Sustaining Behavioral Interventions in Schools

In the 18th installment of the Inside JABA Series, Dr. Dorothea Lerman joins Editor-in-Chief John Borrero and I to talk about her dissemination efforts, which are described in the Winter 2024 issue of the journal. Specifically, we talk about her discussion paper, "Putting the power of behavior analysis in the hands of nonbehavioral professionals: Toward a blueprint for dissemination."   This paper is definitely worth checking out. In it, Dorothy describes some common barriers to disseminating behavioral strategies and how to overcome them. We then talk about the blueprint she offers for dissemination, which is broken down into seven steps.   These dissemination efforts are described in the context of Dorothy's outreach to public school educators, law enforcement personnel, and health care providers, settings where Dorothy and her colleagues have made successful inroads. Not to spoil the show's content too much, but we touch on the alarming stats regarding the percentage of individuals with disabilities who are either sedated or restrained during dental procedures, and what can be done to improve them.   Even if you don't have a desire to bring behavior-analytic strategies to a novel setting, upon listening to the conversation a second time, I think there are lessons from this podcast that you can use in your daily practice. Things like gathering information about a particular culture or setting, describing concepts and principles in plain language, conducting experiments to see if what you're doing is working... you get the idea.   We also spend a decent amount of time talking about sustaining behavioral practices once they've been implemented in new settings.   One of the things that I forgot to mention during the podcast is that if you're really into dissemination, check out the new edited work, "Disseminating Behavioral Research," in which, coincidentally, the ABA Inside Track crew and I contributed a chapter called, "Non Traditional Options for Dissemination." I'll leave it to you to guess what medium we focused on.   Lastly, the Winter 2024 issue of JABA features several moving tributes to Drs. Brian Iwata, Hank Pennypacker, and Ronnie Detrich. Dorothy and Dr. Jennifer Fritz contributed a memoriam to Brian Iwata, and it's well worth checking out. In the first few minutes of the show, Dorothy shared some poignant stories about how Brian influenced her career, and John discussed the responsibility associated with curating the various tributes for this edition of JABA.   Relatedly, for the next three months, all of these In Memoriam articles will be freely available, so in the unlikely event you're not a JABA subscriber, you can still check them out.  Here are the resources we discussed:

• Putting the power of behavior analysis in the hands of nonbehavioral professionals: Toward a blueprint for dissemination.
• Brian A. Iwata, PhD: A Life Well Lived.
• Dorothy's previous Inside JABA appearance (correction: in the podcast, I incorrectly noted that she appeared in the first Inside JABA episode. She appeared in the fourth episode of the Inside JABA Series).
• Southwell et al. (2005). Strategies for effective dissemination of the outcomes of teaching and learning projects.
• Houston, TX Police Department 2019 Annual Report (check out p. 18!).
• Main JABA site where you can subscribe and access selected free articles.
• Griffith and Ré (2023): Disseminating Behavioral Research (note: Amazon Associates link).
• Critchfield et al. (2017). On the social validity of behavior analytic communication: A call for research and description of one method.
• Previous BOP episodes covering law enforcement interventions.
• Kramer Davis Healthcare (company I mentioned that specializes in providing medical services to individuals with IDD).
• Allgood and Gravina (2021). Branching Out: Finding Success in New Areas of Practice.
• Normand and Kohn (2013). Don't wag the dog: extending the reach of applied behavior analysis. (hands down, the article I have shared the most in my eight years of publishing this podcast).
• LeBlanc et al., (2012). Expanding the Consumer Base for Behavior-Analytic Services: Meeting the Needs of Consumers in the 21st Century.

As with other Inside JABA Series podcasts, this show will be eligible for continuing education. You can learn more about this one, and the nearly 50 other CEU events over at behavioralobservations.com.