Introduction to Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) Online Tutorial
	Module 1: What is ABA? Characteristics of ABA The characteristics of ABA are: Applied: behaviors and skills to be taught are meaningful to the person being taught and others close to him or her. Behavioral: the focus is observable behaviors. We track progress based on directly observing behaviors (such as observing a child to see how often he or she talks to her peers) rather than measuring progress based on surveys or a just asking a person about their behavior. Analytic: we want to show that the strategies used were in fact responsible for any change in behavior. It is possible that we might be using one method for teaching a child to communicate at the same time another teacher was using a different method to teach the same skill. In this case, we can't be sure which method made the difference. When using ABA, there are ways that you can set-up your intervention to show that it produced the behavior change. Technological: techniques used in an intervention are thoroughly described so that others can replicate the intervention. We describe the teaching strategies used so that others can use the same methods if they are working with similar students. Conceptually systematic: interventions used are based on established theories and principles. Effective: interventions should produce effects that are large enough to be considered valuable. Generality: the student should use new behaviors and skills in more than one place. For example, if a child has become potty trained at home, we also want the child to be potty trained at school. Even when a child with autism learns a skill in one place, it won't necessarily transfer to different environments. You will probably have to use some strategies to promote this generalization. Other aspects of "generality" include the child continuing to use new skills over time, and the child using related skills and behaviors. Practice these with some free flashcards (especially if you're preparing for the national certification exam in behavior analysis)! Dimensions of ABA Flashcards by allisone82 Characteristics of ABA by PositivelyAutism.com: Set the flashcards to "Definition then Term" when first studying, then you can switch to "Term then Definition." Reference: Baer, D.M., Wolf, M.M., & Risley, T.R. (1968). Some current dimensions of Applied Behavior Analysis. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1, 91-97. Next --> Module 2: History of ABA