Applied Behavioral Analysis II Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Applied Behavioral Analysis II - Essay Example According to the data provided, the intervention employed by Martin worked. The behavior exhibited by the patient Sara included banging her head against the wall, pulling her hair, and biting her arm. These behaviors according to the differential reinforcement of other (DRO) procedure were inappropriate. From the data provided, the frequency of biting her arm reduced from 10 to 7, the frequency of pulling her hair reduced from 23 to 5, and the frequency of banging her head against the wall reduced from 15 to 6. The method was not that successful although it reduced the frequency of the inappropriate behavior. The method is most effective for children aged four to twelve; Sara was only fourteen years old. For middle school setting in which Sara belongs, the method is used for integration into the self-management plans (NPDC on ASD 1). The ABAB reversal design has ethical and practical limitations when the intervention is withdrawn. The ethical issues become significant when the behavior that is being targeted is more problematic; this is the case with the Tier 3 RTI cases. In ABAB reversal design can be lengthened to for full observance of the return to baseline. Another limitation with this method is that some of the target behaviors can fully exhibit the return to baseline. In such a case, the learned behaviors partially return or they are returned on the basis of variability or the rate of learning. The resultant effect is the weak version of the reversal design in majority of the academic situations (Burns and Riley-Tillman 46). Due to these serious limitations, the method is faced with a number of ethical issues as discussed above. If Martin had used the method on Sara, a number of ethical issues could have been raised concerning the method. These ethical implications include the problem with the behavior of the target, and the partial return of the learned