Assignment #4

AJ’s mother tried the intervention plan, however it did not work well with AJ. AJ’s mother rewarded AJ with a treat for not being aggressive towards his sister, however when AJ asked for more treat, his mother told him, “if you do not hit your sister then mommy will give you a treat soon.” AJ started to have a tantrum because he wanted the treat “now” and could not wait another 20 min. this was too difficult for AJ’s mother to handle since she is taking care of two kids therefore AJ’s mother and SW needed to modify their intervention plan.

They decided that AJ’s mother will praise her son when he plays nicely with his sister. In addition if AJ is aggressive, AJ’s mother will tell him, “we do not x,” and will warn him that if he displays behavior x again he will go into time out.

AJ’s mother just started this new intervention plan. AJ’s sister was playing in her exersaucer and AJ ran over to play with her. AJ’S mother watched him play with his sister and said, “You’re playing so nicely with baby, look how happy baby is.” AJ had a smile from ear to ear and felt proud; also baby was smiling and happy too. However at some point AJ hit baby, AJ’s mother grabbed his hand and warned him that he will go o time out if he does that again.  

Assignment #3

            My intervention is based on the behavioral theory. Skinner (1953) believed that behaviorists are interested in describing behavior as opposed to explaining it. The most important aspect is to observe which environmental factors increase, decrease, or occur the same amount of times for a specific behavior. Behaviorists do not discard physiological influences, developmental stages or heredity, but their main focus is on the “present environmental conditions maintaining behavior and on establishing and verifying functional relationships between such conditions and behaviors.” (Alberto and Troutman, p. 15, 2006)  A behavior must be observable and quantifiable; we must be able to see it and measure the behavior in quantitative terms such as How much? How long ? or How often? (Alberto and Troutman)         

            The behavioral approach believes that human behavior is learned whether it is adaptive or maladaptive. Learning occurs from consequences of behavior. There are several basic principles which uncover the basis of the behaviorists’ approach to human behavior. One principle is positive reinforcement.  Positive reinforcement occurs when a behavior is followed by a consequence that increases the amount of times a behavior  occurs. Another principle is negative reinforcement which is when an environmental condition is taken away which causes the rate of the behavior’s occurrence to increase. Punishment is a third principle which is when “the rate of occurrence of the preceding behavior decreases”. (Alberto and Troutman, p. 12, 2006)Therefore the behaviorists believe that a punishment is used only when it decreases the preceding behavior and not necessarily when an unpleasant consequence occurs (Alberto and Troutman).

            These principles are the underlying skills for my intervention with AJ. AJ’s parents will be using reinforcement to decrease the number of aggressive acts which include; hitting, scratching, grabbing and aggressive hugging. A specific technique will be used called Differential Reinforcement of Other Behaviors. This concept is to use a reinforcing stimulus when the behavior does not occur for a specific amount of time (Alberto and Troutman). AJ’s parents are implementing this technique between the hours of 3-5 by giving AJ a treat and sticker on his chart if he does not exhibit an aggressive behavior every 20 minutes. The sticker is accompanied by a treat because AJ responds to treats but the stickers are needed to reinforce the idea that AJ did not exhibit an aggressive behavior.

             If AJ does exhibit an aggressive behavior, he does not get a treat for that 20 minute interval. AJ will be put in time out for two minutes for hitting or scratching but for grabbing or aggressive hugging, he will be told that “we don’t do that” and will be warned that if he does it again he will go to time out. In addition AJ’s parents will implement positive reinforcement when AJ displays a positive behavior by telling him what a good boy he is for doing x.

             After and before the hours of 3-5 AJ’s parents will use positive reinforcement when AJ exhibits a good behavior as well as a negative reinforcement when he exhibits an aggressive behavior whether it will be time out or a warning that he will go to time out if he does behavior x again.  AJ’s parents will record how many times AJ exhibits an aggressive behavior to eventually evaluate or modify the intervention.

Journal Articles which support my intervention:

Horner and Strain Et al. (2002) write,“Behavioral interventions for young children were first reported in the 1960s (Baer, Peterson, & Sherman, 1967; Baer & Sherman, 1964; Bijou & Baer, 1961, 1968; Bostow & Baily, 1969) and gained increasing recognition with publication of texts by Browning and Stover (1971) and Thompson and Grabowski (1972), and clinical reports in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (1968 to present). The central contributions of this approach to reducing problem behaviors have been documentation of behavioral mechanisms that describe

the relationship between environmental events and occurrence of specific behaviors and the development of specific strategies for measuring behavior change across time.”

References

Alberto P.A., & Troutman, A.C (2006). Applied behavioral analysis for teachers. New Jersey:

            Prentice Hall. (7^th Edition)

Horner, R., Carr, E., Strain, P., Todd, A., & Reed, H (2002). Problem behavior

           

            interventions for young children with autism: A research synthesis. Journal of

           

            Autism and Developmental Disorders, 32, 423–446.