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| The Role of Clinical Context in Designing Functional Behavior Assessments |
| Sunday, February 19, 2023 |
| 9:00 AM–12:00 PM |
| Meeting Level 4; Sapphire Plenary |
| Area: AUT; Domain: Service Delivery |
| CE Instructor: Joel Ringdahl, Ph.D. |
| JOEL RINGDAHL (University of Georgia) |
 Dr. Ringdahl received his Ph.D. in psychology with an emphasis in behavior analysis from Louisiana State University in 1999 under the supervision of Dr. Timothy R. Vollmer. He completed a Pretoctoral Intership at Children’s Seashore House/University of Pennsylvania under the supervision of Dr. F. Charles Mace and completed postdoctoral training at the University of Iowa under the supervision of Drs. Linda Cooper-Brown and David Wacker. Following his postdoctoral training, Dr. Ringdahl served in various capacities at the University of Iowa. He has held academic appointments at the University of Iowa and Southern Illinois University, and currently is a Professor at the University of Georgia in the Communication Sciences and Special Education Department. Dr. Ringdahl currently serves on a number of editorial boards, including the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (JABA) and the Journal of Behavioral Education. He has served as an Associate Editor for JABA and The Psychological Record and is the current Editor-in-Chief of Behavior Analysis: Research and Practice. Dr. Ringdahl has published over 60 articles in peer-reviewed journals. Portions of his research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on a near continuous basis since 2000, and he has published his work in such journals as the JABA, the Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, and the American Journal of Genetics. He is also a former President of the Illinois Association for Behavior Analysis and a past member of the Childhood Psychopathology and Developmental Disabilities study section with the NIH. Dr. Ringdahl provides services to children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities who exhibit behavior problems. He has worked in a variety of settings, including state facilities, hospital-based inpatient, outpatient, and day-treatment services, university-based clinics, schools, and residential settings including group homes and residential education centers. |
| Description: Functional behavior assessment (FBA) in its many forms provides the basis for most interventions designed to address challenging behavior exhibited by individuals with intellectual and developmental disorders (IDD), including autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, the clinical contexts in which this process unfolds varies across individuals. Given that approaches for FBAs include indirect, direct, and systematic approaches, practitioners must determine which approach best meshes with the particular environment in which they practice. As well, practitioners must be aware of the benefits and limitations of each type of approach. This workshop will provide an overview of FBA strategies and their utility in clinical contexts that range from educational settings to clinic-based settings. In addition to discussing the fit between FBA approach and clinical context, a decision-making model for moving from minimally invasive to more invasive assessment strategies will be described and discussed. The overall goal of the workshop is to equip practitioners with the knowledge necessarily to implement FBAs in the most efficient and least intrusive manner possible, given the constraints of their practice setting. |
| Learning Objectives: By the conclusion of the workshop, practitioner will be able to: (1) Identify specific indirect, direct, and systematic FBA approaches; (2) Design an approach to FBA that takes into consideration relevant barriers related to setting; (3) Determine when FBA approach should be changed based on relevant treatment-related data. |
| Activities: Lecture and discussion |
| Audience: ABA practitioners |
| Content Area: Practice |
| Instruction Level: Intermediate |
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| Enacting Our Commitment to Compassionate Care, Collaboration, and Cultural Responsiveness: Identifying Skills That Matter and Strategies to Use in Attaining These Goals |
| Sunday, February 19, 2023 |
| 2:00 PM–5:00 PM |
| Meeting Level 4; Sapphire Plenary |
| Area: AUT; Domain: Service Delivery |
| CE Instructor: Mary Jane Weiss, Ph.D. |
| MARY JANE WEISS (Endicott College) |
 Mary Jane Weiss, Ph.D., BCBA-D, LABA is the Associate Dean of Applied Behavior Analysis and Director of the Ph.D. Program in ABA at Endicott College, where she has been for 11 years. She also works with the research and training teams at Melmark. She has worked in the field of ABA and Autism for over 35 years. She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Rutgers University in 1990 and she became a Board Certified Behavior Analyst in 2000. She previously worked for 16 years at the Douglass Developmental Disabilities Center at Rutgers University. Her clinical and research interests center on defining best practice ABA techniques, integrating compassionate care and cultural responsiveness into ABA service delivery, exploring ways to enhance the ethical conduct of practitioners, training staff to be optimally effective at instruction and at collaboration, and maximizing family members’ expertise and adaptation. She serves on the Scientific Council of the Organization for Autism Research, is on the board of Association for Science in Autism Treatment, is a regular contributor to the ABA Ethics Hotline, is on the editorial board of Behavior Analysis in practice, and is an advisor to the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies. |
| Description: There has been a call to action within the field of behavior analysis for clinicians to build skills in the areas of compassionate care, collaboration, and cultural responsiveness. Deficits in these skills have been noted by stakeholders and clients, and consensus exists as to the need to improve these clinical skills. These “soft” skills share some characteristics, including difficulty in operationally defining and measuring them. Progress is being made in defining essential elements of these skills, and in identifying the components that comprise the composite skill sets. In this workshop, sample methods for defining and measuring these skills will be reviewed. Empirical studies conducted in these areas will be reviewed. Special attention will be given to the evaluation of ultimate outcomes, including generalization, social validity, and authenticity. Strategies for incorporating training these skills into student education and practitioner training/supervision will be discussed. |
| Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the presentation, participants will be able to: 1. Participants will identify the rationale for and benefits derived from ensuring that behavior analytic services are delivered in compassionate, collaborative and culturally responsive ways 2. Participants will identify components of these skill sets that are supported by other disciplines, conceptually systematic, and operationally defined 3. Participants will identify crucial issues in teaching these skills including assessments of social validity, authenticity, and generalization 4. Participants will list ways to incorporate instruction in these skills in coursework/training and supervision contexts |
| Activities: Lecture and discussion |
| Audience: Practitioners of ABA |
| Content Area: Practice |
| Instruction Level: Intermediate |