Application of ABA
ABA reversal design involves establishing a baseline of a target behavior, establishing an intervention, and then withdrawing the intervention to determine the causality effect. The reversal-withdrawal design graphs have a generic form where a baseline is similar during the phase before and after withdrawal of intervention. The ABA intervention is effective when the target behavior does not involve harming oneself or others since it violates the ethical principles of Nonmaleficence and beneficence (Cooper et al., 2020). In this case, since the client does not cause harm to themselves or other people, the effectiveness and practicality of ABA make it the ideal reversal design. Clients have unique needs and must adhere to the Behavior Analysts Responsibility to Clients to ensure that their well-being is upheld during and after sessions (BACB, 2020). In the first example, the focus will be on a client struggling with taking orders and directions; she expresses this by throwing tantrums. Whenever she is instructed to get involved in an activity to which she is not willing, she expresses her displeasure by becoming aggressive and dramatic. The tantrums will be measured through the frequency and length of the tantrums per day. If there are ten incidents of tantrums per day, that will form the baseline for the ABA reversal study. The intervention will seek to reduce the frequency of tantrums so that there are few in a longer period – such as a month.
Functional communication training will serve as the intervention to help the client address the frequency of tantrums. Having established the baseline on the frequency of tantrums per day, the next phase will be introducing the intervention. The frequency of the tantrums during intervention will be recorded and plotted on a graph. The intervention of functional communication training (FCT) will be applied three times a day, and the process will be consistently repeated for a specific period. The use of FCT will replace the use of tantrums to express displeasure in an activity and reinforce a different acceptable alternative. Over time, the client will have a better way of expressing themselves without the need for tantrums.
Removing the FCT intervention should provide results similar to those evidenced during the baseline tests. The tantrums should show the initial frequency: this will develop a cause-effect relationship between the intervention and the unwanted behavior. The data on the frequency of tantrums during this phase will be collected and recorded for later analysis. The data from the three phases will be constructed on a graph using the Microsoft Excel tool. The findings should show a high frequency of tantrums on the baseline, low frequency during the intervention phase, and again high frequency after the removal of the intervention.
Application of ABAB
The use of ABAB would be more useful in an autistic client who shows signs of aggression whenever they are told to engage in a non-preferred task. The ABAB design ensues that the program ends while the client is under intervention. Given that the client shows signs of aggression, the design is recommended so that there is no risk of harm or any other ethical violation to the client. The number of aggressive incidents will be recorded on a given day when a similar number of exposures to a non-preferred activity is introduced. That is, by keeping the number of exposures to an unwanted stimulus, it is possible to measure the number of times the client responds by expressing displeasure or becoming aggressive. The data from the baseline will be recorded to be used in later analysis on the impact of two periods of interventions in the future.
The next phase involves introducing mand training as an intervention for alternative communication. For instance, a parent will agree with the client on how long he will play video games in his room. After that time elapses, the parent will ask him to stop playing and do their homework. The reaction to this will be recorded during and after the introduction of an intervention. Mand training will help the client learn to say, “I need more time; I am almost done.” Thus, instead of becoming aggressive after being told to do a non-preferred activity, they will have a better alterative way of expressing their needs. Similarly, in this case, holding the number of instances that a non-preferred task is introduced, the number of times they react aggressively will be recorded. The process will consistently be repeated on the same number of days as those on the baseline.
The intervention will be removed in the next phase to determine the cause-effect relationship between mand training and aggressive behavior. Similarly, in this phase, the number of times a non-preferred task will be held constant, and the behavior will be monitored with the number of instances showing aggressive behavior recorded. The number of days during this phase will also be similar to those during the initial two phases.
The last phase will see the re-introduction of mand training. This last phase in this ABAB design will help re-establish the intervention to create lasting effects on the behavior of a client. The ABAB design is very powerful since it involves the replication of intervention to the point that it creates a link between the dependent and independent variables (Alqraini, 2017). Unlike ABA, which does not replicate the intervention, the ABAB intervention ensures that a client has enough support at the end of the intervention program.
Plotting the findings using a Microsoft Excel tool should show the shifting behavior before, during, and after the introduction of an intervention. A client with autism will appreciate having an alternative way of expressing their need and negotiating with an authority figure whenever they need to be distracted from a preferred activity. The graph will show a high number of aggressive incidents on the baseline (A), which a significantly reduced rate will follow: this will be repeated in the consecutive A and B phases.
Application of BAB
The third case also involves an autistic client who has a non-compliance issue. The use of BAB design is recommended in this case since the intervention will only supplement an existing communication pattern with the client (Alqraini, 2017). The initial phase will involve introducing an intervention using clear and concise language. Autistic patients may not process sarcasm, irony, or exaggeration in the same way since they take everything in their literal meaning. Clear and concise language will involve using short, simple words that fit the exact task they should undertake. For instance, saying, “Do a good job,” is vague and may cause compliance challenges. However, stating, “Put on your shoes” or “Come home at six o’clock” will avoid the vagueness that may hinder compliance.
The measurement of the intervention will be done through monitoring the duration taken before compliance. Once the intervention is introduced, data will be taken on the time it takes for the client to respond and react to the stimulus. The next phase will see a language shift to the use of unclear and vague instructions, which should show a significantly lower compliance rate. The re-introduction of the intervention will offer clear instructions, improving the compliance rate. The duration in both phases will be used to show the effect of the intervention in initiating a better compliance rate in the client.
References
Alqraini, F. (2017). Single-Case Experimental Research: A Methodology for Establishing Evidence-Based Practice in Special Education. International journal of special education, 32(3), 551–566.
BACB (2020). Professional and ethical compliance code for behavior analysts – behavior analysts responsibility to clients, retrieved from:
https://www.bacb.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/BACB-Compliance-Code-english_190318.pdf
Cooper, J., Heron, T., & Heward, W. (2020). Applied Behavior Analysis 3rd edition. Hoboken, NJ: Pearson.
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