Time: 2 hours, 22 minutes
Credit: 2.5 Learning CEs

Presenter: Maranda A. Trahan, Ph.D., BCBA-D

Course Description: Approximately five million older Americans are diagnosed with dementia and that number is expected to triple over the next few decades. There is a growing momentum among behavior analysts to practice in the field of dementia care, given that applied behavior analytic procedures have proven to decrease challenging behaviors (e.g., agitation) and increase desirable behaviors (e.g., engagement). It is imperative that clinicians and researchers alike stay current with recent publications in order to provide best practices or ask relevant experimental questions. The purpose of this presentation is to review the five articles published on dementia care in behavior analytic journals. Topics reviewed include challenging behaviors (e.g., hoarding, bizarre speech), verbal behavior and complex learning behaviors. Overall, findings showed that challenging behaviors can be managed via antecedent-manipulations, participants can (re)learn to mand and responding can come under stimulus control. All studies demonstrated the clear advantage of using behavior analytic procedures to manage dementia symptoms.

Objectives:

• List behavior excesses and deficits in this patient population.
• Categorize topics published (challenging behavior, verbal behavior, complex learning behavior).
• Describe the need for research on these topic areas.
• Outline methods used in recent research publications.
• Analyze results to determine whether experimental control was demonstrated and whether results answered the experimental question.
• Interpret result reasoning and formulate further discussion.
• Identify further research opportunities.

Keywords: Dementia, Alzheimer's disease, nursing home, mand training, challenging behavior, bizarre speech, refusal, hoarding, cooperation, engagement, reinforcement, attention, antecedent/antecedent based interventions, verbal behavior, mands

Rating: Appropriate for practitioners who seek to better understand the behavior exhibited by individuals with various types of dementia and behavioral research-based assessment and treatment strategies.

Access: 60 days from the date and time of registration

Note: The 60-day access begins at the time of purchase, not the time of log in; purchasing multiple course subscriptions will not extend your access. 

Effective July 1, 2022, Florida Tech will no longer offer extensions for new purchases.  Purchases made prior to this date will be eligible for an extension per the previous policy:

Effective July 23, 2018, each ABA Learning (type-2) on-demand CE course may be extended a maximum of three times within six months of the original course purchase. After six months from the original date of purchase, the course will need to be purchased again. 

For more information, to request an extension, or if you experience problems when registering, please email us at ceu@fit.edu

Important note:  If you are taking this course to maintain your BACB certification, you will need to write your certification number on your certificate of completion, as the BACB requires that your certificate of completion includes your certification number.

Refund Policy

No refunds are provided once the course is accessed.

These workshops are presented in partnership between the Florida Tech ABA Online program and ABA Technologies, Inc. ABA Technologies, Inc., is a BACB-approved provider of type-2 continuing education hours (provider number: OP-02-0023)