User-Friendly Measures of Meaningful Outcomes: Evaluating Behavioral Interventions

Abstract

This article describes principles and practices of data collection to evaluate the attainment of meaningful out comes in educational services for students with severe disabilities and serious behavior problems. In contrast to a limited outcome such as a temporary change in one target behavior in a controlled clinical setting, an ex panded definition of effectiveness would require evidence of a range of more meaningful outcomes for child, school, family, and community. Several user-friendly measures to document such outcomes are described, which were field-tested in an educational consultation project serving students with severe disabilities and chal lenging behaviors in integrated schools. The article con cludes with a discussion of the advantages of an empha sis upon both meaningful outcomes and the use of measurement strategies that blend well and have high utility for typical schools while simultaneously increas ing programmatic rigor and general school responsibil ity for what happens to students.DESCRIPTORS: applied behavior analysis, assess ment, behavioral assessment, behavioral management, data collection, decision-making, educational validity, excess behavior, functional analysis, research evaluation

Self-Determination for Individuals with the Most Severe Disabilities: Moving beyond Chimera

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Accountability for All Students: Kentucky's Alternate Portfolio Assessment for Students with Moderate and Severe Cognitive Disabilities

“…Very early in the development ofthe Alternate Portfolio, the Alternate Portfolio Advisory Committee determined that the evaluation standards should reflect "best practices" for outcomes and programs for students with moderate and severe disabilities, a task made easier by the fact that there is reasonable consensus as to what constitutes both best practices and meaningful outcomes for these students (Meyer, Eichinger, & Downing,1992;Meyer & Janney, 1989). At issue, however, was how to represent and score these students' performances fairly and reliably within the overall accountability process.…”

Treatment and Management of Challenging Behaviours in Residential Settings

“…These include: physical injury to the person, other people with intellectual disabilities and care staff; social exclusion, isolation and neglect; abuse from caregivers; exposure to restrictive treatment and management practices; increased stress and strain among caregivers; and increased cost of service provision (cf. Meyer & Janney 1989; Meyer & Evans 1993; Ball & Bush 2000; Emerson 2000).…”