Recording Behavior

o indirect measurement
obtaining info about a behavior through interviews, surveys, etc.
outcome or product recording
o indirect measurement technique
o a product or result is observed
o direct measurement
objective method of observing behavior
observe behavior when it occurs
direct measurement techniques:
event recording
o frequency recording (MOST COMMON WAY TO
ASSESS BEHAVIORAL CHANGE)
used for behaviors that have a clear
beginning and end
tally number of times behavior occurs
ex: raising ones hand in class; hitting;
kicking; speaking; manding (requesting)
o intensity recording
measures magnitude or force
ex: speaking volume
duration recording
o how long a behavior persists
o two types of measurements
total duration
how long the behavior lasted
latency recording
o how much time exists between response/behavior
interval recording
o involves recording behavior as it occurs
o used with non uniform and varying behaviors
o diving behaviors into equal intervals
o two types:
partial interval recording
checking off an interval if the behavior
occurs at ANY point w/in the interval
ex: could use on self stimulatory
behaviors that are not uniform
overestimate of behavior's occurrence
use when wanting to decrease the
behavior
whole interval recording
checking off an interval if the behavior
occurs throughout the WHOLE interval
 would use when it is difficult to tell
exactly when the behavior begins or
ends
OR when the behavior occurs at such
a high rate that it is difficult to keep
count
underestimate of behavior's
occurrence
used when wanting to increase a
behavior
momentary time sample recording
o enables you to spend minimal time gathering data,
however sata is less representative
o recording a sample of behavior
o break up a session into intervals but only
observing during some interval times
o ex: recording behavior during only circle time
o most convenient type of data collection
Graphing and process evaluation
o Baseline
condition prior to the introduction of a treatment
During baseline, behavior is assessed in its natural environment,
without any treatment or effect
Following baseline, treatment is introduced and continually
assessed
During treatment, behavior is assessed and compared to
baseline to evaluate change in behavior
o Line graphs most commonly used graphs in ABA
X axis represents some unit of time in which data is observed
Y axis represents dependent measure or data being measured
Can be used to graph: percentage, duration, intensity, latency,
frequency, rate, etc.
Show moment to moment changes
o Converting frequency data to rate
Rate per hour = frequency/hours
o Bar graphs
Allows you to average out all data points
X axis represents phases or conditions
Y axis represents dependent measure or data being measured
o Cumulative graphs
Represents data in cumulative form
Can only have a positive slope or a slope of 0
Does not display negative slope or data
Shows sum of behavior over time
o Visual inspection
Aspects of data that can be analyzed
 Changed in mean
Changes in level
Changes in trend
Ethics and clients rights
o Core ethical principles
Do no harm
Respect autonomy
Be truthful
Etc.
Intensive Trial Teaching (ITT)
o Choosing targets for your learner:
How many hours of 1:1
Areas of deficit based on the assessment
Best serve the child in their daily lives
o manding = requesting
o NET = natural environmental teaching
o 2 assessments often used in setting up ABA or verbal behavior
programs and curriculum: VB-MAPP and ABLLS-R
o SD (instructions in ITT) -> response -> feedback
Ex:
SD: who is this? -> Response: mommy -> good job!
Change up how you present SD
Ex: copy me, do this
o Variable ratio schedule
Produces most consistent rate of responding
The learner is reinforced after a certain number of responses
Always start out with a continuous schedule of reinforcement
then fade reinforcement to variable ratio schedule
Be careful not to fade back too quickly
o Errorless teaching
Not allowing mistakes
Uses prompting
Used when introducing a new skill or behavior; all responses are
reinforced
o Transfer trial
When you re-present the original SD and then use a lesser
prompt than the first
o Work with: 80% known/mastered targets and 20% hard and new
targets
o The mixed VB box
Helps us identify known vs unknown targets
Contains all the tacts, listener responding, imitation,
intraverbals, echoics, and textual that your learner has mastered
Carbone card colors:
Blue: intraverbal also visual performance
Yellow: listener response
 Pink: echoic/imitation
Green: tact
o Probe data = taking data on the initial trial
o Data collection
Daily lesson plan
Helps create a game plan for the session
Cold probe
Used to record whether child was able to respond
correctly on the first time (Y/N)
If student gets it wrong on the first time, circle N on cold
probe sheet then use error correction to teach skill and go
over it through out session
Imitation and mimetic behavior
o Types of imitation
Motor imitation (mimetic): mimicking the movements of a model
Toy/object imitation
o Useful method for teaching play skills
o Start with object student shows interest in
o SD = non specific
Gross motor imitation
o Involves body movements that can be mimicked
o SD = non specific
Fine motor imitation
o May or may not use materials
o Ex: squeezing ball, holding pencil
o SD = non specific
Oral motor imitation
o Movements of the mouth, tongue, lips, face, head
o Helps to shape articulation, improve speech
o Ex: blowing kisses, open mouth, blowing, sticking
out tongue
o SD = non specific
Verbal imitation (echoic)
Prerequisite skills for teaching imitation:
Stay seated
Attend to the teacher
Keeping hands off of materials
Scan and track
Intro to verbal behavior
o BF skinner broke down language into verbal operants
o Motivating operations (MOs)
o Expressive language
Echoic: someone says the word fish and you copy them and say
fish back
Mands: asking for goldfish
Tacts: pointing to a picture of a fish
 Intraverbals: someone asks what pet you have and you answer
fish
o Receptive language (listener responding)
Instructional control
o Positive working relationship
o Matching law
Relative rates of responding tend to equal the relative rates of
reinforcement that they produce
Ex: if a child has the opportunity to engage in 2 different
behaviors, the behavior that the child will more likely behave in
is the behavior that has produced the most reinforcement
o Reinforcer effectiveness
VERMI
V=value of reinforcement
o Refers to the strength of the motivational operation
(MO) for a reinforcer
E=effort of response
o how hard or how much the learner needs to work to
obtain the reinforcer
R=rate of reinforcement
M=magnitude of reinforcement
I= immediacy of reinforcement
o Providing immediate reinforcement
o Pairing
Building trust with the student
Pairing yourself with reinforcement
Pairing is important for a new learner, existing learner with
problem behaviors, and an existing compliant learner
Noncontingient reinforcement
Reinforcement given freely, but only when student is not
participating in problem behavior
Tips for pairing
Become aware which items are reinforcers for a child and
which as not
When pairing, name the item you are delivering
Use the childs name in reinforcement
Dont use the childs name when giving an SD or instruction
Dont require difficult response when youre pairing
Dont be a taker
o Reinforcements
Should be Easily delivered
Quickly consumed or easily terminated
Given in small quantities
Repeatable
Controllable by teacher
More fun to do when youre around
 Ethical Dilemmas and Decisions in ABA
o be familiar with your state laws
o 1960s: behavioral modification
o 1968: ABA first published
o behavior modification
originally no consideration given to behavioral functions or
causes
o behavior analysis
considers functions of behavior and attempts to find
replacement behaviors
ABA services provided in public and private settings
o community standards, laws (IDEA, 1975, etc.), and prevailing
philosophies determine ethical procedures
o core ethical procedures:
do no harm
respect autonomy (independence)
benefit client and others around them
be just
be truthful
treat clients with dignity
treat others with care and compassion
pursuit of excellence
accept responsibility
o BACB guidelines for responsible conduct for behavioral analysis:
1.0 responsible conduct of a behavior analyst
www.BCBA.com
don't take on more than you can handle
2.0 behavior analyst's responsibility to clients
the data belongs to the client
3.0 assessing behavior
4.0 behavior analysts and the behavior change program
data should be analyzed at least every two weeks
5.0 behavior analysts as supervisors
Teaching Requests/Mand training
o Intra verbal
EX: someone asks What kind of fish do you want? and the
person replies fish
o Tact
EX: a person sees a fish, does not want it, but labels it or says
fish for someone else
o Echoic
EX: someone says fish and learner repeats the word fish
o Mand
EX: Learner says fish and received a gold fish
Mands help decrease problematic behaviors because a person
can now communicate what they want
 Types of mands
Mands can be for actions such as jump, tickle
Mands can be used to ask for assistance such as help
me
For the removal of aversives such as stop, let go
To access attention such as look at me, watch this
To gain information such as how, why, what questions
Importance of mands
Mands help further condition us (teachers) as reinforces
Mands benefit the learner because they allow the learner
to get items and control their environment
Mands can decrease problem behaviors because they
allow the learner to communicate what they want (mands
give the learner functional communication)
Mand training helps to establish speaker as well as
listener roles
Mands may increase the value of social interaction
Features of the mand
The consequence of the mand is specific reinforcement
Mands are controlled by motivation
MO = motivating operation
o Deprivation will increase motivation (when a person
hasnt had access to an item, making the item
more desirable)
The consequence of a mand is specific and direct
reinforcement
Sanitizing the environment refers to removing reinforces to
create states of deprivation
AVOID these while first teaching mands
Selecting generalized words such as toy or drink, more,
please, eat
Carrier phrases such as I want, can I have, yes, no
Be specific when first teaching to mand
Steps to teach a mand
Establish or verify motivation of item (for example,
gummy)
Pair the word gummy with the delivery of the gummy
(give freebie)
Prompt learner to mand for gummy
Use prompt that is least intrusive
Fade prompts until learner is able to mand for gummy
alone
Goal is for learner to use mand for their own motivation
when they are hungry or want a gummy on their own(a
pure mand)
 Transfer trial
A trial that is presented after a prompt trial where the
initial prompt is faded so that the learners response is
eventually evoked by the MO and not the prompt
Steps:
o Present the item they desire and the prompt
together (while holding the gummy say gummy and
wait for the leaner to respond and say gummy,
then give the learner the gummy)
Scrolling behavior should never be reinforced
Instead, prompt them with the proper mand
Pivotal phases should be learned before carrier phases
Receptive language/listener responding
o Listener responding
Responding non-verbally to the verbal behavior of others (aka
receptive language)
Ex: smiling after asking to smile; touching or looking at a
picture after it is named, following one or two step
directions
Kids with disabilities often learn language out of developmental
sequence
Teaching expressive language/tacts
o Tact: a type of expressive language used to label or describe objects,
actions, and characteristics in a learners environment
o Tacts can be unobservable like a smell
o The word tact comes from the word contact
o Typically developing children start to tact at 1 yr old
o By 18 months children should be able to label around 10 tacts
o There is no MO when tacting, unlike mands which do have MOs
o Prompting generalization
The transfer of skills overtime
Teaching early social skills
o 1 to 3 months: smiling
o 4 to 7 months: attention from caregivers functioning as a reinforcer
o 8 to 10 months: social referencing
o 9 to 18 months: joint attention (ex: looking at a toy and the mother or
father, repeat)
o Parallel play: playing in close proximity to peers
o Hard data is written down
o Probe data: skill is marked as either correct (+) or incorrect (-)
Guidelines for effective documentation
o Community support skill standards (CSSS): identify the skills needed to
support people with disabilities in leading self-directed lives in their
communities
o Every year a service plan is drawn up or updated for people with
disabilities who receive services
 o When writing an incident or accident report
Write for an audience
Be clear, complete, and chronological
Account for everyone involved and everything that happened
Consider the attachments
o Prioritize you work and organize your charts and files
o If you make a mistake, cross out the mistake, date and initial it and
write the correct answer/response under or near the crossed out
mistake do NOT scribble out or white out mistake
o Do NOT use sticky notes for personal information of patients/clients
o Document facts, not assumptions or opinions
o Subjective = opinion based
o Objective = fact-based
Your info in files should always be objective based
o Exceptions to obtaining a written release of information these
exceptions include sharing the documentation with
The person themselves
The persons parents if the person is a minor or the parents are
the persons legal guardians
Staff who also work with the person and need the info to provide
quality care
State inspectors who provide oversight into the services you
provide
Preparing for crisis situations
o A crisis involved behaviors that risk harm to self, others, or the
environment
o Crisis Plan:
Title
Individuals info
Antecedent interventions
Escalation
Crisis
Post crisis
o Functional behavioral assessment or FBA
A collection of different procedures of gathering info on
antecedents, behaviors, and consequences in order to
determine the factors that lead to and maintain challenging
behavior
o The 4 main reasons people do what they do:
To gain attention
To escape or avoid a task or situation
To gain an item or activity (tangible)
To gain automatic reinforcement
o Extinction
the discontinuation of the reinforcement of a behavior that had
been reinforced in the past
 often used to reduce behavior because it does not involve the
use of aversive stimuli
o differential reinforcement
reinforcing an appropriate alternative to the behavior and
extinguishing the challenging behavior through extinction
o punishment
a stimulus that follows a response and decreases the future
probability of that response
data can be measured on a number of dimensions including:
o frequency: how many times a behavior occurred
o duration: how long the behavior took place
o intensity: magnitude or force involved in the response
an incident report will consist of the ABCs:
o Antecedents before the crisis occurred
o Behaviors engaged in during the crisis
o Consequences after the crisis
After crisis data to fill out may include:
o Behavioral data
o Incident reports
o Injury reports
o Medication reports