Opportunity Cost
07/22/06 14:24 Filed in: Behavioral Concepts
As we begin our conversation together about behavior analysis, I think I want to start by introducing the concept of Opportunity Cost. The term, which I’ll explain in a minute, does not refer specifically to a concept in behavior analysis. This may seem odd in a column about behavior analysis, but the concept of opportunity cost is central to the mission of Forest City Behavior & Development.
Opportunity cost essentially refers to the opportunities that we sacrifice when we choose one path over another. Although the term may not be familiar, the idea is one that you’ve probably come across before. The resources we have available to accomplish things are limited, and when we go one way we use up the time, money, and energy that could have been spent going a different direction. Parents of young adults often struggle with this, for example, when a child who will be graduating from high school begins to talk about “taking a year off” before considering college. That time taken off has a cost in lost time spent progressing toward one’s future. In the United States there is an ongoing debate about whether we should spend money, energy, and time, on national defense, or focus those resources on poverty, or health care, or any of a number of potential needs at home. This debate reflects the understanding that either course of action has a cost that reflects the opportunities offered by the other path.
This concept has a special relevance to the field of developmental disabilities. Any parent or professional caring for or working with someone who has a developmental disability knows that resources are scarce. Further, the people we care for often need a great deal of specialized care and assistance to make their lives as enjoyable and meaningful as possible.
The needs of people with developmental disabilities are often complex, and meeting those needs is frequently a complicated, difficult to understand process. There are dozens to hundreds of treatments made available to us from people around the world. A small number of these have undergone the rigorous scientific investigation that is needed to demonstrate that their effects are real. Unfortunately, a great many of the treatments offered in the field of developmental disabilities have no research to support them – no structured investigation into whether they are effective or not. Often, as the people caring for and treating folks with DD, we begin to look at these treatments and think: “what could it hurt? We have to try something. Lets do ________. It’s not harmful, and it might just help.”
It’s in these situations that it is important to understand the idea of opportunity cost. It’s tempting to try treatments that appear to, at worst, be harmless, in the attempt to do something. However, even treatments that appear to be harmless have an opportunity cost. Every minute, every hour, every day, and every dollar of parent, staff or professional time spent on an unproven treatment is a minute, hour, day, or dollar that isn’t being devoted to treatments that have been proven to be effective.
This is important for everyone with developmental disabilities, but especially so for children. All children, disabled or not, are in a stage of life during which they are most able to learn, to develop, and to benefit from treatment. The resource most precious to them in terms of opportunity cost is time. Each hour lost to an unproven treatment during this critical developmental stage of life is something that cannot be regained.
For adults time is also important, but other resources are important also. Funding for services is in limited supply. Every dollar of that supply that is spent on an unproven treatment is a dollar that we are not likely to get back later on – a dollar that cannot be spent on treatments that we know to work.
None of this is to say that today’s unproven treatment cannot be demonstrated to be effective tomorrow. When I become aware of this occurring, I will be happy to report it here – there is never a point when any clinician worth her or his salt will turn their noses up at a new, effective treatment. However, the DD field is full of treatments that are being offered to the public without ever having been tested. What’s more, the field continues to host treatments that have been tested, and cannot demonstrate efficacy, but are still being offered to the public.
I said at the beginning of this that the concept of opportunity cost was central to the mission of Forest City Behavior & Development. What I meant by that is that we are dedicated to ensuring that people with developmental disabilities get the best clinical treatment possible. This means that we must know which treatments are proven to be effective, and ensure that others know this as well, so that we can avoid paying the unacceptable opportunity costs that can affect the people we love and serve.
Opportunity cost essentially refers to the opportunities that we sacrifice when we choose one path over another. Although the term may not be familiar, the idea is one that you’ve probably come across before. The resources we have available to accomplish things are limited, and when we go one way we use up the time, money, and energy that could have been spent going a different direction. Parents of young adults often struggle with this, for example, when a child who will be graduating from high school begins to talk about “taking a year off” before considering college. That time taken off has a cost in lost time spent progressing toward one’s future. In the United States there is an ongoing debate about whether we should spend money, energy, and time, on national defense, or focus those resources on poverty, or health care, or any of a number of potential needs at home. This debate reflects the understanding that either course of action has a cost that reflects the opportunities offered by the other path.
This concept has a special relevance to the field of developmental disabilities. Any parent or professional caring for or working with someone who has a developmental disability knows that resources are scarce. Further, the people we care for often need a great deal of specialized care and assistance to make their lives as enjoyable and meaningful as possible.
The needs of people with developmental disabilities are often complex, and meeting those needs is frequently a complicated, difficult to understand process. There are dozens to hundreds of treatments made available to us from people around the world. A small number of these have undergone the rigorous scientific investigation that is needed to demonstrate that their effects are real. Unfortunately, a great many of the treatments offered in the field of developmental disabilities have no research to support them – no structured investigation into whether they are effective or not. Often, as the people caring for and treating folks with DD, we begin to look at these treatments and think: “what could it hurt? We have to try something. Lets do ________. It’s not harmful, and it might just help.”
It’s in these situations that it is important to understand the idea of opportunity cost. It’s tempting to try treatments that appear to, at worst, be harmless, in the attempt to do something. However, even treatments that appear to be harmless have an opportunity cost. Every minute, every hour, every day, and every dollar of parent, staff or professional time spent on an unproven treatment is a minute, hour, day, or dollar that isn’t being devoted to treatments that have been proven to be effective.
This is important for everyone with developmental disabilities, but especially so for children. All children, disabled or not, are in a stage of life during which they are most able to learn, to develop, and to benefit from treatment. The resource most precious to them in terms of opportunity cost is time. Each hour lost to an unproven treatment during this critical developmental stage of life is something that cannot be regained.
For adults time is also important, but other resources are important also. Funding for services is in limited supply. Every dollar of that supply that is spent on an unproven treatment is a dollar that we are not likely to get back later on – a dollar that cannot be spent on treatments that we know to work.
None of this is to say that today’s unproven treatment cannot be demonstrated to be effective tomorrow. When I become aware of this occurring, I will be happy to report it here – there is never a point when any clinician worth her or his salt will turn their noses up at a new, effective treatment. However, the DD field is full of treatments that are being offered to the public without ever having been tested. What’s more, the field continues to host treatments that have been tested, and cannot demonstrate efficacy, but are still being offered to the public.
I said at the beginning of this that the concept of opportunity cost was central to the mission of Forest City Behavior & Development. What I meant by that is that we are dedicated to ensuring that people with developmental disabilities get the best clinical treatment possible. This means that we must know which treatments are proven to be effective, and ensure that others know this as well, so that we can avoid paying the unacceptable opportunity costs that can affect the people we love and serve.
