The Four Functions of Behavior in Applied Behavior Analysis

Dr. Mary Barbera discusses the four functions of behavior in applied behavior analysis. We’ll discuss one specific one a bit more in depth, the function of behavior related to pain.

In the applied behavior analysis (ABA) world, there are four functions of behavior. But we only see much talk about three of them. What are the functions of behavior? In today’s vide blog, we’ll uncover them, and discuss how they are seen in children with autism. I’ve seen these behavior functions in my own son and past clients that I worked with and have a deep understanding of them. The four functions are quite different, some dealing with stimulatory behavior, pain attenuation, and the involvement or others in society.

We’ll discuss these in more detail within the video, but here are the four functions we’re going to discuss: socially mediated positive reinforcement, socially mediated negative reinforcement, automatic positive reinforcement, and automatic negative reinforcement.

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Dr. Mary Barbera. I fell into the autism world as an autism mom in 1999 when her first-born son, Lucas, was diagnosed with autism. Since then, she became a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst and best-selling author of The Verbal Behavior Approach. Since 2015, she’s created 3 autism online courses based on applied behavior analysis for professionals and "gung-ho" parents. Whether you’re looking for autism parenting strategies, working with development delays in children, or in search of autism help for professionals, I can encourage you to subscribe to the channel and join me on my journey. I’ll be providing weekly autism resources that you don’t want to miss.

[alexandracaldwell]

I love your videos and always share with my family and friends. Please can you posto a video on broken language, defected language. My son is 7 years old and speaks but mostly things out of context . And he doesn’t answer questions either 😞

[SheBeCodingSht]

I just recently went through this. I found out due to acid my daughter had stomach erosions which were very painful. During this time she had extremely low tolerance and was triggered to bite easily. My question now is... how do you suggest dealing with the biting once the pain is gone? And now that she has learned that biting is an effective means of communicating pain, distress, or unhappiness.

[TheKnako]

Where can I find the link to the lecture?

[SRoseBlog]

My husband bought me ur book. Im learning so much. I cant just read it thru. Im learning slowly to work with my son with each chapter