Donelle Clements -Psychologist
Maggie Rafferty – Teacher ED
Janneke Jobsis-Brown – Therapist ED
Training Overview
• Defining Behavior
Functional Behavior Analysis
• Antecedent
• Behavior
• Consequence
Strategies to Teaching Positive Behavior
•
Positive and Negative Reinforcement
Group Scenario Presentations
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Special Education Eligibility
Autism
Intellectually Disabled
(Formerly Mental
Retardation)
Emotional Disturbance
 An inability to use oral language for
appropriate communication,
a history of extreme withdrawal or
relating to people
 Significantly below
average general intellectual
functioning existing
concurrently with deficits
in adaptive behavior and
manifested during the
developmental period,
which adversely affect the
student’s educational
performance.
 Inability to learn which cannot be
explained by intellectual, sensory, or
health factors,
 Inappropriately and continued
impairment in social interaction from
infancy through early childhood
 An obsession to maintain sameness
 Extreme preoccupation with objects or
inappropriate use of objects or both
 Inability to build or maintain
satisfactory interpersonal
relationships with peers and teachers
 Inappropriate types of behavior or
feelings under normal circumstances
exhibited in several situations,
 A general pervasive mood of
unhappiness or depression, and/or
 Extreme resistance to controls,
 Peculiar motoric mannerisms and
motility patterns, and/or
 A tendency to develop physical
symptoms or fears associated with
personal or school problems.
 Self-stimulating, ritualistic behavior.
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Focus On Behavior
 We need to clearly define the behavior(s)
 Identify the pro-social skill(s) we want to teach as a
replacement behavior(s)
 What happens immediately before the behavior
occurs
 How do we respond during and after the behavior
has occurred
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Behavior
 Human Behavior
 Behavior is LEARNED
Therefore…
 New behaviors can be taught
 Old behaviors can be unlearned
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Functions of Behavior
 FUNCTION
 The reason why problematic behavior continues to occur
 SOCIAL FUNCTION
 Environmental events that maintain behavior
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Functions of Behavior
 Demand (Avoidance/Escape)
 Attention (Positive and/or Negative)
 Tangible (Access to Rewards)
 Automatic Reinforcement (Alone)
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Operant Conditioning
Operant conditioning is a process by
which humans and animals learn to
behave in such a way as to obtain rewards
and avoid punishments.
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Three-term Contingency
ANTECEDENTS
What happened immediately
preceding the behavior
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BEHAVIOR
CONSEQUENCES
What happened immediately
after the behavior
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ABC Data
 Antecedent
 Events or interactions that happen before the behavior
occurs: immediate or delayed/internal or external
 Behavior
 The behavior or sequence of behavior which occurred
 Consequence
 Events/interactions which happen after the behavior:
what one gets and what one avoids
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Antecedent Control Measures
 Eliminate the cue for the problem behavior
 Provide cues for alternative acceptable behavior
 Reinforce the good behavior
 Do not reinforce the bad behavior
 Increase the response effort for the problem behavior
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Antecedent Control Measures
1.
Modify the environment to increase the consistency and
predictability of expectations
2.
Schedules
3.
Maximize opportunities for choice and control
4.
Clear, concise expectations
5.
Modify curriculum/expectations to maximize
independent success
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Antecedent Techniques
Cueing Procedures
 Obtain attention first
 State cue/direction using only a few words known to
be within client’s repertoire
 Wait for client to respond-- avoid repetitive verbal
cues
 Monitor cooperation
 Praise/reinforce cooperation
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Reinforcement
What is reinforcement?
 A consequence that follows a behavior and
increases the rate or frequency of that behavior
occurring again in the future.
 Everything we do provides some form of
reinforcement.
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Four Types of Reinforcement
 Positive
 Negative
 Punishment
 Extinction
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Positive Reinforcement
 Give something to increase desired behavior
 Positive reinforcers are something like rewards, or
things we will generally work to get. Specifically, we
can say that positive reinforcement has occurred when
three conditions have been met:
1.
2.
3.
A consequence is presented dependent on a behavior.
The behavior becomes more likely to occur.
The behavior becomes more likely to occur because and only because the
consequence is presented dependent on the behavior.
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Positive Reinforcement
Example
 A teacher rewards her students with a free homework
pass if they score an A on their test.
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Negative Reinforcement
 Remove negative stimulus and positive behavior
increases.
 Negative reinforcement occurs when a behavior is
reinforced by removal of a stimulus.
 Negative reinforcement is not a form of punishment.
Negative reinforcement is a form of reinforcement. It
increases the frequency or probability of a behavior by
"taking away something bad.”
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Negative Reinforcement
Example
 Example: Your teacher said you could skip the final exam
by studying an extra chapter and taking a quiz on it. You
might study an extra chapter (your studying behavior
would be made more frequent) because of the promise of
an unpleasant stimulus being removed (no final exam).
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Punishment
 Punishment is when an aversive stimulus is added as a consequence for
unwanted behavior.
 Weakens a behavior because a negative condition is introduced or
experienced as a consequence of the behavior.
 May teach what not to do, but not what to do
 May punish the child, but may not actually reduce the behavior in the
natural environment
 Extremely negative to students with low self esteem.
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Punishment Example
 Abe is being disruptive in class and refuses to sit in his
seat quietly so his teacher karate chops Abe in the face.
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Extinction
 Extinction of operant behavior involves the
termination of the reinforcement contingency that
maintains the response
 Ignoring undesirable behavior and withholding
reinforcement.
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Extinction (cont.)
 Extinction Burst
Tantrum
 Temporary increase in behavior after it has been put on
extinction.
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Extinction Example
 Peggy does not raise her hand and wait to be called on at circle time.
Instead, she shouts out the answer. By the fourth day of school, the
teacher decides to use extinction to stop Peg’s shouting. The teacher will
not respond when Peggy shouts instead calling on those with their
hands in the air and reinforcing those complying. When Peggy shouts,
the teacher ignores her. When the teacher’s reinforcement stops, Peggy
shouts louder and pushes here way to the front of the circle. When the
teacher continues to ignore her, Peggy physically moves the teacher’s
head to look at her. The teacher gently moves Peggy aside and out of her
view. Peggy has a full-blown temper tantrum. The teacher ignores Peg’s
tantrum and moves her own chair to another section of the circle so
that all of the students are looking at the teacher with their backs to
Peggy
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Finding Reinforcers
 Observe the child’s preferences
 Provide non-contingent access
 Pair yourself with reinforcement
 Analyze reinforcer preferences
 Pair existing reinforcers with other reinforcers
 Expand the use of the reinforcer
 Conduct reinforcer assessments daily
 Identify A, B, and C reinforcers
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Types of Reinforcers
 Social
 Tangible
 Activity
 Edible/Drink
 Token/Symbolic
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Increasing the Effectiveness of
Reinforcement
 Contingency
 Immediacy
 Power
 Schedule or Timing of Reinforcement
 Deprivation vs. Satiation
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Building Behavioral Momentum
“Layering” Of Reinforcement
 Immediately
 Throughout The Day
 End Of Day
 Throughout The Week
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Reward vs. Bribe
Reward : The return for performance of a desired
behavior; positive reinforcement.
Bribe: Something, such as money or a favor, offered or
given to a person in a position of trust to influence that
person’s views or conduct.
Rewards should always be pre-established and not given
in exchange for a student promise to act better
afterwards.
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A Simple Example (cont.)
 Reinforcement
 Immediate

Call on child when hand is raised, specific praise
 Throughout the day


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Stars on chart for raising hand to get attention or
Sticker on chart after classes in which hand raising happens,
specific praise
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A Simple Example (cont.)
 Reinforcement (cont.)
 Throughout/End of day

Activity reward/privilege for earning a specific number of
stars
 End of week

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Bigger activity reward for having a “good week”
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Be Consistent
 In which behaviors/skills we are reinforcing
 In providing reinforcement regularly across the day
 Predetermined schedule
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Set Reasonable Objectives
 Start at a lower level to ensure success
 Slowly raise the expectation as the learner progresses
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“Cash In” Frequently
 At least daily for older learners
 Multiple times per day for younger learners
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Reductive Procedures
 Response Cost
 Time Out from Positive Reinforcement
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Response Cost
 A reductive consequence that involves a loss of a
specific reward or a specific amount of a reward
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Increasing the Effectiveness of Response
Cost
 Must be a predictable reinforcement system
 Identify (in advance) the behaviors which will result in
the loss of reinforcement
 Identify (in advance) the reinforcers or amount of
reinforcement which will be lost
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Response Cost (cont.)
 Provide no more than one warning
 Reduce conversation when using response cost
 Do not escalate consequences or get involved in an
argument with the learner
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Response Cost (cont.)
 Do not remove reinforcers until they have been
earned
 If using points or tokens-never go below “zero”
 Be consistent
 over time
 across settings
 across adults
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Time Out From
Positive Reinforcement
First Question
 Is it?
 Time away from positive reinforcement or
 Escape from the activity
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Time Out From
Positive Reinforcement (cont.)
Second Question
 Is there a better way to manage this behavior?
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Time Out
 Contingent loss of access to reinforcement
 Should result in a decrease in the behavior which
led to time out
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Important Aspects Of Time Out
 Discrepancy between “time in” in the natural
setting and “time out” setting
 The “time in” environment must be more reinforcing
 Consider environmental enrichment or increased
reinforcement
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Time Out (cont.)
 We assure that time out is appropriate for the
learner’s age or developmental level and addresses
the identified function of the behavior
 We have a consistent “exit criterion”
 Learner learns what s/he must do to leave time out
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Questions to ask yourself
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What is the function of the behavior?
What do I want ____ to do instead of ____ing?
What do I do when he/she is not ___ing?
How do I react when he/she is ____ing?
If the function is escape/avoidance, why does he/she
want toavoid this task?
Noncompliance
Not enough pairing of reinforcement
Task is too easy or too hard
Activities are not engaging or motivating
Transition from preferred to non-preferred activity
What replacement skills does
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