Home and School Program Development

1
Home and School Program Development

• Consultation

2
Definition of Consultation

• Indirect method of providing psychoeducational
  services within a cooperative problem, solving
  framework.

3
Problem-solving Consultation

• Based on behavioral and social learning theory
• Child skill change is the measure of successful
  consultation

4
Problem-solving Consultation

• problem identification
• Response definition, baseline, alternate behavior
• Problem analysis
• FBA
• Plan implementation
• BIP
• Problem evaluation
• Measures effectiveness, efficiency and social
  validity of interventions

5
Behavior Support Plan

• Behavioral Objective
• Decrease non-compliance, non-contextual
  vocalizations, and aggressive behavior.
• Rationale
• These behaviors are potentially dangerous and
  interfere with Johnnys ability to learn and
  access reinforcement both contrived and
  natural. When engaging in these behaviors, the
  student is not available for instruction and may
  be putting him or others in danger.
• Prior Interventions
• A DRO was previously successfully implemented for
  aggressive and con-compliant behavior.
  Contingent on the absence of noncompliance and
  aggression, the DRO was successfully and
  systematically thinned. A DRA was then added
  through the use of the students token board.
• No prior intervention was used for non-contextual
  vocalizations.

6
Behavior Support Plan

• Operational Definition
• Hitting
• occurs when Johnny strikes a person or himself
  with his hand.
• Biting
• occurs when Johnnys teeth come into contact or
  attempts to come in contact with a person or
  their clothing.
• Climbing
• occurs when Johnny puts one or both feet on the
  desk, chair, tables and/or bookshelves.
• Dropping
• occurs when Johnny makes contact or attempts to
  make contact with the floor with more than just
  his feet. E.g. hands and feet are both touching
  floor, rest of his body in the chair
• Resisting manual prompts
• occurs when instructional staff are teaching
  Johnny by touching him and he tenses all his
  muscles and/or pushes them away e.g.,
  instructional staff are teaching Johnny to write
  his name by touching his hand and he pushes the
  staff member away.
• Non-Contextual Vocalization
• Any sounds that are longer than 2 seconds in
  duration and above conversational volume e.g.,
  screaming, giggling

7
Behavior Support Plan

• Measurement Procedure
• Data are collected individually on each of the
  above response using a three-minute
  partial-interval recording procedure. Data are
  summarized and graphed as percentage of intervals
  in which Johnny engaged in off-task behavior.
  Data are also summarized and graphed as
  percentage of intervals in which Johnny engaged
  in aggression, non-compliance, and non-contextual
  vocalization.
• Discriminative Stimuli for Engagement in
  Productive Behavior
• Johnny should engage in behaviors that are
  conducive to learning under all conditions.
• Criterion for Advancement
• This behavior intervention plan will be in effect
  until Johnnys off-task behavior are 0 for two
  consecutive months.

8
Behavior Support Plan

• Functional Behavior Assessment
• The recent ABC analysis of Johnnys 6 most
  educationally interfering behaviors (see above
  definitions) completed From July 5 to August 3,
  2007 indicated the following results
• 48 of the episodes were maintained by attention
• 31 of the episodes were maintained by avoidance
• 21 of the episodes were maintained by access to
  tangibles
• 0 were maintained by automatic reinforcement.
• (Percentages were calculated by dividing the
  total number of episodes per function by the
  total number of episodes and multiplied by 100.)

9
Behavior Support Plan

• The Motivational Assessment Scale was given to
  Johnnys teacher and 4 instructional aides.
• The results indicated that attention was ranked
  as the most likely to maintain Johnnys problem
  behavior in four out of the five scales.
• Access to tangibles was ranked second likely to
  maintain Johnnys problem behavior in three out
  of the five scales.
• Avoidance was ranked third likely to maintain
  Johnnys problem behavior in three out of the
  five scales and automatic reinforcement was least
  likely to maintain Johnnys problem behavior in
  four out of the five scales given.

10
Behavior Support Plan

• The results of the ABC analysis and Motivational
  Assessment Scale, combined with parent, teacher,
  aide interviews and additional data review were
  all compiled and analyzed.
• As a result, it was hypothesized that Johnnys
  problem behavior is maintained by
  socially-mediated functions.
• Specifically, the majority of his problem
  behavior is maintained by access to attention,
  followed by either access to tangibles or
  avoidance of instruction.

11
Behavior Support Plan

• To address behavior maintained by
  escape/avoidance the following interventions will
  be used
• an individualized motivational system for task
  completion
• to maintain the effectiveness of the motivational
  system ongoing reinforcer assessment in the form
  of pictures of novel activities interspersed
  throughout his full-day activity schedule
• high probability request sequence was used by
  setting the occasion for 2-5 mastered responses
  followed by the target response
• negative reinforcement for task completion
• classical conditioning procedures used to
  establish additional conditioned reinforcers by
  requiring access to a low preference
  item/activity followed by a high preference
  item/activity.

12
Behavior Support Plan

• To address behavior maintained by attention the
  following interventions will be used
• 10-15 additional social rewards were added to
  Johnnys choice book
• engagement in these social activities is
  contingent on behavior conducive with learning
  rather than nonconductive with learning.

13
Behavior Support Plan

• To address behavior maintained by access to
  tangibles the following interventions will be
  used
• Johnny has a choice book containing over 50
  pictures of desired items/activities
• functional communication training
• incidental teaching procedures are used to teach
  Johnny to ask for desired items and activities,
  spontaneous requesting program
• thee specific program can be found in his goals
  and objectives and are titled
• spontaneous language (variable ways in which to
  request item),
• contextual statements (commenting about desired
  items/and objects that he sees in his
  environment),
• asking wh questions (about desired item/objects
  that he sees in his environment)

14
Behavior Support Plan

• Additional Strategies
• Individualized Motivational System When Johnny
  learned the concept of contingency management, an
  individualized- motivational system in the form
  of a 10-penny token economy was systematically
  taught to him. Tokens were delivered contingent
  on pre-requisite learning skills such as
  attending skills and also contingent on correct
  responding to increase skill acquisition (e.g.,
  correctly responding to his individualized
  teaching programs in the areas of social skills,
  expressive and receptive language, fine and gross
  motor skills, independence, leisure skills, and
  self-help skills). When Johnny earned all his
  tokens, he could exchange them for preferred
  snacks, items and activities.

15
Behavior Support Plan

• Choice Board/Book Once Johnny learned
  picture-object correspondence an elaborate choice
  board depicting preferred activities was designed
  for him. His choices have been depicted to him in
  the form of a large board and also in a book. No
  difference has been seen between these two
  formats.Reinforcer assessment Instructors
  routinely use a systematic assessment procedure
  to identify preferred items and activities for
  the choice board. An example of how this is
  accomplished includes interspersing novel or
  preferred activities with Johnny s educational
  programs to increase exposure to a variety of
  potentially reinforcing activities.

16
Behavior Support Plan

• Curricular ModificationsPhotographic Activity
  Schedule A full-day photographic activity
  schedule was then implemented to promote
  independence and to further help structure his
  day and to depict the sequence activities.
  Individualized curriculum All of Johnny s
  curriculum has been designed and created
  specifically for him. Many receptive and
  expressive language programs are being taught to
  increase Johnny s communication skillsTeaching
  modifications The use of Discrete trial format
  has been minimizedThe following teaching
  procedures have been taught to Johnny video
  modeling, activity schedule following,
  auditory/visual prompting procedures, and sibling
  interaction.

17
Behavior Support Plan

• Environmental Modification
• Johnny s work area has been designed to increase
  independence. To promote generalization and
  variety, Johnny completes educational tasks in a
  variety of locations in the classroom. His
  rewards are located in a variety of locations
  throughout the classroom to increase his social
  competence.

18
Behavior Support Plan

• Parental Involvement Johnnys parents are
  actively involved in Johnnys education. They
  come in for weekly school visits to learn to
  effectively teach Johnny at school. When they
  are proficient in this area, these skills will
  then be used by Johnnys parents at home.
• Generalization Generalization will be
  programmed for by implementing this behavior plan
  across all instructional sessions, settings and
  instructors. Generalization will be assessed by
  collecting weekly data in a novel setting (home)
  and with a novel instrucgtor (grandma).
• Maintenance This skill is a prerequisite for
  productive learning of new skills throughout the
  school day. This skill is also a prerequisite for
  actively participating in the classroom and
  community with peers.

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Behavior Support Plan

• Inter-Observer Agreement Inter-observer
  agreement data are collected once a month and
  calculated by using the formula
• Number of Agreements X 100 IOA
• Number of Agreements Disagreements
• Parental approval I have reviewed this written
  instructional program and all components of this
  instructional program have been fully explained
  to me. I have been given an explanation of the
  potential benefits of this program, as well as an
  explanation of possible risks or discomforts, if
  any. I give informed approval for the
  implementation of this program in the manner
  described above, understanding that I may
  withdraw consent at any time, and that if consent
  is withdrawn, the program will be immediately
  discontinued.

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Behavioral consultation

• Consultants need
• Knowledge of problem-solving method
• Expertise in intervention evaluation
• Expert clinical skills
• Excellent professional skills
• Knowledge of organizational structure

21
Public School Consultation

• Direct Individual Student Consultation and
  Assessment
• Evaluations Make Recommendations of
• Program efficacy, FBA, social skills, situational
  assessments
• Conducted both at school at home
• School-Wide and Classroom Consultation
• Target all students, focus on social skills,
  emphasize a preventative positive reinforcement
  orientation, teach problem-solving abilities
  measure outcomes objectively
• Objectives include
• Improve student academic performance, social
  skills, and on-task engagement
• decrease student discipline referrals,
  detentions, suspensions attrition
• Increase the proficiencies, satisfaction
  retention f school personnel
• District-wide Consultation
• Focused on systematic assessment of behavior
  support practices across multiple school, with
  particular emphasis on students at high risk of
  being placed in out-of-district placements

22
Training Opportunities for School Districts

• Didactic training with practical application
• E.g., Using results of FBA to design BIPs
• Parent training
• Use of spontaneous language at home
• Research Dissemination

23
Consumer Satisfaction

• Surveys

24
Guide to Successful Consultation

• Professionalism
• Positive working relationship with administration
  staff
• Credentials
• Skills in both clinical academic areas
• Understanding of public school system
• Compromise shaping
• Consultant mentorship

25
Consultant Services

• What are the principles of ABA that will be
  implemented by the consultant?
• How will the consultation be implemented?
• What is the rate of the consultant?
• What is the nature of the consultants training
  and collaboration with the instructional staff?
• What will be the nature of parental involvement
  with the consultant?
• What is the consultants role in supplemental
  services?
• What is the consultants role in program
  representation?
• What is the consultants role in staff
  recruitment hiring?
• How will the consultant aide in potential
  litigation?
• How will the consultant communicate
  recommendations?

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Report Writing

• PsychoEducational Report
• Reason for Referral
• Background information
• Summary of Current Situation
• Sources of Information
• Review of Previous Reports
• Observation
• Data notebook review
• Summary of Findings
• Programmatic Recommendations
• When making recommendations for specific
  programs, summarize the data and make
  recommendations based on these data.
• When making generic programmatic recommendations
  (e.g., parent training), cite research, as much
  as possible to support these recommendations

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Report Writing

• Response to a PsychoEducational Report
• Purpose of Report
• Statement of position
• Reject, accept, partially-accept report
• Response to observation
• Response to recommendations
• State recommendation
• State your response with research to back up your
  position

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Report Writing

• Examples of Responses
• Recommendation A traditional ABA program
• Response The evaluators do not recommend a
  specific model, but in their recommendation, they
  describe features of the UCLA Young Autism
  Project, or the Lovaas method, as it was first
  disseminated almost twenty years ago. Since that
  time, the science of behavioral psychology has
  substantially evolved. Johnnys current program
  effectively utilizes all aspects of ABA,
  including discrete trial teaching, incidental
  teach, video modeling, scrip/script fading
  procedures, activity schedules and the
  implementation of new research in ABA as it is
  developed.

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Report Writing

• Examples of Responses
• Recommendation Emphasis on generalization of
  skills
• Response According to Baer, Wolf, and Risley
  (1968), generalization strategies are a defining
  feature of ABA. Generalization strategies are
  therefore developed and assessed for every skill
  in a childs educational program in the Bernards
  Township autism program. We are indeed in
  agreement that programming for generalization
  should be a priority and have therefore made it
  so. Johnny has demonstrated generalization of
  many skills across settings, including school and
  home settings, instructors and stimuli. The
  evaluator might have had difficulty assessing
  Johnny generalization of skills in that she did
  not review the generalization data that is
  graphically displayed in Johnny data notebook.

30
Report Writing

• Examples of Responses
• Recommendation Augmentative Communication such
  as PECs
• Response We do not agree that Johnny should be
  taught to use an augmentative communication
  system such as PECs. Johnny is making
  substantial progress learning to talk in the
  presence of his photographic choice board and
  other visual supports. In addition, there is
  limited peer-reviewed evidence supporting the use
  of PECs as an effective communication system,
  specifically in the acquisition of generative
  language (http//www.asatonline.org/resources/trea
  tments/picture.htm) Furthermore, our functional
  assessment data indicate that Johnny disruptive
  behaviors are largely maintained by escape,
  rather than what the evaluator described as
  frustration presumably caused by lack of
  communication skills.

31
Report Writing

• Examples of Responses
• Recommendation trial by trial data should be
  collected daily
• Response In order to collect trial by trial
  data, one needs to collect data in the presence
  of teaching conditions. Data collected under
  teaching conditions provides an inaccurate
  representation of the childs skill acquisition,
  for each subsequent trial is affected by the
  teaching condition and one does not get an
  unaffected measure of the childs skill. This
  point of view is supported by hundreds of studies
  in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal
  of Applied Behavior Analysis. One downside of
  collecting data in the absence of teaching
  conditions is that a child is allowed to err. To
  minimize the occurrence of errors, data are
  collected minimally weekly. School programs with
  excellent outcome data, as referenced by
  Handleman and Harris (2001) collect data in this
  fashion. One final reason to have teaching and
  testing conditions is that it allows for
  instructors to have an uninterrupted teaching
  interaction, which includes modeling appropriate
  eye contact, attending, and social skills, as
  well as effective teaching of particular target
  skills.

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Report Writing

• Dr. "Not So Smart" seemed to have some questions
  regarding the teaching procedures implemented for
  Johnnys spontaneous language. She states I
  asked Dr. Reeve whether there was a specific
  protocol to teach spontaneous language, and
  noted that her response and the observed method
  was via verbal cues for Johnny to imitate the
  words one at a time. In fact, the teaching
  procedure used to promote Johnnys spontaneous
  language is incidental teaching. This is the
  teaching procedure that Dr. "Not So Smart"
  observed. In addition, Dr. Reeve did not indicate
  that this was merely verbal cues for Johnny to
  imitate the words. Rather, Dr. Reeve said that
  incidental teaching was used to promote Johnnys
  spontaneous language. This teaching procedure is
  thoroughly described in the skill acquisition
  program titled Spontaneous Language. This, and
  all, skill acquisition programs are kept in
  Johnnys data notebook. Johnnys data notebook is
  a record of his progress since beginning the
  program in October, 2003 and it contains a
  detailed description of each one of his current
  programs, including response definitions,
  measurement procedures, the conditions under
  which each response is to be emitted, teaching
  procedures (including prompt/prompt fading and
  reinforcement procedures), methods to promote and
  assess generalization, maintenance conditions,
  and inter-observer agreement data collection
  procedures. Dr. "Not So Smart" only briefly
  looked through Johnnys data notebook while
  Johnny ate lunch.

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References

• Putnam, R.F., Handler, M.W., Rey, J. McCarty,
  J. (2005). The Development Of Behaviorally Based
  Public School Consultation services. Behavior
  Modification 29, 521-538.