Group Home Chaos Case – Applied Behavior Analysis Design

In Unit 4 and Unit 6, you developed interventions to increase behavior deficits and decrease behavior excesses. In this assignment, you will come up with a plan to evaluate the effectiveness of two of the intervention plans. You can choose any two of the intervention plans to evaluate: Annie’s plan to reduce skin picking, Annie’s verbal behavior plan, Jimmy’s contingency contract, or the group home token economy.
Brief Summary of the Functional Behavior Assessment for Annie Rodriguez
Based on interviews with Annie’s parents and direct observation in Annie’s home and school, the first behavior to target is skin picking. When Annie picks her skin, she uses the forefinger of one hand to scratch and dig at the skin of her arms and legs. She has only been observed to pick at the skin on her arms and legs. The behavior occurs mostly during down times: while waiting, while watching television, while in her bedroom alone. A brief functional analysis was conducted and revealed that skin picking never occurred during attention, escape, or tangible conditions. The behavior only occurred during alone conditions.
The second issue of concern identified by the parents and confirmed via observation is Annie’s lack of functional speech. After consulting with Annie’s speech pathologist, it was determined that Annie is capable of vocal speech. She echoes simple words spoken by others and has a strong echoic repertoire of one-syllable words. She does not currently use vocal speech to get her needs and wants met or to identify things in her environment. During the observation, there were multiple occurrences of Annie pulling her mother and father into the kitchen and pointing at the refrigerator. If her parents did not guess what she wanted in the first or second try, Annie would jump up and down and start screaming, getting louder and louder until her parents guessed correctly. This episode went on for as long as 10-15 minutes. The episodes ended only when her parents correctly guessed the item she wanted.
Her parents report that Annie’s favorite foods are pretzels, raisins, cheese crackers, apples, and grapes. They said that they can get her to “do almost anything” for some grapes. She also likes to drink chocolate milk and apple juice. For fun, she plays with toys and watches television. Her favorite toys are little animals and little dolls (she collects them), tiny furniture. Her parents report that Annie loves “tiny” things. When she watches television, she usually watches Teen Titans Go or Littlest Pet Shop. She has an iPad her parents control her access to. She sometimes watches YouTube videos on her iPad. She also enjoys swimming and swinging outside.
Case Scenario #1: Jimmy Hates Homework
A family has contacted you, a Behavior Analyst, to help their son Jimmy be more consistent in completing his homework. His parents are specifically concerned about reading and math. Jimmy’s parents want him to read for 20 minutes per weeknight and practice multiplication for 10 minutes per weeknight. Jimmy is currently reading once a week for 20 minutes and practicing multiplication once a week for 10 minutes. He is a typically developing child with normal intelligence and has the capability to read and complete math at grade level. He is choosing not to read and practice math and is instead choosing to watch television, play video games, and chat with friends online. You have decided that a contingency contract is the best plan to change Jimmy’s behavior. Before you write the contingency contract, though, you need to determine what Jimmy’s preferences are and what would likely be an effective reinforcer.
Case Scenario #2: Group Home Chaos
You, a Behavior Analyst, have been contacted by the program director of a group home for 11-15-year-old boys. He describes the current environment in the group home as “chaos.” The boys are refusing to do household chores, complete homework, or clean their rooms. Staff members are having problems with “non-compliance” and “rowdy behavior” exhibited by the boys. You have been asked to develop a plan to bring order to this chaotic home. You have decided that a token economy is the best choice.
Prior to coming up with an evaluation plan, go back to your graded Unit 4 and Unit 6 assignments and read your instructor’s feedback. Make any recommended changes to your intervention plans before developing an evaluation plan.
Evaluating Your Intervention Plans:
Begin your evaluative essay by describing how single-subject experimental designs are used in behavior analysis to evaluate interventions. Include one reason why single-subject designs are considered superior to group designs in evaluating behavior change. Then, describe your evaluation plan for the two intervention plans you selected. Each evaluation plan should include a different research design so that two different research designs are covered within your assignment.
Each evaluation plan must include:
The measurement system you are using to collect data on what specific behavior(s). Include the operational definitions.
How often you are collecting data
Who is going to collect that data
The research design you are using to evaluate your treatment
An explanation of why that research design was the best choice
How the research design would demonstrate functional control of the intervention over the behavior(s).
Describe how you will know if your treatment was effective – what would a visual analysis of the graphed data show? You do not need to create a graph, but you should describe what your graph would show if your treatment were effective.
Your answers to the prompt above should consist of information from the text and supplemental readings. Your primary sources should be the readings assigned for the course, but you also may use sources from the Library or other credible Internet sources.
Your written assignment should be written in essay format with complete sentences. A clear viewpoint and purpose should be established and maintained throughout your evaluative essay. Your writing should be in Standard English with correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
Summarize a concept, theory or research
Use direct quotes from the text or articles
Writing Requirements and Assignment Guidelines
Your Assignment should be a 6-page evaluative essay, not including the Title and Reference pages, and should include the following elements:
Title page: Provide your name, title of Assignment, course and unit number, and date
Body: Answer the questions in complete sentences and paragraphs
The assignment must be written in Standard English and demonstrate superior organization, including a highly developed viewpoint and purpose. The communication of your thoughts must be highly ordered, logical, and unified, displaying exceptional content, organization, style, and mechanics (including the use of correct grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure).
Reference Page: Sources in APA format
Use Arial or Times New Roman 12-point font, double-spaced
Use current edition APA Formatting and Citation style
If you need assistance with APA style