Operant Innovations 016 | 4th to 5th Edition Supervision Changes

Shauna Costello (00:02):

You're listening to operant innovations, a podcast brought to you by ABA Technologies. Before we jumped into today's episode, I want to make sure to introduce both Dana Reinecke and Cheryl Davis from SupervisorABA. And let you know that if you would like any more information regarding supervision or have any questions to please follow the link to SupervisorABA and the description of this episode,

Dr. Cheryl Davis (00:29):

Hi everyone, It's Dana and Cheryl from SupervisorABA. We are both behavior analysts that are dedicated to building better behavior analysts through effective supervision. As you know, supervision is much more than case consultation, effective supervision ensures that trainees are proficient with all items on the task list. Therefore, we have developed creative and needful supervision activities that keep track of task list proficiency. We've created a comprehensive bank of readings and activities to choose from for each task list item. The documentation system we use aligns with the summary of supervision activities, which in conjunction with the experience tracker can be your unique documentation system. The BACB has updated to a fifth edition task list, which includes changes to coursework, content, and supervision. We're going to discuss the supervision-related changes, which go into effect for trainees who are testing as of January 2022. At this point to provide enough time to obtain hours, new trainees should be working under task list five.

Dr. Cheryl Davis (01:35):

It's advisable to read the revised experience standards. And also to ensure that trainees who are going to test under the fifth edition are aware of the coursework requirements they need. One big change under task list. Five is there is no more practicum option, which was a way for trainees to obtain fewer hours with more supervision under task list four. This required them to register in an approved practicum course. Now under task list, five trainees can obtain hours under our concentrated fieldwork option that allows them to complete fewer hours without having to register for a course. Dana will now review the changes for supervision related to the fieldwork.

Dr. Dana Reinecke (02:16):

Hi. So in terms of the fieldwork hours, as Cheryl mentioned, there are now two options. So there's concentrated fieldwork as well as independent fieldwork. One of the most notable changes to supervision standards is that the hours requirement has increased for independent fieldwork and trainees must obtain 2000 hours for that option. By contrast, the concentrated fieldwork option requires them to obtain 1500 hours. For both types of supervision, concentrated and independent fieldwork a cycle is considered one month and trainees must accrue at least 20 hours per cycle, but no more than 130 hours in a cycle. Also for both types of fieldwork experience, less than 50% of the supervision time can be in a group format within each cycle. Another important change to note is that the BACB now specifies a minimum number of contacts per cycle and defines a contact of lasting at least 15 minutes. For independent fields work, four contacts per cycle are required and for concentrated fields work, six contacts per cycle are required. Both types of fieldwork also require at least one observation per cycle, which is not considered a contact, but can be conducted back to back with a contact and other distinction between independent and concentrated fields work is the proportion of hours that must be supervised in each cycle for independent fieldwork 5% of hours must be supervised in each cycle and for concentrated fields work, 10% of hours must be supervised in each cycle.

Dr. Dana Reinecke (04:03):

Finally, the requirement that at least 60% of hours over the course of supervision is devoted to unrestricted activities is the same for both types of fieldwork. As always it is very important to remember that when completing unrestricted hours, all experience and fieldwork hours need to be connected to specific clients using analog or role-play activities that are not client-related does not qualify. We have a list of suggested ideas for unrestricted activities on the bottom right side of the home page of SupervisorABA.com. And for more information on the requirements for unrestricted activities, we encourage you to see the BACB August 2020 newsletter specifically on page nine. Cheryl is now going to talk about some of the changes to the task list itself that are particularly aligned with supervision.

Dr. Cheryl Davis (04:59):

Thanks Dana, the parts of task list four that included training others were condensed into a more focused section in task list five called personnel supervision and management. As this section is specifically about teaching trainees to engage in supervisory behavior, we will share some ideas for activities to practice these skills note that these skills can be explored and practiced by both modeling them for the supervisee in the course of supervision and by support supporting the trainee in the practice and practicing them in their own work. So most of these activities can be ongoing throughout the course of supervision. The first one that I'd like to talk about is I1 state the reasons for using behavior analytic supervision and the potential risk of ineffective supervision, some ways to incorporate this into your practice would be having the trainee develop a supervision plan for providing training, feedback, and support to a paraprofessional or the equivalent in the current setting. The trainee could then implement the plan and discuss how behavior analytic strategies were used. This could be done ongoing throughout the course of supervision building in complexity of the content.

Dr. Dana Reinecke (06:12):

The second one under I is establish clear performance expectations for the supervisor and supervisee, the supervisor and trainee can each identify performance expectations for each other as outlined in the supervision contract that was arranged at the beginning of supervision. Throughout the supervision process, discuss how well both parties are meeting expectations and where changes need to be made collecting data to support your discussion points. If necessary, adjust the contract to reflect any discrepancies in performance and expectations or adjust supervision strategies to better meet performance expectations. After the trainee demonstrates competent skills in this area, have them do this with a staff person to work on generalizing skills, across people in terms of staff performance. The trainee can identify several performance expectations for both parties and discuss how each can be measured. After using the measures for several weeks, review the original goals and determine if any changes need to be made. Again, this can be done throughout the course of supervision with various staff and targeted skills.

Dr. Dana Reinecke (07:19):

The next section of I, select supervision goals based on the assessment of the supervisory skills. This is where the supervisor and trainee can practice separately assessing the trainee's competency of items on the BACB fifth edition task list and then compare their results, where you would discuss any discrepancies and create a plan for addressing the deficit. This allows for the supervisor work to model this type of assessment and the trainee to experience the assessment themselves. Additionally, it's a good way to check that the trainee is on track with the other task list areas. So you can continually assess their competency across task list items. The trainee can identify someone under their supervision, such as a teaching assistant that the trainee oversees or a parent that the trainee is training and identified prerequisite skills for one or more goals for this individual, the trainee can then assess the presence of each of these skills and work with the supervisor to decide how to address any deficits or necessary adjustments in the goals.

Dr. Cheryl Davis (08:25):

The next section is train personnel to competently perform assessment and intervention procedures. This is an area where you can discuss both behavioral skills training and performance feedback. In the context of competency-based training review, the importance of competency-based training and how it can affect client outcomes, have the trainee then practice delivering behavioral skills, training, and performance feedback, either in a real training situation or in a practice role-play situation. Once they have developed competency in the ability to use behavioral skills, training, and performance feedback, have the trainee use this with support staff, this can continue throughout supervision with various staff, new target skills, and other areas that you may deem appropriate. I'm now going to pass this off to Dana who will continue to talk about content area I.

Dr. Dana Reinecke (09:17):

Thanks Cheryl, the next task list item and I is I5 use performance monitoring feedback and reinforcement systems. To assess and to teach this task list item, we suggest working with your trainee to create a timeline of when to review staff performance. This timeline can include plans for adding in reinforcement systems for staff skill development and performance, and also consideration of when these systems might be implemented and evaluated. Another activity that can be done to address this task list item is to identify an existing performance monitoring system that the trainee may be experiencing and discuss the components of that system, as well as the advantages and disadvantages. Have the trainee draft potential changes to improve the system, including considerations of the observation schedule, reinforcement system, plans to thin reinforcement, and plans to increase the opportunities for reinforcement in the natural environment.

Dr. Dana Reinecke (10:17):

The next task goes to item in I is use a functional assessment approach, for example, performance diagnostics, to identify variables affecting personnel performance. One activity that can be done is to discuss the outcomes and the differences in conducting a functional assessment for staff versus clients when conducting a functional assessment of staff behavior, it's important to obtain staff consent for the assessment prior to conducting it and remain consistent with the BACB compliance code, just like you would for any client. Use the outcomes of a functional assessment conducted on staff behavior to discuss and implement changes to the environment to better support the staff member. Additionally, you and your trainee can discuss potential reinforcers and punishers for staff or caregiver behavior in the current clinical setting and how to evaluate and use these variables to develop trainings and programming. Finally, you might want to consider interviewing staff to discuss their existing reinforcers and potential new reinforcers in the work environment. Follow up with observations to determine levels of reinforcement of staff behavior and have your trainee develop a plan to use staff-identified reinforcers as possible in the clinical environment.

Dr. Dana Reinecke (11:36):

This leads into the next task list item I7, which is to use function-based strategies to improve personnel performance. Once those functional assessments are completed, your trainee can create a list of target responses for a staff member and identify the existing potential reinforcers for each response. If reinforces are lacking and if data show that the responses aren't occurring at the correct level, the trainee can recommend additional or different reinforcers and again, interview the staff member to identify those potential reinforcers.

Dr. Dana Reinecke (12:11):

The last item in section I, I8 is evaluate the effects of supervision, for example, on client outcomes, and on supervisee repertoires. Of course, this is a very important item and it's something that we should be doing throughout our supervision providing that model to the trainee. But in addition, give your trainee the opportunity to practice evaluating the effects of supervision. So you can have your trainee performance a self-assessment of skills and choose several goals for improving performance, and then identify client outcomes that would be affected by those improvements in performance. For example, when a trainee masters task analysis development and chaining techniques, the client will then be able to learn to tie their shoes. Conduct a baseline, and then assessment of client behavior during and after trainee implemented programming to determine if client behaviors improved as a result of trainee skill development. You can also create a running list of activities performed by the trainee, along with levels of support needed from the supervisor together with your trainee, update that list on a regular basis, at least once per month, as the trainee becomes more independent and adds more skills, you can both analyze the trainees' acquisition of new skills over time. Your trainee will then have these skills of assessment and reassessment within their repertoire, and hopefully, be able to apply them when they become supervisors themselves.

Dr. Dana Reinecke (13:42):

So we hope you found this information useful, and we invite you to visit our website supervisoraba.com to find free resources that will be helpful to you in your supervision, including an overview of the changes that we have discussed here, as well as some projects that may be useful instruction in your supervision. We also invite you to sample other resources by starting a free trial membership and to like SupervisorABA on Facebook for continued free resources. Remember that supervision is an ongoing process and that we are always seeking to develop our skills, not only in our trainees but as supervisors. And we welcome your feedback and comments on our site.

Shauna Costello (14:31):

Thank you for listening to this episode of operative innovations. And as always, if you have questions, comments, feedback, or suggestions, please feel free to reach out to us operantinnovations@abatechnologies.com