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“Screams, Slaps, and Love” 1965 Life magazine photo essay portraying four children with autism. They were referred to as: “utterly withdrawn children whose minds are sealed against all human contact and whose madness had turned their homes into hell” (Grant, 1965) Depicted pictures of therapists using techniques such as administering electric shock to a child Known as suffering from childhood schizophrenia Previously, autism was treated using the psychoanalytic approach, but this Life article explored the idea of a new behaviorist technique that used punishments and rewards to change the child’s behavior.
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Applied Behavior Analysis
for Autism Spectrum DisordersPresentation by: Arlena Jordan
Overview“Screams, Slaps, and Love” Photo Essay
The Autism Spectrum Disorders
Causes of the Autism Spectrum Disorders
Origin of Applied Behavior Analysis
Purpose and Goals of Applied Behavior Analysis
Implementation of Applied Behavior Analysis Using Behaviorism
Main Criticism of Applied Behavior Analysis
“Screams, Slaps, and Love”
1965 Life magazine photo essay portraying four children with autism. They were referred to as: “utterly withdrawn children whose minds are sealed against all human contact and whose madness had turned their homes into hell” (Grant, 1965)
Depicted pictures of therapists using techniques such as administering electric shock to a child
Known as suffering from childhood schizophrenia
Previously, autism was treated using the psychoanalytic approach, but this Life article explored the idea of a new behaviorist technique that used punishments and rewards to change the child’s behavior.
Autism Spectrum Disorders
Referred to as a spectrum of disorders that share similar traits having to do with social interaction, verbal/nonverbal communication, and repetitive behaviors
Autism
Asperger’s Syndrome
Pervasive Developmental Disorder
Autism
•Frequently nonverbal - expressive through gestures•echolalia - repeating words, sounds, patterns
•Lack of social or emotional reciprocity
•Strong adherence to daily routines and patterns
•Impairment in behaviors such as eye contact, facial expressions
•Lack of engaging in shared vision
•No spontaneous social interaction
•Stereotypies - repetitive patterns of behavior
• Low- and high- functioning
Difficulty in communication; apparent language delay
•Focused interests
Asperger’s Syndrome
• Tends to understand language very literally
•Lack of social or emotional reciprocity
•Strong adherence to daily routines and patterns
•Impairment in behaviors such as eye contact, facial expressions•No spontaneous social
interaction and trouble developingstrong peer relationships
•Stereotypies - repetitive patterns of behavior and mannerisms
Should not be confused with high functioning autism
Development of speech and language but inadequate social and communication skills
Pervasive Developmental Disorder - Not Otherwise
Specified•“Atypical autism”•Example: severe deficit in socialization, but no
presence of stereotypes •Undeveloped diagnosis because there are many
combinations and degrees of deficits in one area and not another• No table of symptoms in the DSM -IV- TR
Biological FactorsSpeculative
Family Studies - show that there may be a genetic component to ASD though the gene pattern has yet to be discovered
1998 Study found less oxytocin in blood plasma of autistic individuals A later rat study, showed that the ones lacking oxytocin could not recognize other mice or their mother’s scent
White matter abnormalities in the brain - connects parts of the brain to each other
No strong evidence as to vaccines for measles and mumps playing a role
Environmental Poisoning
Questions
How would you, as a future educator, feel about having a student with ASD in your classroom?
What possible challenges would this pose to your instruction? To the other students?
Applied Behavior AnalysisProposed by Ivar Lovaas from the Neuropsychiatric Institute at UCLA
Identification and modification of objective, observable, and measurable behaviors
To teach social and communicative skills in order to respond appropriately to environmental stimuli
The ABCs
Antecedent - what happens right before the behavior
Behavior - the behavior itself
Consequence - what happens after the behavior
Identify the cause of the behavior (i.e wanting something, wanting to get something out of something else, looking for sensory input)
Help children with autism communicate their wants and needs effectively
Intended Goals of ABA
Decrease self-injurious, aggressive, or violent behaviors
Increase expression and communication skills
Increase the initiation and reciprocation of social interactions
Increase self-care skills
How?
ABA and BehaviorismBehaviorism - human and animal behavior is explained in terms of conditions and response to environmental situations and stimuli
Behavior is modified due to the consequences of that behavior, which makes it more or less likely for the behavior to occur
Positive Reinforcement - receiving a reward to increase the likelihood of behavior
Negative Reinforcement - taking away an aversive stimulus to increase the likelihood of behavior
Positive Punishment - giving something aversive in order to decrease likelihood of behavior
Negative Punishment - removal of something good in order to decrease likelihood of behavior
Case Study
What is the antecedent? The behavior? The consequence?
If you were an analyst, what type of interventions would you put in place for Billy?
Think about the desired outcome: do you want to increase or decrease the behavior
Billy, one of Dr. Lovaas’ 7 year-old patients, frequently went into violent fits during his Winnie the Pooh phase whenever he did not have his Pooh doll. His mother always kept replacements within reach to pacify him. She would go to great lengths to acquire one, terrified of his rages whenever he
ripped or lost one (Grant, 1965)
Criticisms of ABA
Bruno Bettelheim, psychoanalyst
Felt autism was due to the manifestation of “repressed egos” and “refrigerator mothers”
Believed ABA reduced children to the “level of Pavlovian dogs” and “pliable robots”
Question
Do you feel that what Bettelheim is saying is true: are analysts simply training children to act?
Is there real learning about social cues and the world with ABA?
Think: Why do we do things? Is it because we are responding to environmental stimuli in a certain way to bring about the desired outcome?
Question
After hearing about the purpose, goals, and effects of utilizing ABA, have your feelings about having a child with autism in your classroom changed or remained the same?
Summary
Autism Spectrum Disorders is an umbrella term for three disorders in which individuals have varying degrees of deficits in social interaction, verbal/nonverbal communication, and emotional/behavioral control
Utilizing the theory of behaviorism, in the form of Applied Behavior Analysis, therapists can identify the causes for certain behaviors and implement rewards or punishments in order to increase/decrease these behaviors
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