Graduate student Cassy Standish (mentored by Cynthia Anderson) presented her poster at the North Carolina Association for Behavior Analysis. Cassy was given the opportunity to present her thesis as a poster for NC ABA in February of 2015.
The research is centered around working with children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This population tends to face many challenges outside of their disability that their typically developing peers do not. Additionally, this population is at a much higher risk for engaging in problem behaviors that can have negative consequences, not only for the individuals themselves but also their family members. There are several different functional behavior assessments that can be used to assist in identifying why the child engages in the problem behavior so a proper intervention can be put in place. The assessment that is the focal point of my thesis is called the trial-based functional analysis. While it is a newer assessment, research thus far has indicated that it can be used to accurately identify why the child engages in the problem behavior. A major issue with research on trial-based functional analysis, however, is that there is a lot of methodological variation between the studies. Consequently, the main purpose of this thesis is to evaluate the different methodologies by conducting the trial-based functional analysis with three children with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Cassy reflected on the experience stating, "Attending the conference as a whole was a very enlightening and enjoyable experience. While there, I was able to gather a lot of new information about the latest practices in applied behavior analysis, as well as individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The highlight of the trip for me personally was having the opportunity to show my research to professionals in the field. My poster received a lot of positive attention and I was given the opportunity to gather other people's perspectives about the research that I am conducting, as well as any advice they may have had for me."
This poster has also been approved to be presented at the Association for Behavioral Analysis International. Cassy will be presenting her thesis as a poster at the 41st annual conference in San Antonio, TX. ABAI's website describes itself as "the primary membership organization for those interested in the philosophy, science, application, and teaching of behavior analysis." (https://www.abainternational.org/about-us.aspx)
Cassy Standish
