Consistent behavioral techniques and interventions are essential for individuals with autism. These behavioral techniques and interventions need to be utilized in all settings, including the home, community, and school. Parents and school staff must operate as a team and be on the same page so the individual with autism succeeds.
Some important points include
Positive Reinforcement
Differential Reinforcement
Extinction
Token Economy
Positive Reinforcement
Positive reinforcement is a behavior management strategy. Positive reinforcement can help a child become more confident and more independent in a task or activity. It can also help decrease unwanted behavior. In positive reinforcement, rewards can be used for good behavior as well as verbal praise. A reward could be buying the child a movie or taking them to the park after they complete a specific task. This may sound like bribery, however it is not. It can be seen as having a fine line between bribery and positive reinforcement, but let me explain. If you say to the child, if you do X we'll go to the park. You would be bribing the child to do X and take them to the park. In positive reinforcement you would ask the child do to X and after the child completes X you would take them to the park. However, you may provide a visual cue, such as a picture of the park as the child is working through the task to help them focus and complete the task at hand. Verbal praise is also a component of positive reinforcement. If the child demonstrates a wanted behavior or is working through completing a task, giving them a specific verbal praise is positive reinforcement. Saying "Great job!" is positive reinforcement, but it is better to be more specific so the child knows exactly what they are doing correctly. For example, "Bobby, you are doing a great job matching the letters! I love how hard you are working on your letters!"
This video explains why positive reinforcement works. At the end, they briefly also discuss positive reinforcement around the holidays.
Differential Reinforcement
Differential reinforcement is a strategy to try to stop inappropriate behaviors from a student. The teacher (or parent) would reinforce appropriate, desired behaviors and ignore the inappropriate behaviors. The student would also be reinforced when the student is not engaging the inappropriate behavior. The student would also be reinforced when they are participating in a behavior that makes the inappropriate behavior physically impossible. Differential reinforcement is seen as a good strategy as in it teaches the student appropriate behaviors instead of just focusing on the inappropriate behavior. The National Professional Development Center on Autism Spectrum Disorder provides more information on differential reinforcement. They also provide other links with more information including the steps of implementation.
The video below provides more information on differential reinforcement.
Extinction
Extinction is an behavior intervention that makes it more likely for a particular behavior to decrease in frequency. Think about it this way -- we engage in a behavior to get what we want -- if we stop getting what we want we won't engage in that behavior. Therefore, the behavior will stop, it will be extinct. The behavior will be extinct because the behavior will no longer have a function. The behavior may have gotten the outcomes it wanted to in the past, but when we identify the behavior for extinction, we stop providing those outcomes.
Educate Autism provides a great example of extinction. See the example below and check out their website for more information.
In the playground during break time at school, Brian screams and shouts when he is left alone for more than a few minutes. After he screams and shouts the teachers have always gone over to him and asked if he was ok and what was wrong.
The reason Brian engages in this behavior (the function of the behavior) is to obtain social attention from his teachers; so this behavior is currently being positively reinforced.
If the teachers decided to no longer go over to Brian to give him attention when he screamed, they would be applying an extinction procedure to the behavior because they are no longer reinforcing the behavior by "giving it what it wants." (Remember, when the behavior doesn't get what it wants it eventually stops.)
So in the case of Brian, because his teachers no longer go over to him when he screams and shouts, this behavior no longer gets him want he wants. You could say that the screaming and shouting "doesn't work" anymore and so it will eventually reduce until it stops and becomes "extinct."
Extinction Burst
Now, if you choose to try the extinction intervention, there is also something you need to be aware of. It is known as the extinction burst. An extinction burst is when the target behavior (the behavior you are trying to stop) actually does the exact opposite of what you are trying to do. Instead of the behavior decreasing, the behavior will increase. For example, with the example of Brian above, if he is used to the teachers coming over to him and asking if he is ok and the teachers suddenly stop doing that, Brian increases in his screaming in attempts to still get the teachers' attention. The teachers would need to keep data on Brian's screaming and then they would be able to see the extinction burst and when the behavior would start to decrease. For more information on keeping data, please see this page. Token Economy
A token economy system is a system of providing positive reinforcement to the student for completing required tasks. The student is provided with "tokens" for completing tasks. Tokens are given to help reinforce skills or a behavior. As the student earns tokens, they can cash them in for prizes or a reward. For example, maybe the targeted behavior is using please or thank you. Every time the student says one of those words they would earn a token. Once they achieve a set number of tokens (i.e., 5) they would receive a reward. When you start the token economy, you would want to start with a low, reasonable number of tokens to earn. As the student improves the target behavior, the number of tokens before the reward can be increased. For working with students with autism, token economies work well for work stations. At the beginning of the work station, the student can pick what they want to work for. They can earn tokens as the work station proceeds. Tokens can be given every couple of minutes the student is on task or as the student does a good job and answers so many questions.
The Educate Autism website provides a good chart to help explain a token economy. Their website also has more information on token economies.
This image is an example of a token economy. The child would choose what they would want to work for, their preferred and desired activity. On the bottom blank squares, the student would attach their tokens they earn with Velcro. This chart can be changed to have a smaller number of blocks for the tokens and then it could be increased as the child improves.
This video explains and provides different examples of a token economy. This video is a good video for educators in implementing a token economy in their classroom. It provides an example of a token economy in use with a teacher and a student. This is another good website for more information on the token economy.
Consistent behavioral techniques and interventions are essential for individuals with autism. These behavioral techniques and interventions need to be utilized in all settings, including the home, community, and school. Parents and school staff must operate as a team and be on the same page so the individual with autism succeeds.
Some important points include
Positive Reinforcement
Positive reinforcement is a behavior management strategy. Positive reinforcement can help a child become more confident and more independent in a task or activity. It can also help decrease unwanted behavior. In positive reinforcement, rewards can be used for good behavior as well as verbal praise. A reward could be buying the child a movie or taking them to the park after they complete a specific task. This may sound like bribery, however it is not. It can be seen as having a fine line between bribery and positive reinforcement, but let me explain. If you say to the child, if you do X we'll go to the park. You would be bribing the child to do X and take them to the park. In positive reinforcement you would ask the child do to X and after the child completes X you would take them to the park. However, you may provide a visual cue, such as a picture of the park as the child is working through the task to help them focus and complete the task at hand. Verbal praise is also a component of positive reinforcement. If the child demonstrates a wanted behavior or is working through completing a task, giving them a specific verbal praise is positive reinforcement. Saying "Great job!" is positive reinforcement, but it is better to be more specific so the child knows exactly what they are doing correctly. For example, "Bobby, you are doing a great job matching the letters! I love how hard you are working on your letters!"
This video explains why positive reinforcement works. At the end, they briefly also discuss positive reinforcement around the holidays.
Educate Autism and Autism Help provide more information on positive reinforcement.
Differential Reinforcement
Differential reinforcement is a strategy to try to stop inappropriate behaviors from a student. The teacher (or parent) would reinforce appropriate, desired behaviors and ignore the inappropriate behaviors. The student would also be reinforced when the student is not engaging the inappropriate behavior. The student would also be reinforced when they are participating in a behavior that makes the inappropriate behavior physically impossible. Differential reinforcement is seen as a good strategy as in it teaches the student appropriate behaviors instead of just focusing on the inappropriate behavior. The National Professional Development Center on Autism Spectrum Disorder provides more information on differential reinforcement. They also provide other links with more information including the steps of implementation.
The video below provides more information on differential reinforcement.
Extinction
Extinction is an behavior intervention that makes it more likely for a particular behavior to decrease in frequency. Think about it this way -- we engage in a behavior to get what we want -- if we stop getting what we want we won't engage in that behavior. Therefore, the behavior will stop, it will be extinct. The behavior will be extinct because the behavior will no longer have a function. The behavior may have gotten the outcomes it wanted to in the past, but when we identify the behavior for extinction, we stop providing those outcomes.
Educate Autism provides a great example of extinction. See the example below and check out their website for more information.
In the playground during break time at school, Brian screams and shouts when he is left alone for more than a few minutes. After he screams and shouts the teachers have always gone over to him and asked if he was ok and what was wrong.
The reason Brian engages in this behavior (the function of the behavior) is to obtain social attention from his teachers; so this behavior is currently being positively reinforced.
If the teachers decided to no longer go over to Brian to give him attention when he screamed, they would be applying an extinction procedure to the behavior because they are no longer reinforcing the behavior by "giving it what it wants." (Remember, when the behavior doesn't get what it wants it eventually stops.)
So in the case of Brian, because his teachers no longer go over to him when he screams and shouts, this behavior no longer gets him want he wants. You could say that the screaming and shouting "doesn't work" anymore and so it will eventually reduce until it stops and becomes "extinct."
Extinction Burst
Now, if you choose to try the extinction intervention, there is also something you need to be aware of. It is known as the extinction burst. An extinction burst is when the target behavior (the behavior you are trying to stop) actually does the exact opposite of what you are trying to do. Instead of the behavior decreasing, the behavior will increase. For example, with the example of Brian above, if he is used to the teachers coming over to him and asking if he is ok and the teachers suddenly stop doing that, Brian increases in his screaming in attempts to still get the teachers' attention. The teachers would need to keep data on Brian's screaming and then they would be able to see the extinction burst and when the behavior would start to decrease. For more information on keeping data, please see this page.
Token Economy
A token economy system is a system of providing positive reinforcement to the student for completing required tasks. The student is provided with "tokens" for completing tasks. Tokens are given to help reinforce skills or a behavior. As the student earns tokens, they can cash them in for prizes or a reward. For example, maybe the targeted behavior is using please or thank you. Every time the student says one of those words they would earn a token. Once they achieve a set number of tokens (i.e., 5) they would receive a reward. When you start the token economy, you would want to start with a low, reasonable number of tokens to earn. As the student improves the target behavior, the number of tokens before the reward can be increased. For working with students with autism, token economies work well for work stations. At the beginning of the work station, the student can pick what they want to work for. They can earn tokens as the work station proceeds. Tokens can be given every couple of minutes the student is on task or as the student does a good job and answers so many questions.
The Educate Autism website provides a good chart to help explain a token economy. Their website also has more information on token economies.
This video explains and provides different examples of a token economy.
This video is a good video for educators in implementing a token economy in their classroom. It provides an example of a token economy in use with a teacher and a student.
This is another good website for more information on the token economy.