Module 8: Lesson 3

Behavioral Cusps and Pivotal Behaviors from Jigsaw Trust on Vimeo.

In our previous lesson, we looked at a variety of ABA skills assessments. You might remember that some assessments, for example the AFLS and EFLS, focused on practical skills. Other assessments, such as the VB-MAPP, ELCAR and PEAK, focused on what might be called learning to learn skills.

In the current lesson, we will look at some of the concepts related to ?learning to learn? skills. The first concept is the Behavioral Cusp.

Behavioral Cusps

A cusp is a change in the capability of a learner that once it is made, allows a learner to access new environments, new reinforcers, new stimuli and new contingencies. This, in turn, allows for the subsequent acquisition of new cusps.  In many cases, if a particular behavioural cusp is not made, further development in that area may be difficult or not possible. The acquisition of a cusp can sometimes be difficult or tedious.
The impact of acquiring a behavioural cusp is often sudden and dramatic.

Let?s look at simple example:

A baby learns to crawl. The process of learning to crawl may have been gradual and occurred over a long period of time. But once the baby can crawl, they can access lots of new environments, reinforcers, punishers and stimuli.  This, in turn, can lead to the further acquisition of new behaviours.

The example of crawling is, like many behavioural cusps, similar to developmental milestones. A cusp for an older learner might be learning to drive. A teenager who learns to drive now has access to a wider world. They come into contact with new reinforcers and punishers (e.g. fines). It might enable them to get a job that they could otherwise not have gained.

Cusps are also individual to a learner.  For example, if you?ve learned to play the guitar, then acquiring that skill may or may not have been a cusp for you.  But it has certainly been a cusp for many rock stars. Cusps are life-changing.

Let?s look at three common cusps that are sometimes taught to learners, especially younger learners, in ABA interventions.

Generalized Motor Imitation

Generalized motor imitation (GMI) is an important skill that allows a learner to imitate not only specific movements that may have been previously directly taught, but almost any motor movement that is observed.

Why is this important? Well, because when a learner has GMI, they start to ?pick up? skills more quickly. It means that when you see somebody do something, you can try to imitate it. This enables you to learn faster. Some research also associates it with learning to engage in vocal speech.

Observational Learning

Put simply, observational learning is learning the follows observing the behavior of another individual. When acquired, a learner can access new forms of reinforcement simply by observing the behaviour of those around them.

Naming

Naming is a as a verbal developmental stage  where the listener and speaker capabilities of a learner become significantly more integrated. If a learner has not yet achieved this cusp, they typically need to be directly taught to identify and label new objects, people and activities. When a learner has acquired the naming cusp, they learn things incidentally and quickly.

For example, a child who has acquired naming is walking down the street with his father.  His father says to the child ?Look, a fox!? and points to a fox.  If the child has naming in their repertoire, they will now be able to point to a fox when asked or verbally label it if shown a picture of video. 

Pivotal Responses

Pivotal behaviors are those behaviors that produce simultaneous changes in many other behaviors. Once acquired, these behaviors lead to new untaught behaviors emerging within an individual?s repetoire. Positive changes in pivotal behaviors should have widespread positive effects on many other behaviors in the same class of behavior and therefore constitute an efficient way to produce global change for a learner.

Examples of pivotal behaviors include things like learning to initiate social interactions, make requests or respond to multiple cues.

The difference between Pivotal Behaviors and Behavioral Cusps

The terms pivotal behaviour and cusp behaviour are sometimes used interchangeably. Some behaviors can be both.

In general, we might describe a behaviour as a cusp if it results in a learner being exposed to new environments and contingencies of reinforcement and we might describe a behaviour as a pivotal behaviour if acquiring it allows new behaviors to occur.

It is important to understand that the terms are not mutually exclusive. Certain behaviors can be both pivotal behaviors and behavioural cusps.


Pivotal Behaviors, Cusp Behaviors and Selecting Targets

Some questions that behaviour analysts ask themselves when identifying potential targets include:

  • Does the response facilitate subsequent learning by being either a prerequisite or a component of more complex responses?
  • Will the response have the potential to contact new reinforcers?
  • Will the response give the learner access to new environments?
  • Does the response benefit the learner and others?
  • Does the response have social validity?

As you can see, the first three questions are closely related to the concepts of cusp and pivotal behaviors. Given the wide range of new reinforcers and skills associated with acquiring behavioural cusps and pivotal behaviors, they are often valuable skills to teach a learner.

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