Project ACCESS recently hosted a training on Positive Behavior Practices: From Core Values to Core Practice. Dr. Lizzie Hughes from The Institute for Applied Behavior Analysis (IABA) presented a guide to the application of positive intervention for challenging behavior, providing a three-day training that was hosted by Project ACCESS on the Missouri State University campus. Project ACCESS was pleased to provide more than fifty scholarships to educators from public schools across Missouri to attend this training in order to increase capacity in Positive Behavior Supports.
Here are some of our takeaways!
Because we are passionate about services for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder, we appreciate the values of IABA. Individuals with disabilities are considered valued members of the community and are treated as such. Positive Behavior Supports focus on improving the quality of life for individuals with disabilities!
We appreciate that IABA describes Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) as including principles of learning, not just behavior support. We can’t just work on what not to do; we have to teach what to do.
IABA advises change in the focus of challenging behavior from punishment-based reactive strategies to focus on providing for the unmet needs of individuals. For example, someone who is described as attention-seeking may have an unmet need for interaction with others. Viewing behaviors from this perspective of unmet needs changes what we do in terms of support.
Our use of language creates the way the community perceives an individual. Describing behavior as assaultive, whiny, aggressive, etc. devalues the individual and does not give useable information for support.
Through IABA’s Multi-Element Support, 75% of treatment programs focus on proactive strategies – what can be done to increase the likelihood of the occurrence of an appropriate behavior and decrease the likelihood of challenging behavior in the future? In other words, we make the setting a good fit for the individual. The individual is set up for success!
This is just a taste of the information presented at our latest professional development opportunity. Watch our website for additional scholarship opportunities and our upcoming workshop offerings! projectaccess.missouristate.edu
©Project ACCESS 2017 Terri Carrington, M.A., CCC-SLP
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