Telehealth Technology For Best Practices Of Problem Behavior Treatment In The Classroom

Store-and-forward telehealth technology facilitates the observational, analytical and collaborative needs of behavioral healthcare and special education professionals. This technology can supplement current implementation of applied behavior analysis in the classroom, home or community settings by allowing teachers, caregivers, behavior analysts and others to film challenging behaviors as they occur and assess the images with other service providers, with particular regard to analysis of antecedent and consequent variables. Use of this technology can increase accuracy and efficiency of the IEP process. Store-and-forward telehealth technology, such as Behavior Capture®, facilitates the observational, analytical, and collaborative needs of behavioral healthcare and special education professionals (Reischl & Oberleitner, 2009). This technology can supplement current implementation of applied behavior analysis (ABA) in the classroom, home, or community settings by allowing teachers, caregivers, behavior analysts, and others to film challenging behaviors as they occur and confidentially assess the images with other service providers. In addition, the technology captures events that occurred before and after the behavior, allowing analysis of antecedent and consequent variables.  Given that ABA is increasingly being implemented in classroom, home, and community settings and that there are a limited number of certified professionals to supervise such programs, applications of telehealth technologies, including Behavior Capture® and Behavior Connect®, provide promising potential alternatives or augmentations.

Beacon Day School conducted a pilot study assessing school district personnel and caregiver attitudes toward Behavior Capture® and Behavior Connect® technologies and their use during Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings, also assessing the effectiveness of using this technology. The challenging behavior that interfered most with each student’s quality of life and success in the classroom was chosen as the target behavior to document and share using the technologies. Teachers, behavior intervention staff, and caregivers were able to collaboratively decide which challenging behavior to target for each student. This data was valuable during IEP proceedings because treatment recommendations were based on actual, observed behavior.  Few studies have been completed looking at the effectiveness of such technologies. Results of the aforementioned pilot study will be presented.

In this conference presentation, the following learning objectives will be addressed, with future directions in applications of telehealth technology for service providers and families of those with autism spectrum disorders discussed. 

• Attendees will learn how store-and-forward telehealth technology facilitates the observational, analytical, and collaborative needs of behavioral healthcare and special education professionals.
• Attendees will learn how store-and-forward telehealth technology can supplement current implementation of applied behavior analysis in the classroom, home, or community settings.
• Attendees will learn how store-and-forward telehealth technology can increase accuracy and efficiency of intervention plans when data is used in an IEP meeting.

There is substantiation in the literature for pursuing this approach (Reischl & Oberleitner, 2009; Oberleitner & Laxminarayan, 2004). The information that this presentation will offer contributes to best practices in that technology can augment the validated methodology of ABA, as well as in the following ways. This enhanced approach employing video capture allows IEP teams to be more accurate in the development of an effective intervention plan to help the child decrease problem behaviors and increase more functional skills so that the student will be more successful. Furthermore, the software documents before-and-after behavior, thus allowing more effective analysis of antecedent variables and, therefore, more effective planning of intervention plans. Greater efficiency in intervention plans will, in turn, expedite student progress and so facilitate additional positive outcomes in other student IEP objectives.

Finally, a comprehensive plan utilizing ABA and this technology opens up the door for greater services to those in poor or rural communities who might otherwise lack services.