Association for Behavior Analysis International

When giving a reinforcer it is important to understand the effects of the "delivery system" for that reinforcer. For example, dogs with little experience with human interaction may react differently to a human delivered reinforcer than dogs more experienced with human interaction. This effect can be predicted by the Disequilibrium Model (Timberlake & Farmer-Dougan, 1991), which states that the degree to which the ratio of instrumental (I) to contingent (C) responding is disrupted from a baseline bliss point (Oi/Oc) results in predictable reinforcement effects. The present study used this model to measure baseline approaches to humans versus a mechanical feeder for two groups of dogs. Using baseline approach rates, the model accurately predicted differences in reinforcer efficacy of human-delivered reinforcers between dogs who were experienced with versus those with little experience interacting with humans. The data support the predictions of the disequilibrium model and demonstrate the importance of assessing baseline rates of both the contingent and operant response to determine reinforcer efficacy.

Jackpots (a 1-time increase in reinforcer magnitude within a session) are widely used in dog training, yet little empirical data exist to support their use. For example, Muir (2010) found no increase in response rate when a jackpot was used within a single-operant setting, but dogs did increase responding to the jackpot alternative during concurrent schedules. Research in behavioral economics, particularly temporal discounting, has investigated jackpots in humans. This research suggests that jackpots given at different times within the session have differing reinforcer value, suggesting a discounting of the jackpot value across session time. To examine the potential effect of jackpot discounting and frequency, the present study examined the time for dogs to complete a 20-trial simple contingency when the jackpot was presented at the end or middle of the session. Study two examined the rate to completion when the rate of jackpots varied from 5% to 100% of trials. Consumption time was subtracted from total session time to prevent a confound of consumption time with increased jackpots. Results showed no significant increase in completion speed for a single jackpot given at the end versus middle of the trials; increasing the rate of jackpots significantly slowed the dogs' response time.

Domestic dogs are trained for a wide variety of services; however, typically, half of dogs that enter training organizations never become certified. The aim of this study was to identify whether a basic measure of behavioral persistence was associated with eight dogs' performance on two tasks relevant to working dogs: a discrimination learning task and a stationary behavioral task. The behavioral persistence task was an automated version of a resistance to extinction task in which we measured the mean number of lever presses made under extinction in two sessions. The discrimination learning task was a standardized two-choice odor discrimination task in which we measured the maximum accuracy achieved across five sessions. Last was a stationary behavior task in which dogs were trained to target to a specified place and remain still for 10 secs in which we scored the percentage of successful trials. We found a trend negative association between behavioral persistence and discrimination learning (R2=.47, p=.06) and a positive association between behavioral persistence and maintaining a stationary position (R2=.55, p=.04). Behavioral persistence appears to be detrimental to discrimination tasks that require response inhibition, but enhances performance for duration based tasks.

Performance horses and working horses are commonly subjected to a hair removal process called clipping. Many horses find this to be unpleasant, which results in the horse engaging in unwanted behaviors and which can endanger the handler (Yarnell, et al. 2013). As a result, horses sometimes must be sedated to be clipped (Glough, 1997). However, the long-term effects of repeated sedation are unknown. The current study evaluated whether a negative reinforcement shaping procedure could be used to teach horses to be calm during clipping so that sedation would not be required. The shaping procedure included three stages: touching the horse with the hand, touching the horse with the clippers while they were turned off, and clipping the horse. Each stage included a series of shaping steps. At each step, if the horse reacted, the clippers or hand stayed in place until the horse emitted a calm response. A calm response resulted in the removal of the clippers for a brief period of time. Preliminary results from four horses showed the procedure to be effective. All horses were able to be clipped after less than an hour without the use of sedatives. Data collection is in progress for additional horses.

Domesticated dogs are responsive to human pointing gestures. Importantly, no prior work has evaluated when dogs might learn to follow pointing gestures through natural contingencies dogs encounter with humans. Shelter dogs have repeatedly demonstrated poor abilities to follow human pointing, although they can be explicitly trained quickly. This study aims to evaluate the time course in which shelter dogs learn to follow points without explicit training. In a longitudinal evaluation, the development of point following will be tracked in eight shelter dogs in a training program (enriched human exposure). Every other day for three months, dogs' point following performance will be evaluated in ten probe trials in which an experimenter points to one of two containers equidistant from the dog. To avoid direct training, dogs will be given a treat for approaching and touching either container; although, correct responses will be recorded for touching the pointed towards container within 30 s. We will further compare dogs' performance to a cohort that has recently completed the training program (shown below), a cohort of naïve shelter dogs, and a cohort of pet dogs. Together, we anticipate the results will highlight when natural contingencies associated with care-taking shape point following.

Invasive weed species (IWS) in Western New York, namely Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose), Lonicera sp. (honeysuckle), and Rhamnus cathartica (common buckthorn), are costly in terms of native plants' displacement, reduced nutrition for animals/insects, and biodiversity loss. Goats (Capra hircus) may be useful to curtail IWS because they are environmentally-friendly and inexpensive. The effectiveness of five goats to combat IWS was evaluated by analyzing behavioral observations of goats' eating behaviors in a 10x10 m wooded plot during two separate exposures of 6-hours each, structured preference assessments, and two years of pre/post measures of plant loss/regrowth. Using individual sampling, 1,066 goat eating behaviors with 72.2% IWS compared to natives were recorded during August, 2015 and 1,742 eating behaviors with 67.62% IWS observed during September. More IWS than natives were originally present in the plot possibly creating a ceiling effect. In general, honeysuckle and multiflora rose were most preferred by adult goats during both structured assessments and field behavioral observations. Overall, the goats reduced the amount of vegetation in the field plot across multiple exposures. Since both invasive and native plant species were affected, training to curb goats' eating native species is necessary.

Modern companion dogs serve various functions in human society, e.g. providing owners with company and engage them in physical activity (Westgarth et al., 2014; Zasloff & Kidd, 1994). Dogs, just like humans, can engage in socially-relevant undesired behaviors (e.g. aggression), and caregivers are an integral part of respective treatments. The current review aimed at systematically investigating the importance of caregiver training in intra- and interspecific behavior-change programs, identifying training strategies showing greatest efficacy with caregivers. This systematic review generally followed the recommendations of The Campbell Collaboration (2017) and utilized the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta Analyses (i.e. PRISMA; Moher et al., 2009) for literature selection. This process yielded 56 eligible studies comprising controlled-group, clinical-study, pre-test-post-test, single-case designs, randomized controlled trials, and case studies, (i.e. 7%, 5%, 18%, 43%, 7%, 20%, respectively), involving a total of n=1,707 participants across all eligible studies (see Table 1). These preliminary results highlight a deficit of research focus on canine-caregiver training, and behavior-analytic approaches in general of which single-case designs are a hallmark of. At the time of this abstract's write-up, data analysis was being conducted, and results should be viewed incomplete. References Moher, D., Liberati, A., Tetzlaff, J., Altman, D.G., The PRISMA Group. (2009). Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: The PRISMA Statement. PLoS Medicine, 6, e1000097. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1000097.t002 The Steering Group of The Campbell Collaboration. (2017). Campbell Collaboration Systematic Reviews: Policies and Guidelines [pdf]. Retrieved from https://campbellcollaboration.org/library/campbell-collaboration-systematic-reviews-policies-and-guidelines.html Westgarth, C., Christley, R.M., Christian, H.E. (2014). How might we increase physical activity through dog walking? A comprehensive review of dog walking correlates. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 11, 83-97. doi:http://www.ijbnpa.org/content/11/1/83 Zasloff, R. L. & Kidd, A. H. (1994). Loneliness and pet ownership among single women. Psychological Reports, 75, 747–752. doi:10.2466/pr0.1994.75.2.747.

Dogs may be relinquished to shelters and unlikely to be adopted if they engage in problem behavior. A successful way of eliminating problem behavior is through training techniques based on behavioral principles. Obedience training with the use of positive reinforcement has been successful in treating problematic behavior by dogs. In order for this method to work, it is essential that the stimuli selected function as reinforcers. A method used to identify potential reinforcers is through preference assessments. A preference assessment is a procedure used to identify stimuli that may serve as possible reinforcers by yielding preference hierarchies. Equally as important are the reinforcer assessments that evaluate the reinforcing value of the preferences identified. Although preference and reinforcer assessments have been successfully used with humans, research with non-human animals is limited. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to identify the preference assessment that is time efficient and will yield results that correspond with the results of the reinforcer assessment. Each preference assessment (MSWO and paired-stimulus) was conducted with each dog. A progressive ratio reinforcer assessment was conducted following the preference assessments. Each preference assessment was timed to measure time efficiency. Results are discussed.

Large carnivores living in human care have been reported to engage in stereotypic behaviors (e.g., pacing, tail sucking, grooming to the point of causing lesions and hair loss.) At Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, one adult male jaguar was observed pacing, tail sucking, and over-grooming over a long period of time. Prior interventions aimed at curbing these behaviors included varied feeding schedules/type of food provided, visual barriers, Feliway pheromone spray, enrichment, exhibit access modification. However, the effectiveness of these interventions was never systematically evaluated for effectiveness and often co-occurred with the beginning and end of other interventions. The aim of the present study was to evaluate possible environmental variables that were reported by staff as likely variables maintaining or promoting stereotypic behavior. A five-phase treatment analysis was implemented using an ABCAD reversal design, with the goal of decreasing the frequency, intensity, and duration of these stereotypic behaviors. Data collection occurred during a ten-week evaluation, with each condition lasting two weeks. The treatment analysis consisted of two environmental manipulation phases, two baseline phases and a final phase, where the environmental manipulation that evoked the least amount of stereotypic behaviors was repeated. Behavioral monitoring was conducted via video footage to capture jaguar behavior when care staff were and were not present. Results indicated a slight decrease in stereotypic behaviors during treatment phases, as compared to baseline, however, significant effects were not observed. Potential function-based future assessments will be discussed.

A recent study has proposed the use of a rapid "Natural Odor Detection Task" aimed at measuring the olfactory sensitivity of canines by recording their spontaneous responses to food odors. The aim of the present work was to replicate and extend this task by providing odorants with better characterized concentrations. Eight dogs were presented with serial dilutions of chicken broth and peanut butter spanning from 1.00 x 10-1 to 1.00 x 10-12 volume/volume dilutions. An odor jar was placed in an apparatus that can hold 5 jars, each 30 cm apart. The remaining four jars contained 10 mL of diluent. A handler blind to the position of the odor jar walked the dog along the odor line-up and observed for spontaneous responses such as clawing at the jar or sniffing longer than three seconds on a specific jar. A response to the correct jar led to the dog being able to consume the 10 ml of the respective reinforcer. We found a strong effect of dilution, with all 50% thresholds falling between a dilution of 10-1 to 10-2. These results suggest that slight modifications of the procedure may allow for more quantitative measures of sensitivity.

Integrating Therapy dogs into a Social Skills Group Program for Children with ASD Kirsten Leatherwood, Wesley Dotson, Alexandra Protopopova Texas Tech University Animal-Assisted Interventions (AAI) have been shown to increase social behavior in children with ASD; however, the mechanism by which this increase occurs remains elusive. Therapy dogs were incorporated into an established group social skills instruction program for children with ASD, using a quasi-experimental, repeated-measures counter-balanced mixed design (5 weeks with and 5 weeks without a dog) over the course of a semester. Using a single-subject design, we assessed the effect of the dogs on therapists. We predicted that the presence of the dog in the group social skills instruction program would not only improve the quantity and quality of social behavior, but also reduce physiological (salivary cortisol) and behavioral signs of stress compared to the absence of the dog. We further predicted that during therapy sessions with dogs, most of the children's social behavior would be directed towards the dog rather than peers. The successful completion of this project will result in an empirically validated program within ABA and AAI.

Canine anxiety and fear-related problems are the second most widespread problematic behavior associated with pet dogs, with only aggression-related problems yielding higher rates of referrals. Canine behavior researchers and Veterinarians have suggested a behavioral change plan involving low arousal departures and reunions to and from the home to help treat Separation Anxiety in pet dogs. By manipulating the amount of excitement exhibited by an experimenter during a modification of a strange situation test, we hope to illuminate how repeated exposures to a high arousal human can influence the frequency/duration of Separation-related behaviors (SRB's) thereafter, such as time spent pacing, time in close proximity to door (within 3ft), and vocalizations. Participants were brought into a room and left alone for a 10-minute anticipation period, followed by a 10-minute interaction period with a high arousal experimenter, and left alone again for a final 10-minute post-interaction period. Samples of salivary cortisol were taken along with external ear temperatures, activity level measures and heart rate variability measures, as well as video recording of SRB's. After six sessions, our data showed some dogs increased in specific SRB's, while others possibly habituated to the situation and showed decreased SRB's.

Impulsivity has been implicated in a number of disorders and maladaptive behaviors including pathological gambling, substance abuse, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, suicidality, and psychopathology in general. Serotonin (5-HT) and dopamine (DA) are two neurotransmitters that are well documented for their effects on impulsivity and their activity can be altered by other neurotransmitters systems, such as the endocannabinoid system. The endocannabinoid system can be manipulated by agonists such as delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), as well as by drugs that alter the endocannabinoid system's own enzymatic regulatory system, such as cannabinoid enzyme inhibitors. The present study examines effects of two cannabinoid enzyme inhibitors whose effect on impulsivity is relatively unexplored. Eight male Sprague-Dawley rats were trained on a discrete-trials delay-discounting procedure and given a range of acute doses of URB597 and JZL195. Effects of drug administration will be assessed using several measures of impulsivity, including percent of larger-reinforcer choice, indifference points, and area under the curve. Changes in measures of impulsivity following drug administration would indicate involvement of the endocannabinoid system and suggest new potential targets for treatment of impulse-control disorders.

Frequent and uncontrollable vomiting can cause substantial damage to an individual?s health. In this current case, the individual suffered from significant weight loss and was prescribed a feeding tube for all meals, hydration and medication. The feeding provided sufficient nutrients to sustain a healthy lifestyle. Over a four-year period, multiple behavioral interventions, (Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior, Differential Reinforcement of Diminishing Rates, Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behavior, Over-Correction, Blocking and Inpatient Treatment at Kennedy Krieger Institute) and behavioral pharmacology interventions (Haldol, Ativan, Propranolol, Atarax, Sancuso, Cogentin, etc.). These interventions did not demonstrate significant reduction of vomiting behavior. The effects of the behavioral treatments eventually subsided or evoked high intensity aggressive behaviors. The most recent treatment, electroconvulsive therapy, although controversial has demonstrated a reduction in the vomiting behavior. Prior to electroconvulsive therapy, rates of vomiting ranged from 139 to 327 and averaged 229 per day. Electroconvulsive therapy was implemented for seven weeks, which included 18 treatments scheduled for three times per week. The most recent data for vomiting rates showed a range of 1 to 14 and averaged 7.9 per day. This case supports electroconvulsive therapy as an effective treatment for life-threatening vomiting behavior.

The glutamate hypothesis proposes that NMDA receptor hypofunction underlies cognitive and perhaps other schizophrenic symptoms. The present study used the odor span task to assess the effects of NMDA antagonists on remembering multiple stimuli in rodents. This task uses an incrementing non-matching-to-sample procedure in which responses to a new olfactory stimulus are reinforced on each trial, whereas responses to previously presented stimuli are not. NMDA antagonists have been associated with memory impairments in a variety of animal models, however, there are inconsistencies across different NMDA antagonists and tasks used. The current study compared the acute effects of phencyclidine, ketamine, and the novel NMDA antagonist methoxetamine on responding in the odor span task and a simple discrimination control. Phencyclidine and methoxetamine impaired odor span accuracy at doses that did not impair simple discrimination in most rats, however effects of ketamine were less selective. Within-session analyses indicated that effects of phencyclidine and methoxetamine depended on the number of stimuli to remember, i.e., impairment only occurred when the memory load was relatively high. These effects of phencyclidine and methoxetamine were consistent with the hypothesis that NMDA antagonists may interfere with working memory, but the basis for less selective results with ketamine are unclear.

Dependence on cannabis can result in withdrawal following abstinence, which increases the likelihood of relapse. The primary psychoactive component of cannabis is δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), and behavioral models of THC withdrawal can aid in identifying therapeutics to attenuate withdrawal symptoms. However, the behavioral profile of THC withdrawal has been primarily focused on rodent-specific behaviors (e.g., paw tremors) limiting applicability to humans. The current study used an alternating fixed-ratio (FR) task to assess perseverative responding associated with THC withdrawal in male and female mice. Within each session, an FR-3 schedule alternated between two nose-poke operanda every five reinforcers for a total of 12 alternations per session. Following baseline stability, mice were administered THC (10 mg/kg) or vehicle (n = 9) every 12 h for 6 days. THC withdrawal was precipitated using the selective CB1 cannabinoid receptor antagonist rimonabant (SR141716A; 2 mg/kg). Precipitated THC withdrawal increased perseverative errors, with the error being localized in the first ratio after a left/right alternation, suggesting an attentional deficit during withdrawal. These results extend the behavioral profile of THC withdrawal in rodents to include increased perseveration. Implications of these results suggest THC withdrawal may produce deficits in attention and motivation, as observed in clinical populations.

Statistical inference (including interval estimation and hypothesis testing) is commonly used in the analysis of behavioral data. As with many other fields, statistical approaches for these analyses traditionally use classical methods. Interpreting classical intervals and p-values correctly can be bothersome and counterintuitive. For example, a reported confidence interval for the rate of delay discounting does not have a 95% chance of including the true but unknown discounting rate. Similarly, a p-value of 0.04 does not imply that the probability that the null hypothesis is true is 4%. The correct interpretations are an artifact of the classical (i.e. frequentist) assumption that parameters of interest (e.g. discounting rate) and hypotheses are fixed but unknown quantities. By contrast, Bayesian methods treat data, parameters, and hypotheses as random quantities and use rules of conditional probability to update beliefs about parameters (e.g. discounting rate) given observed study data. Thus, Bayesian credible intervals make direct probabilistic statements about the range on which the discounting rate likely exists, and Bayesian hypothesis tests provide the probability that competing hypotheses are true. To illustrate the use of Bayesian methods on behavioral data, this work re-analyzes data from a recent delay discounting study of community controls, heavy smokers, and alcohol- and cocaine-dependent individuals to assess the impact of non-, mono-, dual-, and trisubstance use. The re-analysis methods are compared with the original analysis for interpretation, and similarities and differences in conclusion are discussed.

Research from neuroscience and pharmacology has led to discoveries about the processes within the organism that are involved with reinforcement of operant behavior. Such findings, to name a few, include information about "motivation", "reward centers", and how various chemicals affect operant behavior under various contexts. These areas of science have complemented the field of behavior analysis by furthering knowledge about potential processes within the organism that influence environment-behavior relations in both human and non-human animals. Each science approaches this topic using a different lens and for different reasons. However, exchange between the fields has produced many advanced discoveries. This poster describes the rich history of the intersection of neuroscience, pharmacology, and behavior analysis and samples some key findings within those intersectional fields. Future neuroscientific and pharmacological directions within behavior analysis are discussed.

For some time, behavioral variability has been proposed as a dimension of operant behavior that is vulnerable to environmental manipulations. For example, it has been demonstrated that variability of 4-lever press sequences can be affected by dopamine drugs such as amphetamines and SKF-38393. In the present experiment, we tested the effects of over-the-counter energy drinks on variability of rats sequential responding. Four rats were trained on a procedure similar to that of Neuringer (1991) and Pesek et al. (2011) where sequences of four level presses were reinforced if they were novel compared to the past eight response sequences, referred to as a lag 8 condition. Preliminary training proceeded systematically and will now be followed by access to 4 different doses of red bull in a counterbalanced order. We plan to explore the effects of OTC energy drinks on variability measured by both U (entropy), and a ratio of reinforced sequences.

In a delay discounting experiment, an organism is subjected to two choices: a small, immediate reinforcer and a larger, delayed reinforcer. Following the delivery of the reinforcer, an inter-trial-interval (ITI) occurs. Despite its delay, the large reinforcer is optimal as it produces the highest amount of rewards, and expressing a preference for the small reinforcer is therefore considered a measure of impulsivity. We tested the Spontaneously Hypertensive Rat, an animal model of ADHD, on a modified version of this approach in a pilot experiment. The rats were split into two groups: in one group, the response-reinforcer delay was increased for each session, while in another group the ITI increased instead, corresponding in length to the delay in the first group. We found that the rats in the Delay group showed a decreased preference for the larger reinforcer as the trial length increased, but the rats in the ITI group did not show this pattern. This suggests that the rats were sensitive to response-reinforcer delays, but not the length of the inter-trial-interval or the trial length as a whole. This suggests that using compensating designs on animals in delay discounting is problematic.

Recent research with adult humans indicates that selfish choice in a social dilemma task is correlated with degree of social discounting (Jones & Rachlin, 2009). The present study extends this research to children and adolescents by modifying both the social dilemma and social discounting tasks. In the social dilemma task, participants were presented with a choice between their wallet and their friend’s piggy bank. A participant who chose the wallet received either (a) 100 yen or (b) 300 yen; a participant who chose the piggy bank received either (a) 0 yen or (b) 200 yen. Choosing the wallet is regarded as selfish, whereas choosing the piggy bank is regarded as altruistic. The amount a participant received (a or b) was determined by their friend’s choice. If the friend’s choice was selfish, amount-a was received; if the friend’s choice was altruistic, amount-b was received. In the social discounting task, participants were presented with a series of choices between hypothetical rewards of their own or sharing with other people. In the delay discounting task, participants were presented with a series of choices between hypothetical rewards of immediate or delayed. Preliminary analysis of 1076 participants, ages 6-14 years, suggests that the selfishness in the social dilemma task, social discounting rate, and delay discounting rate decreased as a function of age. Results of the participants' social-discounting and delay-discounting tasks are also discussed.

College students are exhibiting decreasing patterns of physical activity; and in turn, a greater rate of negative health outcomes after college. Interestingly, the degree to which one discounts the subjective value of delayed rewards (i.e. delay discounting) is related to physical activity and healthy dieting. Efforts to improve one's physical appearance, a subcategory of body image investment, is also linked to greater levels of physical activity and healthy dieting. To our knowledge, no research has evaluated how delay discounting and body image may jointly relate to physical activity. In the current study, forty-six undergraduates reported physical activity, completed a delay discounting task, and indicated the percentage of a hypothetical cash allotment ($1,000) that they would spend on achieving their own ideal body image. Results showed that lower rates of delay discounting and a higher percentage valuation of ideal body image independently predicted PA during the previous week and during a typical week. The current study suggests the importance of examining motivational factors such as body image in conjunction with delay discounting to better understand the initiation and maintenance of physical activity.

Understanding factors that influence impulsivity in young people is important in reducing risky decision making and behavior. Impulsivity can be measured through direct measures (behavioral tasks), and indirect measures (self-report scales). This study investigated the relationship between direct and indirect measures of impulsivity and their association with age. Participants (67 females, 27 males; M= 24.38 years, range= 16-71 years) completed the Barratt Impulsivity Scale (BIS-11), the Brief Sensation Seeking Scale (BSSS) and a delay discounting task. Data showed that scores on the BIS-11 or the BSSS were not significantly correlated with the indifference points from the delay discounting task at any of the six delays. Age was not significantly correlated with the indifference points, or with the BIS-11. Sensation seeking (BSSS) was negatively correlated with age (r(92)=-.259, p=.013). Thus, direct and indirect measures of impulsivity do not give the same results. The next phase will examine the influence of peers on decisions in the delay discounting task.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the hyperbolic temporal discounting function in university students and to evaluate the effect of stress coping strategies and social skills in the form of the hyperbolic function of the temporary discount. The sample consisted of 98 students enrolled in the psychology program of Health Sciences, with a mean age of 21.5 years (SD = 3.22), 75 women (76.5%). The following instruments were administered: Modified Coping Strategies Scale (Londoño et al., 2006), Reactive and Proactive Aggression Questionnaire (Andreu, Peña and Ramírez, 2009). The adjusting amount discounting task consisted of presenting to the participants two hypothetical rewards options, one immediately available (adjustable condition with initial value of $ 2000) and another larger reward (fixed condition of $ 4000) available after delays that ranged from one month to eight years. Students who employ stress coping strategies such as tolerating the stressful situation through the control of emotions present smaller discount rate. Students who indicate concern about the expression of positive feelings and the initiation of interactions with the opposite sex present a higher discount rate. Similarly, students who are more afraid of expressing positive feelings present a higher rate of discount to future rewards.

Delay discounting refers to the decrease in the subjective value of a reward as a function of the time to its receipt, and steeper discounting rates have been shown to be related to obesity. It has been argued that delay-discounting rates of consumable rewards depend on their caloric value and on the participant's body mass index (BMI) or body-fat percentage (BFP). To assess the contribution of reward type and health indexes, 64 teenagers chose between pairs of various hypothetical amounts of money, water, soda, healthy food, and fast food, one amount of each that was smaller but would be received immediately and another, larger amount of that reward that would be received later. An adjusting-amount procedure was used to determine the indifference point at each of seven delays to each of the larger reward amounts. We obtained participants' BMI and BFP and divided them in low-weight, normal-weight, overweight, and obesity groups, and low-BFP, acceptable-BFP, high-acceptable-BFP and very-high-BFP groups, respectively. Globally, the AuC's were low and similar for money and water, and higher for fast food, healthy food, and soda, for the two lower health indexes. However, the AuC was variable and not related with the two higher health indexes.

Social discounting refers to the decrease in the willingness of an individual to give a reward to another person as the social distance between them increases. As a parametric extension to social discounting, we evaluated the degree of social discounting in which the person can choose to forego a given amount of money in order to give it to one of two persons who are at different social distances from each other and at different social distances from the choosing person. One-hundred seventeen participants were exposed to four conditions of a social-discounting task which consisted of a series of choices between a smaller reward for a socially closer person and a larger reward for a socially farther person. The social distance between both persons, as well as that between the participant and the closer person, was manipulated within and between conditions. Participants showed higher social-discounting rates as the social distance between the nearer and the farther persons increased. These findings extend the study of social discounting and suggest that altruistic and selfish behaviors depend on the social distance between the choosing person and the receivers of the benefit, as well as on the distance between possible receivers.

Previous researchers have investigated how choices change based on the absolute magnitude of an outcome (e.g. Green et al., 1999). However, no studies have investigated how choices change as a function of magnitude relative to the amount in a participant's bank. We investigated how endowing participants with a bank of varying amounts influenced choice within probability discounting tasks. 60 undergraduate psychology students completed four discounting tasks. Each task presented one of two absolute magnitudes for the uncertain alternative (i.e., $3,000 and $500,000). Additionally, each task presented one of four bank amounts (i.e., 1/4 or 4 times the absolute magnitude). This resulted in four magnitude combinations: small absolute magnitude/small relative to the bank (SA/SR); small absolute magnitude/large relative to the bank (SA/LR); large absolute magnitude/small relative to the bank (LA/LR); large absolute magnitude/large relative to the bank (LA/LR). In the ascending condition, participants prioritized the magnitude relative to the bank amount (i.e., discounting small outcomes relative to bank amount less steeply than large outcomes relative to bank amount). In the descending condition, participants prioritized the absolute magnitude (i.e. discounting small absolute outcomes less steeply than large absolute outcomes). Our results suggest endowed bank amounts can influence participants' choices under uncertain conditions.

Delays to reinforcement are often a necessary component during treatments of challenging behavior (e.g., Functional Communication Training; FCT). In the absence of programmed delay training, the utility and generality of FCT may be limited. Despite the importance of delays to reinforcement during FCT, few studies have empirically isolated and investigated the parameters pertaining to the implementation of delays to reinforcement. Results from basic empirical studies have shown that variable delays, or bi-valued mixed delays to reinforcement, are preferred in humans and nonhuman studies. The current research examined response allocation between fixed and mixed delays to reinforcement using a concurrent schedule of reinforcement. Results showed a preference for mixed delays to reinforcement with 2 out of 6 participants and no preference between delay arrangements for the remaining 4 participants. Potential avenues of future research on the use of mixed delays to reinforcement, such as the application within FCT and maintenance of socially appropriate behaviors, are discussed.

To study self-controlled behavior, three main procedures have been used: choice, resistance to "temptation," and delay of gratification. In general, these procedures involve choosing between pairs of rewards of different magnitude and delay of delivery, or refraining from taking an available reward until a predetermined waiting criterion is met. These procedures capture three apparently different aspects or dimensions of self-controlled behavior. Therefore, to examine the interaction between these procedures would be useful to advance our understanding of the dimensions of self-controlled behavior. With this purpose, 18 undergraduate students were exposed to each procedure following different sequences of exposure to them. The participants were exposed to each procedure for three consecutive sessions; the main dependent variable was the obtention of the delayed rewards (SR2). The participants initially exposed to the choice procedure virtually obtained all the SR2 programmed in the three procedures. Participants initially exposed to resistance to "temptation" showed more self-controlled behavior compared to participants initially exposed to delay of gratification. It is suggested that the initial exposure to a procedure may act as a "training" for the following procedure.

Altruism, in a behavioral sense, can be defined as "costly acts that confer economic benefits on other individuals" (Fehr & Fischbacher, 2003). One factor that seems to impact the likelihood of an individual behaving altruistically is what is known as social distance. Jones and Rachlin (2006) found that people will forgo an amount of money to keep for themselves in order to give a larger amount of money to another person, with the amounts of money forgone varying systematically as a function of social distance. There is limited research suggesting music could influence altruistic behavior, but nothing that directly examines altruism through a social discounting paradigm. The goal of the present study was to determine if music could indeed have some impact on altruistic behavior, and more specifically, if an individual's particular music preferences could have an impact on their respective rates of social discounting. Participants were undergraduates at the University of Nevada, Reno. To obtain individual music preferences, two questionnaire tasks were utilized. Each participant experienced three conditions: 1) no music, 2) preferred music, and 3) non-preferred music followed by three versions of a social discounting questionnaire. Results indicate that music does seem to have an impact on rates of social discounting. Participants were more likely to confer hypothetical money to those further away in social distance, rather than keep it for themselves, after hearing a song that they indicated as preferred. The order of music presentation was also a factor. Those who heard their non-preferred song first, were less likely to give away money to someone more socially distant than those participants that heard their preferred song first.

Previous research has shown that performing repetitive tasks requiring self-control, such as regular exercise, is an effective strategy for improving impulsivity. This study compared the changes in impulsivity among college students across three fitness classes, which were different in terms of type and total time of exercise. In the high intensity fitness class (n=38), students engaged in muscular exercise at least 3 times a week for an hour and a half per day. In the moderate intensity class (n=25), students had to exercise once a week for 2 hours. In the low intensity class (n=27), students participated in any sports activities including basketball, tennis or squash once a week for an hour and a half. A delay discounting task was administered at the beginning and the end of a semester to measure the changes in impulsivity. The differences among three classes were evaluated by repeated measures analysis of variance. Results revealed no significant difference in changes of impulsivity across three classes. The results suggest that exercise does not improve impulsivity, which is not consistent with early findings. Further studies with larger sample sizes or randomized controlled trials are needed to explore how exercise influences impulsivity.

The purpose of the present work was to study the effects of varying delay and reinforcement magnitude in ascending and descending order on response rate. Three studies were conducted to explore the possibility that varying the order of exposure to reinforcement magnitude and delay of reinforcement modulate self-controlled or impulsive behavior. Two studies included experimental subjects and one with a teenager engaged in problem behavior. Experiment 1 examined the joint effects of delay of reinforcement and reinforcement magnitude on response rate in rats. Subjects exposed to reinforcement delays in ascending order showed greater self-controlled behavior than those in descending order. Experiment 2 showed the well-known effect of delayed reinforcement on the response rate, as delay of reinforcement was greater response rate decreased. Experiment 3 was a study included the participation of an adolescent who had been referred for the functional analysis and treatment of problem behavior (i.e., aggression, disruption and substance abuse). The general procedure included reduce reinforcement magnitude if any problem behavior persists. Response rate for aggression, disruption and substance abuse decreased significantly compared to base line. The findings are discussed in the relevance of interaction between experimental analysis of behavior and applied behavior analysis.

Impulsive behavior (aka, impulsivity) has been defined as a preference for smaller-immediate rewards over larger-delayed rewards. Impulsivity is a hallmark of many behavioral and psychiatric disorders including ADHD, pathological gambling, substance abuse, bipolar disorder, and others. A common variable in impulsive behavior across the lifespan is the inability to forego immediate consequences for delayed consequences. Delay discounting refers to the decrease in the subjective value of a reward based on delays, and provides an empirically-validated framework for assessing and measuring impulsive behavior in humans as well as non-humans. In a typical delay-discounting experiment, individuals are asked to choose between a smaller reward available immediately and a larger reward available after a delay. Effort discounting refers to the decrease in the subjective value of rewards as the effort required to obtain the rewards increases. In a typical effort discounting task, individuals are asked to choose between a low-effort reward and a high-effort reward. The present study assessed impulsive behavior using both the delay and effort discounting frameworks. Preliminary results include similar patterns of responding between the two behavioral measures, and a positive correlation between effort and delay discounting. However, more data will be needed for more conclusive results.

There has been much research looking at various disorders and diseases considered to be "impulse" driven; for example, additions (e.g., alcohol, gambling, cigarette, etc.) or mental health (e.g., depression, anxiety, bi-polar disorder, etc.). However, there has been less research looking at more-simple characteristics such as home ownership, education, or income level. The current study will evaluate at various demographic factors and their relation to the k-value, or degree of discounting. Based on prior research, it is known that overall degree of discounting decreases with age, but the current study will also evaluate whether this change is due to simple maturation or other variables that correlate with changes in age. Based on preliminary results, there appear to be decreases in the k-value based on additional variables (i.e., income, education, children, and home ownership); however, more data will be needed to make more conclusive inferences. One application of these results includes helping employers to design more attractive benefits package to fit their employees based on relevant demographics.

Delay discounting procedures developed by Evenden and Ryan (1996) were manipulated to examine the effects of food deprivation and extent of pre-training on impulsive choices. Eight rats completed a discounting task both while deprived to 85% of their free-feeding weights and also under ad libitum feeding conditions, in counterbalanced order. Additionally, half of the subjects completed 13 days of pre-training, in which no delays to the larger, later reinforcer were present while the other half completed pre-training once reaching a criterion of selecting the 5-pellet lever over the 1-pellet lever on at least 80% of trials for 2 consecutive days. Subjects met this criterion in 4 days or fewer. Shorter exposure to pre-training did not affect impulsivity as measured by k values during the test phase, suggesting that the extended 13-day pre-training phase may be unnecessary. Individual subject k values were highly correlated across deprivation conditions, r (7) = .74, p = .04. On average, subjects discounted more steeply when allowed to feed freely (M = .034, SD = .045) than when food deprived (M = .012, SD = .013), consistent with the magnitude effect.

Organisms tend to allocate behavior to simultaneously available schedules of reinforcement as a function of the magnitude, frequency, and quality of reinforcement associated with each schedule (DeLeon et al., 2014). DeLeon et al. (2014) suggested that accumulated exchange-production schedules promote increased work completion and are higher preferred than distributed exchange-production schedules despite associated delays to reinforcement. The present study sought to identify whether other variables, such as the schedules of reinforcement associated with token delivery and the unit price (i.e., the work-reinforcer ratio) associated with token-production schedules would influence preferences for exchange-production schedules using a series of concurrent-operant evaluations. Preliminary results indicate that accumulated exchange-production schedules were preferred to distributed exchange-production schedules when the schedules of reinforcement are relatively dense (e.g., FR 1, VR 2), but not under leaner schedules of reinforcement (e.g., VR 5, VR 10) when the unit price associated with each token-production schedule was not held constant. However, preferences for accumulated exchange-production schedules increased across all token-production schedules when the unit-price and the response requirements associated with the token exchange period are held constant (even across uneven unit prices). Applied implications and areas for future research will be discussed.

Basic animal research in choice has shown clear biases toward response options resulting in suboptimal low-rate, high magnitude reinforcement over more optimal response options with consistent, lower magnitude reinforcement when the outcomes are signaled. The present study tested this paradigm in the treatment of three participants (aged 3-18) diagnosed with autism. After completing requirements for reinforcement during a treatment task, participants chose between two cards with arbitrary shapes signaling either optimal (100% chance to earn 50% reinforcement magnitude) or suboptimal function-based reinforcement (80% chance to earn 10% reinforcement or 20% chance to earn 100% reinforcement), and colors as a terminal link. Participants were run on a multiple baseline with a reversal of reinforcement outcome contingencies to account for bias. Preliminary results suggest participants' choices closely mirror the choice models of non-human subjects: choices are biased toward suboptimal choice, extending basic research to this population. Implications for practice and translational science are discussed.

Davison (1988) suggested that "concurrent-schedule preference between different reinforcer durations may not be independent of the overall frequency with which the reinforcers are produced." However, in the experiment that provided the data substantiating this suggestion, deviations from programmed equal reinforcer frequencies resulted in unscheduled obtained unequal relative reinforcement rates. The present experiment replicated Davison's procedure, correcting the programming of dependent concurrent variable-interval schedules. Six pigeons were exposed to concurrent variable-interval schedules with unequal reinforcer durations associated with the response alternatives (10s versus 3s). Programmed reinforcement frequency was kept equal for the competing responses, while the absolute reinforcement value was varied. In order to avoid systematic deviations between scheduled and obtained relative reinforcement rates, the order and number of reinforcers associated with each schedule were predetermined by a computer program. Both response ratios and time ratios showed preference for the larger duration alternative and that preference did not change systematically with changes in absolute reinforcer frequency. Present results support the relativity assumption of the Matching Law. It is suggested that Davison's results were due to uncontrolled variations in obtained reinforcement frequency. Key-words: choice, preference, reinforcer frequency, reinforcer magnitude, pigeons

The current study examined the preference selection of three male and three female Madagascar hissing cockroaches (Gromphadorhina portentosa) using a multiple stimulus with replacement assessment. In the assessment, four types of baby food were used as stimuli, three different apparatuses were used, and the results were compared to determine whether or not the layout of the apparatuses may have had some correlation to the choices that were made. Once an 80% preference was determined, the subject was moved onto another apparatus and the sessions were ran again. Although the data may be variable, the subjects had overall shown a higher preference for carbohydrate rich stimuli as well as the outside bays of the apparatuses. Further implications as well as possible limitations of the study are presented; the knowledge obtained however, can be used to conduct other experiments in which carbohydrate based edible stimuli are used to reinforce the behavior completed by Madagascar hissing cockroaches.

When choosing between options whose payouts differ in both probability and amount, selecting the more frequent but lower-payout option is sometimes the rational choice. When stimuli signal that a risky choice will pay out, pigeons show increased preference for that alternative; removing signals decreases this preference (McDevitt et al., 2016). Two studies were conducted using a similar procedure with human and pigeon subjects. In a replication of a study by Zentall and Stagner (2011), pigeons were presented with a choice between two options. One led to 3 s of mixed grain 100% of the time. The riskier (suboptimal) alternative led to 10 s of grain 20% of the time and no food 80% of the time. Pigeons strongly preferred the suboptimal alternative when stimuli signaled the risky payouts. However, when signals were absent, preference reversed. In study 2, an experiment by Molet and colleagues (2012) was replicated. College students chose between two options in a computer game format. One option was associated with earning 10 points 20% of the time, or 0 points 80% of the time. The other option was always associated with earning 3 points. The students reliably chose the less risky alternative, independent of signals.

This study explored parameters of schedules of reinforcement in human behavioral research to evaluate influences on differential sensitivity to immediate contingencies of behavior. College-student participants played a computer game to ffind ghosts" hiding in a haunted house. Ghosts were available on a Conc FR FI schedule, although participants were not verbally told these contingencies. The FR contingency was operative on the left side of the haunted house, while the FI contingency was operative on the right side of the house. When a "ghost" was found, feedback was provided on the screen. Contingencies were changed across the session to determine if responding correspondingly changed (FR 20 FI 1; FR 35 FI 1; FR 50 FI 1). The ratio and interval based schedules produce different contingencies, but historically humans are the only organism to not show this sensitivity. Although some participants showed sensitivity to the contingencies and/or the change in values, this was not consistent across participants. Most participants responded about equally in both components of the concurrent schedule, with responses increasing as FR values increased.

During fixed-interval (FI) schedules of reinforcement the first response after a certain time makes the delivery of a reinforcing stimulus available. These programs have been classically used to evaluate the adaptation of subjects to environmental events that fluctuate in the range of minutes or seconds. The variables that can influence this adaptation have typically been related to motivational and environmental changes. Recently it has been reported that giving subjects the opportunity to choose can also generate changes in the patterns typically observed in these programs. The present experiment aims to evaluate for the first time the performance during FI schedules of four pigeons (Columba livia) that were exposed to free-choice and forced-choice trials within the same session. The task consisted in 6 cycles of 12 trials. Half of the trials represented a concurrent-chained schedule whereas the rest where a simple-chained schedule. Two trials of each half represented a peak trial. The analysis of timing measures revealed a higher index of curvature, a higher quarter life, and higher start times during free-choice trials than in forced-choice trials. Results suggest that, at least in timing tasks where pigeons experience both type of trials, the opportunity to choose may improve their performance.

This study uses a behavior-analytic, operant conditioning method to directly observe and measure participants' behavior as they respond to systematically varied conditions of reinforcement and punishment. Specifically, participants will play a computer game, Subsearch (Garnica, 2016) in which they unpredictably earn or lose small amounts of money. The purpose is twofold, first, to investigate the capabilities of the experimental design and system to assess behavioral stability of participants' choice behavior in conditions with a range of contingencies, and second. Second, to investigate the conditions under which performance stability is reached, how long it takes participants to achieve it, and once achieved, how durable performance stability is over time. This investigation consists of 3 studies and 10 experimental groups. The participants will all play The SubSearch game which will be programmed to utilize pairs of interdependent, concurrent, variable interval (VI) schedules of reinforcements and punishers that operate conjointly. In each group the following variables will be systematically varied to investigate the goals stated above: length of experimental sessions (exposure), length of subconditions (exposure), rates of reinforcement and punishments within subconditions (ratios and frequencies of distribution), periods of time between experimental sessions (latency, durability of stability). Study 1: N=20, 4 groups, n= 5. Investigate exposure requirements to achieve stability, controlling for exposure to punishers. Reinforcements ratios in choice alternatives will be held constant while length of subconditions will be varied. Study 2: N=15, 3 groups, n=5. Investigate durability of performance stability over time. Exposure to punishers, reinforcement ratios, session length and subcondition length will all be held constant while time between sessions will be varied systematically. Study 3: N=15, 3 groups, n=5. Investigates the effects of varying reinforcement ratios in choice alternatives on performance stability while holding all other variables constant.

In games of chance, a near miss occurs when an outcome approximates win feedback. This happens in slot machines when all but the last reel line up: e.g., cherry-cherry-lemon. Near misses are presumed to reinforce gambling behavior but experimental analyses to date have been inconclusive. Using two concurrently available simulated slot machines, we tested whether the presence of near misses would reinforce people's choice behaviour. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four groups that varied the rate of reinforcement (RR4 versus RR7) and the presence of near-miss feedback during losses. Each person could choose between two machines that differed in terms of reinforcement rate or the presence of near-miss feedback; one of these variables was held constant depending on the assigned group. Participants began with 2500 points. Betting on machines cost 10 points and wins awarded 38 points. The session ended after 300 choice trials. Participants were paid up to $5 CAD depending on their points at the end. Our results suggest that participants are biased towards the machine that reinforces at a higher rate, but the presence or lack of near misses does not appear to meaningfully influence their behavior.

We extended upon prior research demonstrating that gambling behavior can be verbally mediated through the transformation of verbal stimulus functions of within-game features. In a first study, we conducted a randomized control trial evaluation in which a control group received relational training establishing the color BLACK as GREATER-THAN the color RED, and a treatment group received the same relational training immediately followed by a series of defusion exercises. In an analogue gambling arrangement, participants in the control group demonstrated greater response bias towards the black machine following relational training; however, the experimental group did not demonstrate a response bias, but instead demonstrated responding more consistent with the experiences contingencies. In a second study, we attempted to isolate relational expansion as a component in defusion in decreasing the control of arbitrarily established rules. Our results showed that, although the relational expansion appeared to decrease response bias towards a given target machine, we did not observe overall increases in matching following the exercise. Taken together, our results provide translational support for the use of gambling treatments that target verbal relations that contribute to disordered gambling.

Gambling is a socially relevant activity of interest to behavior analysts and behavioral psychologists. Behavioral approaches to understanding gambling involve a number of strategies. In these data sets, some variables that putatively influence gambling were examined in the laboratory. Social variables (praise and ceasing complaining contingent on betting or progressive betting) and structural variables of gambling games were examined for effects on gambling in single subject designs.

Much of socially significant human behaviour can be considered to be controlled by a combination of direct contingencies and rule governance. The interaction between these processes is especially relevant in gambling behaviour where rule governance may maintain suboptimal responding. Graduate and undergraduate university students participated in the study which included engagement in simulated slot machine gambling tasks on a computer. Two concurrently available simulated slot machines programmed in VB.NET were presented on the screen. The present study involved the manipulation of stimulus relations to assess the possible effects on patterns of responding. Specifically, the effects of stimulus relations and the development of verbal rules along with their subsequent believability will be considered. Other measures of choice behaviour such as response allocation will also be included. The interaction between contingency shaped behaviour and verbal rules as they occur in a gambling context will be discussed, with the current results suggesting that stimulus relations may alter patterns of responding.

The temporal discounting and its relationship with the current state of health were evaluated. We used a temporal discount task, with four questionnaires of hypothetical situations: monetary gains and losses, and health and disease, with five delays (1 month, 6 months, 1 year, 5 years and 10 years), and 20 binary options, in ascending and descending order. To evaluate the current state of health, body composition variables were measured using a bioimpedance monitor scale. We found a larger area under the curve (AUC) in the losses domain compared to gains, as well a larger area under the curve in disease domain, compared to health. The discount model that best fit the data was the hyperboloid. There was no significant correlation between isolated measures of body composition with AUC in different tasks, but there was a significant negative correlation between gains AUC and an index that grouped BMI, metabolic age and body fat, which suggests that participants with a more impaired health status discount monetary gains more steeply. These results suggest that there was a sign effect both in the monetary domain and in health, as well as domain independence. Moreover, isolated variables of body composition may not represent a health state alone.

Literature reviews allow professionals to identify effective interventions and assess developments in research and practice. As in other forms of scientific inquiry, the transparency of literature searches enhances the credibility of findings. This review evaluated the characteristics of search methods employed in literature reviews published in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis from 2006 to 2017 (n = 44). Specific aims included determining the frequency of narrative, systematic, and meta-analytic reviews; evaluating author reports of literature search and selection procedures; and identifying methods used to evaluate study quality and results. An additional aim included assessing the influence of the brief review format. Results suggest that evaluated reviews exhibited multiple strengths. Nonetheless, issues involving the reporting and execution of searches may limit the validity and replicability of literature reviews. Reviews infrequently assessed the methodological rigor of included studies or quantified intervention effects. A brief discussion follows an overview of findings.

Practioners have applied the procedure of extinction to reduce the frequency of a wide range of problem behaviors in a variety of settings such as homes, clinics and schools. Extinction as a procedure occurs when reinforcement of a previously reinforced behavior is discontinued and as a result, the frequency of that behavior decreases in the future. Research has shown that when extinction is implemented, the behavior should gradually decrease or completely stop. Most commonly, extinction effects are measured using percentage of interval data or responses per minute in a specified duration of session time. Measurement tools that do not capture behavior across all opportunities to occur may yield misleading results that either extinction has occurred or misidentification of extinction effects. The importance of using better data collection methods such as trial by trial data or the use of celeration charts that may allow more effective data analysis of extinction effects are discussed.

The concept of social validly within applied behavior analysis represents a core construct that connects the values, goals, and expectations of direct and indirect adult consumers with the motivations of the researcher or interventionist (Kazdin, 1977; Van Houten, 1979; Wolf, 1978). However, works by Callahan et al. (2017), Carr et al. (1999), Kennedy (1992), and Spear, C. F., Strickland-Cohen, M. K., Romer, N., & Albin, R. W. (2013) have repeatedly reported a lack of prevalence of the use of social validity methodology in published research within behavior analytic journals and national clearinghouses. This review attempts to continue the inquiry into the state and relevancy of social validity assessments. By combining historical dimensions of social validity: focus, time of assessment, consumer type, method, and outcomes/maintenance of behavior change this research evaluates the inclusion of explicit statements of social validity assessments in published experimental studies of behavioral interventions for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities within the last 25 years. Out of 63 identified articles, eleven met inclusion criteria representing a ratio consistent with historical literature reviews on the inclusion of social validity statements. The majority of identified social validity statements consisted of indirect assessments using Likert-type measures of treatment procedures and outcomes. The implications of the results are discussed.

Emotions have been a problematic area of study for behavior analysts due to their apparent cognitive nature. Lewon & Hayes (2014) suggested that emotions may be understood as motivation operations (MO) due to their observed effect on behavior. Mood induction literature has explored this possibility by manipulating appetitive and aversive stimulation prior to the task. However, the effect of this manipulation is unspecific, and it is difficult to attribute an emotion as the cause of changes of responding in the individual. It is then confusing if the effect observed can be attributed to an emotion or to a different form of MO. The aim of the present paper is to add to the methodology used for researching emotions as MO in behavior analysis. The implications of using traditional procedures for MOs for the understanding of emotions in humans are questioned. Different forms of emotion induction present in the literature both within and outside of behavior analysis are presented as alternatives for the manipulation of emotions related MO.

The fundamental principle of operant conditioning is the occurrence of a reinforcer alters the frequency of the responses it follows. Skinner (1948) investigated responses that were maintained independent from the delivery of reinforcers in pigeons which he described as "superstitious" behavior and argued that human behaviors arise similarly. As the case with pigeons, humans may emit a response that is coincidentally followed by a reinforcer. Superstitious behavior is defined as responses that emerge in the absence of actual environmental contingencies. Two other kinds of superstitious behavior were experimentally examined post Skinner's (1948) study, in which two or more spatially distinct responses were maintained by independent schedules and when the availability of response-dependent reinforcement is differentially correlated with selected stimuli organisms frequently respond differentially in the presence of those stimuli. Overall there is not a lot of literature that investigated superstitious behavior. The purpose of this poster is to discuss why some superstitious behaviors maintained within different cultures are resistant to extinction and is superstitious behavior a rule governed behavior.

Overweight and obesity are a growing public health problem in Mexico; therefore the knowledge about its causes is a need. The World Health Organization points out both the bad eating habits and the sedentary lifestyle as risk factors to develop those problems, and both can be seen as choices in which the individuals allocate their responding among available alternatives. From the behavioral economics view, has been shown that delay discounting is a trans-disease process in a variety of behavioral disorders, such as drug addiction, pathological gambling, obesity and so on. Particularly with overweight and obesity, it seems that not only the decrease in the value of a reinforcer as a function of the delay to its receipt is involved, but also the number of behaviors implicated thru the time (effort) has an impact in the loss of the value of a reinforcer as a function of the increasing effort to get it. Nevertheless, there is limited information regarding the role of effort in the discounting field and its relationship with health problems. It is considering that identify different response patterns of choice base on delays and efforts, can help to guide efficient treatments to prevent and reduce overweight and obesity.

The amplitude of the N400 is sensitive to the semantic relations between stimulus parings that are presented in lexical desicion paradigma (LS). For instance, following the presentation of the pairing "milk-coffee" the amplitude of the N400's will be significantly reduced in comparision to the amplitude of the N400 elicited by the pairing "milk-grease." Analogous N400 effects have been found with arbitrary stimulus-stimulus relations formed by matching-to-sample (MTS) procedures. Thus, smaller N400 effects are elicited by pairings comprised by non-equivalent stimuli and larger amplitudes are elicited by pairings comprised by stimuli that share common class membership. In the current study we reviewed studies on equivalence class formation that used the N400 to determine the semantic status of such stimulus-stimulus relations formed by MTS procedures. Following the analysis of training and testing variables across studies, we observed that MTS procedures and LS paradigm varyed substantially from one study to another. Notwithstanding, the N400 effects were roboust across the studies that we analyzed. This finding lead to inference that N400 effects can be elicited by stimulus-stimulus relations established by the matching-to-sample procedures. Thus, as Sidman (1994) pointed out, stimulus equivalence provide a useful model of semantic relations.

The conceptual systems with which a behavior scientist has come into contact will influence how they interact with any given situation whether it is as a basic scientist, a theoretician, or an applied scientist. In the current scientific climate of Behavior Analysis, it is most common for graduate level students to come into contact with the philosophical system of Radical Behaviorism. For many this may be the only system with which they interact and with this limited exposure to other philosophical systems they may find themselves at a standstill when interacting with complex events with which the constructs of Radical Behaviorism have been depleted. Alternative systems, such as Goldaimond's nonlinear constructional approach, may make available different avenues for the practitioner to interact with the complexity of the conditions. This poster will describe Radical Behaviorism's stimulus control as well as Goldaimond's nonlinear constructional perspective and will provide a number of scenarios, of varying complexity, with which an applied practitioner may interact and will exemplify the benefit of a well-rounded philosophical repertoire that allows the scientist to utilize constructs from various systems in various contexts.

Children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) often exhibit behavioral difficulties, which can impact academic functioning. As a result, parents of children with IDD may struggle with helping their children improve academic performance due to difficult behaviors. Behavioral skills training (BST) is an effective strategy for training evidence-based behavior management techniques. The purpose of this study was to utilize group-based behavioral skills training to improve parents' use of effective instructions to promote compliance in children with IDDs in the context of an academic evaluation and intervention clinic. Participants in this study included four children with an IDD: a 6-year-old female with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), a 17-year-old female with ASD and Intellectual Disability, a 10-year-old male with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, an 11-year-old male with ASD, and each childfs mother. Using a multiple baseline design, parents were trained to provide effective instructions via group-based BST (i.e., two or more parents) to promote child compliance in an academic context. Results indicated parents increased integrity of effective instructions following group-based BST, with concomitant improvement in children's compliance. These results are important as they demonstrate group-based BST is an effective method for improving parents' use of effective instructions, resulting in improved child outcomes.

Reactivity, or changes in behavior resulting from observation procedures, is a potential threat to internal validity for studies involving observational measures of socially significant behavior. Researchers have recommended several strategies to minimize reactivity, including exposing participants to data collection procedures before beginning observations and discarding data from the first segment of observation sessions. However, results of studies examining reactivity have been mixed, with several studies suggesting these procedures are unnecessary (Gardner, 2000). In this study, we observed 20 students referred for functional behavior assessment and their teachers in regular education classrooms (Kindergarten–6th Grade). We completed three consecutive 10-min observations across five days. Using continuous timed-event data collection, we measured frequencies of student problem behavior and academic responses and teacher instructional behaviors (i.e., opportunities to respond, praise, reprimands). We evaluated trends in frequencies of these behaviors across time within each session, and across all five daily observations. We found little evidence of reactivity effects across daily observations, but for a subset of behaviors and participants, we identified within-session trends over time. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

In order to prevent the progress of disruptive behavior from childhood to adolescence, programs have been developed to manage children's behavior in the school setting. It has been found that through programas that involve stimulus control, monitoring, modeling, response cost, alternative behaviors and contingency management, the occurrence of the target behavior increases and disruptive behaviors are reduced. The present study has the objective of reduce disruptive behavior in children through increased involvement in academic activities as a function of teacher training in a contingency management program. Participated 8 elementary school class of two public schools in Mexico City (n = 200 children) and their teachers. A plachek direct observation record was applied. A single case design was used. The results showed an increase in the involvement in the task superior to 50% and a decrease of almost 10% in disruptive behavior with respect to the baseline. Teacher training in behavioral management is useful for children to stay involved in academic activity and therefore to reduce disruptive behavior within the classroom.

The purpose of this research was to assess the effectiveness of two interventions used to train after-school instructors to increase Positive to Negative (PN) interaction ratios. The first intervention (workshop training) followed a didactic workshop-training model. The second intervention (coaching) included the components of the didactic workshop model with the addition of modeling, role-play, and performance feedback. In this study four instructors in an after-school program were randomly assigned to one of two groups to participate in training programs. These programs were designed to help them increase PN ratios when interacting with students during homework time in the after-school program. Instructor behaviors were recorded during 15-minute observation sessions, and PN ratios were calculated for each instructor. All observation sessions took place in the context of homework time during regularly scheduled after-school programming. The study used AB/ABC design to assess the success of the two training models. Results are discussed in terms of increases and decreases in the daily frequency of positive and negative interactions as well as the overall increases in PN ratio.

This study examined the effects of training in-service elementary school teachers on using a Structured Self-questioning Strategy (SSS) package to support the reading comprehension of students with mild to moderate reading disabilities within a rural school setting. The SSS package consisted of a combination of reading strategies suggested by the National Reading Panel Report (2000), which included pre-reading strategies (i.e., examining illustration, title, engaging prior knowledge), during-reading strategies (i.e., self-monitoring, questioning), and after-reading strategies (i.e., summarizing). This study sought to answer the following research questions: (a) Can rural teachers be engaged in the development of the SSS reading package? (b) To what extent will teachers’ implement the SSS package with fidelity throughout the duration of the study? (c) What are participants’ (i.e., teachers and students) attitudes towards the SSS package? (d) What were students' reading outcomes when using the SSS reading package? Quiz scores were used to measure students' reading outcomes, surveys were used to gather social validity, and procedural checklists were used to measure treatment fidelity. Preliminary results indicate that teachers who reported enjoyment using the strategy implemented the strategy with higher fidelity. Students' reading outcomes were text dependent. Implications for professional development, research, and practice are provided.

As one component of a functional behavioral assessment, a descriptive assessment (DA) can help determine the maintaining variable of a student's problem behavior in school. School districts often employ board certified behavior analysts as consultants to conduct descriptive assessments by observing a student and recording the environmental variables surrounding problem behavior. However, consultants may have to rely on school personnel to conduct descriptive assessments due to environmental constraints. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which 18 school staff accurately collected descriptive assessment data with two types of recording formats, narrative and structured, prior to and after receiving a group training that consisted of verbal review, modeling, and group feedback. Results based on visual analysis indicate that (a) 4 participants engaged in high levels of accurate, narrative descriptive assessment recording in baseline; (b) 10 of 14 participants reached mastery criteria after training for both narrative and structured descriptive assessment recording formats; and (c) 4 participants did not reach mastery criteria after training for either recording format. Despite sub-mastery performance by some participants, supplemental statistical analyses indicate that the group training improved all participants' accuracy from baseline. These findings have important implications for training school staff members to collect descriptive assessment data.

Teaching transition skills to students with disabilities (SWD) is critical to facilitate and promote positive postsecondary outcomes in a competitive job market (Mazzotti et al., 2016). Positive postsecondary outcomes reach beyond academics learned, and many behaviors influence a student's probability of success as an adult, and in some cases, non-academic behaviors may influence postsecondary success more than academics alone (McConnell et al., 2015). Schoolwide Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports (SWPBIS) continues to grow as an evidence-based, effective strategy to provide behavioral supports at all levels of education (Flannery et al., 2009). Current research has yet to explore the potential relationship between implementation of SWPBIS in a high school setting and student acquisition of transition skills. This study explores the potential influence of SWPBIS on transition skill attainment for SWD. This quasi-experimental study involved approximately 60 SWD from two high schools (one having implemented SWPBIS with fidelity over 3 years, and one using traditional approaches to discipline), matched on general demographics, geographic location, and number of students. Students at both high schools were scored using the Transition Assessment Goal Generator (TAGG) assessment--a research validated assessment of identified predictors of positive postsecondary outcomes (Martin et al., 2015). Multivariate analysis of variance was used to test variation accounted for by independent variables over multiple dependent variables with post hoc tests (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2007). Results on the teacher version of the TAGG demonstrate statistical significance, accompanied by medium-large effect sizes for 4 of the 8 constructs associated with positive postsecondary success. Results suggest promoting a positive school climate through effective SWPBIS implementation may influence the teaching of critical transition skills for SWD in a high school setting. This study adds to the growing body of research on SWPBIS in the high school setting, and raises further research questions regarding transition skill instruction for SWD. Studies have shown getting along with others and appropriate social behaviors are critical transition behaviors (Lemaire & Mallik, 2008). SWPBIS provides schools a cost-effective, time efficient and evidence-based manner in which to increase critical nonacademic skills needed for postschool success.

Computational and Procedural Fluency are key components in mathematics achievement. To meet fluency recommendations set forth by the Core Content Curriculum Mathematics Standards, teachers often rely on technology as a primary practice tool. By applying an alternating treatments design, the researchers compared performance outcomes with four students experience mathematics difficulties using a free popular online application versus a self-managed paper-and-pencil intervention designed to build math fact fluency. Pre-baseline activities included the creation of two distinct sets of math facts using a latency measure and a one-minute timed probe. Students also completed curriculum based measures for complex computation. After five consecutive days of baseline to ensure stability, the students entered intervention. The paper-and-pencil intervention consists of three, one minute timings with feedback provided after each timed trial. The digital application provides feedback directly after each timed problem. Students continue to complete a curriculum based measurement every Friday. Performance outcomes are entered on a standard celeration chart. Generalization to complex computation will be evaluated at the end of the study.

It is important for educators to use efficient methods and ensure skill generalization. The current study was designed to extend prior studies examining the effects of the Cover-Copy-Compare method (CCC) by programming for stimulus generalization. Specifically, differential effects of CCC only, CCC+repetition, and CCC+programming for generalization were examined on six, fourth grade students' fluency, maintenance, and generalization of basic division math facts. An alternating treatment design with a baseline condition was used to measure the effects of the CCC intervention conditions. Findings revealed that across all CCC conditions, all participants improved their performance on division fact fluency and were able to generalize their skills while solving story problems at levels greater than in baseline; however, there was overlap in student performance on fluency measures among all CCC conditions. Results of this study can provide educators with strategies to modify a traditional CCC intervention procedure based upon their needs. Limitations, implications for educators, and additional resources will be provided.

Several factors impact the learning of students. Some of these factors such as learners being off-task, learners displaying undesirable behavior such as the use of mobile phones for non-academic purposes during class may have a negative effect on the learning process being successful. The present classroom research aims at applying practical solutions to overcome these obstacles. One of these solutions is the use of a token economy that will encourage learners to make more advantage of academic learning time and decrease undesirable behavior that may impede their learning. A group of 8 students has been selected for the study. A preference reinforcement analysis was done prior to the implementation of the token economy. Preliminary results showed that a token economy can have psotive results in decreasing undesirable behavior, namely the use of mobile phones for non-academic purposes in class. Data collection will span over a period of 5 weeks.

Recent estimates indicate that one in five children in Ontario under the age of 19 experiences a mental, emotional or behavioral disorder which significantly impacts their daily functioning (Children's Mental Health Ontario, 2016). Many of these children are placed in mainstream classrooms without appropriate supports. Empirical research demonstrates that the Good Behavior Game increases on-task behaviors and decreases interfering behaviors in students of all ages (Barrish, Saunders, & Wolf, 1969; Medland & Stachnik, 1972; Harris & Sherman, 1973). In the present study, a multiple baseline design was used to further the research by evaluating the effects of the game on the percentage of student non-compliance and the frequency of teacher behavior specific praise in two Ontario classrooms. Inter-observer agreement was calculated for 30% of the sessions, and treatment integrity and social validity were also measured. Results indicated a 108% increase in teacher behavior specific praise and a 37% decrease in student non-compliance in classroom one, and a 60% increase in teacher behavior specific praise and a 67% decrease in student non-compliance in classroom two. This research contributes to the literature on effective and efficient ways to address interfering behaviors in general education classrooms.

School behavioral problems correlate with a low academic performance in students, and more occupational wear on teachers. The present study aims to reduce disruptive behavior in children through increased involvement in homework as a function of teacher training in behavioral management. Four First Grade children participated in a public elementary school in Mexico City and their teacher. All children had a low involvement in homework and behavioral problems such as hitting, disrupting, etc. in the classroom. A partial-interval direct observation record was applied with event-occurrence measurement during 8 sessions of 40-minute session, before and after teacher training and contingency implementation. The results showed an increase in the involvement in the task above 50% and a decrease of almost 10% in disruptive behavior with respect to baseline. The implementation of behavioral strategies allows involvement in homework and progress in school planning as well as reducing behavioral problems in the classroom.

The use of group contingencies has demonsFtrated efficacious to manage a variety of behaviors on a class-wide scale for varying populations. Little, Akin-Little, & O'Neill's (2015) meta-analysis of group contingencies from 1980-2010 identified 11 studies specifically investigating dependent group contingencies. The current state of dependent group contingency research after Little and colleague's (2015) meta-analysis, however, is unclear. Therefore, the purpose of this literature review was to investigate the current research using dependent group contingencies from 2010-2017. Results from the current review returned a total of six studies investigating dependent group contingencies published since Little et al.'s meta-analysis, with half of those studies targeting increasing physical activity and the remainder focusing on academic-related behaviors. The current review describes recent applications and successes, limitations of previous research, and provides directions for future research employing dependent group contingencies in educational settings. Lastly, suggestions for procedural modifications that may increase the overall acceptability and effectiveness of this procedure with teachers or other stakeholders will be discussed.

Previous literature supports the use of a variety of classroom behavioral management programs to increase prosocial behaviors and decrease problem behaviors. For example, token economies, placement of classroom rules and guidelines, and providing the opportunity for students to choose the activity or subject to work on, have proven to be effective for many students; however, they can be expensive and cumbersome to manage. ClassDojo®, a classroom management system, is a type of digital token economy system that includes technology to track digital points for teacher-directed behavior. The program is free to download, simple to use, and is easily transferable between teachers and families. The present study evaluated the effects of ClassDojo® for 3 children in a classroom setting that included one participant diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder and two neurotypical participants. Goals of the current study included: (1) increasing prosocial behavior, and (2) reducing disruptive behaviors. Results were evaluated within a reversal design, and showed ClassDojo® was an effective system for classroom management across three students. All participants demonstrated improvements in prosocial behavior relative to baseline; however, disruptive behavior persisted, at near-baseline levels. Disruptive behavior decreased to near-zero levels with implementation of a response-cost, while prosocial behavior also showed improvements. Further research should test this finding with a larger number of participants that would represent a typical classroom size.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of a differential reinforcement of low rates of behavior procedure with an interdependent group contingency on the rate of vocal disruptions for children with a developmental disabilities diagnosis in a classroom setting. Participants were male, 7-14-years old and an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis; two participants had additional diagnoses. Results indicated that the treatment package was effective in reducing the number of vocal disruptions for all participants. Mean-count per interval interobserver agreement was collected for 32% of all sessions via video recording, resulting in 86.17% agreement. Implications for applied practice and future research in the areas of DD, ASD, and classroom management will be discussed.

The reasons why we make decisions have been the focus of scientific interest and popular curiosity. Previous studies demonstrated that the presence of preferred events during consequence delay increase self-controlled responses. The present aimed to investigate the effect of choice opportunity and fading out of preferred events on self-controlled responses in children with Attention Deficit Disorder. The studies were carried out with five children aged 5. The experimental task consisted in the choice between two competing stimuli, presented in a monitor, followed by immediate consequences of smaller quantity and delayed ones of greater quantity. Potentially reinforcing events were manipulated along the delay of the consequence. Participants were exposed to the following conditions: a) Baseline, b) Choice between High Preference Events (C-HP), c) No Choice between High Preference Events (N-HP) and d) Fading out of Preferred Event (FO). The results indicated that self-controlled choices increased with the presence of preferred events. Until now, in FO condition, results showed that self-control responses were maintained, in at least 50%.

Compliance during transitions is a difficult task for preschoolers causing for valuable time to be lost during the school day. A high-probability (high-p) request sequence with an embedded fading component was used to decrease off task time and off task behaviors of preschoolers at a Child Care Center. Three typically developing preschoolers participated in this study. The high-p request sequence consisted of using three verbal and/or physical requests from the preschooler followed by the low-probability request of going to the bathroom, the targeted transition. The fading component consisted of the preschooler getting 4 out of 5 data points of a transition = 10 s without aggression. Once that was obtained the number of high-p requests systematically decreased. The results indicated that the intervention for all three participants was immediately effective by decreasing both the off-task time and off-task behaviors. Overall, the high-p request sequence is an effective approach to increasing compliance in preschoolers allowing for them to gain school readiness skills.

Using decreased physical distance to influence another's behavior is referred to as proximity control. Proximity control has been reported to be an effective behavior management strategy for general education students, students demonstrating disruptive behaviors, students with developmental disabilities, to increase on-task behavior, improve transitions, and decrease problem behaviors. Despite its efficacy and seemingly low effort requirement, proximity control is not commonly used by school staff, particularly in unstructured settings with large groups of students. Previous research has examined proximity control in structured classrooms, with small number of students, or in conjunction with other procedures. The current study addresses several gaps in the research literature and in practice. Using an ABAB design, we attempted to isolate proximity from other treatment variables typically implemented in conjunction with proximity, such as pre-correction and increased levels of praise. Also, the study was conducted in a large-group (approximately 100 students) unstructured setting; a school playground. Results show that problem student behavior decreased with implementation of adult proximity on the playground. It was also observed that adult reprimands increased. Finally, the adults did not rate the intervention acceptable relative to their typical practice. Implications of these findings for future research and practice are presented.

The present study evaluated the effectiveness of two teacher-implemented interdependent group contingencies in reducing callouts in two first grade classrooms. Using an alternating treatments design, teachers either removed tokens contingent upon callouts (response cost) or delivered tokens contingent upon appropriate behaviors (token delivery). Both interventions were effective in reducing callouts, but a more immediate decrease was initially observed in the response cost condition for both classrooms. A replication was performed in one classroom, during which similar reductions were observed in both conditions. Following the intervention, teachers reported a preference for response cost and student preference varied. Implications for educational practices and future research are discussed.

This study investigated the effectiveness of video-modeling on the duration of on-task behaviors during the independent writing portion of the writing block. Students were ages 9-11 of varying backgrounds and all were identified with emotional/behavioral disorders. The students were served in the same self-contained classroom, five days a week. The study utilized a multiple-baseline across subjects design with three phases: baseline, intervention, and follow-up. Data were collected as whole-interval recordings where each interval was 30 seconds for a total of 15 minutes for each session. After baseline data was taken, implementation of the intervention began for each student by random selection after baseline data were stable. The effect of the video modeling on the duration was analyzed using visual data analysis. Along with a video model that used a script, intervention involved Video Feedback and elements of self-monitoring. Initial data collection has started, data collection is ongoing.

Feedback is a relevant variable to promote learning, some studies have reported that the effect on learning depends on the content of feedback in programmed instruction. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effect of specific content of feedback on learning in online courses under an programmed instruction task in postgraduate students. Two groups of participants were formed, the groups were distinguished by the application of the programmed instruction task with specific feedback. During the final evaluation the percentage of correct responses was higher for the group with a previous programmed instruction task. The results are discussed in relation to the contribution of programmed instruction with specific content feedback to online education and future directions for research.

Several error correction procedures have been shown to facilitate skill acquisition during discrete trial instruction. Worsdell et al. (2005) compared two error correction procedures, single-response repetition and multiple-response repetition to teach sight words to adults with developmental disabilities. Although multiple-response repetition showed to be more effective in acquisition, single-response repetition resulted in the acquisition of sight words for all the participants. Single-response repetition consists of the experimenter modeling the correct response and requiring the participant to repeat the correct response prior to moving onto the next trial. The present study evaluated the effects of single-response repetition on the acquisition of spelling words using a multiple baseline design across three sets of spelling words for one participant. Results showed that the participant acquired all three sets of spelling words and retained the targets in all three sets during maintenance. The results suggest that single-response repetition may not only be effective in the acquisition of targets, but also in the long-term maintenance of those targets.

Many teaching procedures use positive reinforcement for correct responses and a correction procedure for incorrect responses. Correction procedures can include verbal instructions, modeled responses, and physical prompts. While correction procedures do help elicit the occurrence of the desired response, they can also have unintended side effects. The purpose of this study was to compare a teaching procedure that used just positive reinforfcement and a teaching procedure that used a combination of positive reinforcement and corrections. College students learned sfeveral tasks using the tabletop game PORTL. We evaluated the participant's affect and number of errors for each procedure, as well as the participant's preference for a particular procedure. Preliminary results showed that the procedure that included corrections was less preferred and resulted in a higher number of errors. Participants also reported feeling "nervous," "confused," and "frustrated." fThe positive reinforcement only procedure was highly preferred and nearly errorless. During this procedure, participants reported feeling "good" and "confident."

The purpose of this research was to provide an data-based method of gauging candidate progress through a teacher special education preparation program. A vocabulary assessment was created and is framed with the CBE and RtI models that have a 30-year research base. Curriculum-based measures were used in order to monitor the progress of candidates as they proceeded through the special education program. Further, the technology appears to hold promise for identifying candidates who were likely to need support; the results showed a difference in candidate acquisition of vocabulary from the beginning of the program to the end of the program. The assessments also accurately identified candidates within the program who were experiencing academic difficulty with program content.

Several studies confirm that many applied behavior analysis (ABA) terms elicit unpleasant emotional reactions, and that emotional responses to ABA terms overall are more negative than to English words in general (Critchfield, et al., 2017). Understanding the emotional perceptions of jargon in ABA is important because it is the contemporary gold-standard of treatment for autism developmental disabilities. ABA is practiced in many countries using different languages. To address this development, the professional certification board has developed glossaries of ABA terms in 12 languages. What is not known is whether word-emotion effects that have been documented in English apply to perceptions of jargon in other languages. Critchfield and Doepke (2017) found cross-language similarities for terms in five non-English languages, but their study discussed preliminary results. The current study will present data from a larger sample of terms and will examine similarities and differences in emotional responses to ABA terms in English and Spanish. In addition, data from bilingual speakers (English and Spanish) will be presented because past research suggests that language proficiency and language preference may play a role in emotional attachment to words (Pavlenko, 2008). The results will provide insights for how to enhance communication between clients and therapists.

Students who complete online programs in pursuit of BACB credentials must develop fluency of behavior analytic terms in order to meet demands of practice in the field as well as professional exams at each level (BCaBA, BCBA). The current study was conducted to determine effectiveness of and preference for three popular strategies in online fluency training: Game-based interaction (e.g., Quizlet.com), SAFMEDS, and Interteaching. Eight online students were selected from various online contexts and paired by their level of training (post-bacc BCaBA students, graduate students in a Master's program for ABA, graduate students seeking a Master's degree in education, and post-Master's graduates studying for the BCBA exam). Dyads completed fluency activities in several non-concurrent changing criterion designs. The study involved 40 daily sessions which measured cumulative vocabulary acquisition with mastery criteria set at 100% for 3 consecutive sessions. Random assignments to Interteaching, SAFMEDS, and Quizlet were made for each new vocabulary set. Maintenance probes were conducted at 4, 6, and 10 weeks post-training. A post-study survey of participants examined their preferences and compared preferences with effectiveness.

The use of operant chambers for research and teaching in behavior analysis is in decline due to the expense, maintenance, and ethical considerations of such complex mechanical apparati (Venneman & Knowles, 2005). Other technologies for testing and demonstrating behavioral principles have emerged in the pursuit of creating free operant paradigms that are accessible and effective for students and economical for institutions. One example is a virtual program that emulates the behavior of organisms (Graham, Alloway, & Krames, 1994). Recently, a new instrument has been developed - the Portable Operant Research and Teaching Lab (PORTL; Rosales-Ruiz & Hunter, 2016). PORTL is a tabletop apparatus comprised of various objects and tools that enables students to experience and manage free operant situations. In addition to its instructional benefits, PORTL provides a setting for basic research to be completed quickly and ethically with human participants. One purpose of this presentation is to outline the basic utility and implementation of PORTL in a collegiate setting where students themselves serve as the experimental organisms. A second purpose is to demonstrate PORTL as an alternative to operant chambers and virtual programs that can be easily and inexpensively replicated in any setting involving students of behavior analysis.

For her 5th grade science fair project, the principle author chose to evaluate several behavioral principles, with which she had personal learning experience, in the teaching of skills to elementary school students. Specific targeted skills were the distances of putting a golf ball and kicking a soccer ball into a goal. Materials and Methods: Materials included soccer and golf balls, putters, goals and holes, measuring tapes. Methods: Measurement of pre and post intervention distances; incremental increases in practice distance based upon successful scoring at starting distance; Results/Discussions: Distinct improvements in longer distances were demonstrated for some students The process of conducting a study requires development of skills, and developing and maintaining behavioral momentum Conclusions: Successive approximations and behavioral momentum are constructs/techniques useful for teaching select skills to elementary school students The process of conducting a study is in itself a "successive approximation" loaded with subset "successive approximations," aspects of the study that themselves change from the inception to completion of the study, which requires behavioral momentum to start and complete

Each year greenhouse gases continue to be detrimental factors to the world's atmosphere. Behavior, specifically driving behavior, seems to be one of the direct contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of providing immediate feedback of non-ecologically-friendly driving behavior, (e.g., speeding, hard braking, hard accelerating), to decrease such driving, thereby increasing eco-friendly driving. An "Automatic" device was installed on potential participant's cars to measure specific parameters of driving, including accelerating, braking, and fuel consumption. Eco-Driving was defined as a consistent and reliable decrease in episodes of hard accelerating and braking, relative to baseline. An ABAB reversal design was used, where A represented the baseline, delayed feedback condition and B represented the experimental, immediate feedback, condition. During the immediate condition, feedback was given directly from the "Automatic" device while participants were driving, and this was compared to baseline conditions where feedback was not provided until the participant logged in to the Automatic application on their smartphone. All three participants had an overall decrease in episodes of hard accelerations and brakes during the immediate feedback conditions. The results suggest that immediate feedback is effective at increasing Eco-Driving, when applied.

The digitalization of aggressive behaviors affects the lives of students both locally and internationally. Cases of cyberbullying behaviors continue to increase within and outside of schoolyards, which generates its significance for practitioners to identify approaches to prevent and intervene effectively. Distinctly, the manifestation of digital aggression and its targeted victims impact students of all backgrounds. In addition, the adoptions of technological methodologies permit its instinctive and global effects, which consequently generate a heightened exposure of vulnerability for the students. The presentation examines the manifestation of digital aggression and its effects on the targeted victims, offenders, and bystanders. Collaborative approaches to intervene effectively and strategies to promote positive behavior supports for all affected by cyberbullying will be discussed.

This paper presents the commons dilemma game as a methodological model for analyzing the behavior of individuals and groups when exposed to a situation involving the use of common-pool resources. We conducted a non-systematic review of behavioral analytic literature seeking to map the main features of the game, its use in experimental research and the relevant variables for subsequent analysis. Our key findings were as follows; first, common-dilemma games are presented as simulated situations involving the use of shared resources between two or more people. Second, participants must control the gains achieved individually, with each choice affecting the availability of resources for all participants. Note that the amount of resources are generated following a predetermined pattern. Third, maintaining or increasing the amount of resources available depends on whether patterns of consumption below the regeneration capability. Fourth, resources presented as points to be exchanged at the end of the experiment mimics the accrual of real-world resources, such as catching fish from a lake. Variables investigated with the game included inter-participant communication strategies, the effect of reinforcing and punitive consequences on individual resource accrual, and the verbalized rules involving the sustainable use of resources. Future research possibilities using the game are discussed.

Overuse of renewable natural resources, such as fish, trees, and clean water can lead to catastrophic outcomes. Moderate consumption by individuals may be the only option for the survival of human societies. Investigating the behavioral processes underlying the overuse of common resources can be a methodological challenge. This study proposes the use of a videogame-based task to investigate effects of differential consequences on the consumption of resources shared by multiple individuals. In the game, which simulates an ocean fishery, participants need to catch fish to keep playing, while it is necessary to preserve resources shared with other two players. Participants were 77 college students, distributed in three conditions. In the Bonuses condition, participants received extra points contingent to moderate interresponse times (IRTs). The Fines condition was characterized by loss of points following very short IRTs. The Control condition had no differential consequences programmed. Participants made repeated attempts until they won the game, catching enough fish to stay "alive" without depleting fish resources. Participants in the Fines and Bonuses condition needed fewer attempts to win the game. Detailed analyses pointed to differences in the strategies adopted by participants in each condition, signaling a possible differential effect of reinforcement and punitive consequences.

The energy used to produce electricity contributes to almost half of the total energy used in America. Many individual companies have programs designed to decrease the amount of energy used by homeowners and business owners by providing additional incentives for saving energy each month. It is important to identify an effective intervention to decrease energy usage across a variety of settings, including when the people using the energy do not directly pay for it or when homeowners are not involved in incentive programs. The participants in this study were employees at a residential school. The purpose of this Study 1 was to identify an effective intervention to decrease energy usage in group homes using a combination of incentives, prompts, and feedback. The purpose of Study 2 was to evaluate the treatment package from Study 1 in individual homes. The results of Study 1 indicate that incentives, prompts and feedback were ineffective in decreasing energy usage in a group home. The results of Study 2 indicate that the daily presentation of a rule was effective in decreasing energy usage in two homes. Interobserver agreement was collected for 54% of sessions. The mean agreement was 85.9%.

When examining ethical compliance code guidelines for accepting clients, it is noted that behavior analysts should only provide services commensurate with available resources. The compliance code also notes however, that "behavior analysts do not engage in discrimination against individuals or groups based on age, gender, race, culture, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, language, socioeconomic status, or any basis proscribed by law," (BACB, 2014). Due to the co-variance of social exclusion and poverty (Devicienti &Poggi, 2010), people with marginalized identities may face greater systemic and financial barriers to accessing services. This poster examines the household income and use of sliding scale payment options to access behavior analytic services for 2017 coaching clients who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, or Asexual/Aromantic (LGBTQIA). This poster also makes an ethical argument for the wider provision of sliding scale options for access to behavior analytic services as a goal for the field of Applied Behavior Analysis as a whole.

The purpose of this study was to review trends in research on punishment. Reviews of JEAB (1958-2015), and JABA (1968-2015) were conducted to identify articles that directly examined the effects of punishment on behavior. Basic research peaked in the 1960's and has since declined. Applied research increased steadily from the 1960's-1990's, but then declined, falling sharply in the 2000's. Negative publicity based on misapplication of aversives resulted in subsequent condemnation of punishment procedures as abusive treatment and pushed their use out of clinic practice. These results suggest that public perception of behavioral analytic punishment procedures is entangled with the coercive techniques used in different social and personal contexts. The unintended outcomes of coercive practices in societal institutions are resulting in social discontent with our law enforcement and political systems, worldwide violence and terrorism, and record numbers of persons incarcerated in our prison systems. The decline in research on punishment is counterproductive to understanding how it shapes behavior in relation to reinforcement. Future research should focus on identifying socially acceptable clinical treatments that allow the individual to express preferences, and educating the public to correct misinformation by using examples that illustrate the difference between punishment and coercion.

The ability to live independently, after spending time in the foster care system, is partly dependent on one's capacity to acquire and engage in adequate performance of various life skills. Some of these skills include budgeting, locating appropriate housing, and selecting higher education options, which should all be taught while still in foster care. Research indicates that adolescents who spent time in the foster care system are ill-prepared for independent living at the age of 18, and often experience negative outcomes due to this. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a transitional living course on acquisition of life skills. The participants included male and female adolescents, between the ages of 13 and 17, who all were in the foster care system in Kansas. A natural comparison and control group design was employed. Data were collected by direct observation, with pre-and post-assessment comparisons use to determine skill acquisition. The results revealed that the transitional living course led to an increase in life skills across all participants. This study extends the literature assessing the use of behavioral approaches to improving performance of life skills in adolescents within the child welfare system.

The training and education requirements differ vastly across law enforcement departments in the United States (Roberg & Bonn, 2004). For decades, the education level of law enforcement has been the focus of many studies despite the fact that associate or bachelor's level education is not required in most departments (Roberg & Bonn, 2004). Many rebut formal education and cite work experience as the best mode of training for police officers (Bayley & Bittner, 1997). Bayley and Bittner asserted policing is an art to be mastered only by repeated experience in the field. As Paoline and Terrill (2007) surmised the argument "policing cannot be taught in a classroom but must be learned on the streets over time" (p. 182). However, these two perspectives do not have to be mutually exclusive and effective skills-training procedures can benefit academic programs, as well as on-the-job continuing education for veteran officers. This project examined current police reports as an assessment for skills deficits across a variety of domains in law enforcement and proposes how each area can be handled using fluency and behavior skills training.

While Evidence-Based Interventions (EBIs) for children on the autism spectrum have been clearly identified, there is considerably less research on how to train first line staff to deliver the interventions with fidelity, particularly in group settings such as classrooms and residential treatment facilities. Barriers related to this problem are twofold. First, there is often a lack of adequate training in EBIs for direct service staff responsible for creating a strong instructional environmental. Second, supervisory staff often do not have training in basic organizational behavior management skills. Devereux's Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports-Autism (D-PBIS-Autism) model was designed to address both of these critical issues. The model provides a tiered system of EBIs with an increasing focus and intensity across the broad domains of communication, socialization, independence, and safety. Additionally, the use of organizational behavior management (OBM) technology creates the structure for staff training and supervision. Key OBM elements include on-line and classroom training combined with performance-based checklists, in vivo coaching and performance feedback, and graphed performance monitoring. Following implementation of the model in multiple classrooms and residential units, longitudinal data suggests well-maintained, systemic increases in staff use of EBI's and reduction in client challenging behaviors.

The main objective was to demonstrate the use of the Behavioral Systems Engineering Model in the improvement of the services provided by the Center for Autism and Social Inclusion, (CAIS-USP). The method applied was action research and the participants were the coordinator (1), supervisors (3) and the therapists (11) of the CAIS. The results were the establishment of feedback data from the processor system, which before the study did not exist, such as the results of the discrete trial assessment and data on the frequency in class. The results of the receptor system were information about the alumni, regarding the performance in the autism area and the results of the children's assessments in the VB-Mapp. Another important result was the creation of a specific undergraduate discipline, entitled Applied of Behavior Analysis to Autism, guaranteeing greater visibility and stability of the work carried out by CAIS. The conclusion is that the most fundamental stage of application was the definition of the macrosystem and the mission of the CAIS. From these definitions, several processes had been redesigned and tasks were distributed, allowing the collection of feedback data, fundamental for the planning and decisions taken in each semester.

Social interactions with clients are an important component of rapport building and creating instructional control within the therapeutic environment. Additionally, when working with children, therapists are expected to provide age-appropriate interactions that model positive social skills. The current study assessed the use of mindfulness exercises with ABA therapists to increase the number of positive interactions within a therapy session. The study was conducted with three undergraduate ABA therapists in an on-campus clinic using a multiple baseline design across subjects. Following baseline, each therapist completed a self-report measure on psychological flexibility before their sessions and then listened to a 5-min guided mindfulness exercise. Positive interactions were recorded at the beginning and end of each session for 15 minutes each using partial interval time sampling. Additionally, fidelity for therapeutic interventions and other self-report measures were recorded and assessed. The results of the study indicate that mindfulness exercises may influence the number of positive interactions from therapists to their clients during therapy sessions. These results suggest that even brief mindfulness practices may be of important and effective utility within clinics and when working in the human service field, particularly with children. The next phase of this research will assess how identifying values in addition to mindfulness exercises may impact these same dependent variables.

We developed a delay discounting questionnaire where the manipulated commodity was treatment success that was either immediate or delayed. The delay to treatment success was quasi-exponentially manipulated and in terms of reasonable time estimates that could be expected for a behavioral intervention to achieve successful outcomes with clients. The cost that was titrated in the survey was the amount of time per week that staff would be required to implement a given behavior change strategy. Results from 40 direct care staff from a day treatment program for adult clients, all of whom had prior experience implementing behavior analytic treatment strategies, suggest that the subjective value of successful treatment is discounted as the treatment is delayed. Consistent with prior research in this area, the decay is appropriately modelled using a hyperbolic curve function fit to the obtained data. The results have implications at the organizational level for predicting and influencing staff buy-in of behavior analytic strategies by quantifying estimates of response cost and delay to outcome.

The field of behavior analysis places a strong emphasis on the collection and analysis of behavioral data to make data-based decisions about clinical practices. Community-based residential programs for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities pose a unique logistical constraint due to the behavior analyst often not being able to be on site to ensure data are collected and give timely feedback to staff. The purpose of this case study is to develop a cost-effective performance management intervention to increase the amount of data collected for people who live in a community-based residential program. Specifically, the study aims to increase the percentage of target behaviors for which data are collected across all direct support professional shifts. During baseline, data were only collected during significant behavioral episodes. An intervention consisting of task clarification, staff training, reorganization of materials, and prompts increased data collection to an average of 35.4% (range, 0 to 64.3%) across all shifts each day. Next, ongoing performance feedback will be provided to direct support professionals and their supervisors. Results are anticipated to show that a cost-effective performance management intervention will effectively increase and maintain the percentage of behavioral data collected within the home.

The organizational behavior management literature includes few studies evaluating the effectiveness of various preference assessment methodologies on behavioral staff performance (Waldvogel, J.M., & Dixon, M.R., 2008; Wine, B., Reis, M., & Hantula, D., 2014). The current study evaluates the effectiveness of a survey and ranking preference assessment method in identifying potential reinforcers for staff behavior. The effectiveness of preference assessment method is measured by comparing several staff performance measures before and after contingent reinforcer delivery across 9 months. Staff performance measures evaluated in this study include the number of appointment cancellations, percent of clinical objectives mastered, and frequency of staff caseload changes each quarter.

A significant problem in children with pediatric feeding disorders is packing (i.e., pocketing or holding accepted food in the mouth), which could result in unsuccessful treatment. Prior research has identified effective treatments to decrease packing. However, none have systematically evaluated a model to use assessments to identify conditions under which consumption occurs, to inform treatment selection to decrease packing. In the present study, a multielement design was used to identify conditions under which mouth cleans occurred, and the results were used to empirically inform treatment selection to decrease packing for one child of typical development. Results of the assessment indicated that packing was related to food texture and compliance, suggesting that presenting preferred foods at a regular texture and decreasing the texture of non-preferred foods would decrease levels of packing. When treatment (i.e., decreased texture of non-preferred foods) was implemented, levels of packs decreased and all foods were consumed. During the reversal to baseline, however, levels of packs remained at 0%, suggesting that mouth cleans may have generalized following exposure to the nonpreferred food. These preliminary results suggest this model may be useful in empirically selecting treatment packages for children who pack bites.

Mere exposure to novel foods is often not sufficient to increase acceptance of those foods for young children with a pediatric feeding disorder. Rearranging the mealtime environment or contingencies is usually necessary to increase acceptance of novel foods. Demand fading, in which the number of bites increases across mealtimes following acceptance, is one way to increase the amount of foods a child will consume. While demand fading involves gradually increasing the number of bites, this procedure in isolation may not be sufficient as the requirement increases. In this case study, we combined demand fading and an avoidance contingency such that the child avoided a meal with a target food contingent upon completion of the bite requirement. If the child did not consume the required number of bites, another meal with the same bite requirement occurred. The results suggested that with demand fading alone, we were able to introduce two new foods, but the child did not consume enough bites to meet mastery criterion. When the avoidance contingency was implemented, we introduced a total of eight foods, and the child met mastery criterion for five of those foods.

Most commonly, pica is classified as automatically maintained in individuals with developmental or intellectual disabilities (Ashworth, Hirdes, & Martin, 2009). It is less commonly documented in typically developing individuals. Behavioral approaches are considered well-established treatments (Hagopian, Rooker, & Rolider, 2011), but many interventions for pica represented in typically developing populations include medical approaches such as vitamin and micronutrient supplements (e.g., Chishold & Martin, 1981). The purpose of this case study was to present a behavioral approach to assessment and treatment of pica that was identified in a girl with no psychiatric diagnoses and for whom pica was maintained by social attention. The participant was Kelsey, a 3-year-old African American girl. A multiple baseline across settings design was used to demonstrate the effects of a differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) with a token economy and extinction procedures on rates of Kelsey's pica behavior. Increasing rates of pica were observed in baseline followed by immediate reductions at the initiation of treatment. Low rates of problem behavior were maintained as the DRO schedule was faded in all settings. In addition, treatment was generalized from therapists to three caregivers, who demonstrated high implementation integrity. Limitations, future directions, and implications will be discussed.

Escape extinction, which typically involves blocking behavior that produces escape from demands, is often a necessary treatment component for severe feeding problems. Although escape extinction is a common treatment for feeding problems and is well-documented in published research, response blocking procedures have received very little attention. The present study aimed to review published literature for descriptions of blocking procedures and determine if these descriptions were sufficient for the purposes of procedural replication. We conducted a systematic electronic search of the feeding literature using relevant search terms and combinations (e.g., "escape extinction + block," "feeding + block"). All published English-language manuscripts from peer-reviewed journals that mentioned or described escape extinction with response blocking as a component of treatment were included in the present review. An initial search identified 10 articles meeting these criteria. Of these, five studies described the response blocking procedures used, one was sufficiently detailed for the purposes of replication, one mentioned therapist or caregiver training, and none reported measures of procedural integrity. Future research should identify when response blocking is appropriate and necessary, who should block escape-maintained behaviors during the implementation of escape extinction (i.e., the feeder or a second person), and what these procedures entail.

Researchers have conducted most feeding interventions in clinic settings with highly trained therapists who feed and train caregivers to implement the feeding interventions (e.g., Wilkins, Piazza, Groff, & Vaz, 2011). Research in this area has shown that caregivers can implement feeding interventions in clinic and natural (e.g., home; Tarbox, Schiff, & Najdowski, 2010; Seiverling, Williams, Sturmey, & Hart, 2012) settings with high integrity (Mueller, M. M., et al., 2003). However, there is limited research on caregivers as the initial and ongoing change agents during a child's feeding intervention. Understanding the effects of caregivers as feeders is important because inappropriate mealtime behavior typically occurs when the caregiver feeds the child (Borrero et al., 2010). In the current investigation, we compared the outcomes of therapist- versus caregiver-fed function-based feeding intervention with a 4-year-old girl diagnosed with a feeding disorder. Results showed that the child's caregiver implemented a function-based baseline and intervention with high integrity. In addition, during therapist-fed sessions, inappropriate mealtime behavior did not return to initial baseline rates, despite increasing the response effort relative to the initial baseline and caregiver-fed baseline. We discuss implications the current findings have on function-based interventions and caregiver training.

Extant research suggests behavioral economic assessments of delay discounting (DD) and demand curve analysis may be useful for understanding behavioral processes related to obesity in adults. These assessments often use hypothetical tasks to assess DD and demand. Although sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) are known to significantly contribute to obesity, no studies to date have examined demand for SSB via hypothetical purchase task (HPT) in relation to obesity. The current study sought to develop a novel HPT to assess demand for SSB and examine its relation to obesity (via body mass index; BMI) and DD. DD for money was assessed using the 5-trial adjusting delay task (Koffarnus & Bickel, 2014). These tasks were administered to over 200 participants in an online platform. The HPT of SSB resulted in orderly responding well-described by Hursh and Silberberg's (2008) exponential demand equation (average r2 = 0.89). Relations between BMI and delay discounting (natural log of k), demand intensity (Q0), demand elasticity (alpha), and essential value (EV) were examined. Additionally, relations between ln(k) and these demand parameters were examined. Results indicated that BMI was significantly related to Q0 and EV, but not to ln(k) or alpha. Ln(k) was significantly related to Q0 and alpha, but not EV. Results are discussed regarding implications for obesity assessment and treatment.

As many as 82% of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) experience numerous chronic sleep disturbances and parents report that some sleep disturbances evolve from their own attempts to address other long-standing sleep problems, such as engaging in undesired co-sleeping to reduce night awakenings. Undesired co-sleeping can be a part of the initial bedtime routine or a response to difficulty falling back asleep and disruptive behaviors (i.e., tantrums, refusal to sleep in own bed, or escaping from the bed and bedroom) following night awakenings. Bedtime Fading with Response Cost (BFRC) is a promising intervention that targets a multitude of sleep problems concurrently, however, undesired co-sleeping has yet to be the primary sleep variable in studies evaluating BFRC with children on the autism spectrum. This study evaluated the effectiveness of parent-delivered BFRC in achieving parent-defined sleep goals (e.g., reduction of undesired co-sleeping) for their children with ASD in the home environment. A non-concurrent multiple baseline design across three participants was used. Results indicate that parent-implemented BFRC was effective in achieving parent-defined sleep goals, such as the reduction of unwanted co-sleeping, frequent night awakenings, dependent sleep onset, and related sleep-disturbances. Follow-up data demonstrate that gains were maintained. Parents reported high satisfaction with BFRC and sleep outcomes for their children. This study extends both the clinical practice and science of parent-defined treatment goals and parent-implemented behavioral interventions as treatment options for children with ASD and co-occurring sleep disturbances.

One of the most common pediatric sleep issues is an extrinsic dyssomnia, which includes difficulty initiating sleep. This often leads to behavioral difficulties at bedtime. There is compelling evidence which suggests behavioral interventions are effective for improving behaviors at bedtime (e.g., Kuhn, 2014). An example of this includes the Excuse Me Drill (EMD; Kuhn, 2011). The EMD is a procedure that uses positive parental attention during bedtime to reinforce a child's sleep compatible behaviors, while ignoring disruptive behavior (i.e., differential reinforcement of alternative behavior). Although EMD has received anecdotal support, no published empirical data supporting its effectiveness exists. Participants in this study included three typically developing children: a two-year-old Caucasian female, a six-year-old Caucasian female; and a seven-year-old Caucasian female. A seven-year old Caucasian male with autism was the final participant. A non-concurrent multiple baseline across design across participants was utilized to examine the relative effectives of the EMD for increasing independent sleep onset and decreasing disruptive behaviors at bedtime. Results indicated that the EMD was effective in increasing independent sleep onset, while decreasing disruptive behaviors for all participants. The current study is the first to empirically support the use of the EMD to improve independent sleep onset.

Many students suffer with the sleep problems, such as sleep disruption and excessive sleepiness, which has a negative effect on their study performance and everyday life. As previous studies indicate that irregular sleep pattern, napping and daytime activity can lead to daytime sleepiness, how to cope with sleepiness can be related to sleepiness continuing. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between undergraduate students’ coping skills and daytime sleepiness they experience. Eighty undergraduate student who take a psychology classes will be participated. Participants will be classified as morningness-eveningness, using Horne and Ostberg questionnaire to consider the circadian rhythm preference. In phase 1, coping strategies which can be used when they sleep will be explored via semi-structured interview, including napping/activity, adjusting sleep schedule, promoting health that found in a pilot study. Type of napping will be explored in detail based on the reason of napping. In phase 2, participants will be divided into groups and will apply the strategies that is found to be effective in phase 1 for 3 weeks. Participant will be educated about strategies and report everyday progress during the intervention. Quantity of nap and nighttime sleep will be assessed, based on interview (phase 1) and their sleep diary (phase 2). Also the sleep quality and daytime sleepiness will be measured using Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) in both phases. Present study will provide information on the effectiveness of coping skills that can be applied to whom suffer from excessive sleepiness during the day in a non-clinical settings.

Children with a history of renal disease and a kidney transplant are medically required to consume larger volumes of liquid compared to typical same-age peers. When a child takes prolonged durations to consume liquids, it makes it difficult to consume the required volume of liquid by mouth which in turn requires dependency on tube feedings to obtain nutritional and fluid needs. Furthermore, consuming liquid for the majority of waking hours leaves less time for other aspects such as solids and oral motor skill development. The purpose of this study was to decrease the duration of liquid consumption by implementing a behavioral treatment package including a token economy and choice paradigm without the use of escape extinction for a 6-year-old boy diagnosed with pediatric feeding disorder and has a history of end-stage renal disease. A changing criterion design with baseline probes was used to evaluate the treatment protocol. Results found that using a choice paradigm and token economy without the use of escape extinction was effective at decreasing the duration of liquid consumption and increasing overall liquid consumption by mouth as well as avoiding the effects of extinction bursts. Since duration of liquid consumption decreased there was more time for solid intake and oral motor skill development. These data are discussed in relation to the importance of meal duration as a dependent variable and how it relates to overall health.

The investigation of variables related to healthy and unhealthy food intake is important given statistical data showing that a large part of the world population is overweight. To address this question, the present study aimed to investigate the effect of different types of rules on healthy and unhealthy food intake, with ten children. Five of them had normal Body Mass Index (BMI) and five were overweight/obese. In each session, nine small pieces both of healthy and unhealthy food were displayed for each child, in the absence of the experimenter. After a baseline, each child was given a minimum rule (he/she could eat only one piece of unhealthy food). In the next phase, the same child received information about healthy eating and the same rule was presented, and in the next phase, questions about food and health were asked before the rule was presented again. At the end of each session, participants reported to the experimenter the food ingested. In general, the rule showed more effectiveness for the children with normal BMI. The rule was effective for reducing unhealthy food intake for five children at all phases in which it was presented. For three other children, it was effective only at the beginning of the exposure to the rule, whereas it was not effective for two other children.

Unmanaged acute or chronic medical conditions (such as diabetes, asthma, or seizure disorder), sensory loss, discomfort, and pain (e.g., from migraines or acute infections) affect behavior. Many individuals with neurocognitive or neurodevelopmental disorders have comorbid conditions that may disrupt behavior and exacerbate behavioral presentations. These conditions may have to be considered during treatment planning. Because medical providers tend to rely on self-report, there is a high risk that these conditions remain undetected and untreated when self-descriptive verbal skills are insufficient. Using adult cognitive loss as an example, this presentation will provide an overview of comorbidities and their impact from a behavior-analytic lens. Emphasizing the importance of integrative treatment planning, we will discuss how behavior analysts can contribute to monitoring comorbid conditions, indirectly intervene upon them, make appropriate referrals, and advocate with care partners to ensure that clients receive appropriate medical management. Special attention will be given to the prevention of psychotropic prescribing cascades.

Serious mental illness (SMI) is a term used to describe diagnoses that indicate repeated episodic loss of contingent control that affects the interpretation of everyday events. Such a loss of contingent control can accompany diagnoses of schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder, major depression, and bipolar disorder. As the first-line treatment, individuals with SMI receive prescriptions of psychotropics without an end date; however, as adults with SMI age, they may develop difficulties remembering, thinking, and problem-solving. At present, there are no guidelines for managing the behavior of older adults with SMI and cognitive loss. Indeed, in terms of etiology, it is frequently unclear whether confusion and disorientation are part and parcel with the preexisting SMI diagnosis or due to a neurodegenerative condition. Such a determination would be important as many psychotropics are listed as inappropriate prescriptions for older adults in general and, when cognitive loss is present, the Food and Drug Administration warns of an increased risk of stroke and death related to antipsychotics. This presentation will review the literature regarding interventions for older adults with SMI and cognitive loss. We will discuss the role of behavior analysts in ensuring clients receive the highest quality of care.

Eating is a behavior essential to all humans. While the topography of ingestion is similar across individuals, many factors influence eating behavior and problems in eating are common. An estimated 90% of children with autism have difficulties eating; in the general adult population, eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia have a lifetime prevalence of 1-3.5%; and approximately 22.8% of older adults present with malnutrition. Thus, it is vital to gain an understanding of the physiological, psychosocial, and environmental factors that influence eating behavior across the lifespan and across clinical presentations. This paper will provide an overview of the factors that impact eating and how they may operate as motivating and maintaining operations. In addition to psychosocial processes, sensory loss, alterations in metabolism, and frequent adverse medication effects will be considered. Finally, suggestions for referrals to appropriate providers will be offered. This presentation will provide education with broad relevance to clinical and applied behavior analysis.

Cognitive difficulties are common: In addition to children and adults with neurodevelopmental disabilities, many adults lose their ability to remember, reason, or problem-solve due to a range of neurological conditions, such as traumatic brain injury or Alzheimer's disease. As most people rely on family care partners for assistance, parents and other family care partners must receive skill training to manage behavior in the home and consistently implement behavioral interventions that may have been recommended or prescribed by providers. Among barriers to implementation of interventions by care partners in the home are lack of knowledge and perceived helplessness, competing contingencies, a lack of financial resources to receive coaching, social isolation, lack of coherent sources of information, and difficulties understanding aspects of the interventions. These factors may impede the availability, accessibility, and acceptability of care partner training and thereby effective caregiving. Although steps have been taken at the community level, government care coordination, and health insurance policies to improve family care partner access to trainings, barriers must be addressed directly to ensure that care partners receive adequate support throughout the care process. This presentation will detail barriers to training and possible solutions.

We conducted 2 experiments to test the effects of the establishment of reading governs responding and the writer immersion protocol on the emergence of functional reading and writing repertoires for 2 preschool students diagnosed with autism. In Experiment 1, we implemented read-do correspondence learn units to induce reading governs responding using a multiple probe design. The dependent variable was the number of correct responses to the reading tasks during pre- and post-intervention probes. Experiment 1 demonstrated that Participant A acquired the verbal behavior of reading governs responding through read-do correspondence learn units and Participant B demonstrated the reading governs responding cusp through repeated pre-intervention probes. In Experiment 2, we used a delayed multiple probe design across participants to test the effects of the writer immersion protocol. The dependent variable was the number of accurate functional components of writing, measured through the affect that the participants' writing had on the behavior of an adult reader (i.e., adult reader's correct responses to the directions written by the target participant). Results of the writer immersion procedure demonstrated significant increases in the percentage of accurate functional components of writing for both participants. Moreover, Participant B demonstrated criterion level of functional component of writing.

We used a multiple probe design across dyads to test the effects of an accelerated auditory match-to-sample (AM) procedure on the echoic responses emitted by 6 preschoolers with language delays who emitted faulty echoics. The dependent variables were the numbers of full, partial, and incorrect echoics emitted to 100 English word. The independent variable was the accelerated procedure of AM instruction implemented using Sounds the Same software application that teaches fine discriminations between words and sentences. Following pre-intervention probes, participants were assigned into 3 dyads based on the number of full echoics they emitted during the pre-intervention probe. We randomly selected 1 participant from each dyad to receive the accelerated AM instruction, and the other participant to receive the standard AM instruction as a control group. The participants in a dyad were yoked as we conducted post-intervention probe when either participant in a dyad mastered 4 or 8 phases of AM instruction. Five participants emitted increased number of full echoics regardless of the procedure. Thus, both procedures were effective in improving echoic responses. However, the accelerated procedure was more efficient in educational setting since it allows students to finish the intervention in a shorter period of time.

This study examines discrimination training of sign-language cues via operant-conditioning in two preschool-aged children. The study expands on existing literature on social referencing (Pelaez, Viru's-Ortega, & Gewirtz, 2012) by using American Sign Language as the discriminative stimuli to evoke appropriate differential responding in young children in an ambiguous/unfamiliar context. Two 3- and 4- year old preschoolers and a familiar adult participated in a discrimination training procedure using a single-subject, repeated withdrawal design. Different consequences followed the preschoolers reaching toward an unfamiliar object. During the training phases, a familiar adult experimenter used the sign expression for 'grab' and 'play' to signal positive reinforcement for the participant reaching for an ambiguous object. The sign expression for 'no' and 'play' signaled aversive stimulation for reaching. The pattern of change in performance between the baseline and the two treatment phases suggests that the participants learned to discriminate the cues and that they learned to reference the meaning of those signals. Interobserver agreement was 100% and was calculated for 35% of all trials. This presentation informs on methods to improve social communication deficits using discrimination training procedures in applied settings.

Worldwide prevalence rates of cavities range between 60% to 90% of children and approximately 100% of adults (WHO, 2012). Given this widespread prevalence of cavities across the lifespan, the Canadian Dental Association recommends that, on average, people visit their dentist every 6 months (2017). However, for those fearful of the dentist, regular visits can be quite problematic. The current presentation will provide an overview of the existing literature on treatment of dental fear and dental noncompliance. Over 85 articles were identified and results showed that 39 unique interventions have been evaluated across children, adolescents, and adults with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities. These 39 unique interventions were classified according to the theoretical underpinnings of their interventions as: (a) strictly behavioral, (b) combined behavioral and non-behavioral, and (c) non-behavioral. Results will be discussed within the context of future areas of research that can be carried out to produce lasting effects that are socially meaningful to patients, caregivers, and dental staff.

Writer Immersion is a protocol that is utilized to teach the function of writing in children by arranging for students to communicate only via writing and observe the effects of their writing on naïve readers. The study sought to determine the effects of a protocol on the number of accurate 1) structural and 2) functional written components emitted by 2 elementary school-aged participants from a self-contained classroom in a public school. The participants were selected because pre-intervention results showed that they emitted technical structural errors and did not have the function of writing in their repertoires. We used a delayed multiple probe design across participants and the dependent variables were the numbers of correct structural components produced by the participants (i.e. capitalization, spaces, spelling, and punctuation) and the number of correct functional components drawn by a reader as a function of the participants' writing. The independent variable was a protocol in which the participants (writers) received feedback for their writing primarily through a naïve reader's response. The results indicated that the participants' accuracy in structural and functional components significantly increased after the intervention.

Children with emotional and behavioral disorder (E/BD) are more likely to show a variety of problem behaviors that affect learning process of students in general education classroom, and teaching capacity of teachers to students (Hansen et al., 2014). Previous studies showed that communication interventions are effective method for different types of problems in school settings (Billy et al., 2010). Moreover, some studies demonstrated efficacy and effectiveness of the building communication interventions based on the functional behavioral assessment (FBA) (Stahr, Cushing, Lane, & Fox, 2006). Because children with E/BD are more likely to show a variety of problem behaviors in school settings, a building communication interventions based on the FBA may be effective treatment for these children at universal, targeted and individual levels. This paper presents an overview of the application and evidence base for the building and using communication interventions in the treatment and prevention of problem behaviors in children with or at risk of EB/D. We then will provide short summary of the multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS) and an overview of the FBA. At the end of the study, we will illustrate communication interventions at three tiers of school-based intervention levels with the FBA. Implications will be discussed.

Abstract Deaf high school graduates average five reading grade-levels behind their hearing counterparts. Literacy is a predictor of access to higher education and employment. Current research suggests that Phonemic Awareness is pivotal skill for all readers, necessary for decoding reading. Specific instruction in Phonemic Awareness is not currently an integral part of reading instruction in most manual-based educational programs (those using ASL) for instruction for deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students. Precision Teaching, a behavior analytic instructional approach, has proven effective in remediation education for DHH students. The purpose of this study was to examine, the effects of using SAFMEDS, a Precision Teaching technique, to teach six 4-to-6-year-old DHH children to match visemes and printed letter patterns to English phonemes fluently. The experimenter employed a multiple-baseline-across-dyads experimental design. The data demonstrated all participants achieved or exceeded rates comparable to those of an expert responder on some or all learning sets, and that response rates increased significantly under the intervention in comparison to the baseline condition. Four participants also demonstrated clinically significant increases in phonemic awareness in pre-test post-test comparisons, averaging 26 percentage-point gains. Reading scores on pre/post standardized tests improved slightly for all participants who were tested.

Applied behavior analysis is on the basis of behaviorism which stems from western philosophies, and was developed in the Anglo-European context. The principles of behaviorism themselves, could be challenging to understand for some families from different educational and cultural backgrounds even if professionals explain them with everyday language. Behavioral consultation involves technical jargon that are not commonly used by families, such as antecedents, reinforcement, or positive punishment. Some of the terms used in this field are not utilized in the same way as our typical usage. Additionally, parenting styles and family values vary depending on cultures and they may not feel comfortable asking for clarification due to cultural differences due to fear of authorities or sense of shame of ignorance. Thus, professionals delivering ABA services should be culturally competent to work with Asian families and their children. Ethical issues and suggestions will be provided when professionals work with Asian families, thereby enhancing multicultural competencies for professionals.

Direct preference assessments have been well-documented as evidence-based methods of identifying reinforcers to occasion desired behavior. The multiple-stimulus without replacement (MSWO) has been shown in the extant literature as producing stable and valid results. MSWOs begin with an array of items presented to the consumer. This stimulus array is typically chosen through structured interviews, experimenter selection, observation, informal interview with caregivers or teachers, or self-report. However, informal report may not be congruent with the consumer's true preferences, and thus do not identify appropriate reinforcers. While MSWO preference assessments are efficacious, the methods by which the initial items selected for an MSWO array are identified are less clear in the extant literature. This systematic literature review explores the various methods of identifying items for the MSWO stimulus array for adolescents (ages 10-21) with autism and other developmental disabilities. Out of 277 studies identified, 30 met inclusion criteria. Results indicate that item inclusion is typically derived from informal report, although most do not report how items were included. Structured interviews were done primarily in the context of evaluating the MSWO itself. Self-report of preferences was found in only 2 of 30 studies. Future research and implications are discussed.

Staff training is an essential component when implementing an effective behavior change procedure to children with autism and developmental disabilites. Unfortunately due to the lack of resources and time constraints many institutions or schools may not be able to sufficiently train staff. Virtual Reality is a viable alternative to train various skills. In a VR environment one can both actively practice skills as well as receive feedback while engaging in the activity. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a VR environment in training staff to implement steps in Discrete Trial Training (DTT). Participants were teachers in a school for children with developmental disabilities. Performance in DTT was compared and evaluated after baseline, lecture, and VR training in a multiple baseline design across participants. All participants mastered the steps of DTT after VR training. This study is the first in examining the effectiveness of VR environment in training DTT skills. We discuss implications as well as future research in the area.

Behavioral fluency is that combination of speed plus accuracy that allows competent individuals to perform effectively and efficiently in their natural environment. Frequency building is a commonly used practice method for developing behavioral fluency. Accuracy building is a procedure used frequently in classic discrete trial training paradigms. The present study compared the impact of a frequency building procedure to that of an accuracy building procedure on the emergence of stimulus equivalence relations. Using a match-to-sample procedure within an alternating treatments design, the frequency building condition consisted of 10, 4-minute practice blocks with 1-minute of error correction directly after each 1-minute practice trial. The accuracy building condition consisted of 10, 5-minute practice blocks with error correction following each incorrect response. A control condition (no feedback) consisted 10, 5-minute practice blocks. Findings from alternating the conditions demonstrate mixed results. However, when evaluating cross-phase measures, the frequency building condition resulted in the desirable change in learning, in terms of correct incorrect deriving of equivalence relations for four of the five participants. The findings for the four participants support the conclusion that frequency building promoted more robust accuracy plus speed and decreased the likelihood of responding.

Evidence-based practice (EBP) is a decision making model for Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) to implement when selecting treatments for clients. Because BCBAs are faced with the difficult task of selecting appropriate treatments for their individual clients, they must often use their professional judgment to integrate the best available evidence with relevant client variables in order to select, retain, adapt, and/or reject a treatment (Wilczynski, 2017). Our survey asked BCBAs to rate how often, based on percentage of time, they used different sources of evidence before selecting a treatment. Relevant sources of evidence to consider before selecting a treatment include: narrative reviews, systematic reviews, client history, and current client data (Wilczynski, 2017). Results indicate significant differences (p <.01) in the use of client data, historical or current, among male and female BCBAs when selecting a treatment. EBP practitioners are data-driven and historical or current client data is an invaluable source of evidence that when combined with other sources of evidence (i.e., narrative or systematic reviews, or client history) can lead to selecting a more appropriate treatment for the individual client (Wilczynski, 2017).

A treatment package was developed targeting physical education sessions for individuals diagnosed with emotional behavior disorders, in an effort to increase on-task behaviors and decrease challenging behaviors. The setting was a residential facility for individuals with intellectual disabilities and emotional behavior disorders, and the treatment package was developed in collaboration with the APE Teachers and Clinicians. The initial challenge expressed was that students would have excessive latency getting changed during a 30 minute session, and would impede both their personal and classroom performances in PE class, as it would prevent the staff from running the class. The treatment package included establishing rules for the classroom, including verbal cues, visual cues, and ultimately running the contingency twice (once at the beginning of class and once at the end). This was done additionally as a generalization of a behavioral economic system that was currently in place within the classroom. The conditions to pass the contingency were established at the individual level. Data will be provided for the individual as well as overall classroom performance. Although in the initial phase of service delivery implementation, the initial results appear positive and the APE Teachers are reporting an increase in overall performance across their sessions.

Supporting development and learning of young children with disabilities in inclusive early childhood settings is a priority for the field of early childhood special education. Purpose of this study was to investigate impacts of a professional development package consisting of training+implementation support on preschool teachers' implementation of embedded learning trials (ELTs) within context of naturalistic teaching and examine corollary relationships between teachers' implementation and child learning outcomes. A multiple probe across participants design was used with four preschool teachers and four children with developmental disabilities. Following baseline phase that lasted 5 sessions, teachers participated in two training sessions on naturalistic instruction. Next, the first teacher entered into intervention phase and began receiving implementation support from a trained coach while others remained in post-training phase where they implemented ELTs based on what they learned in trainings. Once the first teacher reached criterion performance, the second teacher entered into intervention phase and same procedure were applied until the last teacher reached to criterion and two sessions of maintenance data were collected from all participants. Findings showed that for all four teachers, training+implementation support was effective in increasing their correct implementation of ELTs; as teachers' implementation increased, children' unprompted correct responding also increased.

Shaping may be an effective intervention for individuals that engage in very little behavior, such as those with catatonia or selective mutism. This intervention evaluated the use of a shaping procedure to increase duration of training sessions and spontaneous verbal behavior for a patient who routinely responded to all interaction attempts by saying, "I would rather not participate." A preference assessment indicated that being told a joke was a potential reinforcer. Thus, for phases 1 and 2, jokes were first used to reinforce increases in duration and then for answering simple questions. Session duration and questions asked gradually increased across sessions, but responses were limited to one or few word answers. Eventually, the goal shifted to increase instances of spontaneous verbal behavior, or those not prompted via questions. As the individual sustained interaction without the jokes, jokes and questions were removed. As a result, instances of spontaneous verbal behavior increased as a function of the removal of jokes and questions, and an increase in the duration of sessions. Generalization and maintenance sessions are currently being conducted. Results indicated that shaping may be an effective intervention for individuals with catatonia or selective mutism to increase behavior such as social interactions.

Determining relationships between disruptive behaviors and their consequences is important when developing behavioral interventions for psychiatric patients. This project evaluated variables maintaining a patient's disruptive behaviors using the Questions about Behavior Function; Mental Illness and a new Functional Assessment of Behavior (FAB). The attention function ranked first as a maintaining variable for this patient's disruptive behaviors on both questionnaires. This information was used to create an intervention to increase the instructor's frequency of interactions when the patient was not engaging in disruptive behavior. As the frequency of appropriate interactions increased there was an overall decrease in disruptive instances across sessions. The similar results of the two functional assessments suggest the FAB's validity. The decreasing trend of disruptive instances as a function of increased interactions suggests that the attention function was a valid result of the FAB. These results suggest that the FAB is a promising assessment tool for psychiatric patients.

Functional assessments are used in the field of behavior analysis to aid in the development of behavioral interventions based on the identified function(s) of problem behavior. Numerous assessment tools have been used, including the Questions about Behavioral Function for Mental Illness (QABF-MI). The QABF-MI is a questionnaire with acceptable psychometric properties containing questions related to attention, tangible, escape/avoidance, and nonsocial/sensory functions. Central Regional Hospital developed its own functional assessment questionnaire called the Functional Assessment of Behavior (FAB). The FAB uses language familiar to those in the psychiatric hospital setting to identify the possible function of problem behavior. The FAB and QABF-MI were administered via staff interview for eleven patients. The results from the assessments were compared to determine if they resulted in similar functions of problem behavior. The results from the FAB followed closely with the QABF-MI. Based on the findings, the FAB appears useful for identifying the potential function of problem behavior in a psychiatric setting. Further assessment should occur to determine whether interventions based on FAB results have the expected effects.

Behavioral skills training (BST) as a treatment package has been shown as an effective teaching strategy; however, the influence of individual components within BST (e.g., instruction, feedback, etc.) is less well known. The purpose of the current study was to determine if components of BST could be used in isolation to increase appropriate proactive responses and decrease inappropriate reactive responses within a classroom setting. Data indicate the component that resulted in the greatest changes in behavior was feedback for both proactive and reactive responses. Follow-up probes indicated low maintenance of proactive responses but stable maintenance of reactive responses for both teachers. Overall, the results of this study suggest individual components of BST have the potential to create behavior change, independent of the application of the entire, standard sequence of training components. However, conclusions are limited due to lack of replication.

The echoic is a verbal operant in which the topography of the behavior has point-to-point correspondence and formal similarity with the antecedent verbal stimulus that controls it and for which the reinforcement is not specific to the topography of the behavior (Skinner, 1957). A child's ability to imitate actions at 18 months old was a better predictor of his language skills at 36 months old than even gestures. (Child Development 2013). We cannot do anything with words until they are build on what was there before words existed (Catania). Imitation is a behavior cusp for the learner to produce generative responses. Echoic Training involves bringing verbal responses under the functional control of verbal SDs that have point-to-point correspondence and formal similarity with the response. Instructional Control and Joint attention were also established before presenting the target tasks. Teacher's proximity has to be tolerated by the learners. Learners must at least sit for 5 minutes to complete 5 parts of a task; Learners must at least follow a series of 3-5 Firm single-step directions in a playful context. Using the CLM Tools, the non-directed (play skills) and problem solver-mand repertoires (asking) were first established to strengthen the learner's participation and as replacement of undesirable behaviors before introducing imitation training. The present research will also give information about the pace of learning for NAÏVE Learners concerning to their limited echoic repertoire. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the importance of motor imitation as pre-requisite skill and/or in teaching vocal imitation/ echoic for learners with apraxia, autism, speech delay and other developmental disorders using Competent Learner Model Curriculum (Observer-imitate; Problem Solver and Participator). This study will enable the learners to repeat the teacher's vocal distinct sound (i.e. "ahh"), generally to transfer the response form to other more advanced verbal operants as the end goal.

Delays in speech and language development are prevalent among children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It is estimated that 30% of school-aged children with ASD are minimally verbal or fail to develop language (Rogers, 2006; Tager-Flusberg, Lord, & Paul, 2005; Tager-Flusberg & Kasari, 2014), which increases the risk of poor outcomes later in life (Billstedt et al., 2007). Previous research suggests that presenting a sequence of high probability behaviors before a low probability vocal behavior may facilitate vocal responding in nonverbal children (i.e. Ross & Greer, 2003; Tsiouri & Greer, 2003). The current study aimed to test the clinical application of presenting a high probability motor imitation sequence in rapid succession prior to presenting a low probability echoic. One 3-year-old male with autism who emitted spontaneous vocalizations but displayed deficits in echoic skills participated in the study. A multiple baseline design across echoic sets was utilized. Echoic responding did not consistently occur during the pretest or in baseline for all three sets of sounds. Results of the intervention showed an increase in echoic responding across all three sets of sounds and an acquired generalized echoic repertoire.

To date, there have been a few studies that have directly focused on using symbol discrimination training and naturalistic teaching approaches when teaching augmented mands to young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Therefore, we aimed to expand the literature by determining whether (a) applying natural environment training (NET) will facilitate augmented mand in young children with ASD, (b) utilizing a three-phase discrimination training procedure will improve symbol discrimination when using an iPad with Proloquo2Go (i.e., augmentative alternative communication[AAC] app) to mand, and (c) generalizing of augmented mand will occur across multiple stimuli (i.e., preferred items, common communication partners-therapists). We used a multiple probe design across three-phase symbol-discrimination training to evaluate the effects of the intervention. Two participants between the ages of 3 and 5 were taught to select a target symbol when presented with varying number of non-target symbols. Therapists who frequently interacted with the participants were trained to implement the intervention during free playtime within their natural environment. Our results revealed that the discrimination training and naturalistic teaching methods yield high-to-medium effects on the acquisition of augmented mand and the generalization of such skills across novel stimuli.

Research indicate 30% of children with autism may never develop functional spoken language (Wodka et al., 2013). One way to support communication of children with autism is with augmentative and alternative communication systems such as speech-generating devices (SGDs). Roche et al. (2014) and Gevarter et al. (2016) examined whether the use of an SGD would increase the vocal production of children with developmental disabilities. While all children learned to use the SGD, vocal production only increased in some children. The current study examined the effects of using an iPad as an SGD on manding skills of children with ASD/DD ages 5 to 8 years old with limited speech skills using a multiple probe across participants design. Intervention consisted of progressive time-delay, differential reinforcement, and least to most prompting. The child was required to access the App (GoTalk Now), then touch one of 9 icons that presented 9 different items, and vocally mand after evoking the speech-output. Data were collected on both iPad-based manding, and vocal manding. Generalization probes across the classroom teacher and follow-up probes were collected as well as social validity data. Results indicate the all three children learned to request via the iPad. Vocal production has substantially increased.

Responding to intraverbals regarding past events is a developmental milestone typically reached by age three or four. Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) might struggle with this skill in comparison to their neurotypical peers. This experiment describes a methodology for teaching subjects with ASD to respond to intraverbals based on past events by systematically increasing delays between stimulus presentation and delivery of an intraverbal prompt. We expect response accuracy, regarding past events after a 30-min delay, to increase after treatment. Results of this experiment expand existing research on intraverbals and demonstrate a treatment method for teaching advanced intraverbals.

In Skinner's (1957) analysis of verbal behavior, several elementary verbal operants are defined as being functionally independent of one another. However, circumstances have been identified in which training one verbal operant will result in untrained (emergent) responses in another verbal operant. One such area which has attracted special attention in prior research is the relationship between listener training (e.g., selecting pictures or items in the presence of a verbal stimulus) and intraverbal responding. Results from previous studies conducted with typically developing children and children with autism alike have shown mixed results, and the variables contributing to emergent intraverbals after listener training remain somewhat unclear. The current study extends the findings of prior research by conducting listener training with and without tact requirements for two children with autism using a multiple baseline across target sets. Collateral responses during training were tracked in order to permit a more fine-grained analysis of variables that predict or account for emergent responding. Results suggest that tacts emitted during listener training were predictive of emergent intraverbals, and the tact training condition most reliably produced emergent intraverbals. These findings have clinical significance for behavior analysts seeking efficient means of teaching intraverbals to individuals with autism.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of establishing substitutive stimulus function for the development of intraverbal learning. Two children with autism who have extensive tact repertoires but minimal intraverbal repertoires participated. A multiple probe design was used. During the baseline, a tact session always precedes a toy play session. Participants were asked to tact the toy. Following that, they were provided the opportunity to engage with 5 different toys. No feedback and consequence were given during the session. This was followed by intraverbal probe session. During the probe, no toys were present and participants were asked the same question (e.g., "what toy did you play with?"). Percent correct of intraverbal responses were recorded. During the substitution training, the procedures are the same as described in baseline except for two differences. First, each toy was presented with a specific container. Second, during the probe session, a specific container associated with the toy was presented with the intraverbal question simultaneously. The results show the percentage of correct intraverbal responses increased and was able to maintain for both participants.

Rapid eating (food stuffing) is an undesirable feeding behavior that may lead to adverse social and health consequences. While current research has evaluated other feeding problem behaviors such as food refusal, food selectivity, and ruminative operant vomiting, there is a lack of research involving rapid eating. We used a video-enhanced activity schedule intervention involving an iPad mini and the software application My Pictures Talk to teach appropriate eating and reduce dangerous food stuffing in an 8 year-old boy diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder—Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS), Bilateral Moderate-Severe Sensorineural hearing loss, and Severe Expressive and Receptive Language Disorder. A concurrent multiple probe design indicated that the intervention was effective in decreasing the frequency of food stuffs across three meals. Generalization probes suggest that the participant's improved eating behavior generalized from meals with the therapist to meals with his mother. The child's mother endorsed high social validity ratings indicating satisfaction with the intervention approach, treatment goals, and outcomes.

There is growing evidence that point of view (POV) video prompting (VP) is an effective method to teach vocational skills to adults with intellectual disabilities. Due to the need for effective and socially valid interventions to teach adults vocational skills in the workplace, studies using portable video instruction were evaluated to determine the effectiveness of self-guided teaching. A multiple baseline design was used evaluate the effectiveness of a POV VP to teach a multi-step scheduling task. All participants performed at 88-100% accuracy when the novel skill was introduced through POV VP. Three of the participants generalized the skill to their personal phones and maintained their performance to criterion levels four weeks later. Social validity results suggest that the use of an iPhone was a socially acceptable mode to deliver a video prompting intervention in a vocational setting.

The current study aims to determine whether video prompting differs when provided on tablet compared with smartphone in terms of effectiveness and efficiency in teaching leisure skills to children with intellectual disabilities, which errors the participants demonstrate in the probe sessions, and the opinions of the mothers on the social validity of the study. Four children with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities, aged between 5 and 6 years old participated in the study. In order to compare the effectiveness of video prompting displayed by means of a tablet and smartphone in the study, an adapted alternating treatments design was used and replicated for all four children. The results indicate that video prompting was effective on both the tablet and smartphone at teaching leisure skills to children with intellectual disabilities, and that the acquired skills were maintained even after the end of the training. There was no significant difference between video prompting on the tablet and smartphone in terms of effectiveness and efficiency. In addition, the most common mistakes in probe sessions were sequence and duration errors, and the social validation findings of the study were positive. Implication for future research are discussed.

This study investigated the effects of an instructional package, mainly using video prompting, to toilet train 3 junior high school students with developmental disabilities in Taiwan. Two students were taught to make bowel movements, and one student was taught to urinate. Toileting was divided into 15, 9 and 20 steps respectively, based on students' needs. Custom-made videos using an adult model were used during training. A multiple probe design across three participants was employed to assess the effects of the intervention. Results showed that the intervention package was effective in teaching toileting skills, and the skills were maintained for 2 months. The current study contributes to the small body of research literature regarding toilet training and video prompting, highlighting the needs of using custom-made videos to toilet train students with developmental disabilities to facilitate skill acquisition.

People diagnosed with developmental disabilities often have limited options for recreation and leisure activities during their free time at school, home, or other locations (Zijlstra & Vlaskamp, 2005). The purpose of this literature review was to analyze peer-reviewed journal articles that reported the outcomes of interventions used to teach video-based recreation and leisure activities to individuals with developmental disabilities. Examples of such recreation and leisure activities include playing video games, watching movies and videos, and participating in other video-related activities. Ten articles met the criteria for inclusion in the review, and the following information was analyzed: participant characteristics, setting, implementer, intervention components, research design, and results. Further, we analyzed reports of generalization, maintenance, treatment fidelity, and social validity data. Results of the synthesis indicate that researchers implemented a variety of common behavioral intervention methods, such as video modeling, activity schedules, manual prompting, visual prompting, and positive reinforcement. Multiple studies employed virtual reality technology as part of the intervention. Researchers conducted studies in varied environments such as day treatment centers, residential facilities, and schools. Participants ranged in age from 9 to 58 years old. Researchers reported positive results across all studies. Implications for practice and future avenues for research will be discussed.

A multiple-baseline design across three individuals diagnosed with a developmental disability and/ or an emotional impairment was used to evaluate handwashing behavior after a video training, and then after providing individualized visual feedback on the outcome of handwashing behavior. The individualized visual feedback was provided by applying a substance that was luminescent under black light to the hands prior to washing and then providing visual feedback on the amount or the luminescent substance after each washing episode. Areas missed during handwashing glowed under a blacklight, providing feedback on the outcome of handwashing and serving as prompt and motivational operation for future handwashing behavior. The handwashing behaviors of three school-aged individuals were analyzed in terms of number of fluorescent spots on the hand, and the total amount of time spent handwashing. Results indicate that the fluorescent visual feedback was acceptable and entertaining for children with developmental and/or emotional disabilities and an effective intervention to improve the quality and motivation for handwashing.

Previous research has indicated that after a functional communicative response (FCR) has been repeatedly strengthened with continuous reinforcement, the interventionist can gradually introduce and increase a delay between the FCR and delivery of reinforcer (Hagopian et al., 1998). Although there have been studies demonstrating the consequential effectiveness implementing functional communication training (FCT), problem behaviors can resume when the FCR is not maintained. The current study evaluated the effects of providing high-probability tasks during delayed reinforcement after FCR with a single participant (14 year old nonverbal male with Autism) who displayed aggression maintained by attention and denied access to tangibles based on observations. A multiple treatment reversal design was conducted using tolerance training and compliance training. Tolerance training was introduced after FCR was established. Once wait time increased to 10-seconds, high probability tasks were presented to the client after each FCR during compliance training. As criteria were met, more tasks were introduced while reinforcement was further delayed. Quantitative analyses found that aggression increased during compliance training while number of independent mands increased across treatments.

Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices have been widely and effectively used throughout classrooms, clinics, communities and homes. Specifically, teaching students to mand for preferred items and express needs. However, there is limited research on how to use AAC devices to assess a student's current level of performance and teach academic content. Furthermore, how can you properly assess a student that is unable to vocalize or physically deliver the target response? If we are unable to assess the student's current level of performance, then how can we effectively plan treatment or curriculum? A single-subject multiple probe design across academics research study was conducted, on the effectiveness of discrete trial training (DTT) procedures through the use of an eye tracking and AAC device to learn colors, shapes, and letters. The participant was a five year old boy with severe disabilities to the extent that he required a wheelchair for mobility and an AAC device for communication. Participants will be provided with procedures, practical strategies, and video demonstrations of implementation.

Functional communication training is a treatment for reducing problem behavior in which individuals are taught an appropriate mand to access the reinforcer previously delivered for problem behavior. Research on risky choice (i.e., choice between fixed and variable alternatives) offers implications for functional communication training treatments that do not include an extinction component for problem behavior. Using a reversal design, the current study examined whether four preschool-age children diagnosed with a developmental disorder were sensitive to variance in delay to reinforcement during functional communication training. Sensitivity to variance in delay was assessed via the children's choices to mand or engage in problem behavior when concurrent mixed or fixed reinforcement delays were programmed for the two responses. Following a preference assessment and functional analysis, each child was taught a mand. Mixed and fixed reinforcement delays were then arranged for the response alternatives across experimental phases. Results indicated that two children were sensitive to variance in delay (i.e., allocated more responding toward the mixed delay across phases). Results are discussed in relation to previous research on functional communication training and risky choice. This study offers implications for future applications of risky choice to the treatment of problem behavior.

The Research Units in Behavioral Intervention (RUBI) Parent Training for Disruptive Behaviors (PT) program is a manualized intervention based on ABA principles including the use of a parent-directed descriptive functional assessment followed by development of a treatment plan including manipulation of antecedents, consequences or both to reduce the child's disruptive and noncompliant behavior and teach functionally equivalent behaviors. The current study aimed to test the efficacy of the manual when translated to a community clinical setting. The study investigated 54 families enrolled in the Marcus Autism Center's RUBI Parent Training program from July 2015 to July 2017. Children's average age was 6.61 (SD=2.21), 90% were males, the majority were Caucasian (57.8%), followed by African American (35.6%). Response to treatment was described using the Aberrant Behavior Checklist (ABC) Home Situations Questionnaire (HSQ) at baseline, mid-point of treatment, end of treatment, and follow-up). There was a significant reduction (p=.001) in noncompliant behavior reported through the HSQ and in disruptive behavior (p=.001) reported through the ABC from baseline to post-treatment assessments. This preliminary data suggests promising replication of the RUBI PT model in diverse clinical settings, yet larger scale trials completed through randomized clinical trials would increase the ability to standardize this program.

Verbal praise is a consequence that caregivers can provide quickly and with relatively minimal effort; it is also often an effective reinforcer for increasing the frequency at which clients with intellectual disabilities engage in appropriate behavior. However, caregivers often do not provide verbal praise when clients engage in appropriate behavior. Direct support caregivers in a residential facility were previously taught to reinforce appropriate behaviors using verbal praise. Written and verbal instructions, modeling, role-plays, and feedback were used across multiple training settings to teach caregivers how to perform the steps required for reinforcement. Prior to the study, compliance and attention-getting behaviors were identified as appropriate (i.e., "reinforceable") behaviors for the majority of clients in the facility. The current project assesses the generalization of caregivers' use of reinforcement for compliance and appropriate attention-getting behaviors with clients in the natural environment. For caregivers performing below criterion, a progressive prompt delay was used to train them to identify opportunities to use reinforcement. When caregivers are able to identify opportunities independently, the fidelity with which reinforcement is delivered is assessed. Feedback will be used to retrain caregivers who do not demonstrate all steps of reinforcement accurately. Baseline results indicate that some caregivers require additional training to identify opportunities to use reinforcement in the natural environment.

Non-dangerous, annoying behavior (sometimes referred to as "junk" behavior) is common among individuals with intellectual disabilities. One approach to addressing these behaviors is to withhold attention contingent on the occurrence of such behaviors and provide it only when the client has begun to engage in better behavior. Caregivers, however, frequently provide attention contingent on these behaviors, which may reinforce them. In the current project, caregivers had been previously taught to ignore junk behavior and differentially reinforce appropriate behavior (pivot) when interacting with clients. In the current project common junk behaviors occurring in a residential facility were identified and graduate research assistants were trained to identify junk behaviors in the natural environment during single-opportunity probes. Interobserver agreement (IOA) was used to refine the definitions of junk behavior when feedback was not sufficient to produce agreement between observers. Graduate assistants were also taught to score opportunities for caregivers to pivot, or attend to better behavior, in the natural environment. Result showed that it is possible to operationally define opportunities to implement the pivot procedure in the natural environment and to train observers to record opportunities and caregiver responses accurately.

Behavior skills training (BST) is a procedure that can be used to teach a variety of skills, including conducting functional analyses (Ward-Horner & Sturmey, 2012), discrete trial instruction (Crockett, Fleming, Doepke, & Stevens, 2007), and natural language paradigm teaching skills (Gianoumis, Seiverling, & Sturmey, 2012). However, there are currently no published studies analyzing the extent to which BST improves training for parents with their own children with developmental disabilities and behavior disorders. To that end, we used BST to train parents to implement multi-component interventions (e.g., functional communication training, extinction) for severe problem behavior. Participants were three mothers whose children were receiving clinic-based outpatient behavioral treatment for aggression or self-injury. A nonconcurrent multiple baseline design was used to evaluate the effects of BST on the parents' skill acquisition of the interventions. Parents' integrity of treatment implementation was initially evaluated after watching a therapist implement the intervention with their child. Then, BST was conducted with mothers using confederate staff. After participants met mastery criterion for implementing the multi-component interventions, their performance generalized when they were asked to implement treatments with their own children. Results are discussed in terms of parent adherence to intensive behavioral interventions.

Complex behavioral interventions involving multiple treatment components (e.g., extinction, differential reinforcement of alternative behavior, response interruption and redirection) are often required to adequately address severe problem behavior in individuals with autism and/or intellectual disability. Previous studies suggest that decreases in the integrity with which these components are implemented may negatively impact their effectiveness at producing desired reductions in problem behavior (St. Peter Pipkin, Vollmer, & Sloman, 2010). The current studies evaluated the effects of an antecedent intervention via materials (Study 1) and procedural (Study 2) checklists on the integrity with which an empirically derived, individualized treatment protocol was implemented by 15 direct care staff in a clinical setting. After an initial baseline where participants received standard training, both checklists were evaluated separately within the context of a modified alternating treatments design. Targeted treatment components consisted of extinction, response interruption and redirection, differential reinforcement of alternative and other behavior, presence of visual rules, signaled availability via a multiple schedule, and competing items. Results showed the intervention increased treatment integrity for over 81% of participants. Interobserver agreement was above 80% for all targeted behaviors. Considerations on utility and generalization of this strategy in school and community settings will be discussed.

Given that children with developmental disabilities often engage in high levels of challenging behavior, we developed a behavior analytic interactive web training (IWT) designed to support parents in addressing this issue. The purpose of our initial study was to conduct a preliminary examination of (a) its effects on function identification and treatment selection by parents, (b) its implementation, and (c) its social validity. To this end, 26 parents of children with developmental disabilities responded to function identification and treatment selection tasks before and after following the 2-hr training. We then conducted a randomized control trial to examine its effects on challenging behavior and parental practices in 40 families. Our results show that parents were more accurate in the identification of behavioral function and selected more adequate treatments following IWT. Furthermore, the training was short, generally easy to follow, and rated highly by parents. Our results suggest that IWT appears to be a viable training tool to support parents in the reduction of challenging behavior.

The direct measure of behavior is the foundation of Applied Behavior Analysis. Valid, accurate, and reliable data is critical in making informed decisions that affect the service delivery for the individuals we work with. This study will evaluate the effectiveness of differential positive reinforcement on the accuracy of data collection with direct service providers of adults with developmental disabilities. Accuracy will be determined by collecting Interobserver Agreement between the Direct Service Provider and a Board Certified Behavior Analyst in a group home setting. Researchers will use paired choice preference assessments to determine a preference hierarchy and deliver potential reinforcers, in least-to most order, for reaching each set criterion throughout the changing criteria design. This paper will discuss the implications for future research related to the effects of positive reinforcement on accuracy of data collection with Direct Service Providers. As well as, how changes in accuracy affect the collection of behavioral data in group home settings with adults with developmental disabilities.

OBJECTIVE. To explore caregiver factors associated with severity ratings of self injurious behavior (SIB) in 196 children with developmental concerns using demographic characteristics and standardized measures of parenting stress and SIB. MEASURES. Caregivers completed the Inventory for Client and Agency Planning (ICAP) to assess the severity of their children's SIB and the Parenting Stress Index - Short Form to measure the magnitude of parent self-reported stress levels. Demographic factors of interest included level of education, race, occupation, and household structure. RESULTS. Caregiver factors statistically associated with higher SIB severity ratings were household structure and parental education. Specifically, two-parent households and parents with a college education reported lower severity of SIB than parents with a high school education or those who provided care as a single parent. There was a trend of Parental Distress associated with greater SIB severity. CONCLUSIONS. Higher ratings of SIB severity were related to parental education and household structure. Although causal direction cannot be inferred, the findings are consistent with existing literature linking caregiver factors and the occurrence of atypical behavior in children with developmental disabilities.

Early childhood special education (ECSE) provides critical services and support for young children. Research indicates that quality experiences early on can improve outcomes over time (Bierman, Heinrichs, Welsh, 2014). Quality EI/ECSE services allow for children with special needs to learn from peers, receive intervention from natural change agents, and develop across domains. Despite the documented importance of effective intervention and quality services in early childhood, ECSE teachers and early interventionists are at a shortage. ECSE teacher shortages are endemic across the age range, but potentially most vital in early childhood settings (Chisholm, 2015). Evidence bases are developing the most effective ways to train teachers to be effective service providers. As this research base develops, new and innovative teacher training methodologies have been created to more effectively and efficiently address this need. The current study examined the efficacy of text-based performance feedback on increased use of teacher strategies to address social communication skills in young children with or at risk for disabilities. Specifically, student teachers received feedback via text message on brief videos of their use of naturalistic teaching strategies to increase manding and play in young children with developmental disabilities. Initial results of a non-concurrent multiple probe across participants design are reported, opportunities for future research are discussed.

Vocal stereotypy which includes non-contextual vocalizations and socially inappropriate speech presents itself as a problem behavior in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Vocal Stereotypy functions as a barrier to efficient learning for the individual emitting the behavior. It also socially isolates the individual engaging in the behavior and restricts his access to social reinforcement. Response Interruption and Redirection (RIRD) has emerged as a well-documented method of increasing contextually appropriate vocalizations and decreasing inappropriate (non-contextual) speech and sounds. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the decrease in occurrence of inappropriate vocalizations that served no communicative purpose and was automatically maintained. The participant in the single subject study was a teenager with a diagnosis of ASD who exhibited high levels of vocal stereotypy. Each instance of vocal stereotypy emitted by the participant resulted in vocal demands being placed on him by the therapist in a clinical setting. The therapist withdrew the vocal demands once the participant successfully responded to three consecutive demands without engaging in Vocal Stereotypy. The follow up probes conducted by the specific therapist who had implemented the procedure earlier showed that Vocal Stereotypy was maintained at post treatment levels.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a lifelong developmental disability that is characterized by challenges with social communication and social interaction as well as repetitive behaviours, interests, or activities (Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). An effective instructional approach for children with ASD is Discrete Trials Teaching (DTT). Mindfulness training has been applied to improve attention, reflection, and skillful responding (Bishop et al., 2004) and has been found to improve work performance (Bond & Bunce, 2003; Ostafin & Kassman, 2012; Ruedy & Schweitzer, 2010; Singh et al., 2009, 2015). Therefore, the present study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a mindfulness training program on procedural fidelity of staff conducting DTT with children with ASD. Participants will consist of six autism tutors and their clients from St.Amant Autism Programs. In a concurrent multiple-baseline design across participants, two trained observers will record the accuracy with which autism tutors deliver prescribed DTT steps. During the intervention phase, autism tutors will complete the mindfulness training program. Observations of tutors' DTT performance will continue during this phase. A follow-up phase will be implemented one week following the cessation of the intervention phase in which observations of tutors' DTT performance will resume for 5 days.

Fathers of children with autism are influential in their children's development and care, yet struggle with accepting the diagnosis and finding effective support systems for their children. Barriers such as job constraints and minimal training opportunities limit fathers' abilities to be more involved in their children's care. Service providers and educators need to be sensitive to the fathers' distinct needs and address their concerns through training and education separate from the mothers. As fathers learn to adapt to the demands related to their children's diagnosis of autism they experience a sense of empowerment and increase their level of involvement. Empirical studies addressing inclusionary practices for fathers of children with autism are limited and present as a gap in the extant literature. This poster will review existing literature on the barriers and concerns experienced by fathers as they manage the internal and external challenges encountered while raising children diagnosed with autism, including suggestions for service providers and educators involved in parent training.

While previous reviews provide a snapshot of the current status of the research quality within autism spectrum disorder (ASD)-focused journals, including only English language studies does not represent the quality of the literature published in languages other than English. To evaluate the overall quality of ASD intervention research, this current review summarizes inter-rater reliability (IRR) and treatment fidelity trends in ASD-focused research published in major Japanese and Taiwanese special education journals. To conduct this review, the following steps were taken: (a) literature search of the seven prominent journals in ASD and single-case research in Japan and Taiwan, (b) assessment of potential studies against pre-set inclusion and exclusion criteria, and (c) study coding of descriptive study characteristics and measures of reliability and treatment fidelity. As a result, a total of 198 articles met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Overall increasing trends in the number of articles that reported IRR data with acceptable levels were observed over time in the Japanese journals while no such trend was found in the Taiwanese journals. In contrast, it was found that no article published in the Japanese journals had reported treatment fidelity data while overall increasing trends in the number of articles that reported treatment fidelity data with acceptable quality degrees were observed in the Taiwanese journals. To improve the overall quality of ASD intervention research, efforts should be made to report both IRR and treatment fidelity data with acceptable quality degrees both in English-language and Asian-language journals.

Several research studies have demonstrated the success of using 30-40 hours per week of ABA therapy with young learners. However, client schedules and ability to participate in long sessions may limit hours available for therapy. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the effects of lower hours of ABA therapy provided on progress made as measured by VB MAPP milestones. Clients were assessed initially with the VB-MAPP Milestones Assessment, which is designed to provide a representative sample of a child's existing verbal and related skills. The assessment contains 170 measurable learning and language milestones that are sequenced and balanced across 3 developmental levels (0-18 months, 18-30 months, and 30-48 months). The skills assessed include mand, tact, echoic, intraverbal, listener, motor imitation, independent play, social and social play, visual perceptual and matching-to-sample, linguistic structure, group and classroom skills, and early academics. Data was collected by reassessing clients using the VB MAPP every 3-4 months after clients' participation in 25 hours or less per week of 1:1 therapy. Results indicate that clients who received 25 hours or less of quality ABA therapy were able to make significant progress as measured using the VB MAPP. Client gains ranged between an increase of 52 points and 95.5. points. This study potentially impacts planning for individuals diagnosed with autism in terms of prescription of ABA hours.

Previous research has shown that time-out procedures can have a positive influence on compliance. The effect of giving a warning prior to a time-out has also been investigated with results showing that in the short run compliance improves when warnings are given; however, in the long run, compliance is better when warnings are not given. The current study examined whether similar results are found if multiple warnings are given before a time-out, using an ABCD design counterbalanced across participants. The participants were children with a history of noncompliance, and a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (n = 3). Parents implemented the procedure and received pre-training and post session feedback. We found that percentage compliance to initial instruction was highest in the no warning condition followed by the one warning condition and lowest in the multiple warnings condition. We also found that overall compliance was higher than compliance to initial instruction in the two warning conditions. The results of this study will benefit parents as they gain an understanding of the factors that influence compliance, which they can then implement in home or community.

When a child diagnosed with ASD is minimally verbal, speech-generating devices are commonly used to promote functional communication, which decreases problem behaviors and increases access to normalized environments (Tiger, Hanley, & Bruzek, 2008). However, limited research has evaluated icon discrimination, a necessary skill for producing accurate communication responses (Lorah, Crouser, Gilroy, Tincani, & Hantula, 2014). This study replicates and extends the procedures of Lorah and colleagues (2014) in a naturalistic setting. A communication training protocol was implemented in which the number of icons on an iPad were systematically increased using stimulus prompts. The terminal step in the protocol included an array of four icons corresponding to high-preferred toys. Correspondence checks (Bondy & Frost, 1994) were conducted to evaluate icon discrimination. The two participants in this study had diagnoses of ASD, were minimally verbal, and had not received previous communication training with an iPad. Our results indicated that, consistent with Lorah and colleagues (2014), the protocol successfully produced accurate requesting for both participants. Implications for clinical practice will be discussed, such as how to efficiently teach accurate communication with an SGD in a naturalistic environment.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a pervasive developmental disorder characterized by impairments in social communication, and restricted and repetitive interests and activities. While not a defining characteristic of ASD, many individuals with this diagnosis display issues with impulsivity. The presence of impulsivity can be pervasive and dramatically affects the intervention process. In the scientific literature, impulsivity is often conceptualized as an issue with temporal discounting. Temporal discounting refers to the decrease in the present value of reinforcers as a function of the delay of their receipt. Researchers have outlined some procedures for evaluating delay discounting in human populations. However, much of this research is limited to hypothetical choices with typically developing populations. Additionally, little research has been conducted comparing impulsivity of individuals with Autism who are lower functioning to typically developing individuals using real as opposed to hypothetical choices. The purpose of the current investigation was the employ delay discounting procedures with both neurotypical individuals and individuals with ASDs. In the investigation, participants were given choices between an impulsive choice and a self-controlled choice. Indifference points were plotted. The preliminary results suggest that individuals with ASD may respond more impulsively than neurotypical peers.

Operant responses of looking, listening, tasting, smelling, and touching are characteristically developed very early in typically developing infants (Novak & Pelaez, 2004). Unfortunately, this is not the case for children and served as the premis of this study. The purpose of this paper was to investigate the effects of a rotated protocol immersion procedure on early observing responses in children with disabilities. A systematic extension to the research conducted by Keohane, Greer, and Luke (2008) on the use of rotated protocol immersion on the increase in observing responses in children with developmental disabilities was implemented. This allowed for the investigation of the effects of quicker presentations and ultimately faster protocol cycle in the increase of observing responses, rate of learning, and overall decrease in learn units to criterion. Results indicated various significant changes in the dependent measures examined throughout this study.

Individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often have difficulties sustaining attention to relevant auditory and/or visual information. One procedure that has been utilized clinically, but not evaluated experimentally, has been the use of a "Secret Word" program to improve auditory attending. Within this procedure the learner is told a "Secret Word" (e.g., ball) and a particular action to engage in each time the word is said (e.g., touching his/her head). Engaging in the specified action when the word is said sets the occasion for reinforcement, while engaging in the response in the absence of the "Secret Word" occasions corrective feedback. In the present study, a reversal design was utilized to evaluate the effectiveness of the "Secret Word" procedure within a group of three children diagnosed with ASD to improve auditory attending in the context of a therapist reading a book. The results demonstrated that the "Secret Word" procedure was effective at improving auditory attending for all participants in the group.

Preference assessments are used to identify items for application as reinforcers in behavior analytic practice. What we do not know is if hierarchies will maintain as ratio-requirements increase. Separately, the field of behavioral economics has provided alternate measures of the effects of reinforcers. For example, the QO parameter from the exponential demand equation could be an indicator of an item's value, as this parameter predicts what consumption of an item will be when it is free (similar to the context of a preference assessment). After conducting preference assessments at increasing ratio-requirements (FR1, 3, 12, 24, 48) for 4 individuals with autism, we compared QO and percent selection values from the preference assessments to determine whether the measures correlated. Interobserver agreement was calculated across all participants for 33% of sessions, and ranged from 93-100% agreement. For all participants, there was a strong correlation, suggesting coherence between the measures of reinforcing efficacy.

Core diagnostic features of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are a marked delay in communication, social skills, and repetitive interests. A continued area of research for the field of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is increasing the areas of social communication for children with ASD. A variety of prompts have been utilized with children with ASD in order to increase social communication. More specifically, research has shown that the use of textual prompts has effectively increased communication skills with children with ASD. The purpose of the current study was to increase initiation of verbal behavior, utilizing textual prompts across environments. Results indicated that the participant increased his initiation of intraverbals and tacting during play activities, across peers and family members. Although, the intervention indicates the efficacy of textual prompts, the sample size is a limitation and does not necessarily support generalization of procedures to additional participants. Further research should include a larger sample size, with continued analysis on multiple control of verbal behavior within social situations.

Tablets are viable tools to be used as speech generating devices (SGDs) with individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other developmental disabilities. These devices have successfully been used to request preferred items, label objects, share information, and engage in social niceties. However, more empirical studies are needed to evaluate the efficacy of utilizing handheld multipurpose electronic devices to teach multistep social-communication skills to children with ASD and other developmental disabilities. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to examine the effectiveness of systematic instruction in teaching iPad-based multistep social-communication skills to children with ASD and other developmental disabilities. Three participants with ASD and other developmental disabilities between 7-10 years of age with no prior experience with using Proloquo2Go app were recruited. The results indicated that the intervention was effective in teaching multistep social-communication skills. The participants were successful in using the iPad to perform the multistep sequence in requesting, saying "thank you," and answering personal questions. Also, some participants were successful in generalizing the iPad-based multistep sequence across new items, common-communication partners, and personal questions.

This study was a partial replication of Rehfeld & Granna (2012). The purpose was to evaluate the effect a three-part procedure (i.e., tacting, sorting, and vocal imitation) on responding to 'where' questions. Four children with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder participated. Participants acquired intraverbal responses for an average of 36 common items in an average of 15 sessions. The discussion will describe common procedures to teach responding to "wh" questions as well as reported limitations of these procedures from the literature. Discussion will focus on benefit of combining common procedures as well as future directions to evaluate the indicial impact of each components of the procedure and an evaluation of efficiency in teaching this skill.

Addressing the conversational difficulties of those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is of vital importance as conversational turn-taking is a governing rule of discourse that facilitates positive relationships with peers. Accordingly, this study examined the effectiveness of an intervention to develop the conversation skills of 10 adolescents (12-14 years), diagnosed with ASD. Group interventions, as opposed to an individual intervention, were selected to provide opportunities to practice social skills with peers. The intervention was based on Elliot and Gresham's Social Skill Improvement System and included target behaviours, 1) reciprocal turn-taking during conversations and 2) active listening during conversations. A multiple probe across three groups design was used to assess performances on both behaviours. While there was low variability at baseline across all groups both social behaviours improved following the introduction of the intervention and provided support for the SSIS group instruction procedure for social skill training and early adolescence as an opportune time for intervention. However, maintenance and generalisation of target behaviours declined from maintenance phase to follow-up with teachers and parents reporting no lasting improvement in the participants' social skills. Further research exploring ways of enhancing maintenance and generalization of treatment effects is warranted.

When compared to developmental disability groups, the rate of unemployment is highest for those diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) at 48% (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2013). Obtaining employment is essential as it provides opportunities for financial security, integration into society, increased independence, and meaningful social relationships (Roux, 2015). Often, patterns of unusual or repetitive behaviors commonly associated with ASD present challenges for the individual and others in the work-environment (i.e. coworkers, supervisors, customers) when disruptive or inappropriate. This presentation reviews a case example for a young adult diagnosed with ASD employed in an office setting, where behavior reduction strategies were applied to disruptive vocalizations (i.e. self-talk, imitative responses) that served as a barrier to long-term employment. A variety of behavior-based strategies (non-contingent scheduled breaks, modified awareness training, rule rehearsal, self-monitoring and goal setting) were implemented to reduce both the frequency and intensity (decibel level) of vocalizations. Each intervention was tailored to maintain the highest degree of normalization for the work environment. Following a scheduled rule-rehearsal procedure and the use a self-monitoring system embedded within a program-wide incentive program, disruptive vocalizations dropped to near-zero rates and have maintained across three months. Additional maintenance data will be taken and discussed.

Given that discrete trial training (DTT) is widely recognized as a highly structured, adult-direct behavioral approach for the children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), it has also been criticized by its low motivation and increasing disruptive behavior during tasks. This kind of problem also exists in imitation training programs, pervasively (Ingersoll, 2008). Thus, the current study was to examine the controlling variables, in order to facilitate the performance of motor imitation in DTT training with two different inter-trial intervals (ITI) in children with ASD. Four pre-school children with ASD (CA 3-5; DQ 42-73) participated in this study. One experimenter sat opposite to the children and presented the imitation task, while the other recorder noted the children's performance. The recorder stopped counting when the children showed no response more than 4 seconds towards the task. According to the study setting, imitation task was divided into two conditions: short ITI (1 sec) and long ITI (3 sec). The two conditions were conducted by ABAB design, "A" stranded for three sequential units of short ITI, while "B" stranded for three sequential units of long ITI. The motor imitation tasks included 37 stimuli, mainly focus on the physical parts of face, hands, and body. As the result, four children all showed a higher performance in short ITI imitation task compared to the long ITI task, which suggested ITI plays a critical role in both attracting the attention and improving the task performance of children with ASD. Further research needs to make a strict control of the usage of imitation stimulus, in order to exclude other confounding variables.

Brief, intensive parent education programs that provide introductory training in Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT) to families of young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have been shown to improve both child and parent outcomes. Research is limited, however, on the effect these types of programs have on aspects of parent well being for families whose child has recently received a diagnosis of ASD. Using a concurrent multiple baseline experimental design across participants, the current study examined outcomes of an intensive 5-day parent education program in PRT for families whose child has recently received a diagnosis of ASD. The treatment program was characterized by a parent-clinician partnership model and used a strength-based approach to teach parents to implement PRT with their child. Standardized assessments and behavioral observation data were used to analyze parent measures, including stress, self-efficacy, and hope. Results from the pilot study indicated that parents showed a decrease in observed stress levels and an increase in observed confidence levels after participating in the parent education program. Further, parents reported increased confidence in teaching and interacting with their child following the treatment program. Implications and recommendations for future directions regarding parent support and ASD are discussed.

Video prompting has been shown to be a viable tool to teach individuals with autism daily living skills (Bereznak et al., 2012). These skills are often practiced as part of community based instruction (CBI). Weng and Bouck (2014) used video prompts to teach price comparison using a horizontal number line. The current study used commonly available communication software to create the video prompts. The horizontal number line was designed to fit the maximum dollar amount students used for purchases during CBI. Pre-training, error correction and prompt fading procedures were added to instruction to enhance generalization of skills learned. Participants were two males and one female ages 14 to 18 with a diagnosis of autism and moderate to severe intellectual disability. The participants attended a comprehensive high school in Southern California. A multiple baseline across participants design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention. Results indicated that two of the three participants acquired the skills to compare the prices of three similar items in a classroom setting. The skill was then generalized to community environments. This study contributes to the literature on the effectiveness of video prompting for teaching functional skills to high school students with severe disabilities.

We tested the effects of the Multiple Exemplar Instruction (MEI) procedure on the emergence of Naming. Three kindergarten students, who were 3-6 year old males and diagnosed with ASD and/or language delays, participated in this study. The dependent variables of this study was the emergence of Naming, which were tested according to the number of correct responses to probe trials of both untaught listener responses ("point to __") and speaker responses (tact and intraverbal) following mastery of matching responses for pre-determined probe 2D-stimulus sets. The independent variable of this study was the mastery of the MEI in which listener (matching and pointing) and speaker (tact and intraverbal) responses were taught in a randomized sequence. A multiple probe design across participants was employed to identify a potential functional relation between the dependent and independent variables. The results depict that the MEI effectively increased the number of correct responses to the Naming probe trials (i.e., the emergence of Naming).

The sibling relationship may be the longest and most consistent relationship of ones life. Research focusing on the siblings of children with Autism has been slow to develop as the primary focus has examined the parents. However, increased attention has been paid to the family and sibling research has been gaining momentum in recent years. Current research is variable indicating links to either complexities developing in mental health and increased stress or minimal negative effects to sibling health and well being. Qualitative research has also linked challenging behavior, family size and sibling gender to an possible increases in stress levels for siblings (Feiges and Weiss, 2004). This literature review determines to focus on the area of challenging behavior, siblings and autism and thoroughly examine the impact reflected in current research of sharing a life with a sibling with autism and challenging behavior. In addition, future recommendations for research will be highlighted.

Supervisors commonly use feedback to teach staff members to accurately implement behavioral interventions. However, few studies have evaluated methods to teach supervisors to provide effective feedback. In the current study, we used a multiple-baseline design to evaluate the use of video modeling to train four supervisors to provide performance feedback to therapists working with children with autism. We assessed the supervisors' accuracy with implementing eight feedback component skills (e.g., descriptive praise, describing incorrect performance, demonstrating correct performance) during simulated role-plays before and after the video-modeling intervention. Following the intervention, we assessed the extent to which the supervisors' skills generalized to providing feedback on a confederate therapist's implementation of novel behavioral protocols and an actual therapist's implementation of protocols with a child with autism. Results showed that all supervisors implemented the feedback component-skills with accuracy following the video-modeling intervention. Additionally, supervisors' skills generalized to providing feedback on novel protocols and to an actual therapist. These results suggest that video modeling may be an effective method of training supervisors to provide performance feedback.

Working on a task for long duration is an essential skill for everyone, however, children with Autism find it difficult to work independently for a long duration on a given task. They easily lose concentration which may lead to various problem behaviours. Token economy system provides a consistent reminder of task completion, and a promise of cumulative and valued reinforcer after the task is complete. A study was conducted on an 11 year old boy with autism who displayed aggressive behaviours at Kaizora Institute in Kenya. Initially, the student worked independently to earn 3 tokens to access the back-up reinforcer for 1 minute. This took 5 minutes in total. In this study, after the student successfully completed a task with a score of 90% and above for 3 days, the number of tokens he earned to access the back-up reinforcer was increased by 1 while maintaining the time with the back-up reinforcer. This led to an increase in time spent working on the task before earning a reinforcer. Results shows that the method was successful in increasing the amount of time the child would spend on a given task

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often have difficulties in demonstrating discriminated responding. This study examined a method of teaching discriminated manding to children with ASD. All three children received services at a university-based early intervention program and were identified as children who engaged in maladaptive behavior when mands were not reinforced. A conditional multiple schedule was used to teach the children when mands for various preferred items and activities would be reinforced, and when they would not. The primary dependent measure was discriminated responding. Discriminated responding was defined as engaging in the correct functional communication response (FCR) as signaled by the discriminative stimuli (i.e. manding for the item associated with the stimulus) and refraining from responding during the S?. A multiple baseline across participants was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the teaching procedure. In post-teaching probes, discriminated responding occurred for a high percentage of opportunities for two of three participants. This study demonstrates that multiple schedules can be used to teach discriminated manding to children with ASD.

There has been minimal research on non-verbal autism and little is known about the understanding and thought process of the non-verbal autistic children. However, there is limited on-going research that has led to openings on understanding and communication in individuals with autism. This study was done at Kaizora (day-centre) in Kenya on a 5-year-old non-verbal student named Oscar on answering questions after a passage had been read to him. This was after we discovered the student could read with no formal teaching on the same. Lessons started with the student reading a short passage of three sentences (silently), then Oscar was asked questions and given three multiple choices answers written on cards so that he could choose one. At first, he needed gestural prompts to select but after a few trials, we faded the prompts and he could identify the correct answer independently. We gradually increased the length of the passage to a five-sentenced paragraph and Oscar was still able to get an average of 70% independent scores. We tend to underestimate the abilities of non-verbal autistic individuals and we hope to provide insight into how advanced their intellectual abilities can be through appropriate exposure.

All females will begin their menstrual period at some point and females with autism are no exception. Using a sanitary pad is an essential skill that doesn't come as easy for females on the autism spectrum as their neurotypical peers. More so, teaching this skill once the menstrual cycle has begun is difficult and can result in additional problem behaviours. There is limited current research in this area, yet it is a skill many struggle with. This study was done at Kaizora Institute in Kenya, with a ten year old pre-menstrual girl who showed signs of physical development. A 24 step task analysis was used with total chaining to teach her how to put on a sanitary pad, keep it on for an hour (maximum time used to avoid rash until she begins her period), and dispose of it hygienically. This process was done on the first week of every month. Initially all steps were done with full physical assistance and after three weeks of trials the student could do all steps independently. This is the second study of the sort done at Kaizora, showing the replicability of the method and its success in mastering this important skill.

Previous studies have investigated interventions to decrease challenging behaviors in children with ASD who used parent-mediated interventions. However, few published studies have focused on randomized controlled trials of caregiver-mediated interventions in individuals with ASD. This presentation will include a quality review and a meta-analysis to review randomized controlled trials to determine whether caregiver-mediated interventions benefit communication skills in individuals with ASD. The meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials involving 602 individuals with ASD aged 2-12 years was evaluated. The dependent variable was caregiver-mediated interventions for communication skills in an experimental-control group comparison design. The experimental groups were individuals with ASD receive training from parents who were trained to implement interventions to their own child with ASD. The control groups were individuals with ASD who receive training from parents who did not receive any training from professionals. Each study was reviewed and coded for information required to calculate effect sizes and information related to the moderators. The results of design quality characteristics of the included studies were shown that there is no publication bias. By using moderator analysis, the differences in some moderators were statistically significant. The presenter will report results, discuss suggestions for future research, and provide implications for practice.

Grow et al. (2011) compared teaching a set of stimuli for eight learners with Autism utilizing the conditional only and simple-conditional methods. The conditional only method was effective for seven out of eight participants and the simple-conditional method was effective for four out of eight participants. The purpose of the current study was to analyze chance responding and potentially increase conditional discrimination acquisition for a student with Autism and Down Syndrome. Methods: During conditional discrimination training for a learner diagnosed with Autism and Down Syndrome, data showed chance or lower responding across multiple sessions. To potentially increase success, a stimulus placement board was used to systematically increase the distance of the correct answer and potentially increase saliency of the stimulus to the learner. At the first level, the correct answer was placed eight inches closer to the learner than the distractor stimuli. The correct answer was always placed in the middle position. After three sessions at the 80% mastery criterion, the correct answer was placed five inches closer to the learner than the distractor stimuli for Level 2. After three sessions of 80% independent responding, the correct stimulus was placed two inches closer to the learner than the distractor stimuli. At level 3, the correct answer was still in the middle position, and the distractor stimuli were in the same positions. After the learner met the mastery criterion of at least 80% independence across three sessions, the correct answer was at the same distance from the learner as the distractors for Level 4. Furthermore, at this level, we counterbalanced the position of the correct answer and the corresponding stimulus was placed in close proximity to the correct answer (i.e. the "match" was placed right by the correct answer to increase saliency). Differential reinforcement for independent and correct responses was used across all sessions (including baseline). Results: The data shows that mastery criterion was met across all levels. Data were most variable in the last two phases. Conclusion: Overall, these data suggest that the systematic use of a stimulus placement board with stringent and gradual criteria may be effective to increase acquisition of conditional discriminations.

An AB single subject research design was used to evaluate the implementation of demand fading and differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) on the behaviors of a highly aggressive client. The client, an 18 year old male, living primarily in a group home, who is severely impacted by four different diagnoses: ASD, Epilepsy, Cortical Vision Impairment, and Cerebral Palsy. Aberrant behaviors occurred in the form of high frequency aggression; at week ten the client began engaging in high rates of self-injurious behaviors. The aggressive behaviors occurred in the form of scratching, pinching, or digging a nail into another individual's skin, grabbing with enough force to bruise, hitting, kicking, and hair pulling. The high frequency of behaviors impeded the ability for the direct care staff to provide services. A two direct care staff member ratio was executed. A DRA procedure was used to reinforce the client's mands for cessation of staff. Concurrently, demand fading was used to successively increase the demands placed per session in a 10 minute interval. The hypothesized result are a decrease in both self-injurious and aggressive behaviors, as well as an increase in the demands placed per session with an eventual fading of the 2:1 ratio.

Components of intervention science, such as procedural fidelity, have been emphasized in the evidence-based movement in special education. Intervention intensity differs from procedural fidelity by emphasizing the dose-response relationship and has received considerately less attention. A group of empirically robust video modeling peer-reviewed journal articles were examined to determine the extent authors reported six constructs of intervention intensity: (1) dose, (2) dose frequency, (3) dose duration, (4) number of practice opportunities, (5) intervention agent, and (6) cumulative intervention intensity. The studies examined were from Wong and colleagues' (2015) evidence-based practices report for learners with autism. Video modeling was selected because of its demonstrated efficacy through a large body of experimental research yet little known about the intensity of video modeling to achieve maximum learner outcomes. Results indicated dose, dose frequency, number of practice opportunities, and cumulative intervention intensity were reported or calculated for over half of the studies while dose duration was reported for less than half of the studies. The primary intervention agent were researchers. Intervention intensity is a complex, relevant construct of intervention science that warrants additional study by diverse groups of researchers. Limitations and suggestions for future intervention intensity research are discussed.

For individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the ability to respond to multiple cues when requesting or sharing information can be particularly challenging in a group setting. Specifically, teaching a variety of strategies to first gain someone's attention, as well as modify one's own behavior if not immediately successful, is critical to initiate social interactions. The goal of the present study was to teach a child with ASD to use a variety of attention gaining strategies contextually applicable to a situation, and independently modify a strategy if not successful on the first attempt. An extra stimulus prompt in the form of cue cards was used to teach contextually appropriate response options. The ratio of situations in which attention was not immediately provided and the client was required to select another strategy was systematically increased. Results indicate that by utilizing an extra stimulus prompt, the participant was able to use a variety of attention gaining strategies, and change strategies when the first attempt was not successful, as compared to baseline levels. Results suggest attending to multiple cues, responding appropriately, and adjusting behavior as needed to gain attention produces higher quality and more effective social initiations.

Adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) typically struggle with obtaining and maintaining gainful employment. Employed adults with ASD will also most likely need workplace supports to perform necessary work tasks. Interventions grounded in principles of applied behavior analysis (ABA) can be utilized in community employment settings to support the work performance of employees with ASD. A young adult with ASD employed as a courtesy clerk at a large grocery story received an intervention package consisting of corporate-produced video training modules, practice trials with prompting and reinforcement, and social narratives. A withdrawal design was used to examine the efficacy of the intervention package, and a functional relationship between the intervention package and work performance was established. Results demonstrated the young adult improved his on-task work performance to 80% or higher on work shifts after the intervention package implemented. The degree of confidence of the results is high. Implications for workplace interventions utilizing principles of ABA will be discussed.

Differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) without extinction may have clinical utility when practitioners cannot successfully implement extinction. DRA for compliance without extinction, when both compliance and problem behavior result in equal durations of escape, is ineffective for escape maintained problem behavior (Lalli et al., 1999). Differential magnitudes of escape contingent on compliance relative to problem behavior may facilitate the efficacy of DRA without extinction (Athens & Vollmer, 2010). We replicated and extended previous research on DRA without extinction by evaluating the effects of large, medium, and small escape durations for compliance. Treatment outcomes were analyzed from data that were and were not corrected for reinforcer access time. Across analyses, problem behavior decreased and compliance increased in only the large escape duration DRA condition. Interobserver agreement was calculated for 36% of sessions and averaged 96.45% for compliance and 97.34% for aggression. Increasing the escape duration for compliance relative to problem behavior may facilitate DRA without extinction for treatment of escape-maintained problem behavior.

Adapted from the Teaching Interaction Procedure, the Cool Versus Not Cool Procedure follows the same basic guidelines in order to teach students with Autism how to respond appropriately in varying social situations. The procedure demonstrates both appropriate and inappropriate forms of responding in order to generalize the appropriate response to targeted social situations (Leaf et al., 2016; Leaf et al., 2015). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of the Cool Versus Not Cool Procedure, when teaching students with Autism adaptive replacement behavior that targets social skills to decrease inappropriate vocal verbal behavior and increase socially appropriate interactions with others. This study was conducted with an adolescent, male student in a private residential and school setting, with a primary diagnosis of Autism, who engaged in significantly increasing levels of inappropriate vocal verbal behavior. The steps of the procedure were adapted and applied to a token economy and presented in phases, following the basic guidelines of labeling the targeted behaviors, providing a rationale of why the student should display these behaviors, demonstration of the skill through role-play, and delivery of reinforcement. As a result, the Cool Versus Not Cool Procedure did not demonstrate effectiveness until a token economy was included.

Many individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) experience challenging behaviors such as self-injurious behaviors (SIBs). Many SIBs are usually maintained by sensory and social reinforcements. Many individuals with ASD do not know how to access reinforcement appropriately, thus SIBs become handy for them. This study investigates the effectiveness of the use of functional communication training (FCT) plus chained schedule of reinforcement [fixed-ratio (FR) schedule vs. variable-ratio (VR) schedule] to decrease SIB and increase appropriate responses. This is a case study, and uses single-subject alternating treatment design. The participant was reported to engage in SIB regularly and attends Children's Institute that delivers special education services in segregated settings. Data collection is done by a service provider after being trained by the researchers. A functional analysis is done first to identify and verify the function of the SIB. Then two interventions (i.e., FCT + FR and FCT +VR) will be offered to the participant alternately, for example, FCT + FR on days 1, 3 and 5, etc., and FCT +VR on days 2, 4, and 6, etc. SIB will be calculated pre- (i.e., baseline) and post-intervention and comparison will be made to measure the effectiveness of interventions.

The field of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) focuses largely on developing acquisition of skills and promoting maintenance of these skills once mastery has been achieved and training commences (Baer, Wolf, & Risley, 1968; Stokes & Baer, 1977). Mastery is generally recognized in the field of ABA as an individual reaching a specific mastery criterion (Luiselli, Russo, Christian, & Wilczynski, 2008). A survey of clinical practices indicates that the majority of practitioners utilize a certain accuracy percentage across multiple sessions to determine mastery (Love, Carr, Almason, & Petursdottir, 2009). Most clinicians report the use of either an 80% or a 90% correct responding across multiple sessions criterion. However, there is little research evaluating what type of mastery criteria are currently used during research. A disconnect between the mastery criteria utilized in empirical evaluations of skill acquisition procedures and the mastery criteria utilized in the application of those procedures in an applied setting may represent a drift away from evidence-based practice. The current study involves a detailed survey of current clinical practices related to the use of mastery criteria in applied settings. In addition, the current study provides a descriptive analysis of mastery criteria utilized within skill acquisition research. Implications of the relationships between the results of these two components is discussed.

This review of the literature will be about using behavior contracts to address students with antisocial behaviors and autism in third grade through five grades. Many researches will discuss how contingency contracting can impact these pupils' performances. This research used many databases to review 14 articles that implemented behavior contracts. By the end of this study, it will show how this method can effect students' behavior and academic skills and provide some implications of and recommendations for using behavior contracts.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have difficulty in controlling visual attention. Previous research suggested that children with ASD showed less joint visual attention to stimuli behind them than stimuli in front and on the side (Yamamoto, Kakutani, & Terada, 2001). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of a comprehensive intervention of visual perception in an ecological and large space for children with ASD. One child with ASD (chronological age: 4;10, developmental quotient: 73) participated. The experimenter and the child sat facing each other. Six pictures were set 0.5m (short distance condition) or 2m (long distance condition) away from the child. They were each separated by 60°, so two pictures were in front, two to the side, and two behind the child. At each trial, the experimenter said a name of the cards (e.g., "Apple") to require the child to point the card. As a result, the child showed correct pointing at more than 85% of trials in each distance condition and at each stimulus position. In this study, we found that pointing facilitated visual perception in an ecological and large space. We need to conduct this experiment to more children with ASD.

An appropriate interpersonal distance is important for support of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, few studies have quantitatively evaluated interpersonal distance because of methodological constraint. In this research, we examined a methodology to quantify the interpersonal distance in two different behavioral intervention. We used the "Motion Capture System (MCS)" to temporally measure the three-dimensional position by the reflection of infrared radiation. As a preliminary study, two adults played a role of a "therapist" and a "child" in two different intervention situations. (1) developmental behavioral intervention condition ; a "therapist" and a "child" played with toys (Suhreinrich, 2011) and (2) interactive movement condition; a "therapist" and a "child" ran, walked, and followed each other (Sekine, 2017).We automatically measured behaviors with MCS and calculated the interpersonal distance for each time series. As a result, the interpersonal distance was stable around 0.5 m throughout the (1) session. In the (2) session, the interpersonal distance greatly varied between 0.5 m and 5.5 m. These results suggested that MCS could automatically measure the interpersonal distance and interactive space as dependent variables for evaluating the effect of behavioral interventions. The research was supported by CREST of Japan Science and Technology Agency.

On-going sleep deprivation can be harmful for the child with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and their families resulting in a reduction in health, well-being, daily functioning and quality of life. A high percentage of children with ASD experience sleep disturbance. Fifteen families with a child diagnosed with ASD who experienced sleep disturbances were recruited in a single subject A-B design. The research targeted behaviours related to bedtime resistance, sleep onset delay, night waking, early morning waking and co-sleeping with parents. It utilised specifically developed assistive technology and parent training that incorporated behavioural strategies to promote an effective 12-week ASD sleep intervention. Results indicated varying degrees of sleep improvement which are discussed in relation to the targeted behaviours and compliance with the use of the assistive technology used to support individualise bedtime routines. Overall the intervention empowered families to manage sleep routines which may ultimately promote social inclusion, increased feelings of wellbeing and significantly improve the quality of life for those with ASD and their families. With further research replication the assistive technology utilised within the current study has the potential to support sleep clinicians in the implementation of sleep interventions and promote positive treatment outcomes.

Enzo is a 58-month old child who entered an ABA-based program when he was 36 months old. He entered the program as a non-verbal child and has been taught echoic relations and its pre-requisites since the treatment onset. As part of this general program Enzo is being taught auditory-discrimination training via matching-to-sample tasks coupled with exclusion training. A training session is composed by 12 trials. Each trial begins with the presentation of a sample auditory stimulus and followed by a zero delay presentation of two comparison stimuli. Correct comparison choices were followed by the presentation of an item of preference. Incorrect choices were followed by an inter-trial interval of about 3s. Visual stimuli consisted of pictures of familiar objects and auditory stimuli of its correspondents in Portuguese, presented by the research assistant. Eleven pairs of stimuli were presented. In general, after criterion was met for a set of two stimuli, one stimulus was kept and a different stimulus was introduced. In two occasions, however, a new pair was stimulus was introduced, serving as a control condition. General results suggested that the exclusion procedure did not facilitate acquisition of a new relation of a new pair of relations. The discussion covers some of the reasons that might explain the participant's performance and what exactly the participant may be learning when the exclusion procedure is in progress. Suggestions for further research are offered.

Background: Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT) has demonstrated significant increase in functional language and communication for all types of children with autism spectrum disorders (Koegel et al., 1999). When compared with analogue teaching conditions, PRT outcomes were superior; children demonstrated more verbal utterances and generalized those utterances outside of the clinical setting (Koegel et al., 1987). Over the past several years, generalization of PRT techniques beyond ASD has been examined, with increased functional verbal output demonstrated not only in ASD, but also in children with other developmental concerns, including global developmental delay, speech delay, and Down syndrome (Northington et al., 2016). PRT principles are useful for individuals with other developmental concerns beyond autism (Northington et al., 2016). Treatments that utilize neurotypical peers also demonstrate significant improvements in the social skills of neuroatypical individuals (Maich et al., 2015). It seems that by increasing the functional communication in neuroatypical children, their verbal output will begin to match that of their neurotypical peers. Objectives: To demonstrate the efficacy of PRT in neurotypical and neuroatypical individuals, and to examine if differences in functional output exists between the two groups after treatment. Methods: Data from three children were analyzed. All three were aged 4-years when data were collected as part of ongoing treatment. One boy was diagnosed with global developmental delay; the second was diagnosed with ASD; and the third was neurotypical and in treatment for a disruptive behavior/anxiety disorder. Data were collected utilizing ten-minute video segments of weekly PRT sessions. Data were analyzed to examine increase in functional verbal utterances and mean length of utterances for all children. Results: All three children, regardless of diagnosis, demonstrated increases in functional communication after intervention with PRT. Conclusions: PRT is an effective method for achieving significant improvement in functional communication for all children, despite diagnosis. Furthermore, it can be utilized with both neurotypical and neuroatypical individuals with great success.

We used a reversal design to replicate and extend a previous study conducted by Romaniuk et al. (2002) that evaluated the effects of choice making on problem behaviors maintained by escape. Three young children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder participated. A functional analysis was conducted to determine whether escape from demand maintained problem behavior. Following the identification of the problem behavior's maintaining variable, the effectiveness of instructional task choice on the occurrence of problem behavior was evaluated. The results of this study showed that a choice of task intervention was successful in decreasing problem behavior maintained by escape. These results were replicated further in generalization settings for each participant.

The current study is the replication of Mazaleski, Iwata, Rodgers, and Timothy (1994) study. They examined the effects of sensory extinction and punishment effects of protective equipment on self-injurious mouthing with an automatic function. Results of their study showed that one individual's hand mouthing decreased under the sensory extinction condition and another individual's under the punishment condition. In the current study, Functional Analysis was conducted to determine the function of the individual's stereotypic hand biting. Results were mixed, but more occurrences were observed consistently under the alone condition, even in the extended alone condition. High frequency of hand biting was observed during the baseline conditions. Thus, the participant will be exposed to the two treatment conditions i.e., sensory extinction and punishment (Mazaleski et al, 1994). During sensory extinction condition the hand brace will be placed non-contingently on the individual's hand, and during punishment condition the hand brace will be placed on individual's hand contingent upon hand biting. The results will be demonstrated using ABCACBC multiple treatment reversal design.

Having a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) may yield tremendous impacts on a family, particularly for families from diverse cultural backgrounds such as immigrants. Accessing educational and therapeutic services is often challenging and ridden with various obstacles for these families. This study aims to investigate the needs and barriers faced by immigrant families in accessing these services for their child with ASD. A mixed-method research approach that combines online survey and semi-structured interview was employed to collect data for this project. Thirty immigrant families with various social economic status, racial and ethnic backgrounds completed the online survey and 10 of them were interviewed. Results from the online survey indicated that immigrant families need (1) more information about the legal rights and how the educational system works in the U.S.; (2) more financial and emotional supports; (3) effective parenting skills and communication with service providers; (4) more societal acceptance and inclusion of their child on the spectrum. Data from the semi-structure interviews identified the following barriers: language barrier; cultural and value differences; lack of knowledge of legal rights; lack of knowledge of therapeutic and educational systems; lack of professional supports; and parenting stress/compromised mental health; as well as financial constraints.

A systematic review of Parent-implemented Intervention (PII) is important as we don't know what specific evidence-based practices (EBPs) have been integrated and trained to support parents. PII entails parents directly using individualized intervention package with their child to increase positive learning opportunities and acquisition of important skills. Parents are encouraged to use EBPs to support their children with autism. It is not clear, however, what specific EBPs have been integrated into the "package" and how parent may be implemented the practice efficiently through structured training. By systematically reviewed effective PII programs reported in previous literature using the 26 EBPs (Wong et al, 2014), this study aims to unpack the core intervention features (i.e., selection and combination of EBPs, related target outcomes), and the implementation process (training and participants' characteristics) of these intervention programs. Thirty two studies were identified and findings suggested that some EBPs (e.g., prompting, modeling) are frequently embedded in the PII package while other EBPs (e.g., video modeling) have not been examined. Also the targeted outcomes and child age are clustered with potential for future research. Moreover, we described how parents were trained overtime and what training strategies may seem promising. Insights about current status of PII research and implication for practices will be provided.

Children with autism often display extreme escape behaviours during haircuts making it very difficult for families to maintain their child's hair (Schumacher & Rapp, 2011). This impacts the child's appearance which in turn has social consequences. The present study set out to increase compliance with haircutting for a five-year-old boy with PTEN-ASD. The secondary aims of the study were to decrease escape behaviours and to conduct a preliminary investigation into the effects of negative reinforcement (escape) alone compared to a combination of both positive and negative reinforcement (escape and a preferred edible item). A reversal design was used to evaluate the effects of a multicomponent treatment package on the child's compliant behaviour during haircutting. The treatment package consisted of; a performance hierarchy, distracting stimuli, partial in vivo exposure, a mirror and reinforcement. Following treatment there was an increase in the child's compliance during haircutting and a decrease in his escape behaviours and a combination of both positive and negative reinforcement was shown to be more effective in bringing about fast and lasting behaviour change than negative reinforcement alone.

Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention (EIBI) is an empirically based treatment for children with Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that uses the principles of applied behavior analysis. Discrete-trials teaching (DTT) is commonly used in EIBI as a method for teaching children with ASD. DTT involves a teacher presenting an antecedent to the child, waiting for the child's response, and then providing a consequence for that response (either a reinforcer for a correct response or non-interaction for an incorrect response). These steps occur in rapid succession over many trials during a teaching session. In order to teach others to conduct DTT Fazzio and Martin (2011) created the Discrete-Trials Teaching With Children With Autism: A Self-Instructional Manual, which is now in its 4th edition. The current study assessed the effectiveness of the Fazzio and Martin DTT self-instructional manual plus video (2011) with mothers of children with ASD as the participants. I used a modified multiple-baseline design across a pair of participants, and then replicated across another pair. During the baseline assessment, a mother was given a one-page summary for three separate tasks and asked to teach these three tasks to a confederate role-playing a child with ASD. Once baseline data was collected, the mother had the opportunity to study the self-instructional manual, respond to the study questions, and watch the demonstration videos. She then conducted a post-training DTT session with the confederate and if she achieved mastery (80% accuracy), she conducted a follow-up session with her child. To date, one participant has completed the study and the results suggest that the self-instructional package is effective in teaching mothers how to implement DTT. Currently, there are three other mothers in the study, and data collection is anticipated to be completed by the beginning of December 2017. It is important that we have an effective tool to train parents how to implement DTT as it is a common component of a child's EIBI program.

Previous research has demonstrated the effectiveness of behavioral skills training (BST) for teaching abduction-prevention skills to children with autism. However, the potential overgeneralization of the response to safe strangers (e.g., police officers) has not been evaluated. The current study used BST to teach four children with autism, ages 6 to 12, to emit a three-step safety response to lures from strangers (i.e., vocally decline, leave, and report the incident). After participants met mastery criterion for responding to strangers, their responses to lures from police officers were assessed. A multiple baseline across participants design demonstrated that all four participants acquired the safety response to strangers and subsequently overgeneralized the response to the officers. Discrimination training was effective for two participants, who consistently emitted the targeted responses to strangers (run away and report) and police officers (walk with the officer). The remaining two participants demonstrated improvement in discriminating. Varying degrees of maintenance of skill improvement were observed at 4 to 16-week follow-up sessions. Results indicate that practitioners should likely incorporate discrimination training when teaching abduction-prevention skills and that booster sessions may be necessary to promote maintenance of appropriate safety responses.

Telepractice is an increasingly popular service delivery option for BCBAs (Boisvert, Lang, Andrianopoulos, & Boscardin, 2010). However, practitioners must take special precautions to uphold our ethical and legal requirements. Due to behavioral and attention issues, children with Autism Spectrum disorders (ASD) are often not seen as good candidates for telepractice. However, through parent-directed treatment, children with ASD can benefit from this intervention tool. In a pilot parent training course utilizing telepractice, data suggests positive results for ASD and their parents. Project SKILLS (Skills and Knowledge of Intervention for Language Learning Success) is a parent directed program for caregivers and parents of children with ASD. SKILLS offers 8-week courses of training in evidence-based intervention for enhancing language skills in young children with ASD. Project SKILLS utilizes telepractice in order to provide therapy and parent coaching to reach rural families who cannot regularly access in-person sessions. ZOOM is the teleconferencing software used which complies with HIPAA standards. Project SKILLS is the first to integrate Ingersoll and Dvortcsak's curriculum "Teaching Social Communication to Children with Autism" on a large scale via telepractice.

Children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit significant delays and deficits, including language and social skills, especially with peers. Of particular concern is the ability to make specific requests (aka manding) For children with ASD, manding often needs to be taught explicitly. Previous research has focused on manding with adult teachers. There is limited research on manding with peers. The present study used a multiple-baseline (single-subject) design method to assess whether children with ASD can transfer the skill manding from an adult to a typically developing peer. Three children (ages 4-7 years) were taught by an adult to request a spoon during several different activities. Similar-aged peers were taught to serve as substitute peer trainers. The adult teacher then supervised the peer trainers as they assisted the participants through the same activities. Participants were assessed for prompted and unprompted mands across a sequence of naturalistic play-based ABA baselines. The participants were also assessed for manding with a novel peer. All of the children showed improvements over the initial baseline. Two children showed increases in prompted and/or unprompted mands (requests) with the peer trainers. Two children showed evidence of generalization to a novel peer. This study extends previous research on manding in children with ASD.

Previous research has investigated the analysis and treatment of motor stereotypy, however less research exists regarding the treatment of vocal stereotypy. The current study examined the non-communicative vocalizations of an 18-year old female diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. A functional analysis was conducted to determine the function of the behavior, which was determined to be automatically reinforced. Follow assessment and baseline of the behavior, an intervention combining response interruption and redirection with a stimulus discrimination visual cue was implemented with the intent of decreasing both the vocal and motor stereotypy. The response interruption and redirection procedure was replicated from a previous study conducted by Ahearn, Clark and McDonald (2007). An ABAB design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the component treatment package. Results show that the intervention lead to an immediate decrease in the vocal and motor stereotypies.

This study seeks to investigate the effects of staff preference (highly preferred staff versus non-preferred staff) on the affect, compliance, and on-task behavior of adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) during demand activities that require prompting for on task and thorough completion. [LB1] Individual participants who indicate a clear preference for certain staff members when compared to others, identified through a preference assessment, will be included in the study. Each participant will engage in the same demand activity during both treatment conditions while direct-care staff members are randomly alternated (highly preferred and non-preferred). Data[LB2] will be evaluated through an alternating treatments design and be analyzed through visual analysis. Implications for the study include the value of providing choice and assessing preference of staff members and the potential impact for changing traditional staff training models.

Medication is often used solely or in conjunction with behavioral procedures to treat behavior problems in individuals with autism. However, the synergetic effect of multiple medications may evoke other difficult challenges that must be addressed in addition to the original dangerous behavioral concerns. Databased decisions and consistent behavioral programming can be used in conjunction with medical oversight and review to systematically reduce medication use so that the individual over time is demonstrating appropriate behavior on the smallest level of medication necessary. This case study demonstrates a formal protocol used when reducing the number and amount of medications used with an adolescent male with autism. He demonstrated such serious self-injurious and aggressive behaviors that he was a danger to himself and others, and that resulted in him being on a cocktail of several different medications to manage his specific problematic behaviors as well as other alleged psychiatric issues. The number and dosage of these medications were such that he was sedated which interfered with skill acquisition. Close collaboration with his medical neurologist, along with consistent behavioral programming and comprehensive data collection, resulted in gradual reduction and elimination of medications along with continued low-to-no rates of the original target behaviors. The protocol was successful due to the collaboration, gradual pace of medication reduction, consistent implementation of the behavior intervention plans, and the systematic collection of behavior data.

This presentation will provide participants with an overview of Reciprocal Imitation Training (RIT) and the evidence-base supporting the use of this intervention to teach young children with autism to spontaneously imitate. RIT strategies include a combination of naturalistic, developmental, and behavioral principles implemented within play-based routines. Research conducted training four parents to implement RIT through Internet-based modules and in vivo coaching will be presented. Participants will gain an understanding of the procedures used to educate parents and coaching methods used in the home. Measurement of parent and child behavior change within naturalistic environments including improvements in parent fidelity, use of strategies, child imitation will be presented. Video examples demonstrating parent-therapist and parent-child interactions pre and post intervention will be shown. Problem solving methods used during parent training, parent-child outcomes, and limitations will be discussed. Additionally, participants will learn how to incorporate this naturalistic approach to teaching spontaneous imitation into structured, adult-directed applied behavior analysis treatment programs for children with autism.

Extending from Skinner's analysis of verbal behavior (1957) joint control describes the process in which one verbal response is emitted in the presence of two distinct discriminative stimuli. Using a multiple baseline experimental design, experimenters will evaluate the effectiveness of a teaching procedure utilizing rehearsal and joint control on skill acquisition when teaching receptive sequencing tasks. Participants include two school-aged male children diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). The initial procedure includes rehearsal training in order to acquire a self-echoic repertoire. Next procedures for receptive sequencing training include presenting a set of 10 two-decisional pictures to the participant and then presenting the instruction "Give (object 1), (object 2) and (object 2)" requiring the participant to engage in a self-echoic response and then retrieve the objects in the correct order. Preliminary results show that after rehearsal training the two boys were able to demonstrate a self-echoic repertoire by accurately repeating 4 sets of 3 common objects. One participant, Jack, did not respond accurately to receptive sequencing during baseline conditions. Additional data on both participants are to be recorded as receptive sequencing training sessions begin.

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the application of equivalence-based instruction (EBI) to teaching six facial emotions ('happy', 'sad', 'angry', 'scared', 'disgusted' and 'surprised'), both as an isolated stimulus and within a social context. Nine children with ASD aged 9-12 years were taught to identify six facial expressions of emotions (A) correctly, and to relate them to the situational context (C) by using the stimulus equivalence technology. The participants were using a tablet and the stimuli were presented to the participants on the tablet's screen. A pre-test was conducted to assess the participants' ability to match pictures of facial expressions (A) to written labels of emotions (B) and to match pictures of emotional situations (C) to pictures of facial expressions (A). In the training phase, a matching-to-sample procedure was used to teach the participants to match first AB and then BC. After training each relation (AB/BC), symmetry probes were conducted and if participants' failed to pass criterion, then training was re-introduced. A post-test, identical to pre-test followed. Generalisation probes were conducted using novel picture stimuli and video clips. Preliminary group data on each emotion are presented in conjunction with individual performances. The results contribute to the literature suggesting that stimulus equivalence training can be effective in teaching emotional recognition to children with ASD. Clinical and further research implications will be discussed.

Research on vocal stereotypy suggest, at one hand, that it can be maintained by sensory consequences, on the other hand, there is also the suggestion that environmental variables can have a role in maintaining it. The current study investigated the effects of reinforcement of vocal alternative behavior and contingent demand on the vocal stereotypy shown by two children diagnosed with autism. Following an experimental functional analysis, the frequency of vocal stereotypy was measured during a baseline condition. The intervention was delivered following an A-B-A single subject design. During A conditions, vocals stereotypies were followed by vocal demand and alternative vocal behaviors were followed by social reinforcement. During B conditions, no intervention was delivered. Functional analyses showed that the vocal stereotypy of one participant was maintained by sensory consequences and by social reinforcement for the other participant. Vocal stereotypy decreased and alternative vocal behavior increased when intervention was in place (condition A) when compared to baseline and reversal conditions (B). Given the effectiveness of the intervention, we are now training caregivers to deliver the intervention in natural settings, thus, increasing the likelihood of generalization.

Individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often demonstrate limited or restricted language. Thus, behavioral interventions have been developed to expand the vocal-verbal repertoire of individuals diagnosed with ASD. One program that has been implemented clinically, but has not been evaluated empirically, is the DOT program. Within this program the student is presented a picture directly below a pre-determined number of circles (i.e., dots). Each dot is meant to correlate with a spoken word. The student is prompted to touch the dot and say the targeted word (e.g., "Ball"). The number of dots is systematically increased (e.g., from two dots to three dots which could represent "It's a ball"). In this study, a changing criterion design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the DOT program to expand the number of spoken words during comments for one individual diagnosed with ASD. The results showed that the DOT program was effective at increasing the mean length utterance for the participant.

Implicit spatial perspective-taking is the ability to observe spontaneously an object from an altered viewpoint, consider what is observed, and how it is observed. This study examined how to see objects effectively when participants were moving to an altered viewpoint. Participants were Ken, diagnosed with ASD, and Miki, with typical development. A pre-post design was implemented. At pre-post-test, participants wore eye trackers. Sample stimuli were randomly presented to participants by lighting one of a face stimulus's two eyes, with the stimulus itself rotated 0, 90, 180, or 270 degrees from the upright position. Subsequently, comparison stimuli without the lit eye were presented at 0 degrees, and participants were asked to point to the position where they expected the lit eye to appear. During training, the sample stimuli's lighted eye and nose were alternately emphasized and presented. Participants moved to the upright position while continuing to look at sample stimuli. At this time, the monitor displayed participants' eye movement in real time. When mutual gaze behavior appeared, we provided feedback: "You were seeing lighting the eye and nose by turns" or "You looked very well!" Results suggested that mutual gaze behavior was occurring when participants moved to another viewpoint.