Brief Biography

Mindy Scheithauer is a postdoctoral fellow at the Marcus Autism Center working in the severe behavior clinic. Prior to starting at Marcus, she completed her doctorate in clinical and biological psychology at Louisiana State University and a doctoral internship at the Kennedy Krieger Institute. Her research interests include the application of behavioral assessments and treatments in a variety of settings, physiological variables as motivating operations for problem behavior, and the interactive effect of pharmacological and behavioral interventions.

Highest Degree of Presenter(s)

Mindy C. Scheithauer, Ph.D, BCBA

Nathan A. Call, Ph.D., BCBA-D

Joanna Lomas Mevers, Ph.D.. BCBA

Jessica P. Alvarez, Ph.D.

Faith Cawthon, M.A., BCBA

Kelly Autry, M.A., BCBA

Dana Bamford, M.A., BCBA

Presentation Abstract

Data-based decision making, an important component of positive behavior support, can be difficult in brief in-home therapy due to the limited amount of time a therapist has to directly observe the child. This difficulty is exacerbated when problem behavior occurs infrequently. When a therapist cannot reliably observe problem behavior, it is often necessary to rely on parental report. The current study evaluated three approaches for parental report of low frequency problem behavior: antecedent-behavior-consequence records, incident data, and interview. Each method was analyzed with clients in home-based therapy with 2-hour weekly appointments. All clients exhibited low-frequency (i.e., less than daily) and high-intensity (i.e., causes physical harm to self/others, damage to the environment, or severe decrement to family’s quality of life) problem behavior. The treatment goal for all clients was to reduce problem behavior (most commonly aggression, disruption, or self-injury). The number of instances of problem behavior captured by each method of data-collection, quality of the data (i.e., ability to detect treatment effects using the data), and therapist and parent acceptability of each measure were analyzed. Results are discussed in terms of the relative advantages and disadvantages of each measure, clinical application of the methods, and avenues for future research.

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Dec 4th, 9:45 AM Dec 4th, 10:45 AM

Brief Home-Based Data Collection of Low Frequency Behaviors

Student Center-Auditorium

Data-based decision making, an important component of positive behavior support, can be difficult in brief in-home therapy due to the limited amount of time a therapist has to directly observe the child. This difficulty is exacerbated when problem behavior occurs infrequently. When a therapist cannot reliably observe problem behavior, it is often necessary to rely on parental report. The current study evaluated three approaches for parental report of low frequency problem behavior: antecedent-behavior-consequence records, incident data, and interview. Each method was analyzed with clients in home-based therapy with 2-hour weekly appointments. All clients exhibited low-frequency (i.e., less than daily) and high-intensity (i.e., causes physical harm to self/others, damage to the environment, or severe decrement to family’s quality of life) problem behavior. The treatment goal for all clients was to reduce problem behavior (most commonly aggression, disruption, or self-injury). The number of instances of problem behavior captured by each method of data-collection, quality of the data (i.e., ability to detect treatment effects using the data), and therapist and parent acceptability of each measure were analyzed. Results are discussed in terms of the relative advantages and disadvantages of each measure, clinical application of the methods, and avenues for future research.