Peer Review Worksheet and Letter

Before completing this assignment, please review the studies and discussion prompts.

Introduction

Here are some guidelines for giving and receiving great peer feedback:

• Be sure you have identified the writer’s goals before you begin generating your feedback. This will ensure that your comments are relevant and focused on helping the writer achieve what he or she hopes to achieve.
• Discuss the text, not the emotions surrounding the text. Good givers of feedback look for elements and aspects of the text that work, and point out aspects and elements that do not quite communicate the ideas in the text. Remember to refer back to the writer’s goals, and comment on those. Which aspects of the text are functioning to achieve those goals, and which aren’t? Explain why.
• Be clear. Be direct. Be specific.
• When you find areas you think need improvement, offer suggestions for how the writer might go about doing this. You probably won’t always have specific suggestions, but do the best you can. Sometimes simply providing a clear explanation for why something doesn’t seem to be working is enough to spark ideas when the writer reads your comments. It’s also helpful to direct the writer to resources you think might be useful.
• Tone, language, word choices, and grammatical issues that inhibit a reader’s ability to understand a writer’s meaning are also important areas for the peer reviewer to consider. Writers don’t always know how their tone will come across to a reader, so a peer reviewer’s perspective is extremely important if there are any significant problems with tone or language choices in the text. It’s also helpful to point out areas with awkward syntax or tedious repetition; these are things that writers have difficulty spotting in their own writing.

The experience of peer review will also help you become a better critical reader of your own writing. You’ll find that as you learn how to analyze and critique the writing of others, you’ll also develop the ability to apply these same skills to your own writing.

Instructions

For this assignment, submit the Peer Review Worksheet and accompanying letter to your peer that you completed for this unit’s discussion.

Your assignment will be scored on the following criteria:

1. Explain the main strengths of the research paper.
2. Assess the utility, applicability, and sufficiency of the supporting evidence.
3. Explain the strengths and weaknesses of the text’s organization.
4. Assess editing concerns regarding the research paper.
5. Recommend issues the author should prioritize for revision.

Resources

• Peer Review Worksheet and Letter Scoring Guide.
• Peer Review Worksheet.

1

ASSIGNMENT 5

Rough Draft

Teyonna M. Toppin

Capella University

Applied behavior analysis (ABA) is a scientific approach that is used as a treatment process for autism spectrum disorder. This process includes a team of professionals and the parents. A team of professionals could include a BCBA (Board Certified Behavior Analysts), BCaba (Board Certified Assistant Analysts, RBT (Registered Behavior Technician, and/or a BT (behavior technician). The ABA process has to have a lot of involvement and consistency with the parents and rest of the team. ABA treatment is more effective when started at an early age. Parents sometimes have the option of where they would like to do the service and what they feel is important in terms of the progress they want their child to make. Ultimately, parents play a serious role in the treatment process for the patient.

The very first step of this ABA process consists of the parent doing research and learning what ABA is and what occurs during this treatment. Applied behavior analysis is client specific. The things being applied are only for that client’s progress and what the parents feel is important. Evidence-based practice (EBP) is the main method a lot of ABA programs used to treat autism. EBP is making decisions based on real evidence rather than guesses (Kearney, A. J., 2015).

Focus is put on certain behaviors that can have real-life application for that individual (Kearney, A. J., 2015). The term used to describe those behaviors is target behaviors. A target behavior is not always a behavior that parents want to stop; it could also be an appropriate behavior the parents want strengthened (Kearney, A. J., 2015). Parents decide if ABA is the right choice for the child. Then they decide what behaviors and changes they would like to work on first.

Applied behavior analysis treatments are certified as the gold standard for treatment of children with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) in most of North America but not in Europe (McPhilemy & Dillenburger, 2013). Families in Europe are not as exposed to ABA therapy but the parents that did take a chance on it during this study all recommend it. Fifteen families participated in the ABA process for their child with autism. Ages varied for the clients from 24 months to 20 years old. The families had a therapist do in home sessions and other professionals like school teachers or speech therapists that assisted the family had positive interactions with the ABA team.

The families took questionnaires before and after treatment to describe any progress in particular areas. According to McPhilemy and Dillenburger, “results of the study highlighted the overwhelmingly positive impact that ABA-based interventions had on their children in areas such as social skills, challenging behaviour, communication, gross and fine motor skills, concentration, interaction, independence, and overall quality of life and, most importantly, a feeling of hope for the future (2013).” The European families found that the services were helpful. The treatment did cost a lot financially but socially it made life a little easier for daily activities.

Even though ABA therapy is a well known supported treatment, everyone does not have access to these services due to geographic, economic, and time barriers (Fisher et al., 2020). The recent pandemic has also caused a problem with one on one therapy because of the risk of transmission (Fisher et al., 2020). This study emphasizes how Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention (EIBI) is beneficial to the parent and client while completing therapy online and in the home. With virtual therapy and early intensive behavioral intervention, parent training and communication with the team is very important.

Some studies have shown, “that internet‐based instruction; remote coaching by therapists or a combination of strategies can enhance parents’ knowledge about and confidence when delivering ABA interventions (Fisher et al., 2020).” Parents found watching modules and doing role plays on ABA very helpful virtually. A 13 item social validity questionnaire was given to the parents to measure satisfaction of the training (Fisher et al., 2020). Parents found watching modules and doing role plays on ABA very helpful virtually. All satisfaction scores were high. The lowest score was because Blackboard was used for the e-modules.

The whole process of starting treatment of ABA is vital and for most families necessary. Parents are key factors to the success of the individual that is receiving services and should have knowledge of ABA and how to implement it. ABA treatment is more effective when started at an early age. Parents sometimes have the option of where they would like to do the service and what they feel is important in terms of the progress they want their child to make. Doing research on ABA should be the first step to finding the appropriate way to start the treatment process for autism.

There are resources like books or videos that break down ABA terms and things parents should know. Unfortunately ABA is not used commonly worldwide, so families in Europe have not been told much about this opportunity. This experiment helped change their daily lives. During times where people might have to rely on technology to continue ABA services, this study helped prove it is possible to keep achieving more success. Parent trainings can be so significant to the progress of a child. Parents help aide a lot of ABA teams in the success of their children. Without the parent’s assistance and willingness to go full on with therapy, the results may not be the same.

References

Fisher, W. W., Luczynski, K. C., Blowers, A. P., Vosters, M. E., Pisman, M. D., Craig, A. R., . . . Piazza, C. C. (2020). A randomized clinical trial of a virtual‐training program for teaching applied‐behavior‐analysis skills to parents of children with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 53(4), 1856-1875. doi:10.1002/jaba.778

Kearney, A. J. (2015). Understanding applied behavior analysis, second edition: An introduction to aba for parents, teachers, and other professionals. ProQuest Ebook Central 

https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.library.capella.edu

McPhilemy, C., & Dillenburger, K. (2013). Parents’ experiences of applied behaviour analysis (aba)-based interventions for children diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorder. British Journal of Special Education, 40(4), 154-161. doi:10.1111/1467-8578.12038

Peer Review Worksheet

Due Date: weekly
Percentage of Course Grade: 20%.

Undergraduate Discussion Participation Grading Rubric
Criteria Non-performance Basic Proficient Distinguished

Apply relevant course concepts,
theories, or materials correctly.

33%

Does not explain relevant
course concepts, theories,
or materials.

Explains relevant course concepts,
theories, or materials.

Applies relevant course
concepts, theories, or
materials correctly.

Analyzes course concepts, theories, or
materials correctly, using examples or
supporting evidence.

Collaborate with fellow
learners, relating the discussion

to relevant course concepts.
33%

Does not collaborate with
fellow learners.

Collaborates with fellow learners
without relating the discussion to
the relevant course concepts.

Collaborates with fellow
learners, relating the
discussion to relevant course
concepts.

Collaborates with fellow learners,
relating the discussion to relevant course
concepts and extending the dialogue.

Apply relevant professional,
personal, or other real-world

experiences.
34%

Does not contribute
professional, personal, or
other real-world
experiences.

Contributes professional, personal,
or other real-world experiences, but
contributions lack relevance.

Applies relevant professional,
personal, or other real-world
experiences.

Applies relevant professional, personal,
or other real-world experiences to extend
the dialogue.

Participation Guidelines

Actively participate in discussions. To do this you should create a substantive post for each of the discussion topics.
Each post should demonstrate your achievement of the participation criteria. In addition, you should respond to the
posts of at least two of your fellow learners for each discussion question—unless the discussion instructions state
otherwise. These responses to other learners should be substantive posts that contribute to the conversation by
asking questions, respectfully debating positions, and presenting supporting information relevant to the topic. Also,
respond to any follow-up questions the instructor directs to you in the discussion area.

To allow other learners time to respond, you are encouraged to post your initial responses in the discussion area by
midweek. Comments to other learners’ posts are due by Sunday at 11:59 p.m. (Central time zone).

Print

Undergraduate Discussion Participation Scoring
Guide

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