Shaping and chaining

1. Shaping and chaining

2. Steps • Identify Target Behavior, Select the Terminal Behavior; define them • Start a Baseline • Observe and record the child’s current behavior to understand their starting point. This helps in measuring progress and setting realistic steps. • Determine the Criterion for Success • Analyze the Response Class • Break Down Target Behavior Into Steps • Identify the First Behavior to Reinforce Two criteria are suggested for identifying the initial behavior for reinforcement:(a) The behavior should already occur at some minimum frequency, and (b) the behavior should be a member of the targeted response class.

3. Differential Reinforcement; Eliminate Interfering or Extraneous Stimuli • Using Reinforcement and Prompts • Use positive reinforcement and prompts to encourage the desired behavior. Reinforcement can be verbal praise, treats, or a favorite activity, while prompts can be physical guidance or visual cues. • Task Analysis, Gradually Progress https://youtu.be/JA96Fba-WHk?si=_gFua0otOf3jSUVg

4. Prompting • To increase the efficiency of successive approximations, prompting is a strategy that can be used alongside shaping • Prompts can be anything that helps or aids the client to perform correct response. • PROMPTING IS A CUE OR DIRECTION FOR SOMEONE TO BEGIN A BEHAVIOR. • It can be verbal, physical, visual, or gestural cues that prompt individuals to perform the target behavior. • A prompt is effective only when the client can respond to it • Prompting is highly significant in ABA therapy because it facilitates; Initial Learning and Acquisition, Error Reduction:, , Addressing Task Complexity, Fading for Independence, Addressing Different Learning Styles:, Facilitating Behavior Generalization, Promoting Functional Communication

5. Prompts should be 1) Be Specific 2) Be Calm 3) Be Close 4) Statement Form 5) Time the Request 6) Prompt no more than Twice 7) Break it down

6. Types of prompts include: • Verbal Prompt: A verbal prompt involves providing the client with a verbal cue. An example of this would be giving the client the beginning sound of the word to be learned. • Gestural Prompt: Any type of gesture, such as nodding the head or pointing to an object, is considered a gestural prompt. • Modeling Prompt: This type of prompt involves the teacher demonstrating the prompt first and then asking the client to repeat the task or skill. • Full Physical Prompt: This type of prompt, also known as hand-over-hand assistance, involves physically guiding the client’s hands to complete the skill. • Partial Physical Prompt: This type of prompt still provides guided assistance, but only when necessary.

7. Visual Prompt: A visual prompt involves the use of a picture, photograph, video, or other type of visual cue. • Positional Prompt: A positional prompt is the act of placing the correct response near the client. The general order of prompting and fading is: Prompting—reinforcing—fading.

8. The following are prompts that may be used by an ABA practitioner teaching a client how to use a spoon to eat: • Verbal Prompt: May include the command: “Please pick up your spoon,” or a question, “How will you eat your cereal?” • Gestural Prompt: The ABA practitioner points to the spoon or makes a gesture that resembles picking up the spoon. • Modeling Prompt: Sitting beside the client, the ABA practitioner completes the task of picking up the spoon and raising it to her lips to show the client how the task is completed. • Full Physical Prompt: The ABA practitioner places her hand over the hand of the client, guides it to the spoon, and wraps the client’s fingers around the spoon. • Partial Physical Prompt: The ABA practitioner moves the client’s hand toward the spoon.

9. Visual Prompt: The ABA practitioner shows a picture of a child holding a spoon. • Positional Prompt: The ABA practitioner places the spoon next to the child’s hand. A number of different prompts may be used. For example, the ABA practitioner says, “Please pick up your spoon.” After a chosen number of seconds, if the child does not respond, a more supportive prompt may be used. For example, the practitioner may move the spoon closer to the child or demonstrate the process of picking up and holding the spoon. In all cases, the ABA practitioner should always attempt to use the least amount of prompting necessary to get the client to complete the task. Within a few sessions, the prompts should begin to fade, thereby allowing the positive reinforcement of completing the behavior to take over.

10. Some ways to implement prompting: Most-to-Least prompts For this way, you walk through an entire performance with the child and provide him physical guidance for everything. Then you gradually reduce the amount of assistance for the child. For example, teaching the child to wash his hand, at first you might need to hold his hands and wash them for him. Later on, you will gradually move your hands over his elbow, to the shoulder and then to no physical contact. Least-to-Most prompts With this way, you give the child the opportunity to perform the behavior with the least amount of assistance.For example, during lunch time, you put the food out on the table for the child and wait for the child to initiate eating by himself first. After 5 seconds, he has not made an effort to eat his lunch. You can provide a verbal instruction "Take a bite". And if the child continues not responding, you can physically hold the child's hand to hold the fork, get the food and put it in his mouth.

11. Fading This process involves gradually changing the features of things (shape, size, position, color) while maintaining a desire behavior. For example, you want the child to drink more juice but he refuses to drink it. You can mix 10% juice with water then gradually increase to 20% of juice and so on. During instruction, provide the prompt before the response occurs to avoid errors. When the student gives the correct response, provide reinforcement. If the student gives the correct response independently, differentially reinforce.

12. Stimulus prompts make the stimulus stand out more in order to evoke the correct response. There are three major forms: Position, Redundancy, and Movement.

13. Prompt fading: There is a risk of prompt dependence when using prompts. Therefore, it is important to plan for transfer of control from the prompt to the stimulus (SD) and the fading of prompts as soon as possible.

14. Response prompts act on the learner response to evoke the correct response. There are three major forms: Verbal Instructions (oral and nonvocal), Modeling, and Physical Guidance

16. Transfer of stimulus control • Therapists use stimulus control transfer in ABA to help create behavior change and promote independence. • Process of transferring the control of behavior from one set of stimuli to another. In ABA, this involves teaching individuals to respond to specific cues or discriminative stimuli in order to evoke desired behaviors. To better understand stimulus control transfer, here’s an illustrative example. Imagine a child is being taught to identify a cat in a picture. At the beginning of the training, the instructor points to a picture of a cat and says, "This is a cat." After repetition, the child learns to say "cat" every time the instructor points to the picture. As the next step, the instructor might hold up the picture without pointing and wait for the child to say "cat." The control has now shifted from the combined stimulus of pointing + picture to just the picture alone.

17. 3 Types of Procedures to Transfer Stimulus Control 1. Prompt and Fading: This involves introducing a stimulus with a prompt that guarantees a correct response. Gradually, the prompt is faded until the behavior is under the control of the natural stimulus. Using the cat picture example, the pointing gesture would be the prompt, which is then faded to let the picture alone serve as the stimulus. 2. Delayed Prompting: In this procedure, a stimulus is presented, and after a set delay, the prompt is provided. The delay gradually increases until the learner responds correctly without needing the prompt.

18. 3. Stimulus Fading: Here, an irrelevant stimulus (which initially helps the learner give the correct response) is gradually faded out, transferring control to the relevant stimulus. For instance, if teaching a child to read the word "cat," the letters might initially be paired with pictures of a cat. Over time, the pictures are faded, leaving only the letters.

19. Common prompt fading approaches in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) include: Physical: The therapist gradually lessens physical guidance while the student performs a task. Time Delay: The therapist gives the prompts but increasingly delays having the student perform the task. Proximity to Student: The therapist keeps moving further away while giving prompts. Muting the Stimulus: The therapist keeps softening the stimulus itself. For example, they speak more and more softly, or they show a letter that starts bright red and big and gradually becomes black and smaller.

20. steps for ABA prompt fading • Identify the Target Behavior or SkillConsider the potential impact on the child’s life to prioritize what skill or behavior to work on. • Determine a Response BaselineMeasure the child’s status to help determine a realistic goal and the time it might take to achieve it. You will measure the child’s progress against this baseline. • Select Appropriate Prompts Choose the type of prompts most effective for eliciting the target behavior, such as physical, gestural, verbal, or visual.

21. To determine the prompts, consider what the child favors and what typically works for the target behavior. For example, some children may not respond to physical prompts and may depend on spoken prompts, or vice versa. 4. Select a Prompt Hierarchy Create a sequence of prompts from most to least intrusive. This hierarchy will guide the fading process. 5. Write and begin treatment SessionsStart using the prompts and prompt fading hierarchy with the child. Use the reinforcer when they perform the desired task or behavior correctly. Use corrections when they get it wrong. 6. Monitor and Track Results

22. Chaining • When behaviors have multiple steps, this is called a behavior chain. • In ABA, behavior chains can be taught through the process of chaining together the individual steps. • Basically, we look at each piece of a behavior chain as an individual behavior and then link all of the behaviors together. Forward Chaining • In a forward chain, the steps in a behavior chain are taught to mastery in the order of steps. • task analysis can be used to create intentional behavior chains • In a forward chain, you would teach the first step to mastery first and provide assistance for all additional steps. When the first step has been mastered, you would teach the first two steps to mastery and provide assistance for all additional steps. When the first two steps have been mastered, you would teach the first three steps to mastery and provide assistance for all additional steps. And so on and so forth.

23. Start by having the learner turn on the water independently. You would then provide prompts for the remaining five steps. When the learner can independently turn the water on, you would work on the learner independently turning the water on and independently getting soap. You would provide prompts for the last four steps. And so on and so forth. https://youtu.be/0p7qIEJ84Pw

24. Backward Chaining • In a backward chain, the steps in a behavior chain are taught to mastery in the order of last steps first. • With backward chaining the instructor prompts each step of the task completely except for the last step. Then, once the last step is mastered the prior step will be completed independently by the learner. using the toilet as an example. The steps include: 1) Removing clothing 2) Sitting down 3) Urinating and/or defecating 4) Wiping 5) Flushing 6) Replacing clothing 7) Washing hands (***We'll pretend for a moment that this is just a single step rather than a behavior chain itself)

25. start by providing prompts for the first six steps but having the learner wash their hands independently. • then provide prompts for the first five steps but have the learner replace their clothing and wash their hands independently. • When that has been mastered, you would provide prompts for the first four steps but have the learner flush, replace their clothing, and wash their hands independently. And so on and so forth. https://youtu.be/3G8c_o8qnpM

26. Total Task Presentation • In total task presentation, the steps in a behavior chain are prompted and taught to mastery at the same time. • When using total task chaining, you teach all of the steps in unison., providing whatever level of prompting is needed to complete the steps • For example, when a parent teaches their child to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, they may begin by telling them to get all the ingredients out. Then they might say, “Now put the bread on the plate. Then spread the peanut butter on the bread.” If the child is unable to complete a step with a verbal prompt the parent may then use a physical prompt to assist the learner. • Total task chaining should only be used for children who can learn complex behaviors quickly. This method provides a lot of opportunities for error. https://youtu.be/T79AAq6_rs8

27. Contingency contract • A contingency contract is a written agreement between two people that specifies a behavior that one person agrees to engage in and a reward that another person agrees to give as a result. • For example, a teenager may agree to attend school, adhere to curfew, and complete homework in exchange for visits with friends, money, and special privileges. Failure to complete these tasks may result in loss of these reinforcers or assignment of other punishers such as chores. • A contingency contract has three major parts: the task, the reward and the task record.

28. Task In a contingency contract, the task defines exactly what behavior a person must engage in to access the reward. It should include what needs to be done, who must do it, when it must be done and details with how it must be done. It should be very clear and specific for all parties. Reward The reward portion of a contingency contract specifies what reward the person engaging in the behavior will receive. It should also be very specific and include what the reward is, who will be delivering it and when it will be delivered.

29. Task Completion The actual contract must include a part where the person completing the task can record when they complete it especially if the delivery of reinforcement will not be immediate and there are multiple steps to the task. Applications- classroom management, clinical setting, parenting, Developing a contingency contract • The primary goal of a contingency contract is to link the completion of a specific task or behavior to a clear, motivating reward. • This method works well because it involves the learner in the process, allowing them to take ownership of their goals. The structure and clarity provided by a contract make it easier for individuals to stay focused on their objectives and motivated to succeed.

30. Use a contingency contract when you have rapport with the learner and you are increasing a skill that they already know how to perform. • The goal for them is to self monitor and engage in a known behavior not to teach a new skill. • By having the learner agree to the terms and sign the contract, you increase their commitment to achieving the goal. • These contracts can also be self-managed, giving the learner a sense of responsibility and autonomy over their behavior. • Another benefit is that contracts allow for regular feedback through the task record, which helps keep the learner on track. Knowing that their progress is being monitored and that there’s a reward waiting makes the effort feel more worthwhile.

31. Developing a Contingency Contract • Hold an Initial Meeting: Start by discussing how contracts work, including the goals and responsibilities of each party. Ensure that the learner understands how the contract will help them achieve their target behavior. • Identify Current Tasks: Before adding new tasks, identify what the learner is already doing well. This gives a strong foundation for what they are capable of achieving. • Select Target Tasks: Choose specific tasks that will be included in the contract. These tasks should be challenging yet achievable, helping the learner build new skills or improve behavior. • Determine Motivating Rewards: It’s crucial to choose rewards that will motivate the learner. Whether it’s extra screen time, a favorite snack, or a special privilege, the reward must be something the learner genuinely wants.

32. 5. Write the Contract: Once the details are clear, write up the contract. Be sure to include the task, the reward, and any specific criteria the learner must meet. The more detailed, the better! Evaluate the contract • The client must be actively involved in the selection of both behaviors and reinforcers; • Each element of the contract must be accepted fully by all relevant parties; • Complex behaviors should be broken down into small, achievable components (or successive approximations) that progressively -move the client toward the ultimate goal, and each small step should be reinforced • The contract should be modifiable by negotiation among the parties involved.