Peter F. Gerhardt- Ethics, Evidence-Based Practice and Socially Important Outcomes with Adolescents and Young Adults with ASD

1.0 Type II CE Credit/ 1.0 Ethics CE

This talk was filmed at the 2016 Ethics in Professional Practice Conference at Endicott College

About the presentation:

Baer, Wolf and Risely (1968), stated that interventions based upon the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis produce strong, socially important effects, generalize to new environments and continue after the formal treatments have ended. Yet almost 50 years later, much of the discussion on ABA intervention in ASD focuses narrowly on treatment fidelity, treatment integrity, and a desire for “clinical purity” rather than on the significance, generalization, and maintenance of our outcomes. In other words, we have a treatment model focused on inputs, rather than on outputs. This presentation will provide an overview of the more significant implications of this treatment model and discuss ways the profession might expand our understanding of evidence-based and ethical practice to include significant and lasting outcomes.

Upon completion of this presentation, you will be able to:

• Report the difference between research-based interventions, evidence-based interventions, and evidence-based practice
• Discuss a minimum of 3 characteristics that associated with the ethical practice of behavior analysis beyond the “input” stage
• Discuss how the presence of risk may have impacted the field’s move away from outcomes with greater social significance