She attends a special education preschool program for students with ASD and Communication Disorders in a self-contained classroom, where she receives Physical Therapy, Speech Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Discrete Trial Teaching (DTT) as part of her half-day program. Kaitie is mostly non-verbal, emitting only a few basic words such as no, more, and I-Pad. Most other times, Kaitie will engage in squealing noises, crying, or whining as a way to express herself. Occasionally, she will engage in tantrum behaviors such as hitting, kicking, and flopping on the floor if her needs are not met quickly enough. Kaities parents have heard about Facilitated Communication as a miracle, and ask you about implementing a plan to include it into her program since they are eager to increase her language development. You explain that Facilitated Communication is not an evidence- based practice and therefore, you cannot recommend it as a treatment option. Upon hearing that, Kaities parents become a bit resistant to your recommendations, and seem doubtful about her developing home program.
Kaities home program is contracted for 15 hours of services per week, most of which are to be provided by two Registered Behavior Technicians (RBTs). There is also a parent-training component, in which you, as the BACB, provide to parents for 2 hours per week to assist with supporting parents to become active participants in Kaities program, particularly to enhance the maintenance and generalization of skills learned during her therapy with the RBTs.
Part One: Develop a Rapport
First, discuss how you would approach Kaities parents as resistant clients. What barriers would prevent the development of an effective rapport, and what strategies would you suggest to use as a means to establish a therapeutic relationship?
Part Two: Verbal Behavior Assessment & Intervention
Next, outline the process that you would use to establish Kaities verbal behavior program, including the specific assessment and teaching methods, providing a clear rationale for your decisions. Present an overview of your assessment instrument and the hypothetical results related to the existing and target verbal operants in Kaities case. Based on the results, discuss how you would set up a treatment program using Discrete Trial Training and how you would provide effective management and supervision to the RBTs who will be facilitating the DTT program. Then, discuss how you would consider maintaining and generalizing Kaities behavior as part of the parent-training program. Choose a naturalistic approach in which parents can be taught to implement procedures that will generalize Kaities language skills into the natural home and community environments. Finally, explain the facets of Performance Management that you would adopt to support your RBTs and Kaities parents with the successful implementation of the intervention plans.
Part Three: Evaluate the Program
Describe how you would assess the overall effectiveness of the home program, and what steps you would take if (a) goals were not being achieved in a timely manner or teaching procedures were not effective and (b) steps you would take when behavioral and instructional goals are met.
Part Four: Important Considerations
Throughout your discussion, specifically outline each of the key ethical considerations that will support the necessary steps in the assessment and intervention process. Be sure to use the BACB Professional and Ethical Compliance Code (2014) as a framework, and take careful thought in supporting your discussions with specific codes and relevant rationale. Also, include a discussion to address any potential legal, cultural and social validity issues (10 – 15 pages).
Other Requirements
You should apply APA Style formatting throughout your paper. Include a title page, section headings, in-text citations, and a references page. Keep direct quotes to a minimum. You should also include an introductory paragraph, thesis sentence, and summary paragraph.
You should cite relevant empirical research and scholarly articles within Applied Behavior Analysis. You should cite a minimum of seven peer-reviewed journal articles. You should carefully select sources after reviewing the literature and evaluating the credibility, relevance, quality, and research merit of each source.
