Shaping

Shaping is another important ABA principle. With shaping, one is reinforcing successive approximations of a behavior. That is, in the beginning of learning a skill, I might provide reinforcement to the student when they get somewhat close to the behavior I want to see. As time goes on, I’ll only provide that reinforcement when the behavior is very close or exactly the behavior I want to see. A common example of shaping is writing. In the beginning of teaching the letter “A,” I’ll accept any mark the student makes on the paper. I want to have the opportunity to say, “Good job with that letter 'A'.” Later, I’ll expect that it looks more like an “A.” Further down the line, I’ll only give a good job statement when the A is on the line and is the right height. Many people use shaping techniques for their own behaviors related to diet and exercise. We may expect our form to get better in our Rumba class or to shape our eating habits from eating Cheetos to choosing vegetables for a snack.

Here, a young child is learning how to throw a ball using shaping: