Behavioral Support Services for Samuel

Please carefully read the case study below and answer all of the following questions specific to the case study.

Samuel is a 28 year old man with a diagnosis of moderate intellectual disability and schizophrenia. Samuel lives in a residential group home with 3 other men and there are 2 support staff on shift. During the day Samuel attends a day program where the group plays bingo, does crafts, and goes on outings to the bowling alley. Samuel seems to enjoy it there, but day program staff report that some days he doesn’t want to do much and if they push him he can yell and swear at them until they leave him alone.

Samuel communicates using gestures and single word mands for example “coffee” and “van”. Once Samuel has asked for something if he doesn’t get access to the item or activity right away, or if the support staff try and engage him in his hygiene routine (brushing teeth and shaving), he gets upset and walks around the house slamming doors and banging on the walls until a support staff tells him to stop. Samuel drinks 6-8 coffee a day and his psychiatrist has recommended he reduce the number of cups but support staff say there aren’t many things he likes. Samuel’s support staff report that he has trouble sleeping.

He goes to bed and falls asleep quickly, but then will often wake a few times during the night and staff try and encourage him to go back to bed, sometimes with success. He takes melatonin for sleep and an allergy pill in the spring and summer months in addition to Clozapine. Samuel’s mom visits him each Saturday and takes him out to Swiss Chalet for dinner which staff report is the highlight of his week. If she misses a week Samuel gets upset and has a rough day.

Samuel’s mother has contacted the agency you work at to activate behavioural support services.

a. Selecting And Defining The Target Problem Behaviour

b. Identify A Socially Significant Goal For Behaviour Reduction– Select One Problem Target Behaviour And List It Below (1 Point)

c. Provide An Operational Definiition Of The Problem Target Behaviour – Remember – Objective, Clear, And Complete (3 Points)

a. Which Questions Would You Ask In Your Interview As Part Of Your Indirect Assessment, To Assist In Completing Your Functional Behaviour Assessment? (2 Points)

b. Are There Any Setting Events To Consider? (2 Points)

c. Describe How You Could Use The Following Descriptive Assessment Tools To Gather Information As You Conduct Your Assessment Specific To This Case Study

1 Scatterplot (1 Point)

2 Abc (1 Point)

Fill In This Abc Chart Based On 2 Behavioural Incidents That Are Described In The Case Study (6 POINTS)

d. What Is Your Hypothesis Of The Function (S) Of The Target Problem Behaviour? If You Think There Is More Than One Function Circle All Answers (1 Point)

Attention

Escape

Tangible

Automatic

e. Is There Potential For Risk Of Harm If You Conduct A Functional Analysis?

Yes/No (Circle One) (1 Point)

If You Answered Yes, Explain In Point Form (1 Point)

f. Which Conditions Would You Run In Your Functional Analysis? Remember, There Must Be A Minimum Of 2 (Circle All That Apply) (2 Points)

Attention

Demand

Tangible

Alone

Control

g. Describe The Set Up For One Of The Conditions You Will Run In The Functional Analysis (4 POINTS)