What is response cost

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Fan Feed 1 Types of gestures 2 Human sex differences 3 Impregnation fetish. Jerry Webster. Special Education Expert. Jerry Webster, M. He holds a post-baccalaureate certificate from Penn State's Educating Individuals with Autism program. Cite this Article Format.

Webster, Jerry. Behavior and Classroom Management in Special Education. What Is Operant Conditioning? Definition and Examples. Creating a Comprehensive Classroom Management Plan. Classroom Strategies for Improving Behavior Management.

Anecdotal Records as a Foundation for Behavior Intervention. Your Privacy Rights. Foa, Edna B. Franks, Cyril M. Kazdin, Alan E. Lazarus, A. Lewinsohn, Peter A. Marks, Isaac M. Marshall, William L. Meichenbaum, Donald H. Miltenberger, Raymond G. Paul, Gordon L. Pavlov, Ivan P. Turner, Samuel M. This is a common behavioral therapy method that has several applications.

For example, teachers often use token economies in their classrooms as a method of encouraging all their students to focus on tasks, complete assigned work, and participate in classroom discussions. A therapist, teacher, or parent should determine what tokens will motivate the child. This starts with identifying the target behavior that should be changed. For example, a goal may be to encourage a child with autism to participate in a socializing activity with their therapist rather than playing alone.

Then, the therapist will find ways to encourage that change in behavior. It is helpful to have a list of reinforcers and backup reinforcers. These are items or activities that the child enjoys, which can easily be introduced as a reward or removed as response cost.

ABA specialists recommend introducing a reinforcer for five minutes or less, which helps to keep the reinforcers novel. It also prevents the child from becoming bored or hyper-focused on one type of reward. Specialists note that it is helpful to use two to three reinforcers at a time during therapy sessions or in class, and to vary these between sessions.

In the early stages of learning with a token economy, you can reinforce what the token is there for by pairing it with praise. This helps the child learn that the token is given for a specific behavioral change. For example, if a young child with autism struggles to sit still, a token can be given for their success when they do sit still for a certain amount of time. If they stop sitting still before the time is up, the therapist may remove the token, which is the response cost for not completing the request.

The ultimate goal of using a token economy is to encourage positive behavioral change, which means that this tool must gradually be phased out. Behaviors are then generalized rather than associated with specific tasks that have specific rewards. Creating a plan to phase the token economy out, without this process seeming like punishment through response cost, is an important last part of behavioral change.