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.

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

% – Points

Your Score

Course Content

Student
discusses strategies for working with resistant clients and establishes a
plan for overcoming barriers to effective communication with parents.

0–30

Student outlines the process
for establishing a verbal behavior program with a literature-based rationale
that includes assessment and treatment considerations.

0-30

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.

0 – 55

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.

0-55

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.

0- 55

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.

0-42

Writing Mechanics

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)

0 – 33

APA Style

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.

0 – 33

Total

0–333

An explanation of where the Assignment could
be strengthened will be included with your grade.

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