ABA 101 Part 4

Welcome back to another episode on “what the AUTISM?!” This podcast is for anyone who is struggling with understanding what autism is and how we can better empower our autism community through research proven methods. In each episode, I will be sharing with you ground-breaking research and how the diagnosis of autism can often be misunderstood. If you are a new listener to our podcast, I highly recommend you start from episode 1 to catch you up to speed on various terminology and concepts! Now let’s get started…

Today’s episode will be covering the last part of our ABA 101 series. During the last 3 episodes, we talked about the ABCs of ABA, what behaviors are, the functions of behavior, reinforcement versus punishment, so today we’ll be talking about reinforcers and how we establish motivation in our children.

Let’s get started with a quick recap. Last week’s episode covered the difference between reinforcement and punishment in ABA terminology. Remember that reinforcement occurs when a behavior INCREASES because of a consequence of either adding or removing something from the environment. By definition, a reinforcer INCREASES behavior and there are 2 types of reinforcements: positive and negative reinforcement.

Positive Reinforcement: A behavior occurs. A stimulus such as a person, an object, etc is presented immediately following the behavior. The probability of that behavior occurring again in the future increases.

Negative Reinforcement: A behavior occurs. A stimulus is removed immediately following the behavior. The probability of that behavior occurring again in the future increases. Let me remind you, that just because the word “negative” is present, it does not mean anything bad.

What are some examples of reinforcers? Any items/access to activities such as electronics (tablets, video games, etc) or access to locations are all common examples of reinforcers.

What effects reinforcer effectiveness?

We must remember 4 different variables that effect reinforcer effectiveness. They are: deprivation/satiation, immediacy, size, and contingency.

1) Deprivation/Satiation: Often referred to as not enough or too much of a good thing!

Deprivation: Not having access to something that is highly desirable. Often this is used to increase the value of an item/activity to someone.

Example:

• I’ve been working all day and haven’t had a chance to eat. Because I haven’t eaten anything, I’m deprived of food, so my motivation to get food is higher.
• If my child had access to their video games removed, their motivation to gain access to play their video games is higher.

Satiation: This is the opposite of deprivation. Satiation refers to having too much. If the same reinforcer is used over and over again, it will lose it's reinforcing value.

Example:

• Let's say you ate a cheeseburger for lunch today and for dinner, your friends want to go out to have burgers. Tomorrow, your co-worker suggests grabbing a burger for lunch again...no thank you! You are satiated with cheeseburgers.

2) Immediacy: The item that is serving as the reinforcer needs to be delivered as quickly as possible as soon as the target behavior occurs. The longer the amount of time lapses between the behavior and the delivery of the reinforcer, the less effective the reinforcer will be.

Example:

• Let’s say that Johnny was promised by his mom that he’ll get a lollipop if he’s behaves in the grocery store today. Johnny is on his best behavior, and on their way out of the store, mom promises that he gets his lollipop. However, on the way home, mom forgot that she has a...