Bcba Exam 3

Assessment

Planning

Implementation

Evaluation

Identifies and defines targets for bx change

Guides creation of effective and positive interventions

Must be aware of socially significant bxs

1. Screening and general deposition

2. Defining problems or desired achievement criteria

3. Pinpointing target bxs to be addressed

4. Monitor progress

5. Follow up

Who has the:

Authority

Permission

Resources

Skills

to conduct the assessment and intervene with the bx? If you don't have one of these, you shouldn't do it at all

Indirect Measures: interviews, old records, checklists. Not as reliable. Only used as supplement to other methods

Direct Measures: Tests, Direct Observation. Preferred over indirect measures.

1. Checklists (likert scales, rating scales, other checklists)

2. Observation

3. Interviews

4. Tests

RULE OUT MEDICAL CAUSES FOR PROBLEM BX

Refer client to undergo medical evaluation

Determine if there is still a need for services

Conduct indirect assessment

Does bx pose a threat to self or others?

Does bx affect the client's well being?

Does bx prevent the individual from accessing less restrictive environments?

How does bx compare to same age peers?

--Know the physical, material, and human resources within the family or organization where the change needs to occur

-- Learn the values and concerns of key stakeholders

-- See what adjustments might be necessary to encourage, monitor and sustain the kinds of changes wanted

-- If resources aren't available, back to the drawing board

-- Awareness of constraints are outlined in The Code.

-- Sometimes a simple environmental change is enough rather than a complex bx plan

-- Environment/ ecology is not just the physical setting, but also the people in the environment

-- Changing the ecology and/or how others engage with your client = client bx change

-- Always identify in FBA environmental variables that may trigger bx and that occur after which may be reinforcing bx

-- If conditions hamper or prevent implementation of bx plan, seek to eliminate the constraints, or identify in writing the obstacles to doing so (as outlined in The Code)

--A great deal of info is gathered re: the individual and the various settings in which they participate

--Includes info about physiological conditions, physical settings, interactions with others, home environment, etc.

-- Creates lots of descriptive data

-- Costly in terms of time, money, etc

-- know when appropriate to use

The effects of the assessment process on the bx of the individual being assessed.

Most likely to occur when observation methods are obtrusive/ obvious

Self - monitoring=most obtrusive

Reactive effects usually temporary

To reduce reactivity: be unobtrusive as possible, repeat observations until reactive effects subside, take reactivity into account when interpreting

Whose bx is being assessed and why?

Who does the bx change benefit most? -- not ok to change bx for the benefit of others or just because you want to.

To what extent will the proposed change improve the person's life?

Assesses meaningfulness of change.

-- Is the change really useful to the client?

-- Habilitation occurs when a person's repertoire has been changed so that reinforcers are maximized and punishers are minimized in both short and long term

1. Reinforcement available in natural environment long term?

2. Prerequisite for a more complex functional skill?

3. Provide increased access to environments?

4. Predispose others to interact with client in more supportive manner?

5. Pivotal bx/ bx cusp?

6. Age appropriate?

7. If targeted for reduction, has a replacement bx been selected?

8. Is it the goal or just indirectly related?

9. Is it "talk therapy" or is it the real bx of interest?

10. If goal is not this specific bx, will this bx help achieve the goal? Ex: sometimes changes people want to make are not bx but are the result of the product of certain other bxs (such as wanting to lose weight. Bx= reduced consumption, increased exercise, etc)

The belief that people with disabilities should, to the maximum extent possible, be physically and socially integrated into mainstream society, regardless of the type or degree of disability.

The use of progressively more typical settings and procedures to establish personal bx which are as culturally normal as possible

Bxs that open a person's world to new contingencies.

If possible, select bx cusps as goals for intervention to make learning more efficient.

Ex: for baby, specific movements of body would be component bxs of crawling, but crawling is a cusp because it enables the baby to contact new environments

Developed by Koegel&Koegel @UCSB

Relates to treatment of people with autism and DDs.

A Bx that, once learned, produces corresponding modifications or covariations in other adaptive untrained bxs.

Reduces intervention time

PRT: Pivotal response training

Ex: teaching to self-initiate/ approach others. May be prognostic indicator of more favorable and long term outcomes. Results in widespread changes in a number of areas.

Ex: joint attention

Similarities: both are bxs you want to teach first to clients. They are bxs upon which other bxs can be built.

Differences: cusps are more about the person accessing new contingencies and environments, not bxs. Pivotal bxs are more about the person experiencing choosing changes in other untrained bxs.

Enhancing comprehension of new material due to previous learning. Teach material to ensure fluency, teach behavioral cusps and pivotal behaviors

1. Threat to health or safety of client or others

2. Frequency : a) opportunities to use new bx-- are there a lot of opportunities so that the bx is maintained in the natural environment b) occurrence of problem. Ex how often/ How many times a day is it happening?

3. Longevity of problem: chronic problems should be addressed before new ones

4. Potential for higher rates of reinforcement

5. Relative importance of bx to future skill development and independent functioning

6. Reduction of negative attention from others

7. Reinforcement for significant others: exercise caution when considering this

8. Likelihood of success: some bxs are harder to change than others

9. Cross-benefit ratio to change client's bx: includes time and effort. Cost should be low, benefit high.

Coercive, punishment based interventions are often selected arbitrarily. Ex: "Go to your room!"

Conducting FBA decreases reliance on default technologies

The only FBA method that allows us to confirm hypotheses regarding functional relations between bx and events

Extended functional analysis: typical functional analysis, manipulating antecedents and consequences

Brief functional analysis: brief version of the original

Advantage: a) clear demonstration of variables that relate to problem bx. b) Standard to which all other forms of FBA are evaluated. c) enables development of effective reinforcement based treatment

Disadvantage: a) may temporarily strengthen problem bx. b) may result in the bx acquiring new functions c) difficult to use for serious and/or low frequency bx. d) requires time, effort, and professional expertise. e) of conducted in contrived settings, may not correctly identify idiosyncratic variables

Direct observation of problem bx under natural conditions

Events are not arranged in systematic manner

Provides data on the occurrence of the bx within context of natural environment

Involves collecting baseline data

ABC Continuous Recording -- record occurrences of targeted bx and selected environmental events during a specified period of time (minimum of 20-30 minutes). Calculates conditional probability

ABC Narrative Recording -- collected only when bx are observed. Recording is open ended. Also calculates conditional probability.

Scatter Plot -- records the extent to which a bx occurs more often at particular times than others. Doesn't determine the function.

Rating scales, checklists, structured interviews. Ex: Motivation Assessment Scale, Motivation Analysis Rating Scale, Problem Behavior Questionnaire, Questions About Behavioral Function

Objective

Clear

Complete

1. Stimulus preference

2. Reinforcer assessment

Identifies stimuli that are likely to function as reinforcers, the relative preference values (high, low), and the conditions under which the preferences change

1. Ask

2. Free operant observation

a. Contrived

b. Naturalistic

3. Trial based methods

a. Paired stimulus

b. Multiple stimulus

c. Single stimulus

Each stimulus is paired with each other. Observer records which is chosen each time. Time consuming b/c every pair must be presented.

Simultaneous presentation of an array of 3 or more stimuli

1. MSW

2. MSWO

Direct, data based methods used to present one or more stimuli contingent on a target response and then measuring the future effects on the rate of responding.

The only way to know for sure whether a given stimulus serves as a reinforcer is to present it immediately following the occurrence of the bx and note its effects on responding.

1. Concurrent schedule -- 2 or more contingencies of reinforcement operate independently and simultaneously for 2 or more bx. Pits 2 stimuli against each other. Think matching law.

2. Multiple schedule -- presenting 2 or more component schedules of reinforcement for a single response with only one schedule in effect at any given time.

3. Progressive ratio -- gradual increase in responses required. Identifies the breaking point.