Meaningful Outcomes Made Measurable: An Introduction to the MOTAS is the kind of topic that looks straightforward until it collides with the speed, ambiguity, and competing demands of clinical documentation, payer communication, supervision records, and leadership review. In Meaningful Outcomes Made Measurable: An Introduction to the MOTAS, for this course, the practical stakes show up in service continuity, accurate reporting, and defensible clinical decisions, not in abstract discussion alone.
Provider: BehaviorLive — via Utah Association for Behavior Analysis
Take This Course →Including ethics, supervision, and topics like this one. New live CEU every Wednesday.
Join Free →Assessments are an important component of the work Board Certified Behavior Analysts do when providing ABA services to clients. While these tools are often required by payors and monitor progress, assessments are an opportunity to truly understand an individual's current unique strengths, needs, and priorities of those individuals we work with. In an article titled "I Can Identify Saturn But I Can't Brush My Teeth" by Ayres et al. (2011), the authors point out a discrepancy between treatment goals that are prioritized on assessments compared to what may be important to the individuals receiving services. The goals selected from assessments should not only be meant to check a box, they should be used in combination with information gathered from families, clients, and other professionals to guide treatment planning, ensuring that every intervention we design has a direct, positive impact on the individual's quality of life. The Meaningful Outcomes Treatment and Assessment Scale (MOTAS) was designed with these ideals in mind. This is a new assessment that uses interviews from parents/caregivers, clients, and professionals to help guide the assessment process and focus on goals that truly matter. The MOTAS includes 20 domains that are essential for increased independence, and include skills that may be overlooked or under-assessed in other treatment tools. Some of these domains include self-awareness, relationships, and perspective taking. The scoring within the MOTAS allows nuances of progress to be measured over time, and includes scores to assess generalization and maintenance of skills. The MOTAS allows for clinicians to effectively capture a picture of an individual's current skills, what is most important to be addressed, and track meaningful progress over time. In this presentation, the creators of the MOTAS will describe the steps to complete the interview and assessment process. Additionally, guidance on how to select goals that have a significant influence on an individual's independence and quality of life will be provided. By integrating tools like the MOTAS into our practice, we can step away from the "checkbox" mentality of using assessment and instead become more thoughtful, responsive, and effective clinicians—making sure our work truly improves the lives of those we serve.
| Certification Body | Credits | Type |
|---|---|---|
| BACB® | 1 | General |
| COA | 1 | — |
Dr. Hoybjerg is the founder, owner, and CEO of Autism & Behavioral Intervention(ABI) (a clinic-based ABA center in Draper, UT), ABA Education Center, and Integrity Billing. In addition to founding and leading these companies, Anika has worked in public schools and in private sectors with children and families for over 20 years. Anika has a Bachelor’s degree in Human Development, a Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Instruction with an Emphasis in Autism, a Master’s degree in Human Exceptionality, an Ed.S in School Psychology, and a Ph.D. in Applied Behavior Analysis. Anika is a Doctoral level Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA-D) and a Licensed School Psychologist. Anika is currently working towards a master’s degree in Neuroscience and Trauma. Anika has presented at regional, national, and international conferences on a variety of topics relating to autism, collaboration, and assessments. Anika has done research, including her dissertation, on the importance of implementing kindness into every single interaction and treatment approach with staff, clients, and families. When kindness is a priority, everyone benefits. Anika has also collaborated with many other professionals to create instruments that have a lasting impact. As both a school psychologist and behavior analyst, Anika has worked extensively in administering and creating plans that have true meaningful outcomes. As a creator of the Meaningful Outcomes Treatment and Assessment Scale (MOTAS) and the Meaningful Outcomes Treatment and Assessment Scale-Early Learner (MOTAS-EL), Anika understands the importance of advocating to promote independence and higher quality of life for those individuals on the autism spectrum.
Dig into the research behind this topic — plain-English summaries written for BCBAs.
280 research articles with practitioner takeaways
279 research articles with practitioner takeaways
258 research articles with practitioner takeaways
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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.