Learning to Implement a Home-Based ABA Program
UNDERSTANDING ABA
INTRODUCTIONS

Chrissy McNair, Mom
INTRODUCTIONS

Melinda Henson, BCBA
SESSION OVERVIEW
Gain Understanding of ABA Outcomes,
Theories, Principles, and Guidelines
 Learn How to Assess Your Child’s Needs
 Understand How to Set Goals for Your Child
 Learn Methods for Prompting, Reinforcement,
Generalization
 Learn the Importance of Data Collection and
Different Collection Methods

TODAY’S SESSION

PART ONE
 ABA
Overview
 Types of ABA Programs

PART TWO



Principles of ABA
Diving into ABA Components
PART THREE

Designing Your Own Home Program
http://www.nationalautismcenter.org/affiliates/rep
orts.php
MYTH

ABA is an intervention.
ABA FACTS & MYTHS
FACT

ABA is actually a theory that
encompasses many specific
interventions based on
principles of Behaviorism.
MYTH

ABA is specifically for autism.
FACT


ABA FACTS & MYTHS
ABA is used in a variety of
fields to help change
behaviors.
Examples: gambling,
smoking, weight loss,
teaching new skills
MYTH

ABA is discrete trial training.
ABA FACTS & MYTHS
FACT
Discrete trial training is one
specific type of intervention
that is based upon principles
of ABA.
 Examples of other
interventions based in ABA:
video modeling, incidental
teaching, PRT, activity
schedules

MYTH

ABA is based on
punishments.
ABA FACTS & MYTHS
FACT

ABA focuses on the use of
reinforcement.
MYTH

Principles of ABA promote
simple, robotic skill
development.
FACT


ABA FACTS & MYTHS
Principles of ABA can be
used to teach complex
behaviors that generalize
across situations.
Examples: toileting, problem
solving, dressing, social
skills, language
MYTH

Principles of ABA are used
only to reduce negative
behaviors.
ABA FACTS & MYTHS
FACT

Principles of ABA are used to
teach new skills and reduce
negative behaviors.
ABA IS….
Scientific approach for discovering
environmental variables that reliably
influence socially significant behavior


(Cooper, Heron, & Heward, 2007)
ABA IS MORE THAN DTT
Discrete Trial
Training
Verbal
Behavior
Generalization
ABA
Visual
Prompting
Language,
Social Skills,
Behavior
Modeling
AND MORE!
USING ABA AT HOME

Structured Programs-Supervisors, Staff,
Parents as Managers or Teachers

Dinner Table ABA

NEED GOALS, PROTOCOLS & PROCEDURES,
ANALYSIS
PART 2
ABA 101
REINFORCEMENT
 PROMPTING
 BEHAVIOR SHAPING
 DATA COLLECTION
 VERBAL BEHAVIOR
 GENERALIZING SKILLS

REINFORCEMENT
Reinforcement is KEY!
 Preference Assessment (daily or weekly)
 Differential Reinforcement
 Continuous vs Intermittent
 Fading Reinforcement

REINFORCEMENT AND ASD
Many times, children with autism’s behaviors
are not reinforced by naturally occurring
consequences, or the naturally occurring
reinforcement for negative behaviors outweigh
those of positive behaviors
 For this reason, we must sometimes use
tangible items to reinforce specific behaviors

REINFORCEMENT
•
•
•
Reinforcement is what makes the behavior more likely to
occur in the future.
Should immediately follow the behavior you want to
strengthen.
Tips for strong reinforcement:
– Conduct a preference assessment to see what your
child/student enjoys
– Vary reinforcement to prevent satiation
– Provide higher levels of reinforcement for new
responses and lower levels for more firmly established
behaviors
– Remember the definition of reinforcement!
THINGS THAT AFFECT REINFORCEMENT
•
•
•
•
Deprivation: To keep toys, foods, and activities fun, save
them for therapy or when you want to teach a difficult or
new skill. Think: Absence makes the heart grow fonder….
Immediacy: Deliver reinforcement within a ½ second or you
run the risk of them thinking that you are reinforcing
anything that happened within the delay.
Size: Do not expect your student to work for an hour for a M
‘n’ M. The reinforcer should match the level of work that was
done. Would you willingly work for a company that paid you
less than you deserve?
Contingency: The reinforcement should be contingent on a
behavior you want to see more of.
LEVELS OF REINFORCERS
Primary Reinforcers
Secondary Reinforcers
Edibles
Tangible
Activities
Generalized Reinforcers
Social Approval
Praise
Exchangeable
PRIMARY REINFORCERS
•
•
Primary reinforcers automatically fill some biological
human need without learning
Examples:
–
•
Food (edibles), Water, Oxygen, Warmth
Advantages/Disadvantages of Edible Reinforcement:
–
–
–
–
–
Being fed is an basic need to survive & can be highly
effective
Avoid if secondary or generalized reinforcers are equally
effective
Check for food allergies and choking hazards
Avoid giving too much food before meal times
May not be effective if child is not hungry
SECONDARY REINFORCERS
•
•
Secondary reinforcers acquire their value through
learning (through association with primary
reinforcement)
Examples:
–
•
Tangibles, Activities, Social Approval, Praise
Advantages/Disadvantages of Secondary
Reinforcers:
–
–
–
–
Disadvantages of edible reinforcement is avoided
More choices available
Social approval & praise is always available and reflects
more natural/real-world reinforcement
Tangibles/activities may not be reinforcing every time
they are presented
GENERALIZED REINFORCERS
•
Generalized reinforcers have been paired with a
variety of previously established reinforcers
•
Exchangeable Reinforcers/Token Systems:
–
–
•
Tokens are earned that can be exchanged later for
access to reinforcement (e.g. money, stickers, points)
Token is given immediately following behavior, but actual
reinforcing activity or item is given after a certain
number of tokens are received.
Advantages/Disadvantages of Generalized
Reinforcers
–
–
Tokens themselves are not initially reinforcing
Student must be able to delay
reinforcement/understand that tokens add up to larger
reinforcer
SCHEDULES OF REINFORCEMENT
•
A schedule of reinforcement determines how
often the behavior should be reinforced
•
Continuous Reinforcement:
–
–
–
•
Reinforcing the desired behavior every time it
occurs.
Used to teach and strengthen behavior.
Examples: Vending machine, ATM
Intermittent Reinforcement:
–
–
–
Reinforcing the desired behavior some of the time it
is observed.
Used to maintain behavior.
Time-based or response-based
INTERMITTENT REINFORCEMENT
•
Advantages of Intermittent Reinforcement
–
–
–
–
–
–
More resistant to extinction
Results in relatively high rates of responding
More closely approximates natural reinforcement
conditions
Less reinforcement from the outside allows for
intrinsic motivations to begin to maintain behavior
as competency increases
Less likely to create satiation
More cost effective
AUTOMATIC REINFORCEMENT
•
Automatic reinforcement occurs when behaviors
have an immediate affect on their environment
which in turn reinforce the behavior.
–
•
Visual, Auditory, Gustatory, Olfactory, Tactile
These can be tough to compete with because they do not
require social interaction – but we can figure out how to
control some of them and present the child with these
experiences during social interactions and exchanges.
HOW TO USE REINFORCEMENT
•
Better reinforcement for better responding
–
Provide higher quality reinforcement for:
• Unprompted responses
• Faster responses
• Better articulated responses
• Proper tone is used
• Correct response required a less intrusive
prompt
• No problem behavior occurring
WHAT ABOUT PRAISE?
•
Early learners may not work for praise
–
–
–
•
ALWAYS pair praise with back-up reinforcers
Eventually praise will become valuable
Gradually thin the use of back-up reinforcers
Advanced learners
–
–
Might work well for praise most of the time
Continue to sprinkle in back-up reinforcers
VARIETY, NOVELTY, & CHOICE
•
Including a variety of reinforcers helps decrease
the chance of satiation
•
Novelty is often exciting to students
–
–
•
New things
Not knowing what is going to happen
When choice is given, the chances increase that
the preferred item is really preferred at that time
HOW OFTEN SHOULD I REINFORCE?
•
•
•
Each target behavior will be reinforced EVERY
TIME until child/student shows that s/he can
perform this behavior in a variety of environments
without mistakes!
Generally, prompted behaviors should result in
praise, while independent responses should
result in praise + tangible, edible, etc…
Continuous Reinforcement:
–
–
Reinforcing the desired behavior every time it is
observed
Used to teach and strengthen behavior
TIPS FOR REINFORCEMENT
•
•
•
•
•
•
Give choices
Always keep a box of reinforcers next to you
when working for quick access
Have a reinforcer in hand to immediately
give to him
Give child/student multiple reinforcers from
which to to choose
Place reinforcers in a “surprise grab bag” so
child is surprised each time
Vary the reinforcement to avoid satiation
PROMPTING
Physical
Hand Over Hand & Gestures
Visual
Pictures & Written
Verbal
3-STEP PROMPTING
Compliance Building
1. Tell
2. Show
3. Do
Must be consistent with follow-through and be
willing to implement step 3 if needed
BEHAVIOR SHAPING




Reinforcing even a slight approximation to the desired
behavior
After that behavior is being replicated, only reinforce a
closer approximation
Advantages
 Used to teach new behaviors
 It is a positive procedure
 Can be combined with other procedures (fading, chaining, etc.)
Disadvantages
 Time consuming
 Progress is not always linear
 Implementer needs some skill
COLLECTING DATA
Must have all variables defined
Must be consistent across all collectors
Consider what variables you want to track
WAYS TO ANALYZE DATA
What do the scores tell you?
 Visual interpretation better in graph vs. table
form

VERBAL BEHAVIOR
MANDS
IMITATION
LISTENER
VB
INTRAVERBALS
SOCIAL
TACTS
ECHOIC
PLAY
GENERALIZING SKILLS
Across Environments
 Across People
 When to Generalize?
 Building a Maintenance Schedule

PROGRAMMING FOR GENERALIZATION

Generalization occurs when behaviors
learned under one set of circumstances
occur:
•
•
•
•
At other times
In other places
With other people
For different stimuli
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PROGRAMMING FOR GENERALIZATION
•
Natural maintaining conditions
•
•
Train sufficient exemplars
•
•
Practice the skill in naturally occurring situations and
make sure it maintains during natural contingencies
(antecedents & consequences)
Teach the behavior to occur in the presence of many
examples of stimuli that include the critical stimulus
features
Train loosely
•
Prevent stimulus overselectivity by teaching in various
settings, with various stimuli, in various forms
PROGRAMMING FOR GENERALIZATION
•
Program common stimuli
•
•
Include as many of the physical and social
elements that exist in the “real life” setting into
the practice setting
Mediate generalization
•
Teach self-instruction techniques
FLUENCY

Fluency is performing a behavior smoothly,
rapidly, correctly, and with ease.
•
Taught with repetition
Target speed & accuracy
Remember to include fluency in your goal as
appropriate
Fluent skills maintain better across time
•
•
•
MAINTENANCE
 Maintenance
is the ability to continue
the behavior after intervention has
ended.
 What
contributes to poor
maintenance?
 Ending
reinforcement too soon
 Reinforcement of unwanted behaviors
 Punishing the behavior
INTERSPERSING MAINTENANCE
When conducting trials, it is best to
intersperse maintenance trials.
 Alternate acquisition (learning) trials with
learned concepts to:

 Build
momentum
 Increase success & reinforcement
 Increase practice of learned skills
 Maintain skills over time
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PROGRAMMING FOR MAINTENANCE
•
Minimize unwanted behaviors during initial
learning (errorless teaching)
•
Be sure the behavior is fluent before ending
intervention
•
Teach self-management strategies
•
•
•
Self-recording
Self-reinforcement
Asking for reinforcement
PROGRAMMING FOR MAINTENANCE

Fade reinforcement slowly and transfer to
natural contingencies
•
Fade antecedents from structured to natural
Adjust schedule, quality, & quantity of
reinforcement
Increase criteria for reinforcement
Set up peer supports for reinforcement
•
•
•
PART THREE
BUILDING YOUR OWN HOME PROGRAM

Set Goals
Child’s Needs
Family’s Needs
Sibling’s Needs
Language/ Behavioral/ ….or Both
START SMALL

Determine Motivators—Reinforcement
 Immediate
Reinforcement (toys, tickles, etc)
 Longer
Term Reinforcement (trips out in
community)
Reserve these reinforcement objects ONLY for
instruction time!
DEVELOP PROGRAMS FOR WEEK

Choose 4-6 Areas to Focus On
 Motor
Imitation
 Following Directions
 Tacting
 Behavioral Skill
 Social
 Etc
WRITE PROCEDURES & PROTOCOLS
Make definitions as specific as possible
 Write exactly what instructor needs to do
 Define desired response from child
 Define Mastery

DEVELOP DATA SHEET FOR EACH PROGRAM

Consider amount of learning opportunities
needed to achieve mastery and fluency
 Establish
and follow steps to mastery!
Develop own sheets
 Download
 Copy from manual

DATA SHEET
Target:
Delay:
FP
PP
I
E
Target:
Target:
DataFP = Full prompt Delay
0 = 0-s
Delay:
Delay:
PP= Partial prompt
2 = 2-s
FP
PP
I
E
FP
PP
I = Independent
4 = 4-s
E = Error
I
E
N = No prompt
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FIRST RESPONSE DATA SHEET
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CURRICULUM GUIDES
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ASSESSMENTS & CURRICULUM GUIDES
Verbal Behavior – Milestones
Assessment and Placement Program
http://www.avbpress.com/vbmappset.html
Assessment of Basic Language and
Learning Skills
http://www.behavioranalysts.com/shop
/home.php
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