Behavior Change Project – Intervention Selection and Protocol

Carlie Hughes

Arizona State University

SPE 560: Behavior Change Procedures

Dr. Vanessa Fessenden

CI Brittney Espina

April 14th, 2024

Intervention Goal

Christopher will correctly engage in turn-taking, when playing board games with peers,

within 5 seconds of his peers’ turn being completed for at least 90% of opportunities across 3

session and 2 technicians.

Intervention(s)

Backwards Chaining (Cooper et al., 2020)

Rationale

The reason that I am choosing to use this procedure is because backwards chaining

allows for a learner to access the terminal reinforcement on the first independently performed

behavior (Cooper et al., 2020). Backwards chaining also allows for increased discrimination on

the stimuli that precedes the reinforcement (Cooper et al., 2020). Christopher does not yet have

peer interaction in his repertoire of skills, and parents reported during the initial evaluation that

they have concerns with Christopher’s ability to interact with peers.

By using backwards chaining and allowing Christopher to gain access to the

reinforcement faster, it should allow for stimulus-stimulus pairing to take place. Stimulus-

stimulus pairing is when you pair an established reinforcer with a neutral behavior and is

repeated until the neutral behavior becomes paired with the reinforcement, gains automatic

conditioned reinforcement, and increases in the future (Cooper et al., 2020). During the

backwards chaining procedure, the skills that Christopher learns in the chain, which are turn-

taking and overall peer interaction, will repeatedly be paired with the established reinforcer

(preferred item given as his terminal reinforcer) until the learned skills and peer interaction

become automatically reinforced, and these behaviors will increase in the future. Since peer

interaction becomes automatically reinforced, it should result in the turn-taking to act as a

These may include waiting in line at a store, playing other games with peers, waiting his turn to

answer a question in class, or even being able to share toys/activities with other children

(Cooper et al., 2020).

Cooper et al. (2020) explains that a study by Hagopian et al. (1996) was conducted to

help show the efficacy of using backwards chaining. The study was conducted to teach a child

how to ingest liquids without expelling them. They used a task analysis to break down the

behavior chain of ingesting liquids and began teaching the child how to drink liquids by starting

at the very end of the chain (swallowing with no liquids in his mouth). After reinforcing the child

for swallowing, they moved onto the next step, which was putting an empty syringe in his

mouth, and then they moved onto dipping the syringe in water and having the child put it in his

mouth. Eventually, after teaching each step in the chain, the child was able to ingest 90 cc of

liquid without expelling it (Hagopian et al., 1996).

Materials

 Preferred item/activity that Christopher wants to work for

 A board game that Christopher likes to interact with

Intervention Procedure

Steps for the Chain:

1) Orient towards peer as they roll the dice/spin the spinner

2) Orient towards peer as they move their game piece

3) Chris will then roll his dice/spin his spinner

4) Chris will move his game piece on the board

Steps for implementation:

for

2. Provide a preference assessment for which board game he wants to interact with

a. You can use either a paired stimuli assessment, or a multiple

stimulus without replacement assessment (MWSO) using 4

options to choose from

3. Once the game and a preferred item are chosen, tell Chris “It’s time to play

_____ (game) with ____ (peer), then we can get our _____ (preferred item).

a. You may also provide a First/Then visual

4. Next, have Chris choose where he would like to sit (floor or table)

5. Present the board game and give the SD “Let’s play!”

6. Provide physical prompts for Chris to complete steps 1 (orienting towards peer

rolling their dice/spinning their spinner) and for step 2 (orienting towards his

peer while they move their piece)

a. You can provide physical prompting by assisting with body

positioning (turning his body to orient towards his peer)

i. We will fade this by first physically turning his body

towards his peer (full physical), to providing a slight nudge

on his shoulder (partial physical), to gesturing towards our

peer (gestural), to independent responding

b. You may also prompt Chris by holding his hand in the direction of

his peer to assist with orientation

i. We will fade this by holding his hand in the direction of his

peer (full physical), to holding his hand (partial physical),

to pointing at his peer (gestural), to independent

responding
7. Provide hand-over-hand prompting for Chris to engage in step 3 (rolling his

dice/spinning his spinner)

8. Provide hand-over-hand prompting to have Chris complete step 4 (moving his

piece)

a. Once Chris can do step 4 with hand-over-hand prompting for 2

sessions, we will fade the prompts to a partial physical prompt,

then a gestural, then independent responding

i. Each phase of prompting will be used until he is able to

complete the step for 2 sessions at the indicated prompt

level

b. Once he can complete step 4 independently, begin teaching step 3

using hand-over-hand prompting and then fade using the

procedure mentioned above (ability to perform the skill for 2

sessions). Repeat this for step 2, and then step 1.

9. Once the chain has been completed (engaging in turn-taking for 3 turns)

provide Chris with his reinforcer for 5 minutes. Repeat steps 6-8 until he has

played the board game for 5 minutes.

a. Once the game has been played for 5 minutes you can tell Chris

“Nice job dude/bud/Chris/friend. We are all done playing with

____ (peer name). You did such a great job! You can have your

_____ (preferred item/activity) for 15 minutes!”

10. We will repeat steps 6-8 until each task in the chain has been taught, and Chris

is able to engage in turn-taking (completing each step) independently

a. Note: you will teach using hand-over-hand prompting for steps 3

& 4, but you will teach using physical prompts for steps 1 & 2
 b. Note: If Chris has mastered a prompt level (e.g. full phsyical) and

is now on a less restrictive prompt level (e.g. partial, or gestural)

but is not able to perform the skill using that current prompt level,

go ahead and move to the next intrusive prompt. This means that

if he should be able to complete a step using a gestural prompt,

but he cannot, go in with a partial physical prompt and see if he

can complete the step. If not, move to a full physical prompt.

Data Collection and Measurement

Central Reach will be used to collect data on this skill. The target will be input as a Task

Analysis (TA), and the title of the target will reflect which step you should be teaching and the

prompt level you should be using (e.g. “Turn-taking, step 4, hand-over-hand; turn-taking, step

3, partial physical). The title of the program will be programmed so that it will automatically

progress to the next step in the chain once the skill has been performed at 90% or higher for 2

sessions. If the skill is not able to be performed at 90% for 2 sessions, the program will

automatically revert to the previous step/prompt level.

The Task analysis will be titled using the step and the prompt required for teaching and

will have each step in the chain listed. The way that Central Reach is set up, each prompt level

will have to be programmed underneath each step to show at all times, but you will only select

the prompt level that you should be using as indicated in the title. You will then run a trial

(engaging in turn-taking for one turn) and mark the prompt level used underneath each step,

and then press “graph” so that the next trial can start.

For example, if we are teaching step 4 with a gestural prompt, you will mark Step 1 as full

physical prompt, Step 2 as full physical prompt. Step 3 as full physical prompt, and Step 4 as a

gestural prompt.

Plan for Treatment Integrity

(he has 2 per day) and supervise them during their whole session. During this time, I will

explain the new target (the turn-taking TA) and ask the technician how they feel about the

program, if it makes sense, or if anything needs clarification. I will then provide behavioral skills

training (BST), where I will explain the TA, perform the TA, allow the technician to run the TA,

and provide feedback to the technician (Cooper et al., 2020). I will complete BST throughout the

session until the technician is able to perform the skill at 90% accuracy or above. After I have sat

with each technician for their full session, and they have performed the skill at 90% or above, I

will fade the schedule of monitoring so that the technicians will be supervised on this skill once a

week. During this time, I will also be reviewing the data on Central Reach to ensure that the data

is being ran correctly during sessions, and that the data is being collected correctly. If the

technician is able to perform the skill consistently at 90% or higher for 2 weeks, the schedule

will be thinned again to where I will supervise them on this skill every other week.
 References

Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L. (2020). Applied behavior analysis (3rd ed.). Pearson.

Hagopian, L. P., Farrell, D. A., & Amari, A. (1996). Treating total liquid refusal with backward chaining

and fading. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 29, 573–575