Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
Christopher J. Nicholls in Neurodevelopmental Disorders in Children and Adolescents, 2018
So how does one provide therapeutic intervention for an individual with an intellectual disability? Many professionals assume that because the patient has limited cognitive abilities, they will not be responsive to our typical arsenal of psychological and other treatments. This assumption may be valid if one thinks only of treatment approaches such as existential psychotherapy or wanting to train an individual to gain insight into the causes of their particular distress. There has nevertheless been clear responsiveness of ID patients to more structured interventions that are administered in a more concrete manner. Indeed, the entire field of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) emerged as we learned that through the systematic assessment of the antecedents, purposes and consequences of individual behaviors, we could engineer the environment of the individual so as to modify the frequency of those behaviors. This way of thinking was originally considered to be “behavior modification;” however, this seemed to emphasize changes in the environment only, and it soon became clear that there is a two-way interaction of the individual within his or her environment.
ENTRIES A–Z
Philip Winn in Dictionary of Biological Psychology, 2003
Behaviour analysis encompasses the experimental analysis of behaviour, which follows closely in the Skinnerian tradition, utilizing strict experimental control, often in laboratory settings using OPERANT CHAMBERS such as the SKINNER BOX. Since the 1970s there has been a decrease in the use of non-human animals, such as rats and pigeons, as experimental subjects, although the hallmark of the field is still its adherence to rigorous control of experimental variables, and the use of specific, single-subject research designs. Behaviour analysis also embraces applied behaviour analysis which involves clinical and other applications in real-world settings. These have included interventions with people with MENTAL RETARDATION, PSYCHOSIS, patients with cancer, head injury and burns, and many other clinical problems. People in industry, sport and the police have used behaviour analysis to improve their efficiency and effectiveness. Education settings, too, have often provided a forum for behaviour analytic interventions. Since the 1980s there has been an increase in community interventions, helping drivers and pedestrians, smokers, televisions viewers and consumers, among others.
Turning the Tables
Elizabeth B. Torres, Caroline Whyatt in Autism, 2017
Without access to insurance coverage for treatments of sensory-motor disorders in neurodevelopment, the large majority of affected children grow up without sensory-motor-driven interventions. The child with autism will receive what is available through state programs after school age (Liptak et al. 2008; Lubetsky et al. 2014). A common intervention in this regard is applied behavioral analysis (ABA). Yet, that intervention was not designed to address issues concerning sensory-motor disturbances of the nervous system of the child. In fact, the very therapy renders some “behaviors” inappropriate or nonconforming with their protocols of what is appropriate. As such, they may “extinguish” those behaviors through punishment schedules. This is the case even when such seemingly odd behaviors may serve a purpose, for example, to comfort the child in the presence of sensory-motor issues unseen by the naked eye of the clinician. Under such uncertain conditions and lack of objective, physical measurements, it is possible that despite meaning well, the clinician’s approach may in fact be harmful to the child.
Psychosocial interventions for internalizing disorders in youth and adults with ASD
Published in International Review of Psychiatry, 2018
Amy Keefer, Susan W. White, Roma A. Vasa, Judy Reaven
Behavioural interventions are based on the principles of applied behaviour analysis and employ a wide variety of strategies, such as reinforcement, extinction, shaping, and modelling, which are aimed at controlling the antecedents and consequences of targeted problematic behaviours (Doehring, Reichow, Palka, Phillips, & Hagopian, 2014). Notably, these principles are also utilized in CBT, resulting in a significant overlap between these approaches. However, behavioural interventions do not utilize cognitive-based strategies such as problem-solving or cognitive restructuring and, thus, do not require complex language or higher-order cognitive skills such as theory of mind, abstract reasoning, or meta-cognition (Hagopian & Jennett, 2008). Due to these reduced demands, behavioural interventions can be readily applied to the treatment of individuals with cognitive and language deficits and have been used extensively to treat core ASD symptoms, problematic behaviours, and adaptive skill deficits in individuals with ASD and ID (Matson & Jang, 2014; Matson, Hattier, & Belva, 2012; Smith & Iadarola, 2015).
Addressing mealtime behaviours of children with autism spectrum disorders in schools: a qualitative study with educators in Mumbai, India
Published in International Journal of Developmental Disabilities, 2022
Pujitha Sriram Padmanabhan, Hemal Shroff
It appeared that positive reinforcement strategies used by educators were helpful in improving food acceptance, and thereby, dietary variety. They did this by ensuring that the child eats the food that they dislike first, with the consequence that s/he can then eat something else that is liked, or can do any activity that s/he enjoys. Reinforcement learning strategies come under a structured and systematic treatment called Applied Behaviour Analysis (Schuetze et al.2017). They have been documented as important techniques to increase the frequency of social and communicative behaviours and to reduce or minimise atypical behaviours for children with ASD (Virués-Ortega 2010, Dawson and Burner 2011). These strategies, may be useful even in the feeding context in order to minimise disruptive mealtime behaviours, and could be replicated in other settings as well.
Using Prompts and Feedback to Reduce Illegal Parking in a University Parking Lot
Published in Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, 2020
Michael Clayton, Teresa Tran, Kelcee Rowlett
Of course, parking citations can be either a high- or low-probability consequence and the relative size (or magnitude) varies as well. That is, not every instance of illegal parking results in a parking citation. Parking citations may not be effective if students are running late and the momentary value-altering effect of a closer parking space increases the likelihood of risking a low probability of punishment in exchange for a high probability of reward. In this case, the negative reinforcement of avoiding the consequences associated with being late to class may exert more control than the punishment for parking illegally. This situation may result in more probability discounting (Kaplan, Reed, & Jarmolowicz, 2016), where the subjective value of an outcome is devalued as the likelihood of the occurrence of that outcome decreases. Low probability punishers are common in society and family life, but the use of punishment has generally been avoided in applied behavior analysis due to the considerable risks associated with its use (Hineline & Rosales-Ruiz, 2013).
Related Knowledge Centers
- Behavior Modification
- Behaviorism
- Classical Conditioning
- Operant Conditioning
- Behavioral Engineering
- Psychological Intervention
- Radical Behaviorism
- Experimental Analysis of Behavior
- Functional Analysis
- Discrete Trial Training