ABA
What are the the 3-Term Contingencies?
A: Antecedent (something that ‘triggers’ the behaviour)
B:Behaviour (a response to the antecedent)
C: Consequence (stimulus change following the behaviour)
Name the types of Prompts and Response Prompts?
• Response Prompts: Prompts that act directly on the behaviour you are teaching.
• Stimulus Prompts: Prompts that act on the stimulus or the stimuli(antecedent(s) to
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-Physical
- Model
-Textual
-Verbal
When teaching a brand-new skill, a which reinforcement schedule is used?
Continuous Schedule of reinforcement is used.
WHAT IS FADING /THINNING SCHEDULES OF REINFORCEMENT?
▪ Thinning generally occurs by increasing the response ratio or time interval of a reinforcement schedule (example: moving from VR-2 to VR-5) (Cooper et al., 2020).
▪ Although explicit explanation of schedule changes is not required for progress, it can be helpful for certain
learners.
▪ This needs to be individualized, as ratio strain can occur if schedules are thinned too drastically, too quickly.
▪ Thinning of reinforcement involves a graduallincrease in the amount of appropriate responses required for reinforcement. Reinforcement should move from a thick reinforcement schedule (continuous) to a thinner reinforcement schedule (variable), and should be completed in a systematic manner to avoid ratio strain.
What are all the Exemplars?
- Naturally Maintaining Contingencies: The transfer of behavioural control from the instructor is moved to the natural contingencies of the environment. A behaviour must be functional to the extent that it will produce reinforcers in the post intervention environment.
- Train Loosely: involves intentionally varying noncritical aspects of the instructional setting to promote generalization and ensure the behaviour can occur across different environments and contexts.
- Indiscriminable Contingencies: If reinforcement is provided intermittently, the behaviour must occur repeatedly over a period of time (or for several times) before reinforcement can be obtained. When the behaviour has this strength in the generalization setting, it is more probable that the behaviour will contact a naturally existing contingency of reinforcement!
- Program Common Stimuli: Include typical features of the generalization setting into the instructional setting. Teach in natural settings when you can. Use sights, sounds, materials and people that the individual will run into in the generalization setting.
Well written intervention plans are?
• Effective: procedures are based on research
• Behavioural: measurable and definable targets are identified
• Technological: procedures are written clearly, with detail, in proper sequence
• Conceptually systematic: based in behavioural principles
What are all the Stimulus Prompts?
-Within stimulus
-Extra stimulus
-Positional
-Gestural,visual
Which schedule can be response-based (ratio) or time based (interval)?
Intermittent Schedules.
WHAT IS THE MOST COMMON ERROR PROCEDURES FOR ERRORLESS + TRANSFER TRIAL?
• General procedure:
• Error occurs
• Repeat SD and provide an immediate, errorless prompt
• Learner repeats prompted response
• SD is repeated
• Learner provides response successfully and independently
• Reinforce!
What is Response Maintenance?
- The extent to which a learner continues to perform the target behaviour after some, or all, of the intervention responsible for the presence of the behaviour in the learner’s repertoire have been terminated.
- Also known as generalization over time
- If proper generalization techniques are embedded into instruction, maintenance is more likely to occur.
What is a Discriminative Stimulus, S-delta, Neutral stimuli and Saliency in ABA?
• Stimulus control is acquired when a particular response (or a response class) leads to reinforcement more often when that stimulus is present.
• Describes a specific environmental cue that signals to an individual that a particular behavior will be reinforced or punished. In other words, discriminative stimulus is a signal that tells an individual what to do in a particular situation.
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• A stimulus in the environment that signals the non-availability of reinforcement.
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• In classical conditioning, a neutral stimulus is something that does not produce a specific reaction. After being paired with an unconditioned stimulus, it becomes a conditioned stimulus that elicits a conditioned response.
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• Stimulus Salience refers to how obvious or prominent a stimulus is in a person's environment.
What are all the Prompt Fading Procedures?
-Most to Least:Moving through a hierarchy of prompts, from the most intrusive to the least intrusive.
-Least to Most: Moving through a hierarchy of prompts, from the least intrusive to the most intrusive.
-Time Delay: Gradually increase the length of time between the presentation of the instruction or Sd and the prompt.
WHAT ARE THE 4 BASIC SCHEDULES OF INTERMITTENT REINFORCEMENT?
▪ Fixed Ratio: A fixed # of responses is required to occur before a reinforcer is delivered.
▪ Variable Ratio: A variable # of responses is required before a reinforcer is delivered.
▪ Fixed interval: A fixed passage of time is required to elapse before a response will produce reinforcement.
▪ Variable interval: A variable passage of time is required to elapse before a response will produce reinforcement.
WHAT IS BEHAVIOURAL OBJECTIVE?
• Recall that a behavioural objective specifies the details around what the target behaviour looks like when it has been mastered (e.g., the end of your skill acquisition program).
• Goal statements should be specific, clear, and representative of exactly what you want to be teaching your learners.
• Example: “So and so will learn to...” vs. “So and so will...”
What is pairing?
- Consider how neutral stimuli take on reinforcing properties (become conditioned reinforcers): through repeated associations with an unconditioned stimulus (reinforcer).
- It's about making your presence a source of joy for your client. You aim to become a conditioned reinforcer– that is, to associate yourself with positive reinforcement, making your presence a catalyst for encouraging desired behaviours.
What are additional stimulus control considerations?
• Overshadowing: something else in the environment interferes with acquiring stimulus control over a response.
• Masking / stimulus blocking: something else in the environment interferes with exhibiting a response that already has properly established stimulus control.
REINFORCEMENT PROCEDURES?
▪ Contingent = when a response produces a consequence, and a particular consequence only occurs following that specific response.
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▪ Effectiveness = Consider a situation where someone thought they were giving you something meaningful but it just... wasn’t (example: corporations giving their employees pizza parties instead of decent wages and benefits). Developed by Marina Jiujias. Cannot be shared or reproduced without permission.
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▪ Frequency & immediacy = Reinforcers should be delivered immediately following the behaviour we are teaching, and frequently (at first).
▪ Delays will weaken the behaviour-consequence
connection, and risks accidentally reinforcing a different behaviour than what we’re trying to teach and increase.
▪ More frequent contact with a reinforcer also helps
strengthen the behaviour-consequence connection.
What is ratio vs. interval schedules?
▪ Ratio Schedules: Reinforcer delivered based on a certain number of responses occurring.
▪ Interval Schedules: Reinforcer delivered based on response occurring following a passage of time.
What is Generalization?
• The occurrence of relevant target behaviours under different, non-training conditions without the scheduling of the same events in those conditions.
• Across settings (including SD’s, instructions,
materials, etc.)
• Across people
• Across behaviours
• Across time (maintenance)
What is Instructional Control?
• Instructional control refers to the likelihood that when an instruction is delivered, it will be followed (Schramm, 2014).
• This is a term I learned to use, and have used, for quite some time – but there are problems with this term.
• In recent years, the field of ABA is (correctly) acknowledging that we need to be changing our language and how we approach interfering behaviours to ensure we are practicing compassionately, ethically, and from a neurodiversity affirming lens.
1) Marina sets her office hours from 9:00am – 10:30am every Monday. During this time, there is a sign on her door stating, “Open office hours”. Explain the difference, using the terms “SD” and “S-delta”, between a student knocking on the door and having a meeting with her when the sign is present or absent?
The sign "Open office hours" acts as a discriminative stimulus (SD). An SD signals that reinforcement (in this case, Marina being available to meet) is available for a specific behaviour (knocking on the door and having a meeting). When the sign is present, it indicates that knocking on the door is likely to result in Marina answering and meeting with the student. This increases the likelihood that the student will knock, as they expect a positive outcome (reinforcement).
When the sign is absent, this situation serves as an S-delta. An S-delta signals that reinforcement is not available or less likely to occur. If the student knocks on the door when the sign is absent, they are less likely to meet with Marina, as her availability is uncertain or she might not be there. Therefore, the absence of the sign decreases that the student will knock on the door, as the expected reinforcement (the meeting) is unlikely to occur.
SD (discriminative stimulus): "Open office hours" sign is present, signaling reinforcement (Marina will meet).
S-delta: The sign is absent, signalling that reinforcement (meeting) is less likely or unavailable.
WHAT ARE THE SCHEDULES OF REINFORCEMENT?
▪ Continuous (CRF): Every single instance of an
identified response class contacts reinforcement.
▪ Intermittent: Some instances of an identified response class contact reinforcement.
▪ Extinction (EXT): No instances of an identified response class contact reinforcement.
What are fixed vs. variable schedules?
▪ Fixed Schedules: The number of responses, or passage of time prior to a response, required for reinforcement is the same every time.
▪ Variable Schedules: The number of responses, or
passage of time prior to a response, required for reinforcement is the different every time.
What are response and stimulus generalisation?
- Response generalisation= functionally equivalent behaviours, same stimulus conditions.
- For example, if a child learns to request a preferred toy by saying “I want the truck,” response generalization would involve them using the same request to ask for a different toy.
- Stimulus generalisation= different stimulus conditions evoking behaviours within the same response class.
- For example, someone can have a negative or traumatic experience with a dog and then generalize that fear to other dogs.
What are the 7 Steps to Instructional Control?
Step 1: Be the giver of good things
Step 2: Be FUN! Pair with R+
Step 3:Establish Trust
Step 4:Practice Instructions
Step 5:Reinforce!
Step 6: Demonstrate understanding of priorities
Step 7:Clear contingencies