Teaching Procedures in ABA

Applied Behavior Analysis employs various teaching procedures to help clients acquire new skills. Each procedure has unique characteristics and is suited for different learning goals, environments, and client needs. As an RBT, you’ll implement these procedures under the supervision of a BCBA.

Discrete Trial Training (DTT)

Discrete Trial Training is a structured teaching method that breaks skills into small, manageable components taught in a systematic way.

Key Components of DTT

Antecedent: The instruction or stimulus that signals the learner to respond
Response: The behavior or answer from the learner
Consequence: The feedback provided (reinforcement for correct responses, correction for errors)
Inter-trial interval: A brief pause between trials
Data collection: Recording the learner’s performance on each trial

DTT Structure

A typical discrete trial follows this sequence:

Secure attention: Ensure the learner is attending before presenting the instruction
Present clear instruction/stimulus: Deliver a concise, consistent instruction
Provide prompt if needed: Use appropriate prompting strategy
Wait for response: Allow reasonable time for the learner to respond
Deliver consequence: Provide reinforcement or correction procedure
Record data: Document the response and prompt level
Pause briefly: Allow a short inter-trial interval
Begin next trial: Start the sequence again

Example of DTT

Target Skill: Identifying colors

Trial 1:

Antecedent: RBT places red, blue, and green cards on table and says, “Touch blue”
Response: Learner touches the blue card
Consequence: RBT says “Great job! That’s blue!” and provides reinforcer
Inter-trial interval: 3-5 second pause
Data: Recorded as correct, independent response

Trial 2:

Antecedent: RBT rearranges cards and says, “Touch red”
Response: Learner touches the green card
Consequence: RBT implements error correction procedure
Inter-trial interval: 3-5 second pause
Data: Recorded as incorrect response

Advantages of DTT

Highly structured: Clear expectations and consistent format
Intensive practice: Provides many learning opportunities in short time
Systematic: Carefully controls teaching variables
Data-driven: Generates clear data for decision-making
Effective for basic skills: Works well for foundational skills
Minimizes distractions: Controlled environment reduces competing stimuli

Limitations of DTT

May limit generalization: Skills might not transfer to natural settings
Can become rote: Learners might respond mechanically
Less natural: Differs from typical learning environments
Prompt dependency: May create reliance on prompts
Motivation challenges: Can become tedious for some learners

When to Use DTT

DTT is most appropriate for:

Teaching new, discrete skills
Learners who need high structure
Skills that can be broken into clear steps
Early learners with limited skills
Skills requiring intensive practice
Foundational academic and communication skills

Natural Environment Teaching (NET)

Natural Environment Teaching uses naturally occurring opportunities and the learner’s interests to teach skills in everyday contexts.

Key Components of NET

Following motivation: Using the learner’s current interests
Natural contingencies: Employing naturally occurring reinforcers
Everyday settings: Teaching in typical environments
Functional skills: Focusing on immediately useful abilities
Loose teaching structure: Maintaining flexibility in teaching sequence

NET Structure

A typical NET session follows this approach:

Observe interests: Identify what the learner is currently motivated by
Create opportunities: Set up situations that encourage target skills
Provide natural cues: Use contextually appropriate instructions
Support success: Prompt as needed to ensure successful responses
Deliver natural reinforcement: Provide reinforcers directly related to the activity
Expand learning: Build on successful responses to increase complexity
Record data: Document opportunities and responses

Example of NET

Target Skill: Requesting (manding)

Scenario:

Learner shows interest in playing with bubbles
RBT places bubbles in visible but out-of-reach location
Learner reaches toward bubbles
RBT models “bubbles” or waits for learner’s communication attempt
Learner says “bubbles” or uses alternative communication
RBT immediately provides bubbles and social praise
Learner plays with bubbles (natural reinforcer)
RBT creates more opportunities throughout bubble play
Data recorded on communication attempts

Advantages of NET

Promotes generalization: Skills learned in natural context transfer better
Increases motivation: Uses learner’s interests to drive teaching
Enhances spontaneity: Encourages unprompted skill use
Improves maintenance: Skills more likely to maintain over time
Feels like play: Less structured, more enjoyable for many learners
Builds functional skills: Directly teaches useful, everyday abilities

Limitations of NET

Less structured: Fewer controlled teaching opportunities
Requires creativity: Therapist must identify and create learning moments
Challenging data collection: More difficult to track in natural flow
Variable practice: Inconsistent number of learning opportunities
Requires flexibility: Therapist must adapt to changing interests

When to Use NET

NET is most appropriate for:

Generalizing skills learned in structured settings
Highly motivated learners
Teaching social and play skills
Building spontaneous language
Learners who resist structured teaching
Skills that benefit from natural context

Incidental Teaching

Incidental teaching is a learner-initiated approach that uses naturally occurring incidents as teaching opportunities.

Key Components of Incidental Teaching

Learner initiation: Waiting for the learner to show interest
Environmental arrangement: Setting up the environment to encourage initiations
Expanded responses: Prompting for more elaborate responses
Immediate access: Providing desired items/activities contingent on responses
Brief teaching moments: Using short, focused teaching interactions

Incidental Teaching Structure

A typical incidental teaching interaction follows this sequence:

Arrange environment: Set up interesting materials/activities within view
Wait for initiation: Allow learner to indicate interest
Withhold immediate access: Create opportunity for communication
Prompt elaboration: Encourage more sophisticated response
Provide access: Give immediate access to desired item/activity
Record data: Document the interaction and response quality

Example of Incidental Teaching

Target Skill: Expanding language

Scenario:

Environment arranged with interesting toys visible on shelves
Learner points to a toy car and says “car”
RBT says “What color car?” (prompting elaboration)
Learner says “red car”
RBT immediately provides the red car
Learner plays with car (natural reinforcer)
RBT records data on language expansion

Advantages of Incidental Teaching

Follows motivation: Uses current interests to drive learning
Promotes initiation: Encourages learner to start interactions
Builds functional communication: Teaches requesting in meaningful context
Enhances generalization: Skills develop in natural settings
Increases spontaneity: Reduces prompt dependency
Feels natural: Resembles typical adult-child interactions

Limitations of Incidental Teaching

Requires initiation: Depends on learner showing interest
Unpredictable opportunities: Cannot plan exact teaching moments
Variable practice: Inconsistent number of learning opportunities
Challenging data collection: Difficult to systematically record
May miss skills: Some important skills might not be naturally initiated

When to Use Incidental Teaching

Incidental teaching is most appropriate for:

Learners who show clear interests
Expanding language and communication
Building on existing skills
Teaching social initiations
Promoting independence
Generalizing skills to natural contexts

Pivotal Response Training (PRT)

Pivotal Response Training focuses on teaching “pivotal” areas that, when improved, produce gains across many other skills.

Key Components of PRT

Child choice: Following the learner’s interests and choices
Clear opportunities: Presenting clear instructions in motivating contexts
Maintenance tasks: Mixing mastered skills with new skills
Natural reinforcement: Using reinforcers directly related to the response
Reinforcing attempts: Rewarding reasonable attempts, not just perfect responses

Pivotal Areas

PRT typically targets these pivotal areas:

Motivation: Increasing desire to engage and learn
Responsivity to multiple cues: Attending to various relevant stimuli
Self-management: Monitoring and regulating own behavior
Social initiations: Beginning interactions with others

PRT Structure

A typical PRT session follows this approach:

Follow child’s lead: Let the learner choose activities
Create learning opportunity: Present clear instruction related to the activity
Wait for response: Allow time for learner to respond
Reinforce attempts: Provide natural reinforcement for reasonable attempts
Mix easy and hard: Intersperse maintenance tasks with acquisition tasks
Keep motivation high: Maintain engagement through child choice
Record data: Document opportunities and responses

Example of PRT

Target Skill: Requesting with complete sentences

Scenario:

Learner chooses to play with trains
RBT holds a train piece and waits for learner to notice
Learner reaches for the piece
RBT models “I want the train piece”
Learner says “I want train”
RBT immediately gives train piece (natural reinforcer)
Learner plays with trains
RBT creates more opportunities throughout train play
Data recorded on communication attempts

Advantages of PRT

Increases motivation: Child choice enhances engagement
Promotes generalization: Skills develop in natural context
Builds initiative: Encourages learner to be active participant
Feels like play: Enjoyable for both learner and instructor
Addresses core deficits: Targets fundamental areas of development
Supports family implementation: More natural for caregivers to implement

Limitations of PRT

Less structured: Fewer controlled teaching opportunities
Requires training: More complex to implement correctly
Variable practice: Inconsistent number of learning opportunities
Challenging data collection: More difficult to track systematically
May miss specific skills: Some important skills might not emerge naturally

When to Use PRT

PRT is most appropriate for:

Learners with autism spectrum disorder
Building social communication skills
Increasing motivation to learn
Teaching in natural contexts
Family-implemented intervention
Generalizing skills across settings

Verbal Behavior (VB) Approach

The Verbal Behavior approach applies Skinner’s analysis of verbal behavior to teach language and communication skills.

Key Verbal Operants

Mand: Requesting (asking for what you want)
Tact: Labeling (naming things in the environment)
Echoic: Repeating sounds or words
Intraverbal: Answering questions or conversing
Listener responding: Following instructions
Motor imitation: Copying others’ actions

VB Teaching Structure

A typical VB teaching session includes:

Mand training: Teaching requesting skills
Intensive teaching: Structured work on various verbal operants
Natural environment teaching: Applying skills in natural context
Mixing operants: Teaching different types of language skills
Data collection: Tracking progress across verbal operants

Example of VB Teaching

Target Skill: Teaching multiple operants for “ball”

Mand training:

Learner shows interest in playing with ball
RBT holds ball and waits for communication attempt
Learner says “ball”
RBT immediately gives ball

Tact training:

RBT shows ball and asks “What is this?”
Learner says “ball”
RBT provides reinforcement

Intraverbal training:

RBT asks “What can you bounce?”
Learner says “ball”
RBT provides reinforcement

Advantages of VB Approach

Comprehensive language focus: Addresses all aspects of language
Functional communication: Emphasizes requesting and practical language
Systematic: Provides framework for language development
Motivation-based: Prioritizes teaching requests for preferred items
Flexible implementation: Can be used in structured or natural settings
Clear curriculum sequence: Provides roadmap for language development

Limitations of VB Approach

Complex framework: Requires understanding of verbal operants
Training intensive: Staff need specific training in VB approach
May become rote: Risk of mechanical language use
Terminology barriers: Specialized terms can be confusing
Implementation challenges: Requires consistent application across settings

When to Use VB Approach

The VB approach is most appropriate for:

Learners with language delays or disorders
Early intervention programs
Comprehensive ABA programs
Building functional communication
Learners who need systematic language instruction
Programs with staff trained in verbal behavior analysis

Selecting the Right Teaching Procedure

The choice of teaching procedure depends on several factors:

Learner Characteristics

Learning style: How the learner best acquires new skills
Motivation: What drives the learner’s engagement
Attention span: How long the learner can maintain focus
Current skill level: What prerequisites the learner has mastered
Response to structure: How the learner reacts to different levels of structure

Skill Characteristics

Complexity: How many steps or components the skill involves
Function: How the skill will be used in everyday life
Setting demands: Where the skill will ultimately be performed
Response type: What kind of behavior is required (verbal, motor, etc.)
Generalization needs: How widely the skill needs to transfer

Environmental Factors

Setting: Where teaching will occur
Available resources: What materials and supports are accessible
Time constraints: How much teaching time is available
Other learners: Whether group or individual instruction is occurring
Distractions: What competing stimuli are present

Combining Teaching Procedures

Most effective ABA programs use a combination of teaching procedures:

DTT for new skills: Using structured teaching for initial acquisition
NET for generalization: Applying skills in natural contexts
Incidental teaching for spontaneity: Encouraging unprompted skill use
PRT for motivation: Building engagement and initiative
VB for language development: Systematically developing communication

Practice Example

A 5-year-old client with autism is learning to identify emotions. The client can label basic objects and follow simple instructions but struggles with abstract concepts.

Question: Which teaching procedure would be most appropriate for initial teaching of emotion identification?

Solution: Discrete Trial Training (DTT) would be most appropriate for initial teaching because:

Emotion identification is a discrete skill that can be clearly defined
The abstract nature of emotions benefits from structured, consistent teaching
DTT allows for many practice opportunities in a controlled setting
Clear visual supports (emotion pictures) can be systematically presented
Data can be easily collected to track progress
Once basic identification is mastered in DTT, NET can be used to generalize the skill to natural contexts

Key Points to Remember

Different teaching procedures have unique advantages and limitations
Selection should be based on learner characteristics, skill type, and setting
Most effective programs combine multiple teaching approaches
DTT provides structure for new or complex skills
NET and incidental teaching promote generalization and spontaneity
PRT focuses on pivotal areas that affect many skills
The VB approach provides a framework for comprehensive language development
Teaching procedures should be implemented as designed to maintain effectiveness