Reinforcement is the most important and widely applied principle of behaviour analysis and it shapes how we all behave on a daily basis.

Consider the following list of things that most of us do in everyday life:

• Brush our teeth
• Use an umbrella when it’s raining
• Take an aspirin when we have a headache
• Check our phone when it beeps
• Drink a coffee at break time
• Go to work to get paid

All of these behaviours occur because of reinforcement.  

But what exactly is reinforcement?

Reinforcement involves consequences that strengthen behaviour. To strengthen a behaviour means to increase the likelihood that it will occur again in the future. Let’s take a look at a couple of examples from the list above to help explain it further.

You wake up with a headache so you get up and take an aspirin. Shortly afterwards your headache is gone. In the future, when you get a headache you take an aspirin straight away.

Your phone beeps and you see it’s a message from a friend. You tap to open the message and it’s a funny video that makes you laugh. In the future when the same friend contacts you, you tap to open their message.

Both these examples demonstrate reinforcement as they resulted in an increase of the behaviours reoccurring.

These examples also show us two different types of reinforcement: positive and negative.

When it comes to behaviour, positive and negative do not mean good and bad. They simply mean to add and take away. The examples of the umbrella, aspirin and tooth brushing are all examples of negative reinforcement as they remove or stop something you don’t like from happening. The examples of the phone, coffee and going to work are all examples of positive reinforcers as they add or present something that you like into your environment.

Both positive and negative reinforcement increase the likelihood of you giving the same response in the future. Through a combination of learning and contact with reinforcement, we have all learned to do things that allow us to contact the things we like and also, to avoid things we dislike.

Reinforcement shapes how we all behave and for this reason, it is at the core of all ABA programmes.  It is used in all behaviour change programmes, including the teaching of new skills.

The following guidelines explain how to apply reinforcement effectively when working to teach new behaviours.

1. Reinforcers should be personalised and preferred. It may sound obvious but we do not all like the same things so we cannot expect all learners to work for the same group of reinforcers e.g. sweets, toys, tickles etc. Observe the learner’s interests and motivation to determine what reinforcers you use. Remember not all preferences are reinforcers, so if the target behaviour is not increasing then question if what you are using is actually a reinforcer.

2. Reinforcement should be contingent. This means the reinforcer should be delivered directly after you see the desired behaviour. It is unlikely that you will see the desired behaviour increase if you give a child bubbles 15 minutes after they independently request for them. Quick and immediate delivery of reinforcement is important.

3. Reinforcement should be matched to the behaviour. In other words, the size of the reinforcer needs to fit the behaviour. For example, if I prompt a child to say “hello” when I see them, and they say “hello” in response, then I am going to praise this behaviour. However, if they spontaneously say “hello” when they see me, then I am going to give lots of praise and a tangible reinforcer. We should give more reinforcement for bigger behaviours.

4. Pair tangible reinforcers with praise. Social attention and praise are powerful reinforcers for lots of people but for many children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), praise alone is not reinforcing. Tangible reinforcers e.g. a preferred toy, or food, are often more effective reinforcers. It is important to pair praise with tangible items. Over time the goal is to eventually fade out the items so the learner is just working for praise.

5. Move from continuous reinforcement to intermittent, unpredictable reinforcement as the learner becomes more independent. It is important to steadily decrease the amount of reinforcers given over time. When you are teaching a child how to eat independently, of course, you will provide lots of praise and reinforcement when they do it on their own initially. Once the child has mastered that skill you don’t need to clap and give them a tangible reinforcer each time. The behaviour itself becomes its own reinforcer.

Reinforcement is an important principle that brings about effective change in behaviour. We utilise it in all our ABA programmes but it is also something that happens naturally, all the time in your everyday life. Stop and think how it is happening in your life today, and remember it is only truly reinforcement if it increases the likelihood that the behaviour will reoccur.

If you would like to find out more about our services, ABA in general or would like to know how Beam can help someone you know with autism, please get in touch.

Catherine Browne, ABA Consultant, MA BCBA, Beam ABA Services
0203 886 0640
contact@beamaba.com

References

Cooper J.O, Heron T.E, Heward W.L. Applied Behavior Analysis (2nd ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson; 2007