Getting a New Sequence of Behaviors to Occur with Behavioral Chaining Chapter 11 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Definition Behavioral Chain A sequence of discriminative stimuli (SDs) and responses (Rs) in which: Each response except the last produces the SD for the next response The last response is followed by the reinforcer Each SD in a behavioral chain is: A cue for the next response A conditioned reinforcer for the previous response (other than the first SD) Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Stimulus Response Chain Each response produces a cue for the next response SD1  R1  SD2  R2  SD3  R3 …  S+ S+ is the reinforcer at the end Stimulus-response connections are “links” in the chain If any response is not produced by SD before it, the chain will be broken Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Teaching a Behavioral Chain Total Task Presentation Attempt all steps of the chain Continue until every step is mastered Prompting is provided as needed Reinforcement is provided upon completing last step Backward Chaining Last step first Then, the next-to-the last step is taught and linked with last step On each trial, the last step in the chain is reinforced Forward Chaining Initial step first Then, first and second, etc. On each trial, last step that was developed is reinforced Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Chaining Formats Total Task Presentation Backward Chaining S1  R1 S2  R2 S3  R3 Reinforcer S3  R3 Reinforcer S2  R2 S3  R3 Reinforcer S1  R1 S2  R2 S3  R3 Reinforcer Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Chaining Formats Forward Chaining S1  R1 Reinforcer S1  R1 S2  R2 Reinforcer S1  R1 S2  R2 S3  R3 Reinforcer Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Chaining, Fading, and Shaping Compared All are gradual change procedures Gradually, through a series of steps, all produce new behavior Shaping steps Reinforcement of closer and closer approximations Fading steps Reinforcement the final desired response in the presence of closer and closer approximations to the final desired stimulus for that response Chaining steps Reinforcing more and more of the specific stimulus-response links Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Influencing the Effectiveness of Behavioral Chaining Do a task analysis: Identify the components of the final sequence Task analysis – process of breaking a task down into smaller steps or component responses to facilitate training Components should be selected so that there is a clear stimulus signaling the completion of each component Review each of the controlling stimuli for each of the responses in the sequence If similar stimuli control different responses, there is more chance for error and confusion Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Influencing the Effectiveness of Behavioral Chaining Consider strategies for independent use of prompts by learners Written task analysis Picture prompts Reciting self-instructions Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Influencing the Effectiveness of Behavioral Chaining Consider conducting a preliminary modeling trial Model entire sequence while verbally describing the performance of each step Begin training the behavior chain Give instructions to begin work Start with appropriate step for the type of chaining method used If learner makes a mistake, use error correction Provide necessary instruction or physical guidance After the error is corrected, move to the next step Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Influencing the Effectiveness of Behavioral Chaining Consider using ample social and other reinforcers Decrease extra assistance at individual steps as quickly as possible Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Pitfalls of Behavioral Chaining Adventitious chains Chains that contain a response member that is not necessary for reinforcement Special care needs to be taken to avoid undesirable adventitious chaining Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Guideline for the Effective Use of Behavioral Chaining Do task analysis Consider strategies for independent use of prompts by learners If necessary, do a preliminary modeling trial Teach the units in the proper sequence To expedite learning, use fading procedures to decrease extra help that may be needed by client to perform some of the steps If using backward or forward chaining, make sure that on each trial the learner performs the entire set of steps learned up to that point Early in training, use ample reinforcement; decrease gradually Make sure that reinforcer used is effective Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.