“You Don’t Know a Lot of Things”

When I worked as a 1-1 with children with autism, the school once asked me to substitute for an absent staff person. Sure, there was some paperwork with some basic information about the student I would work with for the day, but otherwise no one was there to give me all the details I would need. As soon as I arrived and met the student, he started to shoot off a round of non-stop questions. “What time will we be going to lunch today?” “Where will we be working today?” and on and on. I explained that I didn’t know, but I’d find out. The student correctly concluded, “You don’t know a lot of things.” Luckily for me, the student had enough communication skills that I could figure out the information he wanted and get through the day successfully. But over the years, I’ve seen many, many staff in many schools that were not so lucky. Not knowing basic information can often lead to severe problem behaviors, safety issues, and other emergencies.

Many years later when I became a supervisor, I became extremely interested in this topic. There is a tremendous amount of information that is known by staff, but is not documented anywhere. It lives in the minds of the staff. That’s a problem for many reasons:

It can become an emergency when the staff person is sick, leaves, goes on vacation, maternity leave, and sometimes even goes to the bathroom.
Staff are reinforced for keeping the problem behavior low, but are often using techniques that might not be in the student’s long-term best interest.
The information that is in the staff person’s heads are often a goldmine that can lead to the best goals that we should be setting for the student.
It can be extremely difficult to find out this information since the knowledge has become second nature to the staff. Even if they want to help, they are often unable to accurately report everything that they do in order to be successful with the student.

The key lesson is that it is worth putting substantial time and effort into the documentation of all the procedures needed in order for a student to be successful. It will reduce emergencies, improve generalization, and help select better goals. Of course, it is hard to do because there is no one pressuring you to get it done. But the effort is more than worth 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.