Target Behaviors for a Client with History of Abuse and Neglect
Scenario
You are a BCaBA with a few years of experience and you have studied trauma-informed care through continuing education. You have a new case assigned and the learner has a history of abuse and neglect. This learner is unable to speak, does not have any method of communication, and engages in several problem behaviors including self-injury, throwing items, and aggression.
The technician assigned to the case does not have a lot of experience but has done well in their first couple of months. They became a Registered Behavior Technician and are excited to work with this new learner. They have asked you to provide them with performance expectations to ensure they are staying on track and helping this learner to the best of their ability.
Discussion
Please complete your assigned readings and respond to the following:
Create an operational definition for each problem behavior (you can take liberties with this and describe any type of self-injury, throwing, and aggression).
Review your chapter three reading about prioritization of target behaviors. Where would you begin with this learner? How does this learner’s history impact your decision about what skills or behaviors to address first? Use your text to support your response.
Create three performance expectations for the RBT with regard to intervention. Refer to the RBT Task List to guide your response.
Target Behaviors
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Target Behaviors
Operational Definitions
Three operational definitions should be considered in the case. The first definition is “self-injury”, which encompasses instances that the learner inflicts injury or pain to themselves through scratching, hitting him/herself, or banging his/her head against the wall. The second definition is “throwing”, which encompasses instances in which the learner throws an object intentionally at another person, animal, or object to cause harm. The final operational definition is “aggression”, which implies an engagement in verbal and physical behaviors to cause harm. Aggression can include behaviors like hitting, threatening, or biting.
Target Behaviors
In this learner's instance, with a history of abuse and neglect, it is critical to select target behaviors that will have the most influence on their safety and well-being. Given the learner's