Description
In this unit, you have examined the four Core Principles that guide your practice and inform ethical decision-making as a behavior analyst. These four principles are: (1) Benefiting Others, (2) Treating Others with Compassion, Dignity, and Respect, (3) Behaving with Integrity, and (4) Ensuring Competence.
For this week’s discussion, imagine yourself as a new Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analyst (BCaBA). Consider the scenarios below and discuss the relevant Core Principles.
Scenario 1
You have recently been hired by a summer day camp for children of all abilities. The camp director asks you for assistance with Ramona who is a 12-year-old student with multiple disabilities. During recess, Ramona engages in a number of happy sensory behaviors including rocking and high-pitched screaming. Ramona is having a great time! But when she tries to engage her classmates in play, they do not know how to interact with her and sometimes become afraid of her behavior. You tried to redirect Ramona’s behavior, but this made her very upset, turning her happy vocalizations into sobs. The camp director tells you that Ramona’s parents have requested intensive social skills training during leisure times, but you have not been trained in specific social skills instruction.
Scenario 2
You are working on a home case with a 6-year-old client with autism who engages in mild problem behaviors and struggles with activities of daily living. During mealtimes, this client eats with his hands and does not seem to know how to eat with utensils. In the functional life skills assessment that you are using, there is a goal that states, “Client will use utensils to eat with during mealtimes independently.” You thought about adding this as a program goal, so you decided to discuss it with the parents first. The parents informed you that culturally, they ate all meals with their hands and did not need him to spend valuable therapy time learning how to use utensils. Instead, they would much rather you spend limited therapy hours teaching him communication skills and other life skills like hand washing and toilet training. You decided to discuss this with your supervisor who tells you, “That’s a bad habit. Everyone else eats with utensils, go ahead and include this in the program list anyway.”
Discussion
Choose one of the scenarios above and relate the relevant Core Principles. Using specific information from the scenario, explain your rationale for choosing the relevant core principles, and how the situation adheres to or violates them.
Guided Responses
Complete your discussion this week by responding to multiple peer posts. Comment on their discussion of the Core Principles in their chosen scenario. Add thoughts related to their perspective. Include any details you notice about the scenario that your peer may not have considered.
