Understanding Applied Behavior Analysis

Do you ever feel like you don’t have all the strategies you need to handle your classroom of unique students? Well, if you do, take comfort in the fact that you are not alone. In fact, a large percentage of teachers say that they feel underprepared when it comes to managing the behaviors found in their classrooms (Abdalslam, 2023). The subject of managing student behavior has been on the minds of teachers since the first school was established. Every teacher knows how challenging it can be to manage a classroom with a variety of unique needs. It is not uncommon to find ourselves wondering during those last few weeks of summer whether we will have a “well behaved” class in the upcoming year. It is not always just about whether you will be lucky enough to have a class that is well behaved, but you wonder if you will have the appropriate knowledge, techniques, and skills to be a strong enough teacher to appropriately manage student behaviors in your classroom.

Today, schools across the country are seeing an uptick in disruptive behaviors, some obvious and visible, like students trashing bathrooms, fighting, or running out of classrooms, while others are quieter calls for help, like students putting their heads down or refusing to talk. Coupled with staff exhaustion, the behavior challenges are making school environments more tense than educators and students had anticipated — and underscoring how much support students need right now. This is why it is imperative, now more than ever, for teachers to master classroom behavior management; doing so makes them that much more effective in their craft.

What is ABA?

As teachers, we always strive to find explanations for why a student behaves in a certain way. A great way to evaluate and explain student behaviors is through applied behavior analysis, or ABA. The original pioneers of ABA are largely credited to be renowned clinical psychologists B.F. Skinner and O. Ivar Lovaas. Skinner, also known as “the father of ABA,” believed that classical conditioning (a type of behavioral learning created by Ivan Pavlov in the 1890s) was not enough to explain the complexity of human behavior. Instead, he believed that the best way to understand behavior was to figure out the relationship between the causes of behavior and the consequences of that behavior, also known as operant conditioning. Skinner also emphasized the use of reinforcement to increase desired behaviors.

Lovaas was able to formalize the principles of ABA when he began using Skinner’s research in treating children with autism in the 1950s and 1960s. He was one of the first psychologists to recognize that children with autism could learn and make gains through systematic instruction. At that time, autism was considered to be a mysterious, hopeless condition, and parents were advised to institutionalize their child as soon as possible to receive lifelong care. Many people only recognized autism in children (adults were underserved) and in high support need individuals (low support need individuals were often unable to be diagnosed). There were very little treatment options for families who had no idea how to support their children. Through extensive research, Lovaas was able to develop an early form of ABA that involved teaching language and other skills through intensive 1:1 instruction, as well as using reinforcement techniques such as token economy systems to reward desired behaviors. Through his pioneering research, Lovaas helped bring this treatment method into mainstream use in psychology, education, and social services settings around the world. ABA is now recognized as the most common and effective treatment for autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and its related behaviors. The use of this form of behavior analysis has helped individuals with ASD learn new skills, modify existing challenging behaviors, improve communication, and promote academic success. It has also been used to address a variety of other issues in different settings such as mental health clinics, schools, private homes, hospitals, research institutions, and correctional facilities. With the help of ABA, many individuals have achieved great successes in their lives that they would not have otherwise been able to achieve.

Today, ABA is a research-based therapeutic system based on the science of behavior, and it is the process of systematically applying interventions to everyday situations. It is based on the idea that behavior can be analyzed, learned, and changed through reinforcement. The main focus of ABA is to teach and increase positive behaviors in students while simultaneously decreasing or eliminating their targeted negative behaviors. It can be used to address a wide range of issues and behaviors, from social skills development to teaching life skills such as grocery shopping or preparing meals. ABA ultimately promotes learning and meaningful change by developing interventions specifically tailored to the individual's unique needs. Therefore, the structured approach is different for each student because every student learns differently. The theory of ABA reinforces the practice that with specific prompts, appropriate reinforcements, and repetition, students with learning and/or behavior disorders can learn to complete certain tasks on their own. Reinforcement, visual supports, prompting, consistent consequences, and social skills instruction are all aspects of ABA. Strengths are generalized and expanded upon, and deficits are replaced with skills in order to help the individual be more successful in their environment. Behavior reduction and skill acquisition are closely connected when it comes to ABA in that they typically are simultaneously targeted.

While it is true that creating schedules and conducting ABA is a lot of hard work, it pays off in the end. ABA is a therapy that has been proven to make large advances in the behaviors of all students. Because all students perform at varying levels, it is very important to treat each student differently. The ability of one student may be completely different from another. Yet, teachers have the same overarching goal for all their students — to grow up to lead very successful lives due, in part, to the foundations and supports they received while in school.

Understanding the Functions of Behavior

ABA focuses on understanding behavior by its function, combined with examining the environment in order to develop a comprehensive strategy for behavior reduction. Any behavior that interferes with a student’s learning opportunities can be classified as a challenging behavior, because it challenges the student’s ability to be successful. When students exhibit these behaviors, it is important to always ask why this behavior is occurring. Determining the function of a behavior gives teachers guidance on how to properly confront their students’ actions. All behaviors — whether positive or negative — serve a purpose, and that purpose is to gain something we want or avoid something we do not want. The four functions of behavior are listed below.

Attention. When a behavior’s function is to seek attention, the student is looking for reinforcement from another person. For example, Erik might make some silly faces to get his peers to laugh or Stephen might whine to get the teacher’s attention.
Escape or avoidance. Not all behaviors seek to gain something. When a student engages in escape or avoidance behavior, s/he is trying to get away from someone or something. For example, Maria might put her head down on her desk when asked to write because she is attempting to escape the work being asked of her.
Tangibles. When a behavior’s function is to seek access to something tangible, the student is trying to obtain access to an object. For example, Liam might become defiant when his iPad gets taken away because he wants it back. This behavior is the opposite of escape or avoidance, since the student is doing something to get what s/he wants.
Automatic. This function refers to any behaviors that are self-stimulating. When a student engages in this type of behavior, s/he does so because it gives him/her some kind of internal sensation that pleases him/her or removes an internal sensation that s/he doesn’t like. For example, Amit might repeatedly drum his fingers on his desk because he likes the sensation and the sound it makes. On the other hand, Greta rocks back and forth when she is anxious because the rocking motion helps soothe her fears.

Try it!

Think about the behaviors you commonly see in your classroom. Are the students seeking attention or something tangible? Or are they self-stimulating? Perhaps they are trying to escape or avoid something altogether?

Are you curious? Want to take a deep dive on this topic?

To learn more about applied behavior analysis, visit the Professional Development Institute (PDI) website or our Behavior Interventions for Students with Special Needs course.

For over 27 years, PDI has provided high-quality and affordable online professional development courses to K-12 teachers worldwide. Our online courses are designed to offer practical strategies that can be implemented in classrooms immediately. All our courses are instructor-led and conducted entirely online. Graduate-level university credit for every PDI online course for teachers is available through the University of California San Diego Division of Extended Studies. PDI offers an extensive catalog of online courses that cover the most critical topics in today's classrooms.

References:

Abdalslam. (2023). “Classroom Management Statistics, Trends 2023.” Retrieved 02 May 2023 from https://abdalslam.com/classroom-management-statistics