Positive Behavior Supports for Adults with Disabilities in Employment, Community, and Residential Settings - Softcover

Keith Storey; Michal Post

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0398081123 ISBN 13: 9780398081126

Publisher: Charles C Thomas Pub Ltd, 2014

Synopsis

The aim of this book is to provide an overview of positive behavior supports for adults with disabilities in a written format that is directed to support providers who can immediately put the information to use. The authors have written the book in a non-technical format and include clear real-life examples for using positive behavior supports in employment, community, and residential settings. It is generic across disability labels and should be of interest to those working with adults with disabilities in any capacity. In this book each chapter follows the sequence of: Key Point Questions; Window to the World Case Studies; Best Practice Recommendations; Discussion Questions; and Employment, Community, and Residential Based Activity Suggestions. The book is intended to give support providers the knowledge and skills for providing positive behavior supports in employment, community, and residential settings and thereby improve the quality of life for the individuals that they support. The rubber meets the road, not only in how to support adults with disabilities, but also in how to implement positive behavior supports so that positive quality of life outcomes occur. An advantage of this book is that agencies and organizations preparing support providers can easily use it in courses or trainings that address positive behavior supports, as it covers methodology that is seldom covered in detail in most texts. Those who are already support providers will find the information to be practical and easily implemented in applied settings. College instructors are likely to choose this book based upon: the consistent format used throughout; the readability of the book for students in college classes or adult service providers; the comprehensive coverage of positive behavior supports; and the direct applicability to applied settings. In addition to college instructors, others providing instruction, supervision, and training to support providers will find this book useful.

About this title

About the Author

Keith Storey (Ph.D., University of Oregon) is a Professor of Education and the Special Education Program Chair at Touro University in Vallejo, California. Keith is the recipient of the 1988 Alice H. Hayden Award from The Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps; the 1996 Hau-Cheng Wang Fellowship from Chapman University, presented for exceptional merit in scholarship; and the 2001 Robert Gaylord-Ross Memorial Scholar Award from the California Association for Persons with Severe Disabilities. A member of the Illinois State University College of Education Alumni Hall of Fame, he serves on the editorial boards of Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities, Education and Treatment of Children, Career Development for Exceptional Individuals, Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, and Education and Training in Autism and Developmental Disabilities. He has also published several books, including POSITIVE BEHAVIOR SUPPORTS IN CLASSROOMS AND SCHOOLS: EFFECTIVE AND PRACTICAL STRATEGIES FOR TEACHERS AND OTHER SERVICE PROVIDERS, and THE ROAD AHEAD: TRANSITION TO ADULT LIFE FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES.

Review

The book provides an overview of positive behavior supports for adults with disabilities and uses examples from employment, community and residential settings to help give support providers the knowledge and skills to provide positive behavior support. A key benefit to this book is its comprehensive coverage of methodology and its direct applicability to applied settings. Each chapter includes case studies, key point questions, best practice recommendations, discussion questions and classroom activity suggestions. The authors initially provide an overview of positive behaviour supports and outline how support providers and anyone providing support to adults with disabilities in employment, community and residential settings can implement positive behavior interventions to arrive at behavior change. It focuses on observational methods and outlines examples, advantages and disadvantages of using different forms of data collection. The authors discuss that functional assessment identifies unnecessary situations that prompt the undesirable behaviors, helps gain an understanding of how antecedents and consequences influence occurrence of behaviors, identifies new skills that can be taught to make undesirable behaviors unnecessary and identifies effective staff responses to desirable and undesirable behaviors. Different reinforcement schedules are discussed along with guidelines for making reinforcement effective. Different punishment procedures such as extinction, time out and response cost, with guidelines and disadvantages for each is also discussed. The book highlights the importance of collaboration in providing positive behaviour supports by involving family and an individual s network of support with interventions. The non-technical format of this book coupled with real life examples and the in-depth coverage of methodology of how to implement strategies make this book very readable for those already working in the field of supporting individuals with disabilities as well as for those new to the area of positive behaviour support. It is a useful training aid for organizations and individual practitioners alike and is an enjoyable read. --Vikki Smith/International Journal of Positive Behavioural Support

The authors have set the scene for the reader, by providing a clear scope, plan and purpose of the book In the preface. The scope promises a non-technical approach to practical strategies for adults with disabilities that can be immediately applied by 'support providers'(including job coaches, residential staff, family members, social workers, case managers and others) across community, employment and residential settings.
The plan Is to structure the content so that each chapter includes a set of key questions (and answers), case studies, best practice recommendations, further discussion questions and specific employment, community and residential activity suggestions. The purpose is to improve the quality of life of adults with disabilities, by offering support providers and instructors and teachers of support providers, knowledge, skills and methodologies In the area of positive behaviour support that is not necessarily found in other text books.
The case studies detail 'performance problems' or 'undesirable behaviours' being exhibited by the individual. They also detail the type of support being utilised, and key challenges for the support provider. Specific practical strategies are suggested by supervisors, or other health pro¬fessionals, such as relaxation and visualisation techniques, and technology Interventions such as a phone application that allows a supported person with verbal limitations to communicate via a message, letting the support worker know they would like to undertake an activity. The case studies are not referred to further in the chapter, or ongoing across chapters, rather they are examples in themselves. It may have been useful to utilise at least one of the case studies ongoing, and expand on it during each chapter, allowing the reader to compare the different positive support strategies and interventions provided.
The best practice recommendations contained within each chapter are very brief (usually 1-5 points), although precise and relevant. For example in the chapter on social skills, the suggestion is to focus on active learning strategies, such as role play and modelling, and provide ongoing positive reinforcement. This would prove useful to support providers, as it is easy to remember and to apply practically in the workplace setting.These recommendations are then followed by another set of 1-5 discussion questions which would be best utilised by teachers in an education environment, as Individual self-reflection opportunities or group discussion activities.
Finally, each chapter closes with relevant activity suggestions pertaining to community, employment and residential settings. These include specific workplace activities, such as inter¬views with other professionals, clients, family members and an analysis of current clients and their behaviours. Each chapter is well supported from literature and therefore a useful tool for support workers wishing to acquire further information or resources. It is evident that this publication has been written by authors with a significant level of knowledge, experience and education across an extensive range of settings.
This publication has been presented in a highly relevant and practical manner, using a focus on positive approaches, interventions and support strategies, with the aim of improving the life outcomes of adults with disabilities across many contexts. As such, it has achieved its purpose and is therefore recommended to those with an interest in this area. --Tania Anderson The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Edition details

• Publisher: Charles C Thomas Pub Ltd
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0398081123
• ISBN 13: 9780398081126
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 196