…No matter which skills are being taught–from reducing self-injurious behavior to applying for a job–ABA is the foundation of learning, says [Sinclair]
“We are all motivated by token economies,” Ms. Sinclair explains. “When you go to work, you get a paycheck. You display such-and-such behavior, you get a token. That token–and it doesn’t even have to be something physical–becomes the reinforcement.”
Some tokens are universal, such as a snack or a beverage. Others are more individual–listening to music, riding a bike, going outside–because each student is motivated by different rewards. When a new child comes to the Center for Autism, his family members, caregivers and others close to him fill out reinforcement surveys, which give the staff insight as to what will inspire the youngster to want to perform his tasks.
“Once we have the list, we apply the rewards strategically,” Ms. Sinclair says. "If the child goes for a whole morning without hitting himself, and we know he likes going outside, one of the teachers will say something like, ‘You’ve done very well. C’mon, let’s take a walk.’ "
The center’s staff uses ABA programs such as Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behavior, where children are given a different behavior to compete with a behavior that needs to be reduced. For example, if a child is slapping himself, he is given something more pleasurable to do with his hands, like playing with Play-Doh. Under this approach, the child chooses to engage in the more pleasurable behavior. A second program is Direct Reinforcement of Incompatible Behavior, where the child is given a behavior that makes it impossible to engage in the undesirable behavior–so, if the child body-rocks, she is asked to walk on a treadmill, since rocking is impossible while walking.
The incentive is really twofold, Ms. Sinclair adds. The children not only get rewards, but they also see that their actions have pleased someone.
“I think all of our children want to do a good job, but they have been given some wiring that’s pretty faulty,” Ms. Sinclair says. “When many of them come to us, they seem so nonresponsive. But once we give them a new way to approach and see the world, they start to light up. They want to show you what they can do. It really builds their confidence.”
Parents get daily sheets that track the child’s improving behavior and note how many challenging acts the child displayed. Parents are then urged to continue rewarding good behavior at home. During the fall 2008 semester, 58 of the school’s 100 students were on active behavioral reduction plans. After 130 days, those plans resulted in a 95 percent reduction in challenging behavior.
As children mature, they are encouraged to monitor their own behavior.
"I’ll meet kids in the hall at the end of the day who say, ‘Guess what? I only repeated myself three times today!’ Ms. Sinclair says. "And I’ll say, ‘Great job! How many times did you used to repeat yourself?’ ‘Three hundred times!’ "
This type of self-awareness also generates another level of understanding, creating empathy in children who once displayed flatness in emotion. Ms. Sinclair offers this anecdote:
“I was in the hallway at dismissal and noticed a 16-year-old student crying softly to herself. I put my arm around her and asked what was wrong. I looked toward the therapist, who said that they’d been watching the movie Wall-E [a movie about a robot who lives alone on a deserted Earth]. I asked her if the movie made her sad. She said yes, and I asked why. ‘Because Wall-E is lonely.’ Coming from a person with autism, that was so moving for me–that she could empathize with his loneliness was amazing. In our world, this is what we’ve been working toward and waiting for. It was pure grace.”…