APPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS

Course: Counseling

Submitted by:

Abeer Iqbal 01-171162-001

Areeba Khan 01-171162-003
Ayesha Imran 01-171162-004
Fatima Fazal Abassi 01-171162-005
Wafa Mansub 01-171162-045
Khizra Sarwar 01-171162-046

Section: 3A

Submitted to: Ms .Uzma Qayyum

Dated: 04 December’ 2017

Department of Professional Psychology (Islamabad campus)

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 APPLIED BEHAVIORAL ANALYSIS

Background

In the early 20th century, John B. Watson proposed his belief that psychology should be
concerned with the study of observable behavior as opposed to private internal events. Watson
advocated a stimulus-response approach to behavior, in which one's behavior was thought to be
determined by environmental stimuli. This school of thought became known as behaviorism.
Later, through extensive research with animals, B.F. Skinner found that Watson's cause-and-
effect approach was too simplistic to explain all forms of behavior, arguing the consequences of
behavior were just influential or even more influential than what had led to the behavior.
Skinner’s experimental work on behavior is often considered the beginning of what is now
known as experimental behavior analysis. His ideas were eventually expanded into a
comprehensive theory now known as operant conditioning. The theory suggests behavior can be
changed through the use of reinforcement and punishment. Basic principles of operant
conditioning have been applied to humans in real-life situations in order to modify behavior and
solve problems of social importance. This application of learning principles, in combination with
an experimental approach, has come to be known as applied behavior analysis. The emergence of
ABA as a distinct scientific field occurred in the late 1950s and 1960s.

Introduction

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is the practice of applying the psychological principles of
learning theory in a systematic way to alter behavior in humans or animals. It is basically the
process of systematically applying evidence based interventions to improve socially significant
behaviors to a meaningful degree, and to demonstrate that the interventions employed are
responsible for the improvement in behavior. The practice is used extensively in education,
healthcare, animal training, and business management.ABA has been utilized in various settings,
such as schools, private homes, hospitals, and workplaces. It can be used in therapy to address a
range of mental health conditions, including learning difficulties and brain injuries. It is
particularly prominent in the treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), for which it is one

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of the only scientifically valid therapies available. It can be described as a scientific approach to
modifying behavior based on an application of learning principles.

Behavior analysis focuses on the principles that explain how learning takes place. Positive
reinforcement is one such principle. When a behavior is followed by some sort of reward, the
behavior is more likely to be repeated. Through decades of research, the field of behavior
analysis has developed many techniques for increasing useful behaviors and reducing those that
may cause harm or interfere with learning. Applied behavior analysis (ABA) is the use of these
techniques and principles to bring about meaningful and positive change in behavior. These
techniques can be used in structured situations such as a classroom lesson as well as in
"everyday" situations such as family dinnertime or the neighborhood playground. Some ABA
therapy sessions involve one-on-one interaction between the behavior analyst and the participant.
Group instruction can likewise prove useful.

The ABCs of ABA:

Doctor Montrose Wolf, one of the founders of the field, came up with the time-out punishment in
the 1960’s in the process of developing effective treatment methods for an autistic 3-year-old
under his care. Understanding that the tantrums thrown by the child were being reinforced by the
adult attention they drew, Wolf created the time-out to deprive the child of the attention but still
provide an effective response to the behavior. The theory rested on a process of observation and
consequence that has since become known as the ABC’s of applied behavior analysis:

 Antecedent – The prompt or initial situation, leading to a behavior—in this case, the 3-
year-old’s desire for adult attention.
 Behavior – The action or behavior in response to the antecedent—throwing a tantrum
and acting out.
 Consequence – The reinforcement mechanism associated with the behavior—adult
attention, even if ostensibly negative, desired by the child.

Wolf and his compatriots realized that by making careful observations of the environment (the
antecedents) and understanding the relationship to the behaviors exhibited, they could

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systematically alter the consequences to either reinforce behaviors deemed positive, or
discourage those deemed negative.

Seven dimensions of ABA:

ABA is based on scientific methods and is founded on 7 core dimensions (Baer, Wolf, Risley,
1968). This means that all interventions that are provided through ABA services should fall
within these 7 categories. This is important to ensure that the interventions are supported by
research, that the interventions are effective and socially significant, and that interventions are
closely monitored to ensure consistent progress or to provide support for modifications to the
interventions if a previously implemented intervention hasn’t found to be effective for a
particular client.

According to Behavior Babe, the 7 dimensions of ABA can be remembered with the acronym,
“Get A Cab.”

1. Generality
A behavioral change may be said to have generality if it proves durable over time, if it appears
in a wide variety of possible environments, or if it spreads to a wide variety of related behaviors.
Thus, the improvement of articulation in a clinic setting will prove to have generality if it
endures into the future after the clinic visits stop.

2. Effective
If the application of behavioral techniques does not produce large enough effects for practical
value, then application has failed. Non-applied research often may be extremely valuable when it
produces small but reliable effects, in that these effects testify to the operation of some variable
which in itself has great theoretical importance. In application, the theoretical importance of a
variable is usually not at issue. Its practical importance, specifically its power in altering
behavior enough to be socially important, is the essential criterion.

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 3. Technological
"Technological" here means simply that the techniques making up a particular behavioral
application are completely identified and described. In this sense, "play therapy" is not a
technological description, nor is "social reinforcement". For purposes of application, all the
salient ingredients of play therapy must be described as a set of contingencies between child
response, therapist response, and play materials, before a statement of technique has been
approached. Similarly, all the ingredients of social reinforcement must be specified (stimuli,
contingency, and schedule) to qualify as a technological procedure. The best rule of thumb for
evaluating a procedure description as technological is probably to ask whether a typically trained
reader could replicate that procedure well enough to produce the same results, given only a
reading of the description. This is very much the same criterion applied to procedure descriptions
in non-applied research, of course.

4. Applied

The label applied is not determined by the research procedures used but by the interest which
society shows in the problems being studied. In behavioral application, the behavior, stimuli,
and/or organism under study are chosen because of their importance to man and society, rather
than their importance to theory.

5. Conceptual Systems

The field of applied behavior analysis will probably advance best if the published descriptions of
its procedures are not only precisely technological, but also strive for relevance to principle. To
describe exactly how a preschool teacher will attend to jungle-gym climbing in a child frightened
of heights is good technological description; but further to call it a social reinforcement
procedure relates it to basic concepts of behavioral development. Similarly, to describe the exact
sequence of color changes whereby a child is moved from color discrimination to form
discrimination is good; to refer also to "fading" and "errorless discrimination" is better. In both
cases, the total description is adequate for successful replication by the reader; and it also shows
the reader how similar procedures may be derived from basic principles. This can have the effect
of making a body of technology into a discipline rather than a collection of tricks. Collections of

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tricks historically have been difficult to expand systematically, and when they were extensive,
difficult to learn and teach.

6. Analytic

The analysis of a behavior, as the term is used here, requires a believable demonstration of the
events that can be responsible for the occurrence or non-occurrence of that behavior. An
experimenter has achieved an analysis of a behavior when he can exercise control over it. By
common laboratory standards, that has meant an ability of the experimenter to turn the behavior
on and off, or up and down, at will.

7. Behavioral

Behaviorism and pragmatism seem often to go hand in hand. Applied research is eminently
pragmatic; it asks how it is possible to get an individual to do something effectively. Thus it
usually studies what subjects can be brought to do rather than what they can be brought to say;
unless, of course, a verbal response is the behavior of interest. Accordingly, a subject's verbal
description of his own non-verbal behavior usually would not be accepted as a measure of his
actual behavior unless it was independently substantiated.

Techniques of ABA

A few types of therapies based on ABA principles are discrete trial learning, natural environment
training, token economy, pivotal response training. All of these ABA-based therapies:

 Are structured
 Collect data for target skills or behaviors
 Provide positive strategies for changing responses and behaviors

ABA focuses on positive reinforcement strategies. It can help children who are having difficulty
learning or acquiring new skills. It can also address problem behaviors that interfere with
functioning through a process called “functional behavioral assessment.”

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 1. Discrete Trial Training

DDT is based on the understanding that practice helps a child master a skill. It is a structured
therapy that uses a one-to-one teaching method and involves intensive learning of specific
behaviors. This intensive learning of a specific behavior is called a “drill.” Drills help learning
because they involve repetition. The child completes a task many times in the same manner
(usually 5 or more). This repetition is especially important for children who may need a great
deal of practice to master a skill. Repetition also helps to strengthen long-term memory. Specific
behaviors (eye contact, focused attention and facial expression learning) are broken down into its
simplest forms, and then systematically prompted or guided. For example, a therapist and a child
are seated at a table and the therapist prompts the child to pay attention to her by saying “look at
me.” The child looks up at the therapist and the therapist rewards the child with a high-five.

2. Token economy

Determine the behaviors to be changed through the use of the token economy. Token economies
can be successful in influencing academic, social, and classroom skills. Define them in specific,
observable, and measurable terms to facilitate consistency of implementation among staff. Also,
behavioral pinpoints will prevent confusion among students regarding the behaviors of which
they can earn tokens.

By selecting what type of token you want to use. For instance, objects, such as play money,
beans or marbles in a jar, pennies, or plastic chips, are all excellent devices. Overall, many items
work well as tokens as long as they are easily dispensed, difficult to counterfeit, and safe to use
build the token economy. When the token system is in place, students will periodically exchange
their tokens for reinforcers, so the reward must motivate students to do whatever is necessary to
earn it.

3. Pivotal response training

It is naturalistic, loosely structured, intervention that relies on naturally occurring teaching

opportunities and consequences. The focus of PRT is to increase motivation by adding

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components such as turn-taking, reinforcing attempts, child-choice, and interspersing
maintenance (pre-learned) tasks. It takes the focus off of areas of deficits and redirects attention
to certain pivotal areas that are viewed as key for a wide range of functioning in children. Four
pivotal areas have been identified: (a) motivation, (b) child self-initiations, (c) self management,
and (d) responsiveness to multiple cues. It is believed that when these areas are promoted, they
produce improvements in many of the non-targeted behaviors. The “Early Start Denver Model”
is an early behavioral intervention model appropriate for children as young as 18 months of age.
This model has a strong emphasis on Pivotal Response Training.

4. Natural Environment Training

It’s based on the understanding that it is important to give real-life meaning to skills a child is
learning. It includes a focus on teaching skills in settings where your child will naturally use
them. Using a child’s natural everyday environment in therapy can help increase the transfer of
skills to everyday situations and helps generalization. In Incidental Teaching, the teacher or
therapist utilizes naturally occurring opportunities in order to help the child learn language. The
activity or situation is chosen by the child, and the caregiver or teacher follows the child's lead or
interest. These teaching strategies were developed to facilitate generalization and maximize
reinforcement. Once naturally occurring situations in which a child expresses interest are
identified, the instructor then uses graduated prompts to encourage responses from the child. For
example, a child is playing on the swings and needs the therapist to push him so that he can
swing higher. The therapist waits on the child to ask for a push. Only after the child asks does the
therapist push the swing. The therapist waits for the child to ask each time before he/she pushes
the child again.

Application of Applied behavior analysis

We use applied behavior analysis to treat some of these disorders

i. Depression
ii. Anxiety disorder

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 iii. Obsessive-compulsive disorder
iv. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
v. Anger management issues

1. Depression

Depression is a common and serious medical illness that negatively affects how you
feel the way you think and how you act. Depression causes feeling of sadness.

Symptoms

 Feeling of hopelessness
 Feeling of guilt
 Thought of death and suicide
 Difficulty concentrating, remembering and making decision.

Applied behavior analysis in treatment of depression

Applied behavior analysts target avoidance using behavioral activation. They schedule activities
and use task assignments to encourage client slowly begin increasing positive reinforcement. BA
(behavior activation) recognize that outcome of behavior is more important than the behavior
itself. It helps the patient to engage in life, despite their lack of motivation or negative feelings.
In order to achieve the benefit of BA, applied behavior analyst structure activities carefully as to
produce a low probability of failure for the patient and high probability of success. ABA help
patient to select activities that are consistent with their personal values. ABA support and
encourage their efforts.

A 2006 trial focused on the treatment of adults with major depression found that BA is an
effective as antidepressants and more effective than CBT during acute treatment. Ongoing
studies are being conducted to identify the merit of BA, not only for those with depression but
also in non-clinical population to help build a meaningful life.

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 2. Anxiety disorder

Anxiety disorders are group of mental disorders characterized by significant feeling of anxiety
and fear. Anxiety is worry about future event. These feeling may cause physical symptoms like
heart attack. Anxiety disorder may include following types of disorders, Social anxiety disorder,
Panic disorder, Obsessive compulsive disorder etc.

Treating anxiety with applied behavior analysis

Unlike low- incidence disorders like autism behavioral research on high- incidence disorders like
anxiety is much less common. One of the problems is that behavior analyst in the past were
reluctant to pursue research on the topic because of a lack of strong definition of anxiety. It is
often difficult to measure or observe anxiety However many of today’s applied behavior analyst
are working to address the lack of research and raise the profile of behavioral approaches to
anxiety.

Anxiety disorder are often treated with Psychotherapy, medication or combination of two.
Applied behavior analysis ABA treatment is directed at a person specific anxiety, therefore
therapy is individualized. Applied behavior analysis uses experimentally established learning
principles to determine the functional relation of the behavior create a functional analysis and
develop treatment options.

3. Obsessive- Compulsive disorder

Obsessive- Compulsive disorder is characterized by unwanted thoughts or behavior that seems

impossible to stop or control.

Types of obsession include

 Fear of germs
 Unwanted thoughts
 A need for perfection
 Thoughts of aggression

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 Types of Compulsive

 Excessive cleaning, hand washing

 Repeatedly checking on things, such as repeatedly checking to make sure the door is
locked or the light is turned off.

Treating OCD with Applied Behavior Analysis

Applied Behavior Analysis involves (stimulus) and a (consequence). When using ABA to treat
OCD, the applied behavior analyst manipulates either the stimulus or the consequence.

Behavioral activation (BA) a type of behavior therapy based on ABA, focuses on setting specific
goals that allow those with OCD to engage in more meaningful, healthy behavior.

4. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorders

ADHD disorder affects children and teens and continues into adulthood. Most commonly
diagnosed mental disorders of children. In ADHD child unable to control impulse and unable to
pay attention. Applied behavior analysis is used in the treatment of attention deficit and
hyperactivity disorder. It helps to make the symptoms less prominent and allow patient to
function more easily and with greater success in both public and private setting.

Two main types of ADHD

 Inattention: person is easily distracted and unable to focus on a particular situation.

 Hyperactivity and impulsivity: in which person is unable to sit still.

Treating ADHD with applied behavior analysis

Patient with ADHD can be treated with the common operant conditioning techniques that ABA
employ.

i. Self-management training

Used primarily with older patient, this technique teaches self-awareness and provides skills
including self-praise that can help with the self-management of problematic behavior.

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 ii. Differential reinforcement of behavior

Positive reinforcement is offered for appropriate behaviors while negative or no reinforcement is

given when negative behavior is expressed.

iii. Discrete trail training

This method involves breaking down complex behavior into a number of elements, which are
separately reinforced to build up into the desired behavior.

5. Anger management issues

Applied behavior analysts work with patient who has anger management issues by using operant
conditioning method to slowly retrain the patient into focusing their energy into more socially
acceptable outlets. CBT is also used to help the patient to suppress anger. Anger is frequent
symptom that ABA encounters when working with variety of their largest patient population
including ADHD, ASD, and TBI.

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