The Role of the Behavior Analyst in the IEP Team

When a child receives a diagnosis related to a developmental disability that requires special educational needs, the first step in the process is putting together an Individualized Educational Program (IEP).  The IEP is designed to provide the child with an educational program taking into consideration all areas related to the disability.  The goal of the IEP is to provide the child access to the general education curriculum and to allow the student be successful in the least restrictive environment. The IEP team comprises professionals from a multitude of disciplines, which may include a school psychologist, a speech & language pathologist, an occupational and physical therapist, a behavior analyst and more depending on the child’s needs. 

When a child demonstrates behavioral challenges that prevent him/her from gaining access to educational requirements – this can include both behavioral problems and/or a skills deficit – a Behavior Analyst is requested to participate in the educational planning. Parents have the right to request a Behavior Analyst in the IEP team.

Behavior Analysis is the scientific study of behavior. Behavior Analysts seek answers by looking at the environmental factors that trigger the occurrence of a behavior.  As discussed in previous blogs, Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is a scientifically proven method that promotes positive conduct in children while decreasing undesired behaviors. In recent years, ABA has gained the reputation of being the most effective method of treatment for behavior problems that are associated with autism spectrum disorders and pervasive development disorders because it effectively addresses behavioral issues and skills deficits associated with the disorder. ABA is the systematic study of the relationship between behaviors and the environmental factors that trigger and maintain those behaviors.  Behaviors serve a purpose for a child. They allow a child to have a need met and are used as a tool to get something the child wants or escape something the child does not want to do. When we understand the purpose of a behavior we can work to improve behaviors and achieve the best results during therapy sessions.

Possibly the most important aspect of ABA is that it can also be used to build socially appropriate and productive behavioral repertoires by teaching a child an appropriate alternative behavior to replace the undesired behavior. Using a system of positive reinforcement, new skills can be taught by breaking down complex skills into small, achievable components and rewarding each step towards the desired behavior.

It is crucial that any behavior intervention program be carried out across all settings. This means that the procedures must be implemented anywhere the child interacts: school, home, the community. Since Behavior Analysis treats behaviors, in essence any therapist that works with a child becomes an implementer, regardless of the symptom being treated, whether it is speech, occupational or physical. If we understand this, it becomes logical that for any therapeutic program to be effective, all caregivers, educators, parents and therapists must work synergistically to implement the program. The job of the behavior analyst supervising the program is to notify the other therapists on what works to motivate a child and to appropriately coordinate the IEP objectives and learning goals to help the child achieve maximum progress.

Children can realize their greatest potential when teaching techniques are consistent across all settings. Best results are achieved when the therapeutic team works in synergy to implement the program in accordance with behavioral principles.

 

Daniel Adatto, BCBA
cadatto@tesidea.com

Responding vs. Reacting

In my practice, I often see parents and caregivers “reacting” to children’s challenging behaviors instead of “responding”. You react to your children’s behaviors by yelling, spanking, threatening or physically forcing them to comply out of frustration and anger. You target your child rather than the problem. The way you behave is influenced by your current emotion. Often times, you react without thinking and as a consequence, you lose control; you are not making a conscious and rational decision about the outcomes you want from the situation. When you react you can’t choose the best way to reach the outcome you want. Reacting out of frustration and anger causes damage, hurts relationships and creates resentment. Furthermore, it does not make you happy even when you were able to “stop” your child’s misbehavior.  

Responding to your child’s behaviors, on the other hand, means that you take a moment to think before you act, thus keeping your actions under your control. It takes more time and effort because it involves making a conscious and rational decision about what you want from the situation. And what you want is to teach something, to build behavioral repertoires. You want to “respond” as a teacher and not “react” as a police officer enforcing the law. The time that you take (it could be 10 seconds, five minutes or even more) between your child’s misbehavior and you responding to the problem is vital to the relationship between you and your child.

 

Here are some tips:

1. Take a few seconds and a deep breath.

2. Consider all the options before you make a decision with the goal of teaching in mind.

3. Be ready ahead of time for situations that happen often. It is very likely that your child will misbehave again.

4. Be consistent and persistent in your responses.

5. Try to understand why your child is behaving in that way, what is the function of the behavior, what need is the child trying to meet. Target your response to the problem, not the child. It is not you and your child against each other, but the two of you together against the problem.

6. Do not threaten your child with a list of consequences you know you won’t implement. For example, “I’ll call the police”, “No TV today”, “I’ll tell your father”, “No more ice-cream”, etc. Try instead “If you listen, you’ll have ice-cream”, or “If you finish your homework, we go to the park.” And follow through.

Be sure that you are responding to your child’s behavior and be sure your “response” is appropriate, not over-blown, out of proportion. You want to teach, not enforce. Your job as a parent is to teach your child how to achieve self-control. If you do, it gets easier, I promised. And, I’ll buy you an ice-cream.

 

Daniel Adatto, BCBA
cadatto@tesidea.com

 

 

 

Consistency

In my practice, I often see that “consistency” is one of the most misunderstood concepts in behavior management: parents and caregivers discontinuing effective strategies, implementing them seldom, or not practicing what they demand from their kids.  Today, I’ll focus on this misconceptions. 

Consistent parents follow the same principles and practices they expect from their children. For example, if you are teaching your child not to scream and yell, you should not scream or yell at your child (or at anybody, for that matter). If you don’t want them to lie, do not tell them that you are not home when they pick up the phone.

And do not lie to them. Tell them the truth in simple terms and do not go beyond what they ask. It is much better to say less than lying. And always fulfill your promises. Do not think that they have forgotten. You want to teach them that they can trust you. 

At the same time you should be consistent when setting boundaries with your child. If your child goes beyond the limits, deal with him/her in similar ways for similar actions. A child is more likely to behave well if he or she has some idea of what to expect from you.

As children learn how limits work and what happens when they go past those limits, they will trust you to be fair. Your child is also more likely to come to you with questions or problems if he/she knows what to expect. Children need limits. Limits help build their sense of security and in turn build self-confidence.

Consistency between parents/caregivers is also crucial as your child learns about behaviors that work and behaviors that don’t work. Disagreements between parents are normal but it can be harmful and undermine the other parent’s authority in front of a child. Try discussing your differing perspectives when your child is not present, until you achieve a meeting of minds. Then, you present a united front to your child. DO NOT ARGUE IN FRONT OF YOUR CHILDREN. It gives them the wrong message by teaching them an inappropriate way of dealing with conflicts. Keep in mind that children learn more from what they see than from what we tell them.

Consistency leads to predictability, which in turn reduces anxiety and challenging behaviors, and teaches children that the world is truthful.

 

 

Daniel Adatto, Board Certified Behavior Analyst.

 

How to talk so your kids will too

Communication is paramount in the relationship with your children, or any healthy relationship for that matter. A lack of communication or deficits in this area can lead to problematic behaviors. Children face a lot of pressure and many emotions. They don’t always know how to express these emotions but the “pressure” has to come out somehow. If they don’t have the right tools to express themselves, problems can arise and it will start to manifest itself in the form of challenging behaviors.

This is even more so when it comes to children with special needs. If children did not learn the necessary skills, they will resort to methods that worked during the time they were babies: crying, screaming, throwing things, etc. As a child gets older and stronger, this can be incredibly problematic.

For this reason teaching and encouraging functional communication should be a key component of any school and parenting program.

An essential component of effective communication is to listen. This helps to make children feel comfortable and secure: you care about their feelings and needs, you respect their point of view, and you are interested in what they have to say.

As teachers and parents we can take important steps to build healthy communication repertoires. Both ways. I mean, you are talking and listening to them and at the same time you are teaching them how to talk and listen. How many times you felt as if they were not listening to you? Well, they felt the same. Every time you feel the other person is not listening to you is because you are not listening as well. Think about the other person as a mirror that reflects your image. So, the best way to get the other to listen, is to start listening.

Parents, teachers and caregivers can show and teach positive communication skills by:

Listen patiently before disciplining your kids. Instead of asking them to stop, encourage communication, even if they need to scream and cry for a little while. They probably need to vent, let the anger out before they talk about the problem. And do not interrupt or criticize when they are communicating. Keep in mind that communication is not only words. Crying, gestures, facial expressions, breathing patterns are all means of communication as well.  

Do not rush to give solutions or directions, in many cases venting is what the other person needs.

Clarify the situation by paraphrasing what your child is saying. Repeat back to your child what he said. This helps your child feel that you are listening.

Give them the opportunity to solve the problem by themselves, coach them in the right direction so they feel they discover the solution.

Encourage your children to express their opinions by just responding “Yes” or “Really?” Ask them open-ended questions such as “How would you feel if that would happened to you?”, or “What is the right thing to do?” If needed provide them with 2-3 choices.

Speak calmly, especially during stressful situations. This is a skill difficult to achieve, but it can go a long way. When they are stressed they need you to calm them down rather than stress them further.

Do not discuss discipline during stressful situations, such as when your child is hungry, tired, or upset. Deescalate the situation and wait for a good moment to discuss behaviors and solutions.

Use a positive language. Instead of telling your kids what not to do (i.e. “Stop screaming”) tell them what to do (i.e. “If you use your words I can understand you and help you”).

Focus on the behaviors, not the person. For example, instead of saying “You are a bad boy because you don’t want to clean up” try “Your room is messy, please, clean up your toys.”

It is important to teach your children that it is okay to disagree or be upset, as long as they express their opinions and feelings in an appropriate manner. Emotions are always okay, behaviors can be problematic. Validate their feelings by saying “You seem very upset”, or “You are mad, and I understand why”, for example.

Create opportunities to communicate with your children by:

Read to them: ask questions about the story, make comments, and relate the story to real life situations.

Have family outings for the purpose of spending time together.

Make time to play with them, preferably daily.

Have at least one family meal a day and encourage conversations between all family members. Remember, kids learn what they see, not what you told them. Adults conversing can be a strong model for your kids.

Be sure to make eye contact when talking to your children. Giving instructions or asking questions from the other room or while talking on the phone? Not a good idea.

I would like to recommend some good books about this subject:

“How to talk so your kids will listen, and listen so your kids will talk”, Adele Faber & Elaine Mazlish.

‘Raising your spirited child”, Mary Sheedy Kurcinka.

“Everyday opportunities for extraordinary parenting”, Bobbi Conner.

In summary, the best approach to listening and talking is to do so in the way you would like the other person to listen and talk to you. This is the healthiest way.

 

Daniel Adatto, BCBA

Teaching Teachers

Henry D. Schlinger Jr., Director of the Graduate Applied Behavior Analysis Program at Cal State Los Angeles, published a very interesting letter in the June 22, 2013 edition of the Los Angeles Times. His position is that “the main thrust of teacher training programs should be how to teach.” To do so, he proposes that schools of education need to “stop relying on trendy but unscientific “theories” of learning and instead focus on those based on good science, such as behavior analysis.” I can not agree more.

He adds that “when teachers actually teach, behavior problems in the classroom decline.” This is because students need to be active and interactive learners.

So now the question becomes how can behavior analysis accomplish that?

One of the core principles of Applied Behavior Analysis is that behaviors are related to the environment in which they occur. B. F. Skinner, the father of Behavior Analysis, sheds some light:

“The subject is always right” (Skinner, 1948, p 240).

“Control the environment and you will see order in behavior’’ (Skinner, 1967, p. 399)

“The task of a behavior analyst is to discover all the variables of which probability of response is a function.”

Applying this to our subject matter, we can conclude that instead of forcing the kids to fit teachers’ way of teaching, teachers need to be able to change their way of teaching to fit their students’ needs. This couldn’t be more relevant than when talking about special education. Children with special needs do not learn the way we teach, so we need to teach the way they learn. Applied Behavior Analysis is a single-subject design. Each student needs an individualized program. That is the idea of IEP’s (Individual Education Plan).   

As a first step, teachers can have more of an impact by learning the art of motivation and the power of stimulating instructional routines and structure.

The art of motivation: Simply put, this means motivating students to perform non-preferred activities. Good teachers motivate their students when they tell them they can have 10 extra minutes of recess if they finish their work on time, or give them points towards a pizza party or a preferred activity. It is important to note that motivation does not always mean a treat, or a prize. Motivating materials (i.e. arts & crafts, music, computers and tablets loaded with educational software, etc.), topics relevant to kids, and a loving, warm, and passionate approach to teaching are excellent tools. Education does not have to be synonymous with boredom. It should be an amazing experience.

In my opinion it’s time to mainstream the concept that people engage in behaviors because they work, we get or avoid something through our behaviors. When we ask children to do something they don’t want to do, we need to motivate them, so they want to do it. Plain and simple.

So, three words: Motivation, Motivation, Motivation. Let’s get out there and motivate our kids instead of forcing them, or just hoping they will comply.

Under the title “The Power of Structure and Routines”, we published a blog on April 28^th, 2013, where we wrote “Structure and routines mean a stimulating, predictable and consistent daily schedule (time-space-people in charge). Lack of predictability and down time increase anxiety, which leads to problematic behaviors.” Predictability is what children need, and it should be implemented in the classroom setting. Keeping them busy is part of all this.

Skinner also pointed out that his main contribution was the measurement of behaviors. Behavior Analysis is a data-based decision making process. We need to be certain, through constant measurement and experimentation, that the program is working and it will continue to work. Data should be the indicator to make decisions to continue an educational program or change it. Sustaining an ineffective instructional program is like knowingly keeping a patient on medication that is not working. Doctors (scientists in general) analyze data and make changes accordingly. Teachers should do the same.

But more than anything good teachers share a crucial feature: passion. They are passionate about their jobs. They wouldn’t change it for anything else. Thus, the system should reward them. Parents should acknowledge and thank them.

As Henry D. Schlinger Jr. put it at the end of his letter, “It’s not rocket science, but judged on the basis of how rarely it occurs, one would think it is.”

I could not agree more.

 

Daniel Adatto, BCBA

The Lovaas Legacy in Autism Treatment

The autism community continues to mourn the loss of pioneer Dr. Ivar Lovaas. Realizing that Skinner’s systematic approach using reinforcement could be instrumental in teaching functional skills to children with autism , Lovaas was one of the pioneers in the implementation of  Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) principles and procedures in the treatment of autism, and in doing so helped thousands of children across the globe. The Lovaas Method of ABA starts with "discrete trials therapy” often referred to as DTT. A discrete trial consists of a therapist asking a child to perform a particular behavior. For example, “Timmy, name the animals in this picture.” If the child complies, he is given a "reinforcer" which is usually a desired prize or reward that is meaningful to the child in order to increase motivation, often times an area of deficit in children in the spectrum. The reinforcer could be a food treat, a high five, stickers in a chart towards earning play time, or anything else that has meaning for the child. If the child does not comply, he does not receive the reward, and the trial is repeated. Prompts are added as necessary to ensure the trial ends in success.  Since ABA is a data-based decision making process, data collection and analysis is warranted in order to continue a specific program or make changes.  

It's important to note that ABA interventions are single-subject designs: the specific content of the discrete trials therapy is based on an assessment of the individual child, his needs, and his abilities. So for example a child who is already capable of sorting shapes would not be asked to sort shapes indefinitely for rewards. Instead his therapy would focus on different, more complex functional skills.

As children master specific programs, therapists will start to take them out of the therapy or home setting and into more natural environments, where they can practice their learned skills in the real world. This is the meaning of “Applied” in Applied Behavior Analysis, which differentiates ABA from other therapies that are implemented only in a contrive setting where the therapist has full control over the variables in place. In simple words, we consider that a skill is mastered when the child is fluent in the real world. This often presents a challenge because the therapist does not have control over the environment when at the groceries store, a restaurant or a play-date at the park. However, research shows that this is the only way to achieve generalization of gains across settings and maintenance across time.   

Additionally, ABA therapists are required to keep detailed records on their outcomes. This means that ABA has been extensively researched and replicated. As such, ABA has a reputation for being the most scientifically researched form of successful therapy available for autistic children.                     

As I said in a previous blog (see “Common misconceptions about Applied Behavior Analysis”) I fell in love with ABA when I learned all that. The more I learn, the more passionate I am. ABA gives me the answers I need to do my job effectively.  Everyone who jumps on the ABA bandwagon gets hooked. Have you ever thought about why?

 

 

Daniel Adatto, BCBA

 

Summer Time and Autism

The summer is already here. Having a child with special needs at home all summer is extremely stressful for parents. As we’ve discussed in previous blogs, this kind of stressful environment often leads to behavioral issues.  

Summer should be a time of joy, sharing and spending time with family and friends. However, for those with family members who have special needs, the holidays can present unique challenges because it can often be overwhelming to children. The comfort and predictability of the school time with its routines and schedules is gone and now there is a lot of free time.

As discussed in previous blogs, being sensitive to your child’s needs and keeping familiar routines in place are the best ways to avoid summer havoc. Let’s review some recommendations to help keep parents sane during the summer. 

Prepare your child for the unexpected event: Explain to your child what is going to happen when there are changes in routines ahead of time. Be specific about every detail that might occur in any given situation, such as meal times, preferred and non-preferred activities, time to come back home, etc. New or unexpected situations can be very frightening for a child with autism and being prepared can help him cope.

Prepare the social event for your child: Avoid long trips whenever possible. Airports, planes and long car rides could be very stressful.

Stick to your normal routine as much as possible. Keep sleep and meal/snack times as close to their usual time as possible.

Keep your child busy: Don’t expect that your child will entertain himself independently. Your role here is crucial. I know that finding activities for kids with special needs can be challenging. However, there are some options available. Consult with your Regional Center or your social services agency. Schools and community centers sometimes offer activities for children with special needs. Try to build a schedule of activities similar to the schedule your child follows during the school year. 

 

Know the triggers and read the precursors of challenging behaviors, such as facial expressions, changes in breathing, body movements, etc. Look for the signs that your child may be unraveling and retreat to your safe place. Preventing a meltdown is always easier than managing a tantrum once it begins.

Finally, relax and enjoy. You are your child’s barometer and if you are stressed out, he will be too.

 

Daniel Adatto, BCBA