The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent climate of uncertainty has caused many ABA practices to seek alternative ways to provide services to clients, while also trying to maintain quality. Now more than ever, businesses are looking to software solutions to automate workflows and/or assist with delivery of services.
Many ABA companies have been relying on telehealth as a revenue stream during stay at home orders -- and a way to keep their doors open -- but more importantly, to continue providing care to those in need. In order to ensure your team is providing quality care to clients, there are several different solutions you can use individually or in tandem within the CentralReach system.
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One of the first things discussed during CentralReach’s clinical implementation are clinical templates -- including instructional notes, criteria & prompting, and ABC data collection tables. Templates allow you to establish the foundation of how you want your programming to be executed, whether you are a BCBA or a Clinical Director managing several. In addition, templates allow you to ensure that your team is providing the same level of quality in their care regardless of experience level. For example, instructional notes enable you to lay out how specific skills are taught (i.e. what materials are needed, what the reinforcement schedule is, what the SD is, etc.). These, along with criteria and prompting templates, can easily be placed inside learning tree templates to further establish a set of standards within your company.
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Learning tree templates are best utilized as goal banks and client skeleton program books. Goal banks allow you to establish an initial set of goals that your team can utilize, and as your number of programs increases, so does your bank of goals. Furthermore, they allow you to establish teaching instructions for specific types of programs (i.e. Behavior Reduction, Tacting, Listener Responding, etc.) and enforce a standard on how you want goals to be presented. Skeleton program books allow you to establish clear boundaries on how all client programs appear to ensure ease of auditing.
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That takes us to auditing. While auditing is never fun, it is a necessary task that can be made easier using technology. CentralReach’s system has various tools to make it easier including Advanced Graphing Analysis (AGA) and the Goals List. AGA is a set of graphing tools within the system that provides scatterplots, advanced linear graphs, and ABC data graphs. Scatterplots can be used to review the times of day at which data are being collected to ensure they are being collected in real time. There is also a learning opportunities graph that can be used to display the number of learning opportunities per provider. This allows you to review the number of opportunities a client is being given to learn a skill based on the provider working with that client. ultimately allowing you to ensure that all providers are working with the client equally.
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The Goals List feature, on the other hand, allows you to review a client’s (or multiple clients’) specific records, versus just focusing on the technician. The Goals List provides a spreadsheet-type view of all client goals that include information like what phase goals are in if goals are mastered, averages, the trend, last data point, etc. Instead of clicking through each individual client’s goals, you can use the Goals List to review multiple clients at one time and pinpoint the specific goals that a client might be experiencing issues with.
Our mission at CentralReach is to allow clinicians to spend more time focused on the care and progress of the learner with less time on the required administrative duties. With the growing use of automation and remote access, we are able to provide clinicians with the tools and resources needed to make this shift in focus and time. Therefore, the values and reinforcers of the BCBAs and agencies regarding compliance can be maintained while making the once daunting task a bit easier without sacrificing quality, especially during these unprecedented times.
About the Author
Justyn Harvey, M.Ed., BCBA
CentralReach, Senior Manager of Customer Success
Justyn found his way to the field of behavior analysis when he moved to Florida for a job as a Behavior Technician after graduating with his Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from the Ohio State University. He was very passionate about the work he was doing and went on to pursue his Master’s Degree and certification in behavior analysis.
After spending a few years working his way up from an RBT to a BCBA, he came across CentralReach where he realized that he could make a more national impact by assisting ABA companies with a software to automate some of the daily administrative tasks and allow for more time with the clients who need it.
About CentralReach
CentralReach is the leading provider of Autism and IDD Care Software, providing the only complete, end-to-end software and services platform that helps children and adults diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and related intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) - and those who serve them - unlock potential, achieve better outcomes, and live more independent lives. With its roots in Applied Behavior Analysis, the company is revolutionizing how the lifelong journey of autism and IDD care is enabled at home, school, and work with powerful and intuitive solutions purpose-built for each care setting.
Trusted by more than 175,000 professionals globally, CentralReach is committed to ongoing product advancement, market-leading industry expertise, world-class client satisfaction, and support of the autism and IDD community to propel autism and IDD care into a new era of excellence. For more information, please visit CentralReach.com or follow us on LinkedIn and Facebook.
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