Iowa ABA Ethics Workshop
Presenter: Susan Wilczynski, PhD, BCBA-D
Director, Doctoral Program in Special Education
Plassman Family Distinguished Professor of SPED and ABA
Ball State University
Dr. Wilczynski is the Plassman Family Distinguished Professor of Special Education and Applied Behavior Analysis. She served as the Executive Director of the National Autism Center, where she chaired the National Standards Project. The National Standards was the largest comprehensive systematic review of the autism treatment literature of its time. Dr. Wilczynski developed the first center-based treatment program in the state of Nebraska while on faculty at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. As an assistant professor at the University of Southern Mississippi, she supervised the first psychology lab run by a woman in the Psychology department. Dr. Wilczynski has edited multiple books and manuals on evidence-based practice and autism. Most recently, she has published articles related to evidence-based practice and diversity as well as evidence-based practice in non-traditional settings. Dr. Wilczynski has published scholarly works in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, Behavior Modification, Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, Educating and Treating Children, and Psychology in the Schools. She currently serves as on the Practice Board for the Association for Behavior Analysis International. Dr. Wilczynski is a licensed psychologist and a board certified behavior analyst.
Title: Using Evidence-based Practice as an Ethics-based Decision-making Model for your Clients
Abstract: Evidence-based practice (EBP) is a decision-making model that practitioners can use to make sound ethical decisions for their clients (Slocum et al., 2014; Wilczynski, 2017). EBP involves using professional judgment to integrate the best available evidence with client factors and contextual variables. By using the EBP model, practitioners are well-positioned to select, reject, adapt, or retain a treatment while considering their ethical responsibilities to provide effective treatment, to work in collaboration or consultation with other professionals, to communicate effectively with clients (and their families) and involve clients and in planning, and to individualize behavior-change programs. This workshop introduces an EBP checklist to attendees to help them integrate each of these components of the ethics code. Participants will actively work through examples in which they select the best intervention option given the complex and sometimes conflicting expectations in our field (e.g., most effective interventions versus social validity). Participants will be coached on how to apply the EBP model to make ethical decisions (BACB, 2014) regarding treatment choices for their own clients. Behavior analysts who seek to better understand how to apply the ethics code under real world conditions will find the EBP Checklist a useful tool to guide their decision-making.
Location: Drake University, Science Connector Building, Room 301
