A Comparison of Electronic and Pen-And-Paper Recording in ABA Sessions

Abstract

With the widespread use of electronic recording applications in healthcare, and recently in applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy sessions that teach autistic learners, researchers have begun examining how the recording instruments influence the behavior of the clinicians who use them. Although prior research has suggested that electronic recording consumes more of the behavior technician's time than pen-and-paper recording, it is unclear how this impacts the overall flow of ABA sessions. The present study examined (a) the rate of teaching trials that behavior technicians presented and (b) the percentage of learning trials that the behavior technicians inputted data for as a function of two electronic recording instruments and pen-and-paper recording. The findings suggested that the recording instrument did not impact either of these measures. However, the participants ranked electronic recording more favorably than pen-and-paper recording. Given the present results and prior research, electronic recording does not seem to pose practical or clinical disadvantages over pen-and-paper recording.