How to Systematically Frame Questions About Quality Assurance in Applied Behavior Analysis Service Delivery matters because it changes what a BCBA notices when decisions have to hold up in clinic sessions and day-to-day service delivery. In How to Systematically Frame Questions About Quality Assurance in Applied Behavior Analysis Service Delivery, for this course, the practical stakes show up in stronger conceptual consistency and better translational decision making, not in abstract discussion alone.
Provider: BehaviorLive — via Colorado Association for Behavior Analysis
Take This Course →Including ethics, supervision, and topics like this one. New live CEU every Wednesday.
Join Free →Emerging research on variability in the concept of service quality in ABA research and practice suggests there is a lack of consensus in the field about how to define ABA service delivery quality (e.g., Silbaugh & El Fattal, 2022). This lack of consensus makes it difficult for ABA professionals to systematically evaluate variables that influence quality in operational and clinical practice. Even with a clear operational definition of ABA service quality, a lack of research on ABA service quality leaves ABA professionals without a coherent framework within which to systematically ask quality questions that can be addressed with the application of our science. This talk describes a free service provided by the National ABA Service Quality Network (www.nasqn.org), the ABA Quality Help Desk, designed to address this need in the ABA services industry. Attendees will learn about the benefits of submitting questions to the Help Desk, describe the process by which their questions are handled by subject matter experts, discriminate between weak and strong quality questions, and draft their own question for potential submissions to the Help Desk using a quality assurance diagnostic checklist.
| Certification Body | Credits | Type |
|---|---|---|
| BACB® | 1 | General |
| COA | 1 | — |
Bryant Silbaugh, Ph.D., BCBA, LBA, began his career in autism service and research as an undergraduate research assistant in Laura Schreibman's infant autism laboratory at the University of California, San Diego, in 2003. There he also received research training in cognitive neuroscience studying mirror neurons and neural mechanisms of imitation in individuals with autism. Subsequently he gained additional research training in behavioral neuropharmacology, conducting operant experiments in rats and mice, at the Molecular and Integrative Neurosciences Department, Scripps Research Institute, in LaJolla, CA. Dr. Silbaugh subsequently obtained his Masters in Psychology at San Diego State. Shortly thereafter, he became employed full-time as an early childhood behavioral interventionist for Coyne & Associates in Southern California serving young children with autism through in-home ABA services, and has worked in ABA practice and research serving children and adults with autism for 15 years. Dr. Silbaugh obtained his Ph.D. in Special Education and Autism Spectrum Disorders in 2017 under the tutelage of Dr. Terry Falcomata, with mentorship from Drs. Mark O'Reilly, Russel Lang, and Becky Penrod. He had the pleasure of working for four years as an online co-instructor at the Florida Institute of Technology under Dr. Jose Martinez Diaz. Dr. Silbaugh developed a specialization in the assessment and treatment of pediatric feeding disorders in children with autism as a doctoral student, and continued to strengthen his knowledge and expertise in that area as an Assistant Professor of Special Education at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) from 2017 - 2020. At UTSA, Dr. Silbaugh served as the Verified Course Sequence ABA coordinator for the undergraduate and graduate programs in the Department of Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching, the interim Director of the Autism Research Center, and was awarded nearly half a million dollars in funding from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to help teachers obtain supervision and training toward BCBA certification exam requirements. Dr. Silbaugh has published research in the reinforcement of operant variability, behavioral assessment and treatment of pediatric feeding disorders, and most recently ABA autism services quality. He is the author of over 20 peer-reviewed studies and book chapters on these topics, and has a record of collaborating with researchers around the world including the United Arab Emirates, Ireland, Brazil, and Mexico. He has served as a guest editor for multiple peer-reviewed journals including Behavior Modification, Behavioral Interventions, the Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, and Behavior Analysis in Practice. Currently, Dr. Silbaugh is the Director of Clinical Excellence, Quality, and Research at Gateway Pediatric Therapy located in Michigan; and the Founder and CEO of the National ABA Service Quality Network (NASQN). Dr. Silbaugh continues to conduct research at the intersection of ABA autism services, organizational culture, and quality.
Side-by-side comparison with a clinical decision framework
Research-backed educational guide for behavior analysts
Research-backed answers to common clinical questions
All behavior-analytic intervention is individualized. The information on this page is for educational purposes and does not constitute clinical advice. Treatment decisions should be informed by the best available published research, individualized assessment, and obtained with the informed consent of the client or their legal guardian. Behavior analysts are responsible for practicing within the boundaries of their competence and adhering to the BACB Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts.