ABA from an SLP Perspective

Meggin Funk, M.S. Ed., BCBA and Ashley Meyer, M.Ed., BCBA Author

04/06/2020 Added

67 Plays

Description

2020 ASD Conference Breakout Session

Searchable Transcript

Search:

[00:00:00.170]Hi, my name is Meggin Funk.
[00:00:01.840]I'm a speech language pathologist
[00:00:03.800]and a board certified behavior analyst.
[00:00:05.770]And I currently work for the Nebraska ASD network
[00:00:08.770]as the western region coordinator.
[00:00:10.970]I've made the PowerPoint available to you
[00:00:13.150]at the following bitly link.
[00:00:15.180]Please let me know your role on the team.
[00:00:18.730]Today we'll look at identifying the historical tension
[00:00:21.780]between SLPs and BCBAs.
[00:00:24.640]We'll demonstrate the similarities
[00:00:26.360]between the two professions.
[00:00:28.320]Recognize the importance of teaming.
[00:00:30.250]And then explore the strengths of the two professions
[00:00:32.820]to support maximum student outcomes.
[00:00:35.500]As we look at the history of speech language pathology
[00:00:38.550]and applied behavior analysis, in this article
[00:00:41.730]by Koenig and Gerenser, we can see
[00:00:44.300]that in the 1950s, 60s and 70s
[00:00:47.870]that there were various literature and articles
[00:00:51.180]that sourced how SLPs actually used behavioral techniques.
[00:00:56.180]They used stimulus presentation, reinforcement,
[00:00:59.520]response shaping and modeling.
[00:01:01.560]They typically use these different techniques
[00:01:04.560]in the areas of articulation, fluency, language and voice.
[00:01:09.760]Then in 1957, after 23 years of work,
[00:01:13.840]B.F Skinner published "Verbal Behavior".
[00:01:16.930]And then in '59 Chomsky, a linguist from MIT,
[00:01:22.030]wrote a very critical review of Skinner's "Verbal Behavior",
[00:01:25.630]stating that it was really void of any value
[00:01:28.810]and went even further to criticize behaviorism,
[00:01:32.410]thus creating major tension between the two professions.
[00:01:36.320]Now, Skinner opted to never respond to Chomsky's criticism,
[00:01:41.380]he simply felt that Chomsky did not understand
[00:01:45.870]what he was talking about,
[00:01:47.270]because Chomsky was focused on structure,
[00:01:51.660]whereas Skinner was focused on the function.
[00:01:54.970]Skinner was actually fine
[00:01:56.340]with the formal classification of language.
[00:01:58.810]He just felt that there is a failure to account
[00:02:01.810]for the causes or what we would call function today.
[00:02:05.310]But there just wasn't a lot of research
[00:02:07.660]behind verbal behavior, so neither field probably gave it
[00:02:11.900]the respect that it was due.
[00:02:14.450]So between the 70s and 80s,
[00:02:16.550]the SLPs became very heavily influenced
[00:02:19.460]by Chomsky's theoretical linguistics
[00:02:22.030]and cognitive psychology or psycholinguistics,
[00:02:26.050]we would call it.
[00:02:27.250]And his generative grammar and semantics
[00:02:31.500]that encouraged a more natural non-intrusive,
[00:02:35.090]facilitation role versus
[00:02:37.550]that more intrusive stimulus manipulation role,
[00:02:40.600]which we would consider more verbal behavior now.
[00:02:43.470]The focus was on structure versus function.
[00:02:46.680]Now in the 80s and 90s, the SLPs began to see limitations
[00:02:51.250]of that generative language model.
[00:02:53.280]So they began to make a move back towards
[00:02:56.110]that pragmatic approach to communication looking
[00:02:58.580]at that functional component.
[00:03:00.580]But there was still no collaboration
[00:03:02.780]between the two professions.
[00:03:04.770]In the 1990s, we started to see that increase
[00:03:08.500]in the ASD rates.
[00:03:10.240]There just started to be more public awareness
[00:03:13.150]and publications of the various successful interventions
[00:03:17.710]as we sought out answers to help our students.
[00:03:21.610]So we started to see more and more success stories of ABA.
[00:03:25.550]Today, we are seeing more collaboration than ever
[00:03:28.760]between speech language pathologists
[00:03:30.970]and board certified behavior analysts to really try
[00:03:34.560]to improve on student outcomes.
[00:03:37.840]As far as points of tension, we are definitely going to see
[00:03:41.250]those theoretical issues just because
[00:03:43.590]they are different types of psychology.
[00:03:45.500]We have cognitive psychology versus behavioral psychology.
[00:03:49.490]But I think the overall there's just a lack of understanding
[00:03:52.250]between the two.
[00:03:54.120]We could see that there could be some difficulty
[00:03:56.550]on who takes lead within that language programming
[00:03:59.830]under that scope of practice.
[00:04:02.410]And then there can be differing priorities
[00:04:04.930]between negative behavior and communication
[00:04:07.310]or language versus communication skills.
[00:04:09.900]And then going back to those theoretical perspectives
[00:04:13.300]in that naturalness of the strategies implemented.
[00:04:16.920]There are different ways to take data,
[00:04:18.900]so varying data systems.
[00:04:21.090]But overall, I would say we're brand new to this basically,
[00:04:24.700]this collaboration, so there may have just been
[00:04:28.270]an overall lack of interprofessional collaboration
[00:04:32.100]between team members.
[00:04:33.980]Let's take a look at our professional qualifications.
[00:04:37.540]When we look at SLPs and be BCBAs,
[00:04:40.370]their educational backgrounds you can see
[00:04:42.500]that an SLP, is required to have a minimum
[00:04:45.000]of a Master's degree and it has to be
[00:04:47.940]in communication disorders.
[00:04:50.370]But a BCBA will have a minimum of a Master's degree
[00:04:54.760]in either applied behavior analysis,
[00:04:57.140]psychology or education.
[00:04:59.530]Bachelor's candidates in communication disorders are SLP-As
[00:05:04.140]but they are not certified with provisional licensures
[00:05:07.350]under supervising SLPs.
[00:05:09.800]Whereas a Bachelor's candidate or an individual
[00:05:13.870]having a Master's degree in a field outside of ABA,
[00:05:17.070]psychology or education, are BCaBAs with certification
[00:05:22.130]and practice under the certified BCBA.
[00:05:25.040]For an SLP to gain their certificate of clinical competence
[00:05:28.680]from America Speech, Language and Hearing Association,
[00:05:32.060]they must graduate from an accredited program,
[00:05:35.030]complete a clinical fellowship year of at least 1260 hours
[00:05:39.680]of hands-on training, under an individual with their C's.
[00:05:44.100]And then they must pass a praxis exam.
[00:05:47.570]This is a three year cycle of maintenance
[00:05:51.020]to maintain our C's.
[00:05:53.720]To become board certified as a behavior analyst,
[00:05:56.560]you must complete coursework requirements
[00:05:59.030]for the current tasks list.
[00:06:00.500]I was under task list four
[00:06:02.250]and now they have a fifth edition.
[00:06:04.520]You must be supervised, I took online training,
[00:06:07.900]so I was under the independent field work.
[00:06:10.530]So I was required to complete 1500 hours of field work
[00:06:15.610]with my supervisor,
[00:06:17.300]and then I had to pass our national exam.
[00:06:21.300]And I'm required to have continuing education
[00:06:24.940]and that's on a two year certification cycle.
[00:06:27.800]The SLP-A is able to provide intervention
[00:06:30.970]under the supervision of an SLP's plan of care.
[00:06:33.900]They do not assess, evaluate,
[00:06:36.700]participate in meetings or teachings.
[00:06:40.160]The BCaBA however, can assess, create intervention plans
[00:06:44.900]and participate in meetings
[00:06:46.400]under the supervision of the BCBA.
[00:06:49.480]For supervision and licensure,
[00:06:51.610]licensure is required in all 50 states now for SLPs.
[00:06:57.560]ASHA did set national standards since about '26,
[00:07:01.530]and has been certifying professional since 1952.
[00:07:05.450]And an SLP is only able
[00:07:07.380]to supervise two non-certified persons at any one time.
[00:07:13.010]The BCBA must take additional coursework
[00:07:16.310]to become a supervisor, an additional eight hour course.
[00:07:20.330]And then they have to have licensure in some states,
[00:07:24.530]at this time we are not required to be licensed
[00:07:27.720]in the state of Nebraska.
[00:07:29.060]When we consider the coursework
[00:07:31.320]in communication disorders versus applied behavior analysis,
[00:07:36.910]it was really easy for me to see that if I were just an SLP,
[00:07:42.650]I just didn't have all the skills that I needed to deal
[00:07:46.240]with problematic behaviors or behaviors in general,
[00:07:49.890]and vice versa.
[00:07:51.320]If I was just a Board Certified behavior analyst,
[00:07:54.430]I did not have all of the skills to deal
[00:07:57.610]with specific language and communication concerns.
[00:08:01.340]There's truly so much that can be learned from one another
[00:08:04.910]as we collaborate respectfully.
[00:08:07.220]We are both professionally qualified.
[00:08:09.700]So we need to make sure
[00:08:11.010]that we understand our scope of practice.
[00:08:13.380]Let's consider communication versus behavior.
[00:08:16.340]Communication is a process by which information is exchanged
[00:08:20.190]between individuals through a common system of symbols,
[00:08:23.430]signs or behavior.
[00:08:25.270]By this very definition, we would expect individuals
[00:08:28.480]with autism to have difficulty with communication,
[00:08:31.680]because it requires two individuals or more,
[00:08:35.080]which tends to be more difficult for them,
[00:08:37.710]as well as a common system.
[00:08:39.890]And we'll start to learn more about
[00:08:41.620]that as we dig into pragmatics.
[00:08:44.860]The definition of behavior is the activity
[00:08:46.930]of living organisms.
[00:08:48.500]Human behavior is everything that we do.
[00:08:51.480]As we look at the evaluation process
[00:08:53.420]for speech language pathologist,
[00:08:55.560]the evaluations can include expressive language,
[00:08:58.510]receptive language, pragmatic language,
[00:09:01.750]artic and phonology, voice and fluency.
[00:09:06.140]Then we take the language components,
[00:09:09.300]and they go into three different categories.
[00:09:12.160]We look at the content, and that's the semantics.
[00:09:15.670]That's the meaning behind our language.
[00:09:18.370]We look at the form and that's the phonetics,
[00:09:21.360]how we say the exact sounds.
[00:09:24.500]The syntax, the rules, the grammar behind what we're saying.
[00:09:29.420]Morphology is how we break down a word into the root,
[00:09:33.210]or if we affix a sound to the beginning or end of it,
[00:09:36.780]such as the s, er or ing endings of a word.
[00:09:41.410]So if we take the route car,
[00:09:43.410]it's very different than if we have the s at the end,
[00:09:46.970]car versus cars, they mean different things.
[00:09:50.420]And then pragmatic language,
[00:09:52.980]under the use of our language refers
[00:09:55.910]to that social language skill
[00:09:58.050]that we use in our daily interactions with one another.
[00:10:01.140]This includes what we say, how we say it,
[00:10:04.210]and that nonverbal communication components
[00:10:06.930]such as eye contact, facial expressions and body language.
[00:10:11.530]It's how we use those appropriate interactions
[00:10:15.530]in a given situation.
[00:10:17.370]The evaluation results help us to see the strengths
[00:10:20.620]of the speech and communication of a student.
[00:10:23.330]But it also helps us to find the skills deficits
[00:10:26.540]that need to be taught.
[00:10:28.020]When we look at evaluation from a behavior analyst,
[00:10:32.250]we look at what's called a functional behavior assessment.
[00:10:36.090]There is the indirect portion of the assessment
[00:10:39.030]and that's where we do interviews, checklists,
[00:10:41.510]reading skills, such as the fast,
[00:10:44.130]the functional analysis rating scale,
[00:10:46.560]or the QABF, which is questions about behavioral functions.
[00:10:51.400]And we can also do questionnaires.
[00:10:53.660]All of this is just leading us to information
[00:10:56.650]that may help us to identify conditions or events
[00:10:59.980]in the environment that correlate with a problem behavior.
[00:11:03.200]The team may need to take some scatterplot data at this time
[00:11:07.120]to help determine when the best time
[00:11:10.100]to do an observation would be.
[00:11:12.050]And that moves us into that second step
[00:11:14.480]of the descriptive assessment,
[00:11:16.500]where direct observations of the problem behavior
[00:11:19.240]within the natural environment need to occur.
[00:11:22.070]This helps us to confirm or disconfirm information gathered
[00:11:26.060]during the indirect assessment.
[00:11:28.060]During the observation, the information is broken into
[00:11:31.210]that ABC data.
[00:11:33.110]After data is taken on multiple occasions,
[00:11:35.500]we can begin to see a pattern
[00:11:37.770]and we can start to hypothesize a function.
[00:11:40.910]The four main functions we can remember
[00:11:43.210]by the acronym EATS, E-A-T-S.
[00:11:46.990]So a student can escape/avoid,
[00:11:49.620]they can try to gain attention,
[00:11:51.670]they can try to gain access to tangibles or sensory.
[00:11:55.980]So E-A-T-S, so escape/avoid, attention,
[00:12:00.290]access to tangibles or sensory.
[00:12:02.960]Then if we were in a clinical setting, we would possibly try
[00:12:06.200]to test that hypothesis using an FA.
[00:12:10.000]But in an educational setting, we tend to just try
[00:12:13.410]to move into developing that intervention strategies.
[00:12:17.030]And that's where we come up
[00:12:18.930]with our behavior intervention plans.
[00:12:21.310]So the evaluation results
[00:12:23.010]for behavior analyst help them find the students strengths,
[00:12:26.090]but also the skills deficits that need to be taught.
[00:12:29.340]This is where I had a huge aha moment as a behavior analyst
[00:12:33.520]who was also a speech language pathologist.
[00:12:36.280]One of the number one recommendations
[00:12:38.530]for intervention strategies
[00:12:40.440]is functional communication training.
[00:12:42.870]And I knew how to help with communication.
[00:12:46.220]So let's take a look at making the connection.
[00:12:49.060]Let me know in the chat box if you've ever been trained
[00:12:51.760]in verbal behavior.
[00:12:54.020]When we consider Skinner's "Verbal Behavior" again,
[00:12:56.900]remember we're focused on the function of the behavior.
[00:13:00.240]So he began with the mand.
[00:13:02.790]A mand is a form of verbal behavior
[00:13:04.780]that's controlled by motivation.
[00:13:06.950]And it directly benefits the speaker
[00:13:09.670]with a very specific reinforcement.
[00:13:12.490]This typically tends to be the first operant acquired
[00:13:16.300]by a child.
[00:13:17.520]So the basic principle is want it, say it, get it.
[00:13:21.190]You want a cookie, you say cookie, you get the cookie.
[00:13:25.490]The next verbal operant is a tact.
[00:13:28.450]A tact's a verbal operant which is controlled
[00:13:30.960]by a non-verbal stimulus,
[00:13:33.580]such as an object, event or a property of an object.
[00:13:37.950]And it's maintained by nonspecific social reinforcement,
[00:13:41.460]such as praise.
[00:13:42.720]So if we look at tact, we use our senses
[00:13:46.330]to interact with the environment.
[00:13:48.310]So we can tact things that we can see with our eyes.
[00:13:51.630]So I might tact my computer or my phone
[00:13:54.870]or the piece of paper that's sitting in front of me.
[00:13:57.300]We can tact things we hear, earlier I hear lawn mower
[00:14:01.360]or a car drive by or a dog barking.
[00:14:04.530]We can tact things we can smell,
[00:14:06.770]we might be able to smell the fresh cut grass
[00:14:09.600]or the rain on a spring day
[00:14:12.420]or fresh cookies baking in an oven.
[00:14:15.300]We can tact things that we can taste.
[00:14:18.860]We might have a fresh piece of mint gum in our mouth
[00:14:21.690]or taste that sour lemon.
[00:14:23.970]Then we can tact things that we can feel.
[00:14:26.800]I can feel my computer, feels smooth.
[00:14:29.550]Or maybe I've picked up a rock and it feels hard, rough.
[00:14:33.930]So we can tact things using our senses.
[00:14:38.070]The next verbal operant is an echoic.
[00:14:40.590]And an echoic occurs when a verbal response
[00:14:43.160]has point-to-point correspondence
[00:14:45.360]to its preceding verbal stimulus.
[00:14:47.800]And then it's maintained by nonspecific social praise.
[00:14:51.540]So I might say, "Say cat", and you say, "Cat",
[00:14:56.060]and I say, "Great job saying cat."
[00:14:58.740]That's an echoic.
[00:15:00.890]Then we're at the intraverbal.
[00:15:02.901]The intraverbal is a form of verbal behavior
[00:15:05.120]where the speaker responds to another's verbal behavior.
[00:15:08.850]So it's more like a conversation and it's maintained again,
[00:15:12.400]by that nonspecific social reinforcement.
[00:15:15.740]Intraverbal behavior is the most complex verbal behavior
[00:15:19.010]to teach because it requires both the receptive
[00:15:22.600]and expressive components of communication.
[00:15:26.760]So, it might be that I asked you a question,
[00:15:30.457]"What's your name?"
[00:15:31.750]And you've heard the question and you can respond,
[00:15:34.847]"My name is Meggin."
[00:15:36.760]Or I might ask you to complete a phrase or a song.
[00:15:40.330]So I could say, "Twinkle, twinkle",
[00:15:42.320]and then you could finish, "Little star."
[00:15:44.870]The next verbal operant is textual.
[00:15:47.940]The textual operant has point-to-point correspondence,
[00:15:50.990]but not formal similarity between the stimulus
[00:15:54.280]and the response product.
[00:15:56.320]So textual might be that you see the word cat,
[00:16:00.580]C-A-T written on a piece of paper,
[00:16:03.330]and then you say, "Cat".
[00:16:05.600]So you see it and then you say it.
[00:16:07.940]And then transcription is a type of verbal behavior
[00:16:11.710]in which a spoken verbal stimulus controls are written,
[00:16:15.710]typed or finger spelled response.
[00:16:18.150]So you might hear me say, "Spell dog"
[00:16:21.890]and so you use your pencil and you write
[00:16:25.030]on a piece of paper, D-O-G.
[00:16:27.860]In speech language pathology,
[00:16:29.530]we have five processes of communication.
[00:16:32.740]So we have thinking, that goes on at the brain level,
[00:16:36.250]and then it's broken down
[00:16:38.030]into either receptive or expressive.
[00:16:40.790]In the receptive components, we have the reading visual
[00:16:44.140]that we use our eyes to take in information.
[00:16:47.380]We have the listening and auditory
[00:16:49.730]where we use our ears to take in information.
[00:16:52.970]And then in the expressive component, we have the speaking
[00:16:56.910]and vocal where we use our mouth for output.
[00:16:59.650]And we have written where we can write
[00:17:02.100]to express ourselves as well.
[00:17:04.350]So let's look at the terms that SLPs use versus the terms
[00:17:08.240]that behavior analysts use.
[00:17:10.400]I'm gonna jump down to communication and verbal behavior.
[00:17:15.190]When Skinner was coming up with his terms,
[00:17:17.380]he really wanted to make sure
[00:17:19.510]that they were not misunderstood.
[00:17:22.190]So he chose verbal behavior as the process of using all
[00:17:27.490]of the verbal operants together for communication.
[00:17:31.750]Verbal behavior, verbal does not mean vocal,
[00:17:35.770]it just means everything that is used for communication.
[00:17:40.640]So verbal behavior means the same thing as communication.
[00:17:45.270]Receptive language that SLPs use
[00:17:48.260]is what he called listener behavior.
[00:17:51.260]That's the way we take in our information,
[00:17:53.400]through our eyes and ears.
[00:17:55.250]If we're taking in the information through our eyes,
[00:17:57.860]that's visual discrimination
[00:17:59.430]and if we're taking it in through our ears,
[00:18:01.730]that's a listener responding.
[00:18:03.670]Then we have expressive language.
[00:18:05.840]Expressive language is also known in ABA terms
[00:18:09.520]as speaker behavior.
[00:18:11.160]And that breaks down into the mand, tact, echoic
[00:18:14.400]and intraverbal that we discussed earlier.
[00:18:18.430]Vocal behavior then is our articulation
[00:18:21.900]and speech production.
[00:18:23.440]And function of behaviors is that pragmatic components
[00:18:26.880]or social skills.
[00:18:28.240]The mand simply means request.
[00:18:30.890]The tact is label.
[00:18:32.490]Echoic is that imitation of sound,
[00:18:36.050]and motor imitation, is imitation of motor movements.
[00:18:40.010]When we talk about intraverbals as behavior analysts,
[00:18:43.980]were really talking about cloze phrases,
[00:18:46.470]WH-questions in conversation.
[00:18:49.230]And then SLPs would say, "Let's model for the student"
[00:18:53.410]but the behavior analysts would say, "Let's prompt."
[00:18:57.130]And then we have the nonverbal which means non-vocal
[00:19:03.050]in behavior analysis.
[00:19:04.980]So if we look back at the five processes of communication,
[00:19:08.630]and we overlay those verbal operants,
[00:19:11.460]you can really see that we are talking about the same thing.
[00:19:15.640]So thinking would be, was gonna consider
[00:19:18.820]those private events going on inside of our bodies.
[00:19:24.126]And then it breaks into the receptive,
[00:19:26.600]which we would consider that listener responding
[00:19:29.200]and visual discrimination.
[00:19:31.150]We could break it down even further the reading
[00:19:33.420]and vocal is more that textual and visual discrimination.
[00:19:37.650]And listening auditory is the listener responding.
[00:19:41.670]The intraverbal I put right in the middle of the receptive
[00:19:44.510]and expressive because it requires both.
[00:19:47.110]The expressive then is that mand, tact, and echoic.
[00:19:51.010]So the spoken and vocal portion is the mand, tact and echoic
[00:19:55.750]and then the written would be the actual transcription.
[00:19:59.660]So you can see that we are talking the same language
[00:20:03.890]just using different terms.
[00:20:06.270]Let's talk about generalization.
[00:20:08.400]So I've heard it said that ABA just creates little robots.
[00:20:12.480]And I suppose if you just focused on the card sort system
[00:20:17.640]of verbal behavior, it could look like that.
[00:20:20.880]But what we are trying to do is for those students
[00:20:24.540]that are unable to communicate, we're trying to just set
[00:20:28.490]that foundation for them so that they value communication
[00:20:32.830]and they can start to build those initial skills.
[00:20:36.470]And we continue to make these verbal operations
[00:20:39.570]more complex, but then we're also going to take
[00:20:42.910]those newly learned skills
[00:20:44.950]and start to move them into the natural environment
[00:20:48.420]for that generalization of the skills.
[00:20:51.130]This is why it's so important
[00:20:53.010]that we make our goals functional
[00:20:55.510]and individualized for our students.
[00:20:58.220]We are working to make sure our students
[00:21:00.740]are well rounded communicators.
[00:21:03.660]If you look at this communication loop,
[00:21:05.970]our student may have a strength in reading
[00:21:08.840]or visual discrimination
[00:21:10.730]but if they have a deficit in those listening
[00:21:13.690]and auditory skills, they could be seen as a student
[00:21:17.300]who doesn't listen, though sometimes our students
[00:21:20.750]that are seen as having behavior difficulties,
[00:21:24.210]actually have a skills deficit in listener responding.
[00:21:28.290]So it's not the intention of ABA to create little robots,
[00:21:32.080]in fact, just the opposite is true.
[00:21:33.990]They always push for generalization.
[00:21:37.214]So there are three types of generalization
[00:21:39.430]that ABA discusses.
[00:21:41.250]They look at response maintenance
[00:21:42.950]and the way the learner continues to perform those behaviors
[00:21:45.930]after the intervention is removed.
[00:21:47.920]And speech therapy tries to do that as well.
[00:21:51.140]In fact, I had an administrator one time say,
[00:21:53.797]"Couldn't we just stop at sentence level for articulation?
[00:21:57.327]"Why do you have to take it all the way up to conversation
[00:21:59.817]"and multiple settings?"
[00:22:02.350]And I said, "That would be like trying
[00:22:04.907]"to tell a football team to just stop playing the game
[00:22:08.347]"in the third quarter."
[00:22:09.850]So that takes us to number two, the setting
[00:22:12.110]and situation generalization.
[00:22:14.450]So I always made sure that when I wrote my goals,
[00:22:17.660]I wrote it so that the learner would go across settings
[00:22:20.900]and situations.
[00:22:23.000]Same holds true for behavior analysis,
[00:22:25.380]we want them to be able to have these appropriate behaviors
[00:22:29.120]across all people in settings as well.
[00:22:31.710]And finally, we have response generalization.
[00:22:34.390]And that's where the learner emits untrained responses
[00:22:37.200]that are functionally equivalent to the trained response.
[00:22:40.000]So if we've been working on say, hey, or hello,
[00:22:43.100]and they respond, "Hi", then that is meeting that goal.
[00:22:49.210]Excellent professionals in both fields push
[00:22:51.960]for generalization of those functional skills
[00:22:55.300]that are best for our student outcomes.
[00:22:57.750]Learning my ABCs.
[00:23:00.010]As I studied behavior analysis, I really started
[00:23:03.200]to understand that it's all about the ABCs.
[00:23:07.267]And so there is such thing as setting events,
[00:23:10.900]like the student didn't take their meds
[00:23:12.860]or comes out of a domestic violence situation,
[00:23:16.620]things like that.
[00:23:17.453]All right, we understand that,
[00:23:18.900]but that antecedent behavior consequence
[00:23:22.640]is really what happens
[00:23:24.210]within just a couple of seconds of time.
[00:23:26.680]So the antecedent is what happens just one to two seconds
[00:23:30.090]before the behavior, then the behavior occurs,
[00:23:33.450]and then the consequence
[00:23:34.950]is what happens one to two seconds following the behavior.
[00:23:39.040]So when we look at the antecedent,
[00:23:40.920]we look at three different components.
[00:23:43.700]We look at the prompts, the motivation,
[00:23:46.900]and discriminative stimulus.
[00:23:48.830]As I understood that I was in control
[00:23:51.380]of those antecedent conditions,
[00:23:53.840]it helped me so much with my students.
[00:23:56.690]So for motivation and using that satiation and deprivation,
[00:24:01.780]I knew that if it was close to lunchtime
[00:24:04.040]and my students were hungry,
[00:24:05.380]that was a perfect time to try to get them to mand
[00:24:08.050]for various food items or maybe a drink.
[00:24:13.200]But after lunch when they were satiated,
[00:24:16.100]then that would be a better time for me to get them
[00:24:19.290]to mand for maybe tangibles, or access to sensory things.
[00:24:24.210]With discriminative stimulus, I tended to start
[00:24:27.150]with material items first.
[00:24:29.030]The students favorite toys, favorite foods,
[00:24:31.610]favorite, whatever they really, really loved,
[00:24:35.410]favorite movies, favorite activities.
[00:24:38.090]And then I paired myself with those really good things.
[00:24:41.430]And slowly I worked in my instructions.
[00:24:44.330]So pretty quick, I didn't have to have
[00:24:46.170]the materials sitting out to signal the availability
[00:24:49.010]of good things happening,
[00:24:50.590]but also I could just give an instruction
[00:24:54.060]and that would signal to my students
[00:24:55.960]the availability of reinforcement.
[00:24:57.990]And finally the prompt is what I used to support my student
[00:25:02.430]to just make sure that they got the answer correct.
[00:25:05.430]When we consider behavior,
[00:25:07.050]we're actually looking at the student's behavior.
[00:25:09.630]And so that is whatever is observable and measurable.
[00:25:14.240]That was so important for me to understand
[00:25:16.010]that we had to take away our emotions
[00:25:18.250]and just state the facts.
[00:25:20.060]What's observable, what's measurable.
[00:25:22.630]And then we move to consequences.
[00:25:24.530]Again, it's just one to two seconds following the behavior.
[00:25:29.090]And just like we are in control of the antecedent,
[00:25:32.460]we're also in control of the consequence.
[00:25:35.420]So it's the student's behavior, but as an adult,
[00:25:38.940]as the therapist or teacher,
[00:25:41.660]I'm in control of the antecedent and the consequence.
[00:25:45.870]There are three types of consequences.
[00:25:48.370]There's reinforcement, punishment, and extinction.
[00:25:52.540]When we consider reinforcement,
[00:25:54.270]we consider positive reinforcement
[00:25:56.490]and negative reinforcement.
[00:25:58.270]And positive and negative don't mean good and bad,
[00:26:01.780]they just mean adding something in or taking something away.
[00:26:06.290]So when we have positive reinforcement,
[00:26:08.530]we add something that will increase the future likelihood
[00:26:12.620]of a behavior occurring again.
[00:26:15.010]So if a student does their math worksheet,
[00:26:19.390]then we can give them praise or a high five
[00:26:22.240]and say, "Awesome job doing your math homework."
[00:26:24.860]We added in that praise and then hopefully
[00:26:28.650]that reinforcement will increase the likelihood of
[00:26:31.460]that behavior occurring again.
[00:26:33.570]We also have negative reinforcement,
[00:26:35.740]and that's where we can take something away.
[00:26:38.250]So a student who doesn't typically love to do math
[00:26:41.490]is sitting working on their math,
[00:26:43.410]they've gotten a couple of problems done,
[00:26:45.650]we can go over and say, "Great job working on your math.
[00:26:48.837]"You don't have to do your last two problems today
[00:26:51.717]"because you've done such a good job working
[00:26:53.747]"on the first part."
[00:26:54.950]So in this case, we've made their world a better place
[00:26:58.000]by removing something.
[00:27:00.340]This is called negative reinforcement.
[00:27:02.920]It's increasing the future likelihood
[00:27:05.300]of a behavior occurring again, by removing something.
[00:27:09.190]Punishment is a consequence,
[00:27:11.060]that decreases the future likelihood
[00:27:13.470]of the behavior occurring again.
[00:27:15.460]So positive punishment is where something is added in.
[00:27:19.120]So if a baby touches a stove, it causes pain to their hand,
[00:27:23.910]it adds something that worsens their world.
[00:27:28.070]So they are hopefully not going to touch the stove again.
[00:27:32.590]So touching the stove added something
[00:27:35.400]that made their world worse,
[00:27:37.520]so it will hopefully decrease the likelihood
[00:27:40.180]of that behavior occurring again.
[00:27:42.440]Negative punishment is what I would consider tough love,
[00:27:46.250]where something is removed in the hopes
[00:27:50.070]that it will decrease the future likelihood
[00:27:52.450]or the behavior occurring again.
[00:27:54.020]So if a student got to drive their parents car to go out
[00:27:58.020]and came home late, the parents might say,
[00:28:00.657]"Give me the keys, you've lost privileges of driving the car
[00:28:03.867]"because you came home late."
[00:28:05.730]That is when something is taken away from them,
[00:28:08.350]they've lost the privilege of getting to drive the car,
[00:28:11.670]in the hopes that it will decrease the future likelihood
[00:28:14.970]of them coming home late again.
[00:28:17.130]And then finally, we have extinction.
[00:28:19.790]An extinction is removal of reinforcement from something
[00:28:24.830]that was previously reinforced.
[00:28:26.770]An extinction doesn't have to be bad.
[00:28:29.621]SLPs use extinction
[00:28:31.960]when they're shaping up a student's behavior.
[00:28:34.560]So initially, the student was able to say, "Org"
[00:28:39.890]but now they can say, "Dog".
[00:28:42.430]So we no longer accept org, we own we will only accept dog.
[00:28:47.280]So we put org on extinction and we only accept dog.
[00:28:51.070]So extinction doesn't have to be bad.
[00:28:53.570]It's just not reinforcing a behavior
[00:28:56.520]that was previously reinforced.
[00:28:59.240]So as I looked at the ABC pattern
[00:29:01.250]and how that moved me into hypothesized function,
[00:29:05.920]then I could start to look and ask myself,
[00:29:09.727]"If the student is trying to escape or avoid,
[00:29:13.157]"what can I do to help the situation?
[00:29:16.387]"Is the material too hard or too easy?
[00:29:20.817]"Have I built up a really strong relationship,
[00:29:23.847]"so that student wants to be around me?
[00:29:26.367]"Am I an SD to that student?
[00:29:28.777]"Am I using motivating items for that student?
[00:29:32.847]"Could I prompt the student to make it easier for them?"
[00:29:36.890]And then if the behavior is maintaining,
[00:29:40.010]that means I'm reinforcing it in some way.
[00:29:42.810]So is there a way that I could stop reinforcing
[00:29:46.150]that escape or avoid behavior?
[00:29:48.870]And I could walk through that same pattern
[00:29:51.040]for attention, tangibles and sensory as well.
[00:29:55.150]So I have heard that reinforcement is just bribery,
[00:29:58.720]but that comes from an individual,
[00:30:01.420]I would say that does not understand that ABC pattern.
[00:30:04.830]So if we look at reinforcement,
[00:30:06.910]reinforcement has to follow a behavior.
[00:30:09.540]Whereas bribery comes before a behavior.
[00:30:12.990]It's truly all about the timing.
[00:30:15.870]So behavioral interventions,
[00:30:17.500]when used accurately by both professionals,
[00:30:20.520]is wonderfully effective
[00:30:22.180]in the long term change of behavior.
[00:30:24.980]Let's look at the models of collaboration.
[00:30:27.550]We have multidisciplinary, and that's when a team consists
[00:30:31.000]of professionals working independently.
[00:30:33.470]And I'd say that a lot of the time,
[00:30:35.940]that's probably what I experienced,
[00:30:38.430]was that we would come together for an MDT or an IEP meeting
[00:30:42.350]and we would talk and discuss and come up with our goals.
[00:30:45.370]But then there wasn't a lot of collaboration outside
[00:30:48.100]of that meeting.
[00:30:49.310]So the resource teacher would have her a little niche
[00:30:52.160]of time, the SLP, I would have two times a week
[00:30:56.370]for 20 minutes working on my own goals,
[00:30:59.500]the PT would have a small portion of time a week
[00:31:03.000]or every other week working on hers or his goals,
[00:31:06.143]and the OT might come in for 15 or 20 minutes,
[00:31:09.880]one time a week or every other week working on their goals.
[00:31:13.530]Then there's interdisciplinary
[00:31:15.300]where a team works towards a common goal,
[00:31:18.490]but each professional continues to work
[00:31:20.950]within their own area of expertise.
[00:31:23.200]And then there's transdisciplinary.
[00:31:25.570]And in that model, the teams work together
[00:31:29.000]across disciplines to accomplish goals.
[00:31:31.810]And this is what my experience was
[00:31:34.550]when we finally fully got verbal behavior implemented
[00:31:38.930]with our students.
[00:31:40.750]So in this model, we came together as a team.
[00:31:43.990]We did all of the testing, and then we sat down
[00:31:47.480]and we wrote all of these functional individualized goals
[00:31:52.100]for the student.
[00:31:53.420]And then we took those goals, those target skills,
[00:31:57.390]and we worked across disciplines.
[00:32:00.950]So our students began getting speech goals,
[00:32:05.160]academic goals, OT goals, PT goals,
[00:32:09.510]and they were working on them multiple times per day
[00:32:12.780]instead of just a couple of times per month.
[00:32:16.810]So as we began working together more and more,
[00:32:19.750]and we were setting aside time to meet each week,
[00:32:22.870]communication became more and more consistent.
[00:32:26.520]And we often started to celebrate all of the successes
[00:32:30.070]as we were looking at data,
[00:32:31.730]instead of coming together one time a year
[00:32:34.450]and looking at all the deficits.
[00:32:36.540]Our goals were more and more functional.
[00:32:39.030]And as we started to look at
[00:32:42.360]how we could benefit the student in the classroom
[00:32:44.960]in their specials, then those teachers understood
[00:32:48.260]that we were working to try to help them
[00:32:50.050]in their classes too,
[00:32:51.250]so they would even give suggestions.
[00:32:53.770]So there was just so much more team engagement
[00:32:56.490]across the board.
[00:32:57.980]Decisions were always data driven, because we knew exactly
[00:33:01.500]what we were looking at as far as data,
[00:33:03.610]we were on the same page, everybody became empowered.
[00:33:07.800]The Pairers knew exactly what was expected of them,
[00:33:11.080]all the different team members knew what to say,
[00:33:13.560]how we were reinforcing the different behavior.
[00:33:16.870]And when that started to occur in there was confidence
[00:33:20.960]that was built, then there was so much more openness
[00:33:24.040]to inclusion for the student,
[00:33:26.090]allowing for more access to their peers,
[00:33:28.940]building up those friendships, not only amongst the students
[00:33:33.070]but amongst the professionals and the adults as well.
[00:33:37.830]And so then that led to ultimate generalization
[00:33:41.530]across all these different people,
[00:33:43.600]all the different settings for the student,
[00:33:45.820]and then we just started to have better student outcomes.
[00:33:51.000]In conclusion, I just want to share
[00:33:54.050]that there can be resolution of tension
[00:33:57.480]and we can truly build on the strength
[00:34:00.590]of the SLP and the BCBA.
[00:34:03.230]We do need to stay child focused.
[00:34:06.030]When we stay child focused,
[00:34:07.680]it helps us to get out of our own way to stop being prideful
[00:34:12.090]in who we are as professionals, and just know
[00:34:15.340]that we have strengths to bring to the team,
[00:34:18.060]for the child, for the student.
[00:34:20.620]We need to use open, honest
[00:34:22.620]and respectful communication knowing
[00:34:25.250]that when we start to suspend this certainty,
[00:34:29.180]that we can truly listen to understand
[00:34:31.760]and learn from one another.
[00:34:34.060]We can allow space for differences, knowing
[00:34:37.200]that we have different educational backgrounds
[00:34:40.290]and different strengths to add to the team
[00:34:43.020]and be willing to be open and share with the team,
[00:34:46.600]all the different evaluations, the observations
[00:34:49.770]and interventions.
[00:34:51.510]And finally, when possible, work together to discuss
[00:34:56.470]in real time, when we are able
[00:34:58.880]to be with other professionals and work in real time,
[00:35:02.930]it just opens up a whole world of possibility,
[00:35:06.500]because we have that conversation going on.
[00:35:10.120]It's been such a pleasure getting
[00:35:11.680]to discuss SLPs versus BCBAs
[00:35:16.380]and how we can overcome these historical tensions
[00:35:19.470]and truly look at the strengths of the professional
[00:35:22.350]so that we can have a better teaming
[00:35:25.950]and ultimately see the similarities
[00:35:28.220]and how we are all striving for better student outcomes.
[00:35:32.440]Please feel free to contact me, mfunk@esu13.org
[00:35:37.140]with any questions or concerns, bye.

The screen size you are trying to search captions on is too small!

You can always jump over to MediaHub and check it out there.

Comments

0 Comments

ABA from an SLP Perspective

Description

Searchable Transcript

Comments icon comment

Related Channels

Comments