WHAT IS “ABA”?

ABA Defined:      

The acronym ABA stands for Applied Behavior Analysis.  It is the study and analysis of behavior as it relates to things in the environment.   For the purposes of intensive 1:1 programs for children with autism, the “ABA” part of the title refers to fact that the teaching methodology used in these programs is based in behavior analysis theory.  It does not refer to the student to teacher ratio, the location for teaching or the content of the curriculum.  Applied Behavior Analysis is not only used as a teaching methodology within special education but as by corporations to improve employee satisfaction, in the treatment of phobias and depression and in drug rehabilitation centers. 

Basic Behavior Principles:

In behavior theory all behavior serves a purpose or a function for the person engaging in that behavior.   Behavior is analyzed by collecting information about things in the environment that occur before and after the behavior being studied.  The events that come before a behavior are called ANTECEDENTS and the events that come after are called CONSEQUENCES. This is often referred to as “ABC” data.

Consequences following a behavior will either increase (reinforcement) or decrease (punishment) the likelihood that the behavior will occur again in the future.  We evaluate consequences when teaching your child to ensure that we maintaining and increasing the behaviors we want and decreasing the behaviors we don’t want.

Certain antecedents increase the likelihood that a specific behavior will follow it.  For example:  when I see a read light while driving (antecedent) I stop the car (behavior).  Antecedents do not “trigger” behavior as we are looking at voluntary behaviors.  Antecedents also do not determine the function or purpose of an individuals behavior.  We can change antecedents to temporarily manage behavior, however it is not a long-term solution.  For example, if Sarah screams when she sees a dog, we can try to keep her from seeing dogs to reduce the screaming, however at some point we would want to work on desensitizing her to dogs so she no longer screams in their presence.

Consequences always determine the function or purpose of an individual’s behavior.  If a behavior is not reinforced it will decrease over time.  This is true for both desired and undesired behaviors.  The length of time it takes to change a behavior is dependent on the reinforcement history for that behavior.  For example if a child receives attention for screaming for one year of their life, ignoring them 4 to 5 times for screaming likely will not stop the behavior.  We change consequences to create behavior change in others.

Our behavior is the only behavior we are in control of so in order to encourage others to change their behavior we must change the way we interact with them.  When we change the way we interact with others it may motivate them to choose to change their behavior as well.  For example, if a mother wants her 16-year old son to start taking the garbage out she cannot force him to do it.  What she can do however is change her behavior by not allowing him to have access to television or offering a monetary incentive if he does it. 

Reinforcement is a consequence.  It is anything delivered following a behavior that increases the likelihood that the behavior will occur again in the future.  If an undesired behavior continues to occur over time, it is being reinforced.  If a desired behavior that a person has in their skill set is not occurring, it is not being reinforced enough if at all.  People chose their own reinforcers and therefore we do not get to chose what is reinforcing to our students or children.

Verbal Behavior

Verbal Behavior Defined:

Verbal behavior refers to the analysis of communication or language as a behavior.  Vocal language, sign and Picture Exchange systems may all be forms of verbal behavior.  From this perspective communication or “language” is defined by the purpose or function it serves for the speaker rather then the form (what the language looks like).  All communication or language is analyzed as a behavior just like following and instruction or staying on task.

Within verbal behavior theory a single word has a different meaning or purpose depending on what antecedent condition precedes it.  For example, if I am thirsty and say “water” and someone gives me water I have just made a request or mand.  This is different then if I say or tact “water” after someone holds up a bottle of water and asks me what it is.  In many cases just because a student is able to label or tact an object, it does not mean that they will be able to ask for it or answer a question about it in the absence of concrete stimuli in the environment.

Intensive intervention programs based in verbal behavior ensure that language and other forms of communication such as sign are systematically taught across a variety of antecedent conditions.  Doing this promotes functional and generalized use of language or communication.  For example if a student can say “shoe” when shown a picture of a shoe, a verbal behavior program would then teach the student how to answer questions (such as “what do you where on your feet?) using the picture as a prompt.  The picture would then be faded out over a several consecutive trials so the student would then get to practice answering questions independently. The more practice the student has engaging in a behavior (such as answering a questions) following a specific antecedent/instruction/SD, without prompting, the stronger that skill or behavior will become for them.

The Mand, Tact and Intraverbal:

The 3 major components of verbal behavior as it applies to intensive intervention programs are the mand, the tact and the intraverbal.  The verbal behavior component refers to the behavior of a person when they are the ones engaging in expressive communication such as asking for things, labeling stuff in the environment and/or answering other people’s questions.  A “verbal behavior” program should also include other skills that are not directly related to verbal output such as listener skills/receptive language, fine and gross motor, imitation and social and play skills.

The chart below outlines each of these components as they relate to ABC’s and the discrete trial.

The Mand:

The mand is the verbal behavior term for requesting.  It should be the first skill taught in any early intervention program as it is the first skill learned/demonstrated by any human being (yes, babies crying is a mand).  The key components to a mand are: 1) A desire or need for something (an object, information, attention, to get away from something), 2) a behavior and 3) getting access to whatever it is that was desired in the first place (see chart above). 

The following are a list of things that would be considered mands:

• Saying yes or no when asked if you want something

• Asking for information including what, when, where, why and how questions (ex: “How do I do this?” Or “Where is the paper?”)

• Asking for someone else to do something such as provide help or way

• Asking for food or water when hungry or thirsty.

• A child tantrumming when they want something and it allows them to get it (the behavior does not have to be appropriate J )

• Asking for attention or to be left alone.

• Asking to for someone to remove something you don’t like or to stop engaging in a behavior.

• Asking to get something back that someone may have grabbed from you.

There are several common problems that can occur with kids who struggle with language when it comes to manding or making requests.  Below are 2 examples of such occcurances.  Please note that these problems are meant to serve as examples to demonstrate the mand and that problems and solutions must be analyzed on an individual child basis.

Problem One:  The student can label 100 objects but can’t ask for any of these things when they want them.

Why this occurs: The student has only been taught to elicit the behavior of saying or signed the name of the object when the object is present and not when they have a desire or need for the item.

Solution: Using picture or the presence of the actual items as prompts train the student to elicit the same behavior when the desire or need for the object is present.  You can tell that a desire or need is present by waiting for the student to reach for, grab at or show some sort of interest in an object/item etc. before prompting them to ask for it.

Problem Two: The student can only ask for things when they are provided with a verbal prompt (someone says what they should say and then they repeat back)

Why this occurs: The student is prompt dependent in that the verbal prompt is what elicits the behavior of asking for something not their desire or need for an item/object etc.

Solution:  Use a visual prompt in conjunction with the verbal prompt to start.  Fade off the verbal prompt over a series of trials so the student is independently producing the language in the presence of the object when they have a desire or need for something.

The Tact:

The tact is verbal behavior that follows the presence of concrete stimuli in the environment such as sounds, sights, smells, tastes or physical sensations.  For example if a child hears and sees and airplane and says, “Hey look!  There is an airplane,” they are tacting on the sight and sound of the airplane.  Within early intervention programs, an example of a tacting program object labels wherein the child gives the name of various objects when shown a picture of that object and is asked “What is it?”

The Intraverbal:

The intraverbal is verbal behavior that follows the verbal behavior of another person (that is not a repetition of what they said).  A conversation between two people that requires one to answer other people’s questions or comment on things other people have said is primarily made up of intraverbal behavior.

Students who struggle with language especially struggle with intraverbals.  Outside of verbal behavior and applied behavior analysis, this issue is often referred to as “auditory processing” difficulties.  Within behavior analysis, intraverbals or responding to the verbal behavior of others is viewed as a behavior and is taught in the same systematic way that teaching colors or object labels (tacts) would be.  In most cases visual prompts are used (for children who are able to label objects) to help the student answer the given question such as “What do you eat?”  Initially the response will be given based on the fact that the child is seeing a picture of a food item.  Over a series of trials the prompts are faded out (the picture card is dropped) and the student who is still responding with the name of the food item, is now giving the name of the food item independently following only the question “What do you eat?” This is illustrated in the diagram below:

The key to this is that the more times the student can practice engaging in the behavior without a prompt (the card or a verbal) present the more likely it is that their ability to answer questions in the future will increase.

Data Collection

Why do we take data?

Within any education program data is taken on student’s progress mostly to evaluate performance and give grades to students.  Within early intervention programs, each student is provided a binder containing their individualized program and curriculum as well as the data.  Data collection is essential to the success of the programs for the following reasons:

• To determine when a target has been mastered.

• To determine when a new target should be introduced.

• To isolate issues and determine if teaching strategies need to be modified.

• To promote consistency among individuals working with the student.

• To provide information and baselines to develop future goals.

• To gather information to report on annual goals and objectives.

• To determine if curriculum needs to be modified or added to.

• To determine if the current placements are appropriate for learning.

• To determine rates of skill acquisition. 

Types of Data

There are several types of data that can be taken within educational programs.  In regular education programs, data is taken by giving homework and administering tests.   Within early intervention programs more specific data is needed to ensure that programs and goals are being developed based on students’ needs and that the curriculum is designed to maximize success and learning.  

Listed and described below are several types of data that may used within an early intervention program:

1.  ABC Behavior Data:  ABC is taken for those students engaging in behavior excesses that are interfering with their ability to learn.  Taking this data provides necessary information to behavior analysts so they can develop strategies and procedures to minimize the problematic behavior.

2.  Behavior Logs:  Behavior logs are used to capture a general anecdotal account of compliance and success (or non-compliance) for each session.  It is helpful as a communication for tutors who work with children in home that do not get to see each other on a day to day basis.  It can also be used as a guide to determine whether or not problematic behaviors are occurring at a rate that warrants concern or intervention.

3.  Trial by Trial Data:  This data is used to track progress within individual programs such as matching, imitation etc.  Trial by trial simply refers to the fact that data is taken on the student response for every single discrete trial presented to the student.  Responses are usually recorded as correct, incorrect, no response or prompted.

4.   First Trial Data:  First trial simply refers to the fact that data is taken the first time the student is presented with each target each session. First trial data can be taken on all of the targets that are on acquisition at the beginning of the session or throughout the session.  Student responses are recorded as either correct or incorrect.  Prompting is never provided while first trial data is being taken on targets.  Prompting is only provided when targets are being taught.  The best way to think of it is that the students are “tested” on targets and then the remaining portion of the session is devoted to teaching new targets or problem areas.

First Trial Vs. Trial by Trial

The first thing that is important to discriminate when looking at these 2 types of data collection is the difference between teaching and testing trials. Teaching trials are done when a target is first introduced or when a target is still on acquisition.  Trials that are prompted, follow a prompted response, are part of a correction procedure or that follow an incorrect response can all be considered teaching trials.  Testing trials are done in isolation of and prior to teaching trials.

Comparison Chart:

Generalization

Generalization

Generalization is when your child engages in a behavior or response with new materials or environments without having been specifically taught.  Before mastering off a program in a student’s binder we will test to see that they can perform the behavior or skill with novel or new stimuli or materials.  Generalization is key because it will allow the student to use their skills in the natural environment in ways that are meaningful and functional to their life.

Another level of generalization that is key to a successful program based in Applied Behavior Analysis, is working in other environments.  Once the student has an acquired a large skill base of early learner skills (imitation, following instructions, labeling objects, manding/requesting, and visual perceptual skills) it is beneficial to start moving parts of the program into the student’s Special Day or Regular Education Classroom.