For your centers and clients, do attempts at aggression count as aggression?

As I understand, people in ABA are divided over whether attempts should count, and it seems like it depends on the client's behavior plan.

For me, I think it is logically consistent to say that attempts DO and SHOULD count.

If the purpose of ABA is to teach functional skills which clients can translate into their next settings (school, work, home, et), then I think it's a reasonable ask to prepare them for the boundaries and expectations of those spaces --the "real world" for lack of a better term.

Consequently, the "real world," while the categorizations and consequence procedures might be different, is not going to make much of a distinction between aggression and attempts at aggression.

If you attempt to harm someone in any way (assault, battery, murder), you will still be punished regardless of whether your attempts are successful.

If you approach someone with the observable intent to hurt them, you're still gonna be seen as aggressive.

Try swinging your fist at a client and telling your boss attempts don't count.

In sum, I'm not saying they should be documented or seen the exact same way (just like attempted murder is penalized differently), but imo aggression attempts should still be