Essential components of written behavior treatment plans

For the last 25 years, the only empirically determined system to evaluate the content of written behavior analysis plans was developed by Vollmer et al. (1992). For the current study, the content of that earlier system was revised by the first author and submitted to 48 members of the editorial board of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis and seven (7) other acknowledged experts on the editorial boards of Behavioral Interventions and Research in Developmental Disabilities. Of 55 recipients, 36 responded. The thirty-six (36) respondents rated each of 28 items from essential to non-essential using a five-point Likert scale. After reviewing the expert panel members' evaluations, we reduced the 28 items to 20 essential components of written behavior treatment plans. The implications of the results were discussed.