Therapy Management System for Model-Based Behavioral Interventions - In this Phase II SBIR application, Experiad Solutions proposes to complete the development of Motivity, a new
type of software that has the potential to modernize the practice of behavioral therapy for autism. Applied
Behavior Analysis (ABA) is an evidence-based autism treatment that is practiced by over 20,000 Board
Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs ®) in the US. BCBAs analyze a child’s unique needs, then construct an
individualized curriculum of skill acquisition and behavior modification programs consisting of sequences of
progressive targets to be achieved. Each BCBA adheres to an intervention model, either formal or informal,
which is comprised of the specific teaching instructions in their program library and the accompanying rules
that define how targets are introduced, scored, and mastered. The BCBA supervises a Behavioral Technician
(BT), who conducts the therapy and collects performance data. The BCBA analyzes the data to determine
mastery and adjust programs as needed. This structured, data-driven process is critical to the effectiveness of
ABA therapy, but the labor-intensive workflow limits a BCBA to supervising a small number of BTs at a time.
The demand for ABA services far-outstrips the availability of qualified providers, many of whom have waiting
lists of hundreds of families. Software systems can theoretically help improve provider efficiency and
collaboration, but the vast majority of ABA service providers still use paper methods. Existing systems do not
offer a compelling enough value-proposition to switch from paper, due to insufficient expressiveness, lack of
knowledge management tools, and inadequate mechanisms for communicating instructions and answering
questions. Many ABA service providers have spent years developing and fine-tuning their own libraries of
paper programs, and they reject the idea of compromising their practice to fit a rigid third party system.
Motivity overcomes these limitations by enabling BCBAs to implement their own software intervention delivery
system that preserves the rich semantic content of their paper-based model. Motivity achieves this through a
unique approach that lets BCBAs author their ABA programs using a concise, high-level markup language.
This approach is far more flexible than template-based systems, allowing a wider range of programs to be
modeled, and greatly streamlines the process of creating, modifying, and maintaining those programs. The
Motivity platform translates the programs into custom data collection apps that allow BCBAs to remotely
supervise BTs as data are being collected in the field, viewing the result of each trial instantaneously as it is
entered. Motivity will support context-integrated two-way consultation, enabling virtual supervision or
assistance, potentially reducing the frequency of BCBA travel to the child’s home where the therapy is being
performed. Furthermore, Motivity will allow supervisors to make changes to the curriculum at any time, thereby
enabling a much more agile therapy process. The Phase II aims are to complete the development of the
Motivity cloud-based software and test it in an extensive pilot study.
