Association for Behavior Analysis International

This discussion panel intends to further the discussion of our parent barrier checklist that aims to identify parent barrier behaviors and develop a treatment plan to improve behaviors and general ABA knowledge. Our 2019 ABAI panel was highly attended and we were contacted by so many attendees that we decided to improve our checklist and discuss some treatment outcomes that we have generated. In 2019, we developed a user-friendly checklist of parent barrier behaviors observed in an ABA clinic in Phoenix, Arizona. Since then, we have implemented use of the checklist across incoming families in order to screen for barrier behaviors that may need to be addressed using parent training as ABA services begin. These identified parent barrier behaviors have been hypothesized to impact treatment duration and ultimately impact the child’s long-term access to effective ABA intervention. This checklist was designed to identify what barrier behaviors may be exhibited by parents or caregivers, establish a threshold score to indicate a specific treatment focus, and a suggestion for high intensity parent training at the onset of ABA therapy and other treatment indications should be discussed. The goal is to focus on parent barrier behaviors and address them behavior analytically in order to increase duration of effective ABA services for the child. We aim to share and discuss the improved checklist and the outcomes of our parent training efforts when barrier behaviors are identified in families that are looking to begin ABA services.

BCBAs in clinical practice