AT/AAC SummerSession 4

Upcoming Assignments • Annotated Bibliographies due today

• Please send electronically so they can be posted to share!

• Date Change…July 16th- Ecological Inventories Assignment• Remember this is with a group

• July 16th… Critique of Research Article is due• This is an individual assignment

• July 18th… Technology Selection/Design Assignment is due

Review for Quiz #3

5 Opportunity Barriers to CommunicationBeukelman & Mirenda (1992)

1. Policy barriers- Policies that segregate AAC users or limit the use of communication devices purchased with school funding to classroom use

2. Practice barriers- Precedents, procedures, and common practice within a school that are not actual policies, but limit full participation of AAC users

3. Attitude barriers- individual opinions & beliefs that affect the AAC user’s full participation

4. Knowledge barriers- lack of knowledge about AAC interventions & use options

5. Skill barriers- limits of the technical & communication knowledge of those responsible for the AAC assessment & intervention plan

Steps in Conducting a Systematic Preference Assessment

1. Define the purpose of the assessment.2. Select the range of sampling options3. Determine the forms of the sampling options4. Define the student’s responses for preference and non-

preference of options5. Outline presentation procedures6. Determine sampling schedule & location7. Observe & record responses to options8. Summarize & make recommendations based on assessment.

Ecological Inventory of Communication Skills

Steps in Activity

Natural Cues

Comm. Skills Needed

Student Performance

Discrepancy Analysis

Interv.Plan

Receptive or Expressive

+ or - Why student isn’t doing the step

suggestions

Quiz #3

Discussion

Behavior

you want to Increase or Decrease

Antecedent:

Natural Cue that triggers [or should trigger]….

Consequence:

Natural outcome that consistently occurs afterbehavior

Antecedent Strategies

-Time Delay-Prompting-Pre-correction-Modeling

Instructional Design

-Range of Responses-Range of Examples-Positive Examples-Negative Examples-Minimally Different-Maximally Different

Consequence Strategies

-Differential Reinforcement

-Shaping

-Error Correction

Ecological Inventories Assignment• Questions???• Include a preference assessment (forms provided on wiki or

on disk from book)• Include an ecological inventory for each of the activities given

within the case example (if you chose to use your own case example please use the same activities from the case examples)

Preference Assessments• Why are preference assessments so important?

• Want to be seen as the “giver of good things”

• Natural consequences may not be reinforcing to the learner.

Systematic Preference Assessments• Can be use for a number of reasons, but mostly used to

identify potential reinforcers

• Good idea is to start with:

• An interview of significant others to find out about a variety of items and activities a learner might like

Form 5.1b from CD-ROM

Direct Observation is most reliable method for assessing preferences

• From list, directly manipulate potentially preferred items and observe to identify which items are actually preferred.

• Free Access or Choice of reinforcing items

Free Access Steps (Ortiz & Carr, 2000)• Identify several potentially preferred items (checklist or

interview of others)

• Position items so that the learner has access to all items • Spread around the room in the learner’s reach/view

• Observe the learner on several occassions

• Document the first item (& successive items) the learner approaches and note the total duration of time the learner engages with each item.

Form 5.2

In-Class Activity• Outline a “free access” preference assessment for the case

study for your ecological inventory

Forced Choice Steps (Piazza, Fisher, Hagopian, Bowman, & Toole, 1996)• Identify several potentially preferred items • Present items in pairs.• Randomize the presentation of items in pairs and order of

pairs (to prevent the same item from being presented too many times in a row)

• Randomize the position of the items • Observe the item in each pair the learner selects.

Forced Choice Form 5.3

In-Class Activity• Outline a “forced choice” preference assessment for the case

study for your ecological inventory

Functional Analysis

Functional Analysis Experimental methodology in which (ANTECEDENTS) and

potential reinforcers (CONSEQUENCES) of a problem behavior are carefully arranged in a controlled manner to isolate the effects of potential sources of reinforcement that are often confounded through other observational methods

(Iwata, Kahng, Wallace, & Lindberg, 2000; Mace, Lalli, & Lalli, 1991).

Can lead to causal rather than correlational outcome data with respect to the relationships between environmental events and behavior (Cooper, Heron, & Heward, 2007)

Functional Analysis (FA)

Purpose of Functional Analysis:Experimentally determine the function of problem

behaviorUses at least 3 conditions: Control (baseline),

Attention (provided when problem behaviors occur), Escape (removal of aversive when p.b. occur)

Should be conducted by individual trained in FA and how to deal with extreme problem behaviors

Design of Functional Analysis Conditions

Individualized according to the functional hypotheses developed by the school professionals.

The functional analyses for all students consist of at least three conditions: control, attention, and escape.

Control Condition: baseline condition in which student has consistently exhibited little or no problem behavior. Reinforcement should be freely available and no demands placed on student

Attention Condition: will involve the contingent provision of attention following occurrence of the problem behavior.

Escape Condition: will examine the function of student behavior through the contingent removal of aversive tasks (e.g., difficult, long, or physically taxing tasks)

Safeguards to maintain experimental control & reduce error/ bias

1. Functional analyses may be conducted in a room separate from the classroom environment to minimize distractions (the classroom environment is more natural, but less controllable).

2. Across days the experimental conditions are presented in random order to reduce the risk of order effects.

Direct Observations During Functional Analysis

Trained data collectors will collect observation data on the occurrence or non-occurrence of target behavior using a partial-interval recording system.

Functional Analysis Condition Procedures

Each functional analysis condition will consist of 10 trials and last a maximum of 5 minutes.

Between conditions, the student is offered a 1-minute break.

Before starting a new condition, the student will be provided with a verbal description of the procedures that will be used in that condition.

Following occurrences of problem behavior during each condition, the researcher will systematically follow through with the prescribed response (i.e. removal of task, providing attention, etc.).

Example: The student is a Kindergarten student in a general education

classroom with 17 students.

His strengths are : Knows initial sounds & likes reading

Routine: Reading (9:00) OR Math (10:00-10:30)

Setting Event Antecedent Behavior Outcome/Consequence

Unknown During large or small group time when student is sitting with other students or an adult.

Makes loud noises, touches others, plays with items, looks around (off-task)

Peers or adults will respond to his behavior and give him attention

Function: Access attention from the adult (and peers to ultimately get the attention of the adult)

Activities for Conditions: Activities for Control

Condition

(Preferred activities)

Activities for Attention Condition

(Easy activities >90% accuracy)

Activities for Escape Condition

(Less preferred/difficult activities <60%

accurate)1. Building with

Blocks

2. Working with unifix cubes

3. Drawing

1. Phonics center activities

2. Worksheets on phonics and reading

1. Reading CVC words from a list

2. Writing/handwriting activities

3. Math worksheets

Control Condition Baseline condition in which student has consistently

exhibited little or no problem behavior.

Procedure:

1. Introduction: “I’ll help you while you do __________ task”

2. Student presented with the _____________task.

3. The researcher provides 1:1 attention with ongoing prompts every 3-5 seconds.

4. Any occurrences of the problem behavior will be ignored and the student will continue to receive attention every 3-5 seconds.

Setting Event Antecedent Consequence

Give attention for 1 minute

Preferred activity (from list in table above)

Ignore problem behavior

Attention Condition Involves the contingent provision of attention

following occurrence of the problem behavior

1. Introduction: “I want you to do this activity.”

2. Researcher will present the activity and then move 10 ft away from student

3. If student engages in target behavior, the researcher will approach the student and provide the student with 5 seconds of adult attention

4. Following the 5-second interval the student will be directed to return to the activity, the researcher will walk away, and the next trial will begin.

Setting Event Antecedent Consequence

1 minute break—walk around…limited attention on break

Easy worksheet (from table above) no attention—adult 10 feet away

Contingent attention. If exhibits target behavior(s) (5 seconds of adult attention)

Escape Condition Examine the function of student behavior through

the contingent removal of aversive tasks

1. Introduction: “I want you to work on this activity, if I think you are having trouble, we’ll take a 10-second break. During that break you need to sit quietly and count to 10 seconds.

2. The researcher will provide 1:1 attention with ongoing prompts related to completion of the assignment every 3-5 seconds throughout the condition.

3. Any time the student engages in the target behavior , the researcher will say, “Let’s have a 10 second break” and remove the worksheet for 10 seconds without providing the student any further attention.

4. The next trial will start following the 10-second break after the student is

directed to get back to work.

Setting Event Antecedent ConsequenceDesired activity on break Difficult activity (less than

60% accurate from table above) with 1:1 attention

Remove task for 10 seconds with no attention

1 2 3 4 50%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Participant 98

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What would you use for the conditions to test this hypothesis?

Antecedent Behavior Consequence

Small group writing tasks (writing paragraphs)

Makes faces and talks to other students

Get Peer Attention

Control Condition?

Attention Condition?

Escape Condition?

Easy/Preferred Activity w/ Peers

If Problem behavior occurs:

Ignore

Work Alone on easy task

Work w/ Peers on difficult task

Provide him w/ attention from Peers

Remove the task

What would you use for the conditions to test this hypothesis?

Antecedent Behavior Consequence

Double digit addition problems

Puts head down, throws pencil down

Avoid Math Task

Control Condition?

Attention Condition?

Escape Condition?

Easy/Preferred Activity

If Problem behavior occurs:

Ignore

Work Alone on easy task

Work w/ teacher on double digit problems

Provide him w/ attention

Remove the task

FBA: Summary of Behavior

Maintaining Consequence & Function

Problem Behavior

Antecedent

FUNCTION

FUNCTION is where student behavior intersects with the environment

Function = Learning

Student learns…. When (A), if I (B), then (C)… Function = how I benefit so I keep doing B

Targeted Routine

General Case Design of Instruction1. Define the Instructional Universe2. Define the range of relevant stimulus and

response variation3. Select examples for teaching and probe

testing 4. Sequence the teaching examples5. Teach sequence6. Test using the non-trained probe

examples

Please complete self-evaluation & feedback form