Incidental Teaching and Autism Ranking:

Key Features

Incidental teaching is a form of teaching in which a teacher takes advantage of naturally occurring 'incidents' or situations to provide learning opportunities for the student.

Incidental teaching is based on the idea that students, including autistic children, are more willing to learn if the teaching is based around their own interests and preferences.

In incidental teaching the teacher organises the learning environment around a set of pre-planned learning objectives but taking into account the student's individual preferences. When the student demonstrates an interest in an item or activity, the teacher encourages that interest by questioning or prompting the student. For example, the teacher may place something that the student wants just out of reach, so that the student has to communicate with the teacher in order to get it.

Incidental teaching can be used as a focussed (stand-alone) technique but it is also a key element in many comprehensive, multi-component programmes, such as the Early Start Denver Model, LEAP and the UCLA YAP model.  It is also the main technique used in programmes run by the Walden Early Childhood Center at Emory University in Georgia, Atlanta.

8 key elements

According to ICAN. (Date unknown) there are eight key elements of incidental teaching

1. The teacher or parent chooses an educational objective, such as asking for a green car.

2. The adult arranges the natural environment to promote student motivation and interest in the materials related to teaching the objective. For example, the teacher puts the green car on a shelf where the child can see it.

3. The child shows interest in the materials through verbalization or gesture, thus initiating the teaching session. For example, the child points to the car and says, "car."

4. The adult encourages the child to elaborate on his or her initiation, based on the student's developmental level. For example, the teacher says 'What colour is the car?'

5. If the child responds correctly to the prompt, the adult provides specific praise and gives the child brief access to the desired materials i.e. the car.

6. If the child does not respond or responds incorrectly, the adult provides up to three more prompts, such as providing the necessary words. Once the child responds correctly, he or she receives specific praise and brief access to the materials.

7. The adult "takes a turn" with the materials (i.e., replaces them on the shelf or plays with them, or, says, "I want the green car" and picks up the green car). The steps begin again.

8. The incidental teaching session should end with success (i.e., child responds correctly and receives access to the materials). The session should be brief and end once the child loses interest.

Comparison with milieu training

Incidental teaching is very similar in some respects to milieu training, a form of teaching in which the teacher takes advantage of the child's interest in the things around them, the 'milieu', to provide learning opportunities for the child. When the child demonstrates an interest in an item or activity, the teacher encourages that interest by questioning or prompting the student.

Incidental teaching differs from milieu teaching in a number of respects

• Incidental teaching is more closely related to applied behavioural analysis, whereas milieu teaching is more closely related to 'naturalistic' and psycholinguistic language approaches
• incidental teaching uses preplanned objectives more than milieu teaching, which follows the lead of the child more
• Incidental teaching requires rigorous data collection and analysis.

Updated

17 Jun 2022

Last Review

20 Jul 2016

Next Review

01 Apr 2023