Association for Behavior Analysis International

Token economies are used with a variety of populations for many purposes including behavioral treatment, education, and in social settings. Furthermore, modifications to the value of the reinforcers and frequency of delivery increase responsiveness to these programs. (Kazdin, 1982). Tokens are conditioned reinforcers that are paired with established reinforcers to potentially increase appropriate behavior (Fiske et al., 2015). Token economies take on many variations when applied to the classroom setting for behavioral purposes. A group contingency such as the Good Behavior Game has been used across classrooms with successful decreases in problem behavior (Tingstrom, Sterling-turner, Wilczynski, 2006). Additionally, token economies work through the process of behavioral economics to determine functional relationships between the reinforcement contingencies and behavior (Hackenberg, 2009). The current study seeks to examine the effectiveness of an individualized token economy for behavior reduction in the classroom. As tokens are earned for appropriate behavior and absence of problem behavior, higher levels of tokens earned indicate lower levels of maladaptive behaviors. Overall, the treatment package data show an increase in tokens earned as well as a decreasing trend in all problem behaviors.

Residential treatment facilities are commonly known to be understaffed, prone to high staff turnover rates and often limited to hiring staff with limited qualifications. These facilities are often limited in terms of resources and have difficulty motivating staff to engage in appropriate staff behavior. As a result the staff are less likely to respond to the appropriate behavior of residents and more likely to overrespond to inappropriate behavior limiting the opportunity for the generalization of replacement behaviors that are often the focus of treatment. An increase in the use of restraints has been noted within residential treatment facilities posing a potential risk to both residents and staff alike. Staff are often unaware of the implications of using punishment-based procedures and often use them incorrectly. Many facilities are now moving toward reducing the use of restraints, but still experience difficulty improving staff behavior to prevent the escalation of inappropriate resident behaviors. Iwata and colleagues (1976) evaluated the use of a performance-based lottery system in a residential treatment facility to improve staff task completion using a multiple baseline design. Results indicated an improvement in overall staff behavior with the use of the weekly lottery. The present study sought to extend previous research to use a performance-based reinforcement system to improve staff-resident interactions within the classrooms of a rural pediatric psychiatric treatment facility using a multiple baseline design. Additionally, the present study evaluated the schedule of reinforcement and provided audible prompts at fixed intervals to address staff behavior. Results of the present study indicated an increase in staff-resident interaction within the classroom in a pediatric psychiatric residential treatment facility. Staff-resident interaction continued to increase and maintain across treatment phases, as the audible prompt was faded. These findings provide preliminary support for the use of reinforcement-based techniques to improve staff engagement in a psychiatric residential treatment facility. The use of performance-based lottery may be beneficial in increasing the use of positive reinforcement by staff members with residents potentially decreasing the likelihood of staff overresponding to problem behavior and the use of physical restraints.

The purpose of this project was to investigate the efficiency, accuracy, and timeliness of an electronic data collection, management, and documentation system compared to pen and paper to computer-based software systems. The study took place at an adult day habilitation program and with home based consultation services for children. Timeliness data were collected for one month to determine the time between when the behavior occurred and when data were graphed. To track accuracy of transferring written tally marks into typed numbers, staff members from outside the day program entered data into spreadsheets, and percentage of agreement between day staff and outside staff was calculated. Efficiency was determined by timing one staff member entering 7 individuals data from paper sheets to computer spreadsheets. To measure documentation efficiency, 8 clinicians were timed while documenting services by hand and then in the electronic system, using a sample vignette. Results indicated notable differences between traditional data management and documentation compared to the electronic system across efficiency, accuracy, and timeliness in both settings. The time saved using the electronic system will allow time for staff to provide more direct services, make more timely decisions regarding progress, and act using more accurate data.

Discriminate before you generate is a common mantra among Precision Teachers. This poster will demonstrate how this idea can be practically implemented in reading instruction. The act of reading requires the reader to generate a wide variety of rule-governed textual responses accurately and fluently. For a fluent reader, subtle differences in textual stimuli come to exert discriminative control over the vocal or subvocal textual responses emitted. When an aspiring reader demonstrates dysfluency in textual responding, Precision Teachers commonly employ strategies to systematically isolate and measure the accuracy and fluency of the critical conditional discriminations required for a functional reading repertoire. These operant sub-classes of reading behavior are called tool skills or component skills. When dysfluency on the component skills of reading is identified, the adage Discriminate before you generate informs the most efficient, generative path to remediation. Case studies from Fit Learning are included to show how prioritization of fluency building on simple textual discrimination tasks can produce rapid improvements in the composite reading repertoire and readily generalize to novel text.

Maintaining competence through professional development is critical in this knowledge-based industry. The purpose of this study is to inform how, and to what extent, certified behavior analysts maintain competence by means of consuming research and obtaining continuing education. We sent a survey to all certificants through the Behavior Analyst Certification Board email campaign system. Questions addressed the methods, extent of access in various domains, and barriers to accessing literature. Questions regarding continuing education focused on the sources and domains of obtained continuing education units and the benefits and barriers to accessing online and on-site continuing education events. Based on the data reported from the 560 respondents of this survey, most board certified behavior analysts reported reading between 6 and 20 articles per year, and most certificants at the doctoral level reported reading 20 or more articles per year. The most commonly reported barrier to maintaining contact with scholarly literature was access to databases and the cost of relevant articles. Despite most continuing education opportunities currently being obtained on-site, the costs and effort of attending conferences were significant barriers providing ongoing motivation for interactive online continuing education events. Understanding the current trends in our field has important implications for its future. Additionally, approved continuing education providers can use these data to inform development of engaging continuing education opportunities that play to the benefits of the delivery format.

Decreasing behavioral independence levels is the most problematic aspect for patients with dementia. Despite the necessity of behavioral trainings, little is known about the changes in behaviors during the trainings. We examined the time course of changes in amount of cues given by the therapist in training to learn upper-body dressing, toileting and transferring. Four patients with dementia were enrolled in the study. The patients received behavioral trainings based on the time-delay method. If the patient responded with inadequate component actions or did nothing for 10 seconds, the therapist offered cues at four levels in the following order: verbal cue, gesturing, tapping, and physical assistance. When the patient carried out each component action, the therapist praised the patient. The results of the data of amount of cues fitted an exponential function gradually decreased during learning of the behavioral skills (dressing, t = 380.1, R2 = 0.59, p = 0.006; toileting, t = 1.7-2.2, R2 = 0.83-0.90, p < 0.0001; transferring, t = 0.4, R2 = 0.99, p < 0.0001). These results suggest that the amount of cues could be described by an exponential function, and dressing, toileting, and transferring were difficult to accomplish in a stepwise fashion.

The ultimate goal of rehabilitation in patients with schizophrenia is to optimize their participation in society. Restrictions to participation are problems an individual may experience in involvement in life situations or roles. In order to achieve the patients goals in his/her own life situations or roles, the behavioral intervention process is required to use collaborative approaches that always maintain a focus on the patients needs and desires and to ensure that the patient is actively involved in making decisions about the process of patient-centered. The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of patient-centered behavioral intervention on participation in a patient with schizophrenia. The AB design treatment single subject experimental design was implemented, where baseline with interview about patients goals related individual life situations, intervention with collaborative approaches focused on patients goals related individual life situations. The target behavior was frequency of participation related to patients goal. Patient-centered behavioral intervention increased the frequency of participation related to patients goal (p = 0.001). These results suggest that the patient-centered behavioral intervention had an effect on the frequency of participation in a patient with schizophrenia. The present findings may serve to optimize participation of patients with schizophrenia.

A reversal design was utilized to evaluate the effectiveness of a DRL procedure on the reduction of challenging behaviors across two participants. The DRL procedures were implemented within the context of regular home-based service delivery. Both participants engaged in high rates of challenging behaviors prior to the implementation of the procedure. When the DRL procedure was in place, reinforcement was delivered contingent upon the number of responses within a period of time occurring below a predetermined criterion. In the reversal condition, the DRL was removed and modified behavior guidelines were implemented. For both participants, this plan consisted of high-probability request sequences paired with either a token economy or functional communication training. The reversal yielded differentiated results between conditions. In conditions where the DRL procedure was present, challenging behaviors decreased to low rates below the set criterion across both participants. In conditions where the DRL procedure was not present, challenging behaviors increased to differentially higher rates above the set criterion. Experimental control was demonstrated across both participants as a result of the reversal design, which indicated an effective intervention in a home-based setting.