Incidental Teaching: Happy Progress

Abstract

Incidental teaching is contextualized instruction that takes advantage of naturally occurring opportunities – “incidents” – to teach valued skills in the context of child preference and use. The aim of this chapter is to present the potential benefits of incidental teaching for increasing social competence for children with autism. Competencies are comprised of groups of behaviors under the conditions of use that lead to particular outcomes. In this context, social behavior covers a wide expanse and can include diverse skills such as orienting, imitating, communicating, sharing, and negotiating. The social outcomes resulting from our teaching success also cover a wide expanse, ranging from play partnerships to situational friendships to enduring and loving companionships. Specific competency goals will vary in the context of a particular child and the values and norms of their social community. Our examples and recommendations focus on social behaviors, with the understanding that the practitioner will place these goals in the context of meaningful competencies. The essence of incidental teaching for social skills is to make the most of motivating variables and present conditions to help the learner learn component social skills, to maintain social engagement, and to develop mutually beneficial relationships. In this chapter, we provide a description of the theoretical framework supporting incidental teaching, illustrate basic incidental teaching procedures, summarize the empirical evidence base, and end with key recommendations based on theory, research, and our clinical experience.