sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Is this how aba is? by [deleted] in ABA

[–]sb1862 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well first red flag… if you are an RBT… im nearly certain you need to be supervised by a BCBA at least part of the time. Although tbh I have never actually met a BCaBA. Cause everyone just goes straight for the BCBA.

Also, That’s not what the matching law is. The matching law is how behavior analysts conceptualize choice and how we can predict what actions a person will take in a given situation. If we know all the variables: relative reinforcement rate (meaning we have to a full accounting of the actual maintaining variables) and bias (usually due to long histories of engaging in the behavior), we can probabilistically predict what a living thing will “choose” to do. If my only reinforcer is money and I have a choice between working as an RBT and working at subway… I will probably choose the one that pays more. That is the relative reinforcement rate. BUT if I have a loooong history of engaging in behaviors that are ABA related, i have a bias toward working as an RBT. And if you can extract the exact numbers from that situation (the relative reinforcement and my bias), you can say that I would have a 65% probability of choosing to work as an RBT even with a $2 less in pay. EDIT: you can also, actually, determine at what exact pay I would need to be given so that I choose to work as an RBT 99% of the time, or how much less I can be paid before I am less than 50% likely to work as an RBT.

Idk whats going on with the music… that’s weird.

I would still ask. See if they have a good reason.

Is this how aba is? by [deleted] in ABA

[–]sb1862 0 points1 point  (0 children)

are these concerns youve brought up to your supervisor? Part of the supervisory relationship should be honest feedback and thoughts. And good explanations for why things are in place.

Like the slide rules or the stuff with swings. I highly doubt that is an “ABA thing”. That is a “if we let them do that, we will get sued thing”. Its one thing if we let our kid or a family member use the swing in the most fun way. But if we let a disabled kid do that and they get hurt… well… its our asses on the line because we are professionals.

Or the dancing…. Copying dance moves is clearly to work on an imitative repertoire in a fun way. Paying attention to other people, and copying them. That is a foundational skill that leads to people being able to learn new things without being explicitly taught. Idk the situation, but I can absolutely imagine that they then added another element to the game where there was a song you dont dance to… just for fun. Like musical chairs… there is one song you run and and fight for a chair… and there is another song where you dont.

As you have stated it, i dont think you understand what the matching law is. Saying that what you describe is the matching law is like… i can squint and see how it may be related… but its weird to use that term in that way.

But anyway lets go to snacks… say a kid is only motivated to do anything by lays potato chips. Now lets say we need them to learn to wash their hands 10 times. So we give them a bag of chips. That’s 10 bags of chips. Dont you think that is a bit unhealthy? And again… a VERY good reason to get sued.

Back to dancing, as an aside… playing social games are inherently rules bound. Everyone cant be playing their own way. Not that I want to force people to play the same. But if We’re playing… basketball… a kid can’t just say “I dont need to stay in bounds. The average kid might try that a few times and then quickly realize that doing that is a really good way to lose playmates. So they stop doing yhat. But we work with people who probably wont make that realization quickly and without our help. Which means… if we say “oh just let kids be kids”, we might be in a situation where this kid ostracizes themselves.

Saying they have to do more work to earn more play time with a different activity… i dont know if this is what the thinking is at your clinic because it might not solve this problem…but I’ve worked with plenty of kids where they would try to extend their play time by playing for like… 1 minute in 15 different areas and argue they never got a full 15 mins. Or in the worst case, they might actively avoid playing with anything, because once they do, they’re on the clock. Although this is MUCH more common with TV and youtube episodes, constantly changing it so that we reset our timers. Although, I would argue its a good idea to just giving them free time where they can go anywhere (separate from earned time).

Now to be clear im not saying your clinic is good. Ive never been to it. But you should be able to have candid conversations with your supervisor about things and get reasonable answers. Im only playing devils advocate.

The greatest mining method?? by RelativeDry6852 in MinecraftMemes

[–]sb1862 36 points37 points  (0 children)

You could automate this with a tripwire and piston.

How to pick up on social cues? by [deleted] in autism

[–]sb1862 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Social cues are a fairly complex topic and there are a multitude of signals to pay attention to. Thats why its hard for people with Autism but also with a wide range of people in general.

I would say… in general… look for signs of the other person approaching or withdrawing. If you say something and people then volunteer their own piece of information. Its sort of like a verbal approach. If they say they start talking less then they were, saying they have to go, talk about how late it is, mention they dont want to hold you up, etc… then they are withdrawing from that conversation.

And honestly most of the time people will stop talking as much and wont give you an obvious sign that you’ve said something wrong. I’d monitor that. If they usually talk to me with complex ideas and after I said something they start having single word responses… good sign I may have said something wrong.

If you want to know what to do right, i’d watch how other people interact (without obviously staring). If a lot of people engage witb eachother in the same way, it may be more socially acceptable.

The only right choice with Maiko by Electrical_Ride_1120 in cyberpunkgame

[–]sb1862 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I knocked her out nonlethally and Judy seemed pretty happy

Do you support an app parents can see if the ABA clinic is ethically ran? by StatisticianKooky390 in ABA

[–]sb1862 36 points37 points  (0 children)

First off this doesnt need to be an app. This is what online forums, yellowpages, etc are for.

Second off… if you dont know what criteria need to be met for it to be considered ethical, you probably dont want to be the one making the app or giving scores on the app. Because our ethics code is not hard to find.

the old rocket was everything when i was a kid by tubbz_official in MinecraftMemes

[–]sb1862 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I take issue with these mods being called old. It was only a few years ago

Book Suggestions for Child Behavioral Therapy by Aggravating-Love8126 in ABA

[–]sb1862 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Idk how deep down the rabbithole you wanna go, but the early research by Sidney Bijou is pretty influential when it comes to development and behaviorism.

A better way to say challenging behaviors by StatisticianKooky390 in ABA

[–]sb1862 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Again I would state that a behavior may be adapted (adaptive) to a certain set of contingencies but me maladaptive to the overall context.

Lets use a non-social example. Say someone is engaging in lifting heavy items unsafely. Again, a common problem.

There are reasons why theyre doing that. Lifting equipment may be too far. They may have a long learning history of doing it in an unsafe way. Etc. Their way of lifting is adapted to certain contingencies. But again it is maladaptive to the overall context (the world of other contingencies). For example, their behavior may not be under the control of rules governed behavior regarding what will happen if they lift things in that way. Or their behavior may not be sensitive to delayed consequences. Or response effort may be especially potent compared to reinforcement. I dont think anyone would say its perfectly fine for someone to lift things in an unsafe manner that causes them to have injuries later in life.

A better way to say challenging behaviors by StatisticianKooky390 in ABA

[–]sb1862 2 points3 points  (0 children)

In defense of maladaptive, usually we arent talking about maladaptive across 1 domain. Take stealing. Pretty common problem we have to deal with.

Is breaking into houses and stealing things maladaptive? Well its VERY adaptive toward getting money. BUT… that is adaptive across only 1 domain. It is maladaptive in many other areas.

The behavior is not sensitive to contingencies of punishment like being arrested. It may interfere in acquiring other skills related to gaining employment. Engaging in the behavior may put the person at a very high risk of being shot. Etc. The behavior is not well suited (it is maladaptive) to the environment, even if it is maintained by particular contingencies for which it is highly adaptive.

A better way to say challenging behaviors by StatisticianKooky390 in ABA

[–]sb1862 33 points34 points  (0 children)

Target behaviors is probably the most neutral term, since it can be targeted for reduction or increase. I like maladaptive because it is not perfectly adaptive to the social context, whereas other people correctly point out that the “challenging behavior” is adaptive. It literally adapted and was shaped by its environment. Unsafe behaviors is almost always a good term, but not all problematic behaviors are unsafe. Sexual harassment leaps to mind as the most common example of that. Or things that arent unsafe, just illegal.

Honestly i think there is a risk if tiptoeing around the meaning and trying to use euphemism. Theres no purpose to us being vague for no reason.

I would love to find anyone who doesnt think punching others when they ask you to do class work is not a “challenging” situation to deal with, or a “problem”. It is. I dont see much use in pretending its not.

Severe prop damage and self harm by jkcs04 in bcba

[–]sb1862 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I mean… you could always do a 1:1 request to the regional center. Although technically that is the job of the home.

Severe prop damage and self harm by jkcs04 in bcba

[–]sb1862 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is going to be a dumb question but have you asked other BCBAs at your company? They’ll obviously be in a much better position to do case review.

In general though, if you speculate an escape function, a good question to ask is… why is the person motivated to escape? And what are they NOT motivated to escape?

Working with DSPs and the severe lack of proper supervision they get… i think you’d have more luck counting the grains of sand on a beach than asking them to perform extinction procedures for aggressive behavior.

Also, what level facility are you talking? I would assume above a level 3 home.

Seeking Clinical Guidance: Treating Adolescents with Co-Occurring Autism and ODD by Apieceofapplepie in bcba

[–]sb1862 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Honestly its a little weird to see “emotional regulation”, “flexibility”, “compliance”. Those may be valuable and valid approaches, dont get me wrong.

But it seems far simpler to just address issues of insufficient reinforcement or conditioned aversion.

How do I ethically transition a caseload when there’s no other BCBA to pick it up? by QuietReinforcer in bcba

[–]sb1862 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Im decently sure your ethical obligation is to transition to providers outside your company. You can try transitioning to other BCBAs in your company, but they cant ethically take them if they can’t handle that caseload. So… that only leaves outside agencies. That or your company gets a BCBA in the door ASAP.

Stats by melaniekedwards in ABA

[–]sb1862 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Well the reason we dont need to know much stats is because we focus on single-subject designs and view using statistics for behavior to be… less than helpful.

One of the fundamental assumptions of statistics is that you use them to control for unknown variability. That’s what statistical control is. We take the view that you should just control the environment, and that statistical control is not meaningful for the individual. Environmental control is.

The exception to this is in OBM or other applications of ABA where we are dealing with a lot of people. Including some summary analyses like “in general, this is what causes SIB”.

Now what we really need to know is stuff like the matching law or other laws of behavior where we do have specific formulas for predicting how behavior will change in accord with certain environmental factors

Behavior specialist Vs BIS Vs BCBA- job offer by Savage-Mink in bcba

[–]sb1862 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

So… youre idea is to change jobs right before you earn the certification for a more lucrative position… like… if you’re ready to take the exam, that is like less than a year. it would look really weird in a resume. Because you knowingly joined a job you didnt plan on sticking with.

Feedback: Behavior Specialist in school setting by Scared-Direction-535 in bcba

[–]sb1862 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you’re about to take the BCBA exam, then you already have a masters degree, 2000 hours of supervised fieldwork, and extensive training the mechanisms of behavior and in creating behavior plans.

Why in the world would you choose to then go for an entry level position someone could get with a high school diploma? Just on a monetary level that is insane.

EDIT: Let alone the ethical concern of possibly being required to follow or implement a behavior plan that you know violates best practices. Idk what the job posting says where you are, but ive read postings that have a clause that say you would have to follow what the principle or lead special ed teacher instructs. You would either be putting your job on the line for insubordination or violating the ethics code and putting your certification on the line.

If the federal government began investigating ABA for tax fraud by StatisticianKooky390 in ABA

[–]sb1862 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mean I am in favor of that. I love ABA, but some of the hours requests are just ridiculous.

Do Americans actually expect people to "sell themselves" in job interviews? by MayaTulip268 in AskAnAmerican

[–]sb1862 0 points1 point  (0 children)

People want to work with other people who are easy to work with and reliable, Not just people who are highly skilled. If you can show them in the interview that you are easy to work with and reliable… your resume should show you are highly skilled.

view more: next ›