Pairing must take place for instructional control to be gained in both natural and structured environments. However, it is especially important in NET because the student is moving from environment to environment with the teacher. If the teacher doesn't have instructional control, it will be very difficult to teach in the natural environment. Once pairing has been done, however, the teaching should start. It's very difficult to give blanket descriptions of NET, since it's so dependent on creativity and motivation, so here are some examples of how to teach in the natural environment:
° Manding: The student wants to go on a swing outside. The teacher gets a mand for "Swing" (at whatever level the student can mand) and then begins chaining in mands. The teacher tells the student to get his "socks" and "shoes," each of which he must mand for, as well as perhaps manding for "help" to get them on. Then the teacher can block the door to the backyard, prompting the student to mand, "Move" or "Excuse me." Once she moves, the student can mand to "Open" the door, then again for the "swing," to "get up," get a "push," go "faster," "higher," etc. This will squeeze several mands out of just one. However, be careful not to chain in too many mands too soon, or the student's MO/EO may be lost.
° Receptive ID and Tacting Colors: The student enjoys playing with playdoh. The teacher begins to make favorite shapes and then allows the student to mand for what to make. The teacher can ask the student to give her the "yellow" playdoh to make Big Bird, the "blue" playdoh to make Blue from Blue's Clues, the orange playdoh to make Chuckie's hair (from Rugrats), etc. The colors become motivating themselves because they're used to make the characters that the student loves look more accurate and realistic. You can also build in tacts of the colors and characters, echoics of the characters' catchphrases, etc.
° Intraverbal Fill-ins: The student loves music, so the teacher sing some songs while playing and leaves out key words from the songs, i.e., "The wheels on the..." or "Head, shoulders, knees, and..." Gross motor imitation of the movements that go with the songs, receptive ID and tacting of body parts in the songs, and echoics can also be worked in.