A Quick Little Story About...Series
Bringing you weekly ABA terminology in real-world situations
What is "A Quick Little Story About...." ?
Families and other professionals may be too polite to ask us to translate, and then we start losing the connections that enable us to make positive behavior changes.
The purpose of "A Quick Little Story About..." is to bring ABA concepts and terminology into every day language with real life examples. We would love your feedback, questions, and requests as we present this series - there is no question that is silly! If you need more information, then its a perfect question.
We hope to have some fun with this and hope you do too as you learn with us!
December 7, 2022
This week, we have “A Quick Little Story About…” BCBAs and RBTs…and the BACB!
Again with the acronyms 😵💫
BCBA = Board Certified Behavior Analyst
RBT = Registered Behavior Technician
BACB = Behavior Analyst Certification Board
A BCBA is someone who assesses, develops, monitors and trains for behavior change and skill acquisition programs. An RBT is someone who works under the supervision of a BCBA to make behavior change and skill acquisition happen. The BACB is the international certification board who develops the education, experience, and testing requirements that allow people to become BCBAs and RBTs.
Going back to Pinkie and Mr. Stilts….
Mr. Stilts is a teacher who is also a BCBA. That’s how he knew that he needed to observe and take data on Pinkie at lunchtime to understand why Pinkie was having such a hard time getting his lunch at the cafeteria’s lunch pool. Mr. Stilts training a BCBA allows him to create a plan to help Pinkie!
Mr. Stilts can work with Pinkie directly or can instruct someone (maybe even an RBT) on Pinkie’s plan to develop the skills needed to more easily get his food at lunchtime.
Mr. Stilts will have to make sure that this helper person knows all about measurement, assessment, skill acquisition, behavior reduction, documentation, and reporting!
But those are all stories for another time…
If you want to follow these stories in order, please our website at visit www.learning-well.com
November 20, 2022
This week, we have “A Quick Little Story About…” Applied Behavior Analysis!
We tell everyone we do it and we assume you know what it is! But, you know what happens when we assume…
According to Cooper, Heron, and Heward (2007) (The HOLY GRAIL of ABA), Applied behavior analysis (ABA) is “the science in which tactics derived from the principles of behavior are applied to improve socially significant behavior and experimentation is used to identify the variables responsible for the improvement in behavior” (p. 690).
Hold up - what?
A little less wordy…ABA is the practice of improving socially significant behavior through data-driven application of behavior principles.
Ummmm….huh?
Speaking plainly (because that’s our goal!), we take data on what behaviors we want someone to change and we use that data to tell us which behavior interventions are appropriate to use with that person to make the behavior change occur.
Let’s introduce our permanent story characters! As Learning Well’s unofficial mascot is the flamingo, we shall call them…..Pinkie and Mr. Stilts.
At school, Pinkie goes to the lunchroom every day and sees how easily all the other flamingos get their food from the cafeteria’s lunch pool. Pinkie tells his teacher how upset he is that it is so difficult for him. Mr. Stilts comes to the lunchroom the next day and takes notes on what Pinkie does to get his food. He sees that Pinkie is not leaning down far enough, and does not bend his head at the right angle to get his food as quickly as the other flamingos. Mr. Stilts puts together a plan to teach Pinkie how to get his body down, and neck into the right position.
Mr. Stilts has done data collection, assessment, and is creating a plan for skill acquisition…but these are all stories for another time!