Association for Behavior Analysis International

Constructing a supportable and maintainable Applied Behavior Analysis centre in the China is an exceedingly compensating, although challenging, field. Developing a whole new therapeutic centre is undoubtedly be one of the most stimulating experiences. We endeavored a progression for supporting the learning of students with highly complex profiles that is: maintainable, evidence-based assimilated, client-centered, multi-disciplinary, and comprehensive. Our core features are decidedly individualized, which addresses needs in all areas of development (academic, social, communication, motor, mental health, daily living, behavior regulation). We also adjusted our behavior technician training program specifically to the Chinese culture, where every technician receives instruction in an environment that is best suited for them according to their learning culture. We also developed a kindergarten simulating class that help upcoming kindergarten to face their upcoming challenges. We will also discuss the inclusion teaching on how to make it significant and individualized, and can be adjusted in the moment if needed.

In the summer of 2016, our behaviour consulting practice based in Hong Kong started to support a newly established centre that provides Early Intensive Behaviour Intervention (EIBI) in Mainland China. There is huge pressure to scale up in size and to reduce cost, while building a model that allows us to provide quality ABA-based intervention for families with Autism in Mainland China. Started with one sites, 20 cases, one BCBA and 30 teachers (aka behaviour technicians) in September 2016, the centre has grown to 3 sites, over 200 cases, 6 BCBAs, 5 BCaBAs in 20 months. This journey was challenging. In this presentation, we would like to share the challenges we faced in cultural differences, language barriers, and the lack of understanding from the administration and how we overcame them through creating a system to allow us to provide quality services, and quality training and supervision with our teachers. We believe this unique journey can provide insight on how to establish quality ABA services in places that lack qualified professionals at a larger scale.

New Register Behavior Technician competency requirements from the Behavior Analyst Certification Board have prompted greater emphasis on technical skills. Many technicians have their initial foray into implementing teaching skills and strategies after the 40 hours’ video training, making it an important yet under-recognize opportunity to develop fundamental practical skills. Furthermore, in some clinic centers’ climate, technicians training is condensed into an even briefer period, which has affected learning opportunities and competences to be sensible with the need for proficiency. After continuously reviewing the requirement and the quality of service needed to provide, we developed behavior technician training curriculum to equip new trainees with skills specific to their unique role as behavior technician. However, due to its cultural learning background, where they used to learn with very clear and structural step-by-step instructions, most teachers failed to generalized their newly acquired teaching skills across different settings and clients. There is a strong necessity to train the pre-service technicians to foster generalization of ABA teaching techniques. Therefore, we piloted a program focused around some specific training methods such as: role modeling, coaching, lecture, and group discussion. We also explore the impact of observing peer-in-service, and on making the coaching-observation process and feedback valuable.

As the increasing awareness of the empirical efficacy of the Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) in the treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and the acceptance of ABA services among the parents of children with ASD, and professionals working in the field in mainland China, more and more centers or organizations providing ABA services have been set up in recent years. It is reported that there are more than 1000 private centers providing ABA services. As the rapidly increasing demand of ABA services in China, the obstacles, barriers and challenges should be notified, discussed, and addressed to help improving the quality of the service delivery. As a team of bilingual Board Certified Behavior Analysts who was trained and studied in the United States, Canada, or Hong Kong, our vision is to provide world class ABA services to children and their families in need regardless of diagnosis or social-economic status in China. Through setting up a large-scale special education center in the southern China, the barriers and challenges are summarized into several different areas, including the shortage of the professionals to provide on-going supervision and training to maintain the quality of the services; difficulty in the implementation of the training system to provide qualified technicians due to other factors; the lack of ABA relevant Chinese resources for professional development, and other cultural barriers occurring among implementing the behavioral program, and parent communication.