Effective behavioral intervention for students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) requires more than changing the contingencies for interfering versus desirable behavior. A practitioner’s ability to use clinical conversation is essential to building trust, engaging students in their own assessment and intervention processes, and otherwise enhancing the effects of contingency-based intervention for students with complex language repertoires. This presentation introduces the OARS framework (i.e., Open-ended questions, Affirmations, Reflective listening, and Summarizing), derived from Motivational Interviewing, as a foundational toolkit for educators and behavior analysts working with students with EBD. Attendees will explore how conversation skills complement contingency-based intervention in terms of underlying behavioral mechanisms and related concepts (e.g., psychological flexibility) and examine case applications featuring elementary and adolescent students with EBD.

Learning Objectives

1. State a rationale for intentionally programming language and communication, in addition to contingencies, throughout assessment and intervention.
2. Describe each component of the OARS framework and explain its role in engaging students in the intervention process.
3. Identify at least two behavioral mechanisms (e.g., establishing operations, social reinforcement, rule-governed behavior) through which OARS may enhance the effects of contingency-based intervention on socially meaningful behavior.

About the Presenter

Johanna Staubitz

Johanna (Joey) Staubitz completed her doctoral studies in special education at Peabody College of Vanderbilt University in 2017 and has since worked as a clinical faculty member in Vanderbilt’s top-ranked Department of Special Education. She currently directs Vanderbilt’s applied behavior analysis master’s degree program and was recently appointed to the rank of assistant professor of the practice of applied behavior analysis. Before her time in higher education, Joey practiced as a classroom teacher and district behavior analyst. In both roles, she had firsthand encounters with the importance and challenge of providing individualized, integrated supports for academic learning and behavior. These observations not only initially drove Joey to pursue doctoral training, but also continue to motivate Joey’s research, training, and teaching endeavors. Her collective efforts are dedicated to developing, adapting, evaluating, and disseminating procedures that are effective, practical, and safe for adoption in schools, to improve the possibility high-quality behavioral services are embedded into the free and appropriate public education to which all children are entitled.