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Gabriella HollinsheadMA Special Education: DHH
University of Arizona |
Jessie MannMA Special Education: ABA
University of Arizona |
Introduction
This capstone project explores the collaboration between practitioners in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and Teachers of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (TODHH) serving children who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH). Ten key components or “takeaways” are featured for building effective collaborative teams, adapted from the Collaboration and Team Science Field Guide (Bennett et al., 2018), for the purpose of improving collaborative service delivery for DHH children with behavioral challenges. The key components in this document cover the current literature in the fields of ABA and DHH and draw on the collaborative experiences of individuals in an online ABA/DHH Masters program cohort at the University of Arizona.
The University of Arizona cohort of scholars participated in an Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP)/U.S. Department of Education grant project, Project Online Interdisciplinary Collaboration (OIC). The goals of Project OIC are threefold: “to increase (a) the number of fully credentialed teachers of DHH students (TODHHs) who can address challenging behavior issues and provide intensive individualized instruction to students, (b) the number of fully credentialed behavior analysts who can support students who have challenging behavior issues due to severe communication difficulties, and (c) the collaborative efforts between TODHHs, behavior analysts, general education personnel, and families to create optimal learning environments at home and educational settings, including schools and distance learning environments” (University of Arizona College of Education, n.d.).
Four out of six cohort scholars, 67%, responded to a survey by the authors Hollinshead and Mann on the collaborative experiences within the OSEP Project OIC grant project.
Background
Children who are DHH struggle with behavior problems at a rate comparable to, or more than, their typical hearing peers (Studts et al., 2022). Out of the population of students who are DHH, approximately 40-50% of students are DHH with an additional disability (Guardino, 2015) and 3.5% of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are also DHH (Edmier et al., 2023). There is considerable overlap between the DHH and Behavioral services domain, and yet, there is a shortfall of appropriate training opportunities for providers seeking to deliver services informed by both service domains and a shortfall of appropriate service providers.
Caregivers of children who are DHH are more likely to report impaired family function as a result of these behavioral concerns, and report a lack of behavioral support services (Studts et al., 2022). The lack of support services is, in part, driven by a lack of providers with the necessary training. The effects are felt not just by the families of DHH children with behavioral service needs, but also by those intending to serve this population. The National Center on Low-Incidence Disabilities conducted an assessment and found that the third highest priority ranked by those in the DHH education field was “meeting the needs of students with additional disabilities” (Guardino, 2015, p. 417). This capstone intends to help add to the literature supporting healthy and productive collaborations among those serving this population, in order to better meet the unique needs that arise in the overlap between these populations.
This capstone project explores the collaboration between practitioners in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and Teachers of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (TODHH) serving children who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH). Ten key components or “takeaways” are featured for building effective collaborative teams, adapted from the Collaboration and Team Science Field Guide (Bennett et al., 2018), for the purpose of improving collaborative service delivery for DHH children with behavioral challenges. The key components in this document cover the current literature in the fields of ABA and DHH and draw on the collaborative experiences of individuals in an online ABA/DHH Masters program cohort at the University of Arizona.
The University of Arizona cohort of scholars participated in an Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP)/U.S. Department of Education grant project, Project Online Interdisciplinary Collaboration (OIC). The goals of Project OIC are threefold: “to increase (a) the number of fully credentialed teachers of DHH students (TODHHs) who can address challenging behavior issues and provide intensive individualized instruction to students, (b) the number of fully credentialed behavior analysts who can support students who have challenging behavior issues due to severe communication difficulties, and (c) the collaborative efforts between TODHHs, behavior analysts, general education personnel, and families to create optimal learning environments at home and educational settings, including schools and distance learning environments” (University of Arizona College of Education, n.d.).
Four out of six cohort scholars, 67%, responded to a survey by the authors Hollinshead and Mann on the collaborative experiences within the OSEP Project OIC grant project.
Background
Children who are DHH struggle with behavior problems at a rate comparable to, or more than, their typical hearing peers (Studts et al., 2022). Out of the population of students who are DHH, approximately 40-50% of students are DHH with an additional disability (Guardino, 2015) and 3.5% of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are also DHH (Edmier et al., 2023). There is considerable overlap between the DHH and Behavioral services domain, and yet, there is a shortfall of appropriate training opportunities for providers seeking to deliver services informed by both service domains and a shortfall of appropriate service providers.
Caregivers of children who are DHH are more likely to report impaired family function as a result of these behavioral concerns, and report a lack of behavioral support services (Studts et al., 2022). The lack of support services is, in part, driven by a lack of providers with the necessary training. The effects are felt not just by the families of DHH children with behavioral service needs, but also by those intending to serve this population. The National Center on Low-Incidence Disabilities conducted an assessment and found that the third highest priority ranked by those in the DHH education field was “meeting the needs of students with additional disabilities” (Guardino, 2015, p. 417). This capstone intends to help add to the literature supporting healthy and productive collaborations among those serving this population, in order to better meet the unique needs that arise in the overlap between these populations.
