Behavior Change Project: Intervention Selection and Protocol
Cinthya Sanchez -Agnelli
Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Arizona State University
SPE 560 Behavior Change Procedures: Implementing Interventions in Behavior Analysis
CI: Figueroa
April 16, 2023
Intervention Selection and Protocol
Intervention Goal
During simulated play, when presented with a grouping of 4 tangibles which Luke has shown desire from previous preference assessment (i.e., car, teddy bear, ball, and book) Luke will vocally mand his desire using between 3 and 4 words (i.e., give me ball, I want Teddy Bear) for the desired tangible 4 out of 5 opportunities across 5 consecutive sessions across all tested items.
Intervention(s)
I will demonstrate the correct manner to mand for the desired object through verbal modelling, for instance by saying “give me ball” and gradually reducing the prompting and reinforcement. Most -to-least prompting and reinforcement will be utilized. (Cooper et al., 2020).
Rationale
Luke’s function for problem behavior is access to tangibles. Luke tends to scream, cry, and lay on the floor kicking instead of manding for items. This information regarding his problematic behavior was obtained during intake when interviewing Luke’s parents. My goal is to replace the problem behavior with a proper way of getting his tangibles using manding.
Verbal prompting intervention will be beneficial to Luke so he can learn how to appropriately mand for items in place of a tantrum. Properly teaching Luke to mand will result in less tantruming. As Cooper described when illustrating the importance of mand training on page 419, “the more often you reinforce people’s pro social actions, the less apt they will be to shift over to less acceptable forms.” The quantity of his tantrums is expected to diminish after he learns that manding correctly can lead to him obtaining that which he desires. (Cooper, 2020). By reinforcing the pro social action of manding, following the logic described in Cooper, Luke is less likely to Tantrum.
I will utilize the behavior change strategy of modeling to accomplish this goal. The 21st chapter of Cooper text titled “Imitation, modeling and observational learning” illustrates multiple ways to increase the likelihood of the modeling being successful. These strategies include emphasizing the critical aspect of behavior, combining instructions with a model’s presentation, and giving many opportunities for the learner to respond (Cooper, 2020). During Luke’s intervention, the interventionist can emphasize the word that Luke is having trouble with, for instance, if Luke is not correctly manding for the desired object of ball but is instead saying “ball”, the words “give me” can be said louder or for longer to ensure Luke’s attention to that key aspect. The interventionist can also physically and dramatically accept the object when stating “give me (object)” to link the instruction with the physical act of asking/manding. The interventionist should give Luke multiple opportunity to respond.
According to the results from a study conducted by students acquired verbal mand behaviors after being trained to mand for a specific object saying, “give me____” and being reinforced by getting the object they mand. The experiment was set up with a director and a supplier. The director asked the student to bring an object, then the student will go the supplier and ask for the object by sating “give me ___” if supplier gave the wrong object they will say “that is not it” and mand again for correct object “give me ___” once they get their object they will bring it back to the director and get an edible as a reinforcer. After following up phase this study results showed that all 3 students acquired the verbal mand “give me” and “that is not it”
Fisher, modeling along with explanations was shown to be an effective way to teach students appropriate responses. In their study young adults with mild intellectual disabilities were taught to respond appropriately to lures from unknown adults. They utilized modeling and explanation (Fisher et al., 2013).
Materials
Tablet, pencil, paper, and the four reinforcers: ball, teddy bear, book and car
Intervention Procedure
Deprivation
To make sure the learner is motivated to play with the toys I can increase his motivation by contriving the Eos. This can be done by keeping the toys in the view of the learner but not at reach. This will likely increase manding. (Taylor et al., 2005) this case Luke does not have these specific toys at home, he only plays with them when interventionist bring them to the sessions.
The interventionist will take four previously identified (via pair wise assessment) favorite toys (reinforcers)
The interventionist will take four previously identified (via pair wise assessment) favorite toys (reinforcers) and put each away for three days prior to the trial which they will be used for. This will allow adequate time for deprivation.
Sessions
The practitioner will do one session per day with 10 trials per session.
The practitioner will use one toy per session that was previously identified and allowed adequate time for deprivation.
The interventionist will start “play time” with Luke and avoid extra toys in the room. But have his preferred toys at a view for him to increase mand. Once Luke mand for toy 1
The interventionist will present Luke with object 1 (i.e ball) and verbally model for Luke starting with a full prompt telling Luke “Say, I want ball” while holding the ball in their hand. This is a full verbal prompt to allow Luke to repeat the verbal mand “I want ball.” After successful Mand, the practitioner will reinforce by saying “good job!” Following Luke’s verbal mand, the practitioner will let him play for few seconds while taking notes/data. If not successful, the practitioner will not reinforce and will instead utilize one of the following techniques in alternating order:
Verbally stressing the word that is missing. For instance, if Luke fails to mand the full three to four words and only identifies the object verbally, the interventionist will stress the word “want” or words “I want” followed by the name of the object.
The interventionist can physically emphasize the action of accepting the object while saying “give me (object)” linking the instruction of manding with the physical act of receiving what was desired.
After Luke has seen the object and try reaching out to grab it without success, the practitioner grabs the object and will move to partial prompt and present the object 1 (ball) to Luke, this time only saying “I” and only giving him the ball once he says, “I want ball.” This will then be reinforced by using verbal praise. After he successfully mands following the partial prompt above, he will be allowed to play while notes are taken.
Following success of step 2, the practitioner will use a gestural prompt and only show him the object 1 (ball). Once Luke mands by stating “I want ball” the practitioner will give verbal praise then give him the ball and allow him to play.
The interventionist will record information from the session, and the object will be put away out of Luke’s reach to be used in future sessions
Information from the session will be recorded and the object will be hidden from Luke to be used in future sessions.
After Luke has seen the toy, he wants to play with and mand for it (in the form of point or tact, the practitioner will present Luke with object 2 (Teddy bear) and repeat steps 1-4 above but for object 2.
This will continue until all objects are presented during subsequent sessions.
Sessions will be continued until Luke meets the mastery criteria which is 80 percent full appropriate manding of at least three-word sentences for desired objects across 5 sessions. If Luke shows regression in his ability to Mand, for example wining, crying, kicking on the floor whenever he wants a toy, or if there is regression showing in the data where trend decreases instead of increasing, interventionist will go from most to least prompts (steps 2 and 3), the practitioner will need to record data, go back to the previous prompt procedure.
Data Collection and Measurement
The practitioner will use a log to record the data using trial by trial data collection method. This will be done in person. At the end of each week a line graph will be generated and added to which will include the baseline session. The X axis will correspond to the session number and the Y axis will correspond to percentage of successful manding. We expect to see an increase in the amount of successful manding. This will be tracked across sessions and if the trend is not positive, there is a portion of the algorithm to address this. The intervention will likely need to be revised if Luke stalls in progression despite moving backwards in steps.
Plan for Treatment Integrity
Collecting data and monitoring data for every session and ensuring the intervention is the one responsible for the behavior outcome.
Ensuring that the behavior we intended to get is the behavior we are getting. This will get done thru the collection and interpretation of data.
Periodically observing the interventionist implement the treatment.
Prior to starting trials, the BCBA needs to ensure that the interventionist is properly trained in most-to-least promoting and modeling intervention as well as manding procedures.
The BCBA will begin by monitoring one session in person to ensure appropriate treatment implementation.
The BCBA should provide feedback to the interventionist ideally in real time in person. If not possible, feedback can be delayed until the next available meeting time, but this should occur prior to the next session.
References
Cooper. J. O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L. (2020). Applied behavior analysis (3rd ed.). Pearson.
Yuan, C. (n.d.). Contingencies, Self-Management, Rules and Instructions/Data-Based Decision. module 5. [Webinar]. SPE 560