What BCBAs Can Learn From Hot Dog Eating Competitions

In 2001, Takeru Kobayashi shocked the world by proving that performance could be doubled in his chosen field. The world record for eating hot dogs with buns was 25 1/8 in 12 minutes. That may seem impossible, but in 2001, with a creative method of dipping the bun in water, Kobayashi doubled the record to 50. Later, many hot dog eating methods were improved, and now Joey Chestnut has the world record at 75 dogs in 10 minutes. These people were really on a Poogi, focused on all the tiny details that would allow them to eat hot dogs just a little bit faster. In the last 20 years, the hot dog eating record has more than tripled.

We can learn something from these competitive champions. I doubt any education program for children with autism can claim that their performance has tripled over the last 20 years. We might argue that it is because it is so much harder to measure quality. No doubt that is partially true. But I don’t think that is the real reason we don’t often see these types of dramatic improvements.

The real reason is that most of us don’t believe improvement at that level is possible, and are thus not really trying. I feel lucky because I know that dramatic improvement is indeed possible. I’ve seen it not just once, but twice. Now, no one is likely to claim their program is perfect. When asked, they’ll admit that there is room for improvement. But usually, they mean on the margins; we could do a little better on a small point here or there.

There is real value in the assumption that no matter how good you are, there is room for dramatic improvement. If you don’t assume dramatic improvements are possible, you are unlikely to look for it. Of course, we might be wrong in this assumption. You might be so good that dramatic improvement is impossible. But I doubt it.

Behavior analytic services should only be delivered in the context of a professional relationship. Nothing written in this blog should be considered advice for any specific individual. The purpose of the blog is to share my experience, not to provide treatment. Please get advice from a professional before making changes to behavior analytic services being delivered. Nothing in this blog including comments or correspondence should be considered an agreement for Dr. Barry D. Morgenstern to provide services or establish a professional relationship outside of a formal agreement to do so. I attempt to write this blog in “plain English” and avoid technical jargon whenever possible. But all statements are meant to be consistent with behavior analytic literature, practice, and the professional code of ethics. If, for whatever reason, you think I’ve failed in the endeavor, let me know and I’ll consider your comments and make revisions, if appropriate. Feedback is always appreciated as I’m always trying to POOGI.

An Easy Way to Improve

BCBAs often have a great resource we can use to substantially Poogi, but we often don’t use it properly. Sometimes we have a staff person who can do amazing things. They might work remarkably well with one child in particular, or their methods could work with a whole wide variety of children. In my experience, when there is a resource like this, it usually gets wasted.  Instead of learning from this resource and putting the whole program on a POOGI, we tend to use them to solve emergencies. Put her with Johnny, we have no one else who can handle him today. OR, I don’t have to worry about Alice. She’s got everything under control, we have bigger problems to handle right now.

In a classic book that every BCBA should read, Tom Gilbert discussed what he called the exemplary performer and how to use that person to improve whole systems. The exemplary performer is a person who really outshines his or her peers and is able to accomplish substantially more in less time at least as it applies to a particular result. His examples are from other fields, but the same principles apply.

The first rule he suggests is not to spend too much time asking the exemplary performer why they can accomplish so much more than other staff. Usually, they aren’t very good at explaining why they achieve superior results. Gilbert says you have to actually watch the exemplary performer in action, and then compare it to the typical performer to understand what makes their performance so special.

This knowledge is gold for the POOGI. Once you have the knowledge of what makes the exemplary performer superior, you can use it to train the other performers, and it can often dramatically improve the whole system. In addition, when working with specific children, this knowledge is often a great source of important new goals that can make a difference in the child’s life.

If you have one star that really shines, don’t waste that resource handling every emergency that comes up. Improve the whole system by figuring out why they are such a star.

Behavior analytic services should only be delivered in the context of a professional relationship. Nothing written in this blog should be considered advice for any specific individual. The purpose of the blog is to share my experience, not to provide treatment. Please get advice from a professional before making changes to behavior analytic services being delivered. Nothing in this blog including comments or correspondence should be considered an agreement for Dr. Barry D. Morgenstern to provide services or establish a professional relationship outside of a formal agreement to do so. I attempt to write this blog in “plain English” and avoid technical jargon whenever possible. But all statements are meant to be consistent with behavior analytic literature, practice, and the professional code of ethics. If, for whatever reason, you think I’ve failed in the endeavor, let me know and I’ll consider your comments and make revisions, if appropriate. Feedback is always appreciated as I’m always trying to POOGI.

Wow, You Have Spent a Lot of Time Thinking About This

One time, I was doing a follow up on a successful toilet training program. The parent was able to successfully toilet train her son with autism within a few days after just one training session. The parent reported that everything had gone extremely well, and she was having just one issue. He was unable to pick his pants up all the way because they got stuck on his butt.  I was able to immediately suggest what to do: Don’t have him pick up his pants on the sides. Have him put his hand behind his back, turn his hand around, grasp the pants, and then lift them over his butt. We went right to the bathroom to try it, and he was able to successfully lift his pants with just a few practices. The mom said, “Wow, you have spent a lot of time thinking about this.” Actually, I read this trick in one of the toilet training books, and had used it several times before. So, I was fairly confident it would work.

In the work which defines Applied Behavior Analysis, Baer, Wolf, and Risley describe the difference between a principle and a bag of tricks. They argue convincingly that a profession should not be based on a bag of tricks. We can systematically teach principles, study them, and apply them widely in new situations. Once you learn about reinforcement, you can apply the principle in an infinite number of situations. That doesn’t happen with a bag of tricks. There is no systematic way to expand those tricks or help you be successful in new situations. It is also hard to learn them, and just takes a lot of time.

Still, there is real value in learning some “tricks.” In my view, BCBAs sometimes don’t appreciate the value of this type of knowledge enough. The pull-the-pants-up problem was something that just took just a few minutes–I’ve seen people spend significant time and energy on that issue. I believe that since this type of knowledge is so hard to organize and teach, it is often overlooked. But learning a few “tricks” that others have already figured out is a quick way to get significant Poogi in whatever task you are trying to accomplish.

Behavior analytic services should only be delivered in the context of a professional relationship. Nothing written in this blog should be considered advice for any specific individual. The purpose of the blog is to share my experience, not to provide treatment. Please get advice from a professional before making changes to behavior analytic services being delivered. Nothing in this blog including comments or correspondence should be considered an agreement for Dr. Barry D. Morgenstern to provide services or establish a professional relationship outside of a formal agreement to do so. I attempt to write this blog in “plain English” and avoid technical jargon whenever possible. But all statements are meant to be consistent with behavior analytic literature, practice, and the professional code of ethics. If, for whatever reason, you think I’ve failed in the endeavor, let me know and I’ll consider your comments and make revisions, if appropriate. Feedback is always appreciated as I’m always trying to POOGI.