By Sam Blanco, PhD, LBA, BCBA-D
There’s a famous quote from W. Edwards Deming that says “Without data, you’re just another person with an opinion.” While Deming wasn’t a behavior analyst, this statement aligns closely with how BCBAs approach their work.
Most BCBAs will report how much they love data. But as workloads for BCBAs continue to increase, it’s unfortunate that some BCBAs aren’t looking at their client’s data more than once a month, and some aren’t looking until the authorization period ends after 3 to 6 months. It’s true that the system has drastically increased the response effort to review graphs weekly, but BCBAs are ultimately responsible for adapting their behavior in sessions in order to ensure they are completing those consistent reviews.
Our Ethics Code requires that we provide effective services, and a key component of this is ensuring our decisions are driven by data, not by opinion. If you’re feeling rushed and have a big caseload, there are some practical changes you can make to your day-to-day routines to help embed daily data review in your practice. These might include:
- Ten minutes prior to a supervision session, select five targets to review. Look at the data, and then focus on those targets during the session.
- Ask your clinical director if there are specific prompts within your data collection platform to help you organize data review better. For example, some platforms will have a visual indicator if data should be reviewed, while more sophisticated platforms might have flags or ways to sort out targets in which progress is not being made.
- Organize a system with your behavior technicians so they can tell you in advance of supervision sessions what targets they would flag.
- If your client has Behavior Treatment Modification hours (97155) or Treatment Planning hours (97151) utilize that time weekly to review data and make treatment modifications. This is what these hours are for!
Remember, we are collecting all this data for the purpose of making treatment decisions. This data is crucial to our work, and it is meant to inform our plans and ensure we are providing effective services. Here are some considerations to keep in mind as you review data:
- For any targets that have been mastered, move them to Mastered. If you keep mastered targets in Acquisition, you will lose out on having an accurate understanding of your client’s general rate of acquisition.
- For any mastered targets, add in additional targets if necessary. This will give you a more accurate picture of your client’s general rate of acquisition, and also improve variety and continued growth!
- If you see a target that has not been mastered after several weeks (or after a time longer than the client’s general rate of acquisition), consider possible changes, such as changes to the prompt level, the materials, or the need for mastering prerequisite skills. Adjust to what the data is telling you.
- For any targets you’re uncertain about, run them as-written with the client on your own. Then observe your BT to ensure they are running the program with procedural fidelity.
- Identify if there are any targets without data. You will need to review with your BT to understand barriers to implementing the target.
- If you see that an increase in challenging behaviors occurs during specific targets, evaluate what changes you may need to make. Again, adjust to what the data is telling you.
This isn’t a comprehensive checklist, but it’s a good start. Ultimately, reviewing all data should be a weekly practice for each client you work with. Otherwise, we’re not providing the full scope of behavior analytic services our learners rely on to make meaningful progress.
About the Author
Sam has been working with children with autism for 25 years. She loves working with new BCBAs and students pursuing their BCBAs. She is the Chief Clinical Officer at BK Behavior.