Understanding Token Economies: Benefits and Risks in ABA

Ethics Discussion Paper Nayeli Bautista Ball State University SPCE 619: Professional Issues in Applied Behavior Analysis Dr. Chelsea Morton – Dean

Token Economy A token economy consists of three major components: (a) a list of target behaviors; (b) tokens, points, or marks clients earn for emitting the target behaviors; and (c) a menu of backup reinforcers- preferred items, activities or privileges- that clients obtain by exchanging earned tokens (Cooper et al., 2020). Once the client will engage in target behavior, the token is selected, after the token is selected it is exchanged for a certain reinforcer. Token economies can involve deliver or removal or both of reinforcements. How often a token is being delivered is dependent upon the client’s reinforcement schedule. According to Ivy et al. (2017) “these schedules of reinforcement represent internal mechanisms of a token economy that can be arranged using a number of basic reinforcement schedules (e.g., fixed ratio and variable interval) or complex schedules (e.g., differential reinforcement of other behavior).” The applied dimension of the seven dimensions highlights the importance of working on target behaviors that enhance the quality of the client’s life. Cooper et al. (2020) states to meet this criterion, the researcher must select behaviors to change that are socially significant for participants that improve their everyday life experiences or positively effect other’s around the client such as family members. This dimension applies to this intervention because a token economy reinforces contextually appropriate behavior and encourages clients to engage in a positive behavior rather than a problem behavior. A BCBA who wants to work on her student’s on task behavior is noticing that her client is engaging in getting out of their seat and speaking out in class. A token could be delivered when the client is engaging in on task behavior such as sitting in seat and being attentive in class. The token economy is working on decreasing the socially significant problem behavior of getting up out of seat or speaking out during

instructional times by positively reinforcing the replacement behavior (on task behavior in class). Risk Benefit Analysis General risk factors must be weighed out before an intervention is implemented. A risk you may run into when implementing a token economy is that a reinforcer could lose its value and therefore is not as reinforcing to our client. This in turn will make the client less inclined to engage in target behavior to earn tokens. Another risk that can arise within token economy implementation is not having the time or staffing to implement token economy. As mentioned before, a BCBA is working with a student who engages in off task behaviors and will be implementing a token economy to decrease off task behavior and reinforcer target behavior. If the BCBA were to transfer this treatment to the responsibility of the teacher the teacher will first need to be trained on the token economy which may be time consuming for the teacher. In addition, the teacher may not have time or staffing to implement a token economy effectively with her student. The benefits to using a token economy is that is a highly developed and broadly researched behavior change system that has been successfully applied in multiple settings including educational, employment, and residential (Cooper et al., 2020). Learners can typically easily generalize a token economy in various settings. Another benefit to using a token economy is that it sets clear expectations for the client. This will also increase the motivation for the reinforcer and the student can be motivated to engage in target behavior to access reinforcer. It is also pertinent to weigh out the risk for each behavioral procedure. In a token economy we are providing positive reinforcement by delivering a token. A risk to positive reinforcement can be setting the precedent that we as behavior analysts only want to see target

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behavior and can produce anxiety for our clients. We never want to cause harm or discomfort in our clients. Ensuring that our clients feel happy relaxed and engaged will help build therapeutic rapport and will help the client feel heard. Informing caretakers of the positives and potential negatives that a treatment may have and allow them to make a decision with the information provided to them and whether or not they would like to continue services. Ethical Considerations Ethical Code 2.01 Providing Effective Treatment is applicable to this behavioral intervention. This ethical code ensures that “services are conceptually consistent with behavioral principles, based on scientific evidence, and designed to maximize desired outcomes for and protect all clients, stakeholders, supervisees, trainees, and research participants from harm” (BACB, 2020). The token economy is working on decreasing problem behavior and replace with target behaviors. Once this treatment stops being effective the BCBA will discontinue the treatment in compliance with this code. Ethical Code 2.09 Involving Clients and Stakeholders is also applicable to this behavioral intervention. In order for a token economy to be effective you must involve the client and have their input. The tokens will be exchanged for a reinforcer it is important you communicate and analyze your client to determine what is the most fun, exciting and cool thing is for them to earn. My ideal reinforcer would be tacos but my student’s reinforcer could look a lot different. It is vital to involve the client to ensure that they are choosing their reinforcer and they feel heard. In addition to involving clients, it is important to involve stakeholders within implementation of the treatment.

Ethical Code 2.08 Communicating about services ensures that behavior analysts are communicating in an understandable language and ensures comprehension of all communications with clients (BACB,2020). This is applicable to this intervention because behavior analysts will have to train other staff members such as teachers, paraprofessionals and parents on how to successfully implement a token economy. It is important that all service providers understand how to implement a token economy and everything that the behavior analyst communicated about services was clear and understandable to all parties. Ensuring you are respecting your client’s autonomy can be used to guide your decisions when making decisions related to behavioral intervention. Our clients are free to make their own choices and have their own beliefs and values. It is important then when making behavioral intervention decisions we are not taking their autonomy away from them at all. We should always encourage autonomy within our clients. If at any time the client or stakeholder is uncomfortable with a behavioral intervention they have a right to voice this to the behavior analyst and the behavior analyst can determine that the behavioral intervention was against the client’s autonomy and find a more suitable behavioral intervention where autonomy is promoted. According dignity will also guide decision making in behavioral interventions because it reminds the behavioral analyst of the responsibility to the community it serves. Behaving with integrity involves being truthful and allows us to hold ourselves accountable for our work as behavior analysts. Behavior analysts should also remember to treat their clients and stakeholders with dignity and respect. Ensuring that we are protecting the welfare and rights of clients above all others and actively identifying potential and actual conflicts of interest and working to resolve them in a manner that avoids or minimizes harm (BACB, 2020).

Ensuring competence will also allow guide decision making based on behavioral interventions. Behavior analysts should ensure they are always practicing within their scope of competence. If a behavior analysts is unfamiliar with a particular behavioral intervention they will seek guidance of a supervisor. Behavior analysts should ensure they are working to increase their knowledge and skills related to cultural responsiveness and service delivery to diverse groups. Often behavior analysts are met with clients who have different cultural needs than they are used to. It is important to be culturally competent and consider their culture when selecting a behavioral intervention for our clients.

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References Behavior Analyst Certification Board. (2020). Ethics code for behavior analysts. https://bacb.com/wp-content/ethics-code-for-behavior-analysts/ Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L. (2020). Applied Behavior Analysis (3rd Edition). Hoboken, NJ: Pearson Education. Ivy, Jonathan W et al. “Token Economy: A Systematic Review of Procedural Descriptions.” Behavior modification. 41.5 (2017): 708–737. Web.

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