REINFORCEMENT Written by ABA-UK member Scott Sandford, Marc !

""# Before you go and spend 100s if not 1000s of pounds on what you call "reinforcers" you should spend more time looking at your child and what they like. We spent 100s (more like 1000s) on "reinforcers" before I finally understood what a "reinforcer" was.
"reinforcer" is not a "toy" ! in the sense that you can"t define something as a reinforcer# per se# unless it has the desired effect of reinforcing a beha$iour...something you don"t know until you present it %&'( a beha$iour and the fre)uency of that beha$iour I*+(' ,',. ,o a ('I*%-(+'( or feels like# etc.) is defined by what it .-', ! not what it I, (or looks like#

I"ll make a guess here about where you are/ I think you are probably in the phase of your programme where you are spending a lot of time at a table ! probably concentrating on the early part of the programme/ instructional control# simple matching and discrimination ! perhaps e$en some selection or labelling... &hat"s 0ust a guess# but that"s where we were when my wife would go on a )uest to find new "reinforcers"...and she was $ery good at shopping for "toys"# but we ha$e cupboards and bo1es full of "toys" that didn"t act as "reinforcers". 2nder closer scrutiny# those toys that we bought were sometimes '*&'(& I*I*3 ! but they acted as reinforcers mainly because they were associated with a B(' 4 I* &' +5I*3...so in fact ',+ 6' was the real reinforcement and it was 6 I('. with the little wind!up toy that also happened to be a little funny. ,o "ca$eat emptor". I suggest you obser$er your child in great detail and make notes of the things that 5'7,5' ,6'*., 8-& -% &I9' .-I*3 -( 68 :I*3 WI&5. &5-,' &5I*3, are your ('I*%-(+'(,...you can"t 0ust B2: them. It"s called the 6(I9 + 6(I*+I68' ! where beha$iours of 5I35 %(';2'*+: act as reinforcers for beha$iours of 8-W %(';2'*+:...and subse)uently increase them. -nce you figure that out ! and I would imagine &< and &rains might be in that list ! you then need to figure out how to use them as 9-&I< &-(, for 8' (*I*3 so that the fre)uency of 8' (*I*3 I*+(' ,', in order to access the ('I*%-(+'( -% < 82' & &5 & 9-9'*& that is acting as a 9-&I< &-(. :ou do this by making them more a$ailable in the teaching en$ironment = both contingent upon learning and also freely# so as to associate the learning en$ironment (in your case probably a room in your house and a table within that room) with the a$ailability of your child"s fa$ourite things....increasing the moti$ation for them to be there to access their ('I*%-(+'(, by e1hibiting 5I35 %(';2'*+: 8' (*I*3 B'5 <I-2(,. +ertainly# you need to increase the a$ailable pool of reinforcers on offer# but you are better ser$ed by 6 I(I*3 weaker reinforcers with stronger ones than trying to "shoot in the dark" for something that will work. &his pairing process is much more likely to engineer an effecti$e new reinforcer than trying to buy one in the store. &he other thing that is <'(: I96-(& *& is to not pro$ide one particular reinforcer at such a high rate or magnitude that your child loses their moti$ation for it ! called satiation. :ou must stri$e to identify effecti$e reinforcers and ensure that you rotate them effecti$ely so that there is at least one that is desirable at that moment so that you can use it to teach. ,o# for instance# don"t lea$e the train set out on the floor 88 . : and 88 W''4 and use it as a reinforcer ! when the child is not looking# put it away and make it inaccessible and lea$e it for later in the day ! or perhaps another day entirely. fter all# if gi$en the chance to do your a$ourite thing 88 &5' &I9'# you too would find it less moti$ating. ,o (-& &' your 9-&I< &-(, to ensure effecti$eness. -ne thing that helped manage this for us was to di$ide the week into 10 > day ",',,I-*," ! we then chose a "theme" for each day from his known preferable acti$ities/

,o one morning was &homas the &ank# then afternoon was Bob the builder# the ne1t was Barney# then 'lmo# etc. We started with these four and gradually targeted other themes that could utili?e some of his fa$ourite acti$ities ! so an "animals" theme could incorporate some "Bear in the Big Blue 5ouse" materials# in addition to a "Bear in the Big Blue 5ouse" themed day7session. &his really helped on two fronts/ %irst# the instructors were forced to become more $aried in their chosen non!teaching acti$ities. We found that instructors would regularly play with a $ery limited selection of the 100s of toys on offer. It was simply to much for them to think of something different to offer him and he simply got what that instructor "knew" he liked...this led to satiation of those toys without at doubt. ,econdly# it allowed for acti$ities to be en0oyed thoroughly for a period and then put away to ensure that they ne$er became "tired" or satiated = and could therefore act as naturally reinforcing acti$ities when they did occur/ so playing acted as reinforcement for playing# rather than a demand ("play with this" when he no longer was interested in it). &hirdly# it allowed us to mi1 in non!preferred or no$el acti$ities within the conte1t of a $arying themes so that we got a great degree of generali?ation pre!built into the process. %ourthly# it e1posed our son to a $ariety of things that he then begun to find interesting. s we originally targeted 5I, +&I<I&I', -% I*&'(',& as the first few themes# we were then able to branch out %(-9 &5'9 to others and ensure some 6 I(I*3 had occurred with the new them because of the reinforcing )ualities of the old one (Bear in the BB5 became an "animals" theme ! and a "?oo" theme@ "&homas" became a "$ehicles" theme ! which became a "space" theme when combined with "Bu?? 8ightyear"...you get the idea) If you decide to use &< as a ('I*%-(+'( (and there"s no reason not to) ! make sure that you ,& *. (.I,' how much &I9' he is to recei$e and on what ( &I- of responding so that each instructor gi$es him &5' , 9' 9-2*& -% &< %-( &5' , 9' 9-2*& -% W-(4 ! otherwise# some instructors will be effecti$e and some will not. It"s easy to do/ 0ust write it down "<( of A B 1 min of &<" and then buy a countdown timer from a kitchen shop and &I9' I&... I know this may be a $ery long answer to a $ery simple )uestion# but I"m hoping to change your %2*.'9'*& 8 perspecti$e on ('I*%-(+'9'*& before you go and spend needless money on buying "reinforcers" that don"t do what they"re supposed to. If you I*,I,& on spending the money ! take your child with you so you can see what they like# so as not to waste your money.