Waiting skills

A useful wait has an endpoint

“Soon” and “later” provide little usable information. A wait becomes clearer when the person knows what is delayed, why, which signal shows progress, what choices remain, and what event ends it.

Use a form the person understands: a visual countdown, exact clock time, numbered queue, song, calendar event, or concrete sequence. Test whether the signal predicts reality. Repeated inaccurate timers teach distrust rather than waiting.

Waiting can look active

A person may walk, stim, ask questions, use AAC, listen to music, watch the queue, choose another item, or leave and return. Those actions can be effective waiting skills.

Still hands, eye contact, silence, and visible calm are poor universal goals. Ask the person which support makes the wait workable and what distress or overload looks like for them.

Systems own part of the outcome

Transportation delays, understaffing, inaccessible queues, missing materials, unreliable portals, and vague adult promises create waiting burden. Repair preventable failures before assigning a client goal.

Partners need skills too: give accurate information, update changed estimates, honor recognizable messages, offer alternatives, and end the wait as promised. Measure those actions separately from the person’s response.

Communication remains available

Make requests for help, time information, a break, another option, pain care, and leaving accessible. ASHA’s AAC portal says AAC users should always have access to their tools or devices.

Avoid removing a device, blocking a communication response, or requiring speech before honoring an effective message. If a device creates an immediate physical hazard, provide an accessible backup while addressing the hazard.

Some waits need a clinical plan

Everyday support may involve a clear estimate and a preferred activity. Clinical teaching may be considered when waits predict serious distress, injury, elopement, or loss of important access. A qualified clinician should assess health, communication, environment, behavioral function when relevant, and the real-life goal.

A 2011 review found several schedule-thinning arrangements after functional communication training and only 19 of 76 reviewed FCT studies described thinning. An updated review discusses signaling, pacing, recurrence, competing activities, and newer approaches. The evidence offers options and cautions rather than one standard wait ladder.

A fictional bus-stop example

Eli uses a transit app and a text card to decide whether to wait for a bus. Across seven planned trips, the display provides an accurate arrival window in 5 of 7. On those five trips, Eli waits on three and chooses a different route on two.

On one inaccurate-display trip, the family receives no update for 25 minutes. On the other, the bus is cancelled. Both stay in the signal-accuracy denominator. The family records system failure instead of labeling Eli’s decision to leave as unsuccessful waiting.

Signal accuracy is 5 of 7. Chosen-response follow-through is 5 of 5 valid, informed opportunities. These measures answer different questions and establish no treatment effect.

Teach from short, successful waits

Choose a real goal and begin with a duration the person can navigate safely. Use a consistent signal, maintain communication, provide the promised outcome, and collect the person’s feedback. Increase one feature at a time when possible.

Predefine advancement, retreat, maximum-duration, distress, and stop rules. Include cancelled, invalid, and abandoned opportunities with reasons. Do not extend a wait after a failure merely to test endurance.

Practice partner accuracy first

Before asking the person to wait longer, check whether partners can present the correct signal, state an accurate end condition, keep communication available, provide the promised outcome, and update a changed estimate. Run these steps in ordinary low-stakes situations.

Suppose partners complete all five steps in seven of ten due opportunities. Partner accuracy is 7 of 10, and the three missed opportunities remain visible. Increasing the person’s wait target would place a teaching demand on top of unreliable implementation.

When the plan spans home, school, clinic, or community settings, define who owns each signal and update. A shared visual can help only when every partner uses it consistently and the person finds it understandable.

Preserve urgent and ordinary access

Urgent health needs, emergency help, bathroom access, breathing, AAC, mobility, prescribed care, and pain care remain available. Ordinary affection, rest, and all preferred activity should not become payment for waiting.

The CASP ABA Practice Guidelines Version 3.0 public summary concerns ABA behavioral health treatment for people diagnosed with autism. It does not prescribe this editorial family workflow.