PS498 Unit 10 ABA Capstone Reflection Example

Seven Dimensions, Two Children, One Honest Gap: A PS498 Unit 10 Capstone Reflection

[Student Name]

Purdue University Global

PS498: Bachelor's Capstone in Applied Behavior Analysis

Unit 10 Capstone Reflection

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

The writer, the clinic, the families and the children are composite; the articles cited are real.

Why the Seven Dimensions

When I began the applied behavior analysis concentration, I read Baer et al. (1968) in my first course and memorized the seven dimensions for a quiz. Four years later, they are the most useful frame I have for judging my own work. They say the field should be applied and behavioral, analytic and technological, conceptually systematic, effective and general. My capstone, teaching two young clients to use the toilet under a supervisor's direction, can be measured against each.

Applied

A behavior is applied when it matters to the person and the people around them. Amara's kindergarten placement depended on using the toilet, and the school has now agreed to a general classroom next fall. Leo's parents wanted fewer accidents before preschool. Neither family doubted the goals mattered. This dimension drew on what I learned about social validity and goal selection.

Behavioral

The project measured what the children did, not what anyone inferred: accidents, continent voids and self-initiations, each defined with examples and non-examples. Agreement averaged 86 to 96 percent across measures. The lowest, self-initiations, taught me how hard it is to define a glance toward a door.

Analytic

A multiple baseline across the two children showed that each child's accidents fell when training began and not before. With only two demonstrations, the design falls short of the standard for establishing evidence, and I described it that way. My research methods courses taught me the design; the capstone taught me to state its limits without apology.

The most analytic sentence I wrote all year was the one admitting what the design could not show.

Technological and Conceptually Systematic

The protocol was written so that any technician or parent could run it: sit schedules, reinforcer delivery, accident responses, phase rules and decision rules. Each procedure connected to principles from the program: reinforcement for voids, a neutral response to accidents instead of punishment, motivating operations in the timing of drinks and sits, and task analysis for the full routine.

Effective

Amara met every success criterion. Leo's accidents fell substantially after a revision, but he did not meet the self-initiation criterion. The project was effective for one child and partly effective for the other, and I will not round that up.

Generality

Generality is where the project was weakest. Stokes and Baer (1977) warned against training a behavior and hoping it spreads to new settings, people and forms. I planned for generality by training caregivers, probing other settings and collecting follow-up data, and Amara's gains held across settings. Leo's did less well at his grandparents' home, which I trained least, and his requests to use the bathroom never generalized because they never became frequent in the first place. If I repeated the project, I would include his grandparents in caregiver training and build sign practice into the protocol from the first day rather than adding it at the end.

Culture and Families

The competency I expected least to use mattered as much as any other. Fong et al. (2016) argue that behavior analysts must examine their own cultural assumptions. My first protocol draft assumed toilet paper, assumed any staff member could assist and assumed a family with one parent home every evening. Amara's mother, her grandmother and Leo's parents corrected all three, and the protocol worked better for it. I now ask how a routine works in the family's home before I write a single step.

Ethics and Scope

Throughout the project, my supervisor designed and approved procedures, and I carried them out and analyzed data. Writing that division into the plan protected the children from my inexperience and from my interest in a good grade. It also showed me how far a technician's job sits from the analyst's job I am working toward.

What I Am Still Learning

Three competencies are still developing. I can describe visual analysis but need more practice judging gradual changes like Leo's. I need more experience designing procedures, not just carrying them out. And I am still learning how to talk with a family when results are mixed without either overselling or discouraging them.

Next Steps

I have applied to two master's programs in applied behavior analysis that include supervised fieldwork toward board certification, and my clinic supervisor has agreed to provide fieldwork supervision. Within the next year, I plan to complete my first semester and begin logging supervised hours. I also plan to stay involved with Leo's program as it continues, since his self-initiations are the question my capstone left open.

Conclusion

Measured against the seven dimensions Baer, Wolf and Risley described, the capstone was applied, behavioral, technological and conceptually systematic, analytic within stated limits, effective for one child and partly for the other, and weakest in generality, as Stokes and Baer would predict for skills that were not fully programmed to spread. The families taught me what Fong and colleagues describe, and the gaps set my next steps.

References

Baer, D. M., Wolf, M. M., & Risley, T. R. (1968). Some current dimensions of applied behavior analysis. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1(1), 91-97. https://doi.org/10.1901/jaba.1968.1-91

Fong, E. H., Catagnus, R. M., Brodhead, M. T., Quigley, S., & Field, S. (2016). Developing the cultural awareness skills of behavior analysts. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 9(1), 84-94. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-016-0111-6

Stokes, T. F., & Baer, D. M. (1977). An implicit technology of generalization. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 10(2), 349-367. https://doi.org/10.1901/jaba.1977.10-349