NCR: Noncontingent Reinforcement

Noncontingent Reinforcement Part 1: Overviewby Gabriel Gafner at ABA Connect Noncontingent Reinforcement (NCR) is the presentation of a reinforcer, independent of the presence of a specific behavior. The learner receives reinforcement on…
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Academic Pressure: What Parents Can Do to Help

Some children struggle in school academically, while others who are achieving academically may have struggles of being “overachievers.” While being an overachiever can develop one in many ways, it also came with me being anxious due to academic…

Back to School Nerves? How to Help Your Child.

You probably remember that antsy feeling before the first day of school. It was a combination of excitement, a little bit of nervousness, and maybe some sadness about the end of vacation. Some kids worry about getting a mean teacher or having…

Children Should Move In Class

Children should move in class because movement can promote focus and learning. Several studies have shown that physical activity enhances brain functioning. Yet, most of the school day requires sitting still. A recent New York Times article summarizes…

Should Parents Tell Their Kids About Their Disability?

Often, parents ask whether or not they should tell their child about their recently diagnosed disability. Whether or not to share with your child their identified challenges is an important question. On one hand it can be important to inform…

T-Shirt for A Cause

This month we have created a fundraiser to contribute to a local Austin nonprofit group VELA. VELA helps families who have children with special needs by connecting them to community as well as providing educational support. We are selling…
Mom puts Santa hat on boy with autism for the holidays
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Survive the Holidays

People in ABA

Robert Koegel and Laura Schreibman developed PRT (Pivotal Response Training).  It targets self-initiation of the subject's preferred activities in a natural setting.. Fred S. Keller developed PSI (Personalized System of Instruction), a self-paced…

Stimulus Control: Salience, Masking and Overshadowing

Stimulus Salience refers to how obvious or prominent a stimulus is in a person's environment.  If a person has visual deficits, then visual stimulus will not have as much salience as auditory stimulus, for example.  In order to notice stimulus,…

Reinforcer Assessment

The quality / power of reinforcement can be determined with a reinforcer assessment.  A variety of direct, data-based methods are used to present one or more stimuli contingent on a target response and then measuring the future effects on the…

Behavior

Behavior is movement of an organism through space and time.  It must past the "dead man's test" which is to say, "if a dead man can do it, it isn't behavior."  Behavior can only be done by a living organism and does not include movements due…

Token Economy

Response Cost: Is a negative punishment that involves taking back tokens that have been earned.  It can be thought of as a fine for unwanted behavior which, hopefully, creates a decrease in the future possibility of this behavior occurring. A…