What is a Reward?
Rewards, as a concept in ABA, is anything that increases the chance of behavior to occur again. Sometimes we call this a reinforcement. Many ABA approaches define rewards into four categories.
Attention
When we look at children, say something just to them or go to them and touch their shoulder, we are paying attention to them. If they desire attention, whatever behavior happened just before we pay attention, then we have rewarded that behavior with attention. Unfortunately, attention often rewards what we don’t want to see: a temper tantrum (the parent picks the child up or says “stop screaming,” unintentionally rewarding the tantrum).
Escape/Avoidance
If children wish to do something other than what the parent wants (e.g., play video games when it is time for dinner), the child often avoids dinner by ignoring the parents. The longer they avoid it, the more then can do what they want (play the video game). The avoidance is a reward by removing something they don’t want (going to eat) while receiving what they want. Often parents don’t follow-through on a prompt like come to dinner, and deliver the reward of avoidance.
Tangible Objects
These are things that you can literally touch, and are desired by children. For example, favorite candy, or a well-liked toy, are tangible objects. They can be rewards if we hold them back until children do what we want. If a child eats most of their dinner, then dessert is the tangible reward (designed to increase the chances they will eat most of dinner again in the future).
Self Stimulation
Almost everyone gets bored. And, most of us don’t like to be bored. Often we self-stimulate, or do something that feels good: rocking, humming, picking our nose, or tapping a finger. If the action stimulates us and rids us from boredom (even for a few seconds), the humming or rocking is rewarding. Designing natural self-stimulation (coloring a picture) can often reward an otherwise boring activity (sitting quietly in a large group).
How to Use Rewards
We use rewards to increase a behavior we’d like to see in children. Usually, we apply the reward a new behavior every time we see the behavior (continuous rewards), but if we want to make a behavior last, we use an intermittent reward “schedule.” When we switch from continuous to intermittent rewards, that’s called thinning. When we understand how we reward a behavior, we can be so much more effective in how we help children succeed in everyday life.
How to Know More
If these ideas interest you, consider reaching out to one of Lumate Health’s ABA programs to see if your child might have autism, and may benefit from ABA. We have experts, including Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs), who can answer your questions and help you understand if the program you’re using is truly ABA.
Our Commitment
At Lumate, we are committed to the use of “real” ABA. We offer our behavioral techs and BCBAs both education and training in basic and advanced ABA. But, in addition, we are committee to creating programs that work, in your real life, at home or in your community. We collect data through observations as well as feedback from parents.
Our goal is to not just teach behaviors; it is also to teach skills that will help your child succeed. We give parents the tools to deliver ABA in real-life, through parent support. We simply want to see your child reach their maximum potential in life.