Son getting confused between signs

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My non-verbal 4 year old is being taught ASL signs. What I am noting is that he gets confused between different signs and will revert to making an older established sign, in response to "what do you want ?" as opposed to making the sign for what he really wants. I know what he really wants because he reaches for the item but will be signing something completely different.

For example, because he is obsessed with music, the sign for music was one of the first signs he learned and used. But, when he wants chips, he will be reaching for the bag of chips, but in response will sign "music" when I ask him "What do you want ?"

How can I help him learn this critical concept that each sign stands for something specific ? I do attempt errorless teaching by interfering quickly when he begins to sign music, replacing it with the correct sign instead, but so far he doesn't seem to get it.

Help ! !

I don't know what to suggest, but you may find this website helpful:

https://www.communicationmatrix.org/

I wonder if your son is understanding the sign in a gestalt type way and attaching it to a more general part of the situation -- as a symbol for anything that makes him happy, a symbol for anything he likes, or as a symbol to alert you to the fact that he wants something...?

Have you tried only giving him music when he signs music -- at least the first one or two times before showing him the sign for what he actually wants? That might help to clarify for him that the "music" sign is for music only.

ASL is really a complex language. Have you thought of a PECS board instead?

my first thought was PECS as well, you can pair it with signing too! I think that would be more concrete for him.

My son also used to have difficulty finding the right word sometimes. PECS is a good idea since it is visual. If they are teaching ASL in a program and you'd like to stick with it, it may be best to stay with prompts until you are sure he has a strong association between signs and objects. For example....If you know he wants chips, instead of asking "What do you want?", try asking "Do you want chips?" and sign chips as you say it. This will give a visual cue and he may be able to repeat the sign back. If he signs music, I would say chip and hand over hand the sign - then give him the chips - so he associates the sign with the chip.

From our experience (and this is just our experience), witholding an item until he signed it correctly just created frustration. We always gave 1 chance to get the sign right - then hand-over-hand signed - then got him what he wanted. We tried for months to teach him to sign or say "milk" (his favorite thing in the entire world) by witholding and it was completely ineffective. We tried the giving him 2 chances to get it right approach (its really a verbal behavior approach) and he learned in 1 week. Also, we found that some signs we too complex for him, so many signs were his interpretation of the sign (for cracker, instead of knocking his elbow, he tapped the top of his hand) so we had to be alter for modified versions of the correct sign.

That is a possibility.

I tried to train my cat to rub up against a page with a symbol on it to express his desires. He got the 'rub up against the paper and I get something' idea, but didn't get that different symbols meant different things. He'd bump whichever one I offered, indiscriminately.

Thank you all for responding.

I am trying to ask for PECS but his ABA agency is all for signs. I also think he was unable to get the concept of pictures (as symbolic representation of an object) until late December. He still struggles with picture matching (object to picture, picture to object, picture to picture) and they claim he needs to master these first before going down the PECS route.

DnRn, we are modifying his signs, too, as he has dyspraxia and some signs (including the sign for cookie) is really hard for him to make.

I would try to get a clear explanation of why they think signing is superior. Even if he is having trouble matching objects to pictures it should be clearer than associating a sign to an object, I would think.

Another option is to use actual photographs instead of clip art or whatever they use for PECS. Sometimes the stylized versions of objects can be very confusing because they do not look real enough to provide the association. My son has a lot of issues with stylized art like that even now.

This is the part of discrete trial referred to as "discrimination training." It's an early step and somewhat difficult. At the first step, when just acquiring a new sign, you can just have a bag of chips out and have him sign for chips repeatedly. When you learn a second sign (i.e. music) you can have the ipod out and hit play whenever he signs music.

In the discrimination phase, you bring out both reinforcers, and see which one he seems interested in. Things like chips and juice work well here, since he'd really be switching between the two. In this context, the errorless learning would come into play by you reading his body language to get a sense for which one he wants (i.e. what's he looking at), and quickly prompting him if you think he's going to sign the wrong one.

If he gets out the sign for water when he really wants chips, first give him the water - so you're honoring the sign and showing him that the water sign results in water. Even though this technically is an error that you are allowing, it is appropriate here. Very shortly after, model the sign for chips, and when he signs that give him the chips. This way he consistently sees "water" gets me water, "chips" gets me chips. Since errors can happen in this phase, try to be patient and read your son's mood. Don't push too hard if you see him getting frustrated. When he can distinguish between two items, add in a third choice. Once he has about 5 or so signs differentiated, new ones will get easier. The key is repetition, so divide those reinforcers into small chunks and make it possible to do a lot of signs in a row - so asking for chips will get him one chip, which requires him to ask a lot.

Another common error at this phase is that he might get frustrated and just chain through all the signs he knows. Essentially, the only thing he thinks he is saying is "give me!" If that happens, treat it as an error. reset his hands and then prompt him to the sign you think he wants.

I am a big fan of naturalistic teaching in most contexts, but this specific task is better done with some structure, so try to set aside some time with a bag of chips, an ipod and some water (or whatever signs you'r working on) and get to practicing. Good luck!

edit: some people recommended PECS as an alternative. I think both systems are good, and have their own advantages and disadvantages. The obvious advantage to signs is that he always has them available. The disadvantage is that some people won't speak sign language. PECS has the advantage of being universally understandable. The drawback is that if you leave the PECS book behind, he becomes literally speechless. Since he's already started signing, I recommend keeping with it. The problem of discriminating between items happens with PECS too, so it's really a matter of sticking with whichever system until you get over that initial hump and he understands some of those very basic concepts of language. It may be worth getting some picture cards of some sort (PECS is a specific brand, but you can easily make your own) as an adjunct though, as they are pretty useful either as a menu of potential reinforcers or to create a visual schedule. Alternatively, there are some great programs on the iPad now that serve the same purpose.

I am going to quibble with this because this is one of those things that really does depend on your child. The fact that this particular agency favors ASL is by itself not a reason to persist with it. To give an example. my son is hyperlexic. He preferred written words to PECS (he had trouble deciphering the clip art) and could not gesture accurately at all. He pointed with his whole hand at first and then modified it to two fingers. I don't even remember when he finally did it the right way. That was one of my early warning signs.

I had a heck of a time trying to explain to his school that they should write down actual words for him, when he was upset and his brain was flooded with neurochemicals. The educational diagnostician was sure that it had to be pictures. I finally got her to agree that they would write down the words on the PEC cards. His aide at that time was very good and wrote him notes. That was what worked best. I don't know enough about the OP's child but she should look to see what his relative aptitudes are and decide based on that. I don't disagree with the general list of pros and cons, but if he also has a non-verbal learning ability, gestures may not be right. If he is making the gesture fluidly and can mimic them easily, and he understand the abstraction of it then that would be the reason to continue, not just b/c the agency prefers it and they already started it and he has been doing it.

I don't know how hard or confusing it would be to mix systems to where the OP could test photographs, but to me it would be worth a try.