TARGET:TEXASGUIDEFOREFFECTIVETEACHING APPLIEDBEHAVIORANALYIS

APPLIEDBEHAVIORANALYSIS
CHARACTERISTICSOVERVIEWCHART
VerbalSkills 7Nonverbal 7Mixed 7Verbal GradeLevels 7PK 7Elementary 7Middle/High CognitiveLevel 7Classic 7High Functioning AreasAddressed 7(Pre)Academic/Cognitive/Academic 7AdaptiveBehavior/ DailyLiving 7Behavior 7Communication/Speech 7Social/Emotional

BRIEFINTRODUCTION
Appliedbehavioranalysis(ABA)hasitsrootsinthephilosophyofmodernbehaviorismpioneeredby Skinner,wholaidthefoundationintheearly1900s.Assuch,itisthepracticalapplicationof behaviorallaws,lawsofreinforcement,formulatedbySkinnertosolvebehaviorproblems.ABAis definedastheprocessofsystematicallyapplyinginterventionsbasedupontheprinciplesofbehavior theorytoimprovesociallysignificantbehaviors,includingreading,academics,socialskills, communication,andadaptivelivingskills,toameaningfuldegree,andtodemonstratethatthe interventionsemployedareresponsiblefortheimprovementinbehavior(Baer,Wolf,&Risley,1968; SulzerAzaroff&Mayer,1991).

DESCRIPTION
AccordingtoBaeretal.(1968),ABAistheprocessofapplyingsometimestentativeprinciplesof behaviortotheimprovementofspecificbehaviors,andsimultaneouslyevaluatingwhetheror notanychangesnotedareindeedattributedtotheprocessofapplication(p.91).ABAbased interventionshavebeenpopularwithchildrenwithautismsincethe1980sandcanbelinkedto theworkofIvarLovaas(1987). NumerousstudieshavedemonstratedanddocumentedtheeffectivenessofABAbased interventionwithindividualswithautism.Todate,ABAbasedinterventionshavebeenusedto supportindividualswithautisminatleastsixways(ShapingBehavior,2008): 1. Toincreasebehavior;
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TARGET:TEXASGUIDEFOREFFECTIVETEACHING APPLIEDBEHAVIORANALYIS

2. Toteachanewskill; 3. Tomaintainbehaviors; 4. Togeneralizeortotransferbehaviorfromonesituationorresponsetoanother; 5. Torestrictornarrowconditionsunderwhichinterferingbehaviorsoccur;and 6. Toreduceinterferingbehavior. AccordingtoBaeretal.(1968)andHeward,Heron,Neef,Peterson,Sainato,Cartledge,etal. (2005),ABAhasthefollowingcharacteristics: Applied.ABAfocusesonareasthatareofsocialsignificance.Behaviorscientistsnotonly takeintoconsiderationlongtermbehaviorchange,butalsolookathowbehaviorchanges affecttheindividualandthepeoplearound. Behavioral.Thebehaviormustbeobjectivelymeasuredandmustchange. Analytic.Thebehaviorscientistmustdemonstratecontroloverthebehaviorwith interventionwhilemaintainingethicalstandards. Systematic.ABAinterventionsandproceduresmustbeverydetailedsothatother researchersareabletoreplicatetheapplicationwiththesameresults. Generalizeable.TheresultsofanABAbasedinterventionmustlastovertime,across settings,andspreadtootherbehaviorsnotdirectlyaddressed. Databased.ABAusesdirectandfrequentmeasurementstoenableanalyststodetecttheir successorfailuressothatappropriatechangescanbemade. ManyprogramsusesomeorallofthecomponentsofABA,andsometimesarereferredtoABA programs.However,callingaprogramABAdoesnotindicatewhichspecificinterventionsare used.Indeed,thereisnosingleinterventioncalledABA. Programs that are commonly referred to as having ABAbased interventions include (a) Young Autism Project or Lovaas Model (Lovaas, 1987), (b) Princeton Child Development Institute (Fenske,Zalenski,Krantz,&McClannahan,1985),(c)DouglassDevelopmentalDisabilitiesCenter at Rutgers University (Handleman, Harris, Gordon, Kristoff, & Fuentest, 1991), (d) the River Street Autism Program (Dyer, Martino, & Parvenski, 2006), (e) Therapeutic Pathways (Howard, Sparkman, Howard, Green, & Stanislaw, 2005), (f) Walden Program (McGee, Morrier, & Daly,

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TARGET:TEXASGUIDEFOREFFECTIVETEACHING APPLIEDBEHAVIORANALYIS

1999), (g) the Institute for Child Development at State University of New York (Romanczyk, Lockshin,Gillis,&Matey,2006),(h)AutismPartnerships(Leaf,McEachin,&Harsh,1999),(i)May Institute (Luce & Christian, 1989), (j) Pivotal Response Treatment (Koegel, Koegel, Shoshan, & McNerney, 1999), (k) Alpine Learning Group (Meyer, Yaylor, Cerion, Fisher, Moran, & Richard, 2006), (l) Pyramid Approach (Bondy & Battaglini, 2006), (m) Verbal Behavior (Partington, 2005), (n)EdenModel(Holmes,1998),(o)STARProgram(Arick,Krug,Loos,&Falco,2005),(p)Learning ExperiencesandAlternativeProgramforPreschoolersandTheirParents(LEAP;Strain&Hoyson, 2000), (q) Project Data (Schwartz, Sandall, McBride, & Boulware, 2004), and (r) Gentle Teaching (McGee,Menolascino,Hobbs,&Menousek,1987).

SUMMARY
ABAisaframeworkforthepracticeofasciencethatsystematicallyappliesinterventionsbased upontheprinciplesofbehaviortheorytoimprovesociallysignificantbehaviors.Itemphasizes explainingbehaviorintermsofexternaleventsthatcanbemanipulated.Techniquesand principlesassociatedwithABAincludediscretetrialtraining,errorlesslearning,incidental teaching,prompting,fading,shaping,etc.TheeffectivenessofindividualABAbased interventionswithindividualswithautismiswelldocumented.

RESEARCHTABLE
NotableispresentedhereasABAisnotasingleintervention.Pleaserefertoindividual interventionslistedunderthedescription.

REFERENCES
Arick,J.,Krug,D.,Loos,L.,&Falco,R.(2005).Schoolbasedprograms.InF.Volkmar,R.Paul,A. Klin,&D.Cohen(Eds.),Handbookofautismandpervasivedevelopmentaldisorders. Hoboken,NJ:JohnWiley&Sons. Baer,D.M.,Wolf,M.M.,&Risley,T.R.(1968).Somecurrentdimensionsofappliedbehavior analysis.JournalofAppliedBehaviorAnalysis,1,9197. BernardOpitz,V.,Ing,S.,&Kong,T.Y.(2004).Comparisonofbehaviouralandnaturalplay interventionsforyoungchildrenwithautism.Autism,8,319333.

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Bondy,A.,&Battaglini,K.(2006).Applicationofthepyramidapproachtoeducationmodelina publicschoolsetting.InJ.Handleman&S.Harris(Eds.),Schoolageeducationprograms forchildrenwithautism.Austin,TX:ProEd. Dyer,K.,Martino,G.,&Parvenski,T.(2006).TheRiverStreetAutismProgram:Acasestudyofa regionalservicecenterbehavioralinterventionprogram.BehaviorModification,30,925 943. Fenske,E.,Zalenski,S.,Krantz,P.,&McClannahan,L.(1985).Ageatinterventionandtreatment outcomeforautisticchildreninacomprehensiveinterventionprogram.Analysisand InterventioninDevelopmentalDisabilities,5,4958. Handleman,J.,Harris,S.,Gordon,R.,Kristoff,B.,&Fuentes,F.(1991).Changesincognitiveand languagefunctioningofpreschoolchildrenwithautism.JournalofAutismand DevelopmentalDisorders,21,281290. Heward,W.L.,Heron,T.E.,Neef,N.A.,Peterson,S.M.,Sainato,D.M.,Cartledge,G.,etal. (Eds.).(2005).Focusonbehavioranalysisineducation:Achievements,challenges,and opportunities.UpperSaddleRiver,NJ:PrenticeHall/Merrill. Holmes,D.(1998).Autismthroughthelifespan:TheEdenModel.Bethesda,MD:Woodbine House. Howard,J.,Sparkman,C.,Howard,C.,Green,G.,&Stanislaw,H.(2005).Acomparisonof intensivebehavioranalyticandeclectictreatmentsforyoungchildrenwithautism. ResearchinDevelopmentalDisabilities,26,359383. Koegel,L.K.,Koegel,R.L.,Shoshan,Y.,&McNerney,E.(1999).PivotalresponseinterventionII: Preliminarylongtermoutcomesdata.JournaloftheAssociationforPersonswithSevere Handicaps,24,186198. Leaf,R.,McEachin,J.,&Harsh,J.(1999).Aworkinprogress:Behaviormanagementstrategies andacurriculumforintensivebehavioraltreatmentofautism.NewYork:DRLBooks. Lovaas,O.I.(1987).Behavioraltreatmentandnormaleducationalandintellectualfunctioningin youngautisticchildren.JournalofConsultingandClinicalPsychology,55,39. Luce,S.,&Christian,W.(1989).StateoftheartprogramminginMassachusetts:Abrief descriptionoftheMayInstitute.InChristopherGillberg(Ed.),Diagnosisandtreatmentof autism.NewYork:Plenum. McGee,J.J.,Menolascino,F.J.,Hobbs,D.C.,&Menousek,P.E.(1987).Gentleteaching:Anon aversiveapproachtohelpingpersonswithmentalretardation.NewYork:Human SciencesPress.

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TARGET:TEXASGUIDEFOREFFECTIVETEACHING APPLIEDBEHAVIORANALYIS

McGee,G.,Morrier,M.,&Daly,T.(1999).Anincidentalteachingapproachtoearlyintervention fortoddlerswithautism.TheJournaloftheAssociationforPersonswithSevere Handicaps,24,133146. Meyer,L.,Taylor,B.,Cerion,K.,Fisher,J.,Moran,L.,&Richard,E.(2006).AlpineLearningGroup. InJ.Handleman&S.Harris(Eds.),Schoolageeducationprogramsforchildrenwith autism.Austin,TX:ProEd. Partington,J.(2005).TheupdatedABLLS:TheAssessmentofBasicLanguageandLearningSkills. PleasantHill,CA:BehaviorAnalysts,Inc. Romanczyk,R.G.,Lockshin,S.,Gillis,J.M.,&Matey,L.(2006).InstituteforChildDevelopment preschoolprogram.InS.Harris&J.Handleman(Eds.),Preschoolprogramsforchildrenwith autism(3rded.).Austin,TX:ProEd. Schwartz,I.S.,Sandall,S.R.,McBride,B.J.,&Boulware,G.L.(2004).ProjectDATA (DevelopmentallyAppropriateTreatmentforAutism):Aninclusiveschoolbased approachforyoungchildrenwithautism.TopicsinEarlyChildhoodEducation,24(3),156 168. ShapingBehavior.(n.d.).RetrievedOctober25,2008,fromShapingBehaviorWebsite: http://www.shapingbehavior.com Strain,P.,&Hoyson,M.(2000).Theneedforlongitudinalintensivesocialskillintervention:LEAP followupoutcomesforchildrenwithautism.TopicsinEarlyChildhoodSpecialEducation, 20,116123. SulzerAzaroff,B.,&Mayer,R.(1991).Behavioranalysisoflastchanges.FortWorth,TX:Holt, Reinhart&Winston,Inc

RESOURCESANDMATERIALS
AssociationforBehaviorAnalysisInternational:www.abainternational.org/ba.asp Thislinktakestheuserdirectlytothebehavioranalysisportionofthelargerwebsite.

AutismInterventionInformation:http://knospeaba.com/cms/en/home.html Thegoalofthiswebsiteistobearesourceforparents;itincludeslinkstootherresources. B.F.SkinnerFoundation:www.bfskinner.org Thoughnonfunctionalatthetimeofthispublication,thissiteincludesadownloadable programforinstructorstouseintheclassroom. BehaviorAnalystCertificationBoard(BACB):http://www.bacb.com/ PartofthewebsitefortheBACB,thislinkdirectstheusertoanoverviewofABA.Otherlinks onthiswebsiteincludealistofboardcertifiedanalystsandhelpfulconsumerinformation.

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Fovel,J.Tyler(2002).TheABAprogramcompanion:Organizingqualityprogramsfor childrenwithautismandPDD.NewYork:DLRBooks,Inc. ThisexcellentnewmanualandCDisgearedtowardshelpingthereaderintegrateimportant theoriesandconceptsfromABAintopowerful,practicalandcomprehensiveeducational programming,fromassessmentthroughprogrammethodologyandevaluationofresults. Topicsummaries,keyconcepts,questionlistsandreferencesarefoundthroughoutthe manual,alongwithreproducibledataformsinordertoorganizeandexpediteprogram development. Harris,S.andWeiss,M.J.(2007).Rightfromthestart:Behavioralinterventionforyoung childrenwithautism.2ndEd.Bethesda,MD:WoodbineHouse. Parentsofyoungchildrenages18monthsto5yearsrecentlydiagnosedwithautism,face thecriticaldecisionofwhicheducationaltreatmentprogramtochoosefortheirchild.To helpguidethemthroughthiscomplexdecisionmakingprocess,parentscanturntothe revisedandupdatededitionofRightfromtheStart.Thissecondeditioncoversprograms thatuseEarlyIntensiveBehavioralIntervention,ahighlyeffectivetreatmentbasedon AppliedBehaviorAnalysis(ABA). Lovaas,O.I.(1977).Theautisticchild:Languagedevelopmentthroughbehaviormodification. NewYork:IrvingtonPress.

Lovaas,O.L.(2003).Teachingindividualswithdevelopmentaldelays:Basicintervention techniques.Austin,TX:ProEd. Miller,L.K.(2006).Principlesofeverydaybehavioranalysis(4thed.).Belmont,CA:Thomson Wadsworth. Thesethreebooksdiscussthevariousappliedbehavioranalysisstrategies. Mueller,M.M.,Palkovic,C.H.,&Maynard,C.S.(2007).Errorlesslearning:Reviewand practicalapplicationforteachingchildrenwithpervasivedevelopmentaldisorders. PsychologyintheSchools,44(7),691700. Thisjournalarticlereviewstheliteratureonerrorlesslearningandprovidesexamples. Polyxo.com:TeachingChildrenwithAutism:http://www.polyxo.com/ ThisteacherresourceoffersfoundationalconceptsfordevelopinganABAprogram. Pratt,C.&Dubie,M.(2008).ObservingBehaviorUsingABCData.IRCA Articles.http://www.iidc.indiana.edu/irca/behavior/abcData.html

GENERALRESOURCES
AutismInternetModules(AIM)www.autisminternetmodules.org TheAutismInternetModulesweredevelopedwithoneaiminmind:tomake comprehensive,uptodate,andusableinformationonautismaccessibleandapplicableto educators,otherprofessionals,andfamilieswhosupportindividualswithautismspectrum disorders(ASD).WrittenbyexpertsfromacrosstheU.S.,allonlinemodulesarefree,andare
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designedtopromoteunderstandingof,respectfor,andequalityofpersonswithASD. Currentmodulesare: o AssessmentforIdentification o HomeBase o PeerMediatedInstructionandIntervention(PMII) o PictureExchangeCommunicationSystem(PECS) o PivotalResponseTraining(PRT) o PreparingIndividualsforEmployment o Reinforcement o RestrictedPatternsofBehavior,Interests,andActivities o SelfManagement o SocialSupportsforTransitionAgedIndividuals o StructuredTeaching o StructuredWorkSystemsandActivityOrganization o SupportingSuccessfulCompletionofHomework o TheIncredible5PointScale o TimeDelay o TransitioningBetweenActivities o VisualSupports InteractiveCollaborativeAutismNetwork(iCAN)http://www.autismnetwork.org iCANoffersfreeonlineinstructionalmodulesonautismspectrumdisorder(ASD).Modules havebeendevelopedintheseareas: o Characteristics o Assessment o AcademicInterventions o BehavioralInterventions o CommunicationInterventions o EnvironmentalInterventions o SocialInterventions IndianaResourceCenterforAutism(IRCA)http://www.iidc.indiana.edu/irca/fmain1.html
TheIndianaResourceCenterforAutismstaffseffortsarefocusedonprovidingcommunities, organizations,agencies,andfamilieswiththeknowledgeandskillstosupportchildrenandadultsin typicalearlyintervention,school,community,work,andhomesettings. o IRCAArticleshttp://www.iidc.indiana.edu/irca/ftrainpapers.html

o IRCAModules http://www.iidc.indiana.edu/irca/fmodules.html TexasStatewideLeadershipforAutismwww.txautism.net TheTexasStatewideLeadershipforAutisminconjunctionwiththenetworkofTexas EducationServicecenterwithagrantfromtheTexasEducationAgencyhasdevelopeda seriesoffreeonlinecoursesinautism.Pleasecheckthetraining page,www.txautism.net/training.html,forupdatelistsofcourses,coursenumbersand registrationinformation.Currentcoursesincludethefollowing:

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TARGET:TEXASGUIDEFOREFFECTIVETEACHING APPLIEDBEHAVIORANALYIS

Autism101:TopTenPiecestothePuzzle Autismo101:Las10piezasprincipalesdelrompecabezas AspergerSyndrome101Online AspergerSyndrome101Online NavigatingtheSocialMaze:Supports&InterventionsforIndividualswithAutism SpectrumDisorders o Communication:ThePowerofCommunicationforIndividualswithAutism SpectrumDisorders o Communication:ThePowerofCommunicationforIndividualswithAutism SpectrumDisorders o o o o o

TexasStatewideLeadershipforAutismMarch2009