Our theme for today is all about the importance of physical activity but also acknowledging that becoming physically active can be challenging to initiate across all different abilities.

Dan is the owner of Level Up Fitness, a gym located in Etobicoke providing personal training and specialized fitness programs to individuals with developmental disabilities.

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Rapport Building – building a positive relationship with an individual

Modelling – Demonstrating the desired behaviour

Shaping – Behaviour or skill is gradually taught by differentially reinforcing successive approximations to the target behaviour

Repertoire – the complete array of behaviours that a person has emitted in the past

Token Reinforcement System – a method used to try and reinforce (increase) the frequency of a target behaviour. Tokens can then be exchanged by the child for other types of reinforcement (bubbles, treats, coffee, etc.)

Visual Schedule – communicates the sequence of upcoming activities or events through the use of objects, photographs, icons, or words. 

Reinforcing – occurs when a behaviour increases because of a consequence of either adding or subtracting something from the environment

Interval Ratio – An intermittent schedule of reinforcement can be described as either being a ratio or interval schedule Ratio schedules are when a certain number of responses are emitted before reinforcement. An interval schedule is when a response is reinforced after a certain amount of time since the last reinforcement.