Collaboration and Applied Behavior Analysis Peer Reviewed Article

Mi Trinh, BA, Carolina Arguello, BA, and David Celiberti, PhD, BCBA-D
Association for Science in Autism Treatment

In November 2020, The Clan for Beliefs Assay International (ABAI) shared a resource titled "Interprofessional Collaborative Practice Between Behavior Analysts and Oral communication-Language Pathologists." This document was developed by Trina D. Spencer, PhD, BCBA-D, Lina Slim, PhD, BCBA-D, CCC-SLP, Teresa Cardon, PhD, BCBA-D, CCC-SLP, and Lindee Morgan, PhD, CCC-SLP, who served as members of the workgroup and are applauded for their efforts. We are highlighting this important document equally behavior analysts and speech-linguistic communication pathologists share many clients diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders and often feel an overlap in scopes of practise across several areas. While successful collaboration ofttimes leads to better outcomes, conflicts may arise from incompatible goals, competition for scant resource, unclear boundaries, diminished opportunities for advice, role tensions, and misconceptions and misunderstandings that members of one subject may have almost the other. Unfortunately, some beliefs analysts may not empathise their scope of practice, overestimate their scope of competency, or disregard the value and need for other professions, particularly given that the science of behavior assay applies to all behaviors.

The responsibleness of a beliefs analyst, as described in the Ideals Code for Behavior Analysts (Code 1.05), states that prior to working with a novel population or beliefs, the beliefs annotator must receive grooming and supervision, acquit a review of relevant enquiry, and consult or piece of work with a professional on that treatment plan. Otherwise, the behavior analyst is spring to refer clients to a competent professional person with experience in that surface area to best support the client and their individual needs (Lawmaking 3.xiii). Additionally, behavior analysts have a responsibility to collaborate with colleagues (Code 2.10) inside the field and with professionals from other fields. We remind our readers of these expectations as it provides an important backdrop for the document summarized herein. Readers are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the 4^th Edition of the BACB Task List that showcases entry level scope of practice and with other articles related to scope of competence (due east.thou., Brodhead et al., 2018).

"Interprofessional Collaborative Practice Between Behavior Analysts and Spoken language-Linguistic communication Pathologists" offers behavior analysts a framework that addresses: one) interprofessional collaboration with spoken language-language pathologists; and 2) agreement and articulating the scope of practice and scope of competence of each professional.

Know Your Scope

The scopes of practice for both spoken communication-language pathologists and beliefs analysts are set forth by their regulating bodies, the American Speech communication-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), and the Behavior Annotator Certification Board (BACB^®), respectively. The authors urge behavior analysts to be transparent about both their scope of practice and their telescopic of competence. They should be prepared to interact and consult bidirectionally when necessary.

Equally the document suggests, behavior analysts should only practice in the space where their scope of practice overlaps with their scope of competence. They should always human activity in accordance with the Ethics Code for Beliefs Analysts.Authors' notation: readers tin refer to this BACB document to better understand the changes occasioned by the new version which will go effective January 1, 2022.

The first principle described in the BACB^®'s Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts states that beliefs analysts must ensure they do no harm past respectfully collaborating with others in the interest of their clients (Core Principle 1). This leads united states to the next set of actions that reverberate how behavior analysts and speech-language pathologists tin collaborate effectively:

• Respect each other'southward professional backgrounds and professional priorities when discussing and creating clients' goals;
• Understand the unique part each professional will hold within the collaborative relationship; and
• Communicate to enhance client benefit and work together.

However, as the authors have noted, potential for conflict tin can notwithstanding exist between beliefs analysts and speech-language pathologists, particularly when they are treating the same clients with autism. Individuals diagnosed with autism often have an Individualized Education Programme (IEP) or Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) that includes a set of goals written by diverse professionals on their team. In some cases, behavior analysts and speech-language pathologists may have overlapping scopes of competence besides, although their training and theoretical framework for effecting change varies: behavior analysts operate from a behavioral perspective while speech-language pathologists typically focus on a linguistic or developmental indicate of view. Both practitioners can contribute to the clients' goal creation; however, the effect arises when these professionals are non in understanding. In these situations, professionals should always remain humble, be open-minded, and observe ways to collaborate. The authors propose that behavior analysts can contain a developmental arroyo within behavioral programs to achieve better outcomes for clients and such a proffer has been echoed past others (eastward.g., Schreibman et al., 2015).

Collaboration Between Professionals

Given that behavior analysts and speech-language pathologists may share the same space with overlapping practices, establishing a collaborative relationship would ensure the best outcomes for clients. Some opportunities for collaboration are discussed: oral communication-linguistic communication pathologists would benefit from collaborating with behavior analysts by drawing from their expertise in behavior management techniques, functional communication training, single case design methodology, data collection strategies, preference assessments, and principles and tactics of constructive teaching. Each of these areas is within a behavior analyst's scope of exercise. Similarly, beliefs analysts would benefit from collaborating with speech-language pathologists by drawing from their skill expertise in developmental norms, articulation/phonology, structures of language, feeding, linguistic communication sampling, and augmentative and alternative advice. Moreover, working together in a collaborative manner may reduce opportunities of misunderstanding and inaccurate assumptions, prevent unwanted duplication of goals and ensure that clients' do good remains at the forefront of these conversations.

Collaboration can upshot in a fruitful relationship between behavior analysts and speech-language pathologists. However, this should non stop here. In that location are many other professionals (e.chiliad., medical professionals, occupational therapists, psychologists, neurologists, etc.) that may be working with individuals with autism. True collaboration between each of these professionals for individuals with autism means admission to a bounty of services. Ensuring each professional person has their ain ready of specific goals or mutually agreed upon shared goals and avoiding conflicting or unintended duplicative goals can save fourth dimension and money for families. While this commodity provides an first-class guide for foundations in collaboration betwixt beliefs analysts and voice communication-language pathologists, we believe collaboration between these two professionals should extend to all professionals on an individual'south squad to optimize successful outcomes and ameliorate quality of service delivery.

Interprofessional Collaboration Competencies

Every bit stated in this certificate, ABAI Practice Board'due south recommends that professionals and their institutions adopt the Earth Wellness Organization'south (WHO) Framework for Action on Interprofessional Educational activity and Collaborative Practice (IPEC) and uphold interprofessional exercise (IPP) and interprofessional education (IPE) to build competency (Spencer et al., 2020, WHO, 2010). IPP entails collaboration between professionals of various backgrounds to ensure delivery of high-quality treatment. IPE entails collaboration between students of unlike professional backgrounds (due east.g., SLP educatee and BCBA student).

The authors draw iv interprofessional competencies to provide guidance for beliefs analysts that emerge from the principles ready along by the WHO. The first competency requires beliefs analysts to uphold integrity and respect for other professionals when working on the same handling teams to ensure effective interprofessional collaboration. The second competency suggests beliefs analysts be transparent about their roles, responsibilities, and whatsoever limitations to other professionals on their squad every bit well as admit their colleagues' values and philosophies. The 3rd competency recommends communicating with other squad members in a professional person, positive, and constructive manner. Lastly, like whatsoever other members of the team, behavior analysts are responsible to work with the shared goal of optimizing clients' outcomes based on bear witness-based practice. True collaboration does not merely hateful working well together with individual goals, but information technology means contributing to meliorate the overall performance of the team as well as the outcomes for the clients.

Looking to the Futurity

This certificate is an important kickoff step in promoting collaboration, fostering respect, and building synergistic relations – all of which would be beneficial to the individuals with autism who are commonly served. Given the tensions that sometimes exist between behavior analysts and professionals from fields such as psychology, education, and occupational therapy, extension of this certificate to other relationships is warranted and worthwhile.

The distinction between telescopic of practice and telescopic of competence is a critically important one and nosotros appreciate the authors contrasting these two areas. Although non discussed every bit frequently or explicitly equally information technology should, beliefs analysts must make audio and conscientious decisions about standing education selections and when and why to avail themselves of opportunities for consultation, supervision, referral, and additional training. Far besides ofttimes selection of standing education experiences is not equally intentional and individualized equally they could be.

Specific models of collaboration would be immensely helpful both clinically and related to training. There are both global and specific means that behavior analysts and oral communication-language pathologists can coordinate their services. The list below is not meant to be exhaustive:

• The assessment data of ane provider tin ameliorate inform the implementation efforts of the other provider;
• Disallowment funding constraints, periodic co-treatment and/or direct observation of sessions tin can be useful;
• I provider can focus on the systematic cess and promotion of carryover/generalization of the acquisition efforts of the other provider; and/or
• A behavior analyst can implement a functional advice training intervention for a nonverbal pupil relying on the speech-language pathologist's expertise with AAC.

With respect to professional evolution, a few suggestions could involve attending conferences hosted by other disciplines, attending a continuing pedagogy event with a colleague from some other discipline, sharing ideas on implementation and collaboration, and generously sharing specific resource connected to the treatment goal being addressed at a particular time. Our examples are non meant to be exhaustive but rather illustrative of the mode professionals from these ii disciplines tin can embody collaboration.

Finally, information technology is important to recognize another topic that has received much attention in recent years. Several authors take noted that providing compassionate care in all of our relationships tin can improve communication and collaboration of professionals and caregivers, besides every bit amongst professionals (e.thousand., Kirby et al., 2017; Taylor et al., 2018). It cannot be overstated that compassionate care in clinical relationships can strengthen the social validity of our services with respect to goals, outcomes, and intervention selection and implementation.

Missteps will undoubtedly occur. Creating a collaborative space and learning how these missteps can be resolved and ideally prevented would benefit client and team functioning. Demonstrating appropriate assertion, advocacy, compassion, grace, and humility are skills that tin can add to these important relationships.

We are grateful that this working group produced this important piece every bit information technology is timely and much needed; and we wait forward to ongoing conversations that will ensue.

References

American Speech-Linguistic communication-Hearing Association (2016). Interprofessional didactics/interprofessional do (IPE/IPP). Retrieved from www.asha.org/Do/Interprofessional-Education-Practice

Brodhead, M. T., Quigley, Due south. A., & Wilczynski, South. M. (2018). A call for word about scope of competence in behavior analysis. Beliefs Analysis in Practice, 11, 424-435. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-018-00303-8

Kirby, J. N., Tellegen, C. L., & Steindl, S. R. (2017). A meta-analysis of pity-based interventions: Current state of knowledge and future directions. Beliefs Therapy, 48(six), 778–792. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beth.2017.06.003

Schreibman, L., Dawson, G., Stahmer, A. C., Landa, R., Rogers, Due south. J., McGee, Grand. Grand., Kasari, C., Ingersoll, B., Kaiser A. P., Bruinsma, Y., McNerney, E., Wetherby, A., & Halladay, A. (2015). Naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions: Empirically validated treatments for autism spectrum disorder.Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders,45(eight), 2411-2428. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-015-2407-8

Spencer, T. D., Slim, 50., Cardon, T., & Morgan, L. (2020). Interprofessional collaborative practice betwixt behavior analysts and speech-language pathologists.Association for Behavior Analysis. https://www.abainternational.org/media/180194/abai_interprofessional_collaboration_resource_document.pdf

Taylor, B. A., LeBlanc, L. A., & Nosik, M. R. (2018). Compassionate care in behavior analytic treatment: Tin outcomes be enhanced by attending to relationships with caregivers? Behavior Assay in Practice, 12(3), 654–666. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-018-00289-3

World Health Organization. (2010). Framework for action on interprofessional education and collaborative practice. https://www.who.int/hrh/resources/framework_action/en

Citation for this article:

Trinh, M, Arguello, C., & Celiberti, D. (2021). A review of Interprofessional collaborative practice between behavior analysts and spoken communication-language pathologists.Science in Autism Treatment , 18(5).

Other related ASAT articles: ​

• Perspectives: Applied behavior analysis in speech-language therapy (2000)
• Perspectives: The myths I believed about behavior analysis (2017)
• Clinical Corner: What is verbal behavior? Is information technology different from ABA, and does my child need information technology to learn linguistic communication?
• Clinical Corner: Integrating ABA and speech pathology
• Clinical Corner: Ethics and show-based practice
• Resource for implementation of evidence-based practices
• Review: A review of compassionate care in behavior analytic handling

Other related resources: ​

Donaldson, A. 50., & Stahmer, A. C. (2014). Team collaboration: The use of beliefs principles for serving students with ASD.Language, spoken communication, and hearing services in schools, 45(4), 261-276. https://doi.org/x.1044/2014_LSHSS-xiv-0038

Gerenser, J. E., & Koenig, M.A. (2019).ABA for SLPs: Interprofessional collaboration for autism support teams. Brookes.

Koenig, Chiliad., & Gerenser, J. (2006). SLP-ABA: Collaborating to back up individuals with communication impairments.The Periodical of Speech and Language Pathology – Applied Behavior Assay, i(1), 2-ten. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0100180

LaFrance, D. L., Weiss, Thou. J., Kazemi, E., Gerenser, J., & Dobres, J. (2019). Multidisciplinary teaming: Enhancing collaboration through increased understanding. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 12(iii), 709-726. https://doi.org/ten.1007/s40617-019-00331-y

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