ABA Lecture Notes

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Flashcards related to concepts from studies and articles examining school discipline and Applied Behavior Analysis.

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77 Terms

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Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)

A theoretical framework that makes specific assumptions about why behavior happens (behavior is lawful, learned, and changeable); the application of behaviorism to improving individuals’ lives

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Seven Key Principles of ABA

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

Done by a living organism; it is the interaction between the organism and the environment and the displacement in space through time

Ex: yelling would be considered the behavior

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Response

A specific instance of behavior

Ex: the specific yell would be the response

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Response class

Group of responses that produce the same effect on the environment (have the same function)

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Function

The purpose the behavior serves and the overall outcome of the reinforcer that is presented after the behavior takes place

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Environment

Everything except the moving parts of the organism

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Stimuli

Change in the environment sensed by the organism (can happen before/after a behavior)

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Antecedent

Stimulus that happens before behavior; can signal that reinforcement will or will not be available for a specific behavior

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Consequence

Stimulus that happens after the behavior

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Respondent behavior

Behavior that's elicited by the antecedent stimulus

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Reflex

The response caused by the stimulus

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Habituation

Reflexes can diminish over time; repeated presentation of the unconditioned stimulus will decrease the strength/magnitude of the unconditioned response

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Respondent conditioning

A type of learning in which a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a naturally occurring stimulus, eventually eliciting a similar response on its own. (process of learning to associate two stimuli)

Ex: dog learns that when a baby is in a high chair, the baby will cause a mess of food on the floor that the dog will be able to eat

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Unconditioned stimulus

A stimulus that naturally and automatically triggers a response without any prior learning

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Neutral stimulus

A stimulus that initially does not elicit the unconditioned response

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Unconditioned response

The unlearned, automatic response to the unconditioned stimulus

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Conditioned response

The learned response to the conditioned stimulus; similar to the unconditioned response but it is triggered by the conditioned stimulus

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Respondent extinction

Process of repeatedly presenting a conditioned stimulus without the unconditioned stimulus.

  • The conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus 

  • The unconditioned stimulus will weaken the conditioned response until it goes back to being no response

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Operant conditioning

Type of learning in which behavior is modified by its consequences; individuals learn to associate their actions with the outcomes that follow

  • Behaviors that are followed by reinforcing consequences are more likely to be repeated, while behaviors followed by punishing consequences are less likely to occur again 

  • Has unconditioned and conditioned consequences 

Ex: if a child does well on a math test and their teacher tells them “great work!” it will prompt the child to continue to do well on their tests

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Operant behavior

Behavior’s future frequency is determined by its history of consequences

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Reinforcement

Increase future behavior

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Reinforcer

Consequence when reinforcement occurs

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Punishment

Decrease future behavior

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Punisher

Consequence when punishment occurs

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Positive reinforcement

Addition of a pleasurable stimulus after a behavior occurs which increases the likelihood of that behavior happening in the future

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Positive punishment

Involvement of an unpleasant stimulus after a behavior occurs which decreases the likelihood of that behavior happening again

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Negative reinforcement

Removal of unpleasant stimulus after a behavior occurs which increases the likelihood of the behavior occurring

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Negative punishment

Removal of a pleasant or desirable stimulus after a behavior occurs, which decreases the likelihood of the behavior repeating itself

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Unconditioned reinforcers

Stimuli that inherently reinforce behavior without any prior learning or association

ex: food, water, oxygen, touch, warmth

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Unconditioned punishers

Stimuli that decrease the likelihood of a behavior without any prior learning or association

ex: pain, odors, tastes, physical restraint, loss of bodily support, extreme muscular effort, intense stimulation to most senses

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Conditioned reinforcers

Stimuli that have acquired their reinforcing properties through being paired or associated with unconditioned reinforcers

ex: points, money

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Conditioned punishers

Stimuli that have acquired their punishing properties through being paired with unconditioned punishers or other already established conditioned punishers

ex: failing a level, parking tickets

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Generalized conditioned reinforcers

A type of conditioned reinforcer that has been paired with many different unconditioned and conditioned reinforcers across various situations

  • Social attention: been paired with lots of reinforcers in past so generally reinforcing  

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Discriminative stimulus

Reinforcement is available

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Stimulus delta

Reinforcement is not available

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Three-term contingency (ABC)

Antecedent > Behavior > Consequence;

  • behavior can be influenced by what happens before it, and what happens after

  • Basis for everything done in functional behavior assessments (FBAs) and corresponding behavior intervention plans

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IEP

A written statement for each child with a disability that is developed, reviewed, and revised

  • includes current levels of academic and functional performance, annual goals, plan for monitoring progress, service details, inclusion extent, assessment participation, and additional considerations

  • Developed and revised by an IEP team at least once a year

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How to label a target behavior

Reflect on the observable components of behavior, rather than assumptions of internal states

think objectively and neutrally and avoid judgment and pathologizing

ex:  instead of labeling the behavior as depression, it can be labeled as crying

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Goals

Our desired result for this student

  • big, such as a timeframe of one school year

  • should be meaningful and usable instead of vague

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Objectives

Smaller step we will take to get there (to goals)

  • small, such as one grading period

  • meaningful and usable

  • breaking apart into smaller pieces

  • Components needed to write an objective: condition, specific behavior, criteria, and evaluation procedure

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The SMART acronym

Specific

Measurable

Attainable/Achievable

Relevant

Time-bound/sensitive

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Frequency

Number of events in a period of time (ex: 4 hits)

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Rate

Number of events per unit of time (ex: 14 words read correctly per minute)

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Percentage of opportunities

Use if behaviors follow specific rules (ex. was compliant 40% of time after prompt was given)

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Duration

Total/average time(ex: disruptive for 55 minutes total/ for an average of 7.5 minutes per activity) 

  • Percentage of time (engaged for 75% of silent reading)

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Latency

Time between stimulus (ex. prompt) and response

ex: On average, Evan took 2 minutes to pick up his pencil after receiving a verbal prompt

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Partial-interval recording

If the behavior occurs at any point during the interval

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Whole-interval recording

If the behavior occurs for the entire duration of the interval

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Momentary time sampling

If the behavior is occurring at the moment the interval ends (or begins, just stay consistent)

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Continuous observation

A method of data collection where something is monitored or recorded without interruption over a specific period

  1. Frequency 

  2. Rate 

  3. Percentage of opportunities

  4. Duration 

  5. Latency

  • Celeration, inter-response time, topography/intensity

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Systematic direct observation

Behavior is directly observed and systematically applied rules to determine how to collect data from the observation

  • used almost exclusively in ABA

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Percent agreement index

Calculate the percentage of agreement between two or more observers on the occurrence or non-occurence of a behavior or the value of a specific dimension of that behavior

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Kappa

Another statistical measure used to assess the level of agreement between two raters or observers; it takes into account the possibility of observers might agree by chance

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Functions of behavior

Obtain / get something or escape/ avoid something

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Natural consequence

A result that occurs directly and automatically from a behavior, without any planned or imposed actions by another person; inherent outcome of the behavior itself

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Premack principle

Make an activity that occurred at a high free-operant level during baseline contingent on a low frequency behavior to function as a reinforcer

  • Pairing undesirable behavior with an incentive/rewards upon completion.

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Fixed Interval

  • Fixed: Length of time interval remains constant 

  • Interval: after first response following a minimum length of time since last response 

    • Effects on behavior for reinforcement: 

      • Rate of responding: first slow, then moderate (scallop) 

      • After S^R provided: pause

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Fixed Ratio

  • Fixed: number of responses remains constant 

  • Ratio: after certain number of responses 

    • Effects on behavior for reinforcement: 

      • Rate of responding: very high, steady 

      • After S^R provided: brief pause

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Variable Interval

  • Variable: length of time interval varies around average 

  • Interval: after first response following a specific length of time since last response 

    • Effects on bx for reinforcement: 

      • Rate of responding: low to moderate, but constant/stable 

      • After S^R provided: few if any pauses

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Variable Ratio

  • Variable: number of responses varies around average 

  • Ratio: after a certain number of responses 

    • Effects on bx for reinforcement: 

      • Rate of responding: very high, steady 

      • After S^R provided: no pause

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DRO (other)

If target behavior does not occur for a specific amount of time, reinforce student

  • Interval dro: S^R if behavior did not occur at all during interval 

  • Momentary dro: S^R if behavior is not occurring at specific moments in time

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DRL

If the target behavior occurs below a certain amount, reinforce student

  • Full session DRL: S^R if behavior equal to or lesser than criterion for entire session 

  • Interval DRL: session divided into intervals, S^R if behavior equal to or lesser than criterion at end of each interval 

  • Spaced-responding DRL: S^R if behavior occurred within minimum amount of time since last response

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DRA

If student engages in positive alternative behavior instead of the problem behavior, reinforce

  • Reinforce on FR! And gradually thin

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DRI

If student engages in a behavior that cannot happen at the same time as the problem behavior, then it is reinforced

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Behavioral contrast

When “ change in one component of a multiple schedule that increases or decreases the rate of responding on that component is accompanied by a change in the response rate in the opposite direction on the other, unaltered component of the schedule”

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conditioned stimulus

a previously neutral stimulus that after becoming associated with an unconditioned stimulus eventually elicits a conditioned response

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How to record continuous observation

  • Record how often the behavior occurs 

  • Form of data 

  • Important variables that affect behavior (settings, days of week, times of day)

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interrater reliability / Interobserver agreement / IOA

  • The de facto standard in ABA and direct observation in general 

In no way perfect, but it does provide some information to consider when interpreting data

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desired behavior

long term goal

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alternative behavior

short-term goal

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the role of prevent, replace, and respond in a behavior plan

  • Antecedent> Prevent problems from needing to occur in the first place 

  • Behavior>replace the problem behavior with an alternative (and then desired behavior) 

  • Consequence>Respond to positive behavior with reinforcement and negative behavior without reinforcement

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How to prioritize a target behavior

social significance is paramount

  • presumption of benevolence is not ethnical

  • change should not be primary benefit of others

  • To what extent will the propsed behavior change/improve the person’s life experience?

  • ways to determine

    • cooper et. al 9 questions

    • janney & snell’s 3 priorities

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Cooper, Heron & Heward’s 9 questions about behavior (prioritizing behavior)

  1. does it pose danger to self/others?

  2. how many opportunities will the person have to use a new behavior? how often does problem occur?

  3. how long-standing is the problem?

  4. will change produce higher rates of reinforcement?

  5. how important will this be to future skill development & independence?

  6. will changing it reduce negative or unwanted attention from others?

  7. will a new behavior produce reinforcement for significant others?

  8. How likely is success?

  9. how much will it cost to change?

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Janney & Snell’s 3 priorities (prioritize behavior)

  1. desructive behaviors

    • is it harmful, health-threathening or life threathening to student or others?

  2. disruptive behaviors

    • interfere with their learning, social relationing, pariticpating

    • cause destroyed materials in a dangerous or an interferring way

    • likely to become destructive?

  3. distracting behaviors

    • interfere with social acceptance

    • negative impact on students image?

    • damage materials?

    • likely to become disruptive if ignored?

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Prioritizing and defining behavior process

step 1: list challenging behaviors

step 2: prioritize behaviors to target

step 3: describe the behavior

  • 3a- label the behavior

  • 3b- describe the behavior using:

    • operational definition (examples & non-examples)

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operationally define a target behavior

• Definitions must be:

1. Observable: Behavior is an action that can be seenor heard. 2. Measurable: Behavior can be counted or timed.

• Or, said another way:

1. Objective: Observed, not inferred

2. Clear: Unfamiliar person could reliably measure

3. Complete: Things that are and are not responses can be distinguished from one another

• Test your description:

– Can you act it out precisely?

– Can a person unfamiliar with the student recognize the behavior without any doubts?