Download Antecedent Behavior Consequence

A Behavioral Approach to
Communication Skills
Benjamin R. Thomas, M.A., BCBA
Behavior
• Behavior is anything people:
Do
or
Say
Appropriate Behaviors
• Communication with others
• Play and leisure skills
• Social behaviors with family and friends
• Following directions/listening
• Etc.
Communication Behaviors
• Appropriate communication is often
difficult for people with disabilities
• Children who cannot communicate basic
needs may have very frustrating lives
• Many children can learn inappropriate
ways to request things or to make things
they don’t like go away, like whining to get
attention or laying on the floor to get out
of school work
Behavior
• Behavior is:
– Nonverbal: interacts with environment
only
– Verbal: interacts/communicates with
another person
How is Language Measured in a
Traditional Linguistic Analysis?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The focus is on response forms, topography, and structure
Phonemes
Morphemes
Lexicon
Syntax
Grammar
Semantics
Mean length of utterances (MLU); words, phrases,
sentences
Classification system: nouns, verbs, prepositions,
adjectives, adverbs, etc.
What is “Verbal Behavior?”
• Verbal Behavior = Behavior
• Operant conditioning: B.F. Skinner
• Verbal Behavior that is learned via the
same mechanisms as other behavior
– Reinforcement
– Punishment
– A-B-C
Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)
•The three-term contingency
(ABC analysis)
Antecedent
Child wants juice
Antecedent
Child doesn’t want
to take a bath
Behavior
Says “Juice”
Consequence
Parent gives child
juice
Behavior
Consequence
Runs from adults
Delays taking a bath
and gets chased
What Causes Behaviors?
Antecedent:
- The cues for the behavior
- Where and when a behavior is likely to occur
Consequence:
- The events that follow a behavior
– What happens immediately after a behavior
occurs?
– Reinforcement or punishment
What is Reinforcement?
• Reinforcement is a consequence (follows a
•
behavior)
Reinforcement is anything that increases a
behavior
• Reinforcement can be getting good things (e.g.,
attention, toys, food) – positive reinforcement
• Reinforcement can be delaying or making things go
away (e.g., demands, bedtime, noisy toys)
-negative reinforcement
How is verbal behavior different?
• In Verbal Behavior, reinforcement is
mediated by another person
• It is social
• It involves more than one person, not just
the person and the environment
“Behavior” versus “Verbal
Behavior”
A
Thirst
Thirst
B
C
Get water Drink water
from faucet
Ask mom
for water
Drink water
What about this example?
A
Thirst
B
C
Pull mom Drink water
to sink and
cry
Skinner’s focus
• Skinner focused on the development of
expressive behaviors
• Expressive behaviors involve the individual
as SPEAKER
What do verbal behaviors look like?
• Forms of verbal behavior may include:
– Gestures (Pointing, sign language)
– Say the word
– Exchange a picture
– Use a computer/voice output device (iPad,
etc.)
– Writing a word
– Challenging behaviors: whine, cry, hit, kick,
laying on the floor, pulling own hair, etc.
Why are communication skills
important?
• Interaction with social environment
• Communicating basic needs/wants
• Developing friendships/maintaining
relationships
• Core deficit in all people with PDD/Autism
• Majority of challenging behaviors stem
from deficit in communication skills
Why is a Verbal Behavior approach
important for children with
communication delays?
• Theory
– Tool for analysis
• What’s working
• What’s not working
• Implications for teaching
– Related to core deficits
– Emphasis on environment
–Focus on Function
What do we mean by function?
• What determines or controls the response
or behavior?
– What is the antecedent?
– What is the consequence?
• What is the form of the response?
Basic expressive (verbal)
behaviors
• What controls the speaker’s response
– Echoic: (verbal imitation) – matches what the
person hears
– Mand: (request) specifies what the person
wants
– Tact: (label) communicates what the person
sees, hears, tastes, smells
– Intraverbal – responds to what person hears
& does not match
A
B
C
Echoic
Parent says
“Mommy”
“Mommy”
Mand
Hungry,
“Cracker”
wants cracker
Parent says
“Yeah! You
said
Mommy!”
Teacher gives
cracker
Tact
Teacher asks
“What color
is this?”
“Blue”
Teacher says
“That’s right
it is blue!”
Intraverbal
Store security “Ben”
asks “What’s
your name?”
“Great! I’ll
find your
mom Ben”
The Echoic
•
•
•
•
•
•
Repeating what you hear
Verbal imitation
Important when learning new verbal behavior
Helps people fine tune pronunciation by
repeating and trying to match what they hear
Very important in teaching other verbal
behaviors
Generally reinforced by praise
The MAND: Ask Nicely!
• A mand is a verbal behavior (communication) that specifically
REQUESTS or REJECTS.
• Mands are controlled by antecedents and consequences.
• The item/activity, attention, or escape is the REINFORCER
• Your child is the “SPEAKER” and you are the “LISTENER”/the one
who provides the reinforcer
Antecedent
Child wants juice
Behavior
Says “Juice”
Parent has juice
Antecedent
Child doesn’t want
to take a bath
Consequence
Parent gives child
juice
Behavior
Consequence
Child screams
Delays taking a bath
Ask Nicely!
• Teaching appropriate Mands
• Determine the best way for your child
(words, pictures, sign, etc.)
• Set up opportunities for your child to
practice
• Capture naturally occurring opportunities
Antecedent
SEE IT
SEE IT
Behavior
SAY IT
Don’t say it
Consequence
GET IT!
Don’t get it
Ask Nicely!
• Teaching appropriate Mands
• Motivation to Mand
• Deprivation: the amount of time your child
has gone without a reinforcer is a power
influence on the mand
• Your child will try harder to get the reinforcer
• Behaviors related to the reinforcer are likely to be
increased (i.e., what has worked in the past)
Ask Nicely!
• Teaching new Mands
• Your child may not know the name of
what s/he wants
– A. When your child shows interest (reach,
approach), say the name of what s/he wants,
but don’t give
– B. Your child repeats you (or approximates)
– C. You give your child what s/he wants
After time/practice, don’t say the word
Ask Nicely!
• Teaching new Mands
• Your child cannot say the name of what
s/he wants:
– Accept approximations in the beginning,
gradually accept the full word
– Match words/sounds they can say with the
things they like (i.e., can say “Bah” and likes
“Balls”)
– Any appropriate attempt is more acceptable
than a challenging behavior
– Start with an easier form such as pictures
(PECS) to get the communication ball rolling
Ask Nicely!
• Advancing the Mand
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Items present (see it, say it, get it)
Items not present (think about then ask)
Request w/ a sentence (I want__)
Request attention
Request help
Request for others to do some action
Request with adjectives (I want BIG cookie)
Request info using WH: where, when, why, what
Request with prepositions (give me ball BEHIND you)
The TACT: What’s that?
• Labels a sensory experience
• Expressive label for something we see,
hear, smell, taste, or feel
• Generally reinforced by attention from
others (i.e., “That’s right it is a car!”)
Advancing the TACT
• Carrier phrase (It’s a/that’s a __)
• Label w/ Adjectives (“I see a small red car”)
• Prepositions (“There’s a cat under the car!”
• Verb-noun, Noun-Verb (“The cat is running!”)
• Function, features, class
– “That bus drives me to school”
– “No, the guy with the hat”
– “This looks weird, but it’s food”
Intraverbals
• Responding to the verbal behavior of
others
• Does not resemble anything the other
person said (not repeating, elaborating on
a label), but is contextually related
• Talking about things that are not
physically present
Intraverbals
• Fill-in the blanks (“happy and you know it
clap your ___”
• Answering WH questions: who, what, why,
when, where, how
• Describing events from the past
Teaching Verbal Behaviors
• Student initiated opportunities
• Teacher initiated opportunities
• Prompting and fading assistance
Student initiated opportunities
• Child directs his/her attention towards item,
•
•
activity, or event
“Shows interest” (approach behaviors)
Teacher intervenes, identifies learning
opportunity (captures) capitalizes on motivation
– Ambulance drives by with siren- student looks at
ambulance (never seen before)- teacher says “that’s
an ambulance” – student repeats “ambulance”teacher says “that’s right it is an ambulance!”
Teacher initiated opportunity
• Teacher contrives opportunity for student
to practice communication skills
• Arranges environment ahead of time
– Predetermined pack of flash cards
– Possession of snack during snack time
Prompting and Fading
What are prompts?
• Additional stimuli that increase the
likelihood that a particular behavior will
occur.
• Prompts facilitate all types of responses to
include verbal, non-verbal, written,
motoric
Where Prompts Fit In
Prompt
Antecedent (Sd)
Behavior
Consequence
Why prompt?
 Errorless learning: Arranges SDs and
prompts to evoke only correct responses
= Learner is coming into contact with
reinforcement 100% of learning
opportunities
Why prompt?...
Skill acquisition
• Learners need assistance in knowing HOW,
WHEN, and WHAT to respond to in the
environment
• Prompted responses => correct responses
• Correct responses = reinforced responses
• Responses reinforced are MORE likely to be
repeated in the FUTURE
Types of prompts for verbal
behaviors
• Model
– Say what student should say
– Demonstrate how student should sign
• Physical
– Help student use PECS or make correct sign
• Visual cue
– Picture/item
– Text (script)
Teaching the Tact
• Label everything for your students
• During play
• Praise when they can say the name
“What is this?”
“What do you see?”
“Tell what you hear”
“This is a ___?”
Teaching Intraverbals
• Ask question, immediately model correct response
– TS: “What’s your name? BRIAN”
– SS: “Brian”
– TS: “That’s right you ARE Brian!”
• TACT to INTRAVERBAL TRANSFER
Ask student question, immediately show item/picture
– TS: “What do you write with?” (shows pencil)
– SS: “Pencil”
– TS: “What do you write with?” (hides pencil behind back)
– SS: “Pencil”
– TS: “You DO write with a pencil!”
Contriving opportunities
– Time delay/restricted access: preferred
items or activities are present, but access is
delayed until a request occurs
– Blocked/interrupted activity: a response is
blocked momentarily or an ongoing activity
is interrupted (standing in front of the door
on the way to go outside)
– Missing item: action cannot be initiated due
to a missing tool (food but no fork/spoon;
empty bowl; coloring book but no crayons)
Contriving opportunities (cont
– Delayed assistance: no help is provided
until a request occurs
– Incomplete presentation: given a puzzle
with missing pieces
– Wrong-item: Student needs a spoon but
is given a knife
– Chaining mands: all the steps necessary
to completing a task are blocked
How do we know where to begin
teaching?
• Assessment tools
– VB-Mapp
– ABLLS-R
Activity 1: Teach the Mand
• Put something on the table
• As your partner reaches for it, grab it
• Say its name. ex: “phone”
• When your partner says “phone” give it to
him/her
• If s/he doesn’t say it, don’t give, repeat it
• If s/he says “phone” give phone
Activity 2: Teach the TACT
• Point to something/someone, and say its
name. ex: “Look, MS. AMBIKA!”
• When your partner repeats you, say “It is
Ms. Ambika!” with enthusiasm
Activity 3: Teach INTRAVERBAL
• A)
– Ask your partner’s name and say their name right away. Ex:
“What’s your name? Mr. REGAN”
– When your partner says his/her name, say “you are Mr. Regan!”
with enthusiasm
• B) Tact transfer
– Hold something in front of your partner
– Ask him/her to name it by giving its FUNCTION
Ex: “what do you call mommy with?”
Partner will label what s/he sees “PHONE”
– Ask the question again with the item behind your back
– If s/he gives the item name say “that’s right, you DO call
mommy with a phone!” with enthusiasm
Resources to enhance your weekend
• Websites
– http://www.christinaburkaba.com/AVB.htm
– https://www.establishingoperationsinc.com
• Books
– How to Teach Verbal Behavior (Pro-ed Series on
Autism Spectrum Disorders) by Peter Sturmey (Jun
30, 2008)
– The Verbal Behavior Approach: How to Teach Children With
Autism and Related Disorders by Mary Barbera and Tracy
Rasmussen (May 15, 2007