Lesson SEN 20
Task: Put a puzzle together.
Prerequisites: ADT 1, SEN 12, SEN 13
Concept: This task can provide some social pleasure, but the main objective is to teach spatial relationships and hand-eye coordination. Some tests of intelligence require that this skill be performed in a timed manner, but that component is not an element of this sample lesson. The puzzles themselves can be homemade, and unless the student demonstrates particular interest in this activity, the use of commercial puzzles with more complicated pieces is not recommended.
Behavioral Objective: When presented with a puzzle of at least eight separate pieces and requested to "(Name), please put this together," the student will place the pieces into the correct placement to a 90% accuracy level for 20 trials.
Materials: Photos or pictures from magazines that represent activities or items of interest to the student, poster board, and scissors.
Task Analysis:
1. Review various photos or pictures with the student and attempt to determine ones that he or she appears to enjoy.
2. Taking one of the pictures, place a poster board backing on the picture and cut it into four quadrants of equal size. Physically guide the student through the process of placing the four pieces together to reform the picture.
3. Continue Step 2, reducing physical guidance until only step-by-step verbal prompts are needed.
4. Modify the puzzle presented in Step 3, making the shapes less geometric but still using only four pieces.
5. Gradually increase the number of pieces in the puzzle until there are at least eight, with each shape having a different form.
6. Reduce the step-by-step verbal prompting until you need only the total-task request: "(Name), please put this together."