Utilizing Behavior Analyst in a Consultative Role in Schools to Provide Evidence-Based Practices.
(Room 205 B second floor)
07 Nov 25
10:15 AM
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11:15 AM
Tracks:
Exploring Hot Topics: Trends and Emerging Issues
Effectively addressing the challenging behavior of students in the classroom is one of the most significant struggles for teachers, which can negatively impact student outcomes, teacher retention and job satisfaction (Robers, Zhang, Truman, & Snyder, 2012). More than ever, public schools are faced with educating students with significantly difficult, distracting, and sometimes dangerous behaviors (Heard, K., 2023; Klinger & Klinger, 2018). Education Administrators are often forced to contract or hire outside professional specialists in behavior, such as Board-Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) and other related service providers to directly service students with these issues. This service-delivery model is insufficient to address the sheer number of students who need this attention, expensive for most districts to sustain, and challenging due to a shortage of qualified professionals in some geographical areas. Rather than continuing to spend money on hiring BCBAs in a service-delivery model, considerations should be made in investing in such professionals to provide on-going professional development, intensive training and consultative coaching capacity to improve teacher competency, and more efficiently provide positive behavior supports across all educational environments. In this presentation, Dr. Heard will propose a more effective, efficient, and fiscally-responsible model of increasing long-term district-wide capacity and competency, and improving teachers’ instructional pedagogy in evidence-based behavioral interventions.