Yes, behaviour analysis can help, but do you know how to harness it?

Abstract

Behaviour analysis procedures are gaining increasing acceptance as a viable form of treatment in traumatic head injury rehabilitation. This is based in part on the variety of sequelae that persons who have experienced a traumatic brain injury present, and the ability of behavioural procedures to address some of these issues. A second role for behaviour analysis is based on the techniques of learning and functional skill development which correlate well with the goals of traumatic brain injury rehabilitation. Over the decades a number of effective learning procedures have been developed by behaviour analysts to help a variety of people with different capacities of learning develop new skills. A third role for behaviour analysis in rehabilitation is its emphasis on the use of functional measures when determining change and treatment outcome. In this manner treatment procedures and goals can be directly measured, allowing for precise management of intervention strategies. Ideally, this can help make treatment outcome more clinically efficient and cost-effective. Along with these promises come some limitations. As with any tool, behaviour analysis procedures are not all-encompassing and by themselves do not constitute proper rehabilitation. A behaviour analyst's perspective does not, and was never designed to, 'describe the world' or account for the entirety of human behaviour. Behaviour analysis represents a template for documenting and working with selected forms of human activity. Unfortunately it is frequently a misunderstood and often incorrectly applied technology. The purpose of this paper is to provide some insight into this field's development of some of the basic principles of behaviour analysis.