Learning & Motivation: Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA)

Continuing from the last post (Behavioural Therapy for Children with Autism) in this series, let us now look into a learning methodology evolved from behavioural therapy, Appled Behavioural Analysis, commonly known as ABA.

What is ABA?

Borrowing the concept from Operant Behavioural Conditioning, ABA claims that behaviours can be taught or modified through a system of reinforcements, punishments and consequences. As it is a form of behavioural therapy, ABA functionally assesses the relationship between a targeted behaviour and the environment in order to modify a behaviour or to teach it.

As reinforcements and responses to these reinforcements are components of ABA, Classical Conditioning is also considered as one of the concepts in ABA other than operant conditioning.

Lovaas, a psychologist, first applied ABA to autism at the Psychology Department at UCLA in 1987. He suggested that social and behavioural skills could be taught, to children with autism, through the ABA method.

Read Understanding Applied Behavior Analysis: An Introduction to ABA for Parents, Teachers and Other Professionals by Albert J Kearney for a clear, precise introduction on ABA.


How does ABA work?

One of the main components in ABA is the discrete trials therapy.  A discrete trials session uses repeated presentations with each trial having a clear, specific instructions and distinctly identifiable results. In discrete trial teaching, a very small amount of information is given and the student’s response is immediately reinforced or not reinforced. 

Every trials have 3 parts to them. There are the ABC - Antecedent, Behaviour and consequence. The antecedent is the instruction (also known as Sd - (Discriminant) Stimulus, because the instruction helps the child to discriminate the purpose of the stimuli presented) that leads to a response which is the behaviour and the consequence is the response to the behaviour that resulted from the instruction. For example, "Pour juice" is the antecedent, the child proceeds to pour juice into a glass is the behaviour and the child being praised by you for pouring the juice is the consequence. (ABC is also used in other components of ABA such as the assessment of undesirable behaviour in order to mofidy it. This is known as Functional Behavioural Analysis. We will look more into it in a future post in this series.)

Reinforcement, in this case, like classical conditioning, plays a very crucial role. Timimg and frequency of delivering of the reinforcements are important in the effectiveness of discrete trial training. Differential Therefore, reinforcement techniques are employed in ABA to combine the frequencies of reinforcements with the effectiveness of the discrete trials. For example, when a child first learns a new concept, reinforcements should be immediately after every correct response so that the child can effectively pair the reward with his most recent behaviour. However, the frequency of delivering the reinforcement may decrease to encourage higher steady rate of responding when the child is motivated by receiving a reward but has no idea when it will be given. We will explore more about reindorcement schedules in future posts in this series.

Read A Work In Progress by Ron Leaf and John McEachin for a more detailed and comprehensive explanation of discrete trials.

The video below may also better help you understand more about what discrete trial training is and how it is being carried out.

Of course, discrete trials training is only one of the many components of ABA. However discrete trials training remains the most crucial element of ABA to date. In upcoming post of the series, we will look further into the various elements of ABA such as Verbal Behaviour, Functional Behaviour Analysis and Reinforcement Schedules.

As ABA is wide ranging in topics and its approach, here are some suggested readings that will help you understand it better -

Let Me Hear Your Voice: A Family's Triumph over Autism by Catherine Maurice is a mother's illuminating account of how one family overcomed the difficulties of autism through ABA. It is an absolutely unforgettable book, as beautifully written as it is informative.

Behaviorspeak: A Glossary of Terms in Applied Behavior Analysis (Volume 1) by Bobby Newman is an invaluable resource for parents, giving its readers the tools necessary to understand articles in professional journals, presentations, and books. Deliberately written in a humorous and easily understood style, this book will prove to be of great help to you in understanding ABA in greater depth.

Behaviorask: Straight Answers to Your ABA Programming Questions by Bobby Newman is a collection of answers to over 100 of the most common ABA programming questions, discussed in rich detail. The authors are Board Certified Behavior Analysts with many years of experience providing ABA-based programs in schools, homes, and private clinics.

Applied Behaviour Analysis and Autism by Mickey Keenan and his colleagues gives detailed guidance on how to develop a tailored ABA programme that includes the key features of ABA. The well laid out information is mixed with inspirational stories of success, making this book a holistic reference guide to ABA therapy.

If you have any further questions or suggestions, I look forward to corresponding with you via email at davensim@triumphantkids.com.

You can also find me on Facebook!

Till the next post, I wish you a very wonderful week ahead.

With regards,
Daven :)

www.triumphantkids.com

Incidental Learning

Incidental learning is perhaps one of the most effective teaching strategies. It allows the child to learn in a non-pressurizing environment and helps him to learn about generalization- adapting the skills that he knows in any setting that he is in.

However, very often we as adults miss out on the many opportunities presented to us for carrying out incidental teaching. We are so entrenched in our own learning system that education happens only in the classroom, that we fail to see the natural environment as a valuable teaching tool.

Natural environment versus controlled setting.

A controlled setting is an environment that is manipulated so that activities within it can yearn results that are not affected by external factors. For example, a lesson is held in the classroom so that students do not get distracted by outside noises and thus may concentrate better.

A natural environment contrary to a controlled setting, involves activities held outside of a manipulated setting. For example, instead of conducting the sketching lesson in class, the art teacher brings her students to the park to complete their drawings.

While there are advantages in learning in controlled settings, we tend to overlook the positive effects a natural environment has in many aspects of education. One of the merits of a natural environment is the opportunity for incidental learning. For example,

1) A community visit to the zoo is fun for the children but it also teaches them about animals and the various concepts that are associated with the animals.

2) A grocery shopping trip can be more than just stocking up on home necessities but also be a lesson about social rules (queuing up, wait for turn),  different categories of items and money counting skills.

3) Playing a game with the family teaches about following rules, social cues and manners and encourages social interaction such as sharing.

4) Going to the gym not only promotes gross motor skills and motivation but also provides opportunities to teach action words and verbs.

The possibilities and advantages of incidental learning in a natural environment are endless. Of course, incidental learning can be done in a controlled setting too. However, there are so many things the natural environment has to offer. Why restrict ourselves and our children to just the structured and standard routine? In fact, we want to inculcate a sense of flexibility in our children's daily life as discuss in my Flexible Thinking Series and the natural environment is always a helpful ally in achieving that goal.

If you have any suggestions, comments or questions that you would like to share with me and other readers out there , please do not hesitate to email me at davensim@triumphantkids.com.

Also, visit my website, www.triumphantkids.com to find out more about the services that I provide.

Types of Categories and How to Teach Them

Last post I discuss about the importance of learning to categorize. Thus what are the types of categories  we can find in our everyday life that we can use to teach the children the skill of categorization? Here are just some of the few suggestions for you to explore teaching your child.

Types of Categories:
1) Basic categorization by assigning items to their respective broad categories. For example dog, lion and owl are all animals.

2) Categorize items according to their attributes such as colours and shapes.

3) Categorize items according to their use. For example food is for eating, toys are for playing and clothes are for wearing.

4) Categorize items according to where they can be found.

5) Categorize items by their sub categories. For example fish, turtle and octopus are animals that swim. Sub categories can be further developed based on the above groups. For example, broccoli, long beans and lettuce are all vegetables but they are also green food.
All the above groupings could be combined with one another to create a sorting category. Another example will be clothes we wear on a sunny (attribute) day versus clothes we wear on a wet, cold day.

How to teach categorization.
There are many methods to teach categorization. Other than the following suggested methods, you can come up with more interesting and fun ways to teach your child about categorization.

1) Matching and sorting.
Have 2 to 3 set of pictures on the table. Hand the child a card to match to the same category it belongs to. For sorting, place a small pile in front of the child and get him or her to sort the cards according to their respective categories.

There are other methods of sorting and matching. Can you think of a couple?

2) Labelling of items individually while assigning them to a category. Inform the child that you are going to talk about animals. "Let’s talk about animals. Tell/show me some animals". Place pictures down individually under the heading of the category together with child and label the animals together. Prompt is faded once child displays ability to label items independently. To test if the child understands concept, ask the child to label items without picture cues.

3) Walk around the house and look for items belonging to a particular category and then write them down. "Let’s look for furniture around the house. What furniture can we find? I see furniture! The chair is furniture." ETC.

Of course there are so many wide ranging ideas to teach categorization. If one idea doesn't work, don't give up. We can always work around an idea to make it suit the child's learning level.

If you have any suggestions or feedback about today's post, please do not hesitate to email me at davensim@triumphantkids.com.

Also do visit my website, www.triumphantkids.com to find out more about the services I provide.

Categorization: A Fundamental Skill

Very often, we tend to take the skills we have for granted and being able to categorize is one of them.
Category matching is one of the essential skills in everyday life. Many things we do everyday rely on mentally categorizing items or events. For example, grocery shopping- knowing which aisles the things on your shopping list belong to - and traveling - knowing which bus direction you should be taking for a particular trip.

In fact, the importance of categorization goes beyond the basics. More abstract skills such as being able to think flexibly, requires categorization skills. To be able to blend well in a social group setting, an individual needs to understand that sometimes, routine could be disrupted. During play time for example, children might choose to substitute the materials of a particular game for another. Flexible thinking in this case is required for any child to understand that we can use the hula hoop like a skipping rope or use a skipping rope for tug of war game.

One can never stop stressing the importance of flexible thinking. Flexible thinking may help lower the stress level of a child when he or she understands that there are more alternatives to one set of rules. For example, if we cannot find crayons to colour a picture, maybe we could use colour pencils or even paint instead. It may seem like a very ordinary event to us but to some children with autism, slight change of routine could result in high level of unwanted stress and even meltdown. Being able to think flexibly may help to relieve them from these stressful situations.

Categorization may also be useful in learning about safety and one's own well-being. For example, although an abstract idea, a child may learn, as he or she grows up to discriminate between good and bad behaviours of other people so as to have a better idea of who is an ideal peer to stick around with and who is not.

Categorization also extends to the grading system thus facilitating the regulation of one's own behaviour. For example, the volume of one's voice is dependent on the places he or she is at. Quiet places like the library and the theatre requires the lowest volume which is whisper and busy places like the market may allow a much higher volume level.

The importance of being able to categorize although being taken granted by most of us may be a skill that needs hard work to be mastered by many children with autism. Once mastered, we must always practice and maintain the skill with them, expanding on the repertoire of how this skill can be utilized in various ways and situations. More often than not, by practicing this skill with them, we too may learn a thing or two about being mentally and emotionally flexible ourselves!

If you have any suggestions or feedback regarding today's post, please feel free to email me at davensim@triumphantkids.com

And please do visit my website www.triumphantkids.com to learn more about the services I provide.

Next post, I am going to discuss about ways we can teach categorization (jump to post by clicking here). Please come visit soon and spread the words around if you like what you have been reading on ths blog so far.

Cheers!