Shaping Notes

Shaping: Introduction

Shaping is a valuable tool for providing intervention, especially for individuals with autism spectrum disorder.
This module covers the historical foundations and application of shaping.

Historical context: Gail Peterson's 2004 paper in the Clicker Training Journal.
In 1943, Keller Breland, Norman Gutman, and Skinner worked on Project Pigeon, sponsored by General Mills, during wartime.
They observed numerous pigeons near the General Mills Building and decided to teach a pigeon how to bowl.
They initially intended to reinforce the pigeon touching the ball, but the pigeon did not interact with it. Therefore, they considered implementing reinforcement upon any response similar to a swipe that would resemble a swipe. They then would select responses that more closely resembled the actual bowling
The pigeons were grabbing pigeons from the window to work with them.
To condition the response, they planned to use a food magazine that would dispense food when the pigeon touched the ball.
Because the pigeon did not touch the ball they reinforced successive approximations to a swipe.
The results amazed the researchers.
The rapidity and dramatic changes of the pigeon's behavior impressed the researchers, even prompting Keller Breland to leave his career in psychology to work with animals.
They were impressed by the efficiency of implementing a program of successive approximations by manually controlling reinforcement.
Before this, machines operated independently of the researcher.
Researchers could now have manual control over the delivery of reinforcement, which resulted in more robust performance.
They observed rapid changes in response topography.

Shaping is the process of systematically differentially reinforcing successive approximations to a terminal behavior.
Traditional thinking of shaping involves a linear progression through steps to reach a desired end goal.
Shaping Procedure involves differentially reinforcing responses that lead to the desired performance, where slight changes in form or rate are increased.

Shaping involves a stepwise progression.
The terminal goal must be clearly specified.
- Subgoals are the steps in between, with specific criteria for reinforcement.
- These criteria are based on the quantity, rate, latency, intensity, or topography of the behavior.
The starting point is determined by observing the learner in natural settings to establish a baseline.
The individual remains on that step until they improve to the next.

Be flexible with rules and criteria; avoid rigid adherence.
Be cautious about the size of the steps between approximations; too large a jump can suppress behavior, while too small a jump can lead to boredom or stagnation.
Steps should serve as guides rather than strict rules.
Combine shaping with other procedures, like prompting, fading, and chaining, when possible to increase efficiency and effectiveness.

Raise criteria in increments small enough to ensure a realistic chance of reinforcement.
Train one aspect of the behavior at a time. Don't try to shape multiple criteria simultaneously.
Put the current level of response on a variable ratio schedule before raising the criteria.
When introducing a new criterion, relax the old one temporarily.
Stay ahead of your subject: Plan the shaping program completely to be ready to reinforce sudden progress.
Don't change trainers midstream: Have one shaper per behavior.
If one shaping procedure isn't eliciting progress, try a different one.
Don't interrupt a training session gratuitously; this constitutes punishment.
If behavior deteriorates, go back to "kindergarten" and quickly review the whole shaping process with easily earned reinforcers to ensure the learner contacts reinforcement again.
End each session on a high note. Quit while you’re ahead.

Conceptualize shaping as a flexible process with multiple paths to the terminal goal.
Expand the response class by reinforcing different behaviors to increase the behavior to work with while moving toward the terminal goal.
The main focus should be on being responsive to the child.

The reciprocal relationship between the learner's behavior and the interventionist's behavior is key.
The pigeon experiment demonstrated how the pigeon's behavior shaped the researchers' behavior.
(S)haping, ensure that there's small changes
(E)nsuring, rapid rates of reinforcement
(A)pproximations, being responsive to the organism
(P)rogress

\"Impigeon epiphany\" - The procedure became far more superior, rapid and effective when it turned from mechanistic to hand shaping.
Shaping is the basis of verbal behavior because it is mediated through another person
Skinner's demonstration illustrated responsiveness to the pigeon's behavior.
Examples of shaping includes teaching someone how to play basketball or training a dog to flip a light switch.

Wolff, Risley, and Mees (1964): Applied operant conditioning to an autistic child named Dickie, focusing on problems one at a time using time-out and shaping.
Lowell et al. (1966): Implemented social reinforcement as a product of shaping with children that had schizophrenia.
Risley and Wolff (1967): Focused on what types of diagnosis benefit from shaming and the importance of functional speech, especially with echolalia.
Lobos et al. (1967): Implemented shaming to promote attending and non-vocal imitation on children with Schizophrenia.
Walker and Buckley (1968): Used shaping to get typically developed individuals with behavior disorder to attend the task
Barton et al. (1970): Implemented shaping with individuals that had mental retardation to use shaping.
Obler et al. (1970): Used shaping to improve individuals with phobic disorders and emotionally disturbed.

Shaping is a reciprocal process.
Be attuned and responsive in the "dance" of shaping.
Behavior changes constantly, requiring adjustments.
Shaping blends science and art and requires a systematic, flexible approach.
Intuition, assessment, and shaping should be shaped by the individuals for whom you are shaping.