Behavior Analytic Consultation for Academic Referral Concerns

Abstract

Applied behavior analysis provides a technology of human behavior that demonstrates great potential for improving socially important outcomes for individuals. School‐based consultation may provide a vehicle for delivering applied behavior analysis services in schools to address academic referral concerns. In this article, we propose that school‐based consultants should use the principles of applied behavior analysis as a guide for their consultation efforts. We provide the conceptual rationale for the use of applied behavior analysis as a guide for school‐based consultants and specific procedural recommendations for applying a behavior analytic approach to school‐based consultation.

Teaching Future School Personnel to Train Parents to Implement Explicit Instruction Interventions

“…The clinic's primary goals are to (1) provide effective academic assessment and intervention to children and adolescents with and without various developmental and learning disabilities, (2) train parents to deliver evidence-based academic interventions to their children, and (3) prepare school psychology graduate students to serve as behavior analytic clinicians and consultants. Embedded within our clinical model are the fundamental components of explicit instruction (Archer & Hughes, 2010) delivered through a behavior analytic training model (Dufrene et al, 2016). Explicit instruction is an ideal method to address students' academic referral concerns given its foundation in matching students' instruction to their current academic skill level and progression through instruction via data-based decision making (Archer & Hughes, 2010).…”

“…Behavioral consultation has empirical support for improving students' academic outcomes (Sheridan et al, 1996). Behavioral consultation includes four phases: problem identification, problem analysis, plan implementation, and plan evaluation (Dufrene et al, 2016). Figure 1 shows the phases of behavioral consultation and the specific steps of the clinical process we use to address academic difficulties.…”

“…Plan implementation consists of developing an intervention protocol and using behavioral skills training to teach parents or other related caregivers to implement the selected academic interventions. Finally, plan evaluation includes monitoring a student's response to an academic intervention in addition to the parent's treatment integrity (Dufrene et al, 2016;Erchul & Martens, 2012). This section describes the activities conducted at each phase in more detail.…”

“…Obtaining records and establishing collaborations with teachers is useful because parents may not fully understand or share the results of evaluations conducted, related implications for learning, or goals outlined within school plans. The primary goal of the interviews is to clarify and clearly define the student's academic problems (Dufrene et al, 2016). This allows for a more precise development of a The consultation phases and steps in the academic assessment and intervention clinic process direct academic skills assessment.…”

Relationship between Nonverbal Behavior of Consultants and Consultees: A Preliminary Study

“…The behavioral consultations of the consultants were supported by empirical evidence based on the functional understanding of behavior (Dufrene et al, 2016). To offset any order effects, the consultation counterbalance method was used; that is, Consultant B conducted the first interview in the first session while Consultant A conducted the first interview in the second session.…”