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| Emotional Difficulties in Children: Increasing Maintenance & Generalization of Treatment Gains by Focusing on Emotional Development. |
| Friday, May 23, 2008 |
| 10:00 AM–5:00 PM |
| Stevens 1 |
| Area: CSE; Domain: Applied Research |
| CE Instructor: Jeannie A. Golden, Ph.D. |
| JEANNIE A. GOLDEN (East Carolina University) |
| Description: Many children in the child welfare system develop the symptoms of childhood psychiatric disorders, such as ADHD, ODD, conduct disorder, bipolar disorder and RAD, due to early abuse/neglect and multiple placements/caregivers. Often, the treatment focus follows the medical model with the assumption that behavioral symptoms are the result of underlying psychopathology. Instead, behavior analysts conduct observations of behavior in a variety of settings to determine the effect of various stimulus conditions and setting events, functional assessments to determine the causes and maintainers of various behavioral symptoms, and careful analysis of learning histories to determine the efficacy of various reinforcers and punishers. Behavior analysts are also able to provide assessment-driven treatment approaches, to design therapeutic environments that support the learning of appropriate replacement behaviors and to facilitate typical emotional development rather than psychopathology. However, although these children function well within these structured settings, once this structure is removed they often fail to maintain or generalize their behavioral changes. Several techniques that can be used to increase maintenance and generalization of treatment gains by focusing on emotional development will be presented in this workshop. Case examples will be provided, along with opportunities to get feedback on the cases of participants. |
| Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the workshop, the participant will be able to: 1. tell how the learning histories of children with emotional difficulties effect their emotional development and subsequent responses to several behavioral interventions 2. tell why intervention gains are difficult to maintain and generalize outside of the structured setting where the behavioral interventions have been implemented 3. describe several techniques that can be used to increase maintenance and generalization of treatment gains by focusing on emotional development 4. provide several case examples of children with emotional difficulties who have benefited from the inclusion of these techniques along with other behavioral interventions 5. describe how to apply these techniques to assist children with emotional difficulties in their own professional settings |
| Activities: Participants will listen to didactic information and real-life case histories in homes, schools and community settings, take notes, ask questions, view a power point presentation, present their own cases for feedback, and participate in role-play situations. |
| Audience: Participants would include board certified behavior analysts, psychologists, counselors, health care providers, social workers and/or teachers who serve children with developmental disabilities or children who typically-developing who have emotional difficulties and/or have been given psychiatric diagnoses. |
| Content Area: Practice |
| Instruction Level: Intermediate |