The ABA & OT Podcast #13: Challenging behaviors on Telehealth

Telehealth consultations have unique problems that are magnified when addressing challenging behaviors in kids. From distraction to motivation to parent training, we discuss the most common problems and tangible tips to improve student engagement.

It is critical to first teach parents the basics of reinforcement for them to follow through with the necessary changes that make virtual consultations effective. Kids act very differently at home so learning how that environment is like is also necessary information for OTs and ABAs who have to maximize the effectiveness of telehealth.

HIGHLIGHTS

01:29 Shoutouts to the OT profession, Autism Awareness Month, and Dr. Jana Cason

07:28 ABA challenges with telehealth

10:27 Case study of Lena: Parent training and motivation

20:45 Strategies to create a motivating environment

27:27 Basic tips for reinforcement 

35:16 Virtual learning, environment, and scheduling 

GLOSSARY

Extinction burst - The phenomenon of a previously reinforced or learned behavior temporarily increasing when the reinforcement for the behavior is removed.

Behavioral momentum - Reinforce easier tasks followed by a harder task and then reinforce the completion of that harder task.

Variable-ratio schedule - A schedule of reinforcement where a response is reinforced after an unpredictable number of responses.

Behavioral contrast - A change in the strength of one response that occurs when the rate of reward of a second response, or of the first response under different conditions, is changed.

RESOURCES

Join our The ABA and OT Podcast Facebook Group to get access to the following resources:

Facebook group link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/397478901376425

EXTERNAL RESOURCES

Aditi's Website

Telehealthshare Website

"25 Tips to Increase Student Engagement in Telehealth" Ebook by Dr. Aditi Mehra

QUOTES

12:24 "Begin with parent training because you can put parents in a very, very difficult situation where they're going to strengthen and worsen behaviors because they don't have the skills to take instruction from a therapist over a computer screen."

15:27 "Motivation being something either a process of deprivation, in other words, to make a student more motivated is to deprive them of something that they like or to satiate which makes them less likely to want something."

21:27 "When you create an environment that the deprivation of that thing is contingent to doing a behavior then you can increase somebody's motivation. If they get it for free all of the time, then they're unlikely to want to do anything for it."

28:05 "Reinforcement is a process whereby something that has consistently been provided after behavior, some sort of change in the environment, has resulted either in a behavior increasing or reducing. So we know that consequence is functioning as a reinforcer."

39:24 "The first thing is really assessing that environment, parent interview, asking them what they normally do in that type of occurrence because work refusal over a screen, that's not the only time that student is going to be engaging in work refusal."