The VIA (Verbaliza, Imagina, Actúa) program is tailored for students in Pre-Kindergarten through second grade who struggle with following directions due to receptive language disorders. This program systematically addresses simple one-step directions. The program is structured to progress in difficulty by including elements such as physical properties, negation, and sequences, aligning with typical developmental milestones for understanding directions.

Key Features

Preschool through Second Grade (PreK-2)
Skill Instruction incorporates visualization & repetition strategies

Level	Field Size/Answer Choices	Included Concepts
1-Step Directions	Small Field 🔷 (reduced answer choices) Large Field	Early vocabulary (e.g., size) Advanced concepts (e.g., accepted quantities) Negation

Structure

Organization

VIA is a collection of following directions activities. In addition to following directions, the activities can be used to support vocabulary acquisition.

Upon entering the VIA program page, you’ll find 2 collections, each specifying the number of directions (1 Step) as well as field size (Large or Small 🔷).

As you navigate through the collections and subcollections, you'll find dark blue unit folders. Clicking on a unit folder will take you to the Activities page, where you can select an individual activity to assign to your student. The sections below will review the concept collections and units within each of the 2 main collections.

1 Step Directions (Small Field) 🔷

The table below outlines the concept collections and units within the 1 Step Directions (Small Field) 🔷Collection.

Concept	Units
Early Vocabulary (Español) 🔷	Food / Alimentos Animals / Animales Tools / Herramientas Vehicles / Vehículos School / Escuela
Basic Concepts (Español) 🔷	Color & Shape / Color y Forma Size / Tamaño Action / Acciones Spatial / Relación Espacial Emotions / Emociones Quantity / Candidates Numéricas
Negation (Español) 🔷	Color & Shape / Color y Forma Size / Tamaño Actions / Acciones Spatial / Relación Espacial Emotions / Emociones
Advanced Concepts (Español) 🔷	Qualities / Cualidades Textures / Texturas Rel Quantity / Cantidad Relativa Accep Quantity Cantidad Aceptada Sequence / Secuencia Advanced Action Acción Avanzada
Multiple Concepts (Español) 🔷	2 Basic / 2 Conceptos Básicos 3 Basic / 3 Conceptos Básicos 2 Advanced / 2 Avanzados 3 Advanced / 3 Avanzados 2 and 3 Concepts Conceptos 2 y 3

1 Step Directions (Large Field)

The table below outlines the concept collections and units within the 1 Step Directions (Large Field) Collection.

Concept	Units
Early Vocabulary (Español)	Food / Alimentos Animals / Animales Tools / Herramientas Vehicles / Vehículos School / Escuela
Basic Concepts (Español)	Color & Shape / Color y Forma Size / Tamaño Action / Acciones Spatial / Relación Espacial Emotions / Emociones Quantity / Candidates Numéricas
Negation (Español)	Color & Shape / Color y Forma Size / Tamaño Actions / Acciones Spatial / Relación Espacial Emotions / Emociones
Advanced Concepts (Español)	Qualities / Cualidades Textures / Texturas Rel Quantity / Cantidad Relativa Accep Quantity Cantidad Aceptada Sequence / Secuencia Advanced Action Acción Avanzada
Multiple Concepts (Español)	2 Basic / 2 Conceptos Básicos 3 Basic / 3 Conceptos Básicos 2 Advanced / 2 Avanzados 3 Advanced / 3 Avanzados 2 and 3 Concepts Conceptos 2 y 3

Application

Goal Overview

VIA can be used to target comprehension and vocabulary goals.

Methodology of Skill Instruction

There is one Skill Instruction in VIA, which incorporates visualization and repetition strategies to help students strengthen their comprehension and retention of instructions.

How to Use the Skill Instruction:

Use the strategies buttons to review the overall strategies for following directions:
- Say It, See It, Do It
- Instructions with Negation
- Instructions with Multiple Concepts
Use the concept buttons to see a short explanation of the concept and practice an instruction with the target concept.

Usage Scenarios

Therapy or MTSS Use: Individuals or Groups

VIA can be integrated into therapy sessions or within a Multi-Tiered System of Supports to provide targeted support in following directions.VIA can also be used for vocabulary building. The one-step directions provide opportunities to learn vocabulary words and practice word identification in a simplified manner.

Home Practice

Activities can also be assigned for at-home practice to reinforce following-directions skills learned at school.

Evidence

Evidence	Expression in Program
Repetition and visualization promotes progress in students targeting following direction skills (Gill, Cynthia B., et al, 2003).	Repetition and visualization strategies are included in the skill instructions and during feedback.
Paraphrasing supports improvement in remembering and following increasingly longer directions. Direct imitation promotes progress for students with difficulty acquiring information using learning patterns (Connell, Phil J., 1987).	Paraphrasing and direct imitation strategies are included in the skill instruction.
Acoustically modified speech is not used in the program because it has been shown not to improve comprehension (Bishop, Dorothy VM, Caroline V. Adams, and Stuart Rosen, 2006).	No acoustically modified speech is used in the program.
Complexity should increase from the most basic to the most complex directions (Morris, Paul, 2009; Stuckey and Loraine, 2009).	Complexity increases with one-step-directions to two-step directions. Within these directions, complexity increases by incorporating additional concepts and numbers of modifiers.

Evidence-based Program Use

Use the strategies detailed in the skill instruction with your students.
Do not use modified (e.g., slowed down or sped up speech) when practicing following directions.