SOME HISTORY OF EMT

First called incidental teaching.

The most thoroughly researched of the naturalistic instruction

procedures.
Ann Kaiser has done a great deal of research in Early
intervention on language intervention and acquisition and EMT.

A research synthesis to
support the positive effects
that Enhanced Milieu Teaching
has on children with multiple
risk factors. The impact on
their language and
communication skills.

RESEARCH FACTS

Enhanced Milieu Teaching (EMT) has been shown to be effective in teaching new
generalized language skills to children with developmental disabilities (Hancock
& Kaiser 2002) .

Implementation of strategies used in EMT can improve language development,

social development and positively influence behavior and academic outcomes for
children with autism .

Naturalistic strategies such as EMT begin with the learners intention to

communicate and systematically provide models of appropriate communication
forms and meaningful social consequences for communication attempts. (Kaiser,
Hancock & Nietfeld 2010).

SIX STRATEGIES OF EMT:

Responsive interaction

Environmental arrangement
Modeling
Mand-model
Time delay
Incidental teaching

RESPONSIVE INTERACTION
Helps to establish an interactive conversation.

Respond to the childs verbal and nonverbal initiations.

Supports turn taking and sustained interactions.
Following the childs lead.
The use of expansion on what the child is saying, give the child an
opportunity to learn more about their interest.
The use of modeling desired language (targets).
Consistently used as intervention in studies

ENVIRONMENTAL ARRANGEMENT
Nonverbal schemes for eliciting communication.

Allow for opportunities for the adult to respond, expand, and

increase communication Prove interesting material and activities.
Place desired material in sight but out of reach.
Offering small portions of needed or desired materials.
Provide many choice-making opportunities
Set up situations in which children need assistance
Create unexpected situations(Noonan, McCormick 2014).

Consistently used as intervention in studies.

MODELING
Showing how
Demonstration of desired communication skill.
Supports turn taking, imitations skills conversation skills and basic
vocabulary .
Helps to label and describe items of interest to the child and
opportunity to use expansion.
Particularly used in study that implemented used of voice output
communication aid.

MAND-MODELING
Encourages the child to use language they already have in a
generalized manner.
Ask questions the child is able to answer
Helps child feel confident by praising correct response. Increase
chance or reoccurrence.

TIME DELAY
Waite time.

Parent identifies that the child want something so parent waits for
child to indicate.
Child makes the initiation to communicate.
Simply look at the child and wait.

INCIDENTAL TEACHING
The use of naturally occurring situation and the childs interest to
encourage learning language.
Having conversations with the child about the toys they are playing.
Being descriptive about what the toy looks like or any sounds it
makes.
The use of incidental teaching in the articles was consistent, also
referred to as milieu teaching or naturalistic teaching.
Consistently used as intervention in studies.

USE OF COACHING TO IMPLEMENT STRATEGIES

Majority of studies used coaching interaction to teach parents
strategies to use in intervention.
Interventionist would model strategies and answer any questions
parents had.
Parents would get their chance to practice strategies and receive
feedback from interventionist .
The interventionist used prompting and praise with the parents to
support their learning.

REFERENCES
Noonan, M., J. & McCormick (2014) Teaching young children with disabilities in natural environment. ( 2 nd
ed.) Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.
Olive, M. L., Cruz, B., Davis, T. N., Chan, J. M., Lang, R. B., O'Reilly, M. F., & Dickson, S. M. (2006). The
Effects of Enhanced Milieu Teaching and a Voice Output Communication Aid on the Requesting of
Three Children with Autism. J Autism Dev Disord, 37, 1505-1513.
Peterson, P., Carta, J. J., & Greenwood, C. (2005). Teaching Enhanced Milieu Language Teaching Skills to
Parents in Multiple Risk Families. Journal of Early Intervention, 27(2), 94-109
Hemmeter, M. L., & Kaiser, A. P. (1994). Enhanced milieu teaching: Effects of parent-implemented
language intervention. Journal of Early Intervention, (3), 269-289.
Kaiser, A. P., Hancock, T. B., & Nietfeld, J. P. (2000). The effects of parent-implemented enhanced milieu
teaching on the social communication of children who have autism. Early Education & Development,
11(4), 423-446.
Hancock, T. B., & Kaiser, A. P. (2002). The effects of trainer-implemented enhanced milieu teaching on
the social communication of children with autism. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education,
22(1), 39-54.