Learning and Motivation: Behavioural Therapy for Children with Autism

An Introduction.

While behavioural therapy has been regarded as one of the effective therapies for children with autism, there are many people who are still unsure of what it actually is or does. In this post, we will explain more about behavioural therapy. We will look into what behavioural therapy is and what are the main principles behind the methodology.

What is Behavioural Therapy?
Behavioural therapy refers to the changes and modification of behaviours that are observable. Behaviourists argue that all behaviours are observable and it is through the observation of external factors that undesirable and challenging behaviours can be modified through behavioural interventions. Internal factors such as thought processes and introspection are not taken into consideration when designing and implementing behavioural interventions as behaviourism argues that all  behaviours are results of responses to external stimuli (environment). Thus no introspection (elaborate thought processes) is involved in the reaction to stimuli presented. Internal thought processes are also excluded from the theory of behaviourism because they are regarded as immeasurable. External factors on the other hand are measurable due to them being observable. For example, the number of times a child throws his book on the floor is measurable.

The Science of Behavioural Therapy.
Behavioural therapy is based on the principles of classical conditioning by Ivan Pavlov and of Operant conditioning by B.F Skinner.

Classical Conditioning
It is learning process that occurs through the association between an environmental stimulus and a naturally occuring stimulus. For example, A naturally occurring stimulus (food) is paired with a response (running towards the kitchen). Then, a previously neutral stimulus (bell) is paired with the naturally occurring stimulus (food. In this case, when the bell rings, food is being brought out). Eventually, the previously neutral stimulus comes to evoke the response without the presence of the naturally occurring stimulus (Whenever the bell rings, the subject will come running to the kitchen without having to see the food).

Another Example of Classical Conditioning:
Jane likes chocolates. Whenever she sees chocolates, she would laugh and clap her hands with joy. Her teacher always keeps the chocolates he distributes to his students in a green colour recyclable bag. Once every week, Jane sees her teacher takes out her favourite snack from the green bag. One day, Jane sees her teacher takes out the exact same green bag and immediately laughs and claps her hand in anticipation of receiving some chocolates without even seeing the sweets in the first place or being informed that there will be chocolates to be given out that afternoon.

The laughing and clapping is the unconditioned response. It is a response that comes naturally to the person displaying it in reaction to the natural stimulus (chocolate) presented.

The anticipation is the condition response. It is a response that is conditioned (learned) after being exposed to the previously neutral stimulus (green bag) which is associated with the image of the chocolates.


Operant Conditioning:
Operant conditioning is a learning method through rewards and punishments for behaviours. For example, when a child gets rewarded for washing the dishes after meal, he is more likely to carry out the responsibility again next time because he anticipates being rewarded.

While operant conditioning can be used to increase desirable behaviour, it is also used to decrease undesired behaviours. For example, a child when warned that her television previleges will be taken from her if she doesn't complete her homework on time in the future may result in decrease of tardiness.

There are mainly two components of Operant Conditioning. They are reinforcements and punishments.

Reinforcements
Reinforcements increase behaviours. There are two types of reinforcements, namely positive reinforcements and negative reinforcements.

Positive reinforcements - Favourable outcomes presented after the a behaviour. For example, as above, a child being rewarded for doing the household chore. It is positive because a behaviour is reinforced by the addition of something (reward).

Negative reinforcements - Removal of unfavourable outcomes after the display of undesirable behaviour. A A response is strengthed by the removal of something unpleasant. For example,in order to not get bad grades, a student studies hard. Thus the behaviour to work hard is strengthened a bad grades are removed.

Punishments
Punishments on the other hand decrease or weaken behaviours. Just as reinforcements, punishments have two components - positive punishment and negative punishment.

Positive punishments - Presentation of an unfavourable outcome to decrease an undesirable behaviour. For example, if a child touches a heated kettle and scalded his hand, he will be less likely to touch a hot kettle next time.

Negative punishments - A pleasant and desired outcome is taken away to decrease an undesirable behaviour. As above, when a child doen't complete her homework on time, she may get her television watching previleges taken away from her. This results in decrease of her tardiness.

So far, we have learned about the two main principles of behavioural therapy. Understanding the basics, we are then able to get into more in depth study of behavioural therapy and its role in providing interventions to children on the autism spectrum. Thus, our next post in the Learning and Motivation series will dig deeper into the workings of behavioural therapy and how it relates to special education.

Till then, if you have any concerns or suggestions, please do not hesitate to email me at davensim@triumphantkids.com.

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Social Behaviours of Children with Autism 1: The Challenges in Communication

What are some of the challenges faced by children with autism when it comes to communcation and social interaction?

Scenario 1:
Jeff is 7 years old attending primary one. Although he has the desire to talk to his peers, he always has difficulty initiating conversations with them. His peers think that he is weird as he is always talking about things that don't make sense to them or he will be regurgitating the same comments everytime he tries to strike up a conversation with them.

In this case, although Jeff is socially aware of the pleasure in seeking companionship, he does not possess the mental flexibility nor social skills to keep up with the demands of a social setting. Furthermore, his understanding of social interaction is very basic - talk to someone and that person will talk to you. He is unaware of the many intricate details that come along with conversation due to his inability to process abstract concepts. These include emotions and the mental processes of individuals - how do they like being talk to, what kind of things they like to talk about, how they might react to certain topics or people and ETC.

Scenario 2:

John has a couple of friends in his class who would try to include him in their play activities whenever they could. There are times when John plays well with them although he does experience difficulties in catching up with them during conversations. However, John also has many episodes of temper tantrums and meltdowns resulted from various instances such as losing in a game and sudden changes in the games' objectives or rules. As a result of these episodic meltdowns, John's classmates are at times apprehensive of including him in their activities. 

Here, we see a child who is unaware of social rules and having difficulties controlling his emotions when things do not go the way he expects. As discussed in previous posts, behaviour is a reaction. Everyone will have a reaction, but the level of it depends on how we are able to control our actions that may be detrimental to us and the people around us. That being said, learning to express one's feelings calmly is a skill and concept that needs to be taught and practiced. Children with autism may take longer time than others to master such behaviour because the idea of having to put aside the immediate emotion they are experiencing is very abstract as compared to acting out instantly once an emotion is experienced. Furthermore, as above, because a child with autism has difficulty thinking in another person's perspective, they may see little reason in not expressing their immediate emotions through action. Finally, as many children with autism have difficulty expressing their emotions, acting out may be the next best option to show how they are feeling at the moment.

Scenario 3:

Henry likes playing by himself. Whenever other children try to play or talk to him, he would either ignore them or walk away doing his own things. Even if he is within the group, he tends to keep to himself doing his own play instead of joining in. At first, children were intrigued by his lonesome and "hard-to-get" personality. However, as time goes by, they lose interest in engaging him in their activities and go seeking out other more responsive new friends. 

In this scenario, the child seems to not understand the meaning in communication or social interaction. Play is very basic to the child and he is happy to be self engaged. Social understanding is at a minimal as he finds no need to engage the attention of others as long as his interest is fulfilled. He find no meaning in the world of others as he has not been exposed to the benefits of social interactions. Fundamental skills such as langauge joint attention may also be lacking leading to low interest in the world around him through expression of language and social cues.

Scenario 4:

Jessica is often being teased by her classmates for talking weird. Whenever she tries to initiate a conversation with them, they will try their best to shun her. These incidents lead to her possessing very low self esteem . She loses confidence in keeping up with her social skills as she reasons that people are going to make fun of her anyway if she tries. She begins to keep to herself more not just in social settings but also at home. This has resulted in other behaviours such as fear and anxiety attacks to be in new surroundings or when surrounded by new people.

In this case, it will be more of public education that is lacking. Often, students with autism in classroom get little support from the adults because they belong to the minority in a culture where the majority's well-being are being looked after first. Of course, that is not to say that all students with autism are being neglected in the classroom but it does show time and again that it requires substantial amount of resources such as manpower and educational materials in place to provide adequate assistance to the students of the minority. In this scenario, the classmates could be informed about what autism is about and how it may affect the langauge and communication skills of their classmate who has autism. Yet, discussion about autism in open settings remains a stigma to many adults, resulting in a 'don't ask, don't tell' attitude. This in turn allows the children with autism to be misunderstood as misfits within a classroom setting which in the first place, should be supportive and encouraging of learning and equipment of life skills.

In the upcoming post of this series, we will be looking more into these above described scenarios. What can be carried out to deal with the challenges faced by these children? If your child is facing any difficulties described above, what strategies and teaching methods can be put in place to help your child to develop better social and communication skills?

Till then, if you have any concerns or suggestions, please email me at davensim@triumphantkids.com. i look forward to your correspondence.

Regards,

Daven

www.triumphantkids.com