Building Behaviors

Vermont BI Conference 2012

Skill Building Specifically teach behaviors and

skills which are functional alternatives to challenging behaviors

Behaviors may be in the learner’s repertoire or may have to be shaped over time

What are behaviors that you might look to increase?

List some positive behaviors to teach:

PlaygroundLunchroomClassroom

Some Alternative Skills To Teach

On Task Following class routine Work completion Making eye contact Following directions Gentle hands Polite words Self-calming Taking good time-outs

Friendship skills Complementing others Greeting others Asking for help Manding Personal

space/boundaries Specific problem

solving skills

Reinforcement A behavior is followed by an event

(consequence) which serves to strengthen that behavior

Behavior Consequence More Behavior

it is only reinforcement if the behavior increases consequently

Increases the probability of the behavior occurring again

Reinforcement

Types of Reinforcement Positive reinforcement

Obtain a reward

Negative reinforcement Avoid an aversive event

Reinforcement

OUR DAILY LIVES ARE FILLED WITH REINFORCERS FOR THE BEHAVIORS WE ENGAGE IN:

Setting an alarm clock gets us up on timeBuying groceries gets us food to eatLaying out our clothes the night before gets us

to work quickerBeing with our loved ones gives us enjoyment

and fulfillmentWatching a comedy makes us laughTaking an aspirin makes us feel betterInfant crying produces a loving mom or dad

Types of Reinforcers Social

Activity

Token/Symbolic

Sensory

Tangible

Edible/Drink

Premack PrincipleGrandma’s Rule- You have to eat

your peas before you get your dessert.

SELECTING REINFORCERS Learn your clients interests, activities,

hobbies How/where do they spend their time What do they do a lot of Ask the client Ask parents Trial and error

Reinforcer Assessment ActivityInterview neighbor

Identify possible reinforcers

Prioritize top three reinforcers

Increasing the Effectiveness of Reinforcement

Contingency

Immediacy

Power

Schedule or Timing of Reinforcement

Deprivation vs. Satiation

How immediate does reinforcement have to occur following a behavior for it to be effective?

The more immediate, the stronger the effect.

This is especially true for individual with significant communication deficits.

Building Behavioral Momentum“Layering” Of Reinforcement Immediately Throughout The Day End Of Day Throughout The Week

Vary High and Low Probability Demands

A Simple Example of layered reinforcement Behavior=Talking out in class

Present Reinforcer=Attention

Prosocial Skills=Raising hand to obtain attention

A Simple A Simple Example (cont.)

Reinforcement Immediate

Call on child when hand is raised, specific praise

Throughout the day Stars on chart for raising hand to get

attention or Sticker on chart after classes in which hand

raising happens, specific praise

A Simple A Simple Example (cont.)

Reinforcement (cont.) Throughout/End of day

Activity reward/privilege for earning a specific number of stars

End of week Bigger activity reward for having a “good

week”

Building Behavior

Differential Reinforcement Consistently reinforce alternative or

incompatible behaviors while withholding reinforcement for problematic behaviors

Discussed in depth in “Decreasing Behaviors”

Helpful hints for effective use of reinforcement1. Set an easily achieved initial

expectation for reinforcement.1. Look at what the current performance.2. You can fade reinforcement by

expecting higher levels of performance before reinforcement.

2. “reinforce abundantly, but don’t give way the store.”

3. Evaluate reinforcers frequently.

Helpful hints for effective use of reinforcement (need to Cooper it up)

4. Use direct rather than indirect contingencies when possible (ex. Putting M&M in jar vs. giving M&M to student for opening jar)

5. Combine response prompts and R+6. Reinforce each occurrence of the

behavior initially

Helpful hints for effective use of reinforcement.7. Use contingent attention and

descriptive praise8. Gradually decrease frequency of

reinforcement over time9. Gradually shift from contrived to

naturally occurring reinforcers

Non-contingent reinforcement Reinforcement delivered on a

schedule and not contingent on behavior

May decrease problem behaviors because the reinforcment they were seeking is now available freely and frequently

Think of an example where this might be effective

Functional communication training Teaching appropriate communicative

behavior to replace problem behaviors

Teaching strategies paired with differential reinforcement is used

Think of examples where you have or could have used FCT

Contingency contracts A document that

specifies a contingent relationship between a specific behavior and a specific reinforcer.

3 major components• A description of the

task (who, what, when, how well)

• A description of the reward (who, what, when, how much)

• Task record (a place to record task completion)

Contingency Contracts Task: the task side of

the contract consists of four parts

Who is the person who will be performing the task and getting the reward

What is the task or behavior the person must perform

When identifies the time that the task must be completed

How well tells the specifics of the task

Reward side of behavioral contract must be as specific and complete as the task side

WHO: the person that will be judging task completion and control delivery of the reward

WHAT: is the reward WHEN: specifies the

time that the reward can be received by the person earning it

HOW MUCH: is the amount of reward that can be earned

Contingency ContractsGUIDELINES:

Contracts must be fair

Contracts must be clear

Contracts must be honest

Token Economies Behavior change system with 3

components: Specified list of target behaviors Tokens that participant(s) receive for

emitting target behaviors A menu of back-up reinforcer items that

participant(s) exchange for their earned tokens

Share an example of a token system

Examples of Token Systems

Examples of Token Systems

Examples of Token Systems

Tokens embedded in data sheet

Examples of Token Systems

Level systemsType of token economy in which

participants move up/down between different levels which are associated with different privileges and different amounts of independence and expectations

Group contingencies

A common consequence (usually a reward) is contingent on the behavior of one member, one part, or the whole of a group.

Ex: paw prints at Vergennes Elementary Independent Group Contingency= same

reinforcement and behavior expectation, only those that achieve the goal get R+

Dependent Group Contingency= whole group recieves R+ based on the behavior of an individual or small group

Interdependent Group Contingency= all individuals in group must meet expectations for all to receive R+

What skills are needed to be able to learn new behaviors from these methods?

Imitation- being able to copy a model either verbally or behaviorally

Following verbal directions (not just compliance, but also auditory discrimination and receptive and expressive language skills.

What do you do if a student doesn’t have these skills? They will need specific programming to teach

those skills You can use shaping and chaining

Shaping “Shaping is the process of systematically

and differentially reinforcing successive approximations to a terminal behavior. Shaping is used in many everyday situations to help learners acquire new behaviors.” (p.421)

Cooper, J.O., Heron, T.E., & Heward, W.L. (2007) Applied Behavioral Analysis (2nd Ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ; Pearson Education

Examples of behaviors that can be taught through shaping

Signing “more” Vocalizations Ex:

Note: this technique is not often use alone, but is often a component of teaching, but is often paired with other techniques or a way to teach small components of larger behaviors. It can be especially helpful when teaching students who have weak imitation skills or limited verbal behaviors.

Differential Reinforcement The process of reinforcing target responses

behaviors and not reinforcing other responses.

Game time: Chose someone to be “it” and send them out of the room. The rest of the people decide what behavior they want to shape “it” to do. Keep it simple, like jumping or tapping the table. Decide how to reinforce the person when they are doing the target behavior. Let “it” back in the room and teach them to do the behavior through shaping.

Task analysis and behavior chains A behavior chain, simply, is a chain of behaviors

that all link up to reach a end result. Each behavior link is the cue for the next behavior and causes a stimulus change that becomes the reinforcement for the previous behavior.

Example: Brushing teeth End result: clean teeth and task completion Analysis of a link in the chain:

Turning the water on. This causes the water to run which reinforces the action of turning the handle on the faucet. Seeing the water running is a visual cue for the next step of wetting the toothbrush.

Task Analysis Breaking a complex skill or chain of

behaviors into smaller teachable units Should be individualized according to age,

skill level, and prior experience with the task.

Created by: Observing competent individuals perform the

task Consultation with an expert Performing and analyzing the task oneself

Task AnalysisPractice: Break off into groups of 3-4 Select a task and student from the hat As a group, create a task analysis for that

skill. Try completing that skill by following the

directions, adjust if needed.

Assessing the learner’s ability to perform the action Single opportunity method

Assess of the learner’s ability to perform the behaviors in the task in the correct order. Cue them to start and once an error is made, all subsequent steps are marked as incorrect

Multiple opportunity method Assesses the learner’s ability to perform each

behavior in the task regardless of success with the previous task.

Complete at least 3 trials

Teaching with chaining Forward chaining

The task is taught in its naturally occurring order.

Total-task chaining The task is taught at each step for every

session. Backward chaining

The task is initially completed by the instructor except for the final behavior in the chain. When the learner master’s the final step, instruction moves to the next-to last step.

Chaining Exercise Pair off Each pair will be assigned a picture to teach/learn

(Already broken into steps) through chaining. Decide which method of chaining to use Decide how to teach steps (modeling, verbal

direction, shaping, hand over hand) Decide reinforcement method Take turns being the teacher and student.

Things that effect behavior: Motivational Operations A motivational operation (MO) is

something that changes either the value of a reinforcer OR changes the frequency of a behavior. Also referred to as establishing operations.

It is very important to be aware of MOs when implementing behavior plans.

Often these are the things that are out of your control that may be effecting how effective your supports are and the student’s behavior.

The effects of MOs Reinforcement: Smarties MO that increases the value of Smarties:

Hunger, less Smarties available, new commercials on TV about Smarties, you are the only source of Smarties, it’s new and novel

MO that decreases the value of Smarties Satiation, Smarties freely available, toothache,

Smarties not cool anymore, illness, flooded with sugary snacks, overuse of this reinforcer

The effects of MOsBehavior: eating lunch MOs that increase the frequency of

behavior Hunger, favorite meal is being served, more

food available, more choices MOs that decrease the frequency of

behavior Not hungry, preferred food isn’t available,

other activities are competing with lunch (loud conversations), toothaches, illness, had a giant Arizona Ice Tea at snack

Things that effect behavior:Setting Events Setting events are things that can impact

behavior and treatment efficacy that are not directly related to the target behaviors or your interventions

Related to MOs, setting events are things that may be out of your control, but are important to be aware of.

Examples: Illness, how the morning went, injury, social interactions, past performance, sleep patterns

Antecedent TechniquesAntecedent Techniques

Eliminate the cue for the problem behaviorEliminate the cue for the problem behavior

Provide cues for alternative prosocial Provide cues for alternative prosocial behaviorsbehaviors

Reduce the motivation for the reinforcer Reduce the motivation for the reinforcer maintaining the challenging behaviormaintaining the challenging behavior

Increase the motivation for the reinforcer Increase the motivation for the reinforcer maintaining the alternative, more maintaining the alternative, more desirable behaviordesirable behavior

Increase the response effort for the Increase the response effort for the problem behaviorproblem behavior

Antecedent TechniquesDecrease response effort for the alternative Decrease response effort for the alternative behaviorbehavior

Modify the environment to increase the Modify the environment to increase the consistency and predictability of expectationsconsistency and predictability of expectations

SchedulesSchedules

Maximize opportunities for choice and controlMaximize opportunities for choice and control

Clear, concise expectationsClear, concise expectations

Modify curriculum/expectations to maximize Modify curriculum/expectations to maximize independent successindependent success

Antecedent TechiquesCueing ProceduresCueing Procedures Obtain attention firstObtain attention first State cue/direction using only a few words State cue/direction using only a few words

known to be in the student’s repertoireknown to be in the student’s repertoire Wait for client to respond---avoid repetitive Wait for client to respond---avoid repetitive

verbal cuesverbal cues Monitor cooperationMonitor cooperation Praise/reinforce cooperationPraise/reinforce cooperation

Antecedent TechniquesVisual PromptsVisual Prompts

Daily picture/icon/written scheduleDaily picture/icon/written schedule

Cue cards Cue cards

Antecedent TechniquesAdvance Verbal Cues/RehearsalAdvance Verbal Cues/Rehearsal

With or without visual promptsWith or without visual promptsExamples:Examples: Novel activitiesNovel activities Difficult social interactionsDifficult social interactions Ending a preferred activityEnding a preferred activity TransitionsTransitions Where, what, reinforcementWhere, what, reinforcement

Antecedent TechniquesSelf-RelaxationSelf-RelaxationImplement in regular training, at precursor Implement in regular training, at precursor

level and/or after an incidentlevel and/or after an incidentSome portable techniquesSome portable techniques

Walking quietlyWalking quietlyDeep breathingDeep breathingMuscle tension and relaxation exercisesMuscle tension and relaxation exercisesAttention focusing exercisesAttention focusing exercises

ACTIVITY Practice Progressive Muscle Relaxation