The first rule for activity selection is that cues have got to capture the person's attention. Ignored cues are useless. Within ACL 4, cues are grouped in classes to assist your selections.

The person's information processing system synthesizes the information into a new experience that is: evaluated, compared with other experiences, and a choice is made about whether to sustain their attention, or not.

Sustained attention is a combination of personal choice and available mental energy.

Typing is a skill which can be learnt when a person is functioning within ACL 4 High. Repetitious rote learning is required to improve typing accuracy and speed. The person has the ability to use information stored in their working memory to write simple sentences. More complex writing is difficult for the person. They can usually only use simple basic language. Headings which refer to the topic and a check list best captures the person's attention.

Teaching the person functioning within ACL 4 High on how to use their stress management skills will require around daily to weekly routine training. The person will require a demonstration and prompting to learn to calm down.

Stress management is about being able to learn how to relax when you feel your emotions being carried away and you are tensing up.

You may be feeling angry, or upset because things are not turning out the way you would like them.

You can learn how to relax by using what information you pay attention to now.

Teaching the person functioning within ACL 4 High on how to be polite and use their manners will require around daily to weekly routine training. The person will require a demonstration and prompting to be polite.

We say, "Excuse me" if we need to interrupt someone.

We say, "May I please" if we want to do something.

We have to wait our turn in line.

We do not walk too close to someone. One arm's length is considered polite.

Teaching the person functioning within ACL 4 High on how to use their conversation skills will require an intensive training followed by daily to weekly routine training. The person will require a demonstration and prompting to use their conversation skills.

Good listening and speaking skills are needed to have a conversation.

A conversation rule is: Do not speak when someone else is speaking. Listen and wait till the other person has finished speaking.

If you have to interrupt like you have to rush to get to another commitment say:

A person functioning within ACL 4 High will often be eager to participate in assertiveness training. They may have been told by other people that they need to be more assertive without having any idea what that means. Let the person know ahead of time that assertiveness training will be provided as part of their skills development program.

We may feel stressed when we feel things are being taken from us. This may include opportunities to go out or the right to use our own space as we wish.

Being assertive is saying how we feel without hurting the other person's feelings.

Skills development programs are used to help a person functioning within ACL 4 High to learn new skills. They are particularly important for someone who has never been functioning higher than ACL 4 High. The person is unable to pay attention to hints by caregivers to change their behavior.

Daily repetition of the new skill with frequent prompting is required to establish the new behavior. Once the new skill is rote learnt and is well established into the person's procedural memory, regular practice is still required otherwise this new skill will fade over time.

Re-learning is harder than new learning. Functioning in ACL 4 High, they can learn by rote learning. Several repetitions are required. They do have some ability to inhibit old learning with those functioning in ACL 4.6 having less inhibition then someone functioning in ACL 4.8. Rote learning does fade into disuse quickly for most people so reinforcing such new learning is required.

The inability to solve problems as they are unable to manipulate information often causes the person to blame others when a negative consequence occurs. Trying to explain this to the person often produces frustration. Using information stored in their working memory which can only be briefly held results in the person seeing things in a rigid way. Provide a checklist for the person to follow. The checklist items need to be a few words. Caregivers will need to assist with problem solving tasks especially if mistakes will be a costly result.

Within ACL 4 High, the person may be slow to complete tasks. As they are having to complete tasks one step at a time in an inflexible manner, they are unable to skip ahead when they need to rush. They are also likely to get confused when rushed or have people rushing around them. Be patient and assign them extra time. Reduce distractions like expecting them to work when someone else is carrying out a conversation.