Autism Teaching Methods: Applied

Behavior Analysis and Verbal Behavior

Applied Behavior Analysis, or ABA, is a method of teaching children with autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders. It is based on the premise that appropriate behavior – including speech, academics and life skills – can be taught using scientific principles.

ABA assumes that children are more likely to repeat behaviors or responses that are rewarded (or “reinforced”), and they are less likely to continue behaviors that are not rewarded. Eventually, the reinforcement is reduced so that the child can learn without constant rewards.

Research shows that ABA works for kids with autism. “Thirty years of research demonstrated the efficacy of applied behavioral methods in reducing inappropriate behavior and in increasing communication, learning, and appropriate social behavior,” according to a U.S. Surgeon General’s Report.

The most well-known form of ABA is discrete trial training (DTT). Skills are broken down into the smallest tasks and taught individually. Discrete, or separate, trials may be used to teach eye contact, imitation, fine motor skills, self-help, academics, language and conversation. Students start with learning small skills, and gradually learn more complicated skills as each smaller one is mastered. […]

Source adapted from:

www.teaching-methods-childrens-with-autism

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Companies know how we think

Companies can now find out exactly how you think through the science of neuromarketing. Advertisers are currently collaborating with scientists to test their products directly on our brains. Some experts believe that one in ten TV commercials have already been designed using neuromarketing.

The reasons are obvious.The technique allows companies to discover exactly what people like about their products. For example, when we eat a type of potato chip, it may be the color, the flavor, or the pleasant noise it makes when you crunch it in your mouth that we like most.

In order ................ tap into what’s going ................ in consumers’ brains, it all begins laboratories and office buildings.

Groups of volunteers submit themselves to a simple process. Wearing a special headset called an electrode cap, they watch commercials or test products. The caps allow researchers to monitor brain activity. When something attracts the attention of the volunteers, this is highlighted on a computer. They literally use this device to read the minds of their volunteers. This may sound a little scary, but advertisers are just tapping into our existing thoughts and desires. And that’s what advertisers have always tried to do.

Previously, companies would give people a survey or questionnaire to complete in order to research their customers. The problem was that people didn’t always tell the truth. They may not want to be critical of a product or advertisement because they don’t want to upset the interviewer. The electrode cap overcomes this problem. It shows when someone really is interested in something.

Neuromarketing is also used to develop packaging for the world’s most famous brands. The aim is to make their products stand out in a busy marketplace. This will become standard as more companies capitalize on the technology. With millions invested in advertising, companies simply cannot afford to hope that their ads and products will be a success. If they can find out what we think first, and change their products to make them more successful, they will quickly pay off the high cost of neuromarketing and dominate their market.