RBT Study Session Outline

Testing Taking Behaviors Tips

o Arrive 30 minutes prior with 2 forms of ID and a tummy full of breakfast so you aren’t

hungry. o Put on your “board hat”, meaning think about how the BOARD wants you to answer

these questions, this might be slightly different than how you would react in the clinic. o You will be given a white board when you get in the test room, so as soon as your test is

open write down as many things as possible that will help you recall certain information. o Time yourself- remember you only have 90 minutes. Skip a question and come back to it

if you are unsure so that you can make sure that you get to through the rest of the test. o Practice timed tests at home, prior to your exam to make sure that are making good

time.

Historical Information

o ABA is an evidence based applied science used to teach socially appropriate

behaviors& for developing a technology of behavior change that is practical and

applicable. o The dimensions of ABA were outlined in the 1st edition of JABA in 1968, by Baer, Wolff,

and Risley. o BF Skinner spear-headed the science of ABA, first implementing the principles when

training and shaping rats. Based on his work, we are able to change our kiddos

behaviors through operant conditioning.

o Pavlov did amazing work with dogs and taught them to salivate at the sound of a bell.

He used respondent behavior to train these animals (definitions of these behaviors will

be broken down in the next section).

o Operant behavior vs. respondent behavior: operant behavior is VOLUNARY compared

to respondent behavior which is INVOLUNTARY. We train by working on operant

behaviors! o Operant contingency is the dependency of a particular consequence on the occurrence

of the behavior. o Behaviors that we correct are always OBSERVABLE TO THE NAKED EYE. If you are unsure

if a behavior is an actual behavior, you can always run the dead man test. The “Dead

Man Test” is when you ask yourself this question: If a dead man can do it, then it is NOT

a behavior.

o Unconditioned reinforcement- A stimulus change that can increase the future frequency

of a behavior without ANY LEARNING HISTORY. Such as food, water, etc.

o Conditioner reinforcement- When a previously neutral stimulus acts as a reinforcer for

future behavior through LEARNING HISTORY.

o POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT IS OUR FAVORITE WAY TO TEACH DURING ABA.

o The three principles of behavior are: punishment, extinction, and reinforcement.

Reinforcement and Punishment table

Basic Information o There are four ways to get information for assessment: Checklists, Observation

(Preferred method!), Interviews, and Standardized tests.

o Four functions of behavior- Sensory, Escape/Avoidance, Attention-seeking, Tangible -Sensory is when a child emits a certain behavior because he/she likes how to looks,

feels, smells, tastes, etc.

-Escape/Avoidance is when a child emits the behavior to escape or avoid an aversive

stimuli or situation.

-Attention-seeking is when a child emits a behavior to gain attention from others, this

can be positive or negative attention.

-Tangible is when a child emits a behavior to gain access to a preferred toy/activity.

o To figure out the function of a behavior we need to do one of the following: THESE ARE

ALSO GOING IN ORDER FROM MOST INFORMATION TO LEAST.

-Functional Analysis (FBA)-GOLD STANDARD which allows us to confirm our hypothesis

about the functional relationship. Antecedents and consequences are manipulated so

that we can see the effect on behavior.

-Direct Descriptive FBA- Direct observation of problem behavior under natural

conditions

-Indirect FBA- When we use questionnaires about the behavior from those who are

around the individual. (This is often used in conjunction with Functional Analysis).

o ANY FUNCTION OF BEHAVIOR CAN BE EITHER APPROPRIATE OR INAPPROPRIATE. WE

ALL ENGAGE IN THESE BEHAVIORS EVERYDAY, BUT WE OFTEN ENGAGE IN THEM IN

SOCIALLY APPROPRIATE WAYS. NOTHING ABOUT THESE FUNCTIONS IS INHERITENLY

BAD OR MALADAPTIVE.

o 5 Types of Positive Reinforcers:

-E-Edible (like snacks)

-A- Activity (physical activity)

-T- Tangible (an item or toy)

-S- Social (social activity or social attention)

-S- Sensory (sensory toy or activity)

o There are two types of negative reinforcement: Escape and Avoidance

o 5 Types of Positive Punishment Interventions:

-R-Reprimands- “No! Stop that!”

-O-Overcorrection- there is restitutional overcorrection in which you have them go

above and beyond the crime and positive practice overcorrection in which you repeat

the correct behavior over and over again.

-S-Shock or ECT.

-E-Exercise

-R-Response Blocking: Physically stopping the individual from engaging in the behavior.

o Negative Punishment Procedures- There are two types of negative punishment

procedures: Response Cost and Time-Out

o Response Cost-

o Time out- Exclusionary and Nonexclusionary

o Non-exclusionary timeout is when a child is NOT removed from the room but it just

removed from partaking in the reinforcement. Exclusionary timeout is when you

REMOVE the child and take them to a different area.

o WHATS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RESPONSE COST AND TIME OUT?

o Extinction- Not to be confused with a punishment procedure! This is when a child can

emit a behavior put it no longer provides reinforcement for them to continue it in the

future.

o Extinction Burst- This is when there is a burst in the behavior that was recently placed

on extinction.

o Spontaneous Burst- This is when a behavior that has been paced on extinction for a

while, spontaneous pops up again.

o Stimulus control- A behavior is under stimulus control if it only happens in the presence

of that stimuli.

o Sd- also known as the discriminative stimulus is when a behavior is reinforced in the

presence of this particular stimulus.

o Sdelta- is when a behavior is NOT reinforced in the absence of a particular stimuli.

o MO is the motivating operation which drives any behavior that we emit.

-For example, if I am wanting a child to work on mand training for goldfish, he has to be

hungry because otherwise there is no way that he will mand for them.

o MOs have two types: Abolishing operation (which DECREASES the effectiveness of the

stimuli as a reinforcer) and Establishing operation (which INCREASES the effectiveness of

the stimuli as a reinforcer).

o Elementary Verbal Operants by Skinner:

-Echoics- This is when a child can repeat what you say when you ask them to. This is

merely the act of echoing vocalizations, this is just to get the verbal behavior to be

under stimulus control. We use verbal praise as reinforcement for this behavior.

-Mands- This is when we are teaching a kid to ask for items/activities. It comes from the

word DEMAND. We use the desired item as reinforcement for this behavior.

-Intraverbal-This is when we are teaching a kiddo to answer questions or fill in the blank.

We use verbal praise for this behavior.

-Tact- This is teaching a kiddo to label his environment. This can be done in NET and

during DTT. Usually the therapist will ask “What is this?” and the kiddo will answer with

the correct answer.

Schedules of Reinforcement o Reinforcement can go from continuous to intermittent reinforcement!

o The basic schedules of reinforcement are: Variable Interval (FI), Fixed Interval (FI),

Variable Ratio (VR), Fixed Ratio (FR)

These are the corresponding graphs for these reinforcement schedules!

And this is where things get a little confusing with compound schedules of reinforcement! So be

patient when learning this and ask tons of questions!

These compound schedules are a combination of: CRF, the 4 basic schedules, differential

reinforcement of various rates of responding, and extinction.

A. Concurrent schedule of reinforcement is when you have two different scheduling going

on at the same time, but one of the schedules is denser than the other. Therefore, you

are more likely to pick the activity in which you will be reinforced for more. THINK

MATCHING LAW- WHICH STATES THAT YOU ARE MORE LIKELY TO DO THE BEHAVIORS

THAT WILL GET YOU REINFORCED MORE OFTEN.

B. Multiple schedule of reinforcement is when you have 2 usually random and alternating

order and there is a Sd (OR signal) saying which reinforcement schedule is in effect.

C. Mixed schedule of reinforcement is when you have 2 usually random and alternating

order and there is NO Sd (OR signal) saying which reinforcement schedule is in effect.

D. Chained schedule of reinforcement is when you have 2 or more basic schedule

requirements that have to occur in a specific order and are signaled with a Sd. THINK

LIKE CREATING A CHAIN.

E. Tandum schedules of reinforcement is when you have 2 or more basic schedule

requirements that DO NOT HAVE to occur in a specific order and are not signaled with a

Sd.

F. Alternative schedules of reinforcement is when the requirement if EITHER a ratio OR an

interval schedule is met, you can get reinforcement by whichever you complete first.

G. Conjunctive schedules of reinforcement is when the requirement of reinforcement by

completing BOTH a ratio and interval schedule.

Behavior Change Protocol This section of the guide is for the behavior change protocols that we use every day!

o Shaping is a process involving systematically reinforcing successive approximations of

the target behavior. Shaping teaches kiddos NEW behaviors.

o Behavior Chains:

o Behavior Chaining: There are four types of behavior chaining procedures that we use to

teach!

• Forward chaining is when you prompt the kiddo to do the first step and then you finish

the rest of the steps.

• Backward chaining is when you complete all of the steps EXCEPT the last one and have

the kiddo do that one.

• Total task is when you prompt the kiddo to complete the whole task.

• Backward with leaps ahead is when you use the backward chaining procedure but you

allow the kiddo to skip teaching steps that he can already do.

o NOTE** The above chart was missing one differential reinforcement type!

o DRD is differential reinforcement of diminishing rates- This is VERY similar to DRL,

except unlike DRL, this does not have an IRT component. Meaning that when we use

this we are not trying to decrease a behavior by increasing the time between responses,

we are trying to decrease the behavior as a whole.

o Premack Principle- Also known as “Grandmother’s law”, is when you ask your kiddo to

complete a non-preferred task and then they will be able to engage in a preferred task.

o Group Contingency are often influence kiddos to participate appropriately through the

power of peer pressure, but the good kind! There are three different types of group

contingencies and here is an easy visual!

o 3 Antecedent Strategy: There are three antecedent strategies

1. -Noncontingent reinforcement: A response INDEPENDENT schedule of

reinforcement

2. -High Probability Request Sequence: Asking a kiddo to complete 3, quick paced

instructions that you KNOW THEY CAN AND WILL DO, and then follow it up with

one that they do not do independently.

3. -Functional Communication Training: A way to teach a kiddo to appropriately

communicate their needs that will compete with the challenging behaviors

evoked by the EOs.

o DTT- Discrete trial training is our bread and butter! It was created by Lovaas in the

1960s. It consists of 5 different components: An Sd, a prompt, a response,

reinforcement, and inter-trial intervals

o Incidental Teaching is utilized by pulling from the kiddos natural environment and

turning those moments into a teaching moment! There are 6 guidelines for this: using

the natural environment, can be done throughout the day, training loosely using a

variety of reinforcers, indiscriminable contingencies, facilitates generalization, and can

increase language skills by using natural MOs.

o There are two types of prompts: Stimulus prompts and Response prompts. o There are two types of stimulus prompts: • Stimulus Fading: The gradual removal of an intrusive prompt until the control transfers

to the natural Sd.

• Stimulus SHAPE Transformation: The systematic change of the PHYSICAL shape of the

stimulus.

o Errorless Learning is an instructional method that minimizes any learner error. This most

to least method is most useful when teaching a new skills. o There are 4 different types of response prompts:

-Most to least: Which is beginning with a prompt known to evoke the behavior and

gradually go to least intrusive.

-Least to most: When you begin with the least restrictive method and gradually increase

until you get the correct answer.

-Graduated guidance: Using the minimum amount of physical prompting and gradually

fading out the physical prompt.

-Delayed prompting: Inserting time delays between the Sd and the prompt in order to

gradually fade out the prompt.

o Generalization and Discrimination: Generalization occurs when a large spectrum of

stimuli occasion a response (example: A child says ‘Man’ to all of the males that walk by

and look different. Discrimination is when a limited spectrum of stimuli occasion a

response (example: A child only calls his mother ‘mommy’. o We use these concepts to teach our kiddos to generalize certain skills and discriminate

when doing others! o How to program from maintenance:

- Use intermittent/variable schedule of reinforcement with kiddo - THINK VI or VR to promote maintenance

o There are 7 strategies to promote generalization: (CLEMING) - Common Stimuli (Programming): Having the same Sd exist in both the instructional

setting and test setting; meaning that the child has exposure to the things that he

will need to know how to use in his natural environment. - Loosely train- Noncritical elements of the teaching setting are changed so that the

kiddo is able to respond in more than just ONE therapy room in ONE center. - Exemplars- The more examples utilized when teaching, the better! - Mediation- Instruct others that will be in contact with the individual to promote

generalization (like caregivers). - Indiscriminable contingencies- A contingency is which an individual is NOT able to

discriminate when his/her responses will be reinforced. - Negative teaching examples- Instructing individuals regarding settings, times, and

conditions in which they should NOT emit the behaviors. - General Case Analysis- Ensuring that you are teaching ALL the different stimulus

variations and response variations that individual may encounter after the training is

complete. Data and Graphs

o When collecting data, these are the following responses we would record: Independent,

Physical Prompt, Verbal Prompt, Gestural Prompt, and Modeling Prompt.

o These are the dimensions in which we measure:

-Rate- Also known as frequency. This is the number of times that the child engages in

the target behavior.

-Inter-response Time- is the time between two responses.

-Latency- This is the time between the Sd and the target behavior.

o Time Sampling are a discontinuous method to measure behavior and you can

remember it by WITS, PITS, MITS:

-Whole Time Sampling- The kiddo has to emit the behavior the ENTIRE interval to count

it.

-Momentary Time Sampling- The kiddo has to emit the behavior in that LAST SECOND of

the interval to count it.

-Partial Time Sampling- The kiddo can emit the behavior once or more and it will only

count in the trial.

o There are five different types of graphs used in ABA: Line Graph, Bar Graph, Cumulative

Records, Semi logarithmic Charts, and Scatter Plots.

o The graphs that you will come in contact with the most are line graphs and cumulative

graphs.

o Line graphs are BY FAR the most popular one that you will use.

NOTE* Remember that the point of 0,0 is known as the origin.

o A cumulative records will only increase, as it builds on itself. Think of the daily probes

that we do for the kids everyday!

o The properties for behavior change that we look out for: o Level: Value on the vertical axis in which a series of measures converge. THINK OF A LEVEL THAT

YOU USE ON THE WALL. IT WILL ALWAYS BE STRAIGHT

o Trend: Overall direction of the data path

o Variability: The extent to which the data points bounce around

o THE DATA CAN BE DESCENDING, ASCENDING, VARIABLE, OR STABLE. (WE ONLY EVER WANT TO

INTRODUCE AN INTERVENTION IF THE DATA IS STABLE.)

Ethics o Remember you are a mandated reporter and if you suspect ANY child abuse you must

report it. It is not your job to determine if there is any, we just need to report it and let

the proper authorities handle it.

o Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA)- Remember we keep ALL

information about our kiddos private. We do not share information with our spouses,

friends, or other co-workers. If our other co-workers have no need to know, then they

don’t NEED to know.

o We avoid: dual relationships, accepting gifts from our parents, adding families on

Facebook.

o What do you do if you disagree with your BCBA or suspect them no not following the

appropriate guidelines? You talk to them BEFORE you file any complaint.

o Supervisors provide good supervision by informing, being friendly, supervising overtly,

and giving immediate feedback.

o We abide by ethics because we want to produce meaningful change, decrease chance of

harm, and because we hold ourselves to a very high standard.