Open-World ABA becomes clinically important the moment a team has to turn good intentions into reliable action inside case conceptualization, intervention design, staff training, and literature-informed problem solving. In Open-World ABA, for this course, the practical stakes show up in stronger conceptual consistency and better translational decision making, not in abstract discussion alone.
Provider: BehaviorLive — via Utah Association for Behavior Analysis
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Join Free →The science of Applied Behavior Analysis is based on laboratory and applied research that generally frames intervention in a linear, or "either/or", model. For instance, a pigeon has programmed responses for pecking a light or not doing so, but no programmed responses for turning in circles or cooing. A human subject in an applied study has exponentially more alternate behaviors with unprogrammed consequences. Non-Linear (or "Open-World") Contingency Analysis was first presented by Israel Goldiamond (1974) and is supported by the research on Matching Law (Herrnstein, 1961), Resurgence as Choice (Greer & Shahan, 2019) and a variety of other phenomena. Due to the exceptionally complex and continuously evolving nature of an accurate quantitative model of stimulus-behavior-consequence relations (as can be found in the literature for matching law), a simplified and practical quantitative model is presented, in which the likelihood of Behavior = (Motivating Operations X Discriminatory Stimuli X Consequential Stimuli) / (Response Effort). Practitioners are encouraged to depart from a model of ABA in which the client's programming is linear (reinforcement and extinction only) and instead adopt "Open-World" Non-linear treatment planning in which clinicians create plans that alter motivating operations, discriminative stimuli, consequential stimuli, and required response effort and do so for a broad array of possible behavior. Tools for an "Open-World" practice will be provided.
| Certification Body | Credits | Type |
|---|---|---|
| BACB® | 1 | General |
| COA | 1 | — |
Andy found his love for Applied Behavior Analysis at Dr. Tom Higbee's ASSERT preschool program, and learned it's basic principles from amazing professors at Utah State University, Florida Institute of Techonology, and the University of Utah. He has worked with people with disabilities since his teenage years and has spent over a decade doing so with Chrysalis. He has a passion for teaching, video models, flow-charts, and creating out-of-the-box solutions to complex behavior problems. When he's not being a behavior analyst, he's up in the mountains trail running or camping with his beautiful wife and their four kids.
Dig into the research behind this topic — plain-English summaries written for BCBAs.
279 research articles with practitioner takeaways
239 research articles with practitioner takeaways
239 research articles with practitioner takeaways
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All behavior-analytic intervention is individualized. The information on this page is for educational purposes and does not constitute clinical advice. Treatment decisions should be informed by the best available published research, individualized assessment, and obtained with the informed consent of the client or their legal guardian. Behavior analysts are responsible for practicing within the boundaries of their competence and adhering to the BACB Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts.