Delay / Denial Tolerance

Delay (or denial) tolerance involves scaling back and eliminating reinforcements that are used while teaching an individual to replace undesirable behavior with appropriate behavior. Delaying reinforcement is when an individual is made to wait for a reinforcement after displaying the appropriate behavior. Reinforcement delays can start with shorter intervals (five seconds), and the waiting time can be slowly increased. Denial of reinforcement is when a reinforcement is not given after an appropriate behavior is displayed. 

Developmental Age

Developmental age is based on an individual’s level of functioning / cognitive ability and adaptive skills. For example, a 7-year-old child diagnosed with ASD could have the developmental age of a 3-year-old child. A pediatrician or developmental psychologist can help parents determine their child's developmental age. If parents or caregivers work with a BCBA, those professionals can also assess a child to help determine developmental age.

Developmentally Delayed (DD)

A child or infant who is developmentally delayed (DD) may be given a diagnosis of DD when they are not progressing as their chronological age peers typically do and are not meeting typical developmental milestones such as crawling, sitting up, using a pincer grasp, talking / babbling, etc. However, adolescents or adults sometimes receive this diagnosis (DD) far later in life than they should have received it.

Developmental Milestones

Developmental milestones are markers or guideposts that enable parents, caregivers, and professionals to monitor a child’s learning, behavior, and development. Developmental milestones consist of skills or behaviors that most children can do by a certain age. While each child develops differently, some differences may indicate a slight delay only, and others may be more significant and worth investigating further.

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is used by a variety of professionals across the world to diagnose or treat individuals. The DSM is basically a manual that catalogs all psychological conditions, disorders, and syndromes and explains how to diagnose each one. It is regularly updated, and professionals reference the newest version when discussing, explaining, or understanding diagnoses. The newest version at the time of this writing is the DSM-5.

Differential Reinforcement

In ABA, differential reinforcement is a technique that encourages desired behaviors or actions and discourages maladaptive or undesired behaviors. With this technique, the desired behavior is reinforced through either giving positive reinforcement (or rewards or encouragement), and the undesired behavior is discouraged through withholding positive reinforcement in response to undesired behavior. There are five methods of differential reinforcement: 

1. differential reinforcement of alternative behavior- encouraging a desired behavior and eliminating an undesired behavior that are functionally equivalent;
2. differential reinforcement of incompatible behavior- encourages one behavior that is desired with reinforcement, and discourages undesired behaviors that cannot be done at the same time (simultaneously) as the desired behavior. For example, if a child sitting down is a desirable behavior and a child standing up is an undesirable behavior, the desirable and the undesirable behaviors cannot occur simultaneously;
3. differential reinforcement of lower rates of behavior- reducing a behavior versus eliminating it entirely by giving positive reinforcement only if the behavior occurs a specified number of times in a given time window;
4. differential reinforcement of higher rates of behavior- increasing the frequency of a desired behavior by providing positive reinforcement only if the behavior occurs equal to or above a set number of times;
5. differential reinforcement of other behavior- reinforcing any alternative desired behavior to replace an undesired behavior, typically within a set period of time and if the undesired behavior does not occur within that window.

Discrete Trial Training (DTT)

Discrete Trial Training (or DTT) is a specific method of instruction in which a task or behavior is isolated and taught using multiple trials / practice runs (repetition teaching). The goal is to link these trials together to build up discrete steps into more complex skills or behavior. A specific opportunity to respond is presented, and a specific response from the learner is expected (Teacher: "Stand up." Learner: (stands up). Teacher: "Nice standing!"). DTT has three “trials” or steps: 1) the therapist's presentation or instruction; 2) the individual’s response; 3) the consequence. While DTT is one method of teaching often used in ABA treatment, it is important to note that ABA treatment does not only consist of DTT. There are many other teaching strategies used in ABA treatment.  

Discriminative Stimulus

Discriminative stimulus (SD) is formally defined as “a stimulus in the presence of which a particular response will be reinforced.” This can be a demand / question or directive given to obtain a specific response, or a naturally occurring signal that reinforcement is available. Discriminative stimuli are used in ABA treatment to modify behavior, particularly when teaching children social skills and communication. An example of using SD to aid in teaching communication and social skills could be a parent bringing a package of their child’s favorite cookies to the table. The discriminative stimuli are the cookies. The child associates the cookies with happy feelings and desire. The child wants the cookies. The goal is for the child to ask politely: “May I please have a cookie?”. If the child comes running to the table screaming: “COOKIES, COOKIES, COOKIES!”, the consequences of that behavior is that the parent does not give the child a cookie. When the child is able to calm down and ask: “May I please have a cookie?”, the parent gives the child a cookie. The child then learns through the positive reinforcer of the discriminative stimulus that they will receive what they want when they ask for it politely and with a calm body. 

Discrimination Training

Discrimination training is a process by which a child is taught to distinguish the identity of items, labels, names, etc. when asked. For example, the child may be asked to discriminate or distinguish between a pencil and a fork, or between a ball and a shoe.

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