Below is a sampling of terms used in the field. For a more detailed description please visit the references and articles posted to the BACB website: www.bacb.com
ABA | Applied Behavior Analysis: scientific problem-solving approach to produce socially significant behavior | ||
antecedent | what occurs in the environment immediately preceding behavior | ||
baseline | the current measurement of behavior to compare to future data that indicates change/no change | ||
behavior | any movement of the muscles or glands of a living organism | ||
behavior plan | a plan that includes agreed upon antecedents and consequences based on function of the behavior | ||
chaining | backwards (teach last first) or forwards steps of a behavior, ex: brushing teeth | ||
consequence | what occurs in the environment immediately following behavior | ||
contingency | if this, then this | ||
contract | behavior agreement between behaver and deliverer of reinforcement | ||
deprivation | withholding reinforcement to make it more valuable | ||
discrete trials | a method of teaching and reinforcing behavior | ||
duration | how long the behavior occurred ex: he cried for 13 minutes | ||
errorless | discrete trial format in which prompting is used on each response to avoid errors | ||
establishing operation | EO: anything that makes a reinforcer more valuable ex: hungry = food more valuable | ||
expressive | “output” of information, used to check for understanding; ex: what is it? “a ball” | ||
extinction | completely withholding reinforcement | ||
extinction burst | behavior has a high spike immediately before decreasing | ||
fading | moving from high level of reinforcement or prompting to low | ||
field | the number of items presented; if F = 6, 1 is correct response and 5 are distractors | ||
frequency | the number of responses ex: 4 pinches, said hello 6 times | ||
function | Attention, access, escape, sensory | ||
functional assessment | FBA: collection of information, including direct observation, to determine function | ||
functional communication | communication that can be understood and reinforced by the general public | ||
generalization | skill can be performed across different environments, stimuli, and presentors | ||
latency | the time between the sD and the response | ||
negative | as in reinforcement/punishment – anything taken away from the environment | ||
overcorrection | performing a behavior multiple times correctly after misbehavior (shutting door nicely 5x after slam) | ||
planned ignoring | designated times and procedures for ignoring, ex: look away, walk away | ||
positive | as in reinforcement/punishment – anything added to the environment | ||
Premack principal | “grandma’s rule:” low response behavior before high response (vegetables then dessert) | ||
private behavior | behavior that only the individual can know: feelings, pain, emotions | ||
prompt | supplemental sD’s that increase the probability of a response; eventually faded to naturally occuring | ||
prompt dependence | waiting for a prompt before responding, even if the behavior can be done independently | ||
punishment | anything that decreases the future frequency of behavior | ||
receptive | “input” of information, used to check for understanding; ex: show me ball (points to ball) | ||
reinforcement | anything that maintains or increases the future frequency of behavior | ||
differential reinforcement | |||
continuous reinforcement | |||
intermittent reinforcement | |||
primary reinforcement | |||
response | the behavior of the organism after an sD | ||
satiation | repeated presentation of a reinforcer can reduce it’s efficacy ex: using food right after lunch | ||
sD | Discriminative Stimulus: the change in the environment that tells you reinforcement is available | ||
shaping | reinforcing successive approximations to the target behavior | ||
task analysis | breaking the task into steps to teach in small chunks | ||
taskboard | visual representation of what work, how much work, when am I done, what do I do next | ||
time out | time away from reinforcement | ||
token economy | rewarding tokens for appropriate behavior that can be traded in for reinforcement (i.e. money) | ||
topography | what the behavior looks like |