ABA and Basic
Interventions
Amanda Bennett MA. Applied
Behavior Analysis
Behavior Specialist
What is ABA?
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Discrete Trials?
For children with autism?
Bribing kids?
Not natural?
I don’t know.
The answer…..
• Applied Behavior Analysis..
• employs methods based on scientific
principles of behavior to build
socially useful repertoires and
reduce problematic ones. Cooper et al
1989
This can include..
• Discrete Trials
• Interventions for children with
autism and other special needs.
• Interventions for adults with special
needs.
• Incidental Teaching
But Also….
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Traffic Safety
Animal Training
Staff development
Getting your spouse to do the dishes.
And much more…
FBA
FBA
• Functional Behavior Assessment
• In order to treat behavior
effectively, we need to know why it is
happening.
• Should provide basis for Behavior
Interventions.
What do you mean by
Function?
• What is maintaining the behavior?
• Think of principles of reinforcement
and punishment.
Have you ever….
• Gone to work so that you could get a
paycheck?
• Gone through a door that you always
know is going to open?
• Taken your shoes off so that your
feet won’t hurt anymore?
Reinforcement
– Increases the likelihood that the
behavior will occur again.
• Positive Reinforcement: The delivery of a
stimulus increases the likelihood of the
behavior it follows.
• Negative Reinforcement: The removal of a
stimulus increases the likelihood of the
behavior it follows.
Have you ever…
• Not picked up the phone, because you
knew it was a telemarketer?
• Stop going to a store, because
customer service was poor?
• Not touched a hot stove because it
burned you before?
Punishment
– Decreases the likelihood that the
behavior will occur again.
• Positive Punishment (Type 1): The delivery
of a stimulus decreases the likelihood of the
behavior it follows.
• Negative Punishment (Type 2): The removal
of a stimulus decreases the likelihood of the
behavior it follows.
What are behavior functions?
• What purpose is the behavior serving?
– Social attention (positive reinforcement)
• Praise
• Reprimands
– Access to something (positive
reinforcement)
• Activities, items
What are behavior functions?
- Escape something (negative reinforcement)
-School work
- Bad smell
- Avoid others (negative reinforcement)
-Trip to the principal’s office
- Automatic reinforcement
- Self-stimulatory behavior (handflapping, etc.)
Basic Behavior
Interventions
Things to note…
• Behavior Interventions should be
based on a Functional Assessment (or
working in that direction)
• An intervention for one student will
not work for every student. Each
should be individualized, although
some strategies may be similar.
Preventative Strategies
And
Functional Interventions
(Not an exhaustive list!)
Possible Antecedent
Strategies
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Location of desk in room
Peer proximity
Teacher proximity
Noise level
Ways of communicating message
Visual cues
Daily schedules
Modifications to schedule
Functional Intervention:
Attention-Seeking Behavior
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Provide attention to any appropriate behavior
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What if the behavior engages in an appropriate behavior at
inappropriate frequencies? (e.g., raising hand every minute)
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“Catch them being good!”
This should be done every couple of minutes through a
thumbs up, verbal praise, pat on the back, etc.
The behavior may be appropriate but occur at an intolerable
frequency
For example, a student may raise his/her hand frequently in
class. We might reinforce the student for not raising
his/her hand every minute. (see next slide)
Functional Intervention:
Attention-Seeking Behavior
• Ignore!
– If attention is maintaining the behavior,
ignoring the behavior is necessary
– There are different levels of ignoring:
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Walk away from the child. No physical interaction,
no eye contact, no verbal interaction .
Provide physical interaction without eye contact or
verbal interaction. This may be necessary to
maintain a safe situation.
This could include a “time out” situation
Functional Interventions:
Escape-Motivated Behavior
– Task choice: teacher vs. student
– Task preference: preferred followed by nonpreferred
– Task novelty: novel vs. repetitive
– Predictable vs non-predictable schedule
– Teacher presentation of material:
difficult/easy, oral/written, pacing
– Embedded instruction: interspersing easy and
difficult tasks
Functional Interventions:
Escape-Motivated Behavior
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Determine skill deficit or performance deficit
Demand Fading
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Use escape as a reinforcer
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Teach appropriate replacement behavior
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Reduce the number of demands
Instead of requiring the student to complete 20 math
problems, require the completion of 5 problems
Frequent breaks
Use of a break card: Once the student has completed x
number of problems, allow them to take a break
This may be teaching them to ask for a break
Functional Interventions:
Escape- Motivated Behavior
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Stop letting them get out of the non-preferred
activity!!
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Once we stop delivering the reinforcement maintaining
the behavior, the student is likely to stop engaging in
the behavior
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Example:
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Do not allow the student to escape or avoid the demand or
activity permanently (temporarily is sometimes ok)
Following the inappropriate behavior, require the child
complete at least part of the task or activity
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Guided compliance (hand over hand)
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Broken record procedure
Functional Interventions:
Escape- Motivated Behavior
• Teach a more appropriate behavior
– Reward the student when he/she engages in a
different behavior (like asking for a break
appropriately)
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You might start out rewarding them every time
they appropriately ask for a break.
Because this isn’t a practical solution, you will stop
continuously honoring the request, and maybe only
honor it every other time and so on.
Functional Intervention:
Access to Preferred
Item/Activity
– Access to the preferred item no longer
follows the inappropriate behavior
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Example: Every time Cindy screams in
class, we let her play on the computer so
that she is quiet.
– What do we do?
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Teach appropriate request for the item
and reinforce with immediate access to
the item
Functional Intervention:
Automatic Reinforcement
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Ex: self-stimulatory
behaviors, stereotypy
Teach a different behavior
that provides a sociallyappropriate way to get the
same reinforcement as the
self-stimulatory behavior
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Gum Chewing
Squeeze Ball
Hands in Pockets
Functional Intervention:
Automatic Reinforcement
• Block the reinforcement.
– Do not allow access to reinforcement.
– Block behavior vs. reinforcer.
DATA COLLECTION
Data Collection
• Necessary to see objective look at
behavior.
Hitting
Vs.
30
25
20
Rate
On 9-1-07, he was
hitting me a lot, and he
is still hitting me a lot
on 9-4-07. He is not
improving.
15
10
5
0
8/31/0 9/1/07 9/2/07 9/3/07 9/4/07 9/5/07
7
Date
Also…
• Necessary to make appropriate
changes.
• Necessary to demonstrate
effectiveness of treatment.
• Helps to keep consultants and
teachers informed.
• Helps to keep us on-task.
Some types of data
collection…
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Frequency
Duration
Latency
Permanent Product
Time-Sampling
Interval
ABC Data
Scatterplot
Questions?