Modelling and rewards

Chris is sitting eating lunch with her peers. They are chatting away. Suddenly, without warning, Chris gets up and leaves. Her peers look very surprised and a little offended.

Applied behaviour Analysis

Pictures and social stories are often used in the process of Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA). This approach is about analysing what we can see, breaking down behaviour into small steps, and changing it through encouraging, modelling, prompting, and praising changed behaviour

Using ABA for Chris

If we applied this approach to Chris’ situation, we would have to start by looking at what is actually happening. We might start with writing a more detailed observation of what is happening.

Antecedent:
Before Chris walked away, she had been intermittently involved in a discussion with her peers. They were talking about their favourite foods.
Jenny looks at her sandwich then smiles at her two buddies: I love vegemite sandwiches! They are great.
Chris continues looking at and eating her sandwich. Tom smiles back at Jenny: Yeah, I like them, too. But I like cheese better.
Chris (still looking at her sandwich, which is almost finished): I like cheese.
Tom smiles at Chris: Mmmm. It is so good, especially with some tomato. Have you ever had it with tomato?

Behaviour:
Chris has finished her sandwich and walks away.

Consequence:
Chris puts her rubbish in the bin and puts her lunchbox away in her bag.
Tom looks surprised and a little offended.
Jenny looks at Tom: Maybe she didn’t hear you.
Tom and Jenny sit silently until they finish their sandwiches, then quietly pack up.

So what next?

This observation gives some ideas about what is going on. For example, while Chris was listening to Tom and Jenny, she was not paying attention to them. That is, she is not making eye contact. This meant that she missed the body language, facial expressions and social rules that would have told her about whether the conversation was finished or not.

Modelling, prompting, praising

To start teaching Chris the skill of eye contact we may need to draw attention to the importance of eye contact.

For example, when Chris wants something we might wait until she responds to the prompt, “Chris, look at me” before we respond to her. We may also use a physical cue like putting our hand into the line of her gaze, then bringing the hand to our cheek or chin.

Any attempt to make eye contact should be praised. This can be a combination of specific praise (eg. “Thanks for looking at me” said with a beaming smile) and giving Chris what she wants.

And all the time we are doing this, we need to be modelling good eye contact.


Functional behaviour analysis, or behaviour support

Another way of looking at this behaviour is to ask why Chris walked away in the first place. What was the function, or purpose of her behaviour?

Why did Chris walk away?

It wasn’t just that Chris wasn’t paying attention, it was that she was paying attention to something else.

The observation suggests that she was following a routine, and she was focused on this. She had finished eating. And, according to routine, when you finish eating you put your rubbish in the bin and put your lunchbox away.

So what next?

We need to help Chris to balance the routine with her friendships. So, first, we need to help her make eye contact with her peers. We need to help her apply what she has learnt with an adult prompt (“Look at me, Chris”) to her discussions with her peers.
So we may teach her peers to say, “Chris” and wait for Chris to look at them before speaking.

Then we need to teach Chris to use a signal to let her peers know she is going to leave the conversation. So we could teach Chris to say, “I am going to…. now.” before she walks away.

Modelling, prompting, praising

To start with, we might have to practice this skill in the classroom. Or a teacher may need to sit alongside Chris and her peers in the playground.

In the beginning, the teacher may need to encourage Tom and Jenny to say Chris’ name and wait until she looks at them before speaking. The teacher may need to give some immediate praise to encourage Chris to use eye contact. The teacher may also need to use a picture, social story or modelling the sentence “I am going to…. now.” to prompt Chris to use this sentence.

To make sure that this is making a difference, we would need to keep a record of Chris’ successes.

But the end product should go something like this:

Antecedent:
Chris is chatting with Tom and Jenny. They were talking about their favourite foods.
Jenny looks at her sandwich then smiles at her two buddies: I love vegemite sandwiches! They are great. Aren’t they, Chris.
Chris continues looking at and eating her sandwich. Jenny waits for a moment, then says: Chris?
Chris looks at Jenny.
Jenny: Do you like vegemite sandwiches?
Chris shakes her head.
Tom smiles at Jenny and Chris: I like vegemite sandwiches. But I like cheese better.
Chris (still looking at Jenny): I like cheese sandwiches. See! (she holds out her cheese sandwich.)
Tom smiles at Chris: Mmmm. It is so good, especially with some tomato. Have you ever had it with tomato?
Chris has finished her sandwich and is packing up her rubbish.

Behaviour:
Tom: Chris?
Chris looks at Tom.
Tom: Do you like tomato?
Chris: No. (short pause) I am going to put my rubbish in the bin now.

Consequence:
Chris puts her rubbish in the bin and puts her lunchbox away in her bag.
Tom and Jenny continue talking until they finish their lunch. Then they put their rubbish away and join Chris. They all go and play together.


If you want to know more:

Conway, R. (2008). Encouraging Positive Interactions. In Forman, P. (Ed) Inclusion in Action, p198. Thomson: Australia

Moyes, R.A. (2002). Addressing the Challenging Beahviour of Children with High-Functioning Autism/Aspereger Syndrome in the Classroom: A Guide for Teachers and Parents. Jessica Kingsley Publishers: London.

Repp, A.C, and Horner, R.H. (1999). Functional Analysis of Problem Behavior: From effective assessment to effective support. Wadsworth: Canada

Weiss, M.J, Harris, S.L. (2001). Reaching out, Joining in: Teaching Social Skills to Young Children with Autism. Woodbine House: Bethesda


You may also want to visit these links:

http://www.autismsa.org.au/html/strategies/therapies/aba.html

http://www.learningplace.com.au/deliver/content.asp?pid=7498

http://www.txautism.net/docs/Guide/Interventions/ABA.pdf

http://www.usu.edu/teachall/text/behavior/LRBIpdfs/Functional.pdf

At the end of every month I want to anwer any questions you might have relevant to the topics discussed in this blog. If you have any questions, post them here as a comment. I will answer them next week....