So now you’ve got a learner who is pressing buttons all day, every day. It’s amazing. And you’re thinking, 1, this is so cool. What, where should I add next? And 2:00am, I supposed to play with her every time she requests play all 237 times per day. And I feel you. And the answer is that’s totally up to you.
The good news is communication is extremely resilient to extinction. Think of the toddler who just Learned how to safely and is asking to touch every single thing they see at the store. Dad is probably gonna say no 237 times, but that kid is gonna keep saying please. What I’m trying to say here is no, when you have a learner consistently using buttons, you don’t have to say yes to every single press. It’s a wonderful opportunity to add additional vocabulary and expand their communicative potential. And it can become more of a dialogue. Acknowledge all forms of communication when you can offer alternatives if you can’t meet their requests. And keep modeling. Always keep modeling. And the better news is now we get to add more buttons like all done, which we call a session ending button. Other great session ending buttons would be any activity that lowers arousal away from the board, like Liky, Matt, Snuffle, puzzle, outside, settle. Again, this will all be specific to you and your learner and your individual relationship. While these words can be harder to rapid fire model, by this time your learner already understands that buttons make the humans do things. So you’ve likely got their buy in and learning can occur more quickly. I want to emphasize that while we’ve seen these guidelines work for a lot of learning, this isn’t a one size fits all process. We don’t want to be too prescriptive because there are a million paths to success here. If these tips aren’t working for you and your learner, don’t give up. Reach out. We can help. Our community is thousand strong and chances are someone has been stuck exactly where you are and can offer guidance. Check out our incredible community Hub, our free Button Boot Camp, and any of the other amazing resources at your disposal. And please share your successes too. We cannot wait to meet you.