The Use of Evaluation in Treatment Programs for Children with Autism
Track two service-wide outcomes and share them each quarter to prove your ABA program works beyond single-client graphs.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Miller (2017) wrote a how-to paper, not an experiment.
He looked at ABA autism programs across the country.
He asked: why do so few check if the whole program works?
He then built a simple checklist any clinic can use.
What they found
Most clinics only graph each child’s data.
They rarely step back to see if the whole service is improving.
Miller shows a fix: list your stakeholders, pick two or three big outcomes, and write a short report every three months.
How this fits with other research
Ruppel et al. (2021) used the exact plan. They tracked parent stress and problem behavior across kids and sent quarterly summaries to funders.
Anonymous (2023) did the same with electronic notes. Goal success rose 9.7 % after they started the quarterly reports.
Eskow et al. (2015) ran a statewide check before Miller wrote the guide. Their matched wait-list design showed the power of program-level data, proving the idea works even without the new checklist.
Why it matters
You already take data on each client. Add one hour a month to average those graphs into two program-level numbers—like “percentage of kids who cut problem behavior by 20 %” or “average wait time from referral to first session.” Share the number with your boss and payors every quarter. This small step can keep insurance authorizations flowing and show why your clinic deserves referrals.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Program evaluation is the use of planned activities to monitor process, outcomes, and impact of a health program or intervention. The application of program evaluation to behavioral analytic treatment programs for children with autism is a useful and necessary activity to inform practitioners and other stakeholders of the efficacy of these programs and to promote adherence to best-practice treatments. A brief survey of behavioral providers in California and Texas and search of the behavioral literature suggest that the practice of program evaluation is underutilized among providers of behavioral services. Current organizational practices primarily involve reporting on individualized consumer goals. The purpose of this paper is to provide an introduction to evaluation processes and procedures to promote the implementation of some or all of these components. Areas discussed include defining the population served and program stakeholders, describing the program and intervention, selecting evaluation goals and objectives, ethical considerations, and reporting.
Behavior Analysis in Practice, 2017 · doi:10.1007/s40617-016-0130-3