“Mary, the two big lessons that were learned from your book I found very interesting. The recent trend in ABA is that as soon as any problem behaviors emerge, drop what you’re doing and complete a Functional Analysis. My approach is simply to change something that I can see as a problem right away and move on without losing lots of time. Your point about if problem behavior emerges, it’s probably too difficult, is easily fixed by reducing difficulty right on the fly.
The other point about the reinforcement not being powerful enough is another thing that can be fixed on the fly. Both of these quick operations can have a drastic positive effect on teaching without resorting to a complicated FA that delays progress that can be made in a couple of quick changes on the fly.
I’ve been doing the things this way for over 40 years and I’m glad to see you talk about it in your video. What you were saying is a lot more significant. The TAG teachers (teaching with acoustical guidance) and clicker trainers have been doing it this way since they began. If the SeaWorld animal trainers had stopped to do an FA, every time the animal had a problem behavior, we would have no SeaWorld shows. They solve the problem on the fly by changing something as you suggest.”
I did another video blog on why I believe my approach is different and better and one of the reasons is because I use a common sense ABA approach. I have done Functional Behavior Assessments, which is really just gathering all the data that you can, interviews, surveys, some observation, and review of the records, and coming up with a hypothesis of function. Functional Analysis can be part of an FBA but that is when we experimentally control the variables and really test the hypothesis. The problem is that FAs, in my opinion (compared to FBA), can really only be done in clinical settings with at least a safe room where you have a 2 way glass to measure the alone condition.
If you’re seeing real big problem behaviors, demands are probably too high and reinforcement is probably too low. And you really, in my opinion, need to take a common sense approach and learn more about transfer procedures. To learn more about my approach, attend a free online workshop at marybarbera.com/workshop.
My goal is for each of my clients and my 2 boys to reach their fullest potential, be as safe as possible, as independent as possible, and as happy as possible. I use a very different approach that parents can use and professionals can use no matter what type of professional you are. My goal is for everyone to climb the mountain together and to really help kids reach their fullest potential. Remember to check out my free workshop by going to marybarbera.com/workshop.
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