Junior Instructor Training Notes

Autism is a developmental disorder with deficits in social skills, communication, and repetitive behaviors.
Symptoms appear before age 3; affects boys more than girls.
DSM V criteria include deficits in social communication and interaction, restricted/repetitive behaviors, early symptom onset, and significant impairment.
Diagnostic domains: Social interaction/communication, restricted/repetitive behaviors.
Professionals qualified to diagnose: Pediatricians, Neurologists, Psychologists, Educational Psychologists, Psychiatrists.
Behavioral instructors are not qualified to make diagnoses as their own.

Definition: Applying behavioral principles to socially important issues.
Core principle: Desirable consequences increase behavior frequency; undesirable consequences decrease it.
3-term contingency: Antecedent-Behavior-Consequence (A-B-C).
Used for skill repertoire building and behavior management.
Consistency among instructors, professionals, and caregivers is key.

Definition: ABA instructional technique with a clear beginning and end.
Components: Antecedent (SD or EO), Behavior (response), Consequence (reinforcement or error correction).

Definition: Stimulus where a response is reinforced; can be verbal or visual.
Guidelines for delivery: Gain the child’s attention, avoid overuse of the child’s name, provide consequences for every response, be consistent with SD, clear and concise SD, ensure the child responds only after the entire SD is presented.

Definition: Condition or physical state that increases reinforcer effectiveness, makes it more motivating to the child.
Deprivation increases reinforcer effectiveness; satiation decreases it.

Definition: Specific instance of a particular behavior.
Categories: Correct (C), Incorrect (I), No Response (NR).
Guidelines: Consistency, absence of extraneous behavior, response within 3 seconds.

Definition: Event following the child’s response.
Types: Reinforcement (increases behavior), Error Correction (follows incorrect/no response).
Reinforcement: Presenting desired stimulus or removing aversive stimulus to increase response frequency; key to teaching new skills.
Types of Reinforcers: Primary/Unlearned and Secondary/Learned.
Preference assessments should be conducted frequently.
Reinforcement Schedules: Continuous (every correct response), Intermittent (every 2,3,4,etc. correct responses).
Error Correction: Procedure to help learn correct response; includes informational “No” and a prompt. Details covered in Prompting and Fading.

Definition: Teaching multiple target responses within each lesson.
Terms: Acquisition target, Mass trial (MT), Random rotation (RR), Distractors.
Mastery Criteria: 80-100% in two consecutive sessions, in random rotation, with two different instructors, first and last trial correct.
Procedures: Simultaneous, and Successive Discrimination.

Prompting: Adding a stimulus to the SD that facilitates a correct response.
Fading: Systematically removing prompts to facilitate independent responding
Errorless Learning: From the start of each new discrimination training phase until the point when the instructor before you records a score of 80% or above. It uses a most-to-least hierarchy of prompting
No-No-Prompt-Repeat: Procedure used once a target is mastered (as per mastery criteria). SD -> incorrect response -> informational “no”. SD -> incorrect response -> informational “no”. SD + prompt -> correct response -> reinforcement. SD -> correct response -> reinforcement