Association for Behavior Analysis International

Dr. Lord will talk about recent theories and findings concerning the nature of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) and their diagnosis and treatment. The relationship and lack of relationships among neurobiological research, descriptive studies, and response to intervention will be discussed. New ways of thinking about ASDs and the implications for planning and carrying out treatment and educational approaches will be highlighted.

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is a field that many people talk about. They often play fast and loose with the language, however, equating the science with one of its many techniques (Discrete Trial Teaching, for example). In this talk, the essential elements of Applied Behavior Analysis will be outlined and discussed. It will be established that Applied Behavior Analysis is a science, not a specific technique or techniques for teaching. What distinguishes that science from other treatments will be explored.

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Behavior analysts published the first data-based studies documenting successful intervention for individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and now conduct a majority of treatment studies reported in the literature. Early research, beginning in the 1960s, showed that even nonverbal individuals with ASD could learn to communicate and that even severely aggressive individuals could reduce their problem behavior when instructors systematically used cueing and reinforcement procedures. This research contributed to the re-conceptualization of ASD as a learning difficulty instead of a form of schizophrenia and to legislation that promoted deinstitutionalization and access to special education. The research also demonstrated the importance of scientific treatment studies with precise and objective data collection of specific behaviors in natural environments. Subsequent applied behavior analysis (ABA) studies documented learning styles characteristic of many individuals with ASD and suggested that these styles may represent one end of a continuum with typical development (ideas central to current conceptualizations of ASD). Later, behavior analysts described dramatic improvements as a result of early intensive ABA that incorporated opportunities for inclusion in regular education and active participation from caregivers and peers. This finding led to policy changes that emphasized early identification and treatment. Current challenges include elucidating standards for best practices in ABA, evaluating the effectiveness of large-scale, community-wide ABA programs, and responding to the recent growth in research on treatments other than ABA.

The education and treatment of individuals with autism often involves the application of non-scientifically-based practices. This is tragic given that a scientifically-based treatment such as Applied Behavior Analysis has been used for over 40 years in almost fifteen hundred studies to educate and treat individuals of all ages with autism. This presentation will cover a number of topics including: science, anti-science, and pseudoscience and the characteristics of fad treatments, dubious or controversial treatments, pseudoscientific practices, and politically correct treatments. A number of classic fads will be highlighted including facilitated communication. Why people are susceptible to using bogus treatments will be examined. The presentation concludes with a discussion of the factors to consider in assessing the quality of an educational program for a child with autism. These factors include alarm words and phrases, poorly trained staff, characteristics of effective programs, good teacher behaviors, and characteristics of parents whose children have success.

Language training is usually the most important aspect of an intervention program for children with autism. However, there are many different theories as to what constitutes language, and currently a variety of cognitive theories underlie most assessment and intervention programs. Skinner (1957) provides a behavioral analysis of language that is an empirically sound and comprehensible conception of human language, and it lends itself well to a practical and data-based assessment and curriculum. Skinners analysis of verbal behavior is based on the same principles of behavior and basic research that underlie the teaching procedures of discrete trial training (DTT) and applied behavior analysis (ABA). Together, these two components of behavior analysis constitute a solid foundation for a day-to-day language intervention program. This presentation will describe the basic aspects of Skinners analysis of verbal behavior, and explain how it can provide a functional framework for language assessment and intervention for children with autism.

Deficits in social behavior are a core feature of children with autism. Social skills have been defined as specific, identifiable skills that form the basis of social competency, such as the contextually appropriate application of motor, cognitive, and affective behaviors. The literature is replete with various applications of ABA oriented social skills programs. However, many programs are limited to acquisition of isolated social behaviors, or small changes in such, without pervasive generalization and maintenance effects. This presentation will focus on those interventions that have been empirically verified, and have shown the most promise in terms of generalization and maintenance of social behaviors for children with autism. These interventions include Naturalistic Teaching Strategies, Incidental Teaching, Video Modeling, and Photo Scheduling. These interventions are perhaps the most successful because they focus on teaching children with autism using motivational techniques, facilitators of generalization, and visual strategies which often present material in a learner friendly manner. New data will be presented comparing some of these procedures to well-used but poorly investigated popular press programs.

In this presentation, Dr. Wacker will describe the results of NIH-funded projects involving functional analyses and functional communication training in the home settings of young children (6 years and younger) who had diagnosed disabilities and who displayed severe problem behavior (e.g., self-injury and aggression). Parents conducted all assessment and treatment sessions with coaching from trained applied behavior analysts. The procedures used in this project will be described, along with outcomes achieved over a 12-year period. Individual case studies of children with autism will be presented.

The characteristics of quality home-based programming will be described and discussed in this presentation. Specific topics will include staffing, training, supervision, goal selection, evaluation of treatment effects, parent education, involvement of siblings, and practical considerations. A variety of resources will be shared such as guidelines for how to identify quality service providers, information about ethical standards, lists of resources, and examples of forms and charts (e.g., data collection forms and scheduling sheets). This presentation will be geared to both parents and providers.