40-Hour RBT Certification Training

RBT

Registered Behavior Technician

ABA

Applied Behavior Analysis

Behaviorism

Philosophy of the science of behavior.

Experimental Analysis of Behavior

A natural science approach for discovering orderly and reliable relations between behavior and various types of environmental variables of which it is a function.

The seven dimensions of ABA:

1. Applied 2. Behavior 3. Analytic 4. Technological 5. Conceptually Systematic 6. Effective 7. Generality.

Applied Dimension

How immediately important is this to the behavior of the client?

Behavioral Dimension

non-verbal communication of a behavior being changed. What can a person do instead of what can a person say about what they can do?

Analytic Dimension

Can we show that there is a reliable

demonstration that the independent variable had an effect on the dependent variable? are the changes actually important to the client? Turning behavior on and off.

Technological Dimension

Techniques have been identified in a way where someone else could apply them in the same way which was designed in the study.

Effective Dimension

Did the intervention produce a practical outcome for the client? enough behavioral change to be labeled as effective? How much did that behavior need to be changed? Practical value.

Conceptual Systems Dimension

We can understand why the intervention was effective. We can tie it back into our understanding of behavior: why do people do what they do?

Generality Dimension

Behavioral changes proved to be durable over-time, and in various environments/contexts. You must program generalization, it does not magically occur.

Progressive ABA

A model of ABA that can be implemented with individuals with ASD.

Behavior

Any movement of an organism through space and time that can be objectively counted.

Response

A single instance or occurrence of a specific class or type of behavior. Example: Opening a door

Response Class

A group of responses of varying topography, all of which produce the same effect on the environment.

Repertoire

All of the behaviors a person can do. Example: All of the ways in which a person can open a door.

Environment

Everything in the real physical world.

Stimulus Class

Anything within the environment that can have an effect on the behavior of an organism. Example: Baseball hat, ball, bat.

Stimulus

Anything in the environment which can have an effect on the behavior of an organism. Example: Baseball player.

Antecedent

Anything that occurs RIGHT before the target behavior.

Consequence

Anything that occurs RIGHT after the target behavior.

Respondent Behavior

unlearned behavior that is useful for survival. Example: salivation, puff of air in eye, hammer on knee.

Operant Behavior

Behavior affected by the consequences which follow. Example: Teaching 2+2=4, saying good job! entices learner to say 4 again later.

3-Term Contingency

An antecedent, a behavior, and then a consequence. Example: "Name a carnivorous dinosaur." —> "T-rex." —> "Good job!"

Motivating Operation

Something that makes a consequence more or less effective and behaviors that led to that consequence more or less likely.

Establishing Operation

Something that makes a reinforcer more effective and behaviors that led to that reinforcer more likely. Example: You want wine, and haven't had wine for a while. This increases the behavior of going to a store, or restaurant to obtain wine.

Abolishing Operation

Something that makes a reinforcer less effective and behaviors that led to the reinforcer less likely. Example: You get a bad hangover from drinking wine. This decreases the behavior of obtaining wine.

The four functions of behavior

Attention, Escape, Access to tangibles, sensory stimulation.

Access to social attention

Which function of behavior is this an example of?

Example: Baby is having a temper tantrum, the parent keeps moving. The baby moves to where it's tantrum can be seen and acknowledged by the parent.

Access to tangibles or preferred activities

Which function of behavior is this an example of?

Example: A child wants something at a store, the parent will not buy it. The child has a tantrum in the store.

Escape, delay, reduction and avoidance of tasks

Which function of behavior is this an example of?

Example: Parent says "It's time for homework!" —> Child screams and runs away.

Automatic/Sensory

Which function of behavior is this an example of?

Example: No demands are placed on the child, yet they engage in self soothing behaviors such as stimming or making noises to meet an internal sensory need.

Functions of behavior added in the AP Method

Control, Fear, & Anger frustration and release.

Control

Which function of behavior added in the AP Method is this an example of?

Example: A student won't give an answer to a specific question, even if they know what it is.

Fear

Which function of behavior added in the AP Method is this an example of?

Example: Seeing something frightening, screaming and falling down.

Anger frustration and release

Which function of behavior added in the AP Method is this an example of?

Example: A baseball player runs up to the ref, throws his hat down and gets in his face.

The four common phases of intervention

Baseline, Intervention, Maintenance, Generalization.

Baseline

A condition of an experiment in which the independent variable is not present.

Data obtained during baseline

The basis for determining the effects of the independent variable.

Control conditions

Does not necessarily mean the absence of instruction or treatment, only the absence of a specific independent variable of experimental interest.

Example: Period of time to get an idea of how a behavior is without intervention.

Baseline logic

Term sometimes used to refer to experimental reasoning inherent in single-subject experimental designs.

the three elements of baseline logic

Prediction, Verification, Replication.

Prediction

A statement of the anticipated outcome of a presently unknown or future measurement.

Verification

Accomplished by demonstrating that the prior level of baseline responding would have remained unchanged had the independent variable not been introduced.

Replication

Repeating conditions within an experiment to determine the reliability of effects and to increase internal validity.

The four baseline trends

Ascending baseline, Descending baseline, Variable baseline, Stable baseline.

Ascending baseline

a data path that shows an increasing trend in the response measure over time.

Descending baseline

a data path that shows a decreasing trend in the response measure over time.

Variable baseline

data points that do not consistently fall within a narrow range of values and do not suggest any clear trend.

Stable baseline

data that show no evidence of an upward or downward trend; all of the measures fall within a relatively small range of values.

Intervention

Instruction, treatment, independent variable, training. The variable that is systematically manipulated by the researcher in an experiment to see whether changes in the independent variable produce reliable changes in the dependent variable.

Maintenance

Response maintenance, durability, behavioral persistence, follow-up. The extent to which a learner continues to perform the target behavior after a portion or all of the intervention responsible for the behaviors initial appearance in the learners repertoire has been terminated.

Generalization

the extent to which a learner emits untrained responses that are functionally equivalent to the trained target behavior.

Generalized behavior change

A behavior change that has not been taught directly. Generalized outcomes take one, or a combination of three primary forms.

The three primary forms of generalized behavior change

Response maintenance, situation/setting generalization, response generalization.

Situation/Setting Generalization

The extent to which a learner emits the target behavior in a setting or stimulus situation that is different from the instructional setting.

Example: Taught independent reading at school setting, observed independent reading at home setting.

Response generalization

The extent to which a learner emits untrained responses that are functionally equivalent to the trained target behavior.

Reinforcement

A basic principle of behavior describing a response-consequence functional relation in which a response is followed immediately by a stimulus change that results in similar responses occurring more often.

Positive Reinforcement

occurs when a response is followed immediately by the presentation of a stimulus change that increases the future occurrence of similar responses.

Positive Reinforcer

The stimulus that is presented as a consequence, and that is responsible

for the subsequent increase in responding.

Examples: Food, Tangibles.

Negative reinforcement

The occurrence of a response produces the termination, reduction, postponement, or avoidance of a stimulus, which leads to an increase in the future occurrence of the response.

negative reinforcer

A stimulus termination (or reduction in intensity) functions as reinforcement.

Example: Breaks, removal of chores, car beeping for seatbelt.

Unconditioned reinforcers

stimulus change that increases the frequency of any behavior that immediately precedes it irrespective of the organism's learning history with the stimulus. They are the product of the evolutionary development of the species