J. Stephen Newton

Comparison of Supported Living and Traditional Residential Services in the State of Oregon.

Supported living has been described as an approach that contributes to higher lifestyle quality. We compared supported living and traditional residential support. Twenty supported living participants were matched with 20 participants receiving traditional support. Results indicated that participants receiving supported living services were more likely to be experiencing features of supported living and that supported living participants experienced significantly more community activity variety, did community activities more frequently, and did preferred community activities more frequently. Further, they engaged in activities with more people and did activities with these people more frequently. The costs were similar for providing supported living and traditional support.

Family Involvement in Functional Assessment and Positive Behavior Support.

Recent developments in the field of autism and related disabilities have included two prominent themes: (a) the emergence of functional assessment (FA) as a requisite step in behavioral support and (b) a growing acknowledgment that families represent the most essential resource for the social, intellectual, emotional, and behavioral development of their children. In the vast majority of cases, families are the most committed, enduring, and knowledgeable source of personal support available for their children. Therefore, families are considered vital contributors in the educational process and, increasingly, in the application of FA and assessment-based behavioral interventions. This article provides a discussion of family involvement in the process of FA and offers some key considerations pertinent to the appropriate and optimal incorporation of families in the FA and intervention process.

Social Contacts of Adults with Severe Disabilities Living in the Community: A Descriptive Analysis of Relationship Patterns.

Social integration and social support are critical elements in determining a persons quality of life. To date, however, very little descriptive information is available on patterns of social contact between persons with severe disabilities and typical members of local communities. This report presents information on the social interaction patterns of 23 adults with severe disabilities across a 2 1/2-year time period. The staff in small, community-based residential programs collected continuous counts of the activities performed by residents and the people (companions) with whom activities were performed. Only those contacts that occurred with people other than people paid to provide support or other residents in the program were counted. The results indicate great variability in the social contact patterns across the 23 people observed, but that on the average they had contact with 63.5 different companions across the 30 months of observation. Social contacts occurred on the average of once every 2 days, and the durability of social contacts indicated that companions seldom continued the relationship beyond a 12-month period, except for family members or someone perceived as a “best friend.” Examination of the final year of observation indicates that the 23 people met about 17 new individuals across the 12-month period. The report offers implications of these results for further research on social contacts and the development of support strategies for building and maintaining social relationships.

The Social Networks and Activity Patterns of Adults with Severe Disabilities: A Correlational Analysis

This article reports information on the interrelations among measures of lifestyle quality for 20 adults with severe disabilities living in the community. Using two interview-based measures, data were collected on the social networks and activity patterns of the participants. The results indicate that the overall size of the social networks and the number of family members were highly associated with a greater frequency and variety of activities across home and community settings. The results also indicate that neither the number of social network members paid to provide support, nor the number of friends were significantly related to activity patterns. Finally, implications for measuring lifestyle quality and the use of outcome-based measures for assisting people to build and maintain social relationships are presented.

Effects of Team-Initiated Problem Solving on Decision Making by Schoolwide Behavior Support Teams

The authors examined the problem-solving practices of school teams engaged in implementing and improving schoolwide behavior support implementation. A multiple baseline design across 4 elementary school teams was used to assess the effects of the Team-Initiated Problem Solving (TIPS) training program (1 day of team training plus 2 coached meetings). A direct observation data collection protocol—Decision Observation, Recording, and Analysis—was used to index if teams followed “meeting foundations” practices for effective problem solving (e.g., predictable agenda, stable participants, clear roles for facilitator, minute taker, data analyst) and “thorough problem solving” practices for building interventions (e.g., problem definition, use of data, solution development, action planning). Direct observation results indicate that 3 of the 4 teams demonstrated improved meeting foundations and problem-solving skills after TIPS training. The fourth team also performed well, but documented baseline patterns that were either at optimum levels (meeting foundations) or with an increasing trend (problem solving) that prevented demonstration of an intervention effect. Team members perceived their meetings after TIPS training as resulting in more effective problem solving. Collectively, the results are interpreted as demonstrating a functional relation between TIPS training and improved problem solving practices by school teams. Implications address how to improve team-based consultation and problem solving in schools.

A Randomized Wait-List Controlled Analysis of the Implementation Integrity of Team-Initiated Problem Solving Processes.

Members of Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) teams from 34 elementary schools participated in a Team-Initiated Problem Solving (TIPS) Workshop and follow-up technical assistance. Within the context of a randomized wait-list controlled trial, team members who were the first recipients of the TIPS intervention demonstrated greater implementation integrity in using the problem-solving processes during their team meetings than did members of PBIS Teams in the Wait-List Control group. The success of TIPS at improving implementation integrity of the problem-solving processes is encouraging and suggests the value of conducting additional research focused on determining whether there is a functional relation between use of these problem-solving processes and actual resolution of targeted student academic and social problems.

Measuring the Activity Patterns of Adults with Severe Disabilities Using the Resident Lifestyle Inventory.

Outcome measures that document activity patterns provide an empirical basis for improving the lifestyles of adults with severe disabilities. This report provides a psychometric assessment of an instrument, the Resident Lifestyle Inventory (RLI), that can be used to measure the activities performed by such persons. In a series of three assessments the congruent validity (Assessment 1), test-retest reliability (Assessment 2), and social validity (Assessment 3) of the RLI were analyzed to determine its acceptability as a measurement instrument for documenting activity patterns. Results from the three assessments demonstrated that the RLI is a psychometrically acceptable measure that is used accurately by residential programs. It is perceived by support staff to be a useful strategy for improving lifestyle quality. Implications of this report are provided for the role of outcome measures in community-based residential support, the individualized plan development process, and future research.

Building Local Capacity for Training and Coaching Data-Based Problem Solving With Positive Behavior Intervention and Support Teams

Positive Behavior Intervention and Support Teams use data to guide decisions about student social and academic behavior problems. In previous evaluation and research efforts, the authors taught team members to use Team-Initiated Problem Solving, a model that embeds data-based decision making into a broader problem-solving framework. In this study, the authors taught local trainer/coaches to deliver the problem-solving workshop to Positive Behavior Intervention and Support Team members. Trainer/coaches delivered the workshop and follow-up technical assistance with fidelity, and team members subsequently (a) used the problem-solving procedures in their meetings and (b) perceived positive differences between their pre- and postworkshop meetings. The study provides support for developing local capacity to deliver training and coaching, in particular as it concerns data-based decision making and problem solving.

Development and Technical Characteristics of a Team Decision- Making Assessment Tool: Decision Observation, Recording, and Analysis (DORA)

Problem solving is fundamental to psychoeducational assessment practices and generally grounded in activities related to identifying problems, developing and refining hypotheses, generating solutions, developing and implementing actions, and evaluating outcomes. While the process is central to response-to-intervention practices as well, little research has addressed the form, content, or outcomes of decision-making teams as they operate in schools. One barrier to building a program of research on team problem solving has been the absence of a credible and feasible measure of team performance. We developed the Decision Observation, Recording, and Analysis (DORA) tool to document problem-solving behaviors during team meetings. We were interested in evaluating problem solving during team meetings that focus on academic and behavior concerns in school. We describe the development and preliminary psychometric data for DORA in this article. Our discussion focuses on the implications of DORA for expanding the study of team processes and for improvement of problem-solving practices in schools.

Measuring the Process and Outcomes of Team Problem Solving

Although there is a strong legislative base and perceived efficacy for multidisciplinary team decision making, limited evidence supports its effectiveness or consistency of implementation in practice. In recent research, we used the Decision Observation, Recording, and Analysis (DORA) tool to document activities and adult behaviors during positive behavior support team meetings. In this study, we revised the DORA to provide evidence of the extent to which the solutions that teams developed were implemented with fidelity and associated with improvements in student behavior. Using trained observers, we documented decision making at 18 meetings in 10 schools where team members discussed a total of 44 problems. We found that scores on the Decision Observation, Recording, and Analysis–II (DORA-II) were acceptable indicators for documenting problem solving during team meetings and that they provided technically adequate information on the extent to which teams were assessing whether they had implemented a solution and whether the solution made a difference for students. We believe the revised assessment tool has value in studying team-based problem solving, and we discuss our findings as a base for a well-reasoned research agenda for moving the process forward as evidence-based practice.