How Behavior Analysts Approach Teaching
history of experiences, this source may yield only limited and insufficient information about how to increase a person’s behavioral skills. 3. Immediate environment – the events that are happening during every moment of our lives. This includes the setting, other people present and their behavior, objects, activities, routines, resources, etc. Behavior analysts see the immediate environment as the major cause of behavior. They collect very specific information about what happens before and after a behavior. They then use this information to make appropriate behavior more likely and inappropriate behavior less likely. Parents and teachers can have a tremendous impact on behavior because they are such a large part of the child’s immediate environment. So, the more you know about maximizing learning, the more you can change a person’s behavior.
The behavioral teaching approach takes into account a few factors, such as the student’s current level of performance, the skill acquisition and behavior reduction goals, and some assumptions about what causes behavior (performance) to occur. ABA views the immediate present as the key to comprehending current behavior, and uses information about the past cautiously (for example, to understand how a behavioral pattern developed over time). Causes of Behavior 1. Genetic explanations - With the human genome project complete, we now know more about how genes affect behavior. Unfortunately, this information is not yet helpful in producing a medical treatment or cure for autism. 2. Past experiences (sometimes called reinforcement history or learning history) – Behavior analysts study how behaviors are acquired and maintained through reinforcement. While it is important to understand a person’s
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