BCaBA BACB 5th Ed. Task List Study Guide

C-6: Measure trials to criterion

- A measure of the number of response opportunities (trials) needed to achieve a predetermined level of performance (the mastery criterion) - You are trying to get better at basketball in your backyard in order to play with your kids. However, your basketball skills are not very good yet! It takes you 18 tries to get a basket the first time you practice. - A client is learning how to tie their shoes in occupational therapy. The OT collects trials to criterion data on the steps required to complete the shoe tying routine during their daily sessions. It took 11 trials for the client to complete all the steps of shoe tying independently and accurately.

C-3 Measure occurrence: Percentage

- A measurement expressed as a portion of each hundred. - Your phone tracking app indicates that you spend 42% of your daily phone time using social media. - A behavior analyst calculates that their client engaged in aggression in 20% of data intervals over the course of the day.

B-8: Define and provide examples of conditioned reinforcers

- A reinforcer which becomes reinforcing only after a learning history. - A client enjoys completing puzzles in their free time. They were originally taught to use the puzzle by their mother, whose attention was highly valued by the client. Access to the puzzle serves as a conditioned reinforcer for this client.

B-15: Define and provide examples of derived stimulus relations

- A relation between two or more stimuli that is not directly trained and not based on physical properties of the stimuli. If A, B, and C all correspond to the same thing, and only A-B and B-C are directly trained, the relation drawn between A and C is derived. - A client is taught to read, and makes connections between the written word TRUCK and a real physical truck without having been directly taught this connection. Relations were derived between A and C through the following learning: written word (A) = spoken word (B) and spoken word (B) = physical object (C).

B-4: Define and provide examples of positive reinforcement contingencies

- A response is followed by the presentation of a stimulus that results in an increase in behavior under similar circumstances. The stimulus acted as positive reinforcement - A behavior analyst is conducting mand training with a client. Each time the client makes the correct request for an item, (e.g., saying or signing "water") the behavior analyst delivers the item. This serves as positive reinforcement for the client, and they continue to say or sign "water" when they would like some water.

B-4: Define and provide examples of negative reinforcement contingencies

- A response is followed by the removal of a stimulus that results in an increase in behavior under similar circumstances. The stimulus acted as negative reinforcement. - A group of patients are engaging in leisure time in the milieu. One of the patients begins to play loud music from a stereo. Another patient becomes agitated and yells, "Turn that off right now!" The patient playing the music turns off the stereo. The response (yelling) was immediately followed by the removal of the stimulus (loud music), which will likely increase the patient's behavior to yell again when the music is too loud.

B-5: Define and provide examples of schedules of reinforcement - Fixed Interval

- A schedule of reinforcement where reinforcement is provided after a fixed amount of time elapses. - A client receives access to a preferred item after engaging in a non-preferred task for two minutes (FI 2).

B-5: Define and provide examples of schedules of reinforcement - Fixed Ratio

- A schedule of reinforcement where reinforcement is provided after a fixed number of responses occur. - A client earns TV time after folding ten clothing items (FR 10).

B-5: Define and provide examples of schedules of reinforcement - Variable Ratio

- A schedule of reinforcement where reinforcement is provided variably after an average amount of responses are emitted. - A patient is working hard in their occupational therapy session using a beading activity to work on dexterity. The OT provides reinforcement for every third, second, fourth, first, first, and second response (putting a bead on the string). On average, the OT is providing reinforcement for every second response (VR 2).

B-5: Define and provide examples of schedules of reinforcement - Variable Interval

- A schedule of reinforcement where reinforcement is provided variably after an average amount of time has elapsed. - A client is sitting and watching TV without engaging in any problem behavior. A staff member provides reinforcement to the client after every three minutes, two minutes, five minutes, and three minutes. On average, the staff member is providing the client with reinforcement every three minutes (VI 3).

B-1: Define and provide examples of response

- A specific instance of behavior. - Ex: A direct support professional is walking next to a client. The client reaches out, perhaps to touch or grab the staff. The staff member quickly darts out of the way. The behavior of darting out of the way is a response, as is the reach from the client.

B-8: Define and provide examples of conditioned punishers

- A stimulus change that decreases the future frequency and occurrences of behavior that is based on an organism's learning history with other punishers (in other words, organisms are not born wanting to avoid these things) - Staff at the residential treatment facility have to help a patient brush their hair every day. The patient dislikes having their hair brushed and tries to run away when it is time to have their hair brushed. Every time the client sees a hairbrush, they begin to scream. The hairbrush serves as a conditioned punisher to the client.

C-4: Measure temporal dimensions of behavior: Interresponse Time (IRT)

- The amount of time that elapses between two consecutive instances of a behavior. IRT is measured from the end of the first response to the beginning of the second response (and so forth if there are more than two responses - You are texting a friend a lengthy amount of information regarding a mutual acquaintance. Because you do not want to write out one long message before sending, you instead write out a few sentences at a time and send them as they are written. The time in between hitting "send" and initiating the next test message is the interresponse time. - A patient is engaging in vocal outbursts which the behavior analyst is tracking. They record the time that elapses between the end of each vocal outburst and the beginning of the following one.

B-12: Define and provide examples of conditioned motivating operative surrogate (CMO-S)

- A stimulus that acquired its effectiveness as an MO by being paired with another, previously established, MO. - During workdays, your scheduled lunch is 12:00 pm, and you are usually quite hungry by then. Today, you had a very filling breakfast and don't feel very hungry at noon. However, when you look at the clock and see that it is noon, the presentation of the 12:00 on the clock serves as a CMO-S because it has been paired so often with being very hungry, so just seeing the clock display the time increases the value of food as a reinforcer. - A patient engages in seeking medical treatment when no medical conditions are present. In this person's past, pain from an untreated intestinal disorder was paired with benign everyday muscle soreness. Now, the pain from the intestinal disorder is gone, but the presentation of any muscle soreness establishes the value of medical care, just as intestinal pain did.

B-12: Define and provide examples of establishing operations

- A type of motivating operation that makes a stimulus more desirable (more effective as a reinforcer). - The reinforcing effectiveness of water is established when you are very thirsty. Each time you are thirsty, you will increase the behavior that allows you to gain access to water. If you were not in a state of water deprivation, the value of water as a reinforcer would be low.

B-12: Define and provide examples of abolishing operations

- A type of motivating operation that makes the stimulus less desirable (less effective as a reinforcer). - You just ate a very large meal, so you are satiated on food and food is not reinforcing to you for the next several hours. Your behavior changes to stop seeking food since you are no longer hungry.

B-14: Define and provide examples of the verbal operants: Echoic

- A type of verbal behavior that occurs when the speaker repeats the word of another speaker. - A teacher is conducting an intensive teaching session with a student. The teacher says, "iPad". The student says "iPad".

B-14: Define and provide examples of the verbal operants: Mand

- A type of verbal operant in which the speaker asks/requests what they need or want - A client is experiencing hunger. She has a history of receiving food from staff members in her group home when she asks. The client goes to her picture icon book, locates the "I want" and "pretzels" icons, arranges them on the sentence strip, and finds a staff member to hand it to.

B-14: Define and provide examples of the verbal operants: Tact

- A type of verbal operant which the speaker names things and actions that the speaker has direct contact with through any of their senses (e.g., see, feel, smell, touch). Tacts are essentially labels. - A clinician working in early intervention is targeting joint attention for a toddler with a developmental delay. One day, the toddler sees a new toy horse in the classroom, looks back at the behavior analysts, points to the toy, and says, "Look! Horsey!!"

C-2: direct measures of behavior

- A way of taking data on a behavior of interest by observing the behavior itself and recording observable and measurable information about it. - A directly observes, and takes frequency data on, a client's self injurious behavior in a classroom setting. - You notice that your new puppy has had three toileting accidents in the past week. You know this because you observed the behavior directly.

A-4: Applied Behavior Analysis and an example

- The application of behavioral principles to human subjects as it related to areas that matter to people (e.g., classroom management, instructional methods, generalization and maintenance of learning, health and fitness, communication, etc). - A clinician is studying the effects of a token economy with a group of subjects in a clinic who all present with aggressive outbursts. The hypothesis of the study is that the implementation of a token economy will decrease the amount of verbal aggressive outburst the subjects.

A-5: Dimensions of Behavior Analysis - Applied

- The commitment to supporting improvements in people's behaviors to enhance their quality of life. - Ex: A behavior analyst "inherits" a learning plan for a high school student with Autism. The plan involves learning goals such as sorting pictures, copying sight words, and labeling colors and numbers. None of these skills are meaningful given the client's characteristics, so you collaborate with others and change the plan to include skills that will make a difference in the person's life, such as manding for wants and needs, self care, community safety, and leisure skills.

D-2: External Validity

- The degree which a study's results are generalizable to other subjects, settings and/or behaviors not included in the original study. - A behavior analyst is implementing a new intervention from a study that they read in a peer reviewed journal. The individual participant variables (developmental level, topography and function of behavior, for example) are a good match with the behavior analyst's current client. The analyst replicates the intervention steps with their client and achieves similar favorable results. This supports the study's external validity, since the results from the study have been replicated with a different subject. - Research findings are clinically useless unless they can convincingly demonstrate (1) that the methods were responsible for the observed changes, and (2) that the methods can work across participants and contexts not included in the original study. Science is always building and correcting itself, and replication is a vital - if unglamorous - part of the scientific process!

A-5: Dimensions of Behavior Analysis - Technological

- All procedures of an intervention, data and results of an experiment or study are clearly outlined in detail so they can be understood, replicated and implemented by anyone with the prerequisite skills. - Ex: You have conducted a research study with several children who engage in self-injurious behavior and find a combination of a reinforcement and punishment procedure that worked well with all of the children in the study. You prepare your procedure, data, results and analysis in a professional paper to share with colleagues. After your colleagues review your research, they report to you that it was so well written they could implement the same procedure in their own practice. Your research paper demonstrates the dimension of technology, as it included all elements that were required to complete your study as well as provide sufficient detail in terms of analysis and results.

A-5: Dimensions of Behavior Analysis - Conceptually Systematic

- All procedures used in practice should be related to the basic behavioral principles of behavior analysis from which they were derived. - Ex: A behavior analyst is reviewing their client's treatment plan with the parents. When describing how the behavior analyst will teach replacement behaviors for escape maintained aggression, the parent suggests, "Why can't we redirect them with deep pressure and using a weighted blanket?" The behavior analyst kindly explains that this would be entirely inconsistent with the nature of the problem, and would therefore be unlikely to help the family reach their goals. Therefore, the suggested strategies cannot be written into the plan.

B-12: Define and provide examples of conditioned motivating operative transitive (CMO-T)

- An environmental variable that establishes/abolishes the effectiveness of another stimulus as a reinforcer. - Your house is locked. This establishes the reinforcing value of a key to unlock your house. - A client wants to play with a light-up toy, but it is emitting a very weak light. This establishes the value of a new battery.

D-6: Describe rationales for conducting component analysis

- An experiment designed to identify which part of the treatment package is responsible for behavior change. - Drop-Out Component Analysis: An experiment where the investigator presents the treatment package and then systematically removes components. - Ex: A behavioral analyst is using an intensive feeding intervention with a client. They present all the components of the intensive feeding intervention and begins to eliminate components to determine if there are any effects on the client's behavior (e.g., removal of response cost for packing or expulsion of food while keeping positive reinforcement in place). - Add-In Component Analysis: An experiment where the investigator assesses components of a treatment package individually or in combination before the treatment package is delivered.

D-2: Internal validity

- An experiment shows convincingly that changes in a behavior are a function of the intervention/treatment and NOT the result of uncontrolled or unknown factors. - A behavior analyst implements a DRA procedure to support a client who engages in skin picking. The skin picking behavior responds favorably to the intervention. When the DRA is removed, the target behavior returns. When the intervention is put in place a second time, the behavior returns to low rates. This fact pattern strongly suggests that the DRA intervention (and nothing else) was primarily responsible for the reduction in skin picking behavior. - Without high internal validity, cause-and-effect relationships cannot be discovered.

D-5: Use single-subject experimental designs: Reversal (A-B-A-B) Design

- An experimental design where baseline conditions (A) and an intervention conditions (B) are reversed with the goal of strengthening experimental control (i.e. demonstrating that the change in the dependent variable is due to the change in the independent variable). - A behavior analyst collects baseline data (A) on a student's tantrum behavior. They begin to implement an intervention (B) and collects data on the student's tantrum behavior. After several trials of the intervention, the behavior analyst withdrawals the intervention, waits for responding to stabilize, and again implements the intervention.

D-5: Use single-subject experimental designs: Multiple Baseline

- An experimental design where implementation of the intervention is staggered in a stepwise fashion across behaviors, settings, and subjects. - A behavior analyst wants to target a student's dropping behavior in two different settings: the classroom and in the hallway. The behavior analyst begins to collect baseline data on the dropping behavior in both settings. After a steady state of responding is demonstrated, the behavior analyst implements the intervention in the first setting, the classroom, while holding the hallway in baseline. After steady responding is achieved in the first implementation setting, the intervention is applied to the second setting which is the hallway.

D-5: Use single-subject experimental designs: Changing Criterion Design

- An experimental design where the initial baseline phases are followed by a series of treatment phases consisting of successive and gradual changing criteria for reinforcement or punishment. - behavior analyst wants to assess how a client's behavior changes when they provide reinforcement for every five responses per minute, then ten responses per minute and so on. The criterion increases as the client demonstrates stable states of responding.

D-5: Use single-subject experimental designs: Multielement/Alternating Treatments Design

- An experimental design where two or more conditions are presented in rapidly alternating succession independent of the level of responding and the effects on the target behavior. - A behavior analysts is comparing two treatments with a client on the response rate of their aggressive behavior. The behavior analyst conducts a multielement/alternating treatments design on Treatment A and Treatment B. Treatment A did not appear to have an effect on the aggressive behavior, but Treatment B showed a sharp decrease in aggressive behavior.

C-1: Establish operational definitions of behavior

- An observable, measurable description of a target behavior. - A clinician is working with a client who takes off their clothes inappropriately. The clinician writes, "Disrobing is contextually inappropriate full or partial undress. It is defined as removal of clothing that results in exposed skin when compared to client's dressed state (excluding the hands, feet, and head) AND occurs (a) in the presence of another person who is not a caregiver AND/OR (b) in an area of the house other than the bathroom or her bedroom, unless expressly directed to do so by a caregiver."

A-5: Dimensions of Behavior Analysis - Analytic

- The demonstration of a reliable functional relationship between environmental changes (assessment/intervention) and target behavior changes. Most basically, being analytical means making data-driven decisions. - Ex: A functional analysis is conducted with a client who engages in hitting others. The results demonstrate that the behavior of hitting others occurs almost exclusively when a demand is placed on the client, and that hitting increased over time when staff removed demands contingent on hitting. Results of a subsequent treatment evaluation indicate a functional relationship between hitting others and the removal of demands.

C-9: Select a measurement system to obtain representative data given the dimensions of behavior and the logistics of observing and recording: Partial Interval Recording

- An observation time that is divided into smaller series of brief time intervals where at the end of each interval, the observer records whether the target behavior occurred at any point during the interval. - A behavior analyst is conducting an observation on a client and is collecting partial interval data in five-minute intervals on the target behavior. The client engages in problem behavior two minutes into the interval and not again for the rest of the interval. The behavior analyst circles "yes," because the target behavior occurred during part of the interval.

C-9: Select a measurement system to obtain representative data given the dimensions of behavior and the logistics of observing and recording: Planned Activity Check (PLACHECK)

- An observation time that is divided into smaller series of brief time intervals where at the end of each interval, the observer records whether the target behavior occurred at the end of the interval only in a group setting. - A behavioral consultant is collecting data on classroom of student's on task behavior during their scheduled rotating activities using PLACHECK intervals of 30 seconds. At the end of the 30 second interval, the behavioral consultant observes if all the students in the classroom were in their assigned areas of the room. If not all students were, the behavioral consultant would indicate that the target behavior was not observed.

C-9: Select a measurement system to obtain representative data given the dimensions of behavior and the logistics of observing and recording: Momentary Time Sampling

- An observation time that is divided into smaller series of brief time intervals where at the end of each interval, the observer records whether the target behavior occurred at the end of the interval only. - A behavior analyst is observing a client's pacing behavior using momentary time sampling with an interval of 10 seconds. The behavior analyst indicates whether pacing behavior occurred only if the client was pacing at the very end of the 10 second intervals.

C-9: Select a measurement system to obtain representative data given the dimensions of behavior and the logistics of observing and recording: Whole Interval Recording

- An observation time that is divided into smaller series of brief time intervals where at the end of each interval, the observer records whether the target behavior occurred throughout the entire interval or not. - A BCBA is collecting data on a child's on task behavior in 10 second intervals. They only circle "yes" if on task behavior occurred in the interval if it occurred for the entire 10 seconds.

B-1: Define and provide examples of behavior

- An organism's interaction with the environment. ("Dead man's test" refers to the fact that a behavior is anything a dead person cannot do. Examples: breathing, walking, crying, reading, etc. - Ex: A child is handed tokens and puts them on a token economy board for later exchange.

B-8: Define and provide examples of unconditioned reinforcers

- Basically, unconditioned reinforcers are things that we need in order to not die (or, in the case of sex, not die out as a species). - Reinforcement that works without prior learning (in other words, living things come into the world with a need for these things "built in" to their biology - Food and water, regulated body and environmental temperatures, sexual stimulation.

A-5: Dimensions of Behavior Analysis - Generality

- Behavior change that lasts over time, appears in environments other than the environment which it was taught and/or spreads to other behaviors not targeted by the intervention. - Ex: An RBT® at a residential treatment facility is implementing an intensive toilet training procedure with a client. The RBT teaches the child how to request "toilet" and using the bathroom at the facility. The client masters using the restroom in this setting. When the client is at school, they demonstrate the same behavior of requesting to use the toilet and successfully voiding without being taught at school. Data demonstrate that the client is 100% successful in requesting and using the toilet even six months after toilet training. This behavior change has generality because it has lasted over a long amount of time and is reported to occur in different environments without explicit instruction.

B-13: Define and provide examples of contingency shaped behavior

- Behavior selected by direct consequences. - We have a history of reinforcement via the presentation of water when we turn the shower on, so we continue to turn the shower on when we want to take a shower. Many, many of our daily behaviors fall into this category! - A patient in an inpatient setting tried to elope from the unit. When they reached the door and attempted to open it, a loud alarm went off. It was very aversive, and functioned as a punisher for touching the door.

A-5: Dimensions of Behavior Analysis - Effective

- Behavior that changes in a practical manner that result in clinical or social significance. - Ex: A behavior analyst is researching an appropriate intervention designed to target tolerance for non-preferred activities for a particular learner. Two interventions are trialed with the learner. Both of them are acceptable to the client and caregivers, and realistic given their needs. Intervention A was found to be increase tolerance by 30% over baseline and Intervention B was found to increase tolerance by 45% over baseline. The behavior analyst concludes that Intervention B should be implemented, and continues to monitor the client's behavior data related to their tolerance goals.

C-8: Evaluate the reliability of measurement procedures

- The extent to which a measurement procedure produces the same value repeatedly. In other words, can you rely on it? - ou get on the scale to see how much you weigh. The first time you step on the scale, it says 140 pounds. You immediately step on the scale again and weigh yourself and the scale says 140 pounds. This is a reliable measure. - Two behavior analyst are conducting a functional analysis on a client who exhibits self-injurious behavior. Each condition lasts for five minutes each and is repeated over the course of four consecutive days. Both behavior analysts use the same measurement tool to collect data during the functional analysis and their results are nearly identical over repeated measures. This measurement was reliable.

C-11: Interpret graphed data: Variability

- The extent to which the data move around on the graph. - A behavior analyst is conducting visual analysis of a client's target behavior of dropping to the floor. The data path is scattered all around the graph. This shows a high degree of variability in the client's dropping behavior. - Variability demonstrates the consistency to which change is taking place. A high variability may demonstrate a low degree of control of an intervention condition, whereas a low variability may demonstrate a high degree of control of an intervention condition. (In other words, if data points are all over the place, there is probably something else going on that has not been accounted for yet.)

B-13: Define and provide examples of rule-governed behavior

- Behavior that is under the control of a verbally mediated rule; behavior insensitive to immediate contingencies. - You have always looked both ways before crossing a street, even though you have never been hit by a car or seen anyone else being hit by a car. Your behavior is not under the control of immediate contingencies, since nothing bad has ever happened to you in the context of crossing the street. Rather, your behavior is under the control of the verbally mediated rule, "If I cross the street without looking, I may be hit by a car and be hurt or killed." - An individual diagnosed with an eating disorder engages in many behaviors under the control of a set of weight-related rules, such as "If I gain 5 pounds, no one will want me anymore." this behavior continues despite numerous direct contingencies aligned to incentive eating behavior (access to lots of appetitive food, loved ones telling the patient that they don't care how much she weights, the patient's own physical pain when very hungry, etc).

B-7: Define and provide examples of automatic contingencies

- Behaviors maintained by automatic contingencies can be said to produce their own consequences, without another person changing the environment in any way in response to the behavior of interest. - A patient engages in rocking back and forth on the floor to experience a reduction in anxiety (aversive private event). He is experiencing automatic negative reinforcement.

B-3: Define and provide examples of operant conditioning

- Consequences that result in an increase or decrease the frequency in the same type of behavior under similar conditions. Operant behaviors are controlled by their consequences. - Ex: A school uses a bell to signal when it is time to transition to the next class period. When the bell rings, a client receives praise if they initiate packing up their belongings within 10 seconds. They are more likely to respond quickly to the transition bell in the future.

B-7: Define and provide examples of socially mediated contingencies

- Contingency delivered in whole or in part by another person. - A client who lives in a residential treatment facility engages in pinching staff. Each time the client engages in pinching staff, they give the client a break to "calm down." The pinching behavior is maintained by socially mediated negative reinforcement (access to a break).

C-2 Indirect measures of behavior

- Data that are obtained by interviews, checklists and rating scales which include an individual's subjective experience of target behavior. Indirect measures still gather information about the behavior of interest using interactions with people, but not through direct observation. Depending on the case, information could be gathered from the primary client themselves as well as other stakeholders. - A behavior analyst is conducting a functional behavior assessment on a new client who demonstrates a significant amount of aggression towards others. The behavior analyst has direct support professional staff members complete a behavior checklist that identifies the time, location, activity and severity rating of the problem behavior throughout the day.

A-4: Professional practice guided by the science of behavior analysis and an example

- Delivery of interventions to clients that are guided by the principles of behaviorism and the research of experimental analysis of behavior and applied behavior analysis. - A behavioral psychologist is implementing a chaining procedure to teach a client how to interact safely with a sibling. The intervention steps, including when to provide reinforcement, are guided by the research in applied behavior analysis.

B-2: Define and provide examples of stimulus

- Events in the environment that affect the behavior of an individual. - Ex: A client with a history of trauma sees a therapist's shirt that reminds them of their abuser's shirt, and begins to cry. The shirt (stimulus) had an impact on behavior based on individual learning history.

B-11: Define and provide examples of maintenance

- Following the removal of an intervention, the extent to which a response remains in an individual's repertoire over time. - A client is taught to read using evidence based interventions, and then maintains the ability to read over many years.

C-3 Measure occurrence: Frequency

- How often a behavior occurs. - A BCBA is observing a student in their classroom and observes the them call out 17 times while sitting at their desk.

D-3: Identify defining features of single-subject experimental designs: Individuals serve as their own controls

- Individuals serve as their own controls in a research study when the effects of an intervention are measured on the person themselves, not between one person who got the intervention (treatment) and one person who didn't (control). In single subject methodology, the individual is essentially assigned to both treatment and control, because the research question is answered differently from other kinds of research. (See D-4 for more about what this all means.) - Tami is designing an intervention for her client Ariel, who needs help with remembering to complete her homework. Tami takes baseline data until stability is achieved, then introduces an intervention (series of alarms on Ariel's phone) and continues to take data until stability is once again achieved. She then returns Ariel to the baseline condition and then introduces the intervention a second time, following the same process as before. The data depicting the dependent variable (Ariel's homework completion behavior) show a clear relationship between the presence of the alarms and the completion of homework. In this example, no other person was used as a "control" for Ariel. That would not have been a great way to answer the question about how to help Ariel do her homework, since she might have special considerations and circumstances that are unique. Instead, she was the only subject, and the intervention was evaluated using Ariel herself in all phases.

B-12: Define and provide examples of motivating operations

- MO is an umbrella term that captures both EOs and AOs within it. MOs are environmental variables that alters the reinforcing or punishing effectiveness of a stimulus. Essentially, MOs alter the value of things for a particular person in a particular context and time.

C-3 Product Measures of behavior

- Measuring a behavior after it occurred by examining the effects the behavior produced on the environment. Unlike direct and indirect measures, product measures sometimes do not involve people at all. - A client is expected to complete math work before accessing a video game. The teacher examines the work and determines whether the behavior was satisfactory based on predetermined criteria regarding the product measurement (at least 10 separate math problems completed at 80% or more accuracy overall). - You have asked your oldest child to pack his own lunches for the week as part of his chores, for which he earns an allowance. Rather than watching him make the food (direct), or asking him or others if the food was made (indirect), you determine whether the behavior occurred by examining the change in the environment which his behavior produced - in this case, five prepped lunches in the refrigerator.

A-3: Describe and explain behavior from the perspective of radical behaviorism

- A branch of behaviorism that includes thoughts and feelings in addition to observable behavioral events. Distinguished from methodological behaviorism. - From a radical behaviorist's perspective, there is no meaningful differences between public events (observable, measurable behaviors) and private events (covert behaviors such as emotions and thoughts). This has extremely profound implications.

B-12: Define and provide examples of conditioned motivating operative reflexive (CMO-R)

- A condition or object that signals a worsening or improving of conditions. - A client sees their behavior analyst walk through the door and sit down in the free play area (improving condition). This client loves working with their behavior analyst, so the value of the free play area increases. - You start to feel tightness in your left eye (worsening condition), which you know from experience will lead to a blinding migraine in 15 minutes. The value of your migraine medication goes up.

B-8: Define and provide examples of generalized reinforcers

- A consequence that has been paired with access to many different reinforcing consequences until it took on reinforcing properties itself. - Money is an example of a generalized (you can buy many reinforcing things) conditioned (you were not born with a biological need for money) reinforcer (access to money increases behavior in the future under similar circumstances). - Token or point systems, when implemented with fidelity, pair the tokens or points with access to a wide array of "back-up" primary and secondary reinforcers (e.g., free time, preferred items/activities, certain privileges).

B-8: Define and provide examples of generalized punishers

- A consequence that has been paired with many different experiences of punishment until it took on punishing properties itself. - A high school student with a history of significant reading difficulties and lack of appropriately trained teachers has had many aversive experiences involving books. For example, teachers and parents have ridiculed and yelled at her for not being able to sound out words, peers have excluded her from games because she is "stupid," she has been deprived of preferred activities due to hours spent trying to complete homework, she has received additional punishment for aggressive behavior that happened as part of behavioral escalation triggered by the reading tasks, and she has experienced many aversive private events (shame, anger, resentment, hopelessness, etc). The presence of books is a generalized punisher for this student.

B-1: Define and provide examples of response class

- A group of responses that produce the same effect on the environment. (In other words, several behaviors that have the same function.) - Ex: A patient engages in head banging, screaming, and hitting staff which all produce the same effect on the environment (escape from their non-preferred activities).

B-2: Define and provide examples of stimulus class

- A group of stimuli that are similar along one or more dimensions (for example, they look or sound similar, they have a common effect on behavior, or they occur at similar times relative to the response) - Ex: You are teaching a student how to identify groups of objects. You show a student a banana, kiwi, strawberry and plum. You ask the student, "What are these?" The student says, "Fruit", even though they are all different fruits.

B-3: Define and provide examples of respondent conditioning

- A learning process wherein a previously neutral stimulus (which would not alter behavior) acquires the ability to elicit a response (alter behavior). Respondent behavior is controlled by its antecedents. Respondent conditioning is also known as classical conditioning or Pavlovian conditioning (after the scientist who famously paired food with the sound of a bell to eventually make dogs salivate at the sound of a bell with no food present). - Ex: During physical therapy, the physical therapist has a client complete various physical activity, which the client greatly dislikes. Each time the client passes the physical therapy room, the client begins to shake and sweat. The previously neutral stimulus (the physical therapy room) through respondent conditioning, elicits the client's response of shaking and sweating.

C-3 Measure occurrence: Rate

- A measure of how often a behavior occurs over an amount of time. Rate is like frequency, except with a time component added. - You eat 30 potato chips in 15 minutes. - A child engages in hand to head self-injury five times in 20 minutes.

C-5: Measure the strength of behavior: Magnitude

- The force, intensity and/or severity of a behavior. - You are at a concert with your friends. You friend begins screaming and shouting that your ears start hurting. This is a high magnitude of screaming behavior. - A behavior analyst is writing a behavior plan for a client that includes the operational definitions of their behavior. When describing property destruction directed at the wall, the behavior analyst indicates levels of severity: "mild severity: client makes forceful contact with wall using foot, leg, fist, arm, head, or side of body which does not leave a mark on the wall; moderate severity: same as above, but does leave a mark on wall such as chipping or buckling but without any punctures; severe intensity: same as above, but leaves a puncture or hole in wall leaving next layer of construction exposed, may or may not include client's fist or foot going completely through first layer of wall construction."

D-1: Independent variable

- The intervention designed to have an effect on the dependent variable. The independent variable intervenes on the phenomenon of interest. - Response blocking as a means to prevent elopement. - In order to accurately understand behavior change, all change targets and treatment conditions must be identified. Though we may not be actively involved in publishing research, our work with clients must be driven by an empirical process.

C-11: Interpret graphed data: Trend

- The overall direction of the data path. - A behavior analyst is conducting visual analysis on a client's hitting behavior. They observe that the data path is increasing in trend. - Examining trend provides us with information about the "bigger picture" of where a behavior is heading based on past responding. It is helpful as part of intervention planning and evaluation.

A-4: behaviorism and an example

- The philosophy of the science of behavior. It emphasizes objective methods of investigation and is rooted in the assumption that behavior results from interactions between the environment and individual variables (such as prior learning history - Ex: You are teaching a client self-management strategies to help them with their overeating behavior. You instruct them to remove all junk food from their home, since you know that when the client sees junk food, they are more likely to eat it. You also instruct your client to avoid the junk food aisles at the grocery store and to only shop the perimeter of the store since that is where the healthy options are. Behaviorism is at work, since you are assisting the client with altering their environment to reduce stimuli that occasion overeating behavior, while providing them with alternative options to meet their goals.

B-6: Define and provide examples of positive punishment contingencies

- The presentation of a stimulus (punishment) follows a response, which then results in a decrease in the future frequency of the behavior. - During an art activity, a client becomes aggressive toward a staff member on the unit. The staff member physically restrains the client and takes them to the seclusion room. The presentation of the restraint and seclusion procedure decreased the future frequency of the client engaging in aggression during art time, which indicates that restraint/seclusion functioned as punishment.

B-6: Define and provide examples of negative punishment contingencies

- The removal of a stimulus (punishment) follows a response, which then results in a decrease in the future frequency of the behavior. - A client really likes country music and is permitted to listen to it during leisure time. The client is working on keeping their hands in a respectful place (away from their crotch) when in common areas of the milieu. Staff members turn off the music (remove stimulus) when the client puts their hands on their crotch, which decreases the frequency of that behavior in the future.

A-4: Experimental Analysis of Behavior (EAB) and an example

- The scientific study of behavior to study behavior for its own sake. - Ex: A researcher in a lab is studying the effects of various reinforcement schedules using mice as subjects. The mice complete a maze and receive food along the way. The researcher finds that mice complete the maze faster when they used a variable ratio schedule of reinforcement rather than a fixed interval schedule of reinforcement.

D-1: Dependent variable

- The target behavior which the intervention is designed to change. It depends on the environment to change it. - A client's eloping behavior which is targeted for intervention. - The dependent variable must be identified if the goal is to produce change in behavior.

C-4: Measure temporal dimensions of behavior: Latency

- The time between an opportunity to emit a behavior and when the behavior is initiated. - Your phone beeps because you received a text message. You reach over to check your phone 30 seconds later. - A client is asked by a staff member to put their shoes on. The client sits in their bed for 15 minutes before they begin to move off their bed to put their shoes on.

C-11: Interpret graphed data: Level

- The value of a data point along the x-axis of a graph. - A behavior analyst is conducting visual analysis of a client's target behavior of head to wall self-injury. The behavior analyst determines the level by locating the number along the y-axis to the data points within the graph. The behavior analyst observes that the level of data points are located around the 10% interval along the y-axis. - Examining the level of a data point is a skill in visual analysis that allows the behavior analyst to determine how much or little a behavior has changed.

D-3: Identify defining features of single-subject experimental designs: Verification

- Verification is demonstrating that baseline levels of behavior would have remained without introducing the independent variable (intervention). Verification as a concept can take several forms within a research design, but the foundational idea is the same. - Let's take the example of Johnny above. The team moved into the intervention phase. Now his team ignores self injury and they have taught Johnny to use an "I want attention" button instead, which is always reinforced with attention. Johnny's levels of self injury are down significantly! To demonstrate that their intervention, rather than something else (such as medication), was responsible for the change in self injury, Johnny's team could take the button away and start reinforcing self injury again. If Johnny's behavior looks similar to what it was at the first baseline phase during the assessment, then that is evidence that the intervention was responsible for the change in behavior.

C-5: Measure the strength of behavior: Topography

- What a behavior looks like. - You are describing to your friend about a "terrible date" you had the other night! Your friend asks you, "What did they do that was terrible?" You tell your friend that your date chewed with their mouth open and interrupted you when you talked about your job. Your friend can picture the behavior in their head and says, "Yeah, that does sound pretty terrible!" - A behavior analyst describes a client's aggression toward property behavior in the following manner: "Tearing items off of walls, knocking over furniture, throwing or swiping items off surfaces."

D-3: Identify defining features of single-subject experimental designs: Repeated measures

- When we use single subject experimental designs, we need to capture something to measure to see if our intervention is working. That thing we measure is called a dependent variable. - Randi engages in swearing and property destruction. His team creates an intervention plan for him. In order to empirically answer questions about whether the intervention is working, the team carefully defines and records instances of Randi's target behaviors.

B-9: Define and provide examples of operant extinction

- Withholding all reinforcement from a previously reinforced behavior maintained by its consequences. - A patient flicks the light switch on an off which makes the lights in their room go on and off. Hospital staff disconnect the light from the switch, so the patient can still flick the switch, but the light does not come on. Access to the reinforcer (lights on and off) has been withheld.

B-14: Define and provide examples of the verbal operants: Intraverbal

- verbal behavior that is under the control of someone else's verbal behavior. - A teacher is using intensive teaching methods to teach a student's intraverbal repertoire. The teacher says to the student, "Row, row, row your..." The student responds, "Boat".

A-1 Identify the goals of behavior analysis as a science (i.e., description, prediction, control).

1. Description: A collection of facts about the observed event(s) that can be quantified, classified and examined for possible similarities to other known facts. ("I know what the behavior looks/sounds like. 2. Prediction: Repeated observations reveal that observing other events can consistently result in accurately anticipating an outcome. ("I know when the behavior will occur. 3. Control: A specific change in one event can be reliably produced by scientific manipulation of another event. This change is not due to other factors or variables. ("I can turn this behavior on and off like a faucet."

C-8: Evaluate the validity of measurement procedures

- The extent to which we are measuring what we intend to measure. In other words, do our data points actually represent what we think/say they do? - You're trying to lose weight, and therefore decide to pay more attention to what you eat. You decide to look at labels to determine if certain foods are "healthy" or not. It would be a mistake to use one measure (for example, calorie count per serving) as a valid measure of whether a food is "healthy." Caloric content is an invalid measure when trying to determine whether a particular item is healthy or not. Instead, you take a look at nutritional recommendations for someone of your age, gender, and activity level, and then determine whether food is healthy or not by looking at a range of data points - calories, ingredients, vitamin content, etc. - A behavior analyst wants to collect data on how long a behavior of interest lasts. They collect data on duration. This is a valid measure because the behavior analyst wants to determine the duration of the behavior and uses an appropriate measure. An invalid measure would have involved, for example, taking frequency count data, which would not have indicated how long the behavior lasts.

A-2: Explain the philosophical assumptions underlying the science of behavior analysis (e.g., selectionism, determinism, empiricism, parsimony, pragmatism)

1. Selectionism: All life forms naturally and continually evolve through their learning history and evolutionary development. This happens at an individual level, and also on a species level. 2. Determinism: Events that occur in the universe do not happen "out of the blue." Instead, they occur in an orderly and predictable manner. 3. Empiricism: Objective observation of events in our environment, using information from (and only from) one or more of our five senses. Empiricism rejects the option of accepting things as truth that are only "known" through channels outside of our five senses (such as mystical powers) or someone "feeling" a certain way and presenting that as evidence for claims outside of their own experience. 4. Parsimony: Ruling out all simple, logical explanations before considering more complex or abstract explanations. "The simplest explanation should be the first explanation." 5. Pragmatism: The philosophical attitude that something has value, or is true, to the extent that it leads to successful outcomes when practically applied. ("Truth is an effective action."

A-1 Control Example

A client in a residential treatment facility engages in self-injurious behavior, and has been referred for a functional analysis. During the analysis, the client does not engage in self injury during the play (control), attention, or tangible conditions. During the demand condition, however, the client engages in self injury every time they are presented with a demand. Removing the demand consistently results in termination of the self injurious behavior.

A-1 Prediction Example

A client on the inpatient unit engages in verbal aggressive behavior (e.g., screaming, cursing, verbal threats) toward staff and other patients on the milieu. After several days of observation, the nurse on the unit notices that each time the client requests and is denied access to alcohol and cigarettes, they engage in verbal aggression. The nurse predicts that each time the patient is denied access to alcohol and cigarettes, they will engage in verbal aggression.

A-1 Description Example

A parent comes to a clinic and is interviewed by the lead BCBA® about their child's self-injurious and aggressive behavior. The parent describes to the BCBA that the aggressive behavior only occurs when the mother is interacting with the other siblings in the home. The parent also describes that the self-injurious behavior only occurs when the child is denied access to highly preferred activities. The parent has provided the BCBA with a description of the events that are associated with self-injurious and aggressive behavior exhibited by the child.

D-6: Describe rationales for conducting comparative analysis

A type of analysis used to compare two different types of treatments, such as a multielement/alternating treatment design.

C-7 Design and implement sampling procedures

Missing

A-3: Example of perspective of radical behaviorism

Your client engages in intense ritual behaviors which include wearing certain clothing items at certain times of the day. When you try to interrupt the client's engagement in the ritual, they become extremely aggressive toward you. A team member suggests that this behavior is caused by feelings of frustration. As a radical behaviorist, you do not operate under the assumption that feelings cause behaviors. Rather, feelings can make things in the environment more or less valuable.

C-10: Graph data to communicate relevant quantitative relations (e.g., equal-interval graphs, bar graphs, cumulative records)

see pictures of each graph

D-4: Group designs

- Most people are familiar with research that involves two big groups of people. Researchers do something to group 1, and not group 2, and then they compare how both groups are doing (often by looking at an average of both groups) to see if the treatment made a difference. This is between subject research because the comparison is done (you guessed it) between different research subjects! (There is much more to between groups designs, of course. They are not simple. This is just a very, very basic overview of the main idea.) - Leonardo is in charge of assembling a team to evaluate the effectiveness of different reading programs on students who attend special education programs in major U.S. cities. The goal is to find out which program is most effective, so that the Department of Education can provide more targeted support to special education programs in urban areas. This research question is not about a particular individual. It is about which program is the best, on average, for urban special education students as a whole. This is a question that should be answered by assembling several very large groups of students, assigning them randomly to different programs, then comparing the dependent variables (in this case, reading scores) for each group. This design acknowledges that the results may not capture each individual's experience. It is about what has the greatest impact on the dependent variable overall.

A-5: Dimensions of Behavior Analysis - Behavioral

- Observable and measurable behavior should be the focus of our work. - Ex: A behavioral consultant takes frequency data on a client who engages in several types of appropriate social interactions (greetings, responding to questions, nodding when others are speaking, saying goodbye before leaving, etc). Each type of behavior has an operational definition. The consultant records the data as they are observing the client by following the operational definitions.

B-11: Define and provide examples of discrimination

- Occurs when a limited number of stimuli occasion a response. Discrimination skills are what we're demonstrating when we put our food in the oven and not in the dishwasher. - A behavior specialist is teaching their client to put away their laundry. The client sorts clothing by type (e.g., shorts, shirts, socks, etc.). The client sorts their clothing correctly without making any mistakes according to the clothing type. The client demonstrated discrimination based on clothing type.

B-11: Define and provide examples of generalization

- Occurs when a variety of stimuli occasion a certain response. generalization occurs across different individuals, environments, and times. - A direct support professional is conducting a functional communication training with a client at a residential facility. The client begins to make requests with other direct support professionals who have not conducted the formal training with them. This is generalizations across individuals.

D-3: Identify defining features of single-subject experimental designs: Prediction

- Prediction is looking at the data we have and making an informed guess about where it would go if we kept all variables the same (i.e. if we didn't change anything). Take a look at C-11 (interpret graph data) for more on how to predict where data will head next. - Johnny is a client who is being assessed at a severe behavior clinic due to self injury. His team conducts observations and they highly suspect that his self injury is maintained by access to attention (connection with other people). The team conducts a functional assessment (baseline) condition in which they give Johnny attention every time his self injury occurs. Team members observe that Johnny engages in self injury every single time attention is withdrawn, and stops once he receives attention. After observing this multiple times, graphing the results, and engaging in visual analysis, the team predicts that, if they keep providing attention contingent on self injury, the target behavior will continue as before.

B-8: Define and provide examples of unconditioned punishers

- Punishment that works without prior learning (in other words, living things come into the world with a need to avoid these things "built in" to their biology) - Extremely hot or cold temperatures, extremely loud noises, painful stimulation, starvation, extreme thirst, lack of sexual stimulation.

B-10: Define and provide examples of stimulus control

- Rates of responding happen exclusively, or at a higher rate, in the presence of a stimulus rather than in its absence. - A client says "Hi!" when staff members prompt her by saying, "Say hi!" The client does not ever initiate greetings without this prompt. The client's behavior of saying hi is under the control of the staff's directive prompt. (This is a problem! For a greeting behavior to have social significance, it typically needs to be under the control of at least one of the following: (1) a person coming into the environment, and (2) a person stating a greeting, which can then be returned).

D-3: Identify defining features of single-subject experimental designs: Replication

- Replication is strengthening the case that the independent variable is responsible for changes in behavior by demonstrating it multiple times. - Let's keep talking about Johnny from before. His team could strengthen the probability that their intervention was responsible for the change in the self injury by implementing baseline and intervention/treatment conditions several more times. If the self injury stays low in each intervention phase and high in each baseline phase, each repetition of that change would lend further credibility to the functional relationship.

D-4: Describe single subject experimental designs

- Single subject experimental designs are different in several fundamental ways. The most obvious way is that comparisons are made within each subject. This kind of research design is therefore called within subjects research. The most obvious (and most experimentally weak) way to use an individual as their own control is to take data at baseline, then introduce an intervention and take data, and then compare the two sets of data to see if there is a difference. (See D-5 to explore more sophisticated ways to do this!) - DeShawn is in charge of selecting reading programming for special education students within an urban public school in the U.S. He knows that his students have different learning profiles and different learning contexts. DeShawn evaluates the relative benefit of multiple reading interventions at the individual level by conducting a multi-element design, and makes his decision based on how individual students respond to each intervention.

C-4: Measure temporal dimensions of behavior: Duration

- The amount of time during which a behavior happens; long long the behavior takes. - You read every night for 45 minutes before you go to bed. - A student engages in tantrum behavior for eight minutes during music class.