Chaining. Chaining is a procedure that consists of the reinforcement of individual responses occurring in a sequence to form a complex behaviour. This procedure breaks down each step of a more complex skill into individual teaching steps. It is frequently used for the training of behavioural sequences that are beyond the current repertoire of the subject (complex skills) such as daily and independent living skills. So, a behaviour chain is a series of related behaviours, each of which provides the cue for the next and the last that produces a reinforcer. For example, if we want a child to learn to brush his or her teeth: 1) Turn on the water, and turning on the water signals the next step, 2) Get your toothbrush, 3) This then signals getting the toothpaste, squeezing the toothpaste on the toothbrush, wetting the toothbrush, and so on until the entire skill has been completed. Fading Fading is a procedure that consists in making a gradual change over successive trials of an antecedent stimulus that controls a response so that the response eventually occurs to a partially changed or completely new stimulus. To carry out this procedure is essential: 1) to Identify the desired behaviour and level of prompts needed for the subject to complete the task. 2) to Identify the process that will be used to fade the prompt. and 3) to Identify criteria that will indicate that the prompt or prompts can be faded. Negative reinforcement The negative reinforcement refers to the increase of the target behaviour by taking out a stimulus that is considered by the subject as negative. There are many examples in our daily lives that are examples of the potential of this type of reinforcement to achieve the emission of behaviour. For example, the behaviour of putting on a coat is reinforced by the disappearance of the cold. However, in clinical practice this procedure has not been widely used since to apply a negative reinforcement it is necessary that previously an aversive element has been presented to the subject. When it is applied always require the collaboration of others such as relatives or teachers, something that the therapist cannot always control. Contingency organization systems These systems allow more complex applications than the previously procedures. These systems have been used to work with several behaviours at individual level and/or to change a behaviour(s) in a group of people. Multiple contingencies or reinforcements (both positive or negative) are used. However, an...
