DBT week 4

Behaviour chaining. This one is going to be difficult. Like looking in the mirror and accepting my flaws without judging myself. How the heck do I do that? Oh well I have over a week to get this one. The whole class left with an OMG face.
This and med changes. Colouring books are coming in handy!

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following your story, go girl.....I had to look up chaining because I didn't know the definition, look what I found:

CHAINING DEFINED:

The new behavior you want to build may be a series or chain of behaviors. A behavior chain is a series of related behaviors, each of which provides the cue for the next and the last that produces a reinforcer.

Almost everything we do can be considered part of a behavior chain. For example, when you are reciting the alphabet, you start with “A”, then “B”, then “C” and so on until the task is completed at “Z”.

Each step serves as a cue for the next step; a chain is really a series of signals and behaviors. The completion of one behavior in a chain produces the signal for the next action. Saying “G” is the signal to say “H” next.

Practically any complex behavior we do in the way of operant behavior is part of a chain or a multitude of chains: eating, getting dressed, using the computer, counting, brushing your teeth, riding a bike, walking to school and so on. Behavior chains are very important to all of us; as is the procedure for building chains, which is called chaining.

Chaining is the reinforcement of successive elements of a behavior chain. If you are teaching your child the alphabet, you are attempting to build a chain, if you are teaching the tying of shoelaces, you are also attempting to build a chain.

There are two chaining procedures, forward and backward chaining.

FORWARD CHAINING:

Forward chaining is a chaining procedure that begins with the first element in the chain and progresses to the last element (A to Z). In forward chaining, you start with the first task in the chain (A). Once the child can perform that element satisfactorily, you have him perform the first and second elements (A & B) and reinforce this effort. Do not teach “A”, then teach “B” separately; “A” and “B” are taught together. When these are mastered, you can move to “A”, “B” and “C”. Notice they are not taught in isolation; hence the term ‘chain’.

BACKWARD CHAINING:

This is often a very effective way of developing complex sequences of behavior. In forward chaining, you are teaching A to Z; in backward teaching, you are teaching Z to A. Backward chaining is a chaining procedure that begins with the last element in the chain and proceeds to the first element.

To illustrate backward chaining, consider the following example: I want to teach my son complete a six-piece puzzle. The steps are:

put in first piece
put in second piece
put in third piece
put in fourth piece
put in fifth piece
put in sixth piece
To backward chain this task, I would follow steps one through 5 myself, presenting the task as completed except for the last piece. Then, I would (using whatever prompt level necessary) teach my son to put in the sixth piece (step 6). When he can successfully do this a number of times, I will teach step 5 & 6 (completing steps 1 through 4 myself beforehand).

Backward chaining this puzzle gave my son the idea of what he was doing ahead of time (there weren’t just a bunch of puzzle pieces laying there) and teaching in this way gives an even more clear clue of the next step. I would be reinforcing each step as I am teaching it, but once my son learns step 6, I will only reinforce steps 5 & 6 together (next link in the chain).

RULES FOR CHAINING:

Define the target behavior: To teach someone to perform the links of a chain, you need to know exactly what those links are. Sometimes the links are very obvious as in the examples of teaching the alphabet, or the six-piece puzzle, other times links are not so obvious. It may be helpful to perform the target behavior yourself and take notice of all the steps involved, even have someone else watch you and compare notes. When teaching my son a bathroom routine, I was so proud of the links I thought up to produce the chain. I presented it to one of my workers who took one look at it and said “where does it say where he flushes the toilet?”.
Breaking the chain into small manageable steps is called performing a task analysis and a simple way of describing it is teaching A to Z and every single letter in between. Children with autism/pdd have shown that they can learn very effectively using this method.

Reinforce successive elements of the chain: The elements in the chain must be reinforced in sequence. Reinforce them as they happen. Once your child has mastered step 6 and you begin to teach step 5, you will be reinforcing steps 5 and 6. You will either be reinforcing at the end of the chain or at the end of as much of the chain as the child has learned. What you learn in a chain is not just a number of tasks; you learn to perform those tasks in the right order. You can start at the beginning of the chain and work your way to the end or vice versa.
Monitor Results: As with any intervention, you must keep track of the effects of your efforts. Has a particular element been mastered? Should it be taught and reinforced a few more times? Is it time to move on to the next element? These are judgments that must be made during the chaining process, and they can be made accurately only if you carefully monitor the results you are getting.
The similarity between shaping and chaining is that the goal in each case is to establish a target behavior that doesn’t yet occur. The difference is that shaping always moves forward. If progress breaks down, you may have to take a step back before moving forward again, but there is no such thing as backward shaping.

I have to find or figure out behaviours I want to change in myself. Chart them, rate them, then figure out where I could have put the breaks on to prevent the circle of repeat. Being kind and gentle on myself in the process. This microscope I will put myself under is causing anxiety. Where do I begin? There are many behaviours that need changing.

I think this is what my therapist is trying to do with me. I told her the behavior I'm most concerned about is my outbursts. She told me that after I have an outburst I should journal about what happened immediately before, and what happened immediately before that, including what I experienced with all 5 senses. I'm guessing she is trying to identify my triggers and the point where I can de-escalate the situation.

It can be overwhelming if you look at it like your whole life is a mess. That also puts you in a place where you are judging your behaviors instead of looking at them objectively. I think it would help if you start with the one thing that causes you the most distress—and if you can't do that, start with one that would be easy to chart.

Hummm, where to begin. Look at the positives. What are you thankful for? You have a nice smile, start there.