Konarski

EPSE 514 Week 3 Journal

Week 3 Journal Many important concepts were taken or reinforced through this weeks readings including the importance of communication skills, the significance of the failure of environments to provide foundational features of a persons life, (Horner, Albin, Todd, & Sprague, 2006) and the dominance of punitive systems (Anderson & Kincaid, 2005). However, the overarching theme seemed to be the importance of sustainability and following, the importance of coaching and educating implementers in order to reach adequate levels of sustainability. I believe the role and importance of educating and coaching implementers (e.g. caregivers, teachers, teaching assistants, principals, siblings, etc.) in methods of ongoing support cannot be overstated. Further, I believe it is indeed the lack of emphasis on this integral component of successful interventions that has led to a lack of buy-in, sustainability, and ultimately, success in reducing problem behaviours and providing opportunities to improve quality of life for individuals displaying problem behaviours. Sustainability should be a goal of any intervention. Yet, I think the very idea of sustainability is lost on many individuals. For example, the desire to fix the problem or even fix the label, a vision that PBS strives to avoid (Horner et al., 2006), is still a common reality in my experience. Ongoing support, whether on a micro scale (the ongoing need of a child using visual supports) or a macro scale (the ongoing support of the entire school system) needs to be accepted; a fix mentality is a poison at a fundamental level. A lack of sustainability can be attributed to a lack of implementer buy-in. This begs the question, how do we increase implementer buy-in? One method would be to

Konarski

EPSE 514 Week 3 Journal

simply educate implementers on the successes of interventions which follow the guidelines outlined by ABA and PBS. For example, Marquis et al. (2000) (as cited in Horner et al., 2006) found an association between pretreatment FBA and increased effectiveness. Knowledge of previous success would surely lead to increases in acceptance and commitment. A fundamental notion of PBS is that people other than the child must make changes (Horner et al., 2006). Such a fundamental notion, however, cannot be assumed or cannot be undertaken by only a few members of the team. Active participation through role-playing and fidelity checks from key stakeholders must be undertaken. Clearly, sustainability is an integral part of PBS. As behaviour consultants, emphasis must be placed on shaping foundational concepts of problem behaviour through teaching, coaching, and role-playing with key implementers and stakeholders in addition to providing tools to continue an approach of constantly evaluating and revising as necessary. In my experience and much to my chagrin, however, I have not observed emphasis on these components. Now that Im transitioning into behaviour consulting roles, I am committed to understanding the complexities of sustainability and have begun to see my role as just as much an educator to key stakeholders as a teacher to the individual in need of support.

Konarski

EPSE 514 Week 3 Journal

References Horner, R. H., Albin, R. W., Todd, A. W., & Sprague, J. R. (2006). Positive behavior support for individuals with severe disabilities. In M. E. Snell & F. Brown (Eds.), Instruction of students with severe disabilities (6th edition), (pp. 206-250). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. Anderson, C. M., & Kincaid, D. (2005). Applying behavior analysis to school violence and discipline problems; Schoolwide positive behavior support. The Behavior Analyst, 28, 49-63.