Performance Problems

Student's Name

Department Name, University

Course Number: Course Name

Instructor's Name

Due Date
 Performance Problems

Brief Overview

Maria Lopez is an Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) clinic Registered Behavior

Technician (RBT) who provides services to children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in a

community-based setting. The pinpointed performance issue is that Maria is unable to complete

discrete trial training (DTT) data on the session data sheet regularly during therapy sessions.

Specifically, the target behavior deficit is operationally defined as: the number of trials in which

the RBT records a correct (+) or incorrect (−) response on the paper data sheet within 5 seconds

of the client's response, divided by the total number of trials delivered per session, expressed as a

percentage. On average, Maria recorded data on 38% of the trials, which is much lower than the

80% of the trials required by the clinic. The performance issue seems not to be a lack of skills,

because when prompted by her supervisor during role-play, Maria can accurately demonstrate

the entire data recording process. Instead, the results of the assessment show that the lack of

structured performance feedback and the lack of clarification supports such as reminders or

postings in the therapy room are significant factors contributing to the deficiency.

Performance Diagnostic Checklist – Human Services (PDC-HS)

Employee's Name (Person Exhibiting Interviewer (Person asking the Date: May 16,

Performance Issue): Maria Lopez, Registered interview questions): BCBA 2026

Behavior Technician. Supervisor

Training Yes No N/A

1. Has the employee received formal training on this task? If yes, circle all X
applicable training methods: ✓ Instructions ✓ Demonstration ✓ Rehearsal

2. Can the employee accurately describe the target task and when it should be
X
performed?

3. Is there evidence that the employee has accurately completed the task in the
X
past?

4. If the task needs to be completed quickly, can the employee perform it at

X
the appropriate speed?

Task Clarification & Prompting Yes No N/A

1. Has the employee been informed that he/she is expected to perform the
X
task?

2. Can the employee state the purpose of the task? X

3. Is a job aid for completing the task visibly located in the task area? X

4. Is the employee ever verbally, textually, or electronically reminded to

X
complete the task?

5. Is the task being performed in an environment well-suited for task

X
completion?

Resources, Materials, & Processes Yes No N/A

1. Are there sufficient numbers of trained staff available in the program? X

2. If materials (e.g., teaching stimuli, preferred items) are required for task X
completion, are they readily available (e.g., easy to find, nearby)? If no

materials are required, proceed to question 5.

List materials below and indicate their availability.

Item 1: Paper data sheets (available on therapy table) Item 2: Pencil/pen

(available at workspace)

Item 3: Session timer/stopwatch (available on phone) Item 4: Client

program binder (kept in therapy room)

3. Are the materials necessary to complete the task well designed for their
X
intended purpose?

4. Are the materials necessary to complete the task well organized for their
X
intended purpose?

5. Can the task be completed without first completing other tasks? If not,

indicate below the tasks that must be completed first.

X
Task 1: N/A Task 2: N/A

Task 3: N/A Task 4: N/A

6. If you answered NO for Question 5, are other employees responsible for

completing any of the earlier tasks in the process? If so, indicate the

employee(s) below. X

Task 1: N/A Task 2: N/A

Task 3: N/A Task 4: N/A

Performance Consequences, Effort, & Competition Yes No

 1. Is the employee ever directly monitored by a supervisor? If so, indicate the

frequency of monitoring. X

▦ hourly ▦ daily ■ weekly ▦ monthly ▦ Other: __________

2. Does the employee ever receive feedback about the performance? If yes,

indicate below.

By whom? N/A How often? N/A Delay from task? N/A

X
Check all that apply:

Feedback Focus: ▦ Positive ▦ Corrective Feedback Type: ▦ Written ▦

Verbal ▦ Graphed ▦ Other

3. Does the employee ever see the effects of accurate task completion? If yes,

how?
X
Maria does not observe how her data influences client programming

decisions.

4. Is the task simple or does it involve relatively low response effort? X

5. Does the task generally take precedence over other potentially competing

tasks? If not, indicate these competing tasks below.

Task 1: Transitioning between DTT trials Task 2: Delivering prompts X

Task 3: Managing reinforcement schedules Task 4: Monitoring and

managing client behavior

Identified Domain from PDC-HS

[Provide a brief description of the domain and/or domains that were identified as the

source of the supervisees pinpointed performance problem in the PDC-HS identified.]

 One Strategy to Address

The recommended strategy is Behavioral Skills Training (BST) delivered within a

compassionate supervisory framework, targeting both identified PDC-HS domains. BST consists

of four components: instructions, modeling, rehearsal, and immediate feedback (Sherman et al.,

2021). The supervisor would meet privately with Maria to review the data recording expectation

and collaboratively set a goal of 80% accuracy per session. The supervisor would then

demonstrate the procedure, and Maria would rehearse through structured role-play. For example,

the supervisor would act as the client and deliver a correct response; Maria would then be
required to mark a (+) on the data sheet within 5 seconds. The supervisor would provide

immediate feedback such as: "Great job recording that trial right away — that is exactly the

response speed we need during sessions." To address the Task Clarification domain, a laminated

job aid summarizing data recording steps would be posted at Maria's eye level, and a vibrating

smartwatch alert would serve as a discreet between-trial reminder, consistent with compassionate

supervisory practices outlined in the BACB Ethics Code (Behavior Analyst Certification Board,

2020).

To address the Performance Consequences domain, the supervisor would conduct brief

weekly feedback meetings of no more than 10 minutes, reviewing a line graph of Maria's

session-by-session data recording percentages with both positive and corrective feedback for

each session. Lipschultz et al. (2021) demonstrated that feedback accuracy is critical in

determining employee performance outcomes, underscoring the importance of ensuring that all

feedback delivered to Maria is precise and directly tied to observed performance. Bacotti et al.

(2021) further found that consistent feedback timing significantly improves staff behavior,

supporting the use of a structured weekly schedule rather than inconsistent or ad hoc corrections.

All feedback would be framed compassionately by acknowledging Maria's competing task

demands, validating her effort, and approaching corrections collaboratively rather than
punitively, in alignment with the BACB Ethics Code (Behavior Analyst Certification Board,

2020).

References

Bacotti, J. K., Grauerholz-Fisher, E., Morris, S. L., & Vollmer, T. R. (2021). Identifying the

relation between feedback preferences and performance. Journal of Applied Behavior

Analysis, 54(2), 668–683. [Link]

Behavior Analyst Certification Board. (2020). Ethics code for behavior analysts.
[Link]

[Link]

Lipschultz, J. L., Wilder, D. A., Sleiman, A., Cruz, N., Curry, S., & Gravina, N. E. (2021). The

effects of feedback accuracy and trainer rules on performance during an analogue task.

Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, 41(3), 215–235.

[Link]

Sherman, J. A., Richardson, J., & Vedora, J. (2021). The use of behavioral skills training to teach

components of direct instruction. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 14(4), 1085–1091.

[Link]