Questions

You give 3 exemplars such as "vase, swimming pool, and bucket" and ask what is the same about them.

You give 2 exemplars such as pictures of "shoes and boots" and ask what is the same about them.

You give a group name and ask the client/patient to add a member.

You give 3 exemplars and 1 foil and ask the client/patient to identify the foil.

Are these the same task?
Or, are these different task working toward the same objective?
How are they different, if they are?
What is the objective? i.e. what are you working on?

Examples of Verbal Feedback in Therapy

Examples of excellent (positive) verbal feedback: "That's right," "You're right," "Yep, that's right," "Great. That's a great answer," "Exactly," with specific information provided such as, "Good job; I like how you corrected yourself. That's what we want you to do."

Examples of good verbal feedback: "You're close; that's close," with an explanation of incorrect or missing information. "There you go," "You're doing great," and "Good job."

Examples of poor verbal feedback: "Hmm-mmm," "Okay," or silence.

Picture Description Tasks

Picture description task(s):

1. Use a photograph which depicts a scene of:

a) a person or people engaged in some sort of activity, or
b) a person engaged in an internal struggle or thought process.

2. Provide instruction aimed at obtaining:

a) a complete sentence that captures the gestalt of the scene and that is correct grammatically and semantically.
b) a story that relates events in a logical sequence again using complete and meaningful phrases and/or sentences.
c) a detailed description of elements within the photograph with appropriate names for objects, etc.

3. Provide timely and appropriate verbal feedback with restatements of correct utterances and cues for those that are incorrect or missing essential or secondary elements.

A Few Treatment Tips

Once you've asked a question such as "What month is it?" and you receive an answer that is incorrect such as "It's November" when it is actually October; then cue the individual with, "No that's not right. It's not November; it's the month before it. The month before November is ____________." Hopefully, this will enable the person to recall the correct month.

Give succinct introductions to new tasks. Don't go into great detail; sometimes it may be of benefit to give an example.

Always reinforce and praise requests for repetitions from your 'patient' or 'client.' So, if the person says, "Say that again." you should say, "I like the way you asked me to say that again. That's a great self-cue."

Don't be embarrassed by your questions. If they are too difficult (or too easy!) for your patient or client, adjust them.