Cascade of Hope

Incidental teaching is a naturalistic teaching technique used in some therapy and support programs for autistic children, particularly Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) programs. Incidental Teaching utilizes things that interest children and naturally motivate them. It's particularly useful to parents that have young children. During the training, a therapist allows the child to lead by picking an activity or circumstance where opportunities for them to learn will happen.

After the therapist notices a situation that occurs naturally in which the child is engrossed, different strategies are utilized to motivate them to respond. As a result, incidental training plans are built to encourage better motivation from children, especially those that are diagnosed with behavioral disorders.

Incidental teaching can also be practiced in occupational and speech therapy, including in the treatment of more behavioral disorders. Because of this, it's not strictly a therapy for people with an autism diagnosis. Incidental teaching is typically used with children aged 2-9 years, but it’s suitable for people of any age who are autistic or have developmental delay.

What Are the Four Steps in Incidental Teaching?

There are several steps required for using incidental teaching, with one or more needed to help with patient communication abilities:

1. Make things interesting - Parents can create an environment that they know their child would be interested in, such as an indoor play area. Again, creativity is the point here, so things like clubhouses made out of boxes, a small camper somewhere in the home or backyard, or even a makeshift part of the living room are all places that can immediately get their attention.
2. Control access to something they find interesting - The possibilities for this are endless, but when used in a situation described previously, the play area could be located somewhere close, but out of reach for them, such as in a corner or room that's adjacent to the one they sleep in.
3. Let them communicate on their own - Parents should wait for them to inquire about the object or area. If they cannot speak, the child may point to an interesting place or thing set up for them.
4. Use prompting - To use prompting puts the child in a situation where they're encouraged to communicate to get their point across. Parents can ask their children to provide them with the answer to a certain toy that's located in the place they want to go, or the color of a toy they wish to have. They can communicate what they want by speaking it, using gestures, or even pictures.