Case Study: Martin

Martin, a behavior analyst, is working with Sara, a 14-year-old girl with severe developmental delays who exhibits self-injurious behavior (SIB). The self-injurious behaviors included pulling her hair, biting her arm and banging her head against the wall. After conducting a functional analysis, Martin decided to employ an intervention program consisting of differential reinforcement of other (DRO) desired behavior. Martin collected data on Sara's SIB before and during the intervention. Below is a depiction of the data that Martin collected:

Sara's Frequency of SIB

BASELINE Occurrences DRO Occurrences

22 5

25 5

27 3

26 2

Address the following questions, and complete the following requirements:

1. Create a basic line graph using Microsoft Excel, to be included in your Word document. The graph should depict the data provided in this case study. You should only need to create one graph, with SIB depicted, both in baseline and in intervention.

2. What type of research design did Martin employ when working with Sara?

3. According to the data, did the intervention that Martin selected work in modifying Sara's self-injurious behavior?

4. Martin had considered using an ABAB reversal design when working with Sara. What are some ethical implications of selecting a reversal design when working with the type of behavior problems that Sara was exhibiting?

5. Martin's supervisor requested this graph of the data he collected when working with Sara. Why are graphs useful in evaluating behavior change?

6. Discuss what a functional relationship is and how an ABA professional would use his/her understanding of functional relationships when designing an intervention. Identify whether the graph that your created using the data provided in this section depicts a functional relationship.