Act And Applied Behavior Analysis

ACT and Applied Behavior Analysis

Quickly master a proven-effective behavior therapy that will allow you to expand the effectiveness of your practice. As a board-certified behavior analyst (BCBA), you work with a wide range of clients, particularly those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Some of these clients may not be verbal at all on one end of the spectrum, while some may have very advanced language skills on the other. For these clients and their families, you need a flexible and adaptable therapeutic framework to ensure the best behavior outcomes. Drawn from relational frame theory (RFT)—the psychological theory of human language—acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) can help. With this definitive professional manual, you’ll learn to conceptualize your cases using ACT, create your own exercises, generate metaphors, be present with the unique individual learner in front of you, and practice the core ACT skills flexibly to ensure better behavior outcomes for clients and their families. You’ll find an overview of the theoretical connections between behavior analysis, RFT, and ACT, as well as the core act skills, including present-moment awareness, flexible perspective taking, committed action, and values work. Finally, you’ll find information on cultural competency and diversity to help you service a wide range of clients. If you’re like many BCBAs, you need specialized resources when working with linguistically sophisticated clients, as well as their parents and caregivers. Let this book be your comprehensive guide to incorporating ACT into your work.

ACT AND APPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Behavior Analysts

This book provides a thorough discussion of acceptance and commitment therapy or training (ACT) and a guide for its use by behavior analysts. The book emphasizes how the intentional development of six core behavioral processes – values, committed action, acceptance, defusion, self-as-context, and present moment awareness – help establish the psychological flexibility needed to acquire and maintain adaptive behaviors that compete with maladaptive behavior patterns in verbally able clients. Split into three parts, the book discusses the history and controversy surrounding the rise of acceptance and commitment strategies in behavior analysis and shows how the processes underlying ACT are linked to foundational behavioral scientific principles as amplified by stimulus equivalence and relational learning principles such as those addressed by relational frame theory. In a careful step-by-step way, it describes the best practices for administering the acceptance and commitment procedures at the level of the individual client, organizational systems, and with families. Attention is also given to the ethical and scope-of-practice considerations for behavior analysts, along with recommendations for conducting on-going research on this new frontier for behavior analytic treatment across a myriad of populations and behaviors. Written by leading experts in the field, the book argues that practice must proceed from the basic tenants of behavior analysis, and that now is the opportune moment to bring ACT methods to behavior analysts to maximize the scope and depth of behavioral treatments for all people. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Behavior Analysts will be an essential read for students of behavior analysis and behavior therapy, as well as for individuals on graduate training programs that prepare behavior analysts and professionals that are likely to use ACT in their clinical practice and research.