A Day in the Life of a Behavior Analyst: Inspiring the Next Generation of BCaBAs
For this week’s assignment, you will write a 4-5 page narrative essay to present to a group of undergraduate students prior to their graduation (note for this assignment you will only write the essay. There is no actual presentation component).
You are playing the role of a behavior analyst who has been working in the field for 25 years. You have been asked to speak to college students who will be graduating with their Bachelor’s in Psychology in Applied Behavior Analysis in less than a month. You want your message to be meaningful to these students and you want to engender pride in the work done by behavior analysts and inspire these students to obtain their Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analyst (BCaBA) certifications. You want to establish your credibility as a speaker for the field of applied behavior analysis (ABA) by presenting some background information about your education and expertise in the field, as well as a brief overview of the science of ABA.
You believe that describing a day in the life of a behavior analyst might be the best way to get your message across. Sharing an early experience you had speaking to a group of parents will be an effective approach. You recount an experience you had speaking to a group of new parents who had many questions about behaviors being demonstrated by their children.
Read the scenarios presented by three different parents during that discussion.
Parent #1: “Lori is in 3rd grade and was recently diagnosed with autism. It is a struggle for us to get out of the door in the morning because when we try and get her to dress herself or pack her things, she has a lot of behaviors. We will say, “Lori, get your shoes and put them on,” and she will yell “no, I don’t want to!” and kick, sometimes even throw them. We have to leave and are usually running late so this is really difficult for our family. She likes going to school and once we get there, she walks in with no problem. It might be related to the fact that she wants to keep playing with her iPad as she also hates transitioning away from that.
Parent #2: My son, Sam, is the class clown. He enjoys making others laugh, even when he is being silly or inappropriate. His teacher has told us that he will shout things like, “Poo poo car!” and other kids will laugh. This is very disruptive for the classroom setting and we really want to work on this “potty talk.” When he shouts things like this, his teacher always has to reprimand him and say, “Please use nice words, do not say those things.” It doesn’t seem to be working. She has always tried putting him in timeout in the back of the classroom but no success.
Parent #3: Sarah is four and has a hard time sharing with her younger sister and friends. We went on a road trip to Florida and the car ride was very difficult. Sarah kept snatching things out of her younger sister’s car seat and not giving them back. It is hard to block and we can barely reach back to manage the situation. At school, her teacher reported that she has difficulty sharing the kitchen station. She hoards the food items and won't let other kids come near them. She has even gone as far as to bite them and scratch on the arms. This behavior is making it difficult for us to have playdates and go anywhere where she might need to share.
Write a 4-5 page narrative essay in which you include the following:
Introduce yourself and describe the education and experience requirements the students would need in order to sit for the BCaBA exam. Then provide a brief overview of the science of ABA.
Summarize each parent’s dilemma and provide explanations of the contingencies at work maintaining the target behaviors, i.e., reinforcement, punishment, and motivating operations.
Include your behavior internention plan for modifying the behaviors in each case, along with your process and rationale for each case.
Discuss mock future communications you received from each of these three parents regarding the successes they encountered when implementing your suggestions.
A Day in the Life of a Behavior Analyst: Inspiring the Next Generation of BCaBAs
Student’s Name
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A Day in the Life of a Behavior Analyst: Inspiring the Next Generation of BCaBAs
Introduction
As an experienced behavior analyst with an extensive practical experience of 25 years in the field of applied Behavior analysis I have been invited to address a group of students who are about to graduate with a bachelor degree in psychology and applied behavior analysis. Within this essay, I will provide a detailed analysis of my experiences in the field of psychology and behavioral analysis in various scenarios. Also, I will support my credibility as a speaker while providing an overview of ABA and recount an experience speaking to a group of parents previously. The analysis entails exploring three cases of parents and demonstrating the pivotal role of ABA in understanding and controlling behavioral traits and implementing certain interventions for each case.
Education and personal experience: Becoming a behavioral analyst requires that individuals understand certain requirements which act as guidelines on what is expected of them. Before delving into the parents’ scenarios, it is thus fundamental to understand the requirements that students must meet before becoming board certified assistant behavioral analysts. Ideally, before an individual is allowed to sit for a BCaBA examination, they are expected to have completed a degree course which entails, course work in ABA principles, ethics, research methods and behavioral assessment techniques (Cooper, Heron & Heward, 2020). In addition to this, they must attend supervised industrial practical. This helps them gain experience and understand the intricate nature of being a behavioral analysis in the field. Also, it equips them with the necessary skills and knowledge required in decision making when faced with challenging situations.
As described by experts, applied behavior analysis is both an evidence based and systematic approach for understanding and modifying behavioral traits of people (Cooper, Heron & Heward, 2020). A wide range of principles, theories and strategies are utilized to make the implementation of the strategies and principles practical and viable (Tarbox, Szabo & Aclan, 2020). Thus, in the best case scenario, the behavioral analyst utilizes their knowledge and skills to assess the behaviors of an individual while checking any external factors that may influence them.
A key principle of ABA is reinforcement that entails the creation of consequences to deter the occurrence of a particular behavior in the future (Cooper, Heron & Heward, 2020). Usually, the action involves introducing either reward for positive behavior while the inverse is accompanied by punishment (Tarbox, Szabo & Aclan, 2020). In such a situation, the likelihood of an individual getting involved in a vice is lowered since they are more aware of the consequences which would negatively affect them.
Furthermore, punishment is attached as a principle of ABA. While a behavioral analyst understands the likelihood of certain traits recurring in a person, they are more likely to introduce punishment as an element to deter them from repeating (Tarbox, Szabo & Aclan, 2020). Ideally, when punishment is introduced as an intervention measure, most individuals are likely to keep off doing wrong as they understand the repercussions in the long run (Cooper, Heron & Heward, 2020). The element of punishment is however utilized with care as some approaches may result in negative reactions by the subjects.
Moreover, experts in beh...