Training Manual for Behavior Technicians Working with Individuals with Autism
By Jonathan Tarbox and Courtney Tarbox
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About this ebook
Training Manual for Behavior Technicians Working with Individuals with Autism is a practical manual and ongoing professional resource for frontline staff undergoing training to become Registered Behavior Technicians™ (RBT). RBT™ is the recommended certification of the Behavior Analyst Certification Board™ (BACB) for entry-level staff who implement behavior analytic services. This Manual complements the 40-hour training for RBTs™ and helps those who have completed training prepare for their certification exam. Following the RBT™ Task List set forth by the BACB, it prompts the reader to generate novel examples of mastered concepts, and real-life vignettes.
Training Manual for Behavior Technicians Working with Individuals with Autism also:
• Details the fundamentals of measurement and data collection
• Introduces assessments of both behavior and environment
• Explains skills acquisition and related teaching procedures
• Covers behavior reduction plans
• Includes documentation and planning information
• Looks at ethics and professional conduct
- Details the fundamentals of measurement and data collection
- Introduces assessments of both behavior and environment
- Explains skills acquisition and related teaching procedures
- Covers behavior reduction plans
- Includes documentation and planning information
- Looks at ethics and professional conduct
Jonathan Tarbox
Dr. Jonathan Tarbox is the Co-Founder and Program Director of the Master of Science in Applied Behavior Analysis program at the University of Southern California, as well as Director of Research at FirstSteps for Kids. Dr. Tarbox is the past Editor-in-Chief of the journal Behavior Analysis in Practice, a Board Member of the ABA Task Force to Eradicate Social Injustice, and a member of the Advisory Board of the Women in Behavior Analysis (WIBA) conference. He has published five books on applied behavior analysis and autism treatment, is the Series Editor of the Elsevier book series Critical Specialties in Treating Autism and Other Behavioral Challenges, and an author of over 90 peer-reviewed journal articles and chapters in scientific texts. His research focuses on behavioral interventions for teaching complex skills to individuals with autism, Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT), and applications of applied behavior analysis to issues of diversity and social justice.
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Training Manual for Behavior Technicians Working with Individuals with Autism - Jonathan Tarbox
Training Manual for Behavior Technicians Working with Individuals with Autism
Jonathan Tarbox
Courtney Tarbox
Table of Contents
Cover image
Title page
Copyright
Biographies
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. Introduction
Abstract
1.1 Format of the Book
1.2 A Brief Note on Studying With This Book
1.3 Seven Dimensions of ABA
1.4 Foundational Principles
Chapter 2. Autism Spectrum Disorder
Abstract
2.1 History and Background of Autism
2.2 Diagnostic Criteria
2.3 ABA Treatment for Autism
Chapter 3. Measurement and Data Collection
Abstract
3.1 Preparation for Data Collection
3.2 Continuous Measurement
3.3 Other Data Collection Methods
3.4 Summarizing and Graphing Data
Chapter 4. Assessment
Abstract
4.1 Observable and Measurable Descriptions of Behavior and Environment
4.2 Skill Acquisition Assessment Procedures
4.3 Functional Assessment Procedures
Chapter 5. Skill Acquisition
Abstract
5.1 Essential Components of a Written Skill Acquisition Plan
5.2 Session Preparation
5.3 Contingencies of Reinforcement
5.4 Motivating Operations
5.5 Discrete Trial Training
5.6 Naturalistic Teaching Procedures
5.7 Shaping
5.8 Task Analysis and Chaining
5.9 Discrimination Training
5.10 Prompting
5.11 Prompt Fading
5.12 Stimulus Control Transfer Procedures
5.13 Generalization Procedures
5.14 Maximizing Learning Opportunities
5.15 Maintenance Procedures
5.16 Caregiver and Staff Training
Chapter 6. Behavior Reduction
Abstract
6.1 Essential Components of Behavior Reduction Plans
6.2 Antecedent Modifications
6.3 Differential Reinforcement Procedures
6.4 Extinction
6.5 Crisis/Emergency Procedures
Chapter 7. Documentation and Professional Conduct
Abstract
7.1 Documentation
7.2 Legal, Regulatory, and Workplace Reporting
7.3 Professional Conduct
7.4 Stress and Burnout
7.5 Conclusion
Appendix A. Sample Skill Acquisition Ideas Sheet
Imaginary Play Ideas
Imaginary Actions + Objects
Imaginary Locations | Themes
Appendix B. Ethical Guidelines
1.0 Responsible Conduct of Behavior Analysts
2.0 Behavior Analysts’ Responsibility to Clients
3.0 Assessing Behavior
4.0 Behavior Analysts and the Behavior-Change Program
5.0 Behavior Analysts as Supervisors
6.0 Behavior Analysts’ Ethical Responsibility to the Profession of Behavior Analysts
7.0 Behavior Analysts’ Ethical Responsibility to Colleagues
8.0 Public Statements
9.0 Behavior Analysts and Research
10.0 Behavior Analysts’ Ethical Responsibility to the BACB
Appendix C. Sample Field Evaluation
Behavior Technician Competency Exam—School Based Version
A-02 Implement continuous measurement procedures
A-03* Implement discontinuous measurement procedures
A-04* Implement Permanent Product Recording Procedures
A-05 Enter Data and Update Graphs
B-02 Conduct Preference Assessments
B-04 Assist With Functional Assessment Procedures
C-03 Use Contingencies of Reinforcement
C-04† Implement Discrete Trial Training Procedures
C-05† Implement Naturalistic Teaching Procedures
C-06† Implement Task Analyzed Chaining Procedures
C-07* Implement Discrimination Training
C-08* Implement Stimulus Control Transfer Procedures
C-09* Implement Stimulus Fading Procedures
C-10* Implement Prompt and Prompt Fading Procedures
D-03† Implement Interventions Based on Modification of Antecedents
D-04† Implement Differential Reinforcement and Extinction Procedures (LIVE)
D-05† – Implement Differential Reinforcement and Extinction Procedures (ROLE PLAY)
D-06 Implement Crisis/Emergency Procedures According to Protocol (ROLE PLAY)
E-02 Generate Objective Session Notes by Describing What Occurred During Sessions
References
Index
Copyright
Academic Press is an imprint of Elsevier
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No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Details on how to seek permission, further information about the Publisher’s permissions policies and our arrangements with organizations such as the Copyright Clearance Center and the Copyright Licensing Agency, can be found at our website: www.elsevier.com/permissions
This book and the individual contributions contained in it are protected under copyright by the Publisher (other than as may be noted herein).
Notices
Knowledge and best practice in this field are constantly changing. As new research and experience broaden our understanding, changes in research methods or professional practices, may become necessary.
Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in evaluating and using any information or methods described herein. In using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility.
To the fullest extent of the law, neither the Publisher nor the authors, contributors, or editors, assume any liability for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions, or ideas contained in the material herein.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
ISBN: 978-0-12-809408-2
For Information on all Academic Press publications visit our website at https://www.elsevier.com
Publisher: Nikki Levy
Acquisition Editor: Emily Ekle
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Biographies
Jonathan Tarbox, PhD, BCBA-D, is the Program Director of the Master of Science in Applied Behavior Analysis program at the University of Southern California, as well as Director of Research and a Regional Clinic Director at FirstSteps for Kids. He is associate editor of the journal Behavior Analysis in Practice and serves on the editorial boards of five major scientific journals related to autism and behavior analysis. He has published two previous books on autism treatment and well over 70 peer-reviewed journal articles and chapters in scientific texts. His research focuses on behavioral interventions for teaching complex skills to individuals with autism. He is a frequent presenter at autism and ABA conferences worldwide, and a regular guest on television and radio.
Courtney Tarbox, MS, BCBA, is a Regional Clinic Director at FirstSteps for Kids, an ABA service provider offering comprehensive intervention to children on the autism spectrum. Her early work in developmental disabilities included working in therapeutic, residential, and educational settings, with individuals diagnosed with a variety of developmental disorders and ranging in age from early childhood to adolescence. She has worked at FirstSteps since 2009 and is responsible for designing and overseeing individualized treatment plans that are unique to each child’s needs, as well as monitoring the service provision implemented by behavior technicians to ensure that competent and dedicated individuals are providing intervention leading to meaningful progress for the children with whom they work. She is actively engaged in treatment evaluation research and has published in peer-reviewed journals. She is a regular presenter at autism and ABA conferences and gives parent and community presentations with the aim of dispelling common misconceptions about ABA treatment for children with autism.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Dr. Shawn Quigley, Thea Davis, and Demetria Contreras for their input on the content of this book, as well as their generous sharing of behavior technician training resources they have developed. We thank Taira Bermudez for her thoughtful input and guidance on versions of the manuscript. We thank Dr. Jennifer Harris and Lisa Stoddard, for sharing clinical resources used in this book and for creating and leading an incredible organization, FirstSteps for Kids, Inc., that encourages behavior analysts to thrive. We thank our editors at Elsevier, Emily Ekle, and Barbara Makinster, for their guidance on this and the other books we have worked on together. We would like to especially thank our moms, T. Carole Eden and Melody Riggs, for their help with proofreading. We want to thank Jamie Nicole Scott and the rest of the incredible photographers at Spectrum Inspired for the beautiful cover image. Their dedication to documenting the beauty in the everyday experiences of children with autism and their families is truly inspiring. To learn more, visit www.spectruminspired.org.
We dedicate this book to current and future generations of behavior technicians who choose to make their lives about helping families affected by autism. Your dedication means more than you know.
Chapter 1
Introduction
Abstract
Applied behavior analysis (ABA) is a science that uses principles of learning and motivation that have come from decades of scientific research to solve problems of behavior that matter to society. In order to address the most important problems, several levels of practitioners are often needed. ABA services are generally overseen by a masters (BCBA) or PhD (BCBA-D) level Board certified behavior analyst, may receive mid-level oversight by a bachelors level (BCaBA) practitioner, and are implemented directly by Registered Behavior Technicians. Behavior technicians are the ones that work directly with the learners and they are the ones whose behavior most directly affects client outcome. Therefore, when you are working in your future job as a behavior technician, you are going to be the tip of the spear. The job of the behavior technician is hugely important and has tremendous responsibility, but the benefits of the job are truly remarkable. In a very real way, your job will make a meaningful difference in the life of someone every day.
Keywords
Multiple exemplar training; ABA; Registered Behavior Technician; ASD; technical audience
Applied behavior analysis (ABA) is a science that uses principles of learning and motivation that have come from decades of scientific research to solve problems of behavior that matter to society. In order to address the most important problems, several levels of practitioners are often needed. ABA services are generally overseen by a master’s (BCBA®) or PhD (BCBA-D®) level Board Certified Behavior Analyst®, may receive mid-level oversight by a bachelors level (BCaBA®) practitioner, and are implemented directly by Registered Behavior Technicians (RBT™). Behavior technicians are the ones that work directly with the learners and they are the ones whose behavior most directly affects client outcome. Therefore, when you are working in your future job as a behavior technician, you are going to be the tip of the spear. The job of the behavior technician is hugely important and has tremendous responsibility, but the benefits of the job are truly remarkable. In a very real way, your job will make a meaningful difference in the life of someone every day.
Our goal in writing this manual is to provide a written text to be used as part of a 40-hour training program that is based on the Registered Behavior Technician (RBT) Task List (Behavior Analyst Certification Board, 2013) and is designed to meet the training requirements for the RBT credential. You should print out the task list and refer to it regularly while you read this book and take your training. It is important to note that this book and any training program that it is used as a part of is offered independently of the Behavior Analyst Certification Board® and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Board in any way.
1.1 Format of the Book
This book contains seven chapters. You are reading Chapter 1 right now and we hope your interest is already captured. Chapter 2, Autism Spectrum Disorder, gives you introductory information about autism and ABA and an overview of ABA treatment for autism. Chapter 3, Measurement and Data Collection, teaches you some of the many ways that you will use data collection to measure behavior. Chapter 4, Assessment, teaches you how you will assist your supervisor in assessing behavior. Chapter 5, Skill Acquisition, is the longest and most important chapter because it explains how to teach new skills to individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Chapter 6, Behavior Reduction, teaches you how to decrease challenging behaviors. Chapter 7, Documentation and Professional Conduct, the final chapter, covers professional issues that are critical to your daily practice as a behavior technician.
In this training manual we are going to teach you to speak in a few different languages. First, we are going to teach you the meaning behind the concepts that you need to learn to perform excellently as a behavior technician and to pass the RBT examination. Second, we are going to teach you the technical definition of those terms. Finally, we are going to teach you how to explain those terms to a nontechnical audience. You will notice that we use very plain language and we make no attempt to sound technical or scholarly. For example, we often write something like …do the behavior
instead of …execute the response
or …having a tantrum
instead of …engaging in tantrum behavior.
We made this choice of language deliberately because the goal of this book is to teach you the meaning behind the principles and procedures of behavior analysis, not to teach you technically and scientifically perfect language. There is a reason and purpose for technically precise language and we have published other books and articles that are good resources for learning such language. After you achieve your RBT credential and are ready for more training, we encourage you to read Applied Behavior Analysis (Cooper et al., 2007) and Handbook of Early Intervention for Autism Spectrum Disorders: Research, Policy, and Practice (Tarbox, Dixon, Sturmey, & Matson, 2014). For now, we invite you to not worry too much about sounding smart and just focus on learning the meaning behind the many new principles and procedures you are about to be trained in. Similarly, we intentionally left out references to research articles throughout this book. If you are interested, the two books cited above contain thousands of scientific references and including them in this book would only make it less readable.
1.2 A Brief Note on Studying With This Book
A large amount of research has shown that people learn best when they are taught many different examples of a concept. This is called multiple exemplar training (see section on generalization in chapter: Skill Acquisition) and it works as well for teaching learners with ASD as it does for training adult staff members like you. This book is intentionally written to give you terms, the definitions of those terms, and then multiple examples that illustrate the concept. In order to make the learning experience most effective, you should try to create at least three of your own new examples for every new term in the book. If there are other trainees who are being trained with you, we recommend you form study groups and quiz each other. But more