Behavioral consultation is a four-stage problem-solving model that involves the cooperative efforts of two or more persons to clarify a student's needs and develop and implement appropriate strategies for intervention. This approach facilitates the development of reports which serve to effectively and efficiently communicate assessment and treatment data with clients, serve as a source of hypotheses and interventions, and provide a baseline for evaluating progress and any future behavioral changes. Further, the systematic and comprehensive documentation of treatment approaches and outcomes translates to increased accountability for practitioners. Looking for customized in-house training sessions that fit your needs, particularly in the Philippines? Please send me an email at clarencegapostol@gmail.com or WhatsApp +971507678124. When your request is received I will follow up with you as soon as possible.Thank you!

1. BEHAVIORAL CONSULTATION
and COLLABORATION
Slides created by
Clarence G. Apostol
MA in Counseling Psychology
De La Salle University-Manila
CLG 543M:
Consultation with Individuals and Groups

2. Scenario
 A general education teacher seeks
consultation from a school psychologist
on a 1st grade student (Billy) who is
experiencing off-task behavior such as
getting out of his seat often and talking to
neighbors during classroom instructional
times.

3. Introduction
 Introduced by John Bergan in 1977 (Watson et. al,
1997)
 Evolved from behavioral paradigm based on
Positivism ( Henning-Stout, 1993)
 Applies BehavioralTechnology to the
consultation process (Elliot & Busse, 1993).
 Expanding application of behavioral
technology to mental health and educational
concerns (Noel, 1996).
 Consultant needs to be skilled in
behavioral theory and practice (Kratochwill &
Bergan, 1990)

4. Introduction
 Behavioral Psychologist B.F. Skinner and Albert
Bandura
 Behavioral psychology stresses the principles of
learning in understanding how behavior acquired
and changed.
 Behavior models of consultation are based on the
idea that because most behavior is learned, it can
be unlearned and new behavior can take its
place.
 Behavioral consultation can be used in a variety of
settings including mental health centers, schools,
and other human service organizations.

5. Definition:
 Behavioral consultation is a problem-
solving process that has its foundation in
the behavioral theory/ psychology
 It involves a relationship whereby
services consistent with a behavioral
orientation are provided to a client
through the mediation of important others
in that client’s environment.That is, indirect
service (Keller, 1981).

6. Historical Background
1900
John Watson
Behavioral
School
Psychology
Mid 1970’s
1940
BF Skinner
Operant
Conditioning
1960
Albert Bandura
Social Learning
Theory
1970-1980
Behavioral Ecology
Systems Theory
Cognitive
Cognitive
Behavioral
Therapy
Movement

7. Four (4) Characteristics
(Kratochwill et el., 2002;Vernberg & Repucci, 1986).
 The use of indirect service client system.
(delivery models)
 Reliance on behavioral technology principles
throughout the consultation process (to design;
to assess the consultative interventions)
 Diversity of interventions goals ranging from
solving problematic situation to enhance
competence to empowering (Problem-solving
orientation)
 Changes aimed at various targets in different
settings (individual, groups, organizations, and
communities).

8. Characteristics of BC (Henning-Stout, 1993, pp.25-26).
1. All behaviors are learned.
2. Change of social behaviors can be explained through
observation of functional introduction of the individual
behaviors and the environment.
3. Assessment of intervention’ and evaluation of its
effectiveness are directly linked.
4. Behaviors of focus must be observable, measurable, and
quantifiable.
5. Environmental background provide points for initiating
change.
6. Understanding and intervening with behavior, are guided
and modified according to the data collected, reflecting
the frequency, intensity, or duration of that behavior.
7. One person’s behavior to be changed; behaviors in other
individuals interacting within the environment must also
be modified.

9. Three forms of Behavioral Consultation
tend to follow a set of problem-solving
sequence (Kratockwill,Elliot,& Callan-Stoiber,2002):
 Description of the problem in behavioral
terms
 A functional analysis of the problem and
consequences.
 Selection of a target behavior
 Generation of behavioral objectives
 Design and implementation of a behavior
change plan
 Evaluation of the process

10. Principles of
behavior
change
Behavioral consultation assumes that behavior is lawful and
that changing the consequences of behavior by using the
principles of learning produces a change in behavior.
Used principles for the behavioral change are reinforcement,
punishment, extinction, shaping, and modeling etc.

11. Emphasis on current influence
on behavior.
The consultant believes that the current
behaviors constitute the problem in a
particular situation
 By focusing on the current behaviors the
behavioral consultation will be able to
discriminate between existing and desire
behavior

12. THE CONSULTATION
PROCESS

13. Overview
Behavioral consultation can take three forms
 Behavioral case consultation
 Behavioral technology training
 Behavioral system consultation
All three forms have the following characteristics
 Indirect service to the client system
 Use of behavioral technology principles
throughout the consultation process
 A problem-solving orientation
 Empirical validation of intervention

14. Model 1: Behavioral Case
Consultation
 In behavioral case consultation a
consultant provides direct, behavior-
based service to a consultee concerning
the management of a client or group of
clients.
 Behavioral case consultation consists of a
series of four stages that provide form
and focus to the problem solving engaged
in by the consultant and consultee.

15. The Four stages
 Identifying the problem
 Analyzing the problem
 Implementing a treatment
 Evaluating the treatment

16. Consultation Goal
Use consultant’s expertise in
the principles of learning to
manage the consultee’s
management of the case.
That is, to help the consultee
make positive changes in the
client’s environment and
therefore in the client’s
behavior.

17. Consultant Function And Roles
 Behavioral consultant use a systematic
problem-solving process to assist
consultees with their clients.
 The consultant guides the consultee’s
behavior through the use of selected
types of verbalizations.
 Management of the consultation process
by using verbal skills in structuring the
consultant-consultee interaction is
therefore the major task of the
consultant.

18. These are the skills using in
the consultation process.
 Verbal InteractionTechnique
 Message Source
 Message Content
 Message Process
 Message Control

19. Consultee Experience in
Consultation
 The consultee expected to work with the
consultant toward the successful
completion of the consultation process
and to be actively involved in the
problem-solving process.
 The consultee’s four primary duties in the
consultation process are to specify or
describe, evaluate or decide, provide
direct services to the client, and supervise
client’s actions.

20. Application: Consultant
Techniques And Procedures
 Both types of behavioral case
consultation-development and
problem centered-concern changes
in clients behavior.
 There are four stages to the
behavioral consultation process
 Problem Identification Stage
 Problem Analysis Stage
 Plan Implementation Stage
 Treatment Evaluation Stage

21. Model 2: BehavioralTechnology
Training
 When consultees seek to increase
general usage of behavioral technology
principles when working with clients
(Kratochwill and Pittman 2002).
 Consultants train consultees in general
behavioral principles or specific behavioral
technology skills (Bergan & Kratochwill,1990;Watson &
Robinson, 1996) or both (Elliot & Busse, 1993;Vernberg &
Reppucci, 1986).

22.  “One common format for technology
training is teacher skill development that
focuses on teaching specific information
such as assessment techniques, discipline
or child management tactics, the process
of consultation, or a combination”
(Kratochwill and Pittman 2002).

23. Justifications for its Existence
 Consultees who use behavioral technology are
frequently successful.
 An understanding of behavioral technology
increases the likelihood that behavioral
programs will be implemented appropriately.
 Consultees who understand behavioral
technology are likely to generalize it to new
situations and thus enhance other aspects of
their lives.

24. Goals
 Is increased consultee competence in the use
of general and/or specific behavioral
technology procedures.
 The consultee is a trainee expected to apply
learned procedures with appropriate work
related concerns.
 The steps involved are conducting a needs
assessment, planning the training, performing it,
and evaluating it.
 There is strong empirical evidence that
behavioral technology training of consultees
lead to improve client behavior (Vernberg & Reppucci,
1986)

25. Problems Encountered
 Whether it is generalized to settings
beyond the training and whether
consultees continue to use training in
intended environments (Elliott & Busse, 1993)
 Behavioral technology training can be a
particularly important in the schools.

26. Sometimes the teachers give up
easily for the following reason:
1) Teachers using behavioral are responsible for
solutions to the problem, though not for the
child’s problem
2) Teacher’s working knowledge of behavioral
technology is limited
3) The underlying assumptions of behavioral
technology may be at odds with teachers’
explanations of human conduct
(Rosenfield, 2002a).

27. Some suggestions for consultants:
 They should be seen as resources for classroom
practice and need to encourage teachers to be
resource persons among themselves.
 Because the language of behavior modification
can cause a clash of values, consultants need to
choose meaningful and acceptable words in
behavior technology training.
 Teachers need to be in control of the use of
behavioral technology and see interventions as
congruent with their values.

28. Model 3: Behavioral System
Consultation
 In behavioral system consultation,
behavioral technology principles are
applied to a social system (Lewis and Newcomer,
2002;Williams, 2000)
 The goal of behavioral system
consultation is to enhance the efficiency
and effectiveness of a system in terms of
its stated functions and to focus on the
process and structure of the system itself
(Curtis & Stollar, 1996)

29.  The two steps are defining the system
structure and defining the system process.
 In defining the structure the consultant
and the consultee work as collaborators.
 In defining the process of a system the
consultant and consultee define the
system’s parameters in terms of behavior
of the system’s members.

30.  Behavioral Ecology, which states that human
are part of a multilevel system called
ecology environment (Willems, 1974) is a mix of
individual approaches derived from
traditional behavior modification and
ecological approaches that study
environments and social systems. (Jeger &
Slotnick 1982)
 Behavioral ecology assumes that the settings
in which individuals operate are
interdependent.

31. The relationship between
consultant and consultee:
 As in other types of behavioral consultation,
the consultant acts as an expert, but in
behavior system consultation the consultant
must be an expert in the specifics of systems
theory and behavioral ecology.
 The nature of the consultation relationship
is collaborative; consultees participate to the
degree their skills and knowledge permit.
 The consultee’s most important function is
that decision maker.

32.  In system definition, the consultant and
consultee gather information about the
behavior of members of the system
relative to the system’s goals and
structures
 There are two steps of defining the
system structure and defining the system
process.

33.  In determining the structure of a system, the
consultant and consultee or the collaborators
define systems parameters with regard time and
space. Including such variables as physical setting
and boundaries, environmental design, number
of system members, and polices and procedures
 In determining the process of a system, the
consultant and consultee or the collaborators
define the system’s parameters in terms of the
behavior of the system’s members including
such variables as assessment functions,
intervention functions, evaluation functions,
communication functions.

34.  Once the system’s structural and process
factors are known, it is time to assess the
system in terms of those factors.
 The consultant and consultee or collaborators
then use three steps in system intervention to
eliminate structural and process limitations:
1. they prioritize system needs
2. specify behavioral outcomes goals,
3. design and implement an intervention
program

35. System Evaluation
 In system evaluation, the consultant and
the consultee evaluate the intervention
program operations and system change.
 In evaluating the operations of the
intervention program, the parties involved
determine whether the program was
implemented in the way intended and
with the results expected.

36. WRITING COMPREHENSIVE
BEHAVIORAL CONSULTATION
REPORTS
 To summarize behavioral consultation services
 Accurately convey the information that was
gathered, to create a formal document that will
help future service providers who might work
with the client,
 To articulate consequential and antecedent
behaviors that clearly link to solving a problem
behavior,
 And to clearly demonstrate, via tables or graphs
of baseline and treatment data, whether the
goals of consultation have been met.

37. CRITICAL ELEMENTS IN
BEHAVIORAL CONSULTATION
REPORTWRITING
1. Identifying information:
2. Reason for referral
3. Consent
4. Problem-solving
Techniques
5. Background Information
6. Problem Identification
7. Data Collection
Methodology
8. Problem Analysis
9. Baseline Data
Presentation
10. Problem Definition
11. Goal Definition
12. Treatment
Implementation
13. SummativeTreatment
Evaluation
14. Progress Monitoring
Data Presentation
15. FormativeTreatment
Evaluation
16. Summary
17. Recommendations
18. Signature

38. References:
 Dougherty,A. M. (2009). Psychological consultation and
collaboration in school and community settings. (5th edition).
Belmont, CA:Wadsworth/Thomson.
 Brickman,T.M., Segool, N.K., Pham,A.V., & Carlson, J.S.
(2007).Writing Comprehensive Behavioral Consultation
Reports: Critical Elements, International Journal of
Behavioral Consultation andTherapy, 3 (3), 372-383.