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Attention Employees of the State of Tennessee:
Procurement cards, petty cash vouchers, or purchase orders from any State of Tennessee
Agency may not be used to order from this website.
If you do not have a credit or debit card, we can email the desired eBooks, ABA programs and
case histories to you. Please send your email address and a check or money order to:
ABA4autism, 790 Old Fulton Road, Martin, TN 38237
With approved credit card information ABA4autism provides immediate download of its items in
.pdf files. Free .pdf file readers are available at
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html
About Dr. Brown
Dr. Brown is a Licensed Psychologist/Health Service Provider in the state of Tennessee. He has
30 years of experience in research, clinical settings, and academia. You may contact Dr. Brown
at webmaster@aba4autism.com with comments, suggestions, and general feedback regarding
the website's content as well as the eBooks' contents. Dr. Brown does not provide consulting
services via the internet except in his online ABA course.
Frequently Asked Questions
Over the years parents and other caregivers that come to my clinic have asked many questions
about Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA). In this section I will try and present some of the more
common questions and answers. These answers are supported by the basic research done in
ABA and are consistent with what I have observed in kids over three decades of practice.
1. Isn't reinforcement just a way of bribing a child to behave appropriately?
By definition, behaviors that are followed by reinforcement increase in their frequency and then
become part a child's characteristic way of responding. So if mom gives her temper tantruming
child a cookie to calm him or her down then temper tantrums are likely to increase in their
frequency. On the other hand, if mom gives her child a cookie for not throwing a temper
tantrum in situations where the child would normally tantrum then not tantruming will increase
in frequency. Bribery is given to get a person to commit an inappropriate behavior. When we
use reinforcement in ABA programs we are increasing the frequency of appropriate behavior.
Once the behavior is established, then we will fade out the edible reinforcer and let the natural
reinforcers in the child's environment take over.
2. If you reinforce one child in a group won't you have to reinforce all of the children in the
group?
No and that's because reinforcement has a vicarious effect. Countless experiments have shown
that if other children see a child receiving reinforcement behavior improves in them as well. If a
child not receiving reinforcement asks for reinforcement simply say, "You are doing so good
without the reinforcer that you don't need it." Of course, group reinforcers can also be used. If a
child behaves in an appropriate then reinforcement such as everyone playing a game, watching
a video, or going outside would work fine.
3. Don't you have to continue to use reinforcers once you start?
No. We fade out tangible reinforcers quickly and let natural reinforcers such as praise take
over. I'm using the aba program you gave me, but I can't get my spouse or my child's teacher
to cooperate. Will the aba program still work? Yes, the aba program but it will take longer.
Consistency is very important in changing behavior in a child and it would be much better if
everyone was involved. In situations where a caregiver is not going to follow the aba program
the child will learn a discrimination. In other words, a particular behavior is appropriate on
inappropriate depending on whom I'm with.
4. Will aba programs work the same for all children?
A child's behavior is determined by genetic
factors, physiological states, environmental factors, prior experience, sensory, motor, and
cognitive factors just to name a few variables. If a child has a neuropsychological disorder then
that's important, too. Generally, aba programs work very well, but how long it takes the child to
get with the program varies. And the details of an aba program may need to be changed.
That's why we always take baseline measures. (At first, many parents tell me their child is very
stubborn and the aba program will probably not work on their child. But if they don't give up
too quickly the programs do work.)
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