Behaviourism Presentation

By Aimee Mercer

A Parental Perspective of Caring for a Child with Autism

A Parental Perspective of Caring for a Child with Autism

What is Autism?

(Kent & Simonoff, 2017)

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by deficits in verbal and nonverbal social communication and interaction and restricted and repetitive behavior.

(Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, 2023)

1 in 36 Children are Diagnosed with Autism in the US

Does anyone here have first hand experience with Autism?

Increasing prevelance = More parents of a child with Autism

Physical and Emotional AggressionExtreme Emotional OutburstsDestruction and Self InjuryDisruption

Problem Behaviour

(Bonis, 2016)

Increased Stress, Anxiety & DepressionSocial Withdrawl and IsolationSleep ProblemsDisconneted Parent-Child RelationshipDisconneted Marital Relationship

Impact on Parents

Can these problem behaviours be helped and how?

ABA can be defined as the use of knowledge gained within the science of behaviour analysis for the improvement of social behaviours.

The quality of ABA training is a fundamental factor in the success of the treatment

Access and Implementation of Autism Services

To deliver a virtual training program to teach ABA to parents of children with Autism and evaluate the effectiveness through direct observation of skills implemented across strcutured work and play based contexts.

Title of Study:

Aim:

(Fisher et al, 2020)

"A Randomized Clinical Trial of a Virtual Program for Teaching Applied Behaviour Analysis Skills to Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder"

BISWA - Behavioural Implementation of Skills for Work Activities BISPA - Behavioural Implementation of Skills for Play Activities

The researcher never met participants in person. A laptop camera recorded pre and post-tests in the home.

Each parent recruited a family member to act as a confederate.

25 parents of a child with autism who have no prior ABA training were recruited (21 females and 4 males ranging from 26-46 years old).

Background Methodology

Step 2: Complete BISPA Pre-Test

• Parent started recording.
• Confederate wore Bluetooth headphones and the researcher provided remote instruction on when and how to act on each trial of the roleplays.
• Trial started once researcher instructed confederate to perform a behaviour.
• Trial ended when parent responded.

Step 1: Complete BISWA Pre-Test

• Parent started recording.
• Confederate wore Bluetooth headphones and the researcher provided remote instruction on when and how to act on each trial of the roleplays.
• Trial started once researcher instructed confederate to perform a behaviour.
• Trial ended when parent responded.

Procedure

Step 3:

• Researcher randomly assigned 13 individual parents to the treatment group and 12 to the control group.
• Parent in treatment group underwent 9 multimedia E-learning modules.
• Parent in control group did not.

Procedure

Step 5: Complete BISPA Post-Test

• Parent started recording.
• Confederate wore Bluetooth headphones and the researcher provided remote instruction on when and how to act on each trial of the roleplays.
• Trial started once researcher instructed confederate to perform a behaviour.
• Trial ended when parent responded.

Step 4: Complete BISWA Post-Test

• Parent started recording.
• Confederate wore Bluetooth headphones and the researcher provided remote instruction on when and how to act on each trial of the roleplays.
• Trial started once researcher instructed confederate to perform a behaviour.
• Trial ended when parent responded.

Procedure

13%

92%

99%

14%

9%

35%

35%

35%

80%

0%

0%

3%

93%

15%

11%

10%

Parents in the treatment group showed large statistical improvement on the post test.

Parents in the control group showed little to no improvements on post test.

Parents in the treatment and control groups showed low levels of correct skills during the pre-tests across BISWA and BISPA.

Overview

Limitations:

• Study was made up of 84% females and 16% male
• Parents could complete training modules at their own pace
• Study did not measure parent performance on every skill.
• Study did not assess each parents performance with their child with ASD.

Strengths:

• Can increase desirable behaviour.
• Long term management of problematic behaviour and maintenance of functional behaviour.
• Rated highly socially acceptable.
• Ease of use.
• Accessability.

• Positive impact on parents mental health.

Critical Evaluation

Future Recommendations/ Study Developments

This study aimed to educate parents on ABA through a virtual training programme. Results indicate statistical improvement of skills implemented from the training group during post-tests in both BISWA and BISPA contexts which highlights the success of virtual ABA training. Parents further rated the training as a 6.6 out of 7 demonstrating parental satisfaction. ABA implementation can improve family functioning and the quality of life for the child with autism and therefore virtual ABA training should be available for every parent of a child with Autism.

Conclusion

Any Questions?

Thank You For Listening!

Baer, D. M., Wolf, M. M., & Risley, T. R. (1987). Some still‐current dimensions of applied behavior analysis. Journal of applied behavior analysis, 20(4), 313-327. Berger, M. (1982). Applied behaviour analysis in education: a critical assessment and some implications for training teachers. Educational Psychology, 2(3-4), 289-300. Bonis, S. (2016). Stress and parents of children with autism: A review of literature. Issues in mental health nursing, 37(3), 153-163. Centres for Disease, Control and Prevention. (2023). Data and Statistics on ASD. https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/data.html Dillenburger, K., Keenan, M., Gallagher, S., & McElhinney, M. (2004). Parent education and home‐based behaviour analytic intervention: an examination of parents’ perceptions of outcome. Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disability, 29(2), 119-130. Fisher, W. W., Luczynski, K. C., Blowers, A. P., Vosters, M. E., Pisman, M. D., Craig, A. R., ... & Piazza, C. C. (2020). A randomized clinical trial of a virtual‐training program for teaching applied‐behavior‐analysis skills to parents of children with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of applied behavior analysis, 53(4), 1856-1875. Kent, R., & Simonoff, E. (2017). Prevalence of anxiety in autism spectrum disorders. Anxiety in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder, 5-32.Marriott, E., Stacey, J., Hewitt, O. M., & Verkuijl, N. E. (2022). Parenting an autistic child: Experiences of parents with significant autistic traits. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 1-12.

References