Rapport Building and Instructional Fading Prior to Discrete Trial Instruction: Moving From Child-Led Play to Intensive Teaching.
Nine tiny play-to-DTI steps keep kids seated and calm while you ramp up to full drills.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Four children with autism played first, then learned. The team built nine tiny steps between free play and full DTI.
Each step added a little more structure. They watched for problem behavior and checked if the child stayed in the teaching seat.
What they found
All four kids finished the nine steps. Problem behavior stayed low. The kids kept sitting down on their own.
The sequence worked like a gentle ramp into hard teaching.
How this fits with other research
Yanchik et al. (2024) later showed that mixing DTT with Natural Environment Teaching helps toddlers learn daily-life skills faster than DTT alone. Alice’s rapport-first route may make that blend easier to start.
Plant et al. (2007) used the same fade-in idea for requests. They got big compliance gains with Asperger kids by starting with easy asks. Alice moves from play to tasks, but both studies show: start easy, then grow.
Eisenhower et al. (2006) ran DTT plus PRT to teach joint attention. They jumped straight into drills after brief pairing. Alice adds extra pairing time and finds almost zero problem behavior. The papers don’t clash—Alice just gives a slower on-ramp that may help kids who need more warmup.
Why it matters
You can copy the nine-step slide. Spend a few sessions on child-led play. Bit by bit bring in table, materials, instructions. Most kids stay calm and seated, so you lose less time to escape and tantrum later. It’s a low-stress way to start intensive teaching.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Discrete trial instruction (DTI) is effective for teaching skills to children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Although effective, instructional settings can become aversive resulting in avoidant and escape-related behaviors. Given the significant social impairments associated with ASD, interventions that promote social approach and reduce avoidance are warranted. Rapport building or "pairing" the therapist and teaching setting with highly preferred activities prior to instruction can reduce problematic behaviors during subsequent instruction. However, the path from child-led play to DTI is not well established. Instructional fading may assist in bridging this gap. Four participants with ASD who were beginning an intensive behavioral intervention program were included in the current study. Participants progressed through nine stages of pairing and instructional fading with minimal problem behavior and high percentages of in-seat and close proximity to the therapist. Guidelines for incorporating rapport building strategies prior to intensive teaching with children with ASD are proposed.
Behavior modification, 2019 · doi:10.1177/0145445517751436