Recommended Training for Behavioral Assessment and Treatment
Trainings consist of instruction in the skills and knowledge that relate to specific useful competencies in the evaluation, assessment, and intervention of challenging behavior. Any organization that provides services to assess, treat, and/or to otherwise manage challenging behavior should develop their own trainings with attention to current evidence-based practices, relevant federal, state, and local statutes and regulations. Again, the intention of this document is to serve as a model.
Below are some of the recommended behavioral assessment and treatment trainings for direct care staff working with individuals who exhibit challenging behavior.
1. Data Collection
Data collection on behavior is an important part of treatment assessments and evaluations and necessary to make informed decisions for clients’ treatments. Data can be collected on behavior that direct care staff or supervisors are looking to decrease (e.g., aggression, self-injury, tantrums) or increase (e.g., functional communication, self-initiation, reading). Progress can be determined by analyzing collected data, and adjustment to the treatment can be made accordingly. Professionals should also be trained in data reliability to ensure that trainees are competent in collecting valid, reliable, and accurate data on behavior.
a) Data Collection Trainings: The purpose of this training is to objectively define the target behavior and effectively measure behavior to inform a treatment. This includes the rationale for measuring the target behavior.
b) Data Collection Methods: The purpose of this training is to ensure that trainees understand which measurement method is appropriate for the behavior that is being measured and are competent in utilizing those measurement methods.
c) Data Reliability: The purpose of this training is to ensure that trainees are competent in collecting valid, reliable, and accurate data on behavior.
2. Understanding and Assessing Challenging Behavior
The following trainings are designed for direct care staff. Clinicians will receive considerably more training as part of their fieldwork and certification. At a minimum, direct care staff should have a basic understanding of why challenging behavior occurs (i.e., the challenging behavior serves a function for the individual) with many examples relevant to their setting.
a) Assessing Challenging Behavior – Understanding the Functional Approach: The purpose of this training is to orient direct care staff to a functional, contextual approach to understanding challenging behavior. Understanding the function of behavior is critical to understanding how to treat challenging behavior.
b) Conducting Assessments: The purpose of this training is to train direct care staff to implement common types of assessments. For challenging behavior, these assessments may include interviews, direct observation, and/or causal analyses such as functional analyses.
c) Designing and Evaluating Assessments: The purpose of this training is to identify appropriate assessments and modify these assessments as needed based upon the individual client and the setting. The training includes which assessments are appropriate for different conditions, why and how common assessments may be modified to meet the individual needs of the client, and how the results of the assessments should be evaluated.
3. Behavioral Interventions
Behavioral interventions consist of protocols and programs that are designed to either increase identified target behavior (e.g., communication skills, social skill, self-care, leisure skills, motor skills) or decrease identified target behavior (e.g., self-injurious behavior, aggressive behavior, destructive behavior).
a) Behavioral Intervention Training: The purpose of this training is to train direct care staff to implement behavioral interventions. This training reviews how to use an identified alternative behavior to the target problem behavior, and how to use a behavioral intervention to safely withhold reinforcement for the target problem behavior.
