What Can Be Said About Reinforcement Used in Discrete Trial Instruction?

Follow my weblog with Bloglovin

Keeping with the Thursday/Friday placement of series posts, today I want to share v like shooting fish in a barrel ways to provide consequences for students' responses that can significantly improve your students' learning in discrete trials (and overall).  Throughout the Effective ABA Instructional Strategies Series, I accept alluded to the employ of reinforcers to teach new skills in detached trials.  Essentially, we utilize reinforcers to try to increment right responses in discrete trials and ABA pedagogy in general. Still, if we apply them ineffectively we run the risk of reinforcing the wrong thing, not reinforcing what we wanted to, or just reinforcing desperately and so that the skill does not improve.

The reinforcer (or upshot)  is the nearly of import function of the  3-step contingency of a discrete trial. It is coming into contact with the reinforcer that changes the beliefs and therefore teaches the skill. Behaviorally consequences either increase (by reinforcing) or decrease (past extinction or punishment) a behavior or they could have no impact on the behavior in which instance the consequence would not be a reinforcer or a punisher. Reinforcement (and punishment) are defined based on their event on the beliefs. If the behavior does not increase, it'south not a reinforcer. I have had kids who were reinforced past giving a spoon, past giving a piece of tape, and by ice–these are not items that would reinforce my behavior, but it worked for them.  For more on that topic and ways to keep your reinforcers fresh (and effigy out what might be a reinforcer for the behavior you lot are trying to teach), check out THIS Mail and this postal service.  Not using something that actually serves as a reinforcer (i.e., the behavior it follows increases) is probably the near mutual error I've seen.  So, step 1 is ever to brand sure that what you lot are using and calling a reinforcer is really reinforcing for the individual.  If you have assessed your consequences to encounter if they are reinforcing merely progress isn't moving equally fast as you would like, and then at that place may be something else at play that nosotros demand to consider.  Here are 5 ways that nosotros can make sure that how we provide the consequences for discrete trials are the most effective they tin be.

1. Differential Reinforcement

I've alluded to this ane throughout the serial, but it is incredibly important that nosotros brand sure that we but reinforce correct responses at our desired level of independence.  We need to brand sure that nosotros aren't reinforcing the same quondam responses when we want to see improvement.  Another of the biggest errors is providing reinforcement when the student does the same matter he has done for the concluding few sessions. For example, Tommy'southward learning has plateaued at answering questions with longer sentences. He has gotten to where he uses 2 words just we can't seem to move him to utilize 3.  When we look at Tommy's pedagogy sessions, we might discover that Tommy gets the same amount of reinforcement and the same reinforcer whether he uses ii or 3 words.  So, we are reinforcing both of these skills at the same rate….which means both will continue but 3 words probably won't increase more than using 2 words because the consequence is the same.  In ABA we call it using differential reinforcement and, simplifying the concept a bit, it means that when Tommy says 3 words to answer a question he gets a political party of reinforcers.  If his reinforcer is edibles he gets a scattering instead of i.  If it'southward praise he gets the whole crew standing upwardly and cheering.  Yes I'm exaggerating a chip, just nosotros want to make sure that the consequence for using 3 words is much more significant than if he but uses 2 words.  We might reinforce using 2-discussion sentences with a high five, or a "skilful task" and perhaps 1 edible reinforcer (if nosotros are using them) so that it is significantly less reinforcing than when he uses 3 words.  We might decide not to reinforce using 2 words at all–this determination needs to exist made in regards to the individual educatee.  [Side note: I don't usually teach length of utterance by itself and often try to find a more functional way than I am depicting hither, but this was a simple example to use for this concept.]  So, always make sure that you are monitoring your use of reinforcement to give better / stronger reinforcement for more than right and contained answers–those that movement you toward your goal.

two. Shut down when giving no outcome

When the student gives us the right answer nosotros deliver reinforcement.  When the educatee gives u.s.a. the wrong answer, nosotros typically don't give any response.  We might use error correction and tell them no, but for almost students not getting the reinforcer is the almost powerful consequence.  However, that consequence is only powerful IF what y'all practise in the absenteeism of reinforcement is NOT reinforcing.  If nosotros make a large fuss or become upset, for some students this is reinforcing and their wrong answers may really proceed because they are getting a reaction that they detect reinforcing.  The best response is normally to not make eye contact, pick up any materials from the trial, non say annihilation and move on to the next trial.  This avoids reinforcing the error.

3. Reinforce immediately

In lodge for reinforcement to exist effective, it needs to follow the skill you lot are trying to increase equally immediately every bit possible.  If you lot delay the reinforcer, it may not work but information technology besides may lead to an increment in the wrong affair.  For instance, if Tommy uses a 3-word sentence and then starts to rock and express mirth to himself earlier we reinforce his sentence, he is probable to increase rocking and laughing considering that is what we reinforced.  While many students in discrete trials may not demand reinforcement for every trial, giving it haphazardly is not the way to fade it out.  Using a token board where you give the token immediately after the correct response is a better style to movement toward reducing the employ of such frequent reinforcement.  In that situation y'all give the token immediately merely the educatee has to get a sure number of responses right earlier getting the big reinforcer.    And remember that even for students who are able to wait for reinforcement, if you are didactics a new skill, reinforcement and the efficiency with which information technology is used must increase to be successful.

4. Sell the reinforcement

Reinforcement is SOOOO much more than simply the item or the words we use.  So much of what is reinforcing to a educatee is HOW the reinforcement is done.  I've seen gifted instructors use something as elementary as a bean bag every bit a reinforcer and the educatee's skills increased because the edible bean bag was so much more than a bean pocketbook.  The edible bean bag was a symbol of getting to play with the teacher or exercise something he really enjoyed.  This type of reinforcement is really central because it is pairing you with the reinforcer and the reinforcers y'all deliver crave your presence to be effective.  A bean bag without the person to play the fun game may non exist reinforcing, so at present the pupil NEEDS the instructor to brand it fun.  How you sell the reinforcer is every bit of import, or perhaps more of import, than what the detail is.  This is 1 reason that sometimes reinforcers work for some instructors and not for others.  I used to accept a fellow consultant who was amazing at existence reinforcing with kids and being that bubbly, energetic person (I was the part of the squad who was great with the kids who needed a quieter person to come up to).  Whenever I would visit a classroom without her, the students would all come up up, look behind me and inquire "Where'southward Stacy?"  I could bear witness them that I brought all the toys that Stacy had, only they knew it merely wasn't the aforementioned without her.  Stacy sold reinforcement and and then she became the reinforcer.

5. Always pair concrete reinforcers with verbal acknowledgement or praise

Along those aforementioned lines, the ultimate goal is to fade the reinforcers out and just have praise or acknowledgement be plenty.  The get-go step in that is to sell the reinforcer and pair information technology with yourself so that eventually you go reinforcing.  Nosotros always, always, always pair a concrete reinforcer like food or a toy with praise or reaction from the instructor for this reason.  Always give the reaction / praise start and so the reinforcer–because permit's face up information technology, as a kid, once I accept that Chiliad&M or that toy, I don't know what the instructor is doing so it's lost on me.  Token boards are proficient means to start to space out the reinforcers because the tokens go reinforcers in the same way that the teacher does.  We pair the token with the reinforcer and and then we start increasing how many the student has to earn earlier getting to the reinforcer.  For more ideas on using token systems, bank check out this post.  For a set of gratis token boards check out these in my shop and for more variety, check these out that are like the i in the picture to a higher place.

Then that gives us 5 important things to remember when giving consequences in DTT.  I volition write this up with some other overall tips at the end of this department of the series and you volition be able to download a flow chart with some reminders if yous want to use them with your staff or families for grooming.  (Run across I did heed to what yous said in the survey!) 🙂

I will exist back on Sunday for the Special Ed. Summertime Web log Hop with a post about arranging the physical space.  And Workbasket Wednesday was postponed due to the renovations on the site until next Wednesday (vii/10/15).  I hope y'all like the new site..yous may still see a few things change in the adjacent few weeks, but I will be having a chiliad opening celebration erstwhile in the next few weeks, so stay tuned for that.

Until then,

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

holderquatere.blogspot.com

Source: https://autismclassroomresources.com/5-easy-ways-to-improve-reinforcement-in-discrete-trials/

Share this post