What is it?
Novel person refers to instructions being delivered by a new or neutral person other than the ongoing staff member. This may be a classroom assistant, volunteer, teacher, teacher from another class, or administration staff. Changing who and therefore how the instructions are delivered to the student, for a set task, can have a positive impact on a student's willingness to follow or cooperate with instructions.
How do I use it?
Planning
- Observe contexts where the student is experiencing difficulty following instructions. Are there specific times or set tasks when the student is experiencing difficulty following instructions?
- Discuss the situation with the student's support team to consider if this strategy would be appropriate.
- Identify the:
- novel person
- instructions
- context/situation
- frequency of delivery (frequent use of the person will result in a loss of novelty).
- Check the novel person is available for the time period e.g. if the context is at the beginning of the day, this may not suit administration staff.
- Explain to the novel person they are providing a different way of delivering the instructions. Instruct the novel person on what to say, when they are going to deliver the instructions, and how often this will take place.
Implementation
- Novel person delivers the instruction
- Teacher records student's response. Was there an increase in the student's positive behaviour? If yes, continue the strategy. If no, discuss with the student's support team.
Fading
- Fading the use of the novel person is important. When the student has demonstrated his/her ability to follow the instructions with the novel person, commence fading the use of the novel person e.g. delivers the instruction 60% of the time and continue to decrease until faded completely.
Age group
All ages.
| Preschool | Yes |
| P-2 | Yes |
| 3-6 | Yes |
| High school | Yes |