RBT FINAL STUDY GUIDE

continuous measurement

measuring every instance of behavior within an observation period

very time consuming and harder

better

5 types of continuous measurement

frequency

duration

latency

rate

inter rate response

frequency

simple count of how much a behavior occurs in a time period

a tally mark

john hit me 5 times

rate

frequency over time. how much a behavior happens per (min, hour)

for behaviors that are short and frequent:

hitting, rasing hand, yelling, raising hand

duration

how long a behavior occurs

start a stopwatch when behavior begins and ends

reported as an average over time

long lasting behaviors:

refusals, tantrums, social play

inter rate response (IRT)

time between responses

start the stopwatch when the behavior ends and stop the stopwatch when the behavior begins again.

reported as an average

appropriate when the time between behaviors is important:

time lapse between doing math problems or between prosocial behaviors.

• see if an individual is making progress in acquiring a new skill, as a shorter IRT= improved fluency. 

latency

time between the SD or prompt and a response.

start the stopwatch when the prompt is given and stop the stopwatch when the behavior starts

the time from the instruction to begin a math problem and the response of doing so

discontinuous measurement

less valid

used when its too time consuming to use continuous

do not measure every instance of behavior within the observation period.

partial interval

Recording the presence or absence of a behavior during a brief interval of time.

“+” if the target behavior occurred at any time during the interval.

“-” if the target behavior did not occur during the entire interval.

overestimates the occurrence of behavior: If the behavior "hitting" is being observed, and it occurs briefly during a 30-second interval, it would be recorded as occurring in that interval, even if the hitting only happened for a second

vocal stereotypy, hand flapping, biting nails.

Whole Interval

Recording the presence or absence of a behavior during the whole interval.

“+” if the target behavior occurred during the entire interval.

“-” if the target behavior stopped at any time during the interval.

underestimates the occurrence of behavior.

cooperative play, social engagement, on task behavior.

social or task engagement of group

whole interval vs partial

In partial, the behavior only needs to occur at any point during the interval to be recorded. 

In whole, the behavior must occur throughout the entire interval for it to be recorded as occurring. 

Momentary Time Sampling

Recording the presence or absence of a behavior at the very end of an interval

“+” if the target behavior occurred at the end of the interval.

“-” when the target behavior does not occur at the end of the interval.

good for large groups

easiest type of discontinuous measurement procedure but least amt of info

ex: observe how many students are raising their hands during a lesson. set a timer for a few minutes, and at the end of each interval, quickly glance at the class to see how many students are participating. 

permanent product

recording the products behavior produces.

how many questions a student answered on a worksheet by simply looking at the worksheet and counting the problems completed.

advantage: record information from permanent product anytime.

disadvantage: not actually recording behavior. For example, a parent could complete a math worksheet for a child.

Examples of permanent product recordings

How many items were placed on a shelf

How much homework was completed

How many bracelets were constructed

How many dished cleaned
How many scratches a person has.

How to Summarize Different Types of Data

Frequency issummarized as…

rate over sessions

Duration is summarized as

total duration over session

) IRT is summarized

as an average.

Interval data is summarized as

percent intervals with occurrence.

Rules for Graphing

1. Label the horizontal axis with

sessions or days

Label the vertical axis with

the type measurement you are using

reminders

 Graph one data point for every session

Draw a solid line connecting data points in the same phase

 Draw a vertical phase line to separate phases of treatment

 Do not connect data points between different phases

 Use different symbols to depict different behavior on the same graph

 Use a legend or written names with arrows to label the different behaviors if more than one behavior is depicted on the same graph.

Sally is recording a client’s behavior. She starts the stop watch when the client begins screaming and stops the stopwatch when the client stops screaming. What type of measurement procedure is she using?

duration

Paul wants a quick and easy way to record 5 different students’ task engagement. What type of measurement procedure should he use?

momentary time sampling

 Tony reported his data collection as a percentage of intervals with occurrence. What type of data collection is he using?

Discontinuous Measurement Procedure or Interval Procedure

A client of Mary’s takes a very long time to start getting dressed after instruction. What type of data collection would be appropriate?

latency

 Tom does not have a lot of time to collect data on a client’s social engagement during play. What type of measurement should he use

Whole Interval Recording??

1.  Harry wants to record how many times his client hits. He should use a _________________ count and report the data as ____________________.

frequency, rate

 An interval recording procedure that overestimates behavior is ______________________.

partial interval recording.

If you're using 10-second intervals and the client is socially engaged for just 1 second in each interval, partial interval would count every interval as a success — even though engagement was very brief.

_____________________ measurement is the most valid and preferred type of data collection.

Continuous (frequency, rate, latency, duration)

Recording the number of pieces of clothing a person folded is called ______________________.

permanent prodcut recording

Paul starts a stopwatch when a behavior ends and stops the stopwatch when the next behavior begins. This is called

irt

assessment: Describe Behavior in…

Observable Measurable Terms

Operational Definition: Detailed definition of the behavior in observable terms. Must be thorough enough that any person could read it and understand what the behavior is and begin collecting data on the behavior.

ex: Lying on the floor, crying, yelling, throwing objects, and/or pounding fists on desk. The episode is counted if it lasts 10 seconds or more and is counted as a new incident if separated by 5 minutes or more.

Objective

Operational definitions only include directly observable aspects of behavior (e.g., hitting), not unobservable internal states (e.g., frustration).

Clear

A good test is that a person who has never seen the behavior can “act it out” from the definition.

unambiguous

Complete

The definition includes all of the information necessary for you to discriminate between the behavior and other behaviors that are similar but do not count.

Individualized

The particular forms of a behavior that one individual display will likely be different from those of another.

Jimmy’s aggression might include hitting and kicking, whereas Sally’s might include pinching and scratching

Student is looking at the teacher/board/seatwork, contributing to the assigned task, and quiet when expected to work independently.

prefernce assessment

done during the assessment process and the course of therapy.

determine which reinforcers are most effective.

Free Operant Preference Assessment

The therapist does not interact with the client.

observes which items the client interacts with and records the time spent with the item-ranked by the amount of time the client spent with them

The client can freely choose which items to play with or use.

Single Item Preference Assessment

The therapist simply presents one item after another.

The therapist records whether the client interacted with the item, made no response to the item, or avoided the item.

For food items a small piece is presented, and for non-food items the client is allowed to interact with the item for 30 seconds.

The amount of times a client interacted with an item is counted- ranked by the amount of times a client interacted with them.

Paired Choice Preference Assessment (Forced Choice Preference Assessment)

The therapist presents 2 items to the client and records which item the client chooses. Allow the client to interact with the item for 30 seconds.

This forces a choice from the client and is useful when the client interacts with most items during a single item preference assessment.

The items chosen the most are ranked as stronger reinforcers.