Assignment:
Youth, Developmental Delays and Self-Injurious Behavior
Martin, an ABA psychologist, is working with Sara, a 14-year-old girl with severe developmental delays who exhibits self-injurious behavior. The self-injurious behaviors include pulling her hair, biting her arm and banging her head against the wall. After conducting a functional analysis, Martin decided to employ an intervention program consisting of differential reinforcement of other (DRO) desired behavior. Martin collected data on Sara's behavior before and during the intervention. Below is a depiction of the data that Martin collected:
Frequency of Self-Injurious Behavior:
Biting Hair Pulling Head banging
Baseline 10 23 15
Intervention 7 5 6
Address the following questions:
1. What type of research design did Martin employ when working with Sara?
2. According to the data, did the intervention that Martin selected work in modifying Sara's self-injurious behavior?
3. Martin had considered using an ABAB reversal design when working with Sara. What are some ethical implications of selecting a reversal design when working with the type of behavior problems that Sara was exhibiting?
4. Martin's supervisor requested a graph of the data he collected when working with Sara. Why are graphs useful in evaluating behavioral change? What variable (using the case study example) would be plotted on the x axis and the y axis?
5. Discuss what a functional relationship is and how an ABA professional would use his/her understanding of functional relationships when designing an intervention.