The multiple baseline experiments involve Martha who is an 11year old girl and Leah a 13-year-old girl. Martha is diagnosed with ASD and shows intensive signs of scratching her skin during her free time and when she is not interacting with other students in the school environment. Martha is in 5 th -grade level within the elementary school. Leah, on the other hand, portrays behavioral issues where her parents notice a behavior of picking elbows in times of stress. The severity of the behavior shows an increase indicating that Leah picks her elbow to the extent of bleeding and scabs on her elbows. Leah undertakes her learning activities in the 7 th grade in the Learning and Academic Disabilities in her school. The behavior portrayed by Leah is highly linked with high levels of anxiety that results in the habit that is difficult to stop. Both girls seem to portray high levels of the behavioral issues thus were required to participate in behavioral therapy and group sessions that help in improving their social skills. The primary focus of the therapy is to observe the behaviors of the girls and understand factors that influence their behaviors in different settings in their natural environments.
The baseline phase was initiated during the therapy sessions, where therapist was able to indicate the number of courses each of the girls required based on the severity of their given conditions. The therapist in created some situations during the baseline phase to wait for some activities in a bid to understand the onset of their given behavioral issues. The 1 st treatment measure involved undertaking of the therapy sessions where Martha undertook eight sessions, and Leah undertook 14 sessions a day. The second treatment involved the use of anti-anxiety medication that focused on reducing the level of anxiety that led to the given behavioral issues among the girls. The therapist ensured that the girls could monitor the frequency of their scratching and pick to establish the nature of progress given the number of therapy sessions undertaken and the given medications. The targeted behavior among the given girls that require being broken is excoriation. Excoriation is a habit that involves picking or scratching an individual’s skin causing harm and bleeding. The type of behavior is known to be caused by boredom and increased levels of anxiety causing stress among individuals thus the onset of the given behavioral issue.
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The self-monitoring procedures involved the ability for the girls to evaluate themselves based on the number of times of picking their skins before and after undertaking the therapy sessions and the anti-anxiety medications. Through keeping of the charts to indicate the frequency of the given behaviors, the individuals were in a position to create awareness of how often they exhibited the behavior. The implementation of the self-monitoring techniques helped in creating an awareness training that focused on allowing the girls to understand their behaviors. The multiple baseline designs are essential as it provides the researcher with the ability to treat two or more individuals in that have similar behavioral issues thus targeting same behavior among the patients. Self-monitoring helps in habit reversal, which is an essential aspect in the treatment of excoriation among the girls. Although the self-monitoring technique is a problematic aspect especially on the filling the chart, it is a significant element that helps in self-evaluation. Ensuring that the patients undertake the therapy sessions appropriately helps in increasing the level of self-monitoring, which aids in reversing the given behaviors
According to the therapist, raising the level of assertiveness in an individual is an essential element that may help in overcoming the excoriation behavior among the patients. Engaging in activities such as dancing helps in increasing the level of aggression and assertiveness within a patient thus defeating issues associated with boredom and stress. The level of self-monitoring increase with the number of therapy sessions undertaken by individuals that have the behavioral issues, which is an indicator of habit reversal and an essential aspect of treating the behavioral issues. The following graphs indicate the relationship between the style of dancing and the level of assertiveness in an individual and the relationship between an individual’s self-monitoring techniques based on the number of therapy sessions undertaken.
