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Category Archives: Social Interaction

Part 9 in Trauma-Informed Behavior Analysis: On intervention for fetal alcohol exposure

18 Monday Sep 2017

Posted by kolubcbad in adults, Behavior Analysis, children, Early Intervention, Education, enriched environment, FAS, FASD, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, risk assessment, self injurious behavior, Social Interaction, teaching ethics, trauma, Uncategorized

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aggression, behavior analysis, early intervention, FAS, FASD, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, fetal alcohol syndrome

Early intervention after an unfair start in life: Fetal exposure to alcohol

Those of us who work with people who have lived through adverse childhood experiences are familiar with the importance of individualizing treatment. We can do a lot of harm if we don’t consider what someone went through in life, or if we assume that one child’s preferences and needs are similar to those of another person.

Of course, this series about trauma has emphasized that it is the responsibility of ANY behavior analyst to individualize treatment, to consider the history of a client before moving forward with treatment, and to treat more than the “local” functions of behavior. Unfortunately, it is easy to miss the importance of this component of assessment and treatment, especially for new behavior analysts who have gained their “hours” working with highly similar clients, working without supervisors experienced in a diverse clientele, of without any supervisor or instructor who appreciates experimental as well as applied behavior analysis. One of the ways we find out more, is to go to the literature. This may be easier said than done, and an example of successfully data mining for this topic is provided toward the end of the article.

Today’s discussion involves clients who have been affected by what’s known as “Fetal alcohol syndrome”, or exposure to alcohol in the womb.

This is more than adverse childhood experience, for it goes back further in development, perhaps even as early as the neural tube (which will give rise to the spinal cord) and other important structures were being formed. This kind of exposure can affect an individual for their entire lifetime.

So we can consider it an adverse experience, although it happened even earlier than what we think of as “childhood”, and it has long lasting consequences, altering the way someone will learn and interact for the rest of their life.

Can we treat behavior after this condition? Continue reading →

Part 7 in Trauma-informed behavior analysis: When praise doesn’t work

25 Friday Aug 2017

Posted by kolubcbad in Behavior Analysis, Early Intervention, Education, praise, risk assessment, Social Interaction, supervision, teaching behavior analysis, trauma, Uncategorized

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For readers following our ongoing series on treating behavior affected by previous adverse experiences (e.g., trauma) from a behavior analytic perspective, you may have noticed a few key concepts embedded in the articles and stories I have shared so far. One of these key ideas is this:

After trauma was present in a child’s life, their behavior may seem to respond a bit (or a lot) differently to everyday behavior management strategies.

Because this is such an important idea, I want to say it a few different ways to help you identify with different audiences and members of your collaborative team.

A parent might say, “I don’t know why, but in my 20 years of parenting kids, many who had disabilities and many who were typically developing, I’ve never had a child who just didn’t respond to my regular parenting skills – this child doesn’t respond the same, and not only does my normal parenting seem to not work, but it feels like I’m actually making it worse when I try to help.”

(Empathy red flag: Remember my suggestion to go to parenting or adoption or foster care groups and to listen hard before you try to help? Any behavior analyst knows to first “do no harm”, and it gets real, right here, when we try to help first by “doing only what we normally do” after someone experienced certain kinds of aversive and “traumatic” experiences.)

A special educator getting his behavior analytic certification new to “kids who have been through abuse or neglect” might say, “it’s so weird how the PBS (positive behavior support) and class-wide token system techniques work on my whole class, but they just don’t seem to impact this student at all; I feel like he doesn’t care, and I can’t seem to get through to him”.

A law enforcement professional new to this population might say, “It’s strange how the mother who called us seemed like she was in crisis and the child was about to commit murder, but when we got there the child seemed super calm and talked to us like nothing was wrong; I’m thinking it might be the parent who has mental health issues.”

(Above, this law enforcement example is a red flag for indicators of possible “Reactive attachment” issues that will be discussed in some upcoming articles. It might sound strange to a behavior analyst, but “attachment” is an idea that can be translated and discussed with social workers and caregivers to make sure that the client is receiving appropriate support. Responding oddly to praise is just one  of the indicators of a past challenging history, and telling vastly different stories to different adults can be another.)

A behavior analyst might say, or at least agree, that someone’s behavior responds differently to social stimuli after a series of difficult, life-changing and aversive experiences that occurred with previous caregivers.

And a behavior analyst familiar with using preventative schedules and comprehensive historical assessments to support a client after serious aversive experiences might say, “We need to document what stimuli the person was exposed to in their conditioning history, and how socially delivered stimuli affect their current behavior stream. We need to prioritize the teaching agenda for the caregivers, parents, and teachers, to make sure they know how to deliver preventative schedules [instead of doing the everyday adult training agenda like teaching people to praise appropriate behavior; we know that because of this person’s history, praise may not function as a reinforcer, and may result in worsening behavior over time, if we are not careful about how and when it is delivered].”

It’s important to point out that this article is not about how praise is not a good idea.

In fact, praise is just a social interaction that involves pointing out what was great about someone’s behavior, and it can be as simple as calling out a behavior when a child tries it for the first time (“Hey, you helped out without asking when we cleaned up the room; I bet Ms. Tilly was super happy to get some help. Did you notice how she smiled at you when we left? You’re a part of this school family and we’re so glad you’re here.”)

It’s also not about how to deliver praise effectively or why we praise or how to fade out praise. (If you’re interested in that, check out research on the subject in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis or our Why we praise handout).

It’s really about how something—a parenting practice, a behavior management strategy, an educational plan—works, given someone’s history. Often this is in addition to how a behavior functions in the moment.

It’s about individualizing our strategies (which can only occur after appropriate assessment). Praise should be a tool that waters the flowers you want in your garden. If you accidentally dump fertilizer on something you don’t want to grow, what happens? What if praise isn’t like water to a flower, but a weed-killer that will stunt its growth, because of the person’s history, and how it was paired with other stimuli in their repertoire?poppies.jpg

Sometimes we jump in before assessing the history.

Clients exposed to disruption in their early learning histories just don’t respond “typically” to praise.

Praise is not magic.

It’s just another stimulus that occurs in a social context.

By definition, it is delivered by a person, meaning it has a social conditioning history.

For some of us, it was just a signal or pre-condition for bad things about to happen.

Unlike in happy homes, for people who have been through abuse, the history of hearing praise (or hearing adults talk to a child) might not be pleasant, or predictable.

Similar to how the history of caregiving was not necessarily predictable or always pleasant, so we can’t expect that learning to trust a new caregiver, teacher or adoptive parent, or starting to enjoy their praise, or follow their helpful suggestions and instructions, will be easy or predictable.

How can we help?

When we’re lucky, sometimes clients use their words to tell us. My 20y old client who had been through abuse (and was living in a jail setting where she felt “safer” than going home to live with people who had abused her in the past) reminded me, “Dr. K, you already know I don’t respond well to compliments.”

When they’re not able to use words, even if they can sometimes speak, clients use their behavior to tell us that they don’t feel safe, or that praise is uncomfortable or that adults are historically not reliable signals of good things.

Let’s listen.

P.S. Why is “risk assessment” checked as a category or tag for this article? If we don’t assess the risks for using interventions in a case that involves “trauma”, we risk using or recommending a strategy that would work in 90% of your other cases but might increase challenging behavior in this one. If you’re a behavior analyst, you’re already concerned with following our field’s ethics guidelines related to risk assessment.

Resource Wednesday: Paradigm Behavior, for family-supportive resources beautifully designed by a friendly BCBA

09 Wednesday Aug 2017

Posted by kolubcbad in Autism, Behavior Analysis, children, Early Intervention, Education, enriched environment, play, resources, Social Interaction, teaching behavior analysis, Uncategorized

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behavior analysis, children, community, paradigm behavior, parents, play, resources, teaching behavior analysis

At CuspEmergence, we love finding resources or information we can share with our families and community. Imagine our excitement when we discovered this close-to-home resource, an entire website devoted to helping parents become even more amazing at playing, communicating, and connecting with their children! Paradigm Behavior maintains a website and resource library where families can learn, with the support of a Board Certified Behavior Analyst who is a parent herself. Christina posts blogs, resources for supporting play, and online coaching for families interested in developing play skills, language, and more. Paradigm Behavior maintains a well-stocked Playroom, which could teach students and supervisees cutting their teeth in behavior analysts a thing or about connecting with families and using materials in effective ways.

The resources we found were helpful even to seasoned behavior analysts, taking much of the work out of connecting parents with individualized resources that were at once friendly and helpful. We think you’ll love them as much as we do

Check out ParadigmBehavior.com.

Job Aids: On Compassion, Visual Aids, and Individualizing support

06 Wednesday Mar 2013

Posted by kolubcbad in Community, job aids, play, Social Interaction

≈ 1 Comment

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individualized support, job aids, neurotypical, visual support

A family member leaves a job aid easily followed to use technology while the "savvy" person is away

A family member leaves a job aid easily followed to use technology while the “tech-savvy” person is away

A separate job aid for turning off the system

A separate job aid for turning off the system

To begin, it is helpful to understand that although behavioral support can often be widely useful, some strategies are perceived as “for autism”, “for children”, or even “for parents only”.

At Cusp Emergence, it’s about relationships– whether with our peers, employees, employers, family members or significant others (or even ourselves).

While today’s idea (the “job aid”) is often linked with the workplace environment, this article is  about compassion and individualized support. Perhaps you’d like to experience this article as a challenge you to find yourself in one of the stories even if this week’s idea doesn’t seem immediately related to your life’s work.

Bonnie and technology: Bonnie used to avoid technology while her housemate was away. She described herself as resentful that she was often bored, never played a game by herself, or turned on the complicated computer-controlled television while alone, and claimed she never had the opportunity to learn how. Her roommate dominated the remotes when they played together and she always felt it was useless to figure out herself. It sounded strange to her friends, she knew, that she couldn’t work it. But she never had the opportunity or need or desire to do it anyway.

Joey and laundry: Joey never did laundry. Why should he; his partner (or even their son, who enjoyed that particular chore) usually did it. Sometimes he resented his slowly shrinking jeans, and often his wife tried not to resent the fact that Joey never helped. But it was honestly quite complicated, and past attempts had not gone well, producing pink underwear for everyone in the family, or shrunken, discolored sweaters.

Benny and the restroom: Benny was 15 years old and growing, and unlike most of his family and friends, he had never mastered the final steps in his toilet routine. He attended the special education program at his local school, and his paraprofessional often needed to stand at the door asking if he needed help. He usually came out with his pants down around his ankles and was instructed and guided back to the bathroom, where he was instructed to pull up his pants and turn off the light before once again entering the classroom. Often he yelled “Go away!” and slammed the door when his paraprofessional entered to assist him.

How are these stories related?

  • First, they represent situations in the client has no physical limitations preventing him or her from accomplishing the task. In addition,

  • The stories all involve communication partners, life partners, or an activity partner completing some or all of the task involved, instead of the client completing it himself or herself.
  • In each of these situations, there was a “learning history” in which the partner had TRIED to communicate how, why, and when to do these tasks. But the communication had not been effective! Parents and partners often try repeating instructions, yelling, or standing beside their partner naming every next step.
  • Finally, these situations all hold hidden potential payoffs if clients learned to do these things themselves.

Consider:

  • If Bonnie used technology by herself, she could have a greater variety of enjoyable things to do while her partner was away. She might be able to develop individual interests. She might have time to practice alone and therefore enjoy the activity even more when they did it together later. She could feel good about being an active participant in the household.
  • If Joey did the laundry by himself, he could enjoy wearing what he wanted or needed to wear without someone else needing to do it, having to stop something they needed to do in order to fulfill his request. If he did it himself, he could have access to clean clothing that he had picked out. He could feel good about contributing to the household.
  • If Joshua finished his routine in the bathroom and came out to rejoin the group, he could enjoy doing it by himself. He could feel good about doing it himself and joining the social expectations of his group. He could immediately transition to a new activity with his friends, instead of feeling embarrassment as others laughed or pointed to his pants around his ankles.

In every case above, job aids provided compassionate, individualized assistance to bridge the gap between the need to complete a task, and the actual execution of that task.

Toward solutions

Bonnie’s partner whipped up a set of easy-to-follow job aids that helped her navigate quickly through technology that previously had seemed mystifying. When her partner was out of town, Bonnie now used it herself and enjoyed the freedom.

Joey’s partner posted easy job aids (post-it notes) above the laundry machines. When his partner was out of town it was easy to see what to wash together or separate, which buttons to push, and how hot or cold the water needed to be.

Joshua’s paraprofessional and teacher posted reminders near the bathroom door that visually reminded him to check his pants and zipper and turn out the light.

Here are some of the potential benefits Bonnie, Joey, and Joshua may begin to enjoy:

  • Ability to meet a need or want alone
  • Gain more control over their life
  • The chance to gain mastery over something they will likely need to do in the future
  • The ability to rely on themselves instead on someone else
  • Increased range of options at any one time
  • Decreased dependence on others
  • Dignity, autonomy, confidence, etc

A final note: After we begin to do more for ourselves, it is compassionate for our life partners, parenting partners, communication partners, peers, or providers to consider the importance of whether, how, when, and why they will fade out their assistance. More to come on this topic in a future post!

HELP- There’s a monster in my toybox!

06 Wednesday Feb 2013

Posted by kolubcbad in Autism, Behavior Analysis, Community, Early Intervention, Education, play, Rett's, Social Interaction

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autism, behavior support, early intervention, individualized, play, social emotional support

Part 1 of Series: Helping caregivers and teachers support children to meet fearful challenges

Shannon’s Story

Shannon and Gina sat in a free play area near their preschool teacher. “SQUAWK!” came the loud animal sound when Gina pushed the button on a new toy. As the toy noise grew louder, Shannon’s eyes opened wider and wider until she froze, a look of sheer terror on her face. She started to back away and wailed, sinking onto the floor and crying.”Oh no,” gasped her teacher. “Put that toy away!” While Shannon cried, their teacher pulled Gina aside and said “I’m sorry, but Shannon is afraid of that toy. Next time we will remember to play with it when she’s in another room.”

Devon’s Mom’s Dilemma

Devon and his mom Jenny walked down the sidewalk with their next door neighbors. As they neared the playground, Devon suddenly grabbed his mother’s skirt tightly and shrieked. “NO BIRDIES! NO DOGGIES!” At this, Jenny’s face grew red as she picked up Devon and held him tightly. She looked at her neighbor helplessly and apologized: “I’m just so sorry… We can’t go any further with you. He’s been doing this every time. He has this issue with ducks and dogs and birds now. I think even if we don’t see one he’ll be afraid one might get him.”

Toward more supportive, long term strategies

At first, it may seem supportive to shield a child from their fears.

But both teachers and parents want and need solutions that will ultimately help children face and overcome challenges. So when there is a question, especially when a particular strategy feels good or soothing or produces relief in the short term, it’s a good idea to ask ourselves, “is this procedure also supportive in the long term?”

If not, how can Shannon’s teacher and Devon’s mom learn a more therapeutic approach? And why is that important? Let’s review these scenarios again, to better understand why and how to take a supportive long term approach. What might Shannon’s interaction with the toy, and Devon’s interaction with park creatures, have in common?

First, these scenarios are similar in how they are resolved.

In both interactions, a pattern is being established: the child first encounters a fear, or “fear inducing stimulus”, and then others respond by helping the child to escape or avoid it.

Second, these scenarios are similar in how they affect other people.

From the perspective of Shannon’s peers, her inability to play with that toy meant that they couldn’t either, at least not when she was around. From the perspective of Devon’s neighbor, the neighborhood kids couldn’t play with Devon in a park. This concept, the idea that Devon can’t play in the park, and that Shannon can’t play with toys that make animal sounds, limits interaction opportunities. It also risks changing the way peers think about approaching Shannon and Devon.

Third, these scenarios have similar “reductive” effects on the children’s “repertoire” or world. Have you ever met a family member or caregiver who says, “we used to love to do ___” but we can’t anymore”? Perhaps a family used to go to the movies, or out to dinner, or have friends over, or go to museums, or go hiking. During the initial conversation with families, that blank is filled in by all the things they need to avoid now because of fears of how people will react, fears that it won’t go well, fears that it will be too difficult, embarrassing, or noisy. Often those fears are REAL at the time! Perhaps people DID stare and talk at church when a family’s child loudly refused to stop standing on the pew. Perhaps all the teachers and mothers DID stare and talk in the parking lot as a child disrobed in public and threw a tantrum before leaving the store. Perhaps it WILL be difficult, embarrassing, or noisy. But keep reading. We can do this together.

Fourth, understand it’s a cycle: handling scenarios by allowing “fear habits” to persist, allows learners to skip learning opportunities and continue to repeat old harmful habits instead.

If Shannon and Devon can’t play with certain toys or in certain places, they have reduced opportunities to learn about those things and places, and no opportunity to learn that they are NOT scary.

Fifth, if these scenarios become habits, they make it more difficult for the child to handle or face similar or other fears in the future. These situations do not teach the child how to be more successful in coping with scary, new or different events.

Bottom Line: Instead of stopping or thwarting learning opportunities, we can expand them.

Come back Friday to learn how!

School of Play

04 Tuesday Dec 2012

Posted by kolubcbad in Autism, Behavior Analysis, Early Intervention, Education, play, Social Interaction, Uncategorized

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autism, behavior management, language, leisure skills, play, school of play, social emotional support

School of Play ©
Our school of play division provides one-time, brief, or long-term play or leisure skill-based individualized client supports, training, and education.

WHO can benefit?
Groups: Schools, classes, churches, businesses (gyms, pediatric doctors or dentist groups, therapists)
Families: Families affected by behavioral, developmental, social, emotional, or other challenges
Individuals: Children, staff, teachers, administrators

WHEN?
Our clients can benefit from School of Play © services whenever:

-A child gym owner sees staff struggling to help young mothers engage their children in play, interaction, or language, and enjoy the gym activities at the same time
-A community or church member runs a play group in a church or gym, and is not sure what to do differently to support new students with autism
-A community or church play group is not sure how to support children with language delays
-A parent needs the babysitter to manage behavior more effectively when supporting the family’s children
-A parent’s child with autism doesn’t know how to play with his siblings
-A family’s two year old with autism doesn’t like to play with his parents
-A family’s or organization’s group of therapists is great at 1:1 instruction, but they need help getting children to interact with each other
-An organization’s therapists are highly skilled at discrete teaching, but provide less effective naturalistic teaching

WHY does it work?
Cusp Emergence provides play and leisure skill support that is:
-Compatible with IFSP or IEP goals
-In some cases, able to be funded by a state’s early intervention services if the client qualifies
able to improve family or team interaction
-supportive of social, emotional, or behavioral wellness
-provided in the community or home setting
-consistent with research proven methods with demonstrated effectiveness
-administered by qualified, educated, trainers with extensive experience collaborating with parents, educators, therapists and community members

HOW can clients benefit?
-Learn to arrange environments to make appropriate effective language and communication more likely
-Learn to arrange environments to support play
-Learn to teach staff, babysitters, community, or family members to provide supportive environments
-Learn to arrange environments that prevent behavior challenges
-Receive support from our School of Play division in your group or home

HOW does it work?
-An initial consultation takes place to discuss the family’s or group’s needs
-Next, a workshop or future education is planned based on individual needs
-Follow up support is available for families or groups on a schedule determined together with the client

(click here to check out Building Your Workshop)

Social Emotional Support: Part 3 (How does it work?)

15 Thursday Nov 2012

Posted by kolubcbad in Autism, Behavior Analysis, Behavioral Cusp, Community, Early Intervention, Social Interaction, Uncategorized

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autism, early intervention, individualized, intensity, S/E, social emotional support

Social Emotional Support should be practical, and fit into a child’s family routine or team involvement.

How does Social Emotional Support work with other therapies? Does it replace Speech Therapy?
Social Emotional Support can complement, but does not usually replace, therapy by an experienced, licensed and trained speech therapist, especially if the child is diagnosed with an issue that would benefit from Speech Therapy. Instead, S/E can facilitate other therapies the child is already receiving, and brings a therapeutic perspective that can enhance the benefit of Speech, Occupational, Physical, or other supports. For example, some children may use dangerous or unsafe behaviors, or escape from unbearable or undesirable situations after inappropriate behavior. Other children benefit from learning how to “turn down” or “turn up” sensory stimulation, without using unsafe behavior. They can learn safe ways to express that there is too much, too little, or uncomfortable stimulation. We can help other therapists to integrate behavioral wellness into their sessions, and how to incorporate motivation and timing and behavior techniques into their strategies. Note: Some of the most powerful technologies in teaching children with autism (and diverse learners worldwide) have been generated by behavior analysts who collaborate with, or have backgrounds in, speech and language therapy. (PECS, or the Picture Exchange Communication System, is a good example of this.)

How do we do it?
Step 1: Assessment
A behavior analyst as S/E provider can assess a child’s strengths, challenging behavior, and family’s concerns, then generate individualized strategies to support the child’s growth. Often an assessment called an FBA, or Functional Behavior Assessment, is conducted over a couple of weeks to understand the reasons and ways that the environment is contributing to the child’s challenges. We learn what situations are most difficult and how to address them by strengthening more appropriate and successful alternative ways for learners to meet their needs.

Step 2: Collaborate
Next, we team with the child’s family and other providers or community members. We use a collaborative strength-based service model to determine measurable goals the child will meet by learning new skills, behaviors, and new ways to use their strengths. Then we discuss ways (strategies) that will be used to get there.

Step 3: Teach family and therapists to use consistent strategies; monitor strategy effectiveness
Collaboration results in setting measurable goals and developing a plan listing specific strategies families will use to meet the goal.

Families often ask whether we use individualized strategies or apply the same kind of support to every child.
We use individualized support. There are also many core “evidence-based” strategies that we use because research and practical application consistently shows they benefit children with autism and related challenges. Read more about the EI Colorado recommended strategies here.

Step 4: Support the child’s transition out of early intervention.
This step involves thoughtful planning for how the child and family will move to the next steps and environments as needed. Local agencies partner with schools to provide families with options for continued therapies in preschool if needed. Social emotional support providers can work with families to put the currently effective strategies in writing to share with important new people in the child’s life. Some families benefit from continued consultation from a BCBA, who can help teach preschool teachers and therapists how to keep making progress by providing continued individualized support based on the child’s needs. (Check out a previous related post on supporting a child’s transition).

Social Emotional Support and Intensity of Behavior Analytic Intervention
Although intensive intervention is recommended and effective for building skills and relationships with children with autism, the intensive aspect of intervention is not characteristic of the time-limited S/E support under Early Intervention Colorado’s guidelines. Instead, this model provides a brief assessment as needed followed by an hour or so of weekly therapy with the child that consistently includes caregiver education. By focusing on engineering change in families and team members, we set caregivers up to learn preventative successful techniques to support their child’s speech, motor, play, self-help and social skills.

Workshop on Social Emotional Support: Broomfield Early Childhood Council Annual Summit

08 Thursday Nov 2012

Posted by kolubcbad in Autism, Behavior Analysis, Community, Early Intervention, Social Interaction, Uncategorized

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What does Social Emotional support mean to you?

What might it mean to someone you love?

As a provider of Social Emotional Support in Colorado, I help families establish nurturing relationships, and construct therapeutic environments. I do this through building supportive networks of team members, teaching others to implement preventative strategies to facilitate language, develop play and leisure skills, and make rich social interaction a part of everyday life.

This work is all about teaming, collaborating, and sharing solutions with families and their community. So I’m grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with the Broomfield Early Childhood Council, which does great work connecting children, their childcare providers, and families to community resources. I was honored to provide a workshop on Social Emotional Support during their recent annual summit.

Read more

The Behavior Cusp: A special instance of behavior change

30 Tuesday Oct 2012

Posted by kolubcbad in Behavior Analysis, Behavioral Cusp, Community, Education, Emergence, Social Interaction, Uncategorized

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behavior analysis, behavior cusp, building cooperative behavior, cusp, Don Baer, emergence, Jesus Rosales-Ruiz

“a cusp is a special instance of behavior change, a change crucial to what can come next”

~ Rosales-Ruiz and Baer, 1997

Behavior analysts define behavioral cusps as changes that have special features and special effects. Experiencing a behavioral cusp (examples to follow) exposes the learner to new reinforcers, new reinforcing environments and relationships, and gives rise to “generativeness”. In other words, after a learner has experienced a behavioral cusp, she may have access to richer experiences that may become enjoyable themselves or simply make it possible to access even more experiences and environments.

Learner example: A child experiences a behavior cusp

Timmy is a learner with communication delay and limited gross motor skills. He was two years old before he could use purposeful movements with his hands; it was frustrating for him to wave and gesture without others understanding “what he meant”. His mother often wore a desperate expression as she wondered what he needed or wanted, and as he screamed for hours on end she often exhausted her ideas and ended up holding him tightly and rocking him, still unable to understand but too tired to work on it anymore that day. One day, Timmy was able to extend his finger to point, and his mother understood exactly what he pointed at! She provided it immediately, and Timmy relaxed and smiled. They went around the apartment together, his mother joyfully exclaiming to name the things Timmy pointed at. A barrier was broken! A behavioral cusp, pointing at objects, had occurred and Timmy was now able to communicate with much less frustration. From there, he progressed within months to being able to point at different pictures on the same page. Timmy’s mother is thrilled to understand what he needs, and Timmy’s inconsolable screaming for hours at a time no longer occurs on a daily basis.

Learner example: An adult provider experiences a behavior cusp

Jean is a daycare provider. She has struggled with behavior management in her private daycare classroom, as children hit and bite each other at least weekly and often daily. Her management team has a no tolerance policy for these behaviors, but Jean and her co-workers in the classroom still wonder how to stop the behavior without constantly reprimanding the children. One weekend, Jean attended a seminar on positive parenting. She had planned to use the techniques with her teenage son, and was surprised when she listened to the instructor describe that the “attention pivot” technique was also useful in the classroom when children were motivated to acquire the attention of teachers. Jean implemented the technique in her daycare the next day, and by changing just one thing- the timing of when she began talking and turning toward a child – the everyday behaviors of pushing, whining, climbing on tables, and throwing toys diminished. Even more exciting to Jean, they diminished in less than an hour, and Jean’s classroom helpers easily saw what had changed in Jean’s technique. When she saw a child looking at another student who had a toy, Jean used to observe and wait until she needed to intervene (or stop the student from yanking it away). She used to say “stop!” or “No! We need to SHARE!” multiple times per day. After Jean changed her timing, she now turns to a child BEFORE “misbehavior” and she catches the child doing the right thing. When the other teachers noticed what had changed, they began trying it themselves, and soon the number of hitting and biting episodes had decreased to a rare few times per month, instead of daily.

The point of the story:

Sometimes behavior cusps occur on their own, during development. Other times, it becomes important for someone to assist a learner experience a cusp. In Timmy’s example, the cusp was engineered by providing many, many opportunities to practice the steps needed before pointing, and the behavior analyst used fluency training and shaping to provide this practice and make it enjoyable for Timmy.

DISCLAIMER: The preceding stories, and others on this site, are simply examples or vignettes; they do not constitute training, supervision, or a behavior plan. The resources on this site are not developed for a specific individual. It is recommended that before implementing any technique described here or in resources available on this site, a reader consult a qualified behavior analyst with experience related to the appropriate field and population.

RESOURCE: Check Imagine!’s calendar often for upcoming trainings.
Dr. Jeff Kupfer, Ph.D., BCBA-D, provides “Building Cooperative Behavior” class free to the Boulder and Broomfield communities on a monthly basis. Locations, times and contact information can be found on the Imagine! calendar (search for “Building Cooperative Behavior”).

http://www.imaginecolorado.org/Calendar.htm

Upcoming speaking engagements

13 Monday Aug 2012

Posted by kolubcbad in Autism, Behavior Analysis, Community, Early Intervention, Social Interaction, Uncategorized

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Dr. Kolu is excited to partner with Broomfield Early Childhood Council to present at the 2012 Early Childhood Summit in Thornton, Colorado in November 2012. Dr. Kolu will speak about her experience collaborating with early intervention providers and families, in a workshop called “Socio-Emotional Support: Who, What, Where, When, and How?” Stay tuned for more information on this exciting topic affecting families with young children.

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