Relationship and Choice-based Support for Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders
With Guest Speaker, Johanna Staubitz, Ph.D., BCBA-D
Tuesday, August 6th, 2024. 7:00 pm -8:15 pm EST via ZOOM.
1.5 BACB learning CEUs available for attendees.
Title: Relationship and Choice-based Support for Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders
Abstract: A priority relationship in any behavioral support process is that between the person implementing assessment and intervention procedures and the individual referred for interfering behavior. Assent, shared governance, and effective communication are critical to developing a supportive and productive partnership. This presentation will focus on practical, classroom-friendly, relationship-oriented practices for enhancing treatment acceptability and outcomes for students with emotional and behavioral disorders. We will discuss how an enhanced choice model can be used not only to mitigate safety concerns around treating escape-maintained behavior and strengthen student skills, but also to conduct ongoing assessment of assent and enlist the student as an ally and contributor within their own treatment process. We will also discuss challenges and strategies related to relationships and buy-in amongst adults on the behavioral support team.
Learning Objectives
The learner will be able to…
1. Describe how choice and shared governance support client wellbeing.
2. Use classroom applications of an enhanced choice model to ongoing assess assent and address escape-maintained behavior.
3. Embed verbal intervention components to support and meaningfully engage students in their own
behavioral assessment and intervention process.
Presented by: Johanna Staubitz, Ph.D., BCBA-D
Johanna (Joey) Staubitz is an assistant professor of the practice in Vanderbilt University’s top-ranked Department of Special Education, the mission of which is to improve the lives of individuals with disabilities by preparing exceptionally competent teachers, related service providers, and researchers. Joey is a former special education teacher and school-based behavior analyst, and her experience in those roles remains fundamental to her approach to practitioner preparation and scientific inquiry. She currently directs the applied behavior analysis program, teaches courses in the experimental, theoretical, and applied branches of behavior analysis, and supervises students in clinical fieldwork experiences designed to prepare them to conduct effective, safe, and socially valid assessment and intervention procedures in special education settings. Joey also conducts research focused on adapting and evaluating assessment and intervention procedures to support the social, emotional, and academic skills of children with emotional and behavioral disorders in special education settings. Her collective efforts in practitioner preparation and research align with her own driving mission: to improve all children’s access to high-quality behavioral services as part of the free and appropriate public education to which they are entitled.