Association for Behavior Analysis International

The annual ABAI business meeting features the leadership of the association giving an update about ongoing activities and major developments in the association. Attendees will learn from ABAI’s president the directions of the ABAI Council and from ABAI's CEO the status of finances and administration. Attendees also will hear from board coordinators including science, education, practice, program, membership, affiliated chapters, and publications.

Three plaintiffs in Miami, FL, who had children with autism, challenged a ruling by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) that applied behavior analysis (ABA) was "experimental" and AHCA refused to fund behavioral treatment. The case was taken by a team of attorneys for Florida Legal Services, and the presenter was contacted to serve as an expert witness and testified in this federal case. The witness critiqued the state's method of reviewing the plaintiffs' request for treatment, and AHCA's documents and presented the case for ABA as a proven, evidence-based method of treatment. The presenter will describe the "evidence" that was used against ABA and the scientific data that was presented to the federal judge in rebuttal. The blow-by-blow account of the case will be presented in detail including a description of the misrepresentations of our field and the role that the journal peer-review process and meta analysis played in the final judgment in the case.

Veterans and active duty military personnel both deal with issues involving their time at war. While basic training does a masterful job at applying behavioral principles during training, this training has to do solely with readiness for following orders, a potential combat experience, giving orders, and other similar behaviors. Not covered is the myriad of behaviors and emotions that a soldier experiences when confronted with a difficult situation. Indeed, in any of the service branches, there are punishing consequences for not performing well, losing one's discipline, and for making errors. This paper presents some established practices from recent programs at military facilities. These practices assist military personnel in dealing with severe personal problems that arise during their service and may continue throughout their time in service, and after discharge or retirement. Behavior analysis has alternatives to offer that can assist the military in potentially decreasing the number of personnel needing extensive and continued behavioral health assistance.

The year 2007 was the first time in history that the Department of Defense (DOD) published a policy authorizing reimbursement for board certified behavior analysts (BCBAs). This is known as the Extended Care Health Option (ECHO) Program, which offers insurance coverage of applied behavior analysis (ABA) for children of active duty members who are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Considering that there were 10,727 enrollees in ECHO in 2008 and the total enrollment in Department of Veteran Affairs (DVA) and DOD exceeds 18 million beneficiaries, BCBAs are currently treating .059% of the military/veteran population through official and reimbursable means – and this only includes qualifying beneficiaries diagnosed with ASD. Yet the prevalence of depression, chronic pain, insomnia, suicide, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) match and in some cases exceeds civilian rates. Moreover, there is a myriad of empirical evidence supporting the treatment of these conditions with ABA and ABA-informed therapies. There is more that BCBAs can do to serve those who have served. This paper suggests explicit ways that BCBAs can reach the military veteran population to provide funded or pro bono ABA services.

In the last decade behavior analysts have renewed their activities and interest in regard to the world's greatest problems. Skinner asked the question "Why are we not acting to save the world?" Underlying all of the world's greatest problems is the behavior of individuals and the cultural practices of its societies. Recent presentations at ABA have suggested that something could be done about these problems and that the science of behavior has a role in solving them. We cannot collectively wait for government to fix these problems nor for our discipline's scientists to discover final answers. We must choose to act or not to act based on our existing science, experimentally applying what we already know. Behavior analysts are not alone in our concerns nor are we the only group currently acting or wishing to act to solve the world's greatest problems (including global warming, environmental degradation, unsustainable cultural practices, collective and structural violence, and failing economic systems). The panel will focus on ways that behavior analysts can work cooperatively with others outside of our own field, initiating a discussion of the potential for establishing active working groups within ABAI and supporting others outside.

For years acute and post acute brain injury rehabilitation teams have worked to integrate programming efforts across disciplines, overcome issues associated with problem behaviors and demonstrate the efficacy of programming efforts. However, until recently integration of behavior analytic concepts and principles uniquely suited towards these same goals has been misunderstood, underutilized or simply excluded. This presentation will review the current practices in the field of brain injury rehabilitation, propose how behavior analysts can play an integral role and provide tips for how to avoid the pitfalls of working in a field ripe with mentalistic views and meditational theories.

In ABI rehabilitation settings, behavior analysts often work as collaborative members of multidisciplinary teams with medical staff, counselors, and physical, occupational, and speech therapy professionals who may lack necessary skills related to integration of ABA principles and ability to implement behavior programs effectively. For successful behavior program implementation as part of the rehabilitation process, behavior analysts must ensure adequate training in the principles of ABA for all team members. Are colleges, universities, internship programs and facility training programs providing the knowledge necessary to develop staff with effective behavior intervention skills? Are the appropriate behavior intervention skills considered core competencies for therapeutic staff facing the behavior challenges in brain injury rehabilitation? This presentation will explore the course criteria required for obtaining degrees in allied health professions that commonly treat the brain-injured population and will examine to what extent ABA coursework is integrated into core competencies. Elective training options will be outlined that may prove valuable in developing staff skills in behavior analysis. The more comfortable, skilled and effective staff are at implementing behavior programs, the more efficient and successful team treatment programs will be. The potential impact on lives of more 1.5 million people in the U.S. that suffer a traumatic brain injury each year is discussed.

Three prominent women in applied behavior analysis will discuss their experiences in the field. Dr. Cathleen Piazza (University of Nebraska Medical Center and Munroe-Meyer Institute), Dr. Jennifer McComas (University of Minnesota), and Dr. Stephanie Peterson (Western Michigan University) also will answer questions from the audience.

Psychotropic medications are widely prescribed to address problem behaviors emitted by people with developmental disabilities and mental illness. The efficacy of a particular psychotropic medication is most often established using randomized placebo controlled studies, subjective rating scales, and inferential statistics. In contrast, behavior analysts typically employ single-subject designs, direct measurements of behavior (e.g. frequency), and visual inspection of graphed data to describe the effects of an independent variable. Here, the most common dependent variables such as the Aberrant Behavior Checklist Irritability Subscale, Clinical Global Impression Improvement Scale, among other dependent variables are first described and explained. Second, a literature review examining the efficacy of many agents on behaviors associated with autism and other developmental disorders is presented. Finally, the efficacy of various drugs on behaviors commonly associated with conduct and mood disorders is presented.

There is growing evidence that psychotropic medication has serious health-related side effects, especially when used over a long period. Furthermore, when the relevant behavioral dependent variables are measured comprehensively and accurately, it becomes evident that medication efficacy is often questionable. At the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center (JRC), newly admitted JRC students often arrive with prescriptions for psychotropic medications such as antipsychotics and mood stabilizers. In many cases, the student was prescribed such medication for several years prior to JRC admission. At JRC, incoming students with prescriptions for psychotropics are assessed by a treatment team that includes Psychiatry, Behavior Analysis, Nursing and Case Management. Based upon careful assessment, including comprehensive, round-the-clock behavior frequency data that are collected at JRC, a medication taper is often accomplished successfully by the multi-disciplinary treatment team. This paper will present standard celeration behavior frequency charts that display student behavioral performance results when their psychotropic medications were tapered and discontinued within JRCs highly structured behavioral treatment and educational program. Information will also be presented on the health benefits that JRCs students enjoyed upon becoming free of psychotropic medications serious health-related side effects.

A standardized level system that has proven to be particularly effective with adolescents with a range of behavior problems is described. Ten levels are summarized; each of which was associated with a certain set of reinforcers, privileges, and safety requirements. Students were initially assigned to a level that allowed them to access a wide range of reinforcers, activities, and privileges. By showing appropriate behaviors, students were able to advance to higher levels. When students displayed aggression or other inappropriate behaviors, students were dropped to lower levels. Students who were dropped to the beginning levels were required to comply with demands and refrain from all inappropriate behaviors. By demonstrating self-management skills, compliance with requests, and absence of problem behaviors, students were able to reach the highest levels. Data describing problem behavior frequency, physical restraint frequency, regression probability, and other dependent variables will be presented. In addition, we describe concurrent academic improvements.

The Graduate Record Examination (GRE) presents a significant challenge for many students wishing to attend graduate school in psychology or behavior analysis. Most students report marked anxiety associated with the GRE, the avoidance of which can make adequate preparation nearly impossible. Thus, GRE scores are likely to reflect not only a students skill on the tasks assessed, but also his or her psychology flexibility with GRE-related anxiety. Emerging research suggests that brief interventions can impact psychological flexibility in a way that decreases avoidance and increases engagement in The current study examined the impact of flexibility or suppression-based inductions on GRE practice engagement and performance. Participants were undergraduate and graduate student volunteers with substantial goals for GRE improvement. Participants were exposed to brief induction training either flexibility with or suppression of anxiety, and provided free access to independent GRE practice. Preliminary data suggest increased engagement in GRE practice following flexibility-based training. Implications for the dissemination of brief, effective interventions to address GRE-related stress and anxiety will be discussed.

College students are in a transitional part of their lives, building a sense of self, developing their values, and forging a path toward those values. For many college students, it may be easier to choose avoidance rather than being present to ease the stress. This may be especially true when faced with presenting in front of an audience. Presenters who are present can better interact with their audience and disseminate information. In the same way, students or audience members who are present can have more enriching experiences. Clear behavioral signs indicating that someone is present, whether they are fully aware of their immediate surroundings, have not yet been substantiated. The ability to interpret whether a person is present is the first step to the development of techniques that could improve present moment behaviors. This paper examines whether it is possible to determine if someone is present by comparing self-measurements and audience interpretations of presenters. Implications of identifying present moment behaviors and future directions will be discussed.

Applied Behavior Analysis has made major contributions in the area of traffic safety. The first presentation in this symposium examines a low cost option that can increase the safety of pedestrians crossing the road in marked crosswalks. The second and third presentation examine in vehicle solutions designed to increase the seat belt use of drivers. If implemented across vehicle fleets these interventions could save many lives.

On multi-lane roads with two lanes in each direction, the In-street sign typically is placed on the lane line separating the two travel lanes in each direction. Currently, the MUTCD states that the signs should only be placed in the roadway and its typical placement is at the centerline or on a median island. The purpose of the first study is to compare the effects of using one State Law Yield to Pedestrians in Crosswalk (MUTCD sign type R1-6) sign placed between the two lanes in the same direction and placing them between the two lanes in each direction plus additional signs on the right and left side of the road at each approach (a Gateway treatment). The Gateway treatment was studied to determine if three signs are more effective than only placing the signs between the lanes traveling in each direction. The Gateway treatment was evaluated at two multilane sites using a reversal design. Yielding at the first site averaged 25% during the baseline condition when no signs were present, 57% with one In-street sign present, and 79% with the Gateway treatment. Yielding at the second site during the baseline condition when no signs were present 26% of drivers yielded to pedestrians. Yielding increased to 57% during the one sign condition and to 82% during the Gateway condition. The results of this experiment demonstrated that a Gateway treatment of the In-street signs produced a high level of yielding similar to those produced by more expensive traffic control devices. In a second experiment the gateway treatment alone was compared to two more costly treatments at 2 additional. The Gateway treatment was then compared with the Pedestrian Hybrid Beacon (PHB) and the Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon (RRFB) at three additional sites. The Gateway treatment was as effective as the PHB and the combination of the Gateway treatment and the PHB produced even better results than either system alone. Similar results were found with the RRFB. One reason why the Gateway treatment was so effective may have been the perceived narrowing of the road produced by adding signs in the gutter pan area. Furthermore, three signs likely are more visible than one sign particularly if vehicles ahead of a motorist approaching the crossing screen one or more of the signs.

This study evaluated a device that applied a yieldable but sustained increase in accelerator pedal back force whenever unbuckled drivers exceeded a preset speed criterion without buckling their seat belt. This force was removed once the seat belt was fastened. The increased force was sufficient to set up an establishing operation to reinforce seat belt buckling behavior. Participants were 20 young drivers that operated a 2002 Ford Taurus for a period of two weeks each. During baseline no contingency was in place for unbuckled trips. The yieldable pedal resistance was introduced implementing a time series design. Each driver would drive the vehicle for three to seven days in baseline. If the potential participant had one or more trips in which the seatbelt was not used the driver would be moved into the intervention phase. The introduction of the treatment was associated with an immediate sustained increase in seatbelt use to near 100%. The only exception was two of the 20 drivers had a single unbuckled trip under two minutes in duration Occasionally drivers would initially failed to buckle during a trip and encounter the force. In all instances, except for the two previously mentioned, they would buckle within less than 20 s of the force being applied. Drivers who buckled within 20 s reaching the target speed were recorded as buckled in all phases of the study. One advantage of this device is that drivers do not need to buckle while operating the vehicle in reverse, moving in a parking lot or any movement under 20 MPH.

Previous research indicated that a short seat belt shift interlock of 8 seconds increased seat belt use (from 48% to 67%) but failed to achieve 100% belt use seat belt use. The purpose of the current experiment was to examine whether a longer delay (2 minutes) that approximated a complete seat belt shift interlock could lead to near 100% seat belt use. A large corporate fleet of 146 vehicles agreed to participate in this study. After obtaining a baseline measure of seat belt the interlock was activated according to a multiple baseline across sub fleet design. Fifteen of the drivers tampered with the system and were not included in the before and after data analysis leaving 131 drivers. The introduction of the interlock led to a significant increase in seat belt use from 81% to 96% in these drivers. Drivers buckled their seat belt on average 32% of the time in response to the interlock. One reason for the less than 100% use rate was that nothing prevented drivers from removing their seat belts after engaging the transmission. Drivers removed their belts during a small proportion of trips. To provide feedback about their experiences with the system, drivers completed an eight-item trust and acceptance instrument at the end of the first week, first month, and third month of interlock activation. Contrary to expectations of increased trust and acceptance, drivers ratings of acceptability did not change over the treatment period. Correlations between baseline seat belt use and trust and acceptance ratings indicated no significant relationship between seat belt use and ratings.

Parents who select home based applied behavior analysis (ABA) services do not always elect to have those services delivered at the level of intensity suggested by the best practice literature. The reasoning behind the selection of an evidence based model followed by the choice to implement it at less than the recommended intensity level is unclear. In an effort to determine if parent expectations of outcome may be a variable that impacts choice of service intensity, a survey of parent expectations of their childs outcome was conducted. These data were then correlated with the level of services their child received. Specifically, this study evaluated parent expectations of child outcomes in specific core deficit areas for children with autism (e.g. communication, social skills, and play skills) and treatment intensity. Findings suggest that parents who chose a lower intensity treatment model reported more often that their child made better than expected progress in the areas of communication and play skills. An item analysis demonstrates that the areas with the highest expected progress were in the categories of functional communication, functional and independent play, and overall social skills.

Training and support procedures for parents of children with ASD who engage in problem behavior at home and in the community often take the form of developing behavioral intervention plans and then training the parents to implement those procedures. This is often a time consuming activity that produces limited outcomes. While a number of studies have shown the parents can acquire the target skills to reduce their childrens problem behavior (Breiner & Beck, 1984; Shore, Iwata, Vollmer, Lerman, & Zarcone, 1995; Kuhn, Lerman, & Vorndran, 2003), little evidence exists to suggest that acquisition of the specific responses in the behavior plan lead to generalized parent ability to correctly respond to other behavior problems of similar function in a broad range of settings. The purpose of this study was to build a repertoire of discrimination and responding across a range of response topographies (correct and incorrect responses and appropriate and inappropriate behavior) in the context of discrete trial teaching (DTT). This was done in an effort to determine if correct demonstration of this repertoire would result in a more generalized parent ability to respond correctly to a broad range of behavioral topographies outside of DTT sessions.

Federal and state mandates require a Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) be completed within the school if a child meets specific criteria. A review of FBAs from various schools across Minnesota commonly show the function of the childs behavior to be control, power, or justice/revenge. It is widely documented within the research that there are four functions of behavior, yet none of the above is one of them. The effectiveness of FBAs is also widely documented within the research, yet behavior analysts are not commonly conducting the required FBAs. Ironically, the State of Minnesota has a rich history in the foundations and advances of Applied Behavior Analysis. Whats happening? And, how can we fix it? As a Board Certified Behavior Analyst, we are bound by the BACB Guidelines for Responsible Conduct including, but not limited to, refraining from misusing assessment techniques, interventions, results, and interpretations and take reasonable steps to prevent others from misusing the information the techniques provide; avoiding the promotion of the use of behavioral assessment techniques by unqualified persons; take responsibility to support the values of the field, to disseminate knowledge to the public, to be familiar with these guidelines, and to discourage misrepresentation by non-certified individuals.

Since Response Interruption and Redirection (RIRD) was described in 2007 by Ahearn and colleagues, several studies have validated its effectiveness as a treatment for the reduction of stereotypy maintained by automatic reinforcement in children with autism. Our purpose is to provide a systematic review of the recent literature, examining the varied modifications that have developed. We will then describe two practical extensions of this procedure. First, we will illustrate an assessment designed to identify types of responding within the procedure that may increase its efficacy. Second, we will investigate procedures aimed at transferring stimulus control from the treatment setting to generalization settings.

Response interruption and redirection (RIRD) has been shown to be effective in reducing vocal and motor stereotypy maintained by automatic reinforcement. The standard procedure involves requiring the participant to complete three demands contingent on the occurrence of stereotypy. Although effective, one commonly reported limitation of this procedure is that it can be time-consuming. Further, implementing RIRD interrupts the participants access to reinforcement and learning opportunities. The present study attempted to address these limitations by comparing the effectiveness of RIRD when the standard three demands are used and when only one demand is used.

Response interruption and redirection (RIRD) is now a commonly used intervention for stereotypic behavior. Though the evidence of the efficacy of this procedure is somewhat well established, there are aspects of this intervention technique that may greatly influence its effectiveness. This paper will present analyses of some of the variables other than the decrease in stereotypy. One such variable is the time spent in treatment relative to overall session time. A study comparing RIRD and enriching the environment will be used to examine time spent in treatment, time spent engaging in alternative activities, and compliance with directives. A brief examination of transfer of treatment gains will also be examined as will methods of data analysis.

The functional assessment of problem behaviors exhibited by individuals with developmental disabilities is considered the gold standard for the treatment of these challenging behaviors. Almost 30 years of research has demonstrated that treatments based on behavioral function tend to be more effective than those that are not. This has led to the wide-scale adoption of functional assessments among individuals with developmental disabilities. Research over the years has led to the methodological refinements, improved accuracy, and extensions to novel populations and behaviors. This symposium will include four papers that focus on methodological refinements and extensions. The first three papers examine variations of the functional assessment methodology to novel populations (i.e., older adults) and novel behaviors (i.e., anxiety and bizarre vocalizations). The final paper examines the continual refinement of functional analysis to simplify procedures. The papers in this symposium demonstrate the utility of functional assessment technology for the assessment (and eventual treatment) of challenging behaviors.

Consequences have generally proven to have the most predictive power in identifying the environmental events that influence problem behaviors. However, all of the essential literature that has drawn this conclusion has been conducted with young, non-demented populations. Behavioral gerontologists have suggested that antecedent events are more influential in the maintenance of problem behavior, but no empirical literature exists to validate this claim. We conducted a series of assessments a functional analysis, an antecedent analysis, and a modified functional analysis to determine the differential effects of common antecedents and consequences that can influence the occurrence of bizarre speech in three women with moderate to severe dementia. Results consistently revealed that antecedents were more effective as predictors of bizarre speech than consequences. Findings from this study provide preliminary data that there may be a shift in sensitivity to environmental events that is inherent in the progression of dementia. Moreover, these findings provide evidence that behavioral assessments may need to be modified to better capture the relevant environmental variables that influence problem behavior in a population that is in desperate need of behavior analytic services.

Approximately 3.8 million people in the United States suffer from dementia. Some of these individuals engage in problematic behaviors such as elopement, aggression, and inappropriate vocalizations (e.g., screaming, perseverative or noncontextual speech). Attempts at utilizing functional analysis methodology to determine the relevant environmental contingencies that may be evoking and / or maintaining inappropriate vocalizations in this population have produced mixed results. One reason for this may be that researchers have not manipulated the relevant contingencies or delivered consequences that were qualitatively similar to those typically delivered in the individuals natural environment. Because the antecedents and consequences for inappropriate vocalizations emitted by individuals with dementia may be different from the events correlated with problem behavior for other populations (e.g., individuals with developmental disabilities), the purpose of this study was to observe staff members at a local senior day care facility to determine environmental events that were correlated with inappropriate vocalizations. Results indicated that events correlated with problem behavior for this population were similar to those found for other populations (e.g., attention); however, some events were qualitatively different (e.g., statements of acknowledgement were common, but reprimands were never observed).

There has been speculation in both research and clinical practice that many children with autism (CWA) experience anxiety (e.g., Kanner, 1943; White et al., 2009). One of the core features of autism, repetitive and ritualistic behavior (RRB), is often associated with anxiety (Rodgers et al., 2012). In the typically developing population, private events such as anxiety are usually detected through verbal report (Skinner, 1945). However, due to communicative deficits it is often difficult to measure anxiety in CWA. The purpose of this study was to develop a method of assessing anxiety in CWA. The Repetitive Behavior Scale-Revised was administered for a group of CWA to identify those with high rates of RRB. Interviews and descriptive assessments were then completed to gather more information about RRB and whether the participants seemed anxious. Participants identified as anxious, who also exhibited high rates of RRB underwent an anxiety test. During the test, each child was exposed to three stimuli (an appetitive, neutral, and anxiety-provoking item) in a multi-element design, while measuring heart rate, RRB, and caregiver and neutral observer rating of mood. Results were variable across participants, with at least one participant exhibiting RRB that appears to be an index of anxiety.

The utility of functional analysis methodology in identifying variables that maintain problem behavior has been well established, and numerous procedural variations have been developed. One involves the use of latency to the onset of problem behavior rather than traditional measures based on response repetition (e.g., response rate) as the dependent variable. Thomason-Sassi, Iwata, Neidert, and Roscoe (2011) compared outcomes of 38 functional analyses when data were graphed as response latency vs. rate and found correspondence in 87% of cases; however, they did not examine correspondence based on function nor did they compare assessment durations. We extended the research conducted by Thomason-Sassi et al. by examining 62 sets of functional analysis data, which were graphed as both response latency and response rate or percent of intervals with responding, and observed correspondence in 91.9% of cases (see example). All cases of correspondence showed some savings in time when latency was used as the dependent variable. These results suggest that assessing response latency may be a viable method for improving the efficiency of a functional analysis.

Token economies are frequently used in the instruction of learners with autism. Tokens are previously neutral stimuli that, once paired with established reinforcers, take on conditioned reinforcing properties. However, it is possible that tokens are not established as reinforcers during initial token training, and as such, do not take on a reinforcing value. This protocol was developed to identify the reinforcing value of tokens as compared to primary reinforcement and to determine whether tokens serve as effective reinforcers in skill acquisition programs. To date, two learners with autism have been selected for inclusion in the current study. A reinforcer assessment was conducted with each learner to determine the reinforcing value of tokens used in the students previously established token economy system, as compared to primary reinforcement and tokens with no history of paired reinforcement. Results varied across participants: Established tokens were inconsistently motivating for the Student 1, but appeared as reinforcing as primary reinforcement for Student 2. Follow-up acquisition tasks for both students again resulted in differential effects, with Student 1 demonstrating better acquisition with primary reinforcement than with her token system and Student 2 demonstrating equal rates of acquisition in each condition. Implications of the results will be discussed.

Preference assessments (PA) identify potential reinforcers, but predictions are made under low response requirements that do not guarantee the utility of the stimulus in treatment. We sought to determine if PA rank predicts whether a stimulus will compete with escape for nine children with escape-maintained problem behavior by examining the relation between PA rank and demand elasticity across five fixed-ratio (FR) values using academic tasks. During the demand elasticity analysis (DEA), participants chose between working for one of four preferred foods and taking a break (no work, but no food). The FR requirement for the food increased within session (FR1, FR2, FR5, FR10, FR20). Foods obtained a rank based on how often participants selected them against break at each FR value and we examined the correspondence of these rankings with the PA rankings. Three patterns were observed: 1) all stimuli effective at all values; 2) most stimuli effective at lower FR values; higher rank stimuli more effective at higher values; 3) mixed correspondence. Correlations between PA and DEA ranks were, in aggregate, positive and moderate but tended to improve as the FR values increased, suggesting that increases in effort may magnify small differences in preference.

Few applied studies have examined the complementary nature of reinforcers and how such relations may influence behavior. This research evaluates a method for identifying complementary and substitutable stimuli. In the first study, a reinforcer assessment in which two edibles were available concurrently was conducted with five typically developing children. Unit price was manipulated across sessions for one of the two edibles. Stimulus relationships were identified as substitutable, independent, or complementary when resulting demand curves were analyzed. Next, a modified multiple stimulus with replacement preference assessment was conducted to determine whether subjects would consume the two edibles simultaneously. In the second study, the competing stimulus assessments of 19 individuals were examined to identify cases when problem behavior increased in the presence of particular activities (possibly suggesting a complementary relation). Results of the reinforcer assessments were idiosyncratic across subjects; however for most individuals problem behavior increased in the presence of at least one activity. Results are discussed in terms of (a) advantages and disadvantages of the methodology for efficient identification and demonstration of complementary and substitutable stimuli, and (b) implications of complementary and substitutable stimuli for use in designing interventions for problem behavior.

The science of behavior analysis has been applied to a myriad of human behaviors, including those of a sexual nature. The purpose of this presentation is to explore several research strategies for analyzing sexual behavior, including daily tracking through online surveys and an analysis of delay discounting. This symposium also includes a description of the discoveries and challenges involved in a graduate-level sexual behavior course for behavior analysis students. Presenters will discuss resulting data and their implications, as well as directions for future research, instruction, and applied projects.

An elective course was offered to MA Applied Behavior Analysis students at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. This course informed students about the behavior-analytic principles and processes that relate directly to human sexual behaviors, as well as to their study and treatment. Sex research is often indirect and based on moral assumptions; behavior analysts should have the opportunity for exposure to methods that can address these limitations. The course was intended to equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary to conduct sex research and applied interventions themselves, both ethically and effectively, as well as provide information about other available resources. Topics included sex education of clients, the politics of sexual decision-making, ethical and legal issues, and the spectrum of gender- and sexual-identity. This course served as a pilot study for future STEP SIG training modules that will be offered to established behavior analysts.

Cumulative records reveal regularities in free operant responding that cannot be expressed with simple response rates. We may call these regularities, which include the complex distribution of times between behavioral events, the microstructure of responding . Under some conditions, the pattern of inter-response intervals suggest a bout-and-pause model of performance, in which subjects respond in bouts interspersed with periods away from operandum. Advances in analytic techniques have allowed us to quantify the different dimensions of the response-bout across multiple species and schedules of reinforcement. In this symposium, we present several experimental techniques and quantitative tools useful in the study of the response-bouts, and we demonstrate how they reveal patterns undetectable with coarser analyses . We discuss the conditions under which bout-like responding occurs, and present alternative analyses for when it does not. To the extent that response-bout analyses are applicable, we discuss some of the conceptual implications of the response-bout, including their relation to functional units of behavior, the behavioral processes responsible for response emission, and other nuances of schedule controlled behavior.

Bout-and-pause-like clustering of events is observed across many systems, from shark attacks to email checking to free-operant responding. The microstructure of operant bouts reveals a wide range of dependent measures, each sensitive to distinct experimental manipulations. For example, the distribution of bout lengths may be indicative of an individual's sensitivity to how reinforcement is scheduled, whereas changes in overall bout emission rates have been found to correspond with shifts in motivating operations. Changes in bout structure support inferences about the behavioral processes responsible for treatment effects, and dissociate these effects from others that are typically conflated when only measuring simple overall response rate. To the extent that response bouts constitute functional behavioral units, our understanding of microstructural behavioral processes may be extended to suggest how schedules of reinforcement select for such units. In this talk, we will present new data extending the use of bout-and-pause quantitative modeling toward understanding fundamental behavioral processes, and discuss its implications for an account of schedule control.

Across species, much behavior occurs as bouts of responding separated by periods of disengagement during which an organism may engage in alternative behaviors. The analysis of inter-event time (IET) distributions has been widely used to estimate bout properties. According to conventional response-bout models, behavior is generated by a stationary Poisson process with a constant bout-termination probability, resulting in bi-exponentially distributed IETs and exponentially distributed bout lengths. These assumptions are unreasonable for behavior in transition, as well as for behavior influenced by muscle fatigue, habituation, or satiation. As an alternative to traditional methods, we propose a novel approach that uses a change-point (CP) detection algorithm to partition a cumulative record into activity epochs directly. The CP approach preserves information about the temporal sequence of events, making possible the analysis of changes in response-bout properties within a session. In this talk, we will present data using the CP bout analysis to examine dynamic changes in bout structure, including the initial acquisition of the bout unit and its disintegration during extinction.

Nevin and colleagues introduced behavioral momentum theory in 1983 as a quantitative framework for understanding the response strengthening effects of reinforcers on operant behavior (Nevin, Mandell, & Atak, 1983). Behavioral momentum theory asserts that operant behavior is comprised of two independent processes—response rates and resistance to change—by making the analogy to the independence of velocity and mass in classical physics. With its influential ideas persisting for over three decades, its development has not been resistant to change. Behavioral momentum theory continually has been refined to account for an impressive array of data extending beyond resistance to change, including preference, compliance, the partial reinforcement extinction effect, and, most recently, relapse. This symposium includes three presentations focusing on the application and extension of behavioral momentum theory to resistance to extinction and relapse using reinstatement procedures. The architect and primary developer of behavioral momentum theory, Tony Nevin, will serve as discussant.

Relapse of maladaptive behavior is a common pitfall in a range of clinical and applied problems. Behavior momentum theory is a useful framework for understanding what makes behavior more persistent when it is decreasing. More recent extensions have examined behavioral persistence when behavior is increasing, such as relapse. Our experiment explored how different baseline rates of response-dependent food impact reinstatement of extinguished behavior when reintroducing food into the context. Seven pigeons pecked keys for food on a multiple variable-interval 30-s variable-interval 120-s schedule. After baseline, 6 sessions of extinction was followed by 3 sessions of response-independent food deliveries. This same series of conditions was then repeated. Baseline response rates were higher and extinguished more slowly in the component with the higher rate of food delivery. Response rates recovered to near baseline levels during response-independent food deliveries. The greatest recovery, proportional to baseline rates, occurred in the component with the higher baseline rate of food delivery. These results replicate and extend those showing greater reinstatement with higher baseline rates of food delivery but lower baseline response rates. Baseline reinforcer rate, whether delivered response dependently or response independently, determines not only resistance to change with decreasing operations but also with increasing operations.

According to behavioural momentum theory, resistance to extinction and relapse depend on the relative rates of reinforcement associated with training stimulus contexts. Other studies suggest that relapse with reinstatement depends on the reinstating conditions being arranged within the training stimulus context. In the present two experiments with 17 pigeons, we assessed whether relapse was a function of training reinforcement rates when reinstating food presentations were arranged either within or external to the training contexts. The context arranging higher baseline reinforcement rates consistently produced greater resistance to extinction but reinstatement effects were mediated by the context in which reinstatement occurred. Specifically, training reinforcement rates also were positively related with the degree of reinstatement when the reinstating food was arranged within the training stimulus contexts and in alternative contexts associated with a history of reinforcement. When arranging the reinstating food in alternative contexts associated with extinction, reinstatement effects were smaller and unrelated to training reinforcement rates. These findings suggest that relapse depends on the history of reinforcement associated with the context in which the relapse-inducing event occurs.

Behavioral momentum theory asserts that reinforcing two responses in the same context will mutually increase resistance to extinction and relapse by increasing the overall reinforcement rate within that stimulus context. Indeed, previous findings reveal that relative resistance to extinction between two responses is only differential when trained separately (i.e., multiple schedules), but do not differ when trained concurrently. The present study explores this further by directly comparing relative resistance to extinction and relapse of target responding trained either separately or concurrently with an alternative response. In all 6 pigeons, concurrently training the target and alternative responses produced greater target resistance to extinction and relapse with food reinstatement compared to training the responses separately. Furthermore, when combining the separately trained contexts during extinction, or separating the concurrently trained contexts, resistance to extinction and relapse still reflected the reinforcement rates established in the original training contexts. These data support the assertions of behavioral momentum theory suggesting that the overall reinforcement rate during training is the primary determinant of resistance to extinction and relapse.

When faced with a decision to choose from an extensive number of options, such as retirement alternatives or credit card companies, a limit exists for individuals preference of options which can be modeled using hyperbolic discounting (Reed, Kaplan, & Brewer, 2012). However, it is unknown the extent to which the magnitude of options differentially affects discount rates. Thus, the current study was conducted to determine what role discounting plays in the discounting of differentially sized rewards. In the current study, 151 psychology undergraduates participated by rating their preference for different number of rewards and reward sizes in a standard adjusting amount discounting procedure. Participants rates of delay discounting were also assessed using a similar adjusting amount procedure. Direction in change of rates of delay discounting replicated previous research. However, results indicate a statistically significant increase in rates of options discounting when the magnitude of option sizes increased. Results of the current study suggest that temporal discounting may not be the only process contributing to the discounting of options.

Generally, naturally occurring impulsive choice positively covaries with alcohol consumption among outbred, inbred, and selectively bred rats. However, in Experiment 1 of the present research, experimental reduction of impulsive choice in male Long-Evans rats (via prolonged pre-exposure to reinforcement delay) unexpectedly increased alcohol consumption relative to controls. Experiment 2 (ongoing) is an attempt to quantify the naturally occurring baseline relation between impulsive choice and alcohol consumption in this rat strain (Long-Evans). From an initial sample of naive rats that completed an impulsive-choice screening task, rats with upper- and lower-tertile impulsivity scores (low- and high-impulsive, respectively) were selected for subsequent alcohol testing. Consistent with the unexpected relation observed in Experiment 1, low-impulsive rats appeared to consume more alcohol than high-impulsive rats. This finding suggests that experimental reduction of impulsive choice (as in Experiment 1) produced impulsivity-related differences in alcohol consumption similar to those which occur naturally in this strain. Potential mediators of the effects observed in both experiments (e.g., taste variables) will be discussed, as well as the relevance of the general methodology to clinical drug-use treatment in humans. Additional data to be collected.

Metacontingency is a concept that concerns the unit of selection of cultural things developed by Sigrid Glenn from the 1980s to date. Its defining characteristic is the functional relation between supra-organismic Interlocked Behavioral Contingencies (IBC) and their aggregated product with a selecting event dependent on such a product called Cultural Selecting Consequence (CSC). Studies involving the production, in laboratory, of experimental analogues of metacontingencies began to be conducted only recently and are flourishing. In this symposium it will be presented three different experimental analogs of metacontingecy using laboratory microcultures in which systematic replacement of participants simulates different generations throughout experiments. One study investigated relations between observing behavior and the control of metaconcingency by antecedent environment; the second study evaluated the effect of an uncontrollable cultural event on IBC; the third study used pigeons as subjects to propose an animal model of metacontingencies as a way to control for the effects of verbal behavior over cultural selection.

Experimental analogs are important to refine the concept of metacontingency. Two experiments that comprise an experimental analog of metacontingency were made. Fourteen undergraduate students participated on the first experiment and 13 participated on the second. On both experiments Interlocked Behavioral Contingencies (IBC) were selected by presentation of bonuses contingent on the production of a determined aggregated product in a computer task executed by three participants simultaneously. On the first experiment, after its selection, IBC was put on stimuli control in alternated components of presentation of the cultural selecting consequences and extinction. After stable discriminated occurrence of the IBC an observing procedure was added. Stimuli related to the different outcomes maintained the observing behavior. On the second experiment, after selection of IBC, participants were directly exposed to an analog of the observing response procedure in which discriminated occurrence of IBC have not been achieved. On the second experiment, putative stimuli related to the different outcomes did not maintain observing behavior. Antecedent stimulation to the metacontingency acquired function of conditioned reinforcer to the observing behavior only when it functioned as an analog of discriminative stimuli for metacontingency occurrence.

The study of the uncontrollable cultural events (CE) effects can extend the knowledge about cultural evolution. We evaluated the effect of an uncontrollable CE on interlocking behavioral contingencies (IBC) of laboratory microcultures. The experiment 1 was attended by 30 college students, divided into three microcultures, each with three lineages of participants. The experiment 2 was attended by 23 students, divided into two microcultures. Every twenty cycles, the oldest participant of a microculture was replaced. The task consisted in selecting lines of a matrix. Individual contingent consequences to the choice of odd lines and CE subsequent to aggregate products (AP) were programmed. On experiment 1, the CE was initially presented independently of AP for 60 cycles. It was followed by 30 cycles without the presentation of CE. Then, the return to the first condition was performed. The results indicated operant and IBC selection, and also cultural transmission. Related to experiment 1, the experimental design 2 was different concerning the initial phase, in which the EC was presented contingently to AP. The results indicated that the controllability condition favored the maintenance of cultural practices in further uncontrollable conditions. It suggests that certain cultural practices may be the product of uncontrollable cultural events.

Metacontingency is the functional relation between interlocking behavioral contingencies (IBC), their aggregated product and a selecting event dependent on such a product, called cultural consequence. This study aims to produce an experimental analogue of metacontingency with pigeons. An operant conditioning box split in two chambers by a transparent wall was used. Each chamber contains a feeder and two vertically aligned keys near the wall so that subjects can visualize each other while responding on the keys. Each key on one chamber is aligned to a correspondent key on the other. On each trial, all keys are simultaneously illuminated with red or green lights. Two pigeon were individually trained to produce 3-seconds of food by pecking one key per trial in a 10-s fixed interval, no matter the color presented on the keys (individual contingency). After performances has stabilized, a metacontingency was superimposed to the individual contingency: pigeons can produce additional 6-seconds of food (analogously called cultural consequence) if they coordinately respond at same-height keys on the red lights and at different-height keys on the green lights. This condition will last until coordinated behaviors of pigeons produce the cultural consequence systematically throughout five consecutive sessions. Ongoing results suggest IBC being selected.

Recent empirical and conceptual developments (e.g., Wasserman & Frank, 2005; Urcuioli, 2008) have suggested that the failure to observe derived relational responding in nonhuman subjects may be the result of the procedural factors such as the conditions of training and testing and not other factors that may limit learning simple associative relations. This symposium brings together presentations from four different laboratories investigating the particular role of procedural and other factors in the development of symmetrical relations in two different nonhuman species. First, Swisher and Urcuioli ask whether spatial locations remain a part of the functional stimulus even when associative symmetry has been demonstrated with sample and comparison stimuli appearing in different locations. Next, Velasco and Tomanari ask if simple discrimination training with all stimuli and testing with reinforcement will facilitate the emergence of symmetrical relations using visual stimuli in pigeons. Third, Galizio and Bruce report on a systematic replication of Urcuiolis (2008) procedure using rats as subjects and odors as stimuli. Finally, in a similar vein, Hinnenkamp and Vaidya report on a systematic replication of Urcuiolis (2008) procedure using pigeons as subjects and sounds as stimuli.

Associative symmetry in pigeons emerges after successive matching training even when samples and comparisons appear in different spatial locations. We report evidence that location nevertheless remains part of the functional stimuli under these conditions. Pigeons were trained on hue-form, hue identity, and form identity successive matching with center-key samples and left-key comparisons. On symmetry (form-hue) probe trials during subsequent testing, one group saw the form samples and hue comparisons in the same (center vs. left) locations as in training. A second group saw both samples and comparisons on the center key in testing. Three of the 4 pigeons in the first group showed the predicted symmetry relation; none of the pigeons in the second group did. A second experiment reverses the test conditions for each group. Thus, the functional stimuli in successive matching appear to include their spatial locations as well as their ordinal positions. This assumption combined with the other assumptions of Urcuiolis (2008) theory of stimulus-class formation predict the test conditions under which emergent symmetry will be observed.

Unreinforced probes often disrupt non-human's performance during tests for equivalence-class formation. The present paper presents a novel strategy to assess equivalence relations under reinforcement conditions. The procedure consists of a within-subject sequence of training and testing with reinforcement, and provides, before the equivalence test, a) exemplars of symmetrical responding, and b) all prerequisite discriminations among test samples and comparisons. After pigeons learn two arbitrary-matching tasks (A–B and C–D), they are given a reinforced symmetry test for half of the baseline relations (B1–A1 and D1–C1). To control for the effects of reinforcement during testing, two novel, non-symmetrical matching responses are concurrently reinforced using the other baseline stimuli (D2–A2 and B2–C2). Because novel relations are not inconsistent with the original training, they are incorporated on baseline, thus enabling the assessment of equivalence relations. For instance, the baseline relation A2–B2 along with the novel relation B2–C2 allow for the assessment of A2–C2 transitivity and C2–A2 equivalence. To control for the reinforcement during equivalence testing, two novel relations are comparatively reinforced (A1–C1 | C1–A1). For the subject that already advanced to the symmetry testing, symmetrical relations are been acquired faster than the novel relations throughout repeated test sessions.

Urcuioli (2008) demonstrated that go-no-go matching-to-sample training in pigeons with visual stimuli could result in emergent symmetry or anti-symmetry depending on whether the arbitrary conditional discriminations were concurrently trained with identity or oddity discriminations. These findings were consistent with a theory that posits location as a critical feature of the stimulus. The present study was a systematic replication of Urcuiolis Experiment 3 with rats as subjects using odor stimuli. Training was in an automated olfactometer with 14 rats. Two arbitrary conditional discriminations were trained (A1-B2; C1-D2) along with the relevant identity relations. After more than 50 sessions of training, none of the rats had met criteria for symmetry testing (discrimination ratio < .8 on conditional discriminations). Criterion level performances were frequently obtained for the identity relations, but not for the arbitrary relations, and this difference suggests the possible emergence of generalized identity.

Recent work investigating stimulus equivalence has successfully demonstrated symmetrical responding by pigeons (Frank & Wasserman, 2005, Urcuioli, 2008). The robustness of these results, across different stimuli, procedures, and research groups, however, has yet to be established. Following a unsuccessful systematic replication of Urcuioli (2008), in which pigeons failed to respond in accordance with the experimenter defined conditional discriminations, we began to suspect issues related to the discriminability of our visual stimuli. As a result, our laboratory began investigating methods to use auditory stimuli in go/no-go procedures. Our results suggest that acquisition of auditory conditional discriminations was quicker than visual conditional discriminations in a Go, No-Go procedure. These results set the stage for a robust test of Urcuioli's (2008) theory about stimulus class formation. Systematic manipulations to the Urcuioli (2008) procedure, which were implemented in an attempt to drive conditional discrimination acquisition, will also be discussed.

This symposium will include four presentations that blend various educational behavioral technologies, chiefly Precision Teaching and performance analysis, to improve written composition and other language arts skills for both middle schoolers and professional behavior analysts. Three teachers from Morningside Academy, a laboratory school for struggling general education learners, and a behavior analyst who teaches writing in an online program for graduate students at the University of North Texas and other current professional behavior analysts will participate. The first presentation by Mike Wolfson integrates eight research based instructional programs plus Precision Teaching technology to enhance content learning in middle schoolers. The second presentation by Shiloh Isbell describes an empirically based Precision Teaching approach to improving evaluation of the quality of student essays and compositions. The third presentation, by Adam Stretz and Marianne Delgado describes a performance analysis and Precision Teaching technology for teaching the component skills related to inquiry and Project Based Learning. The fourth presentation by Marilyn Gilbert describes her online course to teach graduate students and other professional behavior analysts how to write effective articles in our field.

Students traditionally struggle to make sense of content-area textbooks, as well as to meet state and national grade level writing standards across multiple genres. Providing students with a large repertoire of component skills and starting with accessible content-level texts will better prepare students prepared for the transition from middle to high school. At Morningside Academy, we use a wide range of technologies and curricula in order to fulfill these goals. For the 2012-2013 school year, we have assembled a synthesis of the following curricula: REWARDS Plus: Social Studies, Word Workout, Mastering Reading Through Reasoning, Fluent Thinking Skills, Reading Success, precision teaching of vocabulary and transcription, Master Key, Reading Mastery Signature Edition: Language Arts, and Morningside Persuasive Writing. Data from tool skill charts and from composition rubrics will be shown, as the attached chart illustrates, in order to demonstrate assessment methods, interventions, and student progress. Our students deal with a large variety of learning disabilities and other learning barriers, including Attention Deficit/Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, cognitive processing problems, motor skill limitations, confidence problems, or have otherwise not been successful in traditional academic settings.

Students written composition is extremely difficult to measure in a standardized way, taking behavior analytic principles into account. Sliding scale, subjective rubrics do not provide behaviors that can be easily quantified, counted, or meaningfully analyzed. Last year, the writing rubric for our composition program, Morningside Persuasive Writing was analyzed and reconfigured to measure student essay composition performance with the Standard Celeration Chart and Precision Teaching methodology. This year, we are extending this study by applying our findings to other genres, principally expository writing. As a basis, we will be using rubrics from SRAs High Performance Writing program, which are far less explicit and have far fewer component practice opportunities than Morningside Persuasive Writing provides. Chart data, as illustrated in the attached chart, plus rubric data, and work samples will be presented, and program implementation strategies will be discussed. By counting behaviors, we can better measure program progress than by applying rubrics alone to analyze student compositions. In this way, comparisons between students and across classes are more meaningful.

We will discuss how project-based learning can bridge the gap between traditional precision teaching methods and a student-interest driven environment where the student engages with the world critically and creatively. The model uses precision teaching methods to intersect with project-based learning to instruct students in the component skills necessary to be successful in cooperative learning groups. These skills include: grade level decoding skills; solid grammar foundations; all genres of essay writing; home-working and note-taking skills. Supportive instruction includes how to form inquiry teams; create media presentations; and speech and debate, project management and consensus building skills. Meeting these objectives will ensure the generativity of students skills as they are presented with new tasks and goals in their future education. The projects are driven by intellectually stimulating questions that derive from teacher directed areas of living categories, such as transportation, art experience, and health and fitness. Students then choose projects within those areas of living. We will analyze Standard Celeration Charts for faded prompts, time on task during open-ended activities, and pre/post writing samples. This process emulates a precise approach to meeting John Deweys goals of inquiry and active learning to develop thoughtful citizens who can adduce meaning from their projects and apply those skills to new learning situations.

Online at UNT, Writing Solutions for Behavior Analysts attempts to revolutionize writing instruction. Jokes aside, everything about English has utilityor it disappears. These 4 writing solutions are principles gained from a comprehensive functional analysis of the structural patterns and mechanics of the English language: 1. Compose using 3 structural patterns. 2. Control readers attention using rhetorical devices. 3. Control clarity, stress, meaning, and emotional effects with 6 punctuation marks, and use other mechanics to fulfill 6 conventions of print. 4. Read each composition aloud, as an actor reads his script, and revise by matching copy against voice elevations and dips. Data show that application of these 4 solutions produces pronounced improvement in writing skills and, as some students reported, in reading skills as well. Data also provides an empirical process for tryout and revision of instructional programs.

The state of literacy instruction for children who have an intellectual disability has recently received increased attention within education and research. Instructional goals have expanded beyond a focus on only teaching sight words to providing opportunities to acquire all critical components of reading, leading to a greater need for guidance and instructional strategies for educators. Although many reviews of reading research have been conducted, few have outlined specific procedures that could be directly applied in educational settings. Building on what is known about errorless learning strategies and component skills for reading, specific procedures and guidelines for teaching reading to children with ID will be provided in the areas of pre-reading, phonemic awareness, and phonics instruction. Within these three categories, specific teaching guidelines have been outlined that can be used by educators and professionals, including how to overcome possible learning challenges commonly experienced by this population. Finally, the authors conclude by discussing the possible role sub-level skill mastery may play in facilitating success in more comprehensive reading programs that are typically used with at risk readers.

In 3 years, we applied CABAS for 30 preschoolers who did not have the prerequisites to be included in regular education classrooms and measured the impact of the implementation of a scientific model for education on students', parents' and teachers' outcomes. We will discuss 3 different studies comparing the effects of the implementation of a partial-time (12 hours per week) and a full-time (25 hours per week) CABAS package on: a) correct, incorrect and total responses to all program instruction; b) number of instructional objectives achieved by each child and each teacher; c) daily and monthly number of Learn Units to criterion for each child, teacher and for the classroom; d) teachers rate accuracy scores during supervisors observations. The data suggest that our children can successfully learn and expand their repertoires with 12 hours per week of intensive CABAS instruction in a CABAS classroom. We will discuss the significance of these data in terms of advancement of behavior analysis and scientific pedagogy.

CABAS is a system of organizational behavior management in which behavioral tactics are applied to both students and teachers in order to increase learning and performance. In the following three studies, components of the CABAS system were applied to train teachers to use a decision analysis protocol to visually inspect graphed student data, to increase the performance of educators using a rule-governed feedback procedure, and to improve overall student responses to instructional opportunities. The results of these applications and their impact on students in private and public educational settings are discussed.

We conducted two experiments to assess the effectiveness of interventions designed to train front line data collectors to visually inspect graphed student educational data and detect notable patterns that required the immediate attention of the teacher or behavior analyst. We further examined these interventions to determine if the data collectors could more accurately engage in say-do correspondence as a function of the training. Relevance to signal-detection theory and behavioral skills training is discussed.

We tested the effects of providing rule-governed feedback through a systems approach to school supervision. The supervisors initiated scientific tacts and intraverbals in response to students' instructional problems and measured increases in the teachers' use of research based tactics and pedagogical practices. The participants were two teachers of primary grade students with autism, communication disabilities and other health impairments in resource and self-contained settings. The four students who participated were assessed to be functioning two to three years below designated grade levels. The dependent variables were the teachers' use of tacts and intraverbals to support the use of research based tactics, and the responses of the students to instruction pre and post intervention. The independent variables consisted of a treatment package that included strategic questions related to learn unit presentations, the visual display of data and instructional problems. During pre-probes and post-probes the teachers were given neutral feedback to the answers they provided to the supervisors questions. In the intervention phase the teachers were given feedback specific to the instructional problem discussed. Results showed increases in the teachers use of scientific tacts, intraverbals and research based tactics post intervention, as well as increases in students learning across the curriculum measured.

A comprehensive application of behavior analysis collectively termed CABAS (Comprehensive Application of Behavior Analysis to Schooling) was applied to a specialized, publicly funded day school program for children with autism. The CABAS model is an example of a systematic application of behavior analysis to a school setting in which the science of behavior analytic organizational systems are applied to both the education of students and the training of staff and parents. The extension of this model to this setting is described here as it utilizes behavioral principles in schooling applications. The implementation of these components showed that the organizational schooling system improved the quality of science based-teaching, teacher training, parent involvement, and students learning.

Prior research on cooperation in a business environment has primarily relied upon financial consequences to increase or decrease cooperative responding. Furthermore, there is room for a behavioral scientific account of factors such as cultural sensitivity and burnout in terms of organizational buy-in and effective training in organizational settings. The effects of exposure to curricular change and revised curriculum on medical students as well as faculties' academic and professional advancement have only been sparsely documented. This study demonstrates a line of research that has examined the effect of the informed decision making associated with curriculum design based on students' implicit perspectives in the areas of Cultural Sensitivity (CS), Burnout (BO) and Cooperation in a medical school setting. Mixed-Trial Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (MT-IRAP) was used to collect individual and group measures for two groups of medical students. An overview of the procedure, assessment data, and the use of data as a tool for the systematic design of a curriculum in the target medical school setting will be provided. In addition, we will discuss the utility of MT-IRAP as a tool for leadership decision making, management, and training in organizations.

Translational research links laboratory findings to applied research and innovations in practice. Scientific communities are experiencing a renewed emphasis on translational research, as evidenced by recently adopted NIH funding priorities and, within behavior analysis, several recent papers in The Behavior Analyst and a new initiative for translational research in the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (JEAB). Effective translational research often requires a partnership between those that have produced provocative laboratory findings and those that understand the necessities and practicalities of the context to which those findings might be brought to bear. Towards this end, the ABAI Science Board has brought together several prominent basic scientists, ready and willing to discuss findings that are on the cusp of translation or in their translational infancy. Allen Neuringer will address the functionality of reinforced variability. Thomas Zentall will describe an animal model of suboptimal choice analogous to human gambling. Timothy Hackenberg describes recent behavioral economic explorations into the nature of generalized reinforcers in the pigeon. To comment on the sort of innovations that may arise from these topics, F. Charles (Bud) Mace, translational science editor for JEAB and one of our fields most prominent applied/translational researchers will serve as discussant.

Behavior analysts well know that animals and people can learn to repeat a response when reinforcement is contingent upon repetitions of that response. Less widely appreciated is that animals and people also can learn to vary when reinforcement is contingent upon variability. In the first case, the response can readily be predicted; in the latter, prediction may be difficult or impossible. Particular levels of variability or (un)predictability, including approximations to random responding, have been generated through reinforcing feedback, such as under lag, threshold, and statistical-feedback schedules. These studies support the claim that variability is an operant dimension, much like response force, frequency, location, and topography. As with these others, contingencies of reinforcement and discriminative stimuli exert precise control. Reinforced variability imparts functionality in many situations, such as when individuals learn new responses, improve skills, explore new situations, attempt to solve problems, or engage in creative work. Importantly, reinforced variability helps to explain the voluntary nature of operant behavior.

When humans engage in organized gambling, they are generally choosing suboptimally (i.e., losses are almost always greater than gains). We present a model of suboptimal gambling in which animals prefer an occasional signaled high payoff (10 pellets 20% of the time; 2 pellets on average) rather than a reliable alternative with a signal for a lower payoff (3 pellets 100% of the time). This effect appears to result from the strong conditioned reinforcement associated with the stimulus followed by a high payoff. Surprisingly, although experienced four times as much, the stimulus that is never followed by reinforcement does not appear to result in significant conditioned inhibition. Similarly, human gamblers tend to overvalue wins and undervalue losses. We also have found that pigeons gamble less when food is less restricted (rich people gamble less than poor people) and they also gamble less when they have been exposed to an enriched environment rather than being kept in an individual cage (for humans, gambling is said to be a form of entertainment). This animal model should provide a useful analog to human gambling behavior, one that is free from the influence of human culture, language, social reinforcement, and other experiential biases.

From money, gift cards and vouchers to grades, promotions and prizes, generalized reinforcers--reinforcers established via their relationship to two or more sources of reinforcement--abound in everyday life. In addition, generalized reinforcers, in the form of token economies, have been used successfully for years in classroom and clinics. Despite their ubiquity and clinical utility, surprisingly little is known about how generalized reinforcers work--the kinds of experiences needed to establish and maintain them as reinforcers, their relationship to other reinforcers, and so on. This talk will describe some recent laboratory research directed to the topic of generalized reinforcement with pigeons in a miniature, self-contained token economy, using data from studies on cross-price elasticity to illustrate some conditions under which generalized tokens reinforcers come to functionally substitute for other reinforcers. The presentation will discuss the data in relation to economic concepts and consider some implications for translational research.

As behavior analysis continues to grow, it is important to understand where the field is headed. To encourage dialogues on the development of the field, this panel will discuss the history of the field, current research and application trends, and the directions that the panel members feel are most important with the continued evolution of the field.

Experimental analyses of behavior pave the way for concept formation and behavioral theory, which lead to further experimental analyses. This symposium will present three topics from a conceptual perspective, and these three conceptualizations suggest further research to question some fundamental assumptions of our field or of other psychologies. In one presentation, the belief that response rate is the best predictor of response strength will be challenged. In another, the application of functional analysis technology to hoarding by humans will be critiqued, and the best practice of determining the function of behavior before treatment will be questioned. In the third presentation the conditions under which the term mental illness, as opposed to behavior problem, is used will be analyzed, and the implications for the concept of mental illness will be described. The discussion will synthesize and evaluate these conceptualizations in terms of their relevance to behavioral theory and potential for generating valuable lines of research.

The demonstrated effectiveness of applied behavior analysis-based interventions has led to its increasing acceptance by insurance providers, parents, and schools as the "treatment of choice" for individuals on the autism spectrum. However, much variability exists in the forms of and quality of what is labeled as "ABA" in practice. How is a parent, school district, or HMO administrator to distinguish between what constitutes "ABA services" and what does not? Who is competent to provide or supervise these services? A real potential exists for harm to consumers and to the positive perception that ABA now enjoys, if we as a field do not establish clear standards for the delivery of "ABA services." The panel will discuss three projects designed to help codify standards in critical areas of behavior-analytic autism treatment. These projects include the BACB Health Plan Coverage of Applied Behavior Analysis Treatment for Autism Spectrum Disorder, the Autism SIG Consumer Guidelines (for identifying qualified professionals in autism treatment), and the ABAI Empirically Supported Treatments project. The panelists will describe the purpose and status of each project. The implications of not establishing practice standards for practitioners in our profession will be highlighted and the ethical issues that such standards raise will be discussed.

This article questions how prescription medicines reach the market and proposes law-policy reforms to enhance the FDA's science standard for human clinical trials and new drug approvals. The core message is that relying too heavily on clinical research data generated through the global "gold standard" of group experimental design--reliance on statistical analysis to compile and compare group averages--risks predicting little about the actual impact of prescription medicines on individuals, including members of the groups under study. This article introduces a law-policy methodology based upon commercial incentives and intervention by Congress and the FDA to raise the science standard for human clinical research, and to make drug development more closely parallel the reality of drug delivery in the practice of medicine. The objectives of this proposal are to promote several pressing needs: maximize drug performance and minimize adverse events; end the pattern of putting new prescription medications on the market with too much dependence on the medical profession to introduce meaningful clinical understanding of drugs through patient use over time; improve biopharmaceutical R&D decision making; align the regulatory standard with the infusion of added precision associated with contemporary genetics-based R&D; and realize more sound scientific information directly through the regulatory process to support the integrity of science in an age of academia industry integration, aggressive commercialization, secrecy in science, and constantly, rapidly evolving technology.

The experimental analysis of motivation is mostly absent from the 55 years of research in the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. Research has only recently begun to appear in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, but it too has been historically absent from that journal. However, Skinner made it clear in Behavior of Organisms (1938) that antecedent motivational variables were separate from stimulus variables. Keller and Schoenfeld (1950) further developed this distinction in the section, "A drive is not a stimulus" (p. 276), and suggested the term "establishing operation" be used to distinguish the effects of deprivation, satiation, and aversive stimulation on behavior. Skinner elaborated on motivation with three chapters in Science and Human Behavior (1953), and throughout Verbal Behavior (1957). However, as Michael (1982, 1993) pointed out, motivational variables have been neglected in behavior analysis resulting in, "a gap in our understanding of operant functional relations" (1993, p. 191). The current presentation will focus on Skinner"s treatment of motivation in the book Verbal Behavior, where he describes its critical role in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). The failure to address motivation leaves our field vulnerable to claims that ABA is impoverished or incapable of addressing motivation in treatment programs. Suggestions for applications and future research also will be presented.

Discrete trial teaching is a common method used to increase the ability of children with autism to expressively and receptively identify different objects. Prompting is a commonly implemented step within discrete trial teaching. There are many ways that a teacher can prompt a student, including physical guidance, pointing to the correct response, or verbally stating the correct answer. To help clinicians better identify when to implement and fade prompts researchers have created various prompting systems. Today, there are several prompting systems implemented to children with autism, which include: most-to-least, least-to-most, constant time delay, flexible prompt fading, and error correction procedures. With so many prompting procedures being implemented to children with autism, it is unclear which prompting systems are the most effective and efficient when teaching children with autism various receptive and expressive tasks. This symposium will present three papers that compare different prompting systems for children with autism. The purpose of each paper is to evaluate the different prompting systems in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, and error rates when teaching children with autism expressive and receptive tasks. Each presentation will explain the results of the study as well as make recommendations for clinicians who work with children with autism.

In this study, we compared a most-to-least prompting system to an error correction procedure for teaching expressive and receptive labels to young children diagnosed with autistic disorder. We taught each participant a total of either twelve receptive tasks or twelve expressive tasks; six of which were randomly assigned to the most-to-least condition and six of which were randomly assigned to the error correction condition. Using an adapted alternating treatment design nested in a multiple baseline design, we evaluated the two prompting systems across several different variables. The primary measure was the relative effectiveness of the two prompting systems (i.e., the number of targets that reached mastery criterion). Other measures included efficiency (i.e., the amount of trials, time, and sessions to reach mastery criterion), error rates, and maintenance of skills following the conclusion of teaching. Results of this study, clinical implications, and areas for future research will be discussed throughout the presentation.

In this study, we compared a most-to-least prompting system to a flexible prompting system to teach expressive labeling tasks to children diagnosed with autistic disorder. We taught each participant to expressively label twelve different pictures of pop culture characters; six of the labels were taught with most-to-least and six were taught with flexible prompt fading. Using an adapted alternating treatment design, we evaluated the two prompting systems across several different variables. The primary measure was the relative effectiveness of the two prompting systems (i.e., number of targets that reached mastery criterion). Other measures included efficiency (i.e., amount of trials, time, and sessions to reach mastery criterion), error rates, and maintenance of skills following the conclusion of teaching. Results of this study, clinical implications, and areas for future research will be discussed throughout the presentation.

This study compared flexible prompt fading to an error correction procedure to teach expressive labeling of different cartoon characters to four children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. A total of twelve different cartoon characters were taught to each participant; six characters were taught with flexible prompt fading and six were taught with error correction. This study was simultaneously implemented across two different research sites with different research groups. An adapted alternating treatment design nested in a multiple probe design was used to evaluate the two prompting systems across several different variables. The primary measure was the relative effectiveness of the two procedures (i.e., number of targets that reached mastery criterion). Other measures included efficiency (i.e., amount of trials, time, and sessions to reach mastery criterion), error rates, and maintenance of skills following the conclusion of teaching. Results of this study, clinical implications, and areas for future research will be discussed throughout the presentation.

The Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD) is a large-scale service delivery agency that provides treatment, training, and consultative services to over one thousand individuals with autism around the world. CARDs mission is to extend top-quality behavioral treatment to the maximum number of individuals with autism possible. Neither quality nor quantity can be compromised in this mission. The purpose of this symposium is to highlight some of the recent developments at CARD, in hopes of further fostering the development and dissemination of behavior analysis and autism treatment globally.

Beginning with Skinner's earliest writings (1938), behavior analytic psychology has always been intended as a comprehensive science of behavior. However, the emphasis on relatively simple behaviors in individuals with developmental disabilities that continues in the field of behavior analysis reminds us that there is much work yet to be done in achieving a comprehensive science. Thus, cognitive and developmental branches of psychology continue to dominate empirical and conceptual work on areas of complex human behavior. This presentation will discuss "executive functions" and perspective-taking as two areas of complex human behavior that are under-addressed by behavior analysis. We will describe behavioral intervention programs that produce improvements in skills labeled as "executive functions" and perspective-taking by the general community. In all cases, these skills are treated as generalized operants.

The overarching consensus within the medical community is that there is no cure for autism. More than 20 years of research on applied behavior analytic treatment for autism has consistently demonstrated that a significant proportion of children make dramatic gains via behavioral intervention, including achieving a level of functioning indistinguishable from typically developing children of the same age. In this discussion paper, we propose a position on defining recovery from autism. We describe a provisional definition of recovery and we review relevant scientific research. The concept of recovery from autism is controversial but the tone of this paper is not. We describe the results of both scientific research and common clinical observations from more than 20 years of practice in the behavior analytic community.

Behavioral intervention is a well-established treatment for individuals with autism spectrum disorders. However, even the best treatment procedures are not likely to work if they are not implemented with fidelity. This presentation will describe CARDs efforts at developing a cutting edge system for training clinical staff members, as well as providing ongoing quality assurance. The training system includes didactic training, role-playing, practicum assignment, written exam, and oral exams across multiple levels. Practical tips will be provided for implementing top-quality training systems within the logistical realities of real-life clinical settings.

The Institute for Behavioral Training (IBT) is a training group designed to facilitate the education of individuals and groups in the treatment of children with autism and other related disorders by equipping users with knowledge in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), autism, and research-proven techniques. IBT offers a variety of formats for training, both online and in-person. Due to the demand for online training, IBT has created an extensive eLearning program for various levels of professionals, including interventionists, caregivers, supervisors and educators. As the demand for BCBAs has increased, IBT has established a streamlined BCBA remote supervision model providing high quality supervision to those seeking BCBA certification. In addition, people from around the world have participated in our direct in-person training which we provide to organizations and individuals, either through our customizable training packages or through our quarterly 10-day, intensive supervisor-level training.

This study examined the treatment of aggression in a young man with a diagnosis of autism using a variable momentary DRO-5 reinforcement schedule in which teacher-managed and participant-managed programs were assessed. An ABAC design was used to evaluate the effects of two treatments. A VI Momentary DRO-5 reinforcement schedule was implemented throughout the day except when the participant was at lunch. The participant was reinforced with a token on a momentary time basis at the end of the DRO-5 interval if he was not displaying aggression. When he had earned three tokens he was able to exchange them for 7 minutes of access to a preferred item. A functional analysis was conducted and determined that the maintaining reinforcement for aggression was access to tangibles. Frequency of aggression was recorded during the school day. Results showed that frequency of aggression decreased during the teacher- and participant-managed program phases. This supports the use of a participant-managed program as an effective procedure in decreasing aggression in children with autism. Future research should continue to explore the possibilities of using self-managed programs with treatments based on function to decrease maladaptive behaviors in individuals with autism

A 12-year-old male diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) was exhibiting vocal stereotypy during both leisure and work tasks in the classroom that was interfering with work completion. During an initial FBA, various methods including direct observation, scatterplots, parent interview, and teacher questionnaires were utilized. It was hypothesized that vocal stereotypy was maintained by automatic reinforcement and was less likely to occur during tasks that required a motor component. A functional analysis was conducted with 4 conditions (attention; escape; control- Legos; control-music) in treatments rooms within the school. Results of the initial functional analysis suggested the highest levels of behavior in the control with Legos condition. To further evaluate these results, additional conditions were conducted where Legos were present in all conditions or absent in all conditions except the control with Legos condition. Results showed more variability across Legos present conditions with the highest levels of behaviors in the control with Legos condition. These results were replicated in the classroom. The importance of stimulus selection for use in an FA as well as intervention design will be discussed.

Behavior Analysts have been demonstrably successful in providing services to individuals with autism. With this success, however, the number of practitioners providing those services is increasing very quickly. Excellent training will be required to assure that these services continue to be provided in the best manner -- i.e., that treatment integrity will continue to be high. The Train to Code software (TTC, www.ai2inc.com) offers an approach to creating direct (hands on) training of observational skills essential for carrying out treatment protocols. This symposium addresses the current state of knowledge about the effectiveness of this approach. Two individuals will present data collected from staff training at their service organization using TTC implementing their own training materials. One presenter will review initial evidence from a research program that confirmed TTC training directly improves clinical work. Though the concept was confirmed, the efficiency of the training itself was not satisfactory. Adjustments were made to improve efficiency of training. Using behavioral principles and the standard data displays of TTC, the efficiency of the training was improved. This process will be reviewed as will the basic processes involved in creating, evaluating, and revising a TTC training module.

24 paraprofessionals in the school system were divided into 2 groups. Both groups received a pre-test that involved a role-play that showed how well the trainee was able to successfully perform the targeted skills. Group A was trained by the Train-To-Code software that taught discrete trial, identified types of prompts and how to engage the consumer/student in errorless learning. Group B received training in topics determined by the school district. The training did not, in any way, cover the topics targeted by the Train-To-Code software. Group B was also given a second pre-test identical to the first. The groups then switched, with Group A trained in topics determined by the school district and Group B received the Train-To-Code software training. Group B was given an application based role play style post-test identical to the pre-test. At the end, both groups were given an application based role play style post-test identical to the pre-test. Participants performed better on the post-test(s), suggesting that the TTC software had an effect on the participants ability to learn the foundational skills necessary to work with children with autism.

Training new staff efficiently to a uniform level of mastery to implement procedures such as Discrete Trial Instruction for children with autism has been an ongoing challenge for behavior analysts (BA). The time of BAs can be extensive and the degree of skill to which new staff are trained can vary widely and impact effectiveness of applied behavioral programs for children with autism. We evaluated the effectiveness of video-based programmed instruction training modules with built-in data collection throughout training to teach new staff how to implement Autism Curriculum Encyclopedia programs across a multiple baseline within subjects across the three components of a teaching interaction, stimulus presentation, prompt, and delivery of the appropriate consequence. Results indicate that 5 new staff who had no prior experience with the teaching procedures reached mastery criterion for correctly coding correct and incorrect responses on each component of the procedure for ACE skill programs only after training was introduced for each. The time and variability of skill for basic applied behavior analytic teaching procedures may be significantly reduced for many organizations with this approach. We make recommendations for evaluating the extent of new staffs generalization of several clients after mastering multiple procedures through Train-to-Code.

Simulation research using college students suggests that in many cases training an individual to describe what an expert is doing allows the individual themselves to carry out those actions. Such "say-do" transfer has great potential for use in training staff to accurately carry out treatment protocols. The Train to Code software (TTC, www.ai2inc.com) was used by a successful service provider for autism to create materials for training new staff. Observations were made of clinical performance for four participants both prior to training and after training. A multiple-baseline research design with staggered baselines was used to protect against changes due to added experience. While data confirmed the concept that "say-do" transfer produces an improvement in post-training clinical performance, the training itself was judged to be inefficient as first created. TTC, however, provides analyses that allow problem areas in training to be identified (e.g., matrix of correct- and mis-codings for each type of behavior as well as a timeline of all codings). Adjusted training improved in efficiency. Evidence and principles involved in bringing about this improvement will be reviewed as will basic processes involved in creating and evaluating TTC training modules.

This symposium will include a collection of studies evaluating different aspects of variability among children (both typically developing and diagnosed with autism) and adults (diagnosed with intelectual disabilities) across a wide variety of response topographies. Talks will discuss variability among verbal behavior, activity selection, and activity engagement. Additionally talks will discuss the role of stimulus control and response variability.

Behavioral variability is an operant dimension of behavior, which can be controlled by discriminative stimuli and increased with reinforcement contingencies (Page & Neuringer, 1985). Rodrigues, Lattal, Santos, and Matos (2005) found that pigeon preference for schedules of reinforcement that required response variability decreased as the variability requirement increased. The relative rate of reinforcement also decreased as the response requirement increased, and it is possible that preference may have been influenced by the history of reinforcement. Determining preference for schedules that require variability may have implications for increasing the variability of individuals with low baseline levels of variability. In the current study, preference for schedules of reinforcement that required repeated and variable patterns of responding were evaluated for two typically developing children and two children with autism. Using a bead-stringing task, reinforcement in one component of a multiple schedule was delivered on a fixed ratio (FR) schedule of reinforcement contingent on repeated responses (REPEAT). Variable responses that met a Lag schedule of reinforcement produced reinforcement in the second component (VARY). Once responding was under stimulus control, the two schedules were presented within a concurrent chain procedure to assess preference. Three of the four participants showed a preference for the VARY component, despite slightly greater overall reinforcement delivery in the REPEAT component. Implications for the development of varied responding in children with autism will be discussed

Basic laboratory research has shown that variability is an operant dimension of behavior (Page & Neuringer, 1985). Applied research on behavioral variability has been conducted with a variety of populations and response topographies; however, no research has been conducted with adults with intellectual disabilities, and only one study has targeted activity selection (Cammilleri & Hanley, 2005). In the present study, varied activity selection was reinforced according to a Lag 1 schedule of reinforcement. The present study also evaluated whether selection of novel activities occurred in the absence of differential reinforcement and assessed generalization of varied activity selection. Varied activity selection increased for all participants although prompts to select activities were required for 2 of 3 participants. Few novel selections occurred throughout the study and varied activity selection did not generalize to participants natural environments. The results suggest that a lag schedule of reinforcement can be used to increase varied activity selection by adults with intellectual disabilities but should be implemented in the natural environment.

Restricted or repetitive behavior is among the defining features of autism spectrum disorders. Symptoms in this category can range from repetitive simple motor movements (e.g. body rocking or hand flapping) to intense preoccupation with narrow, circumscribed interests (CIs). For verbally competent individuals CIs are commonly observed to dominate their choices of conversation topics when initiating interaction with others. These CI-based initiations can further distinguish the individual from his or her typically developing peers, and reduce the quantity and quality of social interactions. This can have devastating effects on already impoverished and restricted conversation-initiating repertoires. Therefore, the present study used a multiple baseline design with embedded reversal to evaluate the effects of progressive lag schedules (i.e., Lag 0, Lag 1, Lag 3, and Lag 5) to increase the variability of conversation topics of 3 individuals with autism, whose CIs were reported to predominate. During the lag schedule evaluation, praise was delivered contingent on conversation bids that differed from previous bids in accordance with the schedule in effect. Data for one participant indicate that Lag 1 decreased the rate of CI initiations and increased rate of non-CI initiations, and overall produced more variables rates of both initiation types compared to baseline

State-of-the-art behavior analytic procedures for assessment and intervention for changing important behaviors of young children in early childhood environments is needed. The purpose of the papers in this symposium are to discuss some issues that came up in our day-to-day running of a child development center serving young children with and without intellectual disabilities. The first study involved a class-wide implementation of a simple procedure for decreasing problem behavior that occurred during naptime in a preschool classroom. The second study involved evaluation of a simple methodology for determining the conditions under which toddlers acquire skills. The third study involved determining the effects of a simple intervention for increasing compliance of young children with intellectual and developmental disabilities during essential routines (e.g., hair cuts, dental exams, etc.).

Poor academic performance may be a function of performance or skill deficits. This distinction is important in developing instructional interventions that are likely to influence responding (e.g., Duhon, Noell, Witt, Freeland, Dufrene, & Gilbertson, 2004; Elliot & Shapiro, 1990). Lerman, Vorndran, Addison, and Kuhn (2004) developed a skill assessment methodology to match targeted tasks to appropriate teaching interventions for children with autism. The purpose of the present study was to attempt to replicate and extend the use of this assessment procedure with typically developing toddlers. In the present study, age-appropriate tasks were selected from early education curricula. Data were collected on the percentage of trials with correct responding under conditions of reinforcement only, prompting only, and/or reinforcement and prompting combined. Results suggested that (a) increases in correct responding were observed for the majority of tasks, (b) idiosyncratic outcomes were observed across children and tasks, and (c) a larger percentage of tasks required a combination of prompting and reinforcement procedures to increase responding than that observed by Lerman et al. Future directions may include (a) evaluating procedural modifications to increase the efficiency of the assessment procedure and (b) assessing the extent to which classroom teachers can implement the procedure during the school day.

The presence of certain stimuli during essential-routine procedures (e.g., hair cuts, dental exams, etc.) may evoke noncompliance in children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (Shumacher & Rapp, 2011). Noncompliance with such procedures has the potential to be a serious problem particularly when a given procedure requires the use of sharp objects (e.g., scissors, dental scrapper) that may cause harm to a child who refuses to comply with (or exhibits avoidant behaviors during) the procedure. The current study was designed to evaluate the effects of an intervention consisting of in-situ desensitization plus reinforcement but without extinction for increasing compliance with essential-routine procedures. A multiple baseline across subjects design was combined with a multiple probe design to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention and the degree to which performance generalized to actual procedures conducted by untrained, relevant professionals (e.g., hair stylists, dentists). Two young children with development disabilities have completed the study to date. For one child, compliance increased as a result of mere exposure to the simulated environment. However, for the other child, results showed that the intervention was effective not only for increasing compliance with the simulated essential-routine procedure but also for generalization to the actual environment (local salon) in which the procedure was conducted by an untrained professional (local hair stylist). This research extends the literature by assessing the extent to which treatment effects generalize to the natural setting (e.g., salon, dental office) with the relevant professional implementing the procedure.

Individuals who have a history of substance abuse (e.g., heroin) typically produce steeper delay-discount functions than matched-control individuals. It also has been demonstrated that their curves become steeper during drug withdrawal. These data suggest that a history of substance abuse or the drugs themselves, and subsequent withdrawal of drugs, increase "impulsive" choices. Disentangling these variables requires examination of acute and chronic effects of the drugs in nave individuals. In this presentation, I will describe experiments in which the acute, chronic, and withdrawal effects of prescription opiates (e.g., oxycodone, hydrocodone) and morphine were examined in rats (n=5-8). The abuse of prescription opiates has increased in recent years, yet little research has been conducted on the direct effects of these drugs on decision making, in particular, "impulsive" choices. In each experiment, an Evenden and Ryan delay-discounting procedure was used in which rats chose between a smaller, immediate reinforcer and a larger, later reinforcer. The delay to the larger reinforcer increased systematically across blocks of the session. Acute administration of opiates tended to increase impulsive choice. Increases in impulsive choice also were seen during withdrawal, but was dependent on the chronic drug procedure.

This symposium focuses on the effects of varied quality of reinforcement on target behaviors. In the first paper, Effects of Quality of Attention and Liquid Preferences on Liquid Consumption, the authors examined the quality of adult attention contingent on liquid consumption for a child with feeding difficulties. In the second paper, The Effectiveness of High and Low Preferred Qualities of Attention on Behavior, the authors evaluated the effects of the quality of adult attention on behavior using a concurrent operants arrangement. In the third paper, Concurrent Schedules of Reinforcement and Manipulation of Break Quality: Effects on Communication, Compliance, and Problem Behavior, the authors altered the break quality and evaluated the effects on problem behavior, break requests, and task completion. A discussant will provide a synthesis of the presentations.

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of high and low quality attention on milk consumption. Additionally, we evaluated preference for white and chocolate milk under each condition (i.e., high and low quality attention). The participant, Carrie, was a 5-year-old female diagnosed with feeding difficulties, gastroesophageal reflux disease, developmental delays, and chromosomal abnormality. Interobserver agreement was assessed across 35% of sessions and averaged 92%. Low quality attention was defined as infrequent eye contact, no physical contact, no physical orientation towards Carrie, and encouragement in a flat/monotone vocal intonation. High quality attention was defined as frequent eye contact, physical contact or close proximity, physical orientation towards Carrie, enthusiastic encouragement, and enthusiastic and specific praise. The results of the study demonstrated that high quality attention increased consumption of both white and chocolate milk, but with more consistent effects for chocolate milk (see Figure 2).

Preference and reinforcer assessments are often used to identify preferred tangible items prior to a functional analysis. Piazza et al. (1996) conducted a study to determine the effectiveness of using tangibles to reinforce behavior. They found that highly preferred tangibles tend to reinforce behaviors at a higher rate compared to lower preferred tangibles. Although using tangibles to reinforce behavior is effective, tangibles are not always present in an individuals environment. However, attention is not only a stimulus typically present in most social situations; it has also been shown to reinforce behavior. Diverse qualities of attention have been shown to effectively change behavior (Gardner et al., 2009; Kodak et al., 2007; Piazza et al., 1999). Individuals can be sensitive to and demonstrate preferences for specific qualities of attention. The Quality of Attention Preference Assessment (QAPA) (Gardner, Kurtz & Huete manuscript in preparation) was developed to identify an individuals preferences for qualities of attention. Using the QAPA, our study identified four childrens preferences for specific qualities of attention, and used higher and lower preferred preference profiles to increase behavior via a concurrent operants paradigm (i.e. reinforcer assessment). The study was conducted in three phases: Phase I - administration of a brief tangibles assessment MSWO (Carr et al., 2000) to determine a highly preferred stimulus to be used in the reinforcer assessment, Phase II - administration of the QAPA to determine the childs preferences for qualities of attention. Finally, Phase III results from Phases I and II were presented with a concurrent operants assessment using both high-preferred attention, low-preferred attention, and an alone choice option. Our study examined two main questions: 1.) Does the QAPA accurately identify preferences for qualities of attention for children? Does the identified high preference profile for qualities of attention serve to reinforce and increase behavior compared to a low preference profile of identified qualities of attention? Results will be discussed in terms of how identified preferences of attention can serve as reinforcers to increase or decrease behavior. Behavior was measured by a childs physical time allocation as well as rate of responding within condition areas.

Recent research into verbal behavior suggests that man's ability to use language, or engage in arbitrarily applicable relational responding, could be the process that is at the root of humans' deep psychological suffering. Language, however, is not all malicious. There seems to be a positive side of verbal behavior that current research, from a variety of disciplines, is suggesting is instrumental to psychological well-being. Values are verbal constructions of global life consequences that function as both sources of perpetual reinforcement and motivating augmentals for a particular class of human behaviors described as "valued living." Contact with values appears to have broad impacts including reduction in physiological stress response, openness toward challenging information, and resistance to threats to academic performance. This symposium will cover three topics that highlight the applicability and effectiveness of values practices or values interventions as they apply to self-efficacy and smoking cessation intent, recovery from traumatic interpersonal violence, and relational responding tasks.

Values are life directions that guide actions. Valuing, verbal constructions, predicted psychological well-being in undergraduates (Adcock, LaBorde, Murrell, Madrigal-Bauguss, & Mitchell, 2009). Identifying and clarifying values, and choosing values-consistent behavior (valued living), are important. Valued living can be facilitated by promoting psychological flexibility through the use of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT; Hayes, Strosahl, & Wilson, 1999; 2012). Psychological flexibility is the ability to fully connect with the present moment and choose values-consistent behavior. Ciarrochi, Bilich, and Godsel (2010) reported that strengthening psychological flexibility through ACT improved mental health, well-being, and increased values-consistent behavior. The current study investigated the relationship between flexibility in valuing as measured by the Meta-Valuing Measure (MVM; Adcock, LaBorde, & Murrell, 2007) and measures of well-being in women who experienced interpersonal violence. Data analysis revealed significant correlations between the MVM and psychological flexibility (r = .63, p < .001), post-traumatic symptomology (r = -.46, p < .001), post-traumatic growth (r = -.44, p < .01), general health (r = .33, p < .05), parenting behaviors (r = .37, p < .05), and depressive symptoms (r = -.62, p < .001). Implications of the findings will be discussed, along with suggestions for future research.

With youth having higher smoking rates than ever, existing interventions may not suffice in reducing smoking behavior. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), is starting to gain both clinical and research interest for smoking cessation. However the effectiveness of components of this approach on smoking and cessation related parameters has not been examined. The goal of this study is to examine the effectiveness of the values component of ACT compared to a psychoeducational intervention for increasing intent to quit smoking and self-efficacy in relation to quitting among youth. Participants were randomly assigned to either a values based intervention group or a psychoeducation group (n = 30 for each group). Participants completed a packet of questionnaires assessing smoking behavior, intention to quit, and self-efficacy prior to, after the completion of the intervention and one month post intervention. Results showed increase in participant self-efficacy for quitting and higher intention to quit in both groups, with the values intervention resulting in greater increases. At one month follow up, both self-efficacy and intention to quit decreased compared to post-intervention but not reaching pre-intervention levels. Results discussed are in terms of effectiveness of a one-session values intervention in increasing self-efficacy and intention to quit smoking.

While behaviour analysis has grown exponentially across the world, behaviour analysts remain concentrated primarily in the United States.Behaviour analytic principles and interventions are often developed and implemented in the United States and are therefore best applied to Westernized cultures.Effective methods of applying "Westernized" behaviour analysis may not be applicable to families in developing countries like Jamaica.Therefore, educating, supervising, developing and implementing behaviour analytic programmes for individuals in Jamaica will require special considerations that are culturally sensitive to meet the needs of the Jamaican population. These concerns lead to the following questions: how do behaviour analysts modify the Westernized approach and make it culturally sensitive and relevant to the Jamaican population?How can behaviour analysts become culturally sensitive towards clients and supervisees who have different beliefs and attitudes common outside of the United States?This presentation will explore issues surrounding multiculturalism and behaviour analysis by highlighting the disparities between U.S culture and Jamaican culture. This presentation will also highlight the root of several multicultural issues and the challenges that Jamaica faces which in turn impact the supervision and application of behaviour analysis in the country. Discussions will explore bridging the cultural gap, modifying programmes and reviewing possible solutions to tackle these pressing issues.

Women in the Arab world, as a topic, is usually a very sensitive issue to discuss or investigate. This is due to the old Bedouin (tribal) protective approach some families may engage in. Hence women are typically associated with a familys honor and reputation they are securely protected and in some situations sheltered. Consequently, accurate data and information about womens situation in the Arab world in general is very scarce and in some situations unattainable. This paper will focus on the Middle East region taking the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan as a study example to outline the interlocking behavioral and cultural contingencies that differentiate the Arab culture from other cultures. Since the cultural history of the Middle East in general and Jordan in specific is unlike other cultures in the world, the sociocultural contingencies that has shaped the role of women in the labor sector in Jordan specifically will be examined and discussed. There have been some positive changes in regard to womens situation in Jordan compared to other countries in the region that will be outlined. Additionally, a number of recommend potential solutions to this problem will be introduced.

In Verbal Behavior, Skinner (1957) defined a tact as a verbal operant in which a response of given form is evokedby a particular object or event. In doing so, the tact permits the listener to make inferences via contact with the environment. These inferences are often associated with social constructs that the verbal community tact. The implications of such inferences affect issues related to politics, special populations, social class, immigration, race, etc. The verbal community has the ability to differentially reinforce certain tacts that label members of society. Therefore, it is important to functionally analyze the reinforcing practices of the community which maintain certain tacts. There is no danger in having respectful notions of others; however, problems may arise when the opposite is the case. Referring to members of society in positive terms is more than merely enforcing political correctness. In fact, certain verbal behavior has power that permeates the rest of what we do to- and for- those who are being tacted. After all, as Skinner (1957) noted, a tact is more likely something to be asserted compared to any other verbal operant. The purpose of this paper is to explore the ethical and social implications that such assertions have on our society.

The science of behavior analysis has been applied to a myriad of human behaviors, including those of a sexual nature. The purpose of this presentation is to provide multiple examples of how sexual behavior issues can be assessed and treated using a behavior-analytic approach. This symposium underscores the need for behavior analysts to provide function-based, individualized, and least-restrictive interventions to influence the occurrence of sexual behaviors that are inappropriate in topography and/or occur in inappropriate environments. Case study data and their implications will be presented, as well as directions for future research and practice in this area.

Often in our work as behavioral clinicians, especially when we work with teens and young adults, we encounter individuals who engage in sexual behavior. Sometimes, however, we are challenged with these behaviors occurring in younger children. This presentation will address sexual behavior as behavior that can be assessed via functional behavior assessment methods and that can be modified using the same functional replacement behavior strategies that are often implemented when addressing other challenging behaviors. The data presented were obtained during baseline and descriptive and functional analyses of inappropriate sexualized behavior of an 8-year-old male with an intellectual disability (vocalizations, gestures, and actions directed at staff and self) and a 9-year-old male with autism (masturbation). Data following function-based intervention was implemented following determination of hypothesis will be presented as well. Implications for functional analysis in future instances of inappropriate sexual behavior will be discussed.

The sexual behavior of persons with disabilities is an understudied area in Applied Behavior Analysis. When a person with a disability engages in sexual behavior it is often labeled as aberrant, and these individuals are then stigmatized, which can impact their quality of life. Limited research has been conducted on these aberrant sexual behaviors and related courses of treatment. Current literature supports competing reinforcement for behaviors maintained by an automatically produced consequence, though does not explicitly address sexual behavior. This presentation will include two case studies of individuals with cognitive disabilities and mental illness diagnoses who engage in inappropriate sexual behavior. The behaviors that individuals in this study engaged in included public masturbation and non-consensual sexual advances toward other individuals with disabilities. The agencys response to the inappropriate sexual behaviors before and after consultation with a BCBA will be discussed. Additionally, a brief review of literature on sexual education for persons with disabilities will be included.

The current case study aims to contribute to the literature of addressing sexual behaviors of persons with developmental disabilities. Public masturbation was chosen as target behaviour for reduction. This behaviour is an example of a sexual behaviour that is appropriate in private, but inappropriate or illegal in public situations. In addition, it may have the potential of placing individuals with disabilities at greater risk for abuse. The participant, a teenage girl diagnosed with autism, living in a residential group home setting, was taught to indicate that she is going to engage in masturbatory behaviours in her bedroom using the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS). The procedure, potential stimulus control components of the intervention, and limitations will be discussed.

This symposium demonstrates the variety of experimental approaches to Consumer Behavior Analysis by providing examples of recent research in three international contexts (Iceland, Norway and Brazil) which employ the Behavioral Perspective Model of consumer choice. It builds on the Invited Tutorial by Gordon Foxall on Consumer Behavior Analysis, showcasing translational research that extends the experimental analysis of behavior into the realm of everyday consumption. The opening paper describes recent developments of the model and behavioral economic approaches to its testing via applications of Herrnstein's matching methodology and Hursh and Silberberg's analysis of price elasticity of demand in terms of essential value. The following papers describe particular instances in which this has inspired empirical research and innovative conceptualization of economic choice, including laboratory and field studies of consumer choice in digital contexts, the investigation of motivating operations in online purchasing, and the role of individual consumer differences in shaping food purchases.

The Behavioral Perspective Model is an elaboration of the three-term contingency intended to increase our understanding of human economic choice. Economic behavior is reinforced in two ways: via utilitarian reinforcement which is mediated by the product and embodies the functional benefits of ownership and consumption, and informational reinforcement which reflects the way in which consumption attracts socially-mediated prestige and status. The immediate antecedent of consumer behavior is the consumer behavior setting which represents the interaction of discriminative stimuli and motivating operations on one hand and the consumer's learning history on the other. The paper will focus on the applicability of this model to the experimental analysis of consumer behavior and to the interpretation of broader aspects of choice that lie beyond a direct experimental analysis. Examples will be provided of consumer choice as matching and maximizing behavior and of the estimation of elasticity of demand in terms of essential value. The use of the BPM as an interpretive device will be briefly illustrated by reference to purchase and consumption behavior, saving, the diffusion of innovations, and "green" consumer behavior.

The point of online purchase includes the location and conditions in which an online transaction takes place. The term usually comprises the presentation of the products available for purchase by consumers as well as the means of completing the transaction. Knowledge about how the online setting and the specific situation influence consumers at the point of online purchase may increase the success from online marketing activities. An online experiment was arranged for the analysis of motivating functions at the point of online purchase situation. A total of 1992 business-to-business customers from a Norwegian web company were split in two groups. Group A (n=999), the test group, received an up-sell offer related to either a product improvement or to a lower price offer within a period of two month. Group B (n=993), the control group, did not receive any form of up-sell offer in the same two month period. The result shows that 37 out of 99 up-sell offers given were accepted by customers in Group A. In addition, the number of orders and the number of items sold were significantly higher in Group A than in Group B. Results of the experiment will be discussed in relation to the concepts of consumer behavior analysis, motivating operations and rule-governed behavior (especially augmentals). Suggestions for further research will be given.

All of the stimuli in an equivalence class are presumably substitutable and therefore equally related to each other. An analysis of the structure of an equivalence class has shown that the relatedness of the stimuli in an equivalence class varies with two structural variables: nodal number and directionality of training. Two 3-node 5 member classes were formed with training structures of A?B-?C?D?E. Within class preference tests that contained samples and comparisons from the same class were then presented. E.g., a 1-node transitive relation was pitted against a 3-node transitive relation by presenting a trial with A as a sample and C and E as comparisons. C was always selected, indicating preference for the nodal closer comparisons. The same occurred for other such tests. In a second experiment, two 5-node 7- member classes were formed with training structures of A?B-?C?D?E?F?G. Within class preference tests were then presented. E.g., a 2-node equivalence relation was pitted against a 2-node transitive relation by presenting a trial with D as a sample and A and G as comparisons. G was always selected, indicating preference for the transitive relation instead of the equivalence relation. The same occurred for other such tests. These findings could not occur if stimuli were equally related to each other. Thus, the stimuli in an equivalence class are equally related when assessed using cross class derived relations tests and are unequally related when assessed using within class preference tests.

Use-inspired behavior analytic research entails rigorous experimental analyses on issues of societal importance. While use-inspired basic research has yielded much success in informing applied behavior analysis on issues concerning vulnerable populations, the basic processes underlying many real-world issues concerning non-clinical populations remains relatively scant. This symposium will highlight four novel applications of use-inspired basic research, translating findings from the basic operant laboratory to practical applications. The first presentation will describe the utility of experimental analyses of behavior in the understanding of the sunk-cost effect in humans. The second presentation will feature data from a mindfulness intervention on obesity using discounting analyses to model its effects. The third presentation will describe ways in which behavioral economic models of demand and elasticity can aid in understanding fuel consumption and drivers' concerns for fuel efficiency. The symposium will conclude with a presentation on how generalization gradients and issues of stimulus discrimination may be applied to understanding and improving skin cancer detection. The aim of each presentation will be to introduce attendees to analyses and topics from the experimental analysis of behavior and propose ways to understand real-world problems of high magnitude using a use-inspired paradigm of study.

Behavioral economic research has expanded our understanding of aberrant behavior (e.g., addiction, gambling, and obesity). In this area, behavior analysts have largely focused on delay discounting or demand. These fruitful research programs have linked these concepts to poor health behavior (e.g., sharing needles, risky sexual behavior, and the failure to utilize preventive care), altruism, and concern for the environment. The success of these studies suggests that other behavioral economic concepts may be similarly useful. The sunk cost fallacy is a behavioral economic concept that describes the tendency for ones prior investment in a venture to irrationally impact their decision to continue to invest in that venture. Although some behavior analysts have focused on the sunk cost fallacy, it is unclear if this concept will inform our understanding of health and social behavior. The current study demonstrated relations between the sunk cost fallacy and both health behaviors (e.g., seeking help when feeling ill, binge eating) and ones contribution to society by administering validated instruments to a large sample (n=1053) of internet users via a novel crowdsourcing technology (i.e., Amazons Mechanical Turk). The findings demonstrate the utility behavior analysts exploring additional behavioral economic concepts.

Consequences of fossil fuel consumption are disastrous for the sustainability of the planet and its ecosystems. The current study examined government data from the United States and Canada on per capita energy consumption and oil price per barrel between the years 1995 and 2008. The elasticity of the demand curves of both countries were measured and statistically compared across six major modes of transportation including road, air, rail, transit, pipeline, and water. Results demonstrated minimal elasticity in demand across all modes of transportation for both countries. Despite the general inelasticity found across the different modes of transportation, statistical differences were found in the demand curves for air and road transportation. Our findings indicate that despite sharp increases in oil price per barrel over the past decade, the consumption per capita either persisted or simultaneously increased. In a follow-up study on 76 undergraduate students, we used a hypothetical purchase task of fuel to model demand elasticity at various fuel prices using demand curves to determine whether demand would become elastic at extreme prices per gallon. Conclusions and implications from these findings are discussed.

Melanoma, the deadliest skin cancer, is detected visually, but most potential human "detectors" perform poorly on this task. The most common approach to preparing patients and primary-care medical personnel to detect melanoma is to provide brief information about melanoma and show them images of clearly symptomatic and non-symptomatic moles. Using college students as subjects we compared the effects of this intervention with a brief discrimination-training procedure that was modeled after "errorless" protocols. A pretest and posttest involved labeling a series of normal and subtly-symptomatic moles as "normal" or "changed." Discrimination-training participants responded more accurately than "information" subjects on the posttest and also showed better generalization to novel cases. These effects maintained weeks or months after the initial training. We will also present signal-detection data that characterize response biases induced by the two interventions, and self-report data that characterize changes in skin-care behaviors that followed the interventions.

We report findings from the Comprehensive Application of Behavior Analysis to Schooling (CABAS®) Accelerated Independent Learner (AIL) model of instruction. The AIL model is based on scientific procedures that emphasizes individualized instruction, where student responses ultimately drives instruction. The classrooms integrate approximately one-third of the students diagnosed with a disability or English language learners. Academically, students in these classrooms perform on average with a range of 2 years below grade level through 2 years above grade level. Communication between the classrooms from year to year allow for continuity of individualized programming for each student. All of the curricular objectives have been derived and behaviorally defined from the national core content standards and school district's general education curriculum across academic areas. As part of the AIL curriculum, self-management objectives are outlined to teach students to monitor their own progress, set their goals, and deliver their own reinforcement. Learning pictures will be presented that show the cumulative number of objectives mastered and the number of learn units it takes to meet an objective for each student across specific curricula domain. We will also report data on the induction of critical verbal behavior developmental cusps or capabilities, such as observational learning and naming. We find that once students acquire these developmental milestones they can successfully access the general education curriculum.

At the onset of the school year, kindergarten and first grade students in Comprehensive Application of Behavior Analysis to Schooling (CABAS) Accelerated Independent Learner (AIL) classrooms participate in probe sessions which test for the presence or absence of verbal developmental cusps and cusps that are capabilities. Students who are missing these cusps and capabilities are then provided an intensive set of experiences through instructional protocols. Research from kindergarten and first grade AIL classes has shown that various protocols have successfully induced verbal developmental capabilities such as observational learning and Naming. Other protocols, such as variations to the auditory matching protocol, multiple exemplar instruction across selection and production responses, and various conditioning procedures have resulted in higher rates of learning. By inducing cusps and capabilities in students in kindergarten and first grade, we accelerate rates of learning and are able to teach our students in new ways. This paper will discuss several experiments related to the induction of verbal developmental cusps and capabilities, as well as the effects of the induction on students acquisition of new academic repertoires.

The second and third grade Comprehensive Application of Behavior Analysis to Schooling (CABAS) Accelerated Independent Learner (AIL) classrooms operate on the principles and tactics of applied behavior analysis in an inclusion classroom setting. These classes incorporate many research-based behavioral tactics for both learning and performance behaviors during math, spelling, reading, and writing instruction including learn units (direct, model demonstration), response boards, choral responding, fluency training, peer tutoring, and precision teaching, token economies, group contingencies, and hero contingencies. Through the use of these tactics, we found students could be successfully included in the general education setting. We will also present data that shows the induction of key verbal capabilities and cusps such as naming and observational learning through an intensive set of experiences through instructional protocols. Once we established these cusps and capabilities, we found that students could learn in new ways and access the general education curriculum.

We tested the effects of the implementation of Teaching as Applied Behavior Analysis on 4th and 5th grade general education and special education students selected from an Accelerated Independent Learner Classroom (AIL) that implemented the Comprehensive Application of Behavior Analysis to Schooling (CABAS) model of instruction. The participants attended a Title I school in a suburb of New York City. We examined students rate of acquisition, number of curricular objectives met, and the acquisition of developmental reader/writer cusps and capabilities. We will present our data on learning pictures, which are the visual display used to show student progress in the AIL model. Specific studies that relate to various areas of the curriculum will be presented, such as writing, reading, math, and self-management. We will present a general overview of the program, including frequently used tactics for students in higher-grade levels.

Panelists will provide and discuss information relevant to applying to graduate school in behavior analysis. Panelists will explain the process of applying to graduate school, providing insight into the qualifications necessary to gain admission and characteristics that lead to a successful career as a graduate student. Specifically, panelists will discuss the importance and relevance of one's academic achievements (e.g., grade-point average and standardized test scores), professional and extracurricular experiences (e.g., presentations at conferences and publications), research, and teaching involvement and how these factors influence admission into a graduate program in behavior analysis. Panelists also will provide unique perspective regarding the admission process, discussing characteristics and qualities that they find attractive on a prospective candidate's curriculum vitae and overall application. The discussion will provide prospective graduate students with a comprehensive account on what constitutes a competitive application and how one should approach applying to graduate programs in behavior analysis.

School-based interventions can often be strengthened by adding simple motivational components. This symposium will present three studies that sought to augment motivating conditions at different points of the intervention process. The first study examined a Regressive Prompt Delay (RPD) procedure for improving sight-word reading in a 1st-grade student. RPD is unique because instead of extending the prompt-delay interval, RPD shortens it over sessions. The participant was instructed to try to beat the experimenter by responding more quickly. Experimental control was established and there were immediate changes in responding under unprompted conditions. The second study compared the use of a mystery motivator (indiscriminable contingencies) condition to high-preference consequences for improving math computation fluency in two 2nd-grade students. Interestingly, the indiscriminable contingencies condition was equally as effective as the high-preference condition at improving rate of responding, raising intriguing questions about why learners would prefer a condition in which they do not know the consequence ahead of time. The third study examined the use of choice for improving three teachers implementation of behavioral interventions relative to an expert derived, no-choice condition in school-based consultations. Both conditions improved child behavior, but teachers displayed higher treatment integrity and chose the choice intervention more often than the no-choice condition.

Due to the complex nature of scheduling and the number of students served, successful implementation of Positive Behavior Support programs at the secondary level has been a troubling issue. This symposium includes the presentation of three behavior support programs in a diverse urban high school in the Rocky Mountains. Presentations will focus on the application of programs promoting behavior analytical principles through three separate programs designed to target at-risk youth. The programs in this session demonstrate the implementation of programs at the Tier I, Tier II and Tier III levels of student support and their integration for successful school-wide outcomes. Methodological procedures for implementation will be discussed, and data will be presented that include student academic outcomes, student attendance outcomes, teacher participation, program penetration, office discipline referrals, and repeat offenses by students. In addition, a discussion of student and faculty satisfaction and social validity reports will provide information concerning perceptions of program effectiveness.

Positive Behavior Supports are effective improvement practices and yet secondary schools have more difficulty adopting SWPBS. In this study, Administrative Intervention was used to encourage effective behavior support across the school and provide administrator led targeted intervention to struggling students. To date, over 100 students have been coached through the skill building process of Administrative Intervention. Administrative Intervention is well-aligned with positive behavior supports and seeks to decrease disruptive behaviors and increase appropriate academic and social behaviors through skill building. Administrators teach specific skills to students referred to the office for disciplinary reasons. The skills were chosen based on the details of the Office Discipline Referral (ODR). Students were assisted in identifying a specific skills deficit, given a rationale for the use of the skill, and afforded the opportunity to practice the skill before returning to class. This study was designed to assist researchers and school personnel in evaluating the efficacy of Administrative Intervention to promote positive behavior support in a public high school, within a large population center in the Rocky Mountain region. Suspensions, fights, absences, and tardies were significantly decreased across the school year. Improvements in school safety, climate, and on-time attendance were also observed.

US secondary schools are sometimes criticized for their inability to offer effective remedial services and provide sufficient reinforcement systems to keep at-risk students engaged in school. Evidence of these deficiencies is found in the experience of nearly half a million students who dropout of high school each year (Heckman & Lafontaine, 2007). This study investigated the effects of a school-based tracking and reinforcement system called SHIELD at an urban high school in the Rocky Mountains. SHIELD focused on credit recovery, teaching appropriate social and academic skills through modeling, and providing structured access to positive adult attention for assignment completion and attendance. These services were provided by a cadre of trained mentors using a modified corrective teaching procedure based on Administrative Intervention to deescalate problem behavior and teach appropriate alternatives through structured interactions. Evidence of the effectiveness of this program includes improved academic performance and reduced absenteeism for students in all grades.

The Lancer Pride program was initiated as a means of systematizing the intermittent reinforcement of appropriate behavior in high school. Lancer Pride is a traditional praise note program built on the practices of Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support and adapted to the needs of an urban high school. Schoolwide expectations were established by a behavior support committee at the school and then taught to students throughout the year. Like a traditional praise note program, Lancer Pride consisted of providing students with a ticket or a note, accompanied with verbal praise, for performing expectations. The ticket was then turned in to a central location and entered into a drawing for a larger reinforcer. Data for teacher participation, program penetration, and overall program fidelity will be presented. The efficacy of this program is discussed using surveys of the school climate and social validity data collected from students. Potential limitations of this approach are identified through post-hoc analysis including potential problems with the potency (# of notes distributed) and penetration (# of students receiving a praise note). Potential solutions for future program improvements will also be discussed.

When dealing with human observers and error, tight control in data collection and methodology is essential for accurate representation of compliance. Although observational studies are popular, little has been done to study the integrity of human observers and the data collection process. Incomplete analysis of data collection integrity threatens functional findings, leading to problematic interpretation and decreased replication. The purpose of the current study assesses whether manipulating the response effort associated with data collection has an effect on the accuracy of data collection. Participants of the study were undergraduate psychology students at a Midwestern university who were enrolled in an undergraduate I/O practicum that took place at a local hospital. To examine and counterbalance the effects of manipulating response effort, an ABAB/BABA design was implemented across two semesters. Initial results from visual inspection of the data demonstrate that with the exception of change between phase one and two during the first semester, all subsequent phases in the first semester and all phases in the second semester generated a visually salient change in data collection behavior when response effort was manipulated. Despite visual changes in the data, statistics failed to demonstrate a generalizable effect.

: Data were collected on hand washing compliance in an inpatient treatment program for children with destructive behavior disorders while a lottery incentive intervention for hand washing was in place. Under the lottery intervention, supervisors entered the names of staff observed complying with the unit's hand washing policy into a drawing. Although data collected overtly suggested that compliance rates were high during the incentive phase, compliance rates were significantly lower during covert observations. The implications of these data for hand washing interventions, and OBM interventions in general, will be discussed.

A multi-component staff management system was implemented in three residential group homes for adults with disabilities to examine if it would increase consumer (resident) engagement in leisure activities. The study was a non-concurrent and concurrent multiple baseline design across homes. Participants included consumers who live in the home and the direct care staff (DCS) who work with them: a total of 48 participants. Sessions were an hour in length and occurred twice a day, Monday-Friday. The study lasted approximately 16 weeks in each group home. There were four phases: (phase A) baseline assessment of consumer engagement and affect/pleasure by researchers, (phase A) supervisor walk-arounds and continued assessment of consumer engagement and affect/pleasure by researchers, (phase B) implementation of the staff management system, with a consumer check-in procedure as its foundation, and (phase C) addition of more individualized, immediate DCS feedback from their supervisors. Researchers collected data on consumer engagement, activity choices and consumer affect throughout the study. Treatment integrity data was collected during phases B and C to assess staff performance. A pilot study was conducted to first assess the feasibility and effectiveness of the procedures in one group home, implementing all phases. The results showed an increase in consumer engagement during Phases B and Phases C.

Since the turn of the 21st century, significant advances have been made in the application of ACT principles to organizational settings. In fact, the organizational application of ACT has solidified sufficiently to give rise to the term ACTraining to distinguish its procedures from those used in clinical settings, though the underlying processes are believed to be the same. This symposium highlights recent work in ACTraining and does so within the context of recent calls to expand the scope of ACT and OBM to the mutual benefit of both literatures. The first presentation in this symposium describes the implementation of brief online modules targeting values-clarification and goal-setting for residential staff of a human service organization in northern Nevada. The second presentation focuses more broadly on the application of ACT to organizations and highlights new developments in the promotion of workplace wellness and performance. Lastly, the symposium concludes with a laboratory study guided by the ACTraining model. The latter study directly answers a previous call for those in ACT and OBM to investigate the functioning of teams. More specifically, the latter study applies brief online modules targeting values-clarification and perspective-taking toward the promotion of adaptive teamwork in a dynamic simulated combat environment.

The nature of front-line work in human service organizations is such that employee burnout and turnover is common. Though not commonly discussed in the traditional OBM literature, studies are emerging on the effects of interventions derived from Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT) on these very issues. The current study seeks to contribute to this literature by evaluating the implementation of a brief web-based values-clarification module across three community homes in a human-service organization serving mild to moderate individuals with intellectual disabilities in Northern Nevada. More specifically, this study focuses on the role of teams and conceptualizes each house with its constituent manager and staff as teams working together to produce common goals. The goal of the current study is to have managers and staff examine and articulate their values related to teamwork and how such values relate to larger life values. If successful, this intervention could function as a motivative augmental to alter the reinforcing value of stimuli embedded in this oftentimes stressful workplace and change a variety of outcome measures in positive directions, such as incident report rates, employee satisfaction, staff turnover, treatment integrity and burnout.

Empirical studies utilizing Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) have demonstrated increased workplace performance and innovation while reducing work stress and work errors. Recently, researchers have turned their attention to brief, non-clinical iterations of the ACT psychological flexibility (PF) model to generate comparable results in a variety of work environments. With relational frame theory viewed as a map and ACT as a previously explored trail, new pathways to workplace wellness and improved performance are under development. In this talk, we present a theoretical account of PF as it relates to organizational behavior management and the design of relevant workplace training. We provide a rationale for the development of novel PF training delivery systems, identify potential complications in the creation of measurement tools, and offer ground rules for their inception. Additionally, we propose the design of hybrid models that incorporate skill training from other third generation contextual approaches such as functional analytic psychotherapy and dialectical behavior therapy.

ACT procedures have been used in clinical settings to undermine the functions of verbal content that impair psychological functioning. However, the past decade has seen significant advances in the application of ACT principles to organizational settings. In addition, recent authors have advocated for a mutual expansion of ACT and OBM into previously unexplored areas. One area that has yet to be explored relates to teams and their adaptation on the fly to dynamic environmental conditions. The current series of studies extends our previous work, which utilized brief web-based values-clarification modules to significantly increase cumulative GPAs and student retention in a university setting. For the current work, we adapted our values-clarification modules from an educational to a team setting in order to examine the generality of our past findings into a highly arousing military combat simulation. This line of research evaluates the impact of values-clarification on physiological and mental arousal, listener behavior, rule generation, and a variety of performance measures tied to the successful completion of mission objectives. If successful, this research will successfully extend the scope of ACT work into new areas and potentially point to cost-effective web-based performance improvement methods for a variety of organizational settings.

The Behavior Analyst Certification Board Guidelines for Responsible Conduct and other published documents and texts within the subject area of Behavior Analysis have provided guidelines and suggestions for how behavior analysts practicing within clinical and research settings should ethically behave. These documents can be argued to fall within the realm of applied ethics (i.e., the examination of particular issues in private and public life to identify the morally correct course of action in various fields of human life, specifically those practicing as research and/or clinical behavior analysts). Relatively little has been written or discussed regarding the metaethical principles that these documents are premised upon (i.e., What is the meaning of the moral terms or judgments used? What is the nature of the moral judgments we are making through such applied ethical documents? How may these moral judgments be supported or defended?) A behavior analytic approach to these metaethical principles and concepts will be argued as the appropriate next step the field of Behavior Analysis ought to take in order to continue to move Behavior Analysis further along the process of professionalization. The benefits of such a movement for the fields of Behavior Analysis and Bioethics as well as where Behavior Analysis should go moving forward will also be discussed.

The field of behavior analysis has grown significantly since its commencement and now spans a wide variety of research areas (e.g., timing, choice, behavioral pharmacology, and comparative studies). As the field continues to grow, it is important to take a look back at our history and reflect on questions that have remained without answer. In the current panel, speakers from a wide variety of basic research areas will summarise the big questions from selected basic research topics, discuss current trends in these areas, and assess possible directions for further research.

Pathological gambling affects a significant portion of the population, and may become more prevalent if gambling establishments continue to increase in availability. One particular area of concern for pathological gamblers involves the near-miss, a losing outcome that gamblers rate as close to a win that commonly increases gambling behavior though the outcome is actually a loss. While much of the literature targeting the near-miss effect relies on cognitive interpretations, studying this effect with an approach built from techniques of behavior analysis could prove beneficial to treatment and control of gambling problems. First, the pre-gambling behavior of children while playing games of chance in an arcade is examined. Next, the near-miss is examined on five-reel slot machines to observe how new configurations of stimuli affect the presence of the near-miss. Finally, the effect of the near-miss on brain activation is observed in gamblers who bet money for different functional reasons (tangible, social, escape, sensory). Because the near-miss effect is commonly observed in pathological gambling populations, research on the development and presence of the near-miss in varying contexts and populations will yield a better understanding of its effects so that more effective treatments can be built to prevent or eliminate pathological gambling.

Many adult pathological gamblers have demonstrated the near-miss effect; the belief that an outcome that is "close" to a win means a win is coming. While some research has been done on the predictors of children becoming pathological gamblers, the presence of the near-miss effect in children has not yet been examined. The current study examined the presence of the near-miss effect in children. The sample included 20 typically developing children between the ages of 6 and 10. The participants were instructed to play on a roulette-like arcade game at a local bowling alley. Each trial consisted of the participant choosing one color by pushing the corresponding button, and rating the outcome of the trial as to how close the participant felt the ball was to landing on the chosen color. Participants rated the outcomes on a five-point Likert-type scale, with 1 representing a total loss and 5 representing a win. Significant differences were found between ratings of wins and near miss, near miss and total loss, and wins and total loss. These results imply that the near-miss effect, a characteristic of pathological gamblers, may be present in children as young as five years old.

The Gambling Functional Assessment (GFA-II) is a clinical assessment that measures the maintaining function of gambling behaviors. Research suggests this assessment measures four possible factors: social attention, escape form aversive events, access to tangible objects, and sensory input. However, little is known about differences across these gambling subtypes, particularly in relation to brain activation patterns as measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to investigate differences in brain activation during slot machine activity across gambling subtypes. Thirty-five gamblers were asked to play a slot machine activity during an fMRI scan. During the gambling activity, participants were asked to rate each outcome on a closeness to win scale, ranging from 1 (not at all close) to 5 (extremely close). Brain activation during various slot machine outcomes (i.e., wins, losses, and near-misses) was compared across gambling subtypes. Results suggest that dopaminergic systems activate differently across attention, tangible, and sensory maintained gamblers during winning and almost winning trials; yet self-reported outcomes on closeness to win did not differ across subtypes. These results suggest that gamblers may represent a heterogeneous population. Implications for these findings, including how these results may inform treatment approaches, will be discussed.

Functional Behavior Assessment is considered "best practice" when creating interventions for problem behavior (Graham, Watson, & Skinner, 2001; Steege & Watson, 2008). Sometimes, however, problem behaviors may arise because of general classroom management and instructional issues. For example, problem behavior may arise in the classroom because the classroom teacher rarely attends to appropriate student behavior and consistently provides attention for inappropriate behavior. At the same time, the classroom teacher may use ineffective instructional practices. Current practices in the classroom may not represent a "best practice" baseline, which should be in effect before an individual child is targeted for highly individualized assessment and intervention. In such situations, another approach to the assessment of problem behavior is warranted, specifically an assessment of the classroom environment and the instructional routines in place. Such assessment might indicate that a functional analysis for one individual child should not be the first course of action. Rather, more broad-scale intervention may be warranted and may benefit all children in the classroom, while decreasing problem behavior in the targeted child at the same time. This presentation will discuss the rationale and utility for such an assessment, as well as propose a possible method of such assessment.

TBehavior analysis reached Poland in the early nineties of the last century, although some interest in conceptual behavior analysis was observed even in the eighties. The first therapeutic center for autistic children, which used behavioral therapy techniques based on applied behavior analysis, was founded in Gdansk in 1992. The following year, research on the process of discounting was started at the University of Warsaw, thereby initiating the experimental behavior analysis in our country. The most intense development of behavior analysis in Poland has been observed over the last few years. A great deal of things happened in this period of time: organizational units dedicated to the development of behavior analysis were founded at two Polish universities, the number of therapeutic centers using applied behavior analysis has exceeded 20, three societies were founded to connect behavior analysts and people interested in this branch of psychology, nearly 20 conferences and symposiums on behavior analysis took place. Moreover, many important works on the subject were published translations from English as well as original publications of Polish behavior analysts. This paper is aimed at describing the beginnings of behavior analysis in Poland and to summarize the current state of its development.

This paper explores the evolution of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) in the Gulf Region, focussing on the following countries: Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and United Arab Emirates. In 2001, an International Development Grant from the Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis was obtained to disseminate behaviour analysis in this region. Following this, in 2003, an ABA conference was held in Bahrain and a chapter was created. This paper investigates the progression of ABA in the nine years that have passed since this time. The following will be explored: the lineage of centers providing behavioral intervention throughout the Gulf; the development of undergraduate ABA courses; and the availability of Board Certified Behavior Analysts in each country. The future of ABA in the Gulf Region will be discussed in relation to the development of the chapter, university courses, training, events, and research.

What does ABA really stand for? Even though Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) has been exhaustively implemented in the field of developmental disabilities, gaining particular mainstream attention with autism spectrum disorders, there are several other promising areas that would greatly benefit from practice, research, and development in ABA. The purpose of this panel discussion is to provide information about other domains where behavior analysts have been successful, encourage further research outside autism, and promote dissemination of the field. ABA has made considerable contributions to the areas of behavioral gerontology, organizational behavior management, addiction, obesity, applied animal behavior, and a variety of mental health related issues. However, ABA is not limited to these areas, but is applicable to anything that involves the understanding and modification of behavior. The speakers within this panel will be providing information on how to get more involved in the field of ABA outside the realm of autism , how to make ABA accessible to the mainstream population, and how to apply behavior techniques with animals. ABA really stands for Applied Behavior Analysis, a science in which behavior analysts are not restricted to only assisting those with developmental disabilities. Come and explore your options!

Take-home idea: Behavior analyses reveal surprising psychological features and neurobiological mechanisms underlying intense motivations of reward-related "liking" and "wanting," and relations to negative-valence motivations of fear and disgust. Abstract: Clinical disorders of addiction, binge eating, depression and schizophrenia often involve intense psychopathological mood or motivation states. So it is of interest to understand how limbic brain circuits (involving nucleus accumbens) generate intense motivational states of reward "wanting" and "liking," and also of fearful or aversive states. Behavioral analyses and affective neuroscience studies indicate that "wanting" a reward is generated by a different brain mechanism from "liking" the same reward. The difference between wanting versus liking has implications for understanding addiction and related disorders. Yet surprisingly, desire and fear can both can both be generated by an overlapping mechanism, which may have different modes for each. This lecture will address such dissociations and convergence in affective brain mechanisms.

The present paper provides a Relational Frame Theory conceptualization of human behavior involved in prejudicial beliefs and terrorism. Prior research in this area supports the account that behavior of prejudice is a transformation of stimulus functions as a result of particular stimuli or persons being related to an aversive conceptualized group. For example Dixon et al., (2003) demonstrated that it was difficult for individuals to relate culturally in-congruent stimuli, via transitive relations (A-C), even though direct training was provided that would produce such transitive relations, i.e. A-B, B-C training history. However the individuals were able to make the A-C relations by the inclusion of a fourth stimulus (D) with functions of peace. The contextual effect of the fourth stimulus was not explored and thus the present paper sought to replicate and clarify these results. Participants in this study were college American citizens. Participants were provided adequate training to produce equivalence relations involving culturally in-congruent stimuli. Participants were then tested for the emergence of derived relations. Participants were then exposed to a second relational evaluation in which the D stimuli were present but not directly trained. Results support previous literature indicating that participants have difficulty forming culturally in-congruent stimuli however the presence of the non-prejudicial stimuli (fourth stimuli) was adequate to facilitate the emergence of transitive relations. These results suggest that direct training is not required to produce a transformation of stimulus function; possible mechanisms of this change are discussed. Key words: Relational Frame Theory, prejudice, terrorism, transitive relations

The study aimed to investigate the role of nodal distance on the establishment of false memories using the Stimulus equivalence and DRM Paradigms. Participants were college students. Three four stimuli equivalence classes - Classes 1, 2 and 3 - using CaN structure and three 13 stimuli equivalence classes - Classes 4, 5 and 6 with different nodal distances, were taught. On the False Memories Test participants first saw three lists formed by seven of the 13 stimuli from Classes 4, 5 and 6. All stimuli were one node distant. Participants then performed a distracter task for three minutes. A memory test formed by all stimuli from previously list (Targets), six stimuli form Classes 4, 5 and 6 that were not presented on the previously lists - three with one node distance from Targets and three with 4 nodes distance - (Critical distracter), and stimuli from Classes 1, 2 and 3 (Non-related distracters) were conducted. Participants should indicate which stimuli were presented on the first lists on a go/no go task. Preliminary data from 2 participants showed more recognition of critical than non-related distracters and no difference in the percentage of recognition of critical distracters as function of nodal distance.

The emergence of equivalence relations among the positive members of a reinforcement contingency has been readily demonstrated in human subjects of varying age and development. However, yet to be addressed is the possibility of emergent equivalence classes containing the non-positive stimuli in the contingency. The successful demonstration of this phenomenon may expand and build on existing theory. The present study examines for the emergence of equivalence relations among non-positive members of a contingency in typically developing, elementary school-aged subjects. The subjects are undergoing simple discrimination training and conditional discrimination testing procedures with abstract, black and white images as stimuli, presented via a matching-to-sample computer program. Experiment One examines whether a large equivalence class containing all non-positive stimuli emerges when the contingency involves one specific punisher, produced upon selecting any non-positive stimulus. Experiment Two addresses the possibility of several emergent classes of non-positive stimuli as a result of including class-specific punishers in the contingency. At the current stage of data collection, the subjects are readily learning the simple discriminations. If subjects do indeed demonstrate the emergence of equivalence classes among non-positive members of the contingency, it will suggest that stimulus equivalence facilitates even higher numbers of emergent relations than previously thought.

The purpose of this research is to identify the behavioral pattern of preschool children in the Sharing Game and consistently demonstrate or not their opinion on how to divide a resource in a forced choice paradigm, as in the Sharing Game. In a within-subject design, 18 four years preschool children, with typical development did choices over two blocks of repeated trials, each involving five choice opportunities, to distribute resources (in this case different sizes of cakes representing the digits) between themselves and a invisible, passive, participant choosing optimally, but not competitively, equally but not optimally, less optimally, but more competitive and in an altruistic way. The study also allowed a comparison between - subjects about the gender of the participants. The data showed that female children chose optimally at all times and male children alternated in their choices, but chose more often the optimal alternative. The size of the cake may have influenced more girls because they chose more optimally when the size of the cake was bigger. Both genders have chosen more frequently the alternative egalitarian, but the difference between the distribution is greater for boys. Probably they are less altruistic than girls. The results indicated that the experimental model created was suitable. These games are important because they allow: to analyze contingencies involved in the decision of people, to characterize choices as ideal, fair and competitive, and bring under scrutiny the examination of possible effects of other variables (e.g., gender, incentive, amount of money, information, etc.) on the distributions of choices of people to determine whether these choices are stable or influenced by these variables. Subsequently, the effects of other variables will be analyzed.

The paradigm of ordinal relations provided interpretation tools that support the analysis of behavioral repertoires involved in the acquisition of ordinal academic behaviors, such as math literacy. Eight children varying from 4 years and 2 months to 5 years and 8 months participated in three Studies using a computerized teaching procedure for overlapping pairs of stimuli. The first study examined the formation of ordinal relations after teaching two sequences (1 to 6 numerals and their quantities). All of then formed transitive relations and seven formed ordinal relations. In generalization phase, seven participants had a score above 50%. The second study examined the emergency of these ordinal relations under conditional control in auditory modality. From six participants, four formed transitive relations while two formed just partially. No ordinal classes were formed. The third study investigated the extent of conditional control to new numerosity stimuli. All two participants demonstrated performance under extended control tests of equivalence and transitivity. The results converge to rudimentary repertoires analysis that help understand the variables of academic training, analysis of response patterns, characteristics and instructional modeling used in this population.

The emergence of name-object relations have long been documented by developmental and linguistic researchers and by the behavior analysts regarding adults and children. This study sought to investigated the control topography of exclusion responding's emergency by young children. The research was conducted at a day-care center attended for the children. The experimental setting was similar to play setting in the day care. Six participants, three males and tree females, Portuguese-speakers, aged 13-20 months were exposed to name-object training and testing with standard and blank comparison matching-to-sample procedure. The general procedure was conducted in two phases: 1) teaching tasks to conditional discrimination base-line, interspersed by exclusions and learning probes, using familiar stimuli; 2) training trials to blank comparison responses; teaching tasks to conditional discriminations with blank comparison matching-to-sample procedure interspersed by exclusion, control and learning probes, these ones with unfamiliar stimuli/indefinites. The results replicate the literature data. The data presentation used cumulative records. All six children performed consistently showing the emergence of name-object relations in both phases. The six children responded by exclusion at the first exclusion probe and they showing perform under selections and exclusion topography control. Two participants responded only by selection.

Differential Reinforcement of Other Behaviors (DRO) is typically defined as a strategy for decreasing problem behaviors by reinforcing other behaviors contingent on the absence of the problem behaviors during a specified period of time (Cooper, Heron & Heward, 2007). Numerous researchers have found DRO to be an effective strategy to decrease difficult or challenging operant behaviors (Rieg & Smith, 1993). The fact that behavioral reduction is purported to be achieved through reinforcement procedures is typically overlooked. If we are to view the DRO as reinforcement procedure, increases in rates of behavior should be demonstrated. If no increase can be demonstrated and in fact data are only collected on behavior reduction, it is fair to question the validity of the description. The goal of this study was to evaluate the current DRO literature with respect to the ability to demonstrate a reinforcement effect. The findings suggest that little effort is made in the published DRO literature to be able to demonstrate reinforcement effects. However consistent and clear efforts are made to demonstrate reductive effects. The findings will be discussed in terms of descriptive accuracy and procedural implications for clinicians.

The term naming has been variously used within the behavioral literature on derived responding. For example, Sidman (1971) stated that Oral reading may or may not involve comprehension; for example, one can read words in a foreign language aloud without understanding them. Oral reading may, in fact, be more appropriately called "oral naming of words." As such, it may be no different than the oral naming of objects, or the pictures of objects. (page 5). This use of the term name is synonymous to the term tact introduced by Skinner (1957) to denote verbal responses under control of environmental events and maintained by generalized conditioned reinforcers. On the other hand, Horne and Lowe (1996) have used the term naming to denote the verbal capability where an echoic, tact and listener repertoire occurs within the same skin. Using the same term for two different behavior phenomena might cause confusion for readers, especially if recently introduced to the subject. The present poster therefore aims to clarify how the term naming is used in the behavior analytic literature on symbolic functioning and derived responding. Horne, P. J., & Lowe, C. F. (1996). On the origins of naming and other symbolic behavior. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 65(1), 185-241. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1996.65-185 Sidman, M. (1971). Reading and auditory-visual equivalences. Journal of Speech & Hearing Research, 14(1), 5-13. Skinner, B. F. (1957). Verbal behavior. East Norwalk, CT: Appleton-Century-Crofts.

The participant, a 9-year-old male, is currently in third grade in a public elementary school and is reading at a first grade level. One effort to increasing his reading ability is to encourage reading at home of up to 30 minutes each night. An ABA design was used. Baseline data were collected prior to beginning the intervention phase of the design. During baseline, duration data were collected without providing prompts or reinforcement for reading. In the intervention phase, the participant was told that he would receive equal time playing tractors with his father following each night's reading session up to 30 minutes. This was a particularly valuable reinforcer to the participant. A second baseline data were collected following intervention in which reinforcement and prompting were removed. Data collected indicate that the intervention was successful in increasing the reading duration of the participant. Procedural fidelity was maintained throughout the intervention as the plan was carried out as intended the entire time; however, treatment fidelity was not maintained with dosage.

Data-based mathematics interventions using Direct Instruction (DI) for students with learning disabilities (LD) have focused more on basic arithmetic than the mathematical processes involved in solving word problems. This study investigated the impact of Solve It!, a DI-based problem-solving intervention, on the correct math word problem-solving responses of 5th and 6th grade students with LD. Solve It! is a systematically designed curriculum that explicitly teaches the problem-solving processes of reading, paraphrasing, (diagrammed) visualizing, hypothesizing, estimating, (written) computing, and checking (RPV-HECC); along with the three strategies of self-instructing, self-questioning, and self-checking. Four participants with LD who demonstrated difficulties in math problem-solving were selected. Their responses in the target areas of RPV-HECC were assessed using 10 sets of four problem-solving measures equated on grade-level for problem and number of steps. The intervention was then individually taught and included instructor scripts, frequent participant responses, correction procedures to minimize errors, and positive reinforcement of correct responses. The study employed a multiple baseline design across participants to determine competency in paraphrasing, visualizing, estimating, and computation. Preliminary results showed increased correct paraphrasing responses; students visualizing, estimating, and computing responses will be reported after the intervention is systematically introduced to all participants.

Problem solving is a skill needed by every adult to function in the current world. Talk aloud procedures are often used to teach the skills of problem solving through modeling and prompting. Despite instruction, some individuals still struggle to problem solve proficiently. The study examined the effect of using TAPS (Talk Aloud Problem Solving) in placing sentences in a logical order. This study used a multiple baseline design to determine whether a timed talk aloud strategy could be taught to three students in the 4th grade, and then practiced with feedback to reach a fluency aim. A functional relation was suggestive. All students increased the number of talk alouds describing their problem solving process and decisions. Students all demonstrated an effect on their problem solving performance, placing sentences into a logical order. The current study begins to explore the potential of combining behavioral fluency techniques with talk aloud research to help students achieve fluent problem solving skills.

In this study we investigated the effectiveness of Flora's Behaviour Analytic Training (BAT) as a program to improvefitness behaviours for two individuals.For the first participant, it was anticipated that as an adult non-swimmer, learning to "tread water" for 5 minutes and to swim unaided, without pausing for a distance of 25 meters was achievable within a 20-week period. Results demonstrated that, while learning to tread water for 5 minutes was not completely achieved in the set time frame, the participant successfully learned to swim 25 metres unaided and without pausing. For the second participant, it was predicted that there would be an improvement in indoor rock climbing performance as determined byindoorrock climbing standards. While the physiology of rock climbing has been extensively researched, there was a lack of information about personal training methods to improve performance. The results from the indoor rock climbing indicated a clear advantage of training climbing skills holistically on performance over the training of isolated component skills. Overall, BAT proved to be an effective program to improve fitnessperformance.

In order to improve reading accuracy, fluency and comprehension score, repeated reading training is widely used. However, it may be difficult for students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) to improve their reading skills by reading whole sentence repeatedly. For students with ASD, they often show the difficulties in reading and comprehending the sentences. On the other hand, they can read and comprehend the word or segment well. In the present study, we examined whether four students with ASD improved their reading accuracy, fluency and comprehension through two types of repeated reading training, whole sentence-unit reading training and segment-unit reading training. In pre- and post-test, students were required to read whole sentences and answer the five questions presented on the computer. In whole sentence-unit reading training, students were required to read whole sentences. In segment-unit reading training, students were required to read each segment of sentences one-by-one. The result indicated that all students improved their reading skills through both trainings. There was a significant interaction showing that the improvement of reading comprehension scores was greater after segment-unit reading training than the other. Results suggested the amount of visual stimulus presentation was a key to improve reading skills for students with ASD.

Abstract: Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) has been widely used and accepted as a method to teach communication skills to children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (Frost and Bondy, 1994). This system has proven to be cost effective, portable, and requires few foundational skills prior to teaching. Since the development of PECS , a multitude of advances in the area of educational technology have occurred, many designed to aid in the communication of students with Autism Spectrum Disorders. One such advance is the Apple iPad with the application Proloquo2go. Little research, however, has focused on the effectiveness of using a systematic teaching approach with this augmentative device and application. This project investigates the use of a systematic teaching procedure to teach communication skills using the iPad application Proloquo2go. The current study took place at a private non-profit day school for students with autism and other developmental disabilities. Participants included 4 students on the autism spectrum ranging in age from 6-16. A multiple baseline design across target items was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the teaching procedure. Preliminary results indicate increasing independence.

The aim of this paper was to assess the therapists behavior in the interactional relationship with the drugs abusers after motivational counseling behavioral training throughout simulated situations. We worked with 412, twenty five throughout 49 years old adults (133 health therapist adn 279 non-professional therapist) who participated in a cuasi experimental study with a control group. We used the Behavioral Observational System of interactions patient-therapist. The participants were observed in one simulated situation of interaction, in four conditions: with written material and training, with written material only, with training only, and without training and without written material for health therapist against non health therapist. We used the motivational interview procedures to explain the interactional behavior and its differences throughout the behavioral training condition in function of kind of therapist. The results show a significant diferences on the percentage of response in function of behavioral training condition and the kind of therapist. We discussed the applicability of profesional`s skills particularly in drug intervention settings.

Expulsion of food or drink is a problematic mealtime behavior that some children with feeding disorders display. Repeated expulsion can lead to increased meal durations, decreased caloric consumption, and continued feeding difficulties. One method for treating expulsion is re-presentation, placing expelled food or liquid back into the childs mouth. Several studies have incorporated re-presentation of expelled food into the initial treatment package without evaluating its relative contribution with two notable exceptions. Coe and colleagues (1997) and Sevin and colleagues (2001) evaluated the effectiveness of incorporating re-presentation once expulsion emerged following initial treatment of refusal using nonremoval of the spoon. No studies, to our knowledge, have compared the effects of re-presentation versus no re-presentation in combination with nonremoval of the cup during the initial treatment of liquid refusal. The purpose of the current investigation was to compare the effectiveness of re-presentation versus no re-presentation on mouth clean (i.e., a product measure of swallowing) and expulsion for two children with liquid refusal. Re-presentation of expelled liquids resulted in higher levels of mouth clean for both children and lower levels of expulsion for one child relative to no re-presentation. Implications will be discussed.

High rates of texting behavior are associated with negative academic, social, and physical outcomes. This study provided four college freshmen with a self-management intervention to decrease the number of texts they sent per day. The intervention was comprised of two phases. In the first (“Text-By-Text Self-Monitoring”), each time a participant sent a text they also sent a numbered text to the investigator to keep a cumulative record of texts sent each day. In the second phase (“Daily Self-Monitoring”), participants privately self-monitored and reported only a daily total of texts sent. In both phases, participants earned points toward a gift card for accuracy of self-monitoring and rate of texting behavior relative to self-identified goals. A multiple baseline across participants was used. Data for the dependent measure of texts sent were collected from the phone company’s website. Following intervention implementation, each participant decreased their daily number of texts sent by 50% or more compared with baseline. Trends were stable with a high percentage of non-overlapping data points compared with baseline. Rates were maintained after all contingencies were removed for a one-week follow-up period. Consumer satisfaction across participants was high. It was concluded self-management can be an effective intervention for decreasing texting behavior.

The focus of this study was to explore additional research methods for deriving rates of discounting, k, with increasing delays. Previous methods for determining this coefficient relied on either highly specialized statistical packages or less complex point-by-point approximations to determine the area underneath of these curves (AUC). With the increasing familiarity with mobile technology, a variety of complex analyses could be readily prepared using a phone or a tablet device. The goal of this study was to determine if a mobile application could accurately or better predict rates of discounting when provided with information gathered from delayed discounting studies. Using the widely applicable Java programming language, this application was built from the ground up to work on the Android mobile device platform or any computer with necessary Java libraries. This free and highly compatible application utilizes numerical integration to provide highly complex statistical formulations with an interface that even a novice research could maneuver. Through this simplified interface, even students could conduct delayed discounting experiments and obtain k, the AUC, and even VAC/R2.

Given the high rates of gambling in the United States and the growing population of problem and pathological (disordered) gamblers, there is a need for effective interventions which will eliminate or reduce disordered gambling, or, at minimum, reduce harm resulting from disordered gambling. High-risk populations for development of disordered gambling include college students and online poker players. This study sought to develop and test a brief behavioral intervention for decreasing monetary loss, time spent gambling, and risky betting for college-aged self-identified problem gamblers who play online poker. This study included four participants in a multiple baseline across participants. Post-intervention, all participants gambled fewer days overall, and three of four participants lost less money overall. The fourth participant was never at a net monetary loss.

Anxiety disorders are extremely high in prevalence in our society today. One of the most common anxiety disorders is social anxiety disorder, more specifically glossophobia (fear of public speaking). In persons with public speaking anxiety, anxiety is experienced in situations that involve social interactions and speaking in front of an audience. Very few people seek treatment for their anxiety because of the social nature of the disorder, and the social interaction involved in many treatments impacting many aspects of their daily lives (National Institute of Mental Health, 2010). Though this disorder is highly prevalent among the general population very few behavior analytic studies have been conducted investigating the treatment of them. The present study examined the effects of graduated exposure therapy paired with goal setting and self or observer provided feedback. The data suggest a significant change in the participants targeted behaviors due to the methods used in this study.

There is a need to develop and disseminate effective infant abuse prevention programs. Infant simulators (e.g., RealCare baby) are currently used to discourage teen pregnancy. However, these experiences also provide an infant caregiving history and may be useful in preventing abuse. The purpose of this study was to describe the experiences of high schoolers participating in a typical infant simulation. Twenty-five students took the RealCare baby home for one night. Infant crying, successful caregiving, and abusive responses were automatically recorded by the RealCare baby. Participants who were less successful in caring for the infant experienced more infant crying. Inconsolable crying has been linked to child abuse (Krugman, 1985) and learned helplessness (Donovan & Leavitt, 1985), and behavioral history is an important determinant of caregiving responses to crying (Bruzek, Thompson, & Peters, 2009). The results of this study suggest that the typical use of infant simulators might provide an undesirable behavioral history for adolescents. Infant simulations that create a history of successful caregiving might be used as a tool in abuse prevention.

According to the World Health Organization (2012), dementia cases are expected to triple by 2050, making dementia prevention and treatment a public health and societal priority. Dementia not only affects cognitive processes important to independent function, but this syndrome also impairs ambulation, activities of daily living, and behavior (e.g., aggression, irritability). Increased activity engagement is associated with health, social, psychological and behavioral benefits (Boyle, Pinquart; Menec, 2003; Lennartsson et al., 2001). The purpose of this poster is to provide a comprehensive review of activity interventions applied in dementia care, and includes a description of the types of activities, delivery characteristics, and strategies used to increase adoption and enhance engagement. The authors conducted a systematic review of PubMed, PsychINFO, and the Cochrane Library to analyze over 100 articles. Authors found that behavioral interventions (e.g., providing choices, modifying prompts, conducting preference assessments) were effective at increasing engagement within this population. There is a need for more research, given the overall low-to-poor quality of the research reviewed. Authors close with a call to behavior analysts. These practitioners are trained in procedures to increase social and communication skills, as well as activity engagement, and therefore behavior analysts have the ability to make a significant clinical impact in this area of dementia care.

The 46% pass rate on the September 2011 BCBA exam was a sudden decrease from the 70% range that had been predominant for several years. As a result, we conducted a survey of BCBA candidates who took this exam and used the CBA Learning Module Series to prepare. One finding was that 71% of the people who completed all of the modules to 100% passed the exam. In this poster, we will consider these data and other data relevant to taking and preparing for the BCBA exam. We will discuss reasons for the drop in pass rate and factors pertaining to BCBA training, which include university programs advertising their pass rates, students' level of academic achievement upon entering university programs, BCBA exam preparation strategies, and BCBA candidate evaluation procedures other than passing an exam.

About 1 in 88 children has been identified with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) according to estimates from CDC's Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network (March, 2012). With the increasing numbers of children with autism, there is an increase in the need for services to address the needs of this population. To meet this demand, universities need to train a sufficient number of competent behavior analytic practitioners (Hughes & Shook, 2007). Supervision of candidates in the field of Applied Behavior Analysis varies greatly across programs and individual supervisors. The Behavior Analysis Certification Board (BACB) is attempting to address this variation by requiring supervisors to complete a BACB Supervisor Training Curriculum. The BACB Supervisor Training Curriculum promotes effective, evidence-based supervision (2012 Behavior Analyst Certification Board,® Inc.). The purpose of this poster presentation is to offer suggestions for evaluating fidelity of implementation in the supervision of candidates in the field of ABA.

Several studies have demonstrated that the frequency of problem behavior maintained by automatic reinforcement decreases during the presentation of noncontingent matched stimulation. This literature implemented continuous matched stimulation presentation. By contrast, we investigated how the frequency of stereotypy changed as a function of the schedule of matched stimulation presentation. The present study included two participants. The target behaviors were automatic-maintained echolalia and head hitting. In order to select matched stimulation , we presented several stimuli that matched the putative sensory product of problem behavior and selected the one with the highest suppressive effect.We presented the stimulus in three different schedules (thin, moderate, and dense) using a combined multi-element and reversal design. Schedules were established on the basis of the frequency of problem behavior during baseline. Specifically, the thin schedule equaled half of the frequency of target behavior during baseline; the moderate schedule equaled the frequency of target behavior during baseline. During the dense schedule matched stimulation was presented continuously. Thin schedules had no suppressive effects. Moderate schedules were somewhat suppressive for one of the participants. Large suppressive effects were found in both participants when matched stimulation was presented continuously.

ABSTRACT: Based on Social response analysis and the Matrix of Social and Verbal Analysis (Ben-Zvi , Oslo 2010) an assessment tool was Based on Social response analysis and the Matrix of Social and Verbal Analysis (Ben-Zvi , Oslo 2010) an assessment tool was developed for the assessment and programing of social training. The STAA is enlarging and developing of other behavioral but rather limited social scales, like the ABLLS-R Social Interaction part (Partington 2006). Social skills assessment Scales need to be based on basic Social Pivotal Response groups: Social Awareness, Social joyful behaviors, Social Coordination, Reciprocal social actions, Cooperation, Rule Guided Social play, Competitive behaviors, and TOM behaviors. The groups need to be assessed separately from Verbal Behaviors if we want to be able to plan correctly the interventions for social improvements, so much needed for the ASD population but also needed for other social deficits. Based on this assumption, assessment tool was developed on top of the ABLLS-R. A preliminary test of the assessment tool was done on autistic children in a kindergarten in Israel. For each child a program of social training was set, and data on development or improvement in social behavior is being collected. The Poster presents the STAA, and the guidelines for interventions based on STAA, with 5 ASD children, aged 3-5

Children diagnosed with autism often exhibit deficits in play skills. A variety of photographic, video, and computer based interventions have been used to teach play skills, however there is limited data regarding generalization of play skills to untrained play skills, emergence of novel play behaviors, and systematic fading of visual prompts to promote maintenance of play skills. The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of Microsoft PowerPoint to teach specific motor and verbal play scripts, document the emergence of novel motor and verbal play behaviors, and note generalization to untrained play scenarios. In addition, the PowerPoint presentation was systematically faded to promote play skills in the natural environment. A multiple baseline across subjects and toy scripts was utilized with 4 young participants who had a diagnosis of autism. The results of the study indicated 3 of 4 participants demonstrated increases in the trained scripted toy play scenarios that maintained after the PowerPoint program was faded. Skill acquisition and emergence of novel motor and verbal play behaviors varied within and between participants. Further play skills generalized to untrained play toys.

Children with autism may have difficulties learning or expending their echoic repertoire, in which is important for learning to speak. Many researches have evaluated the effectiveness of SSP in independent vocalization, yet the effect on echoic response is still among discussion. We modify the procedure which used in Barbara et al. (2009) to identify the effect of SSP on echoic response. One out of three children with autism has an increase in echoic response after SSP, the other two children which their echoic response did not increase, are further examined the effect of shaping on echoic response.

Beginning conversational skills are one of the most challenging skills for children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to acquire. Unlike some intraverbal skills, social responses such as reciprocal greetings are difficult to teach with simple tact prompts (e.g., pictures). Textual and echoic prompts are other common interventions for intraverbal training; however, echolalia often becomes problematic, especially given the strong history of teaching children to imitate the therapist during discrete-trial training. Video modeling is an intervention that has been proven effective for acquiring other social skills in children with ASD, which has the potential to circumvent echolalia when training reciprocal greetings. This study examined the efficacy of video modeling compared with a 5-second, constant-prompt-delay procedure to teach appropriate greetings to two children with ASD within an early intervention clinic. Baseline sessions consisted of providing differential reinforcement contingent on appropriate greeting responses without echolalia. The results showed that video modeling was more effective than the constant-prompt-delay procedure in reducing echolalia and teaching the children to respond appropriately to greetings. Generalization across three novel therapists was also measured and findings indicated that all participants were able to respond appropriately to greetings made by therapists who did not conduct training sessions.

The effects of a visual discriminative stimulus of challenging behavior in a boy with Autism were explored using a multielement design embedded into an ABAB design. Challenging behavior was identified as aggressive behavior. A functional analysis demonstrated the participants aggressive behavior was maintained by access to tangibles, specifically access to bubbles and iPad. During baseline, the desired objects were removed and all instances of aggressive behavior resulted in immediate reinforcement access to the objects. During intervention, one of two conditions was presented. During the Red Card condition, the iPad and bubbles were removed but remained in sight; a laminated 2 square red card was presented to the participant. All problem behavior and verbal requests for the items were ignored. During the No Card condition, the items were removed but remained in sight, and no card was provided. All problem behaviors were ignored, but verbal requests for the objects were reinforced with access to those items. Thus, the red card became a discriminative stimulus. Generalization was measured in which the red card was administered in new settings. Results suggest that the red card discriminative stimulus intervention significantly decreased aggressive behavior, and such results could be maintained in a variety of settings.

Individuals with learning and behavioral challenges often rely on the support of others to accomplish day to day activities such as self-care, domestic, vocational and other functional skills. Additionally, limited communication abilities and behaviors related to those communication challenges make it difficult for them to be integrated in the community. Assistive technology has been found to improve the independent functioning of individuals with various learning and behavioral difficulties, including Autism. Recent advancements in technology have made the implementation of assistive technology significantly more simplified due to improved portability, capability, and accessibility with reduced cost. Commonly available technology such as the IPod Touch can be a very useful tool in ameliorating supports through auditory and visual cues, and serves to bridge communication and social skills challenges. In this research study funded by Autism Delaware, IPod Touch were implemented as Augmentative and Alternative Communication Devices (AAC) as well as visual scheduling and leisure tools.

Pica, the consumption of nonnutritive substances, is a serious concern for individuals with developmental disabilities and can lead to dangerous outcomes such as intestinal damage, infection, surgery, and death. In the present study, a 12-year-old male presented with high rates of pica. Functional analysis results revealed that pica was maintained by automatic reinforcement. A multi-element design was used to compare the effects of baseline (e.g., ignore), competing items, and response blocking. Additional analyses were conducted to explore the extent to which blocking and providing competing items reduced pica. Overall results indicated that providing the adolescent with a competing item every 10 minutes and blocking all pica significantly reduced pica behavior. Study limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Response variability has been extensively investigated in basic research in laboratory experiments using nonhumans (Neuringer, 1993; Page & Neuringer, 1985). By contrast, very little research has been done in applied settings with human participants. To date, the research that has been done on response variability in human participants has focused primarily on variability of vocalizations and communication responses. To help address this deficit, we evaluated the effects of lag 1 and 2 schedules on novel responses for three participants diagnosed with autism who exhibited little or no appropriate toy play. Results show that the lag 1 schedule increased toy play variability for all 3 participants and the lag 2 schedule produced additional, but only modest increases in, variability for 2 of 2 participants. The results of a social validity assessment suggest that staff perceived toy play as normal and were satisfied with the outcomes. We discuss the clinical implications and the potential limitations of the findings.

The urgency of scientific discoveries into the origins of Autism and effective treatment options has never been greater. In reviewing the empirical literature that exists to date, it is clear that one treatment approach has come to the forefront as particularly beneficial: applied behavior analysis, or ABA. What is often overlooked is the reason for this. In a basic sense, it is because the subject matter of applied behavior analysis translates into the fundamental tenets of how we, as humans, learn - and what to do when learning does not occur as expected. While the empirical evidence in support of ABA is vast, there is still much work to be done. Misconceptions about ABA are commonplace. Barriers to service are great, including a demand that far outweighs the supply of qualified providers and difficulties incorporating ABA treatment in a fashion that is both effective and sustainable over time. The HALI Music Method® is a systematic procedure to teach people with Autism how to play the piano. Clinical data have shown the HALI Music Method® results in benefits beyond learning how to play the piano. Research findings will be presented to help describe the HALI Music Method® and the critical outcomes produced from intensive one-on-one instruction. Subjects included five children with Autism, 7-8 years old, who received instruction using the HALI Music Method® for four days a week for 12 weeks in a school-based setting in a suburban New Jersey community. Three research questions were asked: (1) What is the frequency of correct responses (i.e., hitting correct keys on the piano) across the time the HALI Music Method® is employed?; (2) What changes occur in attention as measured by the frequency of attending to the instructor, materials, or other stimuli in the instructional environment?; and, (3) Does the frequency of following instructions improve as a result of the HALI Music Method®? Research results will be presented using a time-series graphic display of data. The rationale for the study will be described as well as a recommended framework for prioritizing skill development that has the greatest likelihood of producing meaningful, socially significant results for children with Autism.

Early, intensive and comprehensive intervention is of paramount importance to address the rising prevalence of autism in America. Unfortunately for many children, geographical isolation and excessive costs prevent many children from receiving services. Training parents to implement effective Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) interventions reduces theses barriers to therapy. This project will present longitudinal data that will address this access and training deficit by evaluating the Online and Applied System for Intervention Skills (OASIS) training program, a program that removes barriers to effective ABA training through web-based live coaching sessions provided via telemedicine. OASIS uses a Research-to-Practice Outreach Training model to teach parents of children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) how to implement empirically-based interventions with their children. The effectiveness of the OASIS program was evaluated across families with young children diagnosed with autism. Preliminary longitudinal data presented here include parent outcomes on pre- to posttest skill mastery and knowledge assessments. Results show that parents demonstrated pre- to posttest gains in knowledge and ABA implementation with their children. We discuss some of the challenges in implementing distance training with this population and the implications of distance ABA training for families of children diagnosed with autism.

Training parents to implement interventions for children with autism has emerged as an evidence-based method to augment traditional clinical treatment. The purpose of this review was to extend previous reviews by examining the literature on parent-implemented interventions for children with autism. A systematic search of databases, reviews, and the Internet was conducted. Inclusion criteria were: a) publication between January 2000 and August 2012, b) peer-reviewed, c) enrollment of participants with a Pervasive Developmental Disorder under seven years of age and d) parent training to implement interventions. The search yielded 20 articles. Studies were examined for a) frequency of learning methods used in training, b) fidelity measurement procedures and c) extent of reporting on trainer and parent adherence to content. Results suggest the most frequently used parent training methods were provision of a manual or handouts, feedback, didactic presentation, and videos. Sixteen studies assessed treatment fidelity, and the majority collected data on parent adherence through video observation. Three studies used a fidelity checklist; however, an example of these tools were not provided. Preliminary data suggests treatment fidelity is being assessed, though a need to further explore the impact of various learning methods and treatment fidelity measures on the strength of parent-implemented interventions is necessary.

Imitation is a prerequisite skill for children developing language and social skills (Rogers & Pennington, 1991). A mirror can provide visual feedback regarding the correspondence between the observed sample stimulus and the positions of ones own body in the imitative response (Catania, 1998). Increased levels of correct responding during training and generalization probes with a mirror suggest that children with developmental delays may benefit from the aid of a mirror during imitation training (Du, 2011; Moreno & Greer, 2012). Although several researchers have studied the use of mirrors in fostering generalized imitation, no studies currently report comparing the use of mirrors to no mirrors in the acquisition of imitative behavior. We used an adapted alternating treatment design embedded within a concurrent multiple-baseline across targets to compare the effects of a progressive prompting procedure with and without a mirror on the acquisition of gross motor imitation. During the mirror condition, the therapist oriented the child to the therapist's reflection before modeling the response. The participant was a 2-year old boy diagnosed with autism with limited motor imitation. Responses that were taught with the aid of a mirror were acquired faster than responses that were taught without a mirror.

This paper systematically reviews the research on teaching individuals with autism to ask questions (i.e., mand for information). Database, hand, and ancestry searches identified 21 studies for review. Each study was analyzed and summarized in terms of (a) participant characteristics (b) dependent variables, (c) intervention procedures, and (d) outcomes and certainty of evidence. All 21 studies reported positive outcomes, meaning that participants acquired or improved question-asking skills. Studies taught participants to ask the following types of questions: what, where, who, which, when, and how. The questions Can I see it? and Can I have it? were also taught. Various intervention procedures were utilized including: naturalistic teaching, discrete trial training, token economies, small group training, picture communication systems, video modeling and scripts. All 21 studies employed behavior-analytic techniques. Intervention procedures, effects of motivating operations, generalization, implications for communication programs, and future research directions are discussed.

Children with autism spectrum disorders frequently engage in problem behavior, such as disruption and non-compliance (McClintock, Hall, & Oliver, 2003). Such behavior problems can have a negative impact on classroom functioning (Kaiser, 2007). Behavioral interventions targeting in-seat behavior have been effective (Luiselli, Colozzi, Helfen, & Pollow, 1980). In the current study, differential reinforcement of in-seat behavior using a changing criterion design was used to increase in-seat behavior. A pre-specified duration of in-seat behavior was set and tokens were delivered following successfully meeting this criterion. Duration of in-seat requirements was gradually increased. Once all required tokens were earned, a break was provided. A non-concurrent multiple baseline design was used across participants to replicate findings. Participants included one 7 year old male with a diagnosis of autistic disorder and one 5 year old female with a diagnosis of Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS). Data show that the in-seat behavior increased with the use of the token board across both participants.

Children with autism demonstrate an array of sensory, behavioral and functional difficulties including well documented problems in motor coordination, socialization, communication, attention, sleep patterns and self-regulation. Clinical evidence suggests that these areas of difficulty will respond positively to auditory and motor stimulation, particularly when combined with Applied Behavioral Analysis therapy. This presentation will introduce participants to the functional efficacy of multi-sensory interventions as well as discussing recent research on their effectiveness with children with autism.

Given the empirically validated success of early behavioral interventions based on applied behavior analysis (ABA) for individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities, the demand for knowledgeable and skilled paraprofessional teaching staff is at an all-time high. Unfortunately, there currently exists a widely recognized shortage of such practitioners. What is needed is an efficient training curriculum that is specifically geared toward those at the paraprofessional level, one that does not require university enrollment. Such a training program must be easy to access, presented at a level that reaches anyone who may have little or no prior experience with ABA and be available anytime one chooses to access it. This paper will describe an innovative program of research and development aimed at training paraprofessionals through the use of online distance training. The focus of the program has been on teaching fundamental knowledge and skills in behavioral intervention methods by simulating typical live mentor/mentee training. To help build skills, the program makes use of unique simulation exercises, in which the user directly interacts with an onscreen child from a first-person perspective. Program evaluation data from multiple studies that demonstrate both knowledge acquisition and transfer of computer-based skills to live performances also will be discussed.

Within the field of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), we have developed powerful tools in both the area of instruction for students with autism and the area of organizational behavior management (OBM). However, despite our fields demonstrated success in both of these disciplines, the practices of these two areas seldom intersect with each other in a significant manner. Efforts focused on achieving consistent change across organizations that serve students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) risk inefficiencies or a lack of sustained effectiveness, as these endeavors are typically missing a system-wide analysis to provide guidance for the project. The discipline of OBM can provide the analysis tools necessary to ensure efficient and effective dissemination of best practice in the field of autism. This presentation will discuss the analysis of two public school divisions using the tools of OBM, and how the results of these analyses were utilized to inform division-wide changes in social skills programming. Focus will be placed on how the analysis led to development of an assessment for social skills. Comparisons will be made between the implications of use of the new assessment and projected results of non-OBM directed systems-change projects.

Difficulty in understanding and finding their way in the social world is one of the key challenges for individuals with autism spectrum disorders. From childhood through adolescence and into adulthood this inability to navigate the social world makes these children and adults easy targets for isolation and bullying. Addressing social challenges effectively can be critical to success at school, at work, and in the community. Improved social skills can also lead to more and better relationships with other people. This panel will bring together presenters who will share the methods and outcomes of three innovative social skills groups that go beyond traditional methods of teaching social skills. One of these is a gamers club where social skills groups take place through video gaming for pre-adolescents and adolescents. Pathways offers community-based social skills classes that build friendships through a variety of shared experiences, and TheatreWorks, is a program which uses theatre as a platform for building social skills. Presenters will share the methods and outcomes of these programs with the audience.

The presenter will outline the evidence on how children come to learn language incidentally (incidental naming). According to the evidence, children do not receive direct instruction/reinforcement to learn either the speaker or listener responses for word-object relations, despite speculation to the contrary. Nevertheless, typically developing children need and do acquire as many as 85,000 words. Research in verbal behavior development identified how this occurs and how to establish this capability in children who lack naming.The presenter willoutline the protocols to do so and how instruction should change following its establishment, along with why naming is an essential for inclusion.

Graduate students and practicing BCBAs.

This presentation first will review how ethical behavior is considered from a behavior-analytic perspective, outlining unique features as well as those that overlap with other views on ethics. The review also will include the potential impact on ethical behavior of some general topics of concern to behavior analysts, such as values and value clarification, long- and short-term consequences of actions, the role of rules and contingencies in ethical behavior, behavioral control and counter-control, and the context in which actions occur. This will be followed by a review of how selected specific methods used in assessment and intervention and contemporary research findings in both the experimental analysis of behavior and in applied behavior analysis might influence ethical decisions and practices related to treatment of behavior disorders.

Self-control is sometimes necessary for optimal choice behavior, and perhaps even for future-oriented decision-making. Humans sometimes show self-control by choosing better, but more delayed outcomes over more immediate outcomes. However, the failure of self-control (impulsivity) underlies many problematic human behaviors, and has led humans to train themselves to overcome their "animal impulses." But is it fair to assume that animals cannot do the same, and also exhibit self-control? The presentation will argue that it is not fair, and that many species do show some degree of self-control. Delaying gratification (or postponing a response to a present reward for the sake of a future bigger or better reward) is one of the hallmark aspects of self-control. It also is not a unique human capacity. The presentation will discuss recent studies with chimpanzees and other animals that examine the capacities of those animals to delay gratification and the behavioral strategies that they employ to cope with impulsivity. In some cases, there are close parallels between nonhuman animal performance and that of humans, but in other cases those similarities decrease. But, overall, comparative research suggests that humans are not alone in their capacity to demonstrate some degree of "willpower."

According to the Pew Research Center in October, 2012, Facebook had more than 1 Billion users, LinkedIn had 175 Million users, Twitter had more than 140 Million users, and Wordpress had 75 Million blogs. This is the tip of the iceberg, as there are countless other social networks that have millions of their own followers and participants. The availability of these networks raises the question of how best to leverage them to promote our science. This panel discussion includes members of ABAI who are very active in social media networks and outlets. The participants will discuss their experiences using those networks to promote behavior analysis, along with what approaches have been successful and unsuccessful, and which outlets have proved most fruitful in their dissemination attempts. Tips and tricks for using these networks will be included, with the goal that audience members will leave the session with a better understanding of how to use social networks and be motivated to help disseminate our principles through these channels.

We cannot teach effectively without defining what is learned. In The Science of Learning and the Art of Teaching article (1954), B. F. Skinner outlined the relevance of behavior analysis to education. Learning occurs when contingencies change behavior; teaching consists of appropriately implementing those contingencies. Computers make powerful teaching machines feasible, but educational systems rarely avail themselves even of what was known when such technologies were severely limited. It follows from Skinner's analysis that what students do is what they learn, that teaching involves arranging stimuli that occasion relevant behavior, and that consequences must be contingent upon that behavior. Too often, educational systems focus on teacher rather than student behavior. Changing what teachers do by modifying curricula or media or even by allowing them to modify their teaching based on student feedback is inadequate if student behavior is neglected. Students are disadvantaged when teachers are expected to help them more, as when they are urged to provide more detailed lecture outlines when it would be better for students to do outlines themselves. These points lead to advice for both students and teachers, and are illustrated with examples from the teaching of behavior analysis within standard undergraduate course structures.

Living with dogs is risky for humans; over four million people are bitten by dogs each year in the U.S., mostly children ages 5-9. Living in close proximity to humans is risky for dogs, as well, with millions of dogs surrendered to Shelters and/or euthanized every year for bad behavior. Some top behavioral reasons for dog surrenders are bites, aggression towards humans, escape, destructive inside or outside, problems with new pet and old pet living together, aggression towards other animals, house-soiling, and vocalizing too much. Though functional assessment and analysis has been common in human behavior change for decades, it is not a common practice in the world of canid behavior. As a science, behavior analysis does not discriminate between organisms, and the use of assessment and analysis of behaviors of the animals that live amongst us is a contemporary necessity. These studies of dog and wolf behavior demonstrate that functional assessment and analysis can be important and valuable tools in the world of canid behavior.

When things go wrong with a dogs behavior in the home, dog owners often get help from self-chosen dog trainers, whose backgrounds in behavioral training are wildly variable. They may also rely on books, television, and the advice of friends. The typical advice or training is unlikely to include behavior analysis methodology, and will attempt to modify behavior without considering function. In this study, a direct behavior assessment tool was created for dog trainers to use, which would allow them to identify environmental variables maintaining problem dog behaviors. Functional analyses based upon this canine behavior assessment tool (CBAT) were performed on the behavior of two dogs: one with aggression towards humans, one with leash-pulling. Behavioral interventions were then created using the function of the behavior as indicated by the tool. Reversal designs were used to demonstrate functional relations between the causative variables and the interventions, showing that CBAT could be a useful tool to introduce functional analysis technology to the world of dog training.

Behavioral problems in dogs account for nearly half of the reasons given for relinquishing them to shelters, and thus constitute a significant animal welfare issue. Any successful attempt to manage these problems will require an understanding of the mechanisms that control these behaviors. However, for some of the behavioral problems cited, such as jumping up on people, available treatments are not prescribed after a systematic assessment of the environmental contingencies contributing to the behavior. The current study assesses the use of functional analysis, an established technique for identifying the variables controlling problem behavior in humans, to determine the environmental factors supporting the behavior of jumping up on people in dogs. Statistically significant differences were found in the rate of jumping up behavior across conditions for each dog in the assessment phase. Treatment conditions used the maintaining variable found in the assessment phase. By comparing the rates of jumping up behavior in these conditions, we found the rates to be of lower statistical significance in the treatment condition. Therefore, results show that this methodology is effective in determining the maintaining variables for these individuals, leading to a more precise treatment.

Functional analysis technology has wide spread use in identifying behavior functions for humans and non-human animals. Recent research has applied this technology to dog problem behavior, specifically, unwanted jumping up on owners. We extend this research by conducting a functional analysis of a dog's repetitive light chasing behavior. The owner reported the dog's (Daisy) light chasing to be problematic, as the dog would spend large portions of time chasing light reflections. In Phase 1, we tested whether the movement of light (automatic positive) or the disappearance (automatic negative) of light reinforced chasing the light. An initial test for social reinforcement was subsequently dropped as high rates of light chasing maintained in the absence of social consequences. Light movement, and not its disappearance, reinforced light chasing, as repeated sessions of the disappearance condition led to extinction (see Figure 1). In Phase 2, we attempted to decrease light chasing or "pouncing" by teaching an alternative "waving"(paw lift) response and by removing the light contingent on contacting the light (Extinction). Increased light intensities were faded in across sessions and the reinforcement schedule for paw lifting was decreased to an FI 5 sec schedule. Paw lifting increased across sessions while contacting the light, or pouncing, decreased.

Social play in nonhuman animals is considered a behavioral indicator of welfare that has largely been examined through ethological or naturalistic studies and descriptive assessments. This has led to a structural, rather than functional approach toward understanding social play, making the relevant variables difficult to identify to promote its occurrence in captivity. The present experiment employed a modified functional analysis to identifying environmental variables that evoke social play in 12 hand-raised gray wolves. Reciprocal social play and play initiation responses were recorded in three 5-minute experimental conditions (alone, ignore, and attention). Experimental conditions were counterbalanced across six 15-minute sessions. Four out of six pairs exhibited social play or play initiation during experimental sessions with varying trends (see Figures 1-4). Overall, the level of play behaviors observed were highest in the staff attention conditions for all subjects that exhibited the behavior (see Figure 5), suggesting that interspecific attention from a familiar human may serve as an establishing operation for automatically reinforced behavior. Behavior analytic approaches have versatility for examining possible proximate functions of why human-socialized canids engage in social play.

This symposium examines interventions for treating anxiety and distress in various populations. The first talk describes the use of defusion, one of the six core processes of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy which involves the use of metaphors to promote a decrease in the functions associated with disturbing private events. Specifically, this talk will describe a defusion instruction protocol used to affect a decrease in discomfort and believability associated with perseverative thoughts in adolescents on the autism spectrum. As most current measures of defusion rely on self-report of private behavior, the second talk will discuss the development of an implicit measure of defusion through experimentally altering fusion with distressing self-referential stimuli. The third talk will discuss the necessity of the inclusion of metaphors in ACT and provide a comparison of the effectiveness of an ACT intervention with and without metaphors. The symposium will close with a talk describing the use of a prompting and reinforcement intervention to promote interaction with novel foods in children with neophobia.

This investigation evaluated the use of multiple exemplar instruction (MEI) to facilitate defusion from negative thoughts and feelings related to social interaction in adolescents with PDD-NOS. Using a multiple probe design, participants were taught to discriminate between different aspects of their own perspective (i.e., self-as-content and self-as-context). Defusion was measured using ratings of the believability and comfort associated with specific negative thoughts. The percentage of time engaged in appropriate social interaction was recorded for each participant in order to assess generalization of defusion skills to natural social interactions. Results revealed a decrease in believability and an increase in comfort associated with problematic thoughts for all participants following MEI in the absence of directly observed changes in social interaction in the natural environment. These results support the use of MEI as a therapeutic strategy for teaching defusion skills to individuals with PDD-NOS. Results also suggest methods for improving generalization of skills to the natural environment and enhancing measurement of private events in this population.

In Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, defusion exercises are designed to de-emphasize the literal interpretation of thoughts (Hayes, Strosahl, & Wilson, 2011). Research has demonstrated the tendency for individuals to report decreased believability in self-referential stimuli after engaging in defusion exercises (e.g., Healy, Barnes-Holmes, Barnes-Holmes, Keogh, Luciano, & Wilson, 2008; Hinton & Gaynor, 2010; Masuda, Hayes, Sackett, & Twohig, 2004). Although self-reported changes in believability are an important step in establishing the utility of defusion interventions, it is worthwhile to develop an implicit behavioral marker of fusion/defusion with self-referential content (Masuda, Feinstein, Wendell, & Sheehan, 2010). While previous research has employed matching to sample procedures with regard to self-relevant stimuli (e.g., Barnes, Lawlor, Smeets, & Roche, 1996; Merwin & Wilson, 2005), it is necessary to experimentally manipulate the degree of fusion to demonstrate the utility of the procedure in this context. Therefore, this study uses a matching to sample procedure that incorporates ideographic self-referential adjectives in manipulating fusion. Participants either engaged in a task designed to increase or decrease fusion with distressing stimuli. Subsequently, they performed a matching to sample task to determine the extent to which the procedure was sensitive to varying levels of fusion.

Many children exhibit a problematic avoidance response in the presence of novel, nutritious foods, a condition called neophobia. The purpose of the present research was to examine to the impact of a brief prompted attending plus interaction procedure on the subsequent consumption and approach toward novel target foods by children at a child care facility. Specifically, three children were exposed to a baseline condition consisting of pairs of target and control novel foods presented during snack time. During the intervention condition, participants were prompted to attend to, describe, and interact with the formal features of the novel target food prior to the meal time. Correct identification of formal features was directly reinforced, whereas no direct reinforcement was delivered for the consumption and approach of the target during meal time. Preliminary results indicate that consumption of novel food occurred at higher, stable level following intervention. This current study suggests that prompting attending, description of, and interaction with the formal properties of food may increase consumption of novel foods.

Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP) is a behavior analytic approach to interpersonal psychotherapy. It shares with client-centered approaches an emphasis on establishing a therapeutic relationship marked by positive regard and empathic attunement. It shares with other interpersonal approaches a focus on the client's interactions in important social relations. It also shares with both of these approaches the notion that much psychological distress and dysfunction is linked to difficulties in meaningful social relationships Intimacy is the state of being interpersonal intimate. In a FAP context, this is defined as sharing ones inner most thoughts, feelings or inmost self. FAP utilizes an intimate interpersonal connection to shape clinically relevant behavior. This is done by leveraging the relationship when contingently responding to targeted behavior or improvements in targeted behavior as it occurs in session. The current symposium presents data collected on the impact of FAP on the therapeutic relationship in participants who present as having difficulties in social relating, present on the obsessive compulsive spectrum, have diverse cultural backgrounds or could benefit from habit reversal training. Data suggest behaviors that might benefit from the intimacy increasing impact of FAP as well as considerations that should be taken into account when utilizing the treatment.

Functional analytic psychotherapy (FAP) is a radical behavior form of therapy. This form of therapy focuses on the importance of non-contrived reinforcement contingently provided through therapeutic interactions. The suggestion is that when a strong therapeutic alliance has been developed, the therapist is in a position to naturally evoke and shape behaviors that have been identified as clinically relevant and respond to them with potent interpersonal feedback. Despite the fact that the therapeutic alliance in FAP plays a role in its proposed mechanism of action, to date little research has been conducted investigating the effect that FAP has on the therapeutic alliance. In the present study, individuals of either sex were given 10 therapy sessions. Each participant received 5 sessions of non-directive support focused on establishing empathic attunement and understanding the clients social behavior. The other 5 sessions consisted of FAP. Data presented will highlight the impact of FAP on the therapeutic relationship and the relative benefits of FAP on the therapeutic relationship compared to non-directive listening. Currently 13 participants have been enrolled and it is expected that 15 will be available for presentation at the conference.

Cultural competence is an important concept in psychotherapy. Cognitive behavior therapy places some emphasis on recognizing cultural differences; it employs a primarily technique-oriented educational format based on structural mediational models. In contrast Functional Analytic Psychotherapys (FAP) use of functional analysis of client and therapist interactions in the moment makes FAP more sensitive to the challenges posed by cultural differences between client and therapist (Vandenberghe, 2009). Little research has been conducted to understand how specific intimate behaviors may vary across cultures. This study explores potential differences in intimate behavior across four different cultural groups using FAP-consistent measures. Over 400 participants (33% White, non-Hispanic, 26% Hispanic, 22% Asian, and 19% Black) have already completed measures employed to assess targets of clinical interest of intimate behaviors (e.g., The Functional Ideographic Assessment Template, the FAP-Intimacy Scale) and other validated measures of interpersonal skills and relationship satisfaction. Comparisons across cultural groups revealed significant differences in multiple domains of intimacy-promoting behaviors (i.e., expression of emotion, disclosure, and assertion of needs). Discussion of the results will focus on cultural norms and understanding functional baselines for different cultural groups. Suggestions for training clinicians using FAP with a variety of cultures will also be addressed.

The Obsessive-Compulsive (OC) Spectrum comprises disorders focused on impulsive and compulsive repetitive behaviors or thoughts and includes Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Trichotillomania (TTM), and Pathological Skin Picking (PSP). Previous literature has indicated deficits in quality of life associated with OC-spectrum conditions (Newth & Rachman, 1999; Wetterneck, Woods, Norberg, & Begotka, 2006; Arbabi et al., 2008). However, the literature does not specifically address problems with intimacy within these disorders despite findings that intimacy may be an issue. (Newth & Rachman, 1999; Diefenbach, Tolin, Hannah, Crocetto, & Worhunsky, 2004; Flessner & Woods, 2006). The purpose of this study is to assess problematic areas of intimacy in individuals with OC-spectrum disorders that may be targets of interest for therapy. We hypothesize that individuals with OCD, TTM, and PSP will report lower levels of intimacy and that shame will be elevated. Additionally, we hypothesize that problems with intimacy and shame will vary between OC-Spectrum disorders. Currently we have 55 individuals with OC-spectrum conditions and initial results show elevated levels of shame and a variety of deficits in areas of intimacy. Over 300 participants will be recruited, which will allow for comparison across the spectrum conditions. Discussion will focus on addressing these issues with Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP), a behavioral approach for treating problems with intimacy in interpersonal relationships. This research could illuminate areas that FAP could address in combination with other evidence-based treatments.

As behavior analysts the opportunity for staff training, mentoring, supervision, collaboration and research are as varied as the situations in which we work. Each of these roles presents ethical challenges. At times these challenges are just quagmires or quandaries, while other times they have the potential for harm. The behavior analyst faces numerous questions every day about the appropriateness of treatment decisions. This panel will address, through an interactive and at times entertaining discussion, how to prevent and remedy unethical behavior analytic practices. Panelists will outline current ethical guidelines while drawing on their experiences and expertise in each of these areas. As a behavior analyst others, usually trained or supervised by you, do much of the actual behavior treatment; however you are ultimately responsible for the programs effectiveness. Panelists will represent issues that arise in everything from early intervention to adult services, community and center based settings as well as academia and private consultation. Attendees will leave the discussion with models for improved conduct and practical strategies that translate into everyday ethical action.

This panel will discuss the challenges of delivering staff training and evidence-based services in international settings. Specific strategies for resolving problems in a culturally sensitive manner will be addressed.

Different types of attention (e.g., reprimands, tickles) may be differentially preferred and may also be differentially reinforcing for both appropriate and inappropriate behaviors (e.g., Fisher, Ninness, Piazza, & Owen-DeSchryver, 1996). We attempted to examine the utility of identifying preference hierarchies across a range of attention types and use those data to inform the design of an attention analysis and subsequent treatment evaluation with an 11 year-old boy diagnosed with autism and moderate intellectual disabilities whose aggressive and self-injurious behaviors were, in part, attention-maintained. First, results of a preference assessment for different types of attention (e.g., Piazza et al., 1999) indicated two types of verbal attention and one type of physical attention were identified as preferred. Next, the degree to which these forms of attention differentially affected attention-maintained problem behavior was examined (see Kodak, Northup, & Kelley, 2007). One attention type found to function as a reinforcer for problem behavior and a second attention type which did not function as a reinforcer were compared using an alternating treatments design embedded within an ABAB reversal design. Results indicated that the attention type which did not also function as a reinforcer for problem behavior produced the most significant reductions in problem behavior.

Attention has been shown to increase appropriate behavior; however, little research has isolated the effects of different common types of attention for increasing appropriate behavior. Participants in the current study were 12 preschool-age children. The current study includes (a) assessment of preference for common types of attention delivered in a preschool classroom (e.g., praise, physical attention, conversation), (b) determination of the reinforcing efficacy of these different types of attention under low schedule (fixed-ratio 1) requirements, and (c) evaluation of the reinforcing strength of these different types of attention under progressive-ratio schedules. Thus far, our results have shown that the majority of children preferred conversation as compared to physical attention or praise; no children preferred praise. In addition, we validated our preference assessment by showing that children responded at higher levels under both low response requirements and progressively increasing response requirements to access their highest preferred type of attention; however, some individuals responded at similar levels for all types of attention. Implications of these findings suggest that our preference assessment results are useful for determining the most effective type of attention to use for increasing appropriate behavior in young children.

Although attention is an important variable in the acquisition and maintenance of behavior, further investigation into the characteristics of attention that may differentially affect the reinforcement value of attention is warranted. The purpose of this study was to identify the topographies of attention typically delivered in preschool classrooms and to evaluate the reinforcing value of the identified topographies. The results of a descriptive assessment suggested that the most common topographies of attention provided by teachers were verbal, physical, and facial attention. Initially, the reinforcing effectiveness of attention, that included all identified topographies, on levels of activity engagement was evaluated using a concurrent operant arrangement and reversal design. Subsequently, the reinforcing effectiveness of each topography of attention was evaluated in isolation using the same design. For three participants, compound attention produced a reinforcement effect. For two participants, each topography in isolation produced a reinforcement effect. For one participant, verbal attention produced a reinforcement effect. For three participants, attention did not produce a reinforcement effect. These results suggest that for many preschoolers, attention alone may not be effective in producing desired response allocation, and thus, additional research is needed to increase the effectiveness of attention with this population.

Implementing a choice procedure increased the effects of Functional Communication Training (FCT) in the current study, which was a replication of Peterson et al. (2005). The participants in the current study were five adults with developmental disabilities, including diagnoses of mental retardation and other intellectual disabilities. First, participants completed a functional analysis, and those participants whose data showed the highest levels of problem behaviors in the escape condition were eligible to continue in the remaining phases of the study. Next, participants completed an FCT condition, which was followed by an FCT plus choice condition in which they were allowed to select between working and contacting a long break afterward, or contacting a short break and working after the break. Results indicated that adding the choice procedure led to increases in the duration of time spent working on an appropriate task. The combination of FCT and the choice procedure also not only decreased frequencies of problem behaviors to near zero levels, but increased levels of appropriate responses.

Individuals with autism may engage in problem behaviors rather than engage in appropriate mand responses. Functional Communication Training (FCT) has proven to be effective in teaching individuals more socially appropriate ways of communicating, which may function as a replacement for problem behavior. This study utilized a multiple-probe design across stimuli in an attempt to teach two individuals with autism how to appropriately mand for the removal of nonpreferred items rather than engage in problem behavior. One participant successfully learned to emit the mand response in the presence of all trained items, and the response generalized across settings and individuals. For the second participant, mand training proved to be ineffective, due to the severity of his problem behavior. The results of this study lend some additional support to the use and effectiveness of FCT for teaching negatively reinforced manding, and thereby decreasing problem behavior, for individuals with autism.

Some individuals with intellectual disabilities may be more likely to engage in inappropriate behavior when transitioning between activities. This may be most common when transitions are from preferred activities to less-preferred, or non-preferred activities occur. Basic research has shown that both the previous, and upcoming reinforcer may affect pausing during transitions, and similar results have been shown with individuals with intellectual disabilities. In the first paper, Brewer and colleagues conducted a large-scale survey with caregivers of children with autism to identify the most problematic transition type. In the second study, Steimer and Dickson conducted descriptive analyses to identify problematic transition types, and evaluated potential strategies for minimizing problematic transitions. Finally, Luffman and colleagues evaluated transitions between preferred and non-preferred foods during mealtimes for children who engaged in severe food refusal. Across all studies, shifts from rich, or highly preferred context, to lean, or less preferred contexts, were deemed problematic, when compared to other shifts. Directions for future research and suggestions for similar applications will be discussed.

Transitions between one activity and the next can be a major source of problem behaviors in habilitative and education settings in individuals with autism. However, it is unclear whether a transition per se or a specific type of transition is the major source of problem behavior in this clinical population. Translational research with animals and persons with developmental disabilities has shown that a specific type of transition is more aversive than other transitions'a discriminable transition from favorable- to less-favorable reinforcement conditions. To gain a better understanding of what types of transitions may be problematic for individuals with autism, an online survey was administered to parents/caregivers of individuals with autism in the west Texas area (n=59). Results indicated that the transition type with the highest rate of problems was moving from a preferred activity to a non-preferred activity (e.g., coloring to cleaning up toys), with 86% (n=51) of respondents reporting problems during that transition type (between non-preferred: 44%; between preferred: 19%; non-preferred to preferred: 15%). The finding that a specific type of transition- a preferred to non-preferred activity transition- is a major source of problem behavior in persons with autism is in agreement with the aforementioned translational research.

Two young men who were students at a residential school for children with autism participated in this study. Study 1 was a descriptive assessment of challenging behavior during transitions between daily activities. For both participants, the highest level of challenging behavior occurred during transitions from more- to less-preferred activities. Study 2 was an analysis of effects of three different strategies for ending highly preferred activities and transitioning to less-preferred activities (no notice, advanced notice, and intervening activity). Of primary interest was pausing, the time it took for a participant to comply with an instruction to begin a new activity after the end of the prior activity. Pausing duration during transitions from more- to less-preferred activities were greatest in the no notice condition, somewhat less in the advanced notice condition, and least in the intervening activity condition. Strategies for minimizing challenging behavior during transitions will be discussed.

The current study examined the effect of transitions between bites of preferred and non-preferred foods on the latency to accept bites with children with feeding disorders. Both preferred and non-preferred foods were presented during each session; these transitions were conceptualized as rich-lean and lean-rich. This study extends the work of previous research, which demonstrated an effect on behavior when transitioning between tasks involving differential magnitudes of reinforcement. Perone and Courtney (1992) found that pausing on a fixed-ratio schedule of reinforcement was longest when transitioning from a small reinforcer to another small reinforcer; the shortest pause occurred when transitioning from a large reinforcer to another large reinforcer. Furthermore, subjects paused only on the multiple schedule arrangement; the mixed schedule did not yield differential pausing. Participants in this study paused longer on unfavorable transitions (i.e., lean-lean, rich-lean) than on favorable transitions (i.e., rich-rich, lean-rich). Instances of problem behavior were associated only with these unfavorable transitions. Similar to previous research, participants only demonstrated differential pausing when the upcoming transition was signaled (i.e., multiple schedule). This line of research is important for informing clinicians and caregivers about meal arrangements that are most conducive to producing successful meals, with shorter durations and less problem behavior.

In the first paper by Vie and Arntzen, an experiment based on Arntzen (2006) in which math tasks were presented as distracters in the test for responding in accordance with stimulus equivalence in a 3 s. delayed matching-to-sample procedure. The present experiment is an extension of the Arntzen and Vie study (in preparation), where participants were exposed to a BAB design with distracters in the B test phases and no distracters in the A test phase. So far the data indicate that probability of responding in accordance with stimulus equivalence is reduced in the distracter conditions. In the second paper, Spear et al. will present a theoretical contribution on how the conditional discrimination training induces written descriptions of complex information. In the third paper, Cooper et al. will present an experiment in which the participant were asked to write a description of the information presented in each of four graphs, one for each type of interaction. Thereafter, a matching to sample procedure was used to teach an individual to select accurate and complete printed descriptions of a graph. The main findings were that the writing descriptions of the slopes of the functions increased to 100% accuracy. Accuracy and completeness of written relational statements increased with level of training. Accuracy of written descriptions of function intersection increased moderately and was not influenced by level of training. Finally, MacDonall will discuss the content of the different papers.

Undergraduates find it difficult to write complete and accurate descriptions of information presented in graphs that depict the interactive effects of two variables on behavior. One presentation will describe the theoretical basis for using matching to sample training to induce the above mentioned expressive writing repertoires. A second presentation will present data from an experiment that confirms the analysis. Interactions are of four types: no interaction, cross over interactions, synergistic interactions, and divergent interactions. A graph that shows an interaction between two variables has four non-relational and two relational elements. The non-relational elements are the two independent variables, and the slopes of the two functions in a graph. The relational elements are the effect of one independent variable on the other independent variable manifested by differences in the slopes of the two functions, and the possible intersection of the two functions in a graph. To write a complete and accurate description of the graph, a participant must be attending to all of these elements in combination. This can be achieved by use of conditional discrimination training to establish joint control by all of above mentioned elements. Each cell in Figure 1 defines a relation between a statement that defines a type of interaction (columns) and a non-relational element in a graph (rows). Thus, joint control by all types of interaction and all non-relational elements could be ensured by training the conditional relations defined by each of the 16 cells in Figure 1. Alternatively, training the relations in the 4 cells o the diagonal of the matrix in Figure 1 could also establish control by all types of interaction and all non-relational elements. In addition, a special set of comparison stimuli are needed to ensure joint control by all relations. These will be described in detail in Presentation 1. Once established, theoretically, an individual should be able to write descriptions of graphs. The predictions from this analysis will be evaluated in Presentation 2.

Thirty college students were participants in the experiment. The experiment began by asking a participant to write a description of the information presented in each of four graphs, one for each type of interaction. Thereafter, a matching to sample procedure was used to teach an individual to select accurate and complete printed descriptions of a graph. Printed descriptions were presented as comparison stimuli and the graphs were presented as sample stimuli. The trials were designed to ensure the attention to all key features of each graph along with each of the key phrases included in the printed description of the graph. In the 4-cell group, training involved the establishment of 4 of 16 graph-text conditional discriminations indicated on the diagonal of Figure 1. In the 16-cell group, training involved the establishment of 16 of 16 graph-test conditional discriminations indicated in Figure 1. The experiment ended with the re-administration of the graph-writing test. In the Control group, the two writing tests were administered without any intervening training. Results are indicated in Figure 2. For most pre-training tests, the written answers were both inaccurate and incomplete. When the post training written descriptions were evaluated, mere re-exposure to the graphs with no intervening training did not produce any improvements in accuracy or completeness. Training, however, resulted in the emergence of written answers that were much more complete and accurate. Gains were a direct function of level of training (4 vs 16 cell training). In addition, the training procedure had differential effects of various aspects of the written answers. Writing descriptions of the slopes of the functions increased to 100% accuracy. Accuracy and completeness of written relational statements increased with level of training. Accuracy of written descriptions of function intersection increased moderately and was not influenced by level of training. To conclude, recognition based training resulted in the emergence of expressive repertoires.

Behavioral momentum theory provides a theoretical framework for understanding how reinforcement affects fundamental aspects of operant behavior, its rate and persistence. According to behavioral momentum theory, the operant relation between responding and reinforcement controls response rates. Conversely, the Pavlovian relation between a discriminative-stimulus context and the rate of reinforcement obtained in the presence of that context determines the persistence, or resistance to change, of operant behavior. The purpose of this symposium is to highlight basic-laboratory research working within the framework of behavioral momentum theory but is directly concerned with elucidating factors relevant to applied researchers and practitioners. To this end, the three presentations will cover issues of stimulus control and resistance to extinction within combined stimulus contexts, the role of reinforcement history in determining resistance to extinction, and extensions of this framework to the relapse of extinguished operant behavior. A pioneer of translational research in the area of behavioral momentum theory, Bud Mace, will serve as discussant.

Findings supporting behavioural momentum theory reveal that reinforcing alternative responses within a stimulus context reduces the rate of target problem behavior but increases resistance to extinction. To counteract these effects, training alternative responding in a separate context prior to combining with the target context has been used to reduce target resistance to extinction. Given that stimuli can be combined in countless ways, we assessed whether different methods of combining stimuli during extinction influenced the ability of the alternative context to decrease target resistance to extinction. In training 6 pigeons, we arranged equal reinforcement rates for responding in two separate contexts that alternated with the target context. As in previous studies, combining the alternative context trained in a different location from the target context only decreased target resistance to extinction. We trained the other alternative context to alternate in the same location as the target. Combining created a compound stimulus and resistance to extinction of target responding did not differ compared to when both target and alternative responding originally were trained in the same context. Overall, these findings suggest that the effects of combining alternative contexts with contexts for target problem behavior will depend on how those contexts are combined.

The augmented model of extinction based on behavioral momentum theory predicts that resistance to extinction is directly related to the overall, mean rate of reinforcement that an organism experienced in the pre-extinction, discriminative-stimulus context. This model is based on extinction performance following unchanging rates of reinforcement during multiple-schedule baseline training. In practical situations, however, the rate of reinforcement that is delivered contingent on a response rarely is stable across time. The current experiment investigated the effects of changing rates of baseline reinforcement on resistance to extinction. Pigeons pecked keys for food in a multiple variable-interval (VI) 30-s VI 120-s schedule for 20 sessions. Then, the schedules that were correlated with the multiple-schedule components were switched (i.e., a multiple VI 120-s VI 30-s schedule) for 20 sessions. Resistance to extinction was greater in component that most recently was correlated with the VI 30-s schedule, suggesting that the relative recency with which a rate of reinforcement is experienced during baseline affects resistance to extinction. A model of extinction performance based on both the temporal weighting of reinforcer effects and behavioral momentum can account for this finding. This model will be reviewed, and implications of the model for applied settings will be discussed.

Recently, behavioral momentum theory has been extended to describe increases in extinguished responding occasioned by stimulus change (i.e., relapse). This study expands this analysis to assess relapse using spontaneous recovery and novel stimulus reinstatement manipulations. Twelve pigeons responded on a two-component multiple schedule of reinforcement arranging signaled periods of variable-interval 120 s schedules. Free food was delivered in one component according to a variable-time 40 s schedule. Following stable baseline responding, extinction sessions were conducted in which all reinforcement was withheld. Once responding reached an extinction criterion, sessions were discontinued and pigeons were then left in their homecages for 21 days. Pigeons were reintroduced to the training context under continued extinction conditions after the homecage period. Once responding again reached the extinction criterion, novel stimuli were briefly presented in subsequent sessions. Responding increased in both components during spontaneous recovery and novel stimulus conditions. Additionally, relative to baseline, responding increased to a greater level in the component arranging a higher baseline rate of reinforcement during spontaneous recovery and novel stimulus conditions. Results support an extension of behavioral momentum-based predictions to a wider range of relapse phenomena.

Gambling is a socially pervasive and potentially problematic behavior that affects virtually every country around the world. While gambling is both socially important and behaviorally interesting, it is difficult to reproduce in a laboratory setting due to the complex nature of the gambling environment. Despite these problems, human gambling research has provided interesting developments and continues to be a topic of research today. Additionally, animal models of gambling have helped to determine the basic behavioral processes that control gambling behavior. This symposium focuses on the experimental contributions of animal and human work. Rice, Anderson, and Kyonka are presenting on the effects of near wins and d-amphetamine in a pigeon slot machine analogue. Laude, Stagner, Beckmann, Daniels & Zentall are presenting on impulsivity as a predictor for suboptimal choice of probabilistic reinforcers in pigeons. Macaskill and Hunt are presenting on near wins and their role as conditioned reinforcers in human gambling. In addition, speakers will consider ways in which these individual contributions can inform further research with both humans and non-humans to broaden their impact and social significance.

Slot machine gamblers are more likely to have gambling problems than people who favour other forms. Features of the ways in which slot machine outcomes are arranged such as the presence of losses that resemble wins (near wins) - may contribute to this. Previous research has found dissociations between participants verbal and non-verbal responses to near wins, suggesting that both verbal and non-verbal processes contribute to the effect. One likely non-verbal contributor is conditioned reinforcement, and we conducted two experiments using a slot machine analog task to investigate this further. Firstly, we varied outcome presentation style and found that the near-win effect was stronger when outcomes were presented sequentially. Secondly, we found that participants were sensitive to the distribution of near wins across alternatives in a rapidly-changing preference procedure. Both results are consistent with near wins as conditioned reinforcers and with findings with non-human animals, further supporting the idea that non-verbal processes contribute to the near-win effect. Although gambling is a uniquely human behavioral problem, human research using dependent variables and procedures similar to those used with non-human animals can help to identify the processes that maintain it.

Pigeons prefer an impulsive (suboptimal) option with a low-probability of a high-payoff over a non-impulsive (optimal) option that results in more food. This finding is analogous to sub-optimal human monetary gambling in humans because in both cases there appears to be an overemphasis of the occurrence of the winning event and an underemphasis of the losing event. We have found that pigeons that were less impulsive as indexed by a delay-discounting task (low k value) were less likely to show this sub-optimal choice compared with more impulsive pigeons (see Figure 1). This effect may result from strong conditioned reinforcement associated with the signal for food, together with weak conditioned inhibition associated with the signal for the absence of food, especially for impulsive (high k value) pigeons. These results have implications for the mechanisms underlying suboptimal choice by humans (e.g., problem gamblers) and they suggest that high baseline levels of impulsivity can enhance acquisition of a gambling habit and may result from decreased conditioned inhibition to negative outcomes and increased attraction to positive outcomes.

There is a consensus among educators that what teachers do in classrooms has significant impact on student learning. This is reflected by the emphasis on highly qualified teachers in No Child Left Behind and in the value added modeling approach to identifying effective teachers. Remarkably, the criteria in most states for becoming highly qualified have little relation to what a teacher does in the classroom. These efforts like many other education reform initiatives have emphasized structural changes in the hopes that it will impact what happens in the classroom. A more productive approach would be to directly influence what teachers do in the classroom. In this symposium, we will describe a systems approach to influencing what teachers do in classrooms. We will review the research on which teacher practices have the greatest effect on student outcomes; however, the data suggest that without coaching and performance monitoring, these skills do not necessarily occur regularly in the classroom. In addition, we will review the existing research on coaching and performance monitoring. Performance monitoring measures how often certain teaching behaviors occur but it does not teach the teacher how to perform. Coaching assures that teachers have the skills to perform effectively.

There is a wealth of data suggesting that even well trained teachers are not likely to implement interventions with integrity unless there is some type of on-going monitoring of their performance. Training is necessary but it is not sufficient to assure effective performance in the classroom. Once teachers have been taught effective instructional practices, part of what is necessary is monitoring teacher performance in that it establishes the frequency at which critical behaviors are occurring. If there is a performance standard to measure the obtained frequency against then judgments can be made about the adequacy of the performance. While the logic of measuring performance is well known for behavior analysts, performance monitoring at the scale of a school district is not well established. In this session, attention will be given to strategies that are scalable for public schools given the limitation of public school resources. Given the evidence about the limitations of training without in-class follow-up, it will be argued training should not be initiated unless there is a system in place to support progress monitoring training alone is a waste of time and resources and does not result in meaningful changes in teacher behavior and by extension student behavior.

Results from the National Longitudinal Transition Study 1 and 2 indicate that more and more young adults with disabilities are pursuing a postsecondary education after high school. However, young adults with intellectual disabilities continued to be the group that was the least likely to participate in any postsecondary education. As a result, these individuals are not likely to benefit from occupations that offer opportunities for advancement and financial security in this economy (Wagner et al., 2005). One of the factors that lead to the low enrollment of young adults with intellectual disabilities in postsecondary education is their limited academic skills, particularly in the areas of reading and writing. Therefore, educators should prepare learners with intellectual disabilities with the academic skills necessary to succeed in the postsecondary education settings. The symposium will include three studies that focus on teaching academic skills to young adults with intellectual disabilities at the postsecondary level. We will also discuss the implication of our findings.

The combined repeated reading and question generation procedure is a reading intervention designed to target both fluency and comprehension for students with disabilities. Previous research has demonstrated the effectiveness of the intervention for school age children with learning disabilities. This study extended the research by utilizing the program with 4 postsecondary learners with intellectual disabilities. We will present the results in the context of a multiple baseline across participants design and discuss the implication of the finding.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effectiveness of teaching a paraphrasing strategy on expository reading comprehension of young adults with intellectual disabilities. Four learners from a postsecondary education program for individuals with disabilities participated in the study. During the intervention, the instructor taught a three-step paraphrasing strategy using the strategy instruction model. In the context of multiprobe design, we found that cognitive strategy learning resulted in higher number of main idea and details retold by the participants.

This study investigated the efficacy of a writing strategy designed to improve the essay-test taking perfromance of young adults who were enrolled in a post-secondary education program for individuals with developmental disabilities. A random assignment to treatment or control groups and a pre- and posttest design was employed. The students were taught a six-step ANSWER strategy that addressed the following skills: the analysis of essay test prompts, creation of outlines, construction of essay responses, and editing essay responses. The treatment group scored significantly higher on three dependent measures (i.e., a strategy scoring rubric, an analytical rubric, and a comparison of words written from pre- to posttest) than the control group. The results supported the use of the ANSWER strategy as an effective tool in improving the essay responses of post-secondary students with developmental disabilities.

The terms complex cognitive skills, reasoning skills, and similar others have been gaining traction in the teaching and learning community, yet remain a relatively undeveloped area within behavior analysis. The set of behaviors usually subsumed under labels such as "complex cognitive skills" are within the grasp of behavior analysis to study and manipulate using existing principles of behavior. Furthermore, behavior analysts' insistence on empirical validation provides an advantage over other approaches that favor theoretical consistency over evaluation of effectiveness data. This symposium will feature three presentations describing the use of behavior analysis and empirical findings from other areas to teach complex skills to different learner audiences. Developing programs that teach complex skills is of fundamental importance for behavior analyst as they aim to demonstrate to audiences within and outside the field that behavior analysis can adequately address the type of issues and challenges that consumers, such as schools systems, professional associations, and the general public, must face.

Science teaching is on the agenda of several international and national organizations, institutions, and agencies. Science content is part of the repertoire of those who are considered to perform at a level that reflects understanding of science. This presentation will describe the analysis and design process involved in the development of lessons that teach contents in physical, biological, and Earth and space science. The process starts with a concept or principle analysis to find the shared properties of stimulus classes and determine the features that may be varied within a stimulus class. Once this analysis is complete, a set of examples and non-examples is systematically created and used to build a series of instructional frames that provide the learner with opportunities to respond to (a) stimuli that differ in terms of variable attributes (intra-class generalization); and (b) stimuli that have some similarities to the example, but do not have at least one of the critical properties of that stimulus class (inter-class discrimination). This development process yields performance that demonstrates that the learner can understand and apply the concepts and principles to new exemplars. Preliminary data from pilot testing will be presented and implications for science education will be discussed.

With the approaching release of the New Generation Science Standards, the bar has been raised for students mastery of scientific knowledge even in the early grades. The new standards emphasize cross-cutting concepts and skills that go beyond specific content knowledge: they have to do with the ability to reason scientifically across the variety of natural sciences taught in schools. Some examples of these cross-cutting skills include the ability to interpret data presented in multiple formats; to ask testable scientific questions; to make scientific arguments and support them with data; and to use models to represent scientific processes and make predictions. The instructional design group at Mimio has been developing a science curriculum that uses concept and principle analyses, task analysis, and formative evaluation to create lessons that effectively and efficiently teach these cross-cutting skills. This presentation will describe the process of designing and evaluating the lessons and will show preliminary data from ongoing formative evaluation. The expectation that students master key scientific skills has been set by the educational movement culminating in the new standards. It is now up to those who can design sound instruction to fulfill that expectation with effective, empirically validated materials.

The creation of environments to promote the learning of young children challenges researchers and practitioners alike. In this symposium three papers will be presented. We will highlight the results of data based efforts to provide an analysis of interventions for young children with special needs. Harbin, Davis, and Sandall, will offer a paper on the outcomes of embedded physical activity on the engagement of three young children with special needs. Schwartz and Gaurveau will describe their project examining the use of "Snack Talk" to increase social communication during mealtimes for three preschool aged children with autism and their peers. Ann Garfinkle will provide results of a statewide three-year early intensive ABA program for 50 young children with ASD ages 5 and under. IN this evaluation particular attention was paid to parent satisfation. Finally, Schwartz will provide discussion of these papers. Implications for service delivery and future directions for research will be discussed.

Snack Talk is any visual support used to facilitate communication in children with and without special needs, during mealtimes. This study utilized an ABAB design to determine if using Snack Talk during snack times in an extended day classroom for children with autism increased verbal behavior. Ten-minute videos of snack time were collected and coded in ten-second vreauintervals for student verbal behavior (initiations and responses), target of communication (peer, teacher or other), topic (snack, Snack Talk or other) and any challenging behavior or no response. Subjects were two boys and one girl with autism, ages four and five years old. Results indicated that verbal behavior increased during the Snack Talk conditions for two of the three subjects. Two subjects communicated more with their peers, as opposed to communicating with only teachers, during the Snack Talk condition. The third participant increased overall appropriate mealtime behavior during intervention by consistently remaining in his seat and looking at a snack talk visual, when compared with baseline data, yet did not demonstrate an increase overall in verbal behavior. IOA data was calculated for 30% of videos at 92%.

While research indicates physical activity can have desirable effects on student learning, little research has been conducted specifically in early childhood settings (i.e., preschool and kindergarten classrooms). The purpose of this study was to identify if physical movement activities embedded into the classroom routine increase engagement for children with autism in early childhood settings. Three kindergarten students with autism enrolled in a full-day, integrated kindergarten participated. This study used an ABAB design replicated across three students to examine the effects of physical activity embedded into the existing activities of a kindergarten classroom on the rates of engagement of young children. Results indicate that increased activity resulted in increased percentages of engagement for 2 of the 3 students. The physical activity routine was not sufficient to increase the physical movement for the third participant. A discussion of the level of intensity of the physical activity will also be discussed.Interobserver agreement on engagement for Michael was M=90% for circle and M=96% for seatwork; for Anna was M=91% for circle and M=88% for seatwork for Lucas was M=92% for circle and M=87% for seatwork. Physical activity was measured using an accelerometer.

In 2009, the State of Montana started an intensive program (20 hours a week) of Applied Behavior Analysis for 50 children aged 5 and younger. The program was supported by high levels of professional development and technical assistance. In addition, the State supported a project evaluation. This paper will present the outcomes of the project evaluation. The evaluation collected information from standard measures and functional measures as well as about symptom reduction and functional gains. Furthermore, the project collected information about parent satisfaction. The outcome data suggests that all project participants made gains. Using the CARS as a descriptor of symptom severity, a quarter of the participants are now categorized as non-autistic. Further, reported gains for all 50 children include increases in communication skills, self-help skills, play skills and in the community access. Additionally, all children were reported in engage in few challenging behaviors. Parent satisfaction with the program was high but some parents expressed concern about going from 20 hours of service a week to none. Information about which specific ABA strategies where used in the children's programs where collected. The data indicated that Discrete Trial Training was the most commonly used strategy.

Task analyses break down complex behaviors into component behavior and are useful when tracking the occurrence or nonoccurrence of those component behaviors. Task analyses have been incorporated in business settings in different ways, such as an intervention tool or even as a guide used to aid the development of behavioral interventions. Each of the studies presented used task analyses in different ways. The first study used a task analysis as a tool to simultaneously guide the tipping behavior of restaurant customers and provide feedback concerning wait staff performance. The second study focused on work attendance and used a task analysis to show that appropriate consequences were not following occurrences of absenteeism. Pinpointing the lack of consequences led to the development of interventions involving praise, interviewing and graphic feedback. The third study used a task analysis to assess the sorting behavior of recycling and landfill waste. Information yielded from the task analysis helped focus the development of an intervention package which aimed to increase the amount of recyclable items collected in an academic building. The value of task analyses as a tool to improve various aspects of performance in business settings will be discussed.

A task analysis specifying expected serving behaviors that should occur during the course of a meal was completed by customers and instructions were created to inform the quantity of tip left based on the number of expected behaviors completed. Completed task analyses were also given to servers as a form of feedback to enable the establishment of a contingent relation between the number of expected service behaviors completed and the quantity of tip left. Preliminary data indicated that tip percentage left for servers varied unsystematically across customers even when the number of tasks completed by wait staff was uniform. In addition, preliminary data indicated that service quality varied from server to server. Implications of the use of a task analysis as a tool to guide tipping behavior and to provide feedback to wait staff members are discussed.

Employees attendance is fundamentally relevant for running a successful business. However, in many companies absences far exceed the national average of about 3% and pose a significant problem to the overall companys success. A task analysis determined that important consequences regarding work attendance were missing, such as feedback or recognition of attendance or any type of follow-up with absences. Three different low-cost behavioral interventions were developed to increase attendance: praise for perfect attendance, graphic feedback on absenteeism per group and an interview held when the employee returned to work. Participants included 45 unionized custodians of 4 groups at a large Midwestern university with an average absenteeism rate of 6.3%. The study introduced the different interventions via a counterbalanced multiple baseline design across groups. The data were collected by the payroll system over the span of about 30 weeks including baseline. The results showed that 89% of the participants increased their average absenteeism rate in at least one of the presented conditions compared to baseline and 47% of the participants improved across all presented phases. The praise intervention reduced absenteeism on average by 40% and combined with graphic feedback it reduced absenteeism by 30% on average.

During waste audits on Western Michigan Universitys campus, approximately 25% of landfill waste was found to be recyclable material. In an effort to address this issue, a task analysis was utilized to determine the process for disposing of waste within the current system and highlight areas where improvement could be made. Along with a best-practice review, findings suggested an intervention package including centrally located, all-inclusive bins that accept recycling and landfill waste along with detailed, consistent signage containing information about exactly what can be discarded in each opening of the receptacle. In order to evaluate the effects of the treatment package itself, along with the adjustment period on each floor, the treatment package was implemented utilizing a multiple-baseline design. Results indicated a significant reduction in the percentage of trash that is comprised of inaccurately sorted recyclable material when two comprehensive bins are present on a floor, meaning that the treatment package ultimately results in more material diverted from landfill. Results of the study are being utilized as part of a campus-wide collaboration between Solid Waste Reduction, Custodial Services and the Office for Sustainability to streamline and systemize the campus waste and recycling programs.

The Use of simulators has proven highly effective in improving safety in aviation. Simulators can be used to teach a wide variety of behaviors within a safe context. This symposium examines several applications of simulation to driver and aviation safety.

This study evaluated the effect of a simulated, intelligent audible checklist system in a Cessna 172R PC-ATD on checklist errors and omissions. This study was a multiple baseline, time series design, in which participants first flew a Cessna 172R PC-ATD with an analog (paper) checklist with 42 items. Each participant was told to use the analog checklist as in any other flight with the addition of speaking and touching each checklist item as it was completed. Participants were in baseline condition for three to five flights dependent individual performance. Either stabile performance, with room to improve, or a decrement in performance would trigger acceptance into the intervention phase. The intervention phase consisted of explaining the function of the system to each pilot. The pilots were told that the system would trigger at a logical start point for a checklist given certain points in flight. I.e. If the designated cruise altitude were three thousand feet, then the system would engage the cruise checklist as soon at the plane stabilized at three thousand feet. When the system engaged, a red LED light would illuminate on the dash board/control panel. Once the LED lit, the specific checklist would begin. A digital, male voice would list each checklist item. The pilots were told pre-flight that after each item was listed by the voice, to complete the item and say check. Each participant was also told that they could pause, resume, and restart the list simply by saying the words pause, resume, and restart. Each participant also had a reversal phase in which the simulated, intelligent audible checklist was removed and each pilot was re-given the analog checklist with similar instructions as in the baseline phase to touch and say each item aloud as it was completed. Initial visual inspections of current results show a large and significant reduction in checklist errors through all phases of simulated flight.