(REC) Building a Foundation for Effective and Ethical Treatment of Interfering Behavior

In this presentation, Hillary Laney and Timothy Yeager will describe the literature supporting the recommended use of a functional analysis in practice for the treatment of interfering behavior. They will describe a framework for making evidence based decisions and apply that to the ethical decisions we should make surrounding functional analysis and subsequent treatment of interfering behavior.

Learning Objectives:

• Clinicians will understand an evidence-based decision making framework
• Clinicians will familiarize themselves with literature supporting the use of practical functional assessment
• Clinicians will understand the limitations of functional behavioral assessments and how they inform treatment decisions
• Clinicians will understand the ethical implications surrounding decision making with a functional analysis in practice

Presenter Bios

Hilary Laney is the Vice President of Functional Assessment and Treatment at
Centria Autism. In her role at Centria, she is responsible for the development and
oversight of foundational clinical services as they relate to the treatment of
interfering behavior. Her current focus is on the scale and successful
implementation of the Practical Functional Assessment and Skills-Based Treatment
and Universal Protocols. She guides clinical practices which prioritize safety,
dignity, effectiveness, and rapport-based treatments for challenging and interfering
behaviors exhibited by clients at Centria. Hillary is a Board Certified Behavior
Analyst and received her M. Ed from the University of Washington in 2015. She has
over 10 years of experience working with individuals on the autism spectrum as well
as various other disabilities, specifically as it relates to the treatment of severe
behavioral challenges.

Hillary has vast experience as a practitioner and deeply cares to support other
practitioners in the field to provide more compassionate services to their clients.
She is an administrator of an Facebook community (PFA and SBT Community: My
Way to HRE) created to support practitioners in the use of the Practical Functional
Assessment and Skills-Based Treatment which has 17,000 members and provides
free content for members to learn and grow from one another. She has provided
training modules for the Do Better Collective, presented on compassionate
practices at various conferences, and has been a guest on multiple podcasts
(Including the Do Better Pod) discussing strategies to support compassionate therapy

Timothy Yeager joined Centria Autism in 2020 as Vice President of Clinical
Curriculum and Quality then transitioned to Chief Clinical Officer in January of
2021. In this role, he fosters an environment of clinical excellence through
leadership and systems development, overseeing the patient-staff interaction
from initial assessment through discharge, including professional development,
clinical outcomes, and clinical decision making while aligning continuous ongoing
assessment with curriculum and supports. But he isn’t above geeking out in
conversations about Relational Frame Theory, the role of nonlinear contingency
analysis or Interbehaviorism on Clinical Decision Making, and the effect of key
developmental condition reinforcers on language development.

Timothy is a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst and has four teaching certificates
that range from birth through 6th grade for both special and general education.
He has 14 years of cross-sector experience as a former Professor of Psychology
and Early Childhood Education, Executive Director of the Behavior Sciences
Institute at Fresno State, and Deputy Director of Easterseals Central California.
He is passionate about leveraging the science of behavior analysis and large
data sets within a system that continuously measures quality and performance.
Timothy is an alumnus of Fresno State with a bachelor’s degree in psychology
and a minor in Mathematics. He holds three master’s degrees from Teachers
College of Columbia University in Applied Behavior Analysis, Curriculum and
Instruction, and Education and is currently completing his Ph.D. at Columbia
University.

Timothy is a father of three and currently resides in Fresno, California with his
partner Tiffany and his three children, Roslyn, Atticus, and Ezra.  In his spare
time, you can find him cheering on his daughter on the soccer pitch, playing with
his young boys at the park, cooking a meal prepared from scratch for friends and
family, or enjoying a wide range of podcasts on anything from pop-culture to
whiskey tasting.