How Applied Behavior Analysis Can Benefit Adolescents and Adults

1. How Applied Behavior Analysis Can Benefit Adolescents and Adults Rene’ Daman, PT, MS Director, Oklahoma Autism Network October 28, 2014

2. The Oklahoma Autism Network • The Oklahoma Autism Network • Established in October 2003 • First step for implementation of the Individuals with Autism and Their Families, Oklahoma Plan • Funding by: • The Department of Human Services, Developmental Disabilities Services Division • Fee for service contracts • Donations • Sponsored by: The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, College of Allied Health, Department of Rehabilitation Science, Tolbert Center for Developmental Disabilities & Autism

3. Mission The Oklahoma Autism Network is a center of excellence committed to improving quality of life for individuals with autism and their families. We facilitate and implement Oklahoma’s Statewide Autism Plan through research, education, and service while respecting individual preferences and promoting community inclusion.

4. Dispelling the Myths What do you think of when you hear the term ABA or applied behavior analysis?

5. Adult sitting at desk with teenage male looking at worksheet Adult sitting with young child at table, giving high five to child Adult sitting across table from young boy working on fine motor task

6. Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) • ‘A scientific approach for discovering environmental variables that reliably influence socially significant behavior and for developing a technology of behavior change that takes practical advantage of those discoveries.’ • Cooper, Heron & Heward, 2007.

7. ABA focuses on… • Observable behaviors that are measurable • Behaviors that are socially significant • Behaviors that are in need of improvement

8. What makes behavior measurable? • Something we can see • Something that can be done only by living organisms

9. What are socially significant behaviors? • “Improve the day to day life experience of the participants and/or affect their significant others (parents, teacher, employers peers) in a way that they behave more positively with and toward the participant.” • Cooper, Heron, & Heward (2007)

10. Determining the behavior that needs to improve… • Influenced by environment • What does person need to be able to do to be successful in the environment? Lady checking out at Target store Picture of two men working on a machine

11. Determining the behavior that needs to improve… • Determined by the social and/or cultural expectations of the environment • Determined by tasks the person needs to do to be successful in the environment

12. Autism and Adulthood • Overall symptoms of ASD typically improve with age • Social interaction, communication skills, restricted and repetitive behavior • Some studies suggest that 3-25% of individuals with ASD are independent in the community as adults

13. Autism and Adulthood • Cognitive skills often improve more than adaptive skills • Regardless of IQ, individuals with ASD often have fewer gains in adaptive skills through adolescence and adulthood

14. Autism and Adulthood • Approximately 50-60% of students with autism leave school without formal academic or vocational qualifications • Approximately 24% find employment • Few programs that help individuals find higher level jobs – most focus on lower level jobs

15. Be Thoughtful About Goals and Interventions “Despite how evidence-based your interventions are, teaching inconsequential skills well is really no better than teaching essential skills poorly.” Gerhardt, Oklahoma Statewide Autism Conference, 2010

16. ABA and the three term contingency

17. Thinking in Threes

18. Name the Threes Our Friend Sheldon Front desk

19. Using ABA to improve performance in the workplace • Identify the behavior that needs to change • Behavior of employee and/or employer • Gather information about the current behavior • Develop a plan for changing behavior

20. Identifying the Behavior That Needs to Change • Behavior that is socially significant • Behavior that is related to the context and task at hand

21. Identifying Behavior • Talk with the individual • Talk with other relevant people • Job coach • Employer • Family members

22. Identifying Behavior to Address • Use checklists and/or standardized assessment measures • Community-based Skills Assessment (CSA)Developing a Personalized Transition Plan • Observation • What are the social/cultural expectations within the environment? • What are the tasks that need to be completed?

23. Choosing the Behavior to Address • Choose behavior that is relevant • Will the behavior be reinforced in the person’s daily life? • Is the behavior a prerequisite for a useful skill? • Will the behavior give the person access to other environments? • Will changing the behavior increase the likelihood that others will interact with the person in a more appropriate way?

24. Gather information about current behavior • Observation • Checklists • Task analysis

25. Task Analysis • Breaking a task down into small steps • Helps identify steps person can already do independently and steps where person needs assistance

26. Identifying Where to Start • Identify supports that are needed • Identify new skills to teach and strategies for teaching them

27. Structural Supports • Help individuals develop structure and routine within their day and their work • Schedules • Weekly, daily, within a task or routine • Routines • Establish consistency within what is expected • Reminders • Picture, written, electronic

28. Teaching New Skills • Identify important skills to teach • Identify what component of the skill is difficult for the person • Form of the behavior? • Frequency of the behavior? • Time it takes for to complete the behavior/task? • How long the person stays engaged in behavior? • Does the amplitude or magnitude of the behavior need to change?

29. Shaping Behavior • Reinforcing approximations towards the identified behavior • Reinforcement only happens for the identified target behavior • May reinforce smaller steps that progress towards target behavior

30. Using Chaining to Teach New Behavior • Break a task into steps (task analysis) • Systematically teach one step at a time • Begin with first step (forward chaining) • Begin with last step (backward chaining)

31. Response to the Behavior • Must consider how others in the environment are responding to the person • Is behavior of others resulting in an increase in desirable or undesirable behavior of person? • Is behavior of others supportive of person learning new skills and succeeding in workplace?

32. Resources for Information • Web resources • Centers for Disease Control • http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/index.html • National Institute of Health • http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/autism/complete-index.shtml • Association for Science in Autism Treatment • http://www.asatonline.org/ • Autism Speaks • http://www.autismspeaks.org/ • Autism Society of America • http://www.autism-society.org/site/PageServer

33. Resources for Employment • OCALI: The Employee with Autism Spectrum Disorder http://www.ocali.org/project/employee_with_asd • United States Department of Labor Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP)www.dol.gov/odep • Adult Autism and Employment: A Guide for Vocational Rehabilitation Professionalswww.dps.missouri.edu/Autism/Adult Autism & Employment.pdf • www.autismspeaks.org

34. Resources for Employment • Getting Hired: Careers and Community for Talented People with Disabilitiesgettinghired.com • Think Beyond the Label: Workers & Employees with Disabilities in the Workplacethinkbeyondthelabel.com • JAN: Job Accommodation Networkaskjan.org • www.autismspeaks.org

35. Questions?

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