Learning Theories (behavior, cognitive, & social)

when to select behaviorism

when there is a concrete task or when a challenging behavior is a barrier to occupational performance

when do we select cognitive behaviorism

when one’s negative thoughts or emotions are a barrier to their learning, only for clients that can communicate their thoughts

when to select social learning theory

social activity, or when you as an OT are not enough help to teach (i.e. helping a 5 year old play with peers)

evaluation for cognitive behaviorism

looking for indication of negative thoughts and feelings through self reports, mental status tests, anxiety scales, life satisfaction tests

intervention through cognitive behaviorism theory

address or change mindset and internal processing of own ability

evaluation for social learning theory

who is desirable for the client? who does the client need to learn from? informal behavioral analysis, find barriers to occupational participation

intervention for social learning theory

modeling

evaluation for behaviorism theory

what does the client need to learn? how can the task be broken down into steps? identify target behaviors and the steps involved.

intervention for behaviorism theory

task chaining, implement reinforcement