The term "natural environment teaching" (NET) is important in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and has been championed for its efficacy in teaching skills that seamlessly transition into real-life situations. In this blog, we'll define the natural environment, provide the history of NET, explore its practical applications, and provide insights on identifying its use within ABA services. We'll also examine the goals of NET and evaluate its tangible benefits for your child’s daily life.
Defining the Natural Environment
Contrary to initial thought, the term "natural environment" does not strictly pertain to outdoor settings or specific locations. Instead, it includes any setting that reflects a child's routine activities. These settings could range from being engaged in creative tasks at an art table or learning during playground interactions to structured activities at a desk. Essentially, it's about leveraging contexts and situations that mirror real-life experiences, thus making learning more relevant and engaging.
Origins of Natural Environment Teaching (NET)
Sundberg and Partington (1998)¹ popularized the term Natural Environment Teaching (NET) in their 1998 work on verbal behavior. It was a way to distinguish between discrete trials that often occurred out of context of any “real-life” activity but were meant to build skills rapidly and under specific stimulus control, versus capturing and contriving teaching opportunities during naturally occurring events. In their work, a heavy emphasis was placed on mand training to begin (teaching kids to ask for things they really want), in the context of those activities. For example, a child may gesture toward a swing and NET would involve capturing that natural motivation to teach them to ask to go to the swing, or to be pushed higher on the swing. Gradually, instructions are faded into the instructional context and small delays in the receipt of desired items are implemented. The overall approach emphasizes using motivating materials, teaching in natural contexts, and focusing on the child’s immediate interests to guide language instruction.²
As Natural Environment Teaching evolved and programmatic structures became more readily available, instructors utilizing NET would often prepare “natural environment teaching lesson plans” prior to working with a child. In these plans, an activity often serves as the primary focus. Instructors build language into that activity and plan to target that language throughout engagement in the activity. For example, a skilled NET instructor might sit down with the game “candy land” before working with a child and write all the possibilities of language they could incorporate into playing the game. They could target requests for specific game pieces, incorporate listener language to identify colors and shapes, and present opportunities for the child to engage in simple conversational language like “ready-set-go” as a piece slides from place to place on the gameboard. Expert NET instructors teach and engage in a way that makes it very hard to detect that they actually have a plan guiding them. But the best NET has a very detailed plan behind it, while the implementation is very thoughtfully delivered in the context of play and other age-appropriate meaningful activities. While there is certainly space to simply capture learning opportunities as they come up unexpectedly, very skilled natural environment teaching takes advance planning and incorporation of language targets based on the child’s goals and needs. This is the primary plan, and any naturally occurring or extra learning opportunities that come up are additive to the plan, not the sole plan itself.
What NET Looks Like in Practice
In practice, NET manifests as a dynamic and adaptable instructional style that is best implemented in meaningful interactions. Picture a child and a technician singing a fun preschool song like “wheels on the bus.” While the play appears spontaneous, NET practitioners subtly guide language and social lessons within the song. Language development might incorporate requesting specific bus sounds or filling in words to the song as the instructor and child jump in a circle together. The goal is to make these environmental cues and scenarios as enticing and relatable as possible, teaching real-world communication skills without a heavy emphasis on structured trials or out of context language.
How to Know if Your ABA Team is Using NET in Practice
Recognizing NET in action involves spotting those seamless, spontaneous learning moments organized by your ABA team and knowing that they have a plan in place to use those activities intentionally. Ask your ABA team what plans they have in place to both capture and contrive (i.e., set up) opportunities for language and social interactions within typical settings your child encounters, such as during meals, play, or while navigating daily routines. NET plans often rely on the child’s natural interests to prompt these interactions and use that interest to intentionally build skills.
The Goals of Natural Environment Teaching
The overarching goals of NET center around building skills that a child can apply outside of structured sessions and out of the traditional therapeutic context. Generalizing any skills obtained in a more structured teaching environment can also be facilitated by NET. The overall goal is to promote communication, and socially significant behaviors that can be used in many contexts, activities and with different people.
Evaluating How NET Can Help Your Child in Everyday Life
Evaluating NET’s impact entails observing your child’s ability to apply learned skills in real-world contexts. Consider how frequently your child uses new language skills during various activities or how well they adapt to social interactions with peers. The effectiveness of NET becomes apparent as children independently initiate requests, communicate preferences, and even navigate complex social scenarios.
Conclusion
It’s important to note that NET is a part of an overall approach to ABA. Structured teaching is also important in developing skills. Your ABA provider should have a balance of both structured teaching and natural environment teaching that is specifically tailored to your child, their needs and their opportunities to generalize skills learned in both types of teaching arrangements. Natural Environment Teaching can be a powerful tool to bridge the gap between structured learning and real-world application. By understanding NET, its execution, and its objectives, parents and caregivers can ensure that their child learns and thrives.
Mindcolor Autism takes a thoughtful approach to learning, creating individualized programming that incorporates both natural environment teaching and structured learning. Interested in learning more? Visit www.mindcolorautism.com today!
Author: Amber Valentino, Psy.D., BCBA-D, Chief Clinical Officer at Mindcolor Autism
References
¹ Sundberg, M. L. & Partington, J. W. (1998). Teaching language to children with autism or other developmental disabilities. Pleasant Hill, CA: Behavior Analysts, Inc.
² Weiss, M. J. (2001). Expanding aba intervention in intensive programs for children with autism: The inclusion of natural environment training and fluency based instruction. The Behavior Analyst Today, 2(3), 182.