BA200 Unit 8 Progressive ABA Paper Example

When Ava Pushed the Materials Away: A BA200 Unit 8 Progressive ABA Paper

[Student Name]

Purdue University Global

BA200: Conceptual Foundations of Applied Behavior Analysis

Unit 8 Progressive ABA Paper

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

The writer, the clinic, the child and every figure are composite and illustrative; the sources cited are real.

The Child and the Table

Ava is a six-year-old autistic girl who has come to our clinic three mornings a week for a year. When she started at the clinic, her program relied heavily on discrete trial teaching: she sat at a small table while I presented cards, gave instructions, prompted correct responses and delivered a token after each one. Ava often pushed the cards onto the floor, slid off her chair and lay under the table. Our session notes recorded these as problem behaviors, and her plan called for blocking her from leaving and continuing the drill.

Over the past year, the clinic has changed how it works with children like Ava. This paper describes that change, the arguments behind it and its limits.

What Progressive ABA Means

Leaf et al. (2016) argued that applied behavior analysis is, by its nature, a science that should change as evidence accumulates. They criticized a version of ABA that follows rigid protocols, uses the same procedures for every child and relies heavily on table-based drills, and called for a progressive approach based on clinical judgment, moment-to-moment assessment of the child's responses and flexibility in teaching methods. They emphasized that being progressive does not mean abandoning behavioral principles, but applying them with more attention to the individual.

The argument appeals to the field's own values. Baer, Wolf and Risley described ABA as a science committed to effective, socially significant change, which means that procedures should change when better ones appear. A protocol that produces compliance but also distress, escape and refusal is not the best application of the science.

Ava's pushing the cards away was data about the teaching, not just a behavior to be reduced.

Skill-Based Treatment

Hanley et al. (2014) developed an approach to severe problem behavior that combines an interview-informed functional analysis with treatment that teaches communication, tolerance and cooperation skills. Instead of starting with demands and blocking escape, the approach begins by giving the child the reinforcers that maintain problem behavior, then gradually teaches the child to ask for them and to tolerate brief delays and denials. In their study with three children with autism, problem behavior fell substantially, and the skills were maintained and extended to new settings with caregivers. Parents rated the treatment as acceptable.

For Ava, the clinic used a similar approach. A brief assessment suggested that her table behavior was maintained by escape from demands and access to her preferred activity, lining up toy animals. Her technicians, including me, began sessions by letting her line up the animals with us, then taught her to say "my turn" or "break," honored those requests at first, and gradually built in short periods of work before the animals returned. Matching tasks moved partly onto the floor, using the animals themselves.

Assent

Assent refers to a learner's ongoing agreement to participate, shown in words or behavior. Breaux and Smith (2023) argued that behavior analysts should seek and monitor assent throughout services, treat signs of its withdrawal, such as turning away, crying or leaving, as meaningful, and adjust instruction rather than override them, while recognizing that some situations, such as safety, may require continuing without assent.

Under the old plan, Ava's sliding under the table would have been treated as escape to be blocked. Under an assent-based approach, it is treated as a sign that she is withdrawing assent, which prompts the technician to pause, offer a choice or change the activity. The difference is not whether her behavior is analyzed, but what the analysis leads us to do.

What Changed for Ava

Over five months, Ava's sessions changed shape. Time at the table fell from about forty minutes a session to about fifteen, with the rest of teaching on the floor or in play. Her pushing and sliding fell from about twelve episodes a session to about two. Her correct responding on matching and labeling targets rose, and she began saying "my turn" spontaneously at home, which her father reported with some surprise. Ava also began walking to the therapy room on her own, which she had not done before.

What It Was Like to Change

The shift was harder for me than for Ava. I had been trained to treat leaving the table as something to block, and my first instinct when she slid down was still to guide her back. Pausing felt like losing control of the session, and for the first two weeks my data looked worse, not better, because Ava was testing whether "break" really worked. My supervisor watched a session, pointed out that I was honoring the break but then rushing her back, and asked me to wait until Ava picked up an animal herself. That small change, letting her return on her own signal, was when the sessions turned.

The change also affected how I talk about my work. Before, I described sessions in terms of trials completed. Now I describe them in terms of what Ava learned and how willing she was to be there. Both kinds of information are in my notes, but the second kind is what her parents ask about.

Limits and Risks

The progressive approach has critics and real risks. Flexibility based on clinical judgment depends on the judgment of the person delivering the session, and technicians like me have limited training. Without clear guidance, flexibility could become inconsistency. Assent-based practice requires deciding which signs count as withdrawal and when to continue anyway, decisions that can be hard in the moment. And the evidence base for some progressive practices is still small, built on studies with few participants.

My clinic addressed some of these risks by keeping data on every session, writing specific guidelines for what counts as assent withdrawal for each child and having supervisors observe sessions weekly. Those safeguards matter, because the alternative to a rigid protocol should be a more thoughtful use of the science, not less use of it.

Conclusion

Ava's case shows the shift toward a progressive applied behavior analysis in one child's sessions. Leaf and colleagues' argument that ABA should evolve as a science, Hanley's skill-based treatment and guidance on assent changed how her behavior was understood and what staff did in response. The results were less distress, more learning and a child who walks to the therapy room. The approach also places more weight on clinical judgment, which makes training and supervision more important than ever.

References

Breaux, C. A., & Smith, K. (2023). Assent in applied behaviour analysis and positive behaviour support: Ethical considerations and practical recommendations. International Journal of Developmental Disabilities, 69(1), 111-121. https://doi.org/10.1080/20473869.2022.2144969

Hanley, G. P., Jin, C. S., Vanselow, N. R., & Hanratty, L. A. (2014). Producing meaningful improvements in problem behavior of children with autism via synthesized analyses and treatments. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 47(1), 16-36. https://doi.org/10.1002/jaba.106

Leaf, J. B., Leaf, R., McEachin, J., Taubman, M., Ala'i-Rosales, S., Ross, R. K., Smith, T., & Weiss, M. J. (2016). Applied behavior analysis is a science and, therefore, progressive. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 46(2), 720-731. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-015-2591-6