Aba Exam Study Guide

What is Autism? - A developmental disorder diagnosed before the age of 3 characterized by the inability to from normal social relationships, repetitive behavior patters and the inability to communicate with others Diagnostic criteria for Autism according to the DSM-IV - Social Interactions (must meet 2), Communication (must meet 1), Restrictive repetitive and stereotypical behavior patterns (must meet 1) What is ABA? - The application of "Principles of Behavior" to issues that are socially important, in order to produce practical change What is the Core Principle of ABA? - The consequences that follow a behavior control whether that behavior will increase or decrease. What is the behavioral (3-term) contingency? - Antecedent-Prior to behavior Behavior-What child says or does Consequence-After behavior Why is consistency important? - Consistency is crucial in order to see a significant change in behavior What is a Discrete Trial? - Has a definite beginning and end. Is not synonymous with ABA and has three components Antecedent, Response, and Consequence. -Two types of the antecedent within DTT are the Establishing Operations(EO) and Discriminative Stimulus(SD) Why do we use DTT? - -A high number of DTs can be presented in a therapy session -Lets the child know they're expected to response -Lets the child know if their response is correct -Assists the therapist in maintaining consistency -Easy to take data and assess progress What are the appropriate techniques for presenting SDs? - 1) Be sure to gain childs attention 2) Avoid presenting the childs name with the SD 3) Avoid presenting SDs without giving consequence 4) Change the target SD ONLY when instructed by, by supervisor 5) Initially should be clear and concise 6) The child should respond only after the SDs presented What is the Response(R)? - The specific instance of the particular behavior, which also consists of 3 categories, correct, incorrect and no response 3 Categories of Responses - 1) Correct-When the child responds to a particular with the target response 2) Incorrect-Response that is different from the target response 3) No Response- No reaction at all What are the guidelines for responses? - -Therapist must be consistent about what is a "correct response" -Be sure extraneous behavior is absent -Limit the time between the SD and Response to no more than 3 seconds What is Reinforcement? - The procedure of providing consequences for a behavior that increases or maintains the strength of that behavior. Guidelines for delivering reinforces? - -Limit free access to potential reinforces and instead deliver reinforces contingent upon target behavior -Conduct preferred assessments frequently -Deliver the reinforcer within one-half second of the target response -Reinforcers used should be easy to present and removed -Establish conditioned reinforcers -Provide frequent reinforcement for appropriate behavior throughout the session or day -Needs to be easy to give and easy to be taken away What is Schedule of Reinforcement?