When I was a young behavior analyst, an experienced researcher warned me about being too impressed with the results of research:
“Did the people in those studies really live better lives after the experiment was over?”
Research on the treatment of problem behavior in individuals with disabilities has made tremendous gains in the last fifty years or so. The improvements in safety, ethics, effectiveness, training, measurement, and practicality are evident.
But if you read the research carefully, you will notice that the people involved in many of those studies have a long way to go before the severe problem behavior is effectively treated. That’s probably in part because many studies are not designed to document effectiveness, but to look at just one small aspect of treatment–part of the assessment process, what type of communication to teach, or 1000 other tiny details. Those studies are extremely important as they can teach us how to Poogi every aspect of the process towards effective treatment. We need those studies.
My main concern is that if you aren’t a careful reader, from some of the wording, you can think that there are no longer any concerns regarding problem behavior for these individuals after these studies are over. Sometimes, authors add statements like, “the problem behavior was eliminated” or “the problem behavior was successfully treated.” Yet, the only evidence provided is data collected during sessions between 5 and 15 minutes in length. I suggest thinking about research articles as a story of someone’s life. After this treatment, what is Joe or Sally or Bob’s life like now? Is it any better? In some cases, the answer is almost certainly yes. But often, I doubt it.
There are some, but very few, studies that document that the treatment was successful throughout the day, and that it lasted over the long-term. Perhaps, that isn’t surprising as it would be extremely expensive research, very hard to maintain experimental control, and just damn difficult to do. Those of us that are concerned on a daily basis with the long-term successful treatment over longer periods of time need to study that research. It can definitely help improve practice. Just be skeptical–not all the success stories are really that successful.