Glossary of ABA Terms

Antecedent: Any change or changes in the environment which take place before a behavior occurs.

Behavior: Any observable action that a person or animal does. Running, talking, crying, frowning, and eating are all types of behaviors which can be observed by another person. See also: covert behavior

Behavioral Skills Training (BST): A training method in which the instructor provides verbal instructions to the learner, shows the learner how the skill is performed, gives the learner an opportunity to perform the skill, and then gives feedback on the learner’s performance. These steps are repeated in a specific order until the learner has mastered the skill being trained. (Note: not to be confused with Skill-Based Treatment or SBT)

Consequence: Any change or changes in the environment which take place after a behavior occurs.

Covert behavior: Any action that a person or animal does which cannot be observed by another person. Thinking, imagining, or feeling happy or sad would all be examples of covert behavior. See also: behavior.

Extinction: When reinforcement is no longer given to a behavior that was previously reinforced. This procedure is used to eliminate unwanted behaviors. Behaviors which are placed on extinction eventually decrease to zero or near-zero levels and are said to have been “extinguished.” See also: reinforcement, extinction burst

Extinction burst: At the beginning of the extinction process, the behavior which is placed on extinction will often increase dramatically in some way before eventually decreasing to zero or near-zero levels. This sudden and dramatic increase is known as the extinction burst. When an extinction burst is observed, it is very important to continue to withhold reinforcement or the behavior will not decrease. See also: reinforcement, extinction

Function: The reason why a behavior occurs. Behaviors most often occur to get something (e.g., access to toys and activities, attention from other people, or something that feels good), or to get away from something (e.g., unpleasant activities, people, or sensations). See also: behavior, Functional Communication Training

Functional Communication Training: A type of communication behavior which is taught to an individual in order to replace a problem behavior. For example, a child who hits others when they try to touch his toys may be taught to say “no thank you” instead of hitting. Or, a child who climbs on the counter to access cookies may be taught to tell an adult “I want a cookie” instead of climbing on the counter. See also: function

Manding: Any type of verbal request. From the word demand. For instance, if a child wants to eat an apple, he could say “apple,” use a sign language gesture to express “apple,” or point to a picture of an apple. These would all be considered mands for “apple.” The mand is a special type of behavior, since it is the only kind of behavior which names its own reinforcer. See also: reinforcement.

Modeling: Performing a skill in front of a learner to demonstrate how it is done. For example, having a child watch while you show them how to put a puzzle together before handing them the puzzles pieces would be modeling the skill.

Natural Environment Teaching (NET): A type of teaching which uses the learner’s day-to-day environment, favorite toys, and commonly-occurring play situations to teach skills. NET can also be thought of as a type of play-based learning. When people talk about NET, they are usually contrasting it with discrete trial teaching (DTT), where the learner is pulled out of his or her natural environment and taught skills in a controlled setting (usually sitting at a table with the instructor). While each form of teaching has its own advantages, NET tends to be more fun and preferred by learners.

Positive reinforcement: Any type of reinforcement which involves adding something to the environment. For example, giving a child a sticker after he brushes his teeth would be positive reinforcement. See also: reinforcement.

Prompt fading: The process of gradually removing prompts until a learner is completing a skill independently. For example, if teaching a child to spread peanut butter on bread, you may start off by using your hands to move your child’s hands to help him spread the peanut butter. Once he gets good at that, you may switch to pointing and explaining what he needs to do by pointing at the knife and saying “okay, now put the knife in the peanut butter jar.” Once he is good at that, you might progress to just occasional reminders during the trickier parts of the process. This process represents the fading out of prompts to increase the learner’s independence.

Prompting: A verbal, gestural, physical, or other type of cue which is given to a learner to show them how to perform a specific skill. For example, if teaching a child how to wash his hands, pointing at the soap would be a prompt for using soap during the hand-washing process. Verbally coaching a child through tying his shoes (e.g., “now take that lace and make a loop”) would be a verbal prompt for shoe-typing. Laying out your child’s clothes on his bed in the order he needs to put them on would be a positional prompt for dressing. See also: prompt fading

Punishment: Any change in the environment which happens after a behavior, which decreases that behavior in some manner in the future. For example, placing a child in time out after he has hit a classmate would be considered punishment if he became less likely to hit classmates in the future. A punishment is only a punishment in the behavioral sense if it decreases the target behavior. In ABA, punishers are typically reserved for problem behaviors for which positive methods have been tried and have failed, or for problem behaviors which are dangerous and need to be decreased very quickly.

Reinforcement: Any change in the environment which happens after a behavior, which increases that behavior in some manner in the future. For example, giving a child 5 minutes of iPad time after he has cleaned up his toys would be considered reinforcement if he became more likely to clean up his toys in the future. Not all rewards are reinforcers. A reward is only a reinforcer if it increases the target behavior.

Shaping: A type of teaching where is a skill is gradually shaped over time by reinforcing closer and closer approximations of the target skill. In other words, you teach by reinforcing a behavior whenever it it becomes more similar to the skill you are trying to teach.

Skill-Based Treatment (SBT): A treatment package (i.e., a treatment program with many different components) designed to reduce severe problem behaviors while teaching communication, toleration, and cooperation skills. Teaching starts with very easy tasks and progresses to very challenging tasks and focuses on voluntary participation by giving the learner opportunities to opt out. (Note: not to be confused with Behavioral Skills Training or BST)

Social Stories: A type of teaching in which a learner interacts with a written (and often illustrated) story which describes and depicts whatever skill is being taught. Social Stories can also be used to prepare children for upcoming changes, potentially reducing the child’s anxiety when such changes take place.

Systematic desensitization: This is a procedure used to help individuals overcome fears and phobias, and break compulsions. This method involves exposing an individual to a very low-intensity version of the feared stimulus while training a relaxation response. Over time, the intensity of the fearful stimulus is gradually increased. This procedure is designed to avoid producing a panic and/or escape response, and tends to be well-tolerated as compared to techniques such as flooding, which exposes the individual to the maximum-intensity stimulus for long enough that the panic response naturally subsides (that’s not to say that flooding doesn’t work, it’s just not very fun).

Token reinforcement: A reinforcement procedure in which an individual is given a neutral, conditioned reinforcer (e.g., stickers, pennies, marbles, pebbles, check marks, etc.) which can then be exchanged for a stronger, unconditioned reinforcer (e.g., candy, tickles, iPad time, time with a fun toy, an extra trip to the park, etc.). In other words, a child must earn “points” before earning the “reward.” This technique can be used to space out reinforcers when you are reinforcing a behavior that happens frequently (such that you can give your child 2 pieces of candy instead of 20, if that is a concern). This technique is also great when the rienforcer is not convenient and/or cannot be done at a moment’s notice (e.g., taking a trip to the park or a trip to the store is something that takes a bit more planning than simply giving a child some candy).