What is ABA?

ABA stands for Applied Behavior Analysis. Many people confuse terminology when discussing ABA. It is a good idea to carefully read this section. If I had to describe the purpose of ABA in our program in as few words as possible, I would describe it like this: reward good behavior and don’t reward bad. J The more you reward (reinforce) good behavior, the more likely it will occur again. Do not reward (reinforce) bad behavior and it will NOT occur as often and may even extinguish. (operant conditioning) ABA is a branch of psychology that studies behavior. It is sometimes referred to as behavior modification. We all use ABA in our lives!!!!

Imagine the following scenerio:

A mother is with her toddler who is just learning to walk. She puts the child down and walks a foot away and says “come to mommy baby!” The toddler takes two wobbly steps into the mothers arms. “Oh what a good baby!” squeals the mother as she picks up the baby , throws him up in the air and gives him a big squeeze. The baby laughs. The mother puts the baby down and walks three steps away from the baby. “Come to mommy sweetie” says the mother. The process starts all over again until the baby tires or both parties have had enough.

The mother instinctually used ABA here. She reinforced the behavior (walking).

Most good parents naturally use ABA and they do not even realize it! A good teacher always uses ABA in her classroom- EVEN WITH TYPICALLY DEVELOPING CHILDREN!

Take a look at this example:

The scene: A typical kindergarten classroom at a “special project table”

The characters: A kindergarten teacher and one boy, Alan , who is well known for being a wiggly boy He often needs reminders to sit still.. Alan manages to sit still and follow a three step instruction on his art project. The teacher smiles at the boy and says “Alan. You did so well! You sat and worked hard and really focused. Guess what?”

Alan looks at the teacher and smiles “what?”

Teacher: I am going to give you an extra three minutes at your favourite center today because you deserve it! Go pick a center!

Alan smiles “Awesome!” and chooses his favourite center- the block center.

Can you identify the behavior that a teacher would want to increase? Can you identify the reinforcer that was used? Is this bribery? NO. It is very unfortunate that some educators see positive reinforcement as bribery. This is NOT what occurred here. Bribery , by its very definition, is when one tries to make another person do something wrong by giving them something in return. This teacher let this child know that he DID WELL. Most working adults would not see “bonuses” that some employers give as “bribes”. They would see their bonuses as recognition for work well done.

A good teacher will recognize what skill each individual student has difficulty with and try to reinforce those skills. Some children have no problems with academics. You might find a kindergartener who already knows how to read. Would you give him extra reinforcement for knowing his ABC’s when he has known them for years? What if he had trouble with fine motor skills and really tried hard to WRITE his ABC’s? Would you give him extra reinforcement for that? What if you had a child who was a little noncompliant? What specific behaviors in a classroom would you want to reinforce?

The Technical Jargon of ABA

There is a lot of technical jargon used in ABA.

DTT stands for Discrete Trial Training. Discrete trial training is the breaking down of skills into the smallest component, teaching each subcomponent until mastery, providing repetition, providing prompts until faded, and providing reinforcement procedures. The ultimate goal of ABA programs is to get the child to be able to learn without DTT. DTT consists of an SD (fancy name for command or instruction from the teacher), a response, and a consequence. DTT uses many trials.

Ex-à Tutor: Touch nose (the SD)

Child: touches his nose (The response)

Tutor: Whoo-hoo! Tickles child’s tummy and gives him a slober kiss (the consequence)

End of trial one in a Lovaas style ABA program.

Ex 2à Child walks into kitchen and looks at fridge. He does not try to communicate with therapist.

Therapist: what do you want? (say, I want juice) (SD and a prompt given)

Child: I want juice. (response)

Therapist: Nice job! Here is your juice. (consequence)

Remember the example of the mother and her toddler? You should be able to identify the components of DTT that this mother used:

What is the SD? __________________________________________________________

Was a Prompt used? _______________________________________________________

Was there a response? _____________________________________________________

Was a reinforcer used? _____________________________________________________

Sometimes DTT is paired with NET. NET stands for Naturalized Environment Training. ABA does not just teach a skill at the table using DTT and leave it at that. The child must master that skill in a variety of environments. They must show mastery of a skill across people, locations, and time. This is called generalization and it is the final step in mastery. NET training focuses on the child's immediate interests and activities as a guide for instruction. It is conducted in the child's typical daily environment rather than in formal teaching arrangements.

NET training tends to go right to generalization a little quicker than pure DTT. Stimulus and response variation is stressed, and consequences are natural. Many different teaching techniques, including DTT, can be used in the NET environment. It is incorrect to assume that Lovaas style ABA does not utilize NET training.

There are many different teaching methods used in ABA. Some follow “Lovaas” style ABA, which uses DTT. Those who have a VB (verbal behavior) program also do ABA. However, the language portion of the programming tends to be done differently than Lovaas ABA. Language instruction is based on B.F. Skinner's "Analysis of Verbal Behavior" (1957) and more recently, Sundberg and Partington's "Teaching Language to Children with Autism or Other Developmental Disabilities" (1998). Please note that the Sundberg Partington book clearly states that it is for not only Autism but OTHER DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES as well. This component of ABA has recently been popularized through the seminars, workshops, and conferences of Dr. Vincent Carbone and Dr. Patrick McGreevy. Some people may refer to it as the S/P method, or the Carbone method. Verbal behavior programs intensely focus on language learning and often see behavioral issues being linked to lack of language and ability to effectively communicate.

Other ABA programs can include incidental teaching, direct instruction and precision teaching/ Fluency instruction. All of these methods sometimes blend into each other and there are only minor differences in focus or programming. For instance, VB programs tend to stress fluency and focus strongly on language acquisition. Precision teaching concerns itself with not only accuracy but the rate of response. Lovaas style ABA only allows for about three seconds after an SD before a prompt or informational NO is given to the child. All of these methods are concerned with not only accuracy but the rate of responses OVER TIME. All these methods can be used in a good ABA program. Our program uses a little bit of each., although a majority of what we have done is Lovaas. Verbal Behavior methods have strengthened our language programming. All have good data backing up their methods. All are ABA .

Why Should anyone choose ABA for the treatment of Autism?

Dr. Ivar Lovaas popularized ABA in the treatment of autism with his landmark study. Dr. Lovaas was the first to develop a program utilizing ABA principles for children with autism. In his landmark study, 9 of 19 children were found to have "recovered," that is, became indistinguishable from their peers, after being treated using Dr. Lovaas' program 40 hours per week, for two years or more. No other treatment program has been shown to recover children from autism. Even more important than the recovered children, are the children who were able to move out of classes for the mentally retarded and be moved into language handicapped classes or classes with an aide. Of the 19 children in the experimental group, only 2 were not able to move out of MR classes. His replication sites are currently attempting to replicate his original study and some centers are showing promising results as they follow children through years of programming.

ABA has decades of research showing its effectiveness. Research can be found in many respected journals. It is not a FAD. It has been around for decades and continues to evolve and refine itself in the treatment of autism.

In addition to the Lovaas study, the New York Board of Health has given its support for ABA. The surgeon general has also endorsed it.