PS532/PS564 Clinical Applications of ABA
Consider that you are a Behavior Analyst that has been assigned to work as a supervising BCBA for a home program for Kaitie, a 4-year-old girl who has been diagnosed with autism. She attends a special education preschool program for students with ASD and Communication Disorders in a self-contained classroom, where she receives Physical Therapy, Speech Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Discrete Trial Teaching (DTT) as part of her half-day program. Kaitie is mostly non-verbal, emitting only a few basic words such as “no”, “more”, and “I-Pad”. Most other times, Kaitie will engage in squealing noises, crying, or whining as a way to express herself. Occasionally, she will engage in tantrum behaviors such as hitting, kicking, and flopping on the floor if her needs are not met quickly enough. Kaitie’s parents have heard about Facilitated Communication as a “miracle”, and ask you about implementing a plan to include it into her program since they are eager to increase her language development. You explain that Facilitated Communication is not an evidence- based practice and therefore, you cannot recommend it as a treatment option. Upon hearing that, Kaitie’s parents become a bit resistant to your recommendations, and seem doubtful about her developing home program.
Kaitie’s home program is contracted for 15 hours of services per week, most of which are to be provided by two Registered Behavior Technicians (RBTs). There is also a parent-training component, in which you, as the BACB, provide to parents for 2 hours per week to assist with supporting parents to become active participants in Kaitie’s program, particularly to enhance the maintenance and generalization of skills learned during her therapy with the RBTs.
Part One: Develop a Rapport
First, discuss how you would approach Kaitie’s parents as resistant clients. What barriers would prevent the development of an effective rapport, and what strategies would you suggest to use as a means to establish a therapeutic relationship?
Part Two: Verbal Behavior Assessment & Intervention
Next, outline the process that you would use to establish Kaitie’s verbal behavior program, including the specific assessment and teaching methods, providing a clear rationale for your decisions. Present an overview of your assessment instrument and the hypothetical results related to the existing and target verbal operants in Kaitie’s case. Based on the results, discuss how you would set up a treatment program using Discrete Trial Training and how you would provide effective management and supervision to the RBTs who will be facilitating the DTT program. Then, discuss how you would consider maintaining and generalizing Kaitie’s behavior as part of the parent-training program. Choose a naturalistic approach in which parents can be taught to implement procedures that will generalize Kaitie’s language skills into the natural home and community environments. Finally, explain the facets of Performance Management that you would adopt to support your RBTs and Kaitie’s parents with the successful implementation of the intervention plans.
Part Three: Evaluate the Program
Describe how you would assess the overall effectiveness of the home program, and what steps you would take if (a) goals were not being achieved in a timely manner or teaching procedures were not effective and (b) steps you would take when behavioral and instructional goals are met.
Part Four: Important Considerations
Throughout your discussion, specifically outline each of the key ethical considerations that will support the necessary steps in the assessment and intervention process. Be sure to use the BACB Professional and Ethical Compliance Code (2014) as a framework, and take careful thought in supporting your discussions with specific codes and relevant rationale. Also, include a discussion to address any potential legal, cultural and social validity issues (10 – 15 pages).
Other Requirements
You should apply APA Style formatting throughout your paper. Include a title page, section headings, in-text citations, and a references page. Keep direct quotes to a minimum. You should also include an introductory paragraph, thesis sentence, and summary paragraph.
You should cite relevant empirical research and scholarly articles within Applied Behavior Analysis. You should cite a minimum of seven peer-reviewed journal articles. You should carefully select sources after reviewing the literature and evaluating the credibility, relevance, quality, and research merit of each source.
PS532/PS564 Grading Rubric
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% – Points
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Your Score
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Course Content
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Student discusses strategies for working with resistant clients and establishes a plan for overcoming barriers to effective communication with parents.
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0–30
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Student outlines the process for establishing a verbal behavior program with a literature-based rationale that includes assessment and treatment considerations.
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0-30
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Student discusses hypothetical results of the verbal behavior assessment and outlines specific intervention using Discrete Trial:
a. Establishes target verbal operants based on assessment outcomes
b. Provides a specific example of what a trial would look like, taking into consideration: errorless learning, prompting strategies, reinforcement, correction procedures.
c. Discusses data collection procedures and how to analyze data for treatment decisions and overall program success, including how to address lack of progress and steps to take upon instructional goals being met.
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0 – 55
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Student explains how to integrate specific naturalistic teaching procedures into parent training:
a. Provides a clear description of the recommended steps for implementing the identified procedure.
b. Explains how the teaching procedures can be integrated into the home and community settings to promote generalization.
c. Discusses data collection procedures and how to analyze data for treatment decisions.
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0-55
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Student demonstrates an understanding of how Performance Management strategies can be implemented to:
a. Support and supervise the program RBTs in running the DTT program
b. Support the parents in implementing the client’s natural environment teaching programs.
c. Promote a team approach among all participants to facilitate positive outcomes for the client.
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0- 55
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Student analyzes ethical, legal, cultural, and social validity factors associated with the establishment of a verbal behavior program. Ethical discussion is supported by codes outlined in the BACB Professional and Ethical Compliance Code.
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0-42
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Writing Mechanics
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Includes a clear, concise introduction (ending in a solid thesis statement), complete paragraphs, and a final conclusion. Uses correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation following Standard American English guidelines; free of typographical errors. Provides a clear and logical order of presentation where ideas transition from one topic to the next reflecting a scholarly tone. Meets the minimum page length requirement, not including the title page or reference page. (10 – 15 pages)
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0 – 33
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APA Style
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Proper use of APA style. Title page, headings, in-text citations, and reference page are formatted correctly containing no errors. Integrates the appropriate number of primary, peer-reviewed academic sources to support conclusions minimum seven (7)). Primarily student’s own words paraphrased correctly with direct quotes used sparingly.
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0 – 33
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Total
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0–333
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An explanation of where the Assignment could be strengthened will be included with your grade.
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