WORDS THAT TEACH QUANTITY...

Another great tool for teaching the autistic child!!!

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I use many words to teach the concept of "the part" verses "the whole".   The words below are but a few I use.   In addition, when teaching a specific thing, a specific concept, the "degrees" within that concept need to be taught... the part verses the whole in everything.  

For example, in teaching emotions, let's look specifically at the emotion we label as "happy".   The various or "in between" degrees of "happy" need to be taught to the autistic child since he knows no "in between"... he is either happy or not happy, sad or not sad, angry or not angry... the autistic child experiences only the "full blown" emotion or none at all.   This is also true in everything else in the child's life... the part of the whole must always be taught... that's why labels are so critical in their world.   It's as if they just "can't process or even perceive" the part to the whole in many many areas... and when "parts" enter their world, frustration erupts! 

So, in teaching emotion, you should illustrate the various "degrees of happy" of happy.  These would include teaching the concepts of:  giggling, snickering, grinning, contentment, enjoyment, pleasure, satisfied, ecstatic,  elated, overjoyed and so on.   The point is to teach the various "degrees" or "in betweens" ... between the "a little happy" and "very super super, absolutely ecstatic happy". Once the child understands the various "labels" for the "in between" levels of "happy", s/he can then make use of these emotions.   Emotions no longer become outbursts as labels to variations of one thing provide a coping mechanism for the child.  As with emotions, the part of the whole must be taught for absolutely EVERYTHING in their life in order to provide the necessary coping mechanisms for these children.  The words below will help with teaching the "part verses the whole" in many many facets of life... I learned to use these constantly to provide labeling opportunities throughout the day.

a couple

each

how much

none

some

a few

empty

in between

not quite

somewhat

a piece of

enough

just about

one

sparse

all

equal to

less than

only

too little

all but

every

a little

part of

too much

all done

exactly

many

partial (ly)

totally

almost

few

much

plenty

various

any

full

multiple

scarce

very little

as good as

group

nearly

several

very much

as much as

how many

no

sole

whole

Copyright 2002-2008 All materials I provide on this site including several key words and phrases are copyrighted materials.  All rights reserved.  Please see Use of Materials for more on this issue.  For general comments/questions, contact me at jbrohart@hotmail.com 

Things have a tendency to disappear on the Internet, but I can often find where the information has been moved or find replacement links addressing the same issue.  There is a lot of information provided on this site and any assistance with broken links is most appreciated.   My site has now been hacked twice.   If you get bounced to sites for online drugs, etc., report this to me at once using the above email as this is a result of hacking on my site.  This had nothing to do with me and/or my site.  Read more on hacking issue.

DISCLAIMER - The statements here mentioned and/or found in my materials have not been evaluated by the FDA or any other government agency or person in the medical field or in behavior therapy and are not meant to diagnose, cure, treat or prevent any illness/disorder and/or behavior.  This information is not intended as medical advice or to replace the care of a qualified healthcare physician or behavior therapist.  Always consult your medical doctor or behavior therapist.  All information provided by Jeanne A. Brohart on her website is for INFORMATION PURPOSES and to GENERATE DISCUSSION ONLY and should not be taken as medical advice or any other type of "advice".  Information put forth represents the EXTENSIVE RESEARCH and OPINIONS of a mother based on her experiences and research and provides information as it relates to one family's journey with autism in hopes that other families may benefit from this experience and/or research.  The creator of this site is not responsible for content on other sites.

DISCLAIMER - PART II - Now... for those of you who think "mother at home researching" means "uneducated person with unfounded information"... I have 10 years of university... 3 degrees... and over 30,000 hours of research into these areas.   For anyone who thinks my research is "unfounded"...  read the RESEARCH FILE posted on my home page... with its over 1,000 references ... for your reading pleasure... because... quite clearly... you haven't read it yet!    

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