Katherine Morgan Graduate Program: Master of Science in Applied Statistics

1. Using SAS Macros to Summarize Academic Achievement and Functions of Problematic Behaviors Katherine Morgan Graduate Program: Master of Science in Applied Statistics Case 1- Behavior Case 2 - Academic SAS Macros contain two main components: SAS macro variables and SAS macro programs. Macro variables can be used when you need to repeatedly insert a piece of text throughout the program. Macro programs use both Macro variables and programming statements in building SAS programs. Macro Programs are useful for doing repetitive tasks when analyzing data. The purpose of this project was to demonstrate how Macro programs can be used at an Early Intervention Program with children with Autism. Specifically how they can (1) help Clinical Specialist determine the cause (or “function”) of a probleamatic behavior and (2) aid in summarizing student academic information more efficiently. Both of which are important in writing effective academic and behavior interventions. Background: Goal of the Early Intervention Program is to develop readiness skills to enable successful transition to community schools and kindergarten programs. The Early Intervention Program uses applied behavior analysis (ABA) to document and evaluate the child’s progress within their personalized intervention plans that include: academic, social, cognitive, and self-help skills. Improvement: SAS used to demonstrate how Early Intervention staff (Director, clinical specialists, and classroom teachers) may monitor progress by individual student of class aggregate. Proc Boxplot used to provide visual representation of the distribution of acquired academic goals between classrooms (Figure 1). Findings: Proc ANOVA was used to drill down differences in the average number of skills acquired by classroom; Results suggested that there is no difference between classrooms (F=1.08, p=0.3662). SAS used to create a table to be used to track student progress over time. Using Proc SQL , a table was created by combining 2 different data sets – each containing percent mastery of academic skills for a particular school year. This resulting table may be used to track student progress over time. Reference: Burlew, Michele. (2007). SAS Macro Programming Made Easy. SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC. Background: Functional Analysis (FA): used to identify variables that influence the occurrence of problem behaviors (i.e. noncompliance, disruptions, self-injurious behaviors…). Problematic behavior is identified and data collected to investigate under which situations the behavior occurs most often. Clinical specialist uses information to write specific behavior protocols to help reduce the behavior. Current Process: FA data collection includes: date of occurrence, antecedent precededing behavior(i.e. transition, demand, wants something and cannot have it), frequency of occurrence. Excel used to sum all frequencies per antecedent. Problem: Current method does not account for any environmental factors (such as time of day or therapist). Improvement: Utilized one case/student enrolled in an Early Intervention Program to demonstrate the effectiveness of SAS for investigating the function of behaviors. Frequency data was collected on noncompliance from Variables: time of day (AM or PM), therapist, antecedent, and task. Findings/Outcomes: Using Proc Freq procedure, identified that the student engages in noncompliant behaviors most often when the antecedent is “1” (demand at table) and when working with therapist “K” (table 1). SAS also useful to determine with which antecedent and task the behavior is most likely to co-occur (table 2). Case 1 SAS Code Case 2 SAS Code Table 1 – Number of Behaviors by Therapist Table 2: Partial Output of Frequency Table for Task by Antecedent Figure 1: Boxplot of Number of Goals Mastered By Classroom for School Year 2008 Macro Benefits: The use of Macros has given me the flexibility to create a number of frequency tables using a variety of variable combinations. Staff in the Early Intervention Program are now able to investigate under which situation problematic behaviors occur. Previously, protocols were based on an analysis of one variable. Now, when writing behavior protocols, staff have access to more information. Another great benefit to the staff and the students is that protocols are more tailored to the individual student.