ABA EXAM 6

Preference assessments

Ways to find out what a person likes and might work for 💭

Identifying potential reinforcers

Reinforcers must be proven by testing, not just by guessing or asking others 🎯

Two strategies

Stimulus preference assessments and reinforcer assessments ⚖️

Preference/reinforcer caveats

Preferences change over time, so check often; preference doesn’t always mean reinforcement ⚠️

Stimulus preference assessments

Identify what a person likes, how much they like it, and under what conditions 🔍

Three types

Asking about preferences, free-operant observation, and trial-based observation 📊

Asking about preferences

Ask open-ended, specific, choice, or rank-order questions 🗣️

Pre-task choices

Offer fun options before work (ex. “After you finish, you can play Battleship, checkers, or use the computer”) 🎮

Asking significant others

Ask caregivers or teachers what the person might like 👩🏽‍🏫

Advantages of asking

Simple and quick ⚡

Problems with asking

People’s answers don’t always match real behavior; high chance of false positives 🚫

Free-operant observation

Watch what someone chooses to do when they have free access to all items or activities 👀

Naturalistic free-operant

Done in normal settings like recess; record how long they engage with each item 🌳

Contrived free-operant

Done in a controlled setting; expose person to items first, then observe and record time spent ⏱️

Free-operant advantages

Quick and less likely to cause problem behavior since items aren’t taken away ✅

Trial-based methods

Present items in trials and record how the person reacts or engages; rank items as high, medium, or low preference 📋

Single-stimulus method

Present one item at a time and record the reaction; best for people who struggle to choose 🎯

Paired-stimulus method

Present two items at once, have the person pick one; rank preferences based on choices ⚖️

Multiple-stimulus method

Show three or more items at once; can be done with or without replacement 🔁

Guidelines for preference assessments

Watch for motivating factors, weigh time vs. accuracy, use fewer items if rushed, and combine methods for best results 🧠

Reinforcer assessment

Test if a preferred item actually increases behavior by giving it after a response and seeing if the behavior grows 📈

Extinction

Stopping reinforcement for a behavior so the behavior decreases in the future; the behavior now has a 0% chance of being reinforced 😶‍🌫️⬇️.

Functional/Nonaversive treatments

Methods like extinction, differential reinforcement, and antecedent changes that reduce behavior without punishment and are based on functional assessments 🧠✨.

Attention extinction

Not giving attention when the problem behavior happens 🙅🏽‍♀️👀.

Tangible extinction

Not giving access to items when the problem behavior happens 🎁🚫.

Escape extinction

Not allowing escape from a task when the problem behavior happens 📝🔒.

Automatic extinction

Blocking or removing sensory reinforcement that maintains the behavior 🔇🤖.

Extinction burst

A temporary increase in the behavior when extinction first starts 😤📈.

Spontaneous recovery

The behavior briefly reappears after it has already decreased 👻↩️.

Differential reinforcement (DR)

Reinforcing a desirable behavior while not reinforcing the problem behavior 🌟➡️🚫.

DRA

Reinforcing a desirable alternative behavior while the problem behavior is not reinforced 💡👍.

DRI

Reinforcing a behavior that can’t happen at the same time as the problem behavior 🙌❌🤦🏽‍♀️.

FCT

Teaching and reinforcing communication that replaces the problem behavior 🗣️💬✨.

DNRA

Escape or avoidance happens only after the desirable behavior, not after the problem behavior 🚪➡️🙂.

DRO

Reinforcing the absence of the problem behavior for a set amount of time; interval resets if the behavior occurs ⏱️🚫.

Whole-interval DRO

Problem behavior must be gone for the entire interval to earn reinforcement 🔁✨.

Momentary DRO

Problem behavior must be gone only at the end of the interval to earn reinforcement ⏳👀.

DRL

Reinforcing lower rates of a behavior when you want it to occur less often but not disappear 📉🙂.

Full-session DRL

Reinforcement given when total responses stay below a set number during the whole session 📊✔️.

Spaced-responding DRL

Reinforcement given only if enough time has passed since the last response; early responses reset the timer ⏱️🔄.

Reinforcer assessments

Ways to find effective reinforcers, like single-stimulus, paired-stimulus, or MSWO tests 🎯🧸🍬.