Basic ABA Techiniques

ABA & Teaching Methods
CHAPTER 7
EASTER SEALS SOUTHEAST WISCONSIN
START EARLY, START STRONG PROGRAM
ABA
 ABA = Applied Behavior Analysis

 Science “devoted to investigating factors
that influence behavior”
 Science of behavior
 Applied = in a real world setting
ABA
 Investigates people’s interactions with their

environment
 Develops intervention strategies to:
 decrease inappropriate behaviors
 increase socially appropriate behaviors
 Focus of work with children with disabilities
is teaching behavior in small, measurable
units
Early Intervention
 Optimal age is before 5

 Best results with 30+ hours per week
 Based on principles of ABA can produce
meaningful improvements
 Increased IQ
 Integration into more inclusive settings
 Research and evidence based

Behavioral Approach
 Substantial literature showing positive

effects of behavioral approach with children
with disabilities
 Two effective teaching strategies:
 DiscreteTrial Training (DTT)
 Naturalistic Teaching
Teaching Methods
 Recommend a blend of both DTT &

Naturalistic
 Programming should be individualized
 May want to start with DTT to establish
“good learner”
 Use Naturalistic to train for generalization of
skills taught using DTT or novel skills
DTT
 Discrete Trial – four term contingency

 Presented stimulus cues response
 Response
 Consequence
 Followed by brief inter trial interval

Cueing the Response
 Can be verbal or non-verbal

 Instruction
 Object
 Picture
 Discriminative stimulus: Stimulus that

signals availability of reinforcement
Object Cueing a Response
Target Response
 A child can respond in 3 ways

 Correctly
 Incorrectly
 No response
 Does not have to be ultimately desired

behavior
 Target approximations for difficult skills
 Target steps in a chain of responses
Consequence
 Depends on response
 Correct = reinforcement
 Incorrect or no response = error correction &
prompt
 Extinction
 Immediate
DTT
 Often thought of as a rigid procedure based

on Lovaas
 Many people use DTT in a flexible, natural
method
 DTT can still allow child initiations and
doing child specific interventions
Advantages of DTT
 High # of trials (lots of opportunities to

practice a skill)
 Easy to implement
 Good way to develop skills across different
uses of language
 Easy to run in classroom
Advantages of DTT
 Can be used in group

 Allows for peer interaction
 Learning in a group
 Target responses known and easily

identified
 Contrived consequence easy to deliver
Advantages of DTT
 Data collection straight forward

 Easy to observe progress
 Helps to establish good learner
DTT: Establish good learner
 Increase attention to task

 Increase responding appropriately because
of reinforcement
 Increase discrimination ability
 Increase ability to sit and work
 Increase child’s tolerance to increased
demands
Disadvantages of DTT
 Requires training for generalization of skills

 May evoke problem behavior
 Often uses stimuli & reinforcers not present
in natural environment
Clearing Up Any Misconceptions
 DTT can take place anywhere

 Does NOT have to occur at a table
 DTT can take place in a group setting

 Does NOT have to be 1:1 therapy
 DTT ≠ Applied Behavior Analysis
 DTT does NOT have to include mass trials of

same targets
Motivating Operations
 Anything that temporarily alters reinforcing

value of item or activity
 Deprivation
 Satiation
 Illness
 Side effects of medicine

Clear environment of distractions
Have a data sheet ready & evaluate
data prior to session
Evaluate Procedures
Asking a Friend to Play
100
Percent Correct
80
60
40
20
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Session
Asking A Friend to Play
100
Percent Correct
80
60
40
20
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Session
Asking a Friend to Play
100
Percent Correct
80
60
40
20
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Session
DTT: In Session
Block & correct errors
Position yourself to manage challenging behavior
Task Instructions
 Do not repeat the instruction without a

prompt
 Use appropriate level of language
 DON’T -“Can you come over to the table and sit
down for me?”
 DO -“Sit down”
Use antecedent prompts
 Prompt simultaneously with initial

instruction
 Prompt before the child responds
 Eliminates opportunity for errors

Use prompt that evokes the target response
 Verbal Prompt
 Placement Prompt
 Gesture Prompt
 Hand Over Hand Prompt
Prompting Hierarchies
 Acquisition task:
 Most-to-leastprompt hierarchy
 Example: Full verbal Partial verbal
 Example: Full physical Partial physical
point
 Maintenance task:
 Least-to-most prompt hierarchy
Fade the Prompts
 Children may become prompt dependent if they

are not systematically faded
 You want natural stimuli controlling

responding, not your prompts
 Called “transfer of stimulus control”
 Fade prompts by
 Gradually increasing delay to prompt
 Reducing a property of prompt (intensity, length,
duration, etc.)
Provide Reinforcement
 Increases likelihood of behavior occurring

again
 Immediately
 Contingently
 Differentially
 More reinforcement for better, more independent
responses
 Don’t reinforce prompted response if child typically
does task independently
Amount of Reinforcement
 A whole cookie vs. a bite

 4 minutes of TV vs. a 30-second clip
 More of a reinforcer for a better response
 Requiring less prompts
Score Data
 After small blocks of trial
 Want to be meaningful & reliable
 Practical
 Do while child is occupied (working

independently, consuming reinforcer)
Re-present Prompted Trials
 If child does not respond, or responds

incorrectly & you prompt them
 Do an easy activity
 Re-present instruction with an antecedent
prompt
 Able to reinforce correct responding & teach

skill
Minimize Inter-trial Intervals
 This is wait time between removal of

consequence and next instruction
 Being prepared with data sheets, materials,

etc.
 Keeps child’s interest high

Intersperse Easy & Difficult Tasks
 Easy – something you’ve seen them do

before
 Difficult – a new task
 Keeps child experiencing success &

independence
 Builds behavioral momentum

Use behavior specific praise
End Session with Fun/Easy Task
 If child leaves on a good note, he/she will be

more willing to come back later
DTT Practice
 Teaching
 Acquisition:
Receptive identification of colors using cards
 Maintenance:
Motor imitation with arms and hands (pat table
& clap)
Request reinforcers using one word (sticks &
stickers)
Expand Stimulus and Response Classes
 Training for generalization

 Expand stimulus class or group of stimuli
that evoke same response
 Expand response class or different
responses evoked by same stimulus
Ways to Practice for Generalization
 Practice loosely
 Different stimuli and instructions with advanced
child
 Practice multiple exemplars
 Reinforce different responses
 Train different stimuli after goal is mastered with
beginning child
 Practice across settings and teachers
Using DTT in a group
 Trials can be:

 Presented to each child individually
 Randomly presented to children in the
group
 One instruction presented to group
requiring a choral response from group
Naturalistic Teaching
What is Naturalistic Teaching?
 Emphasis on following child’s interest,

lead, or pace when presenting learning
trials
 Trials
are less structured (training loosely
& accepting diverse responses)
 Incorporating natural activities and

natural reinforcers and consequences
(less arbitrary)
 Incorporating functional mediators

 Emphasis on following child’s interest,
lead, or pace when presenting learning
trials
 Captures momentary MO
-Take advantage of natural deprivation
-Prevents satiation
 Preventingproblem behavior
 Represents naturally occurring contexts
 Trials
are less structured (practicing
loosely & accepting diverse responses)
Continuum of Stimulus Control
DTT NTAs
 Similarities between teaching

environment and speaking
environment (LeBlanc et al., 2006)
Practice Loosely
 Use a variety of antecedent prompts or
instructions, reinforce variety of responses
 Usea variety of stimuli (loose stimulus

control): multiple stimuli, settings, trainers
 Consider thinning reinforcement schedules or

increase the delay before reinforcement
 Incorporating natural activities and natural

reinforcers and consequences
 Show items to child to increase motivation
 Follow looks, reaches & approaches (signals
learning opportunity)
 Prompt appropriate response
 Language = access to item of interest

 Incorporating functional mediators

 Usestimuli from the child’s environment
(common items)
• Ex: practice in natural settings or use
items from home or school
• Ex: involve parents, siblings, peers, or
teacher as the change agents
Incorporating functional mediators

 Practicebehaviors that will contact natural
reinforcement
• Requesting, question-asking (“Where is it?”
“Is it yours?”)
• Initiating social interactions (“Can I play?”
“Can I have a turn?” Want to play?” “Hello,
_____”)
• Recruiting attention as a reinforcer (“Look at
me!” “See, I’m finished!” “How is this?”)
Advantages of Naturalistic Teaching?
 Decreased problem behavior
 May be easy to implement at home or at school

by parents, siblings, teachers.
 Increases exposure to therapy since training

extends beyond the therapy setting
 Address generalization of skills to natural
environment
Pivotal Response Training (PRT)
 Pivotal response training has proven to be a naturalistic

training method that is structured enough to help
children learn simple through complex play skills, while
still flexible enough to allow children to remain creative
in their play. The child can be reinforced for single or
multiple step play. The therapist has the opportunity to
model more complex play and provide new play ideas on
his/her turn. Research indicates that children with
autism who are developmentally ready to learn symbolic
play skills can learn to engage in spontaneous, creative
play with another adult at levels similar to those of
language-age matched peers via pivotal response
training. Koegel Autism Consultants

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ABA & Teaching Methods

 ABA = Applied Behavior Analysis

 Investigates people’s interactions with their

 Optimal age is before 5

 Research and evidence based

 Substantial literature showing positive

 Recommend a blend of both DTT &

 Discrete Trial – four term contingency

 Followed by brief inter trial interval

 Can be verbal or non-verbal

 Discriminative stimulus: Stimulus that

 A child can respond in 3 ways

 Does not have to be ultimately desired

 Often thought of as a rigid procedure based

 High # of trials (lots of opportunities to

 Can be used in group

 Target responses known and easily

 Data collection straight forward

 Increase attention to task

 Requires training for generalization of skills

 DTT can take place anywhere

 DTT can take place in a group setting

 DTT ≠ Applied Behavior Analysis

 DTT does NOT have to include mass trials of

 Anything that temporarily alters reinforcing

 Side effects of medicine

 Do not repeat the instruction without a

 Prompt simultaneously with initial

 Prompt before the child responds

 Eliminates opportunity for errors

 Children may become prompt dependent if they

 You want natural stimuli controlling

 Increases likelihood of behavior occurring

 A whole cookie vs. a bite

 After small blocks of trial

 Want to be meaningful & reliable

 Do while child is occupied (working

 If child does not respond, or responds

 Able to reinforce correct responding & teach

 This is wait time between removal of

 Being prepared with data sheets, materials,

 Keeps child’s interest high

 Easy – something you’ve seen them do

 Difficult – a new task

 Keeps child experiencing success &

 Builds behavioral momentum

 If child leaves on a good note, he/she will be

 Training for generalization

 Trials can be:

 Emphasis on following child’s interest,

 Incorporating natural activities and

 Incorporating functional mediators

 Similarities between teaching

 Usea variety of stimuli (loose stimulus

 Consider thinning reinforcement schedules or

 Incorporating natural activities and natural

 Language = access to item of interest

 Incorporating functional mediators

Incorporating functional mediators