
February 24, 2021
Positive Reinforcement and Autism
Positive reinforcement is a process of recognizing, rewarding, and encouraging desired behaviors.
As one of the most important principles of ABA therapy, this technique is crucial for achieving meaningful behavioral changes in children with autism. Here’s a closer look at positive reinforcement and the way ABA therapists use it to help autistic children learn and maintain new skills.
What Is Positive Reinforcement?
Applied behavior analysis (ABA), is a therapy that focuses on increasing desired behaviors and reducing undesired ones, is a standard treatment for children with autism spectrum disorder. Positive reinforcement is the main behavioral management technique used by ABA therapists, where a child who complies with a request for behavior change is given an incentive. The aim is to have the child respond to reinforcement with positive behavior. A reinforcer can be any object or activity that is effective in strengthening and maintaining the desired behavior. Primary reinforcers are natural and include sleep and food, for example. Secondary reinforcers, ranging from praise to stickers and tokens, vary from child to child and are developed over time. The least intrusive type of reinforcers is praise and the most intrusive one is food, with many different reinforcer types in between, such as preferred activities, tangible items like toys, privileges, and tokens. Reinforcers that work for one child may not work for another—some children are happy to get stickers for a reward chart while others respond better to words of encouragement. Whatever the preferences, the goal of the positive reinforcement technique is that praise eventually becomes the only necessary reward.What Is the Importance of Positive Reinforcement in Autism?
For children with autism spectrum disorder and their families, positive reinforcement—and ABA therapy in general—can be life changing. This method helps autistic children acquire new skills that can be extremely challenging to teach and maintain. Some of these skills include:- Verbal communication
- Non-verbal communication
- Social interactions
- Academic performance
- Functional life skills
- Adaptive learning skills.
How ABA Therapists Use Positive Reinforcement
ABA therapists use positive reinforcement to turn their observations of what triggers a child’s behaviors into patterns of improvement. The technique is based on the ABC model of behavior modification, which is one of the central concepts in applied behavior analysis. The model consists of the following steps:- Antecedent—a situation or an item that triggers the behavior in question.
- Behavior—the action performed as a result of the antecedent. It can be both positive and negative.
- Consequence—the outcome of those actions. It can be used to encourage or stop the behavior, depending on whether the behavior is positive or negative.