“If you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time”. Author Unknown
“You got to be careful if you don’t know where you’re going, because you might not get there.” Yogi Berra
Learn the practical use of assessment and data:
"Map out your future, but do it in pencil." Jon Bon Jovi
"There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all". Peter Drucker
One of the primary purposes of data is to provide you with the information you need to adjust course and achieve your goals.
Unfortunately it is easily manipulated both on purpose and inadvertently. When reading data and reports as provided by others, it is essential to learn how to discern between obviously bad data and that which may be accurate.
Understand how Assessment, Plans, Data, and Intervention are Related
Learn how to write Measurable Behavioral Objectives
"Without goals and plans to reach them, you are like a ship that has set sail with no destination." Fitzhugh Dodson
What is technical writing?
When I was in college most students had to take a technical writing class. It is not required as often as it used to be.
What are some examples of technical writing?
*"How to..."
*Usually a resume
*Reports to the court
*Plans
I am not a great technical writer. Because of this I ask people to review my work. This is what I suggest you do.
Plan writing is one form of technical writing.
Technical writing can be a very difficult skill to master but one which is required in order to write a good implementation plan that meets the standards generally required.
You have probably all read manuals and directions that were very difficult to follow and hopefully some that were easy to follow. When you read something that explains “how to” do something such as putting a bike together, running a computer program, operating your car stereo system or even a cook book, that is usually technical writing. As with most cook books, it often assumes a certain level of understanding on the part of the reader.
College students often spend most of their college career trying to figure out how to make their paper longer in order to fill a required number of pages. They learn to write in five or six pages what a good technical writer may write in one paragraph. There is a place for lengthy descriptions and sometimes even for vague and imprecise communication; however, case notes, reports to the court, and implementation plans almost always require technically accurate, precise and parsimonious writing.
Some of us are not great technical writers (including myself ). It is often helpful to have someone read and edit your work. I find it easier to edit other people’s writing than to write it myself. I also find it helpful to have others edit my writing when I write. Usually two heads really are better than one. All of this may require more time and I understand the pressures on time and billing; however, better preparation almost always saves time in the long run and almost always provides better outcomes. Preparation is also generally required by some rule or regulation.
Technical writing should never be a mystery. It must be clear, complete and concise, and easily understood by others, both professionals and nonprofessionals.
A plan is your clear map to your desired destination.
One example of technical writing (or not) is the story of the Turkey, the Cannon, and the Airplane
Once upon a time there was a company who developed a special cannon that would shoot (discharge) turkeys. (The cannon was not for shooting at turkeys, but to shoot turkeys at something.) The purpose of this cannon was to help manufactures of windshields for airplanes ascertain if their windshields were strong enough to withstand the frequent hazard of running into a flock of birds, especially on takeoff and landing. The cannon was designed and built by engineers. The engineers also wrote a detailed and technical operations manual. The cannon was purchased by a company manufacturing windshields for airplanes. The manual was read by their engineers…… however; there was a problem. Every time they shot a turkey at their windshield, the windshield shattered. They looked at the manual again. They looked at their windshields again. Finally they called the company that manufactured the cannon……who came to observe. Click here to find out what happened.
Implementation Plan writing requires the integration of a number of events/processes. None of these can stand alone but must be integrated with the others in order to write an effective plan.
Note: Sometimes we believe that the problem for lack of progress is inconsistent implementation because we can not get someone to consistently implement what we have written. Sometimes this is true; however, we must also consider if we have sufficiently partnered/collaborated with the person (including a parent in some situations) in developing a plan that is appropriate and fits with the needs, beliefs and abilities of the parent/guardian…or other caretaker/service providers or others who would implement this plan. Authors John Walter and Jane Peller in Becoming Solution-Focused in Brief Therapy stated: “There is no such thing as a resistive client, only inflexible therapists.” Sometimes this also applies to our work. We need to ask ourselves not only if the plan reflects the assessments but also if we will have the support and cooperation of the parents/guardians, other caretakers, teachers, service providers or whoever would implement the plan. What about the support of the participant? This may seem like a strange question to some; however, taking into consideration a participant’s strengths, weaknesses and preferences is absolutely critical.
What are the essential components for a therapeutic plan?
Evaluation/Assessment: Evaluations come in a number of different formats and can be formal or informal or a combination. Evaluations provide the foundation. They provide the background, diagnoses, barriers, strengths and desires (and should often include functionality of inappropriate behaviors). They tell you where you are, and create a starting point for your journey. They tell you what kinds of consequences/reinforcements provide what kind of results in what circumstances for the individual. Often they give you an idea of where you have the most chance of future success.
Plan:The plan is the map; it tells you where you are going and how you are going to get there. (Generally including reinforcement/consequences/ successive approximations.)
Plan implementation: These are the actions required in order to follow the map. Even if you had a perfectly wonderful map to an incredible treasure, if you don’t follow the map, or if you don’t follow it exactly, you probably won’t find the treasure. (Generally includes reinforcement/consequences/ successive approximations.)
Reassessment/evaluation:This can include both formal and informal evaluations and includes the gathering of data as the implementation of the plan progresses. This must be an ongoing and continuous process. What is the data telling you? If it isn’t telling you anything, there is a problem.
Adjustment: Solid, inflexible, unalterable and unchanging plans are almost always like the brittle bolts of the titanic, easily broken and quite useless under any stress. Plans should be adjusted as often as needed and is helpful for the individual child/participant and/or care giver. The same plan year after year is almost ALWAYS outdated and ineffective, even if it was initially effective. (Each time this training is presented, I request feedback and adjust. When a plan is being implemented, there should almost always be adjustments for improvement in any component of the plan needing adjustment.)
: Remember the importance of the immediacy and value of the consequence. Remember satiation and natural and logical consequences. Is the consequence tied specifically to the target behavior and nothing else? How do you handle and vary schedules of reinforcement?
Reinforcement
“There are two types of reinforcers: Positive and Negative.”
“ A positive reinforcer is a (desirable event). Positive reinforcement is the giving of a (consequence), which increases the probability that the (desired) act will be repeated.”
“A negative reinforcer is an undesirable event that can be withheld or removed. It can be equated with relief. Negative reinforcement is the act of withholding or removing an undesirable event, which in turn increases the probability that the preceding act will be repeated.”
From Practicing Educational Psychology; by Margaret M. Clifford (1981). (Possibly the best book on behavioral intervention and learning ever written)
Note: Avoid the often too common problem of inadvertently reinforcing a behavior that you want to decrease. See the story of the boy in church.
A well written Implementation Plan will include, among other things:
1.A well written goal;
2.One or more measurable behavioral objectives;
3.Specific steps including settings and cues to achieve the objectives;
4.Specific instructions for data collection.
5.Sufficient technical clarity for another professional, paraprofessional and/or parent to read, understand, correctly implement and reliably collect data.
(Reliably in this sense means to collect data the same across multiple observers and time.)
Focus on what you want to increase
Note: Everyone has strengths/assets. The key is to locate, develop, integrate, and enhance, existing assets, being open to the possibilities. This can also require a shift in thinking. Instead of focusing on what is going wrong, one must spend more energy looking for what is going right. Instead of spending most of your time finding and recognizing problems, you must refocus your thinking towards solutions. It is usually easier to strengthen an asset than to eliminate a deficit. Amazingly, deficits often decrease or even disappear as assets are developed. An asset or strength based approach appreciates that the glass is half full, asks why it is half full, and then finds ways to fill it even more. This is not a suggestion to hide your head in the sand and ignore deficiencies, which sometimes must be addressed (for example suicidal or unsafe behavior). This is a suggestion that WHAT WE FOCUS ON INCREASES. Spend more time on the positive (or Assets), quickly deal with the deficits when it is required, and you will be amazed at how much more quickly the positive (Assets) increases.
Try this exercise. Picture a cow. Perhaps a friendly looking black and white Holstein. Think about all the things that come from cows. Milk and other dairy products, leather products and anything else associated with cattle.
Set a timer for one minute and then time yourself and do not think about anything to do with cows. Don’t think about milk or cheese or any beef products. Don’t think about anything to do with cows or cattle for one minute. Go ahead and try it.
Click on comments and tell us how you did. Were you able to do it? If you were, how did you do it? There is a common thread for those who are able to do it.
Nature abhors a vacuum
Some time ago I was visiting with an excellent young therapist. We started talking about data collection and about making it simpler to which she responded how difficult it was to simplify data collection on the aggressive behaviors she was observing and which she was at times on the receiving end. (It is important to note that the therapist was not in any danger of harm in this situation.)
This brought me back to my tired old record, which I play quite often, about finding the reason for aggressive or harmful behaviors and finding and teaching a replacement behavior.
It is important to do a thorough assessment of current levels of behaviors of the person that you are working with.
Occasionally it is important to reassess the level of those behaviors, especially if there is danger; you can not totally ignore them. Safety comes first.
Our conversation thought, brought me to talking about the Hawthorne Effect. A good therapist should have a good understanding of a number of different effects including Hawthorne, Pygmalion and Halo. See: http://www.psy.gla.ac.uk/~steve/hawth.html#pyg & http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_effect . You must ask yourself what the effect has been, is and/or will be of continually and frequently measuring an inappropriate behavior.
I know this therapist and her husband fairly well and I asked her what the result would be if she started taking data on how many times her husband left the toilet seat up. While this may decrease the behavior there may be some additional consequences. Anyway, since in a situation like this, the goal should not be to not have the toilet seat left up but to have it put down, a simple reinforcement (perhaps even a simple request) of putting the seat down is likely to be more productive all around. For a better example, if someone needs physical touch and is filling this needs in a socially inappropriate fashion, then trying to eliminate all touch is probably not reasonable. If flinging feces provides needed attention, then perhaps it would be beneficial to teach and reinforce another more appropriate way to get attention. Remember that whenever you are trying to decrease a behavior, you need to be increasing another more appropriate behavior that still fills the needs met by the less or inappropriate behavior. If you do not, the person will find another, perhaps even less appropriate way to meet their needs. As Spock astutely said in The Wrath of Kahn “Nature abhors a vacuum.”
Please also visit http://www.childrenofthecode.org/interviews/shonkoff.htm#Adaptation:
From August 2008, Parents magazine.
www.parents.com
Discipline for Softies
"Q Why is it more effective to focus on a child's good behavior than to
respond to bad behavior with time-outs or other types of consequences?
A Studies have shown that recognizing good behavior is the only way to
teach a child what you want her to do--and to lock that behavior in.
For example, if you want your child to share and play nicely, and you
keep praising her when she lets a friend have a turn with a toy ("Wow!
You did such a nice job of sharing your doll with Emma!"), then
eventually sharing will become a habit. If you instead punish her for
bad behavior--yelling or sending her to her room when she hogs a
toy--she might temporarily change her ways. But before you know it,
she'll refuse to share again."
A while ago I attended a training/meeting where the DEAD Man test was mentioned. It’s the same concept as I have written about previously under the heading, “nature abhors a vacuum.” The concept here, though the same as previously discussed, is presented in a very different way and may strike a chord of understanding for some.
This is the idea. If your objective is to begin or increase a behavior that a “dead man or woman” could do, then you probably have a poor or even dead objective.
For example: Any time that your objective is that someone NOT do something, then that is something a dead man could do and is almost always a very poor objective.
There are some exceptions to this rule. There may be a time that you need someone to sit quietly for a brief period. Well a dead man could do that but it still may be appropriate.
One of the simplest but often overlooked concepts is helping an individual in therapy get what they want. These are almost always Natural Reinforcers. Therapists have actually taught kids how to request a hug and then given them a “high five” or a “thumbs up” or another reinforcement other than a hug. Sometimes therapists try to teach a frustrated client who wants/needs something, how to identify their feelings or deescalate without actually dealing with what they want/need.
Your priorities should be, (after safety, because safety is always first):
1. Help clients identify what they want.
2. Help clients request what they want in a socially appropriate manner.
Once this is done, there are three options.
1. They get what they want. No need for further reinforcement.
2. You teach them how to get/make what they want i.e. pbj sandwhich.
3. They get what they want at a more appropriate time/place. In this case it may be helpful to teach de-escalation/coping techniques and/or feeling identification (may need some reinforcement). The appropriate time and place must be made clear as well as what they need to do (if anything further needs to be done) in order to get what they want. When the person finally gets what they want, there is no further need for reinforcement.
4. They do not and can not get what they want. In this case, there are two things to consider and do. Teach coping techniques (may need reinforcement) and discover underlying needs/wants and teach alternative ways to get underlying needs/wants met (no need for further reinforcement when they get their underlying needs/wants met).
Let's discuss data and statistics
There are usually three types of data collected from therapeutic plans: Frequency, Duration, and Intensity. There can also be combinations of these. What are some examples of each? Sometimes levels of assistance can be considered intensity data. If you ares not extremely careful, intensity can be very difficult to record accurately without instruments of measurement.
Before talking about statistics, there is an old story that I would like to share. There was a company that wanted to hire a statistician. They had a full day of interviews and started early in the morning with the first applicant. After asking a number of questions. One of the interviewers wrote on the board "2 + 2 =" and asked the applicant to solve the problem. This went on all day. Finally the last applicant came in. Same questions and same problem at the end but with one exception. This time the applicant got up and went to the door and glanced outside the door then locked it. The applicant then went to the window and closed the blinds. Finally the applicant moved closer to the interviewers and whispered: "What would you like the answer to be?"
The joke may sound a little outrageous; however, I am a strong believer in data, if it is collected and analyzed fairly and correctly. There is a lot of data that is not worth the paper it is written on. There is a lot of research that is absolute garbage. Usually by reading the information, including the research design and method or the design of the data collection, you can get an idea about the value of the data if you know what you are looking for. Sometimes it is worthless as collected. Sometimes it becomes worthless by the way that it is analyzed or summarized. We’ll discuss this a little more in the subsequent postings.
Some problems with data collection (and these are not the only problems) are not factoring in other variables that may effect the data, not having a clear and concise written statement about what is being measured, and using the wrong type of data collection for the situation.
What are some aspects of a well written objective?
They are almost always:
1. Measurable,
2. Observable, and
3. Repeatable
Measurable
Anything measurable should have both the highest qualites of validity and reliability possible.
What does reliability mean?
What does validity mean?
Reliable
Reliability in this sense is assuring that something will (may be an instrument) measure the same thing over and over again, even by different people in different settings, and will still get the same result. Clear operational definitions can improve reliability. (For example: if two different people measure the same table with a tape measure, they should get the same result. That makes the tape measure "reliable."
Validity in this sense is measuring what an instrument or data collection plan says it measures, accurately. You can sometimes improve validity by assuring that you are measuring the target behavior or its successive approximations exactly and accurately. For example, if you have an old yard stick that has a few inches broken off, it's measurement of a yard will not be valid; however, you may still be able to measure an inch or foot and have that measurement be valid.
What’s a “foot.” (Measurement) (Historically this was the length of the Kings foot. Not valid because it would not stay the same over time from King to King or even over time for the same King if he became King at a young age.)
What’s a cubit? (When I think about cubit I often think about the old Bill Cosby monologue) If you ever get a chance to hear it, it's worth it. Bill Cosby is one of the premiere comedians of my life time. This bring out another important point about plan writing and measurement and keeping things valid and reliable. My life time probably covers a lot more time that yours. I've read some reports where people have used generational slang. Keep it professional. Remember that other professionals will be reading what you write. Don’t use slang, "expressions" or acronyms.
Some additional examples:
Many surveys are reliable yet not valid; they do not accurately report what they claim to report.
Some assessments are not accurate across cultures or individual situations. For example some IQ tests are not valid across cultures.
Another example, a standard eye test is not valid for a non reader. (I remember living and working in a group home when I was younger. I took a non reader to an eye doctor for his annual exam. The doctor took the man and gave him a test and returned and told me he was legally blind. He wasn't legally blind. The Optometrist had showed him a letter and asked him what it was and he would just simply say: "I duno!" and shake his head. Knowing that this person had good vision I spoke with the doctor who tried a different type of test where the man only had to point. His vision was 20/20.
Some additional threats to Validity are: Multiple Variables; Something else happened or is happening at the same time. Maturation: The participant grows into it or out if it and would have without the intervention (this is one of those "other" variables" mentioned earlier); Observer Bias, We see what we want or expect to see.
Goals
RESPONSIBLE/PRACTICAL PARENTING or The Cost of Abdication A RESEARCH BASED RESOURCE GUIDE: An Encyclopedia of Parenting
Index
