How
Behavior
Analysis
Works:
Real Life
Applications
"Institutionalized Child Comes Home to Parents".
A three-year-old child with multiple severe behavior problems was referred
to two pioneering behavior analysts. Because of cataract eye surgery when
he was a little over two years old, Dicky had been required to wear special
corrective lenses, or he would lose his vision entirely. For more than a
year, his parents struggled with futile attempts to get him to wear the glasses.
The boy would not only not wear his glasses, he would throw such severe tantrums,
he became unmanageable and had to be institutionalized. Dicky had been diagnosed
at different times as mentally retarded, autistic, psychotic, brain damaged
and schizophrenic. These diagnoses were the result of multiple behavior problems
including lack of normal social and verbal responses, poor eating habits,
head banging, face slapping, hair pulling and face scratching. They tried
restraints, sedatives and tranquilizers – all to no avail.
When the two behavior analysts came into the picture, they took one look at the interaction between Dicky and his mother and instantly knew the problem: She was reinforcing the behavior (not intentionally, of course) with her "ineffectual fussing."
The behavior team decided to use time out, which had never before been documented in a case like this. Time-out involves separating the child from all sources of reinforcement for a short time, contingent on inappropriate behavior – in this case, severe tantrums. Dicky was returned to the hospital ward as soon as the tantrum stopped. Result: Within 2-1/2 months, the severe head banging, hair pulling and face scratching was reduced to zero.
Soon, the analysts were able to attack the remaining problem by "shaping" glasses
wearing, implementing successful interventions for teaching verbal behavior,
and finally tackling the messy problems of food throwing, food stealing and
eating with fingers. This was done by 1) observing the target behavior, 2)
looking for controlling variables and 3) instituting change in procedures
to reduce and then eliminate the inappropriate behavior (food throwing, food
stealing, eating with fingers) or teach new behaviors (eating with spoon,
learning to name pictures, naming objects in his environment, and, later,
to answer simple questions, such as "Where are you going tonight?").
Dicky improved enough within three months to make his first foray to his home, where his parents (with the training they had received from the behavior analysts) were able to put him to bed without him having a severe tantrum. In three more months, he was gradually introduced back into the home and the parents were given full training for all of Dicky's significant behaviors.
(Adapted from the book, "How to Think Like a Behavior Analyst," published by Lawrence Erlbaum & Associates)
"The Lazy Employee"
Many supervisors complain that their employees just aren't motivated. They
will do what they are told, but when their tasks are completed, they
sit and wait for further instructions. What the supervisors would like to
see, of course, is a worker 
who shows some initiative, who informs the boss
when work is complete and who asks, "What else can I do to help out?"
The question a Behavior Analyst would ask about this lack of motivation problem is, "What prompts exists for this behavior and what reinforcers are available to someone who does ask for extra work or who just takes on additional tasks without any prompting? In most cases, there are no rewards for showing initiative. The work environment needs to be specially designed so taking on new tasks is heavily rewarded.
"The Unhelpful Roommate"
No matter how many times he reminded him, Joe's roommate would always forget
to take the trash out – even though this was one of his agreed upon
housekeeping chores. "He just walks right by the kitchen trash can
and heads out the door – totally oblivious," Joe said. On the
advice of a Behavior 
Analyst, Joe tried an experiment. To create a "stimulus
control," he placed the trashcan directly in front of the door, so his
roommate would have to stumble over it to leave in the morning. The first
day, it worked – his roommate remembered to take the trash out. Joe
reinforced him by noticing and thanking him. Each day the trash needed emptying,
Joe would move it a little further away from the door, toward the kitchen.
This is called "stimulus fading," gradually reducing a stimulus
that – through manipulation – has gained some control; and continuing
this until the environment is back to normal.
Within a few weeks, the roommate was taking the trash out regularly and even remarked, "Basically, you got me to break a bad habit without insulting me or ticking me off."
"Dog chews"
Joyce's new puppy just wouldn't seem to stay away from her husband's expensive
Italian leather shoes. With a tip from a 
Behavior Analyst, who was helping
her change the problem behavior of one of her students, she took the puppy
to the pet store. She let the dog pick out his very own chew toy and she
purchased several, placing them in various rooms throughout the house.
While at home in the evening, when she saw the puppy dragging her husband's shoes around, she immediately took it away and gave him one of his news toys. It worked. The replacement behavior, plus a minor investment in toys, saved the replacement cost on her husband's shoes.
(Adapted from the book, "How to Think Like a Behavior Analyst," published by Lawrence Erlbaum & Associates)