Defense Date

3-9-2026

Graduation Date

Spring 5-8-2026

Availability

Immediate Access

Submission Type

dissertation

Degree Name

PhD

Department

Counseling, Psychology, & Special Education

School

School of Education

Committee Chair

Dr. Reva Mathieu

Committee Member

Dr. Kara McGoey

Committee Member

Dr. Elizabeth McCallum

Keywords

ABA, Person Centered Compassionate Care, Compassionate Care, FCT, Autism

Abstract

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) has faced increasing criticism from the autistic community regarding the perceived lack of compassion in some intervention practices. Although researchers have begun addressing these concerns by examining caregiver perspectives to develop compassionate care models (e. g., Taylor et al., 2018; Roher et al., 2020), the firsthand experiences of autistic individuals have been less frequently incorporated into treatment design. The present study sought to develop a Person-Centered Compassionate Care (PCCC) framework in ABA based on written feedback gathered from the autistic community and their allies and to evaluate the effectiveness of Functional Communication Training (FCT) when implemented within this framework. FCT is an evidence-based intervention that replaces maladaptive behavior with functionally equivalent communicative responses (FCRs); however, common procedures such as extinction and planned ignoring have been criticized as potentially distressing (Delahooke, 2018).

A multiple-baseline design across participants was used to examine changes in maladaptive behavior, independent FCRs, and behavioral indicators of assent and dissent. Across participants, implementation of FCT within the PCCC framework produced clear increases in independent communication and corresponding decreases in maladaptive behavior. These improvements were observed without reliance on coercive procedures and were accompanied by low levels of dissent and observable engagement in treatment. Patterns of dissent were associated primarily with repetition after skill acquisition rather than task demands, suggesting responsiveness to instructional pacing rather than treatment avoidance.

The findings provide preliminary evidence that compassionate implementation does not reduce behavioral effectiveness and may improve participation in intervention. Results support the integration of autonomy, responsiveness, and emotional safety into behavior-analytic practice and suggest that compassionate variables may function as contextual factors influencing learning rather than competing with established behavioral mechanisms.

Language

English

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