk…
4. Differences between activities - walking and climbing,
walking and running…
5. Concepts - Simple concepts like balancing
6. Terms linked to walking: rushing - being late, time, punc-
tuality, patience, waiting, hurry (growing as many words as
possible)
7. Constructing sentences to link the different words - eg.
“When my neighbor was late, he could not wait any longer.
He rushed out in a hurry.”
8. Discussion - Walking as an exercise.
121
9. Creative writing -
Student discusses where he wants to go for a walk (spelling
in sentences) and why. The teacher encourages him to say
what he expects to see while walking, etc.
Here the student can either spell on the letter-board or say
aloud, depending how best he can produce relevant words.
10. Encouraging speech -
The student reads aloud the sentences he constructed from
the previous exercise (if necessary, with the teacher as a
joint reading activity). The more practice the student gets,
his visual tolerance to track the lines will improve.
Then the teacher will slowly fade out her voice.
Example 4:
The teacher may select a verb - LISTEN
1. Introducing the topic with spelling the word ‘LISTEN’

2. Talking about the organ involved - EARS and mentioning
EAR-DRUMS vibrating and message reaching the brain (in
a different academic session the teacher can show the dia-
gram of the ear to the student to help him understand the
hearing process).
3. Comparing our hearing to that of an animal (like a dog -
training whistles), discussing night animals who depend on
hearing to navigate.
4. Comparing noises - loud vs. soft, scream vs. whisper, voices
of different singers, animal calls the student can think of,
122
noises from the street (keeping the discussion light with-

out going into the details of academics, remembering that
the aim of these discussions is to help the student focus
on one topic and through it attach as many ideas/words as
possible)
5. Identifying the speech differences between - statement,
request, command, praise, criticism (Here the teacher may
prepare some examples from story dialogues so that the
student can get used to differentiating those ‘tones’).
6. Creative writing - The student discusses what sounds he ap-
preciates most, why he appreciates those sounds.
(If the student cannot decide, the teacher can give choices,
saying - “Which sound out of -- wind, rain, traffic, music,
radio, birds, waves - do you like to listen to?”)
Student constructs a story that includes a loud noise of
thunder.
7. Encouraging Speech -
Student reads aloud his story and paragraph (if necessary
as a joint activity with the teacher, which will be faded out
with practice).
Examples of using familiar ‘adjectives’ as the lesson

topics
Example 5:
The teacher can choose an adjective to grow discussion points

around - say she chooses “HOT.”
123
Spelling the word HOT is a good way to introduce it.
Discussing the sense of touch by our skin. Wearing a light color can
help reflect the sun rays but darker colors may absorb more sun-
light, making us feel hotter. Coping mechanisms of summer - stay-
ing inside, drinking water, swimming to stay cool
Discussion of the relativity and types of heat -
Hot, hotter, hottest
eg. “This summer was hotter than last summer but the summer of
year 2010 was the hottest.”
“Morning may be hot, but afternoon can be hotter.”
Dry heat and humidity, drought
Discussing global warming as an optional topic, keeping in mind

the age of the student. We don’t want to scare primary school stu-
dents with concerns about a Greenland melt).
Caring for plants during summer -
watering, irrigation
Foods that taste better hot -
french fries, pizza, noodles
124
Creative writing - Student constructs sentences about activities he

likes to do during the summer. Teacher encourages him to think of
reasons why he likes those activities
Encouraging speech -
Student reads aloud the sentences he constructed. (If he cannot

focus, his teacher can read aloud with him as a joint activity).
Example 6.
The teacher selects an adjective word - “GREEN”
1. The discussion begins with spelling the word GREEN

2. Identifying green in the surroundings - grass, trees (teacher
can do an academic session later about the green pigment
on the leaves that involves the process of photosynthesis).
3. Health benefits of green food--choosing your food
4. Green color is symbolic in many ways (as a ‘did you know
fact’ )-
Ireland believes it is a lucky color,
certain cultures believe it is a holy color,
Ming Dynasty described heavens as green, but in Israel it is
bad news.
England - “Married in green, ashamed to be seen,” but
“Married in white, you’ve chosen all right!”
The teacher can introduce and discuss the concepts of
superstitions
125
5. Discussion of a complex emotion called envy where color

green is used - “Green with envy.”
6. Discussing today’s ecological terms - “Green cars” and
“green homes.”
7. Creative writing - The student constructs a paragraph about
the importance of planting trees in the community and pre-
serving the parks.
8. Encouraging speech -
The student reads aloud the paragraph he just constructed.
If necessary the teacher reads aloud with him as a joint ac-
tivity to keep him focused.
Implementation:
Objectives:
1. The student learns to attach words and language around a

single word: noun, verb, adjective
2. The student unlearns the habit of ‘linear’ interaction (where
a request begins and ends) and develops the skill to focus
on a topic
3. The student organizes his language through an exercise of
creative writing around that topic
4. The student develops the skill of reading aloud his
composition
Teacher’s participation -
126
Here the teacher would use a discussion method using a suggestive

tone - “How about discussing the topic around the color GREEN and
see how much we can discuss?”
or
“How about discussing something that you like to do - that is,

WALKING?”
Student response -
The teacher will encourage the student to respond by either saying

it aloud or spelling his answers aloud on the letter-board.
Asking questions like - “Can you help me make a list of objects that
can be green?” instead of, “List the different green objects,” sounds
friendlier.
Some more examples -
“Can you think of ways you can stay cool when it is hot? Staying
indoors or standing under the sun?” instead of, “How can you stay
cool when it is hot.” (from the example using the word HOT)
or
“Did you hear about “green cars”? where the student is forced to
respond with either a YES or a NO. (From the example using the
word GREEN)
or
127
“Let’s discuss listening to loud noises and softer noises and see
which one sounds better.” Instead of, “What is the difference be-
tween loud and soft noise?” (From the example, exploring the
word LISTEN)
or
“I wonder where you have to climb instead of walk! Could it be the

stairs or the floor?” instead of “Where do you need to climb? Stairs
or floor?”
or
“Do you think it is a good idea to eat without washing your hands?”
instead of, “What should you do with your hands before eating?”
128
If the student responds through spelling -
It is important for the teacher to acknowledge every correct

letter after the student points at the letter to spell in order
to assure the student that he is on the right track.
If the student spells a sentence - “I LIKE TO LISTEN TO BIRDS.”
The teacher says aloud after the student touches each letter
to spell as auditory confirmation.
So after the student touches letter I, the teacher says aloud

- “I.”
After the student touches letter L (first letter of the word

LIKE), the teacher says it aloud - “L” ….and so on to assure
the student it is the right letter and keep him focused.
What to do….
- If the student cannot come up with an appropriate
response
Students can be stuck, unable to find the right word while discuss-
ing. When this happens, student can go back to speaking impulsive
words that are out of context. Here the teacher can bring the focus
of the student back by following one of these strategies:
129
a) Teacher gives an example that is her own personal opinion:
While discussing the word LISTEN -
“I think the sound of thunder is very loud. Can you think of any
animal that is loud?” - Here the teacher gives a hint to the student
so that the student can search from a certain category (in this case
ANIMAL) of words.
In the discussion around the word WALKING if the student is stuck -
“I can walk two miles before getting tired. How about you?” - giving
the ‘mile’ example so that the student can narrow down his search.
In the discussion about the MIRROR -
“The image in the mirror will show my right hand as left. What would
the mirror show you if you placed a sticker on your left cheek?”
b) Teacher embeds/hints at the answer to the question so that

the student feels successful:
In the discussion about the word ARM -
The teacher states - “We all know how important our arms are! We
throw, catch, pick objects, write, type, hold, carry objects! If there is
a book on the table that you wish to see what will you do?”
While discussing the MIRROR -
“I am sure you see your reflection everyday…. So how would you

explain to your little brother if he thinks there is another person
behind the mirror?”
130
In the discussion about the word WALKING -
“I am sure we all have to rush when we are late….I wonder if you

would think it is a good idea to be punctual. What would you do if
you are not punctual?”
In the discussion LISTEN -
“Sometimes loud noises are not necessary if everyone can hear

clearly… I wonder whether screaming is necessary or not? What do
you think?”
- If the student cannot spell the answer right:

None of us are ‘Spelling- Bee’ champions and in an RPM session
students are allowed to make mistakes while learning. So if the stu-
dent spells a word incorrectly the teacher may do a little state-ask
‘micro-teaching’ of that spelling-
eg. The student spelled the word REFLECTION incorrectly (related

to the MIRROR discussion) the teacher may ‘teach,’ assuring the
student that it is okay to make mistakes. She can say something like
- “That was a good try. Let us learn how to spell it.” Then she writes
down the word (stimulating the student’s visual and kinesthetic
learning channels) and says aloud (stimulating the student’s audi-
tory learning channel) - “This is how we spell it - RE/FLEC/TION.”…..
showing the student how she broke the word syllable by syllable.
Then she lets the student spell it again after learning.
131
- If the student interrupts the discussion with unrelated

words:
We must understand that the student, who has years of the audito-
ry habit of hearing himself speak, will not overnight be able to con-
trol it voluntarily. When this exercise is being introduced to a verbal
student the teacher has to be prepared for some unrelated words
because the old habit will offer a natural resistance to (erase and
then rewrite) a new learning - saying aloud the words of discussion
at the end of the session.
But as time passes and the student desensitizes (or his listening
tolerance to the teacher increases) the frequency of saying aloud
his unrelated words decreases.
Slowly the habit fades out.
Old habits tend to take up space in our performance system.
Whenever we have to learn a new skill - say learning how

to write using the left hand (if we are right handed), there
would be the urge to write with the hand that has memo-
rized the motor task.
Ask a person who is used to driving on the right side how

his performance will initially resist driving on the left side.
If a person who pronounces English in British tone tries to

adopt an American accent let us know how that would be.
132
The teacher would acknowledge those words of ‘interruption’ in-

stead of dismissing them.
Examples:
While discussing the topic ‘MIRROR’ let’s say the student remem-
bers a zoo animal:
The teacher would not try to stop the thought but INCLUDE it within
the discussion. She can say - “Of course! Monkeys and lions will find
their reflections too! Don’t you think they would be surprised?”
While discussing MIRROR, if the student says “Mc Donald” the

teacher can say - “Next time when you visit there you can carry a
pocket mirror and see how your french fries reflect!”
While discussing the word MIRROR the student hyper-focuses on

saying words around “grocery shopping.” The teacher can give an
assurance - “Of course, someone will see that before you go gro-
cery-shopping you look at your reflection in the mirror. We all want
you to look smart!”
And follow the student activity like - “Let’s spell the words PERSONAL
and GROOMING to agree upon it.”
Is the verbal student ready for this exercise?

This exercise will follow after the student gets practice with a few
academic RPM sessions. Although independent of academic learn-
ing, it would offer the student a way to stay focused on one topic.
There will be turn-taking in this discussion in which the teacher will
133
give her opinions and the student will give his remarks - using a
conversational style.
Sometimes the student may show a learning interest in which the

teacher can briefly explain a fact or two from the discussion.
Example: If the student wishes to know more or has a doubt about

a discussion point
In the discussion topic ‘LISTEN,’ the word ‘vibration of ear-drum’

may not be clear to the student.
Here the teacher will do a MICRO-TEACHING and explain the phe-

nomenon in a few sentences ….
Teaching points:
1. Inside our ears each of us have a little skin called ear-drum

that receives all the sounds we hear.
2. When sounds travel through air it creates waves in air.
3. These waves reach the ear-drum and makes it move fast.
4. When things move fast we call it vibration.
Even if it is micro-teaching it will involve the state-ask components

of an academic session.
Teacher’s participation - The teacher will state each point by writ-

ing down the key words on the worksheet page (stimulating the
student’s visual, auditory and kinesthetic learning channels).
134
Student response - After each statement the student will respond

to a question asked by the teacher about that point to demonstrate
that he understood what the teacher taught.
The teacher will ask the student to respond using prompts -
Visual prompt - using the letter-board so that the student can visu-
ally focus on the letters to spell
Auditory prompt - by saying aloud the letters after the student

touches the correct letters
Tactile prompt - by handing a pencil to the student to initiate the

‘purposeful movement’ of spelling
Purposeful movement or activity is when the student mean-

ingfully responds to the teacher. It is different from impulse
or an obsessive action. Spelling the right word without get-
ting distracted is the purposeful motor activity.
After the clarification is done, the discussion will carry on as planned.
Different students have different adaptation abilities.
If the student’s motor skills and tolerance skill are sufficient, he

will be able to adapt to this exercise. If the student is not ready,
then the teacher has to continue with the age-appropriate planned
academic lessons before the student is ready till the student has
success with this exercise.
135
Chapter 8
Exercise 2
Modifying language through Reasoning -
Cause and Effect Relationship
This exercise would be introduced after the student has obtained

the tolerance to complete the goals from Exercise 1 (which was dis-
cussing a word--noun, verb or adjectives, followed by reading the
composition)
Examples from this exercise should be done separately to

the full academic RPM session. The primary goal of RPM will
always be academic.
The examples here are shorter lessons with the goal of help-
ing a verbal student merge his language skills (expressed
through the slower motor activity of spelling that allows
him to reason while answering) with his speech.
136
Modifying language through Reasoning - Cause and Effect Relationship
The teacher begins a sentence and shows the student

how to complete it using cause-effect:
Example 1: Teacher discusses sentences beginning
with the preposition word ‘AFTER’.
Teacher’s participation:
The teacher says aloud: (stimulating the student’s auditory learning

channel) - “There are many ways to begin a sentence - Let us begin
a sentence using the word - AFTER. ….
“After it rained ……”
She writes it down as she speaks (stimulating the student’s visual

and kinesthetic learning channels)
She then provides examples about possible ways to complete the

sentence by writing each possibility down.
• the weather turned cold.

• the stars came out.
• we did not need an umbrella.
• the streets dried up.
• we saw a rainbow.
Student’s response:
The student is then encouraged to find the possible outcomes to a

different sentence.
The sentence begins with “After the summer vacation was over …..”
137
The best student performance will be obtained IF THIS EXERCISE

FOLLOWS AN ACADEMIC SESSION ON PREPOSITIONS because the
academic session will create listening - reasoning practice and elim-
inate distractions caused by the internal thoughts.
Even though the student is verbal he will be asked to spell in order

to complete the sentences because spelling will slow the student’s
impulsive tendencies to speak out unrelated thoughts.
If possible, the verbal student will be encouraged to touch each

letter and say that letter aloud - this drowns the impulsive speech
with purposeful speech while spelling.
What if the student gives an unrelated cause-effect

statement?
Sometimes the student can link an unrelated effect to a cause: the
student may spell out - “After the summer vacation was over I fell
asleep” (which although grammatically correct does not demon-
strate thinking beyond the grammar) .
There can be three reasons for this answer:
• The student may be distracted or tired.

• The student thought of any random activity and did not
reason.
• The student wanted to be funny.
(Although there is a belief, based on a few studies done on a ‘hand-

ful’ of autistic people, which infers that autistic people lack the
sense of humor,I tend to disagree. I have worked hand and glove
138
with more than two thousand autistic students - young and adults
and found that given the opportunity to learn and communicate
they have expressed humor).
However whether the student is expressing humor or not, the teach-

er has to do a micro-teaching using a few sentences to arouse the
student’s reasoning:
1. Summer vacation has almost forty-five days and we sleep

every day.
2. Like our breakfast, lunch and supper, sleeping is an everyday
activity.
3. Whether it is a summer vacation or back- to-school day we
continue to sleep (here the teacher gives a clue to the stu-
dent using ‘back-to-school’).
Implementation of the micro-teaching:
The teacher will acknowledge the student’s previous effort to try

to answer - “You tried to give a good suggestion.” (She will never
discard the student’s attempt by saying a NO)
She will state the three points, writing down the key words (stimulat-
ing the student’s visual, auditory and kinesthetic learning channels) -
SUMMER VACATION —— 45 DAYS
BREAKFAST, LUNCH, SUPPER, SLEEP —— EVERYDAY ACTIVITY
SUMMER VACATION OR BACK TO SCHOOL (written in bold as a vi-

sual hint or reminder)
139
Next she will ask - “So let us think about what we do after the sum-
mer vacation in a different way” ….
“Will you say - ‘After the summer vacation was over I fell asleep’.
or
Will you say ‘After the summer vacation was over we went back to
school’?”
RPM is not about testing the student’s inabilities before

students are taught. It is empowering the student to learn,
reason, understand and communicate.
In RPM the teacher is discouraged from saying a ‘NO’ and

making the student feel horrible about himself and his ef-
fort to try to answer.
A wrong answer can be appreciated as an attempt to re-

spond with - “That was a very good try ….now let us learn
how to answer a question like this….”
The student makes a choice and the teacher asks - “What else can
we think of that happens ‘after the summer vacation is over’?”
She may offer choices if the student cannot spontaneously come up

with an answer -
“Do you think the weather gets cooler or we have breakfast?”
140
In the beginning the teacher offers an incorrect choice that is totally

unrelated and once the student begins to show more success she
narrows the choices in their relatedness…..
“Do you think we get up early and get ready for school or we get up
late?” (where both options involve waking time)
Including speech:
Once the student has given as many cause-effect possibilities as he

can think of (in the beginning the teacher will offer suggestions/
choices and gradually fade them) the student reads the sentences
aloud as suggested in the previous chapter.
In the beginning the teacher and student chorus-read as a joint

activity, and once the student gets practice through successive ses-
sions the teacher fades away her voice.
In a separate practice-session the teacher can ask the student to

try completing more sentences beginning with AFTER -
After I unwrapped the present …..
After we watched the cartoon……
After we heard the thunder …..
After we heard about our team winning …..
The teacher can customize the sentences depending upon the stu-
dent’s age, exposure to language, and interests.
141
If a teacher wants to be ambitious and further the student’s rea-

soning skills she may ask the student to think about a situation
(cause) that precedes the “after that” event.
So she can demonstrate by stating -
“Let us consider the statement - AFTER THAT WE WENT HOME.”
She may ask the student - “Can you think about a statement that
goes before it?”
She can demonstrate giving an example -
“We were tired from the party. We wished each other a goodbye.
AFTER THAT WE WENT HOME.”
She can ask the student to think of sentences that could be written
prior to - AFTER THAT, I WANTED TO HEAR THE RADIO MORE OFTEN.
or
AFTER THAT, WE BECAME GOOD FRIENDS.
Example 2: The teacher discusses completing the

sentence beginning with … ‘BECAUSE’. .
Teacher participation: The teacher chooses a sentence as a dem-
onstration, writing the words down while saying aloud (stimulating
the student’s auditory, visual and kinesthetic learning channels)
“Because it was spring…..
142
….the possibilities to complete the sentence will be
• flowers were blooming everywhere.

• we were waiting for spring break.
• the weather was warmer.
• we planted tulips.
• the season of snow was over.
• we were preparing for the Easter holidays.
or more personal like ….
• my cousins were visiting me for spring break.

• traveling without warm clothes was lighter.
• my sister went clothes shopping….”
Student response: After the demonstration, as an assignment the

student is encouraged to complete a different sentence in as many
ways as possible. The teacher asks - “Can you try completing the
sentence that begins with -
Because it was fall …..”
The student completes the possible ways to end the sentence.
If a student uses an emotional ending to a sentence like - “Because

it was fall I was sad,” this can arouse an emotional reaction to probe
more deeply.
However, the teacher must remember that - constructing a sentence

using an emotional word may not mean that the student was really
sad. It is important for the teacher to remain neutral while teaching.
143
If the teacher continues by saying –“You were sad because….” and

lets the student try to continue the sentence demanding an answer
may compel the student to think of or invent something tangen-
tial or an unrelated answer to escape the probing.
If the student spells out an emotional word, and if the teacher is

confident that she can make the student feel better, the teacher
can let the cause/effect continue by saying - “You were sad because
…..” and let the student continue the sentence.
We can get carried away when it comes to talking about emo-

tions. As teachers we must allow ourselves to know as much
as the student wants us to know. We respect the student’s
decisions to let us know what they think we can know.
RPM sessions are not psychological counseling.
If at any time the teacher finds that something arises in a

session which is beyond the teaching, she will bring it to the
attention of someone responsible for the student and ask
him/her to handle it in the best way possible.
The objective of this session is reasoning--based on relating

cause and effect.
The teacher can encourage the student to continue constructing

more sentences beginning with - “Because it was fall ….”
144
Including speech:
Once the student has completed a number of possible ways to

complete the sentence, - “Because it was fall …” the teacher can
encourage him to read all the sentences aloud. There will be certain
words that the student would articulate better than others. Hence
in the beginning the teacher has to read together with the student
so that the reading and articulation can get generalized.
A question can be - “Why can a student read certain words

better than the others?”
If verbal skills are selective, then the reading and articula-

tion skills of the student will be selective too. Articulation
skill and language skill are two different abilities. So a stu-
dent who can read the title of a DVD - “Santa Claus is Coming
to Town” may struggle to read “The Legend of King Arthur
and his Knights of the Round Table.”
Out of these words, they may selectively read words that

they are used to seeing - The, king, and, his, of, the, round
and table” but not say the words “legend, Arthur and
knights.”
With practice there will be a merging of the two skills and the stu-
dent will be able to recognize and say the spelled words better.
145
In a separate session the teacher can ask the student to try com-
pleting more sentences beginning with the word BECAUSE -
Because the doctor asked me to breathe slowly …..

Because there was so much to see …
Because we were at the airport ….
Because my grandparents were visiting…
Because the radio warned us about the storm….
Because I wanted to watch the cartoon…
Because I did not know how to ask anyone ….
The more practice a student gets, the more creative his thoughts
will be.
Example 3: The teacher plans the next set of sentenc-

es beginning with “EVER SINCE”
Teacher’s participation: The teacher chooses a sentence as a dem-
onstration with several examples -
She says aloud while writing (to stimulate the student’s auditory,
visual and kinesthetic learning channels)
“Ever since we bought the house ….
• we discovered Thomas Jefferson’s pictures everywhere.

• we knew we would have many inquisitive neighbors.
• we kept losing things.
• we took interest in gardening.
• we lost our interest in reading.
146
• we began to find red bags with a penny.

• we enjoyed entertaining guests.
Student participation: The teacher encourages the student to com-

plete the sentence beginning with - “Ever since we heard the news
….”
There could be moments when the student may attach a conclusion

that may not link the reasoning.
In that situation the teacher may give a few choices to help the
student exercise reasoning skills by asking the student -
“Which choice will sound better: A, B or C? Ever since we heard the

news we ….
A) we had breakfast.
B) we discussed it.
C) the sky was blue.”
Students who are young may try an easier exercise sentence begin-
ning with -
“Ever since I got my new iPod….”

“Ever since I returned from a vacation….”
For a student who has more practice with reasoning skills the
teacher can give a more challenging exercise -
“Ever since I became interested in world affairs …”

“Ever since I heard about the refugees…”
147
“Ever since I heard about the elections …”

“Ever since I wanted to write a book ….”
Growing possibilities around existing skills would be up to the

teacher – she decides how far she wants to take the lesson.
Including Speech:
Once the student completes constructing the sentences, the teach-

er will encourage the student to read them aloud. This would be
aimed toward bringing the language and speech closer.
There would be challenges in articulating new words (words that

the student never articulated before) like ‘refugees,’ ‘elections’ and
others where the teacher will help as a ‘joint reading’ activity.
During the practice-reading it is best not to over-do it (that

is, make the student read the same words over and over
again because we must not let the student end up feeling
horrible about himself). Generalization of speech can’t be
attained in a day.
Perfection comes with an everyday discipline and not one

day’s repetition.
148
Example 4: The teacher plans a session to create sen-

tences beginning with - “IF IT…”
The word ‘If’ is more about a future prediction.
Some students will have more success if they practice sentences be-
ginning with - “after…., because….. and ever since…..” to get the
best cause-effect ideas.
Many verbal students like to have a definite picture of the future

events. So they may keep a schedule. When the schedule cannot be
followed--for example there is rain and a student cannot go to his
planned destination he cannot be flexible or forgiving. The ‘If’ rea-
soning helps the student to see a future picture.
Teacher’s participation: The teacher plans sentences in the begin-

ning as an example -
“If it stops raining……”
She writes as she says aloud (stimulating the student’s auditory,

visual and kinesthetic learning channels) and continues with differ-
ent possibilities ….
“• we can go for a walk.

• we may see a rainbow.
• we may check the water in the creek.
• we may sit outside and enjoy.
• we may see how fast the water dries up.”
149
Student’s response: The teacher may assign the student to com-

plete the sentence beginning with -
“If I visit the pet store ……”
The student spells the different possibilities to complete the

sentence.
If the student comes up with an odd cause-effect pair, like “If I visit
the pet store I like iPad,” the teacher will immediately give choices
to snap the obsession/distraction by offering four choices -
“Which one of these four will you choose?
If I visit the pet store …..
a) I will choose a canary

b) I will choose a tiger
c) I will choose a wolf
d) I will choose a giraffe
Keep “I will choose” common in this case so that the student re-
members to associate the right verb for a future sentence.
After the student can think of a number of possibilities to complete

the sentence, the teacher can give more practice exercises, com-
pleting sentences like -
“If I visit my friend….”

“If my sister is sad …”
“If I have to choose a book …”
150
“If I want to change something …”

“If I want to make my spelling skills better …”
“If I want to make a wish …”
Again the teacher can adapt these sentences based on the stu-
dent’s age/imaginative capabilities.
Including speech:
Finally the student reads all the sentences he constructed with/

without prompts from the teacher.
Example 5: The teacher plans sentences beginning

with “MAYBE…….”
‘Maybe….’ is related to ‘if….’ But the student will get used to a dif-
ferent option to present the speculation.
Teacher’s participation: The teacher chooses an example to

demonstrate:
She says aloud as she writes (stimulating the student’s auditory,

visual and kinesthetic learning channels) - “Maybe the rain will stop
and …
• we can all see a rainbow.

• I can go for a walk.
• the water will dry up.
• the traffic will move.
• the sun will be out.”
151
Student response: She asks the student to complete the sentences

related to cause - effect beginning with ….
“Maybe the flight will be on time and ….”

“Maybe Santa will bring me a big box and ….”
“Maybe my cousins will visit us and ….”
“Maybe the dog wanted to play and ….”
“Maybe next year we can plan better and …..”
Including speech: As the student grows his confidence with lan-

guage, he can blend his speech and spelled language by reading
aloud what he spelled.
If the teacher sees any un-relatedness in the cause-effect sentence

completion she can offer choices to help the student remain on
track.
So if the student completed the sentence - “Maybe the flight will be

on time and ….” with something unrelated like - “the chair is heavy,”
the teacher can immediately ask the student - “Did you want to say
…..
we were carrying heavy bags …
or,
we like heavy chairs?”
152
The teacher asks the student to create related sen-

tences to follow an initial sentence (to practice the
cause - effect sequencing)
Through this exercise the student will be able to stay focused on
a thought for longer duration. However this exercise must be per-
formed after the student succeeds in the previous exercises using
the cause-effect balancing in a sentence because these exercises
require more spelling tolerance and attention.
The following exercise will enhance further reasoning skills for stu-
dents who avoid reasoning; those who can say something simple
like - “I like to ……” or “It is …..” but do not extend the thoughts
beyond that.
Example 1: The teacher begins a sentence using the

theme - weather/climate
Teacher’s participation: As a practice, the teacher demonstrates
with an example to show how each sentence follows the lead from
the previous sentence and how there is a link. She says aloud while
she writes (stimulating the student’s auditory, visual and kinesthet-
ic learning channels),
“The sun was too bright that morning. So we closed the blinds. But
then it got too dark inside the room. So we decided to open the
blinds slightly. ”
Student response: The teacher asks the student to create two sen-
tences after - “The wind was strong.”
153
In the beginning she may give two or three choices if the student
hesitates to create a sentence following it.
“Which sentence can be the next possible sentence?
a) So we saw the sun.

b) So we saw the car.
c) So the leaves were flying around.
d) So the radio was playing a popular song.”
Then perhaps ask the student to find the next possible sentence
that follows choice c) So the leaves were flying around.
a) Leaves are green.

b) Leaves begin falling this time of the year when the wind
blows.
c) Leaves make food for the plants.
d) Birds can fly.
The teacher asks the student to complete the next example:
“The rain began last night.”
What if the student came up with an unusual sentence following it?
If the student spelled out a sentence like. “The rain began last night.
I want to go to McDonalds.”
The teacher will not say it is wrong and make the student feel like a
failure. She will say - “Let’s edit the sentence,” and suggest - “How
about we put it down like this….?
154
The rain began last night. I wanted to get some something hot and
tasty. So I wanted to go to McDonalds.”
This way the teacher will try to help the student link the sentences.
Then she can ask the student to complete - “From McDonalds, I got
myself …..”
However if the student gets sufficient practice with the previous set
of exercises in which the student completes the cause-effect equa-
tion the student will find more success with these exercises.
Including speech:
The student reads the sentences aloud.
The teacher can try to give practice exercises with other sentences
around the ‘weather’ theme like -
• The sun was still behind the clouds.

• It was a hot summer morning but at least there was no
school.
• Nobody liked to hear the sound of thunder.
• Even the dog did not want to step on the snow.
• Spring was here.
• The building was covered by fog.
• Clear skies made us linger outside.
• The hurricane was approaching.
Weather is a good topic about which to practice communication as

it can allow the students to be creative with language. I have seen
155
many creative ideas coming from the students around the ‘weather’-
related topic.
To generalize the language skills it is important that the

teacher changes the orientations of the weather words in
different sentences and does not allow the formation of a
‘formula.’
There may be a tendency in some verbal students to find a

routine or a pattern in the way they would want to hear cer-
tain things. Sometimes it is important to allow the student
to adapt to a compound sentence structure like - “It was a
hot summer morning but at least there was no school.” The
student who is looking for a formula or a patterned sentence
structure will have more control of language by practicing
sentences that have variation from any kind of formula.

theme - adjective.
Ii would be ideal to do this exercise after an academic lesson on the
topic - ‘Adjectives.’
Teacher’s participation: As a practice, the teacher demonstrates

the previous sentence. She writes the sentences down as she says
aloud (stimulating the student’s auditory, visual and kinesthetic
learning channels) -
156
“The book had pretty pictures on every page. I enjoyed looking at

them. I wish I could find a similar book for myself.”
Student’s response: She asks the student to plan sentences after -
“The brown leaves looked pretty” or ….
“The brown leaves against the blue sky looked pretty.”
In the beginning the teacher can ask the student to choose the next
sentence giving four choices:
a) The sunlight made the leaves bigger.

b) The sunlight made the leaves look brighter.
c) The sunlight made the leaves look hotter.
d) The sunlight made the leaves look darker.
And after that:
a) So we took some photographs.

b) So we had to watch the television.
c) So we went to school.
d) So my friend visited me.
If the student comes up with his own set of sentences then the teach-
er will not need to present choices to the student. With enough ex-
ercises the student begins to apply his reasoning skills and construct
creative sentences.
157
Including speech:
Once the student completes constructing the sentences the teach-

er asks him to read aloud the sentences he has constructed.
The teacher can try to give ‘practice exercises’ around similar sen-
tences with adjectives -
Nobody saw the bright light in the sky.
A blue bird sat on a fence.
Most of the girls in the classroom have brown backpacks.
His silver pen was missing.
The variation in positioning of adjective words will help the student

to grow out of expecting or constructing sentences with a formula
or pattern of arranging words.
More examples:
Teacher’s participation: As practice, the teacher demonstrates
with an example to show how the cause-effect situation grows. As
she states, she also writes them down (to stimulate the student’s
visual, auditory and kinesthetic learning channels) -
“The loud footsteps told us he was here. We hid quickly to sur-

prise him. But he knew that we were hiding and asked us to come
outside.”
158
Student response: The teacher asks the student to practice con-

structing sentences after -
The shoes made a squeaking noise.
He went unnoticed because of his quiet movement.
The groaning engine finally stopped.
We watched the rustling leaves swaying in the wind.
The box was filled with old documents from the Civil War.
Practicing speech:
Many times verbal students tend to omit the adjectives (other than
the basic color words: hot/cold, big/ small, etc.) while they are talk-
ing. Reading aloud the sentences may help them to try to use more
adjectives.

theme - verb
It will be ideal if the teacher does this exercise after an academic
lesson on ‘verbs’.
Teacher’s participation: As practice, the teacher demonstrates

the previous sentence. She writes them down while saying aloud
(stimulating the auditory, visual and kinesthetic learning channels
of the student).
159
“The train was moving fast. I looked out through the window. The
trees and houses outside the train seemed to slip away backwards.”
The complexity of the teacher’s example would be based upon the

student’s exposure to language. For the student who performs bet-
ter with simple sentences the teacher may give -
“The kitten played all day. She was tired. So I gave her a bowl of
milk.”
The complexity of the sentence can be gradually increased as the

student begins to apply his reasoning skills better.
For more practice, the teacher asks the student to construct the
following sentences -
The clouds drifted slowly toward the west.
The big wolf tried blowing down the brick house.
He is Sam.
My parents asked me to be home.
After the student spells out the following sentences the teacher
asks the student to practice speech by reading the sentences he
constructed.
As the student gets better with the exercises relating to cause and
effect he can apply it to his real life.
160
So if the student expresses verbally his wishes - “I want to go to

Target.” The follow up questions will be - “What will ‘happen’ at
Target?”
Or - “What will you be looking for in Target?”
“Would you want to buy something there?”
etc…..
It is important that the teacher adapts the exercises in this

chapter to the student’s needs and success probabilities.
Different students have different language tolerance and
adaptations toward complexity. For a student who is in-
tolerant toward language and shows anxiety, the teacher
will present simpler sentences. For students who are more
adventurous toward language the teacher can use more
variation.
The core idea of this chapter has been:
To decentralize the communication from a linear obsessive speech

and grow it toward reasoning using cause - effect exercises.
161
Chapter 9
Exercise 3:
Developing discussion
skills through a picture
Discussion helps a person to share ideas and be tol-

erant toward other’s opinions:
This exercise is designed to follow Exercises 1 and 2 that were dis-
cussed in the previous two chapters. Growing communication skills
for verbal students is a step-by-step process and we cannot miss
out on steps and expect that the student will be successful with
discussion skills. The previous exercises are designed to develop
the tolerance skills which are required for discussion. If we have
not built up these skills we may not achieve all the communication
objectives.
162
Developing discussion skills through a picture
Discussion involves a back and forth exchange of opinions in

which the student learns to understand how others are per-
ceiving a topic and accepts the fact that ‘others may have a
different way of looking at things.’
Discussion gives the opportunity to the student to agree or

disagree with others.
A picture is a good place to start the discussion because it

can hold the visual focus of a student longer.
Often a verbal student may announce a thought, and everyone

nods and accepts his announcement irrespective of whether it is
realistic or appropriate for his age. This is because there is a general
acceptance that verbal autistic individuals lack reasoning skills and
their language development is poor. There is little understanding
that in many cases the speech may be just an instinctual response
to an excitatory stimulation or anxiety.
For example -
After a fifteen-year-old student (who has learned to command and

get what he wants ) makes a statement - “After work we go to the
park!” - there will be a tendency to reward the request right away,
even if there may be some weather impracticalities (it is scorching
hot or pouring rain). Every practical or impractical request is fol-
lowed to either encourage the speech or appease the student.
163
So the student is not accustomed to hearing the suggestion - “How

about going home and reading something?” -where the student is
allowed to accept that others may have a different opinion too.
Many times this ‘not accepting’ other’s views is simply because it

was not inculcated as a discipline.
There has been a general misconception about - “Theory

of Mind” where high functioning autistic children did not
seem to ‘understand’ (as per the tests) that others could be
thinking differently. (Practically all the tests on autism have
been done on the generalized kinesthetic students who have
better motor skills and have some functional speech).
If I received a nod from others about everything I said, I

would have trouble, too, understanding that others did not
feel the same way!
Many kings in history had trouble with this understand-

ing because their wishes were always granted and so they
did not see how others thought when they imposed heavy
taxes on their subjects without understanding their hard-
ships and they tortured others if they did not get what they
wanted.
Talking about a visually stimulating picture is a very useful way to

focus communication as a two-way interaction. Most verbal stu-
dents have either selective or generalized vision. So there may be
164
pictures - photographs, magazines, etc. that can easily attract their

focus.
The skills involved to engage in a discussion:

1. Staying focused on a topic - here the topic will be around
a visually stimulating picture. The student will observe the
components of the picture and will be encouraged to dis-
cuss them. This will involve more than identifying and label-
ing the components.
2. Listening to the teacher’s views - discussion is a two-way
interaction in which ideas are exchanged. If the student
ignores listening to the teacher’s views, the student will
take for granted that whatever he is going to say would be
enough for the teacher to agree with him.
3. Generating his own ideas and thoughts and spelling them
out related to the topic, whether or not he agrees with the
teacher, growing reasoning skills if he disagrees with the
teacher.
4. Blending speech and language - Once the student con-
structs a sentence, he practices reading it aloud. RPM is not
all about the letter-board. The letter-board is a visual prompt
that helps the student to stay focused on the language.
5. Moving toward improving the expressive language - so
that instead of constructing a basic, “It is a picture of rain,”
the student can say, “When it rains heavily there are chanc-
es of flash-flooding.”
165
How to choose a picture:

Choosing a picture will be based on the student’s -
• Age
• Visual tolerance
• Performance tolerance
• Exposure to language
• Emotional tolerance
1. Age of the student:
If the student is young the student may be drawn to pictures of

animals, simple drawings with bright colors, pictures of a birthday
party with children or vacation at a beach with children.
A teenager would like pictures of sports, birthday parties with teen-

agers, scenery and adventures - mountains, mountain-climbing,
desert scenes, oceans, ships, family vacation, museums, streets,
cultures of the world.
An adult may be looking at pictures from magazines, hospitals

where relief work is done, streets, shopping, advertisements,
family, home decorations, fashions, world cultures and heritages,
political cartoons. I like to use the New Yorker cartoons or the
Reader’s Digest cartoons with a student who does advanced level
communication.
For a student who is able to communicate about world affairs at an

advanced level, and can handle pictures from a National Geographic
- on poaching problems, hunger problems, etc. the teacher can use
166
it to discuss the problems and the laws related to poaching or the

philanthropic efforts to deal with hunger. If the personality of the
student makes him emotionally insecure and if he is stressed see-
ing pictures of crowds (or elephant poaching) the teacher should
instead discuss pictures that do not arouse stress and stay with ad-
ventures like mountain-climbing or hang-gliding.
Some pictures that can be used for all ages are of family, streets,
vacations. However the type of communication will vary between
the different age groups. The way someone would see the compo-
nents of a picture will differ from age to age.
Autistic adults who may have difficulty in adapting and have

anxiety can begin their session on ‘growing discussion skills’ with
pictures of interest. If a student has a favorite place to visit, a fa-
vorite activity like swimming, a picture of his room, a pet or any
photograph that can stimulate interest, the teacher can use it. As
the student grows the skill, the teacher can use different pictures
to stimulate the student. Sensory adaptation is a gradual learning
process and cannot be rushed.
However, it is important to grow the visual tolerance of an adult

autistic student toward more age-appropriate pictures with succes-
sive sessions. Otherwise there may be visual stagnation by looking
at only certain under-age pictures and not being able to enjoy age-
appropriate visual images.
2. Visual tolerance:
Verbal students usually have either of the two types of visions -
167
Generalized - when the students can visually focus on any object/

picture irrespective of where the object/picture is placed - on the
table, magazine, photograph, painting or a picture that is hanging
on the wall.
or
Selective - when the student shows visual preference toward one

object/picture/movie …over the other.
Verbal students rarely have global vision - when the students can-
not focus their eyes anywhere in particular.
Students who have a generalized vision would attend to all aspects

in a picture compared to a person who has a selective vision. The
teacher can select any picture for the student with a generalized
vision from any book or magazine or photo album.
A student with selective vision may have visual focus toward one
aspect of a picture over the other.
For example - If he likes horses, he would focus all his attention on

the horse in a picture and ignore other details. So the teacher may
follow the student’s lead and see which picture would have better
visual attraction so that the objectives of discussion can be better
attained.
In the beginning the teacher can select pictures that are related to
the student’s selective interest. Slowly, with successive sessions,
the teacher will try to BROADEN the student’s visual interest by
replacing horse with something else like a tractor or a truck.
168
If a picture generates an excitatory visual stim from the stu-

dent and instead of discussion about a topic the student en-
gages in rote talking triggered by impulse, the teacher may
replace it with a different picture saying - “Since this picture
is very important we can talk about it later and now look at
a different one.”
3. Performance tolerance:
This involves an overall tolerance in the student’s response:
• How long will the student stay focused at a particular topic/

picture?
• Will he answer in words or full sentences?
• Will he allow the teacher to express her opinion with a rea-
sonable listening tolerance?
Since Exercise 3 will be done after the practice from Exercises 1 and
2, we can expect better performance tolerance from the student
compared to what we could expect from a beginner working on
RPM skills. If the goals of the previous exercises are not met, the
teacher may not find this exercise successfully implemented.
The student’s performance tolerance will depend upon how the en-
vironment is affecting him on that day.
External environment: which includes everything around the stu-

dent that attracts his sensory attention. Sometimes the visual stim-
ulus arising from a small piece of paper on the ground can create
169
an excitatory visual stimulus beyond proportion and disrupt the

performance. In this case, the student has to set it straight before
spelling further.
Internal environment: this includes the student’s feelings, obses-

sions, anxiety or memory. If a student is distressed due to some
internal thought, his performance may be affected as a result of it.
If the student is hyper-focused toward any component of the exter-

nal or internal environment, it will lead to an excitatory stim which
can inhibit the student’s tolerance for listening and performing.
If the student is distracted the teacher can select a picture with a

few components (details) in it - like a sunset or a mountain scene
which can also be visually calming.
If the student is able to focus, the teacher can select a picture that
has more visual details - a busy marketplace, a political cartoon (if
the teacher thinks the student is mature enough or has political
exposure) or a traffic scene.
Some students have more performance-stamina or tolerance to an-

swer in full sentences while others may be exhausted after spelling
a word.
If a student answers a one-word answer, the teacher can initially

fill up and complete the full sentence, but then encourage the stu-
dent to construct the next sentence, because part of growing com-
munication is answering in sentences.
170
Some students who can answer in full sentences may be exhausted

after spelling two or three sentences while others can continue the
discussion longer. The teacher can select a different picture if the
student has nothing more to discuss about a particular picture.
Some students may not have enough listening tolerance to hear

the opinion of the teacher. The teacher may write down the key
words about her own opinion to help the student adapt better and
realize that communication is a two-way process.
Since this exercise is done after completing exercises one and two
from the previous chapter, students do not need to be reintroduced
to tolerating time - how long the student needs to sit through an
RPM session. If the ‘discussion’ skill using a picture is pushed with-
out first allowing the student to develop tolerance by completing
the previous exercises, the student performance may not achieve
the objectives planned by the teacher.
Performance tolerance evolves through practice.
4. Exposure to language:
There are students - verbal or non-verbal who are accustomed to

hearing the same dialogue repeated over and over again through
the same videos they watch. Verbal students may repeat aloud the
same sentences again and again and also in their heads.
Sometimes they can build an AUDITORY FORTRESS and feel com-

fortable rewinding the same dialogues.
171
Students who build an ‘auditory-fortress’ with the same dialogues

CAN become distressed or overwhelmed when new language ex-
pectations are imposed on them. Since they engage themselves
hearing the repetition of the same words/dialogue they may not
understand the necessity to hear anything outside the comfort
zone of auditory stimulation. Their auditory engagement manifests
as an excitatory auditory stimulation. If allowed to grow, this excit-
atory auditory stimulation can lead to an obsessive preoccupation.
The longer the involvement in the habit of creating this sound for-
tress, the lesser becomes the interest in coming out of the comfort
zone and growing discussion skills. But we must remember that a
major part of language is attained by listening to others.
Do all students who listen to their selective auditory music/car-

toons build a ‘sound-fortress’?
Not all students build the ‘sound-fortress’, even though they

may appear to be listening to a particular auditory input (music/
dialogue). They are able to filter in external language (using those
‘stim’ auditory inputs merely as white noise) and can hear people
talking around them. Students who CAN LISTEN TO DIALOGUE OF
OTHERS DESPITE THEIR AUDITORY STIMS, grow better language
skills and use better vocabulary. They may still verbalize repetitive
words but they use them as a calming auditory stim instead of ex-
citatory. We can recognize the calming verbalization when, despite
the verbalizations, students can spell relevant words to discuss.
Some students grow up listening to poetry and stories if people

read to them and around them. Exposure to literature helps the stu-
dent learn better ways to express ideas. If a student is not exposed
172
to age-appropriate literature, the student’s language would be lim-

ited. Along with literature, if there is inclusion of topics related to
science, history and geography, the overall expressive language will
be better. This applies also to typical people – the more we know,
the better our language skills are.
Example: A sentence can be expressed as -
“I was anxious when I saw the questions.”
or
“All my confidence evaporated when I saw the questions.”
(involving the science term ‘evaporation’)
Pictures provoke ideas and ideas develop around our exposure

to education and language. Students show their ability to express
their ideas around a picture with varying degrees of sophistication.
Some students are inclined to be more creative than others if they
know about the art of good writing.
It is the task of the teacher to get the best output from a student.
If necessary the teacher can create a cognitive lesson around the
picture before discussing it.
Example: The picture is of ‘clouds’ and the student cannot spell/

say aloud anything beyond basic statements - “Those are clouds.
Clouds bring rain.” The teacher can prepare the student by revising
different facts about clouds first before the discussion begins.
173
Facts may include - concepts like evaporation, precipitation and dif-

ferent types of precipitation, thunderstorms, types of clouds, fables
involving clouds, poems on clouds, etc.
The facts will then form the basis of a discussion.
Since discussion is a two-way exchange, the teacher may initiate

the sentence about how she likes (or does not like) rain clouds and
the student may state his likes or dislikes; or how rain is important
for plants, how difficult it can be to live in drought, etc... It is im-
portant that the student does not limit his language of clouds just
around labeling and recalling its function.
The sophistication of language is based on how much language the

student is hearing and responding to. Hence the teacher must se-
lect pictures that would create the opportunity for most language
output from a particular student.
A student who is aware of current events and world affairs may

enjoy discussing a political cartoon or a cartoon around a current
social cause from the New Yorker or the Readers Digest maga-
zines. The teacher can determine the complexity of discussion top-
ics based on how informed the student is and select the picture
accordingly.
5. Emotional tolerance:
Emotions involve the student’s internal environment:
• Anxiety
• Doubts
174
• Obsessions
• Memories
Any interaction needs the person to ‘feel’ secure. During a discus-

sion session the student can feel stressed.
If the teacher finds the stress-level of a student high the teacher

may deliberately select a picture that reduces the stress - like pic-
ture of a birthday party, pets, zoo, flowers, paintings, cartoons -
which can reduce the stress levels of the student. Discussing a topic
that is positive is an attempt to neutralize the stressful situation.
RPM goals are different from psychological evaluation. It may be

tempting to ask a stressed student -
1. “Are you not feeling happy?” It is a question that is already

being answered by the student’s stress gesture, so asking it
is unnecessary.
2. “Can I do something to help?” - is a risk. What if the teacher
cannot help?
3. “Why are you sad?” – is a question that a ‘trained psy-
chologist’ is qualified to ask rather than the teacher who
is following the lesson objectives of ‘developing discussion
skills.’ Blurring the role of a teacher/friend/psychologist of-
ten turns into role confusion.
If the stress is related to an immediate cause – eg. An obsession/

anxiety this can be diffused by POSTPONING THE DISCUSSION
SESSION AND CONTINUING WITH AN ACADEMIC SESSION INSTEAD.
175
Once the stress is diffused or distracted through an academic les-

son the discussion session may resume.
(There are many examples of sample sessions in my book

HARNESSING STIMS AND BEHAVIORS IN AUTISM USING RAPID
PROMPTING METHOD)
If the stress is related to an episodic memory eg. thinking about

something unpleasant that happened recently, it will be linked to
emotional thoughts that will be slow to leave. Using pictures can
help distract the student. Pictures are visually stimulating and can
be used to distract the components of the memory (memory has
visual and auditory components).
Why a discussion around episodic memory not recom-

mended in an RPM session:
Episodic memory is often influenced by the following:
The sensory encoding of the situation which is based on the open

learning channels of the student during the time when the episode
took place. The senses are the doors to our experiences. Sensory
encoding differs from one individual to another.
For a generalized visual, auditory, tactile and kinesthetic student,

the encoding of a situation will be different from that of a selective-
ly auditory, generalized visual, generalized tactile and generalized
kinesthetic student even though the situation may be the same. A
globally visual, selectively auditory, globally kinesthetic and selec-
tively kinesthetic student will experience the situation differently.
176
Autism does not allow all the generalized sensory experience.

Sensory preferences will create a tangential experience which will
again vary from one student to another.
The sensory experiences are stored in designated regions of the

brain as components:
• components of language: we tend to translate experiences

into language.
• components of dynamics and intensity: how much impact
that experience offers, the speed of events - that is, how
many events took place within a time frame.
• components of emotions: many times we assign some kind
of feelings to a particular experience.
• component of belief: we tend to interpret experience based
on our belief system. If someone believes that a doctor’s of-
fice is traumatic, then the experience at any doctor’s office
can be traumatic, leading to memory storage.
Example 1: If an autistic person has an unpleasant feeling related

to the auditory experience of hearing a - “No” or hearing the word
“Later,” because every time he asks for something, he gets those
particular word-responses, then if he hears the same words some-
where in the session, his feeling of unpleasantness may resurface.
Example 2: If an autistic person is visiting a science exhibition to

form new memories (because interpretation of experiences build
up memories) and suddenly he spots a bag of chips or remembers
a theme park - he will ignore the visual diagrams or models dis-
played, ignore the auditory explanations of the diagram or model
177
and experience the science exhibition in a different way. Memory

will be stored based on where his attention and emotions were
focused.
Even typical people give different narrations to the same situa-

tion when they are asked to recall an event. That is why detectives
get confused when three or more people are describing the same
crime scene that they all witnessed TOGETHER BUT SEPARATELY.
When we recall an episodic memory, we assemble all those com-
ponents based upon how we experienced it—then we present it
using language.
What should teachers do when a student displays an

emotion during an RPM session?
First we must avoid an open-ended question like - “Why are you
sad?” although a natural curiosity or tendency to help will lead any-
one concerned or meaning well to ask this to the student. But this
question may not turn out to be actually helping in an RPM session.
If a student was to answer - “I am sad because I don’t want to work

now, and I want to end this session right now,” the teacher wouldn’t
be able to manage postponing the session (however, in a flexible
home-schooling atmosphere it is possible to stretch a break).
DO NOT ASK A QUESTION YOU MAY NOT BE ABLE TO CONTROL.
INSTEAD, ASK A QUESTION THAT YOU AS A TEACHER CAN HANDLE.
The teacher in an RPM session may find more success through ask-
ing a question like - “Would you like to look at the pictures from the
178
National Geographic magazine or People magazine?” then suggest

- “It may make you feel better.”
Feeling an emotion is something no one can un-feel in one

session. However it can be distracted away through RPM so
that it can be replaced by more neutral discussion. Pictures
are a good way to offer a distraction.
The teacher may suggest looking at some pictures from a maga-

zine together, to give the student a goal for the session - “Let’s see
whether you would like looking at some of these pictures...”, her
voice must sound as if she is making a suggestion instead of an
imposing - “Look at the picture” command.
I have found the best results with students who have fragile emo-
tions when I used pictures from magazines (using visual stimulation
as an interruption to emotions) and talking about them to pair up
the visual with auditory interruption.
Pictures from magazines are neutral to personal emotions and

can create a big distraction in the student’s internal environment
(anxiety/memory).
179
To compete with the student’s excitatory mind, the teach-

er may begin by showing each picture briefly, discussing a
point or two, then asking the student’s opinion in a word
or two. Since the student’s tolerance level will be low due
to anxiety, the teacher may compete with it by turning to
the next page and showing a different picture and continue
this till the student shows more involvement in participat-
ing with the discussion. The sensory competing with the
student’s internal environment using visual (picture), kin-
esthetic (turning the pages) and auditory (teacher talking
about the picture) can scramble the emotional pathway
during the session.
In the beginning the teacher must show a picture for a short dura-
tion of time by turning the pages more frequently when the stu-
dent has a higher level of emotional sensitivity.
Students with low emotional tolerance may feel visually claustro-

phobic if they have to visually focus on the same page/topic for
a longer duration of time, which can cause further distress. The
teacher may have to turn the pages more frequently, keeping the
discussion points brief in the beginning until the student shows
more focus.
As the student begins to take interest and participates more in the

discussion, the teacher may start utilizing a particular picture for a
longer duration to stimulate the student’s thoughts.
180
Example:
Objective:
1. The student looks at a few pictures and answers (one word

in the beginning, graduating to more) to the questions
based on the picture.
2. The student improves his visual attention around the pic-
ture while distracting himself from his emotional thoughts.
3. The student overcomes his emotional feeling and becomes
more involved with the session as the discussion progresses.
Sensory activity: The teacher can pull out a magazine like National
Geographic, where every page offers a picture (visual stimulus).
She can then pair up her opinions around it (auditory stimulus) by

saying - “Did you see this bird (if it is a picture of a bird) .... how
pretty it looks against the mountains ....?” drawing the auditory and
visual focus of the student toward the bird.
Student’s response: Students with high emotional unrest will have

low tolerance toward performance using their reasoning skills. The
teacher will not expect a sentence-long answer in the beginning
from the student.
She can ask - “Do you like the bird in the picture?” (Where there is
a limited expectation of answer - either a YES or NO).
The student responds either verbally a YES or a NO or may spell his

answer on a letter-board/stencil board. At this stage a short answer
is good enough. Even a short response of YES or NO is better than
no response.
181
The teacher can ask the student - “Can I read to you what the sub-
title of this picture says?”
Again the expected student response will be either a YES or a NO.

The verbal student will have a choice of answering verbally or by
spelling the answers.
Sensory activity: If the student spells/says YES, the teacher reads

the sub-title of the picture aloud (auditory stimulus) by pointing
at the words while she reads (stimulating the student’s visual and
kinesthetic learning channels).
It is not necessary for the student to visually focus on the words.
If the student spells NO, the teacher turns to the next page and fo-
cuses on the next picture to honor the student’s wishes.
(It is important for the student to feel secure with certain wishes).
Student’s response (if the teacher reads the sub-title of the picture):
The teacher asks a one-worded answer after reading the sub-title -

“What are they wanting us to know from this picture?”
If the student cannot tell/spell the right word, the teacher can give
some suggestions around her own views to stimulate the student’s
reasoning around the picture and further distracting him from his
emotional unrest. She should use a conversational tone because
the goal of this session is to develop discussion skills where the
student hears another’s opinions too.
182
If the student still cannot come up with an answer the teacher can
ask - “Do you think I am right?” This will demand a minimum re-
sponse with either a YES or a NO.
Sensory activity: The teacher may turn to the next page and show
the next picture to the student (kinesthetic and visual stimulation)
and say aloud - “Let’s see what this picture is trying to show us! Did
you see this orange house?”
This way the teacher changes the pictures more frequently

to LEAD THE STUDENT AWAY FROM THE EMOTIONAL STRESS.
The dynamics of turning pages and talking about the pic-

tures stimulates the auditory, visual and kinesthetic learn-
ing channels and competes with an emotional distress. RPM
can sooth the distress even though it may not solve the
cause of the distress.
A discussion using a picture may not necessarily have

cognitive objectives.
The teacher and the student participate in the discussion sessions
as equals.
The student understands that discussion is not necessarily an edu-

cation session where the teacher has to plan education goals. The
discussion involves the application of the student’s as well as the
teacher’s existing knowledge.
183
The reference of the picture will allow the participants to generate

words, thoughts and opinions.
The student and teacher can jointly:
• Plan events/vacation by being inspired from the picture (if

he sees a picture of Christmas decoration he can think of
ways he would decorate his house) .
• Express opinions (what they like or don’t like about the picture)
Example: Picture of a cat for a pre-school child

(It is important that the teacher selects the picture that the verbal
student can easily label verbally).
Teacher’s participation - The teacher can put on a show trying to

figure out what the picture is about. (Little children like the drama)
She can say - “This animal I know .... I have seen this animal some-
where, but I just can’t remember what it is called!”
She can write the key word ANIMAL on the worksheet page (pairing
up the auditory with kinesthetic and visual stimulations).
Student’s response - The teacher can ask the student - “Can you
help me remember the name of this animal?”
A younger student who is verbal always helps by labeling the animal!
The teacher can help the student say it in a sentence - “Then you
may want to tell me in a sentence beginning with - ‘THIS IS A ....’.”
184
The student responds either by saying the sentence aloud or spell-

ing the sentence on the letter-board and later reading it aloud (we
want him to use more purposeful speech).
If the student chooses to spell, the teacher writes down what the
student spells and asks the student to read his sentence after that.
Teacher’s participation: The teacher says - “Cats make good pets.”
(Keeping in mind that discussion is a two-way process.)
The teacher writes the words GOOD PETS while stating (stimulat-
ing the student’s visual and kinesthetic learning channels to pair up
with auditory).
Student’s Response - The teacher asks the student - “I wonder

whether you would like a cat at home.”
If the student responds with one word - either a YES or a NO, the
teacher would encourage him to answer in full sentence and then
ask the student to read the sentence aloud. The teacher writes
down every word after the student spells so that the student can
READ THEM ALOUD AFTER SPELLING.
There may be a follow up question - “How will you play with your
pet cat?” Or “What will you name your cat?” (allowing the student
to imagine a name and some activities)
If the student cannot spell or come up with an answer the teacher

can give suggestions as options..... “Perhaps you may name your
cat ......(and give some options)” and “Perhaps you can give some
strings or would you rather get a toy mouse?”
185
As the student spells, the teacher writes after each word. The teacher
will ask the student to read his answer aloud after he spells
out every sentence. If the student does not read/hesitates to read, the
teacher can invite the student to read the sentences as part of the cho-
rus-reading activity where the teacher reads along with the student.
Teacher’s participation - The teacher continues to grow the com-

munication around the picture with more possibilities by stating - “I
wouldn’t keep a fish-tank if there was a cat at home.”
Student’s response - The teacher can ask the student “Can you
guess why I wouldn’t keep a fish-tank near my cat?”
(Here the student has to use his prior knowledge about the diet of a
cat and use his reasoning skills)
The teacher can invite a student to compose a creative story

around a cat who loved to play with falling leaves. The student
spells the story and the teacher writes every word down after the
student spells them. After the story is complete, the student reads
it aloud to merge his speech and language.
Example: Picture of a mountain scene for an older

student.
(It is important that the teacher chooses a picture which will stimu-
late the student’s interest.)
Teacher’s participation - The teacher shows the picture and states

- “I like pictures of scenery! Look at the mountains in this picture!”
186
She may write the word LIKE (pairing auditory with kinesthetic and
visual stimulation) to highlight her thoughts about the picture.
It is important to use a conversational tone since the aim of this les-

son is to grow the student’s tolerance to discussing a topic.
Student response - The teacher invites the student with - “Can you
help me look for other things in this picture?”
The student spells/says aloud what he can see. The teacher encour-
ages him to spell in sentences. After the student says/spells each
word, the teacher writes those words down.
After the student completes spelling the sentence the teacher asks
him to read aloud what he spells, to merge the language pro-
duced while spelling and using speech.
Teacher’s participation - The teacher shares her idea - “I think I

would like to visit a place like this!” The teacher can write down the
word VISIT (stimulating the visual and kinesthetic learning channels
of the student along with the auditory).
Student response - The teacher asks the student, “Can you give me
a reason why you would want to visit a place like this.”
If the student has an answer the student can say it or spell the
words. The teacher writes down every word after the student spells
so that the student can read his answer aloud.
If the student cannot come up with a reason the teacher suggests

a few choices: “Perhaps you would like to go trekking,” or “Perhaps
187
you would like to explore the place, take photographs, do some

paintings .....”, so that it is easy for the student to select a reason.
What if the student interrupts the discussion session

with random words - like spelling a list of words from
his stim?
An autistic student may have an EXISTING excitatory stim or obses-
sion (rituals) at the beginning of the session where he can begin to
write or say aloud his obsessive words and interrupt the session.
If the verbal interruption affects the student’s performance in the
session the teacher can keep the discussions shorter or continue
with an academic session (including the words of the stims as ex-
plained in my book -HARNESSING STIMS AND BEHAVIOR IN AUTISM
USING RPM) and postpone the discussion session to avoid the
clash between the stimulatory thoughts and the thoughts gener-
ated by the discussion point.
The discussion session can continue at a different time when stu-

dents can separate the obsessive language and the purposeful lan-
guage and spell words that refer to the picture.
The complexity of discussion topic will develop with practice.
188
Chapter 10
Merging Mathematics and Language
This chapter is applicable for those verbal students who can com-
pute mathematical equations but have difficulty applying their
computing skill when faced with a word problem.
Verbal students need help blending the mathematical

ability of calculations with word problems:
Often numbers/computing are taught in isolation to language. For
example, a student learns through counting 7 + 3 is 10, and 7 - 3 =
4, but the student does not get the practice of connecting the equa-
tion to words:
“There are 7 big cars and 3 sports cars in a parking lot, how many
cars are there?”
and
“Out of the 7 cars, 3 were black. How many cars were not black?”
189
(Who told me they do not get the practice? I can see it when stu-
dents look puzzled or show discomfort when word problems are
presented to them. That’s how I know.)
Difficulties arise further if after learning addition, subtraction and

multiplication, the student then has to solve a problem that in-
cludes all those three operations.
Example:
“Out of 20 men, 7 men earned $12.00 an hour each, 9 men earned

$15.00 an hour each and the rest earned $10.00 an hour each. If
they all worked for 5 hours, how much did they earn altogether?”
Or, where the student has to apply more reasoning.
Example:
“20 men complete the work in 10 days. How long will it take 5 men
to complete the work? And how long will 40 men take to complete
it?”
Students who struggle with merging language and numbers will

need some practice to develop their reasoning skills
How to teach the relationship between language and

numbers:
1. S tudent who knows how to add and subtract but struggles
with word problems:
190
Example: 7+3 people
Sensory activity: The teacher uses a basic drawing (stick figures

work well as they are faster to draw) and syncs her teaching with it
(stimulating the student’s visual, kinesthetic and auditory learning
channels) -
“These are 7 people standing to the left side and 3 people standing
to the right side.”
Student’s response: The teacher asks the student - “Can you tell
me how to find out the total number of people on this page?”
She offers choices -
“Will it be:
A) 73
B) 7 + 3
C) 7 - 3”
The student chooses the answer - B.
Since the student already learned how to compute 7 + 3, he can

solve it as 10.
The teacher now leads this word problem toward reasoning skills -
“If 7 + 3 = 10….. How much should 17 + 3 be? Should it be:

A) 173
B) 14
C) 20….”
191
And if the student chooses the right answer …. she can ask - “And
how much should 27+3 be?”
(If the student needs choices, the teacher can offer choices and aim
towards fading the choices out)
Reasoning skill is a language skill…. be it of the type - “If it

rains I wear a raincoat” or “If 7 + 3 is 10, then 27 + 3 should
be 30.”
RPM is a language-based method because all our thoughts

have language. Even a simple thought like - “I need a glass
of water” or “I need $3.00 to buy a bag of chips,” and “$3.00
isn’t enough to pay a restaurant bill,” require reasoning.
The student will respond either through speech or use a number

board/stencil with numbers 0 through 9. After computing and rea-
soning, the student can say the answer aloud.
If the student has difficulty reasoning in the beginning or hesitates

to answer, the teacher immediately offers choices -
“If 7 + 3 = 10, then 27 + 3 should be…..

A) 22
B) 30
C) 40
D) 65
…”
192
After the student reasons the answer, the teacher continues with
her lesson for the student to practice more reasoning.
Example: $10 buying decisions
Sensory activity: The teacher can draw (stimulating the student’s

visual and kinesthetic learning channels) ten rectangles and state
(stimulating the student’s visual learning channel) - “These ten
rectangles are one dollar bill each.”
(or show real money if it is not too distracting.)
Student’s response: The teacher asks the student - “What should

we buy with ten dollars?”
If the student comes up with a verbal response that is appropriate

the teacher will honor that.
If the student decides on buying - “A CAR! or LAPTOP” with $10.00,

or something that does not match with the price of ten dollars, the
teacher can respond with - “Wouldn’t it be a nice idea to get a CAR
(or LAPTOP) for ten dollars? But you must win the lottery first to get
a big amount with a $10 ticket!” (instead of saying “NO”)
Then she can give choices where there is more CONTRAST between
the correct choice and the incorrect choices -
“What can we REALLY get with only ten dollars?

A) Wall
B) Tree
C) Chips
D) Door
193
The teacher deliberately offers the incorrect choices “wall,

tree and door” in CONTRAST to the right choice so that
the student has more opportunity to succeed (through
reasoning).
Success is the motivation factor for more success.
The student will find no use for buying other choices like ‘wall, tree
and door’. So he will select chips.
Sensory activity: The teacher goes back to her sketches of dollar

bills (little rectangles) and crosses out three of them (stimulat-
ing the student’s visual and kinesthetic learning channels) stating
aloud (stimulating the student’s visual learning channel) - “You use
three dollars to buy chips.”
If she is using real $1 bills, she can remove three of them.
Student’s response: The teacher asks the student - “How much is

left?”
The student (if visually focused) replies, using his counting skills - 7.
If not, the teacher offers choices.
The teacher asks - “How did you get the answer?

A) 10 + 3
B) 10 - 3?”
194
The teacher asks the student to reason further - “If 10 - 3 = 7, how

much should 20 - 3 be?”
Once the student selects/says aloud/shows on the number board,

the teacher can further the reasoning practice to questions like -
“If 20 - 3 = 17, the how much should 50 - 3 be?”
The teacher can continue the money story around the student’s
existing computing skills……
“So you now have seven dollars left. Your grandma gave you twenty
dollars for finding the needle she dropped on the floor. And you
count what you have, etc.”
The money story can continue so that the student creates a rela-
tionship between language and numbers related to addition and
subtraction.
Whenever the student hesitates the teacher can re-introduce the

visual pictures as ‘prompts’ to initiate his reasoning skill.
2.
Student who knows how to multiply and divide but does not
relate it to word problems:
There will be a challenge if the student can compute multiplica-

tion and division but cannot use the learned skills to solve word
problems.
Learning multiplication tables by rote is different from applying

them to practical problems.
195
Example; 3 people earning $10 an hour each
Sensory activity: The teacher draws three stick figures (stimulating

the student’s visual and kinesthetic learning channels) while stating
aloud (stimulating the student’s auditory learning channel) - “We
can imagine that these stick figures are three men who are going to
make ten dollars an hour.”
Student’s response: The teacher asks the student - “How can we

find how much they made altogether?”
At first the teacher gives the student a chance to say the answer
aloud.
If the student says aloud - “$30.00,” the teacher can probe further
- “How did you get it correctly? Did you add, subtract or multiply?”
A) 3 + 10
B) 10 - 3
C) 3 x 10
If the student hesitates, the teacher still gives those choices by

asking - “How should we find out? Should we add, subtract or
multiply?”
To give the student further practice, the teacher can expand the
word problem with:
“Now these men decided to work for eight hours each. Can you tell
me, what should we do now to calculate all the money they will
make together?”
196
The student response can be through speech or through pointing

on the number board where the student touches 3, then 0, (to in-
dicate number 30) then x sign, and then 8 and = successively to
produce the answer.
This way the teacher offers more word problems for the student to
practice.
If the teacher is using bigger numbers in word problems and

wishes to include them in the practice session, she can in-
troduce the calculator. Calculating using a calculator can be
added as a skill goal if used.
The student has to select which calculator key to push on the

number board/stencils in order to complete the problem.
3. Student who needs help with word problems using fractions:
Recognizing fractions or solving an expression with fractions is a

different skill compared to solving a word problem which blends
language with numbers. Here are two examples:
A) Out of 20 people 1/5 decided to vote for Thomas as presi-

dent of the education committee. How many people voted
for Thomas?
And a more advanced word problem using fractions:
197
B) Thomas had $5000 and decided to use 2/5 of it on clothes.

Then he used 1/3 of the remainder on restaurants. The rest
went to his bank. How much did he save?
In either case the teacher will help the student by drawing diagrams
to represent the fractions.
Solving Problem A
Out of 20 people 1/5 decided to vote for Thomas as president of
the education committee. How many people will vote for Thomas?
Sensory activity: The teacher draws 20 letter Ps (or draws 20 stick

figures) and states aloud (stimulating the student’s visual, kines-
thetic and auditory learning channels - “These 20 letter ‘Ps’ (or
these 20 stick figures) are supposed to be people who will vote.”
Student’s participation: The teacher asks the student - “What do

these letter Ps represent?”
The student says aloud/spells on the letter-board or stencil the

word PEOPLE.
The teacher asks - “What will they do?”
The student says aloud/spells on the numbers board - VOTE.
Sensory activity: The teacher explains (stimulating the student’s

auditory learning channel) - “1/5 OF 20 means 1/5 X 20. Or 20 / 5.”
198
We must remember that teacher’s role is to explain and teach first

and not just quiz and test.
Student’s participation: The teacher asks the student to solve 20 / 5.
Student uses his previous knowledge of division to solve the

expression.
As practice the teacher then asks the student to practice identical

problems using different numbers. Practicing helps to generalize a
concept.
Solving problem B.
Thomas had $5000 and decided to use 2/5 of it on clothes. Then
he used 1/3 of the remainder on restaurants. The rest went to his
bank. How much did he save?
Sensory Activity: The teacher writes $1000 five times on the work-
sheet paper, stating aloud - “Here we have Thomas’s $5000 . Let’s
help him out. We put the first $1000 (she writes it simultaneously),
next we put another $1000 (she writes it down simultaneously),
and then we have three more $1000, which we write here… (she
writes down three more $1000 on the worksheet paper)….”
(When she pairs up her stating with writing, the teacher stimulates
the student’s auditory, visual and kinesthetic learning channels
simultaneously).
Student participation: The teacher asks the student a general ques-

tion - “Do you know what you would do if you get $5000?”
199
The student answers either by saying his plans aloud or by spelling

it out on the letter-board.
Keeping it conversational helps the student to be less fearful of fail-

ing and makes the process of solving the problem less stressful.
Sensory activity: The teacher draws a box around two of those

$1000, stating aloud (stimulating the student’s auditory, visual and
kinesthetic learning channels) - “Thomas spends two out of five or
2/5 on clothes!”
This way the teacher makes it obvious that the $1000 + $1000 =
$2000 are spent on clothes.
It is important to simplify the problem in the initial teach-

ing stages by the use of simple numbers. We must remem-
ber that we are helping the student create a relationship
between language and numbers. If we present complicated
numbers with heavy-duty calculations while teaching, the
student can lose interest from the very beginning. ‘Fear at
first sight’ can lead to non-compliance or shutting down.
Student participation: The teacher asks the student - “How much

did we find as two parts out of five parts of $5000?”
The student says aloud/points on the number board as $2000.
The teacher asks - “How much is left?”
200
The student uses his previous knowledge of computing and says

aloud/spells on the number board - “$3000.”
If the student hesitates to produce an answer the teacher makes it

simple -
“Should we find that out by -

A) $5000 + $2000
B) $5000 - $2000
C) $5000 X $2000 …”
…..where the student selects the right operation and computes.
Sensory activity: The teacher states aloud - “Since $3000 is left,

let’s split it up into 3 parts. We can write $1000 (she writes it as she
speaks), another $1000 (she writes it down while stating) and one
more $1000 (and writes it down).
Stating and writing simultaneously draws the student’s visual, audi-

tory and kinesthetic learning channels simultaneously toward the
lesson.
She states aloud - “One out of three of them or 1/3 is his restaurant
bill.”
Student participation: The teacher asks the student - “Can you tell
me how much Thomas spent in restaurants?”
The student says aloud/spells the answer on the number board.
The teacher asks - “How much did he put in the bank?”
201
The student answers by either saying aloud or pointing at the num-

bers on the number board.
The teacher lets the student practice more word problems of the
same type by using different numbers to generalize the student’s
skills.
Core idea:
Be it fractions, be it decimals or percentage (fraction using 100 as

denominator), the student develops the idea that numbers are al-
ways associated to our everyday lives and cannot be independent
of language.
Without application to our lives computing can remain an isolat-

ed skill with very little practical use.
202

RPM

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

RPM

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

RPM

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

What are the different types of speech seen in verbal autistic students?

What are the different types of speech seen in verbal autistic students?

What are some reasons why verbal autistic students may have different motor skills?

What are some reasons why verbal autistic students may have different motor skills?

The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinions of the author and do not represent the

Outskirts Press, Inc.

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Chapter 1 Learning styles – how this applies to verbal

Chapter 2 Types of speech that Verbal Autistic Students

Chapter 3 Unlearning the Irrelevant Speech habit - using

Chapter 5 Introductory session with a verbal autistic

Chapter 6 Why do verbal students get stuck in ‘scripts’?...... 111

Chapter 10 Merging Mathematics and Language ............... 189

I am calling this book - “DEVELOPING EXPRESSIVE LANGUAGE

This book is different from my previous books:

Understanding Autism through Rapid Prompting Method

Verbal autistic students may have functional speech but it may be

I am in no way interfering with the already existing speech produc-

My sincere thanks to my students who were patient with me while I

And to my son, Tito Rajarshi Mukhopadhyay, without whom I can-

There are individual differences within the autism spectrum. Every

There are verbal children and adults on the autism spectrum as

RPM can address both these needs.

students (even if it is rote or limited to asking for wants and needs)

If verbal students have generalized vision and generalized kines-

Sensory learning channels

The four learning channels are:-

These sensory LEARNING CHANNELS work differently in autistic

Typical people respond to EXTERNAL and INTERNAL environments

Autistic individuals may be overwhelmed in many situations, espe-

External components of the environment include - environmental

Internal components include - thoughts, plans, ideas, anxiety, ob-

All the components of the external as well as internal environments

It is easy for typical people to discard or IGNORE the unwanted

What do we mean by generalized learning channels?

This is when the student can ignore unwanted visual components

The student does not struggle with distance or depth perception.

It is when he can walk to or around the objects when necessary

It is when he can watch any program on the television or a movie

It is when he can ignore internal sounds generated from his in-

It is when he can pay attention to the teacher’s voice and respond

Note: The auditory learning channel is a very hidden learn-

When a student can ignore the tactile discomfort of the tempera-

It is when he can sit at a place/chair and work regardless of how

It is when he can hold a pencil to perform - write, spell etc. without

This is when he can use a good posture without needing to rock or

It is when he can handwrite or spell relevant words that are mean-

It is when he has the right motor skills to display appropriate social

If a typical person (who has GENERALIZED AUDITORY, VISUAL,

a) ignore the unrelated auditory components: He can ignore the

b) ignore the unrelated visual components: He can ignore the ap-

c) ignore the unrelated tactile components: He can have the tactile

d) ignore the unrelated kinesthetic components: He can ignore the

What happens when learning channels are not

Selective Vision and Global vision:

When an individual visually seems:

on what seems to typical people, to be relevant components in the

If he shows annoyance or distress when his visual stim gets inter-

Some verbal students may engage themselves in talking about