Association for Behavior Analysis International

State the most important issues to consider

Define and provide examples of "behavioral cusps"

Describe the importance of considering future environments

Discuss the importance of independence, work, and community participation for adults

Develop a fundraising plan for initiating programs

Measure the capacity of a leadership team in a developing country to provide sustainable services for children with autism

Conduct a needs assessment to determine training needed

Evaluate volunteers' applications to match specified needs

Develop a training program with materials and data collection systems to ensure sustainability of services to children with autism

Develop strategies and contacts for meeting with political leaders in developing countries

Identify the differences between functional and basic/conceptual skills

Identify four broad skill clusters of functional skills

Identify and assess 31 specific skill groupings of functional skills

Choose initial instructional skills for teaching functional skills

Identify methods to teach functional skills in various settings

Identify methods to measure and track progress of functional skills from initial assessment and throughout the teaching process

Use a variety of technological applications to assist learners with ASD

Use technology to teach both in a classroom setting and portably

Use technology with adolescents to promote independence

Identify specific needs of the learner with ASD and design the appropriate intervention using any of a variety of technology-based interventions

Identify research-based instructional strategies used to promote physical fitness safety, sports performance, and leisure skills for individuals with ASDs in community settings

Identify measurement procedures to promote accountability in fitness programs, including measures of social validity in a school-based running program and a community fitness center

List the necessary components of an effective leisure and fitness programs for individuals with autism spectrum disorders

Modify their consulting techniques and interventions based on a goodness of fit survey to enhance contextual fit

Describe three ways in which technology could enhance service to their clients and discuss the ethical considerations for each use

Define subtractive bilingualism, additive bilingualism, and semilingualism and provide one example of each

Describe at least five key elements of a functional common ground between behaviour analysis and applied linguistics

Develop an example of a play-based scenario to enhance social communication in the form of reciprocity, joint attention, and relatedness

Identify and respond to ethical questions pertaining to cross-cultural treatment settings and practices in accordance with BACB ethics guidelines

Use ABA methods such as extinction and differential reinforcement of alternative behaviors (DRA) to decrease problem behaviors in children with autism and other special needs

Describe the effective use of additional reductive techniques, such as DRO, DRI, DRL, NRC, behavioral momentum, time out, and response cost, as demonstrated by their ability to answer questions regarding these methods

Identify various curricula targeting learning to learn skills

Implement procedures to teach learning to learn skills

Identify how learning to learn skills can help improve other behaviors (e.g., language, social skills, decrease in aberrant behaviors)

Define evidence-based practice for individuals with an ASD

Identify specific interventions and/or treatments found to have quality empirical support in the treatment literature

Describe several sources of evidence-based intervention reviews including target populations and key review standards

Identify steps necessary to systematically build capacity within a human service agency or school setting

Utilize tools provided in the workshop to initiate capacity building

List developmental concepts that relate to early behavioral intervention

Characterize skills that are present or absent in young children with autism and that are behavioral cusps for autistic development

List major therapeutic goals for the first 3 months of intervention as they relate to the precursors of autism

Describe teaching strategies to accomplish the major therapeutic goals for the first 3 months of intervention

Plan the following months of therapy

Combine the technology of ABA and the technology of an iPad to create behavior change in individuals with autism

Identify how different apps on the iPad can help learners using shaping, modeling, and imitation

Use the iPad to maximize incidental teaching opportunities via making curriculum adaptations on the iPad

Use the iPad to teach students self-management

Use the Pad as a behavior change procedure to promote stimulus and response generalization

Design and implement programs on the iPad that will help monitor treatment integrity and treatment adherence to protocols

State the behavioral and theoretical foundations on which the study of inner behavior rests

Define thoughts, feelings, and urges and name specific ones in each category

State the behavioral theory and fundamental points and their familiarity with the research on observing and changing inner behavior

Practice writing positive thoughts, feelings, and/or urges at 30–35 per minute and saying them at 50–75 per minute

Count and record some specific inner behaviors for the duration of the workshop

Discuss and develop a plan to change inner behaviors of self or clients

Identify at lease two aspects of fluency training for classroom interventions

Identify at lease two antecedent training methods to address recall deficits

Identify three behavior management techniques useful in the classroom and community

Identify contingencies (antecedents, consequences, functions, replacement skills, and reinforcers) for parent/caregiver behavior

Identify intervention strategies (preventative and reactive) to use to achieve effective implementation by parents/caregivers

Identify ethical issues in the field and their importance to the general public as well as to behavior analysts

Describe primary ethical principles that underlie the content of the Guidelines for Responsible Conduct

Identify and analyze ethical dilemmas that are often encountered by behavior analysts and other service providers

Assess and realize the usefulness of the Guidelines for Responsible Conduct as a tool in making ethical decisions

Use the six steps delineated in the ethical decision making model to resolve ethical dilemmas that are likely to occur in the service delivery process

Identify what ethical guidelines are and why they are important

Identify the BACB's 10 Guidelines for Responsible Conduct (www.bacb.com)

Identify the BACB ethics application

Accurately identify ethical dilemmas presented in video role plays

Accurately identify which guideline is addressed

Accurately identify appropriate responses to ethical dilemmas

Visual supports, including token economies and schedules, can be used with a wide variety of students to increase target skills and decrease maladaptive behaviors. Schedules can range from simple icons boards representing one to two activities, to full day written schedules and monthly planners. The use of schedules can help students better plan and predict within their environment, as well as increase independence. Token economies are used to increase target behaviors, and can be used in combination with a response cost to decrease maladaptive behaviors. The primary focus of this workshop is to teach therapists and caregivers how to create and implement visual supports for individuals with developmental disabilities, and to serve as a platform to problem solve real life challenges facing field based clinicians and parents. After a general explanation of the theories behind these visual supports, participants will break into small groups to practice creating their own visual supports and receive feedback from presenters. Materials provided will include printouts of various visual supports and their descriptions, a sample behavior support plan, a sample of a self-monitoring data sheet, and a bi-fold communication folder that can be used to create a schedule and token board.

• Describe the reasoning behind using visual supports with students with disabilities
• Identify which visual support should be used given a target behavior or skill
• Create visual schedules, ranging from basic to complex
• Create visual token boards, with and without a response cost component
• Implement a wide variety of schedule and token boards
• Discuss how to incorporate and adapt parts of the BSP development process into their current practice

Design a multiple baseline experimental design and an ABA experimental design using Excel

Move the zero off the X-axis

Eliminate lines that cross condition lines

Modify graph features

Select or create appropriate data collection tools

Interpret one data set with the support of another data set

Use multiple data sets to provide feedback to team members

Create and maintain unique databases for their schools

Define "learning efficiency"

Measure and evaluate current learning efficiencies

Describe the benefits of improving learning efficiencies

Summarize the research on learning efficiency and its application to the design of more efficient learning activities and teaching procedures

Apply functional assessment strategies to the selection and implementation of effective classroom-wide practices

Employ evidence-based methods used to train teachers in classroom-wide behavior support practices

Employ a data-based decision process used with teachers to modify classroom behavior support practices

Use instructional and behavior support practices that establish more effective interactions between teachers and students and increase on-task behavior

Conduct and apply research-based innovations in assessment and consultation in order to identify functionally relevant interventions to address clients' academic and/or behavioral difficulties

Collectively integrate stimulus preference assessments, performance deficit analyses, brief experimental analyses, and functional assessment information in the consultation process

Utilize the data through strategic and structured decision making protocols in order to maximize productivity of consultation interviews within the school setting

Apply research-based strategies that have been shown to enhance and sustain treatment integrity

Utilize performance feedback and evaluate treatment effectiveness based on fidelity and outcome data

Shape sensitivity to the learner

Train necessary teacher repertoires for high-quality instruction

Develop programs for new learners

Transform current programming/curriculum to a PT-friendly curriculum

Test for emergent repertoires

Sequence component/composite repertoires

Employ various interventions The objectives will be discussed and explained by data and key representatives from Morningside Academy and Precision Teaching Learning Center.

Demonstrate accurate implementation of the group working skills assessment(i.e., correctly complete the data sheet and understand three specific dimensions of the assessment—student learning profile, behavioral profile, andage)

Based on the results of each student's assessment, determine the appropriate tier within the six level system

Assign students with similar profiles across the three dimensions into classroom groupings

Determine classroom learning objectives (scope and sequence) for an academic year

Identify objective criteria for determining the amount and type of staff support that a student requires across curriculum content areas and settings (1:1 vs. small group formats) and group types (academic, classroom routine, nonacademic)

Develop, implement, and evaluate strategies to transition students through the levels of support

Write individualized educational program objectives based on levels of support

Promote the use of best practices and ethical standards in levels of support

Describe the importance of analyzing and managing your organization as a system

Describe three tools for identifying and assessing the host of contextual variables operating inside and outside of your organization

Describe Optimal's approach to organizational management and how it can significantly improve the quality of services delivered by your agency

Describe, in behavioral terms, common forensic activities including assessment of competence to stand trial and criminal responsibility

Assess for malingering

Functionally analyze a number of behaviors including murder, chronic fire setting, shoplifting, obscene phone calls, and repetitive return to an abusive partner

Identify skills that will help them better cope with cross-examination

State theoretical constructs of MDT

Use functional analysis of complex adolescent behavior

Describe ways in which MDT implements a complete functional analysis

Identify the steps in MDT

Define and implement key components of behavioral coaching methods

Categorize treatments related to functions for positive and negative reinforcement, and positive and negative punishment; for social, tangible, and automatic contingencies; and for when the most salient stimulus is outside or inside the body

Identify the difference between behavior reduction that occurs from presenting a larger punisher (something bigger to worry about), replacement behavior (something better to do), or extinction (absence of the historic reinforcer)

Identify the biological precedence aversive control takes over positive control

Describe covert contingencies—that is, although not completely worked out, consider the utility of covert (internal) control for the organization of information (i.e., derived behavior such as stimulus equivalence and relational framing) and the maintenance of behavior occurring in prescribed programs (typically with positive control) and without any prescribed program (typically with aversive control)

Take data—without a count of the behavior you have nothing to consider

Describe and always consider multiple control as the potential explanation for a response

Describe the importance of holding information lightly and supporting an appreciation for how much more there is to know about influencing behavior with a constant (inductive) readiness to change our understanding of past data when new information suggests what we believe is incorrect

Describe the considerations that go into knowing when to refer by understanding potential controls, the danger of the behavior, and one's own skills

Use a table to help relate form and function of a target response to determine treatment.

Participate in discussions of recognized events (e.g., melt-down, "going postal," assimilation/accommodation, self-concept, pride, depression, etc.) to offer behavior analytic explanations for these potential functions.

Rank order a list of positive and aversive experiences for their potential relevance in a program, and practice how the list changes when one of the upper items is removed.

Read a scenario that offers a condition such as showing a problem behavior occurring whenever a caretaker walks by and asking for a potential behavior analysis (i.e., social attention). Add information that the participant has had a bowel accident to see if the assessment changes (i.e., social need).

Complete a brief outline to place a response within a function, level of danger, and your own skills to determine if referral is required.

State significant events in the history of the error prevention movement and root cause analysis

Identify three methods used for conducting root cause analyses

Define sentinel events and behavioral sentinel events

Apply root cause analysis methods to a real life case study.

Demonstrate the use of the BCIRA tool

Assess current health and fitness related behaviors using industry standard metrics and functional behavioral assessment

Identify personalized health and wellness goals and break these down into achievable benchmarks via task analysis

Through preference assessments, identify preferred activities, possible reinforcers, and incentives for and environmental barriers to participating in healthy behaviors

Employ specific behavioral strategies such as self-monitoring, behavioral contracting, performance management, and public posting to achieve health and fitness goals

Use unique methods of data collection, charting, and graphing (including Internet gaming, mobile phone applications, and social media) to improve health and fitness related behaviors

Build a collaborative network of health and wellness practitioners and disseminate behavior analytic health and fitness programming through targeted marketing and public relations strategies

Identify a situation in which an individual has violated the BACB code of ethics and discuss various situations in dealing with that violation

Outline a simple ethics supervisory system to apply to their organization

Identify the six steps of behavioral systems analysis and how they can be applied to developing an ethics management system

Describe the three steps of performance-based instruction and how they can be applied to teaching ethical behavior

Develop strategies for dealing with ethical concerns when they arise during consultation or clinical services, such as addressing concerns with non-empirically based practices and procedure

Set up specific spreadsheets and input and manipulate data within an Excel 2003 and 2007 spreadsheet

Create graphs for alternating treatment, reversal, multiple-baseline designs, standard celeration, and cumulative records

Use the chart wizard, construct graphs of all data or select data sets within a spreadsheet, and update databases and graphs as data collection continues

Manipulate graph components (e.g., axes, data points, data paths, secondary axis) and use drawing tools to insert additional components (e.g., arrows, data labels, phase change lines, boxes)

Access the applications and available resources to successfully and independently use them for practice

Use iBAA for qualitative assessment, cumulative behavioral frequencies, interval recording with and without peer referencing, functional behavioral assessment, and assessment of the learning environment

Generate and export reports of behavioral data

Use Keep In Mind to develop and deliver fully customizable prompts as part of a behavior intervention plan and access feedback data to assess treatment compliance and/or fidelity of implementation

Demonstrate beginning knowledge of the complex medical, behavioral, and cognitive sequelae associated with survivors of TBI with co-occurring issues

Describe the phases of post acute TBI programming, from stabilization, evaluation, and treatment to discharge planning, preparation, and transition

Identify the ways in which the role of the behavior analyst can impact interdisciplinary treatment at all phases of planning and implementation

Describe how key behavior analytic concepts and principles can be incorporated into each phase of neurobehavioral programming

Demonstrate a beginning knowledge of the behavior analytic model established by the co-presenters to guide interdisciplinary team efforts to integrate, prioritize, and program for this challenging population

Operationalize objective, observable, measurable actions for the ongoing evaluation of interventions as outcomes for the purpose of measurement

Describe at least three single-case designs for systematically analyzing variables, and for demonstrating functional relationships, which include the basic essentials of establishing baselines and increasing inter-observer agreement in data-taking in community settings with nonprofessional observers

Identify behavioural and environmental contexts in which each type of data collection methodology would be appropriate, and identify how to ethically report the data

Identify the conceptual basis of interteaching

Identify the literature demonstrating the effectiveness of interteaching

Demonstrate a solid foundation in each interteaching component (i.e., preparation guides, teaching records)

Write effective study guide questions and follow-up lectures

Implement interteaching in their own classrooms

Connect their own current research to the origins of operant research, whether it be basic experimental work or higher level work on, for example, verbal behavior

Examine and explain the exact historical beginnings of B. F. Skinner's work (it is well known that this work is experimental, but it is also interpretative, in the sense that Skinner was all along also interested in complex human—verbal—behavior)

As many as eight percent of young children are highly aggressive, oppositional, impulsive, inattentive and difficult to parent or teach. Long-term studies show that such children are at high risk for developing conduct disorders that lead to school drop-out, delinquency, violence, and substance abuse. Because conduct disorders are the most expensive mental health disorder in this country, this is a problem of public health importance. Identifying these high risk children as early as possible in schools and helping teachers and parents work together to promote their social competence and self-regulation skills and reduce their aggression is key to preventing the development of conduct disorders. Dr. Carolyn Webster-Stratton will present an overview of her evidence-based prevention and treatment programs for teachers, parents and children including a review of research outcomes and video examples of the different programs.

Psychologists

Applied behavior analysts have been helping people to enhance the quality of their lives for decades. Its very characteristics as described by Baer, Wolf and Risley in 1968 continue to guide efforts to help clients and their significant others. Yet this knowledge often languishes unused and unappreciated. Distortions and misrepresentations of applied behavior analysis and radical behaviorism abound. Applied behavior analysis is deeply contextual and deeply concerned with social validity—with the views of clients and significant others in terms of what matters. These very characteristics make it radical in terms of shedding light on dysfunctional contingencies that some may wish to remain hidden. But given that ABA and quality of life are birds of a feather, we must become more adept at highlighting this close relationship. An agenda for accomplishing this is suggested. This agenda includes drawing on technologies such as the Internet including interactive opportunities to highlight avoidable ignorance and related harms and missed opportunities to help clients to enhance the quality of their lives. Related research in the areas of critical thinking, evidence-informed practice and social persuasion is drawn on in designing this agenda.

B. F. Skinner called Verbal Behaviorhis most important work. It is the only book entirely devoted to human behavior, a topic he had avoided in his 1938 book Behavior of Organisms. However, by 1938 Skinner had already begun work on the book that was to become Verbal Behavior. This paper traces Skinner’s comments in personal notes, correspondence, talks, and publications about verbal behavior and its importance for a science of behavior.

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Stereotypic and/or restricted patterns of behavior are defining characteristics of autism spectrum disorders. Within this cluster is a group of behavior referred to as perseverative speech referring to the repetition of the same word, phrase or topic when it is no longer appropriate to continue speaking (about that topic). The demonstration of these behaviors can significantly interfere with the development of appropriate social and communication skills. In the current study, two participants (ages 9yrs and 21yrs) diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders were referred for the assessment and treatment of persistent perseverative speech. Initially, functional analyses were conducted with each participant. It is often assumed that these behaviors persist independent of social consequences. For one participant the results of the functional analysis confirmed this assumption; however, results with the second participant demonstrated that contingent delivery of social attention maintained the perseverative speech. For each participant function-based treatments were developed where-in perseverative speech was reduced and appropriate speech increased. Results of this study support the utility of conducting functional analyses regardless of prior assumptions based on response topography, and add to existing research on the effectiveness of function-based interventions on behaviors identified as symptoms of autism spectrum disorders.

Many traditional treatment evaluations, such as withdrawal designs, are time and labor intensive. One purpose of this study was to evaluate the multiple schedule as a method to rapidly identify treatment effects when implementing response interruption for stereotypic behavior. Additionally, given that it has been suggested that response blocking can function as an establishing operation for stereotypy (Rapp, 2006), this study also examined whether consistent motivative effects were obtained in baseline components following components in which response interruption was implemented. Participants were males diagnosed with autism whose stereotypy was maintained by automatic reinforcement. Multiple schedules were arranged in which BL and response interruption components were alternated. Two types of response interruption were used for each participant. The multiple schedule analyses were then compared to the results of a withdrawal design comparison of the same conditions (i.e., ABABACAC). IOA was collected for 33% of sessions and was always above 90%. Treatment effects were detected via a proportional analysis of the treatment relative to the baseline conditions for the multiple schedule analysis. More profound treatment effects were obtained during the ABABACAC comparisons. Abolishing operations were seen in the RIRDm and RIRDv components, while establishing operation effects were seen with the RI component.

Social skills are a core deficit in children with all forms of autism. Klin, Volkmar, and Sparrow (1992) have attributed the lack of social skills to a deficit in perspective-taking abilities, or the ability to think about other peoples thinking. Developmental research on perspective-taking has utilized the concept known as Theory of Mind, an understanding of other peoples mental states. A relatively recent approach to language and cognition has emerged from the field of behavior analysis called Relational Frame Theory (RFT). McHugh, Barnes-Holmes, and Barnes-Holmes (2004) developed a perspective-taking protocol named the Barnes-Holmes protocol. The protocol consists of 62 trials assessing the relational frames of I-You, Here-There, and Now-Then across three deictic relations (Simple, Reversed, & Double-Reversed). Although research has not been published regarding the effects of the Barnes-Holmes protocol on Theory of Mind tasks, there appears to be an underlying assumption that acquiring these skills will increase Theory of Mind abilities. The current study attempts to teach deictic frames to three children diagnosed with autism using multiple exemplar training and positive reinforcement. In addition, it will evaluate the effects of this training on traditional Theory of Mind tasks.

The development of perspective-taking has attracted interest from educators and psychologists due in part to its role in developmental disabilities such as autism. The current study is using a behavior analytic approach to train perspective-taking skills using a perspective-taking protocol. In addition, the training has also incorporated a multiple exemplar design in attempt to program for generalization of the skills. In doing so, children acquired the skills by introducing one question and perspective at a time. As acquisition of the material furthers, questions and perspectives being taught will increase in level of difficulty. It is believed that through the use of the selected protocol and training design that participants will acquire both the perspective taking skills and the ability to generalize these skills to novel settings.

Research has shown that children with autism have difficulty with non-literal language, such as irony, sarcasm, deception, humor, and metaphors. To date, few studies have attempted to remediate these deficits and no studies, of which we are aware, have attempted to teach children with autism to understand metaphors. Metaphorical reasoning consists of complex verbal behavior, involving relations of reflexivity, hierarchy, and distinction, at a minimum. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate multiple exemplar training for teaching children with autism to attend to relevant features of the context in which a metaphor is used, and to engage in the required relational responding, in order to respond correctly to metaphorical questions. Participants included 3 children, ages 5-7. Results suggest that multiple exemplar training is effective for teaching children with autism to understand metaphors. Furthermore, generalization to untrained metaphors was found.

This presentation discusses the evolution of a data-driven behavioral social skills program. One of the major difficulties encountered in the development of a social skills program involves the collection of relevant data in ways that minimize reactivity and intrusiveness into the social interactions. An additional difficulty concerns the evaluation of such a program's effectivness outside of the training situation. Although indirect data involving data reported by parents or the individuals themselves are easier to collect, direct observations and data prove to be more difficult. Data suggest that the organization of activities and outings involving typical peers present one potential solution to this issue. A further difficulty encountered centers around the interdependence of measures both within and across participants. For example, procedures targeted at increasing question asking often deceased question answering and / or commenting and vice-versa. In addition, large increases in the responses of one individual, often correlate with decreases in responses from some other participants. Data suggest that interventions targeting a dependent variable that includes the whole interaction, in conjunction with goal setting, self-monitoring, may help to alleviate some of these difficulties. Future directions are also discussed.

The extensive research on video modeling has established this tool as an evidence-based practice due to its effectiveness in teaching learners to acquire a variety of new skills as well as reducing problem behaviors (LeBlanc et al., 2003; Nikopoulos & Keenan, 2004). Video modeling allows teachers to emphasize critical features and reduce extraneous stimuli and it also provides a consistent model for learners so that each viewing of the model is exactly the same, every time. Video modeling is a cost-effective intervention that is easy to use and easy to individualize to your learner. The following four studies were conducted at a non-public school with a range of learners. The researchers will provide supporting evidence for using video models to teach students essential social communication skills, including manding for assistance, offering help to others in need of assistance, and reciprocal play interactions between peers. Additionally, one study will show that video modeling is also effective in teaching paraprofessional teachers to implement complex instructional practices, specifically the use of most-to-least prompting procedures

This study was designed to evaluate effectiveness of video modeling and video feedback for training 3 paraprofessionals on use of most to least prompting procedures. A multiple-baseline design across participants was utilized to determine the effects of the intervention on paraprofessionals correct use of most to least prompting procedures to teach daily living tasks to students with autism. Following baseline, each participant was required to watch a 3-minute video of a teacher demonstrating a most-to-least prompting procedure to teach a typical daily living task. Video feedback was delivered as a secondary intervention to the paraprofessional when skill acquisition was not immediately observed after the video-modeling phase. Results indicated an improvement in most-to-least prompting skills for all paraprofessionals as well as quicker acquisition of skills for the corresponding students. These findings address the need for paraprofessional training in non-public schools and have similar implications for promoting staff development in public schools.

The effectiveness of video modeling to teach social skills to students with autism has been well documented. The purpose of this study is to further this research and demonstrate that video modeling is an effective method to teach students with autism to offer help. In preliminary studies, the researchers used a multiple baseline design in which a video model with multiple exemplars was shown to 6 students across two different school settings (3 in each setting). The video models varied by people, environments and materials in order to facilitate generalization. After viewing the model, similar situations were directly presented. Offering help was measured on a per opportunity basis. Four of the participants acquired the skill by watching the video model alone. Two of the participants required either direct or indirect prompts to acquire the skill. Based on this research video modeling was then adopted into the school curriculum to teach helping behaviors. The researchers determined a follow up study expanding the video models to new helping scenarios would be valuable. Additionally the definition of the target behavior will be broadened (e.g., helping topography, latency of responding).

Individuals diagnosed with autism have difficulty developing and sustaining relationships with others due to qualitative impairments in social interaction and communication (American Psychiatric Association, DSM-IV-TR, 2000). In the area of social interaction, persons with autism have problems responding to, sustaining and initiating reciprocal social interactions. In the area of communication, it is estimated that 50% of persons with autism may not develop spoken language or may have severely limited speech and language skills (Wing & Atwood, 1987), thereby increasing the difficulty for participating in meaningful social interactions. In a preliminary study, a video model was designed to teach a 9 yr. old, non-vocal child with autism to engage in basic conversation with a peer by utilizing an augmentative communication device (ACD). The peer tutor in the study, a 10 yr. old child with autism, communicated using vocalizations. The video model showed communicative initiations on the part of the peer tutor, as well as the participants responses from a point of view perspective. During the course of the intervention, two different prompting strategies were introduced (i.e., video prompting, gestures) to highlight each response for the participant, as video modeling alone was minimally effective. Ultimately, video modeling was reintroduced and mastery criteria was achieved and maintained. The authors of this subsequent study intend to expand upon these findings by conducting a multiple baseline design across 3 peer dyads with varying communication topographies. The effectiveness of a video model demonstrating reciprocal social interactions during play will be evaluated and the treatment effects on both the initiations of the peer tutor and the responses of the peer learner will be measured.

Serving children with severe behavior challenges within a residential delivery system requires extensive clinical supports and resources. The direct care personnel within these homes are critical to the eventual success of these children and it is imperative that the clinical systems provide the necessary training and oversight by qualified on-site clinicians. This symposium will present three papers which focus on residential services and will emphasize programming that addresses the importance of personal welfare, on-going assessment, functionasl skill development, function based interventions and the presence of working BCBA clinicians within the group homes. Data will be presented that will demonstrate positive long-term outcomes in regards to both behavior reduction and adaptive skill development. The Discussant will generate a discussion among attendees regarding the integrity of services within residential programs, the need to ensure clinical resources are made available to the needs of our most vulnerable consumers, the role of a BCBA in providing direct supervision and training for direct staff, and the need to make sure the residential environment has been behaviorally prepared.

This paper will discuss the implementation of behavioral programming and clinical oversight within a residential service delivery system. The paper will discuss the importance of assessing the 'Rights to Effective Treatment" (Van Houten, et al., 1985), including, establishing behavior support plans, implementing a clinical operating system which emphasizes ongoing assessment and review, and the critical feature of staff training and development. The authors will discuss some of the premises of "Lessons Learned: Thirty Years of Applied Behavior Analysis in Trerating Problem Behaviors (Foxx, 2001) as it relates to residential servives including making sure the environment is proactive in its design, that behavioral expertise must be present within the setting and be an active contributor to program design and implementation, using a hypothesis-driven treatment model, employing skill building interventions, and maintaining treatment effects. A case study highlighting the critical features of the clinical model will be demonstrated by reviewing a case study that exhibits significant behavior reduction over an extended period of time and the simultaneous increase of adaptive and functional skills.

Making transitions from children's services to adult services is an area that is far too often left open for errors. There is no standard way that has found to be successful; often a transition can vary depending on the situation surrounding the need to transition. In many cases a provider has a base vacancy that needs to be filled and an individual in need will be placed within that vacancy. Ensuring effective system supports for individuals transitioning into residential programming can be a challenge for providers. System supports include family involvement, staff training, medical and clinical over site as well as funding source involvement. The following case study outlines how continuity in care is essential in creating a seamless transition from children services to adult services at the age of 22. This individual was supported within a 24 hour residential educational setting. Active transition planning and preparation for the transition to adult services begansixmonths in advance of her 22nd birthday. Although transition planning initiated six months prior to entering adult services, providers and options had been explored by family members and stakeholders prior to this time. Lead staff were identified to assist and be part of the transition. Through an overlap with service delivery, essential staff familiar with the individual's history would likewise make the conversion from working within children's services to adult services. The primary focus of the training included transferring stimulus control from familiar staff to new staff who would be supporting the individual in adult programming. Prior to the transition this individual's target behaviors were at a stable rate of responding. Initially after the transition there was a slight increase with one target behavior while the other two showed a significant decrease in rates. Through effective system management, clinical supports remained consistent across both settings. System supports that were put in place were proven to be effective in creating a flawless transition into adult services.

One case study will be presented that will demonstrate positive long-term effects of behavior intervention within a group home setting. This individual attended a nonprofit private school for children and young adults with severe behavior challenges. The young adult with autism exhibited high rates of aggression and self-injury and required 1:1 services throughout the day in the residence. A comprehensive multicomponent intervention plan was developed emphasizing functional communication training, progressive relaxation training, reinforcement contingencies and a functionally-based consequence for problem behaviors. Data exhibiting the reduction of targeted behaviors and the development of prosocial behaviors will be shown. The paper will discuss generalization and maintenance effects over a 9 year period and this individual's transition from a group home into an apartment setting with faded results. The success of this individual resulted from a comprehansive model of clinical supports within the residence emphasizing direct care training, feedback, and the presence of a skilled BCBA clinician during programming hours.

Recent American Psychological Association guidelines on empirically supported treatments (EST) suggest that treatments can be designated as "well established," "probably efficacious," or "experimental" based on the number of studies that have a good experimental design and demonstrate an effective outcome. Treatments with the most empirical support are designated as "well established." Although a multitude of reviews of behavior analytic procedures as effective treatment exist in the literature, few treatments have been examined using the EST criteria. The purpose of these studies was to apply the standard of empirically supported to several treatment areas. These areas included behavior associated with specific disabilities (e.g., autism and acquired brain injury) and specific behaviors (e.g., pica) across disorders. Results of these studies suggest that behavior analytic treatments are "well established" in the treatment of a number of behaviors. These results are discussed in reference to the larger field of psychology and the dissemination of behavior analytic treatments therein.

The scope of this meta-analysis was to complete a systematic evidence-based review of published behavioral treatment studies employing single-case designs with both children and adults with acquired brain injury. Peer-reviewed journals were searched using PsycINFO, Medline, and ERIC database search engines with combinations of terms such as brain injury, behavior disorder, behavior therapy, behavior modification, behavior analysis, and verbal behavior. A total of 115 acquisition and reduction studies met established inclusion criteria. The data extracted from each study included specific details about the participants, target behaviors, intervention characteristics, use of functional assessment, and outcome characteristics. A data extraction software program was also used to extract data from graphs to calculate multiple nonoverlap effect sizes such as the percentage of nonoverlapping data and Taunovlap. The studies were evaluated along several dimensions such as APA Division 12 guidelines, special education guidelines, and experimental control. A variety of methodological concerns and areas for future research are also discussed.

For a treatment to meet criteria as well-established and empirically validated (as defined by APA divisions 12 and 16) a large number of single-subject design studies displaying experimental control with baseline or other treatment comparisons must be examined. The current study critically reviewed 29 research articles examining the effects of applied behavior analytic treatment techniques for the severe problem behavior (e.g., aggression, self-injury, disruption) of those diagnosed with autism since 2005. The treatments included were either reinforcement based (e.g., differential reinforcement of an alternative response, noncontingent reinforcement) or included both reinforcement and punishment (e.g., time-out). Twenty-six of those studies conducted experimentally sound designs and 23 reduced problem behavior by at least 80%. Additionally, 15 of those 23 studies displayed reductions of 90% or higher. The results suggest the designation of applied behavior analytic techniques as well-established and empirically validated treatment for the severe problem behavior of those diagnosed with autism.

Pica as problem behavior is of particular concern because even one instance of the behavior may cause tremendous harm. A number of reviews have examined the effectiveness of behavior analytic treatments; however, none have done so using the American Psychological Association (APA) guidelines on empirically supported treatments. The purpose of the current study was to critically examine the existing literature on the treatment of pica displayed by individuals with intellectual disabilities. Criteria for empirically supported treatments as described by Divisions 12 and 16 of APA, and adapted for studies employing single-case designs were used to review this body of literature. A total of 34 treatment studies were identified, 25 of which were well-designed and reported at least an 80% reduction in pica (21 studies reported 90% or greater reduction in pica). Results indicated that behavioral treatments in general, and treatments involving the combination of reinforcement and response reduction procedures in particular, can be designated as well-established treatments for pica exhibited by individuals with intellectual disabilities.

The use of technology for interventions involving skill acquisition has been demonstrated to be promising for students across a wide range of learning difficulties. As technology advances, it is important to investigate effective applications to teach a variety of skills to students in more efficient ways. This symposium will review three different applications of technology to increase academic and leisure skills. In the first study described, interactive, computer-based practice was used to increase sight words, color words, and number identification (11-20) in two students with moderate intensive educational needs. In the second presentation, a specific computer program, Headsprout Comprehension, was used to increase comprehension skills of six students diagnosed with mild to moderate disabilities. In the third study, an iPod touch was used to teach four children with autism to follow an activity schedule composed of leisure activities. Collectively, these three studies showed effective uses of technology in teaching a variety of skills.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether interactive, computer-based practice would increase the acquisition and maintenance of basic academic skills for students with moderate to intensive educational needs. The academic skills selected for this study were based on the each participant's Individualized Education Program (IEP) goals. Specifically, the skills selected were: sight words, color words, and number identification (11-20). The intervention consisted of interactive computer games using discrete trials and immediate feedback. Acquisition of basic skills was assessed using flash cards 1 day following each computer practice session. Results showed a substantial increase in all skills for one participant. These skills were also maintained over a period of time. The results also showed a slow, but steady increase in the skills from the second individual. Data were also collected throughout the study on the amount of times each participant became off task during the computer games. Results showed that both students remained on task during the majority of the sessions. Overall, the computer game intervention was an effective means to increasing the academic acquisition of the participants.

Urban students with learning disabilities and behavior problems typically struggle with reading comprehension. Using technology for academic interventions has been demonstrated to be promising for children with a wide range of learning difficulties. This study investigated the effects of Headsprout Comprehension, a computer program designed to increase reading achievement. The experimenters used Headsprout Comprehension to improve the reading skills of 5 fifth-grade students diagnosed with mild to moderate disabilities and 1 third-grade student diagnosed with an emotional/behavioral disorder. A multiple probe across participants design was used to examine the effects of Headsprout Comprehension on the number of correct responses on AIMSWEB maze passages and the number of comprehension questions answered correctly on state reading achievement practice passages. All 6 students showed improvement in the number correct of correct responses on state achievement comprehension passages, and 5 out of 6 students showed improvement in the number correct on AIMSWEB Maze.

Traditionally, activity schedules are presented to learners in book form. However, this format may be cumbersome and socially stigmatizing to a child with autism. Conversely, presenting an activity schedule on an iPod touch may provide a more socially acceptable format, in that it would be more discrete and allow for easy portability, especially if supports, such as prompts, and an adult's presence, are eventually removed. The present study investigated the use of an iPod touch to teach students to follow an activity schedule composed of leisure activities to 4 children with autism. Manual prompts, time delay and reinforcement procedures were also used. To further promote independence, experimenter proximity to the participants was faded until she was no longer present. A multiple-probe-across-participants design was used. Prior to intervention, none of the participants followed the schedule and they rarely engaged in on-task behavior. Following intervention, all participants learned to independently follow a 47-step leisure activity schedule presented on the iPod touch and increased their on-task behavior. In addition, these skills generalized to novel settings and novel schedules, and maintained over time. The implications of incorporating technology to increase independence in children with autism is discussed.

In psychophysics and perception, sensitivity to differences in magnitude comes in two forms, discrimination and scaling. Animal behavioral methods show how animals scale various stimulus properties. Since there are procedures that work well with animals for obtaining scales, scaling cannot be mentalistic. Scales are important because they are useful in predicting behavior. Quantitative analysis of behavior is largely built around how animals respond relative to the rate of reinforcement, a stimulus property of reinforcement. The rate of responding is a way of scaling the perceived value of various reinforcement contingencies. Here, task difficulty may be viewed as another stimulus or contingency dimension. How difficult a discrimination is, has most often been found by varying the closeness of stimuli along some dimension. These are all flat forms of difficulty, meaning that, these are direct properties of the stimulus or the response. Here we are going to consider the order of hierarchical complexity of the task requirements, a property of the overall contingency, which is a different form of difficulty. We are also going to look separately at the dimension of the time between the reinforcer and the response. Finally, a model is presented that integrates the two. The models discussed here will be shown to have a number of applications.

The Model of Hierarchical Complexity is a quantitative behavioral-developmental theory that suggests an objective way of determining the a priori difficulty of a tasks contingencies. The model explains why stage-like performances are observed. The model proposes that stages result from the hierarchical structure of tasks. A task is defined as hierarchically more complex when it organizes, in a non-arbitrary fashion, two or more less complex tasks. Using this model, sixteen orders of hierarchical complexity have been generated. In this study, the model is used to generate stimuli in the form of either problems or stories. The stimuli within a domain consist of an ordered series of tasks, from order 1, reflexes and conditioned reflexes, up to order 12, the discrimination of efficient market. Tasks were generated in several domains, including reinforcement contingencies (economic), mathematical, scientific, moral, political, and social domains. 280 people were recruited through online groups. A Rasch analysis of the responses showed that, within each domain, items were well scaled on a single dimension reflecting the predicted difficulty of the item. Participants performances were shown to conform to the predictions of the model, with very high amounts of variance accounted for (from .73% and up).

Accounts of stage and moral action have not integrated behavioral, developmental and quantitative paradigms. This presentation integrates the three by using a mathematical model of value obtained from developmental action and from stage, as in the Model of Hierarchical Complexity. The result is a behavioral-developmental account of stage and action, rather than a mentalistic one. Both value and stage are necessary for determining actions. Each consists of a matrix. The Value matrix has a number of vectors. For humans, there are 6 Holland Code variables in the value vector. The second vector is discounting-difference ratio between change in the overall value vector and change in time. The third vector is the change in differences in value over time, or risk. The second matrix is Stage, which measures performance in meeting difficulties produced by the order of hierarchical complexity of particular tasks, as discussed in the earlier talks. A mathematical account of the value and the stage matrices and their interaction terms are used to predict moral behavior.

Behavior analysts analyze and interpret data as well as construct, communicate, and defend claims of knowledge with data graphics. While behavior analysts do use other inscription devices, such as tables, visual analysis of data serves as the linchpin of the science of behavior. From Skinner to contemporary behavior analysts, researchers and practitioners mostly rely on time series data graphics such as the line graph. With so much analytical and communicative power invested in line graphs behavior analysts must consider how to construct and use different types of line graphs that effect their verbal behavior. This symposium examines different aspects of presenting time series data and suggests behavior analysis pay greater attention to for the most critical practices behavior analysts engage in.

One may argue that the genesis and continued practice of all forms of behavior analysis (e.g., applied, basic, philosophical) rest upon the foundation of the careful examination of data graphics, mainly time series graphics. Time series graphics derive their name from their construction; a time series scale on the horizontal axis expresses a unit of time and some type of quantitative scale on the vertical axis shows time progressing from left to right. A quick survey of important books on behavioral research show that prominent experimental designs use time series graphics, mainly the simple line chart (e.g., Cooper, Heron, & Heward, 2007; Hersen & Barlow, 1976; Kazdin, 2011; Kennedy, 2005; Kratochwill, 1978; Kratochwill & Levin, 1992; Poling & Fuqua, 1986; Sidman, 1960). However, the guidelines for constructing line charts appear in very few publications. Furthermore, the field of behavior analysis does not have agreed-upon standards for line chart construction. As a result of number of systematic errors occur in published line charts. This presentation shares the results of survey examining 11 prominent behavioral journals and their graphical practices in regards to line chart usage.

Line graphs or charts have two forms, arithmetically and semilogarithmically scaled. Behavior analysts make scant use of semilogarithmic charts and use, almost exclusively, arithmetically scaled charts. As a scientific discipline Behavior Analysis would benefit from an informed explication of each data graphic. Other sources do exist which describe different types of graphics, including line charts, and explain how behavior analysts can use them (e.g., Cooper, Heron & Heward, 2007; Parsonson & Baer, 1978). Comparing and contrasting the structure, hallmark characteristics and limitations of arithmetically and semilogarithmically scaled line charts, however, has yet to occur. Therefore, the present paper asks the following questions. What design attributes guide the construction of arithmetically and semilogarithmically scaled line chart? What purpose does the arithmetically and semilogarithmically scaled line chart serve? How do the technical features and purposes of line charts serve a science of behavior and the behavior analysts who use them? The research questions will not only provide a detailed comparison of the purposes of arithmetic and semilogarithmic line charts but will also offer advantages or disadvantages for behavior analysts conducting visual analysis with time series data.

The application of the basic principles of behavior analysis has been remarkably valuable in guiding researchers and practitioners to develop effective assessments and treatments. One area that warrants further development is the systematic improvement of efficiency and efficacy of those procedures. In the current series of studies, we show how typical assessment or training procedures may be systematically replicated and extended in several important ways. First, Higgins et al. show how individuals may be trained to conduct preference assessments using web-based technology. The trainees include individuals who do not otherwise have training available in vivo. Next, Kunnavatana et al. report on teaching teachers to conduct efficient, trial-based functional analyses, which may relieve teachers of the burden of finding trained professionals to conduct the assessments. Third, Kowcheck et al. show data suggesting the necessary components of a staff-training package. Finally, Vladescu et al. demonstrate the utility of video modeling for conducting procedurally correct discrete-trial training. In combination, these studies extend the literature on how to improve the efficiency and efficacy of training and have the potential to expand practitioners skills in the assessment and treatment of problem behavior and skill deficits.

The ubiquity of personal computers and the development of secure Internet technologies have led to the increased use of Web-based training in fields such as medicine and education (Ritterband & Tate, 2009). Roscoe and Fisher (2008) demonstrated the effectiveness and efficiency of a training package that included delayed feedback on performance and immediate feedback during scripted role-play sessions to teach direct-care staff how to implement two common preference assessments with children diagnosed with intellectual disabilities. The current study extends this line of research by evaluating whether delivering these same teaching procedures, as well as an information-based multimedia presentation, via Web-based technologies produces similar results on staff members' implementation of a multiple-stimulus-without-replacement assessment.Thirteen component skills were targeted, and the effects of the teaching package on skill acquisition were evaluated using a nonconcurrent multiple baseline design across participants. Robust and immediate improvements in the component skills were observed across participants and their performance maintained during a 1-month follow-up observation. In addition, the Web-based delivery of the teaching components was reported as highly acceptable. The benefits of Web-based technologies and other Web-based applications will be discussed.

Instructional time for children with autism may be maximized by training classroom staff to implement discrete-trial training (DTT) programs. The purpose of this study was to conduct a component analysis of an existing training package. The training package had previously been shown to be effective in teaching paraprofessionals to implement DTT programs. The training package consisted of video modeling and didactic instruction, and performance feedback. Twelve special education teachers were divided into 2 groups, and taught to implement DTT during an optional professional development session over the summer. A multiple-baseline-across-participants design was used. Using a performance checklist, data were collected on the accuracy with which the teachers implemented DTT programs in trainer-trainee dyads. For 11 of 12 participants, mastery criteria were met following at least one session of performance feedback. On average, correct implementation of DTT procedures increased by 20.53% following the video phase, and by 30.5% following one feedback session.

Discrete trial instruction (DTI) is a common and effective approach to teaching children with autism and related disorders. Thus, it is important to identify effective procedures to train staff to implement DTI accurately. One training alternative, video modeling (VM) involves showing a video that exhibits behaviors a viewer should imitate and demonstrate in an appropriate context. The present study evaluated VM to train three new staff members in an early intervention (EI) clinic to implement DTI. We evaluated implementation accuracy using a multiple-baseline across participants design. All participants reached the mastery criterion for accurate implementation of DTI with a confederate following the introduction of VM, and performance remained high while implementing novel teaching protocols. Following training with VM, participants used DTI to teach a child in an EI clinic. The results showed that the participants accurate implementation of DTI remained high, and both children acquired the targeted skills. Additionally, we conducted a post-hoc analysis that showed that the number of individual DTI components implemented at or above the mastery criterion increased following VM and maintained during child training. Together, these findings provide additional support that VM may be an effective method to train staff members to implement DTI.

Because language underlies most learning in the typical child and is a core deficit in children with autism, developing language skills is often a major goal of behavioral treatment (Sundberg & Michael, 2001). Additionally, research has shown that traditional operant behavioral procedures have been effective in enhancing language performance with children (Eikeseth, 2009). One behavioral approach to teaching language pays particular attention to targeting verbal operants for intervention, which upon acquisition, provide a foundation for building more advanced verbal behavior (Sundberg & Michael). The purpose of the symposium is to discuss recent advancements in evaluating teaching procedures for increasing verbal behavior of children with and without autism spectrum disorders. The first paper compared the effects of presenting the discriminative stimulus once versus re-presenting it when using least-to-most prompting to teach intraverbal behavior. The second study compared successive and simultaneous tact training on the emergence of listener skills. The third paper compared the efficiency of play-based learning and discrete-trial instruction on the acquisition of receptive discriminations. Finally, the fourth paper evaluated the effects of programmed treatment integrity errors on the acquisition of tacts and auditory-visual conditional discriminations during discrete trial instruction.

A common procedure used in skill acquisition with individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) is least-to-most prompting (MacDuff, Krantz, & McClannahan, 2001). While a common recommendation is to re-present the discriminative stimulus (SD) when providing prompts (Cooper, Herron, & Heward, 2007; Lovass, 2003), few studies have evaluated the effectiveness of this recommendation in teaching language to children with ASDs. Westand Billingsley (2005) evaluated the traditional (SD was repeated) vs. revised (SD given once) least-to-most prompting and found that both methods were successful in teaching a chained response. The purpose of the present study was to further assess the effects of re-presenting the SD when using least-to-most prompting to teach intraverbal behaviors to children with autism. Results showed no reliable and consistent benefit of re-presenting the SD. Out of 6 comparisons that produced acquisition, 33% produced faster learning with the SD repeat condition, 33% faster with the SD once condition, and 33% showed no difference between the two conditions. Follow-up data also showed no difference in strength of maintenance across conditions. The presentation will further discuss these data and the implications for implementing language intervention strategies with children diagnosed with ASDs.

Besides being of theoretical interest, research on functional independence among speaker and listener behaviors could aid in the development of efficient procedures to teach verbal behavior to children with and without language delay. The current study compared two procedures to teach tacts, namely successive and simultaneous training using a multiple treatment design. During the successive tact training,1 set of 3 stimuli was taught with1 picture presented in each trial. During the simultaneous tact training, another set was trained with all3 pictures presented in each trial. Four typically developing children were exposed to both teaching conditions and sets were counterbalanced across participants. After training, listener relations' tests were conducted. Results show that the4 participants reached criterion in4 to8 sessions with each set. Corresponding listener relations emerged for both sets. In summary, there was no difference between the2 procedures in terms of trials to criterion, and emergence of untrained listener relations. Future studies should replicate the procedures with children with language delays to determine if differences during tact training and listener testing are observed

Research has shown that discrete trial teaching (DTT), has been effective in teaching language to children with autism. Discrete trial teaching uses a highly structured, fast-paced, format with skills that are selected by the teacher are taught in a one-to-one situation at a desk or table. Play-based instruction (PBI) embeds DTT procedures in the context of a game, such that language skills are targeted in a more naturalistic, play-type environment. However, all of the other characteristics of DTT (e.g., fast-paced, targets selected by the teacher) are still in place during PBI. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of DTT to PBI. Additionally, measures were collected on affect to determine if PBI was perceived as "more fun" than DTT by the participants. Finally, a concurrent-chains evaluation of preference was used to determine which teaching procedure was more preferred. Two 4-year-old boys with autism, participated in this study. Receptive discriminations were taught in either DTT or PBI. Results showed that for both boys, PBI and DTT were equally effective. For one boy, the2 procedures produced similar affect and were equally preferred. For the other boy, PBI produced more positive affect and was more preferred.

In the present study, we evaluated the effects of programmed treatment integrity errors on skill acquisition, for children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), during discrete trial instruction (DTI). In Study 1, we observed5 children with ASD during academic instructions in the school to identify teaching practices that may influence skill acquisition. The results of Study 1 showed that teachers working with children with ASD do not consistently implement all components of academic instruction with a high degree of integrity. In Study 2, we simultaneously manipulated the3 most common integrity errors observed in Study 1 during DTI. Specifically, we compared skill acquisition during a high-integrity condition and a low-integrity condition, with3 programmed integrity errors, for5 children with an ASD. All participants in Study 2 showed either delayed acquisition or did not acquire target stimuli when DTI was implemented with low integrity. In Study 3, we evaluated the extent to which one or more specific integrity errors influenced skill acquisition for2 participants from Study 2. We will describe important areas of feature research related to teaching children with an ASD in an academic setting.

Every marriage is its own little economy, a business of two with a finite number of resources that need to be allocated efficiently. In their book, Spousonomics, authors Paula Szuchman and Jenny Anderson apply bedrock economic principles to some of the most common conflicts in domestic life. Some examples include: Division of Labor (Or, Why You Should Do the Dishes): Exposing the fallacy of the 50/50 marriage split. Some people are better at, say, making school lunches, while others panic at the sight of a vacuum cleaner. Here’s a tip: Do what you’re “relatively” good at and “trade” the rest. Incentives (Or, Getting Your Spouse to Do What You Want): How getting your spouse to finally pay the bills on time is simply a matter of finding the right incentive. Trade-offs (Or, The Art of Getting Over It): The simple beauty of the cost-benefit analysis. Let’s break down that four-day trip to Cabo with your friends. Costs: A grumpy wife, $700 airfare, kids that miss you. Benefits: a savage tan, enough Don Julio to inflict permanent damage, uninterrupted sleep. Verdict? Supply and Demand (Or, How to Have More Sex): Talking your sex life to death, waiting until the kids are asleep and you’re both catatonic, not admitting that lingerie turns you on—all bad habits that raise costs and lower demand. The key to keeping your sex life hot is keeping it affordable.

The lecture will target a general audience and will specifically focus on translating concepts from behavior economics to areas of concern for everyday living and clinical practice. Specifically, clinicians will become familiar with the relevance of behavior economic concepts to interpersonal and family relationships. This introduction will provide an empirically based conceptual framework for clinicians to expand their practice.

• Recognize the relevance of behavior economic concepts to interpersonal and family relationships.

Up to 25% of the pediatric population experiences a feeding problem at some point across the span of childhood and this percentage has been found to be even higher among children with special needs and/or chronic health problems. While behavior analysts have been working with children with feeding problems for decades, the number of behavior analysts who work in this area of practice is still limited. There are two main goals of this talk. The first is to review the role behavior analysts have played in the treatment of childhood feeding problems and discuss need for behavior analysts to expand their presence in this area of clinical need. The second is to advocate for the spread of our methodology and interventions to the other disciplines toserve children with feeding problems. While there may now be over 5,000 certified behavior analysts, there over 100,000 occupational therapists and 120,000 speech pathologists in the United States. Providing behavior analytic tools to our colleagues in other allied health disciplines will allow for a larger number of children with feeding problems to receive effective treatment.

Behavior typically becomes more variable in the face of a drop in the value of a motivating outcome, such as food. Dr. Blaisdell will review converging lines of evidence for this relationship from studies in his lab. He will describe the negative relationship between found between the signaled probability of food and variability in behavior. This relationship is quite general: Observed in both temporal and spatial behavioral dimensions, in both rats and pigeons, and in both the operant chamber and in open-field settings. Behavioral variability is also greater under conditions involving smaller or delayed food rewards compared to larger or immediate rewards. Dr. Blaisdell will describe some manipulations of the response-outcome contingency that reveal interesting relationships between Pavlovian and instrumental processes. These data support a general conclusion that signaled outcome value is an important determinant of behavioral variability in a wide variety of conditioned behaviors.

basic researchers

Our understanding of the neural structures involved in processing reward-related information has its foundations on a rich animal literature and classical theories of learning. More recently, advances in methodological approaches, particularly neuroimaging techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), have allowed for the extension of these investigations to the human brain and helped delineate a basic reward circuit in humans. Central to this circuit is the role of cortico-striatum loops connecting regions involved in cognitive control (prefrontal cortex) and motivational processes (striatum). In this talk, we will discuss how the human brain learns about rewards and creates reward representations, via conditioned reinforcers, that can influence behavior. Additionally, we will highlight how cognitive strategies can effectively control neural responses to reward elicited by conditioned reinforcers (e.g., cue paired with a drug reinforcer), and its potential application of helping attenuate maladaptive decision-making (e.g., drug seeking behaviors).

Practitioners and researchers who are interested in mechanisms controlling behavior; those interested in brain and behavior relations

• Recognize what fMRI findings have to offer the science of ABA.
• Idenitfy how the human brain learns about rewards and creates reward representations, via conditioned reinforcers, and how that can influence behavior

Behavior analysis has broad applicability, but the lions share of our collective effort targets a relatively narrow range of social problems. The purpose of this symposium is to highlight efforts to expand the scope of behavior analytic interventions by addressing social problems that are outside the mainstream of modern behavior analysis. This symposium features three areas of inquiry that behavior analysts have been quietly tackling for decades, and it has become clear that behavior analytic interventions have the potential for massive impact in each of these domains. Attendees will receive updates on drug abuse intervention, behavioral gerontology, and the treatment of sexual offending as examples of research and practice outside the mainstream of behavior analysis. Each of these domains has benefited from the solid scientific foundation provided by mainstream applied behavior analysis. Importantly, the work in each of these unique contexts may provide useful lessons of general interest to all applied researchers and practitioners in behavior analysis. In addition, the presentations will feature brief descriptions of the opportunities for future research and service delivery in the featured domains. The ensuing discussion will include additional examples of novel applications and extensions of behavior analytic interventions.

Contingency management for drug abuse is an application of operant principles and procedures that has been developing in the context of medical science for over30 years. Early work in this area proceeded much like any other area of behavior analytic inquiry. But for the last several decades, much of the work of researchers in this field has been dedicated to demonstrating the effectiveness of the behavioral approach using research strategies that are more valued and better understood in the medical community. This practice has brought worldwide attention to contingency management interventions for drug abuse, and placed behavior analysts in a position to take part in an even broader movement to produce positive behavior change by the careful deployment of money as a reinforcer. The therapeutic workplace is an employment-based contingency management intervention for drug addiction born of operant research that dovetails with the current pay-for-performance movement. Details of intervention, evidence for its effectiveness, and ongoing attempts to disseminate it will be discussed.

We live in a mobile, digital age. Exciting new technologies (e.g., software development, social networking, smart phones, interactive whiteboards, tablet computers, remote controllers) are used in education, medicine, organizational behavior, self-management, personal improvement, and numerous other domains, but rarely with the benefit of a thoroughgoing behavior analytic model. The panelists have successful history of using behavioral contingencies to build and support products, and will offer perspectives on the current and future interaction between behavioral technology (based on a thoroughgoing contingency analysis and rooted in solid instructional design) and emerging hardware and software technologies made possible through advances in computer science, robotics, engineering, neurology, and many other fields. Opportunities and options for advancing both behavioral science and the applications of new technologies will be discussed.

Recent research has indicated much higher prevalence of anxiety/fear for children with autism compared to typically developing children. The presentation will briefly review the prevalence, differences with typically developing children, and implications for social and emotional development in children with autism. The relationship between anxiety, fear, and phobias will be discussed in the context of atypical development and conceptualization of assessment and intervention practices. Specifically, concordance of differing assessment procedures will be discussed with regard to the problems and complexity of assessment of emotional and private events with individuals with limited language skills. Finally, examples of specific outcome data will be presented with discussion of cost-benefit analysis and the challenges of providing services to this substantial sub-group of children with autism.

Much has been written during the last half of the twentieth century concerning the philosophical foundations of behavior science. Some maintain that contemporary behaviorism is best conceived as a mechanistic scientific enterprise. Others argue that our science is rooted in the pragmatic approaches of Pierce, Dewey, and James. Still others suggest that different strains in behavior science have different philosophical cores and that this is not a bad thing provided we are careful to articulate our assumptions to avoid unnecessary and counterproductive wrangling. In this symposium, we will reconsider the categorical constructs designed by Steven C. Pepper (1942) that organize contemporary philosophies into 4 relatively adequate world hypotheses. Presenters will advance 3 distinct approaches, each of which aims to resolve philosophical misunderstandings that currently divide our field.

Contextualism and mechanism have both been posited as philosophical foundations underlying behavior analysis. The distinctions between these positions have gained considerable attention over the last couple of decades, with both sides claiming their view as the proper foundation for research in the field. This paper will review the various aspects of each perspective and how these competing visions have resulted in distinct programs of research. The discussion will conclude with a nuanced pathway through the conceptual thicket, resolving contradiction between the 2 views and providing a space for coexistence and possible synergy.

A distinction has been proposed between 2 types of contextualism: functional and descriptive. This distinction is generally made on the basis that the 2 forms of contextualism exist side-by-side. We will argue that the primary distinction between the 2 forms of contextualism is that scholars of functional contextualism believe in cause-and-effect relations (erroneously referred to as functional relations) between events in nature, whereas scholars of descriptive contextualism do not. Further, we will argue that interbehaviorism, the prototypical example of descriptive contextualism, is a more basic philosophical system within which investigational systems, such as functional contextualism, operate. For this reason, it is not valid to criticize descriptive contextualism as not being useful for experimentation-that is not its purpose nor is it the purpose of any philosophy of science. Descriptive contextualism, and interbehaviorism in particular, provides the basic foundation upon which investigational constructs, such as the notion that changes in behavior are caused by contact with environmental events, can be contrived and used to aid in basic and applied research. In this light, functional contextualism is probably not properly called a philosophical system. It is a set of constructs created to aid in experimental investigation.

It has been nearly 2 decades since the terms descriptive and functional contextualism were coined as extensions of Pepper's (1942) contextualist world hypothesis to denote interbehaviorism and radical behaviorism, respectively. Although these terms may have once been useful, philosophy of science is not a static discipline, and recent discourse has led to a reevaluation of the positioning of interbehaviorism as the philosophical system most characteristic of the descriptive contextualist construct. We suggest that the intellectual forbears of interbehaviorism are not the same as those of radical behaviorism, nor are its foundational assumptions about scientific enterprise, and therefore interbehaviorism cannot adequately be characterized as a contextualist philosophy. Further, we posit that Pepper's model of 4 world hypotheses can be extended to include a fifth approach, Fieldism, of which interbehaviorism is the prototypical philosophical system. In this talk, we will discuss the unique dispersive, synthetic, and integrative qualities of field philosophies as well as the difference between field and contextualist research agendas. It is our view that understanding our points of intersect and departure will help us to communicate more effectively and build bridges within the field of behavior science where currently there are barricades.

Behavior analysts often work with medically fragile people, and these people sometimes die. Even seemingly healthy clients and students sometimes die. Family members of clients and students die, colleagues die, and each of us will die., Unique ethical and practical challenges are presented by the death of one's student or client, or of the family member with whom one has been working in the service of a client; or when one's colleague or colleague's loved one is terminally ill or dies; and certainly when a behavior analyst dies. This panel discussion will introduce some of these scenarios and issues, and will guide discussion such that participants will gain greater clarity as to ethical and practical actions to take with regard to death and the practice of applied behavior analysis.

In early behavioral intervention for young children diagnosed with autism, attempts are typically made to establish vocal communication before considering alternative or augmentative communication systems. However, efforts to establish functional vocal speech may be complicated by the absence of various prerequisites; for example, in the case of children who do not have an echoic repertoire and perhaps display a low frequency and limited variability of vocalizations. In this symposium, we will present2 empirical studies that evaluated procedures for expanding the phonemic repertoires of nonverbal children diagnosed with autism. In addition, a novel procedure for inducing early echoic responding will be introduced and illustrated with data and video recordings.

This study sought to compare the effects of a stimulus-stimulus pairing procedure (SSP) and an operant discrimination training (ODT) procedure on target vocalizations of 3 preschool aged boys with autism, as well as to identify individual preference for each procedure. During SSP, auditory stimuli were presented in a manner that reliably predicted the delivery of a preferred stimulus. During ODT, auditory stimuli were presented in a manner that signaled the availability of reinforcement for engaging in an arbitrarily selected response. A control condition was also included that involved presenting auditory stimuli explicitly unpaired with the delivery of the preferred item. The procedure preference evaluation involved selecting color cards that were used as discrimination aids during the experimental procedures from a multiple stimulus array. Each selection led to 4 trials of the procedure associated with the color selected. Preliminary results indicate that both procedures were effective for increasing the target vocalizations in 3 out of 4 completed cases, and that for the only participant to complete the procedure to date, the preference evaluation suggested that ODT was preferred.

Young children with autism sometimes do not use words to communicate, but do engage in vocal stereotypy. If vocal stereotypy is characterized by the use of a small set of phonemes (i.e., basic sound units), shaping words can be difficult. Several interventions, including stimulus-stimulus pairing and echoic training, have been evaluated to address this problem but with limited success. The current study investigates the effects of reinforcement for variability on the phonemic repertoires of young children with autism who engage in limited vocalizations. Five participants were exposed to lag reinforcement for producing varied vocalizations. Increases in number of phonemes occurred as the restrictiveness of the reinforcement schedule (i.e., the lag value) was manipulated. This expansion of the repertoire occurred even when the overall percentage of novel vocalizations per session did not increase. Smaller increases in repertoire size were noted for participants with larger baseline repertoires. The clinical utility of this procedure will be addressed.

The foundation to emit vocal verbal operants is the presence of echoic repertoire. Without this ability one cannot acquire vocal verbal behavior. Some children with language delays may need to be taught this ability in a very specific manner and many of them learn it with procedures that have already been proven effective (e.g., behavioral momentum, automatic reinforcement). However, there are children who do not acquire the skill, even with these procedures. It is the purpose of this paper to present a new procedure, Echoic Extension, a procedure that has worked with some children who otherwise have not acquired echoic repertoire. We will analyze the components that may make it effective. We will also discuss how to develop the skill into true verbal operants and show data and video-tapes.

Children diagnosed with High Functioning Autism or Aspergers Syndrome present with social skills deficits that include: difficulty shifting their attention to a social stimulus, inadequate eye contact, difficulty understanding emotions of others, problems with the initiation of social interactions in play and conversation, difficulty interpreting social cues, difficulty making inferences, poor problem solving skills, struggles to take anothers perspective, and lack of empathy skills. Long term outcomes for individuals with High Functioning Autism and Aspergers Syndrome who continue to struggle socially indicate they struggle to develop and maintain friendships, rarely marry, and there is increased prevelance of psychiatric disorders. Therefore, early intervention is called for to teach these pragmatic language skills. We evaluated the effects of Natural Environment Teaching, Precision Teaching, and Role Playing on Social initiations, social inferencing, identifying and solving problems in social situations, and teamwork skills. Data collection involved daily data collection for all skills taught. Data-based decisions were made weekly, and teaching strategies were modified as needed. Curriculum Based Measurement was designed and implemented to measure effects of intervention, and maintenance and generalization probes took place with untrained tasks.

Many children with autism fail to establish and maintain meaningful friendships with their peers. Identifying a common interest, initiating social interaction, responding to initiations of other peers, making compliments, and taking perspective of others are just some of the component skills for developing relationships with peers and are among many that children with autism struggle with. Talking about their friends is something that typical peers do readily and frequently but can be a challenging task for a child with autism. This study evaluated a program for teaching children to identify interests or other peers and to initiate social interaction based on their interests. The intervention was implemented with 3 preschool age children diagnosed with autism and their typically developing peers in context of an inclusive early education classroom. Creative activities and naturalistic behavior strategies were used to facilitate teaching opportunities. Data was collected during each teaching session and generalization probes took place in novel social contexts.

Children diagnosed with high functioning autism or asperger's syndrome often present with social skills deficits that include: difficulty shifting their attention to a social stimulus, inadequate eye contact, difficulty understanding emotions of others, difficulty interpreting social cues, difficulty making inferences, poor problem solving skills, and struggles to take another's perspective. These are commonly referred to as pragmatic language skills. Within the field of applied behaviour analysis, we have limited curricula that sufficiently program for these language skills. However, speech and language pathology offers our field some reliable assessment measures, and programming tools for pragmatic language skills. In this study, we used the "Social Language Test: Elementary" as an assessment tool for a boy diagnosed with high functioning autism as a norm-referenced measure of pragmatic language. With the baseline measurement, we completed component analysis, and developed an individualized curriculum to teach him how to: understand emotions and respond appropriately to peer's emotions, make inferences in social situations; and how to identify problem situations and generate socially appropriate solutions. Precision teaching, Natural Environment Teaching and Incidental Teaching were used to teach component skills. Curriculum-based measurement was used to measure generalization across settings and stimuli.

Teaching social skills to students with autism has received increased attention but little research focused on teaching students to work together as a team. Completing team projects is a common practice in elementary and secondary classrooms and therefore teaching teamwork skills is critical for successful inclusion. Teamwork is the ability to work together with others as a member of a group. Accepting assigned role, engaging in assigned task, accepting ideas of others, negotiating, and problem solving are just some of the key component skills necessary for effective team work that many students with high functioning autism and Aspergers syndrome struggle with. This study evaluated an effect of prompting, reinforcement, peer and adult feedback on teaching teamwork to school age children diagnosed with autism. Intervention was implemented in the context of a social group taking place once a week after school. Teaching activities were carefully designed to facilitate opportunities to respond. Data was collected during each teaching session and percentage of component skills demonstrated was calculated. Maintenance and generalization probes were conducted at one month follow up with untrained task.

There is a growing body of intervention research to address the core symptoms of autism spectrum disorders, but the effectiveness of these interventions when implemented in natural settings (e.g., classrooms) by natural change agents (e.g., teaching staff) is less clear. In this symposium we present three comprehensive meta-analyses of the intervention research literature that advance our knowledge of the effectiveness of school-based intervention for children with autism. In the first paper, Greg Lyons will present the results of a meta-analysis of 91 single-case research design studies assessing the effects of school-based interventions aimed at addressing challenging behaviors. In the second paper, Jenna Lequia reviews 18 single-case research design studies assessing the variables contributing to the effectiveness of activity schedules to decrease challenging behavior. Sarah Kuriakose presents the results of a meta-analytic review (n = 15 studies) of intervention conducted during school recess. All papers analyze non-overlap of all-pairs scores to determine the effectiveness of interventions. Finally, the results of these three studies will be analyzed and discussed by Dr. Mandy Rispoli of Texas A&M University, a scholar whose research focuses on applied behavior analytic interventions for children with autism in natural settings.

Within school settings, challenging behavior can negatively affect students with autism and their teachers, resulting in impeded learning and socialization, and teacher burnout. To assess the effects of interventions aimed at addressing these challenging behaviors, this paper employed a systematic meta-analysis of the research intervention literature. Reviewed studies employed single-case designs to assess challenging behavior interventions for students with autism, ages 3-21, in classroom settings. Systematic searches were conducted, resulting in the inclusion of 91 studies. Studies were coded in terms of design, participant, assessment, intervention, and contextual variables. Effectiveness of interventions was determined by, a) calculating non-overlap of all-pairs (NAP), b) rating the final-phase treatment levels, and c) calculating percent clinical change. Preliminary results indicate positive effects across intervention categories, with function-based, replacement skill packages resulting in the largest mean effect size. Additionally, research conducted in general education settings employs antecedent manipulations more frequently than research conducted in special education settings. Implications toward understanding the translation of evidence-based practices to natural settings are discussed.

School recess is an opportunity to include students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) with their typically developing peers and is a setting in which instruction can occur. However, the educational opportunities for children with ASD within recess are often overlooked and recess time is being reduced or eliminated in the United States. This review involved a systematic search and analysis of 15 studies that utilized recess to implement academic, social, or behavioral interventions for students with ASD. Each identified study that met pre-determined inclusion criteria was analyzed and summarized in terms of: (a) participant characteristics, (b) intervention procedures, (c) dependent variables, and (d) intervention outcomes. This review has three main aims: a) to evaluate and synthesize the evidence-base, b) to inform and guide teachers interested in utilizing recess time for educational purposes, and c) to stimulate and guide future research in this important area. Results demonstrate that recess time can indeed be used to teach target behaviors to students with ASD.

School recess is an opportunity to include students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) with their typically developing peers and is a setting in which instruction can occur. However, the educational opportunities for children with ASD within recess are often overlooked and recess time is being reduced or eliminated in the United States. This review involved a systematic search and analysis of 15 studies that utilized recess to implement academic, social, or behavioral interventions for students with ASD. Each identified study that met pre-determined inclusion criteria was analyzed and summarized in terms of: (a) participant characteristics, (b) intervention procedures, (c) dependent variables, and (d) intervention outcomes. This review has three main aims: a) to evaluate and synthesize the evidence-base, b) to inform and guide teachers interested in utilizing recess time for educational purposes, and c) to stimulate and guide future research in this important area. Results demonstrate that recess time can indeed be used to teach target behaviors to students with ASD.

This study examines a video self-prompting strategy to teach 3 high school students daily living and vocational skills. Three students with autism were recruited for the study. Two of the students were able to learn to self-prompt with video on an iPhone while a third student required teacher assistance. Students then used these prompting procedures to learn new skills. The effects of the prompting systems were evaluated in the context of a multiple probe across behaviors, replicated across students. Results indicate that participants increased performance across all behaviors by increasing the percent of steps performed independently. This study introduces a novel approach to using instructional video, in that 2 of the students were able to learn how to self-prompt with the iPhone and ultimately teach themselves the target skills.

This investigation examined the ability of four adults with moderate intellectual disabilities to complete multi-component tasks using continuous video modeling. Continuous video modeling, which is a newly researched application of video modeling, presents video in a looping format which automatically repeats playing of the video while the individual completes a task. Four adult males, ages 29 to 35 years, with a diagnosis of Down syndrome and a moderate intellectual disability, were participants in the study. A multiple probe design across three sets of multi-component tasks (folding multiple sizes of towels; sorting an assortment of recycling materials; preparing a buffet table with multiple serving stations) and replicated with four adults was used to evaluate the effectiveness of continuous video modeling. Overall results suggest that this newly explored method for presenting video models was an effective presentation mode for three of the four participants.

When teaching college students, professors use a variety of strategies, ranging from traditional lectures to hands-on experiences and demonstrations. Although much has been written about the general need for evidence-based practice in education, relatively little has been published regarding instruction on the college level. In order to determine how to best structure college courses, it may be useful to conduct experimental evaluations of common teaching methods. Three technologies that are often used in college settings, but have not been sufficiently studied are (1) the use of flashcards to teach concepts, (2) the use of vocabulary banks to teach a foreign language, and (3) the use of online study games for quiz preparation. In this symposium, we will present evidence on each of these educational practices, and discuss the implications of these findings for college teaching. Specific recommendations will be made regarding ways to improve the efficiency of each procedure, and how they can be combined with traditional teaching methods.

Because college students often use flashcards as a tool for learning concepts, it may be useful to determine the most effective format. Fox and Ghezzi (2003) evaluated the effects of practicing with definitions versus examples. Although training with examples led to superior performance on a subsequent quiz, it was unclear whether examples were superior in general, or if the similarity between the formats of the quiz and flashcards produced this effect. A group of 19 college students enrolled in an introductory course on applied behavior analysis participated in this study. On the first day of classes, students were given a set of flashcards containing 10 key terms from the course. In each set of cards, 5 of the terms had definitions on the back, while the other 5 had examples. After practicing with the cards, students were tested on whether they could name the term when looking at the definition or example. Once they mastered this, the students were given a quiz in which they had to provide examples and definitions for all 10 terms. Students performed better on quiz items that were taught using examples, but were also more accurate on items that matched the format used in the flashcards (i.e. asked for a definition of a term they practiced with a definition).

There is a paucity of behavior analytic research on second language acquisition, yet now more than ever there is a need for societies to become fluent in at least one additional language. The current study seeks to find efficient methods to teaching a foreign language by applying behavior analytic principles in a college classroom setting. The researchers compared two study methods and the effects on Italian language acquisition, retention, generalization, and conversational fluency. The first study method was vocabulary banks, which are frequently used but there is no empirical support for their utility. The second method was scripted conversations, based on observations from a cultural immersion program in which Italian and American students worked together to produce a play in both languages. Cihon and Stephens (2011) observed students using lines from the play to initiate conversations and overcome the language barrier. Preliminary results indicate that participants engaged in more Italian exchanges in vocabulary bank testing sessions than in script testing sessions; however participants emitted more Italian words during script testing sessions. This indicates that exchanges were more complex after studying scripts than after studying vocabulary banks. However, these patterns were different when we divided participants based on prior exposure to Italian language. Students who had no prior exposure to Italian engaged in more exchanges in script testing sessions and emitted more words during script testing sessions. Participants who had at least two classes in Italian prior to the study engaged in more exchanges and emitted more words during vocabulary bank testing sessions. This finding suggests further research is needed to determine efficient teaching methods and the role of prior experience in using these study methods.

The science of behaviour analysis is applied in a wide range of contexts by those working with individuals, families or at the organisational level. A related area is Clinical Animal Behaviour, where the focus is the animal's behaviour within a human context, and where both animal and human behaviour change is addressed. This latter field is the author's background. Recently, there has been a growing trend to use animals as intervention tools in human therapeutic programmes. The benefits of horse riding for those with physical disabilities, for example, are accepted, and considered to have clear scientific foundations. This is not the case where animals are used in psychological intervention programmes. Indeed, many consider such animal facilitated therapy to have little or no scientific validity and simply to provide a "feel-good" factor. This paper will consider; a. how behaviour analysis may explain much of what happens in animal facilitated therapy; b. how animals can be a specific tool in the behaviour analyst's therapeutic armoury; c. the potential for further roles of animals in human-health provision; and d. some issues to consider when planning therapeutic programmes involving animals. The talk will draw on examples of practice and critical consideration of evidence of outcome.

A Grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus) had previously been taught to use English count words ("one" through "sih" [six]) to label sets of one to six individual items (Pepperberg, 1994). He had also been taught to use the same count words to label the Arabic numerals 1 through 6. Without training, he inferred the relationship between the Arabic numerals and the sets of objects (Pepperberg, 2006b). In the present study, he was then trained to label vocally the Arabic numerals 7 and 8 ("sih-none," "eight," respectively) and to order these Arabic numerals with respect to the numeral 6. He subsequently inferred the ordinality of 7 and 8 with respect to the smaller numerals and he inferred use of the appropriate label for the cardinal values of seven and eight items. These data suggest that he constructed the cardinal meanings of "seven" ("sih-none") and "eight" from his knowledge of the cardinal meanings of one through six, together with the place of "seven" ("sih-none") and "eight" in the ordered count list.

This symposium will present research related to the establishment of new conditioned reinforcers, through both classical and operant conditioning procedures, and will also present research related to how children come to learn new things, such as incidental language or perspective taking, as a function of acquiring new reinforcers. The first paper will outline how new reinforcers are acquired in a comparison of classical and operant conditioning procedures and will present results from a study where books were conditioned as reinforcers, leading to faster acquisition of reading behaviors. The second paper will present a study to condition praise as a reinforcer for a young child with autism, a necessary component of the acquisition of other developmental cusps, such as listener and speaker behaviors. The third paper will discuss how language is learned incidentally, via the joining of the speaker and the listener when Naming is acquired, and will present procedures to induce Naming by exclusion when it is missing. The fourth paper will discuss procedures for inducing level 2 of visual perspective taking and the implications for children who lack social listener reinforcement.

We tested the effects of conditioning books on the rate of acquisition of novel textual responses for 4 nursery school students at risk for developmental delays (3) or without developmental delays (1), aged 2 years, in two experiments. Two males and 2 females were selected for participation because they did not have book stimuli as a conditioned reinforcer for observing. The independent variables were the establishment of books as a reinforcer for observing responses and as a preferred activity in a free play area. The dependent variable was the rate of acquisition of novel textual responses. A matched-pairs with pre- and post-intervention probes with a nested multiple probe design was used; the participants were paired based on the number of learn units to criterion for a set of sight words. In Experiment I, Participants A and B acquired conditioned reinforcement for observing books as a function of mastering one set of words. Experiment II differed in that more sets of sight words were taught, and that the participants received the book conditioning intervention. Results indicated that the participants learned a novel set of sight words 2.20 to 7.25 times faster as a function of having books as a conditioned reinforcer. In another experiment we compared the effects of two conditioning procedures, operant conditioning versus classical conditioning, on the conditioning of peg boards as reinforcer. Toddlers, ranging in ages from 2-3 years old, in an early intervention school participated in the study. Participants were matched and paired. One child in each pair was exposed to an operant conditioning procedure, while the other matched pair received stimulus-stimulus pairings via a classical conditioning procedure. Preliminary findings show that for some participants the operant conditioning procedure was more effective for conditioning peg boards as a reinforcer, and for other participants the classical conditioning procedure was more effective. Future research will continue to compare the effects of the two conditioning procedures and also study potential prerequisite repertoires that affect the emergence of conditioned reinforcers for operant or for classical conditioning procedures.

The limited influence of social stimuli as reinforcement for the behavior of children with autism is well documented. Reinforcement by social stimuli, such as attention and praise, is required for the maintenance and generalization of a multitude of social behaviors, most notably verbal behaviors (e.g., tacts, intraverbals) maintained by generalized conditioned reinforcement. The purpose of this study was to systematically replicate recent findings showing the praise can be conditioned as a reinforcer. The participant was 5 years old, diagnosed with autism, and nonverbal. A preliminary functional analysis demonstrated that button-pushing was consistently more frequent in a contingent tickle condition that in contingent praise and no consequence conditions. Contingent pairing of praise and tickles was then administered in 2-min sessions and praise alone was evaluated before and after pairing sessions each day. Results indicate that button-pushing increased in the contingent praise condition following the pairing condition. Interobserver agreement of button-pushing was 99.4% across 50% of sessions in the study. One interpretation of the data suggests that the motivating operation linked to the unconditioned reinforcer must be in effect in the conditioned reinforcement condition. Future research should continue refining the procedures for conditioning attention as a reinforcer as well as examine more closely at the role of motivating operations in the process.

We conducted a study to see whether children who had the Naming capability (incidental learning of language) also had the capability of Naming by exclusion. First, we tested whether children could respond as both speaker and a listener to an array of objects on a table top except one that was novel. We counterbalanced the order of the stimuli presented within session and across students. If the child was determined to have Naming by responding correctly to the last 10 trials consecutively we then probed the child on the untaught responses after 2 hours on listener responses (10 trials) and speaker responses (10 trials) without any consequences, to see whether he had Naming by exclusion. Criterion was set at 80% accuracy. If the child did not demonstrate Naming by exclusion, we used another set of stimuli with 4 known items and 1 unknown to teach to criterion (100% accuracy) before we probed for listener and speaker responses. Participant A did not have Naming by exclusion during the pre-probe and was taught one instructional session to criterion and he demonstrated mastery in the post-probe in both listener and speaker responses. Participant B had Naming by exclusion, as evidenced by the pre-probe, and she had 70% accuracy in the listener and speaker responses in the post probe.

Level 2 of visual perspective taking (VPT) consists of responding differentially according to the visual perception of oneself and other person, when both people are seeing the same object from different perspectives. We have identified how to induce skills of Level 2 VPT, evaluated with verbal and selection responses in typically developing children. In this procedure we intermixed trials of the Level 2 VPT probe with verbal responses and selection responses of photos and objects. The goal of this study was to replicate the procedure of probes to induce these skills in children with autism. One participants results replicated the data obtained in typically developing children, but the other participant showed that the performance in the probe with selection responses of objects depends on the type of verbal stimuli of the instruction. These results replicated partially those obtained in typically developing children, and added the specificity of the stimuli employed in the case of children with autism to succeed on some probes.

Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and professionals in applied behavior analysis (ABA) frequently participate as members of support teams for children with autism. Collaboration between these professionals can enhance the teams work, since each professional brings valuable resources to the table. However, overlapping areas of expertise, different terms used for similar instructional elements, and variations in addressing the same problems may complicate the collaborative process unless each professional understands the others framework. Failure to effectively collaborate often results in professionals working in isolation or even worse, working in opposition. The purpose of this panel is to clarify similarities and differences between the developmental and behavioral models used by SLPs and ABA professionals, respectively. In addition, panel members will highlight strengths that SLP and ABA professionals each bring to an autism support team. Finally, the panel will conclude with recommendations for addressing issues that may be viewed differently by SLP and ABA professionals.

In their seminal longitudinal study Meaningful Differences (1995), Betty Hart and Todd Risley established that, across a range of demographic variables, infants and toddlers in enriched language environments were far more likely to develop excellent language skills. These important findings have been widely publicized, helping to contribute to what appears to be a trend toward more behavior-analytic methods in mainstream pre-K and K-12 education in the United States. In this symposium, reviews of3 mainstream trade books offer an integration of educational developments, nature-and-nurture advances, and expertise studies (such as Anders Ericsson's), and how they build on Hart and Risley's classic. Schneider covers Shenk's The Genius in All of Us, which makes the case for the extensive malleability of behavior that we behavior analysts have long known to exist. Watkins summarizes Tough's Whatever It Takes, a history of the early years of the Harlem Children's Zone projects, based explicitly on Hart and Risley. And Slocum brings us the adventures of much-honored inner-city fifth-grade teacher Rafe Esquith, author of There Are No Shortcuts, as he (unintentionally) discovers and incorporates behavior analysis methods into his teaching. Detrich will discuss how we can build further on these encouraging developments.

David Shenk's bestseller, The Genius in All of Us: Why Everything You've Been Told About Genetics, Talent, and IQ is Wrong, makes the case for the extensive malleability of behavior that behavior analysts have long known to exist. Citing Hart and Risley's Meaningful Differences early on, Shenk integrates research on: enriched early environments, nature-and-nurture relations, the modifiability of "intelligence," problems with interpretations of "heritability" and the twin studies, and Anders Ericsson's research on the development of expertise through practice (as opposed to innate "talent"). Shenk even includes a brief chapter on epigenetics. In short, the book is a primer on (a) why genetic determinism fails, and (b) the inspiring implication for education and parenting: We all have far more potential than we'd dreamed. While Shenk does not include behavior analysis principles explicitly, they are implicit throughout.

Whatever It Takes is the operating principle at the Harlem Children's Zone (HCZ). It is also the title of Paul Tough's book describing HCZ President and CEO Geoffrey Canada's comprehensive and controversial approach to education reform. According to Canada, "There's no reason that all of our children in this country are not able to learn at higher levels." Making that happen is the goal of Harlem Children's Zone, which provides a complex set of educational and social services and supports for children and their families. For example, based in part on the work of Hart and Risley, the HCZ includes programs such as Baby College and Three Year Journey, which teach parents about developing language skills, and Harlem Gems, a preschool program that emphasizes language. Dobbie and Fryer (2009) published an evaluation claiming that the HCZ "is enormously effective at increasing the achievement of the poorest minority children." Whitehurst and Croft (2010) offer an alternate analysis. Paul Tough states, "There aren't yet air tight data to prove that Canada's model works." However in 2010 the U.S. State Department of Education awarded 21 organizations planning grants of up to a half million dollars to create plans to reproduce the HCZ.

Rafe Esquith, a 5th grade teacher at an inner city elementary school in Los Angeles, is one of the most widely recognized and honored classroom teachers in America. His books, including There Are No Shortcuts and Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire, are best sellers and articulate a distinct approach to improving education. Esquith offers no easy answers; the titles of his books epitomize his main themes—the educational mission must be engaged with unrelenting urgency and total dedication. He extends his teaching day to more than 11 hours and his school year with summer school and multiweek field trips. He constructs his own curriculum in academic subjects as well as social skills and character. Esquith's vision of education overlaps behavioral approaches in their shared focus on academic achievement and social behavior outcomes, increasing academic engaged time, the importance of building skills, and the great power of supportive environments for behavior change. Esquith also departs from behavioral approaches in important ways: For him, the critical variables in education are more in the character, intelligence, and dedication of teachers.

Educational policy in the United States advocates for empirically validated teaching procedures to be utilized in the classroom. As educational systems continue to be levied with added responsibilities and diminishing resources, it becomes imperative to identify Evidence-Based Practices (EBP) that are efficacious and easily implemented in educational systems. Additionally, empirically based teaching is not frequently observed when considering University level instruction. This symposium presents recent research on evidence-based practice in both primary and University level teaching with a focus on functional changes in both teacher and child behavior. Data-based presentations will outline the critical features of EBP in educational settings, summarize methods for effectively training teachers on EBP, identify critical features for implementation of EBP, and evaluate the effects on student behavior.

We examined the effectiveness of a Behavioral Skills Training (BST) package to instruct 3 parents to teach manding skills to young children with autism. Sessions included 5 bi-weekly modules with instructions, video modeling and role plays. Following completion of each training module, we observed parents implementing procedures in family homes or at a university-affiliated autism treatment center. Data were collected on the accuracy of implementing training steps for parents and the frequency of manding responses in children. We provided feedback and modeling of correct procedures following training. A changing-criterion design was used to evaluate the effects of the training. Results showed the training was effective for all parents, and findings were maintained during 1- and 2-month probes. We observed variable increases in manding responses for the children. Findings are discussed in terms of future applications of a BST model for enhancing parent skills to teach verbal behavior.

Behavior Skills Training (BST) typically consists of an initial informational component presented to the learners either vocally, through a handout, presentation, or both. Results from the active student responding literature indicates these methods as the least effective means of conveying important information to learners. This study sought to utilize an alternative instructional component, fluency training, and to evaluate if any effects are observed on implementation of the behavior chain of Discrete Trial Training (DTT). Teachers had previous training and experience on implementing DTT prior to this studyhowever, all teachers implemented strategies with low integrity. Teachers were trained to fluent levels on verbally stating the component steps of DTT and were then observed during probe sessions to evaluate percentage of steps implemented correctly. The probes indicate an initial improvement, but decreases over time that are consistent with results on other passive in-service trainings. Teachers then took part in a single session of Modeling, Role-Play, and Feedback. Results suggest that while fluency training had an impact on participants verbal performance on discrete trial information, and affected overt performance during subsequent probes, the effects were small and transient. Performance improved only after training on the components of BST and additional training had been completed in-situ.

This project assessed the use of behavioral momentum on the latency and accuracy of math problems. Behavioral momentum involved the sequencing of high probability tasks (e.g., two single digit math problems) before a student was presented with a low probability behavior (e.g., triple digit math problem). Assessment modules (3 to 5 sessions each) were used to assess baseline measures: (1) ten 3+3 digit math problems, and (2) twenty 1+1 digit math problems. Following assessment, students were given a 30 problem math test with 3 + 3 digit math problems embedded with a sequence of 1 + 1 digit math problems. Latency to each keystroke, duration of problem completion, and accuracy of each problem was monitored and analyzed. The use of behavioral momentum resulted in a decrease in latency in the completion of triple-digit addition problems with a concurrent increase in accuracy of triple-digit addition problems.

The high prevalence rate of autism and need for service delivery is reported from many developing countries (Grinker 2007; Wong & Hui, 2007). Effective treatment methodologies are primarily published in English and autism professionals are trained predominately in North America. There are many North American professionals traveling to developing countries to promote effective interventions and influence the field of autism service delivery. Application of evidence-based practices within diverse cultures, language/translation barriers and maintenance of skills and behaviors with itinerant models of consultation are just a few of the considerations that professionals must consider when working in cultures outside of their own. The panelists for this presentation have been providing itinerant consultation in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East for several years. The panelists will share lessons learned and protocols for increasing effectiveness when providing itinerant consultation in developing countries. Practical considerations of international work will be described. The audience will be invited to engage in discourse to promote increased access to quality intervention for those living with autism, regardless of geography.