Generalization

Can the learner perform the behavior with another person? A different place?  A different time? Does the person perform the behavior if you change the instruction a little?   Can he now ask for water in more than just one way? These questions tap into the generalizability of a learned behavior.  In an ABA-based intervention, being able to generalize learned skills by being able to perform the behavior in slightly different conditions OR the learned behavior having slight differences without teaching is crucial.

Functional Communication Training (FCT)

This is a teaching method based on differential reinforcement in which the learner is taught a way to communicate one’s wants or needs instead of the learner performing a behavior that is not socially-appropriate.  For example, a learner is taught to tap another person’s shoulder instead of screaming to initiate a social interaction/a request.

Floortime

Floortime is a child-led treatment method that is typically administered in a naturalistic play environment. Floortime is not an ABA-based treatment nor is it an empirically supported method in terms of its effectiveness in treating children living with autism.

FR

Used in teaching and proper use of reinforcers, fixed ratio is a way to describe how many responses a learner must do before a reinforcer is given.  For example, a FR-10 suggests that the learner must do 10 responses first after which the 10th correct response will be reinforced. Behaviors on a FI scheduled show a typical pattern in which the learner pauses after the presentation of the reinforcer and once again starts performing the behaviors required by the schedule. The larger the size of the ratio, the “faster” a learner performs the behaviors in order to “reach” the requirement faster.

FI

Used in teaching and proper use of reinforcers, fixed interval is a way to describe how much time must pass before a learner’s first correct response will be reinforced.  For example, a FI-15 is a way to label a schedule in which the learner’s first correct response after 15 minutes will be reinforced. Behaviors on a FI schedule show a “scallop pattern.”  Imagine a term paper that is due every 3 months (i.e., FI-3). As a student, you are less likely to work on the paper on the first day of a new trimester since “there is no need for you to do it.” However, as the trimester drags on and as you get closer to the deadline, you find yourself working as hard as you can until you complete the paper right before the deadline.  Have you ever heard of people described as “procrastinators?”

Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA)

This is an indirect process by which behavioral interventions are created. An FBA is intended to determine the function for a behavior by using observation data, interviews, and questionnaires.

Functional Analysis (FA)

This direct process arranges the antecedents and consequences of a problem behavior in an experimental design to determine their separate effects on the behavior of concern.  Although an FA can be used to look into any challenging behavior, in practice, it may be more practical to use a FBA instead.

FAPE

Free Appropriate Public Education.  FAPE is an education right of children in the United States that is guaranteed by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1975.

Fading

A procedure in which assistance or supports used for a behavior to occur are systematically made less as the learner’s behavior become more independent.  Failure to systematically fade prompts produce prompt-dependent behaviors.

Extinction

Extinction is when the consequence that have maintained the behavior will no longer be presented after or during the challenging behavior.  For example, Leo’s mother is in the kitchen near the cookie jar. Leo wants some cookies so he walks to his mother and hits her shoulder a couple of times.  His mother keeps offering Leo whatever she thinks he wants, but he keeps hitting her. The hitting stops after she handed him a cookie. In this example, hitting is reinforced with the presentation of the cookie.  In an extinction procedure, his mother should not give him a cookie when he is hitting her. Over time, Leo will learn that hitting his mother alone will not get him a cookie so the hitting, slowly but surely, stops (See Differential Reinforcement on how to effectively address this example instead of just using extinction).