Pairing

Pairing refers to the initial step in ABA treatment in which the relationship between the clinician or therapist and the individual receiving treatment is positively reinforced to ensure that an individual achieves the best outcomes in response to treatment. With pairing, the clinician or therapist becomes a reinforcer that leads to desired behavior (for example, desired behavior is trusting the clinician or therapist). 

Perseveration

The term perseveration refers to repeating words, songs, phrases, etc., with a high frequency. It is a type of restrictive and repetitive behavior in which an individual repeats or “gets stuck” on something. This can occur with thoughts (cognition), physical behaviors, or with speech. 

Physical Therapist

A physical therapist is a healthcare professional who evaluates and treats individuals that have limited physical functioning of gross motor (large muscle) skills, strength, balance, coordination, and mobility.

Picture Exchange Communication System (P.E.C.S.)

Picture Exchange Communication System (or P.E.C.S.) is a technique to teach communication skills that are required for daily functioning, such as asking for help. P.E.C.S. can also be used to communicate. For example, with P.E.C.S., pictures or images can be exchanged for items, activities, food, etc. 

Pivotal Response Training (PRT)

Pivotal Response Training (PRT) is a teaching method employing the use of positive reinforcement to encourage learning new skills, focusing on four pivotal areas of an individual’s development: 1) motivation, 2) self-initiation, 3) self-management, and 4) responsiveness to multiple cues. PRT utilizes knowledge of an individual’s interests to teach new skills. For example, if an individual is interested in toy cars, the toy cars can be used to teach the individual the names of different colors.

Positive Behavior Support

Positive behavior support (PBS) is an ABA strategy generally used in a school setting to reduce undesirable or challenging behaviors and replace them with more appropriate or desirable  behaviors. PBS follows the Antecedent - Behavior - Consequences (ABC) model and facilitates a change in behavior by determining what is causing the challenging behavior, modifying the individual’s environment to reduce the cause(s) of challenging behavior, and teaching the individual new skills so they have alternative and appropriate behaviors in response to the original cause(s) of challenging behavior. 

Positive Punishment

Positive punishment involves eliminating or reducing undesirable behavior by adding a consequence to the environment after the behavior has occurred. For the consequence to be considered positive punishment, it must have the intended effect of reducing or eliminating the undesirable behavior. An example of positive punishment is introducing the consequence of writing “I will not hit my sibling” 10 times followed by the individual not hitting their sibling. 

Positive Reinforcement

Positive reinforcement is a process in which “reinforcers” (rewards or positive consequences) are delivered to an individual after they have displayed a desirable behavior. The aim of positive reinforcement is to encourage the individual to engage in the desirable behavior again.

Probe

In ABA treatment, to probe is to engage in the action of evaluating an individual’s skill level for accomplishing a specific goal. Probing is completed by a certified ABA therapist when treatment is initiated and prior to identifying and working on new goals. Probing helps the therapist design a treatment approach that is tailored to an individual’s deficits or strengths in regards to a particular goal or task. 

Prompt / Prompt Fading

A prompt is a form of assistance, cue, or signal used in ABA treatment to help the learner complete a desired task or behavior and to increase accurate responding. There are several types of prompts: physical prompt, gestural prompt, position prompt, model prompt, verbal prompt, symbolic prompt, and visual prompt, and many more. Prompt fading refers to slowly removing the prompts that an individual is given after completing a task so that the individual does not solely rely on the presence of the prompt to complete the task.

Prompt Dependency

Prompt dependency is when an individual has become reliant on initiating a task, and stops attempting to do the task independently. Prompt dependency could also be a situation in which a learner has been prompted to do a task a certain way so many times that it is very difficult for them to change the way they complete the task.

Punisher

A punisher is a stimulus change that follows an undesirable behavioral response that decreases the likelihood that the particular response will occur again. A punisher weakens the particular undesirable behavior. Punishers can be tangible, social, physical, etc. Punishers can be positive (a consequence is added to the environment) or negative (something is removed from the environment). In behavior analytic terms, to be considered a punisher, the undesirable behavior must decrease.