Utah Admin. Code R539-4-2 - Definitions

(1) Terms used in this rule are defined in Sections 62A-5-101, R539-1-3, R539-2-3, R539-3-3, and Rule R501-1.

(2) "Applied behavior analysis (ABA)" means a well-developed discipline based on a mature body of scientific knowledge and established standards for evidence-based practice. ABA focuses on the analysis, design, implementation and evaluation of social and other environmental modifications to produce meaningful changes in behavior. ABA is a behavioral health treatment that is intended to develop, maintain, or restore, to the maximum extent attainable, the functioning of a person who requires behavioral intervention. ABA-based therapies are characterized by reliable empirical evidence and are not experimental or investigational.

(3) "Aversive stimulus" means a highly undesirable stimulus change or condition that exceeds what typically occurs in the environment, but is not harmful.

(4) "Behavior intervention" means a specific technique or procedure designed to teach a skill, decrease the occurrence of unwanted target behavior and increase desirable target behavior, ensure the safety of the person or any other person, or reduce significant property damage.

(5) "Behavior support plan" means a written plan of instruction designed to address a person's specific unwanted target behavior and teach a wanted target behavior.

(6) "Contingent Rights Restriction" means a temporary loss of a human right based on the occurrence of a previously identified unwanted target behavior.

(7) "Deprivation" means the non-contingent removal of or limiting access to a person's stimuli or their ability to access stimuli with their own available funds to increase its value as a potential reinforcer. The potential reinforcer is given to the person contingent on the occurrence of a desired targeted adaptive behavior or other desired targeted response. If a person does not own the item or has insufficient funds to purchase the item, removal or limiting access to that item is not deprivation.

(8) "Emergency behavior intervention" means the temporary use of an intrusive behavior intervention, including an emergency rights restriction, not outlined in a person's behavior support plan and only used in emergency situations to prevent imminent injury to a person, any other person, or significant property damage.

(9) "Emergency rights restriction" means a temporary loss of a human right based upon the occurrence of a previously identified unwanted target behavior.

(10) "Enforced compliance" means that a person is physically guided through completion of a request or command and the person is more than minimally resisting.

(11) "Error correction" means that a person must repeat the step of a skill where an error was made, while receiving as much help as needed to complete the skill without making additional errors. A person is not resisting throughout the process.

(12) "Extinction" means the reinforcement that maintained or increased the unwanted target behavior is withheld.

(13) "Functional behavior assessment" means a systematic assessment for obtaining information about the function an unwanted target behavior serves for a person. The assessment is conducted by a qualified behavior professional.

(14) "Intrusive behavior intervention" means an unpleasant and restrictive behavior intervention with the potential to restrict a person's human right and affect the safety of a person.

(15) "Manual restraint" means that a person's body is physically held or restricted in a way that prevents a person's free movement but must be administered in a way that ensures a person's general safety with specific emphasis on appropriate breathing and circulation. Manual restraint does not mean briefly holding a person who is not resisting to calm a person or escort a person safely from one area to another.

(16) "Mechanical restraint" means that a device is attached to or adjacent to a person's body, that cannot easily be removed by a person, and restricts a person's freedom of movement. A mechanical restraint must be administered in a way that ensures a person's general safety with specific emphasis on appropriate breathing and circulation and which prevents skin irritation.

(17) "Non-intrusive behavior intervention" means a positive behavior intervention that incorporates prevention, reinforcement, positive teaching, and training strategies.

(18) "Physical guidance" means that a person's appropriate body part is physically guided through the proper motion by a caregiver or staff and a person is no more than minimally resisting. The intervention is considered intrusive if a person demonstrates any level of resistance. Physical guidance may include partial physical prompts and full physical prompts.

(19) "Positive behavior support" means the use of a positive behavior intervention that achieves a socially important behavior change. The support addresses the functionality of a problem and results in an outcome that is acceptable to the person, the family, and the community. Support focuses on prevention and teaching replacement behavior.

(20) "Positive practice overcorrection" means that a person repeatedly practices a positive alternative behavior in those situations when unwanted target behavior commonly occurs.

(21) "Reinforcement" means anything that occurs following a behavior that increases or strengthens that behavior.

(22) "Replacement behavior" means a necessary social, behavioral, or communication skill used to replace the unwanted target behavior.

(23) "Response-cost" means that previously obtained rewards, including tokens, points, activities, or the opportunity to exchange points or tokens to obtain a reward, are removed from a person for a time, contingent upon the occurrence of an unwanted target behavior.

(24) "Restitutional overcorrection" means that a person must repeatedly restore an environment to its original condition.

(25) "Satiation" means that a person is non-contingently presented with an overabundance of a reinforcer to decrease its reinforcing properties and subsequently decrease the occurrence of the unwanted target behavior. Satiation may not be used in conjunction with enforced compliance.

(26) "Seclusion" means the same as defined in Section 62A-2-101 and Rule 501-1, and includes social isolation, and removing the person from a specific setting that exceeds ten minutes. Seclusion is not a voluntary time-out or medical quarantine and isolation when approved by a medical professional.

(27) "Seclusion Room" is a specific type of seclusion and means that the person is placed alone in a room designed as a seclusion room for up to a specified amount of time. The behavior support plan determines the specified allowable amount of time. Use of the seclusion room may require enforced compliance to move the person to or prevent them from leaving the seclusion room.

Notes

Utah Admin. Code R539-4-2

Amended by Utah State Bulletin Number 2022-11, effective 5/23/2022