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Lanaguage Facilitation Training System
”The mission of the LFT system is the production and maintenance of an environment including settings, personnel and materials, which support the continued facilitation and acquisition of language, including the use of signs, symbols and verbal behavior, in a preprimary classroom at the Croyden Avenue School.”
The Language Facilitation Training System (LFTS) is a subsystem of the Behavioral Research Supervisory System (BRSS). Both systems are branches under the Behavioral Analysis Training System (BATS) developed by Dr. Richard Malott as part of the Behavior Analysis program at Western Michigan University. BATS is a mentorship program under the direction of Dr. Malott and encompass all of the programs and classes run at the university that are held by the BATS program, including Dr. Malott’s undergraduate, master’s and doctoral level training programs.
The main goal of LFTS is to create an environment that encourages learning in relation to language facilitation of verbal and nonverbal children in the pre-preliminary classroom at Croyden Avenue School. LFTS is split into two distinct subsystems: the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) and Vocal Verbal Behavior (VB). Both systems work towards attaining functional methods of teaching communication that the children in the Early Childhood Development Delay classroom at Croyden can utilize to effectively communicate. Refining current procedures and devices, as well as implementing new procedures and devices, are all major components of the overall system.
Graduate and undergraduate supervisors monitor the system and improve its function as a part of the entire BATS system. Graduate supervisors work directly with the undergraduate supervisor to define problems and develop functional solutions. Weekly meetings are held to discuss problems, solutions, progress, and future plans. Graduate level students assign weekly tasks to each other, themselves and the undergrad to be completed for the following week.
There are currently three graduate student and three undergraduates involved in the system for the 2007-2008 academic year. Robbie Baldus is the Senior System Manager who supervises the LFT System as a whole. Rebecca Markovits is the Junior System Manager who oversees the implementation and continuing improvement of PECS. Jennifer Lonsdorf is the Junior System Manager who oversees the development of new Vocal VB procedures and improvement of the old procedures, in addition to the development of a vocal VB assessment tool. The undergraduate assistants involved in LFTS are, for Fall 2007, Michelle Gagliano; and, for Spring 2008, Tialha Nover (Vocal VB) and Emily Gasparovich (PECS). |
