ABA/Applied Behaviour Analysis

Question 1

what is applied behaviour analysis?

Answer 1

Applied behaviour analysis is a natural science approach to the study of behaviour of humans.

Question 2

what is the fundamental premise of a natural science approach?

Answer 2

the fundamental premise of a natural science approach to psychology is that all behaviour is caused and that the cause of our behaviour is physical and external to us.

Question 3

what is conventional thought?

Answer 3

in conventional thought we typically see ourselves as being the originators of our own behaviour, that we possess the ability to act freely independent of our history.
…this is in stark contrast to the premise of natural science.

Question 4

what are the two sub-disciplines within the behavioural field?

Answer 4

• the experimental analysis of behaviour (EAB)

- Applied behaviour analysis (ABA).

Question 5

what is EAB?

Answer 5

EAB involves the study of the fundamental principles that govern behaviours.
the goal of such research is to determine environmental conditions that control or cause behaviour in organisms.

Question 6

what is ABA primarily interested in?

Answer 6

ABA is primarily interested in the application of the principles of behaviour which are derived from laboratory research to issues of human interest.
the popular term PBS describes the application of ABA principles to the assessment and treatment of challenging behaviours.
(NB to know the diff between ABA and PBS; PBS uses principles of ABA (behaviour analysis) to deal with challenging behaviours).

Question 7

what did Horner say about PBS (note this is not about ABA)?

Answer 7

Horner 2000, said that specifically positive behaviour support interventions involve restructuring and changing environments, which result in the reduction of challenging behaviours as well as increases in prosocial and adaptive behaviours that may improve the quality of life for individuals with developmental disabilities.

Question 8

what happened in the 1970’s, according to Gold 1976?

Answer 8

In the early to mid 1970’s researchers began to demonstrate that people with developmental disabilities or capable of performing community, vocational and domestic tasks traditionally thought to be beyond their capabilities, Gold 1976.

Question 9

what else did Gold say?

Answer 9

complex skills such as preparing meals, self grooming and grocery shopping could be taught if they’re broken down into small discrete steps that were then taught systematically using instructional prompts and positive reinforcements.

Question 10

what is task analysis?

Answer 10

we must first break complex sequences of behaviour down into their component parts. the process by which a complex sequence of behaviours is broken down and the resulting set of behaviours is called a task analysis.

Question 11

what is the first step of task analysis?

Answer 11

the first step consists of identifying the essential behaviours involved in performing the task sequence. this can be achieved by observing and recording the behaviours of individuals who are skilled in performing the task.

Question 12

what did Cuvo do in 1978 (task analysis)?

Answer 12

for example, Cuvo in 1978 taught janitorial skills such as sweeping and mopping the floor, cleaning the stool and cleaning the mirror to individuals with developmental disabilities. the task analysis analyses were developed by observing janitors performing these tasks.

Question 13

what are instructional strategies?

Answer 13

Instructional prompts are cues used to evoke a desired response. They are supplementary stimuli that will be removed once the person can perform targeted behaviours at the desired level of independence.

Question 14

what types of prompts are there?

Answer 14

prompts are of two general types:

• response prompts
• stimulus prompts.

Question 15

what are response prompts?

Answer 15

response prompts are cues that describe and demonstrate the new desired response.

there are several types of response prompts, including verbal, model, picture and physical prompts

Question 16

what are stimulus prompts?

Answer 16

Stimulus prompts are cues that highlight the natural discriminative stimuli in the environment and therefore increase the probability of correct responding.

Question 17

what are verbal response prompts?

Answer 17

These prompts can be written or oral. An indirect verbal prompt is used to cue the person that some behaviour needs to be performed, but it does not describe what the behaviour is. for example, “what do you need to do next” is an example of an indirect verbal prompt.
A direct verbal prompt specifies that the person needs to perform, for example “open your book” clearly describes what needs to be performed.

Question 18

what did Lancioni in 2000 do? (verbal response prompts)

Answer 18

Lancioni in 2000 taught adults with severe intellectual disabilities to perform domestic tasks via the use of vocal prompts delivered through a small pocket audio device with an earpiece.

Question 19

what are model response prompts?

Answer 19

model response prompts involve the teacher demonstrating the desired behaviour so it can be imitated by the person.

Question 20

what are picture response prompts?

Answer 20

picture response prompts are visual representations of the behaviours to be performed.

Sowers et al in 1980 taught individuals with intellectual disabilities to use picture cues of clock faces to leave a return from lunch and work breaks.

Question 21

what are physical response prompts?

Answer 21

physical response prompts produce correct responding by manually guiding the person through the appropriate response. physical prompting is obviously a very intrusive way to teach someone to respond correctly.

Question 22

back to stimulus prompts, what are they in more detail?

Answer 22

stimulus prompts are additional stimuli that are used to highlight important stimuli in the environment and enhance the evocative effectiveness of natural stimuli.
stimulus prompts can be used in conjunction with response prompts when teaching a skill.

Question 23

what does instructional protocol mean, in terms of stimulus and response prompts?

Answer 23

response and stimulus prompts are instructional protocol that must eventually be partially or totally removed. the goal of an instructional program is that the student will eventually be able to perform the skills as independently as possible.

Question 24

what is the fading of prompts called?

Answer 24

the fading of prompts is therefore sometimes called “errorless learning” by Terrace 1963.

Question 25

what does fading involve?

Answer 25

the fading of stimulus prompts is a relatively straightforward task which involves the gradual removal of the highlighted stimulus.

Question 26

what are the most effective response prompts?

Answer 26

response prompts differ in their capacity to revoke correct responding:

• physical prompts = most effective as they virtually ensure responding.
• modelling and picture prompts would = next most effective because they involve demonstrations of the behaviour to be performed.
• verbal prompts = least effective as they require the student to be able to perform the skill when verbally requested.

Question 27

how can response prompts be presented and faded?

Answer 27

response prompts can be presented and then faded in a: 1) least-to-most effective or a 2) most-to-least effective sequence when teaching new skills.

Question 28

what is least-to-most prompting?

Answer 28

least-to-most: the student is given the opportunity to perform their response with the minimum amount of assistance during each training trial.
if the student does not respond appropriately with minimal assistance then more intrusive response prompts are systematically introduced.
the least intrusive prompt such as verbal is always paired with the most intrusive prompts during instruction, such as physical prompt…this is done to pair the least intrusive prompt with the correct responding and reinforcement so that it will eventually come to control the targeted response.

Question 29

what is most-to-least prompting?

Answer 29

with most-to-least prompts the most intrusive prompt is employed initially, gradually faded to the least intrusive prompt, and eventually to the natural stimulus.
Once the student has performed the task without error under the current level of prompt for a predetermined number of trials then the next level of less intrusive prompt is initiated.

Question 30

what is the time delay instructional protocol?

Answer 30

the time delay instructional protocol differs from the least-to-most and the most-to-least instructional protocol in that the response prompt remains the same throughout teaching, but the delay between the natural stimulus and the response prompt is gradually increased over time.
…a delayed prompt means that the student can respond independently.

Question 31

how do Leslie and O’Reilly describe the term ‘reinforcement’?

Answer 31

It is important to reinforce new behaviour as it occurs. reinforcement describes the process whereby behaviours increase in probability when they are followed by certain consequences.
(Leslie and O’Reilly 1999)

Question 32

what is important to do at each step of task analysis?

Answer 32

During each step of the task analysis it is important to reinforce these new behaviours each time they occur. once new behaviour becomes established or learnt then reinforcement can become less frequent. that is, not every instance of the behaviour will be reinforced.

Question 33

why is it difficult to select that appropriate reinforcer?

Answer 33

certain consequences may act as reinforcers for some individuals but not for others, for example some individuals may find social praise to be a pleasant consequence whereas other students may not like to be praised.

Question 34

what are the tactics that can be used to select reinforcers?

Answer 34

1) you can ask parents family members and others that know the students and what they believed to be most desirable or favoured by the student.
2) the students could be observed over time to determine what objects he or she seeks, holds or manipulates for periods of time.
…if students seeks out specific items or activities, it can be inferred that such items or activities could act as reinforcers.

Question 35

what does a preference assessment consist of?

Answer 35

A preference assessment consists of systemically presenting items and events to a person and measure their reaction.

• preferred items generally will be identifiable because the student will exert more effort to acquire them, exhibit longer periods of interaction with an item or show expressions of happiness indicating that the item is desirable, Lancioni 1998.
• stimuli can also be presented in pairs and a student is allowed to choose one. in this paired assessment the students choice is used as an indicator of preference.

Question 36

what must an effective intervention do?

Answer 36

an effective behavioural intervention must do more than change the behaviour. it must produce behaviour that occurs in a variety of appropriate environments also known as the generalisation of new behaviours.

Question 37

how did Baer and Wolf in 1970 define the maintenance and generalisation of behaviours?

Answer 37

Baer and Wolf in 1970 define the maintenance and generalisation of such behaviours in terms of “trapping”; once the behaviours taught in the classroom setting and subsequently exposed to natural maintaining contingencies it becomes trapped by those contingencies.

Question 38

what is important to think about when selecting a new behaviour?

Answer 38

when you are selecting a new behaviour to teach it is important that this new behaviour will produce positive consequences for the person in the post-intervention environment.
- behaviours that do not produce positive consequences for the person will not maintain outside of the teaching setting.

Question 39

when is generalisation more likely to occur?

Answer 39

generalisation to other settings is more likely to occur if salient stimuli that are present in the teaching setting are also present in the generalisation settings.

Question 40

what is another strategy to enhance generalisation?

Answer 40

another strategy to enhance generalisation is to train several examples of the new skill during the training phase: - for example laundry machines, microwaves and bathrooms incorporate a wide variety of different stimulus parameters in the natural environment. these differing stimulus parameters will require different responses to achieve success.
the instruction must therefore include a sufficient number of training examples during the training phase.