From Luke’s Diner to the Clinic: ABA in Everyday Life ☕

May 29

Written By Ellie .

About the Author:

Hi, I am Madi Weber! A little about me is that I am 21 years old and I love working with kids (it hasn’t always been that way). In high school, I wanted to work in business and be part of a Fortune 500 company. Now I am a Christian and truly believe that my getting sick to my stomach a WEEK before I was supposed to move into school to study business was a sign that this wasn’t my calling. So instead, I worked at a local daycare and found my true calling…. Working with kids! At the daycare, we had some special needs kiddos, and I found that I truly love working with them. This is when I switched to an ABA company. I truly loved this, but I did not like the company that I worked for, so I found Catalyst! I grew from a BT to an RBT, from a Lead RBT, to now, as the Center Coordinator (which combines both my love for business and working with kids). Another thing to know about me is that I LOVE Gilmore Girls, ask anyone who knows me!

Now, about “Gilmore Girls”….

A topic I could talk about for ages.

In my career in ABA, I have started to notice that the techniques we use in the clinic appear in everyday life AND my favorite show!

“You’re kidding...”

— Rory from Gilmore Girls

**Here Are My Two Favorite Ways Gilmore Girls Accidentally Nails ABA Principles!**

Reinforcement, Rory, & Rituals:

Now, if you know anything about “Gilmore Girls”, you know about the infamous Friday Night Dinner. This is the base of ABA. When working with clients, we find the desired behavior or activity that we want to see, and we use reinforcement or a “treat” (like getting ice cream after a long day's work) when we want to see an increase in these behaviors. In “Gilmore Girls”, Lorelai and Rory have a very rocky relationship with their parents/grandparents (Richard and Emily). When Rory is accepted to Chilton, a private school, Lorelai needs help paying for the tuition. That’s where Richard and Emily come into play, they ask that, in exchange for paying for school, Lorelai and Rory need to have dinner with them every Friday night. The desired behavior Richard and Emily want to see is more time with Lorelai and Rory, and the reinforcement is the tuition for Rory’s schooling. Throughout the show, when Rory graduates from school, the Friday Night Dinners continue

….. But why?

Well, this is because it had been a very highly reinforced activity, which created generalization. This is what the end goal is for ABA: that clients can take the skills that they have learned, or, in the case of “Gilmore Girls,” the undesired activity is no longer undesired. In fact, by the end of Gilmore Girls, both Rory & Lorelai have a more nuanced, even affectionate, view of Friday night dinners.

Operant Conditioning with a Shot of Espresso:

Another instance of positive reinforcement is the all-needed “Coffee, coffee, coffee”. This is a highly motivating item for the Gilmore Girls. They provide themselves with coffee after any action they take. This could even be as simple as getting up in the morning! The coffee reinforces these behaviors (and is a very available reinforcement), as Luke's is right down the road! This decreases the amount of effort required to gain reinforcement, or in this case, coffee. In ABA, we decrease the effort needed to help teach new skills, and then slowly require more effort for reinforcement to help grow and expand on those skills.