Case Study: Crashing Planes And Tranquil Dreams

Summary
Based on the information provided in case 8, Crashing Planes and Tranquil Dreams, Richard is a 4 years old boy, who is experiencing challenging behaviors at school, as well as at home. Richard lives with both parents, and two older brothers. Richard has been attending the YMCA’s full-day preschool program for the past 2 years. He is described as a “good kid” by parents and teacher, however, he is constantly active, impulsive, and frequently becoming involved in conflicts with adults. Parents are continuously working, and as mentioned in this case, they have to spend most of the time at home yelling at Richard or putting him in time-out as part of his consequences for not listening or misbehaving.
At school, Richard shows behaviors that are similar to the ones experienced at home. Although, he’s described to be a “sweat and bright boy” who does not have trouble interacting with peers, and is able to communicate verbally to express himself, he is described as “hyper” and as someone who constantly engages in yelling, crying and kicking when is time to nap. For instance, and as the scenario describes, in this particular occasion, Richard’s teacher had to redirect him several times for him to finally lie down and take a nap. Richard was pretending to be a plane and making sounds to simulate an airplane crash

right before it was time to take a nap. The teacher took 20 minutes to finally calm him down, but he was only able to stay asleep for a few minutes. To prevent Richard from walking up other kids, the teacher tried to quiet him down and then removed him and allowed him to play with some toys in a box.
The teachers have tried punishing Richard by taking away recess, snack, and threatening him without effectively changing the behavior.

Approaching the case.
As a behavior analyst providing consultation services, it would be critically important to identify the several steps in the consultation problem-solving process. Before developing a therapeutic relationship, behaviors analysts should begin by developing a team of the key individuals who are most involved in the child’s life. In this particular case, it would be fundamental to include Richard’s family and teachers. All individuals involved should be informed about the several steps to follow, as well as benefits and risks that might be involved in the process. According to the Behavior Analyst Certification Board Guidelines for Responsible Conduct, behavior analysts must obtain the parents’ approval in writing of the behavior assessment procedures (Guideline 3.01). For instance, individuals must be aware of all steps and procedures such as problem identification and analysis, plan implementation, and problem evaluation as part of the intervention process.
Subsequently, behavior analysts should define the problem behavior, and determine its functions and the relationship of events and circumstances that might be triggering and maintaining those inappropriate responses. Conducting a functional behavior analysis (FBA), as described by the BACB, will involve the measurement of the target behavior through observations and interviews, the collection of data, the identification of stimuli and events surrounding the behavior, and the development of goals and objectives that will result in the design and implementation of an effective behavior plan (Guideline 3.02).
In this particular case, meeting with all individuals involved, as well as interviewing teachers and parents will allow behavior analysts to obtain information about the problem behavior and its controlling variables. Additionally, the behavior should be observed in natural conditions, to obtain enough data to support any further decisions. For instance, the behavior analyst should conduct a direct observation of the challenging behaviors (e.g. out of seat, crying, etc.), in different settings; such as in the classroom, church, and at home. Teachers and parents could support this information by using an ABC Scatterplot chart to record how many times Richards engages in problem behaviors that occur within a given context (e.g. dinner or naptime), allowing members involved to discover if the problem behavior correlated with a specific time of the day, or particular setting, person, or activity.
After the behavior has been identified and data has been collected, and other medical conditions have been excluded, behavior analysts should develop an appropriate personal behavior plan. This should include the environmental conditions and strategies, necessary for the intervention to be successful. Additionally, it should be clearly stated the roles of each member involved during this process, such as parents, siblings, and educators (BACB, Guideline 4). Ethically speaking, intervention procedures should include the least restrictive procedure to be effective, as well as avoiding the use of harmful reinforcers or punishment. If punishment procedures are necessary, these should be complimentary with reinforcement (Guideline 4).
According to this scenario, an action plan should be developed outlining the steps and procedures to be used to decrease the occurrences Richard’s challenging behaviors. For example, if data supports that Richard engages in challenging behaviors to avoid non-preferred activities (e.g. nap time), it would be recommended to develop a plan where those behaviors do not continue being reinforced by teachers and parents. This type of intervention could include extinction along with positive reinforcement delivered at a fixed interval schedule to make sure Richard has access to reinforcement after a specific period of time (e.g. reinforce Richard only if he was able to stay on his mat until the end of nap time without exhibiting the problem behavior). This could also be implemented as a whole group intervention, where all students could be able to have access to the same consequences (i.e. interdependent group contingency).
At home, parents could implement similar strategies. If Richard’s behavior is found to be maintained by escaping non-preferred activities (e.g. undesired types of foods), parents should not reinforce the target behavior. Instead they could put those behaviors under extinction by not reinforcing those behaviors with other strategies involving positive reinforcement. For example, by developing a behavior change system, such as a token economy system, challenge behaviors could be decreased along with Richard being able to obtain a specific reward (e.g. dessert), after obtaining a certain number of tokens or points that he would receive for emitting the target behavior (e.g. eating his food).
From an ethical point of view, it would be extremely recommended to analyze all the risks and benefits involved during the intervention process.

As stated in Guideline 3.05 of the BACB Guidelines for Responsible Conduct, behavior analysts should conduct a risk-benefit analysis on the procedures to be implemented to reach the objectives. For instance, we should consider the probabilities of the treatment to be successful, along with the time and distress that will take to eliminate the problem behavior (e.g. extinction burst), and all the effects that the procedure could cause to all other individuals involved (e.g. teacher, family members, and

peers).
Last but not least, and as mentioned by Bailey and Burch (2011), it would be beneficial to constantly monitor and assess the effectiveness of the intervention plan, which will include all changes in problem behavior and the development of new skills and lifestyle outcomes. Factors such as the nature of the behavior, the settings and members involved, the level of training and experience, along with the direct and indirect benefits to the client and others should be taken into account when approaching a case like the one previously presented.