Functions of Behavior Workshop in February

< Understanding how and why behavior works is essential to the treatment of autism. When you understand behavior, you get to be a more effective teacher to your child. Come to the workshop and learn more. Please register online and we will contact you with more details.Fee for this workshop is MYR 80. All proceeds will go to reaching out to more families that have children with diagnosed with autism, and teaching parents the skills necessary to be able to sustain a good behavior plan for their child. Proceeds will also go to ongoing teacher training at schools that desire our help in training. Workshop will be held from 10A.M to 1 P.M. Light refreshments will be provided.

Looking forward to see you all there!

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Helping your child understand the good and the bad.

Holidays are an amazing time. You spend a ton of time with family, eat good food, laugh, dance and really not worry about all the calories you are consuming. You also are busy and your children may get away with some things.

For the holidays this year, I got to spend time in Dubai with my amazing family. My cousin has two little boys and her oldest is 4 years old. He is an amazing, intelligent, handsome, and a very smart little boy. He recently welcomed a little brother and has been engaging in behaviors that may be attention seeking. In addition, his routine has changed. There are people visiting, his meal times have shifted, all these people are giving him so much attention and even more attention to his brother. It's very hard for a little kid to understand that his little brother is still a baby. Even harder for him to understand that he is not the only little kid in the home anymore. So what are parents to do? My cousin actually designed a motivational system for her son. It has the seven planets on it, and when he displays "good attitude" the planets moved closer to earth. Once it lands on earth, he gets access to his favorite movie "The Avengers!! ".

This is exactly what a child needs.
1) A visual
2) A set contingency: when you display good behavior you get something you like
3) following through.

In this scenario, the three term contingency is very clear: Antecedent ( He sees a toy that he likes) ------> Behavior ( He asks for it appropriately)---------> Consequence ( You displayed awesome attitude, your planet gets moved closer to earth)

On the contrary, if he/she displayed inappropriate behavior, the planet moves down and he loses access to the avengers movie and does not get access to the toy.

Things to remember and consider when using a motivational system especially for a younger child:

1) First things first, understand the function of the behaviors that are being displayed ( please refer to the previous blog for more information on this). 

 2) Make sure the visual is very clear. It should be kid friendly with very minimal distractors as possible so your child easily sees when he gains or loses something. Visuals are very important.

3)  When your child displays inappropriate behavior and he loses a spot on the motivational system, remember the very next time he displays good behavior, move the planet all the way up so he gets reinforcement for the good behavior he did display. This is because you want the motivational system to be meaningful to him and want that motivational system to be more reinforcing than punishing.

 4) Always magnify learning and shape good behavior in small steps. So if this is the first time your child is using a motivational system, get him access to the preferred item that same day. You are teaching your child an incentive. Therefore, to teach this and in order for them to make a connection with that motivational system, they have to value it. Eventually, once he/she starts learning the set contingencies, you can start fading when he/she gets access to the preferred choices.

5) It's always great to give your child choices. Give him/her three preferred choices to choose from. Display these choices on the motivational system itself.

6) Follow through and be consistent. This is the most important component of using a motivational system. Remember, if you are inconsistent, it will make the inappropriate behavior even stronger. This is because your child will be confused and is learning that at times he is getting access to things he likes by acting out. When this happens, he/she is going to try everything and anything to get access to the things that they like again. So be consistent. When your child displays inappropriate behavior, give them clear consequences. Black and white. There should never be grey areas.

 7) Last but not least. Celebrate success in a big way ! go all out ! make your child the happiest person ever !! :) Here's an example of a visual for a motivational system.

Here's an example of a visual for your child:

As always, please email me if you have any questions :) and wishing everyone a very happy 2013 !!!

Why do we do what we do?

"The function of a behavior refers to the source of environmental reinforcement for it."

Tarbox et al (2009, p. 494)

Everyday and in the very beginning of life, as an infant, we have learned to do things because of the consequences that were put in place. These consequences were put in place based on the environment that we were in. For example: A baby has learned to cry when hungry so he/she will be fed, cleaned or picked up.

Therefore, in applied behavior analysis, behavior is maintained by several functions. In other words, behavior happens for certain reasons and understanding the reason why certain behaviors occur, will help us understand why a person does what he/she does. Behavior could be maintained by the following functions: attention, escape/avoidance,  tangible/activities or automatically maintained. Sometimes, behavior can serve multiple functions. For example, a child might learn to hurt themselves during class to get out of having to complete academic tasks and then also hurt themselves in the playground to get attention from the teachers.


Attention

You tell a joke and your friends laugh. You love your friends laughing at your joke because you absolutely love the attention, so you tell another joke. This joke telling behavior, is maintained by attention. You are more likely to tell a joke in their presence again because you love the attention.

Another example, your child kicks his sibling and his mother gives him attention for this. The child continues to kick his sibling because every time he kicks his sibling, his mother takes away attention from the sibling and giver her attention to the child kicking. His kicking behavior then is maintained by his mother's attention.

It may seem weird that a person would engage in a behavior to deliberately have someone scold them. However, it can occur because for some people it’s better to obtain “bad” attention than no attention at all (Cooper, Heron & Heward, 2007). 

Escape/Avoidance

Not all behaviors occur so the person can “get access” to something. Some behaviors occur because the person wants to get away from something or avoid something (Miltenberger, 2008).

For example, You see a cop on the road while you are speeding, you slow down. The reason why you slow down is because you want to avoid a speeding ticket.

Another great example is that you keep putting off your dentist appointment even though your teeth needs attention because going to the dentist is aversive and you want to avoid going as much as possible. 

Tangible/Activities

Your child cries or screams whenever they want a specific toy (tangible) in the store until you buy it for your child or your child kicks and cries every time he wants to go to the pool (activities) because every time he does this, you take him to the pool.

Automatic

Some behaviors, have no particular environment function. Some behaviors we only do because it feels good when we do it.  It is pleasing to us internally or in other words, they are “self-stimulating” (O’Neill, Horner, Albin, Sprague, Storey, & Newton, 1997) For example, rocking back and forth and twirling our hair while we read a book.


Behaviors always occur for a reason and it is very important to understand the reasons as to why these behaviors occur. Understanding the reasons, will help us determine how to improve a behavior or decrease an undesired behavior.

If you wish to learn more, please sign up for the following workshop on functions of behavior.

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What makes a good ABA instructor?

Parents always ask me this question about ABA instructors and what makes a good one. Like any other professional that sees to your child's needs, an ABA instructor has to be very well qualified.

A good ABA Instructor has to possess the following skills:

1) Acquired vast knowledge of ABA from an accredited university program

2)  Has been trained and supervised by a professional from an accredited university program

3) The supervisor that has supervised the instructor must possess a masters in Applied Behavior Analysis and/or possess a BCBA board certification. 

4) Has worked with children with autism for a minimum of 2 years under the supervision of a     qualified supervisor

5) Has attended workshops on professional development in topics such as : shaping, reinforcement, prompt fading, principles of ABA, extinction, etc

6) Has presented posters or research on current topics in Applied Behavior Analysis or the application of it.

7) Has excellent references.

8) Loves working with children with autism

9) Always makes child centered decisions and constantly consults parents for input

10) Always recruits feedback and attends ongoing training to improve skills

11) Instructor fee:

Based on current market research Instructor's with 1 year experience charge MYR 40 an hour, Instructors with more than 2 years experience can charge up to MYR 70 an hour, a masters holder should charge minimum MYR 100 per hour and max MYR 150 an hour.

I advise parents to please be aware of the above requirements when hiring an instructor. We at Little Steps do help parents with this process as well. We can do the interviewing process for the staff that you choose and can furnish you all the requirements. We also do train staff in a systematic process and provide staff evaluation.

Contact us for more details

Shaping workshop in December in full gear !

We got the place confirmed and the workshop is in full swing !!! We are so excited about this workshop because shaping is a procedure that is very important in teaching any skills that you would like to teach your child in order to make them more independent or introduce them to something that may be aversive to them. Shaping is a great tool and we at Littlesteps are so excited to share all our knowledge with you.  Hands on training will be provided on the day of the workshop, articles on current research will be shared and most importantly we will be able to exchange some ideas on how to teach your child or student skills that are important to their development.

Please fill out the form below to register and payment will be made the day of



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Shaping Workshop

From the previous blog, we now know that shaping is an incredibly useful and important tool to teach your child with ASD skills that are important for their well being. This December 20th 2012, I am happy to be announcing that my team and I will be organizing a Shaping workshop for parents, teachers and caretakers. Below are the details.


Venue  : The Canvas Malaysia
             G6C, Jalan PJU 8/3A, Damansara Perdana, 
             47820 Petaling Jaya, Selangor. 

Price:  MYR80 per person

Time: 10 am to 1pm

Please email for addition details at littlestepsmalaysia@gmail.com. More information will be posted tomorrow. All participants will be required to complete an online registration form. Payment can be made the day of. Thank you !!!

    













                                                               

Teaching your child how to co-operate during dentist and doctor visits

Doctor and dentist visits are never easy for a child. I remember when I was young, I used to be so petrified of going to the dentist (even though the dentist was my dad!). The smell and the look of the office made me shudder. I think the thing about doctors and dentists are that even though it's a routine yearly check up, what happens in the office is unexpected, because sometimes you do get sick unexpectedly or sometimes the dentist finds a cavity and you have to co-operate with the dentist/doctor in that situation at that very moment. A child with autism or any typical developing child may have a hard time understanding this concept of sometimes things happen unexpectedly and now we have to adjust our behavior to make this visit successful. So how do we teach our children this?

One of the first things we can do especially if a child has receptive and expressive language is reading a social story. This usually should be paired some behavioral contract or a rule. For example, "Remember when you let the dentist check your teeth nicely, we get to go get Mcdonalds after !". Remind your child throughout the dentist/doctor that he/she is earning something he/she really likes. Throughout the visit, tell your child that they are doing a really nice job and it's okay to be specific. For example: "I love how you are letting the doctor check your heartbeat" etc. In addition to this, something else you could do is to role play at home with some doctor/dentist tools to prepare your child for the visit.

If your child does not possess enough receptive or expressive language or does not understand contingencies well, you can try a procedure that is used widely in our field. It is called Shaping.

Shaping is "—Process of systematically and differentially reinforcing successive approximations to a terminal behavior". (Heward et. al, 2000) In other words, shaping is the process of breaking things down in little steps and reinforcing those little steps leading up to the end goal.

Therefor during a dentist visit and depending on the child's needs, one of the first things we teach is merely opening their mouth for 10 seconds when given the directions "say ah" or "open your mouth so I can take a look". When the child opens his/her mouth for ten seconds, reinforcement is provided. Once the child has mastered that, the next step would be to increase the time and maybe use our fingers to touch the teeth for a specified amount of time. Another thing to consider is some children cringe at the sight of gloves. Therefore, maybe starting the shaping process by introducing gloves. For example, the child sits down and the parent/teacher puts on the gloves in front of the child. Once this is mastered, then we can teach the child to open their mouth. 

When conducting a shaping procedure, a task analysis is used. A task analysis is a list of behaviors that we have shape. Below is the task analysis for cooperating with the dentist. Task analysis are going to vary depending on each child. Some child may master something more quicker than the other. Also, each step in the task analysis has to be broken down further. 

Walk in
Sits down
Dentist puts on gloves	This can be broken down even further. For example some children need to be taught to tolerate gloves for only couple of seconds and build up that time.
Dentist puts on dental bib	The breaking down of this skill may be required as well. For example, some children need to be taught to tolerate the bib for a couple of seconds and slowly build up to tolerating it the entire dentist visit.
Dentist turns on light
Dentist tilts head back
Dentist prompts mouth open	This may need further breaking down same as above.
Dentist uses fingers to count teeth	This may need further breaking down same as above.
Dentist uses mirror	This may need further breaking down same as above.
Dentist uses pick	This may need further breaking down same as above.
Dentist uses tool to polish	This may need further breaking down same as above. Since we at home do not have the polishing tool, we can use an electric toothbrush to simulate dentist tool.
Dentist provides water to spit
Dentist turns off light
Dentist takes off bib
Dentist gives instruction to leave

The above is just an example of what a task analysis should look like for a child visiting a dentist. Remember, when the dentist visit is successfully shaped at home, it does not mean your child will be successful at the dentist. Further programming for generalization maybe required. For example bringing your child to the dentist just to sit and wait in the office, then bringing your child to the dentist again and practicing laying on the dentist chair. For these purposes, it might be helpful to find dentists that are willing to cooperate with you and allow for training to occur at their office. Choosing a practice with several dentist will also help programming for generalization.

Last but not least, before beginning any shaping procedure an important aspect to think about is the motivational system. What motivates your child? Does your child use a token board, if so he/she would have a visual when reinforcement is available. Choose a reinforcer that is portable and immediate so when your child is appropriate, reinforcement is available immediately. Some parents and teachers have used non-contingent reinforcement. This means that if your child likes a movie, the movie is played the entire time your child is at the dentist. Depending on your child, this can be faded out as your child becomes more successful. 

Below are some simple guidelines for shaping :

Pryor's Ten Laws for Shaping

1. Raise criteria in increments small enough so that the subject always has a realistic chance of reinforcement.
2. Train one aspect of any particular behavior at a time. Don’t try to shape for two criteria simultaneously.
3. During shaping, put the current level of responses on a variable ratio schedule of reinforcement before adding or raising the criteria.

4. When introducing a new criterion, or aspect of the behavioral skill, temporarily relax the old ones.

5. Stay ahead of your learner: plan your     shaping program completely so that if the learner makes progress, you are aware of what to reinforce next

6. Don’t switch teachers midstream. You can have several teachers per student, but stick to one shaper per behavior.
7. If one shaping procedure is not eliciting progress, find another.
8. Don’t interrupt a training session.

6. If behavior deteriorates, “go back to to kindergarten.” Quickly review the whole shaping process with a series of easily earned reinforces.
7. End each session on a positive note

 More guidelines for Shaping

• —              Select the terminal behavior         
•         Determine the criterion for success
• —                Analyze the response class
•        —  Identify the first behavior to reinforce
•          Eliminate interfering or extraneous stimuli
•          Proceed in gradual stages
•                 Limit the number of approximations at each level
•         Continue to reinforce when the terminal behavior is achieved

Shaping is a procedure that takes careful planning and consistency. If not thought out or planned thoroughly one might be shaping an undesirable behavior. Therefore, take the extra time to plan out what exactly you want to shape and how you are going to shape it. Any behavior that is observable or measurable can be shaped. Any behavior can be shaped, as long as it is done systematically using little steps at a time.

Here is an excellent video of a shaping procedure:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZORgZh4qK8

As usual, please email me with any questions. 

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