Association for Behavior Analysis International

Given it’s addition to the BACB 2022 Code of Ethics, the current symposium discusses the hot topic: assent and its implications to human and animal learners alike. The first talk introduces a contingency analysis, followed by a concept analysis of assent, consent, and compulsion. The second talk follows-up on those analyses and introduces relevant examples and nonexamples familiar to clinicians in applied behavior analysis. The third talk introduces strategies to evaluate programs where assent is not present, but the program is needed. It also introduces intervention strategies to gain not only learner assent, but begin to construct the needed repertoires for learner autonomy. Finally, the fourth talk will focus on the animal trainer’s personal background and his experiences with assent. Specifically, how quality of life for the animal improves with experiences where assent is present. These four presentations taken together, will provide a fresh nonlinear contingency analytic informed perspective on assent and consent.

A solid foundation in the basic principles of Applied Behavior Analysis is required.

Given the critical and variable features of assent, consent, and compulsion discussed previously, this talk will present the rational sets of examples and nonexamples related to each (Layng, 2019; Markle & Tiemann, 1990). The presence or absence of the critical attributes will provide differentiation in example/nonexamples of assent, consent, and compulsion. Within this analysis, variable attributes determine whether criteria are met for true or apparent consent/assent. This critical discrimination between true and apparent is at the heart of ethical clinical practice. Examples of true assent will be contrasted against apparent with a focus on helping the clinician reveal the critical contingencies actually operating at any given moment. An emphasis will be placed on the practical everyday situations encountered by clinicians working with Autism Spectrum diagnosed learners. This discussion will establish a framework that will allow the clinician to determine if true assent has been obtained. Further, this framework can be applied in any setting across all learner types.

Given the concept analysis and examples and nonexamples of assent, this talk will examine what clinicians can do when learner assent is not present. It is suggested that clinicians apply a cost/benefit analysis of program participation and nonparticipation to determine if the program benefits a learner’s overall growth and development. If it is determined that the program is beneficial for the learner, clinicians can ask a few guiding questions to help program for program participation. The questions relate to behavioral objectives, entry repertoires, and programming sequences (Layng et al., 1976). The answers will help clinicians create programs that build on learners' entry repertoires that lead to full participation in the program. These programs are individualized for the learner and may include shaping, chaining, the use of conjugate schedules, and streamlining reinforcement systems (Rosales-Ruiz & Hunter, 2019). This talk will present examples of programs that utilize this process to obtain assent.