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| Bridging Gaps Through Successful Collaboration: Developing Evidence-Based Programs in Public Education Settings |
| Sunday, May 24, 2015 |
| 11:00 AM–11:50 AM |
| 217C (CC) |
| Area: AUT/EDC; Domain: Service Delivery |
| Chair: Rebecca S. Raas (The ABRITE Organization) |
| CE Instructor: Rebecca S. Raas, M.A. |
| Abstract: Applied behavior analysis (ABA) intervention programs have been repeatedly shown to be effective for children on the autism spectrum or those with developmental disabilities when provided within the home. However, the efficacy of ABA programs within the public school setting has not yet been demonstrated. Within the state of California, it is common practice that children who qualify for special education services receive an eclectic program that utilizes many different teaching methodologies, contrary to the research literature. Given the growing awareness of the effectiveness of ABA and pressure from families to provide these services, school districts are now collaborating with behavior analysts to develop evidence-based programs. The purpose of the current symposium is to describe how a comprehensive ABA program can be provided to students within the public school system with the use of systematic collaboration. A programmatic description of an ABA program within the special education classroom will be presented, as well as student outcomes in relation to skill acquisition and aberrant behavior within this setting. Additionally, several lessons learned as a result of the collaboration with the school district will be highlighted. |
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| A Description and Evaluation of Intensive Behavior Programs Employed in Public School Classrooms |
| JANICE DONEY FREDERICK (The ABRITE Organization), Ginger R. Wilson (The ABRITE Organization), Valerie Rogers (The ABRITE Organization), Rebecca S. Raas (The ABRITE Organization) |
| Abstract: A growing number of school districts employ or contract with behavior analysts to develop and supervise ABA intervention for their students, yet very few detailed descriptions of such programs exist in the literature. Furthermore, despite an increasing number of public school programs that employ ABA either as a primary approach or as one of many employed within a more eclectic approach to intervention, there are little data examining the effectiveness related to ABA intervention programs delivered within these settings. This program description provides details related to a collaborative model developed by an organization providing behavior analytic services and a school district in order to create programs grounded solely in ABA, evidence-based practices for children with a range of developmental delays including but not limited to autism spectrum disorder. Information related to student characteristics as well as program components such as teacher, staff and parent training, assessment and intervention strategies utilized, and methods for evaluating outcomes within and across students will be presented. |
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Behavior Analytic Public Classroom Outcomes: Results of Collaboration on Behavioral Repertoires of Children with Developmental Disabilities |
| VALERIE R. ROGERS (The ABRITE Organization), Janice Doney Frederick (The ABRITE Organization), Ginger R. Wilson (The ABRITE Organization), Rebecca S. Raas (The ABRITE Organization) |
| Abstract: The effectiveness of intensive behavioral intervention on skill acquisition and reduction of aberrant behavior with learners with autism spectrum disorder and other developmental disabilities is readily demonstrated within the behavior analytic community. This type of education is rarely observed within public school systems, particularly in California. The current paper presents various outcome data for students enrolled in applied behavior analysis (ABA) classrooms within a public elementary school across up to 3-years. The classrooms involved are a result of collaboration between a public school district and an ABA organization. In particular, outcomes related to IEP goals achieved, rates of skill acquisition, maintenance and generalization of acquired skills, and undesirable behavior will be presented for multiple children on the autism spectrum and children with other developmental disabilities, including downs syndrome and cerebral palsy, enrolled in two different behavior analytic classrooms. The implications of these data as well as future directions related to student progress and methods for measuring and evaluating outcomes will be discussed. |
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| Important Considerations in the Creation of Classrooms Based on Behavior Analysis |
| GINGER R. WILSON (The ABRITE Organization), Janice Doney Frederick (The ABRITE Organization), Valerie Rogers (The ABRITE Organization), Rebecca S. Raas (The ABRITE Organization) |
| Abstract: The documented effectiveness of behavior analysis with children with autism has spurred the need for school districts to reconsider the traditional special education approach for these children. Parents of children with autism have a research literature to prove that applied behavior analysis (ABA) is the most appropriate service for their children and therefore are convincing districts to consider ABA services. While this is advantageous for behavior analysts and the children alike, this shift has created many difficulties to be considered. There is not a simple extrapolation from the research literature that highlights the components, duration, and frequency of behavior analytic services to the model implemented within the school district. The district needs to meet the educational requirements and number of hours offered to same age peers, for example. Creating a classroom that meets the needs of many individual learners with varying degrees of deficits and excesses within the special confines of this funding agency has shown that there are many threats to success for the behavior analyst to address. This presentation will revisit the many lessons that have been learned in the last three years of this collaboration and will provide an update of lessons learned in the last year. |
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