PAM WOLFE: If we're looking at defining behavior, we need to think, what is behavior? It's an organism's interaction with its environment that is characterized by detectable-- something in the movement in space through time of some part of an organism that results in a measurable change in the environment. So let's break this down a little bit.

We've got an interaction with the environment. It's characterized by something that's detectable. And it results in something that brings about a measurable change. So behavior is pretty specific. We often think we know what behavior is. But it's tough if we really seek to define it.

So we've got observable movement by the organism. We've got to be able to see it. You can't just think about it. We've got to be able to see it. It's able to be specifically described in terms that are observable and measurable. And we call that sometimes a response, an occurrence, or an event. So we can see a response of the student, we see an occurrence, or we see an event.

Now, equally, it's important to understand that there are non-behaviors. We have behaviors and we have things that are non-behaviors. What aren't behaviors? Emotional states or feelings-- I'm feeling angry. Motives-- I'm doing it because I'm really mad at the person. Interpretations. Inferred mental states-- he's just really confused. Internal events that can't be observed or measured-- once again, I go back to that inner child Or inferences-- I think he's mad.

I can't see those things. I can see behaviors that surround some of those things. But I really don't have behavior in here, all right? So it's very, very easy to slip into non-behavioral states. It's very easy to say he was angry. And you sometimes see that in incident reports that are written by teachers or school psychologists that are being very objective, they think. But those are inferred. You don't know that. Anger may look like something, but in behaviorism, we have to define what it looks like so we can see it.

Behavior-- I'm going to give us some examples of what we commonly think of behavior. And I want you to see which are and which are not. And for the ones that aren't, why aren't they behaviors? So let's look at them.

Thinking-- would that be considered a behavior? No. We cannot know what is going on in someone's mind. I believe if we hooked them up to some device and we had brain waves, maybe we can see. But I'm not even sure we could infer that that is thinking. That's a change in the brain patterns. We cannot see thinking.

Jumping-- yep. We can see that. There's a measurable change in the environment. We can measure that. Talking out-- yes. We can hear the student. We can see their mouth move. They are talking out.

Being quiet, the opposite of that-- Yes, we can. It's the non-movement of their mouth. Feeling angry-- no. We have no way of knowing internally what's going on with the individual. I could try to describe anger by his face gets red, his veins pop out, and he pounds his fist on the table. I'm getting at that, But I'm labeling it anger. I don't see anger. I don't know what that is.

Oral reading-- yep. Student is producing sounds. Silent reading-- that's a little tougher one, because we really can't know. We can track somebody's eye movement across a page and see. But once again, whether or not that's going into the brain-- a little tougher to see. Lighting a match-- can you see that? Yes. There's a change in the environment based on that. We can see it being scratched and lit.

So not everything is behavior. And we've really got to be sure that we are talking in behavioral terms. Otherwise we're not going to be able to measure it.

If we look at classes of behavior, we've got what we call topographical and functional. These are two of the main classes of behavior. Let's look at the first-- topographical response class.

Here, we have behaviors that look alike, but they have different outcomes. So they may look the same, but they get different things for the individual-- different outcomes.

So some examples of this-- extending your index finger. This can be used to type on a keyboard, poke somebody else, push an elevator button, right? So they all look the same-- extending your finger-- but my outcome is very different.

Raising my arm-- I can use it to block a shot in basketball-- probably not me-- or I can use it to get the teacher's attention in class. Looks the same, but the outcome is very, very different-- topographical response class

The second broad class of behaviors is that of functional behavior class. With this, we refer to the outcomes or the consequences that a behavior produces. So a functional behavior class is made up of those behaviors that can be very different in appearance-- just the opposite-- but they serve the same purpose for the individual.

Some examples-- if the purpose is to get someone's attention, I can do raise my hand, I can say excuse me, or I can scream and flail my arms. All of that gets me attention. Looks very, very different, but it gets me the outcome I want-- functional behavior.

If the purpose is to open a door, I can pull on the handle with my arm and hand. I can push against the door with my body. I can turn that doorknob with my hand. All of those get me opening a door-- out a door where I want to go.

Both topographical and functional behavior classes are going to be important to look at. So we've got to make sure we know the function of it and we've got to make sure we know what it looks like.

There are many dimensions of behavior, and all of these dimensions that we'll go through, briefly, give us a way to measure behavior. And so behavior manifests itself in many ways. And there are different dimensions or aspects of the behavior that we're going to want to look at. Because we know we need to measure and have reliable results. Those dimensions conclude frequency, duration, latency, and intensity. And there are others, but these are the main dimensions of behavior.

Let's take a look at the first-- frequency. This is sometimes called event-- the number of times a behavior occurs in a specified time period. So we've got number of times-- that's our key. Very often just done with the simple tally count-- number of pitches that are thrown, number of games that are won or lost, number of words that are read correctly, number of math problems completed, number of times a student swears. So with frequency, you get number.

I have for you below a YouTube example of some ABA therapy. And I want you watch the first 30 seconds of this. And I want you to tell me what is the number of questions that Mack answered correctly. So the video will stop now. Take a look at that video segment, and then we'll see the frequency of Mack's answers.

So you'll see that the number of questions that Mack's answered correctly is three. What is it? He said frog. What does the frog say? He said ribbit. What is he? He labeled it as an animal. So we've got the frequency of correct responses.

With duration, another dimension of behavior, we're looking at how long a behavior lasts-- so how long. With frequency, we had number. With duration, we have how long.

Some examples-- length of an entire baseball game-- my young son is playing baseball, and, man, those games get long sometimes. Hang time when a basketball player dunks that ball. How long it takes to read a sentence out loud. How long a scream lasts. So how long-- length of time.

We've got another example for you on YouTube of spinning behavior. I want you to take a look at this, watching the first 35 seconds of it. I want you to look at what is the duration of time that the boy is spinning. So stop the video and take a look at that behavior.

So of the duration of that, I'm hoping that you got approximately 18 seconds-- the duration or length of time that the boy is spinning. So we have duration.

Another dimension, that of latency-- the amount of time when an initial cue or prompt is given, and when the behavior occurs. Sometimes we want a short latency, and sometimes we want a longer one. I want a student to get out their math book fast. But sometimes I want my student to not respond so quickly and impulsively, take time to think of our response before reacting too impulsive. So I may want that latency to be extended.

Some examples, the amount of time when a player gets the ball to when that player scores. The amount of time from when the teacher says, open your book, two to when the student actually opens the book. This is a real common one, latency-- time between cue and response.

And again, it can be wanting to increase it, or to decrease that latency. Very often, teachers want more compliance from a student faster. When we say, it's time to get in your seat, we want that student to get in their seat quickly. We want to reduce the latency of them wandering around the room, sharpening their pencil, talking to someone about what's going to happen later. So we want a shorter latency in that case.

Once again, we got a YouTube example for you of Drew. So look at this and see how long it takes Drew t respond to the cue, touch something that you wear. Take a look at that video example.

OK, we've got approximately-- my count of three seconds to respond to that cue. So that's an example of latency. I've got a three second response. I may like that response, or I may think that needs to be lengthened or shortened, depending on my student and my goals. Latency

Another dimension of behavior can be that of intensity-- the force of something, force with which a behavior occurs. And these are tougher to do, because you really have to measure it, sometimes with equipment that allows you to do it. The force of a punch, how loud a scream is, how severe or hard a head-banging incident is-- that would be really tough to record, but is it an intensity issue-- and the brightness of a light. All of those would be intensity-- much more difficult to measure, often using audiological equipment and other things so you could measure it accurately.

Here, in our example, we've got one of a temper tantrum. I just want you to look at the intensity of the tantrum and see what you think of it, whether or not you would consider this an intense tantrum or not. And this is a tough exercise. Because you'd know the student, you'd know whether or not you are seeing an increase or a decrease in this. But take a look at it and see what you think about this temper tantrum.

So I consider this an intense tantrum. If it were a frequent occurrence for this child, I could develop some sort of rating scale or rubric that would allow me to look at the intensity, whether I thought it was more intense or less intense or changed over time. Again, intensity is a very tough one to quantify, to make sure it's observable and measurable. But intensity is a dimension of behavior that is sometimes recorded.

So we've got our dimensions of behavior. And we know that we've got to collect a data on the behavior so we can really see if change occurs. There are many strategies for collecting that data related to a student's behavior. We have informal, where we can just look at the archives of a student through their past academic records, or however notes are taken, and see.

So my child Duncan has a little bit of trouble at the beginning of every school year. It seems like he's got to get into a rhythm to understand the rules of conduct. So if his teacher looks back at every academic record of the year he's been in there, they're going to notice that, yep, he's had some problems there. They've gotten a behavior plan in place, and that seems to really make a difference. So we're looking through the archives, or the past, of what's been done.

A problem solving meeting, where everybody gets together and says I've noticed that Billy is doing this. Do you have any ideas? Well, yeah, with Billy I did this, and that seemed to work. So those are informal ways to collect information.

We have indirect, or what we call simple, data collection, where we could use a checklist, something that is either pre-formed or commercially done, or something that the teacher or parent makes up themselves-- simply check things off. You can interview the person and the people who know him or her best. You could interview fellow teachers, parents, siblings best friends, others that know them well. And you can use brief observations, where you're taking a small amount of time and looking at the student.

If we're looking at more complex strategies for data collection, we've got things like the ABC analysis, that antecedent, behavior, consequence analysis, the three-term contingency we looked at, structured or direct observation, and systematic manipulations. With systematic manipulations, we simply mean that if I think a student is doing something for attention, I'm going to give them times of attention that's high, and some that are low. I'm going to give them lots of attention, and then no attention. And I'm going to see if this behavior changes as I do that. So I've manipulated what I consider the reason the student's behaving, his function, and I'm going to see if my hypothesis bears out.

Now, as I've indicated on the slide, the best way to collect that data about behavior is through direct observation. There is no better substitute than looking at the behavior objectively in the setting. So much better than recall, interviewing, all of that that relies on someone coming back with past behavior and thinking they can count it or recall it. Seeing it in person is indeed the very best, as long as you can observe, and as many environments as you can observe.

Now, we've talked about the fact that not everything is a behavior, that behavior needs to be defined in specific, observable terms. This comes into play with what we call operational definitions. This allows us to define behavior precisely. So an operational definition is that clear definition of what is and isn't considered to be an example of a given behavior. So we're getting at, with operational definitions, specificity-- making it precise, and we're making it observable.

It needs to be comprehensive enough that someone unfamiliar with that student could read the definition and could accurately observe and measure the occurrences of the behavior. So once again, you have your student and you counting it, but you also have your school psychologist or colleague come in and see if they get the same kinds of data recording that you do. So it is precise and it's accurate.

Operational definitions we often think of as used in science, because we've got to make sure we're clearly counting. But what I want you to understand is that operational definitions help you, in a classroom, or as a teacher, or as a therapist, by making sure you're as specific as possible when you're counting behaviors. You've got to be able to know if the behavior occurred or didn't occur.

So let's take a look at an example of an operational definition used for sitting-- the entire bottom, both cheeks, are in contact with the chair's sitting surfaces while all four legs of the chair are in contact with the ground. So we've got sitting on here, but we've got some aspects of it that could be misunderstood if we didn't put it down explicitly-- with all four legs of the chair in contact with the ground. So I'm not going to consider it sitting if my kid has two of them and is leaning back.

So I've got to make sure that I'm very explicit. If I came in and counted that, I may count that differently than you if I don't have all of those aspects in place. I've operationalized the behavior.

Some more. Throwing a tantrum-- any instance of two or more of the following behaviors lasting consecutively for 30 seconds or more-- screaming, crying, flailing arms or legs, throwing objects, kicking or hitting others or objects, using body parts or other objects, or throwing self to ground.

So let's look at this one a little closer. We have two or more. So it's not just one of them. We've got to have two of them. And they've got to last consecutively for 30 seconds. So if I have a brief kicking, that may not count. It has to be consecutively for 30 seconds.

Now, these are tough, tough, tough to do. As a researcher, when I look at behaviors and I try to operationally define them, it takes me awhile, and it usually takes me refining it over time. I'll get in with an observer and I'll think, whoa, I didn't think of that. Did you count it that way? I don't know. So we have to come together again and refine the process. So I don't want you to think this is an easy one, and I don't want you to think you'll get it on the first try out. Typically, you won't. You're going to have to come back and refine.

Look at a common one that we use in educational circles, that of off task behavior. Any instance of the following behaviors-- any part of the bottom not in contact with the chair's sitting surface, any movement not related to the task, any noise or talking, or looking at someone other than the task items.

Now, this is again a tough one that would be to observe. We've got the easy one of the bottom not in contact the chair. Any movement not related to the task-- that might be tough. We really would have some issues with that. Somebody saying, well, that was a scream, and me saying, no, no, I thought that was related to the response they were supposed to give that was enthusiastic. So we might have some trouble with one.

I want to give you a little practice activity related to this. And I want you to try to operationally define the following behaviors. We've got hitting, out of seat behavior, and aggression. Once again, these are going to be tough. And you're not going to know a specific student. You may have one in your mind. Everybody's definition would be different based on the circumstances. But I want you to get in practice of knowing that it's got to be precise, measurable, and observable.

So let's take a look at the first. Give yourself some time to define hitting.

I've come up with one from my example-- swinging the arm while using an open or closed fist to make physical contact with another person or with an object. So in my instance, it's going to be a person or an object. So I could hit the table. I could use an open fist or a closed fist. So I suppose I could get a slap and it would be hitting. So it varies. So we've got lots of things to think about in terms of how to operationalize it-- hitting.

Let's try another one. Out of seat behavior-- again, very commonly used. What does out of seat behavior look like?

I've given it an instance in which the entire bottom-- again, we're getting without both cheeks-- is not in contact with the chair's sitting surface, or where all of the chair's legs are not in contact with the floor-- so out of seat behavior.

Let's try out last one, that of aggression. Aggression can look like many, many things.

In this one, I've given some examples. Each of the following behaviors should be considered a single instance of aggression-- hitting-- we've got that using an open hand, closed fist, or an object, and we've got it making contact with another person in this case. Kicking-- using the foot to make contact with another person. Shoving-- using one or two hands to physically move another person or object. Yelling, whether directed at someone or not. We've got an idea of what aggression may look like.

Why do we worry about that? We worry about operational definitions because we use them in the way we program for our students. And I'm using the example of education plans, but this can be used in any instance, in any home, where you're looking at this. We use operational definitions to create what we call behavioral objectives. And these are used in individualized education plans, or what we call IEPs. As I've indicated to you, though, any time that you're counting or measuring behavior, you're going to need to have an operational definition.

But these operational definitions are then used to collect data on the student's behavior. And these behaviors then are included as objectives that the individual's working on. So I might be working on increasing my time on task, decreasing my tantruming behavior. And I've got to make sure before I know that, as a teacher, parent, or therapist, what those behaviors look like, so I can count them as occurring or not occurring.

When we're writing behavioral objectives, sometimes called behavioral goals-- it varies a little bit in the specificity-- you need to specify the details of what we're trying to accomplish-- what is the objective? What do I want my student to do?

Now, if I'm writing these, I need to have four pieces of information that really make them well written. I need to include the learner, the condition, the behavior, and the criterion. So four pieces of information-- the learner, condition, behavior, and criterion. So I'm making sure that my operationalized behavior is going into a well written objective.

These are color coded for you. Let's take a look at some. The learner-- who's going to perform the behavior. It's usually a student's name-- Sam, Jason, Karen, the class. The conditions-- under what setting the learner will be expected to perform the behavior. We're listing things like the cues, the materials, the settings, other people that will be present when this behavior is to occur.

Some examples of that-- when given a worksheet with 100 one by one digit multiplication problems, and given one minute to work on the problems-- that's the condition. When a list of 10 words is read aloud by the special ed para-- condition. And during math class, 9:20 to 9:50, in Mrs. Fisher's room-- those are the conditions that the behavior will occur.

And we've got the behavior itself, that specific, operationally defined behavior that the learner is going to have to display. Examples-- we'll calculate and write the answer to the problems. We'll write, in print or cursive, the 10 dictated words. We'll raise our hand to request teacher assistance. So these are the behaviors that we want to see.

Now we've got our criterion level. This specifically tells us how will we determine that the students mastered the behavior. How do we know that we've gotten to a level that we're happy with? Do we want it at 80% accuracy? Do we want it at 100% accuracy? It depends. But we have a criteria that we believe will indicate the student has made progress on their objective. Things like the number of times learner must perform the behavior, the level of independence that they need to show-- so will they be independent, will they get this with a model prompt-- and across what time periods those performances must occur.

So some examples of that criterion level. At a rate of 40 correct digits per minute across three consecutive assessments-- criterion. Correctly spelling eight of 10 words for three consecutive days. With no more than one prompt for 90% of such request for an entire school week. So we've got our criteria. We're really spelling out exactly how we'll measure this, and how we'll gage the success.

So let's look at some examples of those behavioral objectives. And we color code them for you so you see the different component parts. Let's take a look.

When given a worksheet with 100 one to one digit multiplication problems, and given one minute to work on the problems. There we've got our condition. That's when they've got the worksheet and they're given one minute. We've got Sam, as our learner, will calculate and write the answers to the problem. The behavior-- at a rate of 40 correct digits per minute across three consecutive assessments-- our criteria. So we know exactly under what conditions who will exhibit what behavior at what criteria level.

Let's take a look at another one. When a list of 10 words is read allowed by the special education paraprofessional-- conditions-- Jason-- behavior-- will write in print or cursive the 10 dictated words-- behavior-- correctly spelling eight out of 10 words for three consecutive days. Our criterion.

Let's do another. During math class in Mrs. Fisher's room, Karen will raise her hand to request teacher assistance with no more than one prompt for 90% of such requests for an entire school week.

So when we say we're going to write an objective, it sounds simple to do. And with my undergrad class, they all say, yeah, yeah, yeah, we know this. But to really get the level of specificity that you've written a well-defined objective is very difficult to do. So think of those four component pieces of writing that. And remember the link between operationalizing and writing behavioral objectives. We need them both.

We have now for you a practice quiz that's located below the video. Take a moment and complete that quiz.

CHILD: [WAILING] Uh oh.

THERAPIST: Look what I have.

CHILD: Green.

THERAPIST: A--

CHILD: [INAUDIBLE]. [INAUDIBLE].

THERAPIST: Frog.

CHILD: [INAUDIBLE].

THERAPIST: Good. What is it?

CHILD: Frog, uh.

THERAPIST: Frog. And the frog is gr--

CHILD: Green.

THERAPIST: Green, that's right. What's the frog say?

CHILD: [INAUDIBLE].

THERAPIST: Ribbit, ribbit, ribbit. And he's an animal. What is he? He's an--

CHILD: [INAUDIBLE].

THERAPIST: Animal. The frog's an animal. Can I have the frog? Yay, Mac! What's your name?

CHILD: [INAUDIBLE].

THERAPIST: Should we say that better?

CHILD: [INAUDIBLE].

THERAPIST: Mac.

CHILD: Mac.

SPEAKER 1: Yay!

THERAPIST: Good job! And how old are you?

CHILD: Two.

THERAPIST: Good. How old are you?

CHILD: [INAUDIBLE].

THERAPIST: No, we're two.

CHILD: Two.

THERAPIST: And how old are you?

CHILD: Two.

SPEAKER 1: Just say, two.

CHILD: Two.

THERAPIST: How old are you?

CHILD: Two.

THERAPIST: Good job.

SPEAKER 1: Yay!

THERAPIST: Hey, where's your head? Oh, wow. Can you do this? Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap. Yay!

CHILD: [INAUDIBLE].

THERAPIST: What is it?

CHILD: Peg.

THERAPIST: Peg, perfect. What color?

SPEAKER 1: Sometimes he's saying, pancake.

THERAPIST: Yeah. Here's red.

CHILD: [INAUDIBLE].

THERAPIST: This is the--

CHILD: [INAUDIBLE].

THERAPIST: What's this called?

CHILD: [INAUDIBLE].

THERAPIST: This is the--

CHILD: [INAUDIBLE].

THERAPIST: Say it better.

CHILD: [INAUDIBLE].

THERAPIST: Say, box.

CHILD: Box.

THERAPIST: Good.

CHILD: [INAUDIBLE].

THERAPIST: Pour my--

CHILD: [INAUDIBLE].

THERAPIST: Oh, wow. OK. Are you--

[LAUGHTER]

SPEAKER 1: He looks up at you.

THERAPIST: You so funny.

[LAUGHTER]

THERAPIST: Can you laugh, Mac?

[LAUGHTER]

THERAPIST: You can laugh now? You're not doing the [EXAGGERATED HYPERVENTILATION]?

SPEAKER 2: Can you laugh, Mac?

THERAPIST: How do you laugh?

[LAUGHTER]

SPEAKER 2: I was trying to get him to chew, and he looks at me and he goes--

CHILD: [HIGH-PITCHED CRY].

THERAPIST: (IMITATION) How do you laugh? What are you doing with your tongue?

SPEAKER 2: Mac, can you laugh?

THERAPIST: Can you laugh?

CHILD: [INAUDIBLE].

THERAPIST: Show me how you laugh.

[LAUGHTER]

THERAPIST: That's your tongue.

SPEAKER 1: Ha ha ha ha.

THERAPIST: No, not gonna? Maybe later. OK.

SPEAKER 1: Let's see-- tell her what Santa Claus says.

THERAPIST: What does Santa Claus say?

SPEAKER 1: Santa Claus.

CHILD: [INAUDIBLE].

THERAPIST: No, we don't say horsies, it's--

CHILD: [INAUDIBLE].

THERAPIST: Ho, ho, ho.

CHILD: Ho, ho, ho.

THERAPIST: That's right.

SPEAKER 1: I thought he said, who's he.

THERAPIST: What does he say?

CHILD: [INAUDIBLE].

THERAPIST: That's right. What's that?

CHILD: [INAUDIBLE].

THERAPIST: Tongue.

CHILD: [INAUDIBLE].

THERAPIST: This thing.

CHILD: [INAUDIBLE].

THERAPIST: That's right. Where's your ear? Can you find your ear? Woo! Boing, boing boing, boing, boing, boing, boing. And where's your belly? Hm. Is your belly right-- there it is! There's your belly.

THERAPIST: What are you doing?

CHILD: [INAUDIBLE].

THERAPIST: No, you're chewing. Are you chewing? Show me how you chew. Oh, that's belly.

CHILD: [INAUDIBLE].

THERAPIST: Belly.

CHILD: [INAUDIBLE].

THERAPIST: Yeah. Kinda like, Kelly.

CHILD: [INAUDIBLE].

THERAPIST: Oh my, [INTERPOSING VOICES].

THERAPIST: Good job, it's Kelly, Kelly.

CHILD: [INAUDIBLE].

THERAPIST: Do you know what that is?

CHILD: [INAUDIBLE].

THERAPIST: Yeah, what do you do with apple?

CHILD: [INAUDIBLE].

THERAPIST: Huh? What do you do with the apple?

CHILD: [INAUDIBLE].

THERAPIST: You--

CHILD: [INAUDIBLE].

THERAPIST: Eat the apple, that's right. Good. And-- oh--

CHILD: [INAUDIBLE].

THERAPIST: What are we working for?

CHILD: The M&Ms.

THERAPIST: M&Ms. Say, I--

CHILD: I am working for--

THERAPIST: --M&Ms!

CHILD: M&Ms.

THERAPIST: All right.

CHILD: M&Ms.

THERAPIST: Drew, touch-- look at me.

CHILD: [GRUNTING]

THERAPIST: Good boy. Look at my eyes. 1--

CHILD: 1, 2, 3.

THERAPIST: Good looking.

CHILD: 4.

THERAPIST: Touch something that you wear.

CHILD: [INAUDIBLE].

THERAPIST: Wear. Touch something that you eat!

CHILD: Touch you eat.

THERAPIST: Oh! Good touch.

CHILD: Touch.

THERAPIST: Good. What do you eat? You eat--

CHILD: Cookies.

THERAPIST: Cookies! Good job. Drew. Show me drinking.

CHILD: Drinking.

THERAPIST: What are you doing?

CHILD: Showing drinking.

THERAPIST: Mm. Say, I'm drinking.

CHILD: I'm drinking.

THERAPIST: What are you doing?

CHILD: I'm drinking.

THERAPIST: I'm drinking, good job. Show me eating.

CHILD: Show me eating.

THERAPIST: What are you doing?

CHILD: I eating.

THERAPIST: You are eating! Good job.

CHILD: [MAKING SIBILANT SOUNDS] I have [INAUDIBLE] to find them.

THERAPIST: Oh you do? Let's count them.

CHILD: 1, 2, 2, there are 3, 4--

THERAPIST: 4.

CHILD: --5.

THERAPIST: 5. And can I have--

CHILD: Can purple Skittle?

THERAPIST: Oh, you found the only Skittle, good job. There you go.