Association for Behavior Analysis International

The purpose of the annual meeting of members is for ABAI leadership to provide an update on the ongoing activities of and major developments in the association.

Why isn't my Muslim client eating? Should I continue to work with my client while their caregiver prays? Do I have to change the way I teach toileting for my Muslim clients? With Islam being the second largest religion in the world and the third largest religion in America, these are questions that many service providers may find themselves asking. Service providers who will provide home-based or residential treatment to Muslim clients should be aware of common daily living practices, social expectations, dietary, and hygienic requirements of their clients who are practicing Muslims. Practicing Muslims pray 5 times a day, fast during the month of Ramadhan, may dress differently from other clients, and adhere to specific hygiene routines after using the bathroom. In order to provide ethical and culturally appropriate treatment, service providers should be aware of the practices of the practicing Muslim. In this paper the author will review basic guidelines for working with Muslim clients as well as review specific intake questions that service providers should consider asking when working with Muslim clients.

Functional communication training is one of the most popular treatment approaches for challenging behavior among children with autism spectrum disorder. However, challenges pertaining to response variability, resurgence of challenging behavior, and overuse of a single mand may inhibit sustained implementation of FCT. This symposium presents three single case design studies on adaptations and extensions of FCT to address these challenges. The first paper evaluates FCT with lag schedules of reinforcement with preschool aged children on persistence and generalization of mands and the reduction of challenging behavior resurgence. The second paper illustrates a procedure for mand discrimination training for children with autism who communicate using augmentative and alternative communication. The third paper demonstrates the utility of comparing different function-based mands, not only in treating challenging behavior, but also in evaluating the validity of synthesized trial-based functional analysis results. Suggestions for further extending FCT in research and implications for practice are discussed.

Board Certified Behavior Analysts and practitioners who design and implement function-based interventions for challenging behavior in applied settings.

Children with autism and complex communication needs often use augmentative and alternative communication systems (AAC) to express wants and needs. When children request something that is unavailable, the denied request can lead to problem behavior. Teaching children to discriminate the availability of reinforcers can decrease the risk of appropriate communication leading to problem behavior. One potential solution is to introduce discrimination training, a strategy frequently used to reduce challenging behavior, within a child’s AAC system. This study adds nuance to discrimination training by signaling the availability of reinforcement within an AAC system. We used a multiple probe across behaviors design to examine the effects of implementing discrimination training through visual cues into a low tech AAC device. Results revealed a functional relation between the use of discrimination training and the child’s contextually appropriate mands for preferred items.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disability that can cause significant social, nonverbal communication and behavioral challenges. There is often nothing about how people with ASD look that sets them apart from other people. They may, however, communicate, interact, behave, and learn in ways that are different from most other people. Because there is no definitive medical test, diagnosing ASD can be difficult. Research has shown that intervention can improve a child’s overall development and the earlier it occurs, the more effective it may be. In this symposium, we introduce a diagnostic tool designed to improve a very early diagnosis of autism. The tool is informed by extensive research on the Model of Hierarchical Complexity, a behavioral developmental model of tasks. The Model allows for the scaling of behaviors, tasks, reinforcers, stimuli, etc. in terms of their Hierarchical Complexity, a form of difficulty. This kind of scaling explains developmental sequences. The symposium first describes the Behavioral Developmental Autism Instrument, including how it was devised and comparing it to other assessments. The second paper illustrates how the Model of Hierarchical Complexity can be used to generate a developmental sequence of reinforcers. The third paper applies the model to curriculum development.

People who are interested in knowing how the interventions work for instance when to know where to stop, which behavioral developmental stage to intervene at and what behavioral stage the child is functioning.

Operant conditioning procedures are used to investigate various developmental phenomena in infants, including attention, perception, memory, language, and emotional and socialization processes (e.g., Gewirtz & Pelaez-Nogueras, 1992). The choice of what reinforcers to use has been conducted in somewhat of an ad hoc manner. This presentation introduces a way to scale reinforcers in terms of their likely effectiveness for children at different behavioral stages of development. Reinforcers are scaled in terms of their complexity using the Model of Hierarchical Complexity. This model applies a mathematically based scale to different tasks and behaviors (including reinforcing events). A brief example would be that for some children perhaps only a food-based reinforcer would work. For another saying “Good job” would work. Using this model, we have generated an ordered list of reinforcers. This can be used with individual children to ascertain which specific reinforcers are effective for each particular child. Ultimately it will provide a list of a large number of reinforcing events that may be effective when working with a wide range of children.

An organizational approach to psychopharmacology in a behavior analytic residential treatment program is discussed. Our treatment teams and psychiatrist collaborate to reduce psychotropic medications, when clinically appropriate, for individuals with severe problem behavior. Our clients have typically attended previous residential treatment facilities, have been rejected from other placements, and are admitted to our program on a variety of psychotropic medications. We discuss changes in major problem behaviors following medication reduction and discontinuation. In many cases, we are able to successfully discontinue the use of psychotropic medications while concurrently implementing a comprehensive and intensive behavioral treatment program. Effective, program-wide behavioral interventions are reviewed. Several case studies highlight various level and trend changes observed when titrating psychotropic medications. Subsequently, a retrospective analysis examines the impact of clonidine withdrawal or discontinuation on the frequency of aggressive and self-injurious behavior. Aggressive and self-injurious behavior decelerates following clonidine discontinuation for the majority of the sample. Treatment providers should also be aware of temporary increases (i.e., agitation withdrawal) in problem behavior following medication reduction. Ethical considerations surrounding boundaries of competence, consultation, treatment efficacy, and least restrictive procedures are discussed.

behavior analysts, psychologists, behavioral scientists

Objectivity, accountability, replicability, verifiability: these are a sample of the cornerstones of the science of behaviour analysis. As a field, we emphasize developing direct measurement systems to promote accountability. These systems may add value across client services and service delivery models that may not always incorporate direct measurement protocols. For example, my co-investigator and I developed a program evaluation tool, guided by behavior analytic measurement practices, to examine how well services align with respective best-practice recommendations in a government-funded service supporting adults with acquired brain injury. Direct measurement systems may also add substantial value to psychopharmacology in treating challenging behavior in individuals with disabilities (e.g., intellectual and developmental disabilities; acquired brain injury). In fact, recent literature has concluded medication monitoring processes in this context are poor or non-existent. Clients often receive concurrent, but separate, psychopharmacological and behavioural interventions. In some cases, psychiatry and behaviour analysts working together. These relatively rare arrangements present behavior analysts with an opportunity to promote systematic data collection to efficiently identify medication impact on behavior (e.g., adaptive, maladaptive), including side effects. Unfortunately, behavior analysts do not often receive formal training relevant to psychotropic medications. Promoting behavior analysis as a valuable component in the context of psychopharmacological intervention means having behavior analysts well-trained in this area. One step towards this goal may be to establish an evidence-based training protocol enabling behavior analysts to perform effectively when collaboration opportunities arises. I will describe a research project exploring the clinical utility and feasibility of a Medications Guidelines Tool and training for behavior analysts.

Behavioral practitioners; applied researchers

Dr. Alison Cox received her Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Manitoba. She is also a Board Certified Behavior Analyst – Doctoral. Throughout her Ph.D., Dr. Cox was involved in a variety of research initiatives ranging from developing measures to reliably identify preference in individuals with profound multiple disabilities to teaching children and adolescents with autism to successfully undergo MRI procedures. As an Assistant Professor in the Applied Disability Studies program at Brock University her research interests continue to be diverse. However, her primary interests lay in behavioral medicine, including examining the effects of psychotropic medication on behaviour. Through her current and past research and clinical experiences Dr. Cox has developed specific expertise in assessing and treating severe challenging behaviour in individuals with dual diagnosis and acquired brain injury, supporting skill acquisition in individuals with dual diagnosis and autism, and supervising early intensive behavioural intervention programs. Dr. Cox has presented her work at international and national conferences, is published in several prominent behaviour analytic journals, and serves as a peer-reviewer across a range of journals in the disabilities field. Finally, Dr. Cox currently serves on the Ontario Association for Behaviour Analysis (ONTABA) Adult Task Force and recently co-authored a best-practice guidelines document entitled Evidence-based Practices for Individuals with Challenging Behaviour: Recommendations for Caregiver, Practitioners, and Policy Makers.

The first study tested the efficacy of an intensive blending intervention on the acquisition of blending and segmenting skills as well as the rate of acquisition of new textual response targets. Using a multiple probe design, Hwang-Nesbit & Greer found that the rate of acquisition of new textual responses increased as a function of this intervention, as well as mastery of new blending and segmenting skills. In the second study, Mellon, Greer, Bakaev, and Pedrero-Davila tested the effects of a multiple exemplar instruction across vocal and written response topographies for transparent words. The participants were selected because they did not emit correct responses in one response topography when transparent words were taught in a different response topography. Results indicated that multiple exemplar instruction was functionally related to establishing joint stimulus control across these topographies. These studies have implications for struggling readers as well as different educational methodologies utilized in American education.

BCBAs BCaBAs Educators Administrators

We tested the effects of multiple exemplar instruction (MEI) on the transformation of stimulus function across written and vocal spelling responses for transparent words. Participants were chosen because they demonstrated joint stimulus control for vocal and written spelling with nontransparent words. These participants emitted correct vocal spelling responses for nontransparent words after learning those responses in a written topography, but did not demonstrate correct responses for transparent words from the same instructional practice. A multiple probe design was used to test the effects of the intervention on the spelling behavior of 6 kindergarten students with and without disabilities. During the intervention the participants were taught vocal and written spelling responses for a novel set of 5 transparent words using MEI. The dependent variable was the number of correct untaught vocal spelling responses for a set of 20 consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words. All participants emitted correct untaught vocal spelling responses after the intervention and performed the behavior with the same accuracy as written spelling responses before the intervention. Results of this study are discussed in terms of its implications in the different self-dictation responses in spelling transparent and non-transparent words and the application of MEI as an instructional tool to establishing joint stimulus control.

In 1950, Skinner published an article titled “Are Theories of Learning Necessary?” which was widely misunderstood and misrepresented as arguing that theories in science were not necessary. In fact, he was arguing that explanations of behavior consisting of explanatory fictions were not only not necessary, but faulty. Skinner’s choice of the term “theory” in that context was unfortunate. Elsewhere (e.g., Skinner, 1957), Skinner has used the term “interpretation” to refer to his extrapolation of the basic principles of operant behavior from the experimental laboratory to the understanding of complex behavior, including behavior he called verbal. This was also an unfortunate choice because what he called interpretation was nothing less than a theoretical analysis. In this instance, the standard term “theory” would have been more appropriate. In the present talk, I offer one view of what theories in science are and how they originate, and then I discuss what a behavior-analytic theory is and how it has been, and continues to be, applied to understanding complex human behavior. As with theories in the natural sciences, behavior-analytic theory does not posit circular explanations, does not commit the nominal fallacy or the reification fallacy, and is parsimonious. In other words, the statements comprising the theory point to observable or potentially observable and testable events.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.

Henry D. (Hank) Schlinger Jr. received his Ph.D. in psychology (applied behavior analysis) from Western Michigan University (WMU) under the supervision of Jack Michael. He then completed a two-year National Institutes of Health-funded post-doctoral fellowship in behavioral pharmacology also at WMU with Alan Poling. Dr. Schlinger was a full tenured professor of psychology at Western New England University in Springfield, MA, before moving to Los Angeles in 1998. He is now professor of psychology and former director of the M. S. Program in Applied Behavior Analysis in the Department of Psychology at California State University, Los Angeles. Dr. Schlinger has published 80 scholarly articles, chapters, and commentaries in more than 30 different journals. He also has authored or co-authored three books, Psychology: A Behavioral Overview (1990), A Behavior-Analytic View of Child Development (1995) (which was translated into Japanese), and Introduction to Scientific Psychology (1998). He is past editor of The Analysis of Verbal Behavior and The Behavior Analyst and sits on the editorial boards of several other journals. He also serves on the Board of Trustees of the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies and on the Advisory Board of The Venus Project (https://www.resourcebasedeconomy.org/advisory-board/). He received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Department of Psychology at Western Michigan University in 2012, and the Jack Michael Award for Outstanding Contributions in Verbal Behavior from the Verbal Behavior Special Interest Group of the Association for Behavior Analysis International in 2015.

The dissemination of behavior analysis is an essential albeit often challenging piece of practice for a behavior analyst. Successful dissemination of behavior analysis can result in significant gains for the science in research, practice, and beyond. One such benefit is the increased access to behavior analytic services to individuals in need. Several avenues toward dissemination have been suggested, one of which includes collaboration with professionals outside of behavior analysis and those within behavior analysis, yet in varying industries. The current symposium describes three projects that undertook the challenging task of dissemination through collaboration to create something missing from the current environment, yet desperately needed to better serve those requiring applied behavior analysis services. The first paper describes the collaboration with local and county school districts resulting in the creation of behavior analytic non-public school intended to create a learning environment for those unable at access education in their local public schools. The second paper describes the impact of collaboration and dissemination on the creation of a behavior analytic support program within general and special education public classrooms. The final paper discusses how dissemination and subsequent collaboration can address hiring difficulties and access to care when working with local universities.

BCBA's, Administrators in behavior analytic practice, Administrators within public education settings, University professors

The studies in this symposium represent current approaches to the experimental analysis of resistance to change and relapse. Specifically, the effects of different schedules of reinforcement, of operant-variability contingencies and of reinforcement parameters on these phenomena were assessed. Viegas and Cançado report the results of a within-subject parametric analysis of resistance to change of responding maintained by VR and yoked-VI schedules of reinforcement. Aló and colleagues assessed the effects of relative-reinforcement rates on response rate, choice, and relapse under a renewal procedure. Chaparini and Abreu-Rodrigues studied the relapse of patterns of operant variability by combining the procedures used to study resurgence, renewal and reinstatement effects. Hernandez and Flores report the effects of variations on several reinforcement parameters (frequency, delay and magnitude) for the target response during the second phase of a resurgence procedure. The method of each study exemplify approaches to further understanding the controlling variables of both resistance to change and relapse, and their results extend those of previous studies on both phenomena. Collectively, as the results of experimental analyses do, the results suggest a broader understanding of resistance to change and relapse that encompasses the effects of understudied variables (schedules of reinforcement, operant-variability levels and reinforcement parameters).

Resistance to change usually is greater in variable-interval (VI) than variable-ratio (VR) schedules under similar reinforcement rates. In this experiment, we are assessing how parametric manipulations of the response-rate difference between VI and VR schedules affect resistance to extinction. Rats are being exposed to each of six conditions. In each, a multiple VI VR is in effect in baseline and extinction in the test, and two tests are being conducted: one in which sessions start with the VI and another in which they start with the VR. In the first condition, baseline response rates were similar between components. Resistance was greater in the VR than in the VI in the VR-first test (in the VI-first test, resistance was similar between components). In the second condition, a differential-reinforcement-of-low-rate schedule was programmed in tandem with the VI and response rates were lower in the VI than in the VR schedule. For each rat, resistance was greater in the VI but only in the VI-first test (in the VR-first test, there were no systematic differences between components across rats). The results suggest that response-rate differences affect resistance to extinction and these results are modulated by the first component in effect during test sessions.

The effects of relative reinforcement on response rates, choice, resistance to change, and renewal is being studied. During baselines, pigeons were exposed to a multiple-concurrent schedule with a concurrent VI 80 s VI 40 s (VI40-Rich) on one component and a concurrent VI 20 s VI 40 s (VI40-Lean) on the other component. All schedules were presented in different keys and using different colors. During satiation tests, free food was delivered before sessions. During baselines, response rates were highest either on the VI-20 or on the VI-40 Rich schedule and lowest either on the VI-80 or on the VI-40 Lean schedule. Choice for the VI-40 was greater when it was presented with the VI-80 rather than the VI-20 schedule. During the tests, choice for the VI-40 schedule approached in both components. Proportion of baseline response rates were not consistent with either absolute or relative reinforcement rates, during test session. Thus, response rates and choice followed relative reinforcement rates. Decreasing the value of the reinforcers by satiation, however, decreased sensitivity to relative reinforcement rates and produced mixed effects on Resistance to change. The renewal test has not yet been conducted.

Relapse has been defined as the recurrence of a response or pattern of responding, previously reinforced and later extinguished. Recurrence of behavioral variability was evaluated with a combination of three animal models of relapse: renewal, reinstatement, and resurgence. In the Training Phase (context A), rats were exposed to a multiple schedule. In the Lag 10 component, sequences that differed from the previous 10 sequences were reinforced; in the Yoke component, any sequence produced reinforcers such that variability was allowed, but not required. Reinforcer probability was equated between components. In the Elimination Phase (context B), a multiple Rep 3 Rep 3 schedule was in effect. In both components, a sequence was reinforced if it was equal to one of the three previous sequences (i.e., variability was extinguished). In the Test Phase (context A), extinction occurred in both components, and two response-independent reinforcers were delivered in each component. Relapse of recurrence time, a measure of sequence variability, was observed in the component previously correlated with Lag 10, but not in the one previously correlated with no variability requirements. The increase in variability in the Test phase indicated relapse of previously reinforced variability, rather than extinction induced variability.

Single-case designs have been central to the development of a science of behavior analysis. However, other health and social sciences have not embraced their adoption as widely as behavior analysts. Potential explanations for this lack of adoption include the complexity of analyzing single-case data objectively as well as the limited consideration of group data. The purpose of our symposium is to present recent research that addresses the aforementioned limitations. The first presentation will describe a script designed to automatically analyze functional analysis data based on previously published rules. The second presentation will examine whether artificial intelligence can accurately make decisions using AB graphs. The third presentation will discuss the validity of using nonoverlap effect size measures to aid clinical decision-making. The final presentation will introduce hybrid designs, which involve a combination of single-case and group methodologies. As whole, the presentations will provide an overview of innovations in the use of single-case methodology for both practitioners and researchers.

BCBAs BCBA-Ds

Visual analysis is the most commonly used method for interpreting data from single-case designs, but levels of interrater agreement remain a concern. Although structured aids to visual analysis such as the dual-criteria (DC) method may increase interrater agreement, the accuracy of the analyses may still benefit from improvements. Thus, the purpose of our study was to (a) examine correspondence between visual analysis and models derived from different machine learning algorithms, and (b) compare the accuracy, Type I error rate and power of each of our models with those produced by the DC method. We trained our models on a previously published dataset and then conducted analyses on both nonsimulated and simulated graphs. All our models derived from machine learning algorithms matched the interpretation of the visual analysts more frequently than the DC method. Furthermore, the machine learning algorithms outperformed the DC method on accuracy, Type I error rate, and power. Our results support the somewhat unorthodox proposition that behavior analysts may use machine learning algorithms to supplement their visual analysis of single-case data, but more research is needed to examine the potential benefits and drawbacks of such an approach.

Single-case experimental designs often require extended baselines or the withdrawal of treatment, which may not be feasible or ethical in some practical settings. The quasi-experimental AB design is a potential alternative, but more research is needed on its validity. The purpose of our study was to examine the validity of using nonoverlap measures of effect size to detect changes in AB designs using simulated data. In our analyses, we determined thresholds for three effect size measures beyond which the type I error rate would remain below .05, and then examined if using these thresholds would provide sufficient power. Overall, our analyses show that some effect size measures may provide adequate control over type I error rate and sufficient power when analyzing data from AB designs. In sum, our results suggest that practitioners may use quasi-experimental AB designs in combination with effect size to rigorously assess progress in practice.

Functional analysis (FA) has been an important tool in behavior analysis. The goal of an FA is to determine problem behavior function (e.g., access to attention) so that treatments can be designed to target causal mechanisms (e.g., teaching a socially appropriate response for attention). Behavior analysts traditionally rely on visual inspection to interpret an FA. However, existing literature suggests interpretations can vary across clinicians (Danov & Symons, 2008). To increase objectivity and address interrater agreement across FA outcomes, Hagopian et al. (1997) created visual-inspection criteria to be used for FAs. Hagopian and colleagues reported improved agreement but limitations of the criteria were noted. Therefore, Roane, Fisher, Kelley, Mevers, and Bouxsein (2013) addressed these limitations when they created a modified version. Here, we describe a computer script designed to automatically interpret FAs based on the above-mentioned criteria. A computerized script may be beneficial because it requires objective criteria (e.g., 10% higher vs. ‘substantially’ higher) to make decisions and it is fully replicable (i.e., does not rely on interobserver agreement). We outline several areas where the published criteria required refinement for the script. We also identify some conditions in which the script provides interpretations that disagree with expert clinician interpretations.

Maximizing student learning outcomes is a goal at every level of instruction. For undergraduate and graduate students in behavior analysis, the stakes may be even higher given the clinical implications and leadership roles BCaBAs and BCBAs take on immediately following graduation and certification. Therefore, it is critical to identify evidence-based approaches to engage students with course content, not only to pass the certification exam, but also to enhance client outcomes. The four studies in this symposium describe ways in which to do just that. The first study evaluated the effects of active student responding and competition among on-campus undergraduate students. The remaining three studies were conducted with graduate students in a fully online asynchronous program. This included two intervention studies, one examining choice of practice activity and the second evaluating the effects of self-monitoring on quiz grades. The final study examined academic procrastination using a delay discounting task with the aim of identifying possible interventions to decrease procrastination. Taken together, these research findings expand the scope of effective instructional strategies in both the face-to-face and online classrooms.

Behavior analysts who teach undergraduate and graduate students

Self-monitoring is an evidence-based intervention that has been shown to be widely effective in addressing a range of target behaviors (Weston et al., 2019; Wills & Mason, 2014). In the academic context, it has demonstrated increases in the performance of elementary, middle, and high school students both with and without disabilities (Graham-Day, Gardner, & Hsin, 2010; Wolfe, Heron, & Goddard, 2000), but there is limited information available regarding use of self-monitoring among graduate students. Graduate students struggle with time management given the many competing contingencies they are faced with (Hanshaw, Mason, & Loh, 2019). This study evaluated the effect of self-monitoring on quiz grades among graduate students in a fully online, asynchronous behavior analysis course. There were three conditions that were evaluated including instructions only, instructions with self-monitoring, and control wherein there were no expectations stated for daily engagement with the course content. Students allocated more time across days during the self-monitoring condition and performed better on quizzes in comparison to the instruction only condition. Results will be discussed with regard to social validity and implications for instructors.

Intersectionality is defined as the complex, interconnected way that the cumulative effects of having multiple marginalized identities present an “overlapping discrimination” that is unique and cannot be accounted for as separate identities (Crenshaw, 1989). It is at this intersection that any singular analysis of what it means to be Black or a girl or a person with Autism Spectrum Disorder is insufficient. As autism disparity rates for diagnosis are reduced (Centers for Disease Control, 2018), it is increasingly clear that we must begin to examine the extent of the disparity seen in other areas, such as service delivery and research (National Center for Education Statistics, 2019; National Institutes of Health, 2019). The purpose of this study is to present a scoping review of the current literature on the intersectional examination of Black girls with Autism Spectrum Disorder (Figures 1, 2). The authors will present the current disparities in funding, service delivery, and educational placement (Figure 3). Lastly, the authors will present why there must be a call to action for how we consider intersectionality in order to improve the global behavior analytic support we must offer for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Since placement and treatment are so important both to a student’s progress and educational growth and the school’s legal obligations, it is imperative that researchers and practitioners explore the factors that impact placement decisions and work to understand parent perceptions of Individualized Education Program meetings (Fish, 2006). Families choose the placement and treatment for their child diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder for a variety of reasons (Matson & Williams, 2015). This study expanded on the previous research by incorporating family perceptions of the process as well as their decisions related to placement and treatment. We explored why families of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder chose specific placement or treatment types for their child (e.g. Applied Behavior Analysis), as well as examined the family’s perceptions of the Individualized Education Program process and meeting for their child. The results included information related to why families chose a specific placement or treatment for their child, who influenced their decisions, and if a Board Certified Behavior Analyst was seen as the expert related to placement and/or treatment for their child. The results are discussed in terms of how they impact practice for Board Certified Behavior Analysts participating in the Individualized Education Program process.

Advances in genetics, molecular biology, and cognitive neuroscience offer hope for personalized treatment and improved outcomes in those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, the promise of precision medicine is limited by a lack of mechanistic models that explain phenotypic and etiological heterogeneity; instead of using such models to identify subgroups likely to respond to specific treatments, the field relies on service availability, trial-and-error, and clinical judgment to make treatment decisions. In line with the computational psychiatry objective, my research integrates mathematical models of behavior and brain activity to establish neurocognitive models that can successfully predict individual social and nonsocial learning profiles. Specifically, I am formally comparing the suitability of various computational models to capture selective deficits in social learning of individuals with ASD, as well as variability in both social and nonsocial learning across typically developing youth and those with ASD. Identifying how these model-based predictions are implemented in the brain will allow us to identify neural architecture underlying learning in therapeutically relevant contexts. The long-term goal of this research line is to apply these computational models to inform, refine, and individualize diagnosis, education, and treatment of youth with ASD.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.

I am an Assistant Professor of cognitive neuroscience in the Psychology department at George Washington University (GWU). I am also affiliated with the Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders Institute at GWU. My research combines computational and neuroscientific methods to understand the neurobiological mechanisms underlying learning in neurotypical and clinical populations, especially autism spectrum disorder. I have expertise in designing naturalistic tasks to assess social decision making in behavior and brain function, conducting longitudinal clinical studies, computational modeling and developmental cognitive neuroscience. I have recently been awarded the Bridge to Independence Award by the Simons Foundation for Autism Research to study learning in autism with a computational neuroscientific approach and its implications for treatment.

Behavior analysts have made an enormous impact in the treatment of autism and related disabilities, but what about other areas? Behavior analysts are trained to understand behavior and the conditions under which is it governed. However, how does this repertoire position a behavior analyst to practice in other markets, such as health, sports, fitness and nutrition? This panel will explore several key questions related to entrepreneurship in health, sports and fitness; such as how to transition into new markets? What skill sets and/or certification are needed to practice? How to network and build relationships with professionals outside of behavior analysis? With a focus on building a business in health, sports, fitness and nutrition, each panelist will contribute their own unique experiences as it pertains to entrepreneurship, networking, education and self-management.

Board Certified Behavior Analysts and Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analysts

The field of Applied Behavior Analysis has experienced tremendous growth since its inception. According to the Behavior Analyst Certification Board®, between the years 2016 and 2018, the total number of certified behavior analysts has increased by over 30%, and the total number of registered behavior technicians® has nearly doubled. An essential component for obtaining and maintaining these certifications include supervision hours. The Behavior Analyst Certification Board® has provided task lists regarding the items and topics required for adequate supervision; however, no components of cultural responsiveness and awareness are included. With the increase of behavior analysis within culturally diverse populations, it is imperative that our field develop new and innovative ways of including cultural competency into the Board Certified Behavior Analyst® and Registered Behavior Technician® supervision experience. Many behavior analysts have reported not receiving sufficient training within the areas of diversity and cultural responsiveness and feel unprepared to serve diverse clients and communities adequately. This workshop is designed to address the gap in formal training specific to the lack of diversity and cultural responsiveness across the supervision continuum.

Registered Behavior Technicians; Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analysts; Board Certified Behavior Analysts

Behavior analysts frequently say "the rat is always right" or "the learner is always right" but do not always focus their attention on the behavior and responding of the student in the moment to determine how to apply the science of behavior analysis. Members of this panel will discuss how behavior analysts can encourage more responsive teaching with their learners by developing more flexible protocols, attending to learner behavior, developing creative protocols for teaching receptive language skills, and how to respond to data using the Standard Celeration Chart to adjust teaching procedures. The panel will concluded by providing ttendees with the opportunity to ask the panel questions relating to attending to learner responding.

This panel is intended for individuals with at least 2 years of certification experience who are responsible for making decisions about their clients in the moment and training others to do the same.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is marked by social communication and interaction impairments and restricted and repetitive behaviors (RRBs), yet little is understood about the etiology of these impairments and there are few successful treatment interventions. The expression and severity of social impairments can vary widely across individuals, so more objective bio-behavioral markers that measure the process of how interactions unfold over time will greatly enhance our understanding and could lead to targeting of interventions to particular subgroups of patients. Engagement in restrictive and repetitive behaviors can compound the social communication and interaction difficulties, so a fuller understanding of the contextual factors that influence the expression of RRBs is also need. In this talk, I argue that social synchrony may be a useful dynamic bio-marker of social ability in children and adolescents with ASD. The relevance of social synchrony and coupled oscillator-based modeling of synchronization for understanding social impairment in ASD will be discussed and synchronization ability for spontaneous and intentional interpersonal coordination in children and adolescents with and without ASD will be compared. In addition, I will present data that evaluates the relationship between synchronization ability and more traditional clinical and social cognitive measures of social ability and evaluate the influence of social and motor context on the presentation of RRBs and language production during conversation. Finally, the promise of social synchronization ability for providing a measure with heightened resolution to identify the essential qualities of social performance in naturalistic situations and isolate underlying neural mechanisms that may be disrupted in ASD will be discussed and directions for future research and potential interventions outlined.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.

Aggressive behavior can pose serious risks, including bodily injury to others, hospitalizations, and encounters with law enforcement. Some risks can be reduced by responding in ways to keep others safe, such as wearing protective equipment or engaging in personal protective behaviors (e.g., blocking, evading, etc.). This symposium will address various strategies for improving safety-related behaviors of staff and caregivers during episodes of aggression. Specifically, employees were taught to wear protective equipment (study 1), caregivers were taught to respond in particular ways to situations in which precursors to aggression occur (study 2), and caregivers were taught personal protection skills (e.g., blocking and evading) during aggressive episodes (study 3).

Researchers and practitioners (e.g., BCBAs)

Employees working in human service organizations serving individuals who engage in high intensity aggression are more susceptible to sustaining injuries throughout the course of their workday. These types of organizations often require employees to adhere to safety guidelines, which may include utilizing protective equipment to minimize the severity of injuries if client-to-staff contact does occur. Despite protective equipment being prescribed in clients’ treatment plans at a private day school, employees were often observed engaging in at-risk performance by working with clients without the prescribed protective equipment. To assess the variables maintaining at-risk performance demonstrated by direct care staff, we administered the Performance Diagnostic Checklist – Safety (PDC-S) across 3 classrooms. Results from the PDC-S varied by classroom and individualized treatment packages were implemented in each classroom utilizing a multiple baseline design. Results indicated increases in the use of prescribed protective equipment and will be discussed in tandem with lagging indicators and outcomes.

Individuals who engage in aggression often display precursors or agitated behavior, and it is important for caregivers to learn how to minimize risk of injury during these episodes in the event that aggression were to occur. In this study, behavioral skills training was used to teach caregivers of children who engage in aggression to position their body safely (shield others who enter the space and move out of reach of an aggressive individual) and prevent access to dangerous items during agitated states. All caregivers quickly learned these skills and minor feedback was necessary for all caregivers post-training following one or two sessions.

Previous research has demonstrated the effectiveness of behavioral skills training (BST) to train staff and caregivers to implement various behavioral interventions and to teach young children socially significant skills. Efficacious and efficient training and teaching procedures remain an essential focus of research for scientists and practitioners; especially, for special populations and complex skills. The purpose of this symposium is to discuss evaluations and applications of BST procedures across consumers of behavior analytic services. In the first presentation, Arthur assessed the effects of BST to teach safety skills to children with Williams Syndrome. The second presentation by Plattner, Van Boxel, and Proctor examined a BST protocol to train staff to implement pairing procedures with children with autism. The third paper by Preas and Mathews evaluated and compared the effects of BST versus feedback alone to train caregivers to implement activities of daily living skills teaching procedures with their child with autism. The presenters will include a discussion of future directions for research and applications of BST.

BCBA-D, BCBA, BCaBA, RBT, LP, LBA (researchers, clinicians, and practitioners)

Williams syndrome (WS) is a rare genetic disorder affecting 1in 7500 to 1 in 20,000 people. A trademark characteristic of Williams syndrome is hypersociability; being overly friendly and socially disinhibited which puts this population at risk for social vulnerability, exploitation, and abuse. This is a significant concern for parents of children with WS and warrants intervention. The current study used a multiple baseline probe design across participants to evaluate the effectiveness of behavioral skills training (BST) to teach safe responding to strangers in children with WS. The study consisted of three phases: 1) baseline in situ assessments in community settings, 2) BST in the home setting, and 3) in situ assessments in the community following mastery of BST. One participant responded with all four components taught during BST and post-BST in situ assessments by the second probe. The second participant scored low during initial post-BST in situ assessments and required a booster BST session. Following the booster session, the second participant responded appropriately to lures of strangers during in situ assessments. The results suggest that BST can be an effective procedure for teaching responding to strangers with this population.

Recent behavior-analytic efforts to the competent dissemination of acceptance and commitment training (ACT) have dramatically increased. The current symposium seeks to add to the ways in which practicing behavior analysts may more confidently-equipped to use ACT within their practices. The first presentation investigates the extent to which coherence between values and self-management strategies may improve treatment outcomes in a college population.We then empirically explore practical applications of ACT within an ASD population. Finally, we introduce evidence of the success of ACT via the AIM curriculum with a rather unique population. Implications to the overall successes and utility of ACT in daily practices, as well as ways to increase positive outcomes, are discussed.

beginner-intermediate behavior analyst

This presentation describes the development of a custom-made “ACT for Kids” workbook and the initial phases of testing its effectiveness for decreasing challenging behaviors and increasing self-management skills in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The study is still currently in the data collection phase and initial data suggest it is effective. In this presentation, we will describe in a practical manner the steps that were taken to transform the ACT Hexaflex and Matrix into stimuli that children with ASD would be able to consume and respond to independently. Results from the one participant completed thus far showed that the “ACT for Kids Workbook” decreased the participant’s maladaptive behaviors while consequently increasing his use of ACT-based self-management skills in his daily life. Findings from the social validity interview revealed that parents of this participant saw a significant increase in independent self-management skills across settings and environments, when ABA team members were not present.

Many parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder around the world have limited or no access to behavior analytic knowledge or services leaving them without support or guidance. Training parents with behavior analytic knowledge or skills can potentially overcome this issue. The purpose of this symposium is to present two different parent training programs designed to provide skills and knowledge that parents need to improve the quality of life for their children and families. The first presentation will discuss a program in which parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder learned the steps necessary to implement an early intervention program. The project was conducted in India. The second presentation will discuss four barriers that get in the way of parents’ access to behavior analytic knowledge: time, place, money, and prerequisite skills, and will introduce a web-based parent training program designed to overcome these barriers.

BACB Certificants

The effectiveness of Early Intervention (EI) program is widely documented to increase the behavioural outcomes of children diagnosed with Autism. Studies have demonstrated positive outcomes for parent-implemented EI approaches for skill development. The majority of these evidence-based interventions have been conducted in the US and Europe, there is increasing interest in adapting evidence-based interventions to different cultures. The current study will share outcome data from a 6-week, ABA-based parent-implemented EI program from Bangalore, India. 81 children (range 18 mo.- 60 mo.) and their caregivers enrolled in the program. The goals were adapted from ABLLS-R and included validated instructional procedures. The parents were trained to use errorless teaching for skill acquisition and behaviour management strategies. The result of the program demonstrated significant gains across all domains, supporting the existing literature. Parents reported high levels (M = 28.2 out of 30) of social validity for the program. Further, the outcome for parents demonstrated significant gains in the acquisition of training skills . These findings have implications for cultural adaptations of evidence-based interventions. These findings are timely as there is a growing recognition of the prevalence of ASD and need for EI services in India, yet a limited number of certified behaviour analysts.

There are four areas of primary concern to the military when meeting the needs of their personnel, especially those who have been deployed to war zones and return with various kinds of problems not acceptable in continued military life or in civilian life. Traumatic brain Injury and post-traumatic stress disorder are the two topics addressed in this symposium. Not discussed will be bodily physical injuries and suicide. The presentation will view all branches of service but primarily the Air Force, Navy, Marines, and the Army. Within the topic of traumatic brain injuries will be a review of the important literature and an overview of the problem behaviors. When investigating traumatic brain injury’s problem behaviors, both public and private events of those recovering are important and relevant targets for examination and rehabilitation work. The presentation on post-traumatic stress disorder behaviors will look at the taxonomy of those behaviors. These are usually stated behaviorally but very broadly, for example, stressors, alterations in cognition or mood, or guilt. Each of these and many more behaviors can be defined much more specifically, then examined and researched behaviorally to help ameliorate the needs of returning veterans.

professionals in the field; BCBA at all levels including through BCBA-D

Psychosocial interventions have much to offer youth in medical and educational settings. Administrators need to perceive costs of time and resources being outweighed by health benefits. Being specific and operationally defining terms can aid interdisciplinary understanding and cooperation. Reinforcement can help develop and maintain positive interactions. Feasibility may be enhanced by using a group format, a cost-effective and efficient way for youth to gain information, share common experiences, and learn from each other and from professionals. The benefits of a group format would not be realized unless a psychosocial intervention were accepted by the youth participating and implemented with fidelity. They must share their own experiences and respectfully listen as others share their experiences and be open to information about how they can improve their well-being. Positive reinforcement can make the experience more rewarding and strengthen specific behaviors such as sharing, listening and participating. Group cohesiveness can be increased by establishing and reinforcing clear expectations. Reinforcement can be helpful for motivating youth to participate in every aspect of the program (role playing, completing assignments). The presenters in this symposium will discuss ways in which the addition of behavior management strategies can enhance acceptability, feasibility and fidelity of psychosocial interventions.

At the completion of this symposium, participants will be able to:

1. State the ways in which behavior management strategies can enhance acceptability, feasibility and fidelity of psychosocial interventions.
2. Describe how behavioral strategies were used to facilitate implementation of a stress-management intervention at a camp for youth with Type 1 diabetes.
3. Describe how behavioral strategies were used to facilitate implementation of a mindfulness intervention in high school physical education classes.
4. Describe how behavioral strategies were used to facilitate implementation of an ACT-based intervention in high school physical education classes.

Behavioral Strategies Facilitating Implementation of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in High School Physical Education Classes Universal social and emotional learning curricula have demonstrated efficacy within a framework providing multi-tiered systems of support and represent promising methods for addressing youth mental health with a broad scope. Unfortunately, implementation of social emotional learning curricula presents multiple barriers to implementation and limited understanding of the processes of change, necessary procedures, relevant contextual variables, and differential impact of curricula on positive student functioning with high school students. Traditional models used to address mental health in adolescents often take a deficit-oriented approach. An emerging developmental model of behavior change incorporates principles of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Positive Psychology, Behaviorism, Relational Frame Theory, and Evolution Science to target functional classes of behavior and facilitate health-promoting behaviors in youth. Students (n = 118) were recruited from 6 Health/PE classes in a rural, underserved high school. Participants in the enhanced Health/PE condition received 6 weeks of a version of ACT as a universal preventive intervention targeting social and emotional learning skills, sleep hygiene, and physical activity. Behavior management strategies in the form of the Good Behavior Game were used to facilitate cooperation and participation of the high school students. The enhanced Health/PE curriculum was feasibly implemented with satisfaction from students and teachers.

Despite the rise of nicotine vaping and its recent public scares, cigarette smoking remains the single most preventable cause of premature death in the USA and for many other parts of the world. Smoking kills over 7 million people a year. Smoking fits well with the principles of applied behavior analysis because it is a highly repetitious behavior maintained by its consequences. Early applications of functional analysis and conditioning led to promising treatments for helping people stop smoking but as group and individual face-to-face therapies they were hampered high intensity, cost, and low scalability. Fortunately, the rise of digital technologies and telehealth has a recreated the ability for provide behavioral therapies for smoking cessation on a broad scale at lower cost. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), a contemporary form of clinical behavior analysis based on Skinner’s philosophy of Radical Behaviorism, is becoming a prominent therapeutic approach to digital and telehealth delivered smoking cessation. ACT teaches functional analysis, present moment awareness, and values-based living to help people cope with urges and stay committed to living smoke free. I will show how my research team translates ACT principles into concrete and highly accessible treatment programs on platforms including telephone-delivered behaviorial coaching, websites, smartphone apps, and chatbots for smoking cessation. This translational research is an iterative process of expert clinician input, user testing, and rapid prototyping. Once developed, we test each of these delivery platforms in both small and large-scale randomized controlled trials comparing the ACT program with standard cognitive behavioral programs. I will share the latest results of these trials and how our interventions have already reached over 50,000 people. I will close with highlighting the future directions of our research, including applications to treatment of obesity.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.

Dr. Jonathan Bricker’s passion is to scale up behavioral therapies into high reach public health intervention programs.  He is an internationally recognized scientific leader in the behavioral therapy called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). He focuses ACT on skills for self-control, particularly for quitting smoking and other addictions. His programs have been developed and tested on many platforms, including apps, chatbots, websites, and telephone coaching that reach thousands of people daily. Rather than encouraging people to ignore cravings, his approach to ACT is to focus on becoming aware of triggers for cravings and choosing not to act on them. His smoking cessation programs have achieved success rates that are double that of other programs—cutting cigarette use by 75 percent. Dr. Bricker has over 85 scientific publication and has received $14 million in US Government NIH grants, predominantly for WebQuit, iCanQuit and the TALK study of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for smoking cessation. His research and expert testimony was instrumental in Washington State passing a law to increase the minimum age of tobacco sales to 21.

He founded and leads the Health And Behavioral Innovations in Technology lab (which goes by the apt acronym: HABIT), which is part of the Public Health Sciences Division, at the Fred Hutch Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington. Dr. Bricker’s expertise in his field has led him to his current role of senior editor of the journal, Addiction. His TEDx talk, “The Secret to Self-Control” has been viewed nearly 5 million times, and has been translated into ten languages.

In 2005 Ioannidis proclaimed “Why Most Published Research Findings Are False.” RetractionWatch has cataloged over 20,000 scientific papers that have been withdrawn since 2010. The “replication crisis” is not the result of a few bad actors but rather is a systems problem. This presentation reviews “replication crisis” from a behavioral systems analysis perspective, identifies the metatcontogencies of the “countability culture” in academia and research that maintain the problem, and proposes solutions based on open science practices, ethical standards and methodological pluralism, noting that OBM research has been a leader in this regard.

Researchers, scholars, scientists, and graduate students.

Donald Hantula earned undergraduate degrees from Emory University and graduate degrees from University of Notre Dame and is currently with the Department of Psychology, Decision making Laboratory, and Interdisciplinary Program in Applied Behavior Analysis at Temple University. He has previously held academic positions in Occupational Health Promotion at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Human Resource Management at King’s College and Management Information Systems at St. Joseph’s University, and also as Director of Decision, Risk and Management Sciences at the National Science Foundation. He is the immediate past editor of Perspectives on Behavior Science and presently serves as Coordinator of the ABAI Publications Board and on the ABAI VCS board. He has published over 100 articles and chapters and his research interests include finding rational explanations for seemingly irrational decisions, quantitative analysis of behavior, consumer choices for sustainable products and practices, integrating behavioral and digital technology and ethical implications of OBM.

This presentation will argue that what might be called “The Nurture Consilience” provides a framework for guiding the further evolution of our societies. E. O. Wilson describes consilience as “the linking of facts and fact-based theory across disciplines to create a common groundwork of explanation.” I will prevent evidence from evolutionary biology, behavior analysis, development, clinical, and social psychology, and medicine about the nurturing conditions that humans need to thrive and the toxic conditions that undermine wellbeing and promote the development of a constellation of psychological, behavioral, and health problems. Research has identified programs, policies, and practices that replace toxic conditions with environments that limit opportunities and influences for problem behavior, richly reinforce diverse forms of prosocial behavior, and cultivate psychological flexibility. However, advocacy for free market economics has corrupted virtually every sector of society; practices in business, health care, education, criminal justice, media, and government have been selected by their contribution to the wealth of a small segment of the population; the majority of people have been harmed. I will describe how we can evolve societies that foster general wellbeing, by creating contingencies that select practices that minimize harm and contribute to the general wellbeing.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.

It is 2020 and we are hoping to get online teaching better than 20/20! We are a team of teachers who have one common goal: put good quality behavior analysts in the field. In our own unique way, we strive to create content that is not only best practices, but also tech-friendly. It has to transcend through the opaqueness of online teaching. Our students generally are full-time applied behavior analysis professionals who are preparing for their Behavior Analysis Certification Board's certification. So, we have to utilize teaching tools that only enhance and then sharpen their behavior analysis portfolio. This panel aims to dissect various layers of teaching tools we use to reach this goal. Specifically, tools such as discussion board, open licensing, assignment, and group projects will be featured.

Graduate students, instructors, University faculty

The Practical Functional Assessment and Skill-Based Treatment process has been shown to reduce problem behavior by teaching individuals functional communication, toleration of delays to reinforcement, and contextually appropriate behavior during those delays. Teaching procedures typically involved some form of escape extinction. Some settings and circumstances, however, have necessitated the development of procedures that do not rely on escape extinction for their efficacy. One promising model, called the Enhanced Choice Model (ECM, Rajaraman, et al. 2019), involves the participant having the choice to (a) participate in treatment sessions, (b) leave the treatment sessions and access reinforcers noncontingently, or (c) leaving the treatment context altogether (e.g., going back to their regular classroom). This current symposium highlights extensions of this model to a public-school setting in which three educators learned and implemented treatment components as a means of generalizing treatment outcomes. The second presentation will examine specific mands as a generalized outcome of the public school application. The third presentation describes a distance-based telehealth case in which the caregivers implemented all assessment and treatment components. The final presentation will be a literature review on the tendency for individuals to prefer contingent reinforcement, a potential factor in the efficacy of the ECM model.

The target audience for this session includes practicing behavior analysts who oversee behavior change programs that address severe problem and behavioral scientists who would like to learn more about the extent to which organisms will allocate their responding to contingent vs. non-contingent access to reinforcement when concurrent schedules of reinforcement are available.

Santiago, Hanley, Moore, and Jin (2016) showed that the interview-informed synthesized contingency analysis (IISCA; see Hanley, Jin, Vanselow, & Hanratty, 2014) and skill-based treatment process can result in socially validated outcomes when caregivers serve as interventionists during treatment sessions. However, many families who would benefit from receiving similar functional analytic services do not have access to professionals trained to implement functional analyses or function-based treatments. Advancements in teleconferencing technology may allow families without access to local professional support to receive functional analytic services. For example, Suess et al. (2016) demonstrated that when a BCBA provides implementation support via teleconference, parents can assess and treat their children’s problem behavior in their homes. We taught parents of children with autism to implement the IISCA and skill-based treatment process in their homes exclusively through teleconference support. To address additional safety concerns in the home setting, the enhanced choice model of treatment (Rajaraman et al., 2019) was used with one participant. Parents achieved differentiated functional analyses and a 100% reduction in problem behavior relative to baseline.

Recent studies have employed neuroscientific techniques to measure for derived stimulus-stimulus relations produced by MTS procecures. This symposium is comprised of four talks describing some of the uses of such techniques for assessments of covert behavior evoked when participants are given to equivalence protocols. The fisrt presentation will report an investigation that aimed at verifying how different numbers of meaningful and abstract stimuli affects number of training trials, equivalence class responding and eye-movements. The other presentations will focus on the Event-Potential Techinique (ERP) for detection of measurable changes in the brain’s activity resulting from derived stimulus-stimulus relations established by different MTS protocols. Thus, the second study will describe how ERPs can be sensitive to word-like sample stimulus. The third presentation will demonstrate how stimulus familiarity and training stucture impact on the ERPs waveforms. Finally, the last presentation will show how the ERPs related to stimulus equivalence can be “delayed” by extensive experience with MTS trials testing for transitivity and equivalence relations. Overall, the data discussed here have direct implication for the experimental analysis of complex behavior.

N400 is an event-related potential (ERP) measured approximately 400 ms after presentation of two incongruent stimuli compared with congruent stimuli. This also applies when the related stimuli are not directly trained. In the current experiment, six conditional discriminations were trained in a matching-to-sample procedure with the goal to form three 3-member classes with C stimuli as meaningful stimuli in a many-to-one training structure. The participants (one group with adults with high function autism and one group without such diagnosis) then were tested in a priming-procedure, with related and unrelated stimuli pair. N400 was measured in this phase. The results show a N400 response produced in both groups, similar to each other, but with a small difference between related and unrelated stimuli pairs in the ASD group.

Within-subject designs are uniquely able to reduce threats to internal validity with repeated measurements of performances and measurement of effects of the repeated application of the independent variable. However, in some skill acquisition research with typically developing learners (e.g., college students) that use non-arbitrary stimuli (i.e., actual academic content) traditional experimental designs might be insufficient in mitigating threats to internal validity, particularly with regard to testing (i.e., practice or exposure) and history effects. An analysis of previously published research and preliminary data suggest that when identical tests are conducted on a single day, performances (measured as percent correct for a given test) for typically developing learners on computerized selection-based tests improve from the first test to the second test in the absence of experimenter/system provided reinforcement. We do not believe that any published studies have investigated this possible threat to research designs that are currently being used by experimenters (e.g., non-concurrent multiple baseline across participants designs with one or two pretests prior to intervention). In addition to the presentation of our findings, we discuss possible solutions and options available to researchers that might better control for threats to internal validity inherent in skill acquisition research.

The voice and inclusion of people of diverse cultural identities is expanding within the world and within our discipline. This expansion presents both tensions and possibilities. Ideally, applied behavior analysts should be developing increasingly more cultural responsiveness in all aspects of research and practice. That is not the case. Cultural responsiveness is closely yoked with lived experience, social justice, and the kyriarchy. The purpose of this presentation is to explore worldviews in the context of coloniality and to then relate this to our disciplinary and personal responses to power and efforts to contribute to a more socially just world. This includes consideration of global trends, the aims and history of our discipline, womanist and determinist worldviews, and ethics. The presentation will close with a discussion of pathways to cultural responsiveness and social justice.

Behavior analysts interested in culture, social justice, applied research, practice

Derived relational responding (DRR) has a seat at the operant table. The present symposium seeks to extend the reach of DRR and relational training procedures to populations not often targeted using methods not often implemented. First, we explore relational training efforts within an elderly population and discuss implications of DRR as it relates to neuroplasticity. Second, we discuss the novel ocular observing responses and their relation to DRR. Finally, we take an inside look to PEAK-Life by exploring both basic and applied implications of its pending release.

intermediate-advanced

Implicit bias refers to "actions or judgments that are under the control of automatically activated evaluation, without the performer's awareness of that causation" (Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998, p. 1464). Related professionals, such as education, mental health, and medical experts, are working to address the topic of racial and ethnic bias, as well as the impact on the communities in which they serve. Though this is the case in surrounding fields, this topic continues to be a less discussed area within behavior analysis. Mental health researchers have shown consequences of racial bias leads to various negative outcomes for diverse consumers. Implicit bias research has also been well studied in the educational field related to its overuse of punishment procedures. Lastly, medical field professionals have discovered the connection between implicit bias and medical intervention used for certain racial groups. Given the amount of pre-existing research, behavior analysts can take advantage of the existing knowledge base to better serve stakeholders of the field, our clients. This panel will discuss methods for behavior analysts to examine their own biases with the purpose of rendering culturally and socially valid services.

BCBA, BCBA-D

In recent years technological progress has made it possible to design more and more modern vehicles that satisfy new safety standards required by society and law. Despite this and the many awareness-raising campaigns aimed at promoting safer driving in line with contemporary society values, the number of driving accidents has been far from zero. One reason is surely because very few have so far considered the matter from a behavioral point of view. The development of an app to deliver consequences to drivers is an essential but small part of a wide-ranging project that must necessarily involve all the relevant stakeholders, if we really want to impact our driving habits.

OBMers, entrepreneurs with truck-fleets, HSE and logistics managers

This talk will discuss learning arrangements – or the combination of instructional components that affect skill acquisition. Often, skill acquisition programming is developed and evaluated by comparing some instructional package to no instructional package (baseline responding). This is useful toward developing technologies that are likely to produce the intended outcomes. Many years of such research has produced a large “toolbox” of applied behavior analysis intervention approaches. But, for an instructor working with a specific learner, what combination of instructional components should the instructor choose? This talk will discuss the comparative effectiveness of different learning arrangements and instructional components that promote both effective and efficient learning. Research that will be discussed includes components such as trial arrangements and mastery criterioa and how these components differentially affect skill acquisition.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.

Daniel M. Fienup is an Associate Professor of Applied Behavior Analysis at Teachers College, Columbia University. He received his Master’s in Applied Behavior Analysis from Southern Illinois University and his Ph.D. in School Psychology from Illinois State University. Dr. Fienup and his students conduct research on instructional design and educational performance. Dr. Fienup is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Behavioral Education and The Analysis of Verbal Behavior. He also serves on the editorial board for Behavior Analysis in Practice, the Psychological Record, Behavior Analysis: Research and Practice, Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, and Behavior Development. He serves on the Licensed Behavior Analyst New York state board and is a past board member of the New York State Association for Behavior Analysis.

The functional analysis is used to identify the function of problem behavior (Iwata, Dorsey, Slifer, Bauman, & Richman, 1982/1994), which in-turn, is used to develop a function-based treatment to decrease the problem behavior (Hanley, Iwata, & McCord, 2003). The purpose of the current symposium is to present four studies that investigate a variety questions related to the functional analysis and function-based treatments. The first presentation will examine the effects of the functional analysis on problem behavior outside of session. The second will be on the evaluation of the trial-based functional analysis to assess problem behavior evoked by ritual interruption. The third will be on the utilization of an indirect assessment to systematically individualize the initial component durations used during schedule thinning following functional communication training. The fourth will use a translational approach to examine whether the history of reinforcement affects resurgence. Dr. Megan Boyle of Missouri State University will then provide a discussion on each study and provide insight on how research and practice on functional analysis and function-based treatments continue to evolve.

Clinicians and individuals in academia

Indirect assessments are widely used in the development of behavior interventions. To date, there are no indirect assessments that can be used to evaluate the extent to which children who engage in problem behavior wait to receive reinforcement. However, there are effective behavior interventions to increase waiting. Functional communication training (FCT) and schedule thinning have been identified as effective interventions to increase waiting in children who engage in problem behavior maintained by social contingencies. Therefore, we conducted three studies to evaluate the use of an indirect assessment to increase waiting within an FCT and schedule treatment package in children with developmental disabilities. The purpose of the study was to develop the Waiting Assessment Interview Tool (WAIT) and to use the WAIT completed by informants to systematically individualize the initial component durations used during the schedule thinning procedure. A secondary purpose was to use the informants’ preferred waiting times as final waiting targets for all subjects.

This symposium will address how economic demand can be used to understand a variety of issues, with a focus on substance use disorders such as smoking, alcohol use, and non-prescription stimulant use. Results generated using hypothetical, as well as laboratory-based, demand tasks will be described. Although these methods can, and have, been applied to a broad range of topics, some potential limitations will also be explored. The symposium will end with a discussion about the implications of the research presented.

Individuals interested in behavioral economics and how it can be applied to a variety of topics, including substance use disorders.

The FDA has authority to regulate cigarette nicotine content. Reducing nicotine might reduce smoking. In an ongoing study, smokers (n=30) completed operant sessions. Participants worked for cigarette puffs across a range of fixed-ratio requirements (Lindsley plunger; FR-10 to FR-10,000 for 3-puffs), with full- (14.8 mg/g) and reduced-nicotine (4.8, 2.2, or 1.3 mg/g across participants) cigarettes available alone and concurrently. Following initial demand sessions, participants were given reduced-nicotine cigarettes to smoke over a three-week exposure period. Participants returned to the laboratory to repeat demand sessions. Demand did not differ between full-nicotine and reduced-nicotine cigarettes. Similarly, as full-nicotine FR increased, concurrently-available reduced-nicotine cigarette consumption increased. There was a reduction in demand for full- and reduced-nicotine content cigarettes following the exposure period in the single-item but not concurrent demand procedures. Data suggest similar demand across nicotine content; that prolonged nicotine-reduction might decrease cigarette demand; and that reduced-nicotine cigarettes may substitute for full-nicotine cigarettes.

Children are diagnosed with a feeding disorder when they do not eat an adequate quantity or variety of foods, sustain an appropriate weight, or grow (Palmer & Horn, 1978; Piazza & Carroll-Hernandez, 2004). Applied behavior analytic interventions have proven effective in the treatment of pediatric feeding disorders (Volkert & Piazza, 2012). Preference for flavors develop in a variety of ways in typical eating individuals (Capaldi, 1996), however, if and how preference occurs for individuals with feeding disorders is less known. The current symposium includes two studies that evaluated preference for nonpreferred foods and examined shifts in preference before, during, and after applied behavior analytic intervention in children with feeding disorders. An additional study used preferred foods during treatment involving a high-probability sequence with and without escape extinction to increase consumption of healthy, nonpreferred foods. The effectiveness of applied behavior analytic interventions to treat feedings problems may be influenced by treatment integrity. The final study examines various components of behavior skills training in isolation and in combination to increase correct implementation of feeding protocols.

Board Certified Behavior Analysts

The high-probability (high-p) instructional sequence is a non-intrusive procedure that involves the presentation of a series of high-p requests followed by 1 low-probability request. To date, only 9 studies have examined its effectiveness to treat food selectivity in children, and results of these studies have been mixed. In the current study, we used a multielement design to compare the effectiveness and efficiency of 2 iterations of the high-p sequence to increase the consumption of healthy food in picky eaters. One iteration of the high-p instructional sequence consisted of the researcher presenting 3 bites of a preferred food on a spoon to the child and the other consisted of the researcher presenting 3 bites of an empty spoon to the child. Preliminary results show that nonremoval of the spoon may be necessary to increase consumption for some children. We will discuss the results within the context of treatment implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research.

Pediatric feeding problems are present in approximately 50% of the general population and 90% of children with autism spectrum disorder. Much research has been conducted to evaluate behavioral interventions aimed at addressing these problems. In research and clinical protocols, it’s reported that trained staff implement the treatments. However, it’s unclear how much of the variability observed in the results of behavioral interventions for feeding is a result of differences in the therapist's ability to implement the treatment reliably. This study evaluated different training packages containing all of or some of the following components: written instructions, verbal instructions, video modeling, rehearsal, feedback, and task clarification. Three groups were evaluated across staff members and two groups were evaluated across caregivers. It is expected that the use of these treatment components will increase protocol adherences across novel staff and caregivers with varying levels of acquisition conditional to the group they are exposed to.

In this symposium, different interdisciplinary approaches to the understanding and efficient intervention in social contexts will be presented. The so-called "social progress" has been identified through the development of living conditions that affect society in various fields such as urban development, economic and working conditions, living conditions, which imply an improvement in the quality of life of individuals who participate in social groups. However, this development has some repercussions that are identified as “social problems”, that can paradoxically represent a negative impact on individual quality of life such as coexistence problems, corruption, bullying, drug abuse, social inequality. In this presentation a prescriptive framework of the applicability of psychological knowledge is discussed taking into account four features that are considered by Ribes (2018) for the development of a technology-based on scientific knowledge: a) a theory of individuation; b) formulation of interface concepts associated with the circumstance identified as problematic; c) design of methods and procedures for the transfer of scientific knowledge into social problems, and; d) identification of the social criteria that guide the meaning of the intervention.

By living in groups that are conventionally structured, shaped, and maintained, humans face behavioral challenges to maintain their own individual environmental adjustment and the cohesion of their groups. That is to say, humans strive to maintain an often-delicate balance between their individual needs and those of the group. Social problems arise when this balance does not obtain. A major aim of Psychology is the analysis of individual behavior and its interaction with its environmental conditions. A key assumption in pursuing this aim is that behavior allows the individual to adjust to its changing environment. In the case of humans, a substantial part of their environment is conventional in character. Due to this character, shared social practices are stronger determinants of humans’ adjustments to their environments than the physicochemical or ecological aspects are. As a part of an interdisciplinary approach, Psychology could supply a conceptual basis for how individuals interact in groups, identifying the variables that affect social coexistence processes. Similarly, such knowledge could be used to design interventions oriented to behavioral change in different social contexts, such as bullying at school and workplaces, public security issues, traffic and use of public spaces, and addictions.

Interbehavioral Psychology, as the discipline entrusted with studying the relation between the individual and its functional environment, can contribute knowledge towards the solution of problems in education as long as a general process theory is linked the before-mentioned knowledge. Psychological understanding, as applicable knowledge, can only result as an outcome of theory and technological investigation that adapts analytical knowledge from basic (general) science to the situational circumstance that the technology entails. In this respect, the notion of didactic interaction, as the functional unit of the teaching-learning process, has allowed the examination of the appropriateness of relationships between teacher, student and object referent. Thus, contributing to a pertinent formation before the new requirements that the context to discipline and social establishes.

This symposium presents some of the latest developments in behavioral variability research. The opening paper outlines a comparison of video-modelling (VM) and VM plus lag schedules to increase variability of intraverbal responses to social questions among adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Issues with generalization and maintenance of intervention outcomes and how to measure same will be discussed. The next study used lag schedules to increase variability in toy selections of children with ASD. There was an associated increase in appropriate play and decrease in stereotypy, while multiple generalization probes revealed generalization across people and settings but not stimuli. Next is a long-awaited investigation into the level of variability in activities of neurotypical preschoolers that details a novel measurement system. This study provides important information for those working on increasing variability in play and other activities in children with developmental disabilities; these are increasingly frequent topics of applied variability research. The final paper describes a basic study investigating generalization of reinforced variability in rats. In the applied field, researchers are striving to understand generalization effects of variation across multiple repertoires; this study adds to our understanding of these processes. This set of papers, together with our Discussant, the leading expert in this field, aims to address some of the many interesting questions that have been raised as more and more researchers identify behavioral variability as an important field of study.

BCBAs, BCBA-Ds, anyone interested in variability in basic or applied fields.

This study investigated the effects of video modelling alone (VM) and video modelling plus a lag 2 schedule of reinforcement (VM + lag 2) on the variability of intraverbal responses to social questions for two adults with autism. It used an alternating treatments design with embedded multiple baseline. The questions ‘How are you?’, ‘What do you like to do?’, and ‘Can you tell me something about you?’ were targeted in this study, with different questions being randomly allocated to either VM, VM + lag or best treatment conditions. Variability in responding was measured by calculating, for each session, the mean number of responses from which each one differed. For both participants, variability was higher in the VM + lag 2 condition, hence, this was used in the best treatment condition. Novel responses emerged in both treatment conditions so, while variability did not increase in the VM alone condition, participants did learn new responses from the video models. A one-month maintenance check revealed that responses to questions targeted with VM+ lag 2 were more variable than those targeted by VM alone. During generalization sessions in novel settings, variability was concordant with that observed in the training location for all questions.

Classrooms are complex environments that require teachers to implement a variety of classroom management strategies to minimize problem behavior and maximize learning time. Given the difficulty of implementing behavioral interventions in the school setting, there is a need for teacher training and support. This symposium presents school-based intervention studies focused on teacher consultation to assist public school teachers in creating a classroom context where they use positive, proactive behavior management strategies to foster success for students with behavioral difficulties. Study 1 promoted equity in teachers' use of behavior-specific praise through self-monitoring and performance feedback. Studies 2 and 3 used the Prevent-Teach-Reinforce consultation model to improve classroom behavior of students with behavioral difficulties. Study 4 focused on promoting positive teacher interactions with students and decreasing student off-task behavior through teacher training on using differential reinforcement of other behaviors (DRO) and response cost token economy as a class-wide intervention.

Practitioners

This presentation introduces the results of a study that examined the impact of equity-focused teacher self-monitoring and performance feedback on establishing proportionate praise and discipline practices across students in four elementary school classrooms. A multiple-baseline design across participants was used to demonstrate that training teachers to practice self-monitoring and providing equity-focused performance feedback increased all participating teachers’ delivery of proportionate behavior-specific praise and decrease negative feedback given to diverse students.

The Prevent-Teach-Reinforce (PTR) model presents a useful teacher consultation tool to disseminate evidence-based practices into the classroom setting for teachers to create behavioral changes of students with behavioral challenges. This presentation outlines the impact of using the PTR model on three students with autism spectrum disorders in secondary school classrooms. A multiple-baseline across participants design was employed to demonstrate positive outcomes of using PTR in increasing appropriate classroom behavior and reducing problem behavior of the target students. Social validity assessments indicated both groups of students and teachers were highly satisfied with the process and outcomes of using the PTR model.

This paper presents the outcomes of implementing PTR within the multi-tiered systems of support for three students engaging in high levels of problem behavior served in three classrooms at two public elementary schools. A multiple baseline across participants design was used to evaluate the impact of using the prevent-teach-reinforce (PTR) model on student problem and replacement behaviors. Findings indicated that the classroom teachers effectively participated in the PTR assessment and intervention process, implementing the PTR intervention with fidelity, which resulted in decreases in problem behavior and increases in replacement behavior for all three participating students in both target and generalization academic times.

The presentation describes the outcomes of using differential reinforcement of other behaviors (DRO) and response cost as a class-wide intervention in implementing a token economy in one kindergarten and one 1st-grade classrooms. Using an alternating treatments design with an additional baseline phase, the study compared the impact of using DRO versus response cost on student off-task behavior and teacher positive and negative statements. Results indicated that while both DRO and response cost were effective in decreasing all six target students’ off-task behavior, three students engaged in lower levels of off-task behavior during DRO. One teacher's negative statements slightly decreased during implementation of both procedures.  

Muzzle contact, where one animal brings its muzzle into close proximity of another, has often been hypothesized as a rather straight-forward means of socially-mediated food investigation. However, such a function has never been clearly demonstrated. Using 2,707 observations of muzzle contact occurring across three troops of wild vervet monkey (Chlorocebus pygerythrus), we tested this social learning hypothesis. While we found that muzzle contact can afford social learning, muzzle contact does not appear to be a behavior phylogenetically selected for a specialized social learning function, but rather a behavior mediated by operant learning which can then afford social learning. Rather than target specific individuals in order to gain information, we show that some animals serve as discriminative stimuli for approach for others, and that foraging animals serve as discriminative stimuli for food availability. We believe that animals engage in muzzle contact as a low-cost means of maintaining a baseline rate of information about their environment. We discuss these findings in light of the social learning literature, and highlight the need for similar analyses of behavioral function in the discussion of the evolution of social learning.

Leaders, managers, organizational members, and consumers in human service industry.

Current literature suggests most pairing procedures are used to teach the acquisition of skill, while few studies aim to decrease challenging behaviors through the use of stimulus or verbal pairing procedures. The presentations in this symposium will examine the use of pairing in the form of visual stimuli, as well as pairing specific verbal cues, to target a decrease in challenging behaviors surrounding restricted, repetitive interests and compliance, in preschool-age children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The first presentation will include research on the use of green and red 2D visuals to decrease the presence of inappropriate train behavior and sounds, in a three-year-old male with autism. The second presentation will examine an intervention focused on increasing compliance and flexible responding within a classroom setting for three males with ASD, by pairing specific verbal cues for each expected response. The third presentation will include research on decreasing the frequency of inappropriate door-related behaviors demonstrated by three, three-year-old males with ASD, through the use of 2D visuals located on the doors and specific rules delivered to each participant. Results from all three interventions suggest that using stimulus and/or verbal pairing procedures, along with systematic fading techniques and schedules of reinforcement, are effective in increasing the opportunities for learning by decreasing challenging and repetitive behaviors.

The target audience for this symposium is practicing behavior analysts.

Engaging in highly restricted play or having fixated interests that are abnormal in intensity, is a core symptom associated with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnosis (DSM-V). This may result in excessive amounts of time spent engaging with, or talking about, items of a specific theme. In the current study, a stimulus pairing intervention was utilized to decrease the presence of train-related fixated interest behaviors as demonstrated by a four-year-old male with autism. Teaching phases included systematically increasing the amount of time the participant was required to refrain from engaging in train-related behaviors or sounds in the presence of a red 2-D picture card. Train-related fixated interest behaviors were encouraged during optional, designated breaks within a specified space, as identified by a green 2-D picture card. This space encouraged cooperative play between the participant and clinician, with train materials present. Results suggest this intervention produced an effective way to decrease the presence of fixated interest behaviors, and to increase engagement with a variety of age-appropriate activities.

For individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), learning to discriminate between stimuli can influence the ability to respond to multiple cues across varying contexts. These foundational skills can lead to larger gains in the generalization of skills, which supports an overall greater flexibility for individuals with ASD. By learning to increase flexibility when responding to multiple cues, individuals can learn to discriminate when inflexibility is acceptable. The goal of the present study was to use discrimination training to teach three children with ASD to comply with negotiable versus non-negotiable demands in a classroom setting, along with the reduction of stereotyped responses. Compliant responses to both non-negotiable and negotiable demands were reinforced on a fixed-ratio schedule. The participants received tokens for compliant responses, and the reinforcement schedule was thinned as each participant’s compliant behavior improved. Non-compliance to negotiable demands was also reinforced by allowing escape from the demand. During instances of non-compliance to non-negotiable demands, researchers utilized escape extinction. Results demonstrate improvement in each child’s compliant behavior to non-negotiable demands, as well as increased compliance with negotiable demands. In addition, data reveal a reduction in stereotyped and/or defiant behaviors for all children compared to baseline levels, for both types of demands.

Individuals with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) commonly engage in high rates of and high intensity restrictive or repetitive behaviors (DSM-V). These may lead to stigmatization, decreased opportunities to learn from the environment, and in extreme cases, may put an individual at risk for injury or even death. The current study examined the use of a stimulus pairing intervention to decrease the frequency of door-related restrictive behaviors as demonstrated by three, three-year-old males with autism. Colored cards were introduced and paired with specific rules to teach the individuals when a door was and was not accessible, and an error correction procedure was put in place. Door-related restrictive behaviors were encouraged with designated doors that did not affect the safety of the individual, as identified by a green 2-D picture card. Results suggest this intervention produced an effective way to decrease the presence of door-related behaviors for all participants. Future research includes determining effective training techniques to allow caregivers to implement similar stimulus pairing procedures in order to promote maintenance and generalization of the learned skill.

The panel session will provide ABAI student members pivotal perspectives from three professionals in navigating and communicating with the professional world of applied behavior analysis (ABA). This 50-minute panel session will allow ABAI members to interact with professionals in a conversation-like format. As well as ask questions regarding effective networking styles. The three professionals, Dr. Ross, Dr. Baker, and Dr. Joslyn, come from diverse backgrounds of ABA, including areas such as special education in PK-12 schools, behavioral gerontology, and crime and delinquency. The panel will address topics such as why networking is an important skill to acquire, how to make a great first impression with big names in the field, and tips and tricks on how to develop and improve one’s skill set. Discussions of interactions will not be limited to interacting with professionals in the field of ABA but also prospective mentors, employers, and clients. This panel intends to address questions we may have when networking with professionals. The panel seeks to aid students in learning how to make strong connections to increase their success as professionals in the field of ABA.

ABAI members, graduate students, and other individuals who want to learn how to network and communicate with other professionals in the field effectively.

Shortly after the development of robust methods to analyze the function of problem behavior, researchers and clinicians began using this information to design function-based interventions. Some of the earliest interventions began with reinforcing appropriate, alternative behavior and providing the reinforcer that maintains problem behavior on a time-based schedule. As these procedures advanced, researchers and clinicians began bringing function-based treatment under stimulus control. The effects of function-based intervention are robust and sustainable. Additionally, function-based intervention allows for a wide-range of adaptations, based on an individual's problem behavior and the current context. More recently, researchers have begun evaluating these adaptations in the context of promoting long-term change for individuals in their everyday environment. In this symposium, presenters will focus on some of the adaptations, including stimulus fading during Functional Communication Training, schedule thinning using chained and multiple schedules, and using differential reinforcement of low rates to increase the time between emission of mands.

BCBAs and Applied Researchers

Stimulus fading has previously been used to increase compliance with an aversive activity or routine. However, there is limited data to support its use to decrease challenging behavior associated with an activity or routine. In this study, the authors investigated the use of parent-implemented functional communication training with stimulus fading to reduce challenging behavior associated with a home routine. One 6-year-old male diagnosed with autism participated in this study. The functional analysis indicated he engaged in challenging behavior to terminate the routine of throwing trash away. The authors then conducted a treatment evaluation to assess the efficacy of functional communication training with stimulus fading in reducing challenging behavior. Results indicated that functional communication training and stimulus fading was effective in decreasing challenging behavior and increasing socially appropriate communication. We plan to conduct the procedures with one to two additional participants. Implications for practice and directions for future research will be discussed.

Functional analysis (FA) methodology and function-based treatment is a constantly evolving science informed by both issues encountered in practice and recent scientific literature. This symposium includes studies on the role of activity transitions, synthesized contingencies, and treatment integrity in the assessment and treatment of problem behavior. The first study illustrates the role of transitions across activities of varying preferences in the maintenance of escape-maintained problem behavior for individuals with developmental disabilities and offers a model for assessing and developing a reinforcement-based treatment. The second study compares outcomes of isolated and synthesized contingency FAs and functional communication training (FCT) based on the outcomes of each FA. In a final phase, experimenters evaluated participant preference for treatment. The third study evaluates the effects of reduced treatment integrity on problem behavior treated with FCT, and then illustrates the use of a booster-style intervention designed to mitigate the effects of reduced treatment integrity during FCT under a multiple schedule arrangement.

Researchers and clinicians working on functional analysis and function-based treatment of problem behavior

In this symposium, the authors will present research on self-control training (SCT) in natural settings. The first presenter will review the literature on self-control training procedures that aim to instruct individuals to make more optimal choices that produce delayed results. To evaluate the effectiveness of SCT, we conducted a quantitative analysis of articles published between 1998 and 2019 across peer-reviewed journals. Findings from the literature review revealed that the four most utilized intervention components are (a) delay fading, (b) intervening activities, (c) rules, and (d) signals. Overall, these four treatment components have been shown to be most effective. The second presenter will discuss her study that evaluated both the presentation of rules and providing a task demand to complete, concurrent with the delay to the larger reinforcer. This study evaluates both of these interventions singly as well as in a combined package intervention. Results indicated that while both concurrent activities and rules had an effect on the majority of children, the package intervention was the most consistent and effective intervention.

The current symposium serves participants interested in learning treatment for impulsive responding.

Behavior analysts work in diverse settings including clinics, centers, schools, hospitals, and other large, community-based "systems". Behavior analysts also work with a diverse population of clients (e.g., those with developmental disabilities, mental health disorders, comorbid diagnoses) and employees (e.g., direct care staff, nurses, doctors, teachers, behavior technicians, behavior analysts, administrators). Providing high-quality orientation, onboarding, and training experiences to employees with diverse experience and education requires significant development, implementation, and evaluation of these "staff training" systems to ensure the best outcomes for clients and their staff. Using a behavioral systems approach, each of the authors in this symposium will describe the orientation, onboarding, and/or training systems within their large systems while discussing the evaluation required to further inform system development.

Behavior Analysts, Supervisors, Administrators

Functional Behavior Assessment is an evidence-based practice used within high-quality ABA therapy programs to assess and help treat challenging behaviors exhibited by individuals. The specific pinpoints associated with performing these skills require training and supervision of clinicians, especially in large agencies providing geographically diverse applied behavior analysis services. Several effective staff training formats exist including behavioral skills training, video modeling, and performance feedback. The efficiency with which large agencies (and even educational institutions with geographically diverse learners) provide effective staff training opportunities is of great importance to our field and the clients we serve. Using a group experimental design, the current study will explore the effectiveness of various staff training formats on the functional behavior assessment skills of clinicians who provide ABA therapy to individuals with ASD. Results will include changes in observed performance of FBA skills across indirect assessments, descriptive assessments, functional analyses, data summarization and analysis, and reporting. Clinician feedback on preference for training formats and client data will also be discussed.

While much of the early research in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) focused on individuals with mental health disorders and individuals with developmental disabilities, more recent history in ABA with individuals with developmental disabilities has flourished while its active role with those with mental health diagnoses has diminished. Additionally, there is a proliferation of comorbid diagnosis of mental health conditions for individuals with developmental disabilities such as ASD. There is also a focus on utilizing psychotropic medication as either a primary or supplementary treatment component for behavioral excesses. The current paper describes an in-service staff training model aimed at orienting psychiatric nursing and support staff to the field of Applied Behavior Analysis, and how ABA can be an integral part of a multidisciplinary approach to assessment and treatment in an acute in-patient psychiatric unit for children and adolescents. Melding a psychiatric nursing model aimed at both acute behavioral stabilization and medication assessment and management with a functional behavioral approach and the resulting barriers to integration will be discussed.

Being sensitive and understanding one’s emotions and the emotions of others is considered critical to social behavior. Some may fail to adequately develop such sensitivity and understanding without direct intervention. One such intervention is to help a learner to tact private stimuli arising from their body as a particular emotion. Such training relies upon inferring what stimuli might be accompanying certain “emotional behavior.” This approach assumes that there are readily identifiable unique private stimuli associated with such behavior. The task is to help a learner identify and name (tact) these stimuli. Another approach is to help children to identify emotions that others are experiencing based upon facial expression. It is assumed that there are readily identifiable facial expressions linked to consistent private emotions. Analysis of data from hundreds of neuroscience studies and thousands of subjects suggest both of these approaches may be flawed. This symposium will first present neuroscience data which challenge the assumption that there are unique private stimuli or brain circuitry associated with emotion, and that suggests there is no evidence that facial expressions reflect emotion. It will then suggest a formulation and interventions consistent with both these data and a consequential contingency analysis.

Professional involved in the teaching or behavioral intervention with those who may be developmentally challenged, and those involved with clinical behavioral intervention.

Credentialed behavior analysts are expected to follow the Professional and Ethical Compliance Code (BACB, 2014). The Code itself provides general and specific guidance on acceptable behavior. As the practice of behavior analysis continues to expand (i.e., number of credentialed behavior analysts, breadth of applications of the science, and depth of application within a practice area), discussion of how the Code applies to various situations and variables is important. An area of need is understanding how credentialed behavior analysts and support personnel (e.g., finance, human resource) perceive the application of the Code in practice. Understanding these perceptions can guide the profession, organizations, and individual practitioners in developing preventive and responsive ethical practices. Additionally, current practice situations (i.e., rural practice and international dissemination) warrant specific discussion and relevance to specific Codes. The purpose of this symposium is to share survey data of employees from a mid-sized human service agency regarding ethical perceptions, discuss practice of behavior analysis in rural areas, and the ethical international dissemination of behavior analysis.

Practice organization administration, practitioners, university personnel responsible for training behavior analysts, supervisors of students completing fieldwork requirements, and students.

The practice of Applied Behavior Analysis in rural communities provides ample fodder for unique situations and ethical code violations. Surveys were sent to Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) in the state of Oklahoma, a state with only 103 certified individuals, regarding ethical codes most observed to be violated. In addition to few practitioners in the state, almost 80% of Oklahoma’s certificants live within a 20 mile radius from two main hubs of service delivery. This leaves a small number to provide services for the rest of the state's mostly rural areas. Results of the survey indicate multiple relationships, poor supervision and boundary of competence as the greatest areas of concern. Aside from the short supply of supervisors putting a strain on the supervisee: supervisor ratio, other possible variables that contribute to these violations include a lack of resources within the schools, physical distance to other BCBAs for referrals, working in tight knit communities, and within a culture that defaults to the use of punishment procedures. Knowing the most violated codes within a particular community allows preventative strategies to be implemented. In this case, having a network of mentors, holiday gift reminders, and strict practices for social media are a few of those suggested for our rural practioners.

The current symposium is a synthesis of efforts at various points in the Relational Training System assessment and curriculum. The first talk provides a conceptualization as to how we might make better-informed decisions relative to program selection and intervention approaches in the context of PEAK using a case conceptualization tool. The second talk investigates relationships between derived relational responding and executive processing deficits in children. Finally, we highlight pre-post change scores relative to the PEAK Comprehensive Assessment for children diagnosed with autism given exposure to PEAK in a special education context. Implications and utility of these findings are discussed.

beginning-intermediate behavior analysts

The PEAK Relational Training System contains a comprehensive assessment and curriculum designed to target global language and cognitive skills in children with autism and related disabilities. Although research on PEAK has grown considerably, more research is needed within applied contexts in which this tool is likely to be utilized. We conducted PEAK at a special education school over the course of 3 months with 5 children with autism. PEAK instructions was systematically embedded within their school day for up-to 2 hours, supplementing other instructional strategies. The efficacy of PEAK instruction was evaluated using a multiple baseline across skills experimental design, replicated across the 5 children. We overview how this design can be embedded within any applied setting, allowing for the on-going experimental analysis of behavior within sacrificing assurance that children are receiving on-going effective education. In addition, we conducted the PEAK Comprehensive Assessment at the onset of the study and following 3 moths of training, where the PCA provides an estimate of global repertiores across direct training, generalization, equivalence, and relational learning skill sets. Results suggested a significant increase in PCA scores across all participants.

Advances in Relational Frame Theory have begun to allow Applied Behavior Analytic treatments for children with autism to focus on higher-order or global repertiores of behavior. Executive functioning deficits are common in children with autism that can severely impact quality of life in several domains. We review three studies that speak to the importance of targeting executive functioning deficits in children with autism using relational training and testing procedure. The first study provides a comprehensive literature review comparing functional neurological activity when completing traditional executive functioning tasks and when deriving combinatorially entailed relations. Results suggest that common neurological processes are involved in the completion of both tasks. The second study provides another systematic review that shows an exponentiation of research utilizing derived relational responding technologies to teach new skills to children with autism within the major behavior analytic journals. The third study empirically evaluates the construct validity of the PEAK Comprehensive Assessment (PCA) as a tool to measure verbal operants and relational operants that may be related to executive functioning processes. Convergent and divergent components of the PCA are discussed in the context of developing treatments for children with autism from a Relational Frame Theory account.

Promoting Emergence of Advanced Knowledge Relational Training System (PEAK) is a four-volume curriculum targeting Direct Training, Generalization, Equivalence, and Transformation. Research to date has shown behavioral skills training (BST) to be effective at training staff to implement PEAK. While timely, little is known about the extent to which staff’s self-efficacy (or verbal behavior about one’s competency) influences implementation of PEAK. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to determine if a thorough case conceptualization model (CCM) can increase implementer self-efficacy. The CCM was developed to establish problem solving opportunities for implementers and supervisors to use during feedback sessions. Three implementer-child dyads were subjected to a multiple-baseline design wherein implementers were first trained how to implement PEAK before starting treatment as usual (baseline). Next, participants were handed the CCM tool during the instruction phase but were not given any specific feedback on how to use it. Finally, during the feedback phase, all implementers were instructed on how to use the CCM and how to derive feedback from it. Throughout all phases, client PEAK scores, implementation scores from staff, and self-reported self-efficacy Likert rating scale was assessed. Overall, all participants showed increase self-efficacy scores following CCM feedback. Implications will be discussed.

This symposium includes three talks describing procedural variations for the establishment of stimulus control and equivalence classes. The first talk describes an applied go/no-go procedure to establish simple discriminative control over selection responses in two children with autism. The second study describes an alternative method for the establishment of conditional relations between auditory-visual stimuli involving a go/no-go procedure with successive matching. Finally, the third study explored a specific parameter of matching-to-sample training in which the incorrect trial was repeated, suggesting that such procedure enhances maintenance of skills. Overall, these data have directly implications for both basic research and clinical practice

Researchers and clinicians

The current study investigated the conditions necessary for stimulus to acquire control of skill acquisition. Two learners diagnosed with autism, ages 7 and 9, both with long history of little to zero rate of skill acquisition in their ABA programs. Skinner’s (1938) successive method, “Go and no-go” stimulus control training was used to teach pre-mand training with the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS). The successive method was then followed by “Go-right/go-left successive procedure” developed by Harrison (1984), and then Go-right/go-left with simultaneous stimulus presentation (Harlow, 1950). The results show that participants acquired initial discrimination of PECS icons in approximately 88 sessions and maintained the skills 3 months after the introduction of first discrimination method.

To train baseline relations during equivalence class formation, match-to-sample (MTS) is commonly used. When an error occurs during training, feedback is provided but an opportunity to immediately respond a second time to the same trial following an error is typically not provided in studies with advanced learners. Although some equivalence studies within the literature incorporated the procedure of immediately repeating an incorrect trial during baseline, none has compared this to not repeating a trial when an error occurs. The present study made such a comparison. Two different sets of two 4-member equivalence classes of abstract stimuli were established with adults of typical development. Results showed that classes were established with similar accuracy, duration, and number of trials regardless of whether incorrect trials were repeated immediately following an error or not repeated. However, maintenance tests showed that the classes from the repeating a trial condition maintained at higher levels than those from the not repeating a trial condition. A social validity survey indicated that participants strongly preferred the repeating a trial condition. The implications of these results may provide clinicians with an alternative way to use stimulus equivalence-based instruction to facilitate maintenance of classes.

Previous research showed that delay, but not social discounting is significantly correlated with Japanese students’ using smartphones while walking (USWW) rates. In addition, there is mixed evidence for a relationship between delay discounting and texting while driving (TWD). There are no published studies examining relationships between social discounting and TWD. The current study explored relationships between two types of discounting (delay and social) and two risky behaviors involving smartphones (TWD and USWW). A total of 456 US college students completed demographic, discounting, and self-reported risky smartphone measures. Figure 1 shows social discounting box-plots for the bottom 25%, middle 50% and top 25% TWD participants. As TWD increased, social discounting rate significantly increased. However, the same pattern was not shown with delay discounting and TWD. Figure 2 shows that low USWW rates were correlated with lower social discounting rates. There was no correlation between delay discounting and USWW. TWD and USWW were significantly correlated (r = 0.40), whereas delay and social discounting were not significantly correlated (r = 0.03). The results are interpreted in regards to the absolute differences in self-reported USWW rates between the US and Japan, and how converging evidence suggests that delay and social discounting are separate processes.

Metacontingencies have not yet been implemented in conjunction with the Good Behavior Game to facilitate its maintenance. Although the literature reports strong effects from the Good Behavior Game, diffusion of the Brazilian culturally adapted version Elos Program – Communities Coalitions was suspended by the federal government. Even though national available data should be considered, designs with higher levels of experimental control are necessary to estimate the intervention effects. Through reversal and multiple baseline designs across three municipalities, this study aims to test the effects of Elos Program – Communities Coalitions with the addition of support metacontingencies, subsidized in the program manuals available for public access. Dependent variables include on-task, cooperative, disruptive and aggressive behavior from pupils; nurturing practices from teachers; and interlocked behavioral contingencies of mutual support between practitioners. 320 participants are expected from six public schools. Operant and cultural consequences will be manipulated in three phases: Operant selection, Cultural selection and Cultural maintenance. Conditions differ regarding individual or group feedback delivered to professionals as well as to reinforcement schemes contingent to the occurrence of interlocked behavioral contingencies. The first phase is running and preliminary results from one third-grade class can be discussed. Disruptive behavior rates markedly decreased while on-task behavior rates increased to levels far from baseline conditions since intervention started. If repeated across classrooms, this result shall increase external validity of Good Behavior Game variations to Brazilian educational system. Data from longitudinal studies using randomized control trial methods identified correlations between participating in the intervention and lower rates of drug abuse at adult age. Although its measurements are limited to few points over time, long-term research literature regarding the Good Behavior Game highlights its potential outcomes that should be investigated with reliable experimental control.

Official data show deficits of Brazilian public school children in mathematical skills. These data suggest the necessity to develop alternative, low-cost, teaching technologies. This research compares the effects of Independent and Interdependent group contingencies on the frequency of correctly respond to math operations. Twenty fourth-grade public elementary school children participated in the study. Students were divided in five groups formed with underachieving, average, and overarching students (as assessed in a pre-test). Reversal designs were used with a sequence of ABCA for three groups, and a sequence of ACBA for the other two groups. Members performed the task with their group peers across all conditions. Condition A served as baseline, with no scheduled reinforcement. In Condition B, reinforcers were individually provided, depending on the student individual performance. In Condition C, reinforcers were provided based on the averaged performances of all group members. Results reveal increasing effects of both Independent and Interdependent group contingencies on correct responses of average and overachieving students, compared to Baseline, but not for underachieving students. For future researches, it is necessary to create a contingency where peer tutoring can actually emerge, as an alternative to improve performances of underachieving students.

We exposed 34 children to the adjusting-amount procedure (standard amount = 16 prizes) presenting by five delays (5, 10, 20, 30, and 60 seconds), odds against (0.111, 0.333, 1, 3, and 9) and effort levels (0.2, 0.4, 06, 0.8, and 1) in three Experiential Discounting Tasks (EDTs). We found high values for the adjustment to the hyperboloid model in the three tasks (R2 = .92). We observed a steep probability discounting curve, a moderately delay discounting curve and a shallow effort discounting curve. Statistically significant differences were found in the degree of discounting between delay and effort discounting, and probability and effort discounting. The Principal component analysis showed four components that explain 67.46% of the variance. The findings of this study suggested different discounting patterns based on the parameters manipulated and supported the internal validity of the tasks. The EDTs contributed to solving practical issues by using real contingencies with children.

Research shows that prolonged training in the impulsive task determines impulsive choice in nonhuman animals. We extended the generality of this finding to the impulsive choices of Spontaneously Hypertensive (SHR) and Lewis (LEW) rats responding to a novel concurrent-chains procedure. The initial-link arranged choices between smaller-sooner (SS) and larger-later (LL) foods. Choice was measured on two levers concurrently available in the initial link, where two non-independent random interval schedules arranged entries to two terminal links. One terminal link delayed the delivery of the LL food (4-pellets) six times, and the other terminal link delivered the SS food (1-pellet) immediately. Five models of intertemporal choice and the Generalized Matching Law (GML) fitted the data from the SHRs and LEWs well. Discounting rate (k) and sensitivity to immediacy of reinforcement (s) increased with prolonged training; estimates of k were positively correlated with estimates of s, suggesting compatibilities between models of intertemporal choice and the GML. It is proposed that the behavior pattern labeled impulsivity changes with the rats’ experience in the choice situation.

Reinforcement-based procedures are key tools for implementing effective behavior change. However, one of the main criticisms of reinforcement-centered programs is the overjustification hypothesis, which posits that when “extrinsic” rewards are delivered contingent on the occurrence of behavior, the rate of that behavior will fall to below baseline levels when these rewards are removed. The current study is a replication of a 1971 study by Edward Deci evaluating the overjustitication hypothesis. The subjects in this replication were ten undergraduate students who were asked to complete puzzle configurations across three phases. These subjects were divided into a treatment group, who received rewards for puzzle completion, and a control group, who received no extrinsic rewards. Participants in the treatment group received no “extrinsic” rewards in phase one, a monetary reward contingent on puzzle completion in phase two, and a return to no monetary rewards in phase three. The results were highly variable but the majority of participants in both the treatment and control group showed a decline in engagement across the three phases. The findings of this replication suggest that satiation, rather than overjustification, may decrease subject puzzle interaction.

Group contingency (GC) is a behavior management strategy in which a consequence is contingent upon the behavior of all or selected portion of a group of people. However, studies comparing the different types of GC are limited, especially those aimed at enhancing physical activity. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness and cost-efficiency of GC for promoting walking behavior of college students. 72 college students were grouped as a team of three based on their step counts and were randomly assigned to three conditions for 66 days of intervention. In independent condition, participants earned points each time they met the predetermined goal, regardless of their teammates’ performance. In interdependent condition, participants earned points each time all teammates met the goal. In random dependent condition, participants earned points each time the randomly selected teammate met the goal. In terms of effectiveness, random dependent condition showed a significant increase in step counts during intervention than the others. In terms of cost-efficiency, when the same amount of points was provided, increase in step counts of interdependent condition was the highest. The results suggest that random dependent GC is effective, whereas interdependent GC is cost-efficient in promoting walking behavior.

Variables facilitating “cognitive defusion” are still incompletely understood in laboratory settings. The present study focused on the persistent contextual control of the rock-paper-scissors (RPS) game, where responding based on the circular relation is reinforced and feedback in accordance with an alternative rule is deactivated. The alternative context was introduced, where responding based on the linear relation of the number of fingers (NOF), is reinforced. As a general procedure, a participant chose the winning/losing one of two handsigns on a computer screen. Trainings provided a feedback on “correct/incorrect” per trial, then its effect was assessed in the subsequent tests with no feedback. In Experiment 1, 12 undergraduates’ data were obtained. Two contextual cues were introduced, indicating either NOF or RPS responding is correct. In the trainings where the handsigns not appearing in the RPS game were added, nine participants showed over 75% correct responses in the NOF context. In Experiment 2, eight undergraduates’ data were obtained. After the training where rock, paper, and scissors were presented in the same trial, six participants showed over 75% NOF responses. In conclusion, situations that conflict with the regular RPS game could facilitate defusion from its persistent contextual control.

Obesity is a public health problem in Mexico. More than 36.3% of adolescents have obesity. Although the literature mentions selection by type of food and physical activity are the main factors for the development of obesity, the multidimensional effect of decision making is still unclear. Delay discounting studies show that adults with obesity discount more steeply immediate rewards than the controls. However, mixed findings are with probability discounting, and the effort discounting has not been explored as a possible additional factor to describe the choices for poor physical activity. This study aimed to compare the loss of the subjective value of different rewards in delay, probability, and effort discounting tasks with hypothetical outcomes in adolescents with obesity. The choice trials were presented with the adjusting amount procedure. We use a mixed design. Preliminary results show the hyperbolic model had moderate adjustments for the obesity group and higher adjustments for the controls. Findings were replicated for delay discounting with money. A probability and steeply effort discounting were found with money for obese participants than for the controls. Findings suggest the variable delay and effort seem to describe the "impulsive" choices for the obesity group, unlike the pattern of risk-seeking.

Killeen and Jacobs (2017) discussed James Gibson’s concept of affordance and its place within the analysis of behavior. According to Gibson (1979), affordances are possibilities for behavior scaled to the action capabilities of the organism. Previous research has found that when asked to lift and move objects that vary only by their lengths, participants make a transition from one- to two-hands or two- to one-hand at predictable affordance boundaries defined as a ratio of hand-span to object length (Lopresti-Goodman et al. 2009; Isenhower et al. 2010). In order to further explore the relationship between affordances and behavior analysis, the current study manipulated object properties in a similar fashion to the aforementioned studies but treated the choice (one vs. two hands) as a concurrent operant arrangement. Reinforcement was delivered in the form of points on concurrent VR-VR schedules. The participants’ goal was to maximize the number of points they earned. During baseline conditions no reinforcement was delivered regardless of how participants chose to move the objects. During the 1H condition, participants contacted reinforcement on a VR2 schedule for moving objects with one hand and a VR5 schedule for moving objects with two hands. During the 2H condition, the concurrent schedules were reversed such that participants contacted reinforcement on a VR2 schedule for moving the objects with two hands and a VR5 schedule for moving objects with one hand. Preliminary results indicate that the affordance boundary moves relative to baseline for the 2H condition but not the 1H condition. Implications for incorporating affordances into the analysis of behavior will be discussed.

This experiment evaluated whether the outcomes of RFT studies on the frames of sameness and opposition are instances of contextual control over equivalence and nonequivalence and exclusion-based responding. Four college students participated. In Phase 1, we trained SAME as a contextual cue for selecting comparisons physically identical to the samples, and OPPOSITE as a contextual cue for selecting the comparisons most physically dissimilar to the samples. In Phase 2, SAME and OPPOSITE controlled the maintenance and reversal of equivalence classes, respectively. In Phase 3, we trained SAME-A1B1, SAME-A1C1, OPPOSITE-A1B2, and OPPOSITE-A1C2. The four participants derived SAME-B1C1, SAME-B2C2, OPPOSITE-B1C2, and OPPOSITE-B2C1. SAME-B2C2 could be explained by the exclusion of C1, a stimulus nonequivalent to B2, or by the combinatorial entailment of the opposition relations A1B2 and A1C2, as RFT proposes. In Phase 4, we trained SAME-A1B1, SAME-A1C1, SAME-A2B2, and OPPOSITE-A1C2, with a new set of stimuli. The four participants derived the same relations as in Phase 3. SAME-B2C2 can be explained by the exclusion of C1, but not by the combinatorial entailment of opposition relations because OPPOSITE-A1B2 was not trained. In summary, the outcomes of RFT studies on the frames of sameness and opposition are probably explained by alternative processes.

We have developed a specialized apparatus for single-subject research with rat colonies. This “One Rat Door” (ORD) sits between an operant chamber and group housing. Only one rat may pass from the group housing, through the door, to the operant chamber. Once a rat has passed, a locking mechanism is engaged that prevents additional rats from entering the ORD. Only when the initial rat leaves the operant chamber is the door unlocked, allowing another rat to enter. The design of the ORD is cheap, simple, fully mechanical, and can accommodate different rat sizes. The mechanical design reduces risk of injury from motorized moving parts and reduces transition disruption. It also enables automated experimentation; it can be run 24/7 without requiring experimenter time and effort. Used in conjunction with RFID technology, the ORD allows for both single-subject data and individualized contingencies in the operant chamber. This apparatus is currently being used to conduct single-subject research with rats relearning a distal forelimb reach task following ischemic stroke. Because of its simple and enabling design, the ORD may be used to measure self-initiated behavior within a social context and to study behavioral economics and nonlinear contingencies with high external validity.

A common phenomenon associated with extinction-based treatments for problem behavior is the occurrence of a transient increase in the rate, magnitude, or duration of the targeted behavior. We sought to replicate and extend the findings of Lerman and Iwata (1995, 1999) by examining the magnitude and persistence of this phenomenon. Specifically, we reviewed data from 108 participants with autism spectrum disorder who had been admitted to an intensive outpatient clinic for the assessment and treatment of problem behavior and extinction was a component of the treatment. We found a prevalence in our sample of 19.1% bursts observed out of 335 exposures, which was similar to the prevalence of 15% previously reported in Lerman and Iwata (1999). The extinction bursts were most frequently classified as large in magnitude, accounting for over half of the bursts observed in this sample. Additionally, we observed a decreasing trend across ten sessions that approached levels prior to the implementation of extinction.

Research on multiple schedules of reinforcement has demonstrated that the schedule in one component interacts with the schedule in the second component under certain circumstances. Positive behavioral contrast, defined by an increase in response rate in an unaltered component when rate of reinforcement is reduced in the altered component, has been observed in nonhumans and humans alike, with the latter showing sensitivity to rules describing experimental contingencies. While positive behavioral contrast has been observed with conjugate schedules in pre-verbal humans, the effects of rules on positive contrast in verbal humans requires further examination. Building off of research suggesting rule accuracy as a critical dimension in the production of contrast, this study examined the effects of rule accuracy and rule specificity on the emergence of positive contrast with undergraduate students. The main finding was that rule accuracy and rule specificity corresponded with discrimination indices, yet the relationship between these features and the emergence of positive contrast necessitates further study. Implications of these initial findings for future research will be provided.

Chase and Houmafar (2009) explored in a large-enrollment class setting the effect of basic feedback (specification of correct/incorrect answer) and elaborate feedback (basic feedback + information on the topic addressed in the question) on the students’ performance when taking quizzes. This research was conducted in laboratory settings. An eye tracker was also used to verify correlations between performance and participants’ eye gazes on screen. A between-group design was implemented, using two groups, one for each type of feedback. Ninety-eight undergraduate students, having a different level of knowledge on Operant Conditioning, were recruited and randomly assigned to the groups. The participants read a textbook chapter on Operant Conditioning followed by two sets of quiz. The “first attempt” showed them the feedback assigned. Change in the performance between the quiz scores was measured. The results, significant at p=0.106, demonstrated an enhanced change in the performance for the participants in the elaborate feedback group, an important result considering that most of the participants having no previous knowledge of Operant Conditioning, by chance, were assigned to the elaborate feedback group. This corroborates the superior effect of the elaborate feedback in supporting the learning of new content. The eye tracker data demonstrated statistically significant longer eye gazes when the answers provided were wrong compared to the correct ones.

The increase in Spanish speakers within the United States calls for an expansion of preschool curricula. There are multiple arguments about the best time or critical periods for children to learn a second language. Using a single-case design to reflect individual differences, this study demonstrates that preschoolers can learn Spanish vocabulary with an average of 30 minutes of instruction per week. Combining direct instruction with developmentally appropriate practices and hands-on activities, we taught five categories (e.g., colors, foods, numbers) of five Spanish vocabulary words. Six four-year-old children (3 girls) participated in activities incorporating English and Spanish words into play-based interactions. Prompts, feedback, and praise were used, and progress was measured via cumulative records (see attached sample figures). Girls improved over baseline on use of Spanish words; boys showed little improvement. All children improved in fluency of identifying a pictorial response. Across the five-week intervention, all children demonstrated improved pronunciation and increasing independence in use of the Spanish words. Cumulative graphs and tables will demonstrate the impact of the combination of direct instruction and interactive activities. This method is easily incorporated into a naturalistic classroom setting by inserting vocabulary, directives, and bilingual instruction into the daily routine.

Discrete trial training is one evidence-based instructional procedure within Applied Behavior Analysis. Two important considerations when using this procedure is trial presentation type and treatment integrity. Research has demonstrated both these considerations affect skill acquisition for children with developmental disabilities but has not rigorously examined their independent and interactive impact on learning in larger samples. The present study is a translational approach to better understand learning during discrete trial training. Using an arbitrary computerized learning task, we compared trial presentation type (massed trial versus task interspersal) on skill acquisition during high- and low-treatment integrity conditions (100% integrity versus 75% integrity) in 166 college students. A two-way repeated measures ANOVA demonstrated task interspersal resulted in better acquisition and maintenance than massed trial and low treatment integrity significantly impairs learning. No interaction between trial presentation type and treatment integrity emerged. Additionally, specific patterns of learning emerged during low treatment integrity conditions that suggested some participants developed faulty stimulus control. Discussion of learning processes and implications for instruction is included in light of present findings.

The need for effective, research-based interventions focused on the reading needs of English learners with disabilities is critical. Previous research indicates the importance of investigating this need through single subject design studies. In this study, a single-subject multiple-probe design was used to investigate the effects of the Modified GIST Strategy involving systematic prompting and positive reinforcement on the summarizing skills of English learners with disabilities between the ages of 15 and 17 years. Following the baseline phase, the participants received tutoring in the Modified GIST Strategy through modeling and guided instruction. After tutoring, the participants’ independent summarizing skills were measured by having participants read expository passages and summarize text. Two weeks following the intervention phase, maintenance data was collected for each participant. Results from visual analysis indicate an improvement in the summarization skills for all participants, as there was an immediate change in level and trend between baseline and intervention. Results also demonstrate that the participants’ summarization skills remained high during maintenance probes. Procedural fidelity was high at 98.76 percent and inter-observer agreement was 95.02 percent. The results are promising for this group of participants, and future research should address further investigations with the Modified GIST Strategy.

Constantly increasing in versatility, technology has enabled educators to deliver material to students in fun and unique ways. However, it is important to understand how the introduction of technology is effecting student learning. In order to better understand this impact, my study has compared a game-based technology, Kahoot, to a non-game-based technology, Socrative. The goal of the study was to understand how technology impacts student engagement, performance, and achievement. A control condition, with no technology was used to establish a baseline level across variables. An alternating treatments design was used across two math classes consisting of one teacher and 15 students. The results have shown that Kahoot (a game-based technology) promotes engagement amongst students, however performance decreases due to the fast-paced Q&A format of the game. Socrative (a non-game-based technology) may produce better performance amongst students than Kahoot in a math class. Achievement appears to be relatively high across all conditions.

Academic performance for students with moderate to severe disabilities falls far behind their typically developing peers and puts them at risk for continued dependence after school ends. Video prompting is an evidence-based practice that has been used to teach various non-academic skills; however, few studies have focused on using video prompting to teach academic skills other than reading. This study used a delayed multiple baseline across students design to evaluate the use of video prompting to teach single- and double-digit addition to three students with moderate disabilities. Results indicated that all three students improved their accurate completion of addition problems immediately upon introduction of the video prompting intervention. In addition, all three students completely faded the use of the videos and generalized completing addition problems to another setting. Social validity of the intervention was high across all participants, their families, and their teacher.

English language learners (ELL) are at risk of academic failure when classroom expectations are not effectively communicated and they are unable to engage in classroom instruction. This single-subject design study investigated the effects of a video self-modeling intervention on the classroom behavior of preschool ELLs exhibiting low levels of engagement and/or high levels of off-task behavior. Prior to group time, the child viewed a brief self-modeling video of appropriate behavior (i.e., engagement). A parent of the target child provided voice-over on the videos in the child’s home language, clearly stating the classroom expectations described by the teacher. The results indicate an increase in engagement and decrease in off-task behaviors for all 4 children to levels comparable to English-fluent speaking and ELL peer comparisons in the classroom. This intervention was viewed favorably by both the teachers and children and is considered an effective and efficient intervention to use within the classroom setting.

The A-B-A-B withdrawal design was used to explore the effects of Text-to-speech (TTS) program (Read & Write Gold 11) on comprehension for 2 fourth grade students with learning disability in an urban school while accessing grade level comprehension text. Participants read fourth-grade level comprehension passages from a reading instruction resource. For each session, the student was timed for 35 minutes to read and answer the comprehension passage. The students manipulated the speech option (Pitch, speed, voice and word pause) of the TTS program to suit them. Results show that the TTS program affected the students’ comprehension score. All participants’ scores increased when the TTS program was introduced to read the comprehension passages. In addition, the participants found the TTS program easy to use with less or no support. Limitation and implications for future research are discussed in this paper

Previous research studies have indicated that the use of mirrors can facilitate the acquisition of motor imitation skills in individuals diagnosed with developmental disabilities, though the generality of these findings have not replicated in more recent research. Experiment 1 of this study sought to replicate and extend these results by implementing a training procedure with mirror training and traditional modeling methods to teach three children with autism spectrum disorder specific American Sign Language signs. Responses taught with a mirror training methodology were found to unreliably result in a faster acquisition in only one of three participants. Reliable responding during only the modeling conditions increased for one participant and in one participant, signing responses failed to emerge using either presentation method. Experiment 2 seeks to refine confound variables determined in Experiment 1, focusing primarily on prerequisite skills that may be required prior to the emergence of sign language demonstration abilities, such as general imitative responding.

In western musical tradition, a melody is a set of pitched sounds organized in musical time. In this same tradition, the ability to transcribe music is highly regarded among musicians and music students in general. This study is a preliminary test of a programmed instruction to teach how to transcribe rhythm of melodies, to participants with no formal music training. To do so, they must respond under control of the durational aspect of a given melody and correctly identify the corresponding graphic signs. The procedure consists of Constructed Response Matching to Sample in which melodies are presented in increasing levels of rhythmic complexity: one to five notes (quarters, eights and sixteenths) distributed in one to three beats. The melodies must be transcribed by dragging and dropping the corresponding rhythmic cells to the proper slots (one slot for each beat). Immediate feedback is provided to each cell drop (with requirement of an immediate correction) as well as to the construction of the whole melody. When transcription is finished without errors at a difficulty level, the next stage presents a new melody rhythmically more complex. Otherwise, the next stage presents a new melody with same rhythm. The present study comprised 15 stages, of which five are video tutorials (visual cues pointing to each beat of the melody on the sheet music, which should be transcribed by simply choosing the rhythmic cells visually similar to the ones displayed), two are one-beat melodies (represented by two eight notes or one eight note plus two sixteenth notes beamed together) and the other eight are new melodies whose rhythmic transcription depends on the recombination of cells previously taught on tutorials and one-beat melodies trials. Data for three participants with near zero baseline accuracy show that they were able, with 21 teaching stages or less, to transcribe accurately the rhythms of at least five of the eight melodies whose transcription requires recombination.

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effects of an adapted Direct Instruction (DI) Mathematics Strategy using manipulatives and visual prompting leveled placemats on quantifying numbers by two thirteen-year-old boys with both Down syndrome and a hearing impairment in a special education self-contained classroom. The study used an event recording system within a changing criterion design to assess each participant’s development of quantifying the correct numbers. To quantify a number, the participants were asked to give a specified number of manipulatives within a specified time. Intervention adapted a Direct Instruction Mathematics instructional strategy where the researcher guided the participants through most to least visual prompting placemats. The visual prompting placemats included (1) the specified numeral and boxes, (2) boxes only, (3) numeral only, and (4) blank. During instruction, the researcher modeled how to place the manipulatives on the placemat based on its prompting level and then had the participants respond independently. As the participants showed accurate and fluent responding during a specific placemat level, the researcher proceeded to introduce the next placemat level to reduce visual prompting. Instruction continued until the participants reached independent responding on the blank placemat. Appropriate feedback was provided based on correct and incorrect responses. The results showed improvement in both participants’ abilities to quantify numbers from 1 to 6 across six weeks of intervention. Using the manipulatives and fading the visual prompts on the placemats in combination with the DI Mathematics teaching format provided scaffolded instruction to develop the participants’ number quantifying skills. Also, the manipulatives and visual components provided the participants concrete understanding of a specific number and allowed them to differentiate across number names.

The purpose of the paper is to describe a generative instruction model for teaching clinical decision-making skills to students seeking behavior analyst certification. In generative instruction, complex behavioral repertoires have been known to develop without explicit instruction when component skills are taught in the correct order and rehearsal is required (Street & Johnson, 2004). This paper describes the method for selecting the order of content delivery, the talk-aloud protocol used to evaluate student progress on decision making, and the BST steps used to teach students to make decisions. Finally, early data on the number of different training exemplars required for students to be able to make clinical decisions in novel situations will be shared. The majority of this work has been conducted via distance methods (e.g., Zoom). This adds to the available literature on training and supervision of aspiring behavior analysts by giving those who do train and supervise suggestions for teaching and measuring progress on acquisition of these more complex skills as well as information on a method of training that can be delivered in a distance model.

The evaluation of teaching practice in universities and its impact on the quality of the teaching-learning process is one of the most difficult skills to measure. In general terms, skills in methodology, evaluation and attitudes towards students define a good teacher. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of the psychology students' opinions about the practice of their teachers. A descriptive non-experimental study was performed. The data were collected from a digital scale that evaluates the opinion of the teaching practice. This scale was applied to students who enrolled in the 2018-1 semester in a public university. The overall results of 900 tests show: a) high marks in the teaching practice that are related to behaviors based on the teaching methodology and the aspects of attitude. In other words, those skills that are related to the teaching-learning process, with didactic strategies, with the experience of knowledge and with the set of sources of attitude that promote students' motivation towards the class; b) low grades in the monitoring and fulfillment of the school program, this means the interaction between the activities carried out in the classroom by the teacher and those demanded by the institution in terms of delivering and following the program of studies of the specific subject; maintaining congruence with its content. This ability also refers to the establishment, maintenance and adjustment of the evaluation criteria and their congruence with the purposes of the subject. Specific teaching programs are proposed.

Gamification in education describes the process of enhancing motivational affordances by using technology to invoke appetitive experiences and achieve stronger behavioral outcomes (Hamari et al., 2014). Discrete trial training is pervasive within behavior analytic instruction due to the potential for a high rate of trials allowing for direct targeting of language skills. The format of discrete trial training is uniquely well situated for gamification by presenting clear discriminative stimuli, requiring a specific response, and rewarding the correct response through points, tokens, or more direct forms of reinforcement. We developed two algorithms for developing discrete trial training programming on Microsoft PowerPoint, a tool that is familiar and available to most practicing behavior analysts, allowing for delivery on a touchscreen device. The first presents a sample and array, where the sample is randomized along with the array stimuli and locations. The second presents a randomized sample stimulus followed by a customizable time delay and the randomized array. Both algorithms were pilot tested across three individuals with autism attending a specialized program. Pilot testing was successful in refining the algorithm and the participants acquired the target skills quickly following instruction delivered on the touchscreen device.

Cultural issues such as climate change, deforestation, pollution, overpopulation, drug use, and violence are the result of human behavior over time. Nevertheless, humans also have the potential to mitigate these problems. Significant progress has been made in culturo-behavioral science; however, it has been less explored than other areas in behavior analysis. Some culturo-behavioral concepts, for example, have only recently been introduced. The cultural cusp may provide a better understanding of how behavior analysts might intervene on social issues. Glenn et al. (2016) defines the cultural cusp as, “the coalescence of unique and nonrecurring interlocking and/or individual behavioral contingencies that results in a product that leads to significant socio-cultural change” (p. 21). To gain a clearer understanding of the cultural cusp we conducted in depth-historical analyses of several phenomena thought to meet the critical features of the cultural cusp. The results of our analyses are presented in a discussion of 1) potential critical and variable attributes of the cultural cusp, 2) suggestions for possible laboratory research to identify basic processes in cultural cusp formation, and 3) potential strategies to capture the long-lasting change attributed to cultural cusps.

Reports indicate that one in three women and one in six men in the United States experience some form of sexual violence in their lifetime (Smith et. al., 2017). Previous research has indicated that individuals involved in cases regarding claims of harassment (e.g. jurors, police officers) will be more likely to question the validity of a claim if characteristics of the claimant are different than expectations of the event (Schuller, McKimmie, Masser, & Klippenstine, 2010). Previous research regarding these characteristics has demonstrated several variables that may affect the believability of such claims (e.g. Schuller, McKimmie, Masser, & Klippenstine, 2010, McLean & Goodman-Delahunty, 2008). The purpose of the present study was to examine implicit biases of college participants using the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) to evaluate differences in responding to images of females dressed in modest and revealing clothing as honest or dishonest in both private and public contexts. Mean scores for four trial types (Modest-Honest, Modest-Honest, Revealing-Honest, Modest-Dishonest, Revealing-Dishonest) and overall score in private and public contexts were examined; results suggested no significant difference between the public and private contexts, however a difference was found in responding among the various trial types, suggesting a significant bias toward modest clothing.

Rock climbing has become increasingly popular around the world. However, rock climbing related injuries are not uncommon for those participating in the sport. Causes of injuries are often attributed to common mistakes on the part of the rock climber such as failing to conduct a safety check of knots, clipping the rope into the wall incorrectly, or neglecting to communicate with their belayer. Although they are simple tasks, the rock climber may make these mistakes due to lack of attention or being distracted by their thoughts. Research suggests that components of Acceptance and Commit Therapy (ACT), such as present moment awareness, values clarification, and acceptance can improve athletic performance. Previous research has evaluated ACT’s effect on the performance of basketball players, powerlifters, swimmers, and golfers; however, no research has examined the impact of ACT with rock climbers. The current study examines the effects of ACT on the performance of three recreational rock climbers using a multiple baseline design. Participants received ACT lessons prior to climbing and were assessed on speed, mistakes made, and safety steps followed. Preliminary data suggest that ACT sessions delivered prior to climbing may reduce climb duration and mistakes made while climbing while also improving safety measures.

Climate scientists estimate that if global temperatures increase beyond a 2°C threshold, the impacts of human actions on the earth’s climate will be non-recoverable (Point of no return, Aengenheyster et al., 2018). Given current CO2 emissions, PNR is estimated to occur by the year 2035 unless changes are made to human consumption of high emission commodities. Carbon taxation is one proposed policy that utilizes punishment to reduce consumption; however, evaluations of carbon taxation are mixed (Baranzini & Carattini, 2014), suggesting high emission commodities may be inelastic (i.e., consumption may be minimally influenced by price per unit increases). Redistributive taxation policies wherein money is redistributed to individuals who remain below a carbon threshold more closely resembles differential reinforcement of other behavior that could affect rates of climate discounting. Across three studies, we compared punitive taxation to redistributive policies on discounting of high emission commodities in order to delay PNR. Both strategies produced a hyperbolic curve function at the single subject and group levels; however, results suggest that participants are more willing to forego access to high emission commodities when consumption is constrained through redistribution, rather than strictly through traditional taxation strategies.

The traditional way of training gymnasts is to provide verbal feedback. Most feedback focuses on what the athlete has performed incorrect and seldom on what is correct. There is a time delay between the athlete completing the skill and when feedback is provided. One technique, teaching with acoustical guidance also known as TAGteach is a conditioned reinforcer that provides the athlete with immediate feedback on a specific skill in the moment. In addition to TAGteach, receiving support in the form of praise from teammates when playing a sport can increase an athlete’s performance. The participants consisted of one female coach and six female students between the ages of 7 and 9 who were in an advanced competition level class also known as the Junior Olympic Level 3. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness of TAGteach and social praise to increase the fluency of 3 foundational gymnastics skills using a multiple baseline design across behaviors. The target behaviors consisted of a cast, shoot through, and handstand. The data showed that teaching with acoustical guidance and social praise can increase not only the acquisition of a previously learned skill but increase fluency and consistency over time.

Recommendations to produce improvements in physical performance, fitness, and health exist, but many of these recommendations require a certain level of commitment, which some individuals find unfavorable. In response, many people endorse alternative strategies that claim to produce faster and more effective results, although these alternative strategies lack empirical support. A recent example is the use of ergogenic aids, which can include athletic wearables infused with Aqua Titanium. Results from previous evaluations of athletic wearables infused with Aqua Titanium have been mixed with respect to ergogenic effectiveness. This might be due to exclusive reliance on group designs in previous studies. The purpose of our study was to evaluate and compare the individual and group differences in responsiveness to an Aqua-Titanium necklace. Using a single-subject (reversal) design, we measured the running speed of 10 healthy adults across baseline (no necklace), test (Aqua-Titanium necklace) and placebo conditions using a 61-m indoor track. The entire sample was then considered for group analyses. Results showed that our single-subject and group analyses produced similar outcomes, and that these outcomes provided little evidence to support the ergogenic effectiveness of the Aqua-Titanium necklace.

The number of individuals diagnosed with a disability in Japan has risen steadily over the past several decades. Unfortunately, however, sufficient resources are not available to support these individuals. Many Japanese mothers have expressed parenting-related stress, anxiety and lack of confidence in their parenting skills. Along with diagnosed disabilities and prevalence of maternal stress, the rate of child abuse and neglect has been climbing in Japan as well. With the increasing prevalence of disability, reported number of child abuse, and parenting stress in Japan and lack of supports in place, a sustainable solution is urgently needed to address this problem. Parent training is a promising option to address issues associated with developmental disabilities in childhood, including corresponding problem behaviors and the parental stress that often accompanies a diagnosis. Parent training programs often take specific forms and have been empirically shown to improve children’s behavior while also reducing parental distress. The effectiveness of parent training has been established in various populations among different ethnic groups and cultures, however, most parent training programs have been developed and administered in the West.These programs need to be localized and tested in a Japanese context to begin building evidence of their effectiveness for this population. Despite these needs, only one evidence-based manualized parent training program has been evaluated in Japan: Triple P Parent Training.The purpose of the present study is to develop and evaluate a behavioral parenting program that teaches principles of applied behavior analysis, which should increase positive parent-child interactions and decrease negative parent-child interactions and child problem behavior.

From the basic research to application in real life settings, the research on discounting has received enormous attention, and still researchers find new areas of development within this domain of behavioral economics. Researchers began to focus on delay and probability discounting in the early stages, however soon new discounting factors have been proposed such as effort or social distance. Because people maximize happiness with the outcome or minimize negativity connected with it, which leads to choices that result in the highest wellbeing possible, the main aim of this research was to test whether wellbeing can function as a novel discounting factor. Analyses were performed on 37 university students, who completed titration procedure with fixed amounts in two conditions of large and small monetary payments. After initial model selection based on fit indices, our analyses showed that with decreasing wellbeing participant’s subjective value decreased. Furthermore we found the magnitude effect to be present (large monetary gains were discounted less steeply than small monetary gains). Present research gives a foundation to treat wellbeing in behavioral economic categories, and shows that human choice in function of wellbeing can be quantitatively modeled.

Many parents of adolescents experience high level of parenting stress, so a psychometrically sound instrument that quickly evaluates the stress level is needed for both clinical and research purposes. In the current study, factor structure of the extended form (item N=112) of Korean-Stress Index for Parents of Adolescents (K-SIPA) was explored for the possibility of developing the shorter version with acceptable reliability and validity. Data collected from the standardization study of K-SIPA was used (n= 942 parents of children age from 11 to 19). Half of the sample were randomly selected to conduct exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and the rest was used to perform confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) as well as to examine reliability and validity. The EFA yielded three factors solution with 37 items, followed by the CFA which showed acceptable fit indices. Both internal consistency and test-retest reliability fell in the acceptable range. Results from a correlation analysis among factors, a correlation analysis between K-SIPA short form and other measurements, and t-test of stress level between different groups of parents indicated acceptable level of validity. The results confirmed that K-SIPA short form is valid and reliable to measure parenting stress of Korean parents of adolescents.

Caregiver-implemented interventions are increasingly utilized to address the needs of families of children with autism. However, no previous systematic review has evaluated the efficacy of caregiver-implemented interventions for adolescents and young adults with autism despite evidence that the majority of individuals with autism continue to live at home into adulthood. The purpose of this review was to synthesize the effects of interventions implemented by caregivers of teens and young adults affected by autism. We conducted a systematic analysis of the dependent variables most often targeted for intervention, the caregiver adherence to the interventions, and the outcomes of caregiver-implemented interventions for the included studies. We identified ten studies that evaluated the quality of a caregiver-implemented intervention for the adolescent and young adult population. Across studies, results suggest positive outcomes related to intervention effectiveness and social validity. The current body of literature provides some evidence of value in utilizing caregiver-implemented interventions to produce behavior change for adolescents and young adults with autism, although there is a need for additional research in this area.

This project aims to increase physical activity among individuals with a mild intellectual disability, living in a residential care facility in Auckland, New Zealand. The study design used is a multiple baseline design. The first intervention comprises of self-monitoring strategies using a Garmin Vivosmart HR watch that tracks the number of steps, distance and Heart Rate of an individual. The following intervention involves goal setting, feedback and direct instruction. The hypothesis is that participants steps and overall intensity of exercise will increase following a combination of the two interventions. The Beck Anxiety Inventory will also be used pre and post intervention to see whether or not the increased physical activity reduces anxiety.

Behavioural skills training (BST) is an evidence-based method for training support staff, parents and caregivers of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Behavioural skills training is comprised of four components: (1) instruction, (2) modeling, (3) rehearsal, and (4) feedback, and has been used to train caregivers on assessment implementation, as well as behavioural reduction and skill acquisition protocols. Alongside improved trainee performance, an important dependent variable for consideration may be improved client outcomes. This is because client outcome improvement in relation to caregiver training may help researchers, clinicians and administrators determine the true added value of investing in caregiver training initiatives. The current paper is a comprehensive review of all scholarly literature that employed behaviour skills training to train implementers and reported on client outcomes. We endeavored to explore which specific study components in behavioural skills training packages were most often associated with improved client outcomes. Thirty articles met inclusion criteria and were reviewed. The results of this review were inconclusive at identifying specific characteristics associated with client outcomes. This may be because much of the literature reports improved client outcomes. Finally, we discuss other common trends, existing literature gaps, and clinical implications.

Chronic antisocial behavior during childhood and adolescence is one of the problems that most affect healthy development. It results in damage to the relationship with the environment, social interactions, delinquency, mental health, and unemployment (Milller, 2004; Dishion & Patterson, 2016). Coercion has been defined as a set of interpersonal tactics, display in a social context, through which individuals or groups use aversive behavior to obtain rewards and access to desired activities, status, and avoid or escape of control and aversive demands (McCord, 1995; Patterson, 1982). Coercion can be defined in terms of its topography and social function (Snyder & Dishion, 2016). The primary purpose of this study is to evaluate the group differences of children with coercive behavior and control of three age groups based on their interactions in conflict, analyzing the change in the behavior topography over three deferent age groups. One hundred eighty children from three school levels participated: 4-year-old (60 children), 8-year-old (60 children), and 13-year-old (60 children). Children, teachers, and parents were evaluated about their interaction with peers, child behavior, and practices, respectively. It was analyzed the weight of the connections of children, considering three kinds of significant relationships based on their standard deviations over the global average: weak; moderate; strong. On the other hand, based on the answers that children give about their recent conflicts, they will be codified in terms of the person involved, the people involved in the conflict, and the topography of the coercive behaviors exhibited by the protagonists of the conflict.

The present study investigated whether two adults with Autism will demonstrate equivalence relations after observing each other demonstrate specific prerequisite conditional discriminations. Participants were taught in group context to perform relations between objects of particular value and a combination of dollar bills and coins equal to the value of the object (A1234B1234). Afterwards, participants were taught in the same group context to perform relations between combinations of money equal to the value of the objects (B), and a separate combination of dollar bills and coins that is equal to the value of B (B1234C1234). Each participant was trained on two separate class members while the other participant observed, (a) participant 1 (class members 1 &2), (b) participant 2 (class members 3&4). Post training probes revealed the emergence of equivalence relations between combinations of money and particular objects for all stimulus classes involved in direct training with each participant. Results provide some implications for the use of equivalence-based instructional programs with individuals with Autism in group context.

A bidirectional naming repertoire consists of responding both as speaker and listener and is demonstrated when one is only taught a speaker repertoire and can then derive listener behavior without direct training and vice versa. Bidirectional naming is foundational to complex human language but many children with autism and other developmental delays may not develop this repertoire without proper instruction. A substantial amount of research by Douglas Greer’s research group has found that multiple exemplar instruction (MEI) is effective in establishing bidirectional naming in young children but very little research has attempted to replicate this finding outside of that particular research group. The purpose of this study is to evaluate MEI for establishing bidirectional naming in children with autism in a community-based autism clinic. We are using a multiple baseline design across participants to evaluate the effects of MEI on the emergence of bidirectional naming in young children with autism. The procedure is currently underway with the first participant and acquisition data are positive thus far. Results will be discussed in terms of real-life replication of university-based research in community-based settings.

Reading and writing skills may be conceived as a network of equivalence relations between stimuli (e.g., printed words, dictated words, and pictures) and stimuli and responses (e.g., naming, writing, etc.). This conceptualization has been foundational to the development of evaluation tools and teaching programs. The Reading and Writing Network Assessment (Avaliação da Rede de Leitura e Escrita [ARLE]) is an online 15-task instrument that evaluates matching-to-sample, naming, reading, and writing skills. The present study sought to describe the empirical network of relations, measured by the ARLE, that characterizes performance in beginning readers. The records of 2388 students, 6 to 12 years old, were assessed through an online platform. All of the tests used the R programming language. Generalized additive models (GAMs) were used to assess potential relations between skills using the MGCV package. Generalized cross validation was used to calculate variable importance in multiple regression models using the Caret package. After calculating the importance of each variable, a single model was constructed using all variables with the GAM. The least important variables were progressively removed until all remaining variables were statistically significant, evaluated by p values. The graphs were constructed using the ggplot2 package. The data analysis showed that all of the skills were significantly related to reading and writing measures. Matching printed words to dictated words and naming consonants were strongly related to reading. Matching printed words to pictures was the skill that was most related to spelling. An index that was created to compare the network of relations for students with different repertoires indicated increasing integration between skills as the repertoire evolved, which was predicted by the stimulus equivalence paradigm. The integration index may be a useful tool for the prediction and control of effects of teaching procedures that seek to establish reading and writing in non-readers.

Several behavioral analytic researchers report that one of the main features of a good instructional system is “it must be effective in helping students learn more rapidly than they would on their own” (Barrett et al., 1991, p.80). Since the 1980’s, there has been an elaborate amount of research on stimulus equivalence protocols (SEP) in teaching reading, spelling (De Souza & Rehfeldt, 2013), grammar (Connell, 2004), and complex academic skills with individuals with and without disabilities (LeBlanc, Miguel, Cummings, Goldsmith, & Carr; 2003; Lovett, Rehfeldt, & Dunning, 2011). A study conducted by O’Neill et al. (2015) compared an online SEP to an assigned reading study method to teach Skinner’s (1957) verbal operants to college students. O’Neill et al. found the online SEP group outperformed the assigned reading group by 10 percentage points (one full letter-grade difference). The current study aims to systematically replicate the O’Neill et al. (2015) study by examining the effectiveness of this SEP for teaching undergraduate college students to identify and understand the verbal operants. Current pilot data indicates the SEP was effective in deriving multiple untrained selection-based and topography-based relations across multiple verbal operants.

We describe a decision protocol for choosing among potentially efficacious toilet training interventions and tested its effects with 3 preschool participants with disabilities. We utilized a decision protocol (Keohane and Greer 2005) to determine whether to initially implement interval or rapid training interventions as well as to determine whether adequate progress was being made with a particular toilet training intervention. We utilized the decision protocol to individualize toilet training procedure and evaluated its effects in a delayed multiple baseline design. Results indicated that the toileting skills of all participants improved with increased numbers of target voids on the toilet and decreased numbers of accidents as a result of individualized training procedures.

The global prevalence of those with visual impairments is 253 million. To date, little behaviour analytic research has been conducted to determine optimum teaching procedures for those this population. To teach individuals with visual impairments life skills, traditional behavioural skills training (T-BST) and a modified BST (M-BST) were compared using an alternating treatments design. T-BST involved visual modeling, practicing the skill, providing vocal feedback about the performance, and practicing the skill until a performance criterion was met. M-BST involved using hand-under-hand guidance instead of visual modeling and corrective physical feedback along with vocal feedback. Trials to criterion and percent of correct steps were measured. Two participants, who were momentarily visually impaired, learned two tasks each, one taught with T-BST and the other M-BST. Both T-BST and M-BST increased the percent of steps correct in training and decreased the trials to criterion. No differences between the two training techniques were found. In addition, participants’ skills maintained at follow-up and required no additional training. The rapid acquisition of the skills in this study may be indicative of the effectiveness of BST as a means of teaching skills across populations.

Working is an essential component of community participation, however in Italy only few people with intellectual disabilities are employed. This may happen because only a few programs focus on vocational skills. To date, just a handful of studies have managed to systematically assess and train people with developmental disabilities on the skills required to find, obtain and keep a job. In the present study, a multiple baseline across participants was used to evaluate the effectiveness of a treatment package to teach job-related social skills to three young adults with developmental disabilities. Behavioral Skill Training and individualized prompting strategies were used to teach a set of skills (e.g., making confirming statements for clear and vague instructions; asking for help completing tasks; apologizing; asking the supervisor what task should be completed next). Results shown that the treatment was effective in teaching previously identified social skills, as well as in promoting generalization.

This research has some implications for identifying curricula of work-related social competences and planning the transition between the end of the study cycle and inclusion into work / production activities, in order to improve the professional outcomes of people with different developmental disorders.

Previous research evaluating the predictive validity of error-correction assessments has shown high correspondence between error-correction assessments and validation assessments (e.g., McGhan & Lerman, 2013). However, error-correction assessments are often lengthy to conduct and limited to the acquisition of vocal-verbal targets (e.g., reading sight words) or low-effort motor targets (e.g., matching to sample). Additionally, previous research on error-correction assessments predominately use young children (ages 3- to 10-years-old) as participants. We extended the results of Carroll, Owsiany, and Cheatham (2018) by evaluating the predictive validity of a brief error-correction assessment (brief assessment) in adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities. A brief assessment and a validation assessment were conducted for each participant. During each assessment, six error-correction procedures (ECP) were compared when teaching participants to assemble arbitrary Lego structures and data were collected on variables related to acquisition (e.g., correct responding, errors) and intrusiveness (e.g., number of prompts delivered, protests). Additionally, we evaluated the relationship between the intrusiveness of ECPs and the occurrence of problem behavior.

Increased complexity of support needs of persons with developmental disabilities (DD) living in the community and improved governance for agencies supporting adults engaging in challenging behaviour has increased demand for clinical behavioural services in Ontario. Waitlists have increased as clinical providers are required to help those most in need. In response, Regional Support Associates, a Ministry funded clinical provider for adults with DD, developed the Community Capacity Development Initiative (CCDI). CCDI was designed to complement RSA services while simultaneously building capacity within Developmental Service Agencies (DSA). CCDI is a comprehensive training focused on increasing DSA staff's ability to address problematic behaviours through the completion of a Functional Behaviour Assessment and the development of a Behaviour Support Plan. Results for a scoping review drawing from Organizational Behaviour Management and Implementation Sciences, this presentation will review factors influencing DSA's ability to increase capacity (e.g., skill acquisition, treatment adherence, generalization and maintenance). Some relevant factors include environmental factors, organizational resources, leadership style, training approaches (e.g., BST and multiple exemplars), the complexity of interventions and relationship with change agents. An overview of the CCDI training model included the training approach and efforts incorporated to address factors influencing capacity development will also be reviewed.

Families of adolescents with developmental disability often struggle in identifying setting in which to carry out social activities. At the same time relatives of elderly people usually are in trouble identifying new activities and social relations. The purpose of the study was to develop an intervention that could combine and help two kind of solitude: old people that usually spend a lot of time alone or with a only caregiver and adolescents with special needs who often do not have activities to perform during the afternoon. The study evaluated the effects of a training including role playing and in vivo modeling on conversational skills on pleasantness indicators during conversation for both adolescents and elderly people. Also, a questionare was used to investigate the well-being level of the elderly person and his caregiver. Participants were four adolescents and four elderly people; each adolescent was paired with a elderly person. A changing criterion design was used for each pair. Initial results suggest an increase of the intervals in which all the pleasantness indicators are present for both adolescents and elderly people. Attached data have being collected for the first pair. Data collection is still in progress for all the participants. Based on the final results, a second study could be implemented to investigate how this intervention could evolve in a real opportunity of job and self-employment for the adolescents. The study provides evidence of the need and the importance of creating interventions with a high social impact for categories of people with different kind of need. Also the project underline how each person could be a promoter of potentialities for others.

Individuals with severe multiple disabilities, who have minimal body movements, are unable to partake in assessments that require an active response. Their abilities to make visual and auditory discriminations are often unknown. In one discrimination skills assessment, we replaced the standard response of placing a manipulandum into a container (active response) with microswitches that could be pressed by using the elbow or fist. This type of response involves gross motor arm movements of just a few centimeters. The modified procedure was evaluated in a combined multiple baseline and reversal design across five 2-choice visual and auditory discrimination tasks, and the evaluation was replicated across three participants. The results showed that all participants were able to respond using the microswitches at a much higher level compared to baseline (active response), in which no responses were recorded. Furthermore, the results showed that participants were successful in making a two-choice position-visual or simple visual discrimination using the microswitches. Information about the discrimination abilities of these participants may be useful to caregivers in providing supports to these individuals.

The effectiveness of accumulated reinforcement on participants with developmental disabilities has been emphasized over distributed reinforcement, but the generalized effect of accumulated reinforcement is hampered in part by lack of controlling task characteristics or participant characteristics. The present study evaluated if the efficacy of, and preference for distributed and accumulated reinforcement were different between two task difficulties of a visuospatial working memory task. Participants were children with intellectual disabilities who were 7 years old or older and under 13 years old. 77 participants conducted four sets of visuospatial working memory task(distributed and accumulated reinforcement in an easy task, distributed and accumulated reinforcement in a difficult task). The performance was evaluated by accuracy rate, response rate per minute, and correct response rate per minute. Preference was evaluated by three-point likert scale and selection ratio between distributed and accumulated reinforcement. As to performance, the increase of response rate per minute and correct response rate per minute in the accumulated reinforcement was greater than the distributed reinforcement only for the difficult task. There was no difference in preference. Implications and limitations of current research and suggestions for future research were discussed.

Despite the increasing number of intervention apps for youths with developmental disabilities (DD), studies on how much youths with DD are immersed in the reinforcement system of these apps are limited. The purpose of this study was to examine the usage pattern of the collection-based reinforcement system embedded in an intervention app to enhance the executive functions of youths with intellectual disabilities (ID). Participants were 34 youths aged from 7 to 15 with ID (IQ 50-70) only, or ID comorbid with other DD. Participants played six games for 10 to 15 minutes on a daily basis for 100 days at home. Based on attendance and performance, participants were given points with which they could purchase items from one of three collection themes of their choice (e.g., subway stations, songs, and traditional outfits). The results showed that 71% (N=24) of participants actively engaged in the reinforcement system, and half of them were heavy users who spent most of their points. However, 29% (N=10) of participants never or barely used their points for purchasing items. The results suggest that the collection-based reinforcement system can be effective in intervention apps for youths with ID, though for some, additional strategies are necessary.

One-on-one ABA training by professionals is a well-established treatment method for enhancing cognitive functions of youths with developmental disability (DD). However, in schools where minimizing manpower and costs is important, these interventions are rarely provided, possibly due to low accessibility and high costs. In this study, an app-based cognitive rehabilitation training program (YESS_Yonsei Executive function Training System for Special Kids) was developed and its effectiveness was evaluated. 28 youths with DD were assigned to two groups, the YESS(n=18) and the control group(n=10). YESS group completed 6 games per day while the control group did not receive any training for a mean of 56 days and their executive function, behaviors, and adjustments were assessed before and after the training or waiting time period. Parents and teachers completed questionnaires before and after the training. Results showed improvements in the planning and inhibition task, and a decrease in parental stress for both groups, but between-group interactions were not observed. Based on the detailed analysis of this YESS program, the development of app-based cognitive function improvement program and the future improvement of effectiveness verification research were proposed and discussed.

Practical matters should be considered when selecting a data collection method used by direct-care professionals (DCPs) tracking high rate behaviors. First, frequency can be compared to other methods, such as partial interval and momentary time sampling, through visual analysis. Second, the interobserver agreement (IOA) between DCP data and supervisory behavior analyst data can be evaluated to determine the feasibility of each method. Third, staff preference can also be considered by using a social validity questionnaire. After considering these factors and choosing a method, behavior skills training (BST) can be used to provide remedial training. The present study evaluated the results of using these three factors to select a practical and representative data collection method. Consistent results were found indicating that, for the present client diagnosed with autism, partial interval data was the appropriate data collection method. That is, higher similarity to frequency data in visual analysis, higher IOA between DCPs and supervisory behavior analysts, and an overall high preference was found for partial interval data. Subsequently, BST was used to successfully train DCPs to collect data with high IOA. The current study demonstrates the utility of these factors in determining data collection methods and the effectiveness of BST to provide remedial data training.

Past research has shown the effectiveness of various prompt types in total task chains (e.g., Horner & Keilitz, 1975; Tekin-Iftar & Birkan, 2010), however, there is a lack of information in the literature regarding how to best assign prompts in the steps of total task chains. The purpose of the current study was to compare the effects on skill acquisition of three different prompt assignment methods within total task chaining. Using an alternating treatments design, this study compared the skill acquisition of five adolescents diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder across single prompt (SP), multiple prompt (MP), and least-to-most (LTM) prompt assignment conditions. The SP method involved assigning the single most intrusive prompt needed to all the steps of a chain, whereas the MP method involved assigning the least intrusive prompt needed on each step of the chain. The LTM condition began each step with an opportunity for the participant to respond independently and the intrusiveness of the prompts increased until it occasioned the correct response. Initial results of five participants in phase 1 demonstrate idiosyncratic results across participants, with three participants acquiring the LTM condition, one acquiring the SP condition, and one acquiring the MP condition first. Data will be replicated in phase 2 with new task materials. Implications of the use of different prompt assignments within total task chaining will be discussed.

Individuals with developmental and/or intellectual disabilities are at an increased risk of maltreatment. A nonconcurrent multiple baseline design across participants was implemented to investigate the effects of behavioral skills training (BST) with in situ feedback to teach safety skill responses to adults with developmental and/or intellectual disabilities to prevent abduction, and physical and sexual abuse. Throughout the study, confederates delivered vocal statements to participants related to abduction, or physical or sexual abuse. Participants responded variably during baseline (e.g., attempts to comply with statements, vocalizing denial but failing to move to safety, failing to report any events to a trusted adult). Using BST and in situ feedback, participants learned a three-step response sequence (i.e., refusal, moving to safety, and reporting to a trusted adult). Participants’ scores remained higher than in baseline during the generalization phase, and participants maintained 100% accurate responding when probed at a two to four week follow-up. These results extend the evidence supporting the use of BST and in situ feedback as an effective intervention for teaching safety skills to a range of populations, across various dangerous situations, and sets the stage for many future research and practical safety training projects.

Self-injurious behavior (SIB) is a common topography among individuals diagnosed with developmental disabilities. Head directed self-injurious behavior can lead to significant and long-lasting injury and will typically require some form of intervention. Due to the dangerous nature of head directed self-injury, standard forms of assessment can put the individual at increased risk if allowed to engage in repeated instances of the behavior. In this study, a non-concurrent multiple baseline design across functions with latency as the dependent measure was utilized in order to establish experimental control. This approach limited repeated instances of SIB during baseline and eliminating the need for a return to baseline during treatment. Results indicated that latency to SIB increased when the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) was introduced across three identified functions: escape from demands, social avoidance, and access to tangible items. This study indicates that the use of latency as a dependent measure in combination with a multiple baseline design may offer clinicians an alternative to more traditional designs to decrease the risk of injury when SIB is the targeted behavior.

Pica, or the persistent ingestion of non-edible objects, is dangerous and may lead to various health implications such as gastrointestinal complications, lead poisoning, infections, and other dental health problems. Pica is challenging to treat, and is maintained in the absence of social consequences (Piazza, et. al. 1998). The identification and use of items that compete effectively with pica to reduce ingestion of inedible items has shown to work under very controlled conditions. However, the noncontingent delivery of items on a schedule rich enough to compete with pica may be difficult or even unethical to utilize over long periods of time. There is a small body of research has shown that utilizing differential reinforcement of an alternative behavior, i.e., the exchange of an inedible item, may reduce rates of pica, e.g., Kern, Starosta and Adelman, 2006, while circumventing some of these concerns. The current study demonstrates the efficacy of differentially reinforcing the exchange of edible items that had previously been identified to effectively compete with pica with the inedible items the individual encountered across sessions.

There is a general agreement that individuals with high-functioning autism (HFA) struggle with social skills, but the extent to which this affects their dating lives needs further exploration. This research study sought to answer two research questions: (a) What are the perspectives of individuals with HFA as they navigate both the formation of and commitment to romantic relationships? (b) How do my experiences as a speech language pathologist (SLP) and behavior analyst working with individuals with Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) influence my perception of the difficulties individuals with HFA face while navigating and forming romantic relationships? The literature review revealed that individuals with HFA are highly interested in romantic relationships but do not feel they have the skills to initiate and maintain romantic relationships. This study presents a qualitative case study that also employs autoethnographic methods via focus groups, field notes, and a journal reflection. The analysis examined what individuals with HFA believe their challenges with dating are and identified ways to incorporate client-centered practice to address these difficulties. I maintained a journal throughout the research process to identify any biases. This study is rooted in a deep understanding of the socio-political model of disability. Data analysis revealed the following themes: self-management campaigns, “I’m different than you are,” and anxiety which are explained in detail throughout the study. Through this study, it is suggested that future research and practice includes the creation of therapeutic interventions and social supports aimed at decreasing the mental health risk in the lives of those with HFA.

Challenging behaviors maintained by access to tangible items can be more difficult to treat if the individual already has a variety of functionally appropriate responses. Instead, the individual's inability to “accept no” or wait for items to become available often leads to high rates of challenging behavior. Unfortunately, there is little empirical research in the treatment of challenging under these conditions. Mace (2011) describes two effective alternative methods for reducing challenging behavior following denied requests. These effective methods are providing alternatives, or arranging contingencies to be completed prior to delivery of the preferred items. The purpose of this study was to present these evidence-based treatments in a variable order to maximize results and generalizability. Generalization of treatment effects were further assessed by including a “No” condition, in which the individual was not prompted to choose an alternative but they were available upon appropriate request.

Abstract Accept. Identify. Move. (AIM) (Dixon & Paliliunas, 2018) is a curriculum that incorporates contemporary behavior analytic approaches to enhancing social-emotional development of individuals diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Using case studies and a multiple baseline across participants, the current study will explore the benefits of a group consultation model to help clinicians implement this new curriculum with individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder who have behavior treatment goals of decreasing challenging behavior and increasing social-emotional regulation skills. Results will include changes in observed challenging behavior rates and psychological flexibility as reported by parents and clients as well as participation in Accept, Identify, Move (AIM) sessions and use of Accept, Identify, Move (AIM) skills. Participants include 3-10 individuals over the age of 6 years who are diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Participants may also be diagnosed with additional medical conditions (e.g., Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Epilepsy). Collaboration with additional service providers (e.g., psychiatrist, social worker) will occur as needed for children with additional diagnoses. Each participant will be receiving applied behavior analytic services from a large healthcare agency that provides in-home and center-based applied behavior analytic services. Participants will have challenging behavior reduction and social-emotional regulation goals in their behavior treatment plan.

While there has been an extensive amount of research on tobacco use in children and adolescents, very little has been conducted in children with developmental delays, particularly Autism Spectrum Disorders. Similarly, research examining newer methods of nicotine use, such as electronic nicotine delivery systems has not yet been conducted in this population. It has previously been assumed that characteristics commonly observed in youngsters with autism serve as protective factors for the initiation of tobacco and ENDS use; however, no studies have identified the variables that contribute to a youngster’s intention to smoke/use e-cigarettes in this vulnerable population. This study aimed to determine rates of combustible cigarettes and e-cigarettes use, smoking and vaping rates in family homes and vehicles, and identify the factors associated with future intentions to use tobacco/e-cigarettes among youngsters with autism. A total of 70 children (ages 10-17 yrs) and their parents/guardians were enrolled on this study and completed an online questionnaire about their smoking and vaping habits. Half of children (50%) endorsed a history of cigarette use, 45.7% endorsed a history of ENDS use (n = 32), and 86.5% of children used tobacco also used ENDS products (n = 32).

The advancement in information & communication technology (ICT) expanded development and distribution of technology-based interventions for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, limited information is available regarding the effectiveness and long-term usage of those programs, which are critical factors for interventions. This study investigated the usage patterns of two evidence-based mobile apps named Yface and Ycog developed for improving social cognition and cognitive functions in individuals with ASD. Both apps were developed based on the principles of applied behavior analysis (ABA) and have been open for public for two years after the treatment outcome research was completed. The number of new users and active users were recorded with their usage patterns through the administrator website. The results showed that 931 users newly registered for the apps (Yface n=392, Ycog n=539), yet 57.91% for Yface and 41% for Ycog did not use the app after they joined. The percentage of completing the whole program of the app was 3.83% (n=15) and 7.76% (n=43), respectively. Findings suggest the need to adopt effective strategies (e.g., gamification) to promote long-term use of developed apps.

Many children with autism struggle to acquire fluent verbal communication skills in spite of early behavioral intervention targeting increasingly complex speech. Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT) employs maintenance tasks and reinforcement of child attempts to motivate children to initiate communication, and may have promise for rapidly increasing length of independent utterances. This pilot study presents preliminary data regarding the short-term benefits of clinician-delivered PRT on the length of independent utterances. Study participants received 12 hours per week of PRT in an early intervention classroom setting. A non-concurrent multiple baseline across participants design is being used to measure the effect on average length of independent utterances. Available data from 10-minute video samples for the first two participants (one female aged 2.9 years and one male aged 2.7) indicate rapid increase in number of words used during session probes over the course of treatment. Interobserver agreement was assessed for 30% of the videos and coders met an 80% reliability standard. Extended baseline data are currently being collected from additional participants scheduled to enter the program. Implications of the findings, as well as limitations, will be discussed with emphasis on the potential utility of PRT for motivating children with ASD to speak more independently.

Typically, ABA-based treatment for individuals with ASD is supervised by master’s or doctoral-level certified clinicians (e.g., Board Certified Behavior Analysts) who are responsible for assessing skill deficits, developing treatment programs, tracking client progress, and adjusting treatment programs as needed (Behavior Analyst Certification Board, 2014). Unfortunately, that is not the case in China. Due to the lack of government support (McCabe & Deng, 2017) and shortage of credentialed practitioners (data retrievable from Behavior Analyst Certification Board), practitioners with high school or bachelor’s-level educations are stepping up to fill gaps in service delivery and play the dual role of behavior supervisors and technicians (e.g., conducting the assessment, writing treatment plans, and implementing the plans). The Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program (VB-MAPP) is one of the most widely used assessment for the treatment of autism and it contains a functional analysis of language (Esch, LaLonde, & Esch, 2010; Gould, Dixon, Najdowski, Smith, & Tarbox, 2011; Sundberg, 2014). The launch and expansion of the web-based VB-MAPP in Chinese translation has brought dramatic changes to how Chinese practitioners assess skill deficits and design treatment plans for individuals with ASD. Given the increasing number of practitioners using the VB-MAPP, there is a need to further investigate the demographics of the practitioners, the healthcare organizations they are affiliated to, the clients they have implemented the assessment with, and the caregivers of the clients. The findings shed light on the breadth of current and future needs for early screening and diagnosis of ASD, parent education and training on ASD treatment, staff training on B.F. Skinner’s Analysis of Verbal Behavior, and non-governmental organizations that provide ABA-based direct services for children with ASD in China.

Approximately 30% of people with autism will not develop the ability to communicate verbally. During childhood, many attempts are made to increase spoken language in these minimally verbal children with autism (MV), often without success. They are eventually taught to communicate using non-spoken methods using signs, pictures, or tablets (i.e., augmentative and alternative communication [AAC] systems).To date, research has shown that AAC interventions do not negatively impact the development of spoken communication for MV children, with some studies even reporting gains in spoken communication. When examined more closely, the AAC intervention studies that report gains often include additional strategies that serve to promote spoken communication (integrated AAC interventions). These will be distinguished from interventions that solely teach the use of the AAC system (AAC teaching interventions). This poster will review prior research to determine whether integrated AAC versus AAC teaching interventions promote the development of spoken communication to a greater degree. Of the 30 single-subject (see tables 1 and 2) and five group studies reviewed, 1) AAC teaching interventions do not hinder nor do they help the development of spoken communication 2) Integrated AAC interventions show promise in helping develop spoken communication. This poster will contribute to the evidence base on interventions for MV children, a currently under-researched group.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder that has deficits in social communication skills, and high frequency of stereotypy and restricted behavior. Behavior Analysis is an important intervention that helps to decrease ASD symptoms. The ASD behavioral intervention involves, often, language development, since part of this population is no vocal. Spoken by others is an important repertoire that involves learning relationships between stimuli. There are many studies that investigate computer-based technologies to teach people with autism. In this context, Tablets devices are a possible tool for teaching fundamental skills to ASD individuals, and it can help them to have a better quality of life. A lot of skill can be teaching by the Tablet device, one of them is the conditional discrimination that can be trained in MTS tasks. The present study proposed to evaluate three types of training: with ABAcadabra tablet application alone, with paper alone, and combined form (ABAcadabra and paper). In Experiments 1, the experimental stimuli were separated into three groups, each one related to the type of training (with ABAcadabra, paper and combined). One participant (ASD and non-vocal) had to identify items such as fruits and tools, and another (ASD and vocal) had to identify syllables. With both participants, combined training proved to be more efficient because facilitated the rapid acquisition of responses, as well as the emergence of untrained responses.

Family plays a vital role in the behavioral and educational intervention for children with ASD (Zwaigenbaum et al., 2015). Family is the constant in the child’s life instead of the professional. The family is also in the best position to determine the needs and well-being of the child. When professionals also help the family, the child can get the best help, which may also extend to an understanding of the family’s community and to providing information that the family needs (Dempsey & Keen, 2008). This poster will present the readers with a family-centered approach for professionals and families to follow. In this family-centered approach, child with ASD, parents and other caregivers, and siblings will be considered as important roles in the services system. A model of how to provide service and how to incorporate the needs of all members in the family will be presented. Key components of this family-centered services system include: helping family members to understand their lives, goals, strengths, and challenges and establishing a cooperation relationship between family and professionals; working with family to set goals for their child with ASD and their whole family as a intervention team; providing individualized, culturally responsive and evidence-based intervention for each family; providing feedback on their progress. This family-centered system has been implemented in mainland China with more than 20 families. This poster will present the audience with a system on how to engage families with a Chinese cultural background actively and optimize the family outcome for families with a child with ASD in mainland China.

Carissa Carey, Aine Murphy, David Gallaway, and Diane Dean describe a process of innovative assessments and treatment using a matrix to identify salient sound variables for a 13-year-old male diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder in which sensitivity to the aversive sounds of peers was the identified antecedent. Procedures outlined include three phases of assessment and treatment. Phase 1 consisted of an initial sound exposure protocol to target the sensitivity. Phase 2 included a procedure for shaping a competing response. Phase 3 was an assessment of relevant variables of the antecedent sound using a matrix, which informed an update to the sound exposure protocol utilizing the identified salient stimuli of the aversive sound tied to the most severe challenging target behaviors. The matrix for assessment tested classes of sound, volume, location, and the severity of challenging behavior based on specific sound variables. Outcomes display a decreasing trend during treatment. Due to the limited research in the area of treatment for sound aversion, it is important to continue to assess alternative variations of exposure and like treatments.

Approximately 1 in 68 children in USA have autism. Children with autism exhibit deficits in social communication and interaction skills. Social skills are directly related to quality of life since they entail building relationships with other people and accessing opportunities where social skills are an essential pre-requisite. Virtual reality technological strategies have recently gained prominence as a potentially effective tool for training social skills to people with autism. Virtual reality creates simulations of the real-world social situations that can be personalized to meet the personal preferences of children with autism and used to train target social or professional skills to the individuals. Despite the promising rise of virtual reality in the fields of human skills training, there is not yet enough evidence base for its efficacy on children and adolescents with autism. This review evaluates literature on virtual reality on children and adolescents with autism. Variations of tools used, social skills outcomes investigated, and generality of the taught skills are examined. Furthermore, the study computes effect sizes to assess the magnitude of effect of the interventions. Recommendations for future research are suggested.

Transitioning between activities is a common challenge for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). While a body of research has examined effective interventions targeting transitions for individuals with ASD, very few studies have assessed the function of behavior relative to the transition. Determining functionally matched interventions is a critical component to successful outcomes, thus, the present study examined the effectiveness of a functionally matched, embedded preference intervention for three young children with ASD, aged 2 - 7. Using an ABAB reversal with an embedded multi-element design, the function of transition-related challenging behavior was first assessed through a transition functional analysis. The transition functional analysis included two conditions for each traditional functional analysis condition, meaning there was an activity initiation (transitioning to), and activity termination (transitioning away from) component to each function. Transitions with elevated levels of challenging behavior were subsequently targeted for individualized intervention based on participant preferences and behavioral function. Intervention components varied for each participant but included strategies such as themed materials, "place savers" when interrupting routines, and modified instructional materials. Results for all three participants showed clear functions maintaining transition-related challenging behavior, and included 2-3 targeted transitions for each participant. Results indicated the functionally matched interventions were effective for all three participant, with behavior decreasing to zero or near-zero levels during intervention across all conditions. Interventions appeared to be equally effective across functions of behavior. Results generalized to new skills or people for all participants. Behavior maintained at the 1-month follow-up across all interventions for two participants. One participant had less consistent maintenance data. However, behavior did reduce to near zero levels again after a second maintenance check with an added component for one condition. This study indicated important implications for both home and school settings. Results demonstrated the importance of assessing function and using functionally matched interventions during transitions for individuals with ASD, and added to the body of research demonstrating the effectiveness of individualized intervention.

Greer, Neidert, and Dozier (2016) evaluated the effectiveness of three components presented within a toilet-training package for typically-developing children: a 30-min sit schedule, placing subjects in underwear, and differential reinforcement for remaining dry and eliminating in the toilet. These components were evaluated both in isolation and together in a treatment package with 19 typically-developing children and 1 child diagnosed with ASD. Perez, Bacotti, Peters, and Vollmer (accepted) recently replicated the treatment-package condition with 13 children with ASD. To date, we now have 3 subjects for whom this treatment package was ineffective. The current study will present these 3 data sets and discuss the modifications that were made to increase appropriate urinations (for 2 of the 3 subjects). Importantly these modifications only consisted of reinforcement-based procedures (i.e., aversive consequences, such as reprimands or overcorrection, were never delivered contingent on accidents).

Despite common use, the appearance of a token economy’s board and tokens depends on style, preferences, and treatment institutions’ norms. This study evaluates target response rates when using aesthetically themed token economies and plain token economies. Two students attending a school for autism spectrum disorder were each introduced to a plain token economy and one themed towards the students’ interests based on interviews with treatment teams and a series of multiple stimulus preference assessments without replacement (MSWO). During baseline, target responses were recorded. In the unconditioned phase, participants’ target responses when using no token board, the plain token board, and the themed token board were recorded without use of backup reinforcers. One participant displayed a steady increase in response rates when using the themed token economy, contrasting a decrease over time in the other 2 conditions. Inter-observer agreement, treatment fidelity checklists, and role-play training contribute to confidence in this data, while the small sample size detracts. In an applied setting, a student shows increasing target response rates when using an unconditioned themed token economy, as opposed to decreasing response rates while using a plain token economy. This may have implications on the use of token economies without backup reinforcers.

Ear plugging is a behavior that may be especially prevalent in the population of individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) due to their characteristic sensitivity to some visual and auditory stimuli as well as the prevalence of rigid and repetitive behavior. Ear plugging or covering can make communicating, teaching, and otherwise interacting with the individual much more difficult. Furthermore, ear plugging may influence compliance with instructions, especially with regard to personal safety. Tang, Kennedy, Koppekin and Caruso (2002) conducted a descriptive assessment of one subject’s ear plugging to identify if any antecedent or consequences reliably preceded or followed ear plugging, respectively. They identified that this subject’s ear plugging most often occurred when another child was screaming. Additionally, in a subsequent functional analysis, they determined this subject’s ear plugging was maintained by automatic negative reinforcement or escape/attenuation of aversive noises. The current study will extend the procedures of Tang et al. (2002) by conducting a descriptive assessment to identify the common antecedent events that usually surround ear plugging and determining the relative probability of ear plugging occurring following these events through the use of risk ratios.

Mixed-trial instruction is often used to teach auditory-visual conditional discriminations (AVCD) to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). During mixed-trial instruction, different sample stimuli are presented in a random but balanced manner across an instructional session. Blocked-trial instruction has also been used by researchers to teach AVCD to individuals struggling to learn these discriminations (Perez-Gonzalez & Williams, 2002). In blocked-trial sessions, the same sample stimulus is presented for a fixed number of consecutive trials before presenting a different sample stimulus for an equal number of consecutive trials. A recent comparison by Bentham, Walker, Pluym, and Tejeda (2019) evaluated blocked vs. mixed-trials used to teach AVCDs to three adults with IDD. Their results suggested the blocked trial format was more efficient, however the differences for the two of the participants was nominal (i.e., 1 and 2 sessions) and there were no within-subject replications. The purpose of the current study was to compare blocked vs. mixed-trials used to teach AVCDs to a teenager with autism. The preliminary results of the first comparison indicated the blocked-trial procedure was slightly more effective. The implications of different trial presentations are discussed.

This research has been carried out for several years to identify ASD risk in siblings of children diagnosed with ASD and its design is a longitudinal prospective one. We pretend to identify early risk signs in siblings aged 7 to 36 months old. Thirteen tasks were developed to evaluate siblings target behaviors by therapists or parents: turning the body to sounds, following instructions, pointing, making eye contact, babbling or speaking, social smiling, imitating, understanding signs, looking to an object pointed by others, pretend play. Evaluations of every infant are taken monthly and, each new year, new infants are included . This study was developed in 2019 and its aim was to verify if new results obtained by application of the protocol on five infants aged 8 to 36 months old would increase the generality of previous results. Four infants had speech language impairment and referral for speech therapist assessment. Only one of the siblings showed severe impairment in different areas of development and has been referred to ASD specialists that agreed with our evaluation, showing protocol´s generality with new participants. Additional results were related to protocol improvement.

This study investigated the impact of school staff-implemented antecedent strategy (high probability request sequence; HPRS) on percentage compliance with low-probability social requests for preschoolers with autism. Percentage of intervals engaged in social interactions with peers in the naturalistic classroom setting was also measured. The use of HPRS to enhance social-communicative skills development for children with disabilities has received preliminary support in the literature. This study extends on previous research by incorporating HPRS with children with autism within the context of a naturalistic setting with teachers and paraprofessionals as the intervention agents. A multiple baseline design across participants was utilized. School staff were trained to implement the intervention via the behavioral consultation model. Treatment integrity was monitored via self-report on an intervention checklist. Social significance was measured via school-staff self-report. Generalization and maintenance of skills were also measured. Results indicate that the HPRS intervention was effective at improving compliance with low-p requests even when the intervention was removed. Limited improvement with overall social interactions was observed.

We conducted a systematic review of the literature on behavior analytic interventions targeting manding in children with autism spectrum disorder. We were primarily interested in research addressing manding which met the definition outlined by Skinner (1957) that a mand is a verbal operant under the control of relevant states of deprivation, satiation or aversive stimulation, thus we excluded studies that did not specifically include the term mand. We identified the studies which met our preliminary inclusion criteria of having been published in a peer reviewed journal and contained participants under the age of eighteen diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. These articles are being further coded to obtain both descriptive and quality information. We are using the standards provided by the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC; 2017) to assess the designs of each experiment as well as using visual analysis to determine the evidence provided. Results will be further analyzed and discussed.

Challenging behaviors in classroom settings can disrupt learning. “Roger” was an adolescent with autism spectrum disorder who would throw objects so that they became stuck in difficult to access places (e.g., rooftops, high shelves) or to rattle or break other objects. Objects included those belonging to other students such as iPads used for communication. Attempts to block throwing resulted in severe aggression to the point that during baseline, staff did not attempt to block the behavior. During Phase 1, staff worked with Roger in a treatment space stripped of objects with the exception of non-contingent access (NCA) to an appropriate safe item to throw (ball). Other objects were gradually introduced. Throwing inappropriate objects was put on extinction using response blocking. In Phase 2, functional communication training (FCT + Ext) was used to teach Roger to request to throw the ball. In Phase 3 (Generalization), Roger completed tasks around the campus, but not with peers in his classroom and the intervention continued. Eventually, Roger was fully reintegrated into his classroom with continued access to his safe throwing item as well as all other objects typically found in this setting. This intervention was successful at reducing inappropriate throwing and aggression and increasing functional communication responses.

Augmentative and alternative communication methods are commonly utilized to support individuals with developmental disabilities. Therefore, it is necessary to consider which augmentative and alternative communication method best serves the individual’s specific communication needs. Along with the individual’s efficiency, the individual’s preference for the specific augmentative and alternative communication method should be considered and evaluated when selecting the specific modality to be taught. This study describes the methodology and results of assessing the accuracy and preference for two augmentative and alternative communication methods utilized by one 17-year-old male with autism. Specifically, the use of the Core Word Board and a picture icon system were assessed. The results from this study showed a greater accuracy of mands when the picture icon system was utilized as compared to the Core Word Board. Additionally, the participant showed a strong preference for the picture icon system. The results from this study were utilized to advocate for the use of appropriate augmentative and alternative communication modalities for the individual across settings.

Pretend play is a diagnostic indicator and treatment area for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD); however, minimal research is available on the actual occurrence of pretend play in children with ASD who do not have cognitive delays (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). This study compared pretend play of children with ASD to typically-developing (TD) children, dividing the ASD sample into lower-functioning (i.e., LF ASD) and higher-functioning (HF ASD) groups. Children 8 to 64 months were evaluated with the Developmental Play Assessment- Research Edition (Lifter, 2000); 289 children were included the TD sample and 38 children in the ASD sample. Hierarchical multiple regression was run to determine if differences were apparent between groups after accounting for age. Significant differences in pretend play were found between groups. Subsequent analysis determined that significant differences were only present between the LF ASD group and the other groups and no significant differences were found between the HF ASD group and TD group. Notably, visual analysis of trends suggests there may be differences that are not statistically significant in this study due to sample size. This finding suggests that children with HF ASD may not show the delays in pretend play that are expected.

It is essential that teachers assess skills and develop pedagogical programs tailored to the specific learning characteristics of individual with ASD. The IAR (Basic Literacy Repertory Assessment Instrument) is a simple, low-cost and language-accessible tool for Brazilian educators. However, this material is for students without developmental disabilities. Therefore, it’s necessary that instruments also consider the behavior patterns commonly exhibited by individuals with ASD. This study aims to investigate if material adaptations (e.g., decreased verbal instructions, visual support, etc.) would favor assessment of literacy repertoire of students with ASD. Three Brazilian boys diagnosed with ASD, aged 8 to 9 years and literate, were submitted to assessments using both instruments: original and adapted IAR. All participants performed better on the adapted version of IAR. In addition, there was a significant reduction in the application time from the original IAR to the version adapted for all participants. Finally, the data show a significant decrease in the total amount of errors issued, reduction in the presentation of disruptive behaviors and increased engagement for all participants. The improvement on participants performance, reduced disruptive behaviors and increased task engagement indicate that adaptations made in the IAR favored the performance of participants with ASD.

This study evaluated the effects of type of language on rates of challenging behavior during a functional analysis with individuals who come from families where Spanish is the primary language. This study replicated and expanded on Rispoli, O’Reilly, Lang, Sigafoos, Mulloy, Aguilar, & Singer 2011, study to see how language impacts challenging behavior during an FA and whether language is relevant in function-based treatment. Three individuals with autism spectrum disorder in a residential treatment facility participated in a multi-element (i.e., demand, attention, play- verbal, and play-nonverbal) functional analysis (FA) within this study. The FA was conducted in an ABAB experimental design with the A conditions conducted in Spanish and the B conditions conducted in English. Language did not have an effect on rates of challenging behavior during the FA. One participant displayed no responding across conditions and the other two participants responded similarly during the demand conditions regardless of the language in which the conditions were conducted. Functional communication training (FCT) was conducted for one participant in both languages. The results indicated for this individual that there was no difference according to language in rates of challenging behavior as well as acquisition and maintenance of a functionally communicative response.

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) has been shown to be effective in reducing symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and improving cognitive and language skills (Vietze and Lax, 2018). Prior research has identified early diagnosis and early intervention as key factors to maximize therapeutic outcomes for children with ASD (Vietze and Lax, 2018). The case studies included in this presentation, highlight the progress of four children diagnosed with Autism between the ages of 2 and 3 enrolled in a center-based early intervention program in Manhattan, New York. Ben’s tantrum behaviors were reduced by functional communication training (FCT), social stories, and a sensory diet. Max’s expressive language increased from basic animal sounds to more complex intraverbal language by play-based learning and social skills training. Jane’s aggression was decreased by implementing Differential Reinforcement of Other Behaviors (DRO) and FCT. Michael’s severe tantrum behaviors were reduced by environmental manipulations, FCT, and escape extinction. For the cases presented, antecedent and consequence-based manipulations will be discussed, along with specific interventions used for each student, including behavior and skill acquisition graphs.

The purpose of the current study was to explore the effects of the Accept. Identify. Move. (AIM) curriculum on increasing adaptive coping skills and reducing emotional dysregulation in a nine-year-old boy with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Using self-monitoring, reinforcement, and specific Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT) processes as outlined by the AIM curriculum, students can be taught to accept aversive situations and experience them, while remaining focused and value-driven (Dixon & Paliliunas, 2018). The goal was to teach the participant the skills necessary to deal with unpleasant situations and consequently improve quality of life (i.e., friendships, family participation). Results through the first phase demonstrate AIM to effectively assist with teaching functional replacement skills for this participant. Specifically, by day eight of treatment in step one the participant displayed zero rates of tantrum behaviours and 20 or more instances of ACT consistent behaviours. As this research is being conducted in a centre-based privately funded environment, limitations to resources exist which limit opportunities for interobserver agreement (IOA) and treatment fidelity checks. Future research should plan for these limitations to support social and internal validity.

Vocal stereotypy is often maintained by automatic reinforcement and treated with response interruption and redirection, competing stimuli, or differential reinforcement. The current study compared the effectiveness of an in-home electronic versus paper visual schedule in treating vocal stereotypy related to time for a 9-year-old with autism. An extended ignore and alone functional analysis (FA) identified vocal stereotypy as an overt versus covert behavior. A multielement FA measured rates of stereotypy in ignore, attention (i.e., contingent discussion of time), and control (i.e., continuous discussion of time) conditions. Results suggest that vocal stereotypy was likely maintained by access to information regarding time, persisting with extinction. Baseline rates of vocal stereotypy were extremely high (M = 191.39 per hour) and accompanied by negative vocalizations and aggression when not reinforced. An electronic (iPad) and standard paper visual schedule with attention extinction (i.e., not responding to statements about time) were introduced using a reversal design. Rates of vocal stereotypy were higher with the electronic (11.94 per hour) versus paper schedule (7.5 per hour). A preference assessment indicated the participant’s preference for the electronic schedule (5 of 6 selections), with the final electronic schedule phase yielding a 94.65% reduction from baseline (M = 10.24 per hour).

In functional behavior assessment research, there is a deficit of research conducted in the home setting that compares the descriptive methods of behavioral assessments and experimental functional analyses. The effects of the intervention implemented based on results of the Antecedent-Behavior-Consequence (ABC) narrative recording method were compared to the effects of the intervention implemented based on results of the trial-based functional analysis (TBFA) in a multiple baseline across subjects design. Three children, ages 2-4, with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder that displayed a high rate of interfering behaviors (protesting or aggression) that reduced the participants’ abilities to engage in sessions participated in the study. Sessions were conducted in the participants’ home where home therapy typically occurred. The ABC narrative data collection consisted of three 30-minute observations which were varied to include start, middle, and end of sessions which was implemented followed by the TBFA. Baseline conditions and treatment conditions were implemented for each assessment’s results. Results showed that the treatments implemented did reduce target behaviors across assessment types but the TBFA results showed greater reductions in target behaviors and faster acquisition of communication response. This suggests the TBFA accurately identified the function of the target behaviors more effectively than the ABC data collection method.

Program development based on on-going assessment is critical for service delivery for individuals with ASD. The Autism Curriculum Encyclopedia (ACE) is a comprehensive educational package for ABA program. The Core Skill Assessment in ACE covers 52 foundational skills and helps clinicians to identify target skills. Additionally, ACE lesson programs guide clinicians to develop targeted programs for children with ASD. This poster presentation will share preliminary data supporting the use of curriculum-based assessment in program development. The Core Skill Assessment was administered for two children with ASD, and their skill acquisition programs were developed with the results of the assessment and curriculum recommended by ACE. Data indicate that both children with ASD have made significant gains after the implementation of assessment-based programs. The poster will also include the most recent core skill assessment results to demonstrate the effective use of the assessment and assessment-based curriculum.

Several studies have evaluated the relationship between derived relational responding and intelligence (Belisle, Dixon, & Stanley, 2018) and how both relate to the functions of challenging behavior (Belisle, Stanley, & Dixon, 2017). In these studies, scores were obtained using the Equivalence and Transformation Pre-Assessments contained within the PEAK Relational Training System (Dixon, 2015, 2016). We developed a measure (Relational Acquisition Scale - Children) that may be more sensitive to detecting early acquisition of derived relational responding from basic experimental research with infants. In the present study, we administered the RASC along the PEAK Equivalence and Transformation Pre-Assessments across participants to provide an overall estimate of derived relational responding. These scores were then correlated with intelligence test scores (WPPSI-IV and WISC-V) as well as measures of the function of challenging behavior (Questions About Behavior Function, Challenging Behavior Inventory). Results examine the positive relationship between both measures of derived relational responding and intelligence. Additionally, results examined endorsement of items on measure of challenging behavior for participants who demonstrated derived relational responding on the RASC assessment.

Pica is a dangerous interfering behavior in which an individual ingests inedible items. This behavior can cause serious health issues such as choking, oral problems, serious illness, or death (Rettig et al., 2019). The current study examined the effects of a differential reinforcement of low rates procedure used to establish control of pica in the child’s home. During the first hour of the child’s home Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) session a timer was set initially for five minutes, which was determined by the interresponse time. Upon the timer going off, the child would request for attention using his Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) book, physical play choice board, or one word vocal mands. The parent would deliver 1 minute of verbal and physical attention contingent on the child’s request. After three consecutive rings with no occurrences of pica at the current interval, the time interval would increase by 20 seconds. If the child engaged in pica during the interval, the time interval would decrease by 40 seconds. The data indicates that this procedure was effective in decreasing the number of occurrences of pica during the training sessions, but this behavior was not eliminated. The results of this study are discussed in terms of the function of pica, establishment of stimulus control, future directions, and limitations.

Many persons diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder have difficulty completing functional daily living tasks and often rely on caregivers to assist with tasks such as dressing, cooking, cleaning, and basic hygiene. Previous research has shown that the use of video modeling can be an effective way to teach daily living skills to individuals diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder and developmental disabilities. An area in which research is lacking, however, is whether video modeling can also be used as a tool to facilitate self-monitoring and, in turn, help maintain functional living skills and decrease the reliance on caregiver assistance in completing these tasks. This study examined the effectiveness of a video modeling protocol to teach four teens diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder to complete basic cooking skills using a microwave, stove-top, and counter-top. Furthermore, this study examined the effectiveness of using the videos as a self-monitoring system to increase and maintain higher levels of independence in the kitchen. Preliminary results show that the video modeling protocol increased cooking skills for each participant, the skills maintained over time, and the video models helped increase independence in the kitchen.

Current research on the PEAK Relational Training System (Dixon, 2014-2016) has largely been conducted in controlled arrangements and has lacked measures of socially valid changes in language and cognitive skills (e.g., reasoning, problem solving). We embedded PEAK relational training within the regular school day of 6 children with autism in a special education setting over the course of 3 months. All programming was individualized to meet the needs of the students and skills were introduced in a multiple probe across skills experimental design as developed by Belisle, Clark, Welch, and McDonald (under review), replicated across each of the participants. Results supported systematic mastery in target skills across all participants despite considerable differences in the programming for each. The PEAK Comprehensive Assessment (Dixon, 2019) is a standardized test of verbal relational performance that is directly implemented with participants, and all participants showed an increasing score of this assessment at the end of the intervention relative to initial performance. Social validity questionnaires were administered, and both parents and school staff identified an increase in the use of language and problem solving strategies relative to prior academic semester, suggesting performance generalized beyond the discrete trial training arrangement used in the present study.

Despite the lifelong implications of an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnosis, very few empirically validated treatments currently exist to address the symptoms associated with these conditions. Currently, Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) holds the most empirical evidence when it comes to ameliorating the symptoms associated with ASD. The current investigation explores the relationship between participants’ abilities to engage in derived relational responding and ASD symptom severity as indicated by the Gilliam Autism Rating Scale-Third Edition (GARS-3). The GARS-3 instrument consists of 56 clearly stated items describing characteristic behavior of persons with ASD. Derived relational responding skills were assessed using the Promoting the Emergence of Advanced Knowledge Comprehensive Assessment (PCA), which measures the following repertoires: ability to engage in basic verbal operants, generalization of basic verbal operants across activities and items, ability to display equivalence relations, and ability to display other relational operants consistent with Relational Frame Theory (Dixon, 2019). Assessments will be conducted across 45 individuals with ASD. Preliminary results of a bivariate correlational analysis indicated a strong negative correlation between participants’ PCA Total scores and GARS-3 total raw scores (r = -.716, p < .05). These findings provide some preliminary implications for behavior analytic treatments for individuals with ASD.

A prior randomized control trial evaluation (Dixon, Paliliunas, et al., 2019) suggested that low-dosage (4-hours / week) behavioral language and cognitive training guided by all four PEAK modules leads to greater gains in derived relational responding and intelligence test scores relative to more traditional training strategies or a control condition. We attempted to replicate these findings in a single-case experimental design for tighter experimental control and allowing for greater individualization of programming across participants. The study involved 5 children with autism. Two children demonstrated symmetry but not transitivity prior to the study. We conducted Equivalence and Transformation training from PEAK in a multiple probe across skills design (Belisle, Clark, Brewer, & McDonald, under review) with intermittent probes of derived relational responding (PEAK-CA; RASC). Results evaluated improvements in symmetrical and transitive relational responding throughout intervention for both participants. Two other children demonstrated basic reflexivity but not symmetry prior to the study. We conducted training using all four PEAK modules with intermittent probes of derived relational responding. Results evaluated improvements in symmetrical relating for both participants. A final participant did not receive PEAK training during this time and scores were evaluated at the beginning and end of the study for comparison.

Analogical reasoning can be defined in Relational Frame Theory as relating of relations, and is often presented in the form: “if A is X to B, then C is X to what?” Where the correct response is controlled by not only the comparison stimulus C, but also the relational cue X that is derived from the already established relationship between A and B (Belisle, Paliliunas, et al., in press). Matrix reasoning tasks allow for a demonstration of analogical reasoning by presenting two stimuli along the top of a 2x2 grid that are related across X dimensions (e.g., coordination, opposition), a third stimulus in the bottom left, and an array of stimuli that the participant matches based on the shared relation X. In the present study, we evaluated a procedure for promoting analogical reasoning across three children with autism. In baseline, participants were unable to match stimuli in terms of coordination and opposition and did not successfully complete the matrix reasoning task. Following mixed coordination and opposition relational training, one participant completed the matrix task. For the remaining participants, we reinforced one exemplar class during the matrix task, which was effective in promoting the untrained emergence of the remaining matrix relations.

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often have limited opportunity in choosing novel and engaging leisure activities, and behavior analysts need guidance in identifying leisure activities their clients may prefer. Four adult clients participated in a leisure activities assessment in three phases. During Phase 1 concurrent operant arrangements were used to develop a client profile for each of three critical leisure skills components: social interaction versus no interaction; electronic versus non-electronic tasks; and stationary tasks versus those that require movement. Figure 1 shows the percent of session learners engaged with each of the three component comparisons. Data revealed clear patterns for 3 of 4 participants. Phase 2 compared client on-task behavior for a leisure activity matched and a leisure activity unmatched to the profile generated in Phase 1. Clients were on-task more often for activities matched to profile (Figure 2). Phase 3 assessed client preference for the matched versus the unmatched activity using another concurrent operant arrangement. Clients showed preference for the matched activity (Figure 3). Overall, this study presents a user-friendly leisure activity assessment that considers both client preference and aptitude in determining appropriate leisure activities for individuals with ASD who require significant support.

It is recommended that children ages 6-17 engage in 60 minutes or more of moderate to vigorous physical activity (PA) daily. However, many children do not meet these guidelines, especially those with disabilities. Furthermore, individuals on the autism spectrum often lack the social and communicative skills necessary to participate in PA with others. In order to promote positive PA behaviors, it is essential to include interventions that teach the importance of PA and how to engage in it appropriately. The purpose of this study was to 1. Examine intensity of the PA during sessions; 2. Examine use of a social story to teach exercise intensity; and 3. Examine use of social stories in addition to heart rate monitors to teach PA intensity. Nine male participants ages 8-11 with ASD were recruited. Data were collected during 30-minute sessions three days/week for 5 weeks. All participants wore a heart rate (HR) monitor and a perceived exertion scale was completed twice each session. An A/B/B+C design was used. Phase A, participants wore HR monitor and engaged in the required PA. In Phase B, participants read or were read a social story which explained the importance of and what to expect when engaging in PA. Phase B+C, participants continued to use the social stories, but also self-monitored their HR using an iPad). Results indicated that most participants engaged in moderate levels of PA during sessions however, there was no clear indication that participants were able to self-monitoring of HR intensity increased PA.

The number of children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is growing and related communication problems affect all spheres of their lives. There is evidence that script fading procedures are effective in teaching conversational skills to children with autism aged 2 to 15 years, but there is little evidence of its effectiveness for adolescents and young adults (aged 15 to 23 years of age). The first aim of the present study is to demonstrate that script fading can be applied with success to adolescents and young adults with autism. The second aim of the study is to establish internal validity for a new data collection procedure that can be easily and practically implemented in applied setting, particularly for intensive interventions. Findings showed that adolescents and young adult with autism can benefit from script fading procedure as do younger participants and that the new data collection method is useful to evidence this process.

The Center for Disease Control estimates that 1 in 59 children are diagnosed autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the United States. The field of Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) has scientifically proven treatments to help address the deficits and excesses associated with ASD. Discrete Trial Training (DTT) and Natural Environment Teaching (NET) are applications of the principles of ABA in structured teaching environments. However, such methods require significant time from healthcare professionals, which can limit the number of individuals that professionals can positively impact. Socially assistive robots could be a supportive technology to professionals as they provide care to individuals with ASD. Numerous socially assistive robots have already been developed and utilized for interventions for individuals with ASD. Some applications of these robots have included: 1) imitation therapy 2) improving social skills 3) encouraging self-initiated social interactions 4) reducing challenging behaviors and 5) improving emotion recognition. In general, these robot-based interventions have had positive outcomes with children and adolescents with ASD, which has been the main demographic for such interventions. To date, socially assistive robots have not been utilized for intraverbal training with children with ASD. The purpose of this study is to assess if socially assistive robots can teach individuals with ASD to answer general information “WH-questions". Additionally, the study aimed to assess if the outcomes could generalize to human teachers. Through this study, a multiple-baseline design using a socially assistive robot was effective in teaching three preschoolers with ASD to answer three “WH-questions” within 5-7 teaching sessions and did generalize to the human teachers.

Preface. A Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) holds the minimum credential necessary to offer Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) services within the certificant’s scope of experience/expertise. A BCBA wishing to offer services in their own name, by starting a private practice, faces substantial considerations beyond basic clinical competence. Ethical Considerations. Section 1.02 of the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) Ethics Code provides that BCBAs only offer services within the boundaries of available competence. In addition to basic clinical competence, operating a private ABA practice requires expertise in various administrative areas including: insurance contracts and procedure, personnel management, billing and collections, business law, accounting and payroll, cashflow management, and general business administration. Personal/Market Surveys. To evaluate the practicality of establishing a practice, the prospective entrepreneur should survey: (1) personal resources and existing responsibilities, and (2) the ABA business conditions existing in the prospective geographic market (demand for services, competition, funding sources, population density, traffic, technician availability, pay rates, etc.). Business Plan. A business plan typically reflects: specific goals/expectations, timelines, key personnel, defined target market(s), pro-forma budgets, cost-analyses, detailed consideration of in-house vs. outsourcing of administrative functions, personnel recruitment and training plans, definition and assignment of specific management team functions, policy/procedural documentation, and clinical/administrative quality control.

BCBAs interested in starting or participating in the opening and/or operations of an ABA practice constitute the target audience.

First impressions and experiences are everything to BCBAs, and their experience starts when they sign that first contract at a fieldwork or practicum site. When BACB students look for places of both current and future employment, it begins with their practicums and independent fieldwork experience outcomes, which ultimately shape them as an analyst. The response cost (both physical and financial) on a company of taking a student in and training them is high. When those students leave for employment elsewhere once they reach that pivotal point of credentialing, the reinforcement of taking in students is diminished across the company and the supervising BCBA. So, how do we get them to stay? If students feel supported, engaged, challenged academically and practically, and that they have the opportunity to flourish during their student experiences, they are more likely to stay and begin their analytic career at the sites that they do their fieldwork hours. We seek to discuss our current mentor program, both content and structure, and to assess its ability to produce competent, critical thinking, driven, and ethical future BCBAs, and the rate at which those BCBAs ultimately remain to begin employment with our company.

This event targets BCBAs who supervise or are interested in becoming supervisors.

Behavior analysis can bring together multidisciplinary teams responsible for effective programming for diverse clients with concurrent mental health and medical diagnoses. Even so, the early experiences of many ABA program participants and supervisees are characterized by exposure to only a small slice of the many client populations who could benefit from ABA. This panel assembles professionals, professors, and practitioners spanning community practice, medical and university environments to address audience questions on the intersection between behavior analysis and treatment of behavior related to mental health. Discussion points will include answers to recent questions posed by community members and students to university professors and those disseminating behavior analysis on social media, including: What ethical considerations are involved as I treat behavior in a person with concurrent mental health diagnoses? How do we form effective collaborations in mental health and medical hospital settings? How does behavior analysis look in an interdisciplinary environment, and how can I expand my boundaries of competence related to more diverse settings?

Intermediate skill behavior analysis level

Corruption is a critical social problem of the 21st century, and it features almost every day in the headlines of the media in most developing countries. However, few behavior analysts study of corruption. This symposium intends to draw the attention of behavior analysts to this critical social problem. We demonstrate how corruption can be analyzed with behavior analytic conceptual tools. The first study highlights how different units of analysis (operant behavior, culturobehavioral lineage, culturant, and macrobehavior) account for different facets of this social phenomenon and presents some examples of how the theme has been experimentally studied in recent years. The second presentation draws on the results from a survey of 518 persons on why intermediaries are used, for example to procure a driving license or a building permit. ‘Goro boys’ in Ghana or “coyotes” or “tramitadores” in Latin America are to intermediate bribe-taking. Intermediaries are used in corruption transactions to eliminate uncertainty and reduce the risk of detection and we examined the use of intermediaries as avoidance behavior. How to combat corruption associated with the use of intermediaries is discussed. The dynamics of operant and cultural sides of corruption explored in this symposium indicates a fertile field for research.

Many assessment tools have been developed to assess a specific range of behaviors with specific populations. In addition, they often have a substantial body of research supporting their effectiveness to do so. Two examples of this are Functional Analysis (FA) methodology and the Performance Diagnostic Checklist (PDC), with the former most commonly used with individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities to assess significant behavioral excesses, and the latter most commonly used with adults in organizations to assess barriers to effective work performance. Such tools may have greater utility outside of these immediate areas and this symposium will present two examples of such expansion. The first presentation will discuss the use of FA procedures with 10 individuals on a simple data-entry task. Results suggest that the various antecedent and consequence variables presented were not differentially effective and that goal setting and rule-governed behavior may be responsible for the maintenance of behavior. The second presentation will discuss the use of the PDC to improve the health behaviors of four athletes. The resulting interventions produced some mixed results and the implications and future directions will be discussed. The symposium will conclude with some comments and thoughts from our esteemed discussant.

Practicing BCBAs, BCBAs who are administrators or supervise others, BCBAs practicing in areas of health behaviors or in the areas of sports performance

Within certain areas of healthcare, it has been documented that treating patients with compassion and empathy can have important benefits, such as increasing patient satisfaction, enhancing adherence to treatment, and improving clinical outcomes (e.g., Beach, et al., 2006; Hojat et al., 2011; Weiss et al., 2017). Treating oneself and others with compassion is also believed to promote individual wellbeing and improve mental health (e.g. McClelland, et al., 2018; Neff, 2011; Scarlet et al., 2017). While current empirical support for these outcomes is mixed (Kirby, Tellegen & Steindl, 2017), there is increasing scientific interest in the benefits of compassion. That broad-based interest notwithstanding, the data-driven field of behavior analysis has only recently begun to advocate for the importance of relationship variables that could positively impact our work (e.g., Taylor, LeBlanc & Nosik, 2018; Leblanc, Taylor & Marchese, 2019). This presentation reviews survey data documenting parent perception of compassionate care by behavior analysts, as well as behavior analysts’ impressions of training in this area. Behavioral responses that may comprise compassionate care will be presented, along with considerations for how compassionate care of our clients and ourselves can enhance our work as behavior analysts and potentially improve clinical outcomes.

BCBAs, BCBA-Ds, BCaBAs, supervisors and trainers of behavior analysts, autism specialists.

Dr. Bridget A. Taylor is co-founder and CEO of Alpine Learning Group and is Senior Clinical Advisor for Rethink. She holds a Doctorate of Psychology from Rutgers University, and received her Master’s degree in Early Childhood Special Education from Columbia University. She is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and a Licensed Psychologist. Dr. Taylor is President of the Behavior Analyst Certification Board and serves on the Autism Advisory Group for the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies. She is past Associate Editor for the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. She also serves on the editorial board of Behavioral Interventions. Active in the autism research community, Dr. Taylor has published numerous peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on effective interventions for autism. She is a national and international presenter and serves in an advisory capacity for autism education and treatment programs both locally and abroad. Dr. Taylor was recently recognized by the Association for Applied Behavior Analysis International for her outstanding contributions to behavior analysis and was given ABAI’s Fellow designation.

Behavior Analysis is a fast growing field, not only in the US, where it originated, but also around the world. The Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) has become a widely accepted certification body both within the US and in many other countries. This not only creates opportunities for Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) to find employment in various parts of the world, but also for professional organizations from around the world to standardize basic requirements for individuals who practice behavior analysis. The increasing acceptance of the BCBA certification abroad is reflected in the growing number of BCBAs practicing outside of the US as well as in the fact that the BCBA exam is now offered in an increasing number of languages. In addition to the BCBA certification, there are many other professional organizations who regulate the practice of behavior analysts in countries other than the United States. The profession of Behavior Analysts in various countries is shaped by variables such as local laws, licensure or certification processes, and funding sources. This panel will provide an overview of the field in Poland, Ecuador and Armenia.

BCBAs, BCaBAs, and other certified or licensed professionals

Behavior analytic procedures have been effective at improving various sport skill topographies across many sports (e.g., golf, yoga, football). This symposium will examine four studies which utilize different procedures across sports involving TAGteach and vocal contingencies (dance), a treatment package combining TAGteach with precision teaching and vocal contingencies (dance), a component analysis of behavioral coaching utilizing video modeling with feedback (hockey), and a treatment package including public posting, goal setting with feedback, and text messaging to decrease head injuries (football). Implications for practice will be discussed.

Individuals who are wanting to use behavior analytic strategies in the area of health, sports, or fitness.

This study employs tactics proven effective with multiple sports, derived from the science of applied behavior analysis, to decrease severe head collision in American Football. The study included members of a high school football team that play specifically on the defensive side of the ball. Defenders are specifically targeted as they are 4 times more likely to endure a head injury, compared to their offensive counterparts (Sobue et al., 2018), as tackling results in 67% of the concussion in football (Gessel et al., 2007). Data collection occurred on the team’s designated practice field. The dependent variable in the current study is the percentage of correct tackles exhibited, measured from a predetermined performance criterion. A combination of a multiple baseline and changing criterion design, following a baseline condition visually demonstrate the results of the study. The independent variable was a treatment package consisting of public posting, goal setting and feedback and text messaging to provide additional feedback to participants.

Graduate students and practicing professionals interested in punishment procedures (e.g., BCaBA, BCBA, BCBA-D).

In this study, the use of positive punishment was examined with an individual diagnosed with Arnold Chiari Malformation (Type I), autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability, and personality change due to Viral Meningitis who displayed severe forms of self-injurious, destructive, and aggressive behaviors. Reports indicated the participant had a history of unsuccessful behavioral and psychiatric treatments of their problem behavior. The use of a positive punishment procedure involved a court-approved contingent skin shock in combination with differential reinforcement of alternative, incompatible, and other replacements behaviors. Treatment as usual was compared to treatment plus positive punishment. Results demonstrated clinically significant improvements in quality of life through substantial decreases in the monthly frequency of problem behaviors when positive punishment was in place. The evidence provides support for contingent skin-shock as the least intrusive, most effective, efficient, and ethical treatment available for the severe problem behavior of this individual.

In an effort to decrease severe and persistent problem behaviors that substantially impeded the quality of life in an eighteen year old male, diagnosed with mood disorder not otherwise specified and anti-social personality disorder. The participant had a documented history of unsuccessful treatments (i.e., multiple psychotropic medications, changes of treatment locations, programs utilizing differential reinforcement, and antecedent manipulations) of their problem behaviors (i.e., aggression and self-injury that put their quality of life in jeopardy). A positive punishment treatment plan involved court-approved contingent skin shock in conjunction with differential reinforcement of alternative, incompatible, and other replacement behaviors. Through the course of treatment, a reversal design was implemented over a duration of 11 months and demonstrated the effect of the same treatment plan with and without the positive punishment component. Overall, the treatment demonstrated a substantial reduction of all targeted problem behaviors. When punishment was removed, the monthly frequency increased to pre-treatment equivalent levels. The evidence provides support for contingent skin-shock as the least intrusive, most effective, efficient, and ethical treatment available for the severe problem behavior of this individual.

A severe behavior disorder is an umbrella term used to describe constellations of problem behaviors that are characterized by several factors such as the frequency, intensity, form, and treatment refractory nature. The effects of a severe behavior disorder are absolutely devastating. Severe self-injury can cause blindness (because of repeated head hitting, head banging, or eye gouging), deformation (because of biting, abrasions), bone fractures, hematomas, head injuries, infection (because of chronic open wounds), and death. Aggressive behaviors result in harm to caregivers, law enforcement involvement, emergency hospitalization, and can be a primary factor in placing a child outside of their natural home. The continued occurrence of such behaviors have devastating effects on quality of life. Thus, professional to consumer, professional to professional, and other statements about treatment efficacy are of tremendous importance. Here, the presentation of such information in science, government, and media are described. In addition, systematic methods to evaluate various statements about risk and benefit are reviewed.

Early reciprocal interactions with caregivers seem to be critical for later development. Identification of milestones missed during the first year of life and early intervention can mitigate developmental delays. The authors of Study 1 evaluated the effect of a computer-based training program to teach first-time mothers to play a vocal imitation learning game with their 8- and 9-month-old infants. The authors will discuss the role of contingency-learning in early caregiver training. Study 2 will review existing procedures for training joint attention and social referencing. The authors will propose an acquisition model for early social repertoires among children at-risk of autism spectrum disorder and Fragile X syndrome. The authors of Study 3 evaluated the efficacy of an intervention to establish social referencing in young children with autism using multiple exemplar training, prompting and contingent reinforcement. The authors will discuss the interaction between the joint attention and social referencing repertoires in their participants. Study 4 will evaluate the use of social stories to teach social skills in the classroom. The authors will also review evidence-based treatments to teach classroom competence to children. Finally, Javier Virues-Ortega will discuss these studies in relation to the interaction between early social skills.

Practicing behavior analysts

Infants begin to learn important skills, such as contingency learning, social referencing, and joint attention through the everyday interactions with their environment. Contingency awareness is a pivotal behavior in infant development, associated with benefits across developmental domains. When infants learn that their behavior produces a change in the behavior, concomitant changes in infant behavior manifest, including increased smiling and sustained engagement. Maternal contingent responses to infant behavior support infant contingency learning by their infant with experiences of cause and effect. The current investigation evaluated the effect of a computer-based training that aimed at teaching three first-time mothers to play a vocal imitation contingency learning game with their infant (8- & 9-months old) during a face-to-face interaction. The training included observer effect methodology, meaning the mothers engaged in observation and evaluation of other mothers engaging in vocal imitation, but did not include any direct coaching or feedback. All mothers completed the training during one session in less than one hour. Results indicated that all mothers increased their use of vocal imitation and maintained their performance at a 2-week follow-up. We will present training components including embedded observer effect methodology. Considerations for incorporating contingency-learning into early caregiver training will also be discussed.

Deficits in social engagement are among the main developmental problems observed among children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). In particular, joint attention and social referencing skills are critical for the development of more complex social interactions. The use of behavioral techniques and brief parent-infant engagement training has shown to be successful in promoting these social skills. We present new data that built on our programmatic agenda that by targeting joint attention and social referencing skills in the natural environment and by using caregivers as therapists we can potentially mitigate and prevent the development of later onset behavior language problems commonly associated with ASD. The current presentation reviews and extends previously published procedures for the training of joint attention and social referencing modeled after Pelaez and colleagues’ (2012) operant learning paradigm with data from toddlers with or at risk of a developmental disorder. Further, a model for expanding previous findings to the natural environment with a population at-risk of developing ASD and Fragile X syndrome is proposed where joint attending skills can be taught first to aid in the acquisition of social referencing. While very similar social behavior chains, joint attention and social referencing have functional differences, which will be explained.

Social referencing is characterized as a chain of behaviors which starts when an infant is confronted with an ambiguous object or event. Although demonstrated by typically developing infants as young as 10 months of age, social referencing is absent or impaired in children with autism. The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the efficacy of an intervention to establish a social referencing repertoire in three young children with autism using multiple exemplar training, prompting and contingent reinforcement. The intervention was comprised of teaching trials involving multiple exemplars of standard and ambiguous task materials drawn from experimenter-defined categories of stimuli (e.g., food, art material, toys). Results were evaluated using a multiple baseline across participants design and show a systematic increase in referencing responses with the introduction of treatment for all three participants. We will also present preliminary findings of a randomized control trial with 30 participants evaluating a brief version of the intervention protocol. Pre- and post-training measures of joint attention obtained from all participants will be discussed in the context of the social referencing data obtained herein. The empirical evidence in support of strategies for teaching early social repertoires will be discussed.

Children diagnosed with various developmental and learning disabilities have persistent social deficits in communication and social interactions. These social deficits interfere with classroom social skills and may result in difficulty forming positive relationships with peers and adults. Therefore, it is important to identify evidence-based treatments to teach classroom competence to children diagnosed with various disabilities. The study used Social Stories™ to teach classroom social skills to children in a self-contained setting. A multiple baseline across participants was used to assess changes in classroom social skills. A total of four response categories were taught including please, thank you, pushing in chair, and offering assistance. Generalization probes were conducted using a novel competence scenario for each category. Follow-up data were collected 1-week, 2-weeks, and 4-weeks following the completion of the study to evaluate participants’ maintenance of classroom competence skills.

Differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (i.e., DRA) combines the reinforcement of prosocial behaviors and extinction of destructive behaviors. While highly effective, DRA alone may be insufficient for producing clinically significant reductions in destructive behavior (i.e., behavior is treatment resistant, extinction cannot be implemented). Thus, clinicians must address these barriers by incorporating additional treatment components to enhance efficacy. This symposium will consist of four presentations followed by comments from Dr. Joanna Lomas Mevers. First, Kimberly Ford will present on a comparison of the efficiency and preference for interventions with and without physical guidance for treating escape-maintained problem behavior. Next, Katherine Brown will present on the development and validation of a reinforcer dimension sensitivity assessment to inform DRA without extinction procedures. Third, Andrew Sodawasser will present data from a clinical review of clients who displayed treatment resistant problem behavior and participated in a stimulus avoidance assessment. Last, Alexandra Hardee will discuss the utility of the stimulus avoidance assessment and implications for future practice.

Physical guidance is a common intervention component; however, in some situations, physical guidance may be contraindicated (e.g., client of larger stature, hands-off school policy, caregiver physical limitations, history of physical abuse). In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of a multiple opportunity probe (MOP) as an alternative to physical guidance (PG) to teach chained tasks to 4 school-aged participants (range, 5-18) with autism spectrum disorder who engaged in escape-maintained destructive behavior. An adapted-alternating design was used to teach three equally matched arbitrary tasks to evaluate the effectiveness of the MOP as an alternative instructional method. Data were collected on the percentage of steps completed independently, rate of destructive behavior, and the social validity (i.e., participant and therapist preference of the two instructional methods). All participants mastered tasks more efficiently with the MOP and displayed lower rates of problem behavior with the MOP. The majority of participants demonstrated preference for the MOP. Factors influencing participant preference will be discussed. Social validity of incorporating participant and therapist instructional preferences will also be discussed. This study provides evidence of an effective alternative when physical guidance is contraindicated that may provide a safer and socially valid way to teach chained tasks.

As a social species, interactions between individuals are a fundamental aspect of human life. In fact, given how ubiquitous group contingencies are in social settings, they may be greater determinants of behavior in such contexts than contingencies for individual subjects. Thus, an understanding of the antecedents and consequences that govern social interaction is necessary for a comprehensive experimental analysis of human behavior. However, in comparison to the large body of research assessing behavior of individual subjects, relatively less attention has been directed to the experimental analysis of interactions between two or more organisms. For instance, little is known about how selectively reinforcing either coordinated responses (cooperation) or only the first response to meet a given criterion (competition) influences patterns of responding. Furthermore, it is unknown if social stimuli themselves may function as reinforcers. Thus, the four talks in this symposium will explore ways in which social stimuli influence behavior. These will include an assessment of coordinated responding in rats under both fixed-interval (FI) and variable-interval (VI) schedules, an investigation of human coordinated responding under concurrent VI schedules, an analysis of competition under concurrent fixed-ratio (FR) schedules, and an exploration of whether visual-social stimuli can function as reinforcers.

Coordinated responding of two or more organisms can be considered a unit when its consequences change the frequency of its occurrences. Two experiments evaluated coordination under reinforcement schedules. Coordinated responding was defined as lever presses by each rat that occurred within short time interval of one another. Seven dyads of rats served in two experiments. Experiment 1 investigated the effects of Fixed Ratio (FR) schedules on coordinated responding in two groups with increasing FR requirements. In Group 1, dyads of rats worked on adjoining chambers; in Group2, dyads worked on separated chambers. Coordinated responses produced reinforcers to both rats simultaneously (simultaneous reinforcement) in Group 1. In Group 2, each rat had access to reinforcers independently (individual reinforcement) depending on their individual responding. In Experiment 2, dyads worked on adjoining chambers under Fixed and Variable Interval schedules of individual and simultaneous reinforcement. Requirement for defining coordinated responding that produced simultaneous reinforcement were also changed (200, 500, 800milliseconds). Both experiments showed that "pseudo" coordinated responding of the pairs in the individual reinforcement schedules depended on the individual rats’ overall rates, while coordinated responding changed as a unit in the simultaneous reinforcement schedules, assessed by systematic increase in the proportion of coordinated responding.

For over 40 years, concurrent schedules of reinforcement have been used as a procedure to study choice. However, only a few studies have investigated choice when the response unit is the coordinated responses of two or more organisms. In this presentation, we will describe the results of two experiments where pairs of human participants coordinated their responses on concurrent variable-interval (conc VI VI) schedules. In the experiments, each member moved a playing piece, meeting on two corners of the computer screen. Meetings were defined as a coordinated response. In Experiment 1, coordinated responses of three pairs were sensitive to changes in rates of reinforcements and social control. The fourth pair showed control of each other responses, but coordinated responses were insensitive to changes in reinforcement rates. In a follow-up study (Experiment 2), we are further examining the role of social control and leader-follower interactions on the distribution of coordinated responses. We are investigating whether the response of a member is biased by the response distribution of his/her partner. In experiment 2, participants are allowed to choose different corners at a time. We then discuss which variables to consider when describing choices where social control and coordination are required.

Competition describes the behavior of organisms working in opposition for access to reinforcers. Laboratory assessments of competition generally have delivered reinforcers to organisms that respond faster than their opponents. Little attention has been directed to how the competition contingency influences behavior. Thus, the purpose of the present experiment was to compare behavior resulting from selectively reinforcing a sequence of responses that was either faster or slower than that of an opponent. Eight male White Carneau pigeons were subjected to a fixed-ratio (FR) 30 schedule of reinforcement. After stable baselines were established, pairs of subjects were exposed to competitive FR 30 schedules with 30 trials per session. Only the subject that first completed the FR earned reinforcement. Once stability was attained, or earlier following a decline in performance, an adjusting handicap was added. Faster or slower completion of the FR respectively increased or decreased the ratio requirement on the next trial. Subsequently the contingency was reversed so that slower completion of the FR was reinforced while faster completion was not. Preliminary results suggest that response rates increased upon introduction of the rapid competition contingency, and further increased with the FR handicap. No systematic changes in post-reinforcement pause durations have been observed.