BCAT Summary Notes - Mental Health Nursing Vocabulary

Flashcards covering key vocabulary and concepts from BCAT summary notes on mental health nursing, focusing on principles of ABA and treatment methodologies.

Positive Reinforcement

Occurs when a behavior is followed immediately by the presentation of stimuli that increases (or maintains) future frequency of the behavior in similar circumstances.

Negative Reinforcement

Occurs when a behavior is followed immediately by the removal or decrease of stimuli that increases (or maintains) future frequency of the behavior in similar circumstances.

Positive Punishment

Occurs when a behavior is immediately followed by the presentation of stimuli that decreases (or reduces) future frequency of behavior in similar circumstances

Negative Punishment

Occurs when a behavior is immediately followed by the removal or decrease of stimuli that decreases (or reduces) future frequency of behavior in similar circumstances

Reinforcer

A stimulus that is either delivered or removed that will INCREASE the likelihood of that response occurring in the future

Punisher

A stimulus that is either delivered or removed that will DECREASE the likelihood of that response occurring in the future

Conditioned Reinforcer

A stimulus that initially has no reinforcing properties but through occurring simultaneously with an unconditioned or strongly conditioned reinforcer, acquires reinforcing properties.

Unconditioned Reinforcer

A stimulus, such as food, water, shelter or clothing that is reinforcing in the absence of any prior learning history. This is reinforcement that is inherent

Extinction

A procedure by which a behavior that was previously reinforced no longer receives reinforcement and the probability of the behavior decreases.

Deprivation

The absence or reduction of a reinforcer for a period of time. The depravation is an establishing operation that increases the effectiveness of the reinforcer.

Satiation

Repeated presentation of a reinforcer weakens its effectiveness and for this reason the rate of responses declines.

Contingency

Refers to dependent and/or temporal relations between operant behavior and its controlling variables

Motivating Operation

An environmental variable that alters the reinforcing effectiveness of some stimulus, object or event.

Antecedent

Environmental events that occur before a behavior.

Behavior

Environmental events that occur before a behavior.

Consequence

Environmental events that occur after a behavior.

3- Term Contingency

Also referred to as the ABC's of behavior (antecedent-behavior-consequence). It illustrates how behavior is elicited by the environment and how the consequences of behavior can affect its future occurrence.

Stimulus

Any physical object or event that has an effect on the behavior of an individual. The stimulus can be internal (e.g. pain, hunger etc.) or external.

Discriminative Stimulus

Any stimulus in the presence of which a particular response will be reinforced

Stimulus Control

The tendency for the target behavior to occur in the presence of the SD but not in the absence of that SD

Response

The specific instance of a particular behavior.

Discrete Trial

One teaching technique used in ABA, 3-term contingency. It has 3 components (antecedent, response, consequence).

Discrimination Training

The process of reinforcing a target response only when the target antecedent or SD is present. Teaching the client to tell the difference between two or more SDs.

Simultaneous Discrimination

When multiple objects are placed in front of the child and they are asked to touch, point or pick up the item.- has a visual field and most likely involves using a table and chair or sitting on the floor.

Successive Discrimination

When the target and the distractors cannot be presented simultaneously. The target and the distractor occur across successive trials.

Discrete Trial Training

A specific method of teaching in which a task is isolated and taught across multiple trials. A specific opportunity is presented and a specific response from the learner is expected. A consequence follow the learner's response.

Natural Environment Training (NET)

NET describes teaching procedures that can be used to teach clients diagnosed with autism in their natural environment. It involves situations and items that the client would be already be interacting with to teach relevant skills. Motivation is capitalized on during NET. Child directed learning.

Fluency Based Training

Taking an existing skill and increasing accuracy and skill of performance in order to develop competence

Generalization

The occurrence of a learned behavior demonstrated in other environments, with other objects, people or instructions.

Maintenance

The extent to which the learner continues to perform the target behavior after a portion or all of the intervention responsible for the skill acquisition has been eliminated.

Caregiver Training

Time caregivers spend with the BCBA in charge of the program learning about ASD, how it affects their child and strategies they can use to remediate deficits areas and reduce excess areas.

Premack Principle

When a highly preferred activity can be used to reinforce a low preferred activity

Preference Assessment

Offering clients free access to potentially reinforcing objects to observe to see if they can be used as reinforcer in the future. Can be structured and formal or informal. They should be conducted frequently

Prompt

A “hint” used to assist the learner in providing a correct response to the SD

Errorless Learning

A procedure used to teach a new skill. Involves early and immediate prompting of the target response so that the learners response is sure to be correct. Gradually fade prompts

Most-to-Least Prompting

Fading from one type of prompt to another less intrusive prompt. Most assistance to least assistance. Used when teaching a new skill.

Least-to-Most Prompting

Starting with a least intrusive prompt possible and the client is not successful, therefore having to move to more intrusive prompts until the client responds. Used after a client has learned the skill.

Prompt Fading

A systematic reduction of any additional stimulus used to assist in the client responding correctly.

Time Delay Prompt

The transfer of stimulus control from the prompt to the target SD by increasing the elapsed time between the presentation of the target SD and the prompts across trials.

Chaining

A chain of sequences of SDs and responses where each response in the sequence (except for the last one) produces the SD for the next response in the sequence.

Shaping

Systematically reinforcing successive approximations of a target behavior while extinguishing previous approximations. The successive approximations become increasingly more similar to the target behavior.

Pacing

The speed at which the trials are being presented

Alternative and Augmentative communication

All forms of communication besides a person's natural voice - Sign language, iconic communication, applications on tablets, textual, etc.

Functional Approaches to teaching language skills

Language, like everything else is a behavior, and is therefore controlled by its antecedents and consequences.

Mand Training

Goal is to establish Pure mands

Mand

Verbal behavior that is controlled by a motivative antecedent and followed by a consequence that is specific to that motivation

Pure Mand

Only controlled by motivation, and not dependent on other cues or prompts from other people

Tact Training

Verbal behavior that is controlled by a non- verbal antecedent and followed by a non-specific consequence.

Echoic Behavior

Typical Teaching Progression

Intraverbal behavior

Teaching a person to have a conversation with another person without using just mands, tacts and echoics.

Teaching Joint Attention

Teaching a client to share an item and or attend to an item that is being sheared with them at the sometime as another person. Joint attention is the shared focus of two individuals on an object. One of the individuals alerts the other to the object by gaining their attention.

Teaching Play Skills

Play skills are taught to many people with ASD because they typically lack the ability to engage appropriately with toys or other leisure time activities.

Teaching Motor skills

Motor skills area an area that people with ASD may be delayed in. It is important to work on overall development as well.

Teaching adaptive and safety skills

People with ASD may have difficulty with adaptive skills for many reasons, e.g. people doing things for them, fine motor issues, not understanding the social implications of not taking care of yourself etc. Safety Skills is also a major concern for people with ASD as they may not be able to read the situation and then react incorrectly and put themselves in harm.

Teaching social skills

Social deficits are part of the diagnostic criterion for ASD

Teaching cognition skills

Deficits in cognition are part of the diagnostic criterion for ASD

Teaching executive function skills

Executive functioning deficits are part of the diagnostic criterion for ASD

Teaching academic skills

People with ASD may appear to be delayed within their academic skills.

Visual Supports

Many people with ASD use visual supports to learn, understand and/or communicate.

Curriculum modification

Not all learners gain concepts in the same way as others. This is true with people with ASD as it is with neuro-typical people.

Behavior Intervention Plan

A plan that is created for a specific client in regards to their specific behavior they are or are not engaging in. It is created to attempt to change the frequency or duration of the specific behavior.

Target Behavior

This is either the behavior that we are looking to reduce or the behavior we are looking to increase.

Operational Definition

A clear, concise, accurate statement that specifies the exact details of an observable behavior.

Functional Behavior Assessment

This is considered a problem solving process for addressing problem behaviors. It relies on questionnaires and observations to determine the function of the behavior.

Escape Function

Behavior is strengthened when someone removes or delays an aversive stimulus following the occurrence of a problem behavior

Attention Function

Behavior is strengthened when someone delivers an increase in attention following the occurrence of the behavior

Access to Tangible Function

Behavior is strengthened when someone delivers access to a reinforcer following the occurrence of the behavior

Automatic Function

The behavior itself produces a favorable outcome without the involvement of another person

Antecedent interventions

Activities designed to alter the environment before the behavior occurs

Functional Communication Training

A differential reinforcement procedure in which an individual is taught an alternative response that results in the same class of reinforcement identified as maintaining the problem behavior.

Token Economy

This is a reinforcement system where the learner receives tokens for engaging in target behaviors, these tokens are later exchanged for a back-up reinforcer

High- P request sequence/ behavioral momentum

An antecedent intervention in which several easy tasks with known history of learner compliance are presented in a quick succession immediately before requesting the target task or low-p request

Noncontingent Reinforcement

The delivery of a functional reinforcer on a time based schedule, independent of the problem behavior

Replacement Behavior

Replacement behaviors are skills taught that are an appropriate substitute for a problem behavior

Escape Extinction

Planned ignoring of the problem behavior maintained by the escape function

Attention Extinction

Planned ignoring of the problem behavior maintained by attention

Tangible Extiction

Planned ignoring of the problem behavior maintained by access to tangible

Extinction Burst

A sharp increase in the frequency of behavior that has recently been placed on extinction

Continuous Reinforcement

Reinforcing every occurrence of a specific behavior

Intermittent Reinforcement

Reinforcing some occurrences of a specific behavior, but not all occurences

Differential Reinforcement of alternative bxs

The delivery of reinforcers contingent on an alternative response, where a specific replacement behavior is identified and only that specific behavior is reinforced.

Differential reinforcement of incompatible bxs

The delivery of reinforcers contingent on a specific desirable behavior that is physically incompatible with the problem behavior so that both responses could not occur at the same time.

Differential Reinforcement of other bxs

The delivery of reinforcers on an interval schedule, contingent upon the absence of the problem behavior. With a DRO a specific replacement behavior is not identified, but rather, any appropriate behavior other than the problem behavior.

Response Blocking

The source of reinforcement is blocked or stopped by the therapist in order to eliminate the reinforcing sensory stimulus.

Redirection

Prompting a client to engage in a different behavior than they are trying to engage in

Overcorrection

The procedure of reducing the frequency of a target behavior by making restitution for damage and practice of appropriate behavior contingent upon the target behavior

Response Cost

A response reduction procedure in which behavior is weakened by the removal of a specified amount of a reinforcer, contingent upon the occurrence of the problem behavior.

Time-out from Reinforcement

A response reduction procedure in which behavior is weakened by the brief removal of all sources of social positive reinforcement contingent upon the occurrence of problem behavior. This is only effective if when the child is in a preferred environment and moved to a less preferred environment

Spontaneous Recovery

After a behavior has been extinguished or reduced for a period of time and increase in the magnitude of the behavior occurs.

Behavioral Data Collection

Measurement dimensions (rate, duration, percentage, count)

Rate/Frequency

Ratio of count per observation time

Duration

The measure of total time the behavior occurs, from onset to offset.

Percentage

A ratio of the total occurrences of the behavior divided by the opportunities presented.

Count

Total number of times the behavior occurs

Timing

Involves identifying various aspects of a behavior related to time (Duration, response latency, inter-response time)

Momentary Time Sampling

If the behavior occurs at the very end of the interval it is counted as an occurrence

Partial Interval Recording

If the behavior occurs at any time during the specified interval, it is counted as an occurrence

Whole Interval Recording

The behavior must occur through an entire interval to be recorded as an occurrence

Skill Acquisition data

This is used to track progress on treatment targets where new skills are being taught (lessons)

Problem behavior data

Problem behavior data is used to track progress on the treatment of challenging behaviors