Category Archives: Applied Behavior Analysis

How Can Parents Find Effective Reinforcers?

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This week, Leanne Page M.Ed, BCBA, answers a parent’s question on creating effective token economies.  

This piece originally appeared on bsci21.org.

“Dear Behavior BFF, I’ve tried using a token economy and it helped for a little while. But lately my son has told me that he doesn’t want to earn stickers and he doesn’t care about the new toy he can get from his sticker chart. What do I do?”

First of all- good job using some behavior analysis to help increase desired behaviors in your family! A token economy is a great tool.

Now- a token economy is a great tool when it is combined with great positive reinforcement. What your message is telling me is that it’s not the token economy that is the problem. The rewards you are offering your son are not reinforcing. It sounds like they were super reinforcing and effective for a while, but your son is just not that into these rewards anymore.

So what do you do? Throw out the whole token economy system? No! Let’s find some more effective reinforcers to help you be successful again.

As parents, we assume we know what our kiddos like. We know what they are into, what they want, and what their preferred items are. But sometimes the things they will work to earn may surprise us.

Our kids may become satiated or habituated to the rewards we are offering them. This means they have had enough and it’s no longer piquing their interest. No matter what the cause, what we do know is that our children’s preferences change. To use effective positive reinforcement, we must identify what is reinforcing to our child at this point in time.

Enter preference assessments.

A preference assessment encapsultes “a variety of procedures used to determine the stimuli that the person prefers, the relative preference values of those stimuli, and the conditions under which those preference values change when task demands, deprivation states, or schedules of reinforcement are modified” (Cooper, Heron, & Heward, 2014).

As parents, we can do this in a number of ways.

  1. Observe your child and see what they choose to play with. This can take place at home but also outside your home. If you go to a friend or family member’s house, what things does your child choose to interact with? If you go to a museum, bookstore, other outings, what interests does your child show?
  2. Make a list of things/activities you think would be good reinforcers and ask your child how he feels about them. Depending on age and ability you could have him rate them on a scale of 1-10 or have them choose a happy face for each one. You could read each item and have your child give thumbs up, thumb sideways, or thumbs down to indicate preference. If you can’t think of ideas, google it. There are many reinforcer surveys or preference assessment checklists floating around on the internet.
  3. Let your child generate the list. Ask “What do you want to earn?” Let them say the big things that are unlikely and help to identify ones that are reasonable.
  4. If you are going to use new items- let your son choose. Take your child shopping. I let me daughter pick one or two things from the dollar spot every time we go to Target. She doesn’t get to keep them that day. She puts them in her prize bag to earn with good behavior or reaching goals on a token economy.

Any time we have a valid system of positive behavior supports in place, such as your token economy, and it stops working- it’s not the system. It’s the reinforcement. The reinforcement you are offering is simply not strong enough.

Up the ante. Give better options for rewards. Identify potential reinforcers by conducting a preference assessment. Let your son choose his reinforcer.

Whenever there is a new problem behavior, or a behavior management system not working- my first response is increase the positive reinforcement for appropriate behaviors.

Be prepared to continue to do preference assessments every once in a while. Our children’s interests and preferences change, so if we stay in the know we can have effective reinforcers at hand.

References

Carr, J. E., Nicolson, A. C., & Higbee, T. S. (2000). Evaluation of a brief multiple‐stimulus preference assessment in a naturalistic context. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 33(3), 353-357.

Cooper, J.O, Heron, T.E., & Heward, W. L. (2014). Applied behavior analysis. Pearson Education International.

DeLeon, I. G., Fisher, W. W., Rodriguez‐Catter, V., Maglieri, K., Herman, K., & Marhefka, J. M. (2001). Examination of relative reinforcement effects of stimuli identified through pretreatment and daily brief preference assessments. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 34(4), 463-473.

Leanne Page, MEd, BCBA, is the author of Parenting with Science: Behavior Analysis Saves Mom’s Sanity. As a Behavior Analyst and a mom of two little girls, she wanted to share behavior analysis with a population who could really use it- parents!

Leanne’s writing can be found in Parenting with Science and Parenting with ABA as well as a few other sites. She is a monthly contributor to bSci21.com , guest host for the Dr. Kim Live show, and has contributed to other websites as well.

Leanne has worked with children with disabilities for over 10 years. She earned both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Texas A&M University.  She also completed ABA coursework through the University of North Texas before earning her BCBA certification in 2011. Leanne has worked as a special educator of both elementary and high school self-contained, inclusion, general education, and resource settings.

Leanne also has managed a center providing ABA services to children in 1:1 and small group settings. She has  extensive experience in school and teacher training, therapist training, parent training, and providing direct services to children and families in a center-based or in-home therapy setting.

Leanne is now located in Dallas, Texas and is available for: distance BCBA and BCaBA supervision, parent training, speaking opportunities, and consultation. She can be reached via Facebook or at Lpagebcba@gmail.com.

Pick of the Week: Token Economies!

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We have great tools to help learners meet goals and stay on task! Sale ends 11/6!

*Promotion is valid until November 6th, 2017 at 11:59pm ET. Offer cannot be applied to previous purchases, combined with any other offers, transferred, refunded, or redeemed and/or exchanged for cash or credit. Different Roads to Learning reserves the right to change or cancel this promotion at any time. To redeem offer at difflearn.com, enter promo code REINFORCE2017 at checkout.

10 Common Mistakes Parents Make In Playing With Their Children With ASD

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This week’s post comes to us from Stephanny Freeman, PhD and Kristen Hayashida, MEd, BCBA, and Dr. Tanya Paparella, our partners on the Play Idea Cards app. Play Idea Cards is a full curriculum on teaching play – right in the palm of your hand! Check it out on the Apple App Store! 

Parents of young children with developmental disabilities are truly tireless. At times when one would think a break could be had – the time when they get to enjoy watching their children play, enjoy a conversation with another adult while their children play, or even relaxing by playing and having fun with their children – instead they are working with and teaching their children…and rightly so!

 
I’ve spent a good part of my career watching parents play with their young children with a variety of developmental disabilities (severe intellectual delay, Down syndrome, and autism spectrum disorder). Across the board, parents are remarkable. In a beautiful coordination of grace and direction, they work on controlling behavior, developing language, teaching concepts, maintaining attention, and building fun and relationships. Parents of children with disabilities are more directive and more instructional – yielding evidence of tremendous benefits for their children’s development as a result of these tireless warriors.

 
Children with autism in particular, have a significant and very specialized deficit in their ability to play with toys. Sometimes it can be in the functional domain but it is always difficult for them to think symbolically and abstractly about play. Teaching play to children with ASD is incredibly important and parents know this – they try!
For parents of children with ASD, here are 10 mistakes that are commonly made during play that can really disrupt their child’s growth in play.

 
1. Thinking that play develops on its own and randomly. Play in neurotypical children develops generally in a sequence and children with ASD do not naturally follow or progress through that sequence. Most books you find on children’s play show a fairly consistent developmental pathway for play. Skills build upon skills. Children start with very functional and constructional acts and develop into symbolic and creative play.

 
2. Forgetting to use play to actually teach play. Parents often use play to teach other skills (e.g. language or early concepts). Children with ASD have a core deficit in play so take time during your play with your child to actually teach them how to play with the toys regularly.

 
3. Thinking that your child will love play right away. For children with ASD, symbolic play is very difficult and likely your child would rather do other things than play. For example, a child with ASD may rather roll a car down a ramp repetitively then have the car “feel hungry” and go to the gas station for some “food.” It actually falls on the parent, at first, to convince the child that play is fun! This means you must have high positive affect (e.g., show excitement in your body language and in your words), work through difficulties with a huge smile, and laugh and enjoy using positive language.

 
4. Playing at a level that is way too difficult. Knowing what your child can do will help you teach them what comes next. If you child is just starting to put puzzles together, asking them to pretend to be Buzz Lightyear and talk like him is much too difficult.
5. Forgetting to imitate. It is critical for engagement building to imitate your child’s appropriate play behavior. Directiveness is still great but integrate imitation in your play. You should have a good balance of both. If your child is building blocks, grab a few and copy your child.

 
6. Constantly shifting your child’s attention. Sometimes it is necessary to move your child away from something that is a perseveration or a repetitive interest but in general, try to stick with what your child is doing. Sustained engagement with toys and people in coordination is a great skill and something children with ASD need to work on. It’s not a race to see how many different things you can do during a play time. Be patient and tolerant and build off of their interests rather than shifting their attention. Enjoy playing similar routines every time you play – just slowly build off of them.

 
7. Prompting intrusively. Starting off by hand-over-hand prompting or being very verbally directive (“put that block here and the train here”) your child is forced to shifts their attention without their own consideration. Instead, focus on what they pick up or are interested in, then move them forward by showing them something related to what they are doing, or general verbal comments (“Boy, that doll is super hungry!” as your child is holding a piece of play food).

 
8. Being concrete. If your child wants to do something a little imaginative, don’t bring them back to the concrete. If a child grabs a block and starts to eat it like a burger, please don’t tell them “It’s not food it’s a block!” Instead, imitate and say, “You have a burger, I have a hot dog!”

 
9. Missing the surprise factor. Every play session, even if it’s pretty routine and organized, should include something surprising by the parent. Parents should throw in a fun “wrench” and make a huge facial expression that indicates surprise. It’s called “violating” a routine or a play scheme. So if Mickey Mouse always goes to his top bunk in the play house, make sure one day the top bunk has cats in it! Your child will laugh and you can laugh too. This makes for enjoyment and further eye contact and engagement. It also facilitates problems solving.

 
10. Allowing your child to get away from play. Although the prior points suggest to following your child’s lead and imitate, the line should be drawn when your child doesn’t follow through with play. So if you are playing with your child’s interest (e.g. play food) and you make the suggestion of showing him dolls or plates or cups, then you verbally request his participation, he must follow through. Don’t allow your child to not follow through on play. Remember it’s a core problem for them so it’s hard!

 
Although play is still a “work” time for parents, hopefully these tips will help make it smoother and more enjoyable for everyone. This builds interest, sustained engagement, longer schemes and ideas for play, and positive practice of play skills. Ready Set PLAY!

About The Authors

Dr. Stephanny Freeman is a clinical professor at UCLA, a licensed clinical psychologist, and Co-Directs the Early Childhood Partial Hospitalization Program (ECPHP).  For 20 years, she has educated children with ASD and other exceptionalities as a teacher, studied interventions for social emotional development, and designed curriculum and behavior plans in school and clinic settings.

Kristen Hayashida is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst at the UCLA Early Childhood Partial Hospitalization Program (ECPHP).  For the last 10 years she has served as a therapist, researcher and educator of children and families living with autism spectrum disorder through the treatment of problem behavior.

Dr. Tanya Paparella is a specialist in the field of autism having spent more than 20 years in intervention and research in autism. She is an Associate Clinical Professor in the Division of Child Psychiatry at UCLA, a licensed clinical psychologist, and Co-Director of UCLA’s Early Childhood Partial Hospitalization Program (ECPHP), an internationally recognized model treatment program for young children on the autism spectrum.

Pick of the Week: Games!

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Now through 10/30!

*Promotion is valid until October 30th, 2017 at 11:59pm ET. Offer cannot be applied to previous purchases, combined with any other offers, transferred, refunded, or redeemed and/or exchanged for cash or credit. Different Roads to Learning reserves the right to change or cancel this promotion at any time. To redeem offer at difflearn.com, enter promo code GAMES2017 at checkout.

Sam’s Hints for the Holidays: 6 Tips for Success on Halloween

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Holidays can be challenging for everyone in the family. Your to-do lists get longer, your routines are switched around, and all the little stresses can be especially difficult for your child with autism. Here are a few tips to ease the difficulties related to Halloween.

For Preschool & Elementary Children

  • Practice – Invite your neighbors to have a “rehearsal” for Halloween so your learner can practice the steps. If this isn’t a possibility for you, it may be helpful to watch youtube videos of trick-or-treating.
  • Prepare – Let your child know the trick-or-treating route in advance. In the days leading up to Halloween, make yourself aware of houses to avoid based on decorations that are gory, include excessive lighting, have strobes, or any other aspects that you know will make your learner uncomfortable.

For Teenagers

  • Consider alternatives – You may want to join with other parents to throw a Halloween party that is autism-friendly based on the needs of your learner and the needs of other party guests. Another suggestion would be to celebrate with a themed activity, such as Halloween activities at local museums or art institutions.
  • Give a task – Let your child have a job such as giving out the treats at the door, managing an activity for younger children, or helping with decorating your home.

For All Children

  • Be flexible – Think about what is necessary for your learner, what your learner is interested in, and what success looks like in terms of Halloween. Maybe success means you visit three houses, or maybe success means your learner chose a costume. The idea is to keep it fun.
  • Remember it’s okay to stay at home! – You can create your own Halloween tradition that fits your family’s needs. This could include a special movie night, creating Halloween-inspired foods together, or anything that is fun for the whole family.

WRITTEN BY SAM BLANCO, PhD, LBA, BCBA

Sam is an ABA provider for students ages 3-15 in NYC. Working in education for twelve years with students with Autism Spectrum Disorders and other developmental delays, Sam utilizes strategies for achieving a multitude of academic, behavior, and social goals. She is also an assistant professor in the ABA program at The Sage Colleges.

Pick of the Week: Prepositions!

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Now through 10/23!

*Promotion is valid until October 23rd, 2017 at 11:59pm ET. Offer cannot be applied to previous purchases, combined with any other offers, transferred, refunded, or redeemed and/or exchanged for cash or credit. Different Roads to Learning reserves the right to change or cancel this promotion at any time. To redeem offer at difflearn.com, enter promo code LEARN2017 at checkout.

 

Annotated Resources: Bullying

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October is National Bullying Prevention Month! In this month’s ASAT feature, Sunbul Rai, MSc, BCBA, Renee Wozniak, PhD, BCBA-D, and Rachel L. Liebert have collected some amazing resources to address the issue of bullying. To learn more about ASAT, please visit their website at www.asatonline.org. You can also sign up for ASAT’s free newsletter, Science in Autism Treatment, and like them on Facebook!

Bullying is an unfortunate reality for many individuals with (and without) autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This list of annotated resources has been created to serve as a helpful reference for individuals with ASD, parents, clinicians, and educators alike. Included are resources that provide realistic strategies around both preventing bullying and addressing existing bullying. We hope that this information will support informed decisions and assist you in taking a strong stand against bullying.

 

1.  National Autism Association (2015). A & S bullying: 5 things parents can do – www.autismsafety.org/bullying-tips.php The National Autism Association (NAA, 2015) provides a brief and practical list of five steps parents can take to address and prevent bullying in school, including 1) preparing the team, 2) addressing bullying with specific goals in the Individualized Education Plan (IEP), 3) preparing your child, 4) monitoring your child for signs of being bullied and 5) using the complaint process. At the outset, the authors stress the need to clarify the school district’s policies on bullying as a first step to prepare the team. Next, NAA suggests politely making it clear that you will be involved in helping the team to avoid your child’s victimization, and clearly communicating with teachers, administrators, the school board, and possibly the child’s peers to provide information on the child’s specific strengths and challenges, autism spectrum disorder, and the problem of bullying. In the IEP, NAA suggests addressing bullying by including social skills and self-advocacy goals, applicable accommodations, a familiarization plan, and specific peer support. To prepare your child, it is suggested to talk to him/her about appropriate friendships and about bullying, obtain social skills training if possible, and to help him/her get organized and oriented to the school in advance. Next, NAA suggests monitoring your child consistently for signs of being bullied by visiting the school often and keeping the lines of communication open with your child and teachers. If the complaint process is necessary, be persistent while avoiding being overly emotional; begin with informal written resolutions, moving to filing a complaint if necessary, while keeping in mind your rights under “The Individualized with Disabilities Education Act” (IDEA, 2004). “A & S Bullying: 5 Things Parents Can Do” is a quick read that may help parents take some simple first steps in addressing and preventing bullying issues for their child.

2.  Autism Speaks (2015). Combating bullying – www.autismspeaks.org/family-services/bullying “Combating Bullying” is a compilation of information surrounding bullying of individuals with ASD, incorporating links to a variety of Internet and other resources. Some of the links include the Interactive Autism Network (IAN)’s study on bullying experiences of children on the autism spectrum, a Special Needs Anti-Bullying Toolkit, the trailer for and information on Bully: A Documentary, links to almost 20 books, 10 websites, and to other resources including a DVD and a list of signs to look out for that your child might be being bullied. The compilation addresses bullying of individuals with ASD and Asperger’s Syndrome, and includes information on bullying in schools, cyber bullying, and more. Information may be useful for parents, caregivers, educators, school administrators, individuals with ASD, and peers/friends of individuals with ASD.

3.  Autism Intervention Research Network on Behavioral Health (2013) – Remaking Recess www.airbnetwork.org/remaking.asp The Autism Intervention Research Network on Behavioral Health provides access to a booklet on a social skills intervention called “Remaking Recess” for use in the school setting. The booklet provides a treatment overview (helping children with ASD learn to engage with peers in the school setting) and a brief summary of playground engagement states (solitary, onlooker, parallel, parallel aware, joint engagement, games with rules) followed by specific strategies that can be implemented at recess time. Intervention strategies are included for a variety of situations, including 1) transitioning to an engaging activity and setting up, 2) providing popular developmentally-appropriate games and activities, 3) in-vivo social skills instruction, 4) facilitating peer conversations, 5) playing games, 6) sustaining engagement, 6) fading out of an activity and 7) a quick guide to boosting peer engagement. One of the main purposes of the intervention is to prevent bullying by aiming to improve the social inclusion of elementary-aged children with ASD by means of facilitated interactions with peers. “Remaking Recess” may be useful for individuals in educational settings who wish to take proactive steps to reduce bullying.

4.  Committee for Children (2015). Second step bullying prevention unit – www.cfchildren.org/second-step/research The Committee for Children is a non-profit organization that uses education with the aim of preventing bullying, child abuse and youth violence. The Second Step Bullying Prevention Unit is an initiative through The Committee for Children and is aimed at reducing bullying and peer victimization. The website includes information on the Second Step Bullying Prevention Unit Program as well as program outcomes. It comprises an article on the role of social-emotional learning (SEL) in bullying prevention efforts and highlights the importance of specific social and emotional skills taught in SEL programs, which include 1) empathy, 2) emotion management, 3) social problem solving, and 4) social competence. The website indicates that the implementation of the Second Step Bullying Prevention Unit can help empower schools to prevent and reduce bullying. It may be useful for professionals and parents alike to help them better understand specific skills that need to be taught to children to help prevent bullying.

5.  AbilityPath.org: Support for Parents of Children with Special Needs (2014). Bullying – www.abilitypath.org/areas-of-development/learning–schools/bullying/ AbilityPath.Org provides many bullying resources on its website and one of its highlights is the comprehensive report on bullying which focuses on supporting parents of children with special needs. The report is entitled “Walk a Mile in Their Shoes: Bullying and the Child with Special Needs” and emphasizes the “silent epidemic” of bullying that children with special needs face on a daily basis. It has several sections, which include: an overview of the report, testimonials from parents and children, targets: children with special needs, statistics, signs of being bullied, cyber bullying, teachable moments, the IEP, the law, the experts, the anti-bully program, and the call to action. Furthermore, it has several parent toolkits along with a teacher toolkit to help caregivers identify signs of bullying, and it highlights proactive steps that can be taken to protect a child with special needs. The information is also geared towards cyber bullying, which is bullying that can be conducted through the use of technology and social media sites. For example, one of the parent toolkits stresses the importance of protecting a child with special needs by teaching the child not to reveal personal information online, limiting online time, reviewing security settings on the computer and so forth. “Walk a Mile in Their Shoes: Bullying and the Child with Special Needs” promotes awareness, provides resources on bullying and its impact, and may be useful for parents, caregivers, teachers, administrators and other professionals working with children with special needs.

6.  PBIS: Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports (2015). Bully prevention in SWPBS – www.pbis.org/school/bully-prevention PBIS: Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports (2015) provides bully prevention manuals for the elementary, middle, and high school levels. The manuals are meant as a resource for the school setting and aim to provide students with the tools needed to be free of bullying through the use of school-wide positive behavior interventions and supports. The program described in the manual is divided into six lessons and focuses on the “stop/walk/talk procedure” for gossip, inappropriate remarks, and cyber bullying. The stop/walk/talk procedure involves physical and verbal components with examples of when these components can be used appropriately and when they should not be implemented. The manual emphasizes teaching the skill, followed by practice and roleplaying for a variety of scenarios. The lessons are easy to read and are ready for implementation in the classroom setting. PBIS’s bully prevention manuals may be useful for teachers or other educators in school and similar settings.

7.  National School Climate Center. (2015). Educating minds and hearts… because the three R’s are not enough – http://schoolclimate.org/ The National School Climate Center is an organization that utilizes relevant research to establish and distribute guidelines to encourage acceptance and safety in schools. The Center offers professional development programs for educators, parents, and after-school supervisors to better understand and promote children’s social and emotional wellness and communication. Their website offers guidelines to help educators and parents establish and maintain safe, comfortable schools and homes by understanding social and emotional learning. The “Bully Prevention” section of the website includes a toolkit entitled “The Breaking the Bully-Victim-Bystander Cycle Tool Kit.” This resource may be useful for educators who wish to create a positive school climate.

8.  The Bully Project (2015) – http://www.thebullyproject.com/ The Bully Project is a website that aims to take action against bullying. It focuses on a documentary about children who were bullied during the 2009-2010 academic year and how their parents supported them and modeled “upstander” rather than “bystander” behavior. The website invites users to share their own stories and host or organize screenings of the film to raise awareness. The site also includes tools (including DVDs and toolkits that can be purchased) for students, parents, advocates, and educators, with a section devoted to individuals with special needs. The tools for educators are also available in Spanish. The “Roadmap to Building a Caring and Respectful School Community” includes work that was produced with the assistance of the Making Caring Common Initiative at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The website also provides interested individuals a platform in which they can take action by joining regional anti-bully project teams. This resource may be useful for those looking to increase awareness and to take steps toward reducing bullying.

9.  Pacer’s National Bullying Prevention Center (2015). The end of bullying begins with you – www.pacer.org/bullying/ Pacer’s National Bullying Prevention Center’s website was developed for children and teenagers to be part of a social cause to end bullying. It includes a section dedicated to students with disabilities with legal information and template letters for parents to send to their child’s school to serve as notification of a bullying situation and a written record of having done so. The website also directs children and teenagers to other helpful resources including KidsAgainstBullying.org and TeensAgainstBullying.org. Ample information is provided about National Bullying Prevention Month (October) including a brief history, opportunities to register for events, key points to make should you wish to give a presentation, and directions to request a governor’s proclamation. Educator toolkits are available under the resources tab, and they include classroom toolkits, community toolkits, student-created toolkits, and activities for youth. Additionally, there is a guide for planning school events, and a peer advocacy guide. This website may be useful for children and teenagers who want to make a difference and provides tangible resources to reduce bullying.

10.  U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (2015). Stopbullying.gov – http://stopbullying.gov This government website provides a wealth of resources across a variety of areas, in both English and Spanish. An array of topics is covered with related subtopics and links. General topics and subtopics include:

  • What is Bullying – definition, roles kids play, and related matters (e.g., harassment, teen dating violence, peer conflict and more)
  • Cyber Bullying – what it is, how to prevent it, how to report it, and risk factors
  • Who is at Risk – warning signs, effects, and considerations for specific groups (including bullying and youth with disabilities and special health needs)
  • Preventing Bullying – how to talk about it, prevention at school, working in the community, and a training center which includes videos, reading modules, research and statistics, training manuals, toolkits, user guides and additional resources
  • Responding to Bullying – stopping it on the spot, finding out what happened, supporting the kids involved, and being more than a bystander
  • Get Help Now – includes steps to take to resolve a range of bullying situations

Cite this:
Rai, S., Wozniak, R. & Liebert, R. L. (2015). Annotated resources: Bullying. Science in Autism Treatment, 12(4), 23-27.

Bullying can be complex and the Association for Science in Autism Treatment has other resources available for help with this, as well. Please check out the links below to learn more!

1. Clinical Corner: Preventing and Addressing Bullying, Lori Ernsperger, Ph.D., BCBA-D
https://www.asatonline.org/research-treatment/clinical-corner/bullying/

2. Clinical Corner: Teaching Safety Skills to Adolescents, Shannon Wilkinson, MADS, BCaBA
https://www.asatonline.org/for-parents/education/lifespan/teaching-safety-skills-to-adolescents/

About The Authors 

Sunbul Rai, M.Sc, is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst® with a background in education and psychology.  She has extensive experience working with individuals on the Autism Spectrum in a variety of settings across Canada.  Sunbul serves as the Practicum Consultant for the University of New Brunswick’s Autism Intervention Training Program.  She is also the founder of the ABA Little Tots Program at Autism Services, the first intensive behavioural intervention (IBI) program in Saskatchewan.  She is committed to enhancing the quality of life of individuals with Autism so that they can reach their full and utmost potential.

Renee Wozniak, PhD, BCBA-D, joined the ASAT Board of Directors in 2016. Prior to serving as a Board Member, Renée was a part of ASAT’s Externship, where she assumed the roles of Media Watch Co-Coordinator and Media Watch Lead. Renée received her Ph.D. in Special Education, focusing on Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), from Arizona State University. She has worked in the fields of ASD and ABA in a variety of capacities since 1998, serving in public schools as a special education teacher, behavior intervention teacher specialist and district-wide autism trainer, and in clinical and home-based ABA programs as a research assistant, clinical/behavior interventionist, and program supervisor. Renée has trained families, therapists, teachers, teacher candidates, paraprofessionals, administrators, and others working with individuals with autism, and has instructed master’s level ABA, ASD, research and special education courses. She currently serves in the roles of faculty and subject matter expert in Capella University’s Applied Behavior Analysis program. Renée is passionate about helping individuals with autism and their families by supporting and disseminating scientific research in autism treatment.

Rachel Liebert was an extern at ASAT from 2015 to 2016 while she was studying psychology at Barnard College of Columbia University.  She is currently a second-year law student at Fordham University and plans to pursue a career in public policy and child welfare.

Ethics Part Two: More on the Right to Effective Treatment

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This is part two in a series on ethics and effective treatment. Part one can be found here.

 

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In Part One, I discussed the right to effective treatment as detailed by the Professional and Ethical Compliance Code for Behavior Analysts. An essential part of effective treatment is providing, as the code specifies, “scientifically supported, most-effective treatment procedures” (BACB, 2014). In order to do this, behavior analysts must contact the research literature to fully understand scientifically supported treatments. They should do this through reading journal articles, but also through attending workshops, trainings, and local conferences.
Reading journal articles should be a regular activity for behavior analysts. It is suggested that behavior analysts set aside two to four hours per week to read recent journals (Bailey & Burch, 2016, p. 24). This may seem like a lot of time, especially if you aren’t currently doing it. But this practice allows you to stay abreast of current research and have access to a broader range of possible interventions. You may also find it easier to follow through if you participate in a journal club (click here to see suggestions for that.).
Most of the behavior analytic research you’ll find is comprised of single-subject studies. You may get pushback from professionals or parents who are accustomed to seeing research with very large numbers of participants and an explanation of average results. It’s important to understand how to address those concerns in an accessible and accurate way. Here are some things to consider:
• Behavior analytic research does not utilize averages. Therefore, we learn a lot about the specific individuals who responded to an intervention, and can make a more accurate hypothesis about whether or not that intervention will work for a particular client. Furthermore, research based on averages doesn’t provide any information on the percentage of individuals who did not respond to the intervention and WHY they did not respond to the intervention. This is important information that we’re missing out on!
• Behavior analysis is focused on creating individualized interventions. We do not believe in a one-size-fits-all approach, but rather in a set of principles of behavior. Individualizing treatment means that we are looking at the environment, the basic characteristics of the individual, the motivations of the individual, and the functions of a behavior when creating an intervention. When you familiarize yourself with behavior analytic research, you are able to identify interventions that worked with individuals who similar characteristics to that of your particular client.
• Though behavior analysts utilize single subject research, we are fully aware that this does not mean an intervention that worked for a few subjects will work for everyone. This is why there is an important stress on replication of research. (Chiesa, 1994). This is also why it’s important to read several journal articles on the same subject, rather than simply reading one and considering yourself up to date.

 

The main takeaway here is that being familiar with the research is important in order to maintain an ethical practice. Supervisors should support this by providing suggestions for readings and modeling these behaviors. Organizations can support this by subscribing to journals and maintaining a small library for employees. You can support it by subscribing to journals, setting aside time to spend time reading journals, and participating in a journal club. It is incredibly important to our field, and to your practice.

 
Bailey, J. S., & Burch, M. R. (2016). Ethics for behavior analysts: 3rd edition. New York: Routledge.
Behavior Analyst Certification Board. (2014). Professional and ethical compliance code for behavior analysts.
Chiesa, M. (1994). Radical behaviorism: The philosophy and the science. Authors Cooperative.

WRITTEN BY SAM BLANCO, PhD, LBA, BCBA

Sam is an ABA provider for students ages 3-15 in NYC. Working in education for twelve years with students with Autism Spectrum Disorders and other developmental delays, Sam utilizes strategies for achieving a multitude of academic, behavior, and social goals. She is also an assistant professor in the ABA program at The Sage Colleges.

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