Association for Behavior Analysis International

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and epilepsy are both neurological conditions that can significantly impact a child's development and overall well-being. While they may appear to be independent diagnoses, there is a higher co-occurrence rate than chance would predict. This presentation will explore the complex relationship between ASD and epilepsy, equipping therapists with the knowledge and tools to better support their clients who experience both conditions. The presentation will delve into the following key areas: • Prevalence and Risk Factors: We will examine the co-occurrence rates of ASD and epilepsy, exploring potential risk factors and underlying biological mechanisms. • Clinical Presentations: We will discuss the diverse ways in which epilepsy can manifest, including potential challenges in identifying and diagnosing epilepsy in individuals with ASD. • Treatment Considerations: We will explore the evidence-based practices for treating epilepsy to address the unique needs of this population. Here, we will also discuss potential side effects of anti-seizure medications and how they may impact behavior or learning, equipping ABA therapists to collaborate with the medical team for optimal treatment. • Emerging Technologies: We will explore the potential of using new technologies including AI analysis of EEG (electroencephalogram) data for early detection of ASD. This discussion will highlight the promise and limitations of new technologies, emphasizing their role as potential tools to support informed clinical decision-making. • Collaborative Care: We will emphasize the importance of collaboration between ABA therapists, neurologists, and other healthcare professionals in developing comprehensive treatment plans.

Therapists and physicians taking care of individuals with ASD.

While behavioral intervention based on results from functional analyses (FA) shows more successful intervention effects, survey data on behavior analysts implementing FAs in their practice has shown they are rarely implemented (Oliver et al., 2015). Research has studied why behavior analysts are stating they do not use FAs, while also disputing the stated limitations (Hanley, 2012). The avoidance of FAs in practice by behavior analysts often results in behavior analysts turning to descriptive assessments (Oliver et al., 2015); however, our science questions the validity of descriptive assessments leaving the practicing behavior analyst at a crossroads to select the best assessment method for their clients. This symposium will review the current status of behavior analysts implementing functional behavior assessments in practice, while also providing guidance on future practice. A focus will consist of how to determine the best practice of behavioral assessments for your clients and how best to interpret data collected during functional behavior assessments to lead to effective interventions.

Participants should have experience implementing functional behavior assessments within their practice.

Research demonstrates that in order for behavior analysts to implement a successful behavior analytic intervention, the behavior analyst must first identify the maintaining contingencies of their client’s target behavior. Descriptive assessments are the most commonly implemented functional assessment by behavior analysts with approximately 94% of behavior analysts reporting to ‘almost always’ or ‘always’ use them to determine a function of behavior with the most common type of descriptive assessment being antecedent-behavior-consequence assessments (ABC; Oliver et al., 2015). Conversely, comparative research further supports the use of analog functional analyses over descriptive assessments as the validity of descriptive assessments has been questioned. ABC assessments and adapted practical functional analysis procedures were used to analyze the key components of descriptive assessment and were then verified with the implementation of a function-based intervention. Results indicated that conditional probabilities from the antecedent condition were verified as the function in the modified practical functional analysis and treatment. Implications for clinicians and researchers are reviewed.

Decades of research on functional analysis (FA) methodology suggest that the development of the FA provides scientific technology for clinicians and researchers to determine the function of problem behavior (Hagopian et al., 2013) and inform more efficacious treatment (Campbell, 2003; Heyvaert, Saenen, Campbell, Maes, & Onghena, 2014). To date, there have been several empirically supported adaptations to the methodology of the FA (Cooper et al., 2019) to address practical barriers, including time and environmental constraints, the severity of the behavior, and lack of clinical expertise (Chok et al., 2019; Cooper et al., 2019; Henry et al., 2021; Griffith et al., 2021; Standish et al., 2021). Despite the utility of adaptations to FA's, many behavior analysts still have not consistently adopted the use of FA’s in clinical practice to inform treatment for challenging behavior (Oliver et al., 2015; Roscoe et al., 2015). Based on this, there continues to be limited information regarding learning history (e.g., supervision, training) and contextual variables (e.g., constraints, topography, and severity of behavior) that may influence practitioner clinical decision-making when selecting and designing FAs among the various designs and adaptations within the growing body of literature on FA methodology. Therefore, the purpose of this presentation is to review the current status of practitioners' clinical decision-making on selecting and designing an FA, based on qualitative data gathered from a survey study designed for those professionals, scholars, or graduate students who currently or recently incorporated FAs within clinical practice for the treatment of challenging behavior.

In recent years, there has been an increased focus on the importance of "soft skills" (e.g., relationship building, compassion, listening, empathy, collaboration) within the practice of behavior analysis. However, caregivers of children with autism have reported that behavior analysts do not consistently engage in these skills when working with clients or their families (Taylor et al., 2019). Coupled with the knowledge that behavior analysts do not typically receive direct training in these areas (LeBlanc et al., 2019, Rohrer et al., 2021; Taylor et al., 2019), these findings may indicate the potential for deficits in a number of these essential skills (Taylor et al., 2019). The purpose of this study was to survey behavior analysts to assess their reported engagement in and value of the skills identified by Taylor et al. 2019). Most respondents indicated that all skill areas are significant (i.e., of value) to building rapport with caregivers however their engagement in those skills were inconsistent.

Benzodiazepines (BZs) are effective and safe when used appropriately, but their utility is limited by unwanted side effects like misuse and reduced safety when combined with other drugs. Individuals with substance-use disorders (SUDs) misuse BZs as much as 20x greater than the general population, and the rising number of overdose deaths attributed to BZs are largely driven by opioid co-administration. The work I will present is focused on behavioral and pharmacological determinants of BZ reinforcement using preclinical choice models in nonhuman primates. Our overall goal is to identify BZ-type ligands with reduced potential for misuse in naïve subjects as well as in polydrug situations. We have found that nonselective, partial-efficacy BZ ligands or those that lack intrinsic efficacy at α1-subunit containing GABAA (α1GABAA) receptors have reduced potential for misuse relative to traditional BZs. However, our data suggest that the degree to which these BZ-type ligands exhibit potential for misuse depends on the subject’s drug history. A key finding from our choice research is that efficacy at α1GABAA receptors may be necessary for self-administration of BZs in cocaine-experienced subjects but are not required for enhancement of cocaine choice. We currently are evaluating whether this pattern of effects is observed in individuals without prior drug experiences (i.e., in naïve subjects) or with other misused drugs, in particular opioids. The pharmacological mechanisms underlying outcomes based on past drug experience may involve (1) a differential role for α1GABAA receptors in reinforcement enhancing vs. reinforcing effects of BZs alone or (2) differences in overall intrinsic efficacy, irrespective of subtype selectivity.

Basic and clinical students, researchers, and practitioners interested in substance use disorders

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is a field that has yet to extend globally. Diversity in cultural and socio-economic contexts create barriers to straightforward replication of ABA systems from more industrialized countries. Extensive supervision and collaboration between local and international providers are vital to foster growth, uphold standards, and ensure effectiveness in developing nations. Government agencies play a vital role in establishing new disciplines within its country. In the Philippines, a considerable portion of the population live in poverty with limited access to essential services. A lack of public and private funding and only 7 Board Certified Behavior Analysts serving the 13th most populated country in the world exacerbate the struggle for accessible behavioral healthcare. In response to the challenges, the city of Paranaque was the first to enact an ordinance including ABA in its provision of free services to the community. The local government unit and international behavior analysts collaborated to provide on-going training for families with special needs in a pilot program aimed at establishing an infrastructure of sustainable behavioral support in the tenth largest city in the Philippines. Initial outcomes and barriers will be presented alongside recommendations for further action and replication in other developing cities and countries.

BACB and QABA certified clinicians

Teaching the science of behavior involves teaching with rigor to ensure students conceptualize the study of behavior as a natural science. As the growth of our field fosters the need for additional training programs, educators must consider the current landscape for students in higher education, such as increased financial stressors, lack of work-life balance, physically and emotionally demanding jobs, and familial commitments. Contemplative pedagogy incorporates a variety of practices in the classroom to provide an inclusive and transformative space for students. This presentation will introduce contemplative pedagogy and provide examples of exercises for both brick-and-mortar and online instructors to utilize in their classrooms to demonstrate how to incorporate reflection, contemplation, and mindfulness without sacrificing learning or rigor.

Instructors, supervisors

Limited physical activity is associated with numerous negative health outcomes such as increased risk of heart disease and type two diabetes (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022). Furthermore, individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes, obesity, and hypertension compared to the general population (Croen et al., 2015). The present symposium will explore four studies evaluating different methods to increase physical activity in individuals with and without developmental disabilities, such as ASD. Findings show that interdependent group contingencies and goal-setting procedures effectively increase physical activity in sedentary adults. Furthermore, results of the current presentations also show that behavioral economics, goal-setting with differential reinforcement of alternative behavior, and evaluating the preference for specific exercise activities successfully increase physical activity in children and adults with ASD. Taken together, the results of these four presentations demonstrate various effective methods to increase physical activity in a wide range of settings.

Participants should have an understand of the theory of reinforcement and extinction.

The impact of sedentary lifestyle on health is well-documented, with associations to obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. The literature suggests that the risk for these negative health-related outcomes is more pronounced in individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Recent research by McCoy and Morgan (2020) underscores that adolescents with ASDs tend to engage in lower levels of physical activity and exhibit higher rates of obesity in comparison to neurotypical peers. The current investigation aims to apply the principles of behavioral economics to modify physical activities and dietary choices among individuals with ASDs. Our approach involves identifying high/low calorie meal preferences and distinguishing between strenuous/non-strenuous exercise preferences for each participant. Economic incentives are introduced to encourage more strenuous exercises while assigning higher costs to meals with higher caloric content, promoting healthier, low-calorie alternatives. Preliminary results indicate that economic manipulations are successful at shifting behavior to less preferred, more strenuous exercise and dietary choice to lower preferred, healthier meals. This approach not only provides valuable insights into promoting healthier behaviors in individuals with ASDs but also highlights the potential of behavioral economics in mitigating the health risks associated with sedentary lifestyles in this population.

Adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are disproportionally more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes, obesity, and hypertension compared to the general population (Croen et al., 2015). Whereas physical activity has been associated with improvement in problem behaviors demonstrated by individuals with ASD, limited research has been conducted with autistic adults with severe challenging behavior (Allison et al., 1991). The present study evaluated the effectiveness of goal setting and differential reinforcement of alternative behavior to increase the physical activity in three autistic adults admitted to an outpatient clinic for the assessment and treatment of severe challenging behavior. The present procedures effectively increased physical activity for all participants across four different forms of exercise (e.g., yoga, walking, soccer, basketball). The present study provides a model for clinicians working in the adult service setting to increase physical activity, and overall improve the health of the individual served with special considerations for severe challenging behavior.

Person-centered planning and support should be a pillar in applied behavior analytic research by focusing on the inclusion of participants in decision-making and supporting neurodiversity affirming practice (Belisle et al., 2021). The LIFE Functional Module (LIFE; Dixon, 2018) provides functional behavior targets of daily living and prescriptive methods to target behaviors across multiple categories and domains. The current set of studies detail a framework for centering the input and values of adult learners in the selection and design of LIFE programming to support autonomy and independence. Multiple behavior topographies were targeted and evaluated within single-subject experimental designs, such as cooking, filmmaking, and liesure skills. Each broad target area was comprised of multiple component skills and training was designed to promote independent completion of chained tasks, generalization of skills across contexts, and relational frames developed to support the behavior targets. In all cases, results showed rapid acquisition of the target skills and social validity scores obtained directly from the adult learners suggested the interventions were seen as both helpful and preferred. Overall, results suggest behavioral technologies like LIFE can be adapted within a values-based framework.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is diagnosed through the American Psychiatric Association Diagnostic and Statistical Manual - Fifth Edition (2013). The DSM-V defines ASD through three areas of core deficits; social-emotional reciprocity, nonverbal communicative behaviors used for social interaction, and developing, maintaining, and understanding relationships. Addressing deficits, as seen through the medical model, is common in services for many Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) service providers (Matson, 2023). Pellicano and Houting (2022), echo a call from the autistic community to move away from a medical/deficit approach to autism services towards a paradigm of neurodiversity as an alternative method. The present study seeks to explore the relationship to which ABA practitioners utilize different paradigms of treatment to guide their practice and their perception of autism. Participants completed several surveys to obtain their perception of autism as well as a survey to understand their approach to practice. Results displayed a relationship between the paradigms that practitioners use to direct implementation and their perception of autism. The approach to services that practitioners use may have a relationship to their perception of autism as demonstrated by these results and may have implications for the use of a neurodiversity paradigm within the field of ABA to improve providers’ perceptions of the autistic clients that they serve.

A natural science approach to human behavior requires us to consider the role of the observer in our analysis of our phenomena of interest (Skinner, 1945; Kantor, 1924). In applied clinical contexts, this means including the therapist’s behavior in our analysis of client behavior. However, the preponderance of the research into therapist behaviors in psychotherapy has been oriented toward the efficacy of specific therapeutic approaches and protocols, or mediating constructs such as the therapeutic relationship (Horvath & Luborsky, 1993; Martin et al., 2000). In order to directly analyze the therapeutic interaction, what may be needed is a behavioral analysis of therapist behavior in terms of the contexts they create for client behavior in assessment and intervention. The papers within this symposium will examine several specific repertoires of therapist behavior that may hold promise in improving a clinician’s effectiveness in their work with clients: clinical note taking, clinical supervision, cultural humility, and the role of relational therapeutic narrative.

Target audience might include clinicians, clinicians in training, students and those in applied behavioral analysis

Clinical tools for behavior analysts in applied and clinical settings facilitate multiple aspects of the therapeutic process. In particular, a clinician’s method of data collection or note taking serves many purposes, such as the legal documentation of services (Cameron & Turtle-Song, 2002), monitoring client behavior patterns and functioning (Presser & Pfost, 1985), treatment planning and goals (Cameron & Turtle-Song, 2002), and storing client data for the clinician to refer to in the course of their work (Presser & Pfost, 1985). Research in this area consists primarily of comparative studies on the utility, efficiency, and accuracy of various data collection techniques (Taubman et al., 2013; Wiarda et al., 2014). Although the current literature suggests that a therapist’s notes may have direct implications on the therapeutic process (Taubman et al., 2013), the empirical literature has not yet explored the ways that note taking and data collection tools function for the clinician’s behaviors when working with clients. This talk will review findings from a preliminary study on the effects of using note taking style as a means of intervening on therapist in-session behaviors. The implications of targeting clinical processes through note taking will be discussed and ideas for future research in this area will be explored

The differences between psychoanalysis and behaviorism (in all its forms) are so great and wide-ranging that it often appears difficult to know where to start. Because of multiple epistemological and language system barriers, it can be difficult for a consumer of behavioral science to examine what concepts (if any) are useful from psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Despite this, some clinicians with familiarity with both perspectives will assert that psychoanalytic processes can provide benefits that transcend its structural mentalistic framework. In the current talk, some of the therapeutic principles outlined in Roy Schafer's The Analytic Attitude (1983) will be presented. This version of psychoanalysis will be framed as the co-creation of an evolving therapeutic narrative, expanding the range of choices for the client. Some commonalities that this approach may share with some of the so-called "third-wave" behavioral therapies will be explored as well as differences. Possible directions of how to explore these convergent/divergent processes will be discussed, as well as a consideration of the relevance of asking such questions in the first place.

Food selectivity is prevalent in individuals diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (Volkert et al., 2021). Unfortunately, this is not a transient concern and can potentially lead to nutritional deficiencies and health concerns in the population later in life. Furthermore, selective eating can lead to increased display of behavioral concerns when caregivers attempt to shift from the individual’s restricted meal repertoire to a more balanced and healthy diet. This symposium will discuss the replication of Gover et al. (2023) using shaping, choice, and synthesized reinforcement procedures to increase the healthy food repertoires of individuals diagnosed with developmental disabilities in different settings that include: clinic, public school, and residential care. In addition, opportunities to assess assent from the participating will be emphasized. Opportunities and challenges in all settings will be discussed by the presenters. Maintenance and generalization of new food repertoires as well as current limitations and areas of future research will also be discussed.

Target audience should possess a solid understanding of shaping, chaining, and reinforcement principles. In addition, audience should be familiar with preference assessments and functional analyses

Feeding related issues are commonly presented by individuals with Autism (Volkert et al., 2021). Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) interventions have been shown to be effective in treating food-related challenges; however, only a few peer-reviewed studies have described methods for incorporating assent and choice. A recent study by Gover et al., (2023) demonstrated positive therapeutic outcomes for three participants while incorporating choice and assent. This clinical demonstration is a systematic replication of the Gover et al., (2023) study with one participant diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). After conducting a pre-treatment assessment and collaboration meeting with caregivers treatment ensued. Treatment consisted of differential reinforcement of successive approximations to eating targeted foods during mealtime and incorporated choice during each trial. At the end of treatment, the participant consumed five new foods in the context of mealtime. In this presentation, we will elaborate on the clinical decision-making regarding treatment components and will discuss coordination of care tactics that ultimately led to the participant consuming a wider variety of foods.

Food selectivity is prevalent in individuals diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (Volkert et al., 2021). Unfortunately, this selective eating profile can lead to negative health and behavioral concerns in this population, especially when there is a strong negative behavioral history surrounding mealtime with caregivers. The current demonstration sought to replicate Gover et al. 2023 to increase the variety of foods consumed by a pre-adolescent child with a history of severe problem behavior and inappropriate mealtime behavior in the clinic setting. Treatment began after 9 months of working with this learner in a clinic environment. The foods were initially selected by the parent as relevant to their quality of life with support from the behavior analyst. By the end of treatment, the learner was eating 3 new foods. This demonstration utilized strong rapport with the analyst, shaping, choice, and synthesized reinforcement without the use of escape extinction in order to increase the food repertoire.

Food selectivity is prevalent in individuals diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (Volkert et al., 2021). Unfortunately, this can lead to health and behavioral concerns in this population, especially when there is a strong behavioral history surrounding mealtime. The current demonstration sought to replicate Gover et al. 2023 to increase the variety of food consumption in a pre-adolescent child with a history of severe problem behavior and inappropriate mealtime behavior in the school setting. Treatment began after one year of Skill-Based Treatment (SBT), a parent interview, and a preference assessment was conducted with the child. The foods were initially selected by the parent, and then were adjusted as the child voiced their choice of foods to eat. This demonstration utilized strong rapport, shaping, choice, and synthesized reinforcement without the use of escape extinction in order to increase the food repertoire. Results were generalized to the home setting and foods targeted during intervention became preferred foods to consume at home with caregivers

Food selectivity is highly prevalent in individuals diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (Volkert et al., 2021). Unfortunately, this can potentially lead to negative health outcomes (e.g, obesity) and nutritional deficiencies in the population. Furthermore, selective eating can also lead to increased behavioral concerns when caregivers attempt to shift from the individual’s more restricted meal repertoire to a well balanced and healthy diet. Specifically, in the literature, there is limited research regarding increasing food repertoires of adolescents with longer learning histories of food selectivity and more severe forms of problem behavior. The current study aimed to replicate Gover et al. 2023 to increase the healthy food repertoire of three adolescents and adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder and generalize those gains to a group residential setting through the use of shaping, choice, synthesized reinforcement, and without escape extinction. In addition, the presenter will discuss food preferences that emerged and were honored during treatment.

Over several decades, researchers and clinicians have attempted to identify the function(s) of problem behavior through functional analyses to develop effective interventions. Past methods included evoking fully escalated problem behavior in multiple analogue conditions of isolated reinforcement contingencies. These methods led applied researchers to address concerns that may impact practical application such as safety and efficiency. For example, the interview-informed synthesized contingency analysis (IISCA) involves a process that is relatively quick to complete and reinforces non-dangerous precursors to problem behavior. The elements of safety and efficiency were eventually considered within the larger framework of trauma-informed care (TIC; Rajaraman et al., 2022). The guiding principles of TIC include (a) acknowledging trauma and its impact, (b) ensuring safety and trust, (c) choice and shared governance, and (d) emphasizing skill building. These principles have informed the development of specific assessment and treatment procedures. In this symposium we will discuss how TIC has influenced research in the assessment and treatment of problem behavior. We will review 20 years of functional analysis outcomes (Study 1), identify procedural modifications to pre-treatment assessments (Study 2), discuss the incorporation of TIC within skill-based treatment (Study 3), and consider the treatment utility of the novel performance-based IISCA (Study 4).

Necessary prerequisite skills for the audience include: an understanding of functional analyses and function-based interventions.

Maintaining participant safety and managing risk during the assessment and treatment of severe problem behavior is of upmost importance. The performance-based interview-infomed synthesized contingency analysis (IISCA; Luigi et al. 2022) is a functional analysis format that incorporates an interview with caregivers asking questions about problem behavior to avoid dangerous escalation. We introduced additional questions during the interview to more readily identify participants who are prone to escalation to better predict and manage risk (Canniello et al. 2023). The performance-based IISCA was conducted for eleven individuals and we found that the percentage of dangerous problem behavior and the probability of a burst was correlated with reports of quick escalation. The results suggests that questions regarding escalation speed from minor to more severe instances of problem behavior may be particularly helpful for predicting any safety concerns. Future researchers may want to consider other procedural modifications to the functional analysis to ensure individuals feel physically and emotionally secure when safety concerns are anticipated.

Challenging behavior (e.g., aggression, self-injurious behavior) can adversely affect the trajectory and quality of an individual’s life. Historically, pharmacological and behavioral approaches are the most recommended interventions for challenging behavior (Newcomb & Hagopian, 2018; Valdovinos, 2019). Using a behavioral approach, putative reinforcers of challenging behavior are identified using a functional analysis to inform subsequent treatment. Multiple functional analysis formats exist (e.g., interview-informed synthesized contingency analysis [IISCA], standard, brief) and behavioral interventions informed by functional analysis formats have resulted in improvements of challenging behavior across copious individuals. However, the treatment validity of each of these formats has yet to be compared. The authors synthesized functional analysis-informed outcomes from a 20-year review of the literature to determine the magnitude of effect of subsequent intervention for each functional analysis format. Additionally, moderating variables (e.g., diagnosis, language ability) were evaluated to identify the bounds of functional analysis-informed intervention. The authors investigated the difference in treatment outcomes informed by the IISCA with treatments informed by other formats because of the contrast with the IISCA procedures and components. This presentation will present outcomes that compare the intervention effects of different functional analysis formats, with an emphasis on the IISCA compared to other formats.

Behavioral intervention for problem behavior often relies on the results of a functional analysis to identify environmental contributors. Multiple functional analysis formats have been developed to improve qualities of the process such as practicality, efficiency, and safety. More recently, the performance-based, interview-informed synthesized contingency analysis (IISCA) was developed as a functional analysis format that incorporates a trauma-informed framework. The performance-based IISCA (a) introduces evocative events following periods of calm to reduce dangerous escalation, (b) includes moment-to-moment measures of problem behavior to allow for ongoing visual analysis of data, and (c) maintains measures of positive affect. We conducted this study to evaluate the treatment utility of the performance-based IISCA when it is used to inform a skill-based treatment. The performance-based IISCA was conducted for the problem behavior of three autistic children before teaching communication, toleration, and cooperation during skill-based treatment in the home setting. Problem behavior was reduced for all participants across different therapists and across time (one, two, three-month maintenance probes). The results support the generality and longevity of treatment informed by the performance-based IISCA.

This symposium highlights the continued advancement in preference assessment research in applied settings. The first study (Elliott et al.) will describe an empirical evaluation of a direct correlation between the results of preference assessments and the identified stimuli’s reinforcing impact in behavior change procedures. The second study will describe a systematic replication of Hanely et al.'s (2003) response-restriction free operant preference assessment with children who exhibit problem behavior (Barall et al.). The third study will describe the replication of procedures by Clark et al. (2019) to systematically vary the duration of access to preferred leisure items previously displaced by preferred edible items to identify the switch point in which the participant demonstrated a shift in preference to the previously displaced item. The final study in this symposium will explore the potential relationship between a stimulus preference assessments and delay discounting to measure changes in individual preference as a result of delayed access.

Basic

Preference assessments are often used in behavior analytic treatment to identify reinforcing stimuli (Tullis et al., 2011). Therefore, empirically determining that a direct correlation exists between the results of preference assessments and the identified stimuli’s reinforcing impact in behavior change procedures is critical. In Experiment 1, the researchers compared the agreement between results of paired choice (PC) and multiple stimulus preference assessment without replacement (MSWO) preference assessments conducted with eight elementary aged participants in a classroom setting. Half of the participants exhibited near perfect agreement upon visual analysis between the preference assessments. The other half of the participants exhibited inconsistent results, indicating discrepancy in the suggestions of the preference assessment. In Experiment 2, the researchers compared both preference assessment results to a progressive ratio reinforcer assessment (PR), which yielded inconsistent results. Neither PC nor MSWO accurately identified reinforcing stimuli in the PR assessment. Results are discussed with respect to the validity and implications of the information gathered during preference assessments.

Utilization of reinforcement is necessary to effectively increase the frequency of socially valid behaviors. Free operant response-restriction (RR) preference assessments are often utilized with the goal of determining a preference hierarchy while yielding minimal problem behaviors. A replication of a RR assessment (Hanley et al., 2003) with individuals with disabilities and a history of severe challenging behavior extends literature on the effectiveness of this form of stimulus preference assessment (SPA) to show differentiated patterns of preference. Our procedures replicate Hanley et al.’s five rules for identifying activity preference and subsequent restriction, including item restriction after a demonstrated 60% or more intervals of interaction across 2 consecutive sessions. In this study, we measure additional dependent variables including clients’ indices of happiness, assent to engage in the assessment, rate of problem behavior, requests for other items, and active vs. passive item engagement. This presentation will discuss potential variables for clinicians to consider when implementing a free operant RR assessment for individuals who engage in severe challenging behavior. In addition, we discuss ways to incorporate measures of assent and indices of happiness within preference assessment data collection, and the impact of this data on our evaluation of idiosyncratic preference rankings.

Stimulus preference assessments (SPAs) are often used to identify potential reinforcers for behavior change procedures. However, these assessments always provide stimuli immediately upon selection. In practice, it can be very difficult to provide reinforcers immediately, and some reinforcers may be delivered more quickly than others. Therefore, there is a need for an assessment to account for delay. The goal of this study was to explore the potential relationship between on stimulus preference assessments and delay discounting to measure changes in individual preference as a result of delay. Five typically developing children aged 8-11 completed a paired-stimulus preference assessment (PSPA) to establish a hierarchy of preference. These results were used in a 30-trial delay assessment across three sessions evaluating delays of 0 s, 30 s, and 60 s. Four out of five participants retained preference hierarchy across three sessions. Additionally, four out of five participants increased preference for an immediately available moderately preferred item as delays to a highly preferred item increased. This indicates that delays to reinforcement may be a parameter that should be considered when identifying preferred stimuli to use for behavior change procedures.

The growing aging population in the United States is accompanied by an increase in both number of older adults with neurocognitive disorder and the number of people experiencing behaviors changes associated with neurocognitive disorder (NCD). Behavioral Gerontology is the "application of behavior analysis and therapy to older adults, ranging from basic behavioral research to clinical applications to organizational issues in service delivery (Adkins & Mathews, 1999; Burgio & Burgio, 1986)" (LeBlanc et al., 2011, p. 472). This symposium will focus on the practice of behavioral gerontology with older adults with NCD, including talks covering data-based interventions to support older adults with NCD, as well as discuss models for behavioral consultation and for informed consent/assent. Intervention studies will include caregiver implemented trial-based functional analysis and function-based treatment, as well as an individualized antecedent-based interventions to increase showering. The importance and future directions for clinical applications with adults with NCD, as well as needs for future research, will be discussed.

Masters level practitioner experience, BCBAs considering expanding into different practice areas

Up to 80% of older adults with neurocognitive disorder engage in behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD; e.g., verbal or physical aggression, wandering) in nursing home facilities (Toot et al., 2017). In nursing home facilities, health professionals often use a medical model to provide behavioral support. The medical model, however, does not consider the environmental factors that may be evoking and maintaining behaviors; it is also likely that pharmacological interventions are often prescribed to manage the behaviors (Baker et al., 2015). Given the adverse effects of pharmacological interventions, researchers have advocated for behavioral and function-based interventions for the management and treatment of BPSD (Dyer et al., 2017). Unfortunately, the behavioral approach to treatment is not widely adopted in nursing home settings. Thus, behavioral gerontologists are faced with having to provide behavioral consultation in a medical model setting. The purpose of the current study is twofold: 1) to provide a framework for providing behavioral consultation in these settings and 2) to provide examples and data related to the different decision points in the model.

The behavioral gerontology literature to date has focused heavily on research with participants living in long term care facilities, yet the vast majority of people diagnosed with dementia live at home in the community. The purpose of this talk is to share the process and results from clinical work conducted in the home of a 79 year old woman living with Alzheimer’s disease who was supported by her 81 year old spouse. The client was referred for behavioral services due to a failure to shower for multiple months. Her spouse was supported to implement a simple and effective prompting procedure that utilised subtle verbal discriminative stimuli that resulted in increased showering behavior and preserved the client’s dignity. Maintenance probes demonstrated that the changes were generalized over time. I will discuss the changes that were made to data collection procedure and the method to ensure good contextual fit along with the importance of flexible and compassionate practice when working clients in the community living with dementia. This research demonstrates real-life behavior-analytic practice with older adults with dementia living in their own homes with a focus on practice that has strong contextual fit.

Assessing the efficacy of reinforcers is as puzzling as it is important in behavior analysis and psychopharmacology. Rates of responding vary with schedule requirements, choice varies with reinforcer abundance, and contextual factors often play unknown roles on the impact of reinforcement on behavior. Maximization theory, supplemented with empirically supported assumptions, provides the basis for the estimation of reinforcer efficacy in individual subjects in laboratory settings. This approach identifies efficacy with the economic concept of utility; it assumes that subjects continually choose those activities with higher utility within the constraints imposed by the environment. From these assumptions, predictions may be drawn on how rate of reinforcement varies with price (response requirement), how rate of responding for drugs of abuse varies with dose, how discrete choices change with income (rate of choice presentation), among other important behavioral metrics. Data from these procedures may be used to estimate the utility—i.e., the efficacy—of reinforcers. This presentation emphasizes practical considerations for conducting the estimation of utility parameters such as unit utility and marginal rate of substitution.

Analyses of operant demand data have advanced precipitously over the past 5 years. These advances include refinement of quantitative models, newly proposed theoretical models, and advanced statistical modeling approaches. Concurrent with these advances has been an increase in behavioral economic extensions to applied questions in non-laboratory settings. Unfortunately, however, the advanced mathematical approaches to quantifying demand are often antithetical to applied pursuits where there are limited resources for software or inadequate training in quantitative modeling. Toward this end, some researchers have suggested the use of model-independent metrics of demand, such as observed markers along the demand curve (e.g., observed maximum output [Omax], price associated with observed maximum output [Pmax], breakpoints, observed intensity). While there is strong translational support for these observed markers, these fail to capture the most critical aspect of demand curve analyses: elasticity. We propose the use of arc elasticity to measure the percentage change in consumption as a function of the percentage change across specific price values. The presentation will provide specific data examples across numerous commodity types. We will present correlations between observed markers, model-derived variables, and clinical outputs with various approaches to arc elasticity. We will conclude with recommendations for applied researchers.

Previous researchers have found that single trial type dominance effects are repeatedly obtained when participants complete a shape-color Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) (Finn et al., 2016). While initially these effects were unexpected, due to a lack of emotional functions for the stimuli used, the differential arbitrary relational responding effect (DAARRE) model was proposed to explain these single trial type dominance effects (Finn et al., 2018). One assertion of the DAARRE model is that the relative historical frequency of contact with stimuli has an effect on IRAP results. As such, based on the DAARRE model, if one could control the relative frequency of contact with experimental stimuli, IRAP results should be more predictable. As such, in the current study we trained participants to respond to arbitrary experimental stimuli in an effort to control the relative frequency of exposure to stimuli. The assumption is that we should be able to predict a single trial type dominance effect based on the amount of exposure participants have with the different stimuli being utilized in an IRAP. Preliminary data demonstrated the predictions of the DAARRE model. Additional findings and implications for the DAARRE model and future IRAP research will be discussed.

Research conducted by Finn and colleagues (2016, 2018) reported initially unexpected differential patterns of IRAP effects when employing stimuli that were assumedly relatively non-valenced (shapes and colors). It was argued that this may have been because participants tended to orient to the color stimuli more readily than the shape stimuli because color words occur far more frequently in natural language than shape words (specifically in Dutch, the language in which the study was conducted). These and related findings gave rise to the differential arbitrarily applicable responding effects (DAARRE) model for conceptualizing patterns of IRAP effects, explicitly emphasizing the impact of stimulus orienting properties. In Brazilian Portuguese, color words also occur more frequently than shape words in natural language. The current study thus sought to replicate and extend the previous findings. That is, if stimulus orienting properties (based on frequency of use in natural language) were critical in producing the reported effect, replicating this study in Portuguese should produce a similar pattern of effects. Patterns produced by student participants recruited to date replicate this same pattern. Group and individual patterns of responding are discussed, as are implications for the role of stimulus orienting properties in producing effects on the IRAP.

This study aimed to build on existing research on the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP), which has identified different patterns of IRAP effects associated with responses to happy and angry facial expressions. The objectives were to (1) replicate the previously observed happiness superiority effect with a larger participant group than previous studies and (2) explore whether the IRAP effect would be influenced by self-reported levels of depression. 122 participants completed an IRAP that presented pairs of emotional faces in a 2x2 crossover design yielding four trial-types: happy face-happy face, happy face-angry face, angry face-happy face and angry face-angry face. The results showed a clear happiness superiority effect, with the IRAP effect for trial-type 1 (happy face-happy face) larger than the IRAP effect for trial-type 4 (angry face-angry face). Self-reported depression appeared to moderate responding, with low depressed individuals producing a larger D-IRAP score on the trial-type 1 relative to high depressed individuals. The findings support recent arguments that the stimulus function properties of all elements within an IRAP should be taken into account when predicting and interpreting behavioral patterns produced on the procedure. Considerations for use of the IRAP to predict behaviors in the natural environment are discussed.

Understanding of relapse to unhealthy behaviors is essential. Translational research is critical to this effort. The four studies in this symposium investigated different types of relapse, including renewal, resurgence, and reinstatement, with human and non-human participants. Randall and colleagues investigated ABA renewal with eye tracking in human participants. A target response was reinforced in one context (A), extinguished in a second context (B), and then recurred following return to the original context (A). Programming of shared stimuli between Contexts A and B may reduce renewal. Smith and colleagues examined Differential Reinforcement of Alternative (DRA) behavior as an animal model of interventions for decreasing target behaviors in applied settings. They found that synthesizing reinforcers (multiple reinforcers) reduced the target behavior but increased relapse. Willis-Moore and colleagues present an analog of vaping, a dangerous and epidemic behavior in young people. Rats reliably self administered snout-only flavored nicotine across acquisition, extinction, and reinstatement. Finally, Bridges and colleagues examined relapse using food seeking in rats. They report the effects of changing cues, contexts, and alternative reinforcement contingencies on reinstatement, resurgence, and renewal. Together, these presentations will provide cutting edge explorations of important facets of relapse, followed by discussion by Dr. Christopher Podlesnik.

Beginning

ABA renewal is one type of operant renewal in which a target response is reinforced in a unique context (i.e., Context A), extinguished in novel context (i.e., Context B), and then recurs following a transition back to the original context. Recently, researchers have examined the robust phenomenon of ABA renewal when differential reinforcement of an alternative response is included in Context B and the renewal test. One method to mitigate ABA renewal is to program common stimuli so as to increase the similarity between Context A and Context B. This stimulus control strategy may support the generalization of behavior change between contexts. Currently, no studies exist on how to empirically derive the selection of the stimuli to program into Context B. We conducted a preliminary investigation using eye-tracking software to empirically determine which common stimulus to program into a three-phase ABA renewal arrangement that included differential reinforcement for 12 undergraduate students in a translational preparation. Our results replicate previous research demonstrating ABA renewal despite differential reinforcement contingencies. Further, ABA renewal may be less robust and more variable when common stimuli selected for programming are empirically determined using eye-tracking software.

One application of Organizational Behavior Management (OBM) focuses on staff outcomes that impact client success. The four presentations in this symposium will demonstrate several key components of OBM consultation through the use of assessment, intervention, and ongoing evaluation to ensure positive outcomes for both staff and clients in applied research and service delivery settings. Dr. John Guercio will describe how assessment at an organizational level led to improvements in data collection and treatment integrity. Valeria Pascale will present on how training staff to engage in positive interaction styles has positively impacted clients. Dr. Byron Wine will present strategies to improve staff safety while working with severely aggressive clients and preventing the use of restraint. Chris Delap will describe strategies used to improve staff retention through on-going staff development opportunities. All four of the presentations will demonstrate how staff training can influence organizational outcomes and thus client outcomes in community-based organizations.

Intermediate: Participants should come to the presentation with a basic familiarity with OBM Assessment, intervention and On-going evaluation and a firm understanding of behavior skills training.

Staff members working in residential homes serving persons with developmental disabilities pose significant staff training challenges to behavior analysts that work in these settings. Many times, it is not unusual for a behavior analyst that works in these settings to spend as much as 60% of their time engaged in staff training related tasks from an organizational behavior management (OBM) perspective. The following presentation will cover a host of evidence based behavioral interventions that have proven efficacious in adult service settings for clients with extreme behavioral issues. The use of the Performance Diagnostic Checklist-Human Services will be detailed along with several other interventions that have increased staff performance related to crucial behavior that is required to work in adult service settings. Several studies will be shared related to the effective assessment and intervention of staff performance issues have been addressed with favorable outcomes. Attendees will be able to identify the interlocking contingencies between staff behavior, their learning history, and the role of trauma as it relates to both the people whom we serve and the staff who work with them role of trauma as it relates to both the people whom we serve and the staff who work with them.

Organizational behavior management (OBM) can impact organizational systems and contribute to improve the well- being and the interaction style of leaders, clients and employers (Weatherly 2021). It involves strategies procedures and techniques that demonstrated the effectiveness in improving workers productivity and safety (Wine & Pritchard 2019). The quality and frequency of positive interactions between staff and clients are related to the reduction in the frequency and duration of severe problem behaviors and to the increasing of meaningful outcomes. Unfortunately, the frequency with which staff interact positively with clients is often low and requires regular intervention (Ruby& Di Gennaro Reed 2021). One of the most important factors that can impact motivation in staff may be to reinforce their appropriate behaviors and assessing the preference of the staff. This talk will cover the role of verbal feedback and modeling to increase the positive interaction between staff and clients with severe problem behavior and the effectiveness of tangible reinforcers to contrive motivation in staff and achieve greatest outcomes.

Past experiences shape behaviour and future actions are often based on current behavioural patterns. This research introduces an innovative tool to retrodict unknown learning histories from limited behavioural datasets extracted from binary choices made by laboratory pigeons. We extracted a snapshot of choice behaviour, including a 5-second post-reinforcer-delivery observation window. A Spiking Neural Network (SNN) was designed to generate retrodictions of learning histories. In Experiment 1, retrodictions were achieved, indicating that pigeons' binary choice snapshots contained sufficient information for the SNN model. Experiment 2 compared the SNN with other deep neural network models, with the SNN demonstrating superior retrodiction performance based on additional metrics. Experiment 3 illustrated the SNN's adaptability to novel, small-sized datasets of varying learning histories; personalised modelling further improved retrodictive performance. Experiment 4 validated the method's reliability through transfer learning techniques, highlighting the SNN's robust retrodiction capabilities. The SNN demonstrates proof of concept by discerning individual differences in learning patterns and the relationship between behaviour and learning history. The SNN's adaptability to small datasets makes it economical and easy to test in real-world conditions. Implications for both clinical and basic research will be discussed, including research in the use of SNN with human behaviour datasets.

Behavior analysts frequently face ethical challenges beyond what the ethics code can suggest. In this symposium, we will discuss ethical issues behavior analysts likely to encounter in clinical settings and suggest the potential solutions. The first presentation explores the complex concept of value-based ethical dilemmas and proposes a decision-making protocol for behavior analyst to deliberate these unique ethical challenges that may not be fully addressed by the BACB ethics code. Case examples are examined to illustrate the decision-making process. These cases cover concerns with cultural responsiveness to treatment and services provided in the telehealth context. The second presentation reports results from a survey regarding autistic people’s perspectives of ABA services. Suggestions for incorporating autistic people’s voices to ABA services are discussed. The third presentation is designed to share results of recent literature regarding the prevalence of psychotropic medication with our likely clients and medication effectiveness. Basic information and simple techniques likely to promote effective collaboration with a prescribing physician are discussed. The fourth presentation focuses on ethical challenges encountered by behavior analysts when conducting sexuality education for people on the autism spectrum, as well as some proposed solutions. The perceived ethical barriers in this area are also addressed.

basic

In this presentation, we will review the results from an online survey with adults who identify as being on the autism spectrum and have experience receiving ABA-based services and supports. This survey asked participants to report on their perceived success, outcomes, and challenges of ABA-based services and their impact on their identity, emotions, and well-being. A descriptive summary and thematic analysis of these experiences will be presented. A total of 14 participants completed the survey. All participants answered that they had received a formal diagnosis of autism rather than self-identifying. Thirteen of the 14 participants identified their race as white, while 1 preferred not to identify their race. Nine participants identified as male, 2 identified as female, while 3 preferred to self describe or preferred not to say. At the time of responding to the survey, participants' ages ranged from 19 to 32 (M= 25.5). The number of years participants reported receiving ABA-based services and supports ranged from 1 year to 18 years. 57% of participants reported feeling successful during their experiences with ABA-based services and supports, while 64% of participants reported feeling successful after their experience. 14% of participants reported feeling very unsuccessful both during and after their experiences with ABA-based services and supports. The majority of participants reported the outcomes of ABA-based services and supports to have been helpful later on in their lives, wth 50% of participants reporting they felt their outcomes have been helpful, 29% of participants reported their outcomes have been very helpful; in contrast, 14% of participants reported their outcomes were very unhelpful later on in their lives. This research hopes to amplify the lived experiences of autistic voices with ABA-based services and supports to better inform both practices in the ABA field and autism research.

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) frequently have deficits in verbal behavior across operants. Skill acquisition services typically focus on teaching elementary verbal operants of verbal behavior such as mands, tact, echoics, and intraverbals. however, less focus has been placed on methods to teach autoclitics. An autoclitic is a verbal operant that alters the effects of other verbal behavior on the listener. The current investigation taught a qualifying autoclitic (i.e., an autoclitic mand) to two participants with ASD and assessed generalization of the autoclitic across conditions. A multiple baseline design across contexts was utilized. We identified three to four establishing operations (EO) conditions that were trained one at a time. Abolishing operations (AO) conditions were also included to ensure that the participant did not emit the autoclitic under unnecessary conditions. Next, generalization was tested with the untrained conditions. The results of one participant showed acquisition of the autoclitic mand during two trained conditions and generalization to the untrained conditions. The second participant’s treatment is underway.

An intraverbal assessment was administered to older adults with aphasia, using a hierarchy of questions that required increasingly complex verbal discriminative stimulus control. Five categories of errors were defined and analyzed for putative stimulus control, with the aim to identify requisite assessment components leading to more efficient and effective treatments. Evocative control over intraverbal error responses was evident throughout the database, as shown by commonalities within four distinct categories of errors; a fifth category, representing a narrow majority of errors, was less clear in terms of functional control over responses. Generally, questions requiring increasingly complex intraverbal stimulus control resulted in weaker verbal performance for those with aphasia. A new 9-point intraverbal assessment model is proposed, based on Skinner’s functional analysis of verbal behavior. The study underscores that loss or disruption of a formerly sophisticated language repertoire presents differently than the fledgling language skills and errors of new learners, such as typically developing children and those with autism or developmental disabilities. Thus, we would do well to consider that rehabilitation may require a different approach to intervention than habilitation. We offer several thematic topics for future research in this area.

This study aims to evaluate the effects of teaching problem-solving strategies (categorization and rule-used prompts) on the accuracy of tacts of past events. Three neurotypical children (4-5-years-old) were first taught to tact 36 unfamiliar visual stimuli (pictures of animal, plants, objetcts) using a auditory-visual discrimination instruction with echoic response requirement (preexperimental condition). After meet the learning criteria, participants will be exposed to the experimental conditions in a multiple probe across participants design. During probes, participants will be allowed to play with different toys and games, including a card game (critical activity) during which the experimenter will present nine out of the 36 pictures previously learned and require the children to tact each of them. After 10 min, they will be asked to respond questions about past events (e.g., What pictures did you see today at the playing room?). Intervention will consist in a teaching both categorization and medianting-response prompting (rule-used prompts) to the participants, according to Sautter et al. (2011). Data collection for the preexperimental condition is still in progress. Partial results shows that the auditory-visual discrimination instruction with echoic response requirement is producing emergent tact responses.

When applying behavior analysis to dog behavior change, behavior analysts often focus only on the outcomes of effective behavior reduction or skill acquisition. In this panel, three professional dog trainers will discuss how they approach behavior change while centering joy for both the dog and human learner. A focus on joyful behavior change is intimately related to providing ethical care. Panelists will consider a working definition of joy in the context of training and what observable behavior might indicate that they have successfully incorporated joy into their training. Most dog training involves more than just dog behavior, and requires the practitioner to work well with both dogs and their people. The conversation will include discussion about the importance of accessibility and inclusion for human learners when working towards these goals. Incorporating best practices related to accessibility and inclusion can further support joyful training for dogs and their people. There will also be opportunity for attendees to submit questions for panelists.

This is open to all instruction levels.

This session considers the development of behavior science in the context of celebrating the 50th anniversary of The Association for Behavior Analysis International. The session includes three presentations by leaders in the science of behavior, each representing areas of work where there has been significant development with broad implications for theory, research, and application. These areas include cultural behavior science, derived stimulus relations, and the molar perspective. Each presentation addresses where we have been, where we are, and implications for the future, within the context of their respective topic. The session concludes with a panel that discusses these developments as well as the future of science of behavior more generally. Central to this discussion is how the science of behavior might continue to be a progressive science that develops and changes in various ways over time.

Behavior analysts and graduate students interested in history of behavior analysis and culturo-behavioral science, the molar view of behavior, and human language and thought.

The history of the molar view of behavior as I conceive it goes back even to my undergraduate days, when Richard J. Herrnstein was my advisor. By the time I finished, I was already doubting the adequacy of the concepts of discrete responses, contiguity, and reinforcement. In graduate school, I saw the beginnings of a way to view behavior as temporally extended with temporally extended causes, particularly relations between rates. Many influences affected my thinking after that, but a linear account would be impossible. In this talk I will explain the influences as best as I can recall them and give some idea of chronology.

Over a period of 50+ years, B. F. Skinner set the agenda for a scientific approach to the subject matter of behavior. His doctoral thesis was essentially philosophical in nature. After about a quarter century of experimentally analyzing operant behavior in laboratory settings, Skinner turned to applications and interpretations that dealt with real-world phenomena in terms of the scientific principles established by his experimental work. For many behaviorists, his 1981 paper titled “Selection by Consequences” pointed to a future in which operant analysis would be linked substantively and conceptually to the evolution of human species on one end, and the evolution of their cultural environments on the other. On the cultural end of this linkage, behavior scientists tend to focus either on substantive or on conceptual matters. Those focusing on substantive matters rather straightforwardly apply operant principles to deal with societal problems involving the behavior of many people (and these efforts pre-date Skinner, 1981). Those focusing on conceptual problems go forward to explore Skinner’s suggestion that selection by consequences accounts for the evolution of cultural phenomena themselves. A brief review of the substantive and conceptual work suggests that integration could be helpful.

The presentation will describe how the study of derived stimulus relations has provided the basis for a behavior–analytic approach to the study of human language and cognition in purely functional–analytic terms. A brief history of the early behavior–analytic approach to human language and cognition is first provided, focusing on Skinner’s text Verbal Behavior, his subsequent introduction of the concept of instructional control, and Sidman’s seminal research on stimulus equivalence relations. Thereafter, the concept of derived stimulus relations from the perspective of relational frame theory is considered, with an emphasis on how it allowed researchers to refine and extend the functional approach to language and cognition in multiple ways. Some recent conceptual and empirical developments are then reviewed, which highlight how the concept of derived stimulus relations continues to play a key role in the behavior–analytic study of human language and cognition. It will also be argued that this recent work appears to encourage particular synergies across different theoretical perspectives within behavior science, suggesting potential directions for future research.

When meeting a new client, behavior analysts often begin by conducting a number assessments to gather empirical information about client preference and behavioral sensitivities before implementing treatment. When the client engages in challenging behavior such as aggression or self-injury, clinicians may consider additional assessments beyond a functional analysis to identify reinforcers, target demands, or effective schedules of reinforcement. In the first talk, Emily Gottlieb will present on a negative reinforcement latency assessment (NRLA) for identifying potentially evocative demands or types of social interactions that may be relevant for the client's treatment. In the second talk, Nicholas Migliaccio will present on the impact of different functions of challenging behavior on levels of behavior during different preference assessment formats. Finally, Lauren Layman will present on an assessment for comparing the effectiveness of positive reinforcers in the treatment of escape-maintained problem behavior when participants do or do not have access to the reinforcers outside of the assessment.

Participants should be familiar with single-subject research design, assessment methodology, and behavior-analytic assessment and treatment approach for individuals with challenging behavior.

Current theories suggest that mechanisms for language development change over the course of infancy and early childhood. In neurotypical infants, initial perceptual processing mechanisms essential for word learning give way to more advanced social strategies critical for the development of social language. Language intervention for autistic children often leverages perceptual processing by creating an association between a referent (i.e., object or picture) and the corresponding word, thereby promoting word learning. However, this intervention strategy often fail to facilitate social language needed to share information and for interpersonal communication. Recent research suggests that naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions (NDBIs) that encourage early dyadic social interactions may stimulate the social brain networks, thereby improving fundamental social attention (i.e., social orienting and joint attention) and social language in young autistic children. This presentation will discuss the theoretical underpinnings of these claims, emphasize the importance of social language as an intervention outcome, and provide empirical evidence supporting the efficacy of NDBI approaches in promoting social attention and reciprocal social language development in young autistic children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

Interventionists who work with young autistic children

The establishment of auditory-visual conditional discriminations (receptive labeling) is fundamental for successful everyday communication and interactions to occur. Learning auditory-visual conditional discriminations may be challenging and require lengthy training, especially for children with autism or intellectual disabilities. In an auditory-visual conditional discrimination, correct responding requires (a) successive discrimination of the verbal, auditory sample stimuli; (b) simultaneous discrimination of the visual comparison stimuli; and (c) responding to a cross-modal relation between the sample and the comparison stimuli. Due to the complexity of this skill, the use of systematic procedures to establish these discriminations has been an essential component of EIBI. Lovaas (2003) described a discrimination learning procedure designed to assist those learners with a limited verbal repertoire to acquire conditional discriminations using a systematic approach. This procedure includes teaching stimuli through massed trials and intermixing of stimuli. Criticism surrounding this procedure has included the possibility of inadvertently establishing faulty stimulus control during initial training steps, where mass trials are conducted; this may inhibit the desired stimulus control required to establish a conditional discrimination on final steps within the procedure. To avoid such problems, researchers have recommended beginning with a minimum of three stimuli trained semi-randomly from onset using a conditional-only method. In this presentation, pros and cons of these two procedures will be discussed.

To promote communication gains for young autistic children, researchers recommend using 25 evidence-based practices (EBPs), such as reinforcement, modeling, and naturalistic interventions (Steinbrenner et al., 2020). However, educators have called for explicit guidance on what practices to use and when to use them in their routine classroom settings (Brock et al., 2020). In response to this call, our team conducted a secondary analysis of the single-case experimental design and communication-focused studies (n = 164) from the National Clearinghouse on Autism Evidence and Practice (NCAEP) database. We identified practice elements—discrete, observable, measurable practices—common across these EBPs and then classified them as antecedents to or consequence strategies to increase communication behaviors of autistic preschoolers. Our preliminary results suggest that most studies included practice elements such as incorporating child preferences, prompting, reinforcement (e.g., differential, natural, praise), and wait time. In this presentation, we will describe our approach to identifying and classifying these practice elements and describe the results of our investigation. We will then shift to practical application and discussion, highlighting a selection of practice elements and describing with whom and under what conditions they were used.

An important element in ABA practice is the development of behavioral change programs that emphasize skill acquisition. This relies upon effective assessment. Effective assessment practice in ABA, particularly as it relates to young children, should include a play-based approach to facilitate the demonstration of skills within their naturally occurring contexts. Yet, there is a dearth within the behavior analytic community of standardized methods in the assessment of skills within the play-based context. Expanding the assessment methods utilized is key for continued growth in the field. This talk explores the development of such an assessment, comparing it with the existing PEAK Comprehensive Assessment (PCA) in capturing the skills of young learners within the play-based context. Data from piloting this assessment across a sampling of over 20 learners with autism and how these data converge and diverge with data captured in the traditional PCA are examined, revealing that greater than 50% of participants performed significantly better in the play context. This demonstrates that assessment within the play context may be more suitable for young learners to demonstrate skills within their repertoire.

The interplay between psychological flexibility and risk-taking behavior is a novel area in which ABA can offer profound methods for decreasing unnecessary risk-taking behavior,, which can be detrimental. This presentation discusses correlations between risk-taking behavior as assessed using the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) and psychological flexibility assessed using the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task (WCST) and the Child Psychological Flexibility Questionnaire (CPFQ). Psychological flexibility, the ability to adapt cognitively and emotionally to changing circumstances, plays a pivotal role in shaping how individuals perceive and engage with risk. By fostering psychological flexibility, individuals can navigate novel and challenging situations with resilience and adaptability. ABA intervention’s potential to modulate and mitigate impulsive and harmful decision-making processes is explored by investigating the association between performance on the BART and WCST, as well as responses to the CPFQ. Results indicate negative correlations between psychological flexibility and risk taking behaviors. This discussion uncovers practical implications for ABA practitioners and researchers, as it highlights the opportunities for intervention and the development of behavior analytic methodologies that promote adaptive decision-making while reducing unnecessary risks.

Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) play a pivotal role in recommending treatments for individuals with autism. These recommendations must be firmly grounded in established scientific evidence to ensure optimal care. However, the complex landscape of autism treatment presents unique challenges. This presentation delves into two insightful studies. The first study sheds light on the issue of the use of technical terminology bias and the challenges behavior analysts face in grasping its nuances. These challenges may inadvertently lead to a phenomenon known as technical drift, where terminology evolves in ways that can affect the precision of recommendations over time. The second study explores how the severity of autism symptoms influences the recommendations made by behavior analysts. This single variable can exert a significant impact, potentially causing deviations toward non-evidence-based practices. Expansion of our methodology to include advances in practices and the inclusion of novel technical terms can impact drift over time. This presentation highlights the need for continued vigilance in the field to protect our science from drift.

Clinicians and researchers

In this symposium, presenters will discuss incorporating choice to increase consumption of target foods as well as the impact of choice on treatment integrity when implementing a pediatric feeding protocol. Presenters will begin with an overview of existing literature on choice-based interventions and applicability. Presenters will then transition to discuss the impact of choice-based interventions with various programmed differential reinforcement contingencies and how this impacts food consumption. This study will also discuss how it extends the literature by examining preference for bite sequences and if participants chose a bite sequence beginning with a highly preferred food as opposed to a less preferred food. Outcomes of this will be discussed followed by further implications for choice arrangement and differential reinforcement. Additionally, presenters will discuss how choice affects treatment integrity when therapists choose from components of behavioral skills training to learn protocol implementation versus when training components are assigned. Ultimately, these presentations will address the utility of choice-based strategies across intervention and training as it relates to pediatric feeding disorders.

Researchers and clinicians interested in learning more choice-based procedures in the treatment of pediatric feeding disorders and how choice-based procedures impact treatment integrity as it relates to implementation of a feeding protocol.

Crowley et al. (2020) used a choice-based intervention to increase consumption of target foods among children with autism and food selectivity. Children chose between the change-resistant food and a target food, when no reinforcement (free choice), positive-reinforcement (preferred edible or toy at the table; asymmetrical choice), or negative-reinforcement (single choice) contingencies were programmed. In the first study, we extended Crowley et al. by adding an asymmetrical choice condition in which children could leave the mealtime area (referred to as mealtime exit). One participant did not require escape extinction and target-food consumption increased regardless of consequences during asymmetrical choice conditions. However, access to leaving the mealtime area produced higher levels of target-food consumption for another participant who required one exposure to escape extinction. To further our understanding of choice-based intervention, we also extended Borrero et al. (2021) in a second study by evaluating child preference for a specific sequence of bites (e.g., least to most preferred) during portion-based meals. Like some of the children in Borrero et al., our participant preferred sequences that began with a highly preferred food. These outcomes have implications for arranging choice and differential reinforcement in specific ways for children with feeding disorders.

This competition is designed to encourage, promote, and reward behavior analytic scholarship on topics and issues in DEI, both in the field of behavior analysis and more broadly. Students (graduate or undergraduate) and post-graduate professionals who have completed empirical or conceptual papers relevant to DEI that are informed, at least in part, by a behavior-analytic perspective were invited to submit.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.

Racism is the belief that differences in race and ethnicity lead to inherent superiority of a particular race, with other races posing a threat to one's own (Racism, 2023). However, racism is more than an abstract idea; it is reflected in people's differential responses when they are interacting with people from different races. As racism is a persistent global issue with negative impacts on education, mental health, and economic development (Cohen et al., 2006), it is imperative that all related sciences, including behavior analysis, contribute to the understanding of this behavioral phenomenon therefore necessary social actions can be designed to eliminate it. However, a review of the literature (Matsuda et al., 2020) on racism and prejudice in behavioral journals only identified a few studies related to topics, indicating a lack of understanding and a missing importance placed on racism from a behavior analytical perspective. Considering the urgency and difficulty to eradicate this harmful belief system and related discriminating behaviors, behavior analysts should cooperate with scientists from other disciplines. The purpose of this paper is to examine the formation and maintenance of racism from a radical behaviorism perspective, analyze factors that are identified in existing literatures that are related to discriminations based on races, and propose possible solutions that can be implemented in a social level to reduce racism. Key words: racism, radical behaviorism, factors related to racism

Sarah Hayes is a licensed school psychologists in NC who recieved her graduate degree from the School Psychology MA/SSP program at East Carolina University. She is currently working as full-time school psychologist for Durham County Public Schools. Sarah is passionate about working with children in the general education public school setting who have difficult problem behavior. Her hope is to reduce the number of children erroneously diagnosed with behavioral disorders and create effective interventions for students with disabilities through the use of behavior analytic principles within a teacher-school consultation model of collaboration. Sarah received the Project CONVEY (Collaborating to Overcome Needs by improving the Voice of Exceptional Youth) grant where she participated with a cohort of multi-disciplinary school teams to build collaborative practices that meet the needs of students with disabilities.

Descriptive assessments involve the observation of behavior under controlled (i.e., structured) and uncontrolled (i.e., unstructured) contexts in which the natural consequences of behavior remain intact. Descriptive assessments are commonly used to identify the prevalence of environmental correlates to problem behavior. The presenters in this symposium will describe three novel applications of descriptive assessment methodology to screen for the risk or occurrence of a variety of problem and appropriate behaviors. The first study includes data from descriptive assessments of diurnal bruxism, or the audible grinding of teeth while awake. The second study is an extension of research on sensitivity tests, which are brief screeners for the presence of emerging problem and appropriate behavior. The study compares the outcomes of sensitivity tests to functional analyses. The third study evaluates predictions made by the no-interaction screening tool with respect to the function of appropriate, neutral, or challenging behavior. Collectively, these studies emphasize the flexibility of descriptive methodology to inform ongoing, functional assessment of comprehensive behavioral repertoires.

Understanding of functions of behavior and basics of functional behavior assessment

Behavior analysts typically assess and treat problem behavior after it has already emerged and is occurring at high severity. Although effective, this reactive approach is quite costly, resource intensive, and dangerous. A growing body of literature supports an alternative preventive approach, the first step of which involves conducting sensitivity tests to screen the emergence of lower-severity problem behavior and functional skills (e.g., Fahmie et al., 2020). Research on sensitivity tests has shown that information on the function of both emerging problem behavior and alternative communication can be acquired in a relatively short period of time. However, the correspondence between sensitivity test and traditional functional analysis outcomes has not yet been established. In the current stud, young learners with autism who were referred for the presence of low-severity problem behavior participated in sensitivity tests and functional analyses. Preliminary data have shown moderate to high correspondence between both assessment outcomes. Implications for the use of sensitivity tests will be discussed.

As autism prevalence continues to increase the average age of diagnosis is decreasing. A significant benefit of early diagnosis is access to early intervention, however, families caring for young autistic children, especially those in under-resourced communities, often experience barriers to accessing evidence-based services, such as applied behavior analysis (ABA). Under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) law families can access Part-C early intervention services, but providers within that system often lack specific training in autism or ABA. Working with our state’s Part C system, we developed a partnership providing brief (six sessions) caregiver coaching sessions via tele-health following an autism evaluation. These sessions focus on introducing caregivers to the basic principles of ABA and coaching them to apply these strategies throughout daily routines. Data (n= 234 families) show that caregivers gained skills, children improved their social communication, and provider (n=80) and caregiver satisfaction was high. Group comparisons show that outcomes are consistent across groups (e.g., race/ethnicity, rural/urban location) with some outcomes significantly better for families from historically under-served groups. This community-based program demonstrates the possibility of a brief, sustainable model to increase caregiver skill and improve child outcomes when access to ABA services is delayed or not available.

Problem behavior may be broadly operationalized as any behavior which threatens the safety and quality of life of an individual, their peers, or caregivers (Evers & Pilling, 2012; Hanratty et al., 2015; Lowe et al., 2007). This collection of works features three papers focused on exploring different variables that may impact assessments of problem behavior with individuals diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The assessments are surrounding objective measures such as functional analyses and a proposed tool to classify severe problem behavior. Speakers will discuss their research regarding the effect of language proficiency and preference on the results of a functional analysis, the impact of statements that describe programmed consequences in functional analysis, and exploring preliminary results of validity testing regarding a novel tool to classify severe problem behavior. Authors will share findings across various participants and the implications their results may have in methods or procedures of assessing problem behavior.

At the conclusion of the presentation, participants will be able to: 

1. Describe issues related to the classification of problem behavior
2. Describe how contingency-related statements can influence the outcomes of functional analyses
3. Describe how language preference and proficiency can influence the outcome of functional analyses

The application of the term ‘severe’ when referencing problem behavior is often subjectively defined. This has led to a wide range of interpretations, which could impact the replication of studies and procedural implementation in clinical practice. Morgan and Cox (in progress) developed a 26-item tool comprised of four sub-domains to classify severe problem behavior more objectively. The current project exemplifies some next steps in tool validation. That is, Brock University researchers partnered with researchers in the Severe Behavior Lab at the University of Texas, San Antonio to begin steps of the tool validation process. For the current study, individuals diagnosed with Autism who engage in problem behavior were invited to take part in a tiered service model provided by the Severe Behavior Lab to address their problem behavior. Concurrently, Brock University researchers supported caregivers in completing the severity tool following the onset of their treatment with the Severe Behavior Lab. Outcomes from these study elements (e.g., subdomain and overall severity tool scores, final service level received) assess the utility of the severity tool through a comparative analysis of tool raw scores and participant outcomes. Importantly, study outcomes may outline further steps in the process of tool validation.

This symposium includes three recent studies evaluating behavioral approaches to enhance performance in sports and gaming. The first paper by Samantha Martinez, describes a study comparing video feedback versus video modeling and video feedback for enhancing performance of ball control skills in soccer. Her results, in a multiple baseline across participants and adapted alternative treatments design, showed similar increases in performance with both interventions. The second paper by Cara Shapiro evaluates an intervention consisting of gradual exposure and thought training to help gymnasts overcome performance blocks in the execution of gymnastics skills. Her results, in a multiple baseline design across participants, showed the intervention helped three gymnasts overcome performance blocks in three different skills. The third paper by Romel White describes a study evaluating video feedback for enhancing the performance of a defensive move in an online video game, Street Fighter V. His results, in a multiple baseline design across participants, showed increased performance for a three participants that generalized to ranked online matches.

BCBAs and BCaBAs

This study compared the effects of video feedback (VF) as a stand-alone intervention and the effects of a video modeling plus video feedback (VMVF) as a package intervention for improving soccer players’ static ball control skills. Static ball control skills involve ball movements with the feet executed without movement in the field. This study used a multiple baseline across participants with an embedded alternating treatments design to compare VF and VMVF. Following baseline, two skills received the intervention and one skill continued without intervention as a control skill. This study involved two 10-year-old female soccer players and one 9-year-old male soccer player. The same three target behaviors were assessed across participants. The first author implemented the VF and VMVF training procedures. The results showed that VF and VMVF produced similar increases in performance for the three participants and that both interventions were effective at substantially increasing ball control skills from baseline levels and compared to a control skill.

The purpose of this panel is to discuss how recent state legislation in states such as Florida, Texas, and Tennessee are actively threatening the teaching and practice of Applied Behavior Analysis in relation LGBTQ+ and Gender, Sexual and Romantic Minority (GSRM) populations. Panelists will explore difficulties they have encountered in their roles as students, faculty members, and clinicians in affected areas, including intersectionalities between marginalized groups they embody, serve, supervise, or teach. Panelists will share the disproportionate impact these restrictions have on LGBTQAI+ Black, Indigenous, People of Color". In addition, panelists will discuss how the legislation conflicts with the BACB’s Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts (2022) and explore how other related fields have handled similar challenges. The panelists will consider how credentialing bodies that provide course sequence or program accreditation can leverage support for marginalized students. Finally, the panelists will propose specific revisions to the Ethics Code that will provide support for university training programs and practicing clinicians as these laws are challenged in court and provide recommendations based on their individual experiences and suggestions made by the audience.

N/A - Submitted as Basic level

The mission of Behaviorists for Social Responsibility Special Interest Group (BFSR SIG) is to expand applications of behavior analysis and cultural analysis addressing global issues such as social justice, environmental justice, and human rights. For the past several years BFSR has been using a matrix analysis (Biglan, 1995; Mattaini, 2013) to identify the practices that support, oppose, motivate, and select the development and utilization of scientific behavioral systems to address social issues. Upon identifying 28 societal sectors, work groups comprised of SIG members have been applying the matrix analyses to various issues of social importance. The symposium aims to highlight the work of two of those work groups, the Sustainability Work Group and the Public Health Work Group. Each of these presentations will provide an update on recent actions taken by each work group as members carry out the mission of the BFSR SIG and the matrix project. Implications and future directions will be discussed.

A basic understanding of the fundamental concepts and principles of behavior analysis (i.e., principles of reinforcement) would support audience members in understanding the content discussed in this presentation. Additionally, while it is not required to understand, some knowledge of the Behaviorists for Social Responsibilities Matrix Analysis may be beneficial.

The purpose of the Behaviorists for Social Responsibility (BFSR) Public Health Work Group is to explore the intersection between behavioral science and public health. This Work Group explores the ways in which behavioral and public health scientists can collaborate and learn from one another to develop strategies that improve population level outcomes. Previous work by the Work Group includes creating a fact sheet for public health as an ABA subspeciality area for the BACB website, presenting posters and symposium at the ABAI’s Annual Convention, and developing a special section on human behavior and public health for Behavior and Social Issues. Currently, the group is collaborating with other BFSR chapters to facilitate communication and create learning opportunities, identifying faculty who may provide opportunities for students to work in public health areas, building a comprehensive database that contains information on behavioral friendly public health programs, highlighting people who are working in both public health and behavior analysis, listing language that is necessary to work in both areas, and creating panels and posters for behavior analytic conferences.

This symposium explores the intricate dynamics of relapse phenomena in behavior-analytic contexts through two distinct yet interconnected research projects. The first study delves into the complex interplay of renewal and reinstatement—two forms of treatment relapse—in the realm of challenging behavior within behavior-analytic services. In this study, undergraduate college students engaged in a simulated computer task under varying conditions. One group experienced ABA renewal alone during differential reinforcement of an alternative response (DRA). The second group experienced the same conditions, but with renewed target behavior temporarily contacting reinforcement during relapse tests in Context A. Findings suggest increased relapse persistence when renewed target responses are briefly reinforced during contextual shifts, posing nuanced challenges for behavior analysts. The second study introduces a rat model simulating commission errors in relapse scenarios, emphasizing the significance of inadvertent reinforcement. Theoretical and practical implications from both studies illuminate the complexities of relapse phenomena, offering valuable insights for behavior-analytic interventions and highlighting the need for precise strategies in addressing challenging behaviors.

Researchers; Graduate students; Clinicians

Providing Behavior Analysis informed services for youth in the juvenile justice system is flush with unique challenges. Adapt and Transform Behavior has been providing Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and other behavior science informed services in the Florida juvenile justice system since 2017. Come learn about the current challenges we have experienced trying to expand services including limitations on the state and juvenile justice facility administration for allocating resources to staff training and education as well as regular assessment and evaluation of treatment outcomes. Additionally, there is a culture within these organizations where decision makers and agency leadership are reluctant to “rock the boat” and change the way they have been operating even if there is clear evidence that the way things have been done is not working. Please join us to learn more about some of our specific projects as we share what we have learned about providing Behavior Analysis services in juvenile justice settings.

Knowledge of behavior analysis practices and knowledge of behavior analysis research designs

The educational needs of children in residential juvenile detention facilities can present a number of challenges to teachers and administrators. For example, students are typically grouped based on safety concerns and not by their school grade level leading to classrooms with students who are at very different grade levels. Adapt and Transform Behavior, with support of a Department of Education grant received by one of our contract providers, provided data-driven, behavior-science-based teacher training workshops and weekly follow up coaching to increase student academic gains. Our workshops and weekly coaching trained teachers in basic principles in behavior science, classroom management, student data collection, fluency based instruction, and differential instructional techniques, so that teachers would have the skills to engage students with diverse educational needs. This presentation will provide a brief overview of some preliminary data on the role and importance of coaching to help promote the use of skills and techniques trained during workshops.

Advocating for access to Behavior Analysis informed practices outside of the world of Autism can be an uphill battle. This is particularly the case when providing ABA and other behavior analysis informed practices within state organized and tax funded public health and safety systems and agencies. The goal of this presentation is to introduce the audience to the kinds of barriers (and successes) our company has experienced trying to provide services to children who have become involved with Florida’s Juvenile Justice system. We will provide an overview of the different kinds of advocacy we have engaged in including partnering with other state associations, including our state Association for Behavior Analysis chapter, engaging with state level administrators and policy makers, as well as academic partners. The presentation will close with a set of recommendations for practitioners and researchers in the field on specific steps we can take to improve access to behavior analysis informed services for children with some of the greatest needs.

Communication in the workplace can have multiple functions for behavior. For example, it can serve as an antecedent to prompt appropriate behavior or as a reinforcer that increases correct responding, such as with feedback. Communication may also function as a motivating operation and alter the value of current consequences for behavior. In the workplace, employee preference for different forms of communication can impact efficacy and, in some cases, the wrong communication can result in unintended consequences. While some may assume that employees would avoid corrective feedback, results from the first study in our symposium suggest that not only is corrective feedback more effective, employees actually prefer it to positive feedback. The second study will explore how aversive control in the workplace can backfire. Depending on how critical messages are delivered, they may increase performance, but they may also evoke countercontrol, which is behavior intended to punish the behavior of the individual delivering the aversive statement (e.g., sabotage). Overall, this symposium will discuss how communicating with employees, whether as feedback or other forms of communication, needs to take into consideration preference, efficacy, and potential side-effects.

The target audience for this symposium are individuals with some background or education in behavior analytic principles and concepts.

Research is pivotal in advancing the field of behavior analysis. For graduate students, learning to writing for publication is often viewed as a cornerstone of academic growth. Scholarly activities include first conducting high quality research and learning to effectively convey research findings to disseminate in peer-reviewed journals. This panel discussion will delve into the nuances of writing for behavior analytic journals. Well-known mentors and researchers will share invaluable insights into learning to write for publication, including essential elements that are required for crafting successful journal submissions. Panel members will speak from the perspective of mentors who teach graduate students scholarly writing as well as expectations for publications from the perspective of the journal. This event aims to empower graduate students and researchers by providing a roadmap for accessing publication opportunities and generating high quality written work suitable for dissemination within the field of behavior analysis. Through these discussions, attendees will be better equipped with the knowledge needed to craft high-quality writing to fit for the purpose of publication within the field of behavior analysis.

Intermediate audience: currently enrolled or recently graduated graduate student that is learning how to write for publication

Individuals who exhibit challenging behavior are commonly prescribed psychotropic medications with the hope of reduced challenging behavior with minimal adverse effects. The effects are often measured indirectly through rating scales and interviews with caregivers, which are prone to response biases and may fail to detect subtle behavior changes. Behavior analysts are uniquely trained in direct measurement methods and are well-suited to assess the effects of medication on challenging and adaptive behavior. The four presentations in this symposium highlight the role of behavior analysis in the assessment of medication effects for individuals who exhibit challenging behavior. The first presentation provides outcome data from a randomized clinical trial of cannabidiol on irritability and aggression in children with autism. In the second presentation, large-scale data are presented on the effects of medication and medication withdrawal on challenging behavior at a large service provider. The third presentation provides data on the collateral effects of stimulant medication on social behavior for children with ADHD from a pilot clinical trial. The final talk will present the results of a systematic literature review covering psychotropic medication use for challenging behavior in individuals with intellectual disabilities. Lisa Alberts, DNP, will provide a discussion of these talks.

Basic understanding of psychotropic medications

Youth diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder exhibit challenging and aggressive behaviors at a higher rate than their neurotypical peers. Preliminary data suggests that cannabidiol (CBD) may reduce problem behaviors among autistic children. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the efficacy of CBD as treatment for problem behaviors. We will present data from 31 children enrolled in a double-blinded modified cross-over study with 3 arms, including 2 traditional placebo-controlled cross-over arms (12 weeks per treatment/3 week wash-out), plus a third arm where participants receive CBD for the entire 27 weeks. Randomized participants were titrated to a dose of 10mg/kg/day of CBD or placebo (provided by Jazz Pharmaceuticals). The research team conducted a functional analysis of problem behavior prior to the participant receiving CBD/placebo and two more times when participants received CBD or placebo at 10mg/kg/day. The research team will be unblinded to study conditions in December 2023. We will present individual and aggregated data on the rate of and the latency to problem behavior occurrence when participants took CBD or placebo. Results from the current study will be essential towards providing recommendations to caregivers and practitioners using CBD as a treatment for problem behaviors.

ADHD is the most common neurodevelopmental disorder and is characterized by inattentiveness, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. To address the symptoms of ADHD, nearly two-thirds of children with ADHD take psychotropic medication, with the majority demonstrating improvements. Although there is an abundance of research demonstrating the efficacy of stimulant medication for ADHD symptoms, including disruptive behavior, less is known about the collateral effects of stimulant medication, such as its impact on positive social behaviors. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of stimulant medication on various social behaviors of five children diagnosed with ADHD who were enrolled in a larger pilot clinical trial. Free play sessions from functional analyses were coded for physical and vocal behavior associated with more or less social interaction (e.g., vocal initiation, solitary play, physical orientation) on and off stimulant medication in reversal designs. The results suggests that stimulant medication slightly suppressed participants’ social behaviors, with some idiosyncratic findings. The implication is that there may be a tradeoff of improvements in ADHD symptoms with reduced positive social behaviors. Implications for clinic and future research will be discussed.

Challenging behavior (CB) in individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) is common. Recent studies found the prevalence of CB in school age children with ID ranges from 48% to 60% and is approximately 18% in adults with ID (Bowring et al., 2019; Simó-Pinatella et al., 2019). Within this population, psychotropic medication as an intervention for CB is high, with many individuals experiencing both high doses of medication as well as polypharmacy (Bowring et al., 2017). In a 2009 paper, Matson and Neil reviewed the evidence supporting the use of psychotropic medication as an intervention for CB emitted by individuals with ID. They described the evidence as “minimal”, noting a discrepancy in findings between studies that incorporated object measures of behavior versus those that relied on rating scales and other indirect measures. Given these findings, the authors called for additional high-quality studies. The purpose of this review was to evaluate the evidence for use of psychotropic medication in the treatment of CB for individuals with ID. In addition to those studies included in the original review, we conducted a search of PsychInfo and PubMed databases and reference sections to identify studies published between 2008 and 2023. For included studies, we evaluated the extent to which each study met (a) criteria for establishing scientific confidence (Sprague & Werry, 1971), (b) the use of polypharmacy, (c) specification of target behaviors, (d) the use of objective measurements of CB, and (e) the use of behavioral interventions. This talk will discuss the findings of this review and considerations for behavior analysts when working with clients prescribed psychotropic medication.

An overarching goal of ABA services is to empower individuals to ask for what they want and make choices about their own life. While this skill may be commonplace for many individuals, several barriers begin to surface for individuals with severe disabilities and in regions with few trained behavior analysts. The authors of Study 1 will contextualize ABA services to the UK and highlight unique cultural and societal considerations for successful programs. Study 2 will evaluate the impact of modified TalkTools to facilitate speech in minimally-verbal children with developmental disabilities. The authors will highlight the efficacy and acceptability of their intervention. The authors of Study 3 will present data on the effectiveness of functional analysis and functional communication training using manual signs for an autistic adolescent. They will discuss the barriers to intervention and how these were addressed. The authors of Study 4 will present data on how an AAC device was used to train choice-making in an adolescent with brain injury. Specific implications for quality-of-life measures and happiness indicators will be highlighted. Finally, Lina Slim will discuss these studies with a focus on interprofessional collaboration and advocate for programs that directly target quality-of-life in individuals.

Intermediate

ABA interventions were largely developed in the United States, in settings with relatively more trained professionals compared to the United Kingdom. Data retrieved from the BACB website showed that as of October 18, 2023, there were a total of 214,817 certified behaviour analysts in the USA compared to 837 such professionals in the UK. When this number is juxtaposed against the estimated 1.6 million individuals with special and complex needs in the UK who could benefit from the services offered by behaviour analysts, it becomes apparent that there is a critical shortage in the number of trained professionals available. Nevertheless, the past few years have seen growth in the number of professional behaviour analysts in the UK, the establishment of a local accreditation body, and increases in the demand for ABA services. This talk will offer a snapshot of how ABA services are offered in the UK, a five-year perspective on demand for these services, and trends in the types of services offered (e.g., home-based, consultancy) by one organization during this period. The feasibility of funding, designing and implementing an ABA intervention program in the UK will be discussed.

TalkTools is an intervention designed to target functional speech. We undertook a preliminary investigation to explore the efficacy and the feasibility of an adapted version of TalkTools for improving speech in minimally verbal young learners with autism and intellectual disabilities. Ten participants with minimal functional speech or speech clarity difficulties and diagnosis of autism who were receiving clinic-based services were randomly allocated baseline and intervention durations in an AB phase design. Over an 8-month period we explored the impact of the intervention on speech sound through weekly probe assessments of individualised speech sounds. Standardised measures were also administered at the beginning and the end of the intervention period, measuring speech sound inventory, oral motor imitation, functional speech, oral motor fluency, and motor imitation. We evaluated the feasibility of the intervention through acceptability, adherence, and fidelity of implementation measures. The results of the study will be discussed, highlighting how our findings might usefully inform future large-scale evaluations of TalkTools.

Over the last few decades, the provision of ABA services to individuals with disabilities has had a flourishing literature base. Several successful studies have demonstrated the effectiveness and acceptability of functional analysis and functional communication training to address self-injurious and aggressive behavior. A limitation of prior research is that a majority of these studies have been conducted with young children in North America most of whom were vocal and sessions were conducted in short weekly meetings. The current study was conducted with a 16-year-old non-vocal adolescent in the UK diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, convulsive seizures, and a partial visual impairment. In this study, we report on the assessment and treatment process offered by behavior analysts in the home setting. We used a functional analysis to develop a function-based treatment to reduce severe self-injurious behavior and increase communication using manual signs. Over the course of 15 months, we observed reductions in challenging behavior to near-zero levels and a substantial increase in manual signs. Areas for future research and clinical considerations for adolescents with complex needs are discussed.

Being able to communicate and make choices about one’s life is a basic human right. Yet, these seemingly fundamental rights are unavailable, marginalized, or marked by profound dependency for some individuals with complex needs. Previous research has used children’s consumption of a food item, refusal, approach, or verbal statements about preferences as indicators of a valid choice. Identifying and training valid choice-making for individuals with limited motor and verbal skills may involve measuring other idiosyncratic behaviors that may demonstrate their happiness at a preferred choice being offered. In this study, we report on a 16-year-old girl with quadriplegia and brain injury in the UK being facilitated to make choices using a head switch mounted on her wheelchair. We describe the training phases beginning with a movement analysis, followed by shaping to teach head switch activation, and choice-making training with stimuli of varying preference levels. We will highlight the methods we used to assess preference, measure happiness indices, and how these data were used to successfully guide teaching sessions. Our training was effective in establishing socially-valid choice-making and adds to the literature on the scope of behavior analytic procedures to improve quality of life.

Research has demonstrated the effectiveness of behavioral treatments, such as Functional Communication Training (FCT) and FCT with delay-and-denial tolerance training, for reducing challenging behavior. Relapse refers to the recurrence of a previously decreased response when a treatment is challenged, such as treatment integrity omission errors (i.e., resurgence) or when treatment is transferred from clinics to community settings, such as the home or school (i.e., renewal). Although effective, relapse following FCT is highly prevalent, and there is relatively little research evaluating relapse following FCT with delay-and-denial tolerance training. Additionally, there have been mixed findings across basic and applied studies, and guidance for practice is limited. In this symposium, one presentation investigates renewal following differential reinforcement of alternative behavior in single- and multiple-context training across basic and applied arrangements. Two presentations will highlight investigations of relapse during delay-and-denial tolerance training—one empirical demonstration of relapse following programmed treatment integrity errors and context changes during FCT with delay-and-denial tolerance training, and one systematic review of the magnitude and prevalence of resurgence during distinct components of delay-and-denial tolerance training. The final presentation will identify everyday examples of relapse and provide strategies and tools to assist practitioners in preparing for relapse in applied settings.

The intended audience is behavior analysts who have or currently work with individuals that engage in challenging behavior, as well as researchers who specialize in relapse. The audience should have some knowledge on treatment relapse and its clinical implications. Additionally, familiarity with experimental models of different forms of relapse will be useful, but a general overview will be provided for pertinent presentations.

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often receive behavioral treatment for severe problem behavior. Although treatment may be effective in reducing problem behavior, the possibility of renewal of problem behavior may be of a concern to clinicians and caregivers. Renewal is the reemergence of a previously reduced response following a change in treatment conditions (Pritchard et al., 2014). One potential solution to mitigate renewal may incorporate multiple implementers across different settings before implementing treatment in contexts in which the target behavior was initially reinforced (Kimball et al., 2023). Additionally, translational human laboratory studies are conducted under the assumption that outcomes will be relevant to clinical conditions. However, few studies have examined the extent to which laboratory preparations predict whether similar findings will be obtained with clinically relevant behaviors. During the present study, single- and multiple- context training was evaluated with human participants recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) and individuals with ASD, who engaged in problem behavior. Across both studies, minimal renewal effects were observed following the implementation of DRA plus extinction for both single- and multiple-context participants.

Resurgence is the recurrence of target behavior (e.g., severe destructive behavior) during a worsening of reinforcement conditions (e.g., increases in response effort or decreases in reinforcement rate for appropriate behavior). Previous studies have examined the prevalence and magnitude of resurgence of severe destructive behavior during functional communication training with discriminative stimuli (i.e., multiple schedules). We conducted a systematic review of the literature to analyze the magnitude and prevalence of treatment relapse during functional communication training with delay-and-denial tolerance training, including during shaping of the complex communication response, introduction of tolerance responses, and increases in delays. Similar to previous studies with discriminative stimuli, resurgence occurred in nearly all participants (87%) and in about one-third of transitions. Resurgence was less likely to occur during response-effort manipulations (i.e., complexity training, tolerance-response training) and was most likely to occur during increases in delays that ended following the passage of time rather than a response criterion. These results highlight the importance of further evaluation of resurgence across different applications of functional communication training.

One of the objectives of the Behavioral Development SIG is to support young behaviorists in their pursuit of becoming scientist-practitioners. Some examples of research themes that this SIG promotes are derived relational responding, equivalence, social referencing, interdependence of verbal behavior, skill acquisition, joint attention, attachment, impulsivity, and behavioral cusps. To assist in this undertaking, the SIG has established the Jack Gewirtz Student Research Award. This year’s award goes to three students, each of whom has contributed to the further analysis of (1) conditioning book preference, (2) observational learning, and (3) derived relational responding. Our fourth presenter demonstrated an example of basic, translational research with nonhumans to address the complex behavioral process of impulsivity. The findings of these award-winning research studies are relevant to practitioners working with children with autism and related disabilities. These results provide knowledge that pursues our understanding of diverse processes driving the development of complex human behavior.

This symposium requires knowledge of applied research, selection of effective and efficient strategies, and behavioral cusps.

Reading is an important repertoire that is critical to children’s academic achievement. While many studies have focused on teaching components of reading (phonemes, blending), reading fluency, and reading comprehension, fewer studies have evaluated how children become interested in reading and develop a preference for books and text. In this study, we evaluated the effects of a stimulus-stimulus pairing procedure on children’s preference for books. The procedure involved providing rich social interactions and established reinforcers when children engaged with books. In a multiple baseline design across 3 preschool participants with disabilities, we observed children who rarely engaged with books pre-intervention shift preference to book engagement following the intervention. These outcomes were observed both in the intervention setting and a naturalistic play area for all three participants. The outcomes are discussed in terms of promoting preference for book stimuli in the context of typical, evidence-based reading instruction. Key words: reading, stimulus/stimulus pairing, preschool, preference.

This study aimed to evaluate an observational learning procedure to acquire tacts of abstract figures and reading written words in German, all in relation to the same stimuli in eight typically developing children of 7 years old who speak Spanish as first language. The participants were divided in couples and exposed to direct teaching with contingencies of reinforcement and correction of tacts and reading, and to observational learning probe trials of tacts and reading. The study consisted of two experimental phases: on Phase 1, the first participant of the couple was exposed to direct teaching of the tact and the second participant to observational learning probe trials of the tact. Subsequently, the second participant of the couple was exposed to direct teaching of reading and the partner to observational learning probe trials of reading. Once the mastery criterion was reached on each verbal operant with direct teaching and observational learning probe trials, Phase 2 continued. Phase 2 was identical to Phase 1, except that each participant of the couple received direct teaching of the opposite verbal operant they first learned in Phase 1. After each phase was completed, derived stimulus relations probes were performed: symmetry, transitivity and symmetric–transitivity, which consisted on figure selection, text selection, figure-text selection and text-figure selection. The results demonstrated that all participants reached the mastery criterion when they were exposed to direct teaching and observational learning probe trials of tacts and reading. The velocity to acquire the mastery criterion was higher with observational learning probe trials than with direct teaching. Also, the reading operant was acquired faster than the tact operant. Last, all participants demonstrated derived stimulus relations of symmetry, transitivity and symmetric-transitivity on Phase 1 and 2. However, symmetry relations derived slightly above transitivity relations and symmetric-transitivity. This study is the first one demonstrating the application of observational learning to acquire two related verbal operants and probe derived stimulus relations of the operants learned. Keywords: observational learning, direct contingencies teaching, derived relational responding, tacts, reading and second language.

Educators may rely on research and curriculum to determine instructional strategies that are best for their students. However, selecting the best instructional strategies means considering individual pre-requisite repertoires and implies that strategies are effective and efficient. Researchers conducted an AB design across fifteen, fourth-grade participants to measure the relation between derived relational responding and verbal behavior development repertoires. Participants were selected from a CABAS AIL, public school classroom. We implemented Equivalence-Based-Instruction (EBI) to teach relations directly (word to picture and word to definition), across five operants. Researchers used pre and post tests to measure participants Verbal Behavior Development Repertoires and the number of correct responses to direct taught relations, mutually entailed relations, and combinatorally entailed relations. Results support the hypothesis that derived relational responding varies in accordance with Verbal Behavior Development Repertoires. Results support and extend previous literature by analyzing relations between verbal behavior development repertoires and derived relational response variations. Keywords: Combinatorial Entailment, Derived Relations, Equivalence-Based Instruction, Incidental- Bidirectional Naming, Mutual Entailment

The presentation will delve into a research tool utilized within the laboratory of Experimental and Theoretical Research in Learning, Conditioning, and Adaptive Behavior at CEIC. Examples will be provided of fundamental translational research conducted with nonhuman subjects, aiming to explore the intricate behavioral process of impulsivity and other related phenomena. This presentation will elucidate the foundational assumptions within the research framework and offer specific examples of ongoing investigations, including cases of associative conditioning and comparative connectionism, wherein the primary objective is to investigate the role of neural network architectures in simulating behavioral phenomena, particularly as a potential explanation for biological constraints on learning. Additionally, a proposal to examine applied phenomena such as Autism Spectrum Disorders within this context will be discussed. Furthermore, the presentation will provide an overview of recent work with a model designed to evaluate the effects of delay and magnitude of reinforcement within Pavlovian contingencies. This evaluation was conducted using two approaches: with living organisms (pigeons) and through an artificial neural network model. This study addresses the phenomenon of Pavlovian impulsivity (autoshaping) as reported by Aguayo (2024). Current research with this approach demonstrated that manipulating neural network architectures can model diverse biological constraints reported in learning psychology literature as learning typicities. These findings are consistent with the biology principle of structure-function correlation, offering predictive content for experimental testing.

BIPOC students face disproportional disciplinary practices (Badger et al., 2018; Little & Tolbert, 2018; Noguera, 2003), special education identification (Sullivan & Proctor, 2016), and teacher-student interactions (Decker et al., 2007; Wymer et al., 2020) as compared to their white peers. Disproportionality may be a result of implicit bias or behaviors influenced by cues that function as an indicator of the social group to which others belong (De Houwer, 2019). School-based behavior analysts and classroom consultants are well-positioned to measure and subsequently intervene on disproportionately. This symposium will describe current research within the field to measure and promote equitable practices in the classroom setting. The first paper describes the role of school-based behavior analysts in providing culturally humble services and research. The second paper describes the implementation of Positive Behavior Intervention Supports (PBIS) and disproportionality in schools. The third paper assesses teachers’ perceptions of their own cultural responsiveness and students’ classroom behaviors. The final paper describes an intervention for increasing proportional teacher-student interactions in the classroom setting during unstructured times.

School-based BCBAs

Racially and ethnically minoritized (REM; Proctor & Owens, 2019) youth are disproportionately exposed to detrimental exclusionary discipline procedures. To address disproportionality, researchers and policymakers have proposed implementing a multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) framework, universally screening students for behavioral concerns. The relationship between teachers' perceptions of their cultural responsiveness, teacher’s perceptions of students’ social-emotional well-being and classroom behavior, and students; observed behavior may impact equitable screening results and access for behavioral health services. This presentation will review two studies conducted with teachers in two large suburban school districts in which linear modeling applied to predict the relationships between variables. Study 1 investigated the relationship between teachers' (n = 20) ratings on a measure of cultural responsiveness, the Assessment of Culturally and Contextually Relevant Supports (ACCReS) and students' classroom behavior. Results indicated that higher ACCReS scores significantly predicted lower class wide disruptive behavior. Study 2 investigated the relationship between teachers' (n = 30) ratings on the ACCReS and ratings of their students' risk on the Social, Academic, and Emotional Behavior Risk Screener. For social behavior, higher ACCReS scores predicted teachers perceiving lower social risk; however, identification as a Black student and a student with a disability predicted higher risk.

This paper will apply the Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts to various ethical situations that arise as a business owner. The following core principles will be covered: Benefit others, Behave with Integrity, Ensuring Competence, Conforming with Legal and Professional Requirements; and the following codes will be covered: 1.02. Conforming with Legal and Professional Requirements; 1.05 Practicing within Scope of Competence; 1.06 Maintaining Competence; 2.01 Providing Effective Treatment; 3.01 Responsibility to Clients; and 5.08 Using Testimonials from Former Clients for Advertising. The paper will also present the need for competencies in Organizational Behavioral Management (OBM) and basic business practices. The need for comprehensive insurance policies will be described and solutions for selecting various packages will be discussed. Finally, the need for appropriate legal and financial support will be discussed. Small businesses without expertise in these areas may run into legal and financial strain that could result in the organization failing and closing its doors resulting in clients being without services and employees being without work. Problem solving ethical dilemmas will be presented and finally procedures for preventing subsequent ethical missteps will be discussed.

Running a business that operates in multiple states and multiple regions of the country, brings with it many issues beyond what the first two papers will describe. This session will focus on the following elements from the Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts: Benefit others, Behave with Integrity, Ensuring Competence, Conforming with Legal and Professional Requirements; 1.07 Cultural Responsiveness and Diversity; 1.08 Non-discrimination; 1.09 Non-harassment; 2.01 Providing Effective Treatment; 2.03 and 2.04 Protecting and Disclosing Confidential Information; 2.05 Document Protection and Retention; 2.06 Accuracy in Service Billing and Reporting and 2.08 Communicating about Services. This paper session will include a discussion on the need to be aware of state mandates, various licensing laws, and the political and business climates within each state. Ethical dilemmas become larger with the scale of the business: more employees equals more challenges. This paper will highlight the challenges as well as present ethical solutions. The need for tiered business and clinical leadership will be discussed.

More than 40 years ago, Hayes et al. (1980) shared concerns about the science of applied behavior analysis, namely what they viewed as the proliferation of behavioral technology unmoored by coherent and evolving theories of learning (see also Pierce & Epling, 1980). This trend has maintained and, perhaps, worsened in the intervening years (e.g., Mahoney et al. 2019; Sosine & Cox, 2023). Behavior Analysis as a science and profession, specifically as practiced by BCBAs, is currently at a watershed moment with the proliferation of big data and AI-powered tools. Behavior analysis (as a profession) currently lacks standard clinical care metrics or systematic and replicable methods to recommend treatment hours outside very narrow contexts and populations (i.e., early intervention for individuals with autism/autistic individuals). Big data and AI-powered tools offer potential methods to fill these gaps by bridging basic and applied science in new ways. In this symposium, presenters will share their current and planned work in this area, such as precisely targeting interventions and treatment recommendations based on individual client needs. Presenters will also lead a discussion around the evolving impact of big data and AI-powered tools on clinical practice and what the skills of tomorrow’s most effective behavior analysts might look like.

Entry level practitioners and researchers in behavior analysis or related fields.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is evolving at a breathtaking pace. Building impactful AI products requires large amounts of data relevant to the tasks the AI tools augment. Fortunately, behavior analytic services involve tremendous amounts of data already being collected that can, in turn, be used to build useful AI systems. AI applied to behavior analytic service provision can: increase the efficiency and effectiveness of behavior analysts’ impact for the patients they serve; provide greater consistency in treatment recommendations and approaches; and improve the speed and degree to which recommendations can be tailored based on each learner’s unique profile. In this presentation, we discuss how RethinkFirst is leveraging AI to improve, inform, and augment the clinical decisions and subsequent impact of certified behavior analysts’ skill sets. Specifically, we discuss how AI allows us to identify unique patient and provider clusters, match patients to providers who are best equipped to maximize progress and create meaningful change for individual learners, and recommend treatment goals and targets to optimize learning pathways tailored to individual learners. Along the way, we also highlight the necessary rigor, safeguards, and ongoing ethical considerations that technology developers and consumers should proactively discuss when developing and using AI systems at scale.

A great deal of attention is being allocated to artificial intelligence (AI) among the general and professional public. This attention spans everything from curiosity and concern to excitement and naiveté. Within behavior analysis, AI understandably is receiving greater attention with concerns over its potential role and how integrating AI into areas of our work will bring us closer or further away from our subject matter. Central Reach as a provider of end-to-end software solutions for behavior analysts working in the Autism and IDD care space has begun a concerted effort to explore what role, if any, AI can play in supporting aspects of applied work. Utilizing Central Reach’s internal technical and behavior analytic expertise several initiatives have been undertaken to determine the feasibility and efficacy that AI informed tools can contribute to aspects of the applied behavior analytic workflow. This presentation reviews these efforts with particular attention to the prudent iterative development process, quality assurance, and the validity parameters that have been created. Furthermore, implications of employing these tools and others like them will be discussed.

In the ever-evolving landscape of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents an exciting opportunity to revolutionize clinical decision-making. Keohane and Greer (2005) demonstrated the benefits of data-informed decision-making, and how an algorithm that increased the quantity of decisions made ultimately led to students learning more quickly. With the emergence of Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, the opportunities to integrate AI into the clinical decision-making process have expanded even further. This presentation explores how incorporating LLMs into the clinical decision-making process can amplify the effects demonstrated by Keohane and Greer on a larger scale. In partnership with computer scientists, we trained an LLM on select clinical data of thousands of clients, and created individualized reports for clients, providing key information to clinicians that they need to make critical decisions. By harnessing AI, we showcase the ability to scale a decision-making model across 400 BCBAs and analyze 20,000 graphs, ultimately fostering more informed daily clinical choices. This presentation is tailored for behavior analysts, emphasizing that AI is not a replacement but a powerful support tool. It shifts the paradigm of decision-making from individual analysis to a data-driven synthesis, aiding BCBAs in prioritizing clients, program progress evaluation, and drawing on past effective decisions for similar cases. The future of ABA lies in the synergy of human expertise and AI's analytical capabilities. Join us as we unravel the transformative potential of AI, bridging the gap between data and effective clinical practices in Applied Behavior Analysis.

Standardized models of analysis in behavior analysis are restricted to either descriptive assessments or experimental conditions framed within a linear direct contingency framework. These models have come under scrutiny in recent years from all directions highlighting their limited scope and scale. Additionally, advancements in machine learning and data science have compounded such critiques producing the capacity for greater degrees of precision across modalities. The purpose of this paper was to take the first step in establishing a comprehensive interpretative framework consistent with a multi-scalar analysis of behavior (Baum, 2002). To accomplish this goal the group of authors conducted a systematic review of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (JABA) to isolate critical case variables and evaluate their predictive validity of treatment selection across thirteen years. Preliminary results indicate the potential for a robust area of research in quantifying clinical decision-making and effectively tying practitioner choices to the literature. Implications will be proposed.

Behavior analysis in general, and contextual behavioral science in particular, seek to understand and intervene upon behavior by examining its functional relationship with the context in which behavior occurs. While ultimately the expressed goals of behavior analysis and contextual behavioral science are to expand repertoires to foster freedom, it is not uncommon for interventionists to find themselves focusing on reducing the behaviors they perceive as problematic instead of nurturing behaviors that are pleasant or meaningful to the people they serve. All Appetitive, All the Time is an emerging perspective that emphasizes intervening upon the bidirectional relationship between context and behavior to resource expansion of individual repertoires toward seeking, exploring, and engaging across a range of contexts and consistent with personal needs. This symposium reviews All Appetitive, All the Time as an overarching approach and explores the application of All Appetitive, All the Time in various settings including parent-child interactions, punitive environments, and psychedelic-assisted therapy.

The resurgence of interest in the therapeutic potential of psychedelics has opened new avenues for management of the kinds of social, emotional, and behavioral struggles typically cast as mental disorders. By combining insights gained from psychedelic experiences with well-established principles of behavior therapy, a potentially efficacious approach emerges for the treatment of conditions characterized by aversive responses in the face of appetitive stimuli. For example, research findings by Carhart-Harris et al. (2016) and Mithoefer et al. (2018) demonstrate the potential for psychedelics to reorient individuals’ perspectives and emotional responses, making them more receptive to behavior therapy interventions. Moreover, psychedelic therapy has reputed positive effects when accounting for diverse problems (Walsh & Thiessen, 2018), similar to the positive effects exhibited with third-wave behavior therapies such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (Hayes et al., 1999), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (Linehan, 1993), and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (Segal et al., 2002). The current study will examine the available literature to explore how the integration of psychedelics into behavior therapy might be served by the All Appetitive, All the Time conceptual framework, addressing the dominance of aversive functional relations and reorienting individuals toward appetitive contingencies, with consideration of ethical and safety concerns, professional guidance, and therapeutic efficacy.

Explanations of complex human behavior, such as memory or problem-solving skills, in current psychological and educational research, rely heavily on explanatory fictions and hypothetical constructs. The concept of joint control (Lowenkron, 1989) provides a rich alternative explanatory mechanism, relying only on the principles of the science of behavior to account for some of these “executive function” skills. Most research on joint control involves teaching individuals to emit echoic and self-echoic responses that preserve a stimulus long enough to enter into joint control with a tact response of the same form. In contrast, Lowenkron and Colvin (1992) reported on a study that used an identity and non-identity matching experimental preparation, thereby demonstrating that the absence of joint control could also act as a stimulus to evoke unique selection responses. The purposes of the present study were to provide a conceptually systematic approach that relies entirely on behavior analytic principles to provide an alternative to cognitive explanations for a ubiquitous everyday “memory task” and to add to the current body of research on the study of the absence of joint control as an independent variable. The teaching procedures, informed by a joint control analysis, were shown to be effective in teaching children with autism to successfully respond to the question “What’s missing?” after having observed an array of items in which one item was subsequently excluded. Future research can rely on these findings to teach important functional and adaptive skills to children with autism.

Understanding complex forms of verbal behavior can be challenging for autistic people, and comprehension of figures of speech like metaphors can be especially challenging. Despite the manifold nature of the processes involved, previous studies have shown that autistic people can learn to respond appropriately to figurative language such as irony and metaphor, and these studies have offered important procedures for use in everyday clinical practice (Persicke et al., 2012; Persicke et al., 2013). Understanding metaphor specifically and non-literal language in general is clearly an important element in a full verbal behavior repertoire. Additionally, the fascinating characteristics of the environmental changes underlying the ability to understand metaphor add an appealing analytical challenge to radical behavior analysis, as well as providing an opportunity to refine assessment and intervention tools. The authors of the present study used a procedure based on the analysis of Joint Control to teach listener responses to metaphors to 4 autistic children and adolescents in a concurrent multiple baseline across participant design. The results of the study will be presented, together with a molecular, moment-to-moment analysis of the environmental and behavioral variables that the authors propose as a possibile explanation of the listener behavior.

A skill often lacking in children with ASD is social referencing, where one attends to social stimuli (e.g., facial expressions and head movements) to determine if one should approach or avoid an ambiguous situation. Recent research has established social conditioned reinforcers for children with ASD by utilizing an operant discrimination procedure (ODT) where the researchers placed a box with preferred items between themselves and participants, presented the target social stimulus, and taught the children to put their hands in the box conditional on the social stimulus. In essence, the ODT procedure may promote social referencing as the social stimuli become discriminative stimuli for attending and responding accordingly. The present study utilizes a multiple probe design across four participants with autism to assess whether the ODT procedure establishes social stimuli as 1) conditioned reinforcers and 2) discriminative stimuli. Initial probes have been conducted and have indicated social stimuli are not currently functioning as conditioned reinforcers or discriminative stimuli. Participant number one is currently undergoing ODT and preliminary results are indicating not approaching when “No” and a head shake are presented but not yet independently approaching when “Yes” and a head nod is displayed.

Recent laboratory studies (Miller et al., 2021; Petursdottir et al., 2020) have been unsuccessful in demonstrating the role of the echoic in the establishment of incidental tacts, as described by Horne & Lowe (1996). This may be because, to achieve a high degree of experimental control, these studies were conducted under conditions that may not resemble those encountered when young children learn language (e.g., uninteresting visual stimuli, computers with monotone voices, unknown degree of rapport with participants etc.). We conducted a systematic replication of the procedures described in Miller et al., (2021) while including parameters that more closely resemble typical parent-child interactions. For example, we included play sessions, presented stimuli with potentially greater reinforcing qualities, and interspersed reinforcement throughout the probes. Our current data were obtained from two five-year-old children. The results from participant one is consistent with the account described by Horne & Lowe (1996) and provides some evidence for additional important variables. Data collection is still ongoing for the second participant, and additional participants have been recruited. This line of research has important implications, both for the conceptual analysis of verbal behavior and for practitioners programming for acquisition of new verbal relations.

Vocalizations play a crucial role in a child's vocal language development by enabling them to refine their verbal behavior once brought under echoic control (DeSouza et al., 2017). Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) commonly present with delays in vocalizations, which can hinder the development of language and social communication skills (Lord et al., 2020). The present study aimed to replicate Lepper and Petursdottir's (2017) study comparing response-independent pairing (RIP) and response-contingent pairing (RCP) interventions for increasing novel vocalizations in children with ASD and minimal echoic repertoires. An adapted alternating treatments design (Sindelar et., 1985) was used to compare the effects of RIP and RCP on vocalizations with an embedded non-concurrent multiple-baseline design across participants to evaluate the effects of the best treatment on the levels of vocalizations. Secondarily, the study assessed attending skills, current vocalization skills, and reinforcer effectiveness before the implementation of both procedures. Participants included four children aged 3 to 6 years diagnosed with ASD and with minimal echoic repertoires. Results will be discussed in the context of the effects of the two different procedures on the levels of vocalization and the role of attending skills, articulation, and reinforcer effectiveness during stimulus pairing procedures.

Recent studies have demonstrated the potential benefits of emergent learning approaches in the context of foreign-language vocabulary acquisition. This research underscores the efficacy of instruction using emergent learning principles and verbal operant procedures. While the growing interest in this area is promising, a significant gap exists in our understanding of the retention of emergent learning outcomes. This preliminary study sought to address this gap by evaluating the impact of overlearning on the retention of emergent intraverbal Korean vocabulary. Five adult participants engaged in two training conditions: regular training and overlearning, which involved tacting visual stimuli in Korean. In the overlearning condition, participants were trained to additional fluency criteria and continued practicing beyond the initial accuracy mastery criterion. Both conditions yielded high levels of emergent intraverbal responses following training. We conducted 8-10 repeated measures up to six months post-training with each participant, which allowed us to examine the level and trend of participants' derived intraverbal responses through visual analysis. Notably, the level and trend appeared higher and more stable for the overlearning stimulus sets than the regular training stimuli. These findings offer valuable insights into the potential benefits of overlearning in the context of emergent learning approaches and foreign-language vocabulary instruction.

Identifying, understanding, and teaching concepts are each key for high-quality behavior-analytic approaches to our clinical work, research, and instruction. Yet, we sometimes use conceptual terms without clearly identifying the boundary conditions of the concept. Failure to clearly define the concept can result in learners using the concept in ways that are unintended or incorrect, and can leave teachers wondering how to resolve the errors. In the current symposium, we start with an example of the first step of conceptual instruction: conducting a concept analysis. We demonstrate how concept analysis can be used within the context of research and clinical practice by analyzing the concept of "treatment integrity." We then expand on this example by discussing how the critical features identified during the concept analysis can be used to develop a set of stimuli to teach the concept, to provide opportunities for learners to practice, and to assess generative responding. We close with advice about how to respond to learner errors during the acquisition of the concept.

Audience members should have skills related to: (1) teaching a variety of learners, (2) instructional design in its foundational forms, (3) concepts like examples, non-examples, generalization, and generative learning.

An important dimension of instruction involves teaching conceptual behavior related to the broadly applicable generalizations of a content domain. In this presentation, after defining and exemplifying “concept” and conceptual behavior, I will outline the necessary components for teaching a concept in any domain. The first step is to conduct a concept analysis of the critical features that define a concept, and the features that vary from instance to instance of the concept. From this prescription we must develop a range of typical or “close-in” examples and “far-out” examples of the concept that illustrate both the critical and variable features, develop a minimum rational set of close-in non-examples of the concept, each of which is missing only one critical feature, and develop additional examples and non-examples that may be needed to produce the desired discriminations. Teaching a concept this way produces generative responding to examples and non-examples not presented during instruction. To assess learners’ generative responding, we must create another set of far-out examples and close-in non-examples from the concept-analysis prescription. Finally, after initially acquiring conceptual behavior, learners must practice with additional far-out examples and close-in non-examples. Once these components are created, a teacher is ready to develop an instructional sequence of tasks that include context-setting descriptions, rules, examples, and non-examples.

One strategy instructional designers use involves creating lean programs with the fewest components necessary to get fluent performance of the skill we wish to teach. When teaching more complex skills, where the antecedent stimuli may be physically dissimilar to one another, designers must ensure they have provided a enough stimuli to adequately establish simple generative responding. Concept analyses present designers with a blueprint for assembling a minimum rational set of divergent examples and close-in non-examples. However, designers often need to include additional teaching, practice, and testing stimuli to adequately establish conceptual behavior. The question is, which additional stimuli should the instructional designer include? This presentation will highlight how instructional designers can conduct error analyses to identify learner error patterns in response to your instructional program. Based on these patterns, three types of errors can occur when learning concepts: Overgeneralization, undergeneralization, and misconceptions. Each of these types of errors require a different prescription from the instructional designer. We will discuss how to identify these errors, generate additional stimuli informed by these errors, and revise the instructional programs.

A neurodiversity movement (NDM) has gained momentum in the 2020s, mainly driven by autistic self-advocates. The main argument of the NDM is that neurodivergent people experience discrimination that is on par with the historical discrimination of other minority groups. In this paper, we propose a behaviour analyst’s perspective on the NDM, considering available evidence. We first explore the history and emergence of the concept of neurodiversity and its neurological as well as psychological basis. We consider its potential for generating what some consider a zero-sum game, in which one group makes all the gains potentially at the expense of another group. We finish with the suggestion that a win-win situation is possible if the focus shifts proactively on advocacy for all autistic persons, including those with very high support needs who often are not able to advocate actively for themselves and who tend to benefit greatly from evidence-based behaviour analytic interventions.

-BCBA and/or IBA certification -Provide or be interested in providing ABA services to people with autism, ADHD, dyslexia, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, intellectual disability, schizophrenia, or other conditions that may be considered neurodivergence -Dealing online or in the workplace with people who support the notion of autism as a normal, non-pathological variant of humanity.

Trauma-informed Care has been an integral part of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) in working with persons with disabilities since its inception. But it has not been as a hot a topic until recently. This presentation will discuss how trauma-informed care is an integral part (or should be) to a person-centered approach utilizing the science of Applied Behavior Analysis. We will explore the use of functional assessment and behavior intervention procedures from a trauma-informed lens, as well as how to train staff in this approach. We will also explore how to engage parents and caregivers as part of this approach. While many behavior analysis are aware of “trauma-informed care” or “trauma-assumed care”, there are many who dismiss the role of trauma in effective treatment and are not properly trained in what “trauma-informed care” really is. To make matters worse, some practitioners, given their lack of experience and training in “trauma-informed care” actually make the matters worse. This paper will seek to help practicing behavior analysts in understanding the role of trauma in treatment and how vital it is top seek mentorship and supervision with clients with trauma histories if they are new to this important area.

This paper will seek to help practicing behavior analysts in understanding the role of trauma in treatment and how vital it is top seek mentorship and supervision with clients with trauma histories if they are new to this important area.

Communication is one of the core deficits of young children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Communication deficits include both deficits and excesses of verbal operants, and the papers in this symposium address two common areas of need, the reduction of echolalia and the identification of tacts in a child’s vocal repertoire. It is important to build verbal behavior repertoires in home-based settings so that children learn to demonstrate these skills within their natural environment. This symposium will review two studies that did just that. Study 1 taught individuals to correctly emit intraverbals by replacing immediate echolalia with correct responses for two 3-year-old boys diagnosed with ASD within their home settings. Study 2 provided a variety of treatment components to parents of young children on the autism spectrum. The purpose was to give these parents the tools to identify tacts in their children’s verbal repertoires. In conclusion, both studies demonstrated positive results. Study 1 showed reductions in echolalia and study 2 demonstrated increases in verbal tact repertoires in young children with autism spectrum disorder.

basic knowledge of functional analyses and verbal behavior; experience with parent training

Parents play a significant role in the educational development of their children. However, there is little research around utilizing parents to collect data on their children’s language skills. In particular, children with autism oftentimes demonstrate delays in the acquisition and use of language. Having information on a child’s language abilities may be of value when providing therapeutic supports. The present study evaluated the effects of treatment packages and specific treatment components on the frequency of Met tacts and parent supported vocal interactions across three parent-child dyads. A mixed multiple baseline design was utilized. Results showed that the full treatment package with all treatment components included, yielded higher frequencies of Met tacts when compared with baseline, a partial treatment package and a control condition. Data did not show increases across all parent-child dyads in parent supported vocal interactions. These results strongly suggested that when defined and specific treatment components are provided, parents are very effective at expanding the total number of Met tacts in their child’s known repertoires.

Two important aspects in promoting one’s health and wellness are to consistently engage in an adequate duration of sleep and physical activity. However, research has shown that individuals with ASD often display difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep (Krakowiak et al., 2008) and many of these individuals do not meet the CDC recommendations for physical activity engagement (Jones et al., 2017). In the current symposium, three speakers will present practical strategies for addressing these issues. In the first paper, Zoe Newman will present research on a treatment analysis for improving sleep-conducive behavior in a residential care facility. Zoe assessed levels of sleep-conducive behavior via a Fitbit watch, preventing the need for overnight live or video data collection. For the second presentation, Holly Wiggins will present data on a training for teaching individuals to self-monitor their physical activity. Following competency, Holly will share results from a treatment analysis that evaluated the relative contributions of self-monitoring for increasing physical activity engagement. In the third paper, Emily Pollack will present data on an intervention that evaluated the delivery of social attention for increasing moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Emily will also share data on the effects of increased physical activity on individuals’ on-task behavior in a classroom context.

Target Audience: Practicing BCBAs or behavior analytic researchers who are interested in learning about various intervention strategies for promoting sleep and physical activity engagement.

Individuals with autism often display long latencies to sleep onset or suboptimal durations of sleep. Sleep is often correlated with increases in challenging behavior (Goldman et al., 2011; Kennedy & Meyer, 1996) such as aggression (O’Reilly, 1995) and hyperactivity (Mazurek & Sohl, 2016). Although behavioral interventions have been effective in treating these problems for individuals with developmental disabilities (e.g., Jin et al., 2013), the necessary and sufficient components of a sleep treatment have not been identified. The purpose of this study was to assess multiple components of a sleep treatment package for three individuals with autism living in a residential congregate-care setting. Data were collected on sleep-conducive behavior, defined as displaying minimal movement, using a Fitbit. Treatment components were sequentially introduced and included bedtime fading, bedtime routine, a sound machine, and delayed reinforcement with contingency review. Participants were adolescents who showed long latencies to sleep-conducive behavior following bedtime. For all participants, results showed that a bedtime routine alone was insufficient for improving sleep-conducive behavior. A contingency review with delayed reinforcement was an effective treatment component for two participants. Social validity surveys were conducted with clinicians and residential counselors to assess treatment goals, procedures, outcomes.

Applied behavior analysis (ABA) autism service organizations operate within a macrosystem of variables external to the organization that influence quality. For example, organizations can promote quality assurance through accreditation. Alternatively, organizations can look within and arrange contingencies controlling cultural practices that comprise high-quality services. This symposium offers insights from quality leaders on how two ABA autism service organizations assessed cultural practices that impact quality assurance from within, identified opportunities to improve quality, and took steps to enhance quality of care through large-scale change. Leaders from The Place for Children with Autism describe a phased approach to a large-scale implementation of the ABA service delivery quality (ASDQ) framework to advance quality assurance in their organization and discuss some of the limitations and barriers they overcame. The National Director of Clinical Quality at Acorn Health of Michigan describes their phased implementation of a major quality initiative with a Universal Protocol targeting improvements in rapport building across over 1,000 Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBA®) and Registered Behavior Technicians (RBT®). Attendees will learn about the initiatives, methods used to enact those initiatives, outcomes as indicated by data, lessons learned, and some tips on how to improve on the methods presented.

BCBAs working in ABA autism service delivery, especially BCBAs in leadership roles

In Silbaugh & El Fattal’s 2021 article ‘Exploring Quality in the ABA Service Delivery Industry’, the authors explore that an objective, agreed upon, and operationally defined definition of quality (or quality services) remains difficult to locate in behavior analytic literature. If a robust definition of quality service delivery does not exist or is not widely disseminated, the measure of quality across the field remains inconsistent and subjective. Applied behavior analytic service provider’s failure to objectively define, measure, and monitor the quality-of-service delivery at organizations continues to place consumers, caregivers, front line service providers, and our field in harm’s way. This presentation discusses one application of this framework to an organization of roughly 50 behavior analysts and 300 clients. Preliminary data suggest that an ASDQ framework for defining, measuring, monitoring, and influencing quality as proposed by Silbaugh & El Fattal is one potential solution for service providers in the ABA service delivery industry. Real-world limitations and potential barriers to implementation are discussed.

Research suggests building strong therapeutic relationships between care providers and the individuals they treat can lead to reduction in problem behavior and increased cooperation with demands. This relationship quality – often referred to as rapport – has an impact on every interaction and can influence client outcomes. At Acorn Health, we embarked on a mission to train every staff member who works directly with clients – over 1,000 BCBAs and R/BTs – on how to implement Universal Protocol, a standardized rapport building approach. Each business unit identified a UniPro Champ, someone designated to provide in-person training who was paired with a member of Acorn’s Clinical Leadership Team. Clinical Leaders provided training support, conducted integrity observations to ensure fidelity, and collected interobserver agreement to monitor data accuracy. The training consisted of a two-hour interactive presentation on Universal Protocol followed by in-person training and integrity observations. This approach was rolled out among Acorn’s 70+ business units in six, two-week training sprints. The data presented represents all Phase One participants, the number of training sessions conducted for each, the percentage of integrity observations conducted by the Clinical Lead, and the average integrity observation score across all training sessions.

Obtaining client’s assent as applicable has been included in the most recent version of the ethics code for behavior analysts (Behavior Analyst Certification Board, 2020). Many companies providing ABA-based services to children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have in their standard practice obtaining informed consent from families and caregivers as a part of the client onboarding process. Given the recency of this topic, many professionals, such as BCBAs and teachers, are questioning how to also obtain assent from learners, especially if they display communication deficits. Additional challenges may include difficulties with honoring assent or programming for assent withdrawal and the concern of increasing escape/ avoidance behaviors that interfere with the productivity of therapy or instructional time and treatment outcomes. This symposium reviews the definition of consent, assent, and assent withdrawal, the methods to identify assent from learners with communication deficits, some case examples of how to program for assent-based interventions.

Beginning to intermediate level. Prerequisite skills include programming, conducting FBAs, and writing behavior plans.

As more and more behavior analysts are practicing within school settings, it is critical for them to have a clear understanding of the current educational model. Most elementary schools in the U.S. and abroad have adopted a differentiation model of instruction, called Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS). To a lesser extent, preschool and middle and high schools have also adopted MTSS models. In this model, different layers of instruction and interventions are layered for students to increase the intensity of supports as indicated by screening and progress monitoring data. Intensifying supports only for those who truly need them and irrespective of disability, all students receive the “just right” fit of interventions to excel in school. This also ensures that financial and personnel resources are committed to those who will benefit most from them. In this invited talk, Dr. Spencer will provide a tutorial on the key ingredients of MTSS, explicating the elements necessary for equitable implementation and impact. She will also report on several research applications with culturally and linguistically diverse students and students with disabilities. Drawing from her own research, Dr. Spencer will present several innovative assessments and intervention tools that ensure students are identified as at risk early and provided with sufficient supports to prevent worsening difficulties.

N/A

Every individual belongs to a specific culture. It is, therefore, essential to understand cultural backgrounds to better address their needs. Collectivism stresses the importance of the group, while individualism focuses on the needs of each person. Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is an evidence-based practice primarily used in countries with individualistic cultures. There is a need for cultural competence, especially in collectivist societies, to incorporate their cultural values into ABA practices if we want to extend the acceptance of our science in non-Western countries. This symposium offers viewpoints from Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Maori perspectives on navigating the unique needs of collectivist and indigenous backgrounds. It also emphasizes the interdependence between individuals within their social context. Collectivist cultures prioritize group harmony, family cohesion, and community integration. Therefore, practitioners must acknowledge these value systems, such as the role of family and community in the assessment and treatment process when designing behavior interventions. Cultural responsiveness is crucial in effectively navigating the dynamics of different cultural backgrounds to achieve effective outcomes. Integrating collectivist values in the application of ABA emphasizes the need for more inclusive and culturally competent approaches.

We are submitting in the "intermediate" instruction level because the audience should possess the following prerequisite skills, experience, and competencies: 1. Introductory knowledge of cultural competencies, cultural responsiveness, and cultural humility through behavior analytic literatures, courses, and/or other instructions, and 2. Having a first-hand experience as a behavior analyst, that required cultural responsiveness, and 3. Speak a second language, or learning a second language

Navigating cultural differences when applying Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) in collectivist and individualist societies requires a nuanced and adaptable approach. This talk explores both types of societies that can be employed to ensure the effective implementation of ABA services. The Philippines is a collectivist society that prioritizes group harmony and interdependence.Kapwa, Malasakit, and Pananampalatayaare strong Filipino values that emphasize interdependence between individuals within their social context. Adapting ABA interventions to fit within the cultural norms of strong family bonds and communal ties can increase acceptance and success. In contrast, individualist societies, where much of ABA research and technology originates, place a greater emphasis on personal autonomy, self-determination, and individual choice. In these societies, ABA programs focus on individual needs and preferences. This talk delves into the cultural competence and sensitivity required from practitioners to navigate the dynamics of collectivist cultures successfully. The collectivist mindset aligns with the collaborative nature of ABA, making it a natural fit for the cultural context. Recognizing the cultural influences on ABA implementation underscores the importance of cultural sensitivity and ethical practice in this field.

Equivalence researchers teach baseline relations to mastery before testing for derived relations. However, this arrangement may not occur in naturalistic environments, where opportunities to derive relations may occur before mastering baseline relations. To examine this further, we assessed (a) whether participants would learn and derive arbitrary relations in a less stringent condition and (b) how familiar pictures affect the learning process in this condition. Twenty students were assigned to one of two experimental conditions. In both, nine baseline relations (AB, BC, CD for Classes 1, 2, and 3) were taught in a 27-trial block of matching-to-sample trials. Regardless their performance in teaching blocks, participants performed a 54-trial testing block to assess the emergence of 15 relations (BA, CB, CA, DB, DA) and the maintenance of baseline relations. All stimuli in Condition 1 were abstract pictures; Set A stimuli in Condition 2 were three familiar pictures (a bee, an airplane, and a house). Participants repeated the training-testing cycles until they reached 100% accuracy in testing, or up to two hours. Eight participants in each condition showed the emergence of programmed equivalence classes. Results suggest that familiar pictures facilitated improvement of baseline performance and, consequently, the emergence of untaught relations.

Self-care is an area in which all adults can benefit. For example, low physical activity levels increase the risk of diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease yet approximately 23% of adults don’t meet the recommended physical activity guidelines. In addition, there are approximately 3.5 billion people impacted by oral health disease and most adverse oral health conditions can be prevented by accurate toothbrushing yet many adults don’t accurately brush their teeth. It seems there is a need for research and application for increasing both activity level and toothbrushing. The first study aimed to increase exercise frequency and the second study sought to increase toothbrushing accuracy in three university students. Both studies used a treatment package that included self-monitoring, goal setting, feedback, and contingency management, along with a deposit contract. A nonconcurrent multiple baseline design across participants was used to assess experimental control and treatment effectiveness in both studies. Results of both studies showed significant increases in self-care. These results add to the growing body of evidence suggesting contingency management with deposit contracts may be effective at improving self-care. Future research can explore the effectiveness of this approach in different health-related behaviors and across diverse populations.

beginners

Although there are approximately 3.5 billion people impacted by oral health diseases, most adverse oral health conditions can be prevented by accurate toothbrushing. Despite its importance, however, there is a dearth of research teaching toothbrushing accuracy. One intervention that was previously shown to be effective at increasing other components of toothbrushing is contingency management. Thus, the current study aimed to improve toothbrushing accuracies in three college students through use of a contingency management with a deposit contract intervention. Specifically, participants deposited money and earned back portions of their deposit as they met predetermined accuracy goals. A nonconcurrent multiple baseline design across participants was used to assess intervention effectiveness and experimental control. Results showed increases in accuracy during contingency management with a deposit contract compared to baseline for all three participants. These results add to the growing body of evidence suggesting contingency management with deposit contracts may be effective at improving health-related behaviors.

Precision Teaching, historically applied within educational contexts, has seen its most groundbreaking discoveries, such as the concept of behavioral fluency, unfold within mainstream academic classrooms. This method, however, has not been limited solely to these settings but has also been employed with diverse populations, including those with intellectual and other developmental disabilities. This presentation will delve into an exploration of the current state of the Precision Teaching field while considering the potential for forging new pathways that can extend its reach into various domains and expand our understanding of essential behavioral concepts such as celeration, fluency, and behavioral agility.

Behaviour Analysts/Precision Teachers

With BCBA certifications doubling since 2018 (BACB, 2023), the ABA field faces a critical need for mentorship programs that provide new certificants with intensive training and ongoing support. A structured mentorship model that leverages experienced clinicians to facilitate the adoption of emerging technologies and approaches is key. The tiered mentorship model incorporates implementation protocols, fidelity monitoring, and program evaluation to maximize clinician competencies and positive client outcomes. By standardizing training in values-driven, evidence-based practices, the mentorship program aims to ensure all BCBAs gain competencies needed to provide comprehensive, high-quality ABA services. Foundations of Care, a multi-tiered framework has been established to address the need for a universal, practical, and responsive approach to delivering compassionate, assent-based interventions. This approach includes an emphasis on boundary setting, the Practical Functional Assessment (PFA) and Skill-Based Treatment (SBT) processes and ensures all clients are supported with a behavior intervention plan derived from the values of these approaches. This presentation will highlight key features of the mentorship model, how it can be tailored to meet organizational needs and resources, and evidence of its effectiveness. With careful design and execution, this mentor-driven approach allows our rapidly growing field to keep pace with innovations while maintaining client-centered, compassionate care.

Supervisors are often faced with the responsibility of prioritizing administrative duties and managing caseloads over effective supervision. In light of these challenges, it becomes imperative for supervisors to continually refine their supervisory skills to maintain the highest standard of professional growth within their organizations. This presentation will focus on enhancing effective supervision by addressing three critical objectives. It will address the prioritization of key supervisee skills through objective assessments, thereby recognizing their significance in the supervisory process. It will explore the importance of preparing supervision session agendas to improve communication and productivity. Additionally, it will explore the gradual reduction of supervisory support as the supervisee demonstrates independence, as well as ethical considerations and strategies for the sensible termination of the supervisory relationship. Strategies will be discussed for guiding supervisees toward professional growth. These efforts collectively contribute to the advancement of effective and ethical organizational structure and supervision to individuals within the organization.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex and heterogenous, neurodevelopmental disorder. Interventions based in applied behavior analysis (ABA) are common for children with ASD with marked improvements demonstrated in communication, social, and adaptive functioning. Two common models of ABA are parent-mediated and paraprofessional-mediated, both of which have strong empirical support. With all 50 States requiring insurance coverage for people with ASD, it is important to evaluate and understand the effectiveness of ABA in community-based settings. The current study evaluated the effectiveness of two models of ABA, paraprofessional-mediated and parent-mediated, in a community-based setting across 106 participants ages 3-7 with a diagnosis of ASD. Results revealed both models of ABA to produce significant and positive improvements in adaptive and communicative functioning on two outcome measures, the Vineland and VB-MAPP. Additionally, significant differences were observed between parent-mediated ABA and paraprofessional-mediated ABA with those in parent-mediated ABA having greater improvement in the Socialization domain of the Vineland. With the most recent prevalence rates of ASD being one in 36, it is vital to have options for families when considering various supports and interventions for their child with ASD that are effective. This research underscores the effectiveness of ABA in community-based settings for young children with ASD.

The journey to adulthood can be an especially challenging experience for individuals on the autism spectrum. They might face greater obstacles than their neurotypical peers when it comes to academic and professional education, social skills, self-awareness, and independence. These challenges can make it harder for them to succeed in traditional educational settings and find meaningful employment opportunities. Additionally, these individuals may have limited social skills, which can impact their ability to form and maintain relationships, both personally and professionally. To better understand the challenges that come with this transition, a systematic review of articles published in Applied Behavior Analysis to support this population is in progress. So far, out of the 325 found in the final screening, 12 were experiments. Out of the 12 experiments found so far, 7 were randomized controlled trials, 3 used a multiple-baseline design, and 2 were quasi-experimental studies. The current findings suggest that it is crucial to develop resources that cater to each individual's unique needs and preferences throughout the transition process. It is also important to create personalized resources that support their independence and reduce the amount of assistance needed to achieve their goals, as well as provide resources for them to be able to advocate for themselves and recognize their own strengths and weaknesses.

The Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) is an evidence based, naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention designed for children 1-5 years old. Research supporting ESDM therapy has been conducted through typical grant funded mechanisms, and carried out at universities and academic medical centers. These studies have shown ESDM therapy achieving equal or superior outcomes to other styles of autism therapy, including Discrete Trial Training (Rogers SJ, Yoder P, Estes A, et al., 2020). Soar Autism Center is focused on implementing ESDM-informed ABA therapy in community based settings, through typical insurance funded modalities. Duration and intensity of intervention are individualized based on clinician judgement and client needs. An analysis of Soar’s client outcomes data show similar outcomes to those reported in academic literature (Devescovi, R., Colonna, V., Dissegna, et al. 2021). These data have implications for best practices when serving young children with autism, engaging with therapy funders, and bridging the research-to-practice gap.

Early intervention models often result in disconnected programs and services, removing children from their natural environments during a critical developmental period. This results in disconnected learning experiences, frequent changes in placement, unnecessary burdens placed on families and caregivers, and extended days for children receiving a range of intervention services. Coupled with unnecessary restrictions and a shortage of professionals able to dedicate the time and resources to conducting a comprehensive neurodevelopmental diagnosis, this further delays accessing early intervention services. Integrated behavioral health models have shown an increase in overall outcomes for children with developmental delays and disabilities, to include autism spectrum disorder as well as other mental and behavioral health disorders. A variety of models have been developed in recent years, focusing on the medical model. A different model is proposed, developing integrated behavioral health models within existing early childhood and educational programs through community partnerships. This model utilizes a range of existing, underutilized funding streams to bring medical professionals, mental and behavioral health professionals, therapists, and educators together, embedded within existing educational centers. Access to care is available to a wider population, removing a multitude of barriers that children, families, caregivers, and educators face.

The behavioral assessment of compassionate skills in an emerging area of research and focus in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). Much of the literature to date evaluates compassion on the part of master's level clinician. The current project seeks to establish reliable assessments of compassionate behavior displayed by direct interventionists in autism treatment settings.The Compassionate Care Assessment Tool evaluates the interactions between the direct interventionists (Registered Behavior Technician) and the child with whom they work. The assessment was designed to measure specific behavioral indices of compassion in an Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) setting. Given the nature of the difficulty of operationally defining “compassion”, the current project seeks to obtain reliability between observers to validate the use of the assessment. Alterations to the assessment based on the data regarding reliability will be discussed along with data on the reliability and content validity of the Compassionate Care Assessment Tool. Additionally, data on the use of the Teaching Interaction Procedure to teach elements identified as deficits will be presented.

Taylor et al. (2018) suggested that the application of compassionate care skills in clinical practice may allow for opportunities to listen and gather information related to meaningful parent goals. Yet, empirically validated tools that facilitate the development of these skills are limited (Marchese & Weiss, 2023). Qualitative assessment procedures (e.g., semi-structured interviews) may allow for flexibility in data collection and subsequent analysis to enhance a clinician’s understanding of an individual’s experience. In the current study, ten parents of children with autism participated in semi-structured interviews related to their experiences with Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) treatment and parent training. Then, a qualitative data coding system was systematically developed to summarize these data across key themes that emerged from the interviews. Average intercoder agreement across two independent scorers was 89% (range 75%-100%). Summary of these data across parents and a detailed sample of individual parent responses will be presented. This study demonstrates how qualitative can be systematically gathered, analyzed, and summarized to support the clinical application of compassionate care skills while working with families who have children with autism.

Compassionate care and therapeutic relationships have been the subject of applied behavior analytic (ABA) research over the last few years, specifically looking at parent and practitioner interactions. Melton and colleagues (2023) provided a conceptual analysis that distinguished between empathic and compassionate responses within a radical behavioral framework. Given this framework, we are better able to identify the context under which compassion and/or empathy is exhibited. This distinction highlighted a need for behavior analytic practitioners to discriminate between when empathic or compassionate responses are appropriate given various contexts and situations. A decision-making tool will be reviewed to support practitioners in cultivating their responses to generate greater therapeutic alliances with the families with whom they work. Data reviewing a training package with discrimination training and the tool to Applied Behavior Analysis graduate students will be reviewed. Implications for the potential impact on graduate student coursework and applications of skills will be discussed along with future directions.

Interdisciplinary collaboration can be challenging, but necessary in order to meet the needs of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Successful collaborative treatment is predicated on an understanding of the value and expertise offered by different disciplines, and requires mutual respect and professional dialogue. Respect and compassion are important core traits to effective collaboration. The first presenter will discuss their study of 24 behavior analytic professionals who participated in a virtual training-and-coaching sequence to improve collaboration and compassion. Mechanisms impacting collaborative, compassionate practice will be discussed. The second presenter with discuss collaboration experiences between occupational therapy professionals and board certified behavior analysts. Respondents from both professions responded to a survey consisting of questions regarding collaborative interactions, perceived barriers to collaboration, and views of its benefits. Current trends as well as barriers interfering with effective collaboration will be highlighted. Furthermore, the discussant will bring to light collaboration across disciplines to enhance client success.

The target audience should have some knowledge and experience working alongside other professions. They should have had some opportunities and experiences collaborating with professionals outside of the behavior analytic profession, including occupational therapists. Data from perspective surveys on collaboration will be presented, and current literature on collaboration and compassion will be discussed with an overall focus on enhancing effective collaboration in order to foster best outcomes for our clients.

While evidence supporting applied behavior analysis has long been established, the field continues to self-reflect toward improved compassionate care (Rohrer et al., 2021). Interprofessional collaboration, a related concept, is defined as team-based, cooperative approaches among professionals (Friedman et al., 2022). Both collaboration and compassion are built upon social responsiveness and can improve social validity of applied behavior analysis (Kirby et al., 2022; LeBlanc et al., 2020). Despite the philosophical value of interprofessionalism and compassion, currently practicing behavior analytic providers report receiving little to no training in either capacity (Friedman et al., 2022; LeBlanc et al., 2020). The study’s purpose was to describe the lived experiences of twenty-four (N=24) behavior analytic professionals, who participated in a four-month-long, virtual training-and-coaching sequence to improve collaboration and compassion. Recordings of training and coaching sessions were transcribed, then coded independently by a pair of researchers. Qualitative, reflexive thematic analysis revealed three themes: historical perspectives, being harder on one-self than others, and old me vs. new me. This study uniquely describes the experiences of behavior analytic professionals, shedding light into mechanisms impacting collaborative, compassionate practice. Participants perceived their professional training as a barrier to collaboration, and their own hard-driving propensities as limiting to compassionate care.

Please join us for a discussion of the presentation: The Development of Behavior Science

Behavior analysts and graduate students interested in history of behavior analysis and culturo-behavioral science, the molar view of behavior, and human language and thought.

Equivalence-based instruction (EBI) uses the principles of stimulus equivalence and derived relations to promote generative learning outcomes in many subject areas. The three talks in this symposium describe studies in which variables related to EBI and conceptual learning more broadly were investigated. The first study examined the effects of group-based EBI on children’s listener and speaker behavior related to six coin-related stimuli (e.g., coin's face, name, and value) using auditory-visual match-to-sample procedures. Results showed successful formation of coin equivalence classes. In the second study, the effects of the stimulus-pairing, yes-no (SPYN) procedure was compared to match-to-sample (MTS) to teach abstract stimuli equivalence classes with adults. Results showed no differential effects on class formation, but training time was significantly longer for participants exposed to SPYN. The third study investigated a type of conceptual learning related to categorizing novel stimuli based on the presence or absence of critical features. Results showed that the most robust conceptual learning was observed following practice with examples and nonexamples that lacked only one critical feature and contained few irrelevant features. Collectively, these studies further our understanding of procedures that can be used to successfully implement EBI specifically, and teach conceptual behavior more broadly.

Attendees should have basic understanding of stimulus classes, match to sample procedures, and emergent behavior.

The purpose of the present study was to compare the effectiveness and efficiency of match-to-sample (MTS) to the stimulus-pairing yes/no procedure (SPYN) to establish equivalence classes. During SPYN trials, two stimuli are presented during a trial. Stimulus pairs from the same class should occasion selection of the YES response option, while stimulus pairs from different classes should occasion selection of NO. A pretest-train-posttest sequence was used. During the pretest and posttest, both MTS and SPYN trials were used to assess all trained and derived relations. We also assessed the degree to which class-consistent responding would generalize to a card sorting task. During training of baseline relations, half of the participants were exposed only to MTS or only SPYN trials. Posttest results showed that the trial format used to train the baseline relations had no differential effects on class formation; however, participants exposed to MTS training mastered the baseline relations in fewer trials and required less time than those in the SPYN group. Implications of these results and suggestions for future studies are discussed.

Applied behavior analysis textbooks can be difficult to read for novice parties to the field. The terms behavior analysts use are complicated and often at odds with use in general conversation. In particular, the scientific works of B. F. Skinner can require multiple readings before the ideas are absorbed. However, he also wrote a novel, Walden Two, in 1948 that may serve as an easier introduction to the concepts and principles of behavior analysis. In this novel, Skinner presents a story of a utopian community based on the science of behavior. In describing a visit to the community, he works through different uses of behavior analysis through narrative vignettes. The purpose of this study was a content analysis of Walden Two viewed through the lens of current behavior analytic textbooks. The authors identified the main concepts in four different commonly used textbooks and searched Walden Two using keywords and colloquial translations to find plain explanations for behavioral principles. The authors found many of the concepts common to both the textbooks and the Behavior Analysis Certification Board’s Task List within the narrative of Walden Two. The authors will discuss their findings and the implications for use in introductory behavior analysis courses.

RBTs, BCaBAs, BCBAs, instructors of ABA

As Autism treatments based in Applied Behavior Analysis become widely spread and its results known to countries other than the United States, practitioners, families, and payors start seeking such treatments. In Brazil, practitioners seek training, however, the training mostly occurs via brief courses with no standardized curricula. A small number of specialization programs now offer a more structured curriculum, yet many professionals in Brazil travel to the United States to participate in short training and return advertising themselves as having expertise in specific techniques and practices within ABA without having the formal training required to be a BCBA. The best practices of supervision of an ABA-based program have not been directly trained in most Brazilian clinics, and we often observe supervisors with little to no actual relevant experience taking on roles they are not prepared to engage in. Resources to evaluate clinical competencies are in the beginning stages of being translated to Portuguese and adapted to Brazilian culture while a framework for addressing performance deficits of supervisees is being explored. Professional credentialing is under way, and we see a bright future for ABA services in Autism treatment in Brazil with some battles to win initially.

Supervisors who provide ABA services for individuals with learning and behavioral deficits.

With increasing interest in applied animal behavior (AAB), there is a temptation for researchers and practitioners from other fields to jump into AAB feet first. Despite the generality of behavioral principles across species, navigating new species, settings, or behavioral techniques can exceed one’s scope of competence. Rushing into new domains without doing due diligence can pose risks not only to ourselves but also to the animals, potentially harming their well-being, and posing a threat to the reputation of behavior analysis. In this symposium, we will focus on ethical and practical requirements aspiring researchers and practitioners should meet prior to entering AAB. We will highlight ethological and welfare issues to be aware of, as well as point to resources providing these skills and knowledge. We will discuss the importance of ensuring social validity for our procedures, and where to find current best practices. We will discuss all this using the scope of competence framework, referencing our field’s ethical guidelines. Moreover, the symposium extends support to experienced AAB professionals contemplating engagement with novel species or unfamiliar environments, facilitating more informed and responsible approaches to their practice. A panel discussion is also being offered and should be attended in concert with this symposium.

Basic instruction level Appropriate for BCBAs, researchers, students

The ethical considerations around human-animal interaction in the United States came into focus in the 1960’s with the Animal Welfare Act, and was furthered in scientific research with the requirements imposed by the Institutional Care and Use Committee (IACUC) in the 1980’s. Since this time, research on animal welfare and the accompanying ethical considerations have continued to change and evolve in the areas of companion animals, veterinary practice, zoological settings, and agriculture. The bulk of the research on animal welfare, and implementation into ethical guidelines, has widely gone on outside of the United States, and outside the field of behavior analysis. This talk will first provide a (brief) overview of the evolution of animal welfare, before moving onto some current questions and approaches to animal welfare being explored today. The talk will end with suggestions as to how behavior analysts, trained and competent in this area of science, can constructively join the charge for bettering the welfare of animals in a variety of settings.

This presentation delves into the complex interplay between companion animal agonistic behavior (i.e., behavior encompassing threat, attack, or defence; Broom & Fraser, 2015), behavior change strategies, ethical considerations, animal welfare standards, and legislation. Recognizing and acknowledging companion animals’ signs of fearful and/or aggressive behavior and its precursors is critical for promoting ethical practice and ensuring animal welfare. Using examples from the literature and practice, the most salient signs of fearful and aggressive behavior of cats, dogs, and horses are explained. Ethical trainers, who are also knowledgeable in early signs of agonistic behavior, prioritize the well-being and safety of animals and owners under their care. This is achieved by fostering trust and reducing fear, ultimately enhancing the lives of both animals and their human caregivers. The presentation also examines the intricate relationship between animal agonistic behavior and the ethical considerations it raises, particularly in the context of animal welfare standards, guidelines, and legislation from an international viewpoint.

With no known cause and no known cure, the treatment field for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is ripe with fad, unproven, and pseudoscientific practices. Applied behavior analysis practitioners should anticipate encountering these practices and be ready to identify and confront them. The BACB® Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts (Behavior Analyst Certification Board, 2020) requires registered certificants to be knowledgeable about pseudoscientific practices that could pose risk of harm to their clients and to advocate for the most effective treatment for their clients. Pseudoscientific practices have the potential to harm clients and the field of behavior analysis by wasting valuable resources such as time, money, and effort that could be better spent on evidence-based, effective interventions. This presentation will cover common characteristics of pseudoscientific practices and how to identify them through many examples of these practices that are currently and readily available. The presentation will also address how to avoid falling for pseudoscientific claims.

The quality of applied behavior analysis (ABA) services for individuals with autism depends in part on the quality of our behavioral interventions. Behavioral intervention quality can be conceptualized as the extent to which behavioral interventions are implemented with high treatment integrity and high interobserver agreement, over time. Research on practical and scalable methods for consistently assessing and improving treatment integrity and interobserver agreement in practice is lacking. In this paper the speaker will describe a practical model of managing for the quality of behavioral interventions using quality planning, quality control, and quality improvement which any Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA®) can implement. Additionally, the speaker will describe an estimation approach to treatment integrity assessment developed to make the model efficient; and eight months of data collected across eight Registered Behavior Technicians® and eight clients with autism, during routine clinical practice. This paper will conclude with steps any BCBA supervisor or director can take immediately to begin more effectively controlling the quality of their behavioral interventions with the current model.

This symposium addresses the behavior of staff working with individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities related to quality-of-life indices including engagement in activities, privacy, and receiving requested items and activities. In the first paper, an assessment showed low levels of support staff behavior encouraging student engagement in specials led by a specialized teacher (art or music teacher). An intervention based on the Performance Diagnostic Checklist-Human Services was implemented that resulted in increased staff behavior encouraging student engagement and an increase in student engagement. In the second paper, an assessment found that staff were not always ensuring the privacy of adolescents when they were engaging in private activities in a group home (e.g., dressing, showering, toileting). An intervention based on the Performance Diagnostic Checklist-Human Services led to staff providing private environments that matched the adolescents’ supervision needs. In the third paper, an assessment showed a low probability of staff responding to, or reinforcing, the mands of individuals they serve. Future directions and considerations regarding staff behavior related to these quality-of-life issues will be discussed.

Audience members should have knowledge of single-subject research methods and the basic verbal operants.

Establishing early observing responses to adult faces, adult voices, 2-dimensional (2D) stimuli, and 3-dimensional (3D) stimuli as conditioned reinforcers is a crucial first step to children's development. It allows children to contact reinforcement in ways they could not before, and thus contact new contingencies in their environments. Without consistent and reliable observing responses, the development of discrimination and identification skills would be impossible. Researchers have developed interventions and protocols to condition those observing responses as reinforcers. However, the complexity of accurately implementing these interventions has limited their widespread use among students with such needs. In this symposium, we will explore how we assessed the presence of foundational preverbal skills and discuss three new procedures designed to teach the conditioned reinforcement for observing adult voices, adult faces, and 2D stimuli delivered using tablet-based programs and teacher-delivered reinforcers. We explored if faces, voices, and 2D stimuli presented in real life also acquired reinforcing value for participants who mastered those tablet-based interventions.

Practitioners working with pre-verbal foundational students with limited observing responses

Looking at human faces is the most important prerequisite skill for social and academic development. As technology has arisen as a tool for the next generation education, virtual training to increase observing responses for children has advanced and developed. The objective of this pilot study is twofold. First, we attempted to condition virtual faces as reinforcers using the videos of faces presented on an iPad screen. Second, we assessed whether the stimulus control of virtual faces gained from the conditioning procedure transferred to the live faces. During the virtual face conditioning procedure, the researchers provided 7 phases of intervention. The phases consisted of different levels of facial effects that gradually faded out across the intervention. We used a delayed-multiple-probe design across participants and measured the effects of the intervention on the observing responses for faces during the virtual face probe, live face probe, generalized non-instructional setting probe, and joint attention probe. The researchers found that the virtual face conditioning procedure increased observing responses for faces during the virtual, live, and generalized non-instructional setting probe. However, the results were limited during the joint attention probe.

Behavior is everything we do. It is the outcome of (and provides the input for) multimodal exploration, perception, cognition, motivation, emotion, and social interaction. With age and experience, infant behavior becomes more flexible, adaptive, and functional. How does behavior develop? In the course of everyday activity, infants acquire immense amounts of time-distributed, variable, error-filled practice for every type of foundational behavior researchers have measured. Practice is largely self-motivated, spontaneous, and frequently not goal directed. Formal models suggest that infants’ natural practice regimen—replete with variability and errors—is optimally suited for building a flexible behavioral system to respond adaptively to the constraints and opportunities of continually changing skills in an ever-changing world. I conclude with a proposal that open video sharing will speed progress toward understanding behavior and its development and improve clinical interventions and practice.

Anyone interested in behavior, development, or the use of video for documentation or assessment.

Without adequate support, direct care provider positions may suffer from long hours, large workloads, challenges working with consumers and feelings of burnout (Gibson et al. 2009). This symposium includes three talks that serve as exemplars for how to design and conduct research related to complex workplace phenomena (e.g., having difficult conversations, establishing rapport, and preventing burnout). Ruby will share the findings of an experiment evaluating the effects of a training package consisting of computer-based instruction, a job aid, and a planning worksheet on supervisors’ performance when holding difficult conversations. Mason will describe the results of an experiment evaluating the effects of two conditions (i.e., one with several rapport-building opportunities and another condition without) on undergraduate students’ performance when completing a check processing task. In addition, Mason will share results about participants’ preferences for each condition. Bottini will summarize the findings of an online survey that contained the Stress Diagnostic Checklist and was designed to identify workplace variables maintaining burnout in direct care providers working in ABA agencies.

Presentations during this symposium will be delivered at an intermediate instruction level. Target audience members should be familiar with common staff training procedures (e.g., BST, CBI) to maximize learning during this symposium.

Behavior Analysts have a responsibility to promote inclusivity and acceptance within the field of ABA. First and foremost, analysts should recognize that individuals with differing educational backgrounds or certifications are not competitors, but rather colleagues and counterparts; a team whose goal is to have a positive impact on the lives we serve. With the perpetuation of negative attitudes towards differences and preferences of qualified professionals, a divide is created within the field of applied behavior analysis and has undoubtedly contributed to unnecessary barriers with collaboration, progress, and medically necessary treatment.The field of Applied Behavior Analysis has seen rapid and exponential growth in recent years, with a significant increase in demand for certified practitioners. For many years, the limited choices available in pursuing certification have been a significant hindrance to the growth and development of the populations we are all dedicated to serve. Families across the country have experienced service delays extending into months, and in some cases years due to the increase in need and plateau of available providers. Through embracing diversity and promoting inclusivity, we can create a more cohesive and effective person-centered community within the field of applied behavior analysis. Panelists will discuss the presence of clinical bias and preconceived notions which stand to threaten the very foundation behavior analysis was founded upon. Through meaningful discussion and the analyzing of cultural competency the panelists will identify the need for acceptance, tolerance and collaboration amongst providers to ensure practitioners provide their clients with the best possible treatment and outcomes.

Certificants of an accredited certifying entity such as the QABA Credentialing Board.

7% of US adults, and 1 in 5 members of Gen Z, identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer (LGBTQ, Gallup, 2022). These population data imply the presence of a large, and likely growing, number of LGBTQ+ behavior analysts. These individuals have much to offer our field, including a particular promise to address the clear need for LGBTQ+ affirming approaches to clinical service delivery. At the same time, LGBTQ+ trainees in allied health and science fields often report experiencing discrimination, non-acceptance, and/or non-inclusion in professional settings, which can decrease both professional engagement and personal wellbeing (Boustaini & Taylor, 2020; Hsueh et al., 2021). The goal of this panel is to catalyze behavior analysts’ thinking on how they can move toward more effective and culturally-responsive approaches to mentoring LGBTQ+ behavior analysts. Panelists from a range of career stages will speak to their lived experiences navigating mentor-mentee relationships in academic and clinical service settings. Both facilitators of and barriers to effective training will be discussed. Ample time will be devoted to audience Q&A, with an explicit invitation for LGBTQ+ mentees in attendance to pose questions that speak to their lived experiences.

Behavior analysts who serve as mentors or supervisors at any level of behavior-analytic practice, research, or training.

Intensive mand training is needed to teach children with austim and limited verbal skills to use communiticave behaviors to access desired items and actvites. Trainers frequently use prompting and prompt fading procedures, such as most-to-least promptng and time delay. The quick transfer procedure involves prompting a response and then immediately providing an opportunity to emit an independent response. Despite research on using the quick transfer procedure to teach tact and listener responses, we found no prior studies evaluating the quick transfer procedure to teach mands. We used a nonconcurrent multiple baseline design across 3 children with autism, and we taught 2-3 mands with each participant. The main dependent variable was the cumulative number of independent mands on first-trial probes. During quick transfer training, we analyzed within-session paterns of responding to inform individualized procedural adjustments. With these adjustments, the results indicated that the quick transfer procedure increased 2-3 independent mands with all 3 participants. We discuss the need for effective and efficient mand training procedures, the need to analyze motivating operations and stimulus control, and future research recommendations. Interobserver agreement data were collected for 35%, 33%, and 36% of sessions for Graham, Ned, and Michael, respectively. All had 100% IOA during probes.

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools, such as Chat GPT, are gaining popularity for their ability to generate human-like responses to requests. These chatbots use natural language processing and machine learning algorithms to produce these responses. This symposium will discuss two studies related to behavior analysis and AI. Study 1 evaluates ChatGPT’s performance on the 5th edition task list mock exam developed by Behavior Development Solutions (BDS). Results indicate that ChatGPT-3.5 scored 61% and ChatGPT-4.0 scored 89%. ChatGPT-4.0 performed best in experimental design (100%); measurement, data display, and interpretation (95%); ethics (94%; and behavior change procedures (94%). ChatGPT performed worst in selecting and implementing interventions (75%) and behavioral assessments (78%). In study 2, various generative AI chatbots performance was assessed across several PEAK Relational Training System programs. Preliminary results indicate that generative AI chatbots respond more accurately in the context of coordination in the equivalence modules (100% correct across 120 trials) but are less capable of accurate responding when provided with complex relations (i.e., opposition) in the PEAK transformation modules (35.83% across 120 trials). Implications, considerations and limitations for using generative AI in behavior analytical practice and research will be discussed.

Some background in relational frame theory and artificial intelligence technologies

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) built using Large Language Models (LLMs) has shown to be capable of augmenting the work and decisions of practitioners and researchers across various disciplines. One LLM, ChatGPT, is gaining public attention because its total capabilities, human-sounding linguistic performance, and widespread accessibility exceed competitor LLMs. In the current paper, we assessed the performance of two versions of ChatGPT on the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) 5th edition task list mock exam, developed by Behavior Development Solutions (BDS). Overall, ChatGPT-3.5 scored 61% and ChatGPT-4.0 scored 89%. ChatGPT-4.0 performed best in experimental design (100%); measurement, data display, and interpretation (95%); ethics (94%; and behavior change procedures (94%). ChatGPT-4.0 performed worst in selecting and implementing interventions (75%) and behavioral assessments (78%). Based on these results, we discuss the implications, considerations, and limitations that ChatGPT and other LLMs currently pose for behavior analysts working in behavior analytic education, practice, and research.

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools, such as ChatGPT, function as a chatbot where users can enter queries and receive a response in real time. These tools utilize AI algorithms, such as deep learning, to process and generate natural language. Relational frame theory (RFT) provides an explanation of how humans acquire and produce complex language, through direct reinforcement and derived relational responding. The PEAK Relational Training System is a curriculum that has been used to teach derived relational responding. The purpose of this study was to evaluate if various chatbots could make derived relations between stimuli. Several programs from the equivalence and transformation modules of PEAK were selected to run with ChatGPT-4, Bing Chat, and Perplexity. The selected PEAK programs included topics such as math, grammar, science, perspective taking, and social skills. Preliminary results indicate that ChatGPT-4 is capable of deriving equivalence relations in the context of coordination (ChatGPT-4, 100% correct across 120 trials; Perplexity, 91.67%) and is less capable of deriving complex relations in the context of opposition (ChatGPT-4, 35.83% across 120 trials; Perplexity, 21.67%). Implications for how AI might be used to simulate human language learning will be discussed, as well as AI’s ability to engage in complex language

After nearly 300 years of Spanish domination of Latin America, the first Venezuelan congress declared independence from the Spanish Crown on July 5, 1811. The declaration led to a series of events that culminated not only in the actual independence of Venezuela 10 years later in 1821, but also in that of Boliva, Colombia, Ecuador, Panamá, and Peru—known as the Bolivarian countries in reference to Simon Bolivar’s leadership in their liberation. Although, the first declaration of Venezuela’s independence initially failed, it constituted a cultural cusp where complex and evolving environmental conditions led to the coalescence of emerging individual behavioral contingencies, organizations’ dynamics and products, and unique non-recurring actions, which together changed the destiny of a portion of Latin America until this day. In this presentation, these independence movements are viewed as historical experiments that shed light on the complexity and selection of cultural phenomena.