ABA Basics
What does ABC stand for in ABA
+10 bonus points: What is the definition of each?
Antecedent, Behavior, Consequence
BONUS:
Antecedent: Anything that happens before a behavior
Behavior: Anything a live organism does that is observable and measurable
Consequence: Anything that happens after a behavior
Your client seems unusually tired and isn't responding like they normally do. What steps would you take BEFORE reaching out to the BCBA?
Check the last time they ate/went to the bathroom, take them to eat/to be changed, take them to a preferred location and engage them in a preferred location, check teams for updates
You run a target 10 times and your learner gets 7 of them correct. What percentage did they get correct?
+10 bonus points: Draw a graph and graph the data point!
70%
What does BIP stand for?
Behavior Intervention Plan
Provide the definitions and 1 example for the following verbal operants: Mand, Tact, Echoic, Intraverbal
Mand: request; asking for water
Tact: Label; what is this? Water
Echoic: repeating; say 'water' 'water'
Intraverbal: fill in the blank, answering questions; you drink... water
The skill we are teaching is washing hands. The prompting procedure is least to most. Which prompts would be included in the prompt hierarchy and in which order would they be implemented?
Gesture, model, partial physical, full physical
You cannot remember a BIP procedure.. what do you do?
Review the BIP document, ask BCBA for additional training
What is the purpose for collecting data during ABA therapy?
to objectively measure progress and help clinical team make data-based decisions
Provide 3 different types of antecedent interventions
Timers, visual schedules, first then statements
Your learner reaches for juice. What skill can be taught?
Manding
What are the 4 functions of behavior?
Escape, Attention, Access to Tangible, Automatic/Sensory
You notice another therapist is implementing a program differently than you are. What do you do?
Ask clarifying questions to RBT team about that program, ask BCBA for additional training/clarification on implementation.
Collect frequency data on this behavior: tapping on the table
9 occurrences
WTF??
ABC data shows that a learner consistently engages in screaming behaviors when they want a preferred toy. Every time the toy is given to the learner, the screaming stops.
Access to Tangible
Why is maintenance and generalization important?
to make sure a learner than keep engaging in that skill over time even if we aren't practicing it every day
to make sure a learner can engage in that skill across people, contexts, and environments.
What is discrimination training, give an example, and how do we teach it?
Teaching the difference between things, find water bottle vs find phone, presence of reinforcement for a correct response, absence of reinforcement for an incorrect response, prompting/error correction.
Your learner starts to lose interest in reinforcers the minute you start placing demands. What do you do?
Try novel reinforcers, use behavior momentum, ask RBT team what has been working for them, report to BCBA.
Graph these data points and determine which way the data is trending (increasing, decreasing, stable).
40%, 50%, 60%, 60%, 70%, 80%
data graph - increasing
What information would be useful to provide to the BCBA after a longer than usual behavior?
Antecedents - What triggered the behavior (in detail) not just 'demand was placed'
Behavior - anything out of the ordinary (that isnt already being tracked)
Consequence - What happened after the behavior? What parts of the BIP worked? what parts didn't work?
Why is consistent and accurate implementation so important?
inconsistent and inaccurate implementation could lead to slow or lack of progress, a learner not learning/maintaining/generalizing the skill
Make this statement more objective. 'Client had lots of fun in session today. We worked on colors and numbers and they did great!'
Client engaged with preferred activities including swinging on the swing and demonstrated happiness as evidence by laughing and smiling while they were swinging. RBT implemented program tacting colors and tacting numbers. Client responded with both programs with 100% accuracy across 10 trials of each program.
You suspect a target is too difficult for your learner, what do you do?
Continue with implementation and report findings to your BCBA.
Collect IRT (inter-response time) on the following behavior: tapping on the table
18 seconds
A learner's aggression is escape maintained. They engage in aggression and the RBT immediately removes the demand even though the BIP says to follow through with the demand. What is the concern?
RBT did not implement BIP as intended AND removing the demand reinforced the aggressive behavior.
What is the difference between DTT and NET?
DTT - structured, instructor led, reinforcement typically doesn't match the behavior, allows for mass trials, clear start and end to program
NET - flexible, learner lead, reinforcement typically matches the behavior, less opportunities for implementation