Echolalia is the unsolicited repetition of vocalizations made by another person. In its profound form it is automatic and effortless. It is one of the echophenomena, closely related to echopraxia, the automatic repetition of movements made by another person; both are "subsets of imitative behavior" whereby sounds or actions are imitated "without explicit awareness". Echolalia may be an immediate reaction to a stimulus or may be delayed.
Ole Ivar Løvaas was a Norwegian-American clinical psychologist and professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is most well known for his research on what is now called applied behavior analysis (ABA) to teach autistic children through prompts, modeling, and positive reinforcement. The therapy is also noted for its use of aversives (punishment) to reduce undesired behavior, however these are now used less commonly than in the past.
Discrete trial training (DTT) is a technique used by practitioners of applied behavior analysis (ABA) that was developed by Ivar Lovaas at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). DTT uses mass instruction and reinforcers that create clear contingencies to shape new skills. Often employed as an early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) for up to 25–40 hours per week for children with autism, the technique relies on the use of prompts, modeling, and positive reinforcement strategies to facilitate the child's learning. It previously used aversives to punish unwanted behaviors. DTT has also been referred to as the "Lovaas/UCLA model", "rapid motor imitation antecedent", "listener responding", errorless learning", and "mass trials".
Adaptive behavior is behavior that enables a person to cope in their environment with greatest success and least conflict with others. This is a term used in the areas of psychology and special education. Adaptive behavior relates to everyday skills or tasks that the "average" person is able to complete, similar to the term life skills.
Applied behavior analysis (ABA), also called behavioral engineering, is a psychological intervention that applies approaches based upon the principles of respondent and operant conditioning to change behavior of social significance. It is the applied form of behavior analysis; the other two forms are radical behaviorism and the experimental analysis of behavior.
High-functioning autism (HFA) was historically an autism classification where a person exhibits no intellectual disability, but may experience difficulty in communication, emotion recognition, expression, and social interaction.
Pivotal response treatment (PRT), also referred to as pivotal response training, is a naturalistic form of applied behavior analysis used as an early intervention for children with autism that was pioneered by Robert Koegel and Lynn Kern Koegel. PRT advocates contend that behavior hinges on "pivotal" behavioral skills—motivation and the ability to respond to multiple cues—and that development of these skills will result in collateral behavioral improvements. In 2005, Richard Simpson of the University of Kansas identified pivotal response treatment as one of the four scientifically based treatments for autism.
Social Stories were devised as a tool to help individuals with ASD better understand the nuances of interpersonal communication so that they could "interact in an effective and appropriate manner". Although the prescribed format was meant for high functioning people with basic communication skills, the format was adapted substantially to suit individuals with poor communication skills and low level functioning. The evidence shows that there has been minimal improvement in social interaction skills. However, it is difficult to assess whether the concept would have been successful if it had been carried out as designed.
The assessment of basic language and learning skills is an educational tool used frequently with applied behavior analysis (ABA) to measure the basic linguistic and functional skills of an individual with developmental delays or disabilities.
The professional practice of behavior analysis is a domain of behavior analysis, the others being radical behaviorism, experimental analysis of behavior and applied behavior analysis. The practice of behavior analysis is the delivery of interventions to consumers that are guided by the principles of radical behaviorism and the research of both experimental and applied behavior analysis. Professional practice seeks to change specific behavior through the implementation of these principles. In many states, practicing behavior analysts hold a license, certificate, or registration. In other states, there are no laws governing their practice and, as such, the practice may be prohibited as falling under the practice definition of other mental health professionals. This is rapidly changing as behavior analysts are becoming more and more common.
The behavioral analysis of child development originates from John B. Watson's behaviorism.
Social thinking or thinking socially refers to a methodology created by Michelle Garcia Winner; it is described as a piece we all go through in our minds as we try to make sense of our others’ thoughts, feelings, and intentions in context, whether we are existing, actively interacting, or figuring out what is happening from a distance. Our ability to think socially is part of social learning that begins at birth and evolves across our lifetime. Social thinking in this context, is also referred to as social cognition.
A behavioral cusp is any behavior change that brings an organism's behavior into contact with new contingencies that have far-reaching consequences. A behavioral cusp is a special type of behavior change because it provides the learner with opportunities to access new reinforcers, new contingencies, new environments, new related behaviors (generativeness) and competition with archaic or problem behaviors. It affects the people around the learner, and these people agree to the behavior change and support its development after the intervention is removed.
Natural language training is a set of procedures used by behavior analysts that rely heavily on mand training in the natural environment. These procedures include incidental teaching, functional communication training, and pivotal response treatment, which are used to mirror the natural areas of language use for children. Behavior analytic language training procedures run along a continuum from highly restrictive such as discrete trial training to very nonrestrictive conversationally-based strategies. Natural language falls in the middle of these procedures.
Autism, formally called autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental disorder marked by deficits in reciprocal social communication and the presence of restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior. Other common signs include difficulty with social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication, along with perseverative interests, stereotypic body movements, rigid routines, and hyper- or hyporeactivity to sensory input. Autism is clinically regarded as a spectrum disorder, meaning that it can manifest very differently in each person. For example, some are nonspeaking, while others have proficient spoken language. Because of this, there is wide variation in the support needs of people across the autism spectrum.
Video self-modeling (VSM) is a form of observational learning in which individuals observe themselves performing a behavior successfully on video, and then imitate the targeted behavior. VSM allows individuals to view themselves being successful, acting appropriately, or performing new tasks. Peter Dowrick, a key researcher in the development of self-modeling, described two forms of VSM, feedforward and self-review. Self-review involves someone with a relatively well developed skill watching examples of best performance. A good example of this is the procedure used by Laura Wilkinson, gold medal platform diver, prior to every meet. In an interview after her gold medal performance, she was asked how she prepares for competition. She said that she watches a video that consists of her best dives along with encouragement from family and coaches. Self-review is mainly used in sports training as a form of visual imaging. Feedforward, on the other hand, is used with people who do not have a skill or when a new skill is emerging. Thus, feedforward is the method most often used in instructional or clinical settings. Because Feedforward involves new skills or behaviors performed by the viewer, it usually requires some degree of video editing to make it appear that the viewer is performing in an advanced manner. The term feedforward can be contrasted with the more traditional term feedback as it relates to receiving information about performance. Feedback allows people to see how they are doing. Feedforward allows them to see how they could be performing; a future self. Feedforward is mainly used in education and therapy circles and mainly with children with disabilities. It has been found to be especially effective with children with autism who tend to be visual learners and who seem to attend better to monitors than to live models.
The Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program (VB-MAPP) is an assessment and skills-tracking system to assess the language, learning and social skills of children with autism or other developmental disabilities. A strong focus of the VB-MAPP is language and social interaction, which are the predominant areas of weakness in children with autism.
Perspective-taking is the act of perceiving a situation or understanding a concept from an alternative point of view, such as that of another individual.
The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) is an augmentative and alternative communication system developed and produced by Pyramid Educational Consultants, Inc. PECS was developed in 1985 at the Delaware Autism Program by Andy Bondy, PhD, and Lori Frost, MS, CCC-SLP. The developers of PECS noticed that traditional communication techniques, including speech imitation, sign language, and picture point systems, relied on the teacher to initiate social interactions and none focused on teaching students to initiate interactions. Based on these observations, Bondy and Frost created a functional means of communication for individuals with a variety of communication challenges. Although PECS was originally developed for young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), its use has become much more widespread. Through the years, PECS has been successfully implemented with individuals with varying diagnoses across the aged span. PECS is an evidence-based practice that has been highly successful with regard to the development of functional communication skills.
A social narrative is an evidence-based learning tool designed for use with people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other associated disabilities. Social narratives often use personalized stories to teach a skill, identify a situation, or tell a narrative; some examples of social narratives may cover topics such as getting along with others, interacting with others, or experiencing a new place or activity. It is referred to as a story or a written explanation that tells the learner not only what to do but also what the situation is, with the goal of addressing the challenge of learners finding social situations confusing. Social narratives have been found effective for learners ages Preschool-High School in several areas such as social, communication, joint attention, behavior, adaptive, play, and academic.
