The Compassionate Approach to Relational Education (CARE) is a program evaluation studying how the integration of Practical Functional Assessment and Skill-Based Treatment (PFA-SBT) with the PEAK and/or AIM curriculum impacts student outcomes. 

Through the CARE project, participating staff receive professional development and ongoing consultation from national experts in these evidence-based practices. This program may be appropriate for students currently receiving ABA services or who are being evaluated for potential ABA programming and/or consultation for significant behavioral concerns. 

Teams participating in the program evaluation are randomly assigned to either a treatment or a control group:

• Treatment group: completes baseline measures, implements SBT with PEAK and/or AIM targets for 12 weeks with coaching, and weekly progress monitoring metrics, then repeats baseline measures.

• Control group: completes baseline measures and continues with services-as-usual for a 12-week control period, then repeats baseline measures. May elect to implement the CARE intervention after 12 weeks.

The findings from this evaluation may inform future policy decisions about staff training, support systems, and the delivery of behavioral and educational interventions across the State.