In applied behavior analysis, BCBAs often write a document that describes how to teach a learner a particular skill or respond to a behavior. This is often called a “program.” One of the core features of behavior analysis is that the written procedures in our programs are very detailed. In research, that is so the procedures can be replicated by other researchers. In practice, the high level of detail is there to help guide staff or parents in producing a behavior change. While having a well-written program can be useful, it often creates a misleading impression that making a behavior change is easy.
There are many difficult-to-learn skills that people instantly realize that you can’t learn just from reading how to do it such as riding a bike, driving a car, or performing surgery. Making a behavior change is like those examples. We cannot expect untrained people be able to implement the procedures in our programs correctly solely from reading a document. In fact, our research overwhelmingly shows that people cannot do that. Only after you go through a significant amount of training will you be able to pick up a behavior change plan and implement it properly, no matter how well it is written.
So how should BCBAs respond to requests for suggestions of what to do at home? On the one hand, of course we want the skills we teach to generalize to the home. On the other hand, there is significant risk that implementation by untrained people is risky at best. I think we have a few good options:
- Depending on the skill, it might be appropriate to take the time to do the full training for parents. We make sure the parents are trained to criterion and that the practices are appropriate and practical for everyday use before we let the parents implement the program.
- Depending on the skill, it might be appropriate to ask the parents to implement only a part of the intervention. We explain to the parents that the child will begin by learning parts of the skill, but isn’t ready for full implementation quite yet. We then make sure the parents are fully trained to implement the part of the intervention that is appropriate.
- Depending on the skill, it might be appropriate to ask the parents to wait on implementation at home. We can explain that the skill is very fragile and we would like to ensure the implementation procedures are successful before we do the training for the home.
Any of those might be appropriate depending on the details of what any particular child needs. If Option 3 is selected, however, we need to realize since the parents have a problem at home, they are probably going to seek out other temporary solutions while waiting for our intervention to be “ready.” This may be why we see BCBAs offer families “resources” that they should know from the research are overwhelmingly unlikely to be successful. When a parent asks what they can do at home, it is an extremely important question, but we often don’t think through how best to handle it. It can affect the child’s progress, parent satisfaction, and all of the relationships involved. A high-quality program takes the time to think through the family situation and figure out the best approach to program implementation rather than advising them to try procedures that are unlikely to work or are difficult to put into practice.