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.
