Association for Behavior Analysis International

Evidence-based practices (EBPs) for individuals with autism were largely rooted in the principles of applied behavior analysis (ABA). Implementation of EBPs has consistently led to significant improvements for individuals with autism. However, studies on teacher-implemented EBPs are limited, and most teachers still conduct classroom practices with minimal empirical support. Dissemination and adoption of EBPs in school settings encountered various barriers including lack of socially valid interventions and lack of knowledge and training in ABA. There is a pressing need to develop EBPs that fit with the school context and identify specific support areas among teachers, as well as develop effective professional development to improve their use of EBPs. The first presentation explores the efficacy of a professional development series in a sample of 200 special educators. The second presentation examines whether a class-wide function-related intervention leads to an increase in on-task behavior among three students with autism. The third presentation focuses on understanding familiarity with function-based interventions and its relationship with confidence and self-report use of interventions among 80 special educators. The fourth presentation investigates the efficacy of Project ABA TEACHER, which aims to help special education teachers become BCBAs and incorporate ABA into their teaching practices and classroom management.

Class-wide behavior management strategies can be utilized to decrease problem behavior and increase on-task behavior maximizing student engagement, achievement, and social competence (Sugai, 2011). One limitation of these strategies, however, is that most do not include more intensive, tertiary, supports to facilitated inclusion of students with more intensive needs, including those with autism spectrum disorders. However, class-wide function-related intervention teams (CW-FIT), a class-wide intervention, includes classroom behavior instruction, positive, reinforcement, and an interdependent group contingency as well as embedded individualized support (Wills et al., 2014). Three ABAB (Kazdin, 2011) single-subject design studies were implemented to evaluate the efficacy of CW-FIT for increasing the on-task behavior of three middle school students with autism spectrum disorders in an inclusive classroom. Results yielded immediate increases in on-task behavior for all three participants. Further, social validity assessments indicated positive results from peer models, participants, and teachers. Implications for future research and practice will be discussed.

The importance of using function-based interventions (FBIs) to address problem behavior in students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has been highlighted in the literature. We conducted a survey of 80 special education teachers working with students with ASD in two southeastern states in the United States. Our purpose in this study was to analyze the relationship between teachers’ level of familiarity and confidence with FBIs and their frequency of use in schools. First, we used descriptive statistics to calculate teachers’ familiarity, confidence, and use of 35 FBIs. Second, we assigned rankings to each FBI from the highest percentage of respondents indicating agreement with being familiar and confident in using FBIs to the lowest percentage. Third, we used Spearman rank-order correlations to determine the association among familiarity, confidence, and use of FBIs. Results indicated that prompting, environmental modifications, modifications to instructional delivery, and continuous reinforcement were ranked highest, and mand training and discrete-trial functional analysis were ranked lowest. All rank order correlations were positive and significant, suggesting that teachers are more likely to use FBIs they are familiar with (? = .891, p < .001***) and are confident in implementing (? = .933, p < .001***). Implications for researchers and practitioners are discussed.