Best Practices

I thought it was interesting viewing the presentation from one of our book author's because I felt that a lot of the topics covered in this presentation were things we have discussed during class discussions. First, I think that a FBA fits into an assessment profile of a student as a good tool to see the social and emotional development of a student. I feel that most often an FBA is used to teach or deal with a behavior that is exhibited when the child is frustrated or upset. Having said that, the behaviors and the triggers identified in the FBA can tell you many things about the child. If the student exhibits these behaviors at a great deal of frequency, they might have a very difficult time with change, communication, and sensory issues. Perhaps these behaviors are occur at such a high rate of frequency because the student has a great difficulty with dealing with these factors. I also think the opposite could be true as well. Using what you know of the student from assessments should guide you as to what behaviors you are going to introduce as replacements. 


Clinical assessments can be very valuable in classroom practice. For example, currently I have 6 out of 7 students who use AAC devices to communicate. However, each of them needs a different level of modeling or prompting in order to further their development of communication using the AAC devices. Having viewed some of their clinical assessments, I can get a better idea of what their receptive communication skills are like. For those students who have a greater base of receptive communication skills, I can use more verbal prompts verse visual prompts. Also in the classroom, it is good to know the students sensory needs as well. Some students are extremely sensitive to noise while others need music to alert them and prepare them for transitions. 


I think when having a classroom for students with autism spectrum disorders it is so important to value your team's input. I think that by using assessments when presenting to your team your ideas will be more readily accepted. If you have data and research that backs your interpretation and plan for the student, it is more likely to be implemented. I think another best practice is to inform your team of what school of thought your practices come from. For example, my occupation therapist comes from a Sensory Integration background where I might come more from a Floortime and ABA background. However, having everyone on the team being well informed about current research and best practices insures the best result for the students.