F-3 Identify and prioritize socially significant behavior change objectives

Socially significant behaviors are unwanted skills or behaviors that are addressed during ABA therapy. They are skills that are valuable to the student and the people around them in their daily lives. They improve the quality of life of the client in some way and have positive long-term effects.

Factors affecting the socially significant

There are factors that affect what a person might consider socially significant, such as family structure, culture, religion, ethnicity, etc. These factors can influence what a student or the people around them consider essential.

Considerations for identifying objectives

It is important to consider what is important to the client and to the people who are or will be affected by the behavior change. This can be achieved through an interview, which asks the following:

• What do you want to achieve?

• How do you see the student in the future?

• What concerns do they have?

• What skills does the student already have that they would like to develop?

The age of the student and the type of reinforcers that can be accessed in the natural environment are also considered.

Goal Prioritization: The way to prioritize socially meaningful behaviors for students is to consider what skills already exist in the student's repertoire. These skills can be generalized and expanded so that skills that are not in the student's repertoire can emerge using as a basis those that are already intrinsically learned.

Data Collection: After the intervention begins, data collection should be conducted to demonstrate whether or not the intervention is serving the student. If necessary, necessary changes should be made so that the intervention is successful and the student can develop the necessary skills. You must also work with the family and the people around the student to be able to generalize and maintain the skills learned.

Examples of socially significant objectives

• For an elementary school student, a socially significant goal might be learning to follow directions. This would allow you to participate more in class and be more successful in learning.

• For a high school student, a socially significant goal might be learning to communicate effectively. This would allow him to make friends, participate in extracurricular activities, and succeed in school.

• For an adult, a socially significant goal might be learning to live independently. This would allow you to have a job, maintain a home, and have an active social life.

It is important that the objectives are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and temporal (SMART). This means they must be clear and concise, and they must be measurable to evaluate progress. They must also be achievable, relevant to the student's needs, and have a specific time frame.