Addressing Skin Picking and Lack of Functional Speech

For this week’s Assignment, you will apply the theories, concepts and research that you have covered so far this term to a hypothetical case study. Your answers to the questions should consist of information from the text and supplemental readings. You also may use sources from the Library or other credible Internet sources, but your primary sources should be the readings assigned for the course.
Your narration should be consistent with the culture and characteristics of behavior analysis. The language you use should be behavioral and you should avoid mentalistic wording and explanations. Relate your understanding of how behavior analysts perform in the work setting.
In this assignment, you will play the role of a Behavior Analyst working with a family in the home setting. You have already conducted your interview with the family and have conducted the Functional Behavior Assessment for the behaviors identified in the referral (See Referral Form and Brief Summary of the Functional Behavior Assessment). You are ready to begin your intervention plan, but you need to get the parents’ approval first. In a meeting with the parents, you describe your behavior intervention plan and provide a rationale for your intervention choices.
Behavior Excess for Decrease: Skin Picking
Define the target behavior by writing a 1–2 sentence operational definition that meets all of the following criteria:
Observable
Passes the “Dead Man’s” test and the “stranger” test
Uses no labels or hypothetical constructs
Explain the difference between habit behaviors and behaviors controlled by social reinforcers.
Explain how you plan to implement all four components of habit reversal with this client. Include a specific competing response.
Explain why you expect this procedure to be effective, including a description of the applicable behavioral principles that explain why habit procedures work to reduce habit behaviors.
Behavior Deficits for Increase: The Mand and the Tact
Begin by explaining to the parents the difference between the behavioral view of language and the cognitive view of language. Accurately represent the behavioral view of how language is learned.
Define the two verbal operants you plan to teach, i.e., the mand and the tact. Clearly differentiate between the two by providing examples for the parents. Your definitions should include the controlling antecedents and consequences for each verbal operant.
Identify which verbal operant you will teach first and explain your rationale for this choice.
Explain your procedures for teaching each verbal operant. Include details of what a typical teaching session would look like.
In your description of how you will teach a mand, identify:
A specific mand to teach
How you will set up the relevant motivating operation
A description of how you will use shaping to teach the new verbal operant
Include how you will prompt and differentially reinforce the mand (identifying the reinforcement to be used).
How you will fade your prompts
In your description of how you will teach a tact, identify:
A specific tact to teach
How you will set up the relevant discriminative stimuli
A description of how you will use shaping to teach the new verbal operant
Include how you will prompt and differentially reinforce the tact (identifying the reinforcement to be used).
How you will fade your prompts