The story of Lukas remembering a past ABA session is an example of how even the most experienced professional can make mistakes. I want to make an important note here: Jackie was an excellent therapist. She worked hard and was probably one of the best tutors we had in terms of reinforcement. Also, it is true that hindsight is 20/20. It is easy for me to clearly state what should have happened now that I have had two years to dwell on it.
One problem is that occasionally the therapists, myself included, would engage in power struggles with Lukas. It became less about the behavior Lukas was showing and more about “he is going to learn to listen to me.” I think that if you engage in that mindset, you may find yourself on the losing end more often than not when you butt heads with someone like Lukas.
Another important mistake to avoid is greed. With a fast learner like Lukas, we were used to accomplishing our goals quickly. He could learn cognitive and language programs with little problem. Behavior , however, is something that needs to be shaped rather than taught in a few easy discrete trials.
Lastly, a good functional analysis is always important. Don’t jump to conclusions over what caused the behavior. We all knew that when Andy stepped on Lukas’ sandpile, it caused him to yell. The action of having his sand pile knocked over seems to be the antecedent but.. why did Lukas yell? Was it merely rigidity on his part? Or perhaps, this was a sign that Lukas needed to be taught problem solving and appropriate language. Perhaps, both needed to be taught. Perhaps he didn’t know how to tell an accident from not an accident. Perhaps, he didn’t understand the apology that Andy issued. All of these are possibilities and the repetitive knocking down of the sandpile probably won’t solve those problems.
If I had a magic transporter, I would have handled that day and that moment with Jackie differently.
I used to think that if I interfered, I would teach Lukas that he could pit me against the therapists or that
I would reinforce inappropriate behaviors. That is because I thought that the only thing I could do was jump in and tell Jackie to stop. Now I know differently and could have handled it in a more diplomatic manner.
If that happened now, I would have jumped in the first time Lukas yelled his “uh-oh” rather than saying it in a nice tone. I would have simply stepped in and said “yes. That’s right Lukas. It was an accident. Lets rebuild it.”
I would have helped him to rebuild it and then let him play another minute before having them go into the therapy room.
I would stopped all programming at that time and probed. I would have engaged in “lets pretend” games with Lukas where a person accidently knocks over someone else’s toy. Lukas loved to pretend so that this would have been a good idea. Besides role play, I would have taught a variety of phrases to say when someone has an accident:
Uh-oh
Oops
Shoot
Oh no!
We could have done discrimination training on the tone of voice. (Lukas, is this the right way or the wrong way to say it?)
I would have had the tutors teach more problem solving such as “what to do if someone knocks something of yours over”
This was a behavior to be shaped. If he showed signs of using any of the skills taught in a naturalized environment, we would reinforce it with a major reinforcement.
A good functional Analysis of Behavior would have been appropriate at this point. Kids constantly knock over each other’s toys. It would have been easy to gather data on how often Lukas did this.
Looking back to the day with Jackie, the “working through a tantrum” was not about working through the behavior of yelling when someone accidentally knocks your toy over. It was about “working through Lukas not listening to me”.
Think about it. If you were working at your desk and your
coworker came by and accidentally knocked your coffee cup over, you might not
say “uh-oh” in a sing song voice while smiling. Right or wrong, you might have said “hey” in a nasty tone. Now imagine that coworker continuing to
knock your coffee cup over until you said it in a nice tone. Most adults I know would not put up with
that. They would not “wear down” and
finally say it in a nice way. They
would punch their coworker in the nose. J Later, they
might apologize for being nasty, realizing it was an accident. But chances are, repetitively knocking over a coffee cup would only escalate
emotions.
ABA is about shaping
behaviors by taking baby steps. It isn’t
just about submission or compliance. It
is about forming habits and motivating
the appearance of appropriate behaviors. This takes time. Don’t
get greedy. ABA works but our need for
instant gratification can sometimes throw up road blocks. Displaying appropriate behaviors is usually
not something we do after long thought.
We don’t stop and debate the merits of saying “thank you” or
“please”. It is the formation of habit
through repetition and reinforcement that truly changes behavior on the long
term.
" 'The mother who takes pains to endow her children with good habits secures
for herself smooth and easy days; while she who lets their habits take care
of themselves has a weary life of endless friction with the children . . .
The mother devotes herself to the formation of one habit at a time,' and to
watching 'over those already formed.' Mother will pick up the habit of
training her children in good habits. It will get easier. Some habits
children will naturally pick up through our examples. Others require
training."
--Charlotte Mason
(Vol. 1, p. 136 -- The Original Homeschooling Series)
"The habits of the child produce the character of the man, because certain
mental habitudes once set up, their nature is to go on for ever unless they
should be displaced by other habits. Here is an end to the easy philosophy
of, 'It doesn't matter,' 'Oh, he'll grow out of it,' 'He'll know better by
and by,' 'He's so young, what can we expect?' and so on. Every day, every
hour, the parents are either passively or actively forming those habits in
their children upon which, more than upon anything else, future character and
conduct depend." - Charlotte Mason.
©Antonia Christopher 2002