key: cord-0963627-yxec23lp authors: Fronapfel, Brighid H.; Demchak, MaryAnn title: School’s Out for COVID-19: 50 Ways BCBA Trainees in Special Education Settings Can Accrue Independent Fieldwork Experience Hours During the Pandemic date: 2020-05-26 journal: Behav Anal Pract DOI: 10.1007/s40617-020-00434-x sha: 3ae6e81bce902d20186d7c06494529765fb81f66 doc_id: 963627 cord_uid: yxec23lp Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide executive orders closing schools, many trainees completing their supervised independent fieldwork in educational settings lost the ability to accrue hours linked to restricted activities of a therapeutic and instructional nature with students (i.e., clients). Given the impact on trainees of the pandemic restrictions, we present 50 suggestions for trainees in school settings to continue to accrue hours for both restricted and unrestricted activities throughout the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. as Puerto Rico, have also issued closures until the middle of April (Peele & Riser-Kositsky, 2020) . As a result of the nationwide closures, Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) trainees completing their supervised independent fieldwork in public and private school settings abruptly lost the ability to accrue hours at rates available prior to the pandemic. Because supervision in function and nature is to support trainees in relation to ethical practice, quality of services, professional growth and competence, and work productivity (Kazemi, Rice, & Adzhyan, 2019) , supervisors should continue to perform ethical supervision even under the present conditions and provide opportunities for their trainees to continue to accrue hours for both restricted and unrestricted activities. Given the limited number of contact hours trainees currently have with their students, those contacts may not even provide the opportunity to engage in behavior-analytic activity. As a result, it is crucial to provide a means of accrual for this specific group of trainees to continue to engage in a comprehensive supervised experience during this unprecedented time. The purpose of this article is to present 50 ways trainees can accrue experience hours that are linked to the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) 4th and 5th Edition Task Lists (BACB, 2012 (BACB, , 2017 . Given the constraint on student (i.e., client) contact, which eliminates the ability to accrue restricted hours, we emphasize This manuscript is being published on a highly expedited basis, as part of a series of emergency publications designed to help practitioners of applied behavior analysis take immediate action to adjust to and mitigate the COVID-19 crisis. This article was submitted on April 7, 2020, and received final acceptance on April 11, 2020. The journal would like to especially thank Dr. Megan Aclan and Dr. Michael Cameron for their expeditious reviews of the manuscript. The views and strategies suggested by the articles in this series do not represent the positions of the Association for Behavior Analysis International or Springer Nature. BCBA trainees focus on unrestricted activities aimed at building skills related to developing programs and plans for implementation with their students. Unrestricted activities are vital for the preparation of behavior analysts. Table 1 provides a detailed listing of potential activities, Task List linkage, and sample supporting literature for selected activities. Moreover, supervisor observations of and contacts with trainees can occur with many of these activities using various web-based conferencing technologies. Despite nationwide school closures, trainees may continue to have access to data and support plans that were in place prior to the pandemic. These data provide multiple opportunities for unrestricted hours. First, instructional/acquisition data that were collected prior to school closures can be graphed and analyzed to provide a summary of skill acquisition to be discussed with parents and other school staff. The graphed data can also identify future skill acquisition rates. Reviewing these data may result in data-based modifications to the current plans to facilitate skill acquisition. Trainees can also research the literature regarding data-based decision making and how data inform instructional strategies to be used. Additionally, trainees can analyze functional behavior assessment (FBA) data that were collected prior to school closures and summarize the data in graphical displays. A review of these data may result in a summary report that identifies conditions under which the behavior was occurring and related recommendations. Data sheets that trainees modify after analyzing preclosure data, or data sheets that are developed in conjunction with instructional or support plans, can be used to demonstrate interobserver reliability prior to use. As trainees review data and make data-based decisions, they can complete modifications to plans, as well as develop additional behavior-analytic instruction and related data sheets. Trainees might also review the literature to identify instructional strategies, such as response and stimulus prompts, and to learn how to plan for skill maintenance and generalization and include these methods in instructional plans. This research might aid trainees in developing plans for their learners to promote maintenance and generalization of skills through remote-learning procedures being implemented. Similarly, analysis of FBA results can then be used to develop or modify behavior support plans. Additionally, research can be conducted on relevant antecedent and consequence strategies, as well as for planning for maintenance and generalization. Just as generalization and maintenance strategies might be used in remote-learning procedures related to instructional plans, they can also be used in remote delivery of services related to behavior support plans. Trainees can continue to develop and write new instructional plans for their learners' continued skill acquisition via the virtual-teaching format or for use upon school reopening. Supporting literature for instructional plans can also be researched, read, and applied to instructional plans. This research can focus on any number of behavior-analytic strategies such as response prompting, shaping, chaining, modeling, and video modeling. Some of these strategies may be new to trainees and might require scripting and role-playing so they may demonstrate competency prior to use with their students. Research of the literature can also be conducted regarding preference assessments for students, and resulting scripts, data sheets, and other corresponding materials can then be prepared. Using these materials, trainees can role-play preference assessments with a supervisor, or in a virtual group supervision session, allowing trainees to demonstrate competence with the task prior to conducting it with a student. Although it is impossible to conduct direct observations of student behavior in the school setting when schools are closed, trainees might prepare for conducting certain assessments upon the reopening of schools. For example, they may work on indirect assessment methods linked to conducting an FBA to lay the groundwork for conducting antecedent-behaviorconsequence analyses of behavior. Trainees might also conduct assessments related to the identification of skill strengths and weaknesses for instructional planning. For example, most standardized adaptive behavior instruments (e.g., Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales) are done via a third-party respondent and do not require direct observation. Trainees can complete such assessments; score, summarize, and identify skill strengths and weaknesses; and use these results to plan for future instruction. Despite the limitations of applied service delivery via telehealth, there are opportunities for trainees to accrue hours for unrestricted activities. For example, trainees can research literature that demonstrates effective modalities of parent training and use the methods during role-play situations during individual and group supervision sessions. Additionally, trainees can demonstrate competence using parent-training methods during the delivery of telehealth. Likewise, literature 2. Design, plot, and interpret data in various graphical formats. A-10, A-11 C-10 3. Assess and interpret interobserver agreement. A 7. Develop data sheets for instructional plans. A-01 to A-14 (as applicable), I-01 C-1 to C-9 Collins, B. (2012) . Systematic instruction for students with moderate and severe disabilities (chapter 2). Baltimore, MD: Brookes. 8. Develop and write instructional plans for (learner) skill acquisition. D-01 to D-21 (as applicable), E-01 to E-13 (as applicable), F-01 to F-08 (as applicable), G-01 to G-08 (as applicable), J-01 to J-15 (as applicable) related to effective staff training methodologies (i.e., behavior skills training) can be researched and the methodologies roleplayed by trainees in various scenarios in order for them to demonstrate competence prior to implementation in a telehealth delivery format. Following competent performance, trainees can utilize the methods to deliver staff training to paraprofessionals and other school staff related to their learners' support plans. Last, trainees can contact the literature and derived ethical activities created by their supervisors related to the practice of behavior analysis under the present pandemic conditions. Additional material can be acquired from various organizations, such as the BACB and the Association of Professional Behavior Analysts, who are providing practice guidance through this unprecedented time. If telehealth delivery is deemed ethically appropriate, trainees can provide instruction via this format to accrue hours for restricted activities with their learners. The appropriateness of this technology should be gauged in a risk/benefit analysis and implemented only with learners for which the delivery will lead to effective instruction. Table 2 provides a potential restricted activity, Task List linkage, and sample supporting literature. When assigning and supervising the unrestricted activities described in this article, give careful consideration to all applicable labor laws. If trainees were working in an hourly paid position to perform these unrestricted activities before the COVID-19 crisis, then labor law may require that they get paid to do these activities now, in which case doing them voluntarily may be unintentionally violating labor law. Therefore, care must be taken to make it clear to everyone involved that the unrestricted activities are not part of any paid job and are purely for training/academic purposes. It is, of course, the responsibility of all BCBAs providing supervision to ensure they and their supervisees comply with applicable laws, and no article-including this one-could possibly give specific guidance that would be relevant to all labor laws in all regions. Despite the unexpected impact of the nationwide school closures due to COVID-19, trainees accruing hours in the educational setting can continue their supervisory experience using the 50 tasks described in this article. Although this list is not inclusive of all opportunities for hours, it provides an easy reference for relevant activities for supervisors and trainees linked to both the 4th and 5th Edition Task Lists (BACB, 2012 (BACB, , 2017 and relevant literature for selected activities that could be used during this unexpected time. Conflict of Interest Neither author has conflicts of interest to report in relation to this writing. Ethical Approval This writing did not involve the use of human or animal subjects. Informed Consent Informed consent was not required for this work. K E-1 to E-6, F-4 to F-7, F-9, G-1 to G-22 (as applicable), H-6 to H-9 Lerman, D. C., O'Brien, M. J., Neely, L., Call, N. A., Tsami, L., Schieltz, K. M., . . . Cooper-Brown, L. (2020) . Remote coaching of caregivers via telehealth: Challenges and potential solutions. Journal of Behavioral Education. Retrieved from https://rdcu. be/b3man Tomlinson, S. R. L., Gore, N., & McGill, P. (2018) . Training individuals to implement applied behavior analytic procedures via telehealth: A systematic review of the literature. Journal of Behavioral Education, 27, 172-222. https://doi.org/10. 1007/s10864-018-9292-0 Teaching non-target information to children with disabilities: An examination of instructive feedback literature Examining the effects of video modeling and prompts to teach activities of daily living skills The problem of parental nonadherence in clinical behavior analysis: Effective treatment is not enough Review of video modeling with students with emotional and behavioral disorders. Education and Treatment of Children Designing positive behavior support plans Guidelines for graphing data with Microsoft PowerPoint for Office BCBA/BCaBA task list Parent training programs for school-age children with autism: A systematic review An in vivo evaluation of the use of data-based rules to guide instructional decisions Pick one! Conducting preference assessments with students with significant disabilities A review of prompt-fading procedures: Implications for effective and efficient skill acquisition Functional behavioral assessment, diagnosis, and treatment: A complete system for education and mental health settings Assessment of children and youth with special needs Systematic instruction for students with moderate and severe disabilities Response prompting as an ABA-based instructional approach for teaching students with disabilities Applied behavior analysis A proposed process for risk mitigation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Behavior Analysis in Practice Response prompting and fading methods: A review Teachers' perception of use and actual use of a data-based decision-making. Education and Training in Autism and Developmental Disabilities Creating single-subject design graphs in Microsoft Excel Telehealth as a model for providing behaviour analytic interventions to individuals with autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review Use of discontinuous methods of data collection in behavioral intervention: Guidelines for practitioners Integrating phase change lines and labels into graphs in Microsoft Excel® Function-based treatments for escape-maintained problem behavior: A treatmentselection model for practicing behavior analysts Shaping complex functional communication responses Video-based instruction to promote employment-related social behaviors for high school students with intellectual disability. Inclusion Evaluation of a telehealth training package to remotely train staff to conduct a preference assessment Evaluating the use of behavioral skills training to improve school staffs' implementation of behavior intervention plans A comparison of embedded total task instruction in teaching behavioral chains to massed one-on-one instruction for students with intellectual disabilities: Accessing general education settings and core academic content Data-based decisions guidelines for teachers of students with severe intellectual and developmental disabilities. Education and Training in Autism and Developmental Disabilities Fieldwork and supervision for behavior analysts: A handbook Assessing students with special needs A proposed model for selecting measurement procedures for the assessment and treatment of problem behavior Dependent variables, measurement, and reliability Remote coaching of caregivers via telehealth: Challenges and potential solutions Recent research on the highprobability instructional sequence: A brief review Applying positive behavior support and functional behavioral assessment in schools Map, coronavirus and school closure The integrity of independent variables in behavior analysis Maintaining treatment integrity in the face of crisis: A treatment selection model for transitioning direct ABA services to telehealth. Behavior Analysis in Practice Assessment in special and inclusive education Improving pre-service teachers' performance skills through behavioral skills training Providing performance feedback to teachers: A review Effects of signaled positive reinforcement on problem behavior maintained by negative reinforcement An assessment of the efficiency of and child preference for forward and backward chaining Negative reinforcement Visual representation of data An implicit technology of generalization Compassionate care in behavior analytic treatment: Can outcomes be enhanced by attending to relationships with caregivers? Behavior Analysis Practice Functional communication training: A review and practical guide Training individuals to implement applied behavior analytic procedures via telehealth: A systematic review of the literature Review of the choice and preference assessment literature for individuals with severe to profound disabilities Response shaping to improve food acceptance for children with autism: Effects of small and large food sets Constant and progressive time delay procedures for teaching children with autism: A literature review Publisher's Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations