Reinforcer Assessment for Applied Behavior Analysis

The foundational premise of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is that when behavior is reinforced, it is more likely to reoccur. When behavior is repeatedly reinforced, it becomes learned behavior. When we teach, we want students to learn specific behaviors. When students have problem behaviors, we need to teach alternative or replacement behavior. The replacement behavior needs to serve the same Function as the problem behavior, as the function is the way in which the behavior is reinforced for the child. In other words, if a behavior functions to provide a child attention, and the attention is reinforcing, the behavior will continue. Changeability of Reinforcement Many items can be reinforcing for a child. What is reinforcing is related to the function and the value of the function for a child. At different points certain different functions will have more importance than others to individual children: at some point, it may be attention, at another, it might be a preferred item or avoidance. For the purposes of Discrete Trials.  reinforcers that can be readily available and given and withdrawn quickly are the most effective. They may be toys, sensory items (spinning lights, musical toys, squishy toys/balls,) preferred items (dolls or Disney characters) or even escape, access to a break area. Sometimes edibles (candy or crackers) are used, but it is important that they are quickly paired with more appropriate social reinforcers. Not every item that is reinforcing for a child remains reinforcing. It may depend on the time of day, satiation, or the childs mood. Its important to have a rich menu of reinforcement that you can use with individual students when attempting to use ABA to teach or change behavior. Thats why it is important to attempt as many different kinds of reinforcers as possible, from preferred toys to sensory items. Ask About a Childs Preferences Parents and caregivers are a good place to start when exploring reinforcers. You can ask for the childs personal preferences: What does he/she enjoy doing when they can choose themselves? Does he/she have a favorite television character? Does he or she perseverate on that particular character? Parents and caregivers can give you some insight into the childs interests that will give you a sense of the kinds of preferences the child will find reinforcing. Non-Contingent Assessment The first step in assessing reinforcers is to give a child access to a number of items that The first step in assessing reinforcers is to give a child access to a number of items that young children would find appealing. Try to include items that the parent or caregiver has already indicated is a preferred item. It is called non-contingent because access to the reinforcer is not contingent on the childs behavior. To what items does the child gravitate? Note anything that the child picks up to assess again. Note any themes: is there a preference for musical toys, for specific characters? Does the child use cars or other toys appropriately? How does the child play with the toys? Does the child choose self-stimulation instead of toys? Can you engage the child in play with any of the toys? Once you have seen the child in the presence of the toys, you can list preferred items and eliminate those that they have shown little interest in. Structured Assessments Through your unstructured assessment, you have discovered which items your student gravitates to. Now, you want to find your most powerful (A ) reinforcers and which you will keep back for when the student is satiated with his or her A reinforcers. That is done by systematically laying small numbers of items (often just two) in front of the child and seeing what preferences he or she expresses. Concurrent Schedule Reinforcer Assessment: Two or more reinforcers are presented as a response to a target behavior, and the preference is noted. The reinforcers are switched out, to compare later with other reinforcers. Multiple Schedule Reinforcer Schedule: A reinforcer is used in contingent setting (such as social attention for appropriate play) and later in a non-contingent setting (without a requirement of appropriate play.) If the appropriate play increases despite the fact the child is getting non-contingent attention later in the day, it is assumed that the reinforcer is effective for increasing play. Progressive Ratio Schedule Reinforcer Assessment: A reinforcer is checked to see if it continues to increase response when response demand is increased. So, if a reinforcer stops eliciting the response you want when you expect more responses, it is not as powerful a reinforcer as you thought. If it does . . . stick with it. Reinforcement Suggestions Edibles: Edibles are never the first choice of an ABA practitioner since you want to move into secondary reinforcers as quickly as possible. Still, for children with severe disabilities, especially older children with poor functional and social skills, edibles may be the way to engage them and begin building behavioral momentum. Some suggestions: CrackersPieces of fruitSmall individual candies, like Skittles or M and Ms.Preferred foods. Some children with autism love dill pickles. Sensory Items: Children with autism spectrum disorders often have issues with sensory integration, and crave sensory input. Items which provide that input, like spinning lights or musical toys, can be powerful reinforcers for young children with disabilities. Some reinforcers are: Spinning lights or vibrating pens. These kinds of sensory items can be found in catalogs for special educators. If you dont have access to the catalogs, your occupational therapist may actually have some of these items.Gross motor activities, like bouncing on a pilates ball, or a ceiling hung swing.Tickles or direct sensory input. This is most appropriate for very young children, but it may also help pair reinforcement with the therapist/teacher. Preferred Items and Toys Many children with disabilities love television and often perseverate on favorite television characters, like Mickey Mouse or Dora the Explorer. Combining these strong preferences with toys may make some items powerful reinforcers. Some ideas: Sound books with favorite characters. I have found these to be good reinforcers for young children.Jointed action figuresCars, trucks, and track.Thomas the Tank Engine trains.Small animal figures.Blocks. Ongoing Assessment Childrens interests change. So may the items or activities that they find reinforcing. At the same time, a practitioner should be moving to spread out reinforcement and pair primary reinforcers with secondary reinforcers, like social interaction and praise. As children succeed in gaining new skills through ABA, they will move away from the short and frequent bursts of instruction that is discrete trial teaching toward more traditional and naturalistic methods of instruction. Some may even begin to reinforce themselves, by internalizing the values of competence and mastery.

Questions On Health And Safety Policy - 2031 Words

Pg. 16 Structuring a written health and safety policy 3 Three headings to structure the document: †¢ General Policy of Health and Safety. †¢ Responsibilities in the company. †¢ Clear instructions and information, and adequate training in the company. 4 How would you expand on the three headings? †¢ General Policy of Health and Safety: With a General policy of Health and Safety it needs what health and safety precautions needs to be prevented and how this needs to happen. All machinery and the workplace should be maintained and safe to make sure it is safe for the employees to use. The statement of a general policy on health and safety at work sets out your commitment to managing health and safety effectively, and what you want to achieve in your companies health and safety. †¢ Responsibilities in the company: The Company’s employees as well as employers need to know their responsibilities in the company and need to take blame if they do not take responsibility for the rules they may have broken. The health and safety policy on responsibilities sets out who is responsible for specific actions and what will happen if they do not follow the rules which the responsibilities follow. 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A Brief Analysis of Kafka’s The Trial Free Essays

On his thirtieth birthday, Joseph K. is arrested even though he has done nothing wrong. Naturally Joseph K. We will write a custom essay sample on A Brief Analysis of Kafka’s The Trial or any similar topic only for you Order Now is angry and annoyed. On the day of his thirty-first birthday, Joseph K. is taken to a nearby quarry by the warders and killed. Joseph K. does nothing to stop them from killing him. The Trial is the story of the intervening year between Joseph K.’s two birthdays. This novel treats many subjects, but this paper will examine only three: the mystery of the bureaucracy in the novel, sexuality during the process, and the economic and social point of view of The Trial. The bureaucracy in The Trial is large, impersonal and frightening. Prior to the beginning of the book Joseph K. is a successful businessman working in a bank apparently on the fast track for advancement and even greater success. After his arrest he and his life decline until his execution. Although Joseph K. â€Å"is accused of crimes he did not commit . . . [he] still feels guilty about these unnamed offenses† (Meyers, 329). This guilt plays an important role throughout the novel. Joseph K. is mentally and emotionally paralyzed by his guilt of having been accused of the unknown crime. As Boa writes, the experience of being arrested has taken Joseph K. out of his comfort zone and he is unable to operate; he doesn’t know what to do. â€Å"What is the nature of the court, what is the law, what should the individual on trial do?† (1). The paralysis Joseph K. suffers appears to be psychological rather than due to a physical threat. The parable told to Joseph K. by the priest provides an accurate description of the state Joseph K. is in. In the parable a man from the country comes to have access to the law however the doorkeeper will not admit the man. The doorkeeper steps aside from the doorway and offers no physical resistance, but the man is paralyzed by what might be done by the institution. â€Å"‘If you are so strongly tempted, try to get in without my permission. But note that I am powerful. And I am only the lowest doorkeeper. From hall to hall, keepers stand at every door, one more powerful than the other . . .'† (Kafka, 267-8). Rather than confront these possibilities the man sits on a stool by the door and waits. This is precisely what Joseph K. does. He tacitly accepts the non-accusation of the court and submits to its jurisdiction. One cannot help but feel that if he were refuse to comply with the court that he would be free to continue living his life. The mystery of the bureaucracy of the court appears to be a psychological threat of the unknown combined with a man’s natural inclination to obey the institutions that govern the locality where he lives. The second area this paper will address is sexuality during the process. During the year of the trial, Joseph K. has a brief flirtation with Fraulein Brustner but she later refuses his advances. It is interesting that â€Å"Brustner† is very close to the German word â€Å"brusten† meaning breast. The desire to dominate a woman has considerable Freudian implications that suggest that Kafka was greatly influenced by his mother, the source of his life and breastfeeding, and not always in a positive manner. During this encounter Joseph K. kisses her â€Å"all over the face, like some animal lapping greedily at a spring of long-sought fresh water† (Kafka, 38). This is an interesting foreshadowing of his execution where he dies â€Å"[l]ike a dog† (Kafka, 286). After kissing her Joseph K. returns home, â€Å"[h]e fell asleep almost at once, but before doing so he thought for a little about his behavior, he was pleased with it, yet surprised that he was not still more pleased† (38). This appears to be an example where a man dominates a woman to get his will without regard to her desire. This strength is uncharacteristic of Joseph K. particularly in regard to the affair he has with Leni, Huld’s nurse. Leni appears to like men who are vulnerable. She has considerable control over her employer who must accept her care because of his heart condition and because she is unaccountable attracted to Joseph K. who is vulnerable because of the accusation against him. From an economic and social point of view The Trial is particularly interesting. The Trial â€Å"moves beyond the household to explore the interlocking of social power and psychic structure in urban society at large† (Boa, 133). Adler suggests that Kafka is writing about â€Å"[t]wo defining factors stand out in this period. Firstly, the conflict between Czech, German and Jewish traditions; and secondly, the struggle between Prague’s history and modernisation [sic]† Kafka appears to have had trouble reconciling these three worlds in his own life and feels he is unable to successfully struggle against the enormous, looming presence of the government and his religious background. It is interesting that Joseph K. actually has considerable impact, although it appears is unaware of it. In fact, the Court even follows his requests and confirms his assumptions. Although K. tells himself what time he should arrive for his first interrogation, this turns out to be the same hour mentioned by the Examining Magistrate. K. decides that he will attend only one interrogation, instead of the series of short interrogations planned by the Court, and the Court complies K. accuses the warders, and the Court promptly punishes them . . . . (Lasine, 34). It is this lack of awareness of the capabilities that Kafka seems to warning the reader about. The Trial is not to be viewed as a plan or even a call to change society, but an examination of authority intended to help people think for themselves about the issues in the book (Boa, 186). The Trial is a haunting frightening book in the same genre as the later books Orwell’s 1984 and Huxley’s Brave New World. However, it is more subtle and thought provoking. Given the multi-leveled layers of bureaucracy both governmental and in business one wonders if The Trial is not more relevant today that when it was written near the beginning of World War I. Given the excess of administrative law with its great power that is not subject to many of the protections of due process, it is easy to empathize with Joseph K. Works Cited Adler, Jeremy. â€Å"What Was Lost? The Czech Jewish Community.† European Judaism. 38, 2 (2005) 70+. Boa, Elizabeth. Kafka: Gender, Class, and Race in the Letters and Fictions. Clarendon Press: Oxford, 1996. Kafka, Franz. The Trial. Alfred A. Knopf: New York, 1957. Lasine, Stuart. â€Å"Kafka’s Trial.† The Explicator. 42, 3 (1985): 34. Meyers, Jeffrey. â€Å"Swift and Kafka.† Papers on Language Literature. 40, 3 (2004): 329. How to cite A Brief Analysis of Kafka’s The Trial, Essay examples

Management and Organizational Behavior Encouraging Employees

Question: Describe about the Management and Organizational Behavior for Encouraging Employees. Answer: Introduction Motivation in an organization is an activity of encouraging employees to perform better so that they are able to accomplish the goals and objectives. It is a theoretical concept that explains the behavior. The assignment addresses the theories of motivation and the use of these theories in the organization. The author has chosen Starbucks to evaluate the motivational theories and concepts and analyze the use of these in the organization. The assignment highlights the strengths and weakness of the three motivation theories such as need theory, cognitive activities and reward and reinforcement. It describes the main needs and expectations that managers have to take not in order to motivate the employees (Drnyei and Ushioda 2013). Body Basic model of motivation: Motivation is the behavior that humans hold. Motivation theory is the process of explaining why and how human behavior is activated. There is various motivation theory that are as follows: Maslows hierarchy of needs Motivator hygiene theory Alderfers ERG theory McClellands learned needs theory (Heinrichs et al. 2013). The major theories of motivation are: Expectancy motivation theory Equity theory Reinforcement theory Goal setting theory. The basic aim of motivation is to encourage employees to work hard to accomplish goals and objectives. It helps in improving the productivity of the firm as it encourages team building. Three motivation theories: Maslows Need theory of motivation: The need theory of motivation is divided into several hierarchies as follows: Physiological component includes the basic need of humans that is hunger, shelter, food and other needs. Safety component includes security and protection that is generated from physical and emotional harm. Social component includes affection, belongingness, acceptance and friendship. Esteem includes social status that the humans have such as achievement, autonomy and other factors. Self-actualization is the highest level of need. The strength of the need theory is that it is applicable to all the human beings. The weakness is that there is little growth opportunity and the model risky in nature (Kaur 2013). Cognitive theory of motivation: There are two types of cognitive motivation theory that is expectancy theory and goal settings theory. Expectancy theory explains the reason of the humans to choose one behavioral option over the others. Goal setting theory explains the motivation that is required for setting the goals and objectives. The strength of the theory is that it is easily approachable and accessible while the disadvantage is that it is a combination of two theories that makes it difficult to understand (Miner 2013). Reinforcement theory of motivation: It is one of the oldest motivation theories that are based on traditional findings that is based on behavior of people. The theory is also known as behaviorism. The weakness of the theory is that it was made out of frustration and hence lacks direct observing phenomenon. The strength is that the theory has been used in many fields of study such as raising children and training animals (Reeve 2014). Case study: Starbucks: Starbucks is a well-known coffee shop that is well known for the employee management. It is well known for not only coffee but also staff service. The company uses Maslows theory of motivation to motivate its employees. Starbucks uses Maslows theory of employee motivation by trying to fulfill the needs of employees such as safety needs, social needs, physiological needs and other needs. Starbucks provides security and protection to the employment and encourage them to work as a team by giving competitive salary. The employees at Starbucks treat each other with respect that keeps the self-esteem of people high (Chua and Banerjee 2013). The working condition is good that encourages works to work hard. Starbucks gives employees an opportunity to grow and develop providing them to work in a flexible environment. The competitive salary, working environment and the flexible management helps in motivating employees to work better. Starbucks is known for its efficient management of employees and the service that it provides. Hence, studying the case of Starbucks is essential to understand the motivation theories used. Conclusion Motivating employees at workplace is necessary to encourage them to work hard and achieve the set goals and targets. There are various motivation theories developed by various authors. Each theory has some weakness and strengths. Motivation is the behavior that people hold. It is the responsibility of managers and leaders in an organization to motivate employees. Maslows hierarchy need theory is the most widely used theory in many organizations. Starbucks that is a coffee house also uses Maslows need theory to motivate the employees. References Chua, A.Y. and Banerjee, S., 2013. Customer knowledge management via social media: the case of Starbucks.Journal of Knowledge Management,17(2), pp.237-249. Drnyei, Z. and Ushioda, E., 2013.Teaching and researching: Motivation. Routledge. Heinrichs, K., Oser, F. and Lovat, T. eds., 2013.Handbook of moral motivation: theories, models, applications(Vol. 1). Springer Science Business Media. Kaur, A., 2013. Maslows Need Hierarchy Theory: Applications and Criticisms.Global Journal of Management and Business Studies,3(10), pp.1061-1064. Miner, J.B., 2013. Miner (2013), Addendum: The Role Motivation Theories of Organizational Leadership.Transformational and Charismatic Leadership: The Road Ahead 10th Anniversary Edition (Monographs in Leadership and Management, Volume 5) Emerald Group Publishing Limited,5, pp.395-398. Reeve, J., 2014.Understanding motivation and emotion. John Wiley Sons.