Maintaining Professional Relationships in an Interdisciplinary Setting: Strategies for Navigating Nonbehavioral Treatment Recommendations for Individuals with Autism

Abstract

Due to an increase in research and clinical application of behavior analysis with individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), one setting a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) may work within is an interdisciplinary setting, where multiple disciplines collaborate to improve the outcomes of individuals with ASD. In some cases, nonbehavioral colleagues could recommend nonbehavioral treatments, setting the occasion for the BCBA to offer an alternative treatment to or question the nonbehavioral treatment. However, excessive questioning or critiques of nonbehavioral treatments by the BCBA may unintentionally erode professional relationships between the BCBA and their nonbehavioral colleagues. Because an erosion of professional relationships may occur when a BCBA questions a nonbehavioral treatment, a decision-making model for determining whether or not the proposed nonbehavioral treatment is worth addressing may be useful. The purpose of this paper is to outline such a decision-making model in order to assist the BCBA in assessing nonbehavioral treatments while maintaining an ethical balance between professional relationships and the well-being and safety of the individual with ASD. Such a model could assist the BCBA in becoming familiar with the proposed treatment, understanding the perspective of the nonbehavioral colleague and assessing the negative impacts the treatment could have on the individual with ASD. With this information, the BCBA will be in a better position to decide whether or not addressing the nonbehavioral treatment is worth the possibility of eroding a professional relationship.

Developing the Cultural Awareness Skills of Behavior Analysts

“…However, because there is a lack of resources in the area of cultural awareness and behavior analysis, we hope this paper serves as a starting point for future discussions and analyses. Systematic guidelines for practicing behavior analysts have been published in other areas, such as guidelines for identifying an appropriate function-based treatment for escape-maintained problem behavior (Geiger et al 2010) and for maintaining professional relationships (Brodhead 2015). Therefore, it may be useful for future researchers or behavior analysts to develop systematic guidelines for working with culturally diverse clients in order to provide practicing behavior analysts with a systematic framework for their work.…”

Developing and Enhancing Adherence to a Telehealth ABA Parent Training Curriculum for Caregivers of Children with Autism

“…Thus, the purpose of the current article is to provide guidance on the techniques needed for developing such a program. The rationale and evidence that support the various components of our current parent program, such as risk assessment systems (Brodhead, 2015 ; McIntyre, Gresham, DiGennaro, & Reed, 2007 ), competence-based contingencies (Allen & Warzak, 2000 ; Loeber & Weisman, 1975 ), use of non-behavior-analytic terms (Becirevic, Critchfield, & Reed, 2016 ), and acceptance and commitment therapy to increase parental adherence (Gould, Tarbox, & Coyne, 2018 ), have all been vetted within the behavior-analytic literature. In this installment, we focus on providing behavior analysts with a step-by-step guide to directly replicate this program in the era of COVID-19.…”

Toward an Understanding of the Essential Components of Behavior Analytic Service Plans

“…Much of the time, these tasks are learned through collaboration with other disciplines (e.g., reviewing assessments, coordinating services). It is unclear if exclusion of nonbehavior evaluations hinders these learning tasks (and later professional skills) or if it further contributes to the perception that behavior analysts do not play well with others (see Brodhead (2015) for an example). It might be possible to fulfill these expectations without including them in a written behavior plan.…”