Modeling and Social Skills

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Modeling and Social Skills

Introduction

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is a therapeutic technique that helps modify the behavior of an individual with autism disorder. The ABA can manage behaviour based on changing the environment to impact an individual behavior that leads to the production of positive actions and eradication of the negative moves. Notably, ABA analyzes the order of occurrence of the behavior of an individual with autism for the identification of the antidescent that comes before the behavior, the consequence, and the behavior itself. Behaviour is reinforced or discouraged by the aftermath action. Applying behaviour analysis is used to treat autism as a developmental disability that arises due to differences in the brain. An individual suffering from autism is often associated with difficulties in social interaction and communication through repetitive and restricted behaviors. As such, there is a need to ABA analysis as a practical therapeutic approach to improve the social behavior of an individual suffering from autism. This paper explains the critical elements involved in the overview of autism and ABA, the scientific field of ABA and its relationship to autism, the roles of behaviorally based interventions, and the principles or values guiding the decision-making processes of the interventions.

Critical Elements involved in Overviewing Autism and ABA

Task Analysis

Task analysis involves helping individuals with the autism spectrum disorder understand and modify their behaviors. It also entails assessing individuals’ and family members’ skills, preferences, and goals. The skill evaluation helps in the initial assessments, which are the foundation of the specific treatment goals. The skills include language, communication, social interactions, academic, and hygiene skills (Felzer-Kim et al., 2021). An individual with the audism understands basic skills by focusing on mastering individual steps in a complex process. After identifying steps and creating directions, an instructor devises a learning plan customized to the goals and needs of the student. Consequently, task annalist improves the quality of life for all the family members by inculcating strong communication skills, social interaction, and interpersonal relations, giving people with autism a chance to survive an independent life.

Scientific Field Of Task Analysis as ABA and its Relationship to Autism

Consistency

As a teaching method, task analysis is characterized by consistency where the reinforcement and presentations of a single learning approach get presented in every learning situation. Consistency relates to intervening in autism conditions by creating an environment of reinforcing the positive behavior in the learning approach for quick mastery of content (Felzer-Kim et al., 2021). Also, an autistic individual relives the negative thoughts through consistent provision of tasks.

Individualization

The task analysis bases its facts on individualization, where the tasks are varied as per the ability of an individual (Felzer-Kim et al., 2021). Treating an individual with autism as an individual enhances emotional wellbeing. It also helps in the progression of targets and easy preparation for transitions and changes.

Systematic Instruction

Most importantly, systematic instruction characterizes the task analysis, where the activities are divided into small steps to culminate the end goals. Scientific instruction is also a scientific process that involves experimentation until achieving success through setting the criteria for mastery (Baker et al., 2019). It improves the quality and quantity of understanding of an individual with autism.

Modelling and Discrete Trial Approaches

Moreover, there exist the modelling and discrete trial approaches, which the instructor used as a task analysis framework. The discrete trial instructions provide short, clear, and prompt instructions that help an individual complete the task through guidance on their response (Baker et al., 2019). The instructor removes the prompts and progresses gradually by offering immediate positive feedback on accurate responses and providing recommended guidance on incorrect responses. Modelling involves showing the individual target behavior and giving instruction for the behavior imitation. Through modelling, individuals with autism have exhibited self-help and social skills.

Chaining

Chaining as an instructional strategy in the applied behavior analysis theory involves recognizing an individual with autism as a requirement of task mastery. It also involves breaking the tasks into small steps and teaching the steps in sequences. Once an individual learns the initial skill, the next step involves showing an action (Radley & Dart, 2022). The technique is profitable in assisting children with autism in learning repetitive routine tasks like a bathroom, wearing clothes, and shoes. Notably, chaining helps the instructor and the family members teach the kids to perform complex, multi-step tasks by breaking them down into essential components.

Scientific Field of Chaining as an ABA and its relationship to autism

Total Task Chaining

The total task chaining approach involves working together with an individual with autism. The work should be step by step to break and prompt tasks as necessary (Radley & Dart, 2022). It also occurs where the instructor teaches the fundamental skill by giving the learner the support for the challenges.

Forward Chaining

Forward chaining involves showing an individual the criteria for doing the first step of the task independently. The instructor, therefore, prompts the child for the consequent task (Choi, 2019). After an individual child with autism has completed the first step independently without the prompt, he or she can independently complete the significant steps.

Backward Chaining

It involves the completion of all the steps with prompting. An instructor needs to save the individual child from completing the task. Backward chaining is advantageous depending on the taught skills. It links the independent task completion for immediate reinforcement and reward. In backward chaining, the child with autism is given the opportunity to complete the last step independently and the next to last step independently (Choi, 2019). As evidence-based ABA, the backward chaining enables an individual to reach their full potential by overcoming the autism challenges.

Roles of Behaviorally-Based Interventions and the Principles Guiding the Decision Making

The Roles of Task Analysis and its Principles Guiding the Decision making

Task analysis induces the new skills to replace the problem behaviors, making an individual with autism learn what to do rather than what not to do. Also, the task analysis improves cognitive skills by making an individual quickly learn academically. It continues to enable an individual child with autism to generalize skills and apply them in the classroom and outside environment (Felzer-Kim et al., 2021). Moreover, it teaches self-control and task monitoring for job-related and social capabilities. Through positive responses to individual behavior, the task analysis prevents unintentional rewards for the problematic behaviors. As such, an individual can comply with the specific task, acting as a motivation paradigm.

Role of Chaining and its Principles in Guiding the Decision Making

Chaining breaks the task into steps and teaches an individual with autism the steps and the sequences of undertaking the instructions. It is also essential in enabling the child with autism to learn routine and repetitive tasks (Radley & Dart, 2022). The principle of repetition enables the individual child with autism to correctly complete all the behaviors in sequence. Notably, through the predetermined accuracy standard, an individual can be taught the next step using reinforcement depending on the ability to finish the previous steps.

Conclusion

Overall, the applied behavior analysis approach enables the instructor to effectively give the therapeutic intervention to an individual suffering from autism. The intervention involves changing the behavior through reward and reinforcement. Chaining and task analysis are the primary applied behavior analysis that enables the instructor to extensively use the behavioral mechanism to mitigate the positive behavior exhibited by an individual with autism. The elements are characterized by the scientific approaches, which play an amicable role in moulding and enhancing the positive behavioral changes of an individual with autism.

References

Baker, J. N., Rivera, C., Devine, S. M., & Mason, L. (2019). Creating a Task-Analysis for Teaching Emergent Literacy Skills to Students with Autism. Intervention in School Clinic, 54(3), 166. https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/teach-elementary-facpubs/42/Choi, J. (2019). A Comparison of forwarding and Backward Chaining on the Acquisition of Solitary Play Skills (Doctoral dissertation, The Chicago School of Professional Psychology). https://search.proquest.com/openview/1e5d22e0ae61cbb1eaaf2ba36786bb52/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=yFelzer-Kim, I. T., Campbell, H., Vallabheneni, N., Peterson, A., & Hauck, J. L. (2021). Working With Children With Autism in General Physical Education: Useful Applied Behavior Analysis Concepts. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 92(9), 50-55. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07303084.2021.1977741Fisher, W. W., Piazza, C. C., & Roane, H. S. (Eds.). (2021). Handbook of applied behavior analysis. Guilford Publications. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Xbb2DwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Applied+Behavior+therapy+and+autism+management&ots=DV4eyYRhVe&sig=sj8R46I-HWC5D4MaiYQQ2Tih9PwRadley, K. C., & Dart, E. H. (2022). Other Behavior Analytic Strategies. Social Skills Teaching for Individuals with Autism (pp. 127-140). Springer, Cham. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-91665-7_11