5010 Exam 4

Discrete Trial Teaching (DTT)

a teaching strategy that:

• breaks skills down into small components and identifies very specific target behaviors

• is very systematic and structured in terms of the presentation of the SD, prompt, and the consequence

• allows for a great deal of instructor control

• provides high levels of learning opportunities

• allows the student to contact reinforcement frequently

• is research based

example of DTT in classroom setting

teaching letter sounds or numbers

DTT Process

how long should you give the child to respond

5 seconds

strategies to gain the child’s attention

use the materials, edibles, visual shield, a noise.

make sure to not use their name,

a child can respond:

the child can respond:

• incorrectly

• correctly

• not respond at all

provide consequence

if the child gets the answer wrong then:

try again or “good trying” then move through promoting sequence

if the child gets the answer right then:

reinforce

importance of recording data on each trial

we know how much they are progressing or if they are at all

accurate data

types of prompts

verbal

gestural

model

physical (full and partial)

verbal prompting

saying the correct response so that the child can repeat it

“what color? red”

gestural prompting

pointing to the correct item

model prompting

modeling the correct response

types of physical prompting

full physical: guiding the child’s hand to the appropriate object using hand over hand

partial physical: guiding the child’s hand to the appropriate object using elbow or shoulder

strategies to transfer stimulus control

prompt fading

stimulus fading

prompt delay

prompt fading

if doing full physical prompt, you move from full hand over hand to elbow prompt to shoulder prompt to no prompt at all.

stimulus fading

in a positional prompt, you move the stimulus back and back until they are in line with each other until the stimulus is not closest to them anymore.

correct stimulus might be bigger then the other stimulus, so slowly make the correct stimulus smaller until they are the same size.

prompt delay

instead of immediately prompting, you wait 2 seconds, then 4 seconds, then 6seconds to create for time for them to respond independently

what is a token system

a way to give positive reinforcement without needing to give the items immediately.

components of a token system

1. identify and define the target behaviors to be strengthened

2. decide on what to use for tokens

3. decide what the backup reinforcers will be

4. determine the reinforcement schedule for token delivery

5. determine the “cost” of the backup reinforcers

6. determine when/where tokens can be exchanged for backup reinforcers

response cost

removal of earned tokens contingent on instances of challenging behavior (negative punishment)

considerations for using response cost

if loss of tokens is to function as a punisher, the reinforcing value of tokens must be firmly established

identify and define the challenging behaviors that will result in response cost

determine how many tokens will be removed

the loss of tokens must be enough to reduce the opportunity to exchange for back-up reinforcers but not so much that that the student looses all of his/her tokens

what is behavior contract

written document that specifies a contingent relationship between the completion of a specified behavior and access to a reward

components of a behavior contract

1. description of the target behavior(s)

   • describe who should do what

   • when they should do it

   • how well they should do it

   • what is the behavior they are completing

2. description of data collection

   • how will the target behavior be measured?

   • use data to determine whether the contract is effective or not

3. describe the reinforcement contingency

   • what is the reward?

   • how much does the person get?

   • who will deliver it and when?

   • will there be a penalty for not fulfilling the contract?

4. signatures

   • of all parties involved

helpful hints for behavior contracts

define the target behaviors

• objective, clear, and complete definitions (examples and non-examples)

• helps the student know what they need to do

• ensures accurate data collection

• allows all members of the team to implement token reinforcement reliably

rationale for using self-management

The ultimate goal of education is self-management.

• students who self-manage can set meaningful personal goals and evaluate their performance.

• in other words, they are self-directed and gaining independence

how to develop self-management skills in our students (and ourselves)

goal setting

identify competing behaviors

antecedent manipulations

consequence manipulations

generalization

the occurrence of relevant behavior

• under different, non-teaching conditions

• without the scheduling of the same events in those conditions as had been scheduled in the teaching conditions.

generalization across

• specific stimuli

• settings,

• people,

• behavior, and/or

• time

strategies for promoting generalization of behavior change

reinforcing occurrences of generalization

training skills that contact natural contingencies of reinforcement

modifying natural contingencies of reinforcement and punishment

incorporating a variety of relevant stimulus situations in training

incorporating common stimuli

teaching a range of functionally equivalent responses

incorporating self-generated mediators of generalization

defining maintenance

a continuation of the quantity and quality of behavior over time.

• concerned with maintenance of behavior with little or no artificial support (in the “natural environment.”)

• concerned with maintenance with continued intervention or in a modified environment.

• concerned with academics (colors, letters, letter sounds, etc.)

planning: selecting teaching targets

most important and powerful maintenance strategy

select behaviors that secure regular reinforcement in the natural environment.

if a behavior does not secure reinforcement in natural context, is it worth teaching?

solutions to potential problems with generalization and maintenance

during planning:

select behaviors that will effectively compete with other behaviors, easier in terms of response cost, that get them the reinforcer every time

during teaching:

• increase efficiency and reduce effort of target behavior

• extinguish alternative behavior

during transition:

• provide extra reinforcement for target

• reduce reinforcement and/or increase effort of alternative behavior.

solutions to potential problems

during maintenance

• intervene in maintenance to “awaken” potential reinforcement

during intervention

• teach behavior to a sufficiently high mastery level based on environment

• there may be functional level with higher quality behavior securing more or better reinforcement.

• teach to a sufficiently high criterion to assure that behavior requires relatively low effort.

change to intermittent/delay schedule during training

plan for extinction (missed opportunities for reinforcement)

identify behavior you hope to generalize

identify a behavior that needs to generalize to another environment

how you’re going to identify generalization

what strategies you’re going to use to promote generalization