Could it Be Pain?: How to Assess Behavioral Patterns in ID and DD Clients

This webinar will provide a primer on nonverbal behavior research, the use of the grimace facial expression to assess pain, and go over a study on pain physiological reactions in children without a diagnosis, with Autism and a group with Intellectual Disability. Then we will go over a comprehensive overview of lessor known behaviors that are associated with pain reactions for children and adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, and psychiatric conditions. Have you ever had a client exhibit a new set of behaviors that don’t align with the assumed function? Maybe it’s not attention. Maybe it’s medical. Integration of medical knowledge about pain into your behavior analytic practice could help solve some complicated cases that have yet been resolved and enhance clientele outcomes. Learn how to collaborate with medical practitioners with evidence-based assessments and ongoing behavioral data for in-depth analyses of complicated medical and behavioral interactions. Empower yourself and caregivers with a comprehensive way to assess pain.

At the end of this training, participants will:

• Understand what nonverbal communication is and how it applies to behavior analysis.
• Learn that culture can affect how nonverbal communication is displayed by in-group members.
• Learn about the grimace facial action/facial expression and how it’s used by the medical field to assess pain experienced by client, including those who are unable to vocalize their pain levels (either because they are typically nonvocal or are nonvocal due to pain medications after an operation).
• Understand how Autistics, people with intellectual disabilities, and/or have dual diagnosis have differentiating experiences with pain, and how those differences need to be accounted for when writing a behavior plan.
• A overview of pain literature that was put in an excel doc for participants, two pain articles from other fields, and a quick overview of the included Behavior Taxonomy Template.