The response is the second part of the three-term contingency. It is also referred to as the behavior. It is defined as the patient’s behavior that occurs after the presentation of the antecedent (SD).
Response may include verbal behavior or adaptive, academic, social, motor, or other types of skills. This is sometimes abbreviated as simply "R."
EXAMPLE
| SD | Response | Consequence | ||
| Teacher says "Touch the car." | ⇨ | Jacob touches the car. | ⇨ | Jacob gets candy. |
There are four primary categories of responses:
EXAMPLE
| Antecedent | Response | Consequence | ||
| "Tell me what this is," and shows a picture of a bed. | ⇨ | "Bed" | ⇨ | "Superstar!" and receives tickles. |
EXAMPLE
| SD | CR | |
| Teacher says, "Touch the car." | ⇨ | Jacob touches the car. |
What is it?
Hot dog.
[GASP]
Wow! You got it. That's right.
[BLOWING RASPBERRIES]
[GIGGLE]
[BLOWING RASPBERRIES]
EXAMPLE
| Antecedent | Response | Consequence | ||
| "Tell me what this is," and shows a picture of a bed. | ⇨ | "Apple" | ⇨ | "No, try again." |
EXAMPLE
| SD | IR | |
| Teacher says, "Touch the car." | ⇨ | Jacob touches the shoe. |
EXAMPLE
| Antecedent | Response | Consequence | ||
|
"Tell me what this is," and shows a picture of a bed. (+ Prompt: "Bed") |
⇨ | "Bed" | ⇨ | "Nice job." |
Here we go. What is it? Say hot dog.
Hot dog.
Oh my goodness. That was so good.
EXAMPLE
| Antecedent | Response | Consequence | ||
| "Tell me what this is," and shows a picture of a bed. | ⇨ | "..." | ⇨ | "No, try again." |
EXAMPLE
| SD | CR | |
| Teacher says, "Touch the car." | ⇨ | Jacob just sits there. |
There are three main guidelines that should be followed for responses during DTT.
1. The behavior technician must be consistent about what is considered a correct response.
| The Wrong Way | The Right Way |
|---|---|
| Jimmy is learning to request, and the BCBA has instructed caregivers, teachers, and behavior technicians to have him incorporate actions, or verbs, into his requests. As such, when Jimmy wants to see Mommy, he should say, “Can I go see Mommy?”, or “Can I see Mommy?”, or “I want to see Mommy.” But a few people are still accepting, “I want Mommy,” as the correct response. | No one accepts, “I want Mommy,” as the correct response, and all require Jimmy to use a verb or action word in his request. |
In this example, if everyone consistently does this the right way, Jimmy will learn to incorporate actions, or verbs, into his requests more quickly. Most of us do as little as we can get away with, so if we are not consistent, we will not get as much from the patient as they can give us.
Tell me a furniture.
Say, "A".
Furnish-
A--
Say, "A couch--"
A couch.
Is the furniture.
Furniture
Good. So tell me a furniture.
Couch.
Is a--
Couch.
Say, "Couch is a fern--"
Furniture.
Good. So tell me a furniture. C--
Couch.
Is?
Is furniture.
Yeah!
2. Be sure extraneous behavior is absent.
| The Wrong Way | The Right Way |
|---|---|
| You present the SD, “What’s your name?” and Elias responds, “Elias,” but is also flapping his hands as he responds. As a consequence, you give Elias a cookie for responding to his name correctly. However, hand flapping is the extraneous behavior. Therefore, this would not be considered a correct response. | You present the SD, “What’s your name?” and Elias responds, “Elias,” while flapping his hands as he responds. You count this as an incorrect response and use the error correction procedure your BCBA has instructed you to use to teach Elias to respond without flapping his hands. You’ll learn about two types of error correction procedures later in this training. |
In the above "wrong way," you will accidentally reinforce the extraneous behavior. That is, the extraneous behavior will be more likely to occur in the future when you present the SD.
Do you want this shoe?
Shoes.
OK, here you go.
Shoes.
Say no.
No.
Good. Stop. Watch your fingers. Do you want this shoe?
[INAUDIBLE]
Say no.
No.
Good. So do you want the shoes?
No.
OK.
3. Limit the time between SD and R to three seconds.
| The Wrong Way | The Right Way |
|---|---|
| You ask Cruz, ”What do you see?” while looking at a picture in a book. After seven or eight seconds, Cruz responds, “I see Big Bird.” You reward Cruz by giving him a toy car to play with for a few seconds. | You ask Cruz, “What do you see?” If after three seconds, Cruz hasn’t responded, you will implement whatever error correction procedure your BCBA has instructed you to use. |
If the patient receives a positive consequence for responding after seven or eight seconds, they will learn that it is okay to wait several seconds before responding. In everyday interactions, we respond immediately. The patient will miss many opportunities if they respond slowly. So, if we have a patient who responds that slowly, we teach them to respond more quickly.
When the patient does not respond, consider the NR to be incorrect.
What's this?
[MUMBLES INCOHERENTLY]
Nope, try again.
What's this?
Hot dog!
There you go, mister!
What's this?
Hot dog!
Hot dog. Good job. Give me five. OK, one more.
What's this?
Faster.
Oh, try again. What's this?
Hot dog.
Hot dog! You are so smart!
I want faster.
