ABA is a set of principles that form the basis for many behavioral treatments. It is based on the science of learning and behavior, which includes general “laws” about how behavior works and how learning takes place. ABA therapy applies these laws to behavior treatments in a way that helps to increase useful or desired behaviors and reduce behaviors that are harmful and/or may interfere with learning. ABA is considered an "evidence-based" treatment by the US Surgeon General and the American Psychological Association, which means it has passed scientific tests of its usefulness, quality, and effectiveness, and is used to increase language and communication skills, improve attention, focus, social skills, memory, and academics, and decrease problem behaviors.
If you were ever put in a time-out by your parents, or have put one of your own children into time-out as a punishment for misbehavior, you have the science of applied behavior analysis to thank for the technique. Doctor Montrose Wolf, one of the founders of the field, came up with the time-out in the 1960’s in the process of developing effective treatment methods for an autistic 3-year-old under his care. Understanding that the tantrums thrown by the child were being reinforced by the adult attention they drew, Wolf created the time-out to deprive the child of the attention but still provide an effective response to the behavior.
In doing so, Wolf was making use of a theory of behavior modification first developed by psychologist B.F. Skinner 20 years earlier called operant conditioning. The theory rested on a process of observation and consequence that has since become known as the ABC’s of applied behavior analysis:
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Antecedent – The prompt, or initial situation, leading to a behavior—in this case, the 3-year-old’s desire for adult attention.
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Behavior – The action or behavior in response to the antecedent—throwing a tantrum and acting out.
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Consequence – The reinforcement mechanism associated with the behavior—adult attention, even if ostensibly negative, desired by the child.
Wolf and his compatriots realized that by making careful observations of the environment (the antecedents) and understanding the relationship to the behaviors exhibited, they could systematically alter the consequences to either reinforce behaviors deemed positive, or discourage those deemed negative.
ABA therapy includes many different techniques. While all of these techniques focus on and identify antecedents (what happens before a behavior occurs), they each have different methods of implementing consequences (what happens after the behavior). For example, Behavioral Stepping Stones utilizes a technique called “positive reinforcement,” which is when a behavior is followed by something that is valued (a reward), causing an increased likelihood that the behavior will be repeated. ABA uses positive reinforcement in a way that can be measured in order to help bring about meaningful behavior change. Other tools used to implement consequences might include:
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Discrete Trial Training (DTT) – Involves breaking down complex behaviors into a number of elements, which are separately and sequentially reinforced to build up into the desired behavior.
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Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT) – Rather than targeting specific behaviors, PRT involves a holistic examination of motivations and responsiveness in the patient.
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Natural Environment Training (NET) – NET uses reward systems already established in the patient’s life and pairs them with desired behaviors to create a naturalistic pattern of behavior response.
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Token Economies – Token economies create a systematic method of offering placeholders for rewards that are offered in exchange for positive behaviors—gold stars given in class for homework turned in on time, for example. An eventual reward for the tokens helps create a pattern of reinforced behaviors, particularly in group environments.
Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)
What is ABA & VB?
Verbal Behavior, also known as VB, is an ABA based therapy technique that teaches language by focusing on the idea that a meaning of a word is found in their functions. The term was coined by B.F. Skinner. To teach a child with language delays a meaning of a word, one must first teach its function. As an example, instead of just teaching a word, we must teach them how to functionally apply those words. For example, a child with autism might say the word "toilet" when they see one, but may not be able to say "toilet" when they need to use the bathroom or answer correctly when asked what a toilet is used for.
According to Skinner, language is broken into parts that have different objectives. These parts of language include echoics (vocal imitation), mands (requests), tacts (labels), and intraverbals (conversational skills).
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This process works as follows: a child says apple when he wants an apple. When he is given an apple, his language is reinforced through receiving the apple. The child is likely to repeat this action with having been positively reinforced, which immediately followed the desired behavior. In essence, the child is taught to use language in a functional way by verbally requesting what he wants and, in turn, receiving what he requested.
At Behavioral Stepping Stones, LLC., children are not necessarily taught to verbally request what they want, but to communicate it in some way; whether verbally, signing or gesturing. In this ABA method of teaching language, children are taught to label or name things. For example, they will learn to say the word "phone" when they see a phone. Since they are not necessarily taught the function of the phone, they may not be able to use this word in a sentence. Since the focus of VB is to teach functional language, it is able to compliment the ABA Discrete Trial approach.
Skills Developed Using Verbal Behavior:
The Verbal Behavior intervention works on developing communication skills, including receptive and expressive language across the verbal operants of mand (requesting), tact (labeling), echoics (vocal imitation) and intraverbal (conversational skills). Learning across the operants also includes working on gross and fine motor imitation, textual (writing) and listening (following instructions) skills.
Benefits of Verbal Behavior:
Verbal Behavior is a great approach that can be combined with other teaching methods such as Discrete Trial Training (DTT) or Natural Environment Training (NET). In fact, combining the total operants of Verbal Behavior across both DTT and NET may contribute to acquiring a more complete language repertoire (Sundberg & Michael, 2001). Children need the functional skills across the verbal operants to increase verbal behavior, particularly in environments with their peers (Sundberg & Michael, 2001). A child without strong intraverbal skills may not interact appropriately in response to their peers’ verbal behavior, which may weaken further interactions.
Verbal Behavior (VB)
