Alternating treatment design has the following advantages:
Differential reinforcement in general is a scheduled procedure where the target behavior is being put on extinction by reinforcing something else than the original target behavior. It is not a punishment of the target procedure but does act to reduce that target behavior. The important thing is that the target behavior that is being reduced should not be reinforced during this procedure.
DRO (Differential Reinforcement of Other behaviors) is a time-based procedure in which reinforcement is delivered at the end of an interval if the target behavior is not occurring. Any other behavior, as long as it is not the target behavior for reduction, is rewarded.
DRL (Differential Reinforcement of Lower rates of behavior) Reinforcing a lower rate of the target behavior to decrease.
DRD (Differential Reinforcement of Diminishing Rates) Lowering rates of behavior using a progressively decreasing criteria
DRI (Differential Reinforcement of Incompatible Behavior) Reinforcing any behavior that would preclude the ability to engage in the targeted behavior.
Parametric analysis is used to evaluate a range of values for an intervention (independent variable). For example, if you were determining the range of values for “time out” that are most effective. You would conduct a parametric analysis using 1 minute, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, and so on. Parametric analysis can be thought of as the quest for “how much” intervention is needed to be effective.
Visual analysis is used to look at graphed data.
Component analysis attempts to determine which part of an independent variable is responsible for behavior change. Component analysis can be thought of as “which part” of the intervention was effective.
What are conditioned motivating operations (CMOs)? First we need to discuss motivating operations (MOs). MOs or sometimes called establishing operation (EOs) refers to a state that changes the value of consequences and elevates their status as reinforcers. For example, not having eaten lunch in a while creates a state of hunger which is a motivating operation that elevates the value of food as a reward for doing work. If someone is told that after they finish their homework, they will get a snack, they will work very hard to finish if they are sufficiently hungry. The MO creates a state of value for the reward of eating the snack. Conversely, if someone has just eaten a big lunch, they may not be very motivated to work for a snack, as there is little motivation to acquire that snack because one is satiated on food and it does not momentarily serve as a reinforcement.
Unconditioned motivating operations are the MOs that one naturally has acquired without being taught a value to them. These are unlearned states of motivating operations and include states such as being tired, hungry, thirsty and wanting of activity.
Conditioned motivating operations (CMOs) are the MOs that one learns to place a value. These are otherwise neutral states that now have value because they have been paired with a UMO, another CMO or with reinforcement or punishment in order to learn the value of the given CMO. There are 3 types of CMOs: surrogate CMOs (CMO-S), reflexive CMOs (CMO-R), and transitive CMOs (CMO-T).
CMO-S (SURROGATE)
A stimulus that has acquired its effectiveness by accompanying some other MO and has come to have the same value-altering and behavior-altering effects as the MO that it has accompanied. A pairing process has to take place here with another MO.
Example: Mom usually puts baby to sleep. One day, dad tried to put the baby to sleep, but the baby doesn’t fall asleep. Mom usually wears a certain fuzzy house robe that the baby has paired with sleep. Dad wears mom’s house robe and the pairing of the robe with dad helps the baby fall asleep.
CMO-R (REFLEXIVE)
A condition or object that acquires its effectiveness as an MO by preceding a situation that either is worsening or improving. This signals to us that an aversive event may be occurring soon. Achtung. It is exemplified by the warning stimulus in a typical escape-avoidance procedure, which establishes its own offset as reinforcement and evokes all behavior that has accomplished that offset.
Example: The punishing coworker. In the presence of this person you “can’t seem to do anything right” and are constantly punished. She is always finding fault with you. Because of this, you want to spend less time with this person and you avoid her. Soon the office associated with her takes on these aversive qualities and you avoid going anywhere near where this person might be. Even hearing their voice down the hallway may signal you to take an early lunch and avoid running into them (and therefore avoid possible punishment).
CMO-T (TRANSITIVE)
An environmental variable that establishes (or abolishes) the reinforcing effectiveness of another stimulus and thereby evokes (or abates) the behavior that has been reinforced by that other stimulus. You CANNOT have access to the stimulus you want until you solve the problem.
Example: Someone puts a lock on the fridge. This establishes the reinforcing value of a key (key becomes the CMO-T) when access to food is valuable as a source of reinforcement.
Discrete Trial (DT)
Lovaas
1960
SD – Prompt Response – Sr+
Direct Instruction (DI)
Siegfried Engelmann
Choral Responses
Fast Paced
Highly reinforcing teaching technique
Small groups
Direct instruction is small group, face-to-face lessons. It includes immediate error correction. It is highly structured scripted lessons, fast paced and frequent assessments and regrouping based on those assessments.
Precision Teaching (PT)
Lindsley
Fluency
Celeration Charts
“Student is always right”
The charting of student responding on a celeration chart is a component of Precision Teaching. Based on charting students’ frequency of responding.
Personalized System of Instruction (PSI)
Keller
1963
Self paced
90% mastery criteria
Proctors
Personalized Instruction
Subject matter is broken down into meaningful units.
Incidental Teaching (I)
McGee, Daly, Jacobs
1994
Natural environment
Throughout the day
Generalize
Examples
Focused on student-initiated interactions and is primarily used to teach communication
One of the hallmarks of Incidental Teaching is setting up the environment to encourage child-initiated conversations and activities by placing highly preferred items out of reach, but in sight. This requires the child to initiate an interaction by mading (asking for the item). Mands are under the control of motivational operations. Positive reinforcement comes in the form of praise coupled with receiving the item being asked for.
Determinism: Is based on cause and effect relations and lawfulness. Everything can be determined.
Empiricism: Is based on facts, observation, and experimentation. An emperor obserserves from his throne.
Experimentation: Manipulation of variables and taking measurements and collecting data yields answers. When you are experimenting, you are conducting an experiment.
Replication: Experiments can be repeated to check for errors and ensure that data was collected reliably. Replication is the act of repeating an experiment with the SAME results.
Parsimony: The simplest and most logical explanation is often the correct explanation.
Philosophical Doubt: A true scientist maintains doubt and seeks the truth through scientific means.
Determining when and where to get an assessment for autism can be a daunting task for parents. Time, money, and finding a clinician trained in autism assessment in your area are all things that have to be considered.
Luckily, experts in autism have devoted extensive time to help determine the best procedures for providing a valid autism diagnosis. Below I have outlined a “best practices” core assessment battery for children when autism is suspected.
The information from each domain above should be integrated into a report by a licensed psychologist (PhD or PsyD) or a physician (MD or DO) that details the diagnostic classification that best describes your child. Recommendations based on the best available research and the priorities for treatment should also be included.
Remember that the above outline is describing the essentials of a “best practices” autism assessment. Additional assessment of other areas of functioning may be needed depending on the concerns for your child. The psychologist or physician will let you know if other areas should be added to the core autism assessment.
This post was written by Dr. Mariel Cannady, psychologist at Texas Child Study Center.
