Problem Solving Process

Step 1: Criteria for good operational objective

  • Objective – not only observable characteristics. Translate any inferential terms into objectives.
  • The definition should be clear, meaning, readable, and unambiguous, so that anyone could read and paraphrase it.
  • The definition should be complete and include the boundaries of the response (how often, how severe, etc.) and the situations and settings

Difference between developmental and problem centered consultation.

Developmental is a long term process which needs to be broken up into smaller objectives

Problem centered is quick – you go right to the problem, Operationalize it, and attack that problem.

Three issues in developmental consultation in identifying an operational definition.

  • Requires the establishment of three types of objectives (general, or long term; subordinate – link general objectives to performance objectives; and performance objectives – which are identified last and are most specific)
  • The conditions are specified that must occur during performance that support mastery of the objective.
  • The required competency level is established during problem identification interview.

Three issues in problem centered consultation

  • There are no general and subordinate objectives – there are only performance or behavioral goals.
  • The circumstances under which the behaviours of concern are occurring are critical, so an inclusion of environmental factors or stimulus conditions that may influence the behaviour must be included.
  • The competency level desired is usually deferred until after the collection of baseline data.

The second step in the problem solving process is to select measures of client performance.

There are three broad categories of data collection: standardized test, work samples, and naturalistic observations (and some would add record review).

What should you record:

There are four behavioural characteristics that you can access in a naturalistic observation.

  1. Magnitude (amount of the response, (Ex. How loud is the child)
  2. Latency of response (how long does it take between the stimulus and the response)
  3. Duration (how long does the behaviour last)
  4. Frequency (how often in a designated time period)

How to record observational data.

Check-sheets, hash-marks, chips, timers, running records which are graphed, etc.

Four Observational strategies

  • Interval recording (time sampling) – an estimate of both the number of occurrences and the duration of the behaviour – used when the behaviour occurs at a moderate, but steady rate. (Ex. Take a time period and divide it into small equal intervals, then observe and mare whether or not the behaviour occurs during each time period (equally divided interval).
    • Whole interval recording – used to show if the behaviour occurs during the entire interval period.
    • Partial interval recording – used to show if the behaviour occurs at all during the interval period (only one mark per interval)
  • Scan sampling (instantaneous time sampling, momentary time sampling) – At a pre-specified sampling time the observer looks up and determines whether or not the student is engaged in that behaviour. (so, for example, every 15 seconds, the observer makes note of the behaviour). Used with behaviours which occur at a moderate, but steady rate.
  • Event recording (Frequency recording) – tally every time something happens. Most appropriate for behaviours which are discrete (clear beginning and end)
  • Duration recording – (most difficult to use because the observer must identify exactly when the behaviour starts and stops) Should only be used when a duration issue is a concern.

How many data should be collected.

You want to collect enough baseline points to establish a level of stability.

  • The less stable the data, the longer you will need to establish baseline.
  • Behaviour that occurs at a high rate will not need to be recorded for as long of a time as behaviour which occurs at a very low rate.
  • If the case is a severe problem, which could be dangerous, no baseline data needs to be collected.

Problem identification interview:

Three objectives:

  1. Goal specification (remember, there are different levels of objectives for developmental consultation and problem solving consultation).
  2. Agreement between consultant and consultee on type of measure and how it will be recorded, etc.
  3. Procedural considerations (clarifying language, gathering of antecedents and consequences information, next meeting, etc.).

Problem Analysis (Stage two of the problem solving process)

When the data collected during the problem identification phase indicates the existence of a problem… There is a problem if the behaviour occurs more than it does for his peers, or more than would be expected.

In this phase, the consultant and consultee jointly identify factors that may lead to problem resolution.

Two broad phases of this stage: Analysis phase and plan design phase.

In the analysis phase, there are two ways to identify factors that might influence the behaviour of concern.

  • Analyze client’s skills
  • Focus on conditions that could effect goal attainment. (environmental issues or performance issues – do they have the skill, or do they choose to do it.)

Points about Skills necessary for a child to achieve self-direction.

When talking about maintaining behaviour when there is an unstable baseline, the focus should be on behaviour, rather than skill acquisition.

You want to determine if environmental circumstances are having a big impact. (Ex. When parents are more engaged with the child in spelling, the child’s test scores go down.  – parents could be doing the work for the child.

If the level of performance is uniformly low, and you are trying to increase behaviour, and you find that the existing conditions support the goal, the focus needs to be on skill. It could be that the child doesn’t have the underlying skills to do what is needed.

Analyzing conditions of the client behaviour (the student is the client)

It is important to do this so you can go to professional literature and pull up information about interventions which have been successful in the past in similar situations.

You need to be in-tune to see what is abnormal in the situation. Must look at all factors.

Develop a strategy for classifying conditions. Common: ABC (Antecedent, Behaviour, Consequence system)

Look at sequential conditions.

When, with whom, where, what happened then, etc. (all the “W” questions)

In general, we don’t look at the history – we focus on the here and now.

When the goal of consultation is to increase behaviour, antecedent conditions can serve several functions. With them, you can change what happens which is coming before the behaviour. You can also attend to stimuli which seems to aggravate the situation.

When your goal is to decrease or increase behaviour, consequence conditions may be manipulated.

Consequence Conditions:

  • Positive reinforcement
  • negative reinforcement
  • punishment
  • time out
  • extinction (withdraw of a positive re-enforcer which has maintained the behaviour)
  • stimulus control and discrimination training (when a response is followed by a re-enforcing or punishing consequence in the presence of one stimulus, but not in the presence of another. (Ex. When a child is re-enforced for completing a math assignment in school, but not at home)
  • Altering sequential behaviours: Shaping, scaffolding.

Plan design phase.

  • When first designing a plan, you want to specify broad strategies which may be useful. These are formulated directly as a result of the conditions and skills analysis. They are also formulated based on what research says.
  • Then, plan tactics to implement your strategy. Include the principle to be applied. Include a description of the procedure and materials – get down to the details.
  • A plan for carrying out the intervention, include who is responsible, times, locations, monitoring procedures, etc.
  • Pre-implementation treatment and acceptability. Make sure it is acceptable to the ones doing it – if they don’t agree with it, they won’t do it.
  • Establish performance assessment objectives  – continue gathering data, just as you did in the baseline phase.

Treatment implementation phase

The purpose of the treatment implementation phase is to maximize the likelihood that the plan will produce the desired effect.

Be aware that there are certain jobs in this phase.

  • The treatment director – the one in charge of putting all the plans in place.
  • Executor – the person who carries out the plan. Usually the consultee.  
  • Observer – to observe the client, and to observe whether the treatment is being implemented as planned. Often, the consultee can do both. Yes, he can self-monitor
  • Skill developer (if necessary).

The materials must be assembled and training must occur during this phase.

Operating the implementation plan. – make sure the implementation is being monitored. See if revisions need to occur.

Ways to change the plan in progress: Alter the plan; make sure that the plan is implemented with integrity.

What do we do with consultation with treatment implementation.:

  • The consultant can provide the training
  • The consultant can do monitoring if the consultee can not
  • Come up with plan revisions.

The last stage of the problem solving process is Treatment Evaluation.

Determine whether the goals of the consultation have been met. (was it an effective intervention, and was it acceptable to the consultee.)

Determine if the intervention is to be continued, discontinued, etc.

Looking for congruence between objectives and level of behaviour now shown.

You will either have “no progress towards the goal,” “some progress towards the goal,” “meeting of the goal.”

If you are making some progress towards the goal, you need to decide if the treatment plan should be maintained or revised. (is this progress enough?)

Finally, determine what was effective for future reference in similar situations.

Post-implementation planning.

  • Leave the plan in effect
  • Introduce a new plan – do this if the plan is too much, and it is impractical continue with the plan, or if you want the plan to generalize to new settings.
  • Remove the treatment plan altogether, gradually, or all at  once. – the safest circumstance for removing the plan is when behaviours are not reversible. (Ex. If you put in place an intervention to help a child recognize letters – the child will always recognize the letters) Contingencies operating in the natural environment will maintain the behaviour.
Filed under: EDC 510-511 Consultation in Schools and Practicum
Copyright: September, 2003 - David Profitt