The target behavior, in this case, involves the aggressiveness of John. John is the child in my case study, whose the support plan is about. The operational definition of this behavior entails the abusive nature of john, making of noise, wandering around aimlessly and destruction of things around the classroom ( Casey & Carter, 2016 ). The functional definition of replacement behavior encompasses the ability of John to sit in his seat in a comfortable manner. John seems to hate noise, and as such, he tends to avoid anything noisy, which might disturb his peace of mind. Any disturbance would make John to make a lot of noise, yelling out loudly while throwing tantrums. In some extreme instances, he would as well through things around, hence destroying property. It is essential to note that this behavior can be as a result of lack of attention.
Antecedent Procedures
The first step involves the analysis of why John is aggressive, and abusive . Therefore, it is essential to look at the function based option that might help to come up with the support intervention plan by selecting the antecedents that John portrays. The antecedent strategy, in this case, would be the request of teacher for John to complete three worksheets that involve copying and tracing objects such as motorcycles and cars. After that, John will color the traced objects. The antecedent strategy, in this case, is to integrate the interest of John in motorcycles and cars into the tracing and coloring activities ( Casey & Carter, 2016 ). These activities will reduce the aggressiveness of John, making him engaged and busy.
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Replacement Procedures
Two replacement strategies can be useful in correcting the aggressive behavior. The first one is to ignore the unacceptable behavior, while the second one is the reinforcement of the acceptable behavior. Ideally, ignoring the unacceptable behavior can be the most efficient way of alienating the problem. On the other hand, punishment can always reinforce the behavior since it focuses on the problem. As such, punishment is not an option in the case of John’ s aggressiveness According to Grigorenko et al. (2018), it is vital to select and reinforce a replacement a trait by drawing attention to the specific behavior of interest. Ideally, a suitable replacement behavior will provide a similar consequence to the function of that particular behavior ( Grigorenko et al., 2018). For instance, in John’s case, if the aggression is due to the attention, then an affective replacement behavior will have to provide the attention needed by John while at the same time reinforce acceptable behavior. This notion, thus, indicates that it is better if the replacement behavior corresponds to the behavior that is to be replaced ( Grigorenko et al., 2018). The target behavior in the case of John is to him calm him. Therefore, it would be better for the teacher to teach him replacement behavior that calms him down. For instance, during frustrations, the teacher can instruct John to put his head on the desk when he (John) feels like making noise or wandering around. Therefore, ignoring the problem behavior of aggression and reinforcing the acceptable behavior are effective replacement strategies for behavior intervention.
Consequential Procedures
The consequential procedures also come in addressing the aggressive behavior of John in the case study . The assessment of John’s behavior indicates that other students laugh or make jokes at him when he starts making noises, and destroying things in the classroom such as breaking the panes. The function-based menu option shows that it is significant to teach other peers in the classroom to avoid responding to John’s unacceptable behavior. For instance, it is necessary for the teacher to instruct the other peers to always the inappropriate behavior of John because responding to it may reinforce those particular unacceptable acts. Also, the teacher should always respond to John with a non-verbal cue for him to cool down and act normally. Therefore, in this case, the consequential strategies of teaching other students to ignore John’s behavior and the teacher responding to him with non-verbal cues will be effective for limiting the reinforcement of John’s aggression behavior.
Short-Term Goals
The short-term goals are essential because they portray the expectations of John’s behavior, and how to monitor his achievement of acceptable skills that reinforce emotional and social growth. The goals are also essential as they help in improving John’s quality of life through the avoidance of harm and other effects of aggression (Helton & Alber-Morgan, 2018). There five short-term objects of John’s behavior intervention plan after three months of work. The first short-term goal involves the lessening incidences of aggressive and tantrums behaviors, the second goal is help John be able to express his anger in a manner that is assertive rather than aggressively, while the third goal encompasses the encouragement of parents to increase positive or praise reinforcement to John for demonstrating controlled anger management (Helton & Alber-Morgan, 2018). On the other hand, the third short-term goal entails the convincing of parents to comply to and maintain the implementation of a rewarding practice that reinforces anger management and avoidance of aggressive behavior, whereas the fourth short-term goal involves the conveyance of aggression and anger through respectful statements, controlled and appropriate physical outlets (Helton & Alber-Morgan, 2018). The last short-term goal for John’ s intervention plan is to ensure that he can be counseled without any objection or anger, whether at school or home (Helton & Alber-Morgan, 2018). These short-term goals will, therefore, be significant in determining the expected short-term outcomes of John’s behavioral intervention plan.
Long-Term Goals
John ’s intervention plan also incorporates broad long-term goals that mainly target to resolve his aggression behavior. The goals are indicated in non-measurable terms to demonstrate acceptable positives outcomes at the end of the specified time. There are three long-term goals for John’s behavior intervention plan ( Kearney , 2015). The first goal involves the conducting of family therapy sessions to determine the instances that provoke john’s aggressive behavior, while the second long-term objective entails the instructing of parents and family members to spend more time with John during schoolwork, leisure or other activities ( Kearney , 2015). The last long term goal encompasses the investigation of John’s background to determine whether there are historical cases of substance or physical abuse that might be causing his current aggressive behavior ( Kearney , 2015). These three non-measurable long-term goals will, therefore, determine the expected long-term outcomes of John’s behavioral intervention plan.
Generalization and Maintenance Strategies
Several generalization strategies can help John generalize in a cool manner during anger time without causing disruption, destroying property or attracting peer attention. On the other hand, maintenance strategies would encompass the encouragement of John to self-monitor for aggressive acts and embrace suitable social skills with other students to avoid aggressive behavior. There are three examples of generalization strategies for John ’s case. The first strategy entails the instruction of John by the teacher on the expectations of avoiding aggressive behaviors such as abusing others while the second strategy involves the giving of positive feedback to John after avoiding the aggressive behaviors. The last generalization strategy encompasses the involvement of other adults or stakeholders who will be requested to give positive feedback to John when they notice that he had avoided the aggressive behaviors (Leaf et al., 2016). On the other hand, there are three examples of maintenance strategies for John’s behavioral intervention case. The first strategy involves the teaching of John to self-monitor himself and commencing the fading process while the second maintenance strategy entails the recognizing of John’s improved behavior through the various school programs (Leaf et al., 2016). Lastly, the teacher should interview John to determine the progress.
Monitoring System
Apart from the self-monitoring strategy that facilitates the maintenance strategy for John ’s behavioral intervention, the plan incorporates a monitoring system that involves the responsibility of different stakeholders on a specific schedule. The plan will incorporate the services of John’s teacher who will regularly observe whether the student has embraced the accepted non-aggressive behavior on particular criteria for four consecutive weeks. Other stakeholders will participate in the process, quarterly after completion of the fading process ( Liao et al., 2018 ). This monitoring system will aid in the consistent observation of whether John is proficient in avoiding the acceptable behaviors.
ABA Techniques Implementation
ABA techniques have been proved to be effective in teaching the desire acceptable behaviors. Ideally, these techniques provide the teaching tools that center on consistent reinforcement and easy instructional steps ( Presti et al., 2018 ). For the case of John, the techniques aim to get rid of the aggressive behaviors and enable him to lead a normal and quality life. According to Leaf, Cihon, Ferguson & Weinkauf (2017), there are more desirable results when the techniques are implemented early enough. This early intervention is specifically important because the brain develops critically during the pre-school years. There are five ABA techniques. They encompass positive reinforcement that entails the encouragement of positive behavior, negative reinforcement that involves the correcting of negative behavior, prompting and fading that involves the use of non-verbal cues to motivate acceptable behavior, generalization and task analysis (ABA, n.d.). The steps are systematic and simplified for behavioral intervention. ABA techniques are, therefore important in the application of analytic principles to enhance acceptable behaviors and particularly significant in developmental disabilities.
References
Casey, L. B., & Carter, S. L. (2016). Applied behavior analysis in early childhood education: an introduction to evidence-based interventions and teaching strategies . Routledge.
Grigorenko, E., Torres, S., Lebedeva, E. I., & Bondar, Y. A. (2018). Evidence-Based Interventions: A Focus on Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) Interventions. Psychology. Journal of Higher School of Economics , 15 (4), 711-727.
Helton, M., & Alber-Morgan, S. (2018). Helping Parents Understand Applied Behavior Analysis: Creating a Parent Guide in 10 Steps. Behavior Analysis In Practice , 11 (4), 496-503. doi: 10.1007/s40617-018-00284-8
Kearney, A. J. (2015). Understanding applied behavior analysis: An introduction to ABA for parents, teachers, and other professionals . Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Leaf, J. B., Leaf, R., McEachin, J., Taubman, M., Ala’i-Rosales, S., Ross, R. K., ... & Weiss, M. J. (2016). Applied behavior analysis is a science and, therefore, progressive. Journal of autism and developmental disorders , 46 (2), 720-731.
Leaf, J., Cihon, J., Ferguson, J., & Weinkauf, S. (2017). An Introduction to Applied Behavior Analysis. Handbook Of Childhood Psychopathology And Developmental Disabilities Treatment , 25-42. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-71210-9_3
Liao, Y., Dillenburger, K., & Buchanan, I. (2018). Does culture matter in ABA-based interventions? Parent and professional experiences in the UK and China. European Journal of Behavior Analysis , 19 (1), 11-29.
Presti, G., Scagnelli, M., Lombardo, M., Pozzi, M., & Moderato, P. (2018, November). SMART SPACES: A backbone to manage ABA intervention across settings and digital learning platforms. In AIP Conference Proceedings (Vol. 2040, No. 1, p. 140002). AIP Publishing.
