Autism ABA Datasheets: PIR

A tool to record Partial-Interval Data for Applied Behaviour Analysis Therapy.

Dedicated to the ABA therapists, this app will make Partial-Interval Recording data collection convenient, easier and automatic.

Version History: First Deployed: 23 Sep 2014

THIS UPDATED VERSION: 30 NOVEMBER 2014, in collaboration with Douglas H. McDonald,PhD, Consortium on Innovative Practices, Behavior and Technical Consultant, USA.

The ABA DATA SHEETS: PIR app consists of two screens:

Partial Interval Recording Data Screen with a countdown timer.

Partial Interval Recording Results Screen.

Partial Interval Recording Data Screen:

* The default recording interval time can be set as per user’s choice or for 5 minutes or 15 minutes . The default interval time is set for 20 seconds.

* The Person's Name and instructor's name is manually entered. Today’s date is automatically set.

* Pressing the Record button starts the countdown timer and while it is ticking, the recording mode is on. The Record button changes its color to red and it’s text to Cancel. The user can now press the Yes buttons against the observed behavior in the current interval period. The Yes buttons increment only by 1 per interval no matter how many times they are pressed in an interval. Pause and Resume buttons are provided.

* Once the countdown timer reaches 0, the recording mode is turned off, the Record button color changes back to green and its text to Record. The interval is set back to default time chosen. Pressing Yes buttons now will have no effect. However, No buttons , for behaviors not observed during the interval can be pressed at any time to keep track of their cumulative count. The No buttons are also set to increment cumulatively by 1 every time they are pressed.

* To draw attention of the user to the fact that the recording is about to be finished, the color of the minute and second digits of the countdown timer is changed from green to red, 5 seconds before the countdown timer reaches 0. The minute and seconds digit fonts are bigger and bolder to make it easy for the user to keep track of the timer. There is no flashing or music to distract the students.

* A cumulative interval count is kept for each new recording.

* A reset button is provided to reset the details entered, if required.

* After the countdown timer reaches 0 and the user is ready, the Results button can be clicked which would display the results screen of the recorded data collection.

* The results screen will not be displayed if there has been no recording of data collected.

Partial Interval Recording Results Sheet:

* The Person and the instructor details, as also the recorded date, are carried across to the results screen from the recording data screen .The total number of intervals is also displayed in the results screen. The total No and total Yes behaviors are also displayed along with the total Yes percentage which is automatically calculated based on the number of intervals recorded.

* There is a choice to save the results as a .CSV file for opening in Excel. All files are saved under the main directory PIRDATA. User is given a choice to enter the file name which will be saved with today’s date and time stamp.

* From the results screen, the device's return button can be used to return to the data recording screen to continue with the current recording or a provision is provided to return to recording data screen with all data reset for a new recording.