Communicating the Need for a Severe Behavior Program
Effectively communicating the reasons why a community needs a severe behavior program and why your organization should be the one to develop the program is important. You should gather information about the need for the program in your community and effectively communicate that need verbally and in writing. Below specific tactics are discussed to consider when gathering relevant data and delivering verbal and written communication about the need for a severe behavior program.
Gathering Data
Having data to support your argument for a severe behavior program is important. Below, suggestions are presented of information you might gather to demonstrate a community’s need for a severe behavior program.
- Prevalence of ASD, behavior disorders involving destructive behavior, or both in your community (or use national figures if you don’t have data on your community)
- Number of local providers currently able to serve patients with destructive behavior, particularly those with a specialized facility (e.g., with padded treatment rooms)
- Location of the nearest specialized, severe behavior program for destructive behavior
Executive Summary
A common component of a business plan that provides an overview of a proposal is called an executive summary. The document should summarize the need for a severe behavior program and briefly explain your plan to develop it. You might share this summary with key decision makers or possible investors for the program. A few key components that you should consider including in your executive summary are:
- A mission statement for your proposed severe behavior program
- A description of your organization and why it is uniquely qualified to deliver state-of-the-art assessment and treatment services to individuals with destructive behavior
- A summary of the services the program will provide and the strong empirical support for the assessment and treatment approach
- A description of the need for the program with the data that you gathered from the community
- Information about the cost effectiveness of the approach and the projected financial income from the program
Elevator Speech
You will likely find yourself in situations in which you need to efficiently explain the need for your proposed program. For that reason, having a short elevator speech prepared to succinctly convey the need for a program is important. The elevator speech should include information that you obtained when gathering data on the need for the program. Here is an example of an elevator speech:
“Six million individuals in the US with ASD or related disorders display severe destructive behavior. In fact, it is the largest cause of institutionalization and the greatest barrier to full community integration for individuals with autism and developmental disabilities. Institutionalization can cost over $12 million per person. Cost-effective treatments that reduce destructive behavior by over 90% are available elsewhere but not in our community. We need your support to establish a severe behavior program in our community.”
Creating a Steering Committee
The main purpose of a steering committee is to provide advice and assistance to ensure that the project’s goals are achieved in a timely manner. Creating a steering committee comprised of diverse and influential individuals who are motivated to achieve that goal is important. The steering committee should include:
- Donors: Such individuals can donate part of the needed start-up funds, help with fundraising from other potential donors, and use their influence in the community to convince politicians and key government agencies to support the development of the program.
- Family members: Having family members who can talk clearly and passionately about their experiences in living with and trying to find appropriate services for their loved one who exhibits destructive behavior is another key to an effective steering committee.
- Influential community members: For example, members of your state's developmental disabilities council or leaders from local school systems that struggle to find appropriate services for their students with destructive behavior (e.g., directors of special education services or superintendents).
- Healthcare professionals: For example, chairs of the departments of pediatrics and psychiatry at medical centers may be tasked with finding or developing services for individuals with destructive behavior.
- Representatives from relevant organizations
