Behavioral gerontology: application of behavioral methods to the problems of older adults.

The authors looked at every paper they could find on older adults and behavior change.

They wrote a big-picture review in 1986.

Their goal was to show that ABA tools work past the age of 65.

The review says behavior plans can curb problems like wandering, poor eating, and verbal outbursts.

Yet almost no one was doing this work in 1986.

The field was still focused on kids, so the authors urged BCBAs to move into nursing homes and senior centers.

Chock et al. (1983) made the same plea three years earlier, so Burgio et al. (1986) is a follow-up shout, not a brand-new idea.

Green et al. (1986) gives a live example in the same year: two wives used praise and ignoring to cut problem talk and kept their husbands at home.

Stock et al. (1993) later added hard data, showing that prompts, feedback, and a cheerful "nice job" tripled healthy food choices in every senior tested.

Kelly (2020) now pushes stimulus-equivalence drills for memory loss, proving the call is still echoing decades later.

If you serve adults, you now know the playbook is already written.

Start with simple reinforcement, teach staff or spouses to deliver it, and pick one clear target like safe walking or vegetable intake.

You do not need new technology—just bring the same ABC data and reinforcement you use with kids to the nursing-home unit.