Ethics Examples (Taken from Bailey & Burch)fully solved graded A+ 2023/2024

Ethics Examples (Taken from Bailey & Burch) Jane, a BCBA, serves on a nominating committee and wants her friend to be elected. She talks to the board and recommends her. She knows she will gain influence with her friend on the board. Why are there ethical problems in this situation? - correct answer She is not maintaining high standards for professional behaviour. Dr. J. has done lots of research emphasizing a specific aversive stimuli that can reduce SIB. A new BCaBA in his lab has informed him that this method was outlawed 10 years ago. What should Dr. J. do now? - correct answer He should change the focus of his study to a method his state allows. A BCBA living in a small town is asked by her sister to create an ABA program for her son. There are no other BAs available, but she has issues with her sister that might be complicated by her taking the case. What should the BCBA do? - correct answer The BCBA should not take the case. She should talk to her state association to locate someone who can work instead; if no one is available, a non-BCBA may need to take the case. The BCBA could begin training other professionals on behavioural skills. The mother of a client has decided to terminate services at home because she thinks her son gets enough ABA at school. The BCBA disagrees because the mother has shaped a lot of her son's behaviours at home. Her supervisor says the mother has the right to terminate services. What can the BCBA do? - correct answer The child is the vulnerable person in this situation, and his needs should come first. The BCBA should speak to the mother to determine if there is something that can be done to make ABA easier; maybe scheduling changes or having a different therapist would help. The BCBA should also make sure the child's case manager is aware of the situation. Dr. B. was hired as an organizational consultant by a state department. He was assigned to a residential facility for developmentally disabled adults. His job was to help staff develop behaviour programs and provide facility-wide program consultation. Some staff thought he was just a new BA working with the clients, and were unaware of his connection with the state department. They are often seen off-task when they were supposed to be working. Administration has been pressuring Dr. B. not to report facility problems. What could Dr. B. do in this situation? - correct answer He should have disclosed his status to the facility right away and clarified his role and relationship to the department. He should now set up routine (maybe weekly) reporting procedures. Everyone should be aware of who he is working for. He should turn away attempts to influence his judgment. Terry is a BCBA working with a child, Brianna, in a classroom. Brianna is very disruptive but responds well to attention and positive reinforcement. Terry tries to get everyone involved in helping Brianna; she sets up a program for her to receive a sticker every hour that she is not disruptive. At the end of every good day she has the teacher reward Brianna in front of the class and encourages the other children to applaud her. Brianna's behaviour is improving quickly, but other children in the class are starting to complain that the teacher has favourites and that the system isn't fair. Terry tells the teacher that they will eventually fade the program. Since progress was occurring so quickly, should Terry continue the program? - correct answer She must modify the program immediately. As a BA, her responsibility is to everyone that is affected by the behavioural services. The original program has been damaging the relationship between the teacher and the other children. It is also not ethical to require other students to be a part of reinforcement if they do not have a chance to earn reinforcers themselves. Steven is a BCBA who works with clients who live in a group home. He also works with the clients at the workshop they attend during the day. He takes data on vocational skills and inappropriate behaviours. He does not have an office in his home, so he has been given some file drawers in the special education teacher's room at the workshop. He keeps all of his data and assessments there. The teacher locks the classroom door at night so that the file drawers are safe. Does Steven's system for keeping records meet the guidelines? - correct answer He should only do this if he has a file drawer for which only he has a key. Anyone with access to the room could look at the files during the day, so this does not meet the guideline requirements. Robert is a BCBA working in a classroom with Kevin, an autistic child who continues to bang his head. Robert does a functional analysis and determines that Kevin's behaviour is related to attention from his parents and teachers. An OT has developed a plan that includes sensory integration, joint compression and trampoline sessions to "release pent-up energy." A speech therapist recommends sign language. A physical therapist recommends a helmet. Kevin continues to bang his head with the helmet and he's also started biting his fingers. The OT is very sure that her plan will eventually work, but she explains at every treatment team meeting that everyone needs to be patient and give the sensory integration program time to work. The special education teacher is very supportive of the OT's plan. Robert, the BCBA, is clearly outnumbered here. How should he proceed? - correct answer He should explain to the team that clients have a right to effective treatment. His professional responsibility is to review and evaluate alternative treatments, and he should request empirically-based articles from the other professionals and critique them. A baseline should be started as soon as possible. Emergency procedures should be used if SIB is causing harm. Interventions for SIB should be based on research literature. If the BCBA is not satisfied that the other treatments are supported by empirical evidence, he should say so at the next habilitation team meeting.