Behaviour Modification Applications - Chapter 23

Deciding whether to design a program following a referral you ask these

questions
1. Was the problem primarily for the benefit of the client?
2. Is the problem important to the client or to others?
3. Can the problem and the goal be specific so that you are dealing with a specific
behaviour or set of behaviours that can be measured in some way?
4. Have you eliminate the possibility that the problem involves complication that
would necessitate referring it to another specialist?
5. Is the problem one that would appear to be easily manageable?
6. If the desired behaviour change is obtained, can it be readily generalized to and
maintained in the natural environment?
7. Can you identify significant individuals (relatives, friends or teachers) in the
clients natural environment who might help record observations and manage
controlling antecedent stimuli and reinforcers?
8. If there are individuals who might hinder the program, can you identify ways to
minimize their potential interference?

Questions for learning:

1. How does a behavior modifier evaluate the importance of a problem?
On the basis of answers to such questions as: Will solving the problem lead to
less aversiveness or more positive reinforcement for the client or others? Will
solving the problem likely stimulate other desirable behaviors, either directly or
indirectly?
2. What does a behaviour modifier do when given a vague problem such as
“aggression”
If a behaviour is initially vague, the behaviour modifier must specify the
specific component of behaviour of behaviour that a) defines the problem and
b) objectively assesses the behaviour and can be measured. in such cases, it is
important to ask whether dealing with the defined component of behaviour will
solve the general problem in the eyes of the referring agents. for example, a
parent tells a behaviour modifier that their child is rude, "rude" is a rather
vague term so they should define the problem. in this case, whenever the child
meets new people, he calls them an idiot. then establish how to measure the
amount of behaviour exerted. in this case, measure how many times the child
says the word idiot in a week.
3. How does a behaviour modifier evaluate the ease with which a problem
might be solved?
 If a problem is to decrease a behaviour, a behaviour that has been occurring for
a short time, has not been intermittently reinforced, and is under stimulus
control, might easier to solve. a behaviour that has been occurring for a long
time, is under control of many situations, and has been intermittently
reinforced might be more difficult to solve. Moreover, identify desirable
behaviour that can replace the undesirable behaviour.
4. How does a behaviour modifier evaluate the ease with which the desired
behavioural change might be generalized to and maintained in the natural
environment?
How the improved behaviour in the training setting fades into the natural
environment. Whether the natural environment has contingencies that will
maintain the improved behaviour, or whether you can influence people to help
maintain the improved behaviour in the natural environment. And whether you
can teach a self-control program to the client to help the behaviour persist.
5. Assume that you are a professional behaviour modifier. List four possible
conditions under which you would not treat a behaviour problem that has
been referred to you.
1) If the behaviour change cannot be generalized or maintained in the natural
environment
2) If the problem was not referred for the benefit of the client
3) If the behaviour was not easily manageable
4) If the problem and goal could not be specified

Steps for Selection and implementation of a Pre-Program Assessment

Procedure
1. For a reliable baseline, define the problem in precise behavioral terms.
2. Select an appropriate baseline procedure (see Chapters 3 and 22) that will enable
you to
a. monitor the problem behavior.
b. identify the current stimulus control of the problem behavior.
c. identify the maintaining consequences of the problem behavior.
d. monitor relevant medical/health/personal variables.
e. identify an alternative desirable behavior.
3. Design recording procedures that will enable you to log the amount of time
devoted to the project by professionals— teachers or group home staff. This will
help you to do a cost-effectiveness analysis.
4. Ensure that the observers have received appropriate training in identifying the
critical aspects of the behavior, applying the recording procedures, and graphing
the data.
5. If the baseline is likely to be prolonged, select a procedure for increasing and
maintaining the strength of the record-keeping behavior of the people recording the
data.
6. After beginning to collect baseline data, analyze the data carefully to select an
appropriate treatment or intervention strategy and decide when to terminate the
baseline phase and begin the intervention.

6. What five variables should an appropriate baseline procedure enable you

to monitor or identify?
1) Monitor problem behaviour
2) Identify the current stimulus control of problem behaviour
3) Identify current consequences of problem behaviour
4) Monitor medical/health/personal variables
5) Identify an alternative desirable behaviour
7. What six questions should a behaviour modifier answer during the pre-
treatment assessment phase?
1) What daily times can the mediator(s) schedule for this project?
2) Will others in the situation help or hinder data collection?
3) Will the surroundings make your assessment difficult?
4) How frequent is problem behaviour?
5) How rapidly should the behaviour change?
6) Is the presenting problem a behavioural deficit or can it be reformulated as
such?
8. You are about to design a treatment program. After defining the target
behavior and identifying its desired level of occurrence and stimulus
control, what six questions should you answer before proceeding to the
design?
1) Is the description precise?
2) On what grounds did you choose the goal? How is it in the client’s best
interest?
3) Has the client been given all possible information about the goal?
4) Have steps been taken to increase the client’s commitment to accomplish the
goal? (Commitment was discussed in Chapter 19 and is discussed later in this
chapter.)
5) What are potential side effects of accomplishing the goal for both the client
and others?
6) Do the answers to the foregoing questions suggest that you should proceed?
If so, then continue.
Strategies of Program Design (See page 248 in text)
These following guidelines will help you to design an effective program in most
instances.
1. Identify the goals for target behaviors and their desired amount and stimulus
control. Then answer questions located under Q8
2. Identify individuals—friends, relatives, teachers, others—who might help to
manage controlling stimuli and reinforcers. Also identify individuals who might
hinder the program.
3. Examine the possibility of capitalizing on existing antecedent control. Can you
use the following under Q9
4. If you are developing a new behaviour, will you use shaping, fading, or
chaining? What MEO will you use (see Chapter 21)
5. If you are changing the stimulus control of an existing behavior (see Chapter
11), can you select the controlling SDs so that they
a) Are different from other stimuli on more than one dimension?
b) Are encountered mainly in situations in which the desired stimulus
control should occur?
c) Elicit or evoke attending behavior?
d) do not elicit or evoke undesirable behavior?
6. If you are decreasing a behavioural excess, see Q10
7. Specify the details of the reinforcement system by answering these questions.
a) How will you select reinforcers (use chapter 6)?
b) What reinforcers will you use? Can you use the same reinforcers currently
maintain a problem behaviour (see Chapter 22)?
c) How will reinforcer effectiveness be continually monitored and by
whom?
d) How will reinforcers be stored and dispensed and by whom?
e) If you use a token system or token economy, what are the details of its
implementation (see chapter 7 and 24)?
8. Describe how you will program generality of behaviour change by
programming stimulus generalization (Q11), response generalization (Q12), and
behaviour maintenance (Q13).

9. If you are thinking of capitalizing on antecedent control, what six

categories should you consider?
1) rules (see Chapter 19)?
2) goal setting (see Chapter 19)?
3) modeling (see Chapter 20)?
4) Physical guidance (see Chapter 20)?
 5) Situational inducement—rearrange the surroundings, move the activity to a
new location, relocate people, or change the time of the activity (see Chapter
20)?
6) Motivating operations (see Chapter 21)?
10. If you are decreasing a behavioral excess, what five questions should you
ask?
1) Can you use one of the functional assessment procedures to determine the
cause of the problem behavior (see Chapter 22)?
2) Can you remove SDs for the problem behavior (see Chapter 11)?
3) Can you withhold reinforcers that are maintaining the problem behavior or
present MAOs for those reinforcers (see Chapter 21)?
4) Can you apply DRL to reduce the rate of the behavior to a low but
acceptable rate (see Chapter 14)?
5) Can you apply DRO, DRI, or DRA (see Chapter 14, and note that each of
these will incorporate extinction of the problem behavior, assuming that you
can identify and withhold maintaining reinforcers for it)?
6) Should you use punishment? Remember that punishment is acceptable—if at
all—only as a last resort and under appropriate professional supervision with
appropriate ethical approval (see Chapter 15).
11. List five considerations for programming stimulus generalization.
1) Train in the test situation?
2) Vary the training conditions?
3) Program common stimuli?
4) Train sufficient stimulus exemplars?
5) Establish a stimulus equivalence class?
12. List three considerations for programming response generalization.
1) Train sufficient response exemplars?
2) Vary the acceptable responses during training?
3) Use high-probability instructions to increase low-probability responses
within a response class?
13. List five considerations for programming behavior maintenance.
1) Use natural contingencies of reinforcement?
2) Train the people in the natural environment?
3) Use schedules of reinforcement in the training environment?
4) Use schedule thinning to transfer the behavior to natural contingencies?
5) Give the control to the individual (see Chapter 25)?

Preliminary Implementation Considerations

1. Specify the training setting. What environmental rearrangement will be
necessary to maximize the desired behavior, minimize errors and competing
 behavior, and maximize proper recording and stimulus management by the
mediators who will directly carry out the program?
2. Specify the details of the daily recording and graphing procedures.
3. Collect the necessary materials—reinforcers, data sheets, graphs, curriculum
materials.
4. Make checklists of rules and responsibilities for all participants in the program
—staff, teachers, parents, peers, students, the client, and others (see Figure
23.1).
5. Specify the dates for data and program reviews and identify those who will
attend.
6. Identify some contingencies that will reinforce the behavior modifiers and
mediators—in addition to feedback related to the data and program reviews.
7. Review the potential cost of the program as designed – cost of materials,
teacher, time, professional consulting time, etc. and judge the merit of each
against its cost. Redesign as necessary or desired based on this review.
8. Sign a behavioural contract.

14. What is a behavioural contract?

A behavioural contract in a written agreement that provides a clear statement of
behaviours of what individuals will produce what reinforcers and who will
deliver those reinforcers. Behavioural contracting was describes initially as a
strategy for scheduling the exchange of reinforcers between two or more
individuals, such as between a teacher and students.
15. What is a treatment contract? What should it clearly outline?
A treatment contract is a written agreement between the client and the
behaviour modifier that clearly outlines the objectives and methods of
treatment, the framework of the service to be provided, and contingencies for
remuneration that may be forthcoming to the behaviour modifier. When the
agreement is signed, both the client and the behaviour modifier have secured
basic protections of their rights.
16. What are the two steps for implementing a program?
1) You have to be certain that those carrying out the program – the mediators –
understand and agree with their roles and responsibilities. This might involve a
detailed discussion ,training, and review session with the mediators. It may also
involve modelling and demonstration on your part, perhaps role-playing on the
part of the mediators.
2) Starting it with the client in a manner that will enhance his highly
reinforcing to increase the probability of furth contacts
17. What five questions should be answered affirmatively to increase the
client’s commitment to the program?
 1. Does the client fully understand and agree with the goals of the program?
2. Is the client aware of how the program will benefit them?
3. Has the mediator spent sufficient with the client and interacted in such a way
as to gain their trust and confidence?
4. Has the program been designed so that the client is likely to experience
success quickly?
5. Will the client come in contact with reinforcers early in the program?
18. After a program has been implemented, what three things should be done
whether it is producing satisfactory results?
1) Monitor your data to determine whether the recorded behaviors are changing
in the desired direction.
2) Consult the people who must deal with the problem and determine whether
they are satisfied with the progress.
3) Consult behavioral journals, professional behavior modifiers, or others with
experience in using similar procedures on similar problems to determine
whether your results are reasonable in terms of the amount of behavior change
during the period the program has been in effect.
19. Describe in detail the steps that should be followed if a program is not
producing satisfactory results. (See Guidelines 5, 6, and 7.)
If, on the basis of Guideline 1, 2, or 3, your results are unsatisfactory, answer
the following questions and make the appropriate adjustment for any yes
answer.
a. Have the reinforcers that are being used lost their effectiveness—in other
words, has an MAO occurred with regard to the reinforcers being used?
b. Are competing responses being reinforced?
c. Are the procedures being applied incorrectly?
d. Is outside interference disrupting the program?
e. Are there any subjective variables—staff or client negative attitudes,
teacher or client lack of enthusiasm, and
so forth—that might be adversely affecting the program?
6. If none of the answers to these five questions is yes, check to see whether
additional programming steps need to be added or removed. The data may
show excessive error rates, which would suggest the need for additional
programming steps. Or they may show very high rates of correct responses,
which might indicate that the program is too easy and that satiation of intrinsic
reinforcers or “boredom” is occurring. Add, remove, or modify steps as
necessary.
7. If the results are now satisfactory, proceed to Guideline 8; otherwise consult
with a colleague or consider redesigning a major aspect of the program or
 redoing a functional assessment to identify the antecedents and consequences
controlling the target behavior.
20. If a program is producing satisfactory results, what two things should be
done prior to successfully terminating it? (See Guidelines 8 and 9.)
8. Decide how you will provide appropriate program maintenance until the
behavioral objective is reached (see Chapter 18).
9. Following attainment of the behavioral goal, outline an appropriate
arrangement for assessing performance during follow-up observations and
assessing social validity (see Chapter 4).