Association for Behavior Analysis International

What makes us human? That is an old question, much older than the modern division of science. Today anthropogeny tries to explain the origin of humans with a multidisciplinary approach. To answer that question one first has to define culture. For some biology researchers, “culture is information that is capable of affecting individuals’ behaviour, which they acquire from other individuals through teaching, imitation and other forms of social learning. Here, ‘information’ includes knowledge, beliefs, values and skills.”. In behavior analysis, Skinner has shown a definition that can cover all of the meanings of previous attempts, with the advantage of specifying what and how it is learned; in his own words, “the usefulness of any lawful relation depends on the sharpness of reference of the terms in which it is stated.” In behavioral terms, culture is the set of conditional relations, or contingencies, which regulates the power to reinforce or punish members of a group. Large groups usually have some controlling agencies for different kinds of behavior.

This award will be accepted by Julia Todorov-Thomsen on behalf of João Todorov.

Although steep delay discounting is associated with various behavioral problems (e.g., substance abuse), it is best not conceived of as a character flaw such as impulsivity. Such a view, while part of a centuries-old tradition, does not distinguish between actions whose outcomes involve gains and losses, or between delayed outcomes and probabilistic outcomes, nor does it acknowledge that how steeply an individual discounts one of these kinds of outcome often is independent of how steeply they discount other kinds. Therefore, consistent with a behavior-analytic view, we advocate an approach that does not require making judgments about the character of the individual. We show that when drug- (i.e., cocaine, nicotine) dependent individuals are compared with controls, a substantial number of the drug-dependent individuals discount delayed monetary rewards less steeply than the average (median) member of the control group. Moreover, a substantial number of the controls discount more steeply than the average drug-dependent individual. Finally, many everyday choice situations differ from those studied in most discounting experiments in that they involve both gains and losses as well as qualitatively different outcomes that may be both delayed and probabilistic. Past research on discounting that focused on simpler choice situations has provided a solid foundation, but research on more complicated situations is needed. The principles revealed by such research both inform the choices of treatment providers and improve our understanding of the complicated decisions that people face every day.

Len Green received his undergraduate degree from the City College of New York (CCNY) and his Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. After completing post-doctoral research, he ventured west of the Mississippi (despite thinking he still would remain east of the river) where he is Professor of Psychological & Brain Sciences and Professor of Economics at Washington University in St. Louis, as well as Director of Undergraduate Studies. His research concerns choice and decision-making in rats, pigeons, and people, with a particular interest in models of self-control, impulsivity, and choice and decision-making. He is one of the developers of ‘behavioral economics,’ a transdisciplinary field that combines the experimental methodology of psychology with the theoretical constructs of economics. He is co-author of the book Economic Choice Theory: An Experimental Analysis of Animal Behavior, and editor of Advances in Behavioral Economics, the third volume of which is subtitled Substance Use and Abuse. His research has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute on Aging, and the McDonnell Center for Higher Brain Function. He served on the Executive Board of the Society for the Quantitative Analysis of Behavior (SQAB), was President of the Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (SEAB), and was Editor of the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (JEAB). He is a Fellow of the Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI) and the Association for Psychological Science (APS), and was President of Division 25 (Behavior Analysis) of the American Psychological Association. He received the Victor G. Laties Award for Lifetime Service from the Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior in 2018.

When I arrived at the University of South Wales (then the University of Glamorgan) in 2008, I was the sole behaviour analyst in a department comprised mainly of cognitive and health psychologists. Hired to lead an undergraduate programme in child development, I immediately began the task of infusing behaviour analysis into any space I could find or create. Since that time, I have worked with a team of incredible colleagues to build undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in behaviour analysis, develop the first university-based behaviour analysis clinic in Europe, and capitalise on opportunities to demonstrate the breadth and power of behaviour analysis across underserved populations and settings. In this presentation, I will share some of the outcomes of these endeavours and analyse the contingencies that generated them.

Jennifer L. Austin received her Ph.D. in Psychology from the Florida State University, where she had the privilege of studying under the supervision of Dr. Jon Bailey. For over 20 years, she has worked as a behaviour analytic researcher and clinician, whilst also playing a key role in the development of behaviour analysis programmes in the United States and the United Kingdom. She currently serves as Professor of Psychology and Head of Behaviour Analysis at the University of South Wales, where directs the MSc Behaviour Analysis and Therapy and PgDip Behaviour Analysis Supervised Practice programmes. She also serves as the Clinical Director of the USW Behaviour Analysis Clinic, which is the only university-based behaviour analysis clinic in Europe. Dr. Austin’s research and clinical interests have focussed primarily on behaviour analytic applications in mainstream education, as well as applying our science to populations that are relatively underserved by the field, including children who have experienced trauma and prisoners. She has been a key driver in the development of the UK Society for Behaviour Analysis, which seeks to protect consumers of behaviour analysis, whilst also working toward professional recognition of behaviour analysts in the UK. Dr. Austin has published over 30 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, and is a former associate editor of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, Behavior Analysis in Practice, and Education and Treatment of Children.

Serendipity is “the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way”. So, it was serendipitous that Jock Millenson, a Columbia PhD in operant conditioning, moved to London in the 1960’s, because this led to the beginnings of behaviour analysis in Ireland in the 1970’s. By the late ‘60’s Jock had a research position at Oxford University and in a brief time window he taught me at undergraduate and postgraduate levels and introduced me to Leo Baker who was in a faculty position at Trinity College Dublin. When I moved to Northern Ireland in the mid-70’s, Leo and I established a small group to support behaviour analysis in Ireland. This began as entirely concerned with EAB but gradually became more involved with ABA. To help deal with applied and professional issues it morphed into the Division of Behaviour Analysis of the Psychological Society of Ireland around 15 years ago. Now, behaviour analysis is taught in most of the universities in Ireland, North and “South”, and there are three well-established ABA Masters programs. Masters and Doctoral graduates from Irish programs are in teaching and professional roles across the world, including a group of Ulster graduates in the Middle East. Researchers trained in this Irish network have contributed substantially in both basic and applied fields. It has been a great pleasure to witness this growth which I am sure will continue.

I obtained my doctorate in Experimental Psychology from Oxford University in 1974 since when I have been in academic posts in Northern Ireland where I have been a full professor since 1986. I published textbooks on behaviour analysis in 1979, 1996, 2000, 2002. As well as teaching undergraduate and postgraduate courses, I have successfully supervised 48 students who have obtained PhDs in fields including, experimental analysis of behaviour, applied behaviour analysis, psychopharmacology, behavioural neuroscience, experimental psychology, applied psychology. Three PhD’s were concerned with behavioural strategies to address environmental issues. In 1977 I was co-founder of the group, Behaviour Analysis in Ireland which became a chapter of ABAI. In 2004, the group became the Division of Behaviour Analysis of the Psychological Society of Ireland, and I am currently the Division chair. I organised the Third European Meeting for the Experimental Analysis of Behaviour in Dublin, Ireland 1999, and have co-organised 13 annual conferences of the Division of Behaviour Analysis from 2007 to 2019, variously in Dublin, Galway and Athlone. I have been a keynote speaker at the European Association for Behaviour Analysis in Milan in 2006, in Crete, Greece in 2010, at the Brazilian Association for Behaviour Analysis, Salvador 2011, and at the 30th International Conference of the Spanish Society for Comparative Psychology 2018, and at the 10th International Conference of the Association for Behavior Analysis International in Stockholm, September 2019.

In 1968, Baer, Wolf and Risley wrote: “Better applications [of behavioral science], it is hoped, will lead to a better state of society, to whatever extent the behavior of its members can contribute to the goodness of a society.” I grew up with that idea and passion—even before I was their student, but they had the practical science. Only a few things from ABA have been brought to population-level scale—with measured population-level benefits. My talk is how my colleagues and I have achieved population-level impact on violence, mental health, addictions and academics using ABA and other proven science. The driving example in this talk, and paper, uses the Good Behavior Game, because it was the first ABA publication on a whole classroom implementation of ABA. Scaling up and scaling out GBG is a function having worked with Sesame Street, implementing my national child-safety effort in NZ, implementing an ABA tobacco control strategy, and understanding and building a business based on sales rather than grants. Achieving population-level benefits with ABA is unlikely to happen as a direct result of an NIH grant. The contingencies are not aligned. Both the Good Behavior Game at micro level and as our international prevention-science company involve selection by consequences to achieve the vision that Baer, Wolf and Risley envisioned. My talk lays a step-by-step pathway to population-level impact of ABA informed prevention science that Don, Mont and Todd foresaw 50 years ago, but did not live to see. From these lessons, we might succeed in bettering the world they predicted.

Dennis D. Embry received his Ph.D. from the University of Kansas, focused on using ABA for population-level efforts with Sesame Street and the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety—ultimately implementing that work throughout New Zealand. Dr. Embry is president/senior scientist at PAXIS Institute in Tucson, and co-investigator at both Johns Hopkins Center for Prevention and the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy.  Founded in 1998, PAXIS Institute is an international prevention science company, focused on preventing mental, emotional, behavioral and related physical disorders at population-level. He is a SAMHSA/CMHS National Advisory Council member, the board of the National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health, and the scientific advisory board of the Children’s Mental Health Network. In the 1990s, he implemented the first RCT at population-level to reduce youth violence (PeaceBuilders) using ABA principles. In 1999, he began replicating the longitudinal Hopkin’s studies of the Good Behavior Game. Today Dr. Embry’s prevention efforts affecting more than one million children in 38 states, multiple provinces of Canada, and EU countries with multiple studies showing population-level reduction of mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders using PAX GBG and evidence-base kernels. As grad student, Dr. Baer (his advisor) asked Dennis why he wanted to study ABA having a political and history background, the answer: “I want to use science to make our world a better place for children.”

A fortunate part of my early academic environment was exposure to behavior analysis, which has been critical to my investigation of drugs, addiction, risk behavior, and therapeutic pharmacology. One topic is behavioral economic demand analysis, which I have used to examine the relations among tobacco products, such as traditional cigarettes and e-cigarettes, and the effects of a potential cigarette nicotine-reduction policy. Another topic within the realm of behavioral economics is delay discounting. I have conducted studies helping to identify delay discounting as a fundamental behavioral process underlying addiction across a variety of drugs. My research has applied delay discounting to understand risky sexual behavior in the form of condom use decisions. My drug administration studies show that cocaine and alcohol acutely increase sexual risk behavior by decreasing likelihood of condom use through a delay discounting mechanism. I have conducted drug administration studies with drugs from nearly all drug classes, investigating abuse liability and behavioral effects. These have included first-in-humans studies and studies of novel or atypical drugs such as salvinorin A, the active agent in Salvia divinorum. Finally, I have conducted extensive research with the psychedelic drug psilocybin, including studies showing large long-term reductions in depression and anxiety in cancer patients, and high smoking cessation success rates in treatment-resistant smokers. Overall, my research has provided me the opportunity to speak to the media about a larger number of topics such as: the therapeutic potential of psychedelic drugs; novel psychoactive drugs largely unknown to the public; the risks associated with alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, and other drugs; the effects of drugs on sex and sexual risk, and the changing landscape of tobacco/nicotine and cannabis products. My behavior analytic background has not only been instrumental in conducting my research, but also in responsibly communicating about these topics to the public.

Matthew W. Johnson, Ph.D., has broad expertise on psychoactive drugs, addiction, and risk behavior. Early contributions include research contributing to the recognition that delay discounting, or the devaluation of future consequences, is a fundamental behavioral process broadly relevant to addiction. His early research also validated methods and developed analytic techniques that have since become widely adopted in delay discounting research. He has conducted tobacco/nicotine research throughout his career, determining the role of nicotine and nonpharmacological factors in tobacco use and addiction. This includes recent research on e-cigarettes and current research funded by the Food and Drug Administration using behavioral economics to evaluate cigarettes with potentially modified risk. Applying behavioral economics to sexual risk behavior, Matt has conducted seminal research implicating delay discounting in condom use decisions. He published the first human research determining the effects of cocaine administration on sexual decision making and risk, providing important information for addressing the high rates of HIV among cocaine users. Matt is also a leading expert on the effects of psychedelic drugs and has conducted seminal work that has expanded basic and therapeutic interest in these compounds, including research suggesting potential therapeutic effects of psilocybin in cancer-related psychiatric distress and smoking cessation. He has conducted studies administering nearly all classes of psychoactive drugs. Matt has published 119 articles and chapters including studies on cocaine, tobacco/nicotine, methamphetamine, alcohol, psilocybin, dextromethorphan, salvinorin A, GHB, cannabis, opioids, benzodiazepines, and cathinone-like compounds (“bath salts”). He has been internationally sought as a science communicator on psychoactive drugs and addiction, being interviewed by the CBS 60 Minutes, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Show, Fox Business News, BBC, National Public Radio including Morning Edition and the Kojo Nnamdi Show, Labyrint (a public television show in the Netherlands), the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Globe and Mail, the Daily Mail, USA Today, CBS News, the Baltimore Sun, the Atlantic, the Washingtonian, Psychology Today, Scientific American, and Nature, among others. Matt was quoted and his research was described in Michael Pollan’s best-selling book How to Change Your Mind: How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us about Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence.

The purpose of these three studies was to evaluate different variables that may impact skill acquisition in individuals with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The first paper evaluated the order in which stimuli were presented (i.e., sample-first or comparison-first) during receptive discrimination in six children. Results suggest that all participants learned faster during the sample-first condition. The second paper examined if the participants acquired receptive identification and tacting of unknown stimuli presented in array of stimuli that included directly trained tacts. Results suggest that receptive responding may emerge after tact training and that for some individuals tacting and receptive identification may be acquired through exclusion. Finally, the last paper investigated whether the form of visual stimuli affects the acquisition of object-to-picture matching in three young men. Results suggest that the use of stimuli with greater visual similarity to the target object may yield greater efficiency in mastering object-to-picture relations for some individuals diagnosed with ASD.

RBTs, BCaBAs, BCBAs, graduate students

Behavior Analysts in the applied setting have a unique opportunity to contribute to a robust literature base by providing replication of existing best practices, and by evaluating treatment models rooted in behavior analytic literature. We are compelled by our ethical code (and our funding sources) to continue to disseminate evidence that Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is an effective treatment for Autism Spectrum Disorder. The call to disseminate, combined with the opportunity of capturing progress in real-world settings, is a powerful argument for conducting meaningful applied research. In practice, there are numerous potential hurdles to conducting quality applied research. This panel will propose an approach for creating infrastructure to support in-house research initiatives, as well as strategies for implementation within the time and resource constraints faced by practicing Behavior Analysts. Additionally, the panelists will review the benefits of mentorship and collaboration between academics and practitioners, as well as self-reported benefits to clinicians who participate in research efforts in the applied setting.

Behavior Analysts

Individuals without a fluent speaking repertoire may show disproportionate levels of strength across samples of verbal operants. Verbal behavior is inherently social in that its reinforcement is mediated by a listener. Common examples of verbal behavior within the applied literature include conditioning mand, tact, echoic, and intraverbal control. Sampling responses from these four operant classes allows us to infer the overall strength of these populations of behavior, and analyze differences in their relative strength. The null hypothesis for this type of analysis is that the levels of strength across these four operants is proportionate, a phenomenon commonly described as “fluency” that facilitates transfer of stimulus control across changing environmental conditions. The alternative hypothesis is that the levels of strength across these four operants is disproportionate, a phenomenon commonly described as “autism” that inhibits transfer of stimulus control due to certain response prepotencies. Assessment strategies and implications for treatment will be discussed.

Individuals without derivational stimulus control may show disproportionate levels of strength across samples of intraverbal relations. Derivational stimulus control refers to the extent to which listeners effectively respond to verbal stimuli along a generalization gradient. Common examples of derivational stimulus control within the applied literature include reflexivity, symmetry, and transitivity. Sampling responses from these three operant classes allows us to infer the overall strength of these populations of behavior, and analyze differences in their relative strength. The null hypothesis for this type of analysis is that the levels of strength across these three operants is proportionate, a phenomenon commonly described as “listener comprehension” that facilitates prolonged verbal episodes and facilitates the development of other social skills. The alternative hypothesis is that the levels of strength across these three operants is disproportionate, a phenomenon commonly described as “autism” that inhibits transfer of stimulus control due to certain response prepotencies. Assessment strategies and implications for treatment will be discussed.

In this panel discussion we will identify parent barrier behaviors and treatment indications resulting from parent barrier behaviors. We have developed a basic checklist of parent barrier behaviors observed in an ABA clinic in Arizona and corresponding data will be described. These identified parent barrier behaviors have been hypothesized to impact treatment duration and ultimately impact the child’s long-term access to effective ABA intervention. Many of the families with high barrier behaviors often begin ABA services with various providers in a geographic area with limited duration of services at each location. These barrier behaviors are often seen in various settings with the caregiver, therapy, school, and other medical providers. This checklist was designed to identify what barrier behaviors may be exhibited by parents or caregivers, establish a threshold score to indicate a specific treatment focus, and a suggestion for high intensity parent training at the onset of ABA therapy and other treatment indications should be discussed. The goal is to focus on parent barrier behaviors and address them behavior analytically in order to increase duration of effective ABA services for the child.

BCBAs in practice, BCBA administrators that may have policy control, practitioners that have direct contact with parents on a regular basis.

Efficient and effective training on evidence-based practices including applied behavior analysis (ABA) based interventions may not be accessible to caregivers and professionals implementing interventions. In order for caregivers and professionals to effectively implement ABA-based interventions, training and ongoing coaching are critical. However, numerous training barriers associated with traditional didactic models exist (e.g., time, costs, scheduling, shortage of qualified individuals). Telehealth is a model that can address these barriers and support individuals as they learn to implement ABA-based interventions. Telehealth is the use of online and communication technologies to deliver explicit training and ongoing coaching from a distance. This presentation aims to address the need for efficient and effective training on ABA-based interventions through the use of telehealth. The results of four single-case design studies in which caregivers and professionals (e.g., teachers, early intervention providers, and parents) were taught and coached via telehealth to implement ABA-based interventions are presented. Data regarding implementation fidelity, child outcomes, and social validity are shared.

Practicing BCBAs

This single-case investigation was designed to evaluate the effects of telehealth training on practitioner implementation of a naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention (NDBI). Six general education preschool practitioners engaged in an intervention with six children with varying disabilities in inclusive classroom settings. The telehealth training package included a collaborative approach to intervention planning, online training module, video self-evaluation, and performance feedback via videoconferencing. Following telehealth training, practitioners reached criteria for implementation fidelity and increased communication opportunities. Additionally, child participants increased communication behaviors above baseline levels. All behaviors generalized to a different activity context and maintained over time. Social validity was measured and results suggest high levels of acceptability for the telehealth training package.

Applied Behaviour Analysis is the basis of the most effective interventions for the treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorders. However, there is a significant shortage in appropriately qualified individuals (i.e., Board Certified Behavior Analysts; BCBA®) that can design and oversee the implementation of individually-tailored interventions that meet service-recipients needs. To address this gap in professional training and service provision, telehealth has emerged as a model that makes use of technology to increase treatment efficiency and accessibility by providing remote training and supervision of behaviour analytic treatment. Given existing research on the use of telehealth presents important methodological flaws, rigorous experiments are warranted before telehealth can be classified as evidence-based practice. Our work has focused on the creation and experimental testing of two parent and professional training packages that use instruction and live coaching to teach skills that promote communication and independent living skills. In this presentation, we will share data on efficacy in terms of parent/professional skill acquisition and child outcomes, fidelity of implementation and social validity.

Growing evidence suggests complementary findings in research on verbal development and relational responding. A large body of research in relational responding demonstrates stimulus control involving complex human behavior and communication including language. Simultaneously, decades of research findings in verbal development and applications identified stimulus control for the range of cusps and how this changes children’s prognosis. This program of research suggests experiential and reinforcement sources of stimulus control that lead to incidental language learning as bidirectional naming (BiN) and the component unidirectional naming (UniN). Another body of research on BiN increasingly points to the presence of BiN as a facilitator of relational responding. We present and discuss two papers whose findings show correlational and functional relations between the presence of and onset of the BiN cusp and arbitrary derived relations (AAR). Each body of research represents extensions of behavior analysis to domains traditionally seen as exclusive properties of cognitive psychology. Findings showing the intercept of stimulus control for these lines of investigation are evidence of a more mature science that promises a bright future for the science of behavior.  

Intermediate level, behavior scientists,

Bidirectional Naming and derived relational responding have both commonly been used to explain the accelerated rate in word learning that often occurs within the second to third year of life. However, there has been limited research on how these repertoires may intersect and relate to each other. Across two analyses we evaluated the relation between Bidirectional Naming (BiN) and derived relational responding demonstrated by 31 preschool students with and without diagnoses. Within the first experiment we tested the presence and strength of relations between BiN, arbitrary and non-arbitrary relations which were mutually and combinatorial entailed. Data from the first analysis indicated a strong, significant correlation between participants’ degree of BiN and scores on tests of derived relations. The second analysis compared the mean differences between the establishment of arbitrary unimodal and cross-modal relations for 18 preschool students, selected from participants included within Experiment 1. The data indicated a significant difference for both cross-modal and unimodal derived relations. The obtained results of both experiments have implications for research in how Bidirectional Naming and derived relational responding may lead to learning at accelerated rates and in new ways.

This invited panel is sponsored by ABAI’s new Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Board; it represents the first of an annual series of program events highlighting topics identified as central to success in DEI achievements. After a brief review of the Board’s activities this year by Carol Pilgrim, the panel discussion will focus on the critical issue of recruitment efforts in DEI. Dr. Jomella Watson-Thompson will address recruitment strategies and challenges within practice and field settings, Dr. Sarah Bloom will discuss recruitment of university students, and Dr. Mike Perone will speak to recruitment practices targeting university faculty and administrators. Time for questions and comments from the audience will be included to allow for sharing relevant experiences and lessons learned. Future panels in the DEI series will target themes including retaining individuals once recruited, mentoring programs, inclusion and equity strategies at the organization level, inclusion and equity strategies at the individual level, and others.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.

Dr. Jomella Watson-Thompson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Applied Behavioral Science, and the Director of the Center for Service Learning at the University of Kansas. She is also an Associate Director with the Center for Community Health and Development. She attained a Ph.D. in Behavioral Psychology and a Masters of Urban Planning from the University of Kansas. She applies behavioral science methods and interventions to improve how communities address issues related to community health and development. Her research has focused on behavioral-community approaches to neighborhood development, substance abuse prevention, and youth and community violence prevention. Dr. Thompson supports community-engaged scholarship using participatory approaches to address social determinants or factors that may contribute to disparities, particularly for marginalized groups and communities. She has researched the effects of community-based processes and behavioral-community interventions to promote mobilization and change in communities. Dr. Thompson has co-authored articles on community capacity-building, youth development, and prevention and received numerous federal, state and local funding awards. She is as an Associate Editor with Behavior and Social Issues. Dr. Thompson has extensive experience providing training, technical support and evaluation for coalitions and community-based initiatives.

This symposium involves studies investigating the effects of lag schedules and teacher presentation rates on academic, play, and social behavior of children with autism. The first presentation will discuss using a lag schedule to teach variable play behavior in preschoolers with autism, and assessing preference for variable or repetitive play. The second presentation will discuss using fixed and varied instructional arrangements to establish varied intraverbal responses. The third presentation will discuss the role of intertrial intervals of instruction presentation on skill acquisition and rates of problem behavior. The final presentation will discuss skill acquisition and problem behavior rates during two different intertrial intervals of instruction presentation, as well as student preference for instruction presentation rate. The discussant will provide comments on each of these studies.

BACBs, graduate students, researchers

Although individuals with autism tend to behave repetitively, certain reinforcement contingencies (e.g., lag schedules) can be used to increase and maintain behavioral variability. In a lag schedule, reinforcement is only delivered for responses that differ from recent responses. We designed the present study to promote variable play behavior in preschoolers with autism interacting with playsets and figurines, and to assess preference for variability and repetition contingencies. Limited data have shown a preference for variability in pigeons and college students, but this effect has not yet been explored in clinical populations. In this experiment, three preschoolers with autism were taught to discriminate between variability and repetition contingencies. With one set of discriminative stimuli, only play behaviors that met a lag schedule were reinforced, and with another, only repetitive play behaviors were reinforced. After differential performance was established, participants were presented with a choice between the two sets of stimuli, and participants completed a play session with the corresponding contingency. Two participants showed a slight preference for variability over repetition, and the other showed indifference. These results indicate that some individuals with autism play repetitively, not because they prefer repetitive play, but because they would require additional teaching to play variably.

Research on the importance of antecedent variables when teaching persons with autism has the potential to provide pragmatic methodologies for the applied setting. This study replicated and extended the work of Roxburgh and Carbone (2013) on the effects of the rate of teacher-presented instructional demands as an independent variable. An alternating treatment design was used to evaluate the effects of the rate of teacher presented instructional demands across three intertrial intervals (1 s, 5 s, 10 s). Dependent variables were frequency of problem behavior, frequency of teaching trials for target skills, frequency of error responses, frequency of mastered skills presented, and rates of reinforcement during discrete trial instruction with four students with autism. Results indicated that reduction of intertrial intervals resulted in a commensurate increase in rates of socially mediated positive reinforcement, increased rates of instructor presented teaching trials, and a decrease in frequency of problem behavior. Issues related to the importance of replication, the role of translational research in applied settings, and conceptual analyses of the role of motivating operation on the occurrence of problem behavior will also discussed.

This study was a partial replication and an extension of Roxburgh and Carbone (2012). The purpose of the study was three-fold. First, we evaluated the effects of varied teacher-presented instructional demands (inter trial interval = 1s, 5s) on the opportunities of respond, the number of responses emitted, percentage of correct responses, and percentage of intervals with disruptive behavior for three children with autism. Second, we compared the effects of varied teacher presentation rates on responding, especially the accuracy of responding and occurrences of disruptive behavior during easy and hard tasks. Third, we used a concurrent-chain procedure to assess participant preferences for teacher presentation rates during easy tasks. An alternating treatment embedded in ABAB without baseline design was used to compare the effects of the two treatment conditions (inter trial interval = 1s, 5s) and two task conditions (easy and hard). The results of the study demonstrated that as compared to extended intertrial interval (ITI), brief ITI increased the rate of instructional demands presented, rate of learner responses emitted, and rate of correct responding during both tasks while increasing percentage of correct responding and reducing problem behaviors during hard tasks only. During easy tasks, the participants’ choices between two rates were inconsistent, suggesting avoidance contingency might have been in effect.

Neuroscience constitutes a branch of the biological sciences that is easily integrated with Behavior Analysis in several ways, including direct analysis of neural signals in behavioral experiments, the use of behavioral approaches to help rewire the brain and improve lost skills after brain injury, and theoretical integration of biological measures and neurological events into the behavioral paradigm. This symposium will present varied basic, applied, and theoretical work in the Neuro-operant realm currently conducted at the University of North Texas in association with the Beatrice H. Barrett Endowment for Research in Neuro-Operant Relations. Two basic talks will integrate physiological, neurological, and behavioral data into an analysis of covertly mediated stimulus equivalence, and into an examination of humor responses. An applied project will show the results of using a Wii gaming system to improve rehabilitation of balance deficits after brain injury. Finally, the divide between stimulus and response when considering events occurring inside the skin will be considered on a theoretical and practical level.

The Wii Fit U game utilizes a Wii Balance Board™ (WBB) that provides precise feedback contingencies, thereby potentially increasing the dose of quality therapy with or without the presence of a therapist during post-stroke rehabilitation. Additionally, an engaging video-game could improve treatment adherence, a critical aspect of making progress, by potentially increasing the rate and quality of reinforcement embedded in therapy. The present study has three aims: 1) Develop a behaviorally rigorous therapy for improving balance in chronic stroke victims using the Wii Fit U and WBB; 2) Evaluate the program’s effects on Berg Balance Scale (BBS) and Center of Balance (COB) scores using a within-subject experimental design; 3) Assess social validity of behavioral gains by evaluating the program’s effects on participant’s "subjective balance confidence" (i.e., their Activities-Specific Balance Confidence (ABC) scores). A reversal design is used wherein the experimental gameplay condition and no intervention condition are alternated for 6 to 10 weeks. It is expected that participants will exhibit greater performance in the game as well as better BBS and COB score improvement when the Wii Fit U game is administered at a high therapeutic dose, and that increased ABC scores will correlate with improved BBS and COB scores.

While the descriptive understanding of stimulus equivalence is widely accepted within the field of behavior analysis, its interpretation is more contentious. The emergence of reflexivity, symmetry, and transitivity without direct reinforcement of the responses that make up these relations is puzzling in light of our basic understanding of reinforcement contingencies. The present study explores the role of covert verbal behavior in the emergence of equivalence relations in an arbitrary matching to sample task using participants recruited from the general population, as well as college students. Participants engage in a computerized matching to sample task with arbitrary stimuli under three different conditions. Baseline consists of matching to sample training of four conditional discriminations using arbitrary stimuli yielding two, three-member equivalence classes and tests for the resulting symmetry, transitivity and equivalence relations. The order of the two experimental phases is counterbalanced across participants and these phases consist of one of two conditions, engaging in behavior that was either compatible with covert verbal behavior or incompatible with covert verbal behavior concurrently with the tests for equivalence. A final phase consists of a return to baseline. Behavioral data collection is ongoing and EEG data collection will follow to assess N400 response changes across conditions.

The current symposium outlines dissemination efforts in countries beyond the United States of America and in fields beyond autism, with the aim of inspiring the audience to become better ambassadors for applied behavior analysis (ABA). Our first paper reviews the power of social media and the challenges that can be faced when becoming a social behavioral influencer. The second paper examines the current status of the dissemination of ABA in the United Arab Emirates in the Middle East, including an overview of efforts related to the translation of behavior analytic works and collaborations with non-behavior analytic professional peers. The third paper brings us into the field of health and fitness, and specifically football, with an evaluation of the antecedent and consequent components of the standard Behavioral Skills Training procedure. Our final paper will discuss current growth rates of certified behavior analysts, barriers to dissemination, and avenues for support in Africa. The discussant will highlight and integrate the contributions of all presenters in relation to and under the framework of her #dobetter professional development movement.

Basic level event designed for: BCaBAs, BCBAs, BCBA-Ds and anyone interested in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and its dissemination.

“Behavior analysts are responsible for disseminating behavior analysis by making information about the science available to the public, professional peers, and government officials” (Kelly, Martin, Dillenburger, Kelly & Miller, 2019; p. 440). This presentation examines the current status of the dissemination of applied behavior analysis (ABA) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), one of six member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council in the Middle East (Kelly et al., 2016). Dissemination efforts will be shared including: the initiation of the first graduate Verified Course Sequence in the country; presentations at non-behavior analytic conferences; translation of behavior analytic works; and collaborations with non-behavior analytic professional peers including experts in educational technology, and members of the Ministry of Education. Finally, an overview will be provided of results from an online survey that investigated levels of awareness of autism and ABA amongst 232 pediatricians in the UAE. The results indicated suboptimal awareness of the causes and characteristics of autism as well as alarming support for unestablished interventions for individuals. Dissemination efforts with pediatricians will be shared.

Behavioral Skills Training (BST) has been a common procedure to help teach or improve various behaviors for some time, and it involves instruction, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback. However, there might be instances in which some components of BST are not necessary. For example, common coaching techniques in American rules Football involve a coach providing antecedent instruction without detailed feedback immediately after a rehearsal, and the players appear to often learn the desired skill. This means that there might be times when antecedent instruction might be sufficient when attempting to change behavior, and consequent feedback could be an unnecessary laborious task. Thus, we evaluated antecedent and consequent components of the standard BST procedure to teach proper tackling form to 3 football players. Overall we found that instruction and modeling helped all players improve their behavior. However, the immediate feedback following rehearsal proved to help all participants improve their behavior to desired levels. Procedures, results, and implications will be discussed.

Individuals who are unable to use conventional speech are at risk for challenging behavior, social isolation, and poor long term outcomes. Approximately 30% of children with moderate-severe disabilities are at high risk for complex communication needs; most of these individuals would benefit from AAC. AAC has been supported as effective for a variety of implementers, procedures, and target outcomes. However, many questions remain regarding the quality of reporting this research, critical outcomes, and features of implementation. Without this information, it is difficult to determine when and how AAC-based interventions are most effective. Comprehensive systematic reviews examining the impacts of AAC for individuals with complex communication needs, including individuals with autism and intellectual disabilities, were conducted by the presenters and their research teams. The presenters will synthesize available evidence about AAC to address the methodological quality of the literature, effects of AAC intervention on speech production, the use of telehealth in AAC interventions, and factors related to parent-implementation of AAC-based interventions. Participants will gain an understanding of critical points related to implementing AAC and will be able to summarize the current state of the science.

Researchers, Graduate Students, Behavior Analysts

In this symposium, four studies will be described that evaluated procedures to facilitate emergent responding and/or equivalence class formation with adults of typical development or adults diagnosed with ASD. In the first study, equivalence-based instruction (EBI) was compared to a PowerPoint lecture to teach differential reinforcement procedure descriptors to college students. In the second study, EBI was compared to self-study of videos to learn examples of American Sign Language and to combine them in novel ways using both listener and speaker behavior. In the third study, adult participants were trained on nutrition Information for different food items using conditional-discrimination training. In the last study, adults with ASD learned classes of stimuli representing computer hardware (i.e., hard drive, CPU fan, RAM, processor, and power supply) using EBI and then demonstrated the emergence of untaught relations, intraverbals, and assembly of a hard drive. Collectively, these studies inform best practices of procedures used to promote emergent responding and equivalence class formation across a broad domain of skill areas.

College instructors / BCBAs

Mastery criteria are a ubiquitous component of skill acquisition programs; however, there is limited research on its use. Studies in this symposium will cover a range of issue related to an educator's use of criteria. Our first talk discusses data analysis and how the continuity of data collection affects mastery. The second and third talks manipulate an aspect of mastery criterion and evaluate its effect on skill acquisition. The final talk focuses on appropriate criteria and instruction to promote eye contact.

Researchers and practitioners who design educational interventions for children with developmental disabilities

Data collection procedures must be chosen to work for the clinician, rather than expending inefficient effort on gathering underutilized information. Balancing clinician use of time with effective instructional interventions and decision-making. This study applied a multiple baseline across participants design to compare the two approaches using parallel data-based decision protocols regarding the impact on client skill mastery, false mastery indicators, rate of instruction, and overall clinician intervention decisions. The data collection systems of the programming for 6 children with autism were manipulated in a private day school in suburban Virginia. Licensed special education teachers supervised by behavior analysts designed the skill acquisition programming. The data indicate that while mastery of targets was similar between the conditions, significant differences were found in teacher decision-making effort, rate of instruction, and targets falsely flagged as mastered. Exploring the potential effects a data collection system may have on client skill acquisition and the efficient use of limited clinician time can help service providers determine which systemic processes they will use in their practice.

In humans, eye contact is one of the most important nonverbal communicative behaviors. However, deficits in eye contact are characteristic of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and other neurodevelopmental disabilities. Interventions targeting increasing eye contact in this population are important as eye contact can be conceptualized as a behavioral cusp that allows the individual to access novel environments and contingencies. Previous research has used a variety of procedures to increase eye contact in this population with limited success and arbitrarily determined mastery criteria. Thus, the purpose of this presentation is to discuss three studies which evaluated eye contact. In the first study, researchers used descriptive analyses to determine normative levels of eye contact in a sample population. In the second study, researchers used eye tracking software to increase eye contact in individuals with disabilities and evaluated generalization across settings. In the third study, researchers used a progressive model to teach eye contact and evaluated maintenance during follow-up probes. Limitations of these studies are discussed along with suggestions for future research on increasing eye contact in individuals with developmental disabilities and programming for generalization and maintenance.

Since its inception in the late 1960s Organizational Behavior Management (OBM) has been applied across a wide variety of industries. Within these various industries different goals, populations, and procedures make OBM one of the broadest applications of behavior analysis. However, the differences across settings require a range of skills in an OBM practitioner that include industry specific terminology, knowledge of safety procedures, government regulations, among others. This symposium contains two presentations in a human service setting, a study that took place within a hospital, and a final study that took place in a manufacturing plant. The goals and methods of the studies vary widely and highlight how OBM procedures can be implemented. The applications of OBM will be compared and contrasted by the discussant.

Behavior analysts

Signs are a commonly used antecedent intervention. There are a number of variables that make a sign more likely to be followed (proximity, response effort, changing vs. static), but there is little research into whether a sign is more effective if the message is provided in a “do” versus a “don’t” format. Providing a “do” request is generally considered more effective in clinical populations but has not been studied in an employee population. In the current study, written requests, in the form of a posted sign on a door, were used to measure the effectiveness of a “do” message (find another way) and a “don’t” message (do not enter) with employees in a school setting. Adherence to the signs did some to be influenced by the message.

Pay-for-performance broadly describes systems where an employee’s behavior is tied to her or his performance. The current applied study describes the effects of transitioning a team of four behavior analysts from a standard pay-for-time paradigm to a pay-for-performance system. In the pay-for-performance system a percentage of pay was made contingent upon the number of hours billed. Results indicated an increase in the number of monthly hours billed across all behavior analysts. Additionally, the improvements in performance achieved in the pay-for-performance program made the department profitable for the first time.

Hospital errors are the third leading cause of death in the United States. One way to reduce errors is to increase communication between doctors, nurses, and patients. Each stakeholder brings valuable information to the discussion and can serve as a second check during medical decisions. In this study, we examined a package intervention that included task clarification, prompting, and feedback for increasing discussion among doctors, nurses, and patients during morning rounds on two units. Communication was measured using a checklist of items to be discussed during rounds. Furthermore, nurse presence and submitting orders during rounds was measured. Results indicated that they intervention was successful at improving communication.

Organizational behavior management (OBM) techniques have long made positive impacts in businesses and organizations. One successful area within OBM is performance management or focusing on employee behaviors to reach organizational goals. The current study used performance management techniques to improve casting productivity and efficiency in a copper manufacturing company. Combinations of goal-setting, task clarification, and feedback were used to target both pounds of copper casted and the amount of time needed to complete a cycle (cycle time). Overall, productivity increased by 7.2% and cycle time decreased by 4.4% during the intervention and this change was estimated to be worth over $5 million. Methodology and other results will be discussed.

As access to information increases with internet searches and almost instantaneous global communication, behavior analysts become exposed to a wide-variety of perspectives and strategies for treatment implementation. This exposure can cause behavior analysts’ worldview to shift from applying the theoretical foundations of behavioral science to incorporating other worldviews (e.g., mentalistic, non-scientifically supported theories) into their clinical practice. Some behavior analysts have confused the technologies of behavior analysis (e.g., curricula, assessments, etc.) for behavior analysis itself or have not adopted a behavioral worldview. “If this were a theoretical issue only, we should have no cause for alarm; but theories affect practice… Confusion in theory means confusion in practice” (Skinner, p. 9, 1968). This symposium, which includes four presentations and a discussion, will examine the variables that impact the shift to or away from a behavior analytic "worldview", the necessity for incorporating a behavioral worldview into ethical practice, and the impact for not utilizing a behavioral worldview.

Practicing behavior analysts, students of behavior analysis, clinical supervisors.

A worldview is the lens through which we look and make sense of the world. A worldview constructs the foundation of what we believe, and dictates how we explain, assess, and deal with the phenomena of interest. Behavior analysts, through their training, are exposed to and supposedly embrace the worldview of behaviorism and all that that means, such as adherence to scientific attitude and practice, that informs our assessment and treatment of behavior. However, there is accumulating evidence that behavior analysts are using and supporting treatments and interventions that are not based upon the behavior-analytic worldview or conceptualization of behavior. Such practice hurts consumers, hurts our field, and demonstrates ethical disarray on the part of the behavior analyst. Behavior analysts have an ethical and practical responsibility to adhere only to behaviorism as their worldview and behave according to only its tenets and philosophy.

Despite ethical requirements that behavior analysts function under a behavioral world view, it appears that some behavior analysts have adapted more of a conspiracy theory – flat earth world view not based upon our science. In fact, evidence indicates that some behavior analysts believe that the behavioral world view only applies to specific populations and age groups – not the full earth. This may be due to a lack of understanding and application of the fundamental philosophy of the science or an over-reliance on marketing behavioral analysis to specific populations and commercialized guides as easy to use as a point-and-click google search. Marketing may have been appropriately conducted to disseminate to the public behavior analysis’ effectiveness for specific populations, it may have marketed too well – changing behavior analysts’ world view. Although curriculum and guides initially may have been appropriately developed to assist behavior analysts, but not replace the fundamental applications of the science, the over reliance on their simplicity may be replacing the comprehensive understanding and use of the behavioral world view and application of such. Without a thorough understanding and application of a comprehensive behavioral worldview, behavior analysts may evolve into superficial and unethical, point-and-click behavioral technicians and not analysts.

Compared to rate of discrete responding, response duration has received scant attention as a dependent measure in behavior analysis. We will present results from a series of recent experiments in which we studied the duration of lever-pressing in laboratory rats. In all of the investigations, we arranged the delivery of edible reinforcers if depressing a response lever fell under or exceeded a programmed interval. We will discuss three general findings in detail. First, response duration may present some advantages over response rate for studying the effects of delayed reinforcement. Second, response duration increases significantly during extinction. This occurs whether or not there has been a history of differential reinforcement for depressing the response lever. This has implications for the interpretation of resurgence when behavior has a salient duration dimension. And finally, arranging reinforcement for response duration results in chains of idiosyncratic responses that rats emit concurrently with lever pressing. Whether these responses should be operationally defined as lever pressing presents a conceptual challenge.

Individuals with developmental disabilities are more likely to experience social exclusion as a result of impairments in individual functioning and adaptive living skills, and because of the presence of direct support workers (Hall, 2016). Technology can reduce staff support, increase skill development and improve independence (Owuor et al., 2018). This project introduced iPad or iPhone technology and specialized apps to 12 adults with intellectual disabilities living in a community setting. Target skills associated with improving independence (e.g., employment skills, budgeting and banking) were identified and matched to a specialized app (e.g., Stepbystep, Intellist, Monefy). Chaining and prompting were used to teach the independent use of technology and to fade direct staff supports. Four concurrent multiple-baseline across participants designs were used to track individual progress and to illustrate the effective introduction of technology and apps, as a tool to reduce direct staff support and to increase independence in community settings. Duration data on the amount of support provided and the total task time were collected, and a percentage of direct support was calculated and tracked using multiple probes across participants. Percentage of direct support ranged between 30-100% during baseline and was successfully reduced to 0% upon the introduction of technology.

To examine the effects of the temporal separation of multiple VI VI schedule components on differential resistance to change (DRTC), two experiments were conducted with rats. Reinforcement rates and magnitudes (reinforcers per cycle) were manipulated in Experiments 1 and 2, respectively, to produce rich and lean components. In both experiments, the separation of the components was manipulated by using different component durations, during one condition, and different intercomponent intervals (ICI), during another condition. Total exposure to the components was constant across sessions of each condition. Resistance to satiation was evaluated by delivering increasing amounts of the reinforcer before each test session. In Experiment 1, different component duration either increased (F2 and F4), decreased (F1 and F02), or had no consistent effects (F3) on DRTC. Increasing ICIs produced either an increase (F02) or an increase followed by a decrease (i.e., an inverted U function) in DRTC. In Experiment 2, increases in component duration produced either an increase (F6 and F8) or no consistent effects on DRTC. Increasing ICIs produced an increase (F7) or an inverted U effect on DRTC. Results are discussed in terms of the discrimininability of contingencies that are too close or too separate in time.

The acquisition of scientific verbal behaviour is crucial for behaviour analysts to communicate both effectively and efficiently. This study sought to investigate peer-tutoring as a means to teach behaviour analytic tacts, whilst comparing rates of acquisition for the tutor and tutee. A multiple probe design across two dyads and two stimulus sets was employed. The participants were four Comprehensive Application of Behaviour Analysis to Schooling® teachers who were required to give an appropriate tact when vocally presented with the definition of a term. The results indicated that peer-tutoring was effective in teaching tacts, with a functional relation demonstrated for six out of eight phases. Whether tutors or tutees acquired the tacts quicker differed across individual participants. The maintenance and functional application of the acquired verbal behaviour is discussed. Future studies could compare current results to larger group conditions such as choral responding, with consideration also required in the domain of which instructional histories gave rise to differences in acquisition rates dependent on the tutor or tutee role.

Clinicians may implement a number of preliminary assessments (e.g., functional analyses, demand assessments, preference assessments, etc.) prior to developing behavioral programs for clients with autism. The researchers in this symposium will describe two applications of concurrent-operants preparations for evaluating stimulus functions prior to initiating treatment. Lindsay Lloveras and colleagues will describe a concurrent-operant demand assessment (CODA) to identify a hierarchy of preferred and nonpreferred demands. Allie Rader and colleagues will describe a concurrent-operants assessment for determining the relative reinforcing efficacy of events hypothesized to maintain problem behavior. Implications for practitioners and applied researchers will be discussed.

Graduate students in behavior analysis, clinicians working with individuals with problem behavior, applied researchers

We conducted a concurrent operant demand assessment (CODA) to identify a hierarchy of preference for demands in 17 individuals who exhibited problem behavior. We presented demands in pairs, with selection between demands serving as the primary dependent variable. The reinforcing efficacy of escape from the most- and least-selected demands from the CODA were evaluated for 7 participants using progressive ratio (PR) schedules. Outcomes from the PR analysis corresponded with the rank order of demands from the CODA. Four of these seven participants were subsequently exposed to a brief CODA with only two items, which consisted of successive presentations of the most- and least-selected demands from the CODA. Outcomes of the brief CODA corresponded with the PR analysis and CODA for 3 out of 4 participants. These results suggest that the CODA might be an effective technology to determine a hierarchy of preference of demands for assessment and treatment purposes.

This symposium includes three papers two of which evaluate interventions for efficiently teaching safety skills to children with developmental disabilities. Miltenberger, Novotny, Maxfield, and Baruni evaluated video self-modeling with children with autism and preliminary data show the procedure is effective. Orner, Miltenberger, and Maxfield evaluated small scale simulation training with kids with autism and found it effective for only one of three children. Lastly, Maxfield, Park, and Blair discuss the results of their meta-analysis on 26 single subject design studies on safety skills interventions for individuals with intellectual disabilities.

BCBA and BCaBA

We investigated a variation of video modeling, video self-modeling (VSM), for training firearm safety skills. The participants were prompted through the individual steps which was compiled to create the video where the participants would watch themselves engage in the appropriate safety skills. The participants were assessed following the creation of the video to ensure the skill was not learned from the creation of the video. Three children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder between the ages of 7 and 13-years-old were recruited for this study. The participants were required to not touch the firearm, leave the room, and tell an adult. The VSM was effective for two of the participants and the skill maintained at a 1 and a 2-month follow-up. One participant required in situ training before engaging in all the safety skills correctly. This study is the first demonstration of video self-modeling for firearm safety skills.

Every year children are unintentionally injured or killed due to finding an unattended firearm. Although research evaluating various approaches to teach safety skills shows that behavioral skills training and in situ training are effective, limited research exists evaluating small-scale simulation training in teaching safety skills to children. Furthermore, there is no research evaluating this approach with children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This study evaluated the effectiveness of small-scale simulation training in teaching firearm safety to 5 to 6-year-old children with ASD. Simulation training was effective for one participant, in situ training was necessary for one participant, and an incentive was required for the third participant to demonstrate the safety skills.

This study provides the results of a meta-analysis of 26 single subject design studies on safety skills interventions for individuals with intellectual disabilities. Results indicate that individuals who have mild to moderate ID, particularly school-age children, have benefited most from the safety skills interventions, and that that the interventions have demonstrated low-to-large effect sizes across safety skills (e.g., abduction prevention, fire safety, first aids, daily living safety, pedestrian safety skills). The behavioral skills training (BST) with and without additional components was the most commonly used safety skills intervention for individuals with ID; however, BST alone demonstrated a larger effect than BST with additional components, and video modeling had the largest treatment effect of all intervention types. Outcomes for abduction prevention skills were larger than those of other safety skills. Implications for practice and future research are discussed in the following areas: implementer, dose of intervention, treatment fidelity, and social validity.

This symposium gathers elements of what has been learned so far in a variety of areas of behavioral inquiry about the spread of the novel coronavirus and the effects of COVID-19. Because many of the phrases in our new lexicon—“social distancing,” “flattening the curve”—are calls to emit a particular set of behaviors (hand-washing, mask wearing) and to avoid others (proximity to others, face touching), with reinforcers conditional on group behavior (reduction in cases reported), behavior analysts are well suited to help inform our global responses. Papers in this symposium will cover diverse and interlocking topics: (1) how the pandemic has affected service delivery, and how behavior analysts can use telehealth ethically and effectively; (2) the necessity of looking beyond the proximal influences on mortality, such as pre-existing conditions and age, to those of harmful contextual conditions of disadvantaged populations; (3) behavioral economic methods to study social isolation decisions amidst different public health messages; and (4) the importance of behavior-based safety protocols that take into account current contingencies and limitations of training systems. The discussant will provide comments on each paper and highlight the links among them.

In the wake of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, ABA providers have been recognized as essential workers who are not subject to emergency shelter-at-home directives. This recognition has challenged behavior analysts to redesign treatment models to minimize the spread of the virus while also minimizing disruption to medically necessary services. As a result of federal and state guidance to insurance carriers to authorize telehealth for services that would otherwise be authorized for in-person treatment, ABA providers have had the option to shift their in-person models to telehealth, and behavior technicians are, for the first time, permitted to deliver 1:1 ABA remotely. The adoption of a telehealth model by both providers and families has been met with varying degrees of enthusiasm and success. The decision by some providers to continue home-based services or keep centers open has sparked discussions about ethics and revealed the need for clear guidance. As experts in shaping behavior, ABA providers have a critical role to play in minimizing spread of the virus by identifying, disseminating, and implementing best practices. With the integration of health and safety protocols into center-based practices and an effort to maintain telehealth options, ABA providers will be positioned to apply the lessons of COVID-19 to future events and preserve access to ABA in times of crisis.

The linchpin of COVID-19 mitigation has been social distancing (staying at least 2 m away from others, refraining from large gatherings). This tactic places human behavior squarely in the center of slowing the spread. Unfortunately, the rapid nature of this virus made proper behavioral analysis of social distancing nearly impossible for several reasons: 1) Acquiring steady-state responding is long and arduous. 2) Employing proper within-subject design considerations requires extended baselines for some individuals, reversals of policy potentially placing the public at substantial health risk, or manipulating experimental policies in rapid alternation. 3) Direct observation of social distancing is difficult, infeasible, and potentially unethical. However, contemporary behavioral economic research has generated hypothetical decision tasks to safely and swiftly assess behavior that is difficult to observe, risky, and/or ethically-challenging to study via prototypical operant methods. Backed by decades of operant study, behavioral economists evolved delay discounting and operant demand methods to safely proxy public health crises such as safe sexual practices, the opioid epidemic, and illicit drug trade. Rigorous validation methods suggest participant responses on such tasks significantly relate to actual/overt human responses. Toward this end, we adapted behavioral economic methods to safely surveil how a crowdsourced sample of adults would make social isolation decisions amidst different public health messages. Results suggest small but significant effects in favor of strategic messaging. Translated to potential population-level outcomes, these small effects have the potential to prevent the spread of infectious disease to a large portion of the population, and thereby help save lives.

Appropriate application of hygiene focused behaviors is the essential component that can make a change in today’s uncertain environment, where we suffer from the risks of COVID-19 infection and often feel powerless. Behavior Based Safety (B-BS) seems to be the only evidence-based method that ensures both high levels of production and high frequency and accuracy of prevention behavior. However, some aspects of the classic BBS process do not seem suitable for the current needs: presentations to managers, trade unions and workers, the constitution of a management team, the establishment and activities of a project group plus the training of observers and safety leaders take months before the start and further weeks before achieving a significant growth, indicating an acceptable success. Unlike the usual BBS processes, these long times and rituals would result in a huge risk for the infection to spread. Hence, late successes in terms of behavior would not be as successful in terms of results. A B-BS protocol that specifically focuses on COVID-19 situation has been developed in order to: a) be largely prepared in advance, b) allow the start of the process in just 4 days, c) provide an accurate measurement through bi-daily observations and, d) get the ultra-rapid ascent of the performance curves within 10 days from the start of the process. The protocol does not only focus on the appropriate implementation of the health requirements determined by companies and hospitals, but it also highlights the importance of when such behaviors actually need to be adopted in order to guarantee safety to individuals. Furthermore, through the adoption of specific checklist as templates and the daily/weekly supervision by a single skilled Behavior Analyst, it is possible to comply with all the scientific principles of BBS but transferred to new intervention technologies. Some insights will also be presented on whether to develop a superordinate system to verify the correct application of the protocol and its results, suitable by public institutions, downstream of a consensus conference of the scientific community on the guidelines to be suggested.

Traumatic experiences can have significant, and long-lasting, effects on the individuals who survive them. Frequently, clients who live through trauma experience a host of behavioral, cognitive, emotional, and physical health problems. When these individuals come to therapy, most of them are hoping that they will be able to eliminate the nightmares, memories, anger, anxiety, and other posttraumatic symptoms that they experience. In fact, most of them have tried many things (such as isolation, substance abuse, even suicide attempts) to manage these symptoms. However, what many of these individuals fail to realize is that their heroic efforts to avoid the pain of their posttraumatic experiences may actually be making things worse - and may even be the heart of the problem. In many ways, despite their best efforts, trauma survivors frequently find themselves trapped in a life that is largely devoted to the avoidance of pain. Effective empirically supported treatments for posttraumatic symptoms have been developed to aid trauma survivors in improving traditional PTSD symptoms. However, they are not universally effective, and not all clients are willing to engage in exposure-based treatment. In addition, given the high levels of psychiatric comorbidity with PTSD, treatments are needed that can cut across diagnostic categories and begin to treat presenting problems based on functional dimensions. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, a contemporary behavior therapy, provides an alternative to the feel-good agenda and instead focuses on helping clients to reconnect with those ideals and principles for living that are deeply important to them and that dignify the difficult events that they have survived. This presentation will introduce clinicians to contextual behavioral tools to work with trauma survivors on identifying each person’s valued life directions and then help motivate experiential acceptance and behavior change in the service of those values.

Clinicians, supervisors, students

In this symposium we provide a discussion of unique presenting concerns and clinical evaluations in clinic settings. The first two papers address schedule thinning considerations functional communication training (FCT). The study by Smith and colleagues evaluates a comparison of a compound schedules of reinforcement involving discriminative stimuli (e.g., multiple or chained schedules, Greer et al., 2016) or within the context of probabilistic, progressive-delay schedules (e.g., contingency-based progressive-delay schedule, Ghaemmaghami et al., 2016) and the relative efficacy of these two methods during schedule thinning for individuals with severe challenging behavior. Similarly, the study by Salvatore and colleagues investigates the efficiency and preference for alternative activities during schedule thinning within FCT. Garcia and Wunderlich extend the work of Edgerton and Wine (2017) by using a function-based treatment to increase appropriate voice volume responses. Last, another unique study by Weber and colleagues implemented an adaptation of the Good Behavior Game with a sibling dyad to decrease destructive behavior. Dr. Tracy Kettering will provide comments on navigating challenges presented by adaptations of assessment and treatment to address unique cases in a clinical setting.

Behavioral specialists Graduate Students Practitioners

Functional communication training (FCT) is an effective treatment for decreasing socially-reinforced destructive behavior (Carr & Durand, 1985). Multiple schedules are frequently used to thin the reinforcement schedule during FCT (Hanley et al., 2001). An extinction burst is possible with each schedule thinning step, contributing to slow treatment progress. In clinical practice, individuals are often expected to sit and wait during periods of restricted access to functional reinforcers; however, in the natural environment, they generally do not wait without alternative items/activities available. Ten children referred for treatment of destructive behavior participated in this study. Therapists conducted functional analyses and taught participants a functional communication response to access functional reinforcers. Therapists implemented a multiple schedule during schedule thinning, comparing a control condition (nothing available during S-delta intervals) to separate conditions with embedded items/activities during S-delta intervals (moderately preferred tangible items, attention, demands). After reaching the terminal schedule in at least one condition, therapists assessed participant preference across S-delta conditions. For 80% of participants, the terminal schedule was only reached with alternative items/activities. All participants demonstrated preference for alternative items/activities and therapists indicated preference for conducting these sessions. For 6 participants, we simultaneously targeted an escape function during the S-delta condition including demands.

Inappropriate prosodic production is often observed, but rarely treated, communication skill deficit for individuals with autism. Few studies have evaluated the acoustic characteristics of prosody in children with ASD, and obtaining a pragmatic measurement of their conversational skills is typically limited to parent and teacher report measures. In one exception in the research, a previous study by Edgerton and Wine (2017) implemented an intervention for shaping the conversational speech volume of an intellectually disabled participant. Expanding on the previous literature, we conducted a functional analysis of the voice volume responses (VVR) of two children with ASD utilizing similar procedures to those from Edgerton and Wine. Further, we evaluated the efficacy of using a function-based treatment, in conjunction with the visual feedback from the app, to increase appropriate VVR. Results of the evaluation, as well as implications for the treatment of inappropriate voice volume and other prosodic behaviors, will be discussed.

Criminal behavior is a broad, socially significant problem that affects many individuals and wider communities across the world. For example, in America, mass shootings occur on average 334 times per year, and smuggling activities contribute towards acts of terrorism which cause devastation and costs countries billions to manage. A factor that can increase the likelihood of a person committing criminal activity is a previous learning history with crime, and operant behaviors with which it is associated. If conceptualized behaviorally, environmental factors and functional relations maintaining criminal repertoires could be addressed pragmatically and effectively. The possible applications of behavior analysis to criminal activity are broad-ranging, and we will present the application of the science in a port setting to analyze and explore behaviors of interest, explore behavioral skills training for active shooting scenarios, present a behavioral conceptualization of mass killings, and research the use of behavior analysis in criminal justice systems. Although the applications presented in this symposium are diverse, they represent an attempt to understand criminal behaviors, and how these can be manipulated or changed with behavior analysis.

Any individual who wants to learn more on a new dissemination topic Those in behavior analysis with interest in expanding into their communities

Active shooter scenarios have become increasingly prevalent in school and healthcare settings. Unfortunately, little information is available on training for active shooter scenarios when a staff member is also responsible for a client. Previous research suggests that around 75% of individuals freeze across a variety of emergency situations. Through training, it is likely this freezing will decrease. Behavioral skills training has been shown to be an effective way to train safety skills in prior research. We found that behavioral skills training was more effective than an informational video at increasing correct responses to three different active shooter scenarios among three behavioral clinicians. Responding was also assessed for generalization to novel antecedent stimuli for the conditions of run, hide, and fight. All participants generalized after one or fewer sessions. Furthermore, responding maintained over a 2 week period at 83% correct responding or higher. These findings may impact how active shooter training is conducted specifically in terms of needed active participation of the learner.

Token economies are used in a variety of settings for a range of populations. For example, token economies have been used with patients in psychiatric treatment facilities (e.g., Baker, Hall, Hutchinson, & Bridge, 2018), children in educational settings (e.g., Shillingsburg, Lomas, & Bradley, 2012), delinquents in detention centers (e.g., Phillips, Phillips, Fixsen, & Wolf, 1971), incarcerated individuals in prisons (e.g., Milan, Wood, & McKee, 1979), and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) in residential settings (e.g., Reese, Sherman, & Sheldon, 1998). Given that the broad aim of token economies is to decrease problem behavior and increase adaptive behavior, better client outcomes rely on the implementation of these token economies to be carried out with high fidelity (Bailey, Gross, & Cotton, 2011). Staff implementation of token economies is one of the most noted barriers in their effectiveness (e.g., Bailey, Gross, & Cotton, 2011; Bassett & Blanchard, 1977; Drabman & Tucker, 1974). Thus, the purpose of this talk is to review the literature using token economies with this population and the importance of reporting fidelity measures used with adults with IDD. Recommendations for future research to inform the implementation of token economies will be discussed.

Adolescents with developmental disability often struggle with developing social relationships. Learning appropriate conversational skills can be an important first step to promote interaction with peers. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the teaching procedures could be used to teach conversational skills to three adolescents with autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disability ages 14–18 years old. The additional purpose of the paper was to describe the all process that leaded to define the skill components describing the conversational skills in order to identificate the most functional intervention to implement in a group setting. The first study evaluated the effects of modeling and contingent feedback on the acquisition of conversational skills (to initiate conversation and to respond to questions). A multiple probe design across participants was implemented. Results suggest the need to increment the numbers conversational skills for each participant in particular to initiate conversation. For this reason the second study evaluated the effects of video-based group instruction on extending conversation. Extending conversation was defined as: eyes oriented toward the peer, vocal acknowledged of the original statement within 3 s, emission of a question to learn more about event or item (Stauch, Plavnick, Sankar, & Gallagher, 2018). A multiple probe design across participants was implemented. Results revealed an increase of conversational skills for two out of three participants. In the third study we evaluated the effects of modeling and contingent feedback on conversational skills defined as: Initiation and Response (Follow-Up Question, Comment, Obligatory Response, Other-requests, Gestural feedback) (Bambara et. all., 2018). A multiple probe design across participants was implemented. Results revealed an increase in performance for all the participants in particular for the response skills. This study provides additional evidence related to the importance of defining a complex ability like the conversational skill and to design intervention that could better be implemented for adolescents with developmental disability in a group setting.

Recent empirical research and special issues have focused on determining appropriate training program ranking metrics, including faculty productivity and pass rates. Arguably, an important way to judge the quality of a training program is by talking with its graduates. Field leaders have recognized the critical importance of student voice in understanding program quality (Iwata, 2015). However, to date no research has focused on understanding the program or supervision experiences of our behavior professionals. A mixed-methods survey was send to over 1,200 behavior analysts across Pennsylvania to understand a variety of professional issues, including questions about the strengths and needs of their training program. The respondents (n = 98) identified strengths of program design or characteristics (e.g., providing supervision), quality faculty and instructors, and effective instructional activities. Common programmatic needs included real-life applications of skills, specific content(s) (e.g., verbal behavior), and program organization. Interestingly, reported strengths and needs differed by the programs’ method of instruction (on-campus, hybrid, and online). Results from this survey will add an important missing voice into our fields’ conversations regarding training program quality and can provide critically important information for those responsible for training and supervising the next generation of behavior analysts.

Domestic dogs are routinely used for scent detection tasks in increasingly wide-ranging domains, from explosives, to disease, pest, and rare species. How training, handling, and selection of dogs and handlers influences performance are important questions for this expanding field. This symposium reports research into the effects of these dimensions on scent dog performance. First, detection threshold of dogs and dogs' ability to generalize to new odor concentrations will be explored as it relates to the odor concentration they were initially trained on. Such research provides insight into applied questions of what concentrations to train on, as well as basic questions of stimulus generalization. A second paper investigates the influence of handler knowledge of target locations, an essential question given that teams often test in situations where the handler knows target locations, but do not when they are in the field. Finally, a third paper investigates the feasibility of training owned dogs with their owners to serve as citizen-science teams detecting agricultural diseases and pests, and whether selection tests based on reinforcer efficacy and persistence can predict success. Given the ubiquitous nature of conservation and agricultural issues, training and deploying pet dogs could greatly increase communities' ability to protect their environment.

Practitioners interested in applied nonhuman research and how results might apply to human training issues Practitioners interested in basic research and how results might apply to human training issues Researchers interested in applications of basic and applied research to nonhuman domains

In this symposium, we will review strategies for utilizing competing stimuli and matched stimulation to reduce automatically maintained problem behavior in children with autism. The first presenter will explore procedural variations of delivering competing stimuli to treat automatically maintained stereotypy. This included presenting alternative stimuli when item contact is absent and in the absence of functional engagement providing manual prompting to engage appropriately. Data are presented on item contact and functional engagement along with stereotypy. Our second presenter will share data comparing the implementation of matched stimulation versus preferred stimulation on reducing stereotypy in children with autism during work sessions, a setting in which previous matched stimulation research has yet to target. Data will be presented on engagement in stereotypy and on-task behavior during sessions. The final presenter will review data evaluating the competing stimulus assessment (CSA) in identifying appropriate treatment for automatically and attention-maintained problem behavior. The CSA in this study was designed to match the function and topography of the target behaviors.

BCBAs; clinicians working with individuals with automatically maintained problem behavior

The present study investigated the efficacy of matched stimulation (MS) on reducing frequency of stereotypic behavior for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) during their work sessions. Children with ASD engage in rigid, repetitive, stereotyped behavior (American Psychiatric Association, 2013), and this behavior is often targeted for reduction, because it can interfere with appropriate behavior and engagement with learning opportunities (Cunningham & Schreibman, 2008). Research has demonstrated matched stimulation’s efficacy in reducing motor stereotypy during periods of continuous, non-contingent access (Gunter et al., 1993; Lanovaz et al., 2009; Lanovaz et al., 2012; Lanovaz et al., 2011; Love et al., 2012; Luiseli et al., 2004; Rapp, 2006; Rapp, 2007), but no previous study has examined the implementation of matched stimulation in short intervals while the participant is engaged in a work session. Compared to baseline sessions and preferred stimulation sessions, four of five participants demonstrated a decrease in stereotypic behavior during matched stimulation sessions with no impact on measures of on-task behavior.

While there is a growing body of research examining early symptoms of ASD, the point at which this pattern of atypical social responding begins to deviate in children who are later diagnosed with autism is unclear. Researchers are now identifying early behavioral markers in children 6-12 months of age (Zwaigenbaum et al., 2005), however, more recent data suggest emergence of symptoms before 3 months of age (Graupner & Sallows, 2017). The first paper in this session describes data obtained using a newly developed research tool, the Early Markers of Autism, on infants under 6 months of age. Assessment data using the EMA reveal the presence of five key early markers in infant siblings and the accurate assessment of each using this tool. The second paper in this session describes the use of telehealth technology to train parents to implement treatment protocols in their young children with autism. Caregiver fidelity of implementation of treatment techniques and changes in child specific behaviors showed the effectiveness of these training procedures. These findings have implications for the early identification and treatment of autism in infants, leading to long term positive outcomes for infants and families.

Researchers and BCBA clinicians

This project was designed to conduct a multiple-subject component analysis study of treatment to ascertain the “active ingredients” that lead to symptom improvement in infants with early signs of ASD. Six infants (6-12 months of age) exhibiting early signs of ASD and their primary caregivers participated in this study. A multiple-baseline-design across subjects was used with counterbalanced introduction of three treatment techniques (Step into the Spotlight, Imitation, Talking to Baby). Treatment sessions occurred three times per week for one month for a total of 12 sessions. Treatment techniques were introduced weekly to the caregiver and allowed for caregiver practice with immediate feedback. Caregiver fidelity of implementation (FI) of treatment techniques and child ASD-specific behaviors were coded from 10-minute caregiver-child dyad intervention video-recorded probes. Caregivers met FI requirements quickly, with interobserver agreement (IOA) of 88% overall. Since time is of the essence when presented with an infant with early signs of ASD, identifying which key treatment techniques to teach first that produce the most change quickly in infant behavior is ideal. In addition, learning more about the successes and challenges of using telehealth technology to coach caregivers will inform future clinical practice and research efforts in this area.

The first book-length treatment of RFT was published almost 20 years ago in 2001. In recent years, a number of conceptual advances have been made in the theory that have implications for its application in both educational and clinical domains. The first of these is the emergence of a type of periodic table for conceptualizing derived relational responding, known as the multi-dimensional, multi-level framework (the MDML). The presentation will explain how this framework provides opportunities for conceptualizing and remediating the core skills required for basic and advanced language and cognition in educational contexts. The second of these is a recent extension to the MDML framework, called the hyper-dimensional, multi-level framework (the HDML), that incorporates the orienting and evoking functions of stimuli that participate in derived relations. The presentation will explore how this recent extension connects basic research in RFT to clinical behavior analysis. Overall, the case will be made that although RFT should be seen as a work in progress, the theory continues to offer insights that will potentially improve functional-analytic methods for assessing and treating behavioral problems.

Behavior analysts with an interest in development and clinical behavior analysis.

The effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT) is supported by over 300 randomized controlled trials. ACT was developed on the basis of behavior analytic principles but most previous research has been in the context of psychotherapy interventions. More research is needed on the basic mechanisms responsible for behavior change within ACT. This symposium brings together two laboratory studies that examine components of ACT, from a relational frame theory perspective. The first presentation, by Barbara Gil-Luciano, consists of a study that evaluated the effects of two different defusion strategies on lab measures of rumination and memory. The second presentation, by Jorge Ruiz-Sanchez, examines the effects of a rule-governed behavior protocol on experimentally induced fear and avoidance.

Behavior analysts

Psychological inflexibility is made of distinct reactions that are oriented to lessen distress. In this sense, worry and rumination (RNT) are strategies that seem to be common denominators in many psychological disorders. Cutting-edge RFT approach suggests that both strategies are triggered by framing thoughts in hierarchical relations. This study had two parts. Firstly, we explored such a hierarchical organization of thoughts with two ruminative induction procedures, analyzing their impact on a memory task. Secondly, we examined the differential effect of two defusion protocols that aimed to alter the discriminative avoidant functions of triggers for RNTand a control condition.Results suggest that inducting RNT with stronger triggers (thoughts at the top of the hierarchy, or “big ones”, that symbolically contain or are inclusive of weaker thoughts or triggers) showed a more negative effect in the task performance than inducting RNT with less stronger triggers. Results also indicate that participants that were intervened with the defusion protocol that specifically containedhierarchical cues to reduce the discriminative avoidant functions of triggers for RNTshowed a better performance at post-test, in comparison with participants that received a defusion protocol that only contained deictic cues, and with a control condition. Results also informed that, when promoting a hierarchical relation between the individual (deictic I) and his or herstronger triggerfor RNT, the level of concentration was higher at post-test than when targeting an individual’s less stronger trigger – all triggers being related.Clinical implications of these findings are discussed.

Defusion and values-based protocols are built of interactions that involve responding under the overarching motivative functions, as higher-order establishing operations, while integrating rules-driven emotive functions present at the moment. The present study aims to analyze the impact of a higher-order motivate protocol (values) on experimentally induced fear responding. Firstly, 55 participants underwent an aversively conditioned task where non-avoidance was followed by shocks and noises, whereas a black screen followed avoidance responding. Next, participants randomly received one of three protocols: (a), conditional motivative protocol, which involved a conditional relation between non-avoidance and earning money; (b), as (a) plus adding a higher-order function for non-avoidance (conditional + higher-order motivative protocol). And (c), the same as previous but only a higher-order function was included (higher-order motivative protocol). Lastly, participants repeated the experimental task. Results show that the conditional motivative protocol has little impact on avoidance behavior, whereas higher-order motivative protocols suppress completely avoidance behavior, even in the presence of elicited fear responses.

Social justice can be defined as the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges to promote fair and just relations. Although behavior analysts’ efforts towards social justice can be traced back to the late 1980s, analyses of the movements are still in their infancies. The current symposium will consist of three presentations directed at the promotion of social justice within the field. First, an analysis of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis will be provided to discuss inherent power imbalances between behavior-analytic researchers and human research subjects. Recommendations to diffuse such power will be approached from the perspectives of collaboration and cultural humility. Next, findings will be presented on the presence of Latina professors teaching in educational programs accredited through the Association for Behavior Analysis International. To date, researchers have not examined racial and ethnic identities of professors in the academy, which is necessary if diversity and equity is truly being targeted. Barriers to gathering such data will be discussed, in addition to the proposal of solutions to sustain diversity and equity within the field. Finally, an approach to increase social justice narratives will be described. The approach will discuss the importance of taking perspectives of others experiencing social injustice, which is foundational towards ensuring the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges for all.

Behavior-analytic researchers, behavior-analytic faculty, students in behavior analysis, behavior analysts

Increasing diversity and equity has recently gained momentum in behavior analysis. In the previous five years, data have supported significant progress in the presence of women in our discipline (Nosik, Luke, & Carr, 2018; Li, Curiel, Pritchard, & Poling, 2018), including the creation of the Women in Behavior Analysis conference (Sundberg, Zoder-Martell, & Cox, 2019). Despite these accomplishments, there is a lack of information regarding the racial and ethnic identities of behavior analysts, which should be considered when promoting diversity and equity. With Latinxs (a gender-neutral term) growing in the U.S., the number of Latinx behavior analysts is likely to increase. Although there are more women than men at the ranks of assistant and associate professor in programs accredited through the Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI; Li, Gravina, Pritchard, & Poling, 2019), it is unknown how many Latina professors there are, which has great implications for the training and mentoring of future behavior analysts who come from similar backgrounds. In addition to presenting data on Latina professors teaching in ABAI-accredited programs, the current presentation will also discuss the barriers encountered when identifying such individuals. Moreover, viable solutions that can create change will be proposed, including the development of networks to provide coherent support to Latinas interested in pursuing higher education and the establishment of outlets for research related to sustaining diversity and equity.

Presenting choices to nonvocal and early verbal learners is frequently achieved by arranging concurrent choices wherein two or more stimuli are put in front of the learner with the prompt “choose.” The paired-stimulus preference assessment is one example of a paired-choice arrangement. Some choices, such as the choice of intervention or choice of music to listen to, present challenges as they cannot be easily represented by an item or icon. The first presentation will describe a concurrent chain procedure for offering choice between errorless instruction and error correction within the Picture Exchange Communication System and a receptive identification task. We will report data on the relative efficiency of these instructional strategies and client preference for instructional strategy. The second presentation will report the effects of presenting choice of music via an iPad on vocal stereotypy. Data will be reported on the effects of music- and song-level interactions. Our discussant, who has in-depth experience in basic and applied research on choice and concurrent operants, will then provide her comments and considerations.

Board Certified Behavior Analysts and Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analysts

We conducted a preference assessment that included musical stimuli and, for those that selected music, we examined the effects of presenting musical stimuli via an iPad on sensory-maintained vocal stereotypy in three children with autism. Pressing an icon resulted in the corresponding song playing through headphones and the participant could change the song by pressing a different button at any time. Data were analyzed across condition type (music vs. no music) and song type. This intervention produced a reduction of vocal stereotypic behavior three of three participants, with socially significant decreases for at least one participant. Future research will be discussed to include the assessment of specific stimulation maintaining vocal stereotypy, competing stimulation, and the role of concurrent choice for substitutable reinforcers to treat automatically-maintained behavior.

As our population ages, age-related diseases, such as dementia and Alzheimer’s, become more prevalent. Therefore, treatments to increase quality of life and adaptive independence are in high demand. In this symposium, we will explore two ways in which research within behavioral gerontology are seeking to answer questions within this area. Both focus on ways behavior analysts can work to establish adaptive verbal repertoires in older adults. Our first presenter will explore how the establishment of conditional discriminations and the formation of emerged relations were influenced by simultaneous matching-to-sample (MTS) or delayed matching-to-sample using many-to-one or one-to-many training structures. The second presenter will share the data collected during a four-month study involving older adults with mild-cognitive impairment and dementia, which targeted immediate and delayed tacts (recall) and other memory-related measures before and after an intensive Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT) procedure. Implications and future directions of these studies will be discussed.

Board Certified Behavior Analysts, behavioral gerontology practitioners, behavioral gerontology researchers

As our population ages, age-related diseases, such as dementia, become more prevalent and treatments to increase quality of life in high demand. The present study utilized a crossover multiple baseline design across participants to examine the efficacy of an Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT) intervention on the improvement of remembering behaviors (immediate and delayed tacts) and neurocognitive impairment and present moment awareness screening scores in older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and early-stage dementia. Results demonstrated some improvement on both immediate and delayed tacts across participants. Lower scores post-treatment and at follow-up on the Trail Making Test (TMT) were also observed for most participants. Additionally, those with the lowest initial St. Louis University Mental Status (SLUMS) assessment scores demonstrated the greatest increase following treatment and at a two-month follow-up. Implications of this study suggest that Acceptance and Commitment Training may be a beneficial to prolong remembering behaviors in individuals diagnosed with dementia, which may remain stable across time. Future directions will be discussed.

Stimulus preference assessments (SPA) are commonly used to identify stimuli that can be used in both assessment and intervention. Much of the literature on preference assessments has focused on the design of the assessment, including stimulus presentation format, stimulus modality, and consequences for selection. Overall, single, two-item, and multiple item formats, with immediate access, can be effective methods to identify preferences. More recently, researchers have examined adaptations to SPAs, focusing on different modalities and consequences. For example, some items or activities may be difficult to present; therefore, it may only be possible to present a picture of the name of the item. Additionally, it may be difficult to repeatedly present an large item or activity. Likewise, some stimuli may have multiple parameters that could be presented as separate items during SPAs. The purpose of this symposium is to present two studies that address adaptations to SPAs, focusing on stimuli with multiple parameters and problem behavior during SPAs. In the first study, the authors evaluated preference for different types of attention and the relation between preference assessment results and reinforcer assessment results. In the second study, the authors evaluated problem behavior during different modalities and consequence arrangements of paired-stimulus preference assessments.

Practitioners, Applied Researchers, Graduate Students

Effective writing ability is arguably one of the most important skills an individual must acquire. Despite the crucial role of effective writing skills in today’s society, many individuals do not possess strong writing ability and do not consider themselves good writers, as only 27% of 12th grade students met the criteria for “Proficient” writing, while 21% of 12th grade students met the criteria for “Below Basic” writing (National Center for Education Statistics, 2011). This distribution is even more concerning for black and Hispanic students. These findings suggested that many individuals leaving the public secondary education system lack the skills required to successfully meet the writing demands of the workplace and of higher education. With that in mind, this symposium will demonstrate several ways in which behavior analytic methods may be used shape different aspects of the writing process. The first presentation will review an intervention package consisting of programmed instruction and rate-building to develop revision skills. The second presentation will examine the use of lag schedules to increase variable fictional writing with children with autism. The final presentation will present an integration of precision measurement, pinpointing, and multiple learning channel practice with mechanics exercises.

The target audience for this symposium are behavior analysts, teachers, supervisors, and anyone else who is required to either develop written products or to review written products as apart of their job.

Clear technical writing is critical for communicating complex information to professional and lay audiences. Due to a lack of instruction and practice, behavior analysts and researchers who venture beyond formulaic article writing are prone to structural and stylistic errors. Such writing patterns are noticeable and less desirable to some readers. In her technical writing course Writing Solutions for Behavior Analysts, Marilyn Gilbert introduced a series of Flags—stimuli that signal a particular situation in one’s writing that may need to be changed. The course helped students fluently identify and change Flags that make writing unclear, misleading, or unnecessary. When teaching stylistic writing, Gilbert employed an age-old copywork exercise or the rewriting of an exemplar text to shape an easy and approachable style that effectively communicates scientific information. Many successful writers, including Benjamin Franklin, have used the copywork exercise to improve overall and domain-specific writing (e.g., sales copy). This paper will present an integration of precision measurement, pinpointing, and multiple learning channel practice with Gilbert’s mechanics exercises (Flags) and an eyes/ears copywork approach to promote high-level writing among behavior analysts and other science writers.

Tootling interventions involve using interdependent group-oriented rewards to enhances student reports of classmates’ student-helping-student behaviors. Tootling has been shown to decease typical inappropriate classroom behaviors including out of seat behavior and calling out, but not antisocial behaviors. In Study I, a withdrawal design showed that tooting caused immediate decreases in antisocial behaviors (e.g., mean behaviors like name-calling). Researchers have not evaluated the effect of tootling on the behaviors which students are reporting. In Study II, social skills training was used to teach compliment-giving behavior, and during the tootling intervention rewards were delivered contingent upon peer reports of classmates’ giving compliments. Visual analysis of our A-B-A-B figures showed that the tootling intervention enhanced students compliment giving behavior, not just reports of compliment giving behavior, in a generalized setting. This behavior-specific tootling intervention enhanced compliment-giving behavior in a generalized setting. In Study III, a multiple baseline design was used to sequentially enhance three recently-taught social skills in a generalized setting. Discussion focuses on using tootling to reduce antisocial behaviors and promote generalization and maintenance of recently-taught social skills.

Those who work in educational settings

The current study was designed to extend research on tootling interventions. Tootling involves reinforcing students’ reporting of their peers' incidental prosocial behaviors, specifically student-helping-student behaviors. Reinforcement is provided via the application interdependent group-oriented bonus rewards. While previous researchers reinforced the class contingent upon the number of tootles (i.e., peer reports of classmates’ student-helping-student behaviors), during the current study group rewards were delivered contingent upon the number of different students who received tootles. A withdrawal (A-B-A-B) design was used to determine if a tootling intervention decreased antisocial/disrespectful interactions of four, teacher-nominated students in an after-school, third-grade classroom. Visual analysis of a repeated measures graph and effect size estimates suggest that the tootling intervention decreased these interactions. Discussion focuses on the failure to maintain gains during the withdraw phase and future research designed to enhance and evaluate the generalizability of tootling interventions and the effects of similar interventions over time and across dependent variables.

Performance feedback is one of the most common strategies employed in interventions within the field of organizational behavior management (OBM) and has been demonstrated to improve performance across a variety of settings and behaviors when used effectively. Despite its accumulation of empirical support overall, the key variables influencing feedback efficacy, maintenance, and treatment implementation require further evaluation. The presentations in this symposium seeks to further this evaluation by 1) providing an updated review on the existing evidence regarding the use of feedback in 75 articles published in the Journal of Organization Behavior Management from 1998 to 2018, 2) assess performer preference for feedback timing relative to task completion (e.g., after step, after trial, and after session), 3) and evaluate the effects of performer reactions to feedback on subsequent feedback delivery and observation accuracy. Each presentation will highlight the importance of identifying various feedback components as they relate to treatment efficacy and implementation. Implications for future research and the utilization of performance feedback in applied settings will be discussed.

Open to all audiences.

In organizational behavior management (OBM), feedback can effectively increase and maintain performance across settings and target behaviors. Feedback has been extensively studied, being one of the most studied independent variables in the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management (JOBM). Alvero, Bucklin, and Austin (2001) conducted an objective review of the effectiveness and essential characteristics of performance feedback in organizational settings between 1985-1998. This talk will present an update and extension of the Alvero et al. (2001) review by summarizing the effective characteristics of feedback based on 75 articles that implemented feedback as an intervention in an applied setting that were published in JOBM, and in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (JABA) between 1998 and 2018. Feedback effectiveness will be presented for the following characteristics: feedback source, feedback medium, feedback privacy, feedback participants, feedback frequency, the immediacy of feedback, feedback combinations (e.g., feedback + goal setting or feedback + incentives), and feedback nature (increase or decrease behavior).

Performance feedback can be a valuable tool for behavior change when used effectively. Despite its utility, delivering feedback may be aversive to the observer, affecting the accuracy of subsequent observations and feedback. A study conducted by Matey et al. (2019) evaluated the effects of required feedback delivery on observer accuracy and found that accuracy was lower when performance feedback was required compared to observation-alone, suggesting the performer’s reaction to feedback may be one variable influencing subsequent accuracy. The current study sought to evaluate the effects of feedback reaction-type on observer accuracy and feedback delivery. First, undergraduate students were randomly assigned to either positive, neutral, or negative reaction groups. Then, in phase one, participants were trained to score a confederate’s posture as either “safe” or “at-risk”. During phase two, participants were instructed to deliver feedback to the confederate after each session. The confederate reacted to this feedback differently depending on group assignment (i.e., positive, negative, or neutral). Preliminary results indicate observation accuracy in the negative-reaction group may be lower after feedback delivery compared to accuracy in the neutral-reaction and positive-reaction groups. Implications for these findings and suggestions for future research will be discussed.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.

This symposium will include three recently completed projects by the 2019 Verbal Behavior Special Interest Group (VBSIG) research and student grant competition winners. The VBSIG aims to support the advancement of verbal behavior research and to disseminate theoretical, empirical, and practical information about verbal behavior. These papers exemplify that aim. The first paper by Frampton, Axe, Covall, and Padmanabhan will describe procedures for teaching problem solving skills to answer novel intraverbal questions utilizing a mobile application. The next two papers focus on the emergence of untrained skills. Zaltzman, Parry-Cruwys, MacDonald, and Sweeney-Kerwin examined the use of observational learning in a young child with autism who was taught to engage in echoic, tact, and intraverbal behaviors following exposure to a model. The final paper, presented by Aragon, Rodriguez, McKeown, and Luczynski, describes procedures to facilitate the emergence of verbal behavior in the form of Intraverbal-tacts. The studies present results that may inform verbal behavior researchers and practitioners alike.

graduate students, researchers, clinicians interested in verbal behavior

Learning by observing others has great benefits as it allows an individual to learn new skills without directly contacting the contingencies. Results from previous research on teaching skills necessary to emit OL responses are promising but an analysis of OL using Skinner's analysis of verbal behavior (1957) is lacking. The purpose of the present study was to address the limitations of previous research by conceptualizing OL using Skinner's analysis of verbal behavior (1957) in the context of a replication and extension of DeQuinzio and Taylor (2015). After teaching one child diagnosed with an ASD to emit a chain of vocal verbal responses including an echoic, the statement of a rule, and either the same response as the echoic or the correction statement "I don't know" she was observed to correctly tact previously unknown pictures after observing a model. Interobserver agreement was collected for 35% of OL and tacting responses and for 34% of vocal response chain (VRC) responses and was 79% and 100% respectively. Future research should continue to analyze OL using Skinner's analysis of verbal behavior (1957) as it might lead to a more parsimonious and conceptually systematic analysis.

Successfully "training" a new dog is a function of mindfulness of their own behaviors by the dog's "people," and their ability to manage those behaviors in the context of the interactions with the dog, and in their interactions with other humans regarding the dog's behavior. Multiple behaviors, overt and private, must be emitted in the process of adopting a dog. Once adopted, the rituals begin of training the dog to emit or not emit targeted behaviors. Interactions with other humans can be a threat to consistency needed in the early phases of treatment Once the owner(s) has developed a postion regarding a behavior in various situations, it behooves the training process consistency to have a concise and clear plan to comminucate the desired behavior plan to those who might interact with the dog, and teach it to those humans. For example, if the owner prefers that the dog not be allowed to jump up onto a person when greeting, or not be given table food, those predeeences should be made clear to any human interacting with the dog. Other domains of human behaviors include interactions of persons with the dog regarding tricks, treats, greeting and petting, preferences for walking or holding the dog, and the essentials of communication between humans regarding dog behaviors. Interactions with other animals, and with owners of other animals, as well as the intersection of the dog and the enviormment...either at home or out in the world encountered when going for a walk become the real world of maintanance, generalization, and discrimintation of dog behavior, such as the interaction of the new dog with other dogs, other house pets, other humans, and wild animals. It is the owner to other human behaviors that lay the foundation of the dog's behavior. If the "owner" is a couple, there is an expotential inceease in behaviors human behaviors emitted, including "private" behaviors such as attitudes toward and understanding of basic behavior principles such as reinforcement and punishment, all of which which need to be defined and shaped. To the extent the owner understands principles of behavior, and can explain them to others in the context of increasing or decreasing specific dog behaviors, such as barking, chasing, marking, etc., it can help make for more consistent training for the dog, and less arguments for the people. This presentation will highlight domains of human behaviors which need to be shaped when adopting and training a new dog.

Reinforcer efficacy is an essential issue for training and maintaining desirable behavior in animals. Horses are often required to perform long sequences of behavior such that identifying reinforcers that can maintain long bouts of behavior or high effort behaviors would be useful. One way of testing reinforcer efficacy is using a progressive ratio schedule and measuring break points. Higher break points correspond to more effective reinforcers. We trained horses to touch a target stick with their noses. After horses reached criterion levels of responding, they entered the testing phase in which we used six different grains with varying starch content as reinforcers to determine if starch content affected reinforcer value. Horses were tested on one grain per day and we tested each horse on each grain multiple times. We measured trials to criterion during training and break points during testing. We will discuss our results in terms of individual differences and sensitivity to different levels of starch using concepts of unit price, demand, and work.We are confident in our results given that we used a single-subject design and tested each horse multiple times on each grain type.

The WSD increases risk of developing chronic disorders including obesity and its associated metabolic diseases, and global consumption is increasing. This is particularly concerning in the context of early brain development as preclinical studies are accumulating evidence that maternal WSD (mWSD) perturbs fetal neurodevelopment. Using the Japanese macaque (n=36), we introduce a novel computational approach to assess temperament at three years of age in offspring exposed to a mWSD compared to controls. First, we clustered 37 individual measures of behavior using community detection. From the five communities (or groups) of behavior that were formed, temperament composite scores were created by summating individual behaviors within each community. Scores were used to investigate differences in temperament between offspring diet groups. These temperament composites encompassed individual behavioral profiles such as anxious, obsessive, and balanced and represent distinct temperamental characteristics. The anxious temperament composite was expressed highest in the HFD offspring, and also was significantly different between diet groups (p = .029). Results are consistent with the literature, showing that mWSD programs perturbations in fetal neurodevelopment resulting in offspring displaying increased anxiety-like behavior. This novel approach toward behavioral clustering provides a unique and empirical method for identifying behavioral classifications in high dimensional data.

Animal-Assisted Interventions (AAI) have been shown to increase social behavior in people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The purpose of this project has been to identify the mechanisms involved in the social-enhancing effect of dogs on adolescents with ASD. Participants are part of small groups in which either (a) the first 5 weeks will involve a therapy dog, (b) the last 5 weeks will involve the therapy dog, or (c) the class will not involve a therapy dog. We hypothesized (1) an integration of therapy dogs into group social skills instruction will result in reduced stress and improved social behavior compare to traditional group instruction; and (2) therapists will experience less stress, engage in more social and affiliative behavior towards the children, and deliver higher quality instruction during sessions that include dogs. Social behavior, stress behavior, heart rate, electrodermal activity, and salivary cortisol concentrations of adolescents and therapists have been assessed and compared across conditions. Preliminary data has shown a decrease in the student’s cortisol levels during classes when the therapy dog is present, and a maintenance in cortisol levels for the teachers, regardless of if the therapy dog is present.

Relative to non-drug reinforcers, illicit drugs may be more uncertain in terms of their availability, quality, and time and effort to obtain, and this may be an important component of drug taking that occurs at the expense of engaging in nondrug-related activities. We have shown that variable cocaine is chosen over fixed cocaine. However, drug vs. nondrug choice is more translational. Adult male and female rhesus monkeys chose between cocaine (0.01-0.1 mg/kg/injection) and food (4 pellets/delivery). In control conditions, both schedules were predictable, fixed ratios (FR). In variable cocaine or food conditions, the schedule on the cocaine or food lever was a mixed ratio (MR), respectively, while the other lever remained fixed. Thus far, at relatively large requirements, cocaine choice is greater under an MR than under an FR, resulting in a leftward shift in the cocaine dose-response function. With food, results have been somewhat mixed. On average, cocaine choice is reduced when food is available under an MR, and average cocaine dose-response functions are shifted to the right. Our findings suggest that variable cost could contribute to excessive allocation of behavior toward procuring drugs at the expense of more predictable, nondrug alternatives. In addition, variable nondrug availability may more effectively compete with cocaine compared with fixed nondrug availability, perhaps having implications for contingency management.

Impulsive behavior has been understood in two distinct ways: impulsive action and impulsive choice. Beyond their conceptual differentiation, several studies have shown a differential role of endogenous variables on this kind of behavior, corroborating its distinction. Among such variables one which stand out is the influence of sexual hormones. Several studies point to direct association between testosterone levels and impulsive action, but not impulsive choice. The influence of gonadectomy procedure on impulsive action has been analyzed in 8 wistar rats in comparison to 8 non-gonadectomized rats. Impulsive action was evaluated through a differential reinforcement of low rates schedule (DRL- 72s). Initially, subjects were submitted to DRL 18s for 10 sessions of 40 minutes, after that, the interval was increased to 72s, until 40th session or stability achievement. Response rate, reinforcement density and frequency of inter-response times distribution between groups were analysed. Preliminary data, first half of the sample, until the 20th session of DRL 72S suggests that gonadectomized rats responded less (Mean=42,0; SE=8,22 X Mean=95,0; SE=22,92) and had a higher reinforcement density (Mean=0,37; SE= 0,008 X Mean=0,15; SE: 0,002). Together data implicate testosterone hormone on the modulation of impulsive action.

We will present data pertaining to the properties of ethanol and with a purported “binge-mitigating agent” that being the compound known as MEAI, or more properly, 5-methoxy-2-aminoindane, using the invertebrate planaria as an animal model. The reinforcement and or aversive effects will be assessed using the environmental place conditioning procedure. Since planaria typically show behavior described as being light phobic, the ability to reverse this light-avoidance behavior after an illuminated environment is paired with a reinforcer makes environmental place conditioning fairly straightforward using this animal model. While ethanol has been shown, in one study to reverse light phobic behavior in planaria, MEAI has never been assessed for its behavioral effects in any animal model. There are only two peer-reviewed papers on the effects of MEAI, assessing it for toxicological effects, using a rodent model. These publications both refer to the anecdotal effects that MEAI consumption results in human’s reporting euphoric effects similar to ethanol but without the typical desire to continue consumption, hence, MEAI is a purported binge- mitigating agent.

When faced with solving a complex, novel problem, understanding how the process works and being able to emit the skill of deconstructing it into components that can be adjusted allows one to solve such problems that others lacking such insight are not able to do. (Think of the person in the group who happens to know the basics of how some car systems work when yours wont start, or knows the basics of a computer app and answers your question, or how to figure out how many devices can be safely hooked up on one outlet. If you are old enough, think of "Maguiver." ) Many of the fundemental behavioral concepts and terms were derived from the natural sciences of biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics. (Think "reinFORCEment, behavioral MOMENTUM). Think about resistance at synapses in a neural network. Understanding them in the context of their native disciplines affords those attempting to understand and adjust behavior a more complete tool box. The same natural science roots from which applied behavior analysis evolved have also lead to the disciplne of neuroscience, which is exponentially unlocking the "mysteries" of how the principles of behavior are manifest in the workings inside the brain which until recently, we could not observe directly, just as predicted by Skinner himself. Clinicians, and bench researchers, in "non psychology" disciplines such as radiology, biochemistry, neurology, and economics among others understanding snd applying neuroscience are already today solving complex, and basic, behavioral issues in recovery from addiction, developmental delay, stroke rehabilitaion, language aquisition, cognitive imparment and other areas in which the applied behavior analyst has, and still can, and shoud have an active participatory role, to the extent that the behavior analyst can understand and apply some of the old natural science concepts and their new neuroscience applications. Take the basic physics and biology courses. Classes teaching the fundemental natural science principles give those attempting solve issues in behavior additional tools with which to deconstuct the situation into components which can be adjusted to solve them. They can be the fodder for that "Ah hal!" moment, that epiphany! They can let those who understand the principles be the clinician who "fixes it," who sees the basic issue, can perform the needed adjustment, and makes that part of life a little bit better for the patient.

Anxiety disorders represent the most frequently diagnosed mental health problem among American college students. Impulsivity has been linked with an anxiety as a potential risk factor. Impulsivity is defined as choosing smaller, sooner rewards, over larger, later rewards and is commonly measured with delay discounting tasks. It has been suggested that the delay discounting e?ect, i.e., the tendency to value less delayed rewards, in anxious individuals is driven by their intolerance of uncertainty. Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) is defined as how acceptable uncertain situations are. In the current study, it is hypothesized that those with higher levels of anxiety will exhibit more delay discounting and higher intolerance of uncertainty than those with lower levels of anxiety. Preliminary analyses of 29 participants currently reveals no significant relationships between anxiety, intolerance of uncertainty and impulsivity measures (i.e.. computerized delay discounting and impulsivity tasks). Data collection is ongoing. This study will increase our understanding of anxiety which could lead to an improvement in the treatment and prevention of anxiety.

The present study investigated the self-control and impulsiveness in elementary school children with the delay discounting and self-control tasks. In the delay discounting task, children were presented with a series of choices between an immediate smaller reward and a delayed larger reward in a booklet. The immediate smaller reward was consistently “200 yen now”. The delay time to the larger reward was different ranging from 30 minutes to one year in each question, but the amount of reward was consistently “500 yen”. In the self-control task, each participant was presented with a comic illustrating a parent and child’ conversation regarding children’s self-control in daily life. Participants were presented with a choice between one toy now and two toys ten months later. Choosing the one toy now is regarded as impulsiveness, whereas choosing the two toys later is regarded as self-control. Preliminary analysis of 647 children, ages 6-12 years, suggests that children’s impulsiveness in the delay discounting task decreased as a function of age. In the self-control task children’s impulsiveness decreased from 6 to 7 years-old, but increased from 7 to 12 years-old. The relationship between children's choice and their teachers’ ratings will be also discussed.

Automatically-maintained self-injurious behavior (SIB) is often difficult to assess and treat due to several variables. Two of these evaluated in past research include difficulties associated with SIB that is multiply maintained by both automatic and social reinforcement and SIB that is associated with self-restraint. In the current study, we evaluated these variables with a child with autism spectrum disorder who was exhibiting severe automatically-maintained SIB. First, we present data on multiple functional analyses conducted to determine the relationship between self-restraint and self-injury. We found evidence of no functional relationship between self-restraint and SIB (i.e., self-restraint was not negatively reinforced by the removal of SIB, self-restraint was not maintained by access to SIB, and SIB was not maintained by access to self-restraint). Next, SIB was further evaluated to determine if social reinforcers also played a role in maintaining the behavior. Through a series of functional analyses including conditions with and without sensory extinction, we identified that SIB was multiply maintained by attention in addition to automatic reinforcement. The results from this participant are discussed in relation to the past research on these topics and recommendations for clinicians.

The effects of varying the probability of reinforcement of reversion responses on choices in a delay-discounting and in a delay-of-gratification procedures were assessed. Reversion responses were defined as the first response to the smaller immediate reinforcer during the delay period to obtain the larger later one. Both procedures consisted of series of choices between the delivery of a relatively large amount of water after a delay or a smaller amount of water delivered immediately; the delay of delivery of the larger reinforcer varied between 0 and 32 s. In Experi-ment 1, five rats were exposed to each of the procedures in three blocks of 25 ses-sions each. In Experiment 2, ten rats were exposed to six consecutive experimental conditions, in which the probability of reinforcement of a reversion response varied from 0.00 to 1.00. In all delays tested, the proportion of reversion responses decreased as the probability of reinforcement of these responses increased. This finding suggests that delay-discounting and delay-of-gratification procedures are part of a continuum of the probability of reinforcement of reversion responses.

Understanding and following verbal commands or instructions is an important and adaptive behavioral function. Comprehension is related to the ability to arbitrarily group stimuli in classes, a prominent feature of symbolic behavior. The stimulus equivalence paradigm, as a model of symbolic behavior, may explain the origins of the comprehension of instructions. The present research aimed to evaluate whether vocal English instructions (verb and object) included as members of a class of equivalent stimuli acquire the same meaning as the other stimuli in the class (videos and abstract pictures), and whether participants would follow instructions using the same sentences and recombined sentences. The procedure, conducted with three children, included: 1) teaching conditional discriminations between dictated English phrases and actions filmed on videotape; and teaching conditional discriminations between spoken sentences and abstract pictures, 2) probing for class formation, and 3) testing for instructional control. All children comprehended the English phrases, relating, through equivalence, the actions and abstract pictures. Two children followed the spoken instructions, but none did so for the abstract pictures and neither followed new instructions (spoken or pictorial). Results replicated previous findings indicating that class formation could promote instruction-following behavior, but that recombinative performances may depend on other teaching conditions.

In special education settings, prompts are often used in discrete trial (DT) programs. The efficacy of a card-sorting procedure to teach prompt definitions for 3 DT programs (receptive labeling, social questions, and motor imitation) was tested. Stimuli were cards with correct and incorrect definitions and graphics of prompts from the DT programs. Examples included more and less restrictive examples of gestural, vocal, and motor prompts for both initial trials and correction trials. In a pretest, undergraduate participants sorted cards from all programs based on examples of correct versus incorrect definitions for both trial types. Then, they studied a handout containing correct definitions from one program, followed by repeated card sorts for that program to 90% accuracy. A posttest with all the cards, training on second program, and a final posttest followed. Figure 1 depicts results from 8 participants, including 4 who did not complete the entire sequence. The number of training/sort cycles to reach criterion ranged from 1–6. Generalization to untrained programs in the posttest was variable, but suggests positive transfer. Although this procedure may effectively teach prompt definitions, refinements are needed to reduce training time and increase posttest accuracy. Maintenance of learning over time should also be assessed.

In order to examine flexible decision making, operant manipulations of reinforcer amount, delay, and probability have been used for animals such as rodents. Zebrafish are becoming a popular vertebrate animal model for many biomedical and behavioral investigations. However, equivalent procedures have not been developed for zebrafish. We have developed a procedure capable of measuring behavioral sensitivity to reinforcer amount in adult zebrafish, based on an appetitive automated Go / No-Go task. The test session consisted of 16 forced-choice trials and 16 free-choice trials. In the forced-choice trials, a trial was initiated when fish passed through an observing gate and only one of two choice windows was illuminated. If fish entered through the illuminated window, either a large or small amount of reinforcer was presented based on the assignment; otherwise timeout was implemented. In free-choice trials, both windows were illuminated, and entering the first side of the windows was reinforced by either a large or small amount of reinforcer assigned to the window. Choice rate to a window increased when the reinforcer amount increased (p < .04). The present result indicates that zebrafish are sensitive to reinforcer amount.

Novel object recognition (NOR) tasks are commonly used with rodents to assess aspects of learning and memory, and these tasks involve measuring the cumulative amount of time a rodent interacts with two presented objects. Many researchers use digital timers to score the total duration of interactions from recorded videos, but such an approach requires an assessment of reliability to determine the accuracy with which these data are collected, and reliability scores have rarely been reported. In the current study, we evaluated the accuracy, reliability, and efficiency of total duration when used by five human observers to score object interactions using a repeated-measures design. During each session, participants watched a recorded NOR task and scored the cumulative amount of time a rodent interacted with two objects using two digital timers. We compared the exact number of seconds scored to criterion records and measured the total duration of scoring time to determine the participants’ accuracy and efficiency, respectively. Interobserver agreement was also calculated across all permutations of participants. Results supported the efficiency of total duration measures, but total duration measures produced low accuracy (M = 60%, range, 6%-100%) and reliability (M = 38%; range, 11%-82%) scores across participants.

The episodes that in ordinary language practices are identified as "comprehension" constitute functional contacts in which the person uses psychological reactive systems of a linguistic type, such as observing, listening or reading, and afterward acts in functional correspondence with what he has observed, listened or read. When these types of episodes are part of an educational practice, they are called habilitation. The analysis of the didactic discourse in its textual modality is related to what is traditionally known as “learning strategies” for reading comprehension. The purpose of this study was to identify the differential effect on learning that could be exerted by the use and variation of active linguistic modes such as student performance against textual study material. Eight randomly selected university students participated in fourth pairs. A design between subjects with three phases was used: pre-test, intervention and post-test. The results suggest that the active speaking mode acquires functional relevance when it constitutes a complex response pattern that includes the production of an educational discourse from contact with the text.

The nodal distance hypothesis suggests that responding in accordance with emergent conditional discrimination decreases as a function of an increasing nodal number. This present study investigated (a) the nodal number effect as a function of a simultaneous matching-to-sample (MTS) protocol or a simple-to-complex protocol, (b) the concordance of the nodal number effect during MTS tests and responses in accordance with nodal structure during a sorting test, and (c) the concordance of the nodal number effect during a post-class equivalence test and responses during sorting tests. Twenty participants were exposed for an MTS procedure to establish 3-class 5-member stimulus equivalence classes. Ten participants were assigned to an MTS simultaneous protocol, a sorting test, a post-class equivalence test, and a second sorting test. Ten other participants were assigned to an MTS simple-to-complex protocol, a sorting test, a post-class equivalence test, and a second sorting test. The results show that more individuals which were exposed for the simple-to-complex protocol produced the nodal number effect. However, the results show a greater nodal number effect for participants which were exposed for the simultaneous condition, when that the sum of participants responding which were exposed for the same sequence of conditions was measured.

Previous research indicates cockroaches will press a lever to access reinforcement; however, laboratory observations suggested the reinforcer is not always consumed, bringing into question the function of such lever-pressing behavior. Subjects in this study were male Madagascar hissing cockroaches (MHC). Methods were based on a reinforcer assessment by Dixon et al. (2016). Frequency of lever-pressing, and consuming sucrose solution were recorded. During the experimental phase, two MHC received access to sucrose solution contingent on lever-pressing on a fixed ratio one (FR1) schedule. An ABAB withdrawal design was used for two MHC, with A being baseline, and B being FR1 schedule. Another subject’s access to sucrose solution was yoked to a different subject’s sucrose consumption. That subject was then placed on an FR1 schedule. Data on cumulative records indicate MHC increased lever-pressing during the FR1 schedule, but consumed solution less than half of the times it was presented. Responding ceased after an extinction burst during the return to baseline conditions. Responding ceased completely on the FR1 schedule when directly following the yoking procedure. These results not likely explainable via place preference, higher ground preference, or satiation accounts of responding. Observing response, foraging, sign tracking, and induction are discussed as possible explanations.

The literature pertaining to the Madagascar Hissing Cockroach is lacking in several areas. One such area fit for study involves the conditioned place preference regarding floor texture and preferred versus nonpreferred solutions. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between these stimuli to determine if a conditioned place preference should occur when a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach is in a state of deprivation. Four male cockroaches were used to investigate this association. Cockroaches experiencing exposure to the solutions displayed an inclination towards inactivity. Preferences shifted from one of the available floor textures to the center area in which the cockroaches were initially placed, the preference change displayed through their lack of movement. Although this inactivity provided a change in place preference, data were inconclusive as to why this change occurred. Potential factors leading to this change are discussed. Future research has many areas that could provide evidence as to which components may be more important the change displayed.

Token reinforcement procedures are robust interventions for producing positive behavior change. Token reinforcement is especially amenable to investigating the conditions under which an organism will accumulate reinforcers prior to using them. The purpose of this experiment was to examine the effects of the token production schedule, exchange production schedule, and token generality, on accumulation. Five participants completed up to nine experimental conditions over approximately 30 days. Participants worked on a computerized paint by number task and earned one token for between 100 and 300 responses and could exchange their tokens at any time during the experiment. The travel distance required to make the exchange, effort required to earn a token, and the generality of the token was manipulated across conditions. The primary dependent variable in this study was the number of tokens accumulated at each exchange period. Overall, as the token production schedule increased, accumulation decreased, and as the exchange production schedule increased, accumulation increased. Both findings were consistent with previous research. For three of the five participants, accumulation increased as generality increased. Future research should investigate the extent that token generality disrupts the relationship between token production, exchange production, and accumulation.

Effective quantification of behavioral data has been a goal of behavior analysts for decades. Carlin and Costello (2018) proposed a statistical effect size (RD) for single case designs that is similar to effect sizes used in between group research. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which RD’s proposed critical value (1.2) agrees with visual analysis from experts regarding a pairwise comparison. Visual analysis is the primary method of analysis in SCEDs, and quantitative analysis is a useful complement. Similar studies have been undertaken with overlap measures and found useful information regarding the limits of such measures.

Experiments have shown that equivalence-based instructions may be used to teach academic skills. Fienup et al. (2010) exposed university students to 16 conditional discriminations with stimuli showing different areas of the brain, its function and the effect a damage to the respective area would have. Then, they tested for emergence of four 5-member stimulus classes. Training of the baseline relations took only about 15 minutes and all participants formed the experimenter-defined classes. Current study replicates the procedure by Fienup et al. Furthermore, two sets of stimuli were used to study the effect of the complexity of the stimuli on class formation. The results from the first 10 participants showed rapid acquisition of the baseline conditional discrimination with seven participants responding in accordance with equivalence. The preliminary results showed minimal effect of the different stimulus sets on stimulus equivalence class formation.

Conditioned Place Preference (CPP) or Aversion (CPA) were assessed in the Madagascar Hissing Cockroach (Gromphadorhina portentosa). The scent of .1 ml of 91% Isopropyl Alcohol was paired twice with 60 grit sandpaper or AstroTurf after texture preference and smell preference were determined. Single trial learning was potentially demonstrated, although evidence does not support CPP or CPA taking place under these specific conditions.

Lying, as in deception, has recently received increased attention as a behavioral subject matter, particularly in relation to child development, gambling, and cultural practices. Most experimental analyses of lying seem to refer to it as a distorted tact (Skinner, 1957), but few explicitly offer an operational definition. When lying is defined, procedures are often insufficient to isolate lying and differentiate it from other classes of behavior. Furthermore, not all instances of lying are under control by the same variables; when lying is not defined, many various classes of events may be referenced. The purpose of this project is to both clarify general properties of lying and classify its variations to foster experimental research. Definitions of lying identified through historiographical analyses of behavior analytic literature are outlined and expanded (1) to sub-classify variations in lying and (2) to guide experimental procedures. Classifications specific to different scientific systems—behavior analysis, contextual behavior science, and interbehavioral psychology—are juxtaposed to highlight differences and similarities in procedures required to demonstrate experimental control of lying across systems. Avenues of experimental research are offered that are most inclusive to and compatible with interpretations across behavioral systems.

Baer, Wolf, and Risley (1968) identified and described seven dimensions of applied behavior analysis (ABA): applied, behavioral, analytic, technological, conceptual systems, effective, and generality. These dimensions are what separates applied behavior analysis from the experimental analysis of behavior, and provides practitioners with the information necessary to deliver effective and ethical treatments and services to their clients. Using specific definitions of the seven dimensions and a coding tool, we evaluated and assessed various elements of these seven dimensions across 47 volumes of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (JABA), from 1968 to 2014. The data suggest that research articles generally satisfy the requirements for being behavioral, analytic, and conceptually systematic. In recent years, research in JABA has been gradually improving in the technological dimension. The data also suggest that the research articles in JABA could improve in the applied, effective, and generality dimensions. The trends in the use of the seven dimensions of ABA should be taken into consideration when planning future applied research and future directions in the field. Are the seven dimensions still current and relevant to applied research? If so, researchers would benefit from building their research methodologies with generalization, technology, and efficacy in mind.

The guiding principle of inclusive education is all children, regardless of perceived differences, have equal opportunities to quality education. Closing the gap between the guiding principle and practices at school has been widely researched and still no optimal inclusive approach has been found to address diversities. While studies on inclusive education indicating that successful inclusive practice must consider personal traits of both students and teachers, there is a dire need to equip mainstream classroom teachers with the knowledge and skills in developing personalized inclusive education practice that cater the needs of both teacher and students in their classrooms. This study presented a A-B single subject design study to investigate 1) how would applied behavior analysis (ABA) and differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) contributes to professional development in mainstream teacher in developing effective inclusive practices, and 2) the conducive factors in facilitating the emergence of personalized inclusive practices in a mainstream classroom. The findings revealed that ABA and DRO training in teachers that enable them to identify and manipulate IV are needed in developing effective inclusive practices. Support by professionals leads to empowerment in teachers in integrating the newly constructed knowledge and skills into existing repertoire into a cohesive whole.

Previous Studies examined factors that lead to division among minority college students that resulted in bias and discrimination in the acceptance and retention of students of color. Hagedorn et.al (1996) looked at achievement outcome among diverse demographics of students at a four year university. Furthermore, dropout behavior in minority students was largely attributed to lack of social interactions and mentoring opportunities. In the current study we examine the enrollment of students at Indiana University-South Bend is 72.8% White, 9.73% Hispanic or Latino, 6.68% Black or African American, 3.02% two or more races. There is a decreasing trend over the last 5 years in the enrollment and graduation of African American students. The total degrees awarded recently White Female 470 degrees awarded, White Male, 243 degrees awarded, Black or African American Female 41 degrees awarded and 31 degrees African American males. There is a need to increase the enrollment of minority students across regional colleges as they struggle with outreach to underrepresented students, retention and graduation efforts. Cipani (2017) offers behavior analytic methods to examine problems and present them in a scientific way that can then be utilized to offer real life applications.

Many individuals with developmental disabilities (DD) fail to acquire manding repertoires sufficient for success in a range of environments. Further, those without this essential repertoire may exhibit increased levels of problem behaviors to access reinforcers or escape aversive stimuli. Since school plays a critical role in the lives of most children with DD, educators are responsible for ensuring all students receive adequate instruction in the effective use of mands. Unfortunately, many educators may be unfamiliar with procedures for implementing mand training and may not see themselves as responsible for communication instruction. To more strongly advocate for the inclusion of mand training procedures in schools and in teacher preparation programs it is important to better understand the literature related to mand training in schools. In the current poster, the presenters will provide data related to mand training for students with DD in school settings across a range of variables including school demographics, change agent characteristics, staff training procedures, intervention procedures, technology, dosage, and range of instructional targets. The presenters will discuss implications for research and practice.

The typical elementary schooldays are filled with examples of behavioral concepts, terminology, and phenomena. Students, teachers, and parents (indeed, all of us) are constantly living a breath and depth of behavior more robust than any textbook can capture, but rarely are those experiences captured, labeled, defined, or described in behavioral terms. This presentation highlights various domains in which one could classify these behavioral phenomena and terms. These categories overlap and include but are not limited to those involving interactions between students and staff, students and other students, and students and other aspects of their antecedent state milieu. Among them are behavioral momentum, successive approximations, shaping, chains of behaviors, reinforcement, things that decrease likelihood of future behavior emission (punishment), token economies, latency, and over correction, among many others. Elementary school students and staff engage in behaviors throughout the day but are unlikely to capture them, label them, or understand them in behavioral terms. Yet any time behavior changes, by definition, those involved have followed the principles of behavior even without realizing it. Particularly with terms and concepts deemed to be societally sensitive, such as punishment, the greater exposure, done well, might lead to less misunderstanding, and greater acceptance of behaviorally based approaches. Highlighting the most clear cut examples of such could be used to help understand and modify behavior, and done well, could serve to increase awareness of Applied Behavior Analytic practices, and perhaps contribute to a greater acceptance of, and less resistance to, the discipline and its approaches.

Applied behavior analytic methods have been used to effectively train individuals to utilize a variety of individualized instructional approaches (e.g., Discrete Trial Training) with learners with developmental disabilities. However, limited research exists that has evaluated the effectiveness of training methods for use with special educators to utilize complex instructional practices aligned to grade level content for learners pursuing a diploma in a small group instructional setting. The current study included an evaluation of various training components (e.g., bug in the ear, guided lesson planning, behavioral skills training) to increase the curricular treatment integrity across two curricula as delivered by career English/Language Arts teachers. Curricular treatment integrity included a complex instructional repertoire that included components such as teacher think alouds, use of explicit instruction model, use of scaffolds during independent practice opportunities. Results will be evaluated at the conclusion of the studies. Early findings highlight the need for additional research for this population of students pursuing a diploma in a group instructional environment.

Despite the need for effective approaches to training new teachers given the current teacher shortages, few researchers have evaluated training approaches for instructional practices to be used in a small group instructional setting for learners pursuing a diploma. The current study included an evaluation of a training package to increase the complexity of instructional demands delivered by early career teachers during small group science instruction. Instructional demands were evaluated across the following domains: demand complexity (e.g., know vs. application), type of response (e.g., recall, fill in the blank, open ended), and active student method (e.g., choral, Turn and Talk). Training included pre-requisite instruction on the domains described above, supported lesson planning, development of scripts to be used during instruction, and en vivo coaching. Results will be evaluated via single subject design at the conclusion of the study. Expected findings highlight the need for ongoing research in this area to inform efficient training practices for early career teachers who will be delivering group instruction to learners with developmental disabilities.

Effectively using data to guide decision making has been identified as the most powerful educational strategy at educators' disposal (Hattie, 2008). Recent data from large scale studies and program evaluations reveals three key findings about the state of data within K-12 education: 1) educators have access to more data now than ever before, 2) effective decision-making models exist to guide educators' use of these data, and 3) data are not typically being used effectively in schools. This study experimentally tests the effects of a newly developed professional development package targeting Academic Team-initiated Problem Solving (AcTIPS), on the decision making process used by the reading supports team (consisting of 5 members) in one elementary school. The primary dependent variables were the team’s use of effective problem solving procedures as indicated by the percent of points earned on subscales of the Decision, Observation, Recording and Analysis (DORA-II) tool. Data from a concurrent multiple baseline across skills design indicate that the professional development package was successful in changing the decision making behavior of data team members across the three fundamental domains of team-initiated problem solving performance: Meeting Foundations, Problem Solving, and Implementation & Adaptation. At each stage of the multiple baseline design the team documented immediate and sustained improvement in functioning following delivery of the AcTIPS package. Data were analyzed using visual analysis and non-overlap of all pairs (NAP). Both analyses indicated clear and compelling effects of the training package on team members' decision-making behavior.

To the extent possible, research results should be clear and free from bias. Bias is introduced when superfluous wording exaggerates anticipated or attractive results and hides or minimizes unanticipated or unattractive results. This study was conducted in two phases. In Phase 1, pilot work was conducted to determine 19 superfluous words suspected to be common in overselling results. In Phase 2, we analyzed the results reporting practices of every experimental article in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis for 2018. The analysis was conducted by 3 behavior analysts (one BCBA-D, two master’s-level students) and agreements are reported. Our results suggest that superfluous results reporting occurs in JABA.

In China there is a tremendous need for qualified individuals to provide direct services to children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We evaluated the effect of two training components on the implementation of paired-stimulus (PS) and multiple-stimulus without replacement (MSWO) preference assessments and discrete trials teaching (DTT) to four tutors and eight mothers in China. The two components were: (a) computer-aided personalized system of instruction (CAPSI) combined with Chinese translations of self-instructional manuals (SIMs) and (b) demonstration videos. A multiple baseline design across the three behavioral techniques was used, with replication across 12 participants. Nine of the participants scored 85% accuracy or higher on implementing all three techniques after completing one or two components. The results showed that the two training components were both effective in training all three techniques. Moreover, performance increased across training phases indicating either a summation effect or that additional training with either component increased performance on all three techniques. Future research directions are discussed.

The Online and Applied System for Intervention Skills (OASIS) Training is a manualized training program using a combination of web-based instructional tutorials and live coaching. Previous studies (e.g., Heitzman-Powell, Buzhardt, Rusinko, & Miller, 2013) from the authors have demonstrated the effectiveness of the OASIS program in teaching skills and strategies based on applied behavior analysis to parents of children with autism. An effort has been made to increase the availability of certified OASIS coaches while ensuring their training fidelity. The current study seeks to describe the criterion-referenced OASIS coach training conducted both through in-person and via telehealth and the coach training evaluation. OASIS coach trainees are required to meet the criteria for both knowledge on ABA and coaching skills, and to provide OASIS training to a family. Five cohorts composed of 17 people completed the OASIS coach training, 13 (76%) of which were master-level therapists. Results indicated that all coach trainees were able to demonstrate a high level of coaching competency and implementation fidelity.

Defining features of evidence-based practices (EBPs) include using the best available evidence and designing a system that allows practitioners to collect their own data on procedure efficacy and efficiency in their own contexts. Among the features that might contribute to EBPs are interobserver agreement (IOA) and treatment fidelity (TF), since they increase data reliability. This study analyzed the presence of IOA and TF in studies published in behavior analytic Brazilian journals and was conducted in two phases. In Phase 1, 290 studies were analyzed according to 6 categories (i.e., published between 2013 and 2017, accessible online, written in Portuguese, human beings were the only participants in the study, the study was experimental, and there were pre-intervention measures). Thirty-five articles were approved for Phase 2, which analyzed the presence of IOA and TF. Among these 35 articles, 10 described IOA and 2, TF measures. We discuss possible implications of these results for practitioners looking for EBPs and how they might, on their own, start using IOA and FT measures to start transforming their practice into a data-based process.

Cultural competency and diversity are topics within the field of Applied Behavior Analysis that are actively being built upon due to the current state or lack thereof, in the science. African Americans are by far underrepresented within the ranks of Board Certified Behavior Analysts and to effectively address this problem we must first identify potential causes across all settings of the field. The purpose of this poster will be to extend the conversations started from the author of a recent blog post, who directly spoke to the issues with respect to cultural competency. This poster will present a critical analysis of the current status of African Americans within the field of Applied Behavior Analysis and identify solutions to address areas of concern. This may serve as a foundation for a new approach to handling issues of diversity within the promotion, dissemination and advancement of the science of Applied Behavior Analysis specific to African American populations.

Political activists promote or simply engage in certain practices that contributes to the cause for which they are advocating. The practice of graffiti is a youth subculture that has been investigated in the social sciences and may be characterized as one form of activism or resistance movement. This research analyzed posting practices of graffiti pages on Instagram in the months of September, October and November 2018 to evaluate how members of graffiti culture from Brazil act towards political issues using the social media. These months were chosen because of the proximity to the Brazilian Presidential election (October 2018). 46 graffiti profiles were included in the analysis. Posts on those profiles had to be photos and videos depicting written tags or drawings made on walls, cars, bus, trains and buildings (i.e., public spaces). The results reveal that most posts in those months were about graffiti issues and not particularly about politics or politicians. However, data show that mean political posts increased from September to October (the month of the election) and decreased from October to November. Moreover, September and November showed similar averages on political posts. This suggests that posting about politics was under control of political context in that specific moment, i.e., the presidential elections.

Disparities in health care have received much national attention recently, but few studies have focused on disparities among young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Early interventions in children with ASD improve outcomes. Although all young children with ASD are eligible to receive early intervention (EI) services, 51-60% do not. Study goals were to determine which demographic and psychosocial characteristics are associated with early diagnosis and utilization of services. Data was sourced from The National Survey of Children’s Health (2018) and then Survey of Pathways to Diagnosis (2011) and Services. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed to examine racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in age at diagnosis and utilization of early intervention services. Significant racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities exist in the recognition and diagnosis of ASD. The analyses suggest that children of low SES face considerable challenges in receiving early intervention services. Eliminating disparities requires systemic efforts to promote health equity, social planning, and policy change.

Performance feedback consists of providing information about past performance and indicating how to improve future performance. Feedback is one of the most frequently used procedures for changing behavior within organizational settings. However, despite its successful application across a variety of organizational settings, much remains unknown about how it acts to change behavior and increase performance. Previous research involving computerized work tasks has shown that inaccurate feedback can delay or impede skill acquisition. Such studies typically only assess the detrimental effects of inaccurate feedback when acquiring new skills; very little is known about how inaccurate feedback affects skills that have been mastered. Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine the effects of varying feedback accuracies following skill mastery in undergraduate students when completing a computerized match-to-sample task. Participants initially completed 250 trials with 100% accurate feedback before completing an additional 250 trials with varying levels of feedback accuracy (i.e., 100%, 80%, 60%, 40%, and 20%). Data show that the mean number of correct responses per condition during the additional 250 trials decrease as the proportion of trials with inaccurate feedback increases.

Staff working in residential treatment programs are often assigned trainings to complete to help them perform their jobs more effectively. When staff do not complete trainings employers frequently provide corrective feedback to them. However, such feedback may not have the desired effect of increasing staff participation. In the current study, staff were provided verbal and written feedback during baseline if they did not complete their assigned trainings by agency due dates. During the intervention phase, staff were offered incentives for completing quarterly trainings before a specified deadline. Once staff completed the assigned training, they were entered into a randomized drawing for gift cards to popular locations. Staff could earn more entries into the drawing for completing training earlier in the quarter. The results indicated that incentives increased the number of staff that completed the quarterly trainings. The implications of using incentives in a human service organization is discussed.

While music is integrated into almost all facets of life (e.g., adults soothe infants with song and teach children nursery rhymes as a mechanism to learn simple tasks and facts, jingles help transfer positive emotional effects to businesses and products, and a single melody may evoke powerful memories), there is little behavior analytic research exploring music as a behavior change mechanism or its effects on operant and respondent conditioning or derived responding. This review summarizes 21 studies published in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (JABA) from 1968 to 2019 in which music is part of the independent or dependent variable. We further classified music within the four-term contingency: motivating operation (MO), antecedent, behavior, and consequence. The number of articles with music in the title, abstract, and/or keywords has increased in the past decade, indicating an acceleration of interest in this area. We suggest that music merits further attention by behavior analysts and that the JABA might appropriate outlet for this line of work.

It’s widely known that humans can learn through verbal behavior. Since the first Skinner’s conceptualization of verbal behavior, great number of studies had been conducted to analyze it in experimental settings. However, efforts still need to be made to fully understand how verbal behavior works in natural settings. This study tries to make a little step in that direction. Our purpose is to analyze verbal interaction patterns between client and clinician during psychological treatment. Thus, 16 sessions of psychological treatment were recorded. The client was an adult diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder; the clinician was a psychologist trained in behavior therapy. A coding system based on functional properties of verbal stimuli was used. Two trained observers coded the verbal behavior independently (k= 0.71-0.86). Using descriptive statistics of the data, we found that the frequency per hour of generalized discriminative stimuli (e.g. how are you feeling today?) diminished trough the treatment; or that instructions’ frequency increased after the fourth session. Sequential analysis allowed us to find positive correlations between client’s pro-therapeutic verbalizations (e.g. achievement or wellbeing verbalizations) and clinician’s reinforcement of this verbalizations. These results are useful to analyze the behavioral change processes that are set up during psychological treatment.

Crack use has become a severe health problem in Brazil, the country being reported among the largest crack markets in the world. Located in downtown São Paulo (Brazil most populated city) Crackland emerges as a public space where thousands of crack users living under extremely vulnerable conditions gather to consume crack openly in the streets. In this pilot study we evaluated the feasibility of incorporating Contingency Management (CM) to a public ambulatory treatment located in the heart of crackland to treat currently homeless crack users. Methods: After up to 6-month of inpatient treatment a total of eight participants received 12 weeks of housing, food and ambulatory treatment (control condition) and 12 participants received 12 weeks of housing, food, ambulatory treatment and vouchers contingent to cocaine abstinence (experimental condition). All treatment procedures were conducted by treatment staff. Results: Treatment staff found CM easy to understand, easy to apply and found that CM helped patients maintain abstinence. All participants found CM easy to understand, liked receiving CM and believed it helped them during treatment. Preliminary findings are also presented. Conclusion: CM was well assimilated by treatment staff and participants suggesting the feasibility of incorporating CM in public treatments for crack use disorders.

Caregivers of people with neurodevelopmental disabilities (NDDs) may experience greater psychological distress than other caregivers. Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT) has been shown to increase psychological flexibility and decrease psychological distress for these caregivers. Limited research has measured a core component of ACT (committed actions; CAs), which could be crucial in understanding how ACT can improve life satisfaction. We asked caregivers (N=11) to self-monitor their frequency of CAs (related to their values) and send their weekly results one week before and four weeks after a group-based ACT-workshop (Lunsky et al., 2018). Caregivers also completed standard psychological measures of depression, anxiety, general stress, parenting stress, and values and CAs measures. Post-ACT, 10 of 11 caregivers demonstrated increases in CAs and the group average increased from 0 in baseline to 3.4 CAs per week. All self-report data indicated therapeutic trends, with scores on parenting stress general stress, and depression approaching statistical significance. One-month follow-up data is currently being analyzed. Additional workshops will be conducted to increase statistical power. Results may help inform how self-monitoring CAs impacts the frequency of CAs in relation to measures of psychological distress, CAs, and values.

Research shows that restricting/ denying access to items/activities often trigger disruptive behaviors for children with low frustration tolerance (Mace et al., 2011). Teaching tolerance to access restrictions requires time and resources that may not be available to all clinics and families, reflecting a significant need for briefer treatments. Delay and denial (DnD) tolerance training involving functional communication training (FCT) has been found to be effective in reducing disruptive behaviors in children with developmental disabilities. Research on the effectiveness of this treatment in outpatient clinics with typically developing children is limited. The current study utilized a brief (8 session) DnD tolerance treatment protocol with a typically developing child (4 yrs) in an outpatient clinic. Results revealed a significant reduction in disruptive behaviors and an increase in appropriate requesting and wait time. The current study extended the literature by demonstrating that the procedures utilized in previous studies can be modified to be more feasible for use in an outpatient clinic that serves an underrepresented population. Future research should focus on integrating formal preference assessments and developing relapse prevention plans that include other important settings of the child.

Historically, consultation training has emphasized acceptance of the consultee's belief system. In fact, consultees often have beliefs based on disproven or unproven information and ultimately cannot be providing best practices for the client. Rather than accepting their perspective, this presentation proposes that, in order to provide evidence-based-services for the client, we must correct misinformation and and bring the consultee to an awareness of best practices. Communication methods that emphasize nonconfrontational and respectful strategies will be presented.

Promoting physical activity is a crucial public health priority. Interventions that use applied behavior analytic procedures (ABA) such as contingency management and self-management have shown promise for facilitating physical activity. However, additional research is needed to advance innovation, particularly with respect to interventions that work through indirect-acting contingencies. Among these innovative models of behavior intervention, Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT) has received increased attention and empirical support. Previous research has provided evidence that ACT can increase exercise but previous ACT studies have generally used group designs, which makes it difficult to carefully consider the effects of the intervention at the level of the individual participant, the level at which ACT trainers and therapists work. The present study evaluated a bilingual, five-week, one-on-one ACT-based coaching program for increasing exercise in bilingual international university students. After receiving the ACT intervention, all four participants increased their average daily steps, frequency of gym visits, and duration of gym visits significantly and gains maintained after intervention was terminated. The results of this study suggest that an ACT-based bilingual coaching program of moderate duration may be effective for increasing exercise in bilingual university students.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is commonly used at the individual level to treat anxiety disorders, depression, and other common psychopathology. An emerging application of ACT is at the larger group, even entire community level. This is a promising extension of ACT work because it has the potential to affect change at a larger level than psychologists or behavior analysts can do when working with only one person at a time. Promising applications have included sheltering women from violence, slowing the spread of the Ebola virus, and preventing gang violence in the country of Sierra Leone. At a broader scale, the Prosocial movement has attempted to combine ACT with principles form cultural anthropology to effect change across the globe. This poster will review such large-scale applications of ACT and make practical suggestions for how behavior analysts can make their own service delivery organizations more compassionate and values-oriented.

The current study employed two experiments to examine the effects of pyramidal training on implementation of paired choice preference assessments with training as normal and Behavioral Skills Training (BST) by RBT-level staff in a clinic setting. The first experiment utilized an AB design to examine the use of BST as an intervention for training a Registered Behavior Technician, as the Tier 1 participant, to implement BST to train Tier 2 participants. In the first experiment, the Tier 1 participant was provided written instructions on a paired choice preference assessment and BST. In the baseline phase the Tier 1 participant trained the experimenter to the “best of their ability” on implementation of a paired choice preference assessment with the written information alone. After the baseline phase, the Tier 1 participant received training on BST and the paired choice preference assessment from the experimenter. In the second phase, the Tier 1 participant was again provided the instructions for the paired choice preference assessment and BST, and then was prompted to again train the experimenter to the “best of their ability”. The second experiment used a multiple baseline probe design to examine the effect of training, provided by the Tier 1 participant, on the accuracy of implementation of the paired choice preference assessments by Tier 2 participants when compared to written instructions alone (baseline), training as normal (phase 2) and BST (phase 3). The design consisted of three phases. In the baseline phase, the Tier 2 participants were provided with written instructions for a paired choice preference assessment, 1 minute to review the instructions, and then instructed to implement the preference assessment to the “best of their ability”. Data was collected on accuracy of implementation. After the baseline phase, the Tier 1 participant was instructed to train the Tier 2 participants as usual with the written instructions provided to all participants and data sheet. After training, Phase 1 started. Data was collected on Tier 2 participants accuracy of implementation after receiving “training as normal” from the Tier 1 participant. For the final phase, phase 3, the Tier 1 participant had received training on BST from the experimenter. The Tier 1 participant trained the Tier 2 participants on a paired stimulus preference assessment using BST. Data was collected on accuracy of implementation of the preference assessment. Results indicated that pyramidal training was effective in increasing accuracy scores when compared to the baseline phase. The results also indicated that training using BST resulted in a more accurate implementation of the paired choice preference assessments by Tier 2 participants, when compared to training as usual.

Teaching with acoustical guidance is a teaching procedure that uses an acoustical stimulus to provide immediate feedback to a learner (Quinn, et al., 2017) and has been used to increase a variety of skills, such as football skills (Harrison & Pyles, 2013; Stokes et al., 2010), precision shooting (Konttinen et al., 2004), dance movements (Carrion et al., 2019) and appropriate walking (Hodges et al., 2019). TAGteach also uses an acoustical stimulus to provide immediate feedback to learner, but also includes several other components (TAGteach International, 2004) and has been used to increase a variety of similar skills such as appropriate walking (Persicke, et al 2014), dance movements (Arnall, et al., 2019; Quinn, et al., 2015), rugby skills (Elmore, et al., 2018) and a golf swing (Fogel, et al., 2010). Given the similarities between these procedures, there seems to be some ambiguity regarding these terms in the literature. Therefore, this poster will examine the current literature on teaching with acoustical guidance and TAGTeach, discuss the procedural differences between these procedures, and provide directions for future research.

People with intellectual disabilities/developmental disabilities in the United States are living longer in recent decades. People 65 and older are in better health than previous decades due to more awareness of the beneficial effects of a healthy diet, preventative medical care, and physical exercise. Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities are living longer as well. However, this presents challenges in meeting the needs of this population. This paper details the results of a survey developed to assess several areas of services, including social engagement, health-related services, group home environment, and staff training and development, were evaluated to identify areas in need of improvement. Participants consisted of 95 direct care staff working for a not-for-profit agency providing residential services to adults with intellectual disabilities/developmental disabilities. The results of the survey indicate that need for improving social engagement opportunities for older adults residing in the community and more training on working with older adults with intellectual disabilities/developmental disabilities for direct care staff in a residential setting.

Children with cochlear implants (CIs) who are readers usually produce more accurate speech when textual behavior than tacts. Equivalence based instruction (EBI) and matrix training can promote auditory comprehension, speech accuracy in tacts and verbal productivity, from a minimum set of sentences taught. The present study evaluated the effects of an EBI module on equivalence relations (between pictures, and dictated and printed sentences), accuracy in tacts, and recombinative performances, in six children with CI, readers and who had inaccurate tacts. Three sets of sentences were phonetically-balanced, arranged into subject-verb-object matrices and planned in progressive difficulty (regular and irregular words, and pseudo-sentences); nine sentences in the diagonal were taught, and 25 were evaluated in recombinative probes. The teaching module was organized into three steps and multiple probes evaluated all relations in EBI-network. In each step, were directly taught matching pictures to dictated sentences (AB) by MTS and by exclusion teaching; and construction of sentences under dictation (AE) by CRMTS. According to multiple baseline between sets, all participants learned the taught relations (AB-AE), increased the accurate tacts (BD), and produced both equivalence and syntactic (intra-intersets) relations. The results subsidies a broader curriculum of sentences for the rehabilitation of children with CI.

We evaluated procedures for teaching one student with ASD a component of perspective-taking: identifying their own knowledge based on sensory information, using prompting, fading and reinforcement. During the intervention we taught him to tact the verbal or non-verbal stimuli that evoked his response and to discriminate between known or unknown information based on the verbal statement provided by the experimenter. Specifically, after presenting a verbal statement with or without salient stimuli to the student, we taught an autoclitic frame (e.g. “because I see/hear/touch” or “because I don’t see/hear/touch”) in response to the question “why do/don’t you know?” We evaluated the clinical efficacy of the teaching procedures using a multiple baseline across test conditions design. After no response in baseline for the three test conditions, we used a different set of stimuli during the teaching phase. After reaching mastery criteria we presented again, as post training, the same set of stimuli used in baseline. The student reached mastery criteria for the untaught sets in each test condition. We discuss how this skill may be related to more advanced perspective taking skills, based on Skinner’s analysis of verbal behavior.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of requiring echoic responses during an auditory visual discrimination training on the emergence of tacts in a five years-old boy diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), using an adapted alternating treatment design with pretest and posttest probes. In the auditory-visual discrimination training, the first set with three stimuli (set A), echoic responses were not required during the auditory visual discrimination training, while for the second three stimuli set (set B), echoic responses were required during the auditory visual discrimination training. After meeting mastery criteria on the auditory-visual discrimination training, tact responses were assessed for the six stimuli. The results showed full emergence of tacts in both conditions, although the participant needed less training sessions to master criteria on the condition in which echoic responses were required. The procedure is currently being applied to another children in order to verify generality.

During study 1 we taught an adolescent with ASD to pass a “false belief” task using multiple-exemplar training (MET) and prompting and fading. During baseline we presented three different role playing scenarios (RPS) adherent to the “Sally and Ann” test but using preferred characters; the student failed to provide the correct perspective-taking (PT) response. During the training phase we presented novel RPS interspersing oral scenarios (OS), teaching the student to tact the controlling variables of his own behavior and the behavior of the character before providing the PT response. During post training the student correctly provided PT responses for the same scenarios presented in baseline, for three novel OS and for a novel “false belief” task (unexpected contents). During study 2 we probed a problem solving response that implied an applied PT response in the natural environment in a social situation. Consistently with previous researches the student failed to generalize the PT response in an applied setting. Then we taught, using MET and prompting and fading, the problem solving response in the natural environment chaining the PT response to the problem solving response. During post-training the student provided the problem solving response without engaging overtly in the PT response.

Leisure activities have been linked in providing an opportunity for individuals with developmental disabilities to acquire adaptive skills which are necessary for successful inclusion in the general public. Teaching individuals with developmental disabilities to engage in leisure activities is widely acknowledged in improving communication skills, social interaction skills and also providing an opportunity for behaving appropriately in society. Studies involving individuals with developmental disabilities have mainly focused on interventions on feeding and self-care and leisure activities have been somewhat an afterthought. Leisure activities for individuals with disabilities are often selected by their caregivers. This literature review analyzed studies that used video modeling, a non-intrusive behavioral antecedent intervention, to teach individuals with developmental disabilities to engage in leisure activities. Participants in the study were individuals 3 years and above with varying diagnosis that fell under the generic term developmental disabilities. The studies used single-case designs that were evaluated using guidelines of the What Works Clearing House (2017). Studies published from 2001 to 2018 (n =10) were identified. For individuals with severe developmental disabilities, preference assessments should be conducted to identify their preferred leisure activities so that they may engage in leisure activities of their choices.

A 12-year-old male was referred to a severe behavior applied behavior analysis (ABA) clinic for the assessment and treatment of self-injurious behavior (SIB). The client has a rare diagnosis, Bainbridge-Ropers Syndrome (BRPS). BRPS was first described in 2013, and has only been identified in approximately 30 individuals in the literature (Koboldt et al., 2018). BRPS is due to changes in function of the gene additional sex combs-like 3, ASXL3. This gene instructs cells in various organs at different stages of development (Bainbridge et al., 2013), and this mutation is problematic for growth and functioning. Due to the limited amount of individuals currently diagnosed with BRPS, there is a need for increased evidence to support appropriate and efficient assessment and intervention strategies. The client seen in the severe behavior clinic was considered an early learner and due to difficulties related to his diagnosis of BRPS, assessment and treatment of his SIB was challenging. Through various functional assessments tailored specifically to the client, the treatment team was able to identify an appropriate function of his SIB and behavioral interventions were found to be effective for the client based on visual analysis of the data.

Disrobing is a socially stigmatizing behavior impacting people with developmental disabilities. It can be a difficult problem to manage in community settings which may lead to social isolation, poor integration with peers, or placement in restrictive settings (Carlson et al., 2011). Traditional functional analysis (FA) procedures rely on measuring repeatability of a behavior while testing isolated functions (Iwata et al., 1994). Disrobing poses a challenge for this methodology since repeated occurrence would require a therapist redressing the client, potentially providing additional attention, which may serve as a confounding variable (Thomason-Sassi et al., 2011). For disrobing, and other behaviors that cannot be repeated due to practical or ethical concerns (e.g.: elopement, vomiting, severe SIB), latency-based functional analyses can be used to identify function. However, latency-based FAs may take time for the participant to detect the contingencies, which uses additional time and resources and may fail to adequately identify automatically maintained behavior. The present study examined the use of an extended latency-based FA on disrobing for an adult in a residential setting. In test conditions, the participant was instructed to put on clothing. Following the initial disrobing, the participant contacted the contingency and was redressed. Latency to disrobing was measured for before and after the contingency. Results indicated that behavior is likely automatically maintained because behavior was evoked at approximately the same latency throughout all conditions, irrespective of the presence of the potentially reinforcing contingency.

To better understand parent trainings on challenging behavior interventions for parents that speak a language other than English, we conducted a review of the existing literature. We conducted a database search and ancillary searches. Six studies evaluating parent training in challenging behavior interventions in a language other than English were identified. The articles identified were analyzed to determine the types of trainings that had been used and to determine the impact that these trainings had on the child’s challenging behaviors. Across the articles, there were 151 parent participants and 151 child participants. The most common language of parent training was Chinese. The existing literature shows that weekly group parent trainings were most commonly used. The scarcity of articles highlights the need for more research in this area. Specifically, future research should evaluate the efficacy and social validity of research supported challenging behavior interventions with parents who speak languages other than English. Implications and directions for future research will be discussed.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of pseudo self-monitoring on rule infraction behavior in a child with ADHD who showed rule infraction behavior in a teaching situation using a card game. Pseudo-self-monitoring is a procedure in which a participant monitors the behavior of another person imitating the participant (Wada and Takeuchi, 2019). The participant was a child with ADHD, 16 years old. As a method of this research, we created a video of the behavior of others imitating the participation behavior in a teaching situation using a card game. Several scenes in the video were presented to the participant in random order for evaluation. The frequency of rule infraction behavior was averaged 66.4% during the baseline, averaged 20% during the intervention phase, and averaged 24.8% during the probe phase. In other words, it was shown that pseudo self-monitoring was effective in reducing the rule infraction behavior of children with ADHD, and that the effect was maintained.

Antecedent choice-making interventions involve offering an individual a choice in how to complete a task prior to the onset of that task. In order to better understand the possible relationship between antecedent choice making and challenging behavior, a review of the existing literature on the use of antecedent choice-making interventions to reduce challenging behavior was conducted. A systematic review of the literature identified 30 articles in which antecedent choice was implemented to reduce problem behavior. The studies were summarized according to characteristics of the participant, antecedent choice intervention, problem behavior, and other dependent variables such as task completion. In addition, the included studies were analyzed according to the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC; 2017) Single Case Research Design Standards. The literature indicate that antecedent choice-making interventions involve both within-activity choices such as choice of activity materials or setting as well as across-activity choices, such as the order of activities. Initial results indicate the effectiveness of choice-making interventions to reduce challenging behavior. Results will be further analyzed and discussed.

Current research has identified poor post-school outcomes for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities; in fact, poorer than any other disability group. Employment support such as vocational skill training can improve outcomes and increase opportunities for paid employment. With recent advances in technology, a myriad of technology devices and programs offer relatively inexpensive and portable forms of support to vocational training programs. Moreover, today’s ubiquitous use of technology allows for the use of technology supports in a way that may not be as stigmatizing in the work setting relative to more traditional forms of support. The purpose of this review is to summarize the literature regarding the use of technology in vocational skills training programs. Articles identified via a systematic search of the literature are summarized according to (a) participant characteristics, (b) vocational skills targeted, and (c) technology device characteristics. In addition, the included studies are analyzed according to the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC; 2017) Single Case Research Design Standards. Results will be further analyzed and discussed.

In this study, we examine the effects of video modeling to teach complex emotions across seven children diagnosed with autism. Each participant was shown five short video clips and identified characteristics such as, body language, facial expression, voice, and volume. The results suggest that video modeling can quickly promote skill acquisition in identifying complex emotions across all participants.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often show motor stereotypies that could represent barriers to learn functional behaviours. Some studies showed that antecedent exercise (AE), a procedure based on physical activity, can effectively decrease the rate of motor stereotypies. One study in particular applied AE through an indoor elliptical bike in a home setting. The aim of the present study is to replicate this finding on AE in a center-based intervention. One 6 years old child with ASD, male, participated in the study. The procedures involved fading of the prompt for the correct jogging position and movements, shaping of the jogging sessions duration and positive reinforcement available at the end of a correct jogging session. The jogging sessions were performed as an AE in order to reduce motor stereotypies. Collected data indicate that AE is successful in decreasing the target behaviours in a center-based intervention. The findings could have important implications for the treatment of motor stereotypies in people with ASD.

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and co-occurring moderate intellectual disability (ID) have deficits in conversations because of challenges in interpreting vocal and nonvocal responses and in identifying appropriate moments to initiate, maintain, or terminate conversations. Our purpose in this study was to increase conversations in three young adults with ASD and co-occurring moderate ID. First, we used an intervention package consisting of Behavior Skills Training (BST) and Covert Audio Coaching (CAC) to promote acquisition and maintenance of conversations with coworkers. Second, we implemented CAC during naturally-occurring opportunities at an internship site. Third, we examined if initiations with coworkers increased during and after participants learned to initiate, maintain, and terminate conversations. We used a concurrent multiple-baseline design across participants with continuous acquisition probes to evaluate the effects of the intervention in producing acquisition and maintenance of conversations and increasing the frequency of initiations. Results demonstrate that the intervention was effective in producing acquisition and maintenance of the target skills in all three young adults. Data also indicate that participants initiated more interactions with coworkers as conversational competence increased.

Deficits in social communication and social interaction are key elements of Autism Spectrum Disorder. Video modeling (VM) has been successful in teaching new skills, particularly social communication skills, through short, targeted videos. However, prior research in VM has heavily focused on academic settings with elementary school age children. There is a gap in the literature on teaching social skills in natural settings to adolescents with ASD. This research used a single- subject, multiple-baseline design to examine the impact of VM on the social behaviors of adolescent males (n=3), diagnosed with ASD, in natural social settings. The dependent variable was scored for responses based on scripted verbalizations included in the video treatment, scripted social actions, and spontaneous reciprocal verbal interactions chains. Visual analysis, percentage of nonoverlapping data points, and effect size were used to evaluate data. In addition, social validity data on acceptability and satisfaction of the intervention were collected. Results indicated large effects for the adolescent participants when interacting socially in community settings and the treatment was found to be socially acceptable by adolescents and by habilitative intervention professionals.

Writing skills are necessary in several circumstances: in school, writing is an indication of content learning; upon graduation people are expected to write in several contexts, from formal office tasks to text messaging on Instagram or Facebook. Besides the difficulties that are reported when teaching writing to any children (e.g., picture-spoken word - written word relations; letter shape discrimination), characteristics linked to Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) seem to increase the likelihood of learning issues, such as use of language structure, initiation and termination of discourse, and perseverative comments. There is a scarcity of procedures for teaching writing to children with ASD. The purpose of this study was to systematically review intervention studies, published in peer review journals, that versed on teaching writing to children with ASD. We analyzed previous reviews on the topic and reviewed empirical studies from 2008 through 2018, according to several criteria. Five articles met all criteria, in all four phases, among 393 found. Three writing behaviors, subdivided into several dependent variables, have been targeted for intervention, which always included more than one procedure. Research is still needed to establish best practices for teaching writing to children with ASD.

This systematic review summarizes and analyze the literature on sportsmanship interventions for individuals with autism. Sportsmanship skills are necessary for children to engage in game play with peers, cooperate in team sports, and participate in community leisure activities. Twenty-eight studies were included in this study that used experimental designs (single-case design and group design) that targeted sportsmanship behaviors. The results were summarized across participants, targeted behaviors, settings, interventions, and methodological rigor of the included studies. Different types of outcomes, such as play skills, social skills, and specific sportsmanship skills were targeted in the studies. Various types of behavioral interventions and strategies including group instruction, BST, video modeling, and token economies were implemented to improve sportsmanship behaviors for individuals with autism. Although most studies reported positive outcomes on the targeted social-communication behaviors, methodological limitations should be considered when interpreting the results as 64% of the studies included were of weak methodological rigor. Limitations of this review and implications for future research are discussed.

Animal-assisted interventions (AAI) have become increasingly popular, especially within the field of autism (ASD). Unfortunately, there exists little empirical data on intervention prevalence or its effectiveness. To date, there exists no empirical data examining the use of AAI as an adjunct to ABA services. This study explored animal incorporation practices, perceived intervention desirability/feasibility, level of AAI knowledge and awareness, and perceptions/attitudes concerning AAI among active BACB certificants (RBT, BCaBA, BCBA, and BCBA-D certificants) working within the United States (including Puerto Rico). Participants, recruited via the BACB mass email service, were asked to complete a comprehensive, cross-sectional web-based survey developed with the input of 25 expert reviewers. This poster presents data from the Animal Incorporation Practices portion of the survey. A total of 544 BACB certificants participated in this survey study, of which roughly 20% (n=107) reported physically incorporating animal(s) into ABA services with their clients. Analysis of incorporation practices (e.g., intervention format, purpose of animal incorporation, and data collection procedures), individual animal characteristics (e.g., animal species and level of training), and perceived effectiveness of their practices was conducted. Discussion of these findings and how they relate to the Professional & Ethical Compliance Code and animal welfare considerations were presented.

Past research has shown that response interruption and redirection (RIRD) decreases automatically maintained behaviors such as vocal stereotypy (VS) and in some cases increases appropriate vocalizations. For example, Ahearn et al. (2007) used RIRD to effectively treat vocal stereotypy by presenting vocal demands contingent upon VS. In addition, Ahrens et al. (2011) found that motor demands contingent upon VS were also effective in decreasing VS. The purpose of the current study was to compare the effects of motor RIRD versus vocal RIRD in relation to VS, appropriate vocalizations, compliance with each procedure and social validity measures with children diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder. Participant 1 had a limited vocal repertoire consisting of sounds and short word utterances. Participant 2 and 3 had established mand and tact repertoires. A reversal design was used to compare the effects of motor and vocal RIRD. During motor RIRD, VS was redirected to motor compliances (e.g. touch your nose, clap your hands). During vocal RIRD, VS was redirected to vocal compliances (e.g., tacting or vocal imitation). IOA was calculate din 33% of all sessions across all participants and averaged 95% overall. Results indicated that both motor RIRD and vocal RIRD produced lower levels of VS for all participants and increased appropriate vocalizations for one participant that had a vocal verbal repertoire. Although the vocal RIRD procedure increased appropriate vocals, the motor RIRD procedure demonstrates the utility of RIRD with individuals who have limited vocal verbal repertoires. In addition, compliance was higher during the motor RIRD condition for all participants. Clinical considerations regarding the effectiveness, preference, and social validity of the two procedures are also discussed.

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience impairments across a wide range of skill domains, including self-care skills. The ratio of 1:59 children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) all around the world, according to the Centre of Autism Disease Control and Prevention Survey. This makes it a demanding problem to be addressed. Nearly 28 percent of 8-year-olds with ASD have self-injurious behaviors. The childcare and diagnosis available today are very few and generalized that makes the life of an autistic child very difficult. Auticare is an Assistive Technology that gives standard ABA therapy and treatment for high functioning autism and related neurodevelopmental disabilities. The therapy platform in Virtual Reality includes different training scenarios solely based on applied behavior analysis that encourage to develop cognitive, social, self-care skills. Not only does this platform provides therapy but it also helps doctors to diagnose the present condition and judge the progress of autistic children through progressive data stored in the cloud. The product is launched and currently being used for therapy in government hospitals and special education centers. The objectives of the current study were to determine the efficacy of the product Auticare among high functioning autism in improving cognitive, social and self-care skills in centers that have already installed the product. The findings of the product revealed that immersive VR training may be a safe and viable method of teaching basic self-care skills using behaviour analysis. Using a forum for virtual reality provides an effective treatment alternative to enhance commonly found cognitive and social impairments in Autism Spectrum Disorder by providing children more immersive, efficient, safe and engaging experience based on applied behaviour analysis technique.

Children with high functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often engage in repetitive behaviors topographically similar to those seen in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. A Randomized Controlled Trial (Vause et al., 2018) used a manualized Functional Behavior-based Cognitive Behavior Therapy (Fb-CBT) with 37 children (n = 19 in experimental and n = 18 in Treatment As Usual), and demonstrated significant differences in Obsessive Compulsive Behaviours (OCBs) between groups from pre to post-test, with large effect sizes. Considering the importance of behavioral maintenance, the present study evaluated the long-term treatment outcomes of 13 children, 5 to 7 years following Fb-CBT. The Repetitive Behavior Scale–Revised (Compulsive, Ritualistic, and Sameness subscales; Bodfish et al., 1999) and parent report questionnaires evaluated OCBs from post-treatment to 5-7 year follow-up. Across participants, there were no significant changes in OCBs between post-test and 5 to 7 year follow-up. However, there was some variability in maintenance of treatment gains. A matched-comparison qualitative case study identified factors that may have contributed to the variance across outcomes. Five semi-structured interviews were conducted with 5 parent and 4 child participants whose quantitative results reflected this variance. Thematic analysis identified common themes across and within cases (Braun and Clarke, 2006). Results from the qualitative analysis support the current ABA and CBT literature—that is—parents whose children were more successful in maintaining treatment gains stressed the importance of parent training and support received during Fb-CBT, and continued work on generalization and practice of coping strategies during exposures post-treatment.

Self-advocacy is an important life skill. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may have difficulty self-advocating due to socio-communicative deficits. Other factors related to ASD, such as social anxiety and a dependent lifestyle, may further restrict familiarity with self-advocacy and the ability to self-advocate. Therefore, instruction is often necessary to establish self-advocacy skills to individuals with ASD. Unfortunately, several different definitions of “self-advocacy” exist within self-advocacy literature. Studies have also used different methods to teach self-advocacy and have focused on different target behaviors. Our project aims to propose a comprehensive definition for “self-advocacy” based on commonalities in definitions proposed by previous research and to describe empirically supported methods for teaching self-advocacy to adults with ASD. We collected literature using a set of criteria based on self-advocacy and related terms. Sources were sorted based on whether they defined self-advocacy or sought to teach it, with membership in both groups possible. Ongoing analysis suggests that definitions including self-knowledge, problem recognition, ability to articulate need, and taking initiative are most common, and that behavioral instruction is consistently associated with successful learning of self-advocacy. Areas for future research by applied behavior analysts working with this population are discussed.

This study examined the effectiveness of the Copy, Cover, and Compare (CCC) strategy for English as second language students. This study used the CCC method (Skinner et al., 1997) to increase the percentage of words spelled correctly for two students—a student with autism and a typically developed student. Moreover, the study extended Carter et al. (2013) study by adding maintenance probe and generalization probe. The results of this study are inconclusive between the participants. The data from one participant showed that the CCC alone was not able to increase correct word spelling, maintain, and generalize. On the other hand, the data from another participant revealed the opposite results. Limitations included: no preference assessment conducted, did not collect the percentage of correct letter within words, and did not evaluate the effectiveness of prompt used. Implications and recommendations were discussed in the study.

B.F. Skinner posited in 1981 that culture is one of the three types of selection impacting human behavior, yet Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) has often overlooked it. As the reach of ABA grows and the recipients of behavior-analytic services become more diverse, it is imperative that the participants in research studies reflect that diversity. Evidence-based practices for autism intervention are being identified by The National Clearinghouse on Autism & Evidence Practice (NCAEP) in their systematic review of the intervention literature published from 2012-2017. The data presented in this poster intends to answer an important follow-up question: For whom are these interventions evidence-based? The single subject design research articles (n=597) identified by NCAEP were reviewed for descriptions of participant race and gender in accordance with the procedure and reliability protocol described by West et al. (2016). The findings indicate that 24.28% (n=145) of the studies report on race. The majority representation was white participants at 55%. Black participants were represented at 16% and Hispanic/Latino participants comprised 12%. The gender composition was 83% male and 17% female with no reports of gender non-binary participants. This indicates that the field needs more reporting on participant demographics and greater diversity in participant ascertainment.

With the increase in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) prevalence, the number of adolescents and adults with ASD is also rapidly increasing, which increases the number of adults with disabilities seeking services. As individuals with ASD grow up, their social-communication issues seem to increase and required in more complex skills. There are critical needs for evaluating the efficacy of communication interventions on more complex language use for this adolescents and adults age ranges to address the most effective and suitable interventions for this population across implementers variables, communicative function variables, and setting variables.The purpose of this meta-analysis is to determine effectiveness of social and communication intervention for adolescents and adults with ASD, primarily discriminated by these variables: interventionists, communicative functions, and setting. We will investigate the social-communication outcomes on each intervention category. The author will include single-case experimental designs (SCEDs) in this meta-analysis.

According to existing literature, the incidence of persistent toe walking is greater in children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnosis than in children without a diagnosis. Approximately 20% of children with an ASD diagnosis engage in this motor behavior, often associated with tight heel cords, which can lead to the need for more intrusive medical or even surgical intervention if left untreated. Current literature suggests the use of auditory feedback devices (e.g., GaitSpot™) attached to participants’ feet and differential reinforcement are effective treatments for toe walking; however, additional research should replicate these findings and control for the presence of the auditory feedback devices. In the current study, researchers evaluated multiple components of a toe walking treatment package across two participants with ASD. Components included auditory feedback devices, differential reinforcement for appropriate steps, and a mild physical prompt to place heels on the ground, as needed for each participant. Researchers faded and thinned procedure schedules according to each participants’ performance in order to assess maintenance and improve social validity.

We examined the effects of fluency training across two verbal operants and the collateral effects across untrained verbal operants. The participant was a 6-year old with autism who frequently engaged in long response latencies during instruction. Fluency training was applied to echoics and then to intraverbals within an alternating treatments design. Results showed decreases in the latency to respond (s) in the verbal operants that were exposed to fluency training. Additionally, we observed decreases in the latency to respond in the verbal operants that were not exposed to the training, indicating generalization of the effects across untrained verbal operants. Mean response latencies were at or below 2.3 s across all verbal operants in the final phase. We will discuss the potential benefits of fluency training.

Matrix training is a form of generative instruction that allows the clinician to teach a limited number of targets and obtain the emergence of responding across untaught targets, resulting in faster skill acquisition. Matrix training has been used to teach a range of skills to individuals of varying abilities. Recently, work from our laboratory explored the use of matrix training to expand the verbal behavior repertoire of young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In the present study, the focus was to evaluate whether teaching one operant, motor imitation actions with toys, would result in emergence of untaught actions and untaught operants, tacting and listener responding. In addition, we evaluated whether instructive feedback would facilitate emergent learning. A 4-year old boy with ASD served as participant. Researchers taught motor imitation according to noun-verb combinations from two matrices, A and B, and only trials of matrix A were accompanied by instructive feedback. The diagonal targets of both matrices were readily acquired. Subsequently, researchers conducted probes for each untaught recombinative motor imitation targets and other operants. The effects of instructive feedback to promote emergent learning when using matrix training will be discussed.

Some individuals with ASD may be indifferent to, or avoidant of, social interaction. Evaluating methods of increasing social time allocation are important with this population. We assessed the extent to which three children with ASD would approach or avoid social interactions. During baseline, when subjects were on the same side of the room as a therapist the therapist delivered vocal interaction and when subjects were on the opposite side of the room no interactions were delivered. All three subjects were indifferent or avoidant of social interaction in baseline. During the intervention, the therapist began to initiate each subjects’ preferred interactions. During the intervention, all subjects allocated their time more socially and were more likely to follow the therapist to maintain access to social interaction.

Assessing the function of social interaction is important for individuals with ASD. Some researchers have provided methods of assessing whether social interactions function as reinforcing, neutral, or aversive stimuli for individuals with ASD. However, these methods provide rather coarse measures of the function of social interaction (e.g., reinforcing, neutral, or aversive) and it may be useful to evaluate methods of obtaining more quantitative and precise measures of the function of social interaction. We evaluated the degree to which eight children with ASD were likely to allocate their time near or away from a therapist who delivered social interactions. Across conditions the ratio of time the therapist spent on the left versus right half of the room was manipulated and we evaluated the degree to which the subject’s behavior changed across conditions. This relationship was quantified using a modified version of the power-function matching equation.

Functional Communication Training (FCT) is an evidence-based intervention for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). FCT is used to teach students with ASD a functionally equivalent communicative response (FCR) to replace challenging behavior. While there is extensive research on FCT and some even measures generalization of the skills across settings, to date, there are no studies evaluating the effects of FCT implemented in a special education setting and generalization to the general education setting. This is critical, as most students with ASD spend part of their days in a special education setting. In the current poster, presenters will provide data related to FCT implemented in a special education setting and the effects on the generalization of the FCR and challenging behavior to the generalization setting with elementary students with ASD. The presenters will discuss implications for research and practice.

Iwata, Dorsey, Slifer, Bauman, and Richman (1982/1994) proposed an approach to behavioral assessment based on the experimental model that has been largely used in applied settings. In order to conduct a functional analysis of aggressive behavior of severely handicapped clients in an outpatient setting during a 90-min period Northup et al., (1991) proposed a brief functional assessment approach. In this article we compare the outcomes of both functional analysis methodologies to an autistic adolescent with severe aggressive behavior. Results suggested that Iwata, Dorsey, Slifer, Bauman, and Richman (1982/1994) approach was essential to design idiosyncratic conditions that were later confirmed in the brief functional assessment approach.

Disruptive behaviors such as elopement, calling-out, and aggression are often a major barrier to instruction in preschool classrooms. One widely used class-wide behavior management system used to decrease disruptive behaviors and increase on-task behavior is Class-Wide Function-Related Intervention Teams (CW-FIT). CW-FIT was originally designed to be used for classrooms kindergarten through 5th grade, however, this paper session will describe two research projects designed to evaluate the effectiveness of CW-FIT in preschool settings. The first study was conducted to assess the efficacy of CW-FIT in increasing the on-task behavior of students and improving teacher behavior in a preschool classroom and to evaluate these effects in separate large and small group settings. Results suggest that CW-FIT increased on-task group behavior in both the large and small group settings. Results for rates of teacher’s praise and reprimand statements were, however, variable for the two settings. The second study (in progress) will evaluate the differentiated effects of the traditional CW-FIT using an interdependent group contingency and a modified CW-FIT using a dependent group contingency on on-task student behavior and teacher behaviors. It is hypothesized that both versions will show equal improvement in student and teacher behaviors, but that teachers will prefer the modified version.

Behavior Analysis is a scientific approach that emphasizes environmental contingencies to solve a large array of problems. The field has continuously produced literature on evaluations and treatments that cover a multitude of issues. Although our field has support in many areas of practice, a considerable percentage of our applied applications focus on autism and developmental disability treatment. With an ever-growing field, the interest of those involved in behavior analysis is also seeing a large increase in variability. This panel aims at highlighting some of the novel applications of behavior analysis in diverse areas. The panelists will discuss some of their own experiences implementing behavior analysis in these areas and will provide time to answer questions from the audience. If you have interest in applying behavior analysis into novel areas, this panel aims to help provide insight into this process.

Consent is embedded in the foundation of behavior analytic research and clinical practice. The processes of obtaining consent and assent require that researchers and practitioners share information regarding procedures in a way that is understandable to the recipient, which often appears to be a straight-forward process. Beyond the process of information sharing, though, are important matters related to whether or not someone has the capacity to consent or assent and whether that capacity has changed or will change over time. Additionally, it is often incumbent on researchers and practitioners to use their judgement when deciding whether or not assent has been provided noncoercively. This can be especially difficult when working with more vulnerable populations like individuals with developmental disabilities or dementia. This symposium will address issues related to decision-making capacity, commonly used capacity assessments and assent procedures, and socially valid methods for gaining assent that avoid coercive procedures. These issues will be discussed as they relate to older adults with dementia and children and adults with developmental disabilities.

BCBAs

Determinations of decision-making capacity affect a person’s civil rights. When reasoning or decision-making capacity is in question, the onus is to balance autonomy and safety, maximizing self-reliance and independence while programming for assistance to prevent harm and maintain safety. Assessment of decision-making capacity is a research area, nevertheless, myths about decision-making capacity abound. Contrary to common belief, decision-making capacity is not unitary – it is specific to the task or domain in question (e.g., financial, medical, research consent or assent); cognitive difficulties do not automatically imply a lack of capacity; and individuals may lack capacity in one area of functioning while retaining capacity in other domains. Individuals may also transition from more to less assistance with decision-making, and capacity can be regained. This primer will review basic tenets of decision-making capacity and broadly introduce research and currently existing guidelines, considering the impact on a person’s life and advancing providers’ competency to navigate ethical and practical issues.

Behavior-analytic research with adults with dementia is often conducted with people who lack the capacity to consent on their own behalf. However, commonly used capacity assessments and assent procedures are often ill-defined and subjective. Although there are some objective behavioral measures of dissent (e.g., moving away from the area, indices of unhappiness), assent procedures requiring vocal responses may produce verbal behavior under stimulus control of past or unobservable events. For example, “Can I sit with you today and show you some activities?” might result in the topographically-irrelevant response, “I told him that the birds are blue.” Researchers must then judge whether assent has been given, which can be uncomfortable. We will discuss the utility and pitfalls of our ethics committee-approved assent and consent procedures, and the use of compassionate misinformation in relation to the BACB Professional and Ethical Compliance Code for Behavior Analysts. We will present data showing the prevalence of vocal responses not under conditional control of discriminative stimuli used in assent procedures. We will discuss the need for socially valid, effective vocal and non-vocal methods for gaining assent from participants with dementia to enable people to be involved as much as possible in the consent process (i.e., have choice).

Whether conducting behavior analytic research or providing behavior analytic services to individuals with developmental disabilities, it is important to gain consent for the provision of the procedures in question. Several issues arise when considering how informed consent is obtained to ensure individuals with developmental disabilities who are their own guardians are not coerced into providing consent. There are also several considerations that must be made to ensure consent is effectively informed. When adults with developmental disabilities are not their own guardians or when children with developmental disabilities are involved, they may not be able to legally provide consent. However, the majority of the time, such individuals must still provide assent. Thus, similar issues apply. This presentation will provide an overview of the concerns that can arise when attempting to gain consent or assent from individuals with developmental disabilities. We will provide a behavior analytic perspective on these issues, as well as present potential solutions behavior analysts might consider as ways to evaluate assent and consent that avoid coercive procedures.

The present symposium explores the ways in which verbal behavior and behavioral economics may shed light on some of the larger societal problems we face as humans. In the first presentation, we empirically explore RFT-based conceptualizations of gambling behavior beyond those of equivalence to frames of comparison and the ways in which those contextual variables (along with our own verbal behavior about them) may push around our behavior. Second, we'll address conceptually-cutting-edge perspective, wherein we propose different interventions for distinct repertoires within what we might broadly consider, impulsivity. Finally, we explore delay and social discounting within the context of climate change, and the need for modern behavior analysis to hold a seat at the table of discussions around sustainability initiatives.

-intermediate-advanced

Impulsivity is a multifaceted construct, including inability to wait, rapid action without forethought, and an inability to inhibit inappropriate behaviors. In behavior analytic research, impulsivity is often studied by examining choices between smaller-sooner reinforcers over larger-later reinforcers, as in delay discounting. However, researchers have begun to acknowledge what could be an important distinction, between ‘‘impulsive disinhibition,’’ e.g., Go/No-Go tasks, and ‘‘impulsive decision-making,’’ e.g., Delay-Discounting tasks (Reynolds, Ortengren, Richards and de Wit, 2006). This presentation will conduct a radical behavioral conceptual analysis of this distinction and identify the separate implications for both repertoires of behavior, both for studying them in the lab, and for application to socially significant behavior. In particular, it seems probable that different intervention procedures may work for addressing the two different repertoires. For example, present moment attention training may help individuals focus on moment-to-moment self-control, as in go/no go tasks, whereas values-based interventions may help individuals behave with respect to longer-term self-control tasks, such as delay discounting.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, considerable changes in human behavior are needed to curb the impacts of climate change. Current estimates suggest that we may reach the climate point of no return (PNR) by the year 2035 assuming a 2% increase in the relative rate of no emission consumption. We describe several studies conducted by our research lab from a Behavioral Economic and Relational Frame Theory synthetic framework that address preferences for policies that attempt to limit or constrain CO2 emissions by affecting human action. The first series of studies evaluate policy preference to delay PNR as analogous to monetary discounting of reinforcer loss. Results show that people discount high emission commodities similar to currency. Results also show that redistributive policies may generate greater policy support and willingness to forego high emission commodities in service of the value of climate change sustainability. The second series of studies extend this model by directly comparing policies developed by politicians seeking presidency in the upcoming US election, as well as embedding measures of social discounting. Results again support preference for redistributive policies and that policies that redistribute reinforcement locally are more likely to be accepted and produce greater willingness than policies that seek to redistribute reinforcement internationally. These series of studies speak to a need to inform policy with modern advances in applied behavior analysis.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.

Collaborating with professionals in other disciplines is vital to the success of those we serve but is also one of the most difficult parts of the job. Teachers, speech pathologists, occupational therapists, pediatricians, social workers, and psychiatrists bring unique areas of expertise, and collaboration means finding common ground. Successful collaboration may also require some persuasion and translating behavior analytic terms into their language to teach others what our science has to offer. This panel includes experienced behavior analysts from school, hospital, and mental health settings who have experience collaborating with diverse professionals from other disciplines. They will provide their perspectives on the benefits of working with others and provide strategies for how to navigate potential challenges. They will give insight into navigating ethical issues that may arise when working with multidisciplinary teams. They will offer recommendations on how to make friends and influence people to provide the best services possible for those we serve.

The target audience in practicing behavior analysts who work in setting that require collaboration with professionals from other disciplines.

Relational Frame Theory (RFT) argues that language and cognition may be explained in terms of derived (arbitrarily applicable) relational responding (also known as relational framing). Furthermore, RFT research has by now provided substantial evidence in favour of this thesis not least by modelling a number of arguably important areas of linguistic-cognitive functioning based on controlled laboratory demonstrations of this phenomenon. The present symposium includes data from a number of relatively recent RFT-based studies that illustrate this approach. Study 1 focused on training class inclusion responding as a key repertoire of classification, using a RFT approach in which class inclusion involves containment and comparison relations and their combination. Study 2 assessed acquisition of relational framing in young children using a novel RFT-based procedure, with a particular focus on the acquisition of analogical responding, conceptualised within RFT as the relating of derived relations. Study 3 involved a number of experiments to train analogical responding (i.e., relating derived relations) in young children using a multiple baseline across participants design.

Class inclusion requires responding to an item simultaneously as a member of both a class and a more inclusive class containing that class. For example, a child might be presented with pictures of several dogs and several cats, with more dogs than cats and asked, “Are there more dogs or more animals?” The correct answer (‘animals’) requires responding to a dog as simultaneously both a member of the class ‘dogs’ as well as of the superordinate class ‘animals’. Ming et al. (2018) trained class inclusion in typically developing children and individuals with autism using a Relational Frame Theory approach in which class inclusion requires containment and comparison relations and their combination. Participants received multiple exemplar training using a non-concurrent multiple baseline design in which class containment relations were represented by placing pictures within nested transparent boxes. More recent work has facilitated improved control by using a concurrent design and recording all stimulus categories in both baseline and training, thus enabling a more unambiguous demonstration of generalization and maintenance. It also showed contingent feedback alone as insufficient to allow successful performance but that an intervention involving non-arbitrary guidance but less intensive than in Ming et al. could facilitate the required repertoire.

Relational Frame Theory (RFT) sees operant acquisition of various patterns of relational framing (frames) as key to linguistic and cognitive development and it has explored the emergence of a range of psychological phenomena (e.g., analogy, perspective-taking) in these terms. One potentially important advance for RFT research is to develop a better idea of the normative development of relational framing in childhood. This was one of the aims of the present study, which sought to measure relational responding of various types, and at various levels of complexity in young children across a range of ages. A second aim of the study was to focus in particular on analogy, or the relating of relations, as one particularly important pattern of relational responding. The present study examined a range of frames including coordination, comparison, opposition, temporality, and hierarchy at a number of different levels of complexity (non-arbitrary relating, non-arbitrary relating of relations, arbitrarily applicable relating and arbitrarily applicable relating of relations) in young children ranging in age from 3 to 7. Performance overall as well as under various subheadings was correlated with both age and intellectual ability. Outcomes and their implications are discussed.

Teaching children to play is an integral part of development because it sets the occasion for having social and communicative interactions with peers, increases the likelihood of learning in natural and inclusive settings, and offers flexibility to be used in multiple environments (Barton & Wolery, 2008). Children with disabilities are observed to engage in spontaneous play less often and demonstrate fewer varied pretend play behaviors than children with typical development (Barton, 2015). The long-term effects of an impoverished play repertoire are observed in social interactions later in life. The purpose of this symposium is to review the research supporting the efficacy of the Pretend Play and Language Assessment and Curriculum (PPLAC) as an effective tool to systematically assess and teach both independent and sociodramatic pretend play and language skills to children ages 2-7. The PPLAC is a behaviorally-based curriculum formulated from the typical developmental sequence of play and language and utilized to establish and expand a child's pretend play repertoire. The five elements of pretend play are identified and separated in teachable components including: agent of play, object of play, category of play, advanced play and the essential skills to sociodramatic play.

BCBA, BCBA-D, BCaBA, SLP, Special educators

Children diagnosed with autism and other developmental delays often demonstrate a deficit in toy play when compared to typically developing peers and frequently require specific interventions to acquire appropriate toy play (DiCarlo & Reid, 2004). Teaching play skills to children diagnosed with autism by isolating the individual components within each stage of play can increase acquisition, maintenance, and generalization. The purpose of this study was to replicate the research presented by Nancy Champlin and Melissa Schissler to teach four children diagnosed with autism, ages 3-7, with varying profiles, single play actions and vocalizations across 20 targets in Stage 1: Single Agent from the Pretend Play and Language Assessment and Curriculum (PPLAC). Actions and vocalizations were taught across three elements of pretend play: agent, object, and essential skills to socio-dramatic play. Following mastery of single play actions with corresponding vocalizations, generalization to untrained toy items was assessed. Facilitators will discuss the modifications to the PPLAC made to accommodate the barriers presented by higher-needs participants.

Both independent and sociodramatic play is vital to a child’s development. Children often relate to one another with compatible roles within a play scheme engaging in reciprocal roles that reflect complimentary social relationships (Goldstein & Cisar, 1992). The purpose of this study was to teach two children diagnosed with autism complimentary character roles in a play scheme. Each participant was taught a sequence of seven actions and corresponding vocalizations one for the primary role in the camping play and one for the secondary role in the camping play scheme. Contingent on each participant independently acquiring the character role in the target play sequence the participants were taught to engage in sociodramatic play by alternating actions and corresponding vocalizations to expand on the sequence of play that was taught. Acquisition of the independent play scheme and alternating actions with a peer were assessed and generalization to novel schemes and peers was evaluated.

This symposium addresses issues related to management and application of operant procedures to teach and extend both behavioral and verbal behavioral cusps within children and individuals who present with weak or missing cusp capabilities. The four presentations will include descriptions of clinical application of research findings in the area and discuss the importance and teaching of Naming as a verbal developmental cusp. To this end, the use of multiple exemplar instruction, speech generative devices and the role of contingent reinforcement and behavioral variability in establishing and extending Naming capabilities will be discussed.

BCBA clinicians.

Behavior analysis investigates behavioral change in human and animal. Inspired from a selectionist analogy which has been largely adopted in biology, behavior analysts have focused on interactions between behavior and environmental contingencies to explain these changes. However, in these investigations, consequences have been maybe one of the main themes since the works of Skinner (Skinner & Ferster, 1957). This talk aims at replacing the place of behavioral variations in the selection process. Indeed, if consequences enable selection of responses, at an optimum level behavioral variations are involved in this process. In fact, literature with animal has demonstrated that behavioral variation facilitates the acquisition of new responses (Grunow & Neuringer, 2002). Considering the importance of behavioral variability, we ran an experiment in which we compared the emission of repetitive and variable behaviors in the acquisition of complexes target sequences with four groups of human participants (n=20). We found that at the opposite of repetition, behavioral variability facilitates the acquisition of complexes responses. These results are congruent to literature with animal (Grunow and Neuringer, 2002) but different from those with human (Bizo & Doolan, 2013).

Although physical activity is associated with improved long-term health outcomes, a large number of adults and children fail to meet physical activity guidelines. Contingency management is an effective approach to increasing physical activity, however the cost of the incentives is a barrier to dissemination and implementation. The first speaker two speakers will address this issue by exploring novel strategies for reducing costs. McCurdy and colleagues will describe his research using a group-deposit-incentive, prize-bowl approach with adults, whereas Hanashiro-Parson and colleagues will describe their study comparing token economy vs monetary incentives to increase physical activity among individuals with intellectual disabilities. The last two speakers will address novel strategies for evaluating physical activity, for example using heart rate in a bout analysis with children (Batchelder) and a hypothetical behavioral economic measure of demand for physical activity (Burrows). Dr. Donlin will discuss the implications of these finding.

Researchers interested in conducting research on physical activity

The current recommendation for physical activity for children is 60 min or more of Moderate-to-Vigorous Physical Activity (MVPA) per day (CDC, 2015). Many children are not currently meeting the CDC recommendations for MVPA, though they may engage in intermittent exercise while playing outside. Therefore, the purpose of the present study is to evaluate HR measures when children engaged in a vigorous (run) physical activity 50% of the session, alternated with rest (sitting), light activity (walking slowly), or moderate activity (walking briskly) for the remaining 50%. First, participants ran for bouts of either 30-s, 1 min, 1.5 min, or 2 min alternated with rest periods. HR remained in the moderate zone for the highest percentage of session in 30-s and 1 min bouts, but decreased below the moderate zone during rest periods extending to 1.5 and 2 min. We then alternated run activities with rest, light, and moderate activities in 1.5 min bouts. Preliminary results indicate spending non-running time engaged in a light or moderate activity maintains HRs in the moderate zone more so than spending rest time sedentary. Findings will inform the most efficient way for children to meet CDC recommendations when engaging in physical activity in bouts.

The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of token reinforcement and monetary reinforcement for increasing physical activity among adults with intellectual disability and to assess choice of token or monetary reinforcement. An ABAB design with an alternating treatments design was used to compare token and monetary reinforcement for increasing steps during daily 1-hr sessions. In the second intervention phase, the participants chose between the two reinforcement conditions. Results showed that both reinforcement conditions increased physical activity and that some participants chose tokens and some chose money as the reinforcer for steps.

In the last two years, diversity, social justice, and cultural humility have received a surge of interest in the applied behavior analytic (ABA) community, likely largely bolstered by social movements such as MeToo and BlackLivesMatter. This symposium brings together four presentations that provide practical action items for research and practice. The first presentation, by Elizabeth Fong, will bring a broader historical perspective to the conversation surrounding diversity in ABA and will engage the audience in some brief self-reflective and group activities. The second presentation, by Jacqueline Ramirez, reviews research on cultural humility training and provides specific actionable recommendations that the audience can put into practice today. The third presentation, by Robyn Catagnus, presents results of a review of research published in six behavior analytic journals and assesses the presence of cross-cultural research published in these journals. The fourth presentation, by Zoey Ulrey, presents a conceptual functional analysis of leadership behaviors relevant to preventing harassment in organizations. The symposium concludes with a discussion by Denisha Gingles.

Any behavior analysts

The topics of cultural competence and cultural humility have received increasing attention in the behavior analytic profession. Although the terms are often taken as synonymous, they are not the same. The concept of cultural competence assumes that, after sufficient training, one might become competent in another’s culture. The concept of cultural humility asserts that one can never become fully competent in another’s culture, so a more realistic and productive goal is to become humble and open with respect to culture. The field of applied behavior analysis has done very little research addressing the topic. In fact, few training programs in behavior analysis include training in cultural humility as a requirement. A best practice for teaching these frameworks has not been identified and there is a critical need to outline the relevance of cultural humility and to expand on studies from similar disciplines that have a head start in identifying what works. Identifying best practices will enable practitioners to provide ethical, socially significant, and socially validated interventions to our consumers and families, thus remaining true to our ethical code and dimensions of applied behavior analysis.This presentation will make specific, testable recommendations for how behavior analytic training and research may be brought to bear on establishing culturally humble clinician repertoires of behavior.

Toilet training is one area of applied behavior analysis that is practically manualized. Several studies have outlined an effective treatment package to improve toilet training for most subjects who participate (Azrin & Foxx, 1971; Foxx & Azrin, 1973; Greer et al., 2015; LeBlanc et al., 2015). The current symposium will present recent research in this area that focuses on 1) increasing the efficiency of toilet training and 2) improving the effectiveness of toilet training procedures. These studies will present modified toilet training programs, variations to individualized interventions, and methods for increasing both self-initiations to use the bathroom as well as continent bowel movements.

Behavior analysts who are providing services to individuals who are not fully toilet trained. Even if these clients are urine continent, they might still require bowel movement training and/or self-initiation training.

Independent toileting is an essential self-help skill for all children (Cicero & Pfadt, 2002). Typically developing children generally achieve continence by age 3 (Blum, Taubman, & Nemeth, 2003); however, over half of all caregivers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) report difficulty in toilet training which causes the acquisition of toileting skills to be delayed or never mastered (Williams, Oliver, Allard, & Sears, 2003). For these individuals, incontinence can have a negative impact their personal hygiene, self-confidence, physical comfort, and social development (Cicero & Pfadt, 2002). Furthermore, incontinence can result in a restricted school placement, exclusion from extracurricular activities as well as hindering interactions with peers and increases burden of care. Numerous studies have evaluated variations on a study conducted by Azrin and Foxx (1971), which outlined an intensive behavioral treatment package for toilet training; yet, limited research exist on less intensive approaches. This study examines the outcomes of children who received toileting services through a consultative toileting program that primarily focuses on training the caregiver in how to implement toileting procedures. Additionally, the differences between children who were successful and those that were not were examined to determine if any pattern emerged.

Independent toileting skills provide multiple benefits (e.g., access to variety of settings and an increase in sanitation). Common procedures used to successfully train toileting skills include operant conditioning procedures with a positive practice component (LeBlanc, Carr, Bennett, & Detweiler, 2005). Given that positive practice is a form of punishment (Kroeger & Sorensen-Burnworth, 2009) and frequent exposures to punishment contingencies may increase the probability of evoking problem behaviors (Cicero & Pfadt, 2002; Post & Kirkpatrick, 2004), more research is needed to examine how punishment exposures within toilet training procedures can be reduced. The purposes of this study were to 1) replicate LeBlanc et al. (2005) for five children with autism, 2) evaluate the effects of schedule modifications designed to minimize the positive practice exposures during intensive toilet training for children who had accidents, and 3) after urine continence was achieved, evaluate generalization to bowel movements. The results of this study demonstrated that the toilet training procedures with schedule modifications were effective in training urinary and bowel movement continence across all children during intensive toilet training and follow-up. These results suggest that modifications to intensive toilet training procedures can be made to reduce the aversiveness of the procedure while still maintaining its effectiveness.

Clinicians regularly use preference and reinforcer assessments to identify effective reinforcers. Typically measurement of stimuli occurs subsequent to the assessment of preferences to confirm putative reinforcers. The types of preference assessment and tests of reinforcing efficacy used vary widely and usually to take into account ecological fit. Consideration of the assessment and measurement of effects of different types of stimuli must be taken. This symposium includes four presentations that report on multiple types of methods to assess preference and measure the effects of reinforcers, which advance methods in preference assessment and reinforcer measurement . Two studies involved the use of video-based stimuli to assess preference in paired-choice and multiple stimulus without replacement preference assessments. One study compared two different types of preference assessments (i.e, . multiple stimulus without replacement and response restriction). In two studies researchers examined the reinforcing effects using a progressive-ratio schedule, while in a different study researchers

Scientists, Students, practitioners

Recent research suggests benefits of the presence of pets in social responding of children with ASD. It follows, pets may be preferred and valuable as rewards in treatments for these children. However, preference for animals, and contingent access to animals to increase desired responding has not been clearly demonstrated in research. This study aimed to investigate preference for, and rewarding efficacy of a typical animal pet (i.e., dog) in children with ASD. We conducted in vivo and video-based paired-preference assessments including a dog. We subsequently conducted reinforcer assessments using progressive ratio schedules. Results of this study revealed in vivo and video-based preference assessment outcomes highly correlated for 2 of 3 participants. Outcomes of reinforcer assessment revealed access to a dog served as a reinforcer. However, relative reinforcing efficacy of the dog was not as strong as other social interactions for 1 of 3 participants.

The role of behavior analysis in understanding composite variables, such as life satisfaction, is best understood in small steps. Questions of what effects the value of different reinforcers have are important steps in understanding how we can make life better. In this symposium four different investigations of reinforcement will be presented. The first presentation is a proposed instrument for exploring the relationship between task interest and time on task; influenced by the work of John Holland. The second presentation discusses behavioral predictors of burnout, and how a lack of fit between personal interests and the demands of their environment leads to emotional exhaustion. The third presentation discusses how artistic ability, and science and research interest relate to creativity. The fourth presentation discusses how gratitude evolves with developmental stage, and how intimate relationships, and emotional complexity contribute to gratitude. Each of these presentations shows steps toward developmental behavioral economic modeling of reinforcement and its effects.

The target audience is people who know behavioral science, and want to increase their knowledge of the developmental pathways in acquiring new and effective behaviors. People who are interested in how to combine behavior analysis with behavioral development. People who want to have a broad perspective of critical applications of behavior analysis to real world problems.

Burnout is a multivariate psychological syndrome, described and measured by, per Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), one’s emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment. The job-person fit framework states that a poor fit between a person’s interest and the nature of the job and day-to-day tasks increases the risk for burnout. In order to determine whether burnout scores would be higher for those whose interests do not match their job, participants (N= 55) were asked to take an anonymous online survey. The survey consisted of: modified Holland RAISEC Inventory (HRI), Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), and questions about their job and the amount of time they spent doing tasks that would appeal to one of the 6 RAISEC groups. The HRI was modified to make it shorter, more behavioral and face valid. The results indicated that a mismatch in their personal interests and the task they performed at work indicated burnout in 2 out 3 variables: Emotional Exhaustion (r = 0.323) and Depersonalization (r = 0.334). Implications for future research are discussed.

The focus of this article is to provide an understanding of what caring is and why it is one of the bases of behavioral economics. It addresses the definition of care, how it differs from the actions of gratitude, stages at which caring can be identified and how caring underlies societal actions and development. The paper also analyzes how caring changes depending on which stage an organism is performing at, how big of a social structure the organism is in and how caring is necessary in human societies. The paper details the results from an anonymous online survey designed to measure the perceived value of caring and gratitude. The first factor noted both an intimate relationship and immediate reaction. The first factor had a loading of 0.819. This included either parental relationships, immediate reactions to other people’s actions or both. The second factor with the indicated less intimate relationships and longer reaction time, not with more emotional complexity. The second factor had a loading of 0.816. This included strangers, non-relatives, and reactions that require long term memory retrieval to perform.

Behavior analysts can play an important role in the implementation of evidence-based strategies in school settings (Kohler & Strain, 1992). Support to students and teachers in a wide variety of contexts often leads to better student outcomes and classroom management (Johnson & Street, 2012; Malott & Moran, 2004). As such, this symposium highlights four different applications of behavior analysis in school settings. (1) The application of trial-based function analysis (TBFA) in public schools when functional behavior assessments (FBAs) were inconclusive. The feasibility of TBFAs will be addressed. (2) The use of behavioral skills training (BST) and coaching to train special education teachers to implement incidental teaching to increase verbal operants in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Considerations for teacher training and methods to improve verbal behavior will be analyzed. (3) A study that examined pre-meal presentation of vegetables to increase vegetable consumption for children with autism spectrum disorder. Recommendations for intervening on food selectivity will be examined. (4) A teacher-implemented toilet training procedure with two elementary students. Considerations for toilet training in formal educational settings will be discussed. Implications for the application of behavior analysis in school settings are addressed.

Practitioners, graduate students, educators

The use of a functional behavior assessment to assess challenging behaviors in public schools is a widely accessed, evidence-based practice and required by state and federal laws. However, due to the variability of the environment in a school, a functional behavior assessment can often produce ambiguous or difficult to interpret outcomes which impacts the effectiveness of the selected interventions. Trial-based functional analyses have been shown as an effective method to identify problem behavior in schools. This study was designed when FBAs completed by the school system personnel were inconclusive and challenging behaviors remained severe and dangerous. This study expanded the use of trial-based functional analyses into a public school special education classroom for two students with autism and intellectual disabilities after FBAs were inconclusive. All trial-based functional analyses resulted in identification of behavioral functions and subsequent interventions were taught by teachers and paraprofessionals. Additional social validity data were collected about the feasibility of using trial-based functional analyses and associated interventions from the public school teachers and paraprofessionals.

Food selectivity is a common behavioral concern for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Schreck, Williams, and Smith (2004) found that 72% of children with ASD were reported by parents/guardians to consume a limited range of food items. This study examined the effect of pre-meal presentation on the consumption of vegetables in a sample of 16 students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). These 16 students (75% male; mean age = 13 years; age range 8-19 years) were enrolled in a private school serving children with autism. Researchers offered participants 10 small pieces of two vegetables during lunch (baseline) or prior to lunch (pre-meal presentation). Observers recorded the number of bites students consumed. The pre-meal presentation condition was associated with increased levels of vegetable consumption for 9 of the 16 participants. A reversal to baseline demonstrated expected decreases in bites consumed and the subsequent return to intervention demonstrated expected increases in bites consumed. Our results suggested the pre-meal presentation of vegetables can serve as a low-cost, low-effort intervention for increasing consumption of vegetables for some children with ASD.

Many schools are becoming more effective at collecting data around teaching practices and teaching effectiveness. They have adopted the idea that what gets measured gets done; however, behavior analysts challenge this concept and retort, “what gets measured increases the likelihood of things getting done”. Now that schools have this plethora of data, Organizational Behavior Management (OBM) practitioners are poised to come in and help schools turn these data into action. School teams often understand how to arrange contingencies to expedite learning with students but have not historically utilized this same science to improve teacher performance. This presentation will describe a case study of an organizational-level feedback procedure implemented at the district level to improve instruction to students receiving special education services. Evidence-based feedback strategies will be shared with participants and additional approaches from the OBM literature will be described to make improvements to future procedures. Participants will leave with a self-monitoring tool and a list of coaching strategies that can be implemented when they return to their school.

Performance feedback may serve as one or more types of stimulus in the behavioral three-term contingency. In organizational settings, leaders, managers and workers benefit from well-designed behavior control systems. These systems may contribute, at differing levels of efficacy, towards maximizing measures of productivity, accuracy and problem-solving behavior through individual and group environmental intervention using feedback. An important challenge in designing effective feedback is to capture impact on productivity and promotion of worker’s well-being. In this study we investigated two styles of feedback, labeled basic feedback and directive feedback, using a counterbalanced repeated measures design. Each type of feedback was presented on progressive ratio schedules over fixed and free-choice conditions as independent variables. Dependent variables included self-reported productivity, accuracy, and social validity (task control, stress and response effort demands). The data demonstrate higher level of accuracy associated with directive feedback when compared to basic feedback conditions. Moreover, the results indicate perceived control in the context of increasing ratio schedule to be higher in the directive feedback compared to basic feedback condition.

Collaboration amongst interdisciplinary teams to manage treatment outcomes should be a first line of defense in effective behavior support with adults. Most of the time, figuring out the function of the target problem behavior is an easy task. The difficulty arises when treatment objectives are targeted in isolation thus creating a significant barrier to effective intervention. Often times adults with disabilities are served by various providers including behaviorists, psychiatrists, mental health professionals and non-behaviorally trained direct support staff. More often the consultation model for behavior services is used and the behaviorist is charged to work with a team of professionals and paraprofessionals that may or may not be focused on the same objectives. Initial and ongoing collaborative treatment planning will allow for more effective interventions. The talks that are presented in this symposium show measurable effects of professionals and paraprofessional who use a collaborative treatment model to support various individuals.

The target audience for this presentation includes any professionals working in the field alongside other professionals and paraprofessionals.

When working with dually diagnosis adults, behavior analysts want to minimize the need for medication for behavior challenges. The treatment evaluations presented here include collaboration between a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) and a psychiatrist to achieve medication stabilization and behavior reduction. The targeted individuals include (1) a 59 year old woman diagnosed with Schizoaffective disorder, Depressed type and Moderate Intellectual Disability, (2) a 41 year old woman diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder, Severe Intellectual Disability, and Autism, and (3) a 30 year old woman diagnosed with Anxiety Disorder, Schizophrenia, Moderate Intellectual Disability, Epilepsy and Pseudo-Seizures. All of the ladies live in a group home setting (not all in the same home) and have a history of frequent hospitalizations as well as residing in state-run facilities. A collaborative model was used with the psychiatrist and direct staff that included development and implementation of a behavior plan, as well as visual/graphical feedback for decision-making with medications. Across all individuals, behavior challenges reduced and medication changes due to increasing behavior problems was no longer needed.

Working with adults usually means utilizing a consultative approach where the BCBA is the consultant and paraprofessionals are the direct line staff. When this happens, collaboration with the service providers who employ the paraprofessionals and the paraprofessionals themselves is essential. In addition, the behavior program must include a strong staff training component to ensure accurate and consistent delivery of the behavior program. Without collaboration and staff training, the behavior program cannot be fully adopted to ensure effective support for the individual. This presentation includes treatment evaluations of collaborative models for three males, ages 23-28. All have dual diagnoses and have 2:1 staffing ratios due to the intensity of problem behaviors. Attendees will be presented with data that represent collaborative work with paraprofessionals that is focused on behavior plan implementation and overall behavior excess reduction.

The term “trauma-informed schools” has achieved buzzword status in our current educational landscape, fueled by the urgency schools feel to address the devastating effects of trauma on the academic, social, emotional, and behavioral functioning of our students. However, there is no clear consensus regarding the inputs, or the core components, of trauma-informed schools and there have been no rigorous evaluations of their outputs, or the effects on students, teachers, or schools. If trauma-informed schools are to become more than a passing trend, we must work harder to describe the inputs, document the outputs, and explain the complex processes that link the two. In this presentation, I will summarize the core components of trauma-informed schools, identify key implementation factors thought to facilitate the adoption and maximize the impact of trauma-informed approaches, and review strategies to evaluate the impact of trauma-informed schools.

Educational practitioners and researchers.

Stacy Overstreet, Ph.D. is a Professor of Psychology at Tulane University.  Over the course of her career her research has focused on how sociological, cultural, familial, psychological, developmental, and biological processes influence and interact with one another over time to shape child adaptation to trauma.  Over the past ten years, she has translated that research to inform the implementation and evaluation of trauma-informed schools.  She has published several empirical and conceptual papers related to these areas and she was co-editor of a 2016 special issue on trauma-informed schools in the journal, School Mental Health.  Dr. Overstreet is a founding member of the New Orleans Trauma-Informed Schools Learning Collaborative.  Her work through the Collaborative includes a grant from the National Institute of Justice to determine whether a multi-component implementation strategy for trauma-informed schools improves school safety as well as a grant from the Department of Justice to develop and evaluate a Train the Trainer model for the implementation of trauma-informed schools.