People on the autism spectrum require special attention and additional support from their therapists and caregivers to learn everyday skills. There are many approaches and therapies available to help autistic people hone verbal, motor, social, and communication skills. Behavioral skills training is one such approach, forming an essential part of ABA or Applied Behavior Analysis.
What is Behavioral Skills Training
Behavioral Skills Training or BST is a structured and evidence-based approach used to teach new skills to people. BST follows a systematic, four-step routine to help individuals, especially those with learning delays or disorders such as autism, develop a strong foundation of basic skills that can equip them to lead independent lives and exhibit socially acceptable behaviors.
Key Components of BST
Behavioral skills training follows four main steps to ensure people successfully acquire new skills and turn them into permanent new habits or behaviors.
Instruction
The therapist provides clear instructions regarding the skill or behavior. This step sets the stage for the following steps by giving the student a clear and detailed understanding of what they are expected to learn or do and informs them about why or how a certain task or behavior is carried out.
Modeling
In this next step, the therapist demonstrates how to perform the required task or behavior. This further helps the student understand what he/she is expected to do and fortifies the visual image created in the first step as the student sees the task carried out.
Rehearsal
In this step, the student is asked to execute the desired task. This helps the therapist and the student understand how much of the instructions they were able to absorb, to what extent they have learned the task, and how much additional help they require.
The progress in this step depends on how attentive the students are and their skill level.
This step is repeated multiple times as it allows the students to practice the required task or skill to improve their competency.
Feedback
In the final step of this teaching-learning process, the therapist provides feedback to the student. This can be in the form of positive reinforcement or encouragement if the task was displayed correctly, or constructive criticism highlighting areas of improvement to help the student perform better next time.
Role of Behavioral Skills Training in ABA
Applied Behavior Analysis or ABA makes use of BST in multiple scenarios to teach a wide range of skills to people with autism. BST can be applied to any situation and is very effective in systematically teaching new skills.
BST can help autistic individuals develop communication skills or improve social interactions. The following table shows some examples:
Benefits of Behavioral Skills Training
BST has proven to be an effective technique for skills acquisition especially in autism. Let’s take a look at some of the benefits that make BST a helpful tool for any situation.
- Structured Approach
BST is a well-defined and systemic approach. It strictly follows a step-by-step method which makes it easier to identify where the student is falling behind or what part of the learning process requires more attention or practice. This way, not only is a new skill acquired but refined as well.
- Promotes Independence
BST equips individuals with a broad scope of skills that can help them navigate various challenges in their day-to-day lives. This allows them to lead more functional and independent lives as they learn to manage their reaction, mood, and responsibilities on their own.
- Reduced Problem Behaviors
Students know they are rehearsing or practicing a skill when they are learning with the BST model. This reduces the pressure on them as they are not made to believe they are being tested. This relaxed method allows them to make mistakes without worrying about consequences and learning in the process. As a result, reactions springing from anxiety, and fear of making mistakes, such as tantrums and meltdowns are significantly reduced.
Conclusion
Behavioral skills training is an effective and systematic way of teaching new skills to people and is widely used in ABA to help autistic individuals learn a wide range of skill sets or refine the skills they already have. It uses instruction, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback on loop to ensure the student has effectively learned the required task and can generalize the learned skills to real-life situations from controlled environments.
