What If It’s Medical? Assessing Medical Influences on Interfering Behavior

1 Ethics CEU

Course Abstract: Intense or interfering behaviors are often the first symptom to visibly manifest for people with disabilities, especially those who are non-verbal. These behavioral manifestations are often brought to the attention of behavior analysts and when these patterns are mistaken for purely behaviorally maintained—especially automatically reinforced behavior—there is a risk of ineffective or overly restrictive responses that compromise safety, dignity, and respect.

This presentation demonstrates behavioral patterns commonly associated with chronic, acute, and intermittent medical concerns (e.g. pain, gastrointestinal issues, sleep disruption, UTIs, etc.). Participants will learn how to evaluate data for indicators that behavior may be influenced by medical variables acting as setting events or establishing or abolishing operations, rather than primary behavioral function.

Attendees will explore how to organize and share meaningful behavioral data with medical providers and interdisciplinary team members, including what information medical professionals typically find helpful. Emphasis is placed on assessment, ethical decision-making, interdisciplinary collaboration, and reducing diagnostic overshadowing to support safer, more effective care.

Learning Objectives:

• Review patterns that may indicate chronic and acute medical issues, including intermittent medical issues
• Evaluate data for patterns that indicate automatic reinforcement function or medical issue as a setting event or abolishing/establishing operation
• Identify ways that data can be shared with the medical provider or interdisciplinary team members and what medical providers are looking for
• Explore assessments that can be used to indicate potential medical issues and show progress

Presenter Bios:
Emily Kearney is a BCBA in the US who focuses on using the nuance of our science across populations to teach effectively and safely. Emily has vast clinical experience managing cases with medical needs affecting learner’s ability to reach HRE, often with learner’s who do not have the language skills to explain what is happening internally. She is guided by the Constructional Approach, which aims to alleviate and prevent distress and discomfort by focusing on missing skill repertoires rather than behavior reduction. Using a component/composite analysis allows us to determine what is missing and why the behavior that might otherwise be labeled as disruptive, challenging and so forth, is perfectly logical from the perspective of the learner. The SBT process fits very nicely into this framework for some learners and Emily really enjoys mentoring other BCBAs to understand the components in a deep way so that they can best apply them in unique combinations for their learners, and really tease out the best teaching methodology to reach socially-significant outcomes for their learners.

Kelly Bryson, MA, BCBA lives in Columbia, SC with her husband and a dog who has vision impairments but is really good at sniffing out treats. She loves to read fantasy and nonfiction, listen to live music, and go paddle boarding. She is currently enrolled in the Special Education PhD Program (Research and Teaching) at The University of South Carolina. She has been a BCBA since 2014, and worked with children and adults with autism in home, school, and community settings as a behavior analyst. She has also worked as a SPED teacher in an EBD program and as a resource teacher. For the last 8 years, she has supported adults with lifelong disabilities in group homes and vocational sites at The Babcock Center, where she currently serves as the Director of Behavior Supports. She has experience working across the lifespan, and in coordination with medical professionals, including psychiatrists, pharmacists, and other health care providers.