Through Collaboration, Trust, and Science.Our mission is to impart meaningful socially significant change through collaboration, trust and science. So what does that really mean? Well since we're Behavior Analysts, defining behavior and language that labels behavior is what we do. So here goes..
Collaboration- The act of working together toward a common goal by identifying one another strengths and creating a plan that utilizes those strengths toward an identified socially significant outcome or goal. There is a big difference between collaborative work and parallel work. In parallel work, each discipline provides their prescribed treatment or recommendations without consideration for how it will work with treatments prescribed by other professionals. In collaborative work, professionals come together, bring their recommendations to the table and utilize each other's strengths to complement the interventions of the team as a whole. If collaborative professionals disagree, they work hard to find a common ground. Trust- The act of doing what one verbally states or agrees to do compounded over time. Trust is a two way street. It involves the behavior of an individual as well as other individuals impacted by the results of that behavior. For example, If I schedule to meet a friend for lunch at 12 pm on a given day, fail to show up, fail to let them know about the change, or fail to provide a good reason for not showing up, trust in performing that behavior (keeping lunch dates)is broken. On the other hand if I show up each time when I am supposed to, notify the friend of any delays etc, trust is built. Each time I show up on time adds to a history of instances that demonstrate I was trustworthy to meet at a certain time. Trust is a series of behaviors performed over time that align with a set of verbal rules. That's it! So the answer to building trust is to follow through with engaging in behavior that aligns with those rules. Science- The activity of systematically observing and studying the make up and behavior of the physical and natural world through an objective lens (Dictionary.com/Science). The science of ABA specifically studies behavior and the environment through an objective lens (defines behavior in a manner that any number of people observing it can agree on what they are seeing), identifies variables influencing behavior in the environment and aims to change disruptive, non-preffered and inefficient behavior by making changes to the environment influencing it, in an effort to improve the quality of life of the individual or group of individuals. Let's take a look at a very simple example. Sarah screams several times during the school day. The team working to help Sarah is perplexed and cannot find a cause to her behavior, especially after the doctor ruled out any possible medical causes. Upon further observation of the environment and data collection, a pattern is identified. Sarah's screams are perfectly timed with the loud school bell ringing. The team decides to have Sarah wear noise cancelling headphones, putting them on 1 minute before the bell rings and taking them off when the bell is done ringing. Sarah's screaming behavior stops when she is wearing the headphones during the bell but continues anytime she does not have the headphones during the bell. Her behavior was not unpredictable after all. She did not scream to be disruptive, or because she was a bad person. Her screaming was a form of non verbal communication. That's just it. All behavior is communication whether verbal or not. Studies indicate that only 7% of communication is verbal. The other 97% is non verbal and composed of both body language (55%) and tone of voice (38%), yet the focus primarily remains on the the 7% verbal communication in explaining behavior (Yaffe 2011.) The science of behavior focuses on understanding both verbal and non verbal communication, giving special attention to non verbal communication and how it is influenced by the environment around it. Ever been in a room with someone who says they are excited about something you are sharing with them, but their body language and facial expressions say something different? What does that say about how they really feel? They sure aren't excited? Why not? Are you resharing the same story for the 1000th times? Are they jealous because its something the really wanted to do themselves? There could be many reasons, but their behavior certainly speaks louder than their words, and it is affected by things happening in their environment. Collaboration, Trust, and Science work together to bring meaningful enhancements to advocacy practices and therefore socially significant changes to the individuals we all advocate for. Yaffe, P. (2011). The seven percent rule: fact, fiction, or misunderstanding. Association for Computing Machinery. Retrieved from: http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/2050000/2043156/a1-yaffe.pdf?ip=67.83.150.105&id=2043156&acc=OPEN&key=4D4702B0C3E38B35%2E4D4702B0C 3E38B35%2E4D4702B0C3E38B35%2E6D218144511F3437&__acm__=1533135752_0ce817ee14 a214f845607e15e29b8bb3 Photo Credit: Handshake. Retrieved from pixabay.com
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