BA430 Unit 2 Record Review and Scope Paper Example

Three Folders, One Sleep Study: A BA430 Unit 2 Record Review and Scope Paper

[Student Name]

Purdue University Global

BA430: Behavior Assessment

Unit 2 Record Review and Scope Paper

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

The writer, the cooperative, the students and every record detail are composite and illustrative; the articles and book cited are real.

Why Records Come First

The cooperative where I train serves eleven small school districts in western Montana, and every referral arrives with a folder. In September I received three: Kou, a nine-year-old with autism who screams and hits staff during transitions; Brynn, a fourteen-year-old with Down syndrome who tears worksheets and leaves her classroom; and Wyatt, a six-year-old with autism who hits his own head and mouths objects. My supervising behavior analyst asked me to review each folder fully before scheduling any observation, and to write a short summary of what the records showed and what I was and was not prepared to do.

A record review is the first assessment. It tells the analyst what has been tried, what medical conditions might affect behavior, and what other professionals already know. Skipping it risks repeating a failed intervention or missing a cause that no behavioral procedure will fix.

What the Records Showed

Kou's folder held an individualized education program, a speech evaluation describing about thirty spoken words in Hmong and English, and an occupational therapy note about sensitivity to loud sounds. No prior behavior assessment had been done. The transitions where he screamed, I noticed, were also the noisiest times of day, the bus line and the gym.

Brynn's folder was the thickest. It included a functional behavior assessment from her previous district two years earlier, which had concluded that her worksheet tearing was attention-maintained and recommended a token economy for staying on task. Progress notes showed the token economy had not reduced the tearing. On page forty, a pediatric sleep study from the previous spring diagnosed moderate obstructive sleep apnea, with a note that surgery was being considered. Her thyroid medication had also been changed in August.

Wyatt's folder included a recent pediatric visit noting frequent ear infections, a hearing screening that could not be completed, and a parent report that his head hitting had increased sharply over the summer.

A token economy for staying on task cannot fix a student who has barely slept.

Medical Factors and Behavior

Carr and Smith (1995) described biological setting events, conditions such as illness, pain, sleep deprivation and menstrual discomfort, that can increase the likelihood of self-injury and other problem behavior by changing how aversive ordinary demands are or how valuable escape becomes. They argued that assessment should look for such events rather than assume that environmental contingencies alone explain the behavior.

The records suggested a biological setting event in each case. Brynn's sleep apnea could make sustained work more aversive, especially in the morning, which might explain why an attention-based plan had failed. Wyatt's ear infections raised the possibility that his head hitting was related to ear pain, a pattern that should be ruled out medically before any behavioral assessment. Kou's sound sensitivity suggested that noise, not the transition itself, might set the occasion for screaming.

Recommendations from the Review

For Brynn, I recommended that the team record her tearing by time of day and note her sleep each night, using a simple log her mother agreed to keep, and that the prior assessment's attention hypothesis be retested rather than assumed. For Wyatt, I recommended a referral to his pediatrician for an ear examination before any functional assessment, with his parents' consent. For Kou, I recommended observing transitions at different noise levels, including a quiet hallway route the school could try.

Scope of Competence

Brodhead et al. (2018) argued that scope of competence in behavior analysis should be thought of as the specific populations, problems and procedures for which a practitioner has adequate training and supervised experience, not as everything the field covers. They proposed that practitioners ask whether they have relevant education, supervised experience and current knowledge for each case, and that they seek supervision, training or referral when they do not.

Applying that framework to my three cases produced different answers. Brynn's task refusal and leaving the classroom are common school behaviors, and I have supervised experience with escape-maintained behavior in classrooms; I can conduct the assessment under my supervisor's oversight. Kou's case involves cultural and language factors and aggression toward staff; I can conduct indirect and descriptive assessment, but any experimental analysis would need my supervisor present, and interviews would need a trained Hmong interpreter. Wyatt's head hitting is self-injury with possible medical causes, and severe self-injury is outside my training. My supervisor will lead his assessment, and I will collect data under her direction.

Coordinating with Other Professionals

The review also identified other professionals whose work bears on behavior. Brynn's sleep apnea is managed by a physician, and any change in her treatment could change her behavior; I asked her mother whether we could share behavior data with her doctor. Kou's speech therapist knows which words he uses, which matters for any communication-based intervention. Wyatt's pediatrician and an audiologist need to see him before behavioral work begins. Cooper et al. (2020) describe this coordination as part of responsible practice: behavior analysts work within a team and should not proceed as though behavior were the only relevant factor.

Consent and Records

Reviewing records requires permission. The cooperative's consent form covers school records, but medical records and contact with physicians require separate releases from parents. I explained each release to the families before requesting anything, and for Kou's grandmother I arranged an interpreter rather than relying on his sister. Records are stored in the cooperative's secure system, and my summaries use only what is needed for the assessment.

What the Review Changed

Without the review, I would have started Brynn's case by observing for attention, as the prior assessment suggested, and might have missed the sleep apnea entirely. I would have started Wyatt's case with a functional assessment of head hitting that might have been ear pain. The review changed the first step in both cases and narrowed my role in one.

Conclusion

Three folders produced three different starting points. The record review identified a biological setting event in each case, consistent with Carr and Smith's account of how illness and sleep loss affect behavior, and it showed that a prior assessment needed retesting. Brodhead and colleagues' framework placed Brynn's case within my competence under supervision, Kou's within it with an interpreter and a supervisor for experimental work, and Wyatt's with my supervisor after a medical referral.

References

Brodhead, M. T., Quigley, S. P., & Wilczynski, S. M. (2018). A call for discussion about scope of competence in behavior analysis. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 11(4), 424-435. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-018-00303-8

Carr, E. G., & Smith, C. E. (1995). Biological setting events for self-injury. Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews, 1(2), 94-98. https://doi.org/10.1002/mrdd.1410010204

Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L. (2020). Applied behavior analysis (3rd ed.). Pearson.