Community-Based Instruction to Teach Purchasing Skills

Objective: To teach students to use the one-more-than strategy to make independent purchases.

Setting

Resource classroom, school bookstore, community (i.e., local department store)

Materials

1. Three sets of 15 flashcards with differing price amounts listed
   
   1. Set 1: $5.00 to $9.99
   2. Set 2: $10.00 to $14.99
   3. Set 3: $15.00 to $20.00
2. Real money
   
   1. One-dollar bill (5)
   2. Five-dollar bill (2)
   3. 10-dollar bill (1)
   4. 20-dollar bill (1)

The one-more-than strategy (also called the “counting on” or “next dollar” strategy) is a technique used to teach students to purchase items using one more dollar than requested. Students are given 10 of 15 possible prices of dollar and cents amounts and taught how to make independent purchases by counting one more dollar bill within simulated and community settings.

For example, with amounts from $5.00-$9.99, students will begin with a five-dollar bill, and then, use one-dollar bills to “count-on from there, six, seven…”. For amounts from $10.00-$14.99, students will begin with a 10-dollar bill, and then, use one-dollar bills to “count on from there eleven, twelve…”.

For amounts from $15.00-$20.00, students will begin with a 10-dollar bill and a five-dollar bill, and then, use one \-dollar bills to “count-on from there, 16, 17…”.

Within the classroom (simulated):

1. Tell the students they will be learning a method they can use for going to the store to buy things.
2. Explain to the students they will practice making purchases by going through a list of prices and pretending you are the cashier, and they are buying
3. State the price to the student while showing them the randomly selected flashcard from Set 1 first.
4. Use verbal descriptions and modeling to introduce the one-more-than For example, for amounts from $5.00-$9.99, begin with a five-dollar bill and show the five-dollar bill to the student and say “five dollars” and “count-on from there, six, seven…” as you count one-dollar bills.
5. Give money to the student and deliver an instructional prompt for the student to make a purchase.
6. Provide verbal praise if the student makes an independent
7. If the student makes an error, use least-to-most hierarchy prompting by giving:
   
   1. verbal prompt (e.g., Do you see the number on the bill?”)
   2. gesture (e.g., pointing to number on the bill)
   3. gesture plus verbal explanation (e.g., pointing to the number on the bill and providing a verbal explanation
   4. modeling plus verbal explanation (e.g., pointing to the number on the bill, providing a verbal explanation, and demonstrating the correct response
   5. physical assistance plus verbal explanation (e.g., holding the student’s wrist, pointing to the number on the bill, providing a verbal explanation, and physically assisting the student to the correct response).

Within the community (generalization):

8. At the end of the simulated classroom training, have the students purchase items in various amounts under $20.00 within the school (e.g., school bookstore) and within the local community. Allow at least a 10-min delay between purchasing
9. Deliver descriptive verbal praise for independent purchases within the community and use least-to-most prompting (see above hierarchy) until the student can correctly make the purchase

Students should independently make purchases using the one-more-than strategy at 100% accuracy over three consecutive sessions.

Cihak, D. F., & Grim, J. (2008). Teaching students with autism spectrum disorder and moderate intellectual disabilities to use counting-on strategies to enhance independent purchasing skills. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 2(4), 716–727. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2008.02.006