This is accomplished by simplifying requests, prompting the child to make the correct response and providing abundant reinforcement for socially appropriate behaviors. At the same time, failures are minimized. Ensuring the child's motivation to participate in the learning process is a key element in behavioral interventions. High rates of inappropriate behaviors, such as aggression or self-stimulatory behaviors, are reduced by being ignored and by teaching alternate, more socially acceptable forms of behavior. The intervention progresses very gradually from teaching beginning learning skills such as sitting in a chair, matching identical objects and basic imitation to verbal imitation skills, elementary receptive language, and establishing the beginnings of appropriate toy play.
Discrimination learning plays a dominant role in teaching all skills.
Once the child has mastered basic tasks, the second stage of the intervention emphasizes the teaching of expressive and early abstract language and interactive play with peers. While this program is introduced primarily as an alternative to vocal language, it has also shown, in some cases, to foster vocal language. The aides have successfully completed a course in Learning Theory and a practicum course in behavior modification techniques. The aides are supervised by a senior aide, an experienced aide whose previous teaching experience has shown him or her to be exceptionally talented. The senior aide assists in training new aides.