3 Questions
True or false: Behavior analysis is based on the principles of social science.
False
True or false: ABA is an effective treatment for all autistic children.
False
True or false: A 2009 systematic review of 11 studies determined that EIBI is effective for some children with autism spectrum disorders.
True
Study Notes
- Behavior analysis is an intervention that applies empirical approaches based upon the principles of respondent and operant conditioning to change behavior.
- Behavior analysis is the applied form of behavior analysis; the other two forms are radical behaviorism (or the philosophy of the science) and the experimental analysis of behavior (or basic experimental research).
- Behavior analysis adopts the viewpoint of radical behaviorism, treating thoughts, emotions, and other covert activity as behavior that is subject to the same rules as overt responses.
- Behavior analysts also emphasize that the science of behavior must be a natural science as opposed to a social science.
- The beginnings of ABA can be traced back to Teodoro Ayllon and Jack Michael's study "The psychiatric nurse as a behavioral engineer" (1959) that they published in the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.
- A group of researchers at the University of Washington, including Donald Baer, Sidney W. Bijou, Bill Hopkins, Jay Birnbrauer, Todd Risley, and Montrose Wolf, applied the principles of behavior analysis to manage the behavior of children and adolescents in juvenile detention centers and organize employees who required proper structure and management in businesses.
- Behavior analysis is the study of the function of behavior.
- Behavior analysts use reinforcement and punishment to change behavior.
- Behavior analysis is used to change a wide range of behaviors.
- Behavior analysis is based on careful initial assessment of behavior and testing of methods that produce changes in behavior.
- Behavior analysis is used to change a wide range of behaviors, including autism.
- Behavior analysis is a systematic approach to understanding and changing behavior.
- ABA is an effective treatment for some autistic children
- The effectiveness of ABA treatments for autism may be overall limited by diagnostic severity, age of intervention, and IQ
- ABA is often used to teach adaptive behaviors or to diminish behaviors associated with autism
- ABA-based techniques are often used to teach adaptive behaviors or to diminish behaviors associated with autism
- A 2018 Cochrane review of five studies that compared treatment vs. control showed that ABA may be effective for some autistic children
- A preliminary 2014 study indicated that there might be a publication bias against single-subject research studies that show that ABA is ineffective
- ABA is a form of behavioral intervention that has been shown to be effective in enhancing global functioning in pre-school children with autism.
- ABA is well-established and is demonstrated effective in enhancing global functioning in pre-school children with autism when treatment is intensive and carried out by trained therapists.
- However, there is a great need for more knowledge about which interventions are most effective.
- A 2009 paper included a descriptive analysis, an effect size analysis, and a meta-analysis of 13 reports published from 1987 to 2007 of early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) for autism.
- It determined that EIBI's effect sizes were "generally positive" for IQ, adaptive behavior, expressive language, and receptive language.
- In a 2009 systematic review of 11 studies published from 1987 to 2007, the researchers wrote "there is strong evidence that EIBI is effective for some, but not all, children with autism spectrum disorders".
- Furthermore, any improvements are likely to be greatest in the first year of intervention.
- One area of critique has been the "ideological warfare" surrounding ABA and TEACCH, despite the philosophies and practices of the two approaches not necessarily being in opposition.
- Researchers have critiqued the leniency of the ABA ethical code, discussing how it does not restrict or clarify the "appropriate use of aversives", does not require competency as ABA therapists are "not required to take even a single class on autism, brain function or child development", and its view of the client as the parent meaning that requiring "client consent" only requires parental consent.
Test your knowledge about behavior analysis and applied behavior analysis (ABA), which utilize principles of respondent and operant conditioning to change behavior. Learn about the history, effectiveness, and critiques of ABA interventions for autism and other behavioral changes.
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