First Categories Sterling Edition is designed to strengthen students' categorization skills and increase their spontaneous and flexible use of early categories. Students work through a series of tasks that involve identifying items which belong to one of six categories: animals, food, body parts, clothing, furniture, vehicles. The categories have been arranged in developmental order to facilitate learning. Each of the 60 nouns is represented by two illustrations and two photographs to aid in generalizing the concept.

First Categories offers a variety of activities: Optimized Intervention®, Training by Type/Level, Testing, and six Supplemental Activities. Although each activity can be customized in different ways, we recommend Optimized Intervention for most users.

Optimized Intervention®

Optimized Intervention is the most efficient and effective way to train categories. Using sophisticated built-in strategies, the program constantly monitors a student's performance and then automatically adjusts the stimulus delivery to best suit a student's needs. By continually making decisions about how to guide the learning process, Optimized Intervention makes training faster and more effective.

Here's how it works...

Optimized Intervention begins with a probe test to identify a category that the student doesn't already know. You decide whether the student will have two or three picture choices. After the probe test, the program introduces all 10 of the items in the category being trained. Then there are two training activities: Item Array (Inclusion) and Single Item (Inclusion). Each activity has three levels of training (Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced). The program tracks each student response and automatically adjusts both the activity and training level based on the student's performance. To master a category, the student must correctly identify 80% of the Single Items without instructional support.

At the end of a session, all performance data is saved so that students can continue their next lesson exactly where they left off. By specifically targeting material that has not been learned and no longer training material that has been mastered, Optimized Intervention maximizes the available learning time and guarantees success.

Training by Type/Level

With this option, you can train Item Array (Inclusion), Single Item (Inclusion), and Single Item (Exclusion) on a fixed training level (Beginning, Intermediate or Advanced). You can also customize different features of the lesson. For instance, you can choose to have two or three picture choices on the screen. You can select a simple black background or a full scene background with drawings or photographs. Two types of cues are available. Text, picture labels, and a custom mouse cursor also can be selected.

Following is a description of the three levels of training:

Beginning Training offers instruction and a cue to the correct response. When the computer asks the student to find an item, the correct picture must be selected to get reinforcement. The first incorrect response is followed by cueing. The second incorrect response is followed by reinstruction.

Intermediate Training provides instruction but no cue. When the computer asks the student to find an item, the correct picture must be selected to get reinforcement. The first incorrect response is followed by cueing. The second incorrect response is followed by reinstruction.

Advanced Training offers no instruction or cueing. If the student answers correctly, reinforcement is provided. An incorrect response is followed by instruction.

Testing
This activity can be used to conduct a pre- or post-test. You can test Inclusion or Exclusion using two or three pictures. No instruction, cue, or reinforcement is provided.

Supplemental Activities
Six supplemental activities review category membership, ask the child to match items in a category, and present category items in larger arrays.

Build-a-Category
A single block appears in the center of the screen and the narrator asks, "What's this?" When the user presses the switch, the narrator identifies the item. The block drops into position and the narrator identifies its category. One by one, the blocks form a pyramid. When the pyramid is formed, the narrator repeats the name of the category that all of the items belong to.

Single Item Review
One picture appears in the center of the screen and the narrator asks, "What's this?" When user presses a single switch, the narrator identifies the item and its category.

Robot Review
Four pictures appear at the top of the screen and four empty blocks enter on a conveyer belt below. The narrator asks the student to help the robot find the items that belong to a particular category. When the student chooses a picture, the narrator identifies the item and its category. After all four items are identified, reinforcement is provided.

Find Four
A pyramid of 10 blocks appears on the screen. The narrator asks the student to identify all of the items from the same category. Reinforcement is provided when all four of the items are identified.

Magnet Match
One item appears at the top of the screen and the narrator identifies it. Four additional items appear at the bottom of the screen and the narrator asks user to find another item from the same category as the item at the top of the screen. Reinforcement is given for a correct response.

Pick-a-Pair
Two rows of five blocks appear on the screen and the narrator asks the user to find the two items from the same category. Reinforcement is provided for a correct response.