I have absolutely never done compliance drills with my children. There is a point that you pull aside, allow the child to calm down, and settle and then you speak with them and allow them to respond. If it goes into meltdown, you wait out the meltdown and try again... I would never, ever allow for someone to teach my child a compliance order like this. I have seen it used once, during our time in OT and they were working with another child across the room, doing ABA. You couldn’t pull my jaw down faster..
When a child is in meltdown, it is usually because they cannot express their feelings, wants, and/or needs. It can be sensory issues, cognitive impairments, etc. For one of mine, he compartmentalized it as just overload. He wanted to be left completely alone and absolutely no demands placed on him. Once cooled down, he could respond and be ready but even he sometimes didn’t know when that was but the last thing once he came out of a meltdown, was to have demands placed on him... He wanted to talk or chill for 5-10 minutes..
It doesn’t always work and sometimes we have to change plans, do something different, etc. but it is what works..
I have no words for how they have trained Abbie.. No wonder the poor girl has went downhill and needs prompting and follow through for everything. They have literally took two steps backwards, instead of advancing her behaviors through meltdowns..
It is basically when they stop what she is doing or what for a meltdown/yelling to stop and then ask her to go through the “touch your nose Abbie,” “touch your ear Abbie”, etc., and make sure she is listening and complying to their directions and orders. Then they will tell her what she has to do. If she throws another tantrum or meltdown, it starts over. It is a big thing with ABA therapy..