Characteristics of Good Definitions

So, you here all the time that you need to write good, clear definitions when defining target behaviors.  For example, you would not just define a target behavior as "hitting" because what one person might score as hitting, another person might not. 

Therefore, it is VERY important that you learn how to write good definitions.

So, what are the characteristics of good definitions?

Objective

The definition should only refer to events that are observable.  

For example:  You cannot say that the client has to be "sad" or appear "angry" when hitting for it to be scored as hitting.  However, you can say that the client has a negative affect, it is paired with crying, etc.  All of the events have to be observable.

Objective=Observable

Clear

It has to be readable and unambiguous.

There should not be any questions.  For example, if you are writing a definition for eloping, you should put how many feet the client has to leave the area for it to be scored as eloping.  Otherwise, the therapist might have many questions about what is considered eloping

Clear=unambiguous

Complete

Precise and concise definitions

Complete=precise

Multiple Baseline Design

Busy week this week, so today we get screenshots of the lesson!  Woo hoo! :)

Multiple baseline designs... My favorite! :)

Frequency, Rate, Duration, Latency, and Interresponse Time

Fourth Edition Task List.

Section 1

A-01, A-02, A-03, A-04, A-05

Frequency:  This is just how many times that a behavior occurred.

Remember, FREQUENCY=COUNT

Example:  The client screamed 7 times during the hour observation period.

Rate:  Ratio of count per observation time.

Example:  The client engages in an average of 16 instances of screaming per hour. 

Duration:  A measure of the total time that the behavior occurs.

Example:  One instance of screaming lasted for 37 seconds.

Latency:  The elapsed time from the onset of a stimulus to the time that the response started.

Example:  The teacher said touch dog, and 4 seconds later, the client touched the dog.  The latency is 4 seconds in this scenario.

Interresponse time (IRT): Elapsed time between two successive responses.

Example:  13 seconds passed in between the two instances of screaming.

You try.

1.  If you are tracking a behavior that usually lasts anywhere from 5 seconds to 3 minutes on average, what method would you use to measure the behavior?

Duration.

2.  Why is calculating IRT important?

Calculating IRT is a good way to determine an appropriate interval length for DRO schedules.  It will let you know how long the client goes on average WITHOUT engaging in a certain problem behavior.


Visit the following link for a powerpoint presentation comparing frequency, interval, and time-sampling methods of data collection.
http://bcbatestprep.blogspot.com/2014/06/comparison-of-frequency-interval-and.html

The Seven Dimensions of ABA

I am a very visual learner, so as I prepare for the BCaBA and BCBA, I thought it would be a great idea to create visuals for different concepts.

First up...  The Seven Dimensions of ABA based on Baer, Wolf, and Risley.  If you have not read this article, I highly recommend reading it.

Trick to Remember The 7 Dimensions of ABA: 

GET A CAB

Generality, Effective, Technological, Applied, Conceptually Systematic, Analytic, Behavioral

(Thanks BehaviorBabe for this great acronym)

However, remember that the BCBA is probably not just going to ask you, "What are the 7 dimensions of ABA?"  Instead, it might ask you an application based question about one of the dimensions, so it is important to be able to describe these in detail.  A visual with short definitions is below. 

Baer, D.M., Wolf, M.M., & Risley, T.R. (1968). Some current dimensions of applied behavior analysis. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1, 91-97