Life is full of hardships and ABA: A lesson on Applied Behavior Analysis

I created this blog because I seem to consistently go through hardships in life, just enough to maintain and share some serious life lessons and tips. My professional background is also in ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis). I decided that I wanted to utilize my ABA concepts and apply them to my life struggles to expedite my growth, to advocate for ABA, and probably an occasional vent here and there. Before I start blogging, It is crucial to explain how ABA operates. “Applied behavior analysis is a scientific discipline concerned with applying techniques based upon the principles of learning to change behavior of social significance. It is the applied form of behavior analysis since the 1970’s”. ABA is known to be one of the most effective strategies for teaching kids with disabilities and Autism life skills, which is what I do for my job currently (as well as teacher and parent training); however, ABA can also be utilized to build healthy life habits, dieting, animal training, and the list goes on. We actually utilize ABA strategies in our daily lives and no one even knows it!
I cannot attest first hand how much impact running ABA for children has changed not only a child’s life, but the parents life; how I could use ABA to teach a skill (whether it be social, academic, or basic life skill), and the child could literally master it within 3 days to a week, depending on the child of course. That’s like teaching a baby to walk in 3 days, do you understand how amazing that is? Not saying you can teach a baby to walk in 3 days of course. To get a clear understanding of what this means (and how to apply it to life) you have to understand 2 basic concepts:

1) Four functions of Behavior

2) ABC data (antecedent, behavior, and consequence)

The four functions of behavior are compartmentalized in the following categories: SEAT (Sensory, Escape, Attention, and Tangible object). Every, single behavior is going to be derived from one of these functions. I repeat, every single behavior (adult or child) derives from one of these functions. Once you have determined that function, you can then know what to do, or how to respond. Sometimes, a behavior can even have a primary and secondary function (AKA two functions for one behavior).

ABC data is how you compartmentally track data to determine the function. Antecedent means “What happened right before the behavior/what sparked the behavior (can also be seen as a ‘preventative’)”; Behavior means “what behavior occurred and what does that look like measurably”. Consequence means “What happened right after the behavior occurred/how did they respond”. More importantly though, the antecedent and the consequence determines whether the “behavior” will increase or decrease.

Here is an example.
Antecedent: Mom states “Max clean up your toys”
Behavior: Max falls to the floor, and cries (tantrums) for 10 minutes, flailing arms
Consequence: Mom states “Max stop crying” and points and re-states “clean up the toys!” (She then continues to chop onions at the kitchen)

So what this data tells me (obviously you ideally want to collect multiple instances, not just one), is that Max is escaping (*Function) the instruction because his behavior was a response to an instruction. However, based upon mom’s consequence (response), there was lack of follow-through, which will most likely lead to a repeat of this behavior.
If this were a child with Autism, I would suggest to mom to change the antecedent firstly. So instead of immediately stating “Max clean up” you give him a warning and state “Max in 5 minutes you need to clean up”. This gives the child an expectation, therefore preparing him for what is coming next. For the consequence, I would have suggested that instead of stating “Max stop crying”, you can give him a choice “Do you want me to help (physically hand-over-hand) or do you want to do it by yourself?”. If the child continues to not respond, you would follow-through with what you said which is help him hand-over-hand clean up (this does not mean you help him clean it up!!!). That reaction is actually teaching him that you will follow through with what you say, which will therefore next time increase the chance of him deciding he will do it himself (believe it or not children want to be independent and do not enjoy an adult physically making them do it).

See what I did there? The reason I know how to adjust the antecedent and consequence is because I knew what the function was. By implementing a preventative antecedent, that will help either reduce, or completely dispel the behavior from occurring at all over time. By adjusting the consequence and engaging in the appropriate protocol, you are also decreasing and eventually fading out the behavior as well. Adjusting how you respond prior and after the behavior is so so crucial.

Now that we hopefully have an idea of how ABA works, how does this apply to you? How do we analyze our behaviors and behaviors of those around us to ultimately create peace, harmony and understanding? In my blog I’m going to discuss daily life challenges in work, life, family, and difficult relationships with an ABA thinking cap.

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