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| When Foster Care Fails: Behavioral Programming in Residential Facilities for Troubled Youth |
| Saturday, May 26, 2007 |
| 1:00 PM–2:20 PM |
| Edward C |
| Area: CBM; Domain: Applied Research |
| Chair: Brandon F. Greene (Southern Illinois University) |
| Discussant: Hewitt B. Clark (University of South Florida) |
| CE Instructor: Brandon F. Greene, Ph.D. |
| Abstract: N/a |
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| The Design of Behavior Management and Incentive Systems in Congregate Residential Care: Past and Present. |
| BRANDON F. GREENE (Southern Illinois University) |
| Abstract: Applied behavior analysis has been at the forefront in the design of incentive systems to develop and manage behavior in variious settings. Examples include The Token Economy (1966) in which Azrin and Allyon demonstrated the motivating power of a token system with chronically mentally ill patients. The Teaching Family model also provided an example of the benefits of a complex, but well managed point system, for developing the adaptive behavior of troubled youth. Although such systems are viable in the hands of skilled practitioners, their use in congregate care settings by less skilled direct-care staff is questionable. Indeed, in such a context, "best practice" may not be feasible. This presentation will describe essential characteristics of a motivational system that may represent the best feasible practice. Data on its impact in a residential facilty for troubled youth will be described in the symposium. |
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| Issues of Implementation and Impact of a Humane Incentive Systems for Challenging Youth in a Residential Facility. |
| AUTUMN KAUFMAN (Southern Illinois University), Courtney L. Deal (Southern Illinois University), Anne S. King (Hoyleton Youth & Family Services), Brandon F. Greene (Southern Illinois University) |
| Abstract: The adminstrators of a residential facility for troubled youth enlisted the assistance of behavioral consultants in the re-design of its behavior management and treatment system. A key component of the original system was a multi-tiered rating system that required youth to refrain from engaging in "behavioral incidents" -- essentially any transgression (e.g., cussing, yelling, and more serious offenses) that direct-care staff regarded worthy of documenting. The "rewards" the system offered were limited and included preferred snacks and brief periods of one-to-one contact with favored staff. The system was replaced by one which offered a broader and more age-typical array of opporunties for the youth (e.g., "dates" and other contact with the opposite sex) and limited the basis for restricting such opportunities to serious behavioral offenses (aggressions, property destruction, runnibng away). The impact of these changes are described in this presentation. |
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| Video Modeling and Virtual Self-Modeling to Teach Cooking and Golfing to Challenging Youth in a Residential Facility. |
| BEAU LAUGHLIN (Southern Illinois University), Ashley E. Welch (Southern Illinois University), Anne S. King (Hoyleton Youth & Family Services), Chris Cox (Hoyleton Youth & Family Services), Brandon F. Greene (Southern Illinois University) |
| Abstract: There are inherent restrictions on youth in resdiential facilities to experience age-typical opportunities. These include the "simple" opportuntities to learn basic cooking and lesiure skills. Therefore, to acquire these skills, such youth often require direct hands-on instruction by caregivers whose skills at providing such instruction may be limited. However, it may be possible to supplement or supplant such instruction by developing digital video in which instructors or peers demonstrate such skills. In fact, digital video technology affords the opportunity to make it appear as if the student him/herself is performing the skill (i.e., virtual self-modelng). This presentation will describe the development and evaluation of instructional and virtual self-modeling videos to teach cooking and leisure skills among challenging youth in a residential facility. |
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