Transcript Slide 1

User-Friendly Approaches
Can Increase
Behavioral Applications
in Schools
Kevin Murdock
Hillsborough County Public Schools
Goals
• Identify reasons why ABA
approaches are avoided by some
educators
• Share methods to simplify various
tasks and save precious time
• Stimulate research into muchneeded areas
Hillsborough County Public Schools
(HCPS)
8th largest district in nation
Total schools: 279
• Elementary schools : 159
• Middle schools : 50
• High schools : 40
• Other : 30
Full-time teachers: 13,269
Total Students: 190,814
(first day count, projected 20 day count: 205,000)
HCPS Behavior Analyst Supports
• Functional Assessment Consultant Team (FACT) 8 BCBAs + 2 BCaBAs - part-to-full time consulting
with school teams to support Tier 3 processes
• Behavior Coaches 9
10 BCBAs and BCaBAs providing part-to-full time
specialized support to schools and classrooms
primarily to reduce restraint-seclusion events
– ESE General Director created this team!
• 20 pending BCBA exam – school-based assignments
• 3 BCBAs, 6 BCaBAs, and 11 inactive BCaBAs –
school-based assignments
HCPS Demand > Supply
• Approximately 1 to 10,000 ratio of active certified
behavior analysts to students
– In comparison, the national recommended ratio for
School Psychologists is 1 : 1,500 students.
• If only 2% of HCPS students required a new or updated
FBA-PBIP each year, this would require:
– 195 FBA-PBIPs per year, or
– More than 1 per workday.
• FACT and Behavior Coaches serve less than 1%
of students, primarily ESE
Impact of Behavior Coaches
• More than 99% of students not directly served
by behavior analysts
• Ideally, these involve less intensive behaviors
such as:
– common minor disruptive behavior
– “off task”
– “non-compliance”
Competing Demands and Stressors
for Educators
• Student academic progress expectations
– Complex teacher evaluations (e.g., rubrics, “value added”)
– Salaries, school grades and other issues impacted
• Teaching to the “middle of the class”
• Wave after wave of new requirements and initiatives –
not sure which are priorities or what will continue/fade
• If Women are from Venus and Men are from Mars,
Educators are from Earth, and Behavior Analysts are
from the 6th Dimension (in Andrew Houvouras’ words):
They don't think like us, talk like us, or act like us.
Educators Want “Fast & Easy”
• Less focus on behavioral problem solving/RtI
• Rushed FBAs, skimpy BIPs (technically
inadequate)
– Paper compliance
– No or poor linkage of function to intervention
– Reliance on:
• Topography-based intervention “cookbooks”
• Popular or peer-recommended interventions (e.g., Love &
Logic, Conscious Discipline)
• Customary or personally favored interventions (e.g., time
out, red-yellow-green sticks)
Educators Want “Fast & Easy”
• Avoid consultation
• Rely on indirect measures (likert-style rating
scales)
• No or limited use of intervention fidelity checks,
or use of weak measures (e.g., adherence checks
– The student was in the intervention setting for
the designated time period)
• Rely on old methods, such as mentalistic
explanations & the refer test place model
Educators Want “Fast & Easy”
• But… “fast and easy” can sacrifice precision and
produce undesirable outcomes.
• However, behavior analysts sometimes
contribute to complicating the assessment and
intervention process:
– 20-50 page FBA-BIPs
– Technical jargon
– Complex data recording forms and continuous data
recording (every minute of the school day)
How Behavior Analysts Can
Make Applications of ABA
More User-Friendly for Educators
Include what is essential –
trim the rest
• Avoid excessive use of descriptive FBAs, with:
– Multiple interviews
– Use of screening tools
– Lengthy naturalistic observations
• Resulting interventions are more likely to fail
– Weak function-to-intervention linkage
• Educators become frustrated with slow process
or lack of positive outcomes
• Avoidance of ABA approaches increases
• Promote increased use of hypothesis testing
(functional analysis):
– Limited interview using open-ended tools (e.g., Greg
Hanley)
– Limited observation
– Quickly develop hypothesis and test it
• When feasible, conduct classroom trial-based functional
analyses (refer to Sarah Bloom’s research)
• When a skill deficit is identified, teach the skill and test the
outcomes
developed by
Patrick McGreevy and Troy Fry,
with assistance from
Colleen Cornwall and Janine Shapiro
behaviorchange.com
• Communication, behavior, and functional skills
assessment, curriculum, and skill-tracking
instrument
• for both children and adults with moderate-tosevere disabilities, including autism.
– Especially useful for learners with limited communication
repertoires, limited daily living skills, or severe problem
behavior.
• for developing long-term goals and short-term
objectives for IEPs or support plans
• for tracking skill acquisition and problem behavior
Essential 8 Skills
Improve Assessment and Intervention
Plan Readability
• Behavior analysts often write in a technical
style for an audience of other behavior
analysts
– Much jargon
– Lengthy documents
– APA style
– Pages filled with text, limited illustrations
Improve Assessment and Intervention
Plan Readability
• Write for educators and parents (lay-persons)
• General public prefers: Conversation style with
intended benefits added
(Rolider, Axelrod, and Van Houten, 1998; Rolider and
Axelrod – in Heward et al. “Focus on Behavior in
Education”)
• Reduce technical jargon
• Ask for feedback on readability
• Measure readability:
www.readabilityformulas.com
Improve Assessment and Intervention
Plan Readability
• Construct “Job Aids”
– APBA Newsletter – December 2008 - Practitioner's
notebook - Acknowledging the Multiple Functions of
Written Behavior Plans - James E. Carr
• Use diagrams and flow charts
• Use checklists
• Supports training and integrity monitoring
• Standard practice in other professions (surgeons, pilots,
military)
• Atul Gawande – “Checklist Manifesto”
Improve Training Methods
Avoid:
• Basic awareness level PowerPoint presentations
• One-shot in-services or multi-day training institutes
– Not sufficient in generalizing knowledge to using new
practices
Promote skill-based training strategies including:
• role play and modeling
• job-embedded activities in a wide variety of settings
• coaching and performance feedback
• linking of practices to student outcomes
• ongoing support
(Fixsen et al. 2005; Joyce & Showers, 2002; Shellady & Stichter,
1999; Van Acker et al., 2005 – in Tier 3 Blueprint)
Dispel Myths –
Correct Misinformation About ABA
•
•
•
•
•
•
Mechanistic… kids just need unconditional love
M & M therapy
Bribes kids into behaving
Destroys intrinsic motivation
Turns kids into robots
Only effective with developmentally disabled
Dispel Myths –
Correct Misinformation About ABA
• Myths may be contacted in college experiences
and textbooks
• Myths may be shared by peers
• Educators need greater access to user-friendly
sources of :
– Factual ABA knowledge
– Stories of successful FBAs and BIPs with students
Rolider and Axelrod – in Heward et al. “Focus on Behavior in
Education”
BehaviorCanChange.com
Two printable tri-fold
brochures:
* What You Need to Know
About Effective Autism
Treatment
* What You Need to Know
About Improving Your
Child's School Performance
Needs updating and
more content
Other recommendations
•
•
•
•
Brochures
Newsletter articles
Pro bono presentations
Revitalize and expand on the BALANCE
initiative (Joe Wyatt et al.)
HCPS Training Approaches
• FBA/PBIP 101 Primer - Online 3 hour course
• FBA/PBIP 101 Course – Lecture-style 6 hour course
• FBA/PBIP 201 Hybrid Course – Self-study online
materials and team meetings – Practice selecting
function-based interventions for common behaviors
• BCBA coursework - Cooperative professional
development project with USF ABA Masters program
– Reduced tuition costs due to HCPS providing instruction
on school property – minimized actual expenses for USF
• Basic Skill Coaching in Classrooms
Share Tools That Support Linkage of
Function to Intervention
• interventioncentral.mysdhc.org/FBA-BIP
Share Tools That Support Linkage of
Function to Intervention
• interventioncentral.mysdhc.org/FBA-BIP
• Chandler and Dahlquist textbook – several
chapters that link behavior function to
practical evidence-based ABA interventions
Functional Assessment:
Strategies to Prevent and
Remediate Challenging
Behavior in School Settings
3rd Edition
Chandler and Dahlquist
Pearson paperback $63
Amazon paperback $50
CourseSmart e-book $25
Now in 4th
Edition
Share Tools That Support Linkage of
Function to Intervention
• interventioncentral.mysdhc.org/FBA-BIP
• Chandler and Dahlquist textbook – several
chapters that link behavior function to practical
evidence-based ABA interventions
• Cipani and Schock – excellent text that links
behavior function to practical evidence-based
ABA interventions – somewhat technical for
educators with limited ABA training
Functional Behavioral
Assessment, Diagnosis,
and Treatment
A Complete System for
Education and Mental
Health Settings
2nd Edition
Cipani & Schock
Springer paperback $75
Amazon paperback $58
e-book $55
Promote Assessments and
Evidence-Based Interventions for
Academic Concerns
• Connect Academics and Behaviors !!!
• Performance deficit (won’t do)? or
Skill deficit (can’t do)?
• Functional assessment approach to problemsolving
• A Model for Conducting a Functional Analysis of
Academic Performance Problems
• By Daly, Edward J., III; Witt, Joseph C.; Martens,
Brian K.; Dool, Eric J. School Psychology Review,
v26 n4 p554-74 1997
• Functional Assessment
of Academic Behavior (FAAB)
By Sandra Christenson and
James E. Ysseldyke
• Academic Skills Problems,
Fourth Edition: Direct
Assessment and
Intervention
By Edward S. Shapiro
• Curriculum-Based
Evaluation: Teaching and
Decision Making
By Kenneth W. Howell and
Victor Nolet
Promote Efficient, Precise
Direct Observation Behavior Measures
• “Observation windows” to get representative
samples (e.g., rate recording 10am-11am on
Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays)
• Use of external observers
• Time sampling
• Interval recording
• Low-tech methods (record on masking tape on back of teacher’s
hand, slide beads on a lanyard; move rubber bands from one arm to another)
http://interventioncentral.mysdhc.org/measure
• Apps for smartphones and mobile devices
http://interventioncentral.mysdhc.org/documents/DataRecordingTools.pptx
Communicate When and How to Get
Support from a Behavior Analyst
• Set conditions on use of streamlined methods
(triage-based decisions):
– Not severe or high risk (e.g., pica, elopement)
– Single, not multiple behaviors of concern or
intervention settings
– Not multiple or unidentified hypotheses
– Not persistent (short history of reinforcement)
– Not resistant to consultation
– Not multiple failed interventions (poor RtI)
Communicate When and How to Get
Support from a Behavior Analyst
• Set limits on short-cuts (“Isn’t there a 1 page
FBA form?”)
• Frequently promote when and how to get help
with FBA-BIPs
• Promote easy access to behavior analysts via
brochures, newsletters, and emails
• Maintain close connections with ESE and ASD
staff, School Psychologists, and others to identify
urgent referrals – regular meetings and
presentations
Finally…
• Offer pro bono training and services to build
rapport
• Promote Awards of Excellence for teachers or
teams using ABA
• Be patient
• Share resources and training across districts
• Network !!!
– Join the FABA Education SIG, now on Facebook!
• Contact me: [email protected]