Information shared by Chaelah Jenkins Stacey Martin Autism

2. The Hierarchy of Effective Instructional Strategies What is Applied Behavior Analysis? Common Misconceptions of ABA Effective Instructional Strategies Creating a Program from an IEP What Will Be Covered

3. Collecting and Using Data How will I know where to start? Is this just a “school thing?” Encouraging generalization What Will Be Covered

5. ABA is the science in which procedures derived from the principles of behavior are systematically applied to improve socially significant behavior to a meaningful degree and to demonstrate experimentally that the procedures employed were responsible for the improvement in behavior. A discipline devoted to the understanding and improvement of human behavior. What is ABA?

6. A: “Applied” means the behavior targeted for change is socially relevant or important B: the term “Behavior” refers to events that are observable and measurable A: the term “Analysis” refers to the process by which the effects of a behavior change program are measured. What is ABA? The “user friendly” definition…

8. ABA will cure children with autism. ABA is just a fad in the literature. ABA is based on the work of one individual. Behavioral reduction interventions derived from ABA exclusively utilize punishment. ABA is based solely on research with animals. Common Misconceptions of ABA

9. ABA is not a feasible approach because it takes too long. ABA is not at all appropriate for individuals with less severe impairments. ABA is only appropriate for preschool age children. ABA and DTT are synonymous terms and can be used interchangeably. Common Misconceptions of ABA

10. Today we will focus mainly on . . . Reinforcement strategies Naturalistic strategies Response-prompt strategies Effective Instructional Strategies

11. What is positive reinforcement? the contingent presentation of something that is valued or desired by the individual immediately after the behavior and results in an INCREASE or maintenance of the behavior Reinforcement Strategies

13. Reinforcement vs. Bribery Webster’s Dictionary- An inducement for an illegal or unethical act. Or . . . The giving of a reward to an individual to stop an inappropriate or misbehavior

14. Reinforcement Strategies Levels of and Frequency of Reinforcement Skill is difficult or day is proving to be more challenging Reinforcement will need to be more frequent Higher level of reinforcer should be used Skill is mastered or close to being mastered Reinforcement may be less frequent/predictable Lower level of reinforcer can be used

18. Pairing and Instructional Control Pairing is the process by which you establish yourself as a reinforcer, in order to build a positive relationship and rapport with a student As demands placed on the child increase, be sure to maintain the positive relationship FREQUENTLY pair yourself with reinforcement (not just at the “beginning” of working with a child, but ALWAYS…)

19. Instructional Control is the likelihood that your instructions will evoke a correct response from your student If you do not have instructional control, you may describe the child as “noncompliant” or “nonresponsive” Pairing and Instructional Control

20. Pairing and Instructional Control Two critical components of Instructional Control: The child must associate YOU with the delivery of reinforcement You must develop a history of reinforcing compliance to your instructions

21. Differential Reinforcement: Accentuate the positive to eliminate the negative

22. Differential Reinforcement –for Behaviors You Want to DECREASE Differential Reinforcement of Zero Rates of Behaviors (DRO): Provides reinforcement contingent on undesirable, target behavior NOT occurring for a specific period of time Differential Reinforcement of Lower Rates of Behavior (DRL): Provides reinforcement when the rate/frequency of a behavior decreases

23. Differential Reinforcement –for Behaviors You Want to INCREASE Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behavior (DRA): Provides reinforcement contingent when more desired replacement behavior is demonstrated Differential Reinforcement of Higher Rates of Behavior (DRH): Provides reinforcement when the rate/frequency of a desired behavior increases

24. “Never discourage anyone who makes continual progress, no matter how slow.” -Plato

25. A child is reinforced for demonstrating a series of behaviors on command, beginning with behaviors he or she is likely to display with ease then ending with a request to perform a behavior he or she is less likely to perform. Behavioral Momentum

26. Involves reinforcing small approximations of a desired behavior, then gradually withholding reinforcement until the child’s behavior more closely approximates the target behavior. Response Shaping

27. Guidelines Develops new responses incrementally with reinforcement Reinforcement is withheld for more accurate responses Results in a change of the behavior in: the “topography” of the behavior (what it looks or sounds like, such as “ba” moving towards “book”) OR the duration or intensity of the behavior (increasing time expected to sit quietly at circle) Response Shaping

28. Response Shaping Critical Component: You must know the student’s current skill set for the task. Reference the previous day’s data sheet. (DTT lends itself to incremental shaping.)

29. Also referred to as “milieu” teaching or natural environment training Involve planned episodes of brief adult-child interactions Take advantage of naturally occurring reinforcers during ongoing activities and routines Naturalistic Instructional Strategies

30. Designed to promote generalization of communication skills It is necessary for the child to already exhibit: Joint attention Imitation Ability to initiate activities Naturalistic Instructional Strategies

31. During familiar routine, the adult skips a step or pauses between steps and looks expectantly to the child and allows wait time. If a child initiates the response, the routine continues. If not, the adult models the expected behavior before the routine continues. When a verbal response is expected, this strategy may also be called intraverbals. Variation is “Violation of Expectancy” (Bailey & Woolery, 1992) or sabatoge Naturalistic Time Delay

32. A MAND is a request for something or a statement related to what is reinforcing to the child Thus, MAND-MODELING is the adult providing an appropriate response or mand for the child. A TACT is a label Thus TACT-LABELING is adult providing appropriate tact for the child. Mand-Modeling

33. An instructional strategy in which the adult uses child initiations during ongoing activities as an opportunity to respond with either a model or request for more elaborate behavior. Programming examples of this strategy: Floortime (Greenspan) Relationship Development Intervention (Gutstein) Pivotal Response Training (PRT) Incidental Teaching

34. Response prompts are behaviors that assist a child in performing a target skill or behavior. Different forms include: verbal cues, gestures, demonstrations or models, visual cues, and partial to full physical prompting Used to help children perform tasks that they otherwise COULD NOT or WOULD NOT do Should come before the child demonstrates an inappropriate response. Response Prompting Strategies

37. Prompting: The Critical Component Before introducing a prompt you must determine: How will you get rid of the prompt? Have a back-out plan in mind.

38. Bandura, 1965 Derived from research suggesting that typical children tend to imitate the behavior of children and adults that are significant to them, especially when that behavior is reinforced. Modeling

39. Chaining involves determining the sequence in which a task is performed Behaviors can be chained forward or backwards Chaining / Task Analysis

40. Forward chaining: the child completes the FIRST step in the sequence and the adult assists / prompts the child through the remainder of the task (eliminating errors). Once the child is independent with the FIRST step, he is prompted to complete the second step, and so on until the entire sequence has been learned. Chaining / Task Analysis

41. Backward chaining: the steps are taught in the reverse sequence whereas the adult assists or prompts the child through all steps of the task but the LAST. Once the child is independent with the LAST step, he is prompted to complete the second to last step, and so on until the entire sequence has been learned in reverse order. Chaining / Task Analysis

44. Fading is the systematic reduction of a prompt as the child demonstrates success in learning the target behavior Prompts can be faded according to their intensity, magnitude, frequency, or duration When embedding a prompt, consider restating the original instruction so that the response will be given under the control of the instruction rather than the prompt Fading

46. The difference between SHAPING and PROMPTING… Shaping: the instruction stays the same, while the response changes to become more accurate Prompting: the response stays the same, while the level of prompting decreases as the level of response becomes more independent What’s the Difference?

49. Discrete Trial Quick Vocabulary Target—the identified correct response Distracter—any items/information, other than the target, presented during the task Field of—refers to the total number of supplies presented at one time, target and all distracters. (Fo3, Fo2)

50. DTT involves: Breaking a skill into smaller parts (sub-skills) Teaching one sub-skill at a time until mastery Allowing repeated practice in a concentrated period of time Providing prompting and prompt fading as necessary Using reinforcement procedures Discrete Trial Training

51. The components of a trial: Discriminative stimulus (SD): verbal direction, instruction, or cue Response (R) Consequence (C) Stimulus Reinforcer (SR+): If response is correct, the child is reinforced Inter-trial Interval: pause between trials

52. Initially: allow mini breaks where the student is given a reinforcer (great time to collect data and prepare materials for next series in addition to monitoring the child’s behavior and reinforce appropriate play); length of mini break should be proportionate to length of work completed trials can be conducted in series of one to several, depending on the attention span, need for reinforcement, and difficulty of the material Discrete Trial Training

53. Schedule as many sessions in a day as is productive for the child Allow breaks between sessions Space sessions out through the day (rather than scheduled back-to-back) Intersperse instructions from a variety of domains (visual, motor, language, math, motor, visual) Evenly distribute sessions throughout the week Discrete Trial Training

54. As the student progresses, make the setting as natural as possible deliberately allow distractions to occur move to different places for a portion or all of the therapy session / teaching opportunity gradually provide more complex instructions vary materials Discrete Trial Training

55. BE ORGANIZED!! Keep everything you need at the learning area. 2. Each student needs his own set of supplies. 3. Have data sheets ready before you begin instruction.

56. “Errorless Teaching” involves presenting an instruction with a prompt to ensure a correct response The instruction is not provided without prompts until the prompts have been systematically faded Appropriate when teaching new skills or when working with early learners to minimize frustration and decrease learned errors Uses lowest prompt possible to ensure correct response What is Errorless Teaching?

57. Dealing with Errors Errors will happen, especially when you test the waters for lessening a prompt. Errors over 20% for the day indicate the student needs more instructional support More about this in the data collection section.

58. Is consequence for an incorrect response or lack of a response to an instruction Involves systematic prompting and fading Goal is to obtain a correct response to an unprompted instruction Error Correction Procedure

59. Positional Preferences and the Target’s Position Errors occur when the student makes a selection because of a positional preference and not an informed choice. Teachers can accidentally create or solidify this error pattern. Be sure data contains target position information!

60. To determine a baseline To prepare for an IEP or progress reporting To support the effectiveness of the program OR guide you to needed modifications to the program Reasons to Collect Data

61. Prompting & Data Collection: Create a System The Simpler, the Better! --Use abbreviations for different prompts and errors. --Use tally marks for frequency counts. --Create templates that allow for checkmarks. Keep in mind, others will use/interpret your system, too.

62. Some Abbreviation Examples + = successful trial P = full hand over hand prompt Wp = wrist prompt Fp= forearm prompt Ep = elbow prompt M = model Po = positional prompt* KD = known distracters G = gesture prompt V = verbal prompt PV = partial verbal E = error

63. Frequency (How often?) Types of Data

64. Time Interval Types of Data

69. Latency Types of Data

70. Duration Types of Data

71. Accuracy/Percent Correct Types of Data

72. Prompt positions Record number of items in the learning field, if you are using fewer than the mastery criteria (typically three): Fo1, Fo2 Record the position of the target: R, M, L, Vert, etc. Data may look like this: Fo2 Po KD Wp L M R L

78. At your professional discretion At predetermined times -every three days -every Tuesday and Thursday -10:00 and 2:00 -first 10 minutes of every therapy session Determine this prior to giving a task or assignment (not after) When to Collect Data

79. WHO Should? Teachers, Paraprofessionals, Therapists WHO Should Not? Substitute Teachers (unless long term), Peers, Parent Volunteers HOW MUCH? VERY student and goal specific! Not so much that it’s overwhelming and you’re not sure what to do with it! Who Can Collect Data and How Much Should Be Collected

80. WHO has access to it? The IEP team should have access to the data, but it should be maintained and viewed regularly by the school staff Needs to be charted or graphed if appropriate Decisions to make program changes should be based on trend lines Program changes should be noted on graphs How to Use Data

81. Figuring the Daily Success Rec Lbl Fo2 pp G + E Fo1 Po IC 16% E 16% Imit Clap Hnds P E P pp + IC 20% E 20% Intraverbal Song “Round” V V + IC 33% E 0% Exp Fnctn “cut” + + IC 100% E 0%

82. Use Percentages to Predict Level of Prompt (you are avoiding errors!) Look at previous day’s percentage to determine how heavy your prompt should be for the first trial of the new data day. Anything less than 80% needs some kind of prompt. Adjust prompt strength according to previous trial’s data 65% G---+---+---+ 75%

83. Frequent Data Usage for Prompts Previous Day Level of prompt for first trial of day (low, medium, high, or none). 32% H 87% None 65% M 75% L 42% H

84. Neutral Trend How to Use Data

86. Example Target Behavior Sheet Graph

87. Example Target Behavior Sheet Graph

91. Consider the child’s skills related to: Acquisition Fluency Maintenance Generalization Does the strategy promote independence and/or increased participation? How Do I Know Where to Start?

92. Can the strategy be integrated into the child’s daily activities and routines and across developmental domains? Does the strategy promote active engagement by considering the child’s preferences? Is the strategy efficient? (produce the most effective results in the most natural setting in the least amount of time) How Do I Know Where to Start?

93. Use a curriculum that is wide ranging in scope (language, play, social, self-help) A Work in Progress, Leaf & McEachin Behavioral Intervention for Young Children with Autism, Maurice, Green, and Luce Making a Difference: Behavioral Intervention for Autism, Maurice, Green, and Foxx How Do I Know Where to Start?

94. Use a curriculum that is wide ranging in scope (language, play, social, self-help), cont’d The Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills-Revised (The ABLLS-R), Partington The Verbal Behavior Milestone Assessment and Placement Program (The VB-MAPP),Sundberg Do-Watch-Listen-Say: Social and Communication Intervention for children with Autism, Quill How Do I Know Where to Start?

95. Components of a Well Written Goal(LaTempt, 2007)

96. Example Goal

97. The family’s role is CRUCIAL… Direct therapy delivered from a parent or other adult in the home and community will encourage generalization Home and school must work collaboratively Is This Just a “School Thing?”

98. The family’s role is CRUCIAL… Involve the child in the daily routine of living Outings to the park, grocery shopping, mailing a letter, visiting a relative’s home serve as opportunities to generalize skills and work on improving behavior Bath time, dinner, getting dressed, feeding the cat, and other everyday home routines serve as opportunities for teaching Is This Just a “School Thing?”

99. Vary settings Vary instruction (“What is it?”, What do you see?”, “Tell me about this.”) Provide opportunities for maintenance Vary materials Vary instructors / people Encouraging Generalization

100. Intersperse tasks Use varied and natural reinforcers Use language that is as natural as possible Reduce structure as much as possible (sometimes work on the floor instead of in the chair) Encouraging Generalization