Adults can make environmental modifications to implement embedded interventions. For example, families and practitioners can:
- change the setup of a room,
- modify materials or equipment,
- simplify a task in terms of duration or difficulty, and
- provide special equipment.
Watch the videos and look for the ways adults modify the environment to promote participation.
Video 1.8: Routine in the community – going to the store
Luke is able to participate in a family trip to the grocery store with the use of special equipment. He uses some sign language to communicate, but is unable to learn many signs due to a lack of fine motor skills. This voice output device is able to speak hundreds of words for him that he would otherwise be unable to express. Here he makes requests for different foods, and tells his dad when he is ready to go home (running time: 1 min. 07 sec.).
View Transcript
Narrator:
This video clip shows Luke a 3 year old boy with language delays, at home with his mother talking about a trip to the grocery store. He uses a voice output device both at home, in the car, and at the grocery store to request items and let his parents know when he’s ready to go home.
Luke’s SpringBoard:
Go…Grocery store, grocery store, grocery store.
Christine:
Yeah. We’re gonna go to the grocery store. That’s right.
Luke:
[signs milk]
Christine:
Yeah. We’ll get some milk at the grocery store.
Christine:
What should we get at the grocery store? What do you want to get?
Luke:
[signs juice]
Christine:
Juice.
Luke’s SpringBoard:
Grocery store.
Christine:
Juice at the grocery store.
What kind of fruit do you want?
Luke’s SpringBoard:
Peaches
Christine:
Peaches? OK.
Eric:
Can you point to the soup aisle?
Luke’s SpringBoard:
Go home. Home. Home. Home. Home. Home. Home. Home. Home.
Video 1.9: Routine in a program – block play
Austin’s occupational therapist has created a picture template to simplify building a block structure. Austin is able to place the blocks directly on the visual aid and build a garage for his car with minimal assistance from an adult (running time: 1 min. 49 sec.).
View Transcript
Narrator:
This video clip shows an occupational therapist working with a boy with autism in a preschool classroom. The therapist has created a template to assist the child in building a garage with blocks.
Occupational Therapist:
Since we’re already using visual supports to give him some options for activities, I thought maybe offering him some visual supports for the actual building process would be helpful.
I think you’re exactly right. Alright, can you put them on here? Put them right on top of there. There you go.
At one of the team meetings we had we actually talked through my idea of just making him some little maps that would facilitate his building, and so the teacher and I had talked about this and agreed that maybe this was a good idea to try. So I went ahead and made the maps of things that he already has choices on his visual supports for actually choosing something to build, and I was trying to be congruent with that. So, then the next thing I wanted to do was actually go ahead and take that into the classroom and try it with him and let the teacher observe a little bit if she could just so that we could then evaluate whether this was an intervention that was really going to be helpful to him or not and if we needed to adapt it.