The following organization has requested the creation of a behavior analytic program to assist with some concerns:
- Stars ABA provide clinic-based, ABA interventions for children with autism. Stars uses discrete trial training to teach children skills and appropriate replacement behaviors. Stars also creates systematic behavior intervention plans to decrease interfering behaviors. The following are some of the issues Stars has encountered:
- Staff are not delivering rein forcers on a frequent basis when children are engaging in appropriate behavior.
- Staff are providing a lot of attention and reacting emotionally when children engage in inappropriate behavior.
- Many Stars' staff arrive late for their scheduled shifts.
- Stars has experienced a high turnover rate. They have had 3 of 15 staff leave in the last 6 months.
Your task is to create a plan for a program to address the issues that Stars is having with staff. You should create a plan detailing a behavior analytic process and solution for Stars' concerns. Include a brief explanation of the research strategies used to support your ideas. Your paper should contain all of the following and should be separated into sections covering each step:
1. Problem Identification:
a. Conduct a preliminary assessment with Stars ABA personnel to identify the problems within the organization.
b. Describe the use of at least one tool you would use to gather specific information about the problems at Stars.
c. Identify the type of data utilized during this step.
d. Operationally define the problem(s) requiring intervention.
e. Discuss potential contingencies that may impact the staff behavior at Stars ABA. Include a discussion of reinforcement and punishment.
2. Identify Program Question and Research Design
a. Select 1 program question foryour intervention.
b. Select and describe the research design you will use to demonstrate the effectiveness of your program.
c. Discuss the strength and weakness of your selected research design and why it is the best choice for your selected intervention.
3. Select and Describe Your Intervention
a. Choose one of the following interventions and describe how you would implement one of the following:
- Competency Based Staff Training
- Reinforcement Plan for Staff
b. Your plan should be evidence-based and include a description of the following components:
- Describe how the program will be implemented.
- Discuss who will be responsible for implementing the program.
- Identify the type of data that will be collected throughout the program.
- Indicate specific behavior analytic measure, i.e., frequency, duration, percent correct, etc.
c. Describe ongoing documentation and data collection that will take place during the intervention.
- Indicate how the data will be collected and what kind(s) of data sheets will be used? what kind(s) of data sheets will be used? Will the data be graphed?
d. Create two SMART goals for the program.
4. Program Evaluation
a. Discuss how data will be evaluated, including:
- Schedule of observation: how often will the behaviors be assessed?
- What factors will be considered when evaluating the data?
- How will the data be evaluated?
- Visual Analysis
- Calculations
b. Discuss how you will use data to determine effectiveness of the intervention.
- How will you conclude that your intervention is effective?
c. Describe the steps to be taken based on the effectiveness of the intervention.
- Include a discussion of the variables that could impact the success of the intervention.