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2006 ABA Tutorial: Professional Development Series: Introduction to Precision Teaching. |
| Monday, May 29, 2006 |
| 9:00 AM–9:50 AM |
| Centennial Ballroom II |
| Area: TBA; Domain: Applied Research |
| CE Instructor: Kent Johnson, Ph.D. |
| Chair: Katie Endicott (Utah State University) |
| KENT JOHNSON (Morningside Academy), Kendra L. Brooks Rickard (University of Nevada, Reno) |
 Dr. Kent Johnson founded Morningside Academy, in Seattle, Washington, in 1980, and currently serves as its Executive Director. Morningside is a laboratory school for elementary and middle school children and youth. Morningside investigates effective curriculum materials and teaching methods, and has provided training and consulting in instruction to over 90 schools and agencies throughout the USA and Canada since 1991. Dr. Johnson has served in all the positions at Morningside, including classroom teacher for 10 years, financial manager, administrator, teacher trainer, school psychologist and school consultant. He has published several seminal papers about research-based curriculum and teaching methods. Most recently he published a book, The Morningside Model of Generative Instruction: What It Means to Leave No Child Behind, with Dr. Elizabeth Street (2004, Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies). The Morningside Model focuses upon foundation skills in reading, writing, mathematics, thinking, reasoning, problem solving, studying core content, and project-based learning. Over 18,000 students and over a thousand teachers have used the Morningside Model of Generative Instruction. Dr. Johnson is also a co-founder of Headsprout, Inc., a Seattle-based company funded by investors to develop web-based, interactive, cartoon-driven instructional programs. The first product is currently available: Headsprout Early Reading, from headsprout.com. Prior to founding Morningside, Dr. Johnson was professor at Central Washington University, director of staff training at the Fernald School in Massachusetts, and instructional designer at Northeastern University in Boston. He received his M.S. (1974) and Ph.D. (1977) in psychology at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst under the mentorship of Drs. Beth Sulzer-Azaroff, Ellen Reese, and John Donahue. He received his B.S. in psychology and sociology from Georgetown University (1973), under the mentorship of Dr. J Gilmour Sherman. He also counts Drs. Fred Keller, Charles Ferster, B. F. Skinner, Susan Markle, John Dewey, Robert Gagne, Siegfried Engelmann, Ogden Lindsey, Israel Goldiamond, Arthur Whimbey, and colleague Joe Layng as major influences on his work. Dr. Johnson enjoys reading philosophy, mysteries, ancient history, psychology, and books about teaching and children. He also enjoys rock, electronic downbeat and ambient music; and talking about politics and public policy. |
| Abstract: Precision Teaching is a method of monitoring the frequency of performance on a specially designed graph known as the standard celeration chart. Users of the chart record the frequency of a behavior, a measure that is maximally sensitive to events that influence behavior. The chart incorporates a multiple scale to most adequately reflect the growth of behavior over time. By drawing a line through the frequencies of behavior over time the user can also quantitatively measure learning: the acceleration and deceleration of behavior. I will describe how Precision Teaching has been integrated in Morningside Academys Generative Instruction model as a core technology. Using charted data as our guide we have developed frequency-building procedures to improve the academic as well as social and interpersonal behaviors that we teach our students. Specifically, charted data have helped us to maximize the accuracy of performance as well as the acceleration of behavior to frequencies that predict retention, endurance, stability and application of behavior. These outcomes we collectively define as behavioral fluency. Charted data across a range of instructional objectives will be presented, showing the influence of various instructional interventions upon performance accuracy and celeration. The charted data come from our laboratory school in Seattle, Morningside Academy, CAL Learning Center in Reno, Nevada, and from many of the 97 public schools and agencies Morningside has had partnerships with throughout the USA and Canada. I will also show how frequency building and celeration have been incorporated in our online, interactive early reading program, Headsprout. BCBAs and BCABAs will learn an important technology that they can immediately implement in their research or with their clients. |
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How Hard-Nosed is Behaviorism? |
| Monday, May 29, 2006 |
| 9:00 AM–9:50 AM |
| Centennial Ballroom I |
| Area: EAB; Domain: Basic Research |
| CE Instructor: Jennifer J. Higa, Ph.D. |
| Chair: Jennifer J. Higa (Texas Christian University) |
| JOHN E. R. STADDON (Duke University) |
 Dr. John Staddon is James B. Duke Professor of Psychology, and Professor of Biology and Neurobiology at Duke University and an honorary professor at the University of York, UK. He obtained his BSc at University College, London, his PhD in Experimental Psychology at Harvard University and has a Docteur Honoris Cause degree from the Université Charles de Gaulle, Lille 3, France. He has also done research at MIT, Oxford University, the University of São Paulo at Riberão Preto, the University of Mexico, the Ruhr Universität, Universität Konstanz and the University of Western Australia. His research is on the evolution and mechanisms of learning in animals and humans and the history and philosophy of psychology and biology; he has also written on public-policy issues. He is a past editor of the journals Behavioural Processes and Behavior & Philosophy. His laboratory in recent years has studied simulated detection of landmines, optimality analysis and the economics of behavior, mechanisms of choice behavior and interval timing in animals. He is the author of approximately 200 research papers and five books, including Adaptive Behavior and Learning (Cambridge University Press, 1983, and 2003 internet edition), The New Behaviorism: Mind, Mechanism and Society (Psychology Press, 2001), and Adaptive Dynamics: The Theoretical Analysis of Behavior (MIT/Bradford, 2001). |
| Abstract: Behaviorism is usually thought to be the most rigorous approach to psychology its critics view it as simplistic. But I will argue that behaviorism, like cognitive psychology, has succumbed to the invasion of the abstract noun, studying generalities like choice, timing, and risk, rather than the processes that drive real behavior and hint at its physiological basis. |
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Verbal Behavior and Autism Intervention |
| Monday, May 29, 2006 |
| 10:00 AM–10:50 AM |
| Centennial Ballroom I |
| Area: AUT; Domain: Applied Research |
| CE Instructor: Mark L. Sundberg, Ph.D. |
| Chair: Jack Scott (Florida Atlantic University) |
| MARK L. SUNDBERG (Sundberg and Associates) |
 Dr. Mark L. Sundberg received his doctorate degree in Applied Behavior Analysis from Western Michigan University (1980), under the direction of Dr. Jack Michael. Dr. Sundberg is a Licensed Psychologist and Board Certified Behavior Analyst who has been conducting language research with children with autism for over 30 years. He is the founder and past editor of the journal The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, and is the co-author (with James W. Partington) of the books Teaching Language to Children with Autism or Other Developmental Disabilities, The Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills: The ABLLS, and (with Jack Michael) A Collection of Reprints on Verbal Behavior. He has published over 40 professional papers, given over 400 conference presentations and workshops, and taught 80 college courses on behavior analysis, verbal behavior, sign language, and child development. Dr. Sundberg received the 2001 “Distinguished Psychology Department Alumnus Award” from Western Michigan University. |
| Abstract: Should we stop doing mand and intraverbal language training for children with autism? It was suggested by Green (2005) that language training procedures for children with autism that are based on Skinners (1957) analysis of verbal behavior should not be disseminated until data supporting those procedures are obtained. The purpose of the current presentation will be to present an analysis of the existing data on the mand and intraverbal relations. In addition, an analysis of how the mand and intraverbal repertoires are addressed and taught in traditional discrete trial programs will presented. The results will show that there is empirical support for the distinction between the mand, tact, and intraverbal, and it is a mistake to assume these repertoire will emerge from the tact only training common to most discrete trial curricula. |
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On the Utility of the Concept of Automatic Reinforcement in Applied Behavior Analysis |
| Monday, May 29, 2006 |
| 11:00 AM–11:50 AM |
| Centennial Ballroom II |
| Area: DDA; Domain: Applied Research |
| CE Instructor: Melissa L. Olive, Ph.D. |
| Chair: Kent Johnson (Morningside Academy) |
| TIMOTHY R. VOLLMER (University of Florida) |
 Dr. Timothy R. Vollmer received his Ph.D. from the University of Florida in 1992. From 1992 until 1996 he was on the psychology faculty at Louisiana State University. From 1996 to 1998 he was on the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. He returned to the University of Florida in 1998 and is now an Associate Professor of Psychology and recently was named Research Foundation Professor. His primary area of research is applied behavior analysis, with emphases in developmental disabilities, reinforcement schedules, and parenting. He has published over 80 articles and book chapters related to behavior analysis. He was the recipient of the 1996 B.F. Skinner New Researcher award from the American Psychological Association (APA). He received another APA award in August, 2004 for significant contributions to applied behavior analysis. Currently, he is principal investigator for a collaborative project with the Florida Department of Children and Families, teaching parenting skills to foster parents. In addition, his research in developmental disabilities runs the basic-to-applied gamut with studies in an operant rat lab, a human operant lab, and school-based assessments and treatments of behavior disorders. |
| Abstract: Automatic reinforcement refers to (positive or negative) reinforcement in the absence of social mediation. Despite early discussions of automatic reinforcement by Skinner and other eminent behaviorists (e.g., Michael), the concept of automatic reinforcement was not widely discussed or incorporated into applied research until the last couple of decades or so. Now, the notion of automatic reinforcement is widespread in applied research and practice. The presenter will show data reflecting the increasing trend of studies on automatic reinforcement. A result of the recent proliferation of research is that we now have enough data to at least begin exploring questions about the utility of the automatic reinforcement concept. While discussing a range of advantages and disadvantages of the concept, the presenter will reach two very general conclusions: 1. The concept of automatic reinforcement is useful because it draws attention to the fact that not all reinforcement is socially mediated, but 2. The concept of automatic reinforcement is limiting when and if it detracts from an analysis of specific stimuli and events that may function as reinforcement. |
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| The Multiple Mechanisms of GHB: Why Should we Care? |
| Monday, May 29, 2006 |
| 11:00 AM–11:50 AM |
| Centennial Ballroom I |
| Area: BPH; Domain: Basic Research |
| CE Instructor: John M. Roll, J.D. |
| Chair: John M. Roll (Washington State University, Friends Research Institute) |
| CHARLES PATRICK FRANCE (University of Texas) |
 Dr. France received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. He is currently a Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Psychiatry at the University of Texas Health Science Center, located in San Antonio. Research in his laboratory focuses on interactions between behavior and pharmacology as those interactions influence the abuse liability of drugs. One major goal of the laboratory has been to understand how the subjective effects of drugs change as a consequence of certain behavioral and pharmacologic histories. His laboratory has developed behavioral procedures (drug discrimination) that are sensitive to the withdrawal-precipitating effects of antagonists and routinely uses these procedures to study the development of dependence and the expression of withdrawal as well as how these phenomena can be modified by various pharmacologic and behavioral manipulations. One unifying theme of research in his laboratory is the use of receptor theory, which provides a framework for the planning, execution and interpretation of behavioral studies with drugs. Thus, many of his studies attempt to differentiate among drugs on the basis of their efficacy and selectivity, thereby identifying the pharmacologic characteristics of drugs that are most important for particular behavioral effects (e.g., reinforcing effects). |
| Abstract: Since its discovery and isolation more than 40 years ago, GHB has been studied for its therapeutic and non-therapeutic effects. GHB is an endogenous putative neurotransmitter/neuromodulator, a drug of abuse, and a treatment for sleep disorders. Despite numerous studies on GHB and its continued use in and out of the clinic, the mechanisms that contribute to its use and abuse remain only partially described. This presentation will review preclinical studies on the behavioral pharmacology of GHB, particularly as those studies related to identification of the mechanism of action of GHB and related compounds. |
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| Contingency Management for the Treatment of Substance Use Disorders: Contemporary Issues |
| Monday, May 29, 2006 |
| 1:30 PM–2:50 PM |
| Centennial Ballroom II |
| Area: BPH; Domain: Basic Research |
| Chair: John M. Roll (Washington State University, Friends Research Institute) |
| Discussant: Charles R. Schuster (Wayne State University) |
| CE Instructor: John M. Roll, Ed.D. |
| Abstract: Contingency management (CM) refers to the systematic application of basic principles delineated by workers in the field of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior to assist individuals in changing their behavior. Primary emphasis is placed on the use of reinforcement and punishment to alter an individuals day-to-day behavior. CM has proven remarkably effective at facilitating both the adoption of new behaviors (e.g., exercise) and the termination of old behaviors (e.g., drug use). A number of CM procedures have been refined for the treatment of a variety of substance use disorders and related problems. These procedures have generally been successful in reducing drug use. This symposium will present data from three of the leaders in this field and include a discussion by a pioneer of the field. |
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| Using Voucher-Based Contingency Management in Outpatient Treatment of Substance Use Disorders. |
| STEPHEN T. HIGGINS (University of Vermont) |
| Abstract: Substance abuse is a problem that confronts society at many levels. Providing effective treatments that assist afflicted individuals in terminating their drug using behavior has been a goal of our group. We have developed and refined contingency management interventions in which participants earn vouchers with a monetary value for providing biological evidence of abstinence. These procedures have been generally successful and have been applied to the treatment of many different types of substance use disorders. This presentation will review our work on this topic to date. |
 Dr. Stephen T. Higgins is a Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology, Vice Chair for Research and Director of Substance Abuse Research and Treatment Services in the Department of Psychiatry, at the University of Vermont. Dr. Higgins earned his Ph.D. from the University of Kansas in 1983, and thereafter completed a post-doctoral fellowship in clinical pharmacology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a staff fellowship at the Addiction Research Center of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) before joining the faculty of the University of Vermont in 1986. Dr. Higgins is a prior member of the Board of Directors of the College on Problems on Drug Dependence, Past-President of the Division of Psychopharmacology and Substance Abuse (Division 28) and a Fellow in four Divisions of the American Psychological Association. His research is a blend of clinical laboratory and treatment-outcome research directed towards furthering scientific understanding of the behavioral and pharmacological processes involved in substance use disorders. Dr. Higgins currently is Principal Investigator on three NIH/NIDA research grants on various aspects of drug abuse and an institutional training grant for pre- and post-doctoral training in drug abuse research. He has more than 200 publications to his credit and has received several awards for research excellence, including the College on Problems of Drug Dependence's Joseph Cochin Early Career Investigator Award, the Hazelden Foundation's Dan Anderson Research Award, the American Psychological Association’s, Division 25, Don Hake Basic/Applied Research Award, an NIH MERIT Award, and the University of Vermont's University Scholar Award. He is an active teacher and mentor in substance abuse research and is an editorial consultant to a number of scientific journals in the areas of substance abuse, psychopharmacology, and behavior analysis. |
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| Employment-Based Abstinence Reinforcement in the Treatment of Cocaine Addiction. |
| KENNETH SILVERMAN (Johns Hopkins University) |
| Abstract: Cocaine addiction is often difficult to treat. Those treatments that do have efficacy can be difficult to sustain in community-based treatment centers. Our group has been working to develop an employment-based procedure for treating cocaine addiction. In this procedure individuals gain access to a workplace based on drug abstinence. We administer the work place and provide vocational training. To date, results have been generally successful. |
 Dr. Kenneth Silverman is Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His research focuses on developing operant treatments to address the interrelated problems of poverty and drug addiction. His research has focused primarily on the development and evaluation of abstinence reinforcement interventions for heroin and cocaine addiction in treatment-resistant, chronically unemployed adults, and the integration of those abstinence reinforcement contingencies into employment settings. Over the past several years, he has been developing an employment-based treatment called the therapeutic workplace that uses salary for work to reinforce drug abstinence. |
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| Prize-Based Contingency Management: A Lower Cost CM Intervention. |
| NANCY PETRY (University of Connecticut) |
| Abstract: Contingency management interventions have been successful in initiating abstinence from a variety of drugs of abuse. Some have suggested; however, that these procedures have not been widely adopted by community treatment providers because they are potentially expensive. In response to this we have developed a procedure that programs lower-rates of overall reinforcement by allowing participants to draw slips of paper form a receptacle, each of which can be exchanged for a prize. The magnitude of the prizes varies from very low to high and the probability of winning decreases as the magnitude of the prize increases. Results to date have been generally positive. |
 Dr. Nancy Petry earned a Ph.D. in psychology from Harvard University in 1994. In 1996, she joined the faculty of the University of Connecticut Health Center, where she is Professor of Psychiatry. She conducts research on the treatment of addictive disorders, ranging from substance use disorders to pathological gambling, and has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles. Her work is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Dr. Petry serves as a consultant and advisor for the National Institute of Health and she is on the editorial boards of six academic journals. She received the American Psychological Association Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contributions to Psychology in 2003. |
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| The Analysis of Complex Human Behavior |
| Monday, May 29, 2006 |
| 1:30 PM–2:50 PM |
| Centennial Ballroom I |
| Area: VBC/EAB; Domain: Basic Research |
| Chair: William F. Potter (California State University, Stanislaus) |
| CE Instructor: Mark L. Sundberg, Ed.D. |
| Panelists: JOHN L. MICHAEL (Western Michigan University), DAVID C. PALMER (Smith College), MARK L. SUNDBERG (Sundberg and Associates), JANET S. TWYMAN (Headsprout) |
| Abstract: The panelists will discuss approaches to analyzing complex human behavior, providing examples as well as directions for future research in this area. |
| JOHN L. MICHAEL (Western Michigan University) |
 Dr. Jack Michael was born in 1926 in Los Angeles, and entered UCLA in 1943 as a chemistry major. He served two years in the army, and returned to UCLA in 1946, this time as a psychology major. He obtained a B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. at UCLA, finishing in 1955. As a graduate student his main interests were statistical methodology, physiological psychology, and learning theory. During his first teaching job (Kansas University) he was much influenced by B. F. Skinner's Science and Human Behavior, and since then has been primarily involved in teaching behavioral psychology; at Kansas U., University of Houston, Arizona State University, and since 1967 at Western Michigan University. In 1957 as a result of influence by the rehabilitation psychologist, Lee Meyerson, he began to apply Skinner's behavior analysis to applications in the areas of mental retardation, mental illness, and physical disability. During the next several years "behavior modification" was in a period of rapid expansion and Michael contributed with his teaching, writing, and public presentations. Most recently he has been concerned with the technical terminology of behavior analysis, basic theory regarding motivation, and verbal behavior. He contributed to the founding of the Association for Behavior Analysis in 1974 and served as its president in 1979. He was Western Michigan University’s Distinguished Faculty Scholar for 1989. He received the 2002 Award for Distinguished Service to Behavior Analysis from the Association for Behavior Analysis; and the 2002 Don Hake Award from Division 25 of the American Psychological Association. |
| DAVID C. PALMER (Smith College) |
 Dr. David C. Palmer discovered Skinner by reading Walden Two while on a caving trip to North Carolina, because he thought it must have had something to do with his hero, Thoreau. He spent the next decade on a soap box preaching about Walden Two and reading the rest of the Skinner canon. Eventually he realized that he was no Frazier, and he applied to graduate school in behavior analysis under John Donahoe. He was happy in grad school and would be there still if the University of Massachusetts hadn’t threatened to change the locks. He has spent the last 17 years as the token behaviorist at Smith College. During that time he co-authored, with Donahoe, Learning and Complex Behavior. He continues to puzzle over the interpretation of memory, problem-solving, and, particularly, verbal behavior. He once referred to himself, in a jocular vein, as a goose-stepping Skinnerian, but he found that the label fit, and he now wears it without apology. |
| MARK L. SUNDBERG (Sundberg and Associates) |
 Dr. Mark L. Sundberg received his doctorate degree in Applied Behavior Analysis from Western Michigan University (1980), under the direction of Dr. Jack Michael. Dr. Sundberg is a Licensed Psychologist and Board Certified Behavior Analyst who has been conducting language research with children with autism for over 30 years. He is the founder and past editor of the journal The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, and is the co-author (with James W. Partington) of the books Teaching Language to Children with Autism or Other Developmental Disabilities, The Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills: The ABLLS, and (with Jack Michael) A Collection of Reprints on Verbal Behavior. He has published over 40 professional papers, given over 400 conference presentations and workshops, and taught 80 college courses on behavior analysis, verbal behavior, sign language, and child development. Dr. Sundberg received the 2001 “Distinguished Psychology Department Alumnus Award” from Western Michigan University. |
| JANET S. TWYMAN (Headsprout) |
 Dr. Janet S. Twyman is the Vice President of Instructional Development at Headsprout, where she significantly contributed to the development of Headsprout’s Generative Learning Technology and led the effort to build that technology into a highly effective beginning reading program. Twyman developed the research methods and systems that led to Headsprout’s ground breaking scientific formative evaluation model of program development, coordinating all elements of instructional design, scripting, graphic creation, animation, sound engineering, story development and writing, software engineering, and usability testing within the research model. Twyman was formerly the Executive Director of the Fred S. Keller School, a model early childhood center, and an adjunct associate professor at Columbia University Teachers College. She is a long-time advocate and investigator of research-based instruction and systems design. While at the Keller School and Columbia University, she conducted research and taught courses focusing on effective instruction, technology and education, teacher development, and systems approaches to effective education. She has published experimental studies with a particular emphasis on the verbal behavior of children and on topics of broader conceptual interest. She is a board member of several schools and organizations and is currently a member of the Executive Council of the Association for Behavior Analysis. In addition, she oversees the association’s graduate program accreditation processes. Twyman earned her PhD from Columbia University Teachers College. She holds certification as an elementary and special education teacher and as a principal/school administrator. |
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| Cambridge Center Symposium: The Accreditation of Behavioral Applications: Promoting Evidence-Based Practices |
| Monday, May 29, 2006 |
| 3:00 PM–4:20 PM |
| Centennial Ballroom I |
| Area: OBM; Domain: Applied Research |
| Chair: Dwight Harshbarger (Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies) |
| Discussant: Dwight Harshbarger (Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies) |
| CE Instructor: Dwight Harshbarger, Ph.D. |
| Abstract: Behavior analysis is engaged in a competition to determine whether services aimed at making positive changes in behavior and in the impact or results of behavior will be based on demonstrably effective methods or left to tradition, professional custom, and union or guild protection. If the arbiters of success are uninformed client choices, testimonials, and unsubstantiated claims, that competition may not be winnable. If client choices can be based on evidence of effectiveness, services grounded in applied behavior analysis have a higher probability of being chosen. In addition, evidence-based decisions may provide a method to help us sort more effective from less effective behavior-analytic methods. The Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies has recent initiatives that award accreditation to behavioral programs of service based on evidence of effectiveness. Accreditation of principles of behavior-based safety programs has now been awarded to multiple organizations. Standards and methods for accrediting applied behavior analytic clinical services have been developed and the launch of this initiative is underway. The presenters in this symposium will discuss evidence-based accreditation, including alternatives in standards and methods. Initial problems and successes with accreditation efforts will be presented and analyzed. |
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| Standards for Accreditation. |
| HENRY S. PENNYPACKER (University of Florida) |
| Abstract: The public relies on a variety of accreditation or certification sources for information to inform their purchasing decisions. Such organizations as Good Housekeeping, Consumer Reports, and Underwriters Laboratory have earned the trust of the public over a long period by producing data that are both understandable and reliable. The Cambridge Center would like to join this select group by accrediting programs that engender desirable behavior change in identifiable populations of consumers. To succeed in this endeavor, the Center must adopt a set of standards against which candidate programs may be evaluated. I have suggested elsewhere that the standards used by the Food and Drug Administration, safe and effective, serve as temporary placeholders until more suitable ones can be crafted. We may have problems in reaching agreement on how to evaluate effectiveness. I will argue that we should adhere firmly to our traditions of direct, objective behavioral measurement and eschew such devices as testimonials, consumer satisfaction surveys, and the like. I will illustrate this strategy with a short discussion of how we have developed criteria for certifying clinical breast examiners that rely on accepted concepts of sensitivity and specificity. |
 Dr. Henry Pennypacker, Jr. has been a guiding force in Behavior Analysis since the 1960s. His seminal book "Strategies and Tactics in Behavioral Research" with Johnston has been used as an essential textbook and reference by many in the field. His most recent book with Gutierrez and Lindley titled "Handbook of the standard celeration chart" was recently published by the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies. His six books along with 21 book chapters and over 60 scholarly publications has established Dr. Pennypacker as one of ABA's most prolific authors. He was president of ABA from 1986-1987. Since the 1970's Dr. Pennypacker devoted his considerable talents toward applying ABA to the early detection of breast cancer. His work in this area has earned him patents in the US, Germany, Britain, and Canada as well as a grant from the National Cancer Institute. He is currently a Professor Emeritus at the University of Florida, President of Precision Teaching of Florida, Inc., and CEO of Mammatech Corporation. |
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| Accrediting Principles of Behavior-Based Safety Programs. |
| BILL L. HOPKINS (Auburn University, Emeritus) |
| Abstract: CCBS began accrediting safety initiatives built on the principles of behavior in 2004 to recognize and publicize exemplary programs. The need for this accreditation will be argued. The primary standard for accreditation of a safety program is evidence of effectiveness. Accreditation also requires strong arguments that the chosen safety data are important to conditions at the site, evidence that the safety data are accurate, methods that are based on the principles of behavior, and a written description of the program that is sufficiently detailed to allow for replications. Reasons for advancing the nomenclature “principles-of-behavior-based” rather than “behavior-based” or “applied-behavior-analysis-based” will be explained. The accreditation methods will be presented and explained. To date four programs have been accredited. Common and unique characteristics that go beyond the standard behavior-based safety program and primary data of accredited programs will be presented. Arguments will be advanced that applied behavior analysis can succeed as a widely used source of services only if it promotes evidence of effectiveness as the primary means of deciding program value. |
 Dr. Bill L. Hopkins is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Psychology of Auburn University. He has done applied behavior analytic research with developmentally disabled children, with chronically mentally ill adults, with normal school children, and, since nineteen-seventy, with adults in work organizations . He has published many research and technical papers as well as papers on research methodology and four edited books about behavioral applications to education. Hopkins has served on the editorial boards of JABA, JOBM, and TBA. He has also sat as a member of study sections for several government agencies reviewing proposals for research and training and chaired the study section of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. He was the Director of the John T. Stewart Children’s Center at the University of Kansas and Head of the Department of Psychology at Auburn University. He chaired the ABA committee that drafted standards and guidelines for the certification of graduate programs of instruction in behavior analysis. He chaired the Cambridge Center committee that drafted standards and guidelines for the accreditation of principles-of-behavior-based safety programs and has chaired the review and site-visit teams for all of the successfully accredited programs. |
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| Accreditation of Organizations Providing Applied Behavior Analysis Services. |
| MICHAEL WEINBERG (Southbury Training School) |
| Abstract: The purpose of the CCBS Behavior Analysis clinical services accreditation is to establish a set of standards for programs and services that utilize Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) as a core or essential treatment approach. The standards and accreditation process are intended to provide a higher quality of service, and assurances to consumers of the services, and the public, that sound intervention methods are being used. Given the many significant developments in the field over the past two decades, and the questionable methods used in the name of applied behavior analysis, there has been confusion among the public and purchasers of these services. These events have also led to varying degrees of harm to service recipients which will be briefly reviewed. These concerns were among the reasons for creating a certification process (BACB). The BACB devised a means of identifying those using sound practices in the field, and has also promoted the notion that ABA is also a treatment approach. We believe that the time has arrived for the accreditation organizations that provide ABA services. The reasons and implications for the field and society will be further discussed during the presentation. |
 Dr. Michael Weinberg is the director of psychological services at Southbury Training School in Connecticut, and is the owner and CEO of Orlando Behavior Health in Florida. He received his Ph.D. in 1985 in the experimental analysis of behavior program at Temple University in Philadelphia, and was previously at the E.K. Shriver Center and Northeastern University where he received his B.A. in psychology in 1977, with an emphasis in Applied Behavior Analysis. Dr. Weinberg is a licensed psychologist in three states, and is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst with 30 years of experience in the field, providing treatment to children and adults with developmental disabilities, autism, and various behavioral and learning disorders. Dr. Weinberg has been on the part-time faculty of Temple University, Psychology Department, and also adjunct at Rutgers University, where he taught courses in basic principles of behavior. Since becoming a charter certificant with the BACB, he has been teaching pre-approved courses for certification in Florida for the past five years, and is ACE coordinator for his company which is a BACB approved Type 2 CE provider. Dr. Weinberg is also the editor of the Behavior Analyst Today, an online journal which publishes articles in the philosophical, experimental and applied aspects of behavior analysis. Dr. Weinberg has also published articles and book chapters in behavior analysis, has developed a behavioral approach to treating reactive attachment disorder, and conducts workshops and seminars on OBM. He has been collaborating with the Cambridge Center since early 2005 to develop accreditation standards and review processes for programs and agencies providing ABA services. Dr. Weinberg is also a Trustee of the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies. |
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| International Symposium - Intersections Between Joint Attention and Social Referencing in Children With Autism and Typically Developing Children |
| Monday, May 29, 2006 |
| 3:00 PM–4:20 PM |
| Centennial Ballroom II |
| Area: DEV; Domain: Applied Research |
| Chair: Rebecca P. F. MacDonald (New England Center for Children) |
| Discussant: Jacob L. Gewirtz (Florida International University) |
| CE Instructor: Rebecca P. F. MacDonald, Ph.D. |
| Abstract: Joint attention and social referencing have received increased attention in developmental psychology and behavior analysis because of their relation to the development of autism. Joint attention involves the coordinated attention between a social partner and an object in the environment and has been identified as one of the earliest emerging social behaviors in typically developing children. Social referencing involves the child searching or looking for cues in the facial expressions of the caregiver to determine how to act in the context of ambiguity. Deficits in joint attention and social referencing are apparent in very young children with autism. The development of operant models for the analysis of joint attention and social referencing are seen as important to the treatment of these deficits. The purpose of this symposium is to describe several research projects in which the authors are using an operant analysis of joint attention and social referencing to develop protocols for evaluating and treating children with autism. Data that support the etiology of social referencing with 18 very young infants will be reported. The implications of these analyses will be discussed as they relate to a behavioral analysis of this very important developmental phenomenon. |
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Analysis and Treatment of Joint Attention in Young Children with Autism. |
| REBECCA P. F. MACDONALD (New England Center for Children), William V. Dube (University of Massachusetts Medical School, E.K. Shriver Center), Jennifer L. Klein (New England Center for Children), Sally N. Roberts (New England Center for Children), Krista Smaby (New England Center for Children), Emily E. Wheeler (University of Massachusetts Medical School, E.K. Shriver Center) |
| Abstract: This paper will describe a contingency analysis of joint attention in which the characteristic gaze shifts, gestures, vocalizations, are shaped and maintained by conditioned socially mediated reinforcers. According to this analysis, joint attention deficits in children with autism spectrum disorders may be related to failures of socially mediated consequences to function as conditioned reinforcers. Profiles of child performance will be shown using data from a concurrent choice procedure used to determine the value of social reinforcers, as well as, assessment data on joint attention initiations and responsiveness to joint attention bids. The assessments were administered to both children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders and typically developing children, aged 2 to 4 years. Interobserver agreement was high for all behavioral measures. Case examples of intervention procedures to establish joint attention initiations will be presented. Results will be discussed in the context of the posited behavioral contingency analysis of joint attention. |
 Dr. Rebecca MacDonald is a Licensed Psychologist in Massachusetts and a Board Certified Behavior Analyst who serves as the Director of Intensive Instructional Preschool Program for children with autism at the New England Center for Children. She is an Adjunct Professor in the Masters in Applied Behavior Analysis (MABA) Program at Northeastern University. Rebecca received her doctorate in Developmental and Child Psychology from the University of Kansas in 1983. Dr. MacDonald began at The New England Center for Children as the Clinical Director in 1983. She then taught for three years in the Graduate School of Education at Simmons College in Boston (1992-1995). In 1995 she returned to the New England Center for Children in her current position. Dr. MacDonald was a past Program Chair for the American Psychological Association for Division 25. Rebecca has presented her research at numerous conferences over the past twenty years and published studies that have appeared in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, Research in Developmental Disabilities, and Analysis and Intervention of Developmental Disabilities. Dr. MacDonald’s research interests currently include; assessment and teaching joint attention, teaching play and social reciprocity to children with autism, and measuring clinical outcomes of early intensive behavior intervention. |
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| Infants Learning to Reference Maternal Facial Expressions of Emotions. |
| MARTHA PELAEZ (Florida International University) |
| Abstract: The assumption that infant social referencing behaviors can result from contingency-based learning processes was tested. In a context of ambiguity or uncertainty, maternal emotional expressions can be learned by the infant as cues for positive and aversive events. Eighteen 4- to 5-month-old infants and their mothers participated in a repeated-measures reversal design. Infants were trained differentially to reach for an ambiguous object following joyful maternal expressions and not to reach following fearful maternal expressions. During baseline, none of the infants responded differentially to the joyful and fearful maternal expressions. After training sessions, however, infants learned to reach differentially following presentations of joyful and fearful cues. During a subsequent extinction (reversal) phase, the pleasant and aversive contingencies on reaching for the ambiguous object were discontinued producing extinction of the differential reaching response. During the last phase, infants were retrained differentially to respond again to the two maternal expressions. This study provides the basis for the alternative hypothesis that infant social referencing may result from contingency-based learning. |
 Dr. Martha Pelaez is a Professor of Psychology. In 1992, she received her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology, winning the International Dissertation Award from the International Society for Infant Studies (ISIS) on "Infant learning to reference maternal emotional expressions." In 1994, she completed a postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Miami, School of Medicine. She has studied mother-infant interactions, maternal depression and its effects on infant behavior, and early social-learning processes like attachment, fears, and social referencing. Her theoretical contributions include the creation of taxonomy of rules and a behavior–analytic approach to moral development. Dr. Pelaez has published more than 40 articles in refereed journals (including the American Psychologist and the journal of Child Development); co-authored 11 chapters, published 1 textbook (with G. Novak) on child development, and edited several monographs. Martha Pelaez was the past Program Chair for the American Psychological Association for Division 25 and past Program Co-Chair for the Association for Behavior Analysis. She is the founder of the Behavior Development Bulletin and has served as its editor since 1990. She was awarded Fellowship status by the American Psychological Association. Currently, she serves in nine editorial boards of refereed journals, including The Behavior Analyst and is a member of the Florida Board of Governors--the board that rules the State University System. |
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| The Role of Joint Attention in Verbal Operants. |
| PER HOLTH (The Behavioral Center, Oslo) |
| Abstract: Research on joint attention, the synchronizing of the attention of two or more persons, has progressed mainly outside of behavior analysis. Research within the cognitive-developmental tradition has shown that deficient joint attention skills are strongly correlated with later developing ‘language abilities’ and that children diagnosed with autism may display a syndrome-specific joint attention deficit. The present paper focuses on the role of joint attention phenomena in verbal operants, such as tacts, mands, verbal behavior controlled by verbal stimuli, and autoclitics. An operant analysis of joint attention skills and how they are interwoven with verbal operants may point directly to suggestions for effective intervention strategies. |
 Dr. Per Holth is currently a researcher at the Norwegian Center for the Studies of Conduct Problems and Innovative Practice and associate professor at Akershus University College. He is interested in behavior analysis in general; basic research as well as conceptual issues and various areas of application. His interest in an operant analysis of joint attention arose while he was the program director at the Center for Early Intervention in Oslo, working with children diagnosed with autism (2000-2003). His interest in verbal behavior extends back to his early study days, when he came across a copy of Skinner’s (1957) book (some people are lucky), and he teaches courses on verbal behavior at the Masters Program in Learning and Relational Competence at Akershus University College, Norway. |
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