Professional practice of behavior analysis
Encyclopedia
The professional practice of behavior analysis is one domain of behavior analysis: others being behaviorism
, experimental analysis of behavior
and applied behavior analysis
. The professional practice of behavior analysis is the delivery of interventions to consumers that are guided by the principles of behaviorism and the research of both the experimental analysis of behavior and applied behavior analysis. Professional practice seeks maximum precision to change behavior most effectively in specific instances. Behavior analysts are mental health professional
s and, in some states, may hold a license, certificate or registration as a behavior analysts. In other states, there are no laws governing their practice and, as such, the practice may be prohibited as falling under the practice definition of other mental health professionals. This is rapidly changing as Behavior Analysts are becoming more and more common.
The professional practice of behavior analysis is a hybrid discipline with specific influences coming from counseling, psychology, education, special education, communication disorders, physical therapy and criminal justice. As a discipline it has its own conferences, organizations, certification processes and awards.
As the above suggests, behavior analysis is based on the principles of operant and respondent conditioning. This places behavior analysis as one of the dominant models of behavior modification
, behavior management
, behavioral engineering
and behavior therapy. Behavior analysis is an active, environmental-based approach and behavior analytic procedures are considered highly restrictive (see Least Restrictive Environment
).
Currently in the U.S. some behavior analysts at the masters level are licensed; others work with an international certification where licenses are unavailable, although this may not be allowed in some states or jurisdictions. At the doctoral level many are licensed as psychologists with Diplomate status in behavioral psychology or licensed as licensed behavior analysts. Diplomate status alone, however, does not allow one to practice in every state and each state's reguluatory statute must be reviewed for the appropriateness and legality of practice.
in behavior analysis. The American Psychological Association offers a diplomate (post PhD and licensed certification) in behavioral psychology.
) the model act sets the standard not just for a master's degree but twice this level of achievement (60 graduate master level credits instead of 30). This requirement states that the person has achieved textbook knowledge of behavior analysis which can be then tested through the exam offered by the Behavior Analyst Certification Board or the World Center for Behavior Analysis. It also requires an internship in which a behavior analyst works under another master or PhD level behavior analyst for a period of one year (750 hours) with at least two hours/week of supervision. Finally, those 750 hours are considered tutelage time. After that the behavior analyst must engage in supervised practice under a behavior analyst for a period of another 2 years (2,000 hours).
Once this process is complete the person applies to a state board who ensures that he or she has indeed met the above conditions. Once the person is licensed public protection is still monitored by the licensing board, which makes sure that the person receives sufficient ongoing education, and the licensing board investigates ethical complaints. A licensed behavior analyst would have equal training, knowledge, skills and abilities in their discipline as would a mental health counselor
or marriage and family therapist in their discipline. In February 2008, Indiana, Arizona, Massachusetts, Vermont, Oklahoma and other states now have legislation pending to create licensure for behavior analysts. Pennsylvania was the first state in 2008 to license behavior specialists to cover behavior analysts. Arizona, less than three weeks later, became the first state to license behavior analysts. Other states such as Nevada and Wisconsin have also passed behavior analytic licensure.
Consultation can involve working with the consultee (i.e., a parent or teacher) to build a plan around the behavior of a client (i.e., a child or student), or training the consultees themselves to modify the behavior of the client. Within the domain of parent–child consultation, standard intervention includes teaching parents skills such as basic reinforcement
, time-out
and how to manipulate different factors to modify behavior.
Direct therapy involves the relationship of behavior analyst and client, usually one-on-one, in which the analyst is responsible for directly modifying the behavior of their client. Direct therapy is also used in schools but can also be found in group home
s, in a behavior modification facility
and in behavior therapy (where the focus may be on tasks such as quitting smoking
, modifying behaviors for sex offenders or other types of offenders, modifying behaviors related to mood disorder
s) or to encourage job seeking behavior in psychiatric patients.
International still retains a special interest group in behavioral counseling and coaching.
model is sometimes referred to as life coaching. However, like counselors and psychologists, life coaches can have varied orientations/change theories (see behavioral change theories). Behavioral life coaches operate mainly from a behavior analytic orientation. Unlike therapy this model is applied to people who desire to achieve a specific goal such as increasing their assertiveness with others. This model is educational and is usually presented as an alternative to therapy. Coaches use behavioral techniques such as objective setting, goal setting, self-control training and behavioral activation to help clients achieve specific life goals. Behavioral coaching was sometimes used to teach job skills to people having mental retardation or head injury. In this area the model made extensive use of task analysis, direct instruction, role play, reinforcement and error correction. Often this approach employs techniques of direct instruction
.
perspective but many held a position based on the use of behavioral psychology with a focus on the use of operant, respondent conditioning procedures. Some who did adopt a position on modeling held closer to the behavioral view of modeling as generalized imitation developed through learning processes.
, applied behavior analysis
(ABA) therapies have demonstrated efficacy
in promoting social and language development and in reducing behaviors that interfere with learning and cognitive functioning. In addition such therapies have led to increased intellectual skills and increased adaptive functioning. Even with past successes, behavior therapists continue to develop models of social skills
.
to help acquire mastery and fluency of skills.
who may not otherwise observe these behaviors spontaneously through imitation.
or atypical individuals whose issues vary from developmental delays, significant behavioral problems or undesirable habits.
Curriculum development in behavior analytic programs for children with autism is important. Curriculum should carefully task analyze the skill needed to be learned and then ensure that proper tool skills have been taught before the skill iteself is attempted to be taught. Applied behavior analysis is often confused as a table-only therapy. Properly performed, applied behavior analysis should be done in both table and natural environments depending on the student's progress and needs. Once a student has mastered a skill at the table the team should move the student into a natural environment for further training and generalization of the skill.
Frequently the Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills
(ABLLS) is used to create a baseline of the learner's functional skill set. The ABLLS breaks down the learner's strengths and weaknesses to best tailor the applied behavior analysis curriculum to them. By focusing on the exact skills that need help the teacher does not teach a skill the student knows. This can also prevent student frustration at attempting a skill for which they are not ready. Bridget Taylor
is one of the first popularized autism therapists as a major proponent.
Many families have fought school districts for such programs. Donald Baer
, a behavior analyst who often testified as an expert witness, provided several letters to lawyers before he died. Ohio state has archived those letters.
to demonstrate stimulus–stimulus pairing. Discrete trials are often contrasted with free operant procedures, like ones used by B.F. Skinner in learning experiments with rats and pigeons, to show how learning was influenced by rates of reinforcement
. The discrete trials method was adapted as a therapy for developmentally delayed
children and individuals with autism. For example, Ole Ivar Lovaas
used discrete trials to teach autistic children skills including making eye contact, following simple instructions, advanced language and social skills. These discrete trials involved breaking a behavior into its most basic functional unit and presenting the units in a series.
A discrete trial usually consists of the following: the antecedent possibly combined with a prompt (a non-essential element used to assist learning or correct responding), the behavior of the student and a consequence. If the student's behavior matches what is desired the consequence is something positive: food, candy, a game, praise, etc. If the behavior was not correct the teacher offers the correct answer then repeats the trial possibly with more prompting, if needed.
There is usually an inter-trial interval that allows for a few seconds to separate each trial to allow the student to process the information, teach the student to wait and make the onset of the next trial more discrete. Discrete trials can be used to develop most skills which includes cognitive, verbal communication, play, social and self-help skills. There is a carefully laid out procedure for error correction and a problem solving model to use if the program gets stuck. Discrete trial is sometimes referred to as the Lovaas technique
.
Discrete trials have been helpful in the treatment of pediatric feeding problems as well as in the prevention of feeding problems.
(ACT), behavioral activation
(BA), Kohlenberg & Tsai's functional analytic psychotherapy
and the community reinforcement approach for treating addictions. In addition, the book highlights several recent areas of functional analysis research for common clinical problems. Many of these areas are specified in the section on behavior therapy.
for nondrinking. When combined with disulfiram (an aversive procedure
) community reinforcement showed remarkable effects. One component of the program that appears to be particularly strong is the non-drinking club. Applications of community reinforcement to public policy has become the recent focus of this approach.
An off-shoot of the community reinforcement approach is the community reinforcement and family training approach. This program is designed to help family members of substance abusers feel empowered to engage in treatment. The rates of success have varied somewhat by study but seem to cluster around 70%. The program uses a variety of interventions based on functional assessment including a module to prevent domestic violence. Partners are trained to use positive reinforcement, various communication skills and natural consequences.
movement and creates the basis of Teaching-Family Model
homes. Teaching-Family homes have been found to reduce recidivism for delinquent youths both while they are in the homes and after they leave. Operant procedures form the basis of behavioral parent training developed from social learning theorists. The etiological models for antisocial behavior show considerable correlation with negative reinforcement and response matching
. Behavioral parent training
or Parent Management Training has been very successful in the treatment of conduct disorders in children and adolescents with recent research focusing on making it more culturally sensitive. In addition, behavioral parent training has been shown to reduce corporal or abusive child discipline
tactics. Behavior analysts typically adhere to a behavioral model of child development in their practice (see child development
).
which was developed by Montrose Wolf
and clearly reduces recidivism rates. In addition, behaviorally-based early intervention programs have shown effectiveness.
(PTSD), and addictions (cue exposure). Prolonged exposure therapy
has been particularly helpful with PTSD. Several procedures to block respondent conditioning such as blocking and overshadowing are sometimes used in behavioral medicine to prevent conditioned taste aversion for patients with chemotherapy treatments. Exposure with Response Prevention
(ERP) is a respondent extinction procedure often used to treat obsessive–compulsive behavior. Escape response
blocking is critical for this procedure. For PTSDs exposure therapy is one of the few evidence-based techniques. Recent research suggests exposure therapy is an excellent means of alleviating both the anxiety and cognitive symptoms specific to PTSD with no additive effect for additional cognitive components. Several authors have argued that exposure by itself is necessary and sufficient to produce behavior change in reducing fear in social phobics and helping them engage more effectively with others. The Washington Post ran a story that only exposure therapy is proven for PTSD and that cognitive therapy or even drug therapy are not shown at this time to be effective.
(EEG) correlates of meditative states. Operant conditioning
of EEG has had considerable support in many areas including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and even seizure disorders. Early studies of the procedure included the treatment of seizure disorders. Luber and colleagues (1981) conducted a double blind crossover study showing that seizure activity decreased by 50% in the contingent conditioning of inhibiting brain waves as opposed to the non-contingent use. Sterman (2000) reviewed 18 studies of a total of 174 clients and found 82% of the participants had significant seizure reduction (30% less weekly seizures).
. Behavior safety research has lately become focused on factors that lead programs to being retained in institutions long after the designer leaves.
and Direct Instruction
: the former representing the process and the latter a specific curriculum that highlights that process remain both current and controversial in behavior analysis. The essential features are a carefully structured fast paced program based on teacher-directed small group instruction. One controversy that remains is that teacher creativity is admonished in the program. Even with such issues to be worked out positive gains in reading for the approach have been reported in the literature since 1968. An example of the positive gains reported by Meyer (1984) found that 34% of children in the DISTAR group were accepted to college as compared to only 17% of the control school. Current research is focused on peer delivery of the program.
School-wide positive behavior support
is based on the use of behavior analytic procedures delivered in an organizational behavior management approach. School-wide behavioral support has been increasingly accepted by administrators, law–makers and teachers as a way to improve safety in classrooms.
Curriculum-based measurement
and curriculum matching is another active area of application. Curriculum-based measurement uses rate and reading performance as the primary variable in determining reading levels. The goal is to better match children to the appropriate curriculum level to remove frustration as well as to track reading performance over time to see if it is improving with intervention. This model also serves as the basis for response to intervention
models.
Functional behavioral assessment
was mandated in the United States for children who meet criteria under the individuals with disabilities education act. This approach has precluded many procedures for modifying and maintaining children in not just the school system, but in many cases in the regular education setting. Even children with severe behavior problems appear to be helped.
Teaching children to recruit attention has become a very important area in education. In many cases one function of children's disruptive behavior is to get attention.
—especially for conditioned taste aversion
. This area of interest is considered important in the prevention of weigh loss during chemotherapy for cancer patients. Another area of growing interest in the hospital setting is the use of operant-based biofeedback with those suffering from cerebral palsy or minor spinal injuries.
Brucker's group at the University of Miami has had some success with specific operant conditioning-based biofeedback procedures to enhance functioning. While such methods are not a cure, and gains tend to be in the moderate range, they do show ability to help remaining central nervous system cells to regain some control over lost areas of functioning.
.
Applied behavior analysts sometimes work with a team to address a person's educational or behavioral needs. Other professionals such as speech therapists, physicians and the primary caregivers are treated as key to the implementation of successful therapy in the applied behavior analysis (ABA) model. The ABA method relies on behavior principles to develop treatments appropriate for the individual. Regular meetings with professionals to discuss programming are one way to establish a successful working relationship between a family and their school. It is beneficial when a caregiver can conduct generalization procedures outside of school. In the ABA framework, developing and maintaining a structured working relationship between parents or guardians and professionals is essential to ensure consistent treatment.
. Goal setting ensures that the client is already under stimulus control
of the goal and is thus more likely to engage in behavior to achieve it. Behavior analytic programs are ultimately skill building, they enhance functioning, lead to higher quality of life, and build self-control. One of the most distinguishing features of behavior analysis has been its core belief that all individuals have a right to the most effective treatment for their condition. and a right to the most effective educational strategy available.
. It is based on the principles of operant
and respondent conditioning and represents a major approach to behavior modification
and behavior management. Its origin can be traced back to Teodoro Ayllon and Jack Michael
's 1959 article "The psychiatric nurse as a behavioral engineer" as well as to initial efforts to implement teaching machines.
The research basis of ABA can be found in the theoretical work of behaviorism
and radical behaviorism
originating with the work of B.F. Skinner. In 1968 Baer, Wolf and Risley wrote an article that was the source of contemporary applied behavior analysis
providing the criteria to judge the adequacy of research and practice in applied behavior analysis. It became the core and centerpiece of behavior modification and behavioral engineering
.
Work in respondent conditioning (what some would term classical conditioning
) began with the work of Joseph Wolpe
in the 1960s. It was improved by the work of Edna B Foa
who did extensive research on exposure and response prevention for obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). In addition, she worked on exposure therapy
for post-traumatic stress disorder
.
Over the years most behavior analysts have existed and conducted research in many areas and University departments: behavior analysis, psychology, special education, regular education, speech–language pathology, communication disorders, school psychology, criminal justice and family life. They have belonged to many organizations including the American Psychological Association
(APA) and have most often found a core intellectual home in the Association for Behavior Analysis
International.
, education
, mental health
and addiction
treatments. In the area of mental health and addictions a recent article looked at APA's list for well-established and promising practices and found a considerable number of them based on the principles of operant conditioning
and respondent conditioning. A 1985 meta-analysis of social skills
training methods found operant conditioning procedures had the largest effect size, the greatest generalization and the shortest training time; modeling
, coaching
, and social cognitive techniques, respectively, had smaller and smaller effect sizes.
, counseling, special education
, developmental disability
, mental health
and other studies of human behavior
. Current research in behavior analysis focuses on expanding the tradition by looking at setting events, behavioral activation
, the Matching law
, relational frame theory
, stimulus equivalences and covert conditioning
as exemplified in Skinner's model of rule-governed behavior Verbal Behavior. Behavior analysis has moved past being just basic interventions for problems and into more comprehensive analyses of child development behavior
.
. This work continues today in the study of both pathology and treatment.
such as shouting and slaps to reduce unwanted behaviors. Ethical opposition to such aversive practices caused them to fall out of favor and has stimulated development of less aversive methods. In general, aversion therapy and punishment
are now less frequently used as ABA treatments due to legal restrictions. However, procedures such as odor aversion, covert sensitization and other covert conditioning
procedures, based on punishment or aversion strategies, are still used effectively in the treatment of pedophiles. In addition, with some populations such as conduct disorder in children there is considerable evidence that has developed to show that all positive programs can produce change but that children will not enter into the normal range without punishment
procedures. These programs have shifted to using child time-out
and response–cost procedures to ensure that clients rights to effective interventions are met.
yet it kept "ego dystonic" homosexuality as a condition until the DSM III-R (circa 1985). In 1974 Ole Ivar Lovaas
, pioneer of the use of ABA to treat autism, was the second author on a journal article
describing the use of ABA to reduce "feminine" behaviors and increase "masculine" behaviors of a male child in an effort to prevent adult transsexualism
. Treatments designed to uphold traditional sex-role behaviors were opposed by some behavior analysts who argued that the intervention was not justified. In the late 1960s Wolpe refused to treat homosexual behavior arguing that it was easier and more productive to treat the religious guilt than the homosexuality. He instead provided assertiveness training to a homosexual client. Most behavior analysts and behavior therapists have not worked in sexual re–orientation therapy since Gerald Davison
argued that the issue was not one of effectiveness but of ethics. When he wrote the paper presenting this position, Davison was president of the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy, now the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies
, and thus his views carried much weight. Davison argued that homosexuality is not pathological and is only a problem if it is regarded as one by society and the therapist.
and aversion therapy procedures are a constant ethical challenge for behavior analysts. One of the original reasons for the development of the Behavior Analysis Certification Board were cases of abuse from behavior analysts and behavior modifiers. Both continue to draw proponents and opposition, however, in some of the more controversial cases some middle ground has been found through legislation (see Judge Rotenberg Educational Center
).
treatment and covert sensitization it has been shown to have some effects on reducing recidivism when it is part of a behavior modification
treatment package. However Gene Able, who has done extensive research in this area, suggests that it is not as effective outside of the package which contains odor aversion
, satiation therapy (mastubatory reconditioning), and various social skills training programs including empathy training. Current behavior analysis programs offer this type of comprehensive treatment approach. In addition they use a combination of functional assessment, behavior chain analysis and risk assessment to create relapse prevention strategies and to help the offender to develop better self-control.
With sex offenders who have retardation, comprehensive behavioral programming has been effective at least in the short run. This treatment included formal academic and vocational training, sex education, a unit token economy
, and individual behavior therapy including sexual reconditioning. In addition it included supported competitive employment, fading of program structure, and increased community participation.
. These include The Behavior Analyst Today, the International Journal of Behavioral Consultation and Therapy and three new journals scheduled for release in 2008: Behavior Analysis in Sports, Health, Fitness and Behavioral Medicine, the Journal of Behavior Analysis in Crime and Victim: Treatment and Prevention as well as a new journal to be released from the Association for Behavior Analysis International titled Behavior Analytic Practice.
International has a special interest group for practitioner issues, behavioral counseling, and clinical behavior analysis. The Association for Behavior Analysis International has larger special interest groups for autism
and behavioral medicine
. The Association for Behavior Analysis International serves as the core intellectual home for behavior analysts. The Association for Behavior Analysis International sponsors two conferences/year—one in the U.S. and one international.
The Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies
(ABCT) also has an interest group in behavior analysis, which focuses on clinical behavior analysis. In addition, the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies has a special interest group on addictions.
Doctoral level behavior analysts who are psychologists belong to the American Psychological Association
's division 25: Behavior analysis. APA offers a diplomate in behavioral psychology.
Behaviorism
Behaviorism , also called the learning perspective , is a philosophy of psychology based on the proposition that all things that organisms do—including acting, thinking, and feeling—can and should be regarded as behaviors, and that psychological disorders are best treated by altering behavior...
, experimental analysis of behavior
Experimental analysis of behavior
The experimental analysis of behavior is the name given to the school of psychology founded by B.F. Skinner, and based on his philosophy of radical behaviorism. A central principle was the inductive, data-driven examination of functional relations, as opposed to the kinds of hypothetico-deductive...
and applied behavior analysis
Applied Behavior Analysis
Applied behavior analysis is a science that involves using modern behavioral learning theory to modify behaviors. Behavior analysts reject the use of hypothetical constructs and focus on the observable relationship of behavior to the environment...
. The professional practice of behavior analysis is the delivery of interventions to consumers that are guided by the principles of behaviorism and the research of both the experimental analysis of behavior and applied behavior analysis. Professional practice seeks maximum precision to change behavior most effectively in specific instances. Behavior analysts are mental health professional
Mental health professional
A mental health professional is a health care practitioner who offers services for the purpose of improving an individual's mental health or to treat mental illness. This broad category includes psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, clinical social workers, psychiatric nurses, mental health...
s and, in some states, may hold a license, certificate or registration as a behavior analysts. In other states, there are no laws governing their practice and, as such, the practice may be prohibited as falling under the practice definition of other mental health professionals. This is rapidly changing as Behavior Analysts are becoming more and more common.
The professional practice of behavior analysis is a hybrid discipline with specific influences coming from counseling, psychology, education, special education, communication disorders, physical therapy and criminal justice. As a discipline it has its own conferences, organizations, certification processes and awards.
Defining the scope of practice
The Behavior Analysis Certification Board (BACB) defines behavior analysis as:As the above suggests, behavior analysis is based on the principles of operant and respondent conditioning. This places behavior analysis as one of the dominant models of behavior modification
Behavior modification
Behavior modification is the use of empirically demonstrated behavior change techniques to increase or decrease the frequency of behaviors, such as altering an individual's behaviors and reactions to stimuli through positive and negative reinforcement of adaptive behavior and/or the reduction of...
, behavior management
Behavior management
Behavior management is similar to behavior modification. It is a less intensive version of behavior therapy. In behavior modification the focus is on changing behavior, while in behavior management the focus is on maintaining order. Behavior management skills are of particular importance to...
, behavioral engineering
Behavioral engineering
Behavioral engineering is intended to identify issues associated with the interface of technology and the human operators in a system and to generate recommended design practices that consider the strengths and limitations of the human operators....
and behavior therapy. Behavior analysis is an active, environmental-based approach and behavior analytic procedures are considered highly restrictive (see Least Restrictive Environment
Least Restrictive Environment
As part of the U.S. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the least restrictive environment is identified as one of the six principles that govern the education of students with disabilities and other special needs...
).
Currently in the U.S. some behavior analysts at the masters level are licensed; others work with an international certification where licenses are unavailable, although this may not be allowed in some states or jurisdictions. At the doctoral level many are licensed as psychologists with Diplomate status in behavioral psychology or licensed as licensed behavior analysts. Diplomate status alone, however, does not allow one to practice in every state and each state's reguluatory statute must be reviewed for the appropriateness and legality of practice.
Certification
The Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) offers a technical certificateProfessional certification
Professional certification, trade certification, or professional designation, often called simply certification or qualification, is a designation earned by a person to assure qualification to perform a job or task...
in behavior analysis. The American Psychological Association offers a diplomate (post PhD and licensed certification) in behavioral psychology.
The meaning of certification
BACB is a private non-profit organization without governmental powers to regulate behavior analytic practice. While the BACB certification means that candidates have satisfied entry-level requirements in behavior analytic training, certificants are generally required to be licensed by their respective jurisdictions for independent practice when treating behavioral health or medical problems. Licensed certificants must operate within the scope of their license and within their areas of expertise. Where the government regulates behavior analytic services, unlicensed certificants may be supervised by a licensed professional and operate within the scope of their supervisor's license when treating disorders if that jurisdiction allows such supervisison. Unlicensed certificants who provide behavior analytic training for educational or optimal performance purposes do not require licensed supervision, unless the law or precedent prohibits such practice. Where the government does not regulate the treatment of medical or psychological disorders certificants should practice in accord with the laws of their state, province, or country. All certificants must practice within their personal areas of expertise.Licensure
The model licensing act for behavior analysts states that a person is a behavior analyst by training and experience. The person seeking licensure must have mastered behavior analysis by achieving a master's degree in behavior analysis or related subject matter. Like all other master level licensed professions (see counseling and Licensed Professional CounselorLicensed Professional Counselor
Licensed professional counselor is a licensure for mental health professionals. The exact title varies by state, but the other most frequently used title is licensed mental health counselor . Several U.S. states, including Illinois, Maine, and Tennessee, have implemented a two-tier system whereby...
) the model act sets the standard not just for a master's degree but twice this level of achievement (60 graduate master level credits instead of 30). This requirement states that the person has achieved textbook knowledge of behavior analysis which can be then tested through the exam offered by the Behavior Analyst Certification Board or the World Center for Behavior Analysis. It also requires an internship in which a behavior analyst works under another master or PhD level behavior analyst for a period of one year (750 hours) with at least two hours/week of supervision. Finally, those 750 hours are considered tutelage time. After that the behavior analyst must engage in supervised practice under a behavior analyst for a period of another 2 years (2,000 hours).
Once this process is complete the person applies to a state board who ensures that he or she has indeed met the above conditions. Once the person is licensed public protection is still monitored by the licensing board, which makes sure that the person receives sufficient ongoing education, and the licensing board investigates ethical complaints. A licensed behavior analyst would have equal training, knowledge, skills and abilities in their discipline as would a mental health counselor
Mental Health Counselor
Mental health counselors practice mental health counseling which is a dynamic, holistic, strengths-based and psychoeducational discipline born in the late 1970s when several mental health professionals realized that the master’s degree level counselors working in community settings lacked a...
or marriage and family therapist in their discipline. In February 2008, Indiana, Arizona, Massachusetts, Vermont, Oklahoma and other states now have legislation pending to create licensure for behavior analysts. Pennsylvania was the first state in 2008 to license behavior specialists to cover behavior analysts. Arizona, less than three weeks later, became the first state to license behavior analysts. Other states such as Nevada and Wisconsin have also passed behavior analytic licensure.
Definitions
Behavior analytic services can be and often are delivered through various treatment modalities. These include:- Consultation – an indirect model in which the consultant works with the consultee to change the behavior of the client.
- TherapyTherapyThis is a list of types of therapy .* Adventure therapy* Animal-assisted therapy* Aquatic therapy* Aromatherapy* Art and dementia* Art therapy* Authentic Movement* Behavioral therapy* Bibliotherapy* Buteyko Method* Chemotherapy...
– (individual, group, or family) in which the therapist works directly with a person with some form of pathology to lessen the pathology. - Counseling – where the counselor works directly with a person who has problems but no pathology.
- Coaching – in which the coach works with a person to achieve a life goal.
Primary methods
The two primary methods for delivering behavior analytic services are consultation and/or therapy; the former involves three parties: consultant, consultee and a client whose behavior is changed.Consultation can involve working with the consultee (i.e., a parent or teacher) to build a plan around the behavior of a client (i.e., a child or student), or training the consultees themselves to modify the behavior of the client. Within the domain of parent–child consultation, standard intervention includes teaching parents skills such as basic reinforcement
Reinforcement
Reinforcement is a term in operant conditioning and behavior analysis for the process of increasing the rate or probability of a behavior in the form of a "response" by the delivery or emergence of a stimulus Reinforcement is a term in operant conditioning and behavior analysis for the process of...
, time-out
Child time-out
A time-out involves temporarily separating a child from an environment where inappropriate behavior has occurred, and is intended to give an over-excited child time to calm down and thereby discouraging such behavior. It is an educational and parenting technique recommended by some pediatricians...
and how to manipulate different factors to modify behavior.
Direct therapy involves the relationship of behavior analyst and client, usually one-on-one, in which the analyst is responsible for directly modifying the behavior of their client. Direct therapy is also used in schools but can also be found in group home
Group home
A group home is a private residence designed or converted to serve as a non-secure home for unrelated persons who share a common characteristic.-Types of group homes:...
s, in a behavior modification facility
Behavior modification facility
A behavior modification facility is a residential educational and treatment institution enrolling adolescents who are perceived as displaying antisocial behavior, in an attempt to alter their conduct. As of 2008 there were about 650 nongovernmental, residential programs in the United States...
and in behavior therapy (where the focus may be on tasks such as quitting smoking
Smoking
Smoking is a practice in which a substance, most commonly tobacco or cannabis, is burned and the smoke is tasted or inhaled. This is primarily practised as a route of administration for recreational drug use, as combustion releases the active substances in drugs such as nicotine and makes them...
, modifying behaviors for sex offenders or other types of offenders, modifying behaviors related to mood disorder
Mood disorder
Mood disorder is the term designating a group of diagnoses in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders classification system where a disturbance in the person's mood is hypothesized to be the main underlying feature...
s) or to encourage job seeking behavior in psychiatric patients.
History of behavior models
Two older and less used models still exist for the delivery of behavior analytic services. These models worked mostly with normal or typically developing populations. These two models are the Behavioral Coaching and the Behavioral Counseling model. Both were very popular in the 1960s–1980s but have recently seen a decline in popularity, in spite of their success, as proponents argued the merits of holding strictly to learning theory. The Association for Behavior AnalysisAssociation for Behavior Analysis
The Association for Behavior Analysis International is a nonprofit professional membership organization with the mission to contribute to the well-being of society by developing, enhancing, and supporting the growth and vitality of the science of behavior analysis through research, education, and...
International still retains a special interest group in behavioral counseling and coaching.
History of behavioral counseling
Behavioral counseling was very popular throughout the 1970s and at least into the early 1980s. Behavioral counseling is an active action–oriented approach that works with the typically developing population but also assists people with specific/discrete problems such as career decision making, drinking, smoking or rehabilitation after injury.Life coaching
The behavioral coachingCoaching
Coaching, with a professional coach, is the practice of supporting an individual, referred to as the client or mentee or coachee, through the process of achieving a specific personal or professional result....
model is sometimes referred to as life coaching. However, like counselors and psychologists, life coaches can have varied orientations/change theories (see behavioral change theories). Behavioral life coaches operate mainly from a behavior analytic orientation. Unlike therapy this model is applied to people who desire to achieve a specific goal such as increasing their assertiveness with others. This model is educational and is usually presented as an alternative to therapy. Coaches use behavioral techniques such as objective setting, goal setting, self-control training and behavioral activation to help clients achieve specific life goals. Behavioral coaching was sometimes used to teach job skills to people having mental retardation or head injury. In this area the model made extensive use of task analysis, direct instruction, role play, reinforcement and error correction. Often this approach employs techniques of direct instruction
Direct instruction
Direct Instruction is an instructional method that is focused on systematic curriculum design and skillful implementation of a prescribed behavioral script....
.
Goal of increasing reinforcement
Behavioral counseling was largely seen as a growth model that tried to increase the individuals sense of "freedom" by helping the client reduce punishment or coercion in their lives, build skills, and increase access to reinforcement. B.F. Skinner created a video discussing the processes involved and the importance of reinforcement to increase the sense of "freedom". Behavioral counseling attempts to use in-session reinforcement to improve decision-making, functional assessment of the clients problem, and behavioral interventions to reduce problem behaviors.Social learning in behavioral counseling
Some behavioral counselors approach therapy from a social learningObservational learning
Observational learning is a type of learning that occurs as a function of observing, retaining and replicating novel behavior executed by others...
perspective but many held a position based on the use of behavioral psychology with a focus on the use of operant, respondent conditioning procedures. Some who did adopt a position on modeling held closer to the behavioral view of modeling as generalized imitation developed through learning processes.
Weight loss
The behavioral counseling approach became very popular in weight reduction and is on the American Psychological Association's list of evidence-based practices for weight loss. Behavioral counseling for weight loss by Richard B. Stuart led to the commercial program called Weight Watchers. Recently, efforts have been made to resurrect interest in behavioral counseling as a method to effectively deliver services to normal problemed populations.Treatment of autism
Among the available approaches to treating autismAutism therapies
Autism therapies attempt to lessen the deficits and abnormal behaviours associated with autism and other autism spectrum disorders , and to increase the quality of life and functional independence of autistic individuals, especially children. Treatment is typically tailored to the child's needs...
, applied behavior analysis
Applied Behavior Analysis
Applied behavior analysis is a science that involves using modern behavioral learning theory to modify behaviors. Behavior analysts reject the use of hypothetical constructs and focus on the observable relationship of behavior to the environment...
(ABA) therapies have demonstrated efficacy
Efficacy
Efficacy is the capacity to produce an effect. It has different specific meanings in different fields. In medicine, it is the ability of an intervention or drug to reproduce a desired effect in expert hands and under ideal circumstances.- Healthcare :...
in promoting social and language development and in reducing behaviors that interfere with learning and cognitive functioning. In addition such therapies have led to increased intellectual skills and increased adaptive functioning. Even with past successes, behavior therapists continue to develop models of social skills
Social skills
A social skill is any skill facilitating interaction and communication with others. Social rules and relations are created, communicated, and changed in verbal and nonverbal ways. The process of learning such skills is called socialization...
.
Therapy qualifications
These are generally treatments based on ABA and involve intensive training of the therapists, extensive time spent in ABA therapy (20–40 hours per week) and weekly supervision by experienced clinical supervisors—known as board certified behavior analysts. ABA therapy often employs principles of overlearningOverlearning
Overlearning is a pedagogical concept according to which newly acquired skills should be practiced well beyond the point of initial mastery, leading to automaticity...
to help acquire mastery and fluency of skills.
Children with autism
The ABA approach teaches play, social, motor and verbal behaviors as well as reasoning skills. ABA therapy is used to teach behaviors to individuals with autismAutism
Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. These signs all begin before a child is three years old. Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their...
who may not otherwise observe these behaviors spontaneously through imitation.
Imitation
Imitation can also be directly trained. ABA therapies teach these skills through use of behavioral observation and reinforcement or prompting to teach each step of a behavior.Research and treatments
Extensive research exists to show that behavior analysis is an effective treatment for autism with literally hundreds of studies showing its effectiveness with persons of all ages in enhancing functioning, building skills and independence as well as improving life quality. What remains controversial are claims of behavior analysis "curing autism". While several small studies exist showing that behavior analysis holds promise in this area, the number of well-controlled studies do not rise to the level required by the American Psychological Aassociation to hold the treatment as empirically supported in this area.Misconceptions of treatment
An increasing amount of research in the field of applied behavior analysis is concerned with autism; and it is a common misconception that behavior analysts work almost exclusively with individuals with autism and that ABA is synonymous with discrete trials teaching. ABA principles can also be used with a range of typicalNeurotypical
Neurotypical is a term that was coined in the autistic community as a label for people who are not on the autism spectrum: specifically, neurotypical people have neurological development and states that are consistent with what most people would perceive as normal, particularly with respect to...
or atypical individuals whose issues vary from developmental delays, significant behavioral problems or undesirable habits.
Curriculum development in behavior analytic programs for children with autism is important. Curriculum should carefully task analyze the skill needed to be learned and then ensure that proper tool skills have been taught before the skill iteself is attempted to be taught. Applied behavior analysis is often confused as a table-only therapy. Properly performed, applied behavior analysis should be done in both table and natural environments depending on the student's progress and needs. Once a student has mastered a skill at the table the team should move the student into a natural environment for further training and generalization of the skill.
Frequently the Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills
Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills
The Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills is an educational tool used frequently with applied behavior analysis to measure the basic linguistic and functional skills of an individual with developmental delays or disabilities.-Development:The Assessment of Basic Language and Learning...
(ABLLS) is used to create a baseline of the learner's functional skill set. The ABLLS breaks down the learner's strengths and weaknesses to best tailor the applied behavior analysis curriculum to them. By focusing on the exact skills that need help the teacher does not teach a skill the student knows. This can also prevent student frustration at attempting a skill for which they are not ready. Bridget Taylor
Bridget Taylor
Bridget Taylor is the founder of the Alpine Learning Group , researcher on and practitioner of Applied Behavior Analysis.-Education:...
is one of the first popularized autism therapists as a major proponent.
Many families have fought school districts for such programs. Donald Baer
Donald Baer
Donald M. Baer was a psychologist who contributed to the applied behavior analysis movement and pioneered the development of behavior analysis at two separate institutions. Dr. Baer is best known for his contributions at the University of Kansas. Throughout his career, he published over two...
, a behavior analyst who often testified as an expert witness, provided several letters to lawyers before he died. Ohio state has archived those letters.
Discrete trials
Discrete trials were originally used by people studying classical conditioningClassical conditioning
Classical conditioning is a form of conditioning that was first demonstrated by Ivan Pavlov...
to demonstrate stimulus–stimulus pairing. Discrete trials are often contrasted with free operant procedures, like ones used by B.F. Skinner in learning experiments with rats and pigeons, to show how learning was influenced by rates of reinforcement
Reinforcement
Reinforcement is a term in operant conditioning and behavior analysis for the process of increasing the rate or probability of a behavior in the form of a "response" by the delivery or emergence of a stimulus Reinforcement is a term in operant conditioning and behavior analysis for the process of...
. The discrete trials method was adapted as a therapy for developmentally delayed
Developmental disability
Developmental disability is a term used in the United States and Canada to describe lifelong disabilities attributable to mental or physical impairments, manifested prior to age 18. It is not synonymous with "developmental delay" which is often a consequence of a temporary illness or trauma during...
children and individuals with autism. For example, Ole Ivar Lovaas
Ole Ivar Lovaas
Ole Ivar Løvaas, Ph.D. was a clinical psychologist at UCLA. He is considered to be one of the fathers of applied behavior analysis therapy for autism through his development of the Lovaas technique and the first to provide evidence that the behavior of autistic children can be modified through...
used discrete trials to teach autistic children skills including making eye contact, following simple instructions, advanced language and social skills. These discrete trials involved breaking a behavior into its most basic functional unit and presenting the units in a series.
A discrete trial usually consists of the following: the antecedent possibly combined with a prompt (a non-essential element used to assist learning or correct responding), the behavior of the student and a consequence. If the student's behavior matches what is desired the consequence is something positive: food, candy, a game, praise, etc. If the behavior was not correct the teacher offers the correct answer then repeats the trial possibly with more prompting, if needed.
There is usually an inter-trial interval that allows for a few seconds to separate each trial to allow the student to process the information, teach the student to wait and make the onset of the next trial more discrete. Discrete trials can be used to develop most skills which includes cognitive, verbal communication, play, social and self-help skills. There is a carefully laid out procedure for error correction and a problem solving model to use if the program gets stuck. Discrete trial is sometimes referred to as the Lovaas technique
Lovaas technique
LOVAAS technique, which is known to the general public as Applied behavior analysis , as well as Intensive behavioral intervention , and Early intensive behavioral intervention , is a form of treatment guided by ABA and developed by Dr. Ivar Lovaas, a psychology professor at UCLA...
.
Discrete trials have been helpful in the treatment of pediatric feeding problems as well as in the prevention of feeding problems.
Free operant procedures
In language training, many free operant procedures emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s. These procedures did not try to train discrimination first, and then passively wait for generalization, but instead worked from the start on actively promoting generalization. Initially the model was referred to as incidental teaching but later was called milieu language teaching and finally natural language teaching. Peterson (2007) completed a comprehensive review of 57 studies on these training procedures. This review found that 84% of the studies of the natural language procedures looked at maintenance and 94% looked at generalization and were able to provide direct support of its occurrence as part of the training.Clinical behavior analysis
Dougher's edited volume titled Clinical Behavior Analysis on Context Press highlights the application of behavior analysis to adult outpatients. He identifies four comprehensive behavior analytic programs: Stephen Hayes et al. acceptance and commitment therapyAcceptance and Commitment Therapy
Acceptance and commitment therapy or ACT is a cognitive–behavioral model of psychotherapy. It is an empirically-based psychological intervention that uses acceptance and mindfulness strategies mixed in different ways with commitment and behavior-change strategies, to increase psychological...
(ACT), behavioral activation
Behavioral activation
Behavioral activation is a third generation behavior therapy for treating depression. It is one of many functional analytic psychotherapies which are based on a Skinnerian psychological model of behavior change, generally referred to as applied behavior analysis...
(BA), Kohlenberg & Tsai's functional analytic psychotherapy
Functional Analytic Psychotherapy
Functional analytic psychotherapy is an approach to clinical psychotherapy that uses a radical behaviorist position informed by B.F. Skinner's analysis of verbal behavior....
and the community reinforcement approach for treating addictions. In addition, the book highlights several recent areas of functional analysis research for common clinical problems. Many of these areas are specified in the section on behavior therapy.
Community reinforcement and family training
Behavioral factors related to addicitons have a long history. Thus it is no surprise many behavioral treatments would be found to be efficacious. One efficacious approach is the community reinforcement approach. The community reinforcement approach has considerable research supporting it as efficacious. Started in the 1970s by Nathan H. Azrin and his graduate student Hunt, the community reinforcement approach is a comprehensive operant program built on a functional assessment of a client's drinking behavior and the use of positive reinforcement and contingency managementContingency Management
Contingency management is a type of treatment used in the mental health or substance abuse fields. Patients are rewarded for their behavior; generally, adherence to or failure to adhere to program rules and regulations or their treatment plan...
for nondrinking. When combined with disulfiram (an aversive procedure
Aversion therapy
Aversion therapy is a form of psychological treatment in which the patient is exposed to a stimulus while simultaneously being subjected to some form of discomfort...
) community reinforcement showed remarkable effects. One component of the program that appears to be particularly strong is the non-drinking club. Applications of community reinforcement to public policy has become the recent focus of this approach.
An off-shoot of the community reinforcement approach is the community reinforcement and family training approach. This program is designed to help family members of substance abusers feel empowered to engage in treatment. The rates of success have varied somewhat by study but seem to cluster around 70%. The program uses a variety of interventions based on functional assessment including a module to prevent domestic violence. Partners are trained to use positive reinforcement, various communication skills and natural consequences.
Children with disruptive disorders and parenting
With children, applied behavior analysis provides the core of the positive behavior supportPositive behavior support
Positive behavior support strives to use a system to understand what maintains an individual's challenging behavior. Students' inappropriate behaviors are difficult to change because they are functional; they serve a purpose for the child. These behaviors are supported by reinforcement in the...
movement and creates the basis of Teaching-Family Model
Teaching-Family Model
The teaching-family model is a model of care for troubled youth used internationally in group homes, treatment foster care, schools, home-based treatment, and other youth and dependent adult care programs. It was developed in the 1960s through research at the University of Kansas...
homes. Teaching-Family homes have been found to reduce recidivism for delinquent youths both while they are in the homes and after they leave. Operant procedures form the basis of behavioral parent training developed from social learning theorists. The etiological models for antisocial behavior show considerable correlation with negative reinforcement and response matching
Matching law
In operant conditioning, the matching law is a quantitative relationship that holds between the relative rates of response and the relative rates of reinforcement in concurrent schedules of reinforcement...
. Behavioral parent training
Parenting
Parenting is the process of promoting and supporting the physical, emotional, social, and intellectual development of a child from infancy to adulthood...
or Parent Management Training has been very successful in the treatment of conduct disorders in children and adolescents with recent research focusing on making it more culturally sensitive. In addition, behavioral parent training has been shown to reduce corporal or abusive child discipline
Child discipline
Child discipline is the set of rules, rewards and punishments administered to teach self control, increase desirable behaviors and decrease undesirable behaviors in children. In its most general sense, discipline refers to systematic instruction given to a disciple. To discipline thus means to...
tactics. Behavior analysts typically adhere to a behavioral model of child development in their practice (see child development
Child development
Child development stages describe theoretical milestones of child development. Many stage models of development have been proposed, used as working concepts and in some cases asserted as nativist theories....
).
Recidivism
Recent studies showing that behavior modification based on behavior analysis can reduce recidivism have led to a resurgence in behavior modification facilities. Of particular interest has been the growing research on the Teaching-Family ModelTeaching-Family Model
The teaching-family model is a model of care for troubled youth used internationally in group homes, treatment foster care, schools, home-based treatment, and other youth and dependent adult care programs. It was developed in the 1960s through research at the University of Kansas...
which was developed by Montrose Wolf
Montrose Wolf
Montrose Madison Wolf, PhD was an American psychologist. He developed the technique of "time-out" as a learning tool to shape behavior in children in the 1960s. He was a leader in creating the discipline of problem-solving, real-world psychological research known as applied behavior analysis...
and clearly reduces recidivism rates. In addition, behaviorally-based early intervention programs have shown effectiveness.
Exposure therapy
Methods of counter-conditioning and respondent extinction, called exposure therapy, are often employed by many behavior therapists in the treatment of phobias, anxiety disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorderPost-traumatic stress disorder
Posttraumaticstress disorder is a severe anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to any event that results in psychological trauma. This event may involve the threat of death to oneself or to someone else, or to one's own or someone else's physical, sexual, or psychological integrity,...
(PTSD), and addictions (cue exposure). Prolonged exposure therapy
Prolonged exposure therapy
Prolonged exposure therapy is a form of behavior therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy designed to treat post-traumatic stress disorder, characterized by re-experiencing the traumatic event through remembering it and engaging with, rather than avoiding, reminders of the trauma...
has been particularly helpful with PTSD. Several procedures to block respondent conditioning such as blocking and overshadowing are sometimes used in behavioral medicine to prevent conditioned taste aversion for patients with chemotherapy treatments. Exposure with Response Prevention
Exposure and response
Exposure and response prevention is a treatment method available from behavioral psychologists and cognitive-behavioral therapists for a variety of anxiety disorders, especially Obsessive Compulsive Disorder...
(ERP) is a respondent extinction procedure often used to treat obsessive–compulsive behavior. Escape response
Escape response
Escape response, escape reaction, or escape behaviour is a possible reaction in response to stimuli indicative of danger, in particular, it initiates an escape motion of an animal...
blocking is critical for this procedure. For PTSDs exposure therapy is one of the few evidence-based techniques. Recent research suggests exposure therapy is an excellent means of alleviating both the anxiety and cognitive symptoms specific to PTSD with no additive effect for additional cognitive components. Several authors have argued that exposure by itself is necessary and sufficient to produce behavior change in reducing fear in social phobics and helping them engage more effectively with others. The Washington Post ran a story that only exposure therapy is proven for PTSD and that cognitive therapy or even drug therapy are not shown at this time to be effective.
Operant-based EEG biofeedback
Kamiya (1968) demonstrated that the alpha rhythm in humans could be operantly conditioned. He published an influential article in Psychology Today that summarized research showing subjects learn to discriminate when alpha was present or absent, and that they could use feedback to shift the dominant alpha frequency about 1 Hz. Almost half of his subjects reported experiencing a pleasant "alpha state" characterized as an "alert calmness". These reports may have contributed to the perception of alpha biofeedback as a shortcut to a meditative state. He also studied the electroencephalographyElectroencephalography
Electroencephalography is the recording of electrical activity along the scalp. EEG measures voltage fluctuations resulting from ionic current flows within the neurons of the brain...
(EEG) correlates of meditative states. Operant conditioning
Operant conditioning
Operant conditioning is a form of psychological learning during which an individual modifies the occurrence and form of its own behavior due to the association of the behavior with a stimulus...
of EEG has had considerable support in many areas including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and even seizure disorders. Early studies of the procedure included the treatment of seizure disorders. Luber and colleagues (1981) conducted a double blind crossover study showing that seizure activity decreased by 50% in the contingent conditioning of inhibiting brain waves as opposed to the non-contingent use. Sterman (2000) reviewed 18 studies of a total of 174 clients and found 82% of the participants had significant seizure reduction (30% less weekly seizures).
Organizational
Behavior analysis with organizations is sometimes combined with systems theory in an approach called organizational behavior management. This approach has shown success particularly in the area of behavior-based safetyBehavior-based safety
Behavior-based safety is the "application of science of behavior change to real world problems". BBS "focuses on what people do, analyzes why they do it, and then applies a research-supported intervention strategy to improve what people do"...
. Behavior safety research has lately become focused on factors that lead programs to being retained in institutions long after the designer leaves.
Educational
Direct instructionDirect instruction
Direct Instruction is an instructional method that is focused on systematic curriculum design and skillful implementation of a prescribed behavioral script....
and Direct Instruction
Direct instruction
Direct Instruction is an instructional method that is focused on systematic curriculum design and skillful implementation of a prescribed behavioral script....
: the former representing the process and the latter a specific curriculum that highlights that process remain both current and controversial in behavior analysis. The essential features are a carefully structured fast paced program based on teacher-directed small group instruction. One controversy that remains is that teacher creativity is admonished in the program. Even with such issues to be worked out positive gains in reading for the approach have been reported in the literature since 1968. An example of the positive gains reported by Meyer (1984) found that 34% of children in the DISTAR group were accepted to college as compared to only 17% of the control school. Current research is focused on peer delivery of the program.
School-wide positive behavior support
Positive behavior support
Positive behavior support strives to use a system to understand what maintains an individual's challenging behavior. Students' inappropriate behaviors are difficult to change because they are functional; they serve a purpose for the child. These behaviors are supported by reinforcement in the...
is based on the use of behavior analytic procedures delivered in an organizational behavior management approach. School-wide behavioral support has been increasingly accepted by administrators, law–makers and teachers as a way to improve safety in classrooms.
Curriculum-based measurement
Curriculum-Based Measurement
Curriculum-based measurement, or CBM, is also referred to as a general outcomes measures of a student's performance in either basic skills or content knowledge. CBM began in the mid 1970s with research headed by Stan Deno at the University of Minnesota...
and curriculum matching is another active area of application. Curriculum-based measurement uses rate and reading performance as the primary variable in determining reading levels. The goal is to better match children to the appropriate curriculum level to remove frustration as well as to track reading performance over time to see if it is improving with intervention. This model also serves as the basis for response to intervention
Response to intervention
In education, Response To Intervention is a method of academic intervention used in the United States which is designed to provide early, effective assistance to children who are having difficulty learning. Response to intervention was also designed to function as one part of a data-based process...
models.
Functional behavioral assessment
Functional analysis (psychology)
Functional analysis in behavioral psychology is the application of the laws of operant conditioning to establish the relationships between stimuli and responses...
was mandated in the United States for children who meet criteria under the individuals with disabilities education act. This approach has precluded many procedures for modifying and maintaining children in not just the school system, but in many cases in the regular education setting. Even children with severe behavior problems appear to be helped.
Teaching children to recruit attention has become a very important area in education. In many cases one function of children's disruptive behavior is to get attention.
Hospital settings
One area of interest in hospitals is the blocking effectBlocking effect
Kamin's blocking effect demonstrates that conditioning to a stimulus could be blocked if the stimulus were reinforced in compound with a previously conditioned stimulus....
—especially for conditioned taste aversion
Taste aversion
Conditioned taste aversion, also known as Garcia effect , and as "Sauce-Bearnaise Syndrome", a term coined by Seligman and Hager, is an example of classical conditioning or Pavlovian conditioning...
. This area of interest is considered important in the prevention of weigh loss during chemotherapy for cancer patients. Another area of growing interest in the hospital setting is the use of operant-based biofeedback with those suffering from cerebral palsy or minor spinal injuries.
Brucker's group at the University of Miami has had some success with specific operant conditioning-based biofeedback procedures to enhance functioning. While such methods are not a cure, and gains tend to be in the moderate range, they do show ability to help remaining central nervous system cells to regain some control over lost areas of functioning.
Residential treatment
Behavioral interventions have been very helpful in reducing problem behaviors in residential treatment centers. The type of residential versus mental retardation does not appear to be a factor. Behavioral interventions have been found to be successful even when medication interventions fail.Space program
Probably one of the most interesting applications of behavior analysis in the 1960s was its contribution to the space program. Research in this area is used to train astronauts including the chimpanzees sent into space. Continued work in this area focuses on ensuring that astronauts who live in confined areas and space do not develop behavioral health problems. Most of this work was led by pioneer behaviorist Joseph V. BradyJoseph V. Brady
Joseph Vincent Brady was a behavioral neuroscientist at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in the United States. While at the Walter Reed Institute he performed the experiment "Ulcers in Executive Monkeys" that suggested a link between stress and peptic ulcers...
.
Consumer and professional relationships
Open communication and a supportive relationship between educational systems and families allow the student to receive a beneficial education. This pertains to typical learners as well as to individuals who need additional services. It was not until the 1960s that researchers began exploring behavior analysis as a method to educate those children who fall somewhere along the autism spectrum. Behavior analysts agree that consistency in and out of the school classroom is key in order for children with autism to maintain proper standing in school and continue to develop to their greatest potential.Applied behavior analysts sometimes work with a team to address a person's educational or behavioral needs. Other professionals such as speech therapists, physicians and the primary caregivers are treated as key to the implementation of successful therapy in the applied behavior analysis (ABA) model. The ABA method relies on behavior principles to develop treatments appropriate for the individual. Regular meetings with professionals to discuss programming are one way to establish a successful working relationship between a family and their school. It is beneficial when a caregiver can conduct generalization procedures outside of school. In the ABA framework, developing and maintaining a structured working relationship between parents or guardians and professionals is essential to ensure consistent treatment.
Intervention goals
When working directly with clients, behavior analysts engage in a process of collaborative goal settingGoal setting
Goal setting involves establishing specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-targeted goals. Work on the theory of goal-setting suggests that it's an effective tool for making progress by ensuring that participants in a group with a common goal are clearly aware of what is expected from...
. Goal setting ensures that the client is already under stimulus control
Stimulus control
Stimulus control is the phenomenon of a stimulus increasing the probability of a behavior because of a history of that behavior being differentially reinforced in the presence of the stimulus...
of the goal and is thus more likely to engage in behavior to achieve it. Behavior analytic programs are ultimately skill building, they enhance functioning, lead to higher quality of life, and build self-control. One of the most distinguishing features of behavior analysis has been its core belief that all individuals have a right to the most effective treatment for their condition. and a right to the most effective educational strategy available.
History
Applied behavior analysis is the applied side of the experimental analysis of behaviorExperimental analysis of behavior
The experimental analysis of behavior is the name given to the school of psychology founded by B.F. Skinner, and based on his philosophy of radical behaviorism. A central principle was the inductive, data-driven examination of functional relations, as opposed to the kinds of hypothetico-deductive...
. It is based on the principles of operant
Operant conditioning
Operant conditioning is a form of psychological learning during which an individual modifies the occurrence and form of its own behavior due to the association of the behavior with a stimulus...
and respondent conditioning and represents a major approach to behavior modification
Behavior modification
Behavior modification is the use of empirically demonstrated behavior change techniques to increase or decrease the frequency of behaviors, such as altering an individual's behaviors and reactions to stimuli through positive and negative reinforcement of adaptive behavior and/or the reduction of...
and behavior management. Its origin can be traced back to Teodoro Ayllon and Jack Michael
Jack Michael
Jack Michael is a researcher, professor and author in the field of the experimental analysis of behavior best known for his elucidations of the motivating operation, comprising Establishing Operation and Abolishing Operations ....
's 1959 article "The psychiatric nurse as a behavioral engineer" as well as to initial efforts to implement teaching machines.
The research basis of ABA can be found in the theoretical work of behaviorism
Behaviorism
Behaviorism , also called the learning perspective , is a philosophy of psychology based on the proposition that all things that organisms do—including acting, thinking, and feeling—can and should be regarded as behaviors, and that psychological disorders are best treated by altering behavior...
and radical behaviorism
Radical behaviorism
Radical behaviorism is a philosophy developed by B.F. Skinner that underlies the experimental analysis of behavior approach to psychology. The term radical behaviorism applies to a particular school that emerged during the reign of behaviorism...
originating with the work of B.F. Skinner. In 1968 Baer, Wolf and Risley wrote an article that was the source of contemporary applied behavior analysis
Applied Behavior Analysis
Applied behavior analysis is a science that involves using modern behavioral learning theory to modify behaviors. Behavior analysts reject the use of hypothetical constructs and focus on the observable relationship of behavior to the environment...
providing the criteria to judge the adequacy of research and practice in applied behavior analysis. It became the core and centerpiece of behavior modification and behavioral engineering
Behavioral engineering
Behavioral engineering is intended to identify issues associated with the interface of technology and the human operators in a system and to generate recommended design practices that consider the strengths and limitations of the human operators....
.
Work in respondent conditioning (what some would term classical conditioning
Classical conditioning
Classical conditioning is a form of conditioning that was first demonstrated by Ivan Pavlov...
) began with the work of Joseph Wolpe
Joseph Wolpe
Joseph Wolpe was born on April 20, 1915, in Johannesburg, South Africa, and died on December 4, 1997, from lung cancer. He is one of the most influential figures in behavior therapy....
in the 1960s. It was improved by the work of Edna B Foa
Edna B Foa
Edna Foa is an Israeli professor of clinical psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, where she serves as the Director of the Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety. Foa is an internationally renowned authority on the psychopathology and treatment of anxiety...
who did extensive research on exposure and response prevention for obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). In addition, she worked on exposure therapy
Exposure therapy
Exposure therapy is a technique in behavior therapy intended to treat anxiety disorders and involves the exposure to the feared object or context without any danger in order to overcome their anxiety. Procedurally it is similar to the fear extinction paradigm in rodent work...
for post-traumatic stress disorder
Post-traumatic stress disorder
Posttraumaticstress disorder is a severe anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to any event that results in psychological trauma. This event may involve the threat of death to oneself or to someone else, or to one's own or someone else's physical, sexual, or psychological integrity,...
.
Over the years most behavior analysts have existed and conducted research in many areas and University departments: behavior analysis, psychology, special education, regular education, speech–language pathology, communication disorders, school psychology, criminal justice and family life. They have belonged to many organizations including the American Psychological Association
American Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States. It is the world's largest association of psychologists with around 154,000 members including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. The APA...
(APA) and have most often found a core intellectual home in the Association for Behavior Analysis
Association for Behavior Analysis
The Association for Behavior Analysis International is a nonprofit professional membership organization with the mission to contribute to the well-being of society by developing, enhancing, and supporting the growth and vitality of the science of behavior analysis through research, education, and...
International.
Core focus
With a core focus on enhanced functioning and skill development behavior analytic interventions under the heading behavior therapy have come to form the core of evidence-based practices in speech–language pathology, organizational behavior managementOrganizational Behavior Management
Organizational behavior management is an important aspect of management studies the subject which is studied in first year of management studies is known as organizational behaviour . OBM is the result of applying the psychological principles of applied behavior analysis and the experimental...
, education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
, mental health
Mental health
Mental health describes either a level of cognitive or emotional well-being or an absence of a mental disorder. From perspectives of the discipline of positive psychology or holism mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life and procure a balance between life activities and...
and addiction
Addiction
Historically, addiction has been defined as physical and psychological dependence on psychoactive substances which cross the blood-brain barrier once ingested, temporarily altering the chemical milieu of the brain.Addiction can also be viewed as a continued involvement with a substance or activity...
treatments. In the area of mental health and addictions a recent article looked at APA's list for well-established and promising practices and found a considerable number of them based on the principles of operant conditioning
Operant conditioning
Operant conditioning is a form of psychological learning during which an individual modifies the occurrence and form of its own behavior due to the association of the behavior with a stimulus...
and respondent conditioning. A 1985 meta-analysis of social skills
Social skills
A social skill is any skill facilitating interaction and communication with others. Social rules and relations are created, communicated, and changed in verbal and nonverbal ways. The process of learning such skills is called socialization...
training methods found operant conditioning procedures had the largest effect size, the greatest generalization and the shortest training time; modeling
Observational learning
Observational learning is a type of learning that occurs as a function of observing, retaining and replicating novel behavior executed by others...
, coaching
Coaching
Coaching, with a professional coach, is the practice of supporting an individual, referred to as the client or mentee or coachee, through the process of achieving a specific personal or professional result....
, and social cognitive techniques, respectively, had smaller and smaller effect sizes.
Current research
Behavior analysis remains one of the most active research areas in all of psychologyPsychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
, counseling, special education
Special education
Special education is the education of students with special needs in a way that addresses the students' individual differences and needs. Ideally, this process involves the individually planned and systematically monitored arrangement of teaching procedures, adapted equipment and materials,...
, developmental disability
Developmental disability
Developmental disability is a term used in the United States and Canada to describe lifelong disabilities attributable to mental or physical impairments, manifested prior to age 18. It is not synonymous with "developmental delay" which is often a consequence of a temporary illness or trauma during...
, mental health
Mental health
Mental health describes either a level of cognitive or emotional well-being or an absence of a mental disorder. From perspectives of the discipline of positive psychology or holism mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life and procure a balance between life activities and...
and other studies of human behavior
Human behavior
Human behavior refers to the range of behaviors exhibited by humans and which are influenced by culture, attitudes, emotions, values, ethics, authority, rapport, hypnosis, persuasion, coercion and/or genetics....
. Current research in behavior analysis focuses on expanding the tradition by looking at setting events, behavioral activation
Behavioral activation
Behavioral activation is a third generation behavior therapy for treating depression. It is one of many functional analytic psychotherapies which are based on a Skinnerian psychological model of behavior change, generally referred to as applied behavior analysis...
, the Matching law
Matching law
In operant conditioning, the matching law is a quantitative relationship that holds between the relative rates of response and the relative rates of reinforcement in concurrent schedules of reinforcement...
, relational frame theory
Relational frame theory
Relational frame theory, or RFT, is a psychological theory of human language and cognition. It was developed largely through the efforts of Steven C...
, stimulus equivalences and covert conditioning
Covert conditioning
Covert conditioning is an approach to mental health treatment that uses the principles of behavior modification, which emerged from the applied behavior analysis literature to assist people in making improvements in their behavior or inner experience. The method relies on the person's capacity to...
as exemplified in Skinner's model of rule-governed behavior Verbal Behavior. Behavior analysis has moved past being just basic interventions for problems and into more comprehensive analyses of child development behavior
Behavior analysis of child development
Child development in behavior analytic theory has origins in John B. Watson's behaviorism. Watson wrote extensively on child development and conducted research . Watson was instrumental in the modification of William James' stream of consciousness approach to construct a stream of behavior theory...
.
Experimental psychopathology
Experimental psychopathology is a behavior therapy area in which animal models are developed to simulate human pathology. For example Wolpe studied cats to build his theory of human anxietyAnxiety
Anxiety is a psychological and physiological state characterized by somatic, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral components. The root meaning of the word anxiety is 'to vex or trouble'; in either presence or absence of psychological stress, anxiety can create feelings of fear, worry, uneasiness,...
. This work continues today in the study of both pathology and treatment.
Historical controversies
Initially, applied behavior analysis used aversivesAversives
In psychology, aversives are unpleasant stimuli that induce changes in behavior through punishment; by applying an aversive immediately following a behavior, the likelihood of the behavior occurring in the future is reduced. Aversives can vary from being slightly unpleasant or irritating to...
such as shouting and slaps to reduce unwanted behaviors. Ethical opposition to such aversive practices caused them to fall out of favor and has stimulated development of less aversive methods. In general, aversion therapy and punishment
Punishment
Punishment is the authoritative imposition of something negative or unpleasant on a person or animal in response to behavior deemed wrong by an individual or group....
are now less frequently used as ABA treatments due to legal restrictions. However, procedures such as odor aversion, covert sensitization and other covert conditioning
Covert conditioning
Covert conditioning is an approach to mental health treatment that uses the principles of behavior modification, which emerged from the applied behavior analysis literature to assist people in making improvements in their behavior or inner experience. The method relies on the person's capacity to...
procedures, based on punishment or aversion strategies, are still used effectively in the treatment of pedophiles. In addition, with some populations such as conduct disorder in children there is considerable evidence that has developed to show that all positive programs can produce change but that children will not enter into the normal range without punishment
Punishment
Punishment is the authoritative imposition of something negative or unpleasant on a person or animal in response to behavior deemed wrong by an individual or group....
procedures. These programs have shifted to using child time-out
Child time-out
A time-out involves temporarily separating a child from an environment where inappropriate behavior has occurred, and is intended to give an over-excited child time to calm down and thereby discouraging such behavior. It is an educational and parenting technique recommended by some pediatricians...
and response–cost procedures to ensure that clients rights to effective interventions are met.
Homosexuality
In 1973 the APA removed homosexuality from its Diagnostic and Statistical ManualDiagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is published by the American Psychiatric Association and provides a common language and standard criteria for the classification of mental disorders...
yet it kept "ego dystonic" homosexuality as a condition until the DSM III-R (circa 1985). In 1974 Ole Ivar Lovaas
Ole Ivar Lovaas
Ole Ivar Løvaas, Ph.D. was a clinical psychologist at UCLA. He is considered to be one of the fathers of applied behavior analysis therapy for autism through his development of the Lovaas technique and the first to provide evidence that the behavior of autistic children can be modified through...
, pioneer of the use of ABA to treat autism, was the second author on a journal article
Scientific journal
In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication intended to further the progress of science, usually by reporting new research. There are thousands of scientific journals in publication, and many more have been published at various points in the past...
describing the use of ABA to reduce "feminine" behaviors and increase "masculine" behaviors of a male child in an effort to prevent adult transsexualism
Transsexualism
Transsexualism is an individual's identification with a gender inconsistent or not culturally associated with their biological sex. Simply put, it defines a person whose biological birth sex conflicts with their psychological gender...
. Treatments designed to uphold traditional sex-role behaviors were opposed by some behavior analysts who argued that the intervention was not justified. In the late 1960s Wolpe refused to treat homosexual behavior arguing that it was easier and more productive to treat the religious guilt than the homosexuality. He instead provided assertiveness training to a homosexual client. Most behavior analysts and behavior therapists have not worked in sexual re–orientation therapy since Gerald Davison
Gerald Davison
Gerald C. Davison is Professor of Gerontology and Psychology and Dean of the Leonard Davis School of Gerontology at the University of Southern California. He has authored more than 130 publications dealing with topics such as experimental analysis of psychopathology, therapeutic change and the...
argued that the issue was not one of effectiveness but of ethics. When he wrote the paper presenting this position, Davison was president of the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy, now the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies
Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies
The Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies was founded in 1966. Its headquarters are in New York City and its membership includes researchers, psychologists, psychiatrists, physicians, social workers, nurses, and other mental-health practitioners, researchers, and students who...
, and thus his views carried much weight. Davison argued that homosexuality is not pathological and is only a problem if it is regarded as one by society and the therapist.
Punishment and aversion therapies
The use of punishmentPunishment (psychology)
In operant conditioning, punishment is any change in a human or animal's surroundings that occurs after a given behavior or response which reduces the likelihood of that behavior occurring again in the future. As with reinforcement, it is the behavior, not the animal, that is punished...
and aversion therapy procedures are a constant ethical challenge for behavior analysts. One of the original reasons for the development of the Behavior Analysis Certification Board were cases of abuse from behavior analysts and behavior modifiers. Both continue to draw proponents and opposition, however, in some of the more controversial cases some middle ground has been found through legislation (see Judge Rotenberg Educational Center
Judge Rotenberg Educational Center
The Judge Rotenberg Educational Center is a school for special needs students that operates in Canton, Massachusetts, providing applied behavior analysis and educational services to children and adults with severe developmental disabilities and emotional or behavior disorders, as well as providing...
).
Sex offenders and recidivism
In areas such as sex offenderSex offender
A sex offender is a person who has committed a sex crime. What constitutes a sex crime differs by culture and by legal jurisdiction. Most jurisdictions compile their laws into sections such as traffic, assault, sexual, etc. The majority of convicted sex offenders have convictions for crimes of a...
treatment and covert sensitization it has been shown to have some effects on reducing recidivism when it is part of a behavior modification
Behavior modification
Behavior modification is the use of empirically demonstrated behavior change techniques to increase or decrease the frequency of behaviors, such as altering an individual's behaviors and reactions to stimuli through positive and negative reinforcement of adaptive behavior and/or the reduction of...
treatment package. However Gene Able, who has done extensive research in this area, suggests that it is not as effective outside of the package which contains odor aversion
Aversion
Aversion is a horror film about a private investigator who discovers too late that the woman he is hired to follow is often possessed by a demon. Alex Stokes is a self-destructive, down-on-his-luck investigator who takes cases wherever he can. When a mysterious man offers him a healthy sum to...
, satiation therapy (mastubatory reconditioning), and various social skills training programs including empathy training. Current behavior analysis programs offer this type of comprehensive treatment approach. In addition they use a combination of functional assessment, behavior chain analysis and risk assessment to create relapse prevention strategies and to help the offender to develop better self-control.
With sex offenders who have retardation, comprehensive behavioral programming has been effective at least in the short run. This treatment included formal academic and vocational training, sex education, a unit token economy
Token economy
A token economy is a system of behavior modification based on the systematic positive reinforcement of target behavior. The reinforcers are symbols or tokens that can be exchanged for other reinforcers. Token economy is based on the principles of operant conditioning and can be situated within...
, and individual behavior therapy including sexual reconditioning. In addition it included supported competitive employment, fading of program structure, and increased community participation.
Journals
There are multiple journals which produce articles on the clinical applications of applied behavior analysisApplied Behavior Analysis
Applied behavior analysis is a science that involves using modern behavioral learning theory to modify behaviors. Behavior analysts reject the use of hypothetical constructs and focus on the observable relationship of behavior to the environment...
. These include The Behavior Analyst Today, the International Journal of Behavioral Consultation and Therapy and three new journals scheduled for release in 2008: Behavior Analysis in Sports, Health, Fitness and Behavioral Medicine, the Journal of Behavior Analysis in Crime and Victim: Treatment and Prevention as well as a new journal to be released from the Association for Behavior Analysis International titled Behavior Analytic Practice.
Professional organizations
The Association for Behavior AnalysisAssociation for Behavior Analysis
The Association for Behavior Analysis International is a nonprofit professional membership organization with the mission to contribute to the well-being of society by developing, enhancing, and supporting the growth and vitality of the science of behavior analysis through research, education, and...
International has a special interest group for practitioner issues, behavioral counseling, and clinical behavior analysis. The Association for Behavior Analysis International has larger special interest groups for autism
Autism
Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. These signs all begin before a child is three years old. Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their...
and behavioral medicine
Behavioral medicine
Behavioral medicine is an interdisciplinary field of medicine concerned with the development and integration of knowledge in the biological, behavioral, psychological, and social sciences relevant to health and illness...
. The Association for Behavior Analysis International serves as the core intellectual home for behavior analysts. The Association for Behavior Analysis International sponsors two conferences/year—one in the U.S. and one international.
The Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies
Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies
The Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies was founded in 1966. Its headquarters are in New York City and its membership includes researchers, psychologists, psychiatrists, physicians, social workers, nurses, and other mental-health practitioners, researchers, and students who...
(ABCT) also has an interest group in behavior analysis, which focuses on clinical behavior analysis. In addition, the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies has a special interest group on addictions.
Doctoral level behavior analysts who are psychologists belong to the American Psychological Association
American Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States. It is the world's largest association of psychologists with around 154,000 members including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. The APA...
's division 25: Behavior analysis. APA offers a diplomate in behavioral psychology.