Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Applied Behavior Analysis
Applied Behavior Analysis
by
Simos Kalogirou
Teaching a child with autism to greet in the school environment using
Abstract
because it shows respect and opens the door for communication which could
eventually lead to a friendship. The aim of the current study is to teach a child
with autism to greet in the school environment using Discrete Trial Training. An
A-B design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of DTT with the results
supporting the hypothesis that "DTT is one of the most important instructional
method for children with autism" (Smith, 2001). With the use of this strategy the
child learned a new social skill within 7 days of intervention therefore the results
of this study suggest that Discrete Trial Training was effective in teaching a
child with autism how to respond to the greet of his teachers and RBT.
communication disorders, they are usually one of the first things speech
therapists address. Greet is really the first step to an interaction; they begin
conversations. From the moment students master the act of saying hi (or its
variations, i.e. hello, what's up? smile, give 5, etc) they are ready to work on
more difficult skills such as joining a group or having conversations. Greet is so
important because it is the actual first step towards communication. The aim of
this study was to teach a child with autism to greet in the school environment
using Discrete Trial Training. As Myles and Simpson (2001, pg. 279, 280)
generalize these skills. A greeting, for example, is a social skill that is thought to
be simple. However, further analysis shows this skill, which most take for
differs from the type of greeting that would be used if the two met at the local
mall. The greeting used the first time the child sees a friend differs from the
greeting exchanged when they see each other 30 minutes later. Further, words
and actions for greetings differ, depending on whether the child is greeting a
teacher or a peer. Thus, greetings are complex, as are most social skills"
Skills Interventions for children with Autism: A Meta- Analysis (2009, p.318)
"There have been many interventions used to teach social skills to individuals
with ASD. These include social stories (e.g. Delano & Snell, 2006), peer-
mediated strategies, (e.g. Laushey & Heflin, 2000), video modeling (e.g.
Paterson & Arco, 2007), cognitive behavioral training (e.g. Bock, 2007), pivotal
response training (e.g. Jones & Freely, 2007), Theory of Mind (e.g. Chin,
Bernard - Opitz, 2000), among others". And they conclude: "While Social
Stories, Peer-Mediated, and Video-Modeling all met the criteria for evidence
based, a closer look at percentage of non overlapping data points (PND) shows
methods for children with autism" (Smith, 2001, p86). In the literature "discrete
trial procedure", "discrete trial instruction" and "discrete trial teaching" are
terms meaning the same as discrete trial training (Cosgrave, 2015). For
simplicity this study will refer to "RBTs" for Registered Behavioral Technicians
members, can implement DTT, and that both children and adults with autism
one go, the skill is broken down and built up using discrete trials that teach each
step one at a time. Lovaas (1981) defined a trial as "single teaching unit"; to
teachers by name by asking him to point the correct picture corresponding the
correct name when placed in front of him. The teaching challenge could be
scripted like this, Trial one: 1. RBT places two pictures one of each teacher on
the table in front of the student, 2. RBT says show me Mr. X, 3. Student shows
and/or give the child edible or preferred toy, 5. Between trials there should be
always a short pause. In the above scenario the difference in Trial 2 would be
that the RBT in step 2 would say show me Miss Y, student responds correctly,
RBT would reinforce by saying "Good job", "That's right", give edible or toy.
2015).
In the trials illustrated above there are 5 parts: 1. Antecedent: is the first
part of the trial and it initiates the response. In the above example the antecedent
was the RBTs' instruction "show me" and the teachers' pictures. The antecedent
is abbreviated as (A); the use of few and consistent words is preferred (Texas
learning level and the complexity of the tasks the RBT gives appropriate
prompts to trigger the desired response. The prompt level is abbreviated as (P).
moving into the next trial (Texas Statewide Leadership for Autism, 2013).
Malott and Trojan-Suarez (2006) suggest the inter-trial interval must be as short
According to Cosgrave (2015) there are six and not five steps in a DTT
for either correct or incorrect response are regarded as one part. Cosgrave (2015)
argues that is better to separate the step into two steps in order to show that there
are two possible consequences and that both need to be clearly defined.
procedure must be followed by the teacher in order to show the child which was
guide the child and help them understand what the response/behavior was.
Correction is abbreviated with "Corr" or "C2" to denote the fact that this is the
even after the correction; this is because if reinforcement was given even for
incorrect response why would the child be bothered getting a correct response?
Instead the teacher would go through the correction and then begin a new trial
(Cosgrave, 2015).
In the above example we had a Consequence for correct response which
Herron and Heward (2007, pg. 287) clearly state: "Positive reinforcement is the
most important and most widely applied principle of behavior analysis". There
increase a response, in the above example the RBT praised and/or rewarded the
child which is the most common type of positive reinforcement. The opposite
ultimately cease the behavior from occurring. During extinction there might be
during the initial stage of the extinction procedure (Cooper, Heron and Heward,
Reinforcement". Applying one of the four types of reinforcement every time the
2015). There are two types of continuous schedules, Fixed Ratio abbreviated
(FR) and Fixed Interval abbreviated (FI) (Cooper et al, 2007). During Fixed
Ratio the reinforcer is being applied after a specific number of desired behaviors
where as Fixed Interval the reinforcer is being applied after a specific amount of
time. When reinforcement is being applied on an irregular basis, they are called
Variable Schedules (Cooper et al, 2007). Again there are 2 types of Variable
abbreviated (VI) takes place when reinforcer is being applied after a variable
The simplest definition in the literature for prompting and prompt fading
is probably given by Alberto and Troutman (2003); prompts are used to increase
the likelihood that a student will provide a desired response where as fading is
gradually reducing the prompt. According to the same scientists there are six
types of prompts. The first is Physical prompt in which we physically guide the
student to perform a skill, Verbal prompts are verbal cues which give
peer demonstrates the desired skill, Gestural prompt occurs when we use
gestures, such as pointing in order to guide the student to the correct response,
Visual prompts such as pictures, symbols and text that can assist a student to
respond correctly, and last but not least Positional prompt happens when placing
a prompt; for example the type of prompt used will depend not only on the skill
being taught but also based on the students' current abilities (Alberto and
Troutman, 2003). All prompts need to be faded over time or when the student is
successful in order to prevent prompt dependency, but not too quickly otherwise
errors may be made by the learner; if this occurs, returning to the prompt level
that the student was successful with for a while longer is essential, and then try
fading the prompts again Alberto and Troutman, 2003). Finally verbal prompts
can be the most difficult to fade so they have to be used wisely only when
needed and always reinforce all unprompted correct responses which are defined
2003). In the words of Cooper et al (2007, p.262) "behaviors are reinforced, not
people". For example statements such as, "The teacher reinforced Bobby when
Participants
For anonymity purposes the child's name will not be revealed so for the
purposes of this study he will be called Max. Max is a 10 year old boy who is
diagnosed with autism. He lives with his parents who are Georgian; his native
language is Russian but his guardians want him to learn English as they believe
Russian will not be useful to him apart from communicating with his Georgian
relatives and his father since he is living in a foreign country where the main
spoken languages are Greek and English. At home they speak Russian because
as mentioned above his father doesn't speak English; he also receives 1:1 lessons
skills in English (according to his parents his language skills expressive and
receptive are much better in Russian but there is no way at this point to verify
that since none of his therapist speaks Russian). Max has a history of problem
behaviors mainly SIBs (self injurious behaviors) such as pinching self and
can get quite noisy. He also participates in some class lessons as part of his
inclusion program such as P.E. and Computers always accompanied by his RBT.
(trainee behavior analyst) assigned by the family who also supervises the child's
RBT. His level of performance has been assessed using the Assessment of Basic
analyst who is reviewing the data that are collected by the RBT at the end of
each week and is responsible to determine whether changes in the plan are
necessary. Even though Max is mastering target skills relatively fast primarily
with the use of DTT, his academic and functional performance is significantly
The dependent variable is Max greets back his teachers every time they
used with 100% correct answers on all trials for 3 consecutive days as a
Experimental Design
For the purpose of this study A-B design was used. An A-B design is a
two phase design composed of a baseline (‘A phase’) with no changes and a
treatment or intervention (‘B phase’). Even though A-B design has the limitation
once learned they cannot be unlearned (Kazdin, 1982). Both criteria unpractical
and unethical were met in this study so A-B design was chosen.
Baseline
During the baseline Max's teachers randomly entered the ABA room 3
times per day for 3 days saying the greet "Good morning Max". At this point
the RBT and the teachers scored (–) if he didn’t respond to the greeting within
3-5 sec, and a (+) if he returned the greeting by saying ‘Good morning’
independently within 3-5 sec. The RBT had one DTT per day and he would
score (-) if Max didn’t respond to the greeting and a (+) if he would
For the purpose of this study the observations were contacted by the 2
on a data sheet whether the response emitted from the child was correct or
within 3-5 sec where as wrong answer was considered a no answer/ prompted
answer within 3-5 sec. IOA is computed by taking the number of agreements
compute the percentage (%) of agreement (Kelly, 2015). Due to the small
amount of data the agreement was set to 100%. At the end of the recordings
teachers and RBT compared their scorings with the average mean being 100%.
x 4 meters were Max receives his 1:1 training (hereafter called ABA room) in
his private school. ABA room contains a round table with 3 chairs, 1 regular
school desk with 2 chairs, a TV set, a carpet 2 x 1.5 meter with pillows and
various games that functions as his brake time corner when he is on DTT brakes.
his individualized education program. Also data collection form for data
collection with the use of pen or pencil which included student's name, task
name, target behavior, date, trials and total percentage. During intervention RBT
sat at the desk with the student on the opposite site and the verbal stimuli "Good
morning Max" was delivered. If there was no answer the RBT verbally
reinforcement for each correct response. The reinforcements were edible items
such as nesquik cereals (1-2 pieces each time) and verbal praise i.e. Bravo!!!
Well Done!!! Excellent!!! Good Boy!! . The teachers were randomly entering
the ABA room 3 times per day each (6 times total) delivering the stimulus
"Good morning Max". As the student got more independent the following trials
were followed by a lesser intrusive prompt until he was fully independent; for
example "say, Goodm...." then "say, Good ....." then "Say, G......" and so on until
sheet mentioned above. Each trial consisted with a (+) that was equal to correct
and independent response without any prompt and within 3-5 sec and a (-) that
was equal to no-response or prompt response within 3-5 sec and lasted from 20
sec to 5 minutes consisting 16 trials, 10 trials with the RBT and 6 with the
teachers. The RBT contacted 1 Discrete Trial Session per day containing 10
ongoing Education Programs there was no extra time for the intervention.
Results
During baseline assessment Max had zero correct responses. During the
first 3 days of intervention Max had a top range of correct responses 40%. Day
four had an astonishing 90% correct response followed by the mastery criterion
which was 100% correct answers for 3 consecutive days, across teachers (see
figure 1).
100%
90%
percentage of correct answers
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
1 2 3
Days
The purpose of this study was to teach a child with autism to learn how to
greet in the school environment using Discrete Trial Learning. This study
confirmed the hypothesis that DTT is one of the most important instructional
method for children with autism" (Smith, 2001). With the use of this strategy the
child learned a new social skill within 7 days of intervention therefore the results
of this study suggest that Discrete Trial Training was effective in teaching a
child with autism how to respond to the greet of his teachers and RBT. During
the baseline there were no correct answers and this is quite normal since the
child did not have any prior knowledge of the taught skill. As soon as the
intervention started there was 10% of correct answers indicating that it had a
positive effect followed by 20% on the second day and 40% the third day.
During the fourth day the student had 90% correct answers which was a clear
sign the intervention was being effective. During the following three days the
student was able to respond to his teachers' and RBTs' greet independently and
being 100% correct. The data show that verbal prompt and continuous
for a child with autism. After the implementation of the Discrete Trial Training
and the implementation of the verbal prompts combined with the continuous
reinforcement the number of questions answered doubled every day the
intervention was implemented. A child who could not respond to a greet for 3
days across 3 different people managed to master a new skill 4 days after the
intervention started. The generality of these findings for other children with
verbal prompts might be indicated simply because they are easy to apply
whereas some others are not applicable to some targets i.e. use of picture
this study has a history of verbal prompts and DTT which makes it possible to
have responded more effectively to this type of intervention. Despite the fact
that Video Modeling is being evidenced-based and probably the most widely
method used to teach social skills (Wang P., Spillane A., 2009) it could not be
school policy about the use of videos and video equipment concerning the
environment. One reason may be the structure that DTT provides when teaching
a relatively complex task suck as greetings which is a form of conversation.
Children with autism often fail to learn in the same ways as typically developing
(Schreidman, 2005). With the use of DTT the steps were broken down and thus
the greeting process became more structured, simplified and easier to be learned.
One additional reason DTT may have been effective was the familiarity the
child had with the procedure as DTT's is the primary teaching method of the
the effectiveness of DTT as a method for teaching children with autism how to
greet. An important limitation is the small sample size used. Given only one
child participated in the present study, the external validity is extremely limited.
Jolley J. 2001). In other words, it is the extent to which the results of a study can
D., Akert, R. M., & Fehr, B., 2007). Another limitation would be the design
used. For the purpose of this study an A-B design was used which has the
2000). A final limitation to consider is the number of DTT conducted per day.
The RBT contacted 1 Discrete Trial Session per day because there were already
ongoing behavior interventions as well as ongoing Education Programs and at
Future research should investigate additional gains that may result from
students play more interactively with peers once basic communications has been
Because in general children with autism have poor eye contact (Greer and Ross,
2007) it should be not only interesting but also significant to determine if there
skills would increase eye contact. According to Carbone V., O' Brien L.,
functions eye contact may serve, failure to emit this important behavior may
suggested that poor eye contact may adversely affect the educational gains of
children with autism due to the relationship between eye contact and attending
to the teacher and instructional demands (Greer & Ross, 2007). The present
restricted to the teachers and the RBT; It would be interesting to see how the
new skills once mastered can be applied across people and settings. Finally,
replication of this study should add additional strength to the implication of this
relation between the independent and dependent variable under study and to
explain the specific role of each variable more accurately since this study's main
Alberto, A.A., & Troutman, A.C. (2003). Applied behavior analysis for
teacher. (6th edition). NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall. Cited in Prompting and
Fading [PDF] Available at: http://www.tcse.us/wp-
content/uploads/2011/02/prompting_and_fadingtguide.pdf
Aronson, E., Wilson, T. D., Akert, R. M., & Fehr, B. (2007). Social
psychology. (4 ed.). Toronto, ON: Pearson Education. As cited in
Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/External_validity
Cooper, J., Heron, T., & Heward, W. (2007). Applied Behaviour Analysis.
New Jersey: Pearson Education, pg. 257, 262, 695,700, 701
Delano, M. E., & Snell, M. E. (2006). The effects of social stories on the
social engagement of children with autism. Journal of Positive Behavior
Interventions, 8, 29-42. As cited in Anne S. , Peishi W. (2009).
Greer, D. R., & Ross, D. E. (2007). Verbal behavior analysis. New York, NY:
Pearson Education. As cited in Carbone Clinic, Available at:
http://www.carboneclinic.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Carbone-et-
al.-Eye-Contact.pdf
Mitchell, M. & Jolley, J. (2001). Research Design Explained (4th Ed) New
York:Harcourt. As cited in Wikipedia. Available at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/External_validity
Paterson, C. R., & Arco, L. (2007). Using video modeling for generalizing
toy play in children with autism. Behavior Modification, 31, 660-681.
As cited in Anne S. , Peishi W. (2009).
Target: Texas Guide For Effective Teaching (2013). Discrete Trial Training
Available at: http://www.txautism.net/uploads/target/DTT.pdf
Appendix A
Students' Responses