Association for Behavior Analysis International

Behavioral history effects are those of prior experience on subsequent current behavior. This study investigated history effects of reinforcement schedules correlated with high or low reinforcement rates on stimulus control in later contingencies using chicks. In the first phase, four chicks were exposed to two tandem variable-interval differential-reinforcement-of-low-rate schedules under different stimulus conditions. The values of DRL schedules were adjusted so that reinforcement rates in one stimulus condition were higher than those in the other, even though response rates in the two conditions were nearly identical. In the second phase, a fixed-interval schedule was introduced to each chick under the same stimulus conditions as those in the first phase. In the final phase, chicks' key-peck responses were extinguished under the same stimulus conditions as those in the previous phases. All chicks showed similar response rates in each phase. Figure 1 showed the typical results of two chicks. The effects of reinforcement rates under two stimulus conditions on later stimulus control were not clear. The chicks' key-peck response rates seem to be affected not by the prior reinforcement rates but by contingencies of reinforcement in each phase. Thus, the reinforcement rates may not be an important variable for behavioral history effects.

Recent studies have found that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show robust impairments in behavioral flexibility. The current study aims to better understand how decreased 5-HT6 receptor activation may lead to an alleviation of the reversal learning impairments found in the BTBR mouse model of ASD. Control C57BL/6J and BTBR mice were tested on three separate behavioral measures including repetitive grooming, locomotor activity, and probabilistic reversal learning. We predicted that the 5-HT6 receptor antagonist BGC 20-761 would reduce repetitive grooming and alleviate the probabilistic reversal learning impairment found in these mice, while having no overall effect on locomotor activity. For the probabilistic reversal learning task, mice were tested on acquisition then reversal learning in a T-maze using an 80/20 probabilistic reinforcement procedure. The high dose of 2.5 mg/kg BGC 20-761 reduced repetitive grooming in BTBR mice compared to controls, but also decreased locomotor activity. The low dose of 0.25 mg/kg BGC 20-761 also reduced repetitive grooming but did not similarly reduce locomotor activity. BGC 20-761 treatment similarly improved probabilistic reversal learning in the BTBR mice. These findings highlight how 5-HT6 receptor down regulation may aid in attenuating lower order repetitive motor behaviors and higher order behavioral rigidity.

Cooperative responding has been investigated under continuous reinforcement (CRF or FR 1). The present study investigated the effects of fixed-ratio (FR) and variable-ratio (VR) schedules of reinforcement on the patterns of cooperative responding in seven pairs of rats. Experiment 1 arranged FR 1, FR 10, and VR 10 schedules for cooperation (order was counterbalanced). The contingency required the responding of both rats within a short time interval (< 500 ms). Cooperative responding was higher under intermittent schedules than under continuous reinforcement. FR 10 generated a break-and-run pattern, while VR 10 schedule generated a constant responding pattern. Experiment 2 compared responding under a cooperative intermittent schedule (FR 6), and under a yoked schedule programming the same reinforcement rate, without a requirement for joint responding of two rats for reinforcement. Coordinated behavior was maintained at higher rates under social intermittent contingencies than under yoked contingencies. Therefore, cooperative responding in rats was established and maintained under intermittent schedules of reinforcement, the patterns of responding were similar to those obtained for a single organism, and the removal of the contingency for coordinated responding did not maintain cooperation. These results extend previous findings on the conditions that foster coordinated behavior in non-human subjects. Keywords: cooperation, schedules of reinforcement, fixed-ratio, variable-ratio, water, rats

Most studies on food accumulation by rats involve two different response classes: earn and collect. However, in experiments done in our laboratory accumulated food has only been delayed from the earn response. By contrast the present study compared the effects of delayed reinforcement on both, earn and collect responses. For the earn condition three rats each were exposed to a chained FI 30 s FT t FR1 while for the collect condition three other rats were each exposed to a chained FI 30 s FR1 FT t. For both conditions t was either 0, 2, 4, 8, 16, or 32. Results showed that lengthening reinforcement delay in both conditions increased the rate of the earn responses although more markedly when food was delayed from the earn response than when it was delayed from the collect response. These results suggest that delaying reinforcement on the earn responses, as done in studies from our laboratory, yield similar functions than when reinforcement is delayed from the collect responses, a fact not hitherto known.

The author investigated interrelationship between attacker pigeons' extinction-induced attack (EIA) and their target pigeons' pecking towards the attackers by comparing inter-response times (IRTs) per opportunity of respective behavior. Three of seven pigeons were attackers and the remaining four were their targets. All attackers were paired with each of thFe targets. Each attacker was introduced into an operant chamber with one key and the target was introduced into a box adjacent to the operant chamber via transparent panel. When the attacker emitted EIA or the target pecked towards the attacker, this panel was operated. Due to this operation, attackers' EIA and the target's pecking were measured. Each attacker's key pecking was exposed to continuous reinforcement and extinction schedules during the respective pairing. The figure shows distributions of IRTs per opportunity in each pairing of an attacker (#2) and the four targets (#12, #24, #31, #82) and correlation coefficient r between their behaviors' IRTs per opportunity. The distributions of IRTs per opportunity of the attacker and the targets were very similar and all correlation coefficients were high. As other attackers' pairs showed comparable results, the author found that attackers' EIA and targets' pecking towards the attackers are related to each other.

fAn organism's behavior is shaped through interactions with the environment or an agent acting as a "shaper." Herrnstein (1964) demonstrated that a teacher-pigeon could shape a student-pigeon's behavior so that both could obtain food. This experiment replicated this demonstration using a pigeon as a teacher to a second pigeon, designated the student. Each pigeon faced a separate panel divided by a transparent wall. The panels included a food hopper for each pigeon, and a response key was located on the teacher's side of the wall. Food was delivered to both pigeons when two criteria were met: 1) the student was standing in a specific location designated by an orange rectangle on the floor and 2) the teacher pecked the key. When the orange rectangle moved around the chamber across sessions, the student tracked the location. The teacher showed some evidence of differentially responding when the student was closer to the designated location, although this was not as clear of an effect. Herrnstein, R. (1964). Will. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 108(6), 455-458. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/985862

An experimentally used pigeon 2748 was placed in a holding cage. Once in the cage 2748 would exhibit an escape behavior. The holding cage is commonly used in the lab and no prior learning of the escape behavior or shaping. The pigeon doesn't receive a food reinforcer upon escaping. The reinforcer in the experiment is the opportunity to escape. After conducting baselines on 2748, we received an average escape time. Next, we placed a mirror in front of 2748's holding cage, on average 2748 significantly escaped faster. This ruled out the possibility of social facilitation. We then conducted a baseline on the naïve pigeon. The pigeon did not exhibit the escape behavior. We plan to place twonaïve pigeons across from each other. We are looking to see if the one pigeon will imitate the other's behavior and escape. We do not expect that to occur since the pigeon has not previously escaped. Once all baselines are conducted we will place thenaïve pigeon across from 2748. We expect 2748 will continue to escape in the presence of thenaïve pigeon. After repeated exposure, thenaïve pigeon will imitate 2748 and escape, in the presence of the 2748 and on his own.

Studies suggest that social enrichment speeds up many learning processes, including habituation to novel and aversive stimuli. However, the effect of social enrichment on habituation to positive reinforcers has not been examined. The current investigation compared within-session responses of socially enriched (SE; n = 4) and socially isolated (SI; n = 4) male Wistar rats on (1) a VI-7.5 s schedule of reinforcement and (2) an open-field apparatus. Repeated measures analyses of variance were used to analyze proportions of operant responses and open-field activity made in successive 2-minute bins. Both SE [F(14, 42) = 22.96, p < .001, ?2p = .88] and SI [F(14, 42) = 19.40, p < .001, ?2p = .87] subjects exhibited significant within-session decreases in operant responses rates. However, while SE subjects exhibited decreased locomotion in the open field [F(6, 18) = 6.23, p = .001, ?2p = .68], SI subjects did not [F(6, 18) = 1.89, p = .14, ?2p = .39]. Further research will examine brain and adrenal gland weights relative to body weight in the two groups. Results from this investigation will aid in interpreting future data collected from socially housed subjects, which may better generalize to real world applications.

The foundational research in operant behavior exclusively employed electro-mechanical relay equipment to arrange contingencies of reinforcement. Variable interval schedules were programmed using a punched-tape reader that arranged a fixed series of repeating inter-reinforcer intervals. This repetition possibly undermines the construction of prediction-proof reinforcement schedules; however, it is unknown whether this feature affected behavior. The present study was conducted to determine whether a repeated loop of inter-reinforcer intervals would exert control over key pecking in pigeons. In the initial four phases of the experiment, pigeons pecked on either a VI 180-s or a VI 15-s schedule of either 15 or 5 total inter-reinforcer intervals generated using the Catania and Reynolds (1968) algorithm. A list of intervals were repeated each session. Analyses were conducted to discover evidence of behavior's sensitivity to the repetitive nature of the variable interval schedule. No such signatures were discovered, suggesting that the repetitive nature of the inter-reinforcer intervals of variable interval schedules used in the classic pigeon studies likely did not influence their outcomes. The components of the current condition, which mimic that of a two-component mixed fixed interval, could help to establish whether or not temporal learning can be accomplished with the current subjects and apparatus.

The effects of delay of reinforcement on resistance to change and resurgence were assessed in an experiment with four rats. In the Training phase, left-lever pressing was maintained on a two-component multiple schedule. In the immediate component, the schedule was a tandem variable-interval (VI) differential reinforcement of low rates (DRL); in the delay component, the schedule was a tandem VI fixed time (FT). Conditions were programmed so that both reinforcement and response rates, variables known to affect resurgence, were similar between components in this phase. In the Elimination phase, in both components, left-lever pressing was extinguished and right-lever pressing was maintained under equal VI schedules. In the Test phase, right-lever pressing also was extinguished in both components. The resistance to change of left-lever pressing was similar between components and, in the Test phase, resurgence did not occur in each component, for each rat. These are results of an ongoing experiment in which both delay of reinforcement and Training-phase response rates are being manipulated. The results obtained so far indicate the importance of considering response rates in the Training phase in analyses of the effects of delay of reinforcement on both resistance to change and response recurrence.

The present experiment investigated the effect of reinforcement delay on resistance to extinction. Four rats were exposed to a two-component multiple schedule. In the immediate component, a tandem VI DRL schedule was in effect; in the delay component, a tandem VI FT 3-s schedule was in effect. In baseline, reinforcement rates were similar between components; for two rats, response rates were similar between the components and, for the other two, response rates higher in the immediate component than in the delayed component. For three of four rats, resistance to extinction was greater in the delay than in the immediate component, regardless of the difference in baseline-response rate between components. However, the difference in resistance to extinction between components was greater when response rates differed between components in baseline. These results indicate that reinforcement delay affects resistance to change and that this relation can be modulated by the baseline rate of responding. In addition, the present results fail to replicate those of previous studies with pigeons, in which greater resistance to change in the immediate than in the delay component has been reported.

Numerous studies have demonstrated the utility of functional communication training (FCT) in the treatment of challenging behavior. Ringdahl et al. (2009) evaluated the role of proficiency across mand topographies with regard to the effectiveness of FCT. Ringdahl et al. found that FCT was more effective when higher proficiency mand topographies were targeted during FCT in the treatment of challenging behavior. The purpose of the current study was to examine mand proficiency on resurgence of challenging behavior within FCT. We conducted a mand proficiency assessment (MPA) with children who engaged in challenging behavior. Based on the results of the MPA, FCT was implemented with high and low-proficiency mand topographies; subsequently, we tested for resurgence (i.e extinction of mands and challenging behavior) across the two mand topographies. Results showed similar patterns of resurgence of challenging behavior in both high and low proficiency mand topographies; however greater persistence in high proficiency mands was observed during extinction phases relative to low proficiency mands.

In one previous study on the recurrence of observing responses, both primary and secondary reinforcers were removed during the resurgence test. The current procedure addressed this limitation by only withholding the conditioned reinforcer during the resurgence test. Responses on the central key were reinforced according to a mixed VI EXT schedule. During the training phase, the target and alternative responses were pecking on side keys reinforced by presenting the availability of reinforcement on a central key. In the alternative reinforcement phase, responses on one of the side keys no longer produced the color change on the center key. When the alternative response was no longer reinforced, there was an increase in responding on the target key. By the end of the resurgence test, responding on the center key increased. Thus, this experiment demonstrated the resurgence of responses maintained by secondary reinforcement without removing primary reinforcers.

The present study examined the effects of reinforcement probability of target and alternative responses on resurgence in humans. In Phase 1, a target response was reinforced. In Phase 2, the target response was placed on extinction and an alternative response was reinforced. In Phase 3, all responses did not produce reinforcers. Across all phases, two control responses were recorded but had no programmed consequences. The probabilities of reinforcement for the target and alternative responses in Phases 1 and 2 were varied among 0.2, 0.4, and 0.8 across conditions. All possible combinations of these probabilities yielded nine conditions and each participant was exposed to one of nine conditions. Although both the target and control responses increased in Phase 3 relative to Phase 2, resurgence of the target response exceeded the control response in eight of nine conditions. This result suggests the possibility that resurgence of the target response can be distinguished from extinction-induced variability. With respect to the relation between probability of reinforcement and resurgence, the reinforcement frequency for the target response had no effect on the magnitude of resurgence. On the other hand, the magnitude of resurgence was greater when the probability of reinforcement for the alternative response was high.

We investigated the impact of response effort on variability. Participants worked on a computer task moving a light around a five by five matrix. Participants moved a light from the upper left to the lower right position. The "A" key shifted the light down. Across components, the "S," "G," and "L" key moved the light rightward. Each time the light reached the target position, a point was earned. During baseline, any sequence of 4 presses on each key produced a point. Participants were instructed to earn as many points possible during each component. Once baseline responding was established, a lag five schedule was implemented to evaluate the effects of key distance on sensitivity to differential reinforcement of variability. The results showed that increasing the distance between keys reduced the number of novel sequences emitted and reduced the number of key switches per sequence. The lag schedule increased the number of different sequences emitted during the session, but those effects were not altered by key distance. The results indicate that response effort, here defined by key distance, may reduce spontaneous variability in response topography. Baseline variability, however, does not seem to limit the effects lag schedules to engender further variability.

Several studies have shown that reinforcement schedules systematically affect the dimensions of responses not directly reinforced under the schedules. For example, the spatial locations of pigeons' responses have been investigated under a fixed-interval (FI) schedule. The results show that the response location moves closer to that of the most recent reinforced response over time, and that the variability of the response location increases as an FI requirement. The present study compares the effects of ratio and interval schedules on pigeons' response locations. Pigeons are exposed to multiple fixed-ratio yoked FI and multiple variable-ratio yoked variable-interval schedules. A circular response area (22.5 cm in diameter) is used to ensure that pecking responses are effective over a wide range. The results indicate that the response locations vary between the schedules in both cases. In addition, the mean deviation, defined as the mean distance between the median of the coordinate and the location of each response, is higher for interval schedules than it is for ratio schedules. Therefore, the results show that interval schedules produce greater variability than ratio schedules do in terms of response location.

Zebrafish are used as an animal model in biomedical studies including vision research. However, behavioral contrast sensitivity, a basic measure of visual function, of zebrafish has not been measured. In the present experiment, zebrafish were trained to discriminate between a sinusoidal grating pattern and plain gray having equivalent luminance. The visual stimuli were presented by an organic light-emitting diode display that has high contrast ratio. The experimental chamber had one observing gate and two entrance gates through which subjects could see the discriminative stimuli. Trials were initiated and discriminative stimuli were presented when a fish passed through an observing gate. Fish were reinforced by an automated food delivery system only when it entered the gate where sinusoidal grating pattern was presented. If fish entered the gate where plain gray was presented, a timeout was implemented. Contrast of sinusoidal grating pattern was decreased until fish cannot detect the difference between a sinusoidal grating pattern and plain gray having equivalent luminance. Zebrafish showed high-level performance in preliminary discrimination between the sinusoidal grating pattern and plain gray having lower luminance. In discrimination between sinusoidal grating pattern and plain gray having equivalent luminance, the accuracy was not so robust but approached statistical significance.

A teacher's use of praise is beneficial for students, as it provides encouragement, helps build self-esteem, builds a close student-teacher relationship, and reduces the amount of disruptive behavior in the classroom (Brophy, 1981; Alber & Heward, 1997). In the current study, praise rates of a target paraprofessional, who worked in a general education setting, in an elementary school, were measured. Concurrently, on-task and off-task behaviors of a target student were also measured. The target paraprofessional and student were chosen based on baseline measures indicating low praise rates coming from the paraprofessional, and low on-task and high off-task behaviors from the student. A reversal design was used for this study to evaluate the effects of the intervention. During intervention, a praise training was provided to the classroom staff, followed by implementing a MotivAider that was used to prompt the target paraprofessional to deliver praise to the students for engaging in on-task behaviors. Results of the intervention, barriers to implementation, and areas of future research will be discussed.

Physical activity performed by children and adolescents in school settings can have a range of positive effects on cognitive skills and attitudes, academic behaviors, and academic achievement. Physical activity including free-dance and yoga can increase on-task behavior in kindergarten students with an Autism Spectrum Disorder in a journal-writing activity. The primary, peer-reviewed literature examining the relationship between exercise/yoga/mindfulness interventions on academic skills and behaviors is limited, and there is a notable lack of studies at the preschool level. These interventions hold a great deal of promise as they are inexpensive to administer and accessible to a wide range of populations. The objective of the current study is to assess the acute effects of three levels of physical activity (no exercise/circle time, low intensity exercise/yoga and moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) on time-on-task in a block building task in 3-4 year old preschool children. We tested the hypothesis that both yoga and MVPA activity would increase time on-task compared to the circle-time (CT) control condition.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the Self & Match System, a self-monitoring behavior package, as a group intervention system to increase socially significant behaviors (cusps) in an early intervention preschool classroom for students with disabilities. Students were taught to match their recordings of their own behavior to the teacher's recordings. The results of this study yield the conclusions that preschool students in this study were able to learn to accurately self-record and positively increase appropriate classroom behavior following the introduction of the Self & Match system. There was a reoccurring theme in the data that the Self & Match System, and/or behavioral cusps, might have been the factor that increased the three subjects' behaviors. However, the lack of experimental control made drawing functional relationships impossible. The implications of these results are discussed in terms of the influence of behavioral cusps on experimental control, as well as implications, limitations, and recommendations for further research.

Daniel is a six-year-old student who has been diagnosed with ADHD and ASD. He receives 1:1 ABA services and attends integration classes in Grade one for Literacy, Math Music, Mandarin, PE and Art class. Prior to the intervention, Daniel has exhibited over 1000 call outs (defined as using an above average loud volume in comparison to the noise level in class) of repetitive words throughout the school day. This was causing a lot of disruption in class and learning for him and his classmates were impeded. It was hypothesized that the classroom may have been paired as an aversive stimuli as he was required to sit and attend to the teacher, participate in class discussions, and completed worksheets. Although high rates of praises and generalized reinforcement was provided throughout the lessons, the amount of effort Daniel had to pay was much higher than anticipated. Intervention of reconditioning the classroom as a reinforcer was employed. Results has shown a positive effect of the intervention in which there was a significant decrease of call out behavior throughout the school day.

Effective and evidenced based instruction is a key component to making meaningful progress with regard to skill acquisition in individuals with autism or related developmental disabilities. Previous research suggests correlations between participation in programming outlined via PEAK Relational Training System with subsequent increases in participant scores on intelligence quotient testing (Dixon, Whiting, Rowsey, & Belisli, 2014) and rapid skill acquisition and mastery with as little as twenty minutes of exposure per day (McKeel, Dixon, Daar, Rowsey, & Szekely, 2015). The present investigation sought to examine the outcomes of "non-behavior analytic" special education programming as outlined by Individualized Education Programs versus programming informed by the PEAK Relational Training System. Participants enrolled in two separate summer programs for individuals with a diagnosis of autism were assessed using the modules in the PEAK Relational Training System curriculum at intake and program completion. The experimental group received instruction derived from the curricular programs of the PEAK Relational Training System; participants in the control group received instruction as usual for based on supports indicated for summer programming in their Individualized Education Programs. The results indicated notable rates of skill acquisition and mastery in the experimental group while the control group remained largely the same with the exception of a few participants that demonstrated skill regression. Implications for follow up research and practice are further discussed.

This study will look at how completing fluency building activities impacts participants' performance on state testing, specifically in History. Participants are all required to complete and pass New York state testing, either the Regents exam or the Regents Competency Test to earn their high school diploma. These tests are comprised of multiple choice questions, short answer questions and an essay. Participants in this study worked on fluency building activities for several weeks before the exam, building fluency in the areas of vocabulary, dates and general concepts. Timings are completed daily, with the material, presented in a randomized sequence. Immediate feedback is given, goals are set and data is plotted on a standard celeration chart. Once a pre-determined mastery is achieved, new material is presented. We will be looking at participants' scores on the state tests and also the effect the fluency building activities had on the participants' overall experience in completing the tests.

An important part of the Common Core Standards is the requirement of fluency in basic math facts, in the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. At the Judge Rotenberg Center, students work through a paper based curriculum, Morningside Basic Number Skills, which teaches the basic math facts through a series of fluency based timings. Curriculum is broken into small steps or slices, which each student completes timings in, until they reach a pre-determined level of mastery. Data is plotted on a standard celeration chart, allowing the education staff to make data based decisions. We will be looking at the impact of using this curriculum, potentially in the areas of math facts grade level, generalization to more complex mathematics operations, and generalization to computer based timings.

One strategy some schools are using to promote inclusion of students with disabilities is peer mentoring or peer modeling. There are various ways to implement peer-mediated strategies in the school setting. One method is to teach peers to model behaviors and act as peer tutors, which is the approach used by in the Special Olympics "Young Athletes" program. Although promising, this program was not being used widely by teachers due to their confusion about how to implement it. Therefore, I have modified this curriculum in order to make it more accessible to teachers and to better include students with diverse behavior and academic needs. I incorporated behavior analytic teaching strategies in order to support students' learning. These modifications will allow teachers to implement the "Young Athletes" program more readily, thereby promoting the inclusion of students with disabilities. Examples of the modifications based on behavior analytic principles are included, and implications of promoting peer-mediated strategies are discussed. As behavior analysts and those interested in behavior analysis, we are committed to dissemination of behavior analysis. This paper serves as a way to enter the education discussion proactively and for students with and without disabilities.

Children with Autism are often labeled as non-compliant or distracted. Too often, complex behavior intervention plans are put into place before simple strategies are ruled out. A variation of Additive Antecedent Interventions (AAI) as described by Stephenson and Hanley (2010) was implemented in this study. This study showed the impact of six antecedent variables (proximity, position, physical contact, eye contact, vocal attention, and play interruption) on compliance as assessed in five male students diagnosed with Autism aged five to eight using a multi-element design. All participants attended 6:1:3 classrooms at a private school. Two of the participants were in the same class. One of the participants received an additional antecedent (model) of the skill after it was determined that the tasks being asked of him were not in his repertoire. After all participants were exposed to the intervention, their compliance with demands increased to an average of 80% across four consecutive sessions and challenging behaviors averaged 0%-5% for all participants across four consecutive sessions. These findings support those of previous research on AAI and add to the level of confidence in their effectiveness.

A 15 year old student diagnosed with autism and a seizure disorder presented with a high number of verbal perseverations throughout the course of his school day. He attends a specialized school for students with autism and has a 1:1 instructional staff for 85% of his school day. His curriculum includes communication training, self-help, daily living, leisure and pre-vocational skills. An analogue FA was conducted and results indicated that behavior served a primary function of socially mediated positive reinforcement via access to tangible items or activities. His intervention consisted of being placed on a differential reinforcement of diminishing rates (DRD) schedule. Upon verbal perseverations, the therapist would address the topic by answering the first time and then present him with a "talk time" card and told him that they could discuss the topic during "talk time". Reactive procedures included the following: upon the display of the defined targeted behavior, a token was removed at each occurrence of the verbal perseveration, at the end of the interval if he had not exceeded the allowable amount he was able to access reinforcement. If he had exceeded the allowable amount, a neutral statement was made ( " You can try again", etc...) and another interval began. Alternative teaching included a talk time scheduled many times throughout his day, count and mand procedure, self monitoring his vocal volume and a waiting program. These procedures helped the student go from a baseline of 65 allowable perseverations per 10 minutes to 9 allowable perseverations per 10 minutes over a 6 month period.

Data collection and analysis is the cornerstone of what drives decision-making that is ultimately beneficial for students with disabilities. Not only is it mandated by law (e.g., IDEA, 2004), it also good practice for practitioners to utilize effective data collection practices. Proper data collection is necessary to make informed decisions about interventions that are meaningful for the child. However, even though preservice teachers receive coursework in assessment, they do not always collect data in systematic ways to guide instructional decisions once they complete their preparation programs (Campbell & Evans, 2000). Some perceived barriers to collecting data include the setting, lack of time, and the skill set necessary for effective data collection (Sandall, Schwartz, & Lacroix, 2004). This project developed a user-friendly training module that taught classroom teachers skills for effective data collection to monitor intervention effectiveness. Skills taught included developing an operational definition; selecting appropriate dimensions of behavior to monitor; creating a practical, reliable data collection system; graphing data; and analyzing collected data using basic visual analysis.

Special education teachers are required to establish collaborative relationships with parents and other professionals in schools. To this end, teacher education programs are required to teach and demonstrate candidates' mastery of communications skills that foster collaboration as part of accreditation. Behavioral Skills Training (BST), which includes presentation of explicit information about the skill, expert modeling, practice with expert feedback, and participant self-assessment has been shown to be an effective method of changing teacher behaviors (Parsons, Rollyson, & Reid, 2013). The current study examined the use of BST to teach a previously validated communication strategy, LAFF Don't CRY. Participants included 40 undergraduate special education teacher candidates in their first practicum course for the major. Using a multiple probe across groups design, researchers randomly assigned participants to groups, delivered explicit instruction including individualized feedback, and then participants self-assessed their strategy usage while receiving emailed instructor feedback across probes that consisted of simulated parent-teacher or teacher-teacher conferences. The dependent variable was percent of strategy steps completed during the probe. Data showed that groups went from achieving a mean of 15% (range 11-23%) of strategy steps in baseline to a mean of 91% (range 81-96%) of strategy steps after training.

Catalyst is an electronic data collection and management platform that allows users to collect real-time data through the use of an app on a portable electronic tablet. It also allows users to create and manage skill acquisition and behavior reduction programs through their online (desktop) portal. With Catalyst, users can collect the same range of data that have traditionally been collected using pencil and paper (e.g., frequency, duration, interval) but removes the redundancy of entering paper data into an online graphing program (e.g., Microsoft Excel). Catalyst automatically analyzes and graphs the data making it readily accessible via the app or online portal. The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of a data collection platform, Catalyst, in decreasing the duration of data entry for ABA teachers at a small school for children with autism and related disabilities. Five teachers collected baseline data on the duration of daily skill acquisition and behavior reduction data entry, including transferring data from clipboards and binders into their existing data collection platform (Microsoft Excel) and updating graphs. A multiple baseline across participants (teachers) was used. Duration data will be collected after the implementation of Catalyst to determine its effects on data entry duration.

Teachers are increasingly required to meet the needs of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Students with ASD often present with a range of challenging behaviors and skill deficits that interfere with learning. Teachers often lack adequate training to effectively work with students who have ASD. There are several existing studies that have documented the effectiveness of in situ direct training via a bug-in-ear for increasing teachers' capacity to use effective classroom management techniques. Although direct training is often found to be an effective teacher training method, it can be time and resource intensive especially in under-resourced schools. This study sought to increase the feasibility of teacher training by using technology to provide in situ training from a remote location. Specifically, this study used a non-concurrent multiple baseline design with a Koehler Levin randomization procedure to (a) evaluate the effectiveness of direct training via a bug-in-ear device (BIE; i.e., Bluetooth earpiece and webcam) provided remotely from an off-site location, and (b) evaluate the effect of behavior specific praise (BSP) for improving compliance and decreasing disruptive classroom behaviors in students with ASD. Data for four participants will be presented.

A two-phase review examined 180 studies on safety skills training published in 30 behaviorally-orientated journals from 1968 to 2014. First, a systematic review organized the literature according to: publication trends, participant demographics, experimental characteristics, and distribution safety skill types and training contingencies (e.g., positive, negative reinforcement, punishment of unsafe skills, etc.). Second, a preliminary meta-analysis of the single-case studies yielded treatment effect sizes across training contingencies. Results and discussions underscore the need to advance applied technology pertaining to this socially important repertoire.

Excess psychological control affects children's performance in cognitive tasks of problem solving, school performance, socioemotional adaptation (O'Connor, 2002) and mathematical performance (Aunola and Nurmi, 2004). By contrast, parental children have higher language skills (Hudson, et al., 2015) and higher self-regulated learning (Pino and Whitebread, 2010). However, maternal sensitivity has generally been assessed using self-assessment scales which, because of their global nature, do not capture the moment-to-moment dynamics of interactive processes (Cerezo, et al., 2011). Therefore, the objective of the present research was to describe the behavioral variables related to maternal sensitivity in two samples of children with high (7 dyads) and low academic performance (10 dyads), from the city of Tijuana from the second to second behavioral records video sessions of 30 minutes divided into two conditions: playful and academic activity (average Kappa = .87). The results indicate that mothers of underachieving children are more coercive and less interactive, whereas mothers with well performing children outweigh social and approval attenuations, whereas children with low academic performance are more indifferent to aversive behaviors of their mothers.

Much research exists to address compliance for children and adults. Several reviews of the literature pertaining to compliance exist, however, none of the reviews has investigated the functions of noncompliance nor the effectiveness of the interventions based on function. Therefore, the purpose of the current literature review was to examine the functions of noncompliance, and analyze which function-based interventions were the most effective. Past studies which conducted a functional analysis or functional assessment on compliance or noncompliance were collected and organized. Results of this review suggest that the functions of noncompliance include attention, escape, access to tangibles, or combinations of the three. The percentage of effectiveness was calculated for each function-based intervention. The results of the review along with recommendations for future research are discussed.

This poster will present findings about the impact of using Applied Behavior Analysis principles including Functional Behavior Assessment and implementation of multi-component Behavior Intervention Plan in a public school, general education setting, in reducing escape maintained challenging behavior and increasing adaptive responses in a middle school student with mental health diagnoses. The multi-component intervention includes: 1) Functional Communication Training, 2) self-monitoring, 3) visual schedules, 4) written previews of academic, social and behavioral expectations across all activities and environments, 5) transition strategies and 6) providing instructive and corrective feedback with a sixth grade student diagnosed with Oppositional Defiance Disorder and a Mood Disorder Not Otherwise Specified. Self-initiated Functional Communication Responses, time on task, work initiation and work completion increased and dangerous unsafe behavior decreased to near zero rates. Successful implementation of strategies resulted in student remaining in his home school in a general education setting, rather than requiring a move to a more restrictive therapeutic setting.

A series of studies has demonstrated that typically developing children and children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are able to categorize, without direct training, when they can tact stimuli using a common name (the name of the category) and behave as a listener in relation to this common name. However, academic and social situations require us to tact and to behave as listeners to both the name of an item and to the category to which it belongs. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether multiple-tact training would produce categorization and listener behavior in two children with ASD (9 and 10 years old), using a nonconcurrent multiple baseline design across participants. Multiple-tact training consisted of teaching children how to tact nine Brazilian states maps and the three regions they belong to. After criterion was met, tests were introduced to assess whether participants would match states by region and select the correct comparisons after hearing the names of the states and their regions. Multiple-tact training led to the emergence of categorization and listener behavior for both participants. Although replication is necessary, results can contribute for educational and clinical practice for children with ASD.

Efforts to evaluate the most efficient methods to teach verbal operants, such as the tact, to children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have experimental and applied relevance. The purpose of the present study was to compare two tact training methods: individual versus simultaneous presentation of stimuli. Two children with ASD (3 and 5 years old) were exposed to both methods, using a nonconcurrent multiple baseline across participants and an adapted alternating treatment design to compare the effects of the two methods. Experimental stimuli consisted of two sets of three non-familiar pictures for each participant. During tact training with individual presentation, one of three pictures was presented in each trial. During tact training with simultaneous presentation, three pictures were presented simultaneously in each trial. After training, tests were conducted to verify the emergence of the corresponding listener relations for stimuli in both sets. One participant reached criterion in fewer trials with the individual presentation method, while the other one met criterion faster with the simultaneous presentation method. We have not completed the study; however the results suggest that the stimulus discriminability and participants' discrimination repertoire may influence performance on both methods.

Imitation can be defined as two organisms emitting similar behaviors and the behavior of one is under the topographical and immediate control of the other. When an organism shows an imitative repertoire, one may use this repertoire to generate new behaviors, which amounts to imitation being an important tool in interventions for people with deficits in any area. Despite its possible use, the scientific literature does not provide many examples on how to teach imitation to non-imitative children. Thus, our purpose was to evaluate the effects of a 12-step prompt hierarchy on the motor imitation of non-imitative children. In addition, we monitored the hierarchy effects on eye contact and problem behavior. A nonconcurrent multiple baseline design was used. Participants were between 2 and 4 years old and diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. In baseline, participants did not show any imitative behaviors or eye contact and displayed several problem behaviors such as tantruming, whining, and not remaining seated. Intervention resulted in increase in eye contact and decrease in problem behavior. Overall, the hierarchy increased independent imitative behavior for one child, but not for the other. We discuss the issues with prompt dependency and how pre-requisite behaviors might have influenced the results.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of self-management on on-task behavior for a junior- high school student with learning disability. A single subject research design (ABAB) is used as the research method. A junior-high school student with LD who had advanced speaker repertories and normal IQ participated in this study. However, his teachers reported that the student has showed disruptive behaviours and lack of on-task behaviour, which caused negative impacts on his academic performance. The independent variable was self-management which included self-recording and self-evaluation, plus token system. Self-recording was taught to the student to record his on-task (attention) behaviours individually before implementing to the natural environment. The dependent variables in this study were the percentage of on-task behaviour and the completion of academic task. The results showed positive outcomes on self-management and token system for this subject (Figure 1). With the on-task behaviors increased, the academic performance also improved, and the disruptive behaviours decreased. This research provided self-management as a useful intervention strategy for promoting attention behaviors for adolescent with learning disability. With the on-task behaviors increased, the academic performance also improved at the same time. Implications of the intervention for middle school student were discussed, and the suggestions for practice and further research were also included.

This study was to compare to ADHD's diagnostic factors (Inattention, Hyper-activity, Impulsiveness) and working memory using active game task with robot. The subject of this study was 269 of normal children, 24 of ADHD at risk and 35 of ADHD who diagnosed by doctor in Y elementary school and H hospital, South Korea. The multimedia content consisted of diagnostic factors and working memory and conducted 3 levels of difficulty on task for 15 minutes per subject. In the task situation, there were 45inch TV and Kinect on the front, 3x3 digit mat on the center and humanoid robot moving with wheels on the front-right. All subject should step by step on the digit mat as directed from 3 to 5 digit units by robot and they also should correct-react by sudden stimulus of Wolf/Neighbor as directed in advance. The behaviors of their route, reactions of sudden stimulus, and deviant behaviors—moving before start direction, attempting incorrect (commission/omission error) reaction before correct reaction, attempting deviated route and attempting to move before moving alarm. The results of this study were that It was a significant difference of success/fail on route per level among the subjects, ADHD children failed on the first level in most easier of level than ADHD at risk and normal children. In the response behavior of stimulus, it was a significant difference among the subject on the first level. The half of ADHD children have incorrect response and more ADHD at risk children failed than normal children. Finally, It was also a significant difference among subject on 2 deviant behaviors - attempting incorrect (commission/omission error) reaction before correct reaction and attempting to move before moving alarm.

Because audible errors in a musical performance are easily identified, fluent execution is essential. Precision teaching is an effective evaluation of music education, as it provides accurate feedback regarding progress toward fluent performance. See/Do Play written music was the pinpoint used to measure correct responses (correct notes played at correct time) during one-minute timing sessions. Written music was played on a marimba or vibraphone with a metronome. Specific beats were targeted to increase the number of correct responses until fluent performance (defined by the required tempo for the music) was achieved. Data were used to guide instructional decisions and monitor progress.

Functional Analysis (FA) has been addressed as the "gold standard" recommendation for understanding and treating severe problem behaviors. Nonetheless, treatment challenges such as the presence of uncontrolled sources of reinforcement and resistance of staff impede its use in educational settings. Ayvazo and Eldar (2016) published a pioneer sample data of Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA) processes executed in schools in Israel and addressed the challenges Israeli behavior analysts encounter when attempting to implement FA. The authors encouraged promoting the infusion of FA into routine behavioral-analytic practices provided in educational and clinical settings in Israel. This study surveyed 72 Israeli behavior analysts regarding their FA knowledge and practice, 57% of them were certified by the Behavior Analysis Certification Board (nine BCBA, thirty-one BCaBA, one BCBA-D). Participants responded to a questionnaire concerning their FBA practices, training and experience with FA, and reasons for refraining from conducting FA. Data will be statistically analyzed and presented in tabular and graphical form. Preliminary findings presented as frequency of responses per question indicate 66% of the participants had never conducted FA. Foremost reasons are lack of resources, training or experience. Implications for training programs and the future development of applied behavior analysis in Israel will be discussed.

To proceed to higher math like Algebra, adding positive and negative integers must be developed. This study's purpose was to evaluate the effectiveness of an adapted Direct Instruction (DI) Mathematics subtraction strategy to add negative integers. The participant was a 14-year-old girl with a learning disability. The dependent variable was the number of correctly written answers including the correct value and sign. A permanent product data system employed 10-problem worksheets adding positive and negative integers within a reversal design. This study adapted the DI Math subtraction crossing-out strategy to teach adding integers with vertical counters/lines for positive quantities and horizontal counters for negative quantities. For the first addend, the correct number and type of counters was drawn. For the second addend, the correct counter amount was added to or crossed out the first set of counters. The sum was determined by the number and type of counters that were not canceled out. During baseline, low numbers of correct problems were completed, while intervention showed higher numbers completed to mastery level with 100% inter-observer agreement. Adapting the DI subtraction method was successful in teaching adding negative integers and provides a new strategy for high school instruction within Direct Instruction Mathematics.

Training staff to conduct behavioral procedures with high procedural integrity (PI) can be very costly. There is some research evidence that participants may learn performance-based skills through Observer Effects, which is the effect of rating other individuals' PI on one's own PI. However, few researchers have looked into capitalizing on the Observer Effect for cost-efficient staff training. Therefore, the purpose of our study was to assess if a video training that has been efficacious in teaching PI recording of Paired Stimulus Preference Assessments (PSPA) would have ancillary effects on participants' implementation skills. We conducted a multiple baseline design across 5 undergraduate students and found that watching a video model, accessing a Performance Monitoring Tool (PMT), and undergoing the video training were not enough to bring participants' implementation skills to mastery. However, two participants reached mastery after engaging in the interactive portion of the training, which involved observing and rating an individual's PI (i.e., Observer Effect). Three participants required additional verbal feedback on implementation to reach mastery. Our findings suggest that trainees benefit from observing and recording video models' PI and trainers may be able to capitalize on observer effects for more cost-efficient training.

Applied Behavior Analysis is expanding and whether we like it or not it is our future. The field of organizational behavior management is a sub-field or category of Applied Behavior Analysis. We influence the behavior of others in the workplace. We do that now in our current position as practitioners and supervisors. The idea of using a more positive procedure over punishment is being pushed in the workplace and that is because we are seeing much better results. Although not many opportunities are ready available to us as organizational behavior managers, we have the skill set necessary to pinpoint behaviors and manage behaviors in almost any environment. Along with learning about the environment and what is triggering the behavior in the immediate environment it is also vital to learn about the "organization" or company. How the company runs their business, how they make their income and how assets are being developed. What is it the people want out of the company and what motivates them to work their. We will look deeper into motivating operations of an organization and environmental factors that influence our behaviors in the workplace.

For decades researchers in the field of behavior analysis have lamented why they [managers, educators, etc.] are "not using our good stuff" more often. During the past two years six strategies have been advanced to expand the use of behavior analysis. The present research incorporates five of the suggested strategies: it employs more resonant terminology; it incorporates "warm and fuzzy" behaviors; it offers an easily understood framework; it permits evidence-based management; and it is scalable. To date, research on the Cube One framework has only employed a molar analysis of summated enterprise-, customer- and employee-directed practices (behaviors). At the molar level, organizations enacting high levels of these behaviors were far more successful than those that enact a low level—results equally applicable to for-profit and nonprofit/government organizations. The present research, using data from 597 U.S. and 125 Brazilian employees examines 30 management practices at a granular level. Organizational performance was measured both using a rating and a behavior-based assessment. In the U.S. all practices were significantly associated with performance; the mean being .r = 305. Using a behavior-based criterion the mean correlations was r = .315. Ways to modify the present research paradigm to parallel traditional behavior analysis are described.

The use of personal cell-phone use in the work place has become an increasing problem with the increase of technology. The use of cell phones during work can increase employee's distractibility as well as decrease company profits. The goal of this study was to decrease cell-phone use during the night shift at a small locally owned clothing store. A multiple baseline design was used to evaluate the effects of an incentive and public display of data on phone use. The participants in this study included six females. All were within the ages of 18-23 and were typically developing. The employees were asked to sign a contract of participation before beginning. The contract included the all program contingencies. During the intervention, any behavior other than phone use was rewarded with 1 point on a 30 minute schedule. The participant with the most points per hour was given a $50 gift card at the end of the month. Phone use data was graphed weekly, and publicly displayed in the store break room. Results showed that public graphing of cell-phone usage and a monthly incentive decreased the use of cell phones.

For-profit entities rely heavily on employee performance and are continually looking for ways to better align employee performance to corporate goals. One way businesses attempt to do that is through reinforcement using tangible incentives. This can lead to millions of dollars spent per year on these incentives. A cost-effective solution for businesses could be to use stickers to reinforce their employees' behavior. Store credit cards have become a major revenue source for national retail stores, and these stores ask that clerks secure credit card sign-ups. Often store managers use threats of aversive control if clerks do not secure a minimum number of new credit card holders. The current study sought to determine if stickers have reinforcing properties in the workplace with an adult population. At a large retail store in a small town, employees were given stickers as a consequence of receiving store credit card sign-ups. This study used a time series design to assess the effectiveness of this procedure. The data suggest that stickers may be an effective way for retail businesses to increase credit card sign ups. Implications and future directions will be discussed.

Needs assessments can be used to help identify gaps or needs within organizations. This poster describes how the Constructional Questionnaire (Goldiamond, 1974) methodology was used to understand needs within an organization as well as identify current skills and potential reinforcers to be used in subsequent interventions. The questionnaire was utilized to identify goals for an organization and how the organization was currently operating in regards to the identified goals. Once these were determined, the goals were classified according to Rummler & Brache's (1995), three levels of performance: organization, process, and job. The first level that can be classified is the organizational level; this is the organization as a whole and what it can do. The second level is the process level; this is how works gets done in an organization. Finally, there is the job level, which involves individuals doing specific jobs. This paper provides a case study in how one may expand the Constructional Questionnaire and Goldiamond's constructional framework within a needs assessment.

The effects of education, self-monitoring with goal setting, and social comparison feedback on safety-related behaviors of bus drivers were examined. Participants were six bus drivers. We identified four safety related behaviors as target behaviors. We adopted an ABCD within-subject design. After baseline phase (A), an educational session was provided (B). In the next phase, self- monitoring with goal setting (C) was introduced then social comparison feedback (D) was introduced in the final phase. All three interventions were effective in promoting safety-related behaviors. However, self-monitoring with goal setting was more effective than the educational session, while the social comparison feedback was the most effective.

Simulations in human research allows for an increased degree of environmental control, thereby providing researchers with opportunities they may not encounter in the natural environment. The authors begin by extending an analysis of simulation in behavior scientific research conducted by Ward and Houmanfar (2011). This extension considers published research studies from high impact behavior science journals and provides a context for the current status of simulation research in the field. Next, the role of Virtual Reality Simulations (VRS) in behavior science is considered. VRS has emerged as a technology that provides a safe alternative to in-vivo training for High Reliability Organizations (HROs). Current research projects incorporating VRS in HROs are reviewed. Finally, future directions for simulation research are discussed in terms of advances in technology and potential applications for further research.

Several behavior analysts have taken alternate approaches to the study of human culture, and integration of these approaches may be possible. Thomas Gilbert (Gilbert, 1978) described a system to engineer performance in any group of people using six teleonomic levels or vantage points and a three-stage analytic engineering processes for each one, organizing performance accomplishments from the general to the specific. Sigrid Glenn (Glenn, 1988) developed a selection-based paradigm to study the development and control of interlocking behavior via metacontingencies. Gilbert defined performance as composed of both behavior and the valuable accomplishment that it produces, and metacontingencies select multi-organism patterns of interlocking behavior producing aggregate products; both paradigms broaden their scope of analysis from the three-term contingency. Since both Gilbert's definition of performance and Glenn's definition of metacontingencies are rooted in the Skinnerian definition of behavior and in behavior's relationship to different outcomes, they are not incompatible. Gilbert's performance matrix may be useful in identifying and organizing desired contingency and metacontingency relations in an engineered system. We illustrate how the combination of these approaches to cultural analysis can be used to engineer behavior that supports worthy performance.

Psychopharmacological and behavioural interventions are often used to treat challenging behaviours. Sometimes these intervention types are implemented concurrently, called combined interventions, while other times they are applied in isolation. Given that a large proportion of persons with intellectual disability and challenging behaviour are prescribed psychotropic medications, it is likely behavioural practitioners will be responsible for managing clients with at least one psychotropic medication prescription. Further, clinicians may be asked to attend psychiatric consultations to support families who are pursuing a medication trial for their loved one. To effectively manage challenging behaviour through psychotropic medication, behavioural practitioners may add value to the psychiatric process by identifying, implementing and overseeing effective, objective data collection strategies. These strategies may better inform the prescribing physician on how medications changes may be positively or negatively impacting the client. A thorough review of the behavioural literature indicated proposed guidelines have only targeted processes in applied behavioural pharmacology research. Some of these recommendations may not be relevant for behavioural practitioners operating outside of a research setting. We developed and piloted an evidence-informed checklist for behavioural practitioners operating within a clinical setting. The intent of this tool was to guide clinicians in selecting appropriate target behaviours and coinciding data collection strategies to objectively evaluate medication impact. Several specific case studies are described including the time committed required in following the checklist, as well as client outcomes.

In crisis situations, individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD) may put themselves or others at risk; prompt and effective behaviour stabilization service is then required. In this report, we summarize available literature regarding services for individuals with IDD who experience a behavioural crisis. Various service approaches are described, including; outreach, hospitals, inpatient/outpatient services, and many more. We analyze service models in terms of the physical environment of service provision, team members involved, methods used, capacity and available resources, etc. The outcomes of the respective service models are also summarized, including the number of individuals accessing service, average number of days needed to stabilize the client, percentage of re-referrals, etc. General themes surrounding the challenges of crisis service delivery are discussed along with recommendations to resolve them. The available literature shows that stabilization services can be implemented effectively and that successful models have some common features. Most models are effective at providing rapid responses to urgent requests for services and are effective at stabilizing the behavioural presentations of individuals with IDD experiencing crises. However, gaps exist within health care systems and the services received by individuals with IDD experiencing a crisis are likely not sufficient to stabilize them long term.

Cigarettes smoked over five weeks were measured for four participants to determine if feedback only (FO), in the form of saliva cotinine levels, would be as effective a treatment for smoking cessation as contingency management (CM). During a one-week baseline, participants texted the daily amount of cigarettes smoked to researchers and met twice to have their saliva cotinine levels evaluated. In Week Two, all participants were introduced to smoking reduction via a changing-criterion design, in which the allowed daily amount of cigarettes was 25% lower than their baseline level. All participants continued to text the daily number of cigarettes to research associates and meet twice a week for evaluation of cotinine levels; however, Participant A received cash lottery draws for attending meetings and reduced cotinine levels from the previous meeting level (CM). Participants B through D simply received feedback regarding saliva cotinine levels (FO). Treatment continued for three weeks, with a 25% reduction targeted for each subsequent week. While complete cessation did not occur, all participants did reduce the daily number of cigarettes smoked from baseline levels, and results indicate that FO was as effective in producing this result as CM without the associated cost of the cash lottery.

Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is an empirically based parent training intervention used to treat behavior problems in children ages 2 to 7 (Eyberg & Funderburk, 2011). PCIT uses differential attention and a structured time out procedure to promote increased positive parent-child relations and child compliance (Eyberg & Funderburk, 2011). One limitation of PCIT is the lack of a functional analysis (FA) prior to the intervention. Determining the function of problem behavior is important, as function-based interventions are empirically based and more effective at decreasing problem behavior. A multielement design was used to determine the function of problem behavior. The effects of PCIT on problem behavior were evaluated using graphed Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory scores, per the PCIT manual. Using a single subject design, this study sought to investigate the treatment effects of PCIT on problem behavior maintained by the most common social functions of behavior. Based on patterns of responding, it is hypothesized that PCIT will be more effective at reducing problem behavior maintained by access to attention and tangibles and less effective at reducing problem behavior maintained by escape from demands. Interobserver agreement will be calculated using the proportional method for at least 33% of total sessions.

Applied Behavior Analysis is ideally suited for helping to develop behavior change in the child or adult diagnosed with ADD/ADHD, yet most so diagnosed never encounter true behavioral approaches that systematically utilize these powerful principles. Some clinicians never bother to ensure the patient with ADHD has a wristwatch or a daily calendar. Factors can be physiological, environmental, social, and vary in the time of most effective impact. This paper highlights a plethora of such basic infrastructural elements which can have an impact, if the clinician is mindful of them, including approaches to assess the sensitive issue of the use, or even obviate the use, of medications within the context of other aspects of an individuals situation. This paper presents the use of an Antecedent/Behavior/Consequence paradigm to highlight within each of those areas concepts and factors to address, serving as an objective platform to remind therapist, patient, and parent alike that typical ADHD treatment as implemented by most practitioners fails to consider many of these factors and potential interventions, thus preventing the dramatic behavior change made more likely by a robust, balanced palate of A, B, and C interventions, methodically derived, objectively reevaluated, and continuously revised, as applied behavior analysts are trained to do routinely, and well. The majority of the clinicians treating ADD/ADHD patients by definition do not have the applied behavioral background, and as a result simply fail to identify and address many potential factors, the adjustment of which could have major impacts in habits developed and behaviors emitted. Patients therefore rarely get the systematic evaluation which is done daily by behavior analysts for other clinical diagnoses, and thus have a treatment plan that typically is narrowly focused on one or two modalities, as opposed to one methodically identifying areas of intervention and implementing changes within multiple domains of the patient's life. As ABA claims to want to apply these powerful principals to more mainstream applications, ADD is clearly one of those areas, well suited for ABA. Applied behavior analysts can, and arguably, should, be the leaders in applying ABA to the ABCs for ADD! This paper highlights general techniques, and arguably, responsibilities, for doing so to the benefit of patients, practitioners, and the discipline of ABA itself.

Often times in dually-diagnosed adult populations medications are prescribed for psychiatric symptoms. Medication non-adherence is highly prevalent among patients on psychotropic medication, which compounds the challenge of behavior intervention implementation. Previous studies have demonstrated that inconsistent medication administration results in higher rehospitalization admissions and thus impedes on consistent implementation of behavioral interventions. The current objective was to increase medication compliance that addresses psychiatric symptoms to obtain consistency of administration to be able to evaluate the effects of behavior interventions on problematic behaviors. Over the past three months, the client has demonstrated an average of 70% medication compliance. The client has also been rehospitalized during the previous two months ranging from three-days to a week's admission. However, despite the inconsistency with medication administration, data for the targeted problematic behaviors (physical and verbal aggression, property destruction, and inappropriate sexual behavior) show a gradual decreasing trend. These results indicate that despite medication non-adherence, behavior interventions are effective in reducing the frequency of problematic behaviors that lead to hospitalizations.

Working with the dually-diagnosed adult population, clinicians are often times faced with frequent medication changes with little attention to the overall effectiveness of those serious medications. Medications such as depakote, lithium, haldol, and seroquel are often used to address behavior problems, even there is little research supporting its effectiveness. In addition, long term use of these medication may lead to unavoidable side effects such as tremors and chronic gastrointestinal issues. Little work has been demonstrated in the behavior analytic field regarding medication management and reduction in conjunction with behavior intervention. One reason for this may be the settings that behavior analysts work in limit the contact opportunities with prescribing psychiatrists. The purpose of this evaluation was to coordinate with prescribing psychiatrists to reduce psychiatric medications and side effects associated with those medications. We conducted assessments on associated psychiatric symptoms at intake while on a particular medication regimen, and again after behavior intervention had been applied. Also, medication changes were tracked over time along with side effects associated with the medication being taken. Results show an overall reduction of psychiatric medication, reduction of side effects, and reduction of symptoms associated with the mental health diagnosis.

Non-compliance and challenging behavior during routine medical and dental procedures is common among individuals with intellectual disabilities. These behaviors can result in increased risk to individuals and health-care professionals during procedures, negative general or dental health outcomes, and increases in reliance on intrusive behavior management procedures. Often, individuals displaying these behaviors receive sedation or anesthesia prior to routine procedures, increasing risks associated with those procedures. These problems may be greater for institutionalized adult populations who have exhibited resistant behaviors for long periods of time, have compromised physical and medical health status (often due to histories of intolerance of medical procedures), and whose living environments are often characterized by frequent changes in caregivers, poor caregiver training, and inconsistent contingencies. The current presentation describes a large-scale program designed to improve compliance with and tolerance of medical and dental routines at a large, residential/training facility for individuals with intellectual disabilities. Procedures for identifying individuals with such challenges, conducting preliminary screening assessments, assigning priorities, functional assessment, intervention, and staff training will be described.

Radiotherapy for a pediatric cancer patient often consists of 25 to 30 sessions lasting 5 to 6 weeks. Standard radiotherapy practice in children involves the use of general anesthesia during each session to ensure that the patient remains still during the treatment. The excessive use of sedation introduces many risks and side effects that, combined with chemotherapy, and cancer itself, can greatly reduce the overall quality of life for the children and their families. A small body of research shows that behavioral control techniques are successful in teaching children to remain still in an array of medical settings. We seek to evaluate the effects of continuous positive and negative feedback loops on compliance with the movement requirements of the radiotherapy procedures. Three pilot studies have been conducted on healthy adults with promising results. Using the feedback loops all pilots were able to control their motion to clinically relevant standards. If successful once transferred to children this procedure will have the potential to reduce the use of sedatives and increase the quality of life for pediatric cancer patients.

Research in Behavior Analysis has produced a sophisticated understanding of the organization of behavior. Beyond the increase in the precision with which we are able to measure and record behavior, there has been an increasing recognition of the operant nature of many acts previously thought to be impervious to feedback/antecedent control. These developments suggest that the domains in which behavior analysis might contribute are considerably broader than previously appreciated. One area in which Behavior Analysis might make important contributions is behaviorally-based health services. The current project, takes rehabilitation following post knee replacement surgery as the target. We ask if a technology-infused contingency management system can help improve rehabilitation outcomes by providing physical therapists with immediate and reliable measures of patient progress allowing physical therapists to make necessary program changes. Further, through the use of dynamic reinforcement systems and stimulus control principles, we ask if a contingency management system can successfully shape muscle amplitude in order to facilitate patient progress in a rehabilitation context. Our current data suggests that the answer is yes. Changes in reinforcement contingencies reliably result in changes in muscle amplitude. These findings set the stage for the automatic and remote management of contingencies related to healthy behavior.

Functional analyses (FA) are widely accepted as the best practices approach for ascertaining behavior function and designing effective behavioral interventions (Beavers, Iwata, & Lerman, 2013; Delfs & Campbell, 2010; Mace, 1994), having amassed over 35 years of empirical studies to support its efficacy (Hanley, Iwata, & McCord, 2003). The brief functional analysis (BFA) is a modification (Northup et al., 1991) often conducted in outpatient settings when time constraints are of concern. They have been established primarily with children with developmental disabilities, with support for typically developing children as well (Gardner, Spencer, Boelter, DuBard, & Jennett, 2012). However, several limitations still exist. Specifically, BFA's present risk of producing false positives and false negatives (Kahng & Iwata, 1999; Derby et al., 1992). Additionally, their internal validity can be questionable given the brief nature of the assessment (Wacker, Berg, Harding, & Cooper-Brown, 2004). In the current study, we conducted 60-minute brief functional analyses with typically developing children, in a time-limited outpatient setting, comparing their results to those obtained after conducting extended functional analyses. The results revealed inconsistencies in agreement, presenting questions surrounding the best practices approach to use in time-sensitive outpatient settings, with typically developing children—where problem behavior may be multiply maintained.

Sensory over-responsivity (SOR) is common in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), in which the person has an aversive response to common stimuli such as the sound of a toilet flushing or a vacuum cleaner. Other aversive stimuli may be bright lights or the tactile sensation of clothes tags or tight shoes. Misophonia is a common (but widely unknown) condition in both typical and ASD populations, where specific low intensity stimuli elicit/evoke strong negative behavioral responses. Although the behavioral response to stimuli may be similar for misophonia and SOR, they are very different conditions. Misophonia is viewed as a discrete disorder which cannot be properly classified using the DSM-5 or ICD-10. With SOR, the response is typically a unconditioned sensitivity to stimuli which elicit/evoke the response. With misophonia, the response is a conditioned sensitivity to stimuli which elicit/evoke the response. Surveys of adults with misophonia indicate that misophonic stimuli are soft sounds (e.g. chewing, breathing) and repetitive visual stimuli (e.g. open mouth chewing, foot wiggling, hand movements). Onset of misophonia can occur at virtually any age. Discriminating between SOR and misophonia can be very important because treatment to address the behavior of these conditions is different.

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is a scientific discipline concerned with developing techniques based on the principles of learning and applying these to change behavior of social significance. Since 1960’s, there has been exponential worldwide growing rate of the profession. This growth and globalization of ABA has thrived on the characteristics or dimensions of Applied Behavior Analysis published by Baer, Wolf, and Riley’s 1968 article. Since then, the philosophies of practice have been rooted in the understanding that most behaviors are learned, that behavior serves a function, the environment impacts behavior, skill deficits impact behavior, that team work is critical, and that relationship matters. In pursuant of the latter, the Professional and Ethical Compliance Code for Behavior Analysts made provision for professional delineation and boundaries of Competence while cautioning practitioners to always be sensitive to the potential harmful effects of other contacts on their work and on those persons with whom they deal. With the resurgence of ‘flash card therapy’ and utter disregard for boundaries of competence by competing professionals in the field of ABA therapy, there appears to be conflict with multiple contingencies concept in operation during intervention and resultant drift from the multiple functional areas of client’s development usually in focus of attention. This emerging trend, does not only promote incompetent practice, it makes social validation indices recessive or invisible and ultimately voids the collaborative synergy of the stakeholders (i.e. the interaction of professionals whose inputs when combined produce a total therapeutic outcome that is greater than the simple sum of the individual professional’s contributions). Presenter Co-author Bosede Ehimen Asikhia BCBA Dr. Usifo Edward Asikhia BCBA-D Program Director/Faculty Member Clinical Director/Faculty Member bosedeasikhia@gmail.com asikhia@msn.com International Training Center for Applied Behavior Analysis MAJEK BALOGUN TOWN [OPPOSITE FARA ESTATE] EPE-LEKKI EXPRESS ROAD, LAGOS NIGERIA Email: itc-aba@itc-aba.org Tel: 08026080864, +12085894026 Web: internationaltrainingcenterabaafrica.com & Home-Link International Inc. 890 E Walnut Rd. Apt. 4 Vineland NJ 08360 USA

Matrix training has been used to promote generalized demonstration of targeted object-action-language routines (Goldstein & Mousetis, 1989; Dauphin, Kinney, & Stromer, 2004). In the context of play, it involves training object-action-language (OAL) routines with a set of figurine-object pairs. Following acquisition of targeted play routines, generalization is then tested by recombining the materials into novel figurine-object pairs. Although this procedure is effective in establishing untrained OAL play routines when figurine-objects are presented in pairs, it is unclear whether generalization is also demonstrated in the context of a more typical play scenario in which all materials are available at once. The goal of this study is to design a method of evaluating generalization effects of matrix training by developing a test that more closely approximates a typical play scenario. The participant, a three year old girl diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) was taught three OAL routines using video modeling. Generalization was then tested using two different generalization tests and the degree of recombinative generalization demonstrated in each test was evaluated.

Functional assessments are used to identify the reinforcers maintaining problem behavior and helps guide treatment development. Two types of direct assessment are often used to identify the function of problem behavior: descriptive assessment (DA) and functional analysis (FA). Some researchers have suggested that DA is not as accurate as FA (Thompson & Iwata, 2007), yet many practitioners continue to use DA as a primary method for identifying variables maintaining problem behavior (Roscoe et al., 2015). We are conducting a systematic literature review to identify the use of and correspondence between results of DA and FA. We conducted a thorough literature search, which included any published studies that reported the methods and results of a DA for problem behavior. For studies that included both a DA and FA, we calculated the correspondence in function between the two assessments for each participant. We found that the results of DA corresponded with results of FA in 59% of cases. In 25% of cases, results of DA yielded completely different results than FA. This preliminary analysis suggests that practitioners may not wish to rely solely on the results of DA when developing treatments for problem behavior.

Behavior analysts frequently work on interdisciplinary teams with other service professionals. These professionals consume research outside of the behavior analytic realm that utilize different methods of data collection and analysis. These methods often utilize group-design statistical analysis that behavior analysts have little to no training in. While single-subject design and visual analysis remain the preferred research methodology for behavior analysis, a knowledge of what statistical terms mean and their use is crucial to effectively interpret results from other fields and communicate with other members of service delivery teams. The current poster provides information on upcoming training modules designed by behavior analysts to provide self-paced, personalized instruction to professionals and students seeking to effectively master the language of statistics for the purpose of communication and interpretation of the results of other fields relevant to the interdisciplinary service delivery for individuals and their support networks. Preliminary data will also be presented on the outcomes of the modules.

The paired stimulus preference assessment (Fisher, et al., 1992) is a common method of identifying preferred items that may function as reinforcers. Despite its utility, the methodology of presenting and removing preferred items following brief periods of access may evoke problem behavior, particularly for those with a tangible function. In this study, we conducted a record review of the last 30 consecutive patients seen for assessment and treatment of problem behavior. We evaluated whether problem behavior (a) was more likely to occur during the preference assessment for those for whom we identified a tangible function in a subsequent functional analysis, (b) was more likely to occur as the number of trials without the top preferred item increased, and (c) decreased over the course of the preference assessment. Results indicate that problem behavior was more likely to occur for those with a tangible function (68.42%) versus those without (9.09%). As trials without the top preferred item increased, the likelihood of problem behavior increased. There was not a significant difference between quartiles in which problem behavior occurred. The majority of participants had an identified tangible function (63.33%), followed by escape (40.00%), attention (36.67%), and other functions (e.g., automatic, social control; 3.33% each).

Both tolerance training and individualized levels systems have separately demonstrated reductions in high rates of problem behavior, such as aggression. However, when aggression is severe and confounding variables within the natural setting are challenging to control, fidelity to programmed procedures is likely to be low and treatment effects may not be observed. In this study, we used an individualized levels system embedded within tolerance training with a contingency-based progressive delay for a 6-year old female diagnosed with ADHD. A functional analysis indicated aggression and property destruction were maintained by access to tangible items and possibly escape from demands. After observing consistent rates of problem behavior during tolerance training in an analog setting, therapists implemented an individualized levels system in her classroom. Data were collected on intensity of aggression by her teachers throughout the study. Data indicate an individualized levels system within tolerance training could be used to treat severe aggression in the school setting.

Many children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are highly selective in the variety of foods they eat, which can result in poor nutrition and inappropriate mealtime behavior (Penrod et al., 2012). Behavioral interventions, implemented by clinicians and parents, have been successful in improving children's food acceptance (Bachmeyer, 2009; Najdowski et al., 2010). Researchers have called for component analyses of treatment packages (e.g., Behavioral Skills Training; BST) to evaluate the efficiency of training others to implement feeding interventions (Penrod, 2010). Recently, Aclan & Taylor (2017) investigated the effectiveness of written instructions and feedback to teach parents to implement feeding procedures. The current study extends this research by systematically introducing the components of BST with one additional component, a flow chart, to caregivers of children with food selectivity. The flow chart, a hybrid of both visual prompts and task analyses (Danforth, 1998), has not been evaluated with pediatric feeding interventions. In this study, we examined the use of flow charts and found encouraging results of their use in parent education.

Conducting effective assessment and treatment requires practitioners to continuously evaluate pertinent variables to ensure high internal validity. Additionally, identifying and interpreting the effects of specific variables requires stringent analysis of the collected data. Graphical displays are conservative methods for interpreting and communicating meaningful information (Parsonson & Baer, 1986). With this, visual inspection is a crucial skill to interpret results and make clinically sound decisions toward further assessment and treatment (Roane, Fisher, Kelley, Mevers, & Bouxsein, 2013). However, visual inspection of results may be directly impacted based on the dependent variables being measured, types of graphs being used, or when variability in data becomes more complex (Furlong & Wampold, 1982; Vanselow, Thompson, & Karsin, 2011). For effective communication of results, further graphical interpretations and displays may need to be developed and presented (Onwuegbuzie & Dickinson, 2008). Furthermore, this may become increasingly beneficial with aggregation of results, which may detract from a richer analysis of assessment results (Fahmie & Hanley, 2008). The present study explores the use of multiple graphical formats to display relevant assessment information of two adults who exhibit intense aggressive and disruptive behavior while discussing implications toward treatment.

The function of behavior is determined by consequences it produces. Antecedent stimuli signal the consequence availability for the behavior. Practitioners sometimes identify function based on irrelevant antecedent information. The goal was to identify whether irrelevant antecedent information affect the accurate identification of escape and attention functions by observers with limited experience in Applied Behavior Analysis. Six participants were presented with video segments representing antecedent, behavior, and one of two consequences: attention (hand-over-hand task completion) or escape (task removal). While the antecedent and behavior actions shown in the videos did not vary (task presented and pushed away), subtitles added to each segment in the antecedent and behavior varied, suggesting attention or escape. This created 4 conditions in which antecedent and consequences were consistent (conditions AA and EE) or inconsistent (conditions AE or EA). Participants were asked to identify escape or attention functions at the conclusion of each of the 16 videos presented. Results indicate that when antecedent and consequence combinations depicted in the video segments are consistent, accuracy in identifying function is high. When the combinations are inconsistent, accuracy rates greatly decreased, suggesting that the decrement may be based upon irrelevant information associated with the antecedent rather than relevant consequences.

The picture exchange communication system (PECS) is an augmentative and alternative communication system frequently used to promote functional communication in individuals with autism (Bondy and Frost, 1994; Siegel, 2000; Yamall, 2000). While most research on PECS has found it to be an effective communication system, little research on its use with children under age thee has been conducted. The present study evaluated the sue of the PECS protocol on children between the ages of 18 and 36 months of age. Three children under the age of 30 months participated. All had received ABA services for less than 4 weeks, and had no previous exposure to the PECS protocol or AAC. All trainers followed the PECS protocol, starting with Phase 1. Children were taught to remove a single icon from the front cover of an empty communication book and exchange the icon with a communicative partner in order to receive the target item. Data were collected on the trials to mastery of Phase 1, average service hours per week, and number of different spoken words. All three participants demonstrated mastery within Phase I of PECS and maintained this skill.

Trained therapists have served as the feeder in most research on functional analysis of inappropriate mealtime behavior even though inappropriate mealtime behavior typically occurs in the natural environment when the caregiver feeds the child. The extent to which the results of a therapist-fed functional analysis identifies the reinforcers for inappropriate mealtime behavior when the caregivers feeds the child is unknown. Ringdahl and Sellers (2000) compared the outcomes of a therapist versus a caregiver functional analysis of problem behavior (e.g., self-injury). Levels of problem behavior were higher when a caregiver conducted the functional analysis relative to a trained therapist. The functional analysis identified different functions for one participant. Results of Ringdahl and Sellers suggest that treatment prescription might differ, depending on the individual who conducts the functional analysis. We do not know, however, whether results would be similar for functional analyses of inappropriate mealtime behavior. In the current investigation, we compared outcomes of therapist- versus caregiver-fed functional analyses of inappropriate mealtime behavior, and results were identical for 6 of 8 participants. We discuss the implications of these results for function-based treatment of inappropriate mealtime behavior and considerations for future research on pediatric feeding disorders.

Functional communication training (FCT) is a common intervention used to teach appropriate communication as an alternative to problem behavior, however, in order to maintain treatment effects in the natural environment, training tolerance to denied or delayed reinforcers can be a critical addition to FCT. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effects of a multi-phase intervention for a 4-year old female with Cerebral Palsy and developmental delays. A functional analysis indicated her aggression was maintained by access to tangibles and attention along with escape from demands. Tolerance training occurred in two synthesized conditions that required the participant to discriminate the onset of different but relevant establishing operations in order to emit the correct, contextually prescribed, mand. Afterward, she was taught to tolerate delays and denials to reinforcement that were enforced by the participant's mother in home settings.

Several interventions such as escape extinction and differential reinforcement have been shown to be effective in the treatment of food refusal, food selectivity, and problem behaviors associated with feeding; however, most interventions are implemented using caregiver feeding (i.e., adult presentation of bolus). Therefore, little is known about the effects of self feeding on bite acceptance and problem behavior. The current study compared self feeding and caregiver feeding with four children. There was no difference in bite acceptance for three out of four participants; however, caregiver feeding was more effective for one participant. In addition, all four participants exhibited fewer problem behaviors during the self-feeding sessions. These data suggest that using self feeding during treatment might be beneficial for children, especially for children of parents who have difficulty tolerating problem behavior.

Former research has suggested that behavioral modification delivered as college class helps students to reduce impulsivity and regular exercise itself also has positive effect by improving regulatory strength. In this regard, this study compares the effects of behavioral modification and exercise in a college setting. The self-management class (n=34) required students to implement an individual improvement plan applying behavioral principles and skills than they learned while the exercise class (n=24) consisted of regular exercise once a week. As a control group, the psychology class (n=33) consisted of lectures on the major psychology theories. The delay discounting task, the Barratt impulsiveness scale, the self-report habit index, and self-regulatory behavior questionnaire were administered at the beginning and end of the class. The results of repeated measures of analysis of variance indicated that there were no significant group differences in impulsivity measured by delay discounting. However, the self-management group showed significantly larger improvement in habit strength and self-reported impulsivity compared to exercise and control group. Additional changes in regulatory behaviors including alcohol consumption and time management were also reported. This study implied that self-management class has positive effect in improving impulsivity of college students. Limitations and recommendations were also discussed in detail.

Abnormal speech patterns are a hallmark symptom of autism. Initiating conversations and developing meaningful social connections are often a deficit for children with Autism. In addition, attempts at maintaining conversation with same-age peers can be unsuccessful due to the prolonged latency between words and phrases. This case study evaluates the effectiveness of rate-building exercises on increasing the speed of intraverbal exchanges in the natural environment to that of same-age peers. The participant is a 10-year old boy diagnosed with Autism. Precision teaching sessions were conducted in an Autism clinic. The frequency of words named per minute and words spoken in conversational speech were collected. Generalization probes were collected during a free-operant condition. The dissemination of this information may help ensure that people with similar deficits can access methods that result in more effective communication and the elimination of symptoms of Autism. Precision teaching timings were conducted during Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) sessions. IOA was evaluated during baseline and was at 97%, and will be evaluated for 33% of future sessions.

Parent on Board Training Model: Front Loading Parent Training This model is based on the premise that Parents want to help their children. Applied Behavior Analysis is a complex science, and we must stay mindful that the majority of our parents are not educated in the practice of Applied Behavior Analysis. The Parent on Board Training Model: Front Loading Parent Training, combines education models equal to those that teach English as a second language with Applied Behavior Analysis principles to deliver the complex language, procedures and practice delivery in a comprehensive, understandable method that parents and caretakers can engage in. When parents first seek service they are highly motivated. They often find themselves facing wait lists and searching to secure help for their child. These scenarios often create a setting event, increasing the likelihood of parent engagement in the process. Given the premise that parents want to help their children we can conclude that they need some front load teaching prior to the beginning of Applied Behavior Analysis treatment to increase results. Using the Parent on Board Training Model measurable improvement can occur in parent participation, cooperation, and collaboration as part of the Applied Behavior Analysis team.

Behavior Analysts have a professional and ethical responsibility to ensure that clients have access to high quality services delivered by skilled and competent service providers. A goal of credentialing service providers is to establish standards of competency and standards in training. The Registered Behavior Technician (RBT) is the current credential for frontline staff providing direct implementation of behavior analytic services. Among the requirements for the RBT Credential is the completion of a 40-hour training program, which can be conducted in person or online. Despite the importance of this credential, relatively little research has been conducted examining the relationship between the 40-hour training program and the implementation of behavior analytic services. The present study examined how completing an online, 40-hour RBT training program impacted a trainee's ability to conduct behavior reduction procedures in role-play scenarios. Specifically, implementation of an extinction procedure was analyzed pre- and post- the 40-hour online RBT training program. Following the RBT training program, behavioral skills training was implemented and the participants' ability to implement behavior reduction procedures was assessed. Implications for clinical practice and a discussion of future research will be provided.

The purpose of the credentialing program offered by the Behavior Analyst Certification Board is two-fold 1) to ensure quality control of services thereby 2) increasing the likelihood that consumers will have access to effective treatments. The Registered Behavior Technician (RBT) is a credential for providers who are responsible for the direct implementation of behavior-analytic services. Various requirements must be met to achieve the RBT credential, the most intensive of which is a 40-hour training program based on the RBT task list. The task list is intended to cover core tasks that are likely to be performed by behavior technicians. There has been no empirical investigations of how a 40-hour online RBT training impacts an RBT's ability to implement behavior-analytic services. This study examined the effects of an online, 40-hour RBT training program on the implementation of discrete trials teaching. Specifically, participants were newly employed in an Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention training program. Videos were taken of each participant running discrete trials pre- and post- a 40 hour online RBT training and post- behavioral skills training. A task analysis for discrete trial teaching was used to score the videos. Implications for clinical practice and future research will be provided.

Toilet training is often a difficulty in children diagnosed with Autism, and incontinence in older children can be a paramount barrier in all aspects of quality of life. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a customized version of toilet training to teach toilet skills to a 10-year-old boy with abnormal genitalia and Autism. This case study was conducted with one child diagnosed with Autism spectrum disorder at an Applied Behavior Analysis clinic and the child’s home. Urinary complication arose following 12 surgeries to address multiple medical issues performed on the participant between the ages of 18 months and 3 years of age. These surgeries addressed ambiguous genitalia, rectal prolapse, urinary restriction, hernias, and hypospadias. It was reported following surgical complications that the ability for continence in the future was unlikely. Toilet training was unsuccessfully attempted multiple times in multiple settings, leaving the sight of public and novel restroom extremely aversive. Graphical analysis was used to determine effectiveness of toilet training. Results of this case study indicate that the training method was effective in teaching dryness, initiation, and urinating into the toilet at acquisition level to Autistic child with urinary complication following multiple surgeries.

Children with the feeding difficulties are likely to engaged in inappropriate mealtime behaviors (IMB) which may interfere with the developmental of age-typical feeding skills and may require intervention to increase appropriate eating. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the effectiveness of using a visual board involving delivery of tokens and a differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) paired with verbal praise as a procedure to increase solid intake and decrease inappropriate behaviors during mealtimes for a child with food refusal. A tangible preference assessment was run to identify a reinforcer. Non-preferred food was identified via an interview with the child's parents and used across all sessions. Initially each instance of acceptance resulted in access to a preferred activity, verbal praise and removal of the token from the visual board. Following an increase in acceptance the tokens on the visual board required for exchange to a preferred activity were increased. Results demonstrated that the DRA, visual board and verbal praise increased levels of acceptance and decreased levels of inappropriate behaviors from baseline.

Research in matrix training has shown that when the diagonal targets from a matrix are trained the individual may demonstrate correct responses to the non-diagonal targets within the same matrix and novel targets from a separate matrix (Frampton, Wymer, Hansen, & Shillingsburg, 2016). The purpose of this study was to replicate prior research in matrix training with children with autism who use a speech generating device. Two males diagnosed with autism were exposed to matrix training with mastered tacts of nouns (e.g.f, "elephant") and verbs (e.g. "reading"). Two matrices were constructed (Matrix 1 and Generalization Matrix), using mastered nouns and verbs. Following baseline of the matrices, diagonal targets within Matrix 1 were trained (e.g., "elephant reading"). Post-tests were conducted for the Generalization Matrix followed by post-tests for Matrix 1. Both participants showed recombinative generalization with the Generalization matrix after training of diagonal targets in Matrix 1.

The Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program (VB-MAPP), is based on B. F. Skinner's (1957) analysis of verbal behavior and widely used across the field today. (Sundberg, 2008). Many board certified behavior analysts may treat the VB-MAPP as foundation to their verbal behavior programs, yet maximizing its use is further complicated when the learner is non-vocal, has multiple disabilities, and limited fine motor skills rule out sign language as a communication modality. Mindful of the challenge, we set out with the verbal behavior approach to teach a 10-year-old female client with down syndrome and autism spectrum disorder. Prior to treatment that included use of her augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device, the learner had limited to no functional communication skills. Today, using her AAC device she has a mean length of utterance (MLU) of 4.5 words; communication functional and appropriate to her environment. VB-MAPP domain scores, derived before introduction to the AAC device (January 2016), compared to recent testing in October 2017, demonstrate increases of 60.5 points. Through the merging of AAC application, Language Acquisition through Motor Planning (LAMP) and the VB-MAPP, we were able to give her new access to a voice, one she otherwise did not have.

The conceptual basis of many language training programs for children with ASD involves Skinners' analysis of verbal behavior. According to Skinner, responses within the same topography can be actually functionally independent. Present study involves teaching Echoic, mand, receptive, tact and tact by function as well as intraverbal skills to two 6 year old boys who were completely non verbal till the age of 6 and who started developing language and intraverbal skills using Skinners' analysis of verbal behaviour. The result showed participants also started to read and acquire more language.

3 children under ASD who often answered incorrectly were participants in this study. The children under the study could not use sentences to answer questions or reciprocate answers. We sub-sequentially taught two responses "I have" and "I see" using objects and pictures. The prompting strategy was progressive prompt delay and auditory prompt was only used during the text-prompt condition. Results showed that after textual prompts were used for all the participants, they could generalize the responses across instructors and materials. The importance of teaching generalized responses that enable the acquisition of novel intraverbals is being worked upon. The results showed that using text prompts and prompt delay techniques was effective.

Estimates of non-vocal children with autism lacking in speech ranges from 10-30% (Koegel et al., 2009; Tager-Flusberg et al., 2013). An article review in The Analysis of Verbal Behavior revealed the importance of intraverbal training for inducing first instances of speech in non-vocal CWA is unexplored. Awasthi (2017; Dissertation submitted) examined the role of intraverbal fill-in training in inducing first instances of speech in two separate experiments with 46 and 19 participants respectively and found evidence to indicate that in traverbal fill-in (IFI) training can be a valuable addition to manual sign-mand training with paired vocals (MSMPV) for inducing first instances of speech. In experiment 1, IFI training was added after more than 12 weeks of MSMPV when participants did not acquire any speech. A detailed analysis of weeks to vocal suggested 16%, 35% and 49% children acquired vocals in 12, 24 and more weeks respectively. In experiment 2, IFI was introduced along with MSMPV as a treatment package and 94% children acquired mastery criteria (n=7 vocals) within 12 weeks. The findings suggest that Intraverbal fill in training should be added early on to programs intended to evoke first instances of speech in non-vocal children with autism.

Understanding irony, sarcasm or complex forms of verbal behavior is often a barrier for children with ASD (Filippova et al, 2008). In the present paper we evaluated the clinical efficacy of a teaching package composed by Behavioral Skill Training (BST), in vivo training and multiple exemplar training to teach to recognize and respond to ironic statements in two students with ASD. The intervention has been effective to teach the target behavior and to promote generalization across people. The maintenance of results after one, two and three months from the outset of intervention has been monitored for one student. An analysis, based on Skinner's Verbal Behavior, of the behavior to recognize (as listener) and respond (as speaker) to ironic comments will be proposed. The analysis focuses on the interaction between environmental variables and on the control those variables have on behavior (convergent and divergent stimulus control), identifying the discriminative stimulus for the listener response, produced as result of a past history of reinforcement or punishment, in the presence or absence of joint control between non verbal (surrounding environment) and verbal (comment) stimuli. Different effects of convergent and divergent stimulus control will be discussed. This analysis, based on Radical Behaviorism, offers a tentative explanation of the learning process behind this form of complex verbal behavior.

The IRAP is an assessment procedure designed to target a history of verbally relating specific classes of stimuli (Dymond & Roche, 2013). Stimuli are regarded as implicit as they are measured with respect to faster response latencies and more accurate responses, or brief and immediate relational responding. This poster addresses the predictive utility of a modified IRAP and the additive effects of motivational stimuli to increase cooperation and conformity in a simulated EKG work task. Various classes of cooperative, and conformity, stimuli were assessed to determine if they had an augmenting function on cooperative and conformity responding, and if there can be a functional distinction drawn between the two classes of stimuli. The alignment between implicit responding, as demonstrated in the modified IRAP, and explicit responding, as demonstrated in the simulated work task, will be discussed.

Teaching appropriate replacement behaviors is a common intervention for problem behavior maintained by social reinforcers (Carr and Durand, 1985). Multiple schedules are an effective way to teach individuals to request the reinforcer maintaining problem behavior only when the discriminative stimulus is present and to gradually tolerate longer periods in which the discriminative stimulus is absent (Saini et al., 2016). Signaling the availability of the reinforcer typically involves using visual stimuli, which may not be possible when working with individuals with visual impairment. The purpose of this study was to identify a treatment which reduced problem behavior maintained by access to attention in an individual with intellectual disability and visual impairment. A sweatband was placed on the patient's wrist to signal times when attention was available, and removed when attention was no longer available. During times when the sweatband was on, high quality attention was delivered immediately for 30 seconds contingent on appropriate requests for attention. During times when the sweatband was removed, all requests for attention were ignored. With this intervention in place, rates of problem behavior remained low, even when periods where attention was not available increased.

The purpose of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the effects of functional behavioral assessment-based treatments for behavior challenges of individuals diagnosed with Down syndrome. Studies included in this study were published between 1982 and 2017. Searching online databases, we found 21 published articles met the initial inclusion criteria. These studies included a total of 24 participants with Down syndrome who received function-based treatments. Participants ranged in age from 2 to 53 (mean = 13.4) and 71% were male. Functional analyses were the most common means for identifying the function of the participants' behaviors (n = 16) followed by indirect or direct analyses (n = 8). From the 24 participants in the published articles, treatment effects were evaluated for 37 distinct treatment conditions across 38 behaviors. Effect size estimates were calculated and combined across all individual participant data sets. The combined and weighted effect size indicated a strong effect (r = 0.73). Additional analyses were conducted to evaluate the impact of study variables including effects for separate topographies and functions of behavior. Design standards proposed by the Institute of Education Sciences were applied to the articles included in the meta-analysis. In the final analysis there were 18 articles that met standards, the total number of participants who received effective treatments was 21. All studies were conducted by different research teams in different geographic locations. Overall results indicate that there is sufficient evidence to support the use of functional behavioral assessment with this population.

Tics are responses assumed to be neurobiological in origin and/or maintained often by automatic reinforcement. Still, several studies have shown that tic frequency can be influenced by antecedent environmental events and social consequences. Prior reviews have summarized the effects of these influences but have not examined the relation between tic diagnoses, intellectual or developmental disability, or tic topographies and the consequences observed to maintain tics. These variables might be useful for predicting and identifying maintaining consequences. We reviewed and summarized results from the 13 functional analyses of tic behavior that have been published to date. We examined patterns of functions across tic diagnoses, intellectual and/or developmental diagnoses, and tic topography. Results suggested that developmental diagnosis was not a predictor of function, but that tic diagnosis and topography appeared to have to some relation. These results are discussed in terms of implications for assessment and treatment of tic disorders.

Children with intellectual disabilities of varying aetiologies display unique profiles of repetitive behaviors. A subset of these behaviors, also referred to as obsessive compulsive behaviors, includes insistence on sameness, ritualistic, and compulsive behaviors. Few studies have evaluated treatment options for children with intellectual disability and these behaviors. Recent research has explored the use of exposure and response prevention in combination with behavioral interventions for obsessive compulsive behaviors when there is a hypothesized automatic negative reinforcement function. This study extends research of combined interventions by adapting procedures for a four-year-old boy with mild intellectual disability in an inclusive preschool setting. The intervention consisted of antecedent strategies, exposure and response prevention, and functional behavior assessment and intervention. Treatment was initially delivered by a behavior therapist and then maintenance procedures were transferred to a parent or teacher mediator. A multiple baseline across behaviors design demonstrated that the intervention reduced per-opportunity occurrence of two obsessive compulsive behaviors to zero levels. There was also a corresponding increase in the duration of time the participant engaged with peers. This study provides preliminary support for an intervention combining exposure and response prevention and behavioral interventions to treat young children with intellectual disabilities and obsessive compulsive behaviors.

This research investigates the necessary and sufficient components of behavioural skills training (BST) for teaching university student volunteers how to also use BST to teach motor skills to individuals in the Special Needs Activity Program (SNAP). SNAP is a developmentally appropriate movement education-based embedded curriculum, implemented by university student volunteers, to develop motor repertoires of individuals with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (IDD). Motor milestones are essential for positive growth and child development, however, many children with disabilities fail to meet these motor milestones and/or acquire the fundamental motor skills due to gross and fine motor impairments. This study used an alternating treatment design with an initial baseline, across five student participants to measure the number of BST steps completed accurately while teaching four motor skills based on the SNAP curriculum. In the initial training phase, each motor skill received a different mode of training (i.e., instructions, modeling, rehearsal, or feedback). In subsequent training phases, modes of training were combined for skills that did not reach mastery criterion. Generalization and maintenance were also assessed. These results provide support for determining how to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of training student volunteers to teach motor skills using BST to individuals with IDD.

Smith-Lemli-Opitz Syndrome (SLOS) is an autosomal recessive genetic condition with comorbidities that often include intellectual disability, autism spectrum disorder, language delays, and aggression, self-injurious behavior, and/or sleep disturbances (Tierney et al., 2001). Medical treatments to address symptoms of SLOS primarily include dietary cholesterol supplementation (Porter, 2008), but to our knowledge, no behavioral interventions have been documented in the literature for individuals with SLOS. The purpose of this case study is to present a behavioral approach to the assessment and treatment of severe problem behaviors in an adolescent with SLOS and to provide information on the social validity of these procedures as reported by parents. The participant, Bradley, was an 18-year-old Caucasian male with SLOS and severe intellectual disability. A functional analysis indicated that Bradley's self-injury, aggression, and disruptions were primarily maintained by caregiver attention. A reversal design was used to demonstrate the effects of functional communication training and extinction procedures on rates of problem behaviors. In addition, Bradley demonstrated maintained low rates of problem behaviors as the reinforcement availability schedule was faded. Parents completed the Intervention Rating Profile (IRP-15) to assess social validity of the intervention. Results of these measures along with limitations, future directions, and implications will be discussed.

Smith-Magenis Syndrome is a rare genic disorder where individuals diagnosed with this disorder often display severe challenging behaviors that can impact the person's quality of life. However, there is currently a dearth of research using applied behavior analytic techniques to address challenging behavior with individuals with Smith-Magenis Syndrome. The present study evaluated the effectiveness of differential reinforcement of other behavior to address attention-maintained elopement and physical aggression with an adult with Smith-Magenis Syndrome residing in a community based group home. This study is one of the first studies assessing applied behavioral techniques to address challenging behavior maintained by attention. Differential reinforcement of other behavior was demonstrated to be effective in reducing both target behaviors, resulting in a 100% reduction of elopement and physical aggression. The present study reinforces prior research, suggesting that maladaptive behavior was maintained by environmental factors and can be successfully addressed in adults with Smith-Magenis Syndrome. These findings, based on a single subject design, also suggests a need for more behavioral research with Smith-Magenis Syndrome individuals.

There are limited studies aimed at teaching money management skills to individuals with developmental disabilities. In this study, a 65-year-old adult with a developmental disability was taught via behaviour skills training to implement a comprehensive budgeting program, as a replacement skill to reduce the participant's impulse spending behaviour. At baseline, the participant spent money using her debit card and owed the bank $500 in overdraft. The budgeting program involved teaching the participant to (a) set a monthly budget, (b) remove cash from her bank account and place the cash into monthly spending bags that represented each budget line item, (c) self-monitor her purchases by saving her cash receipts and complete a spending log, and (d) save money using a savings bag. The budgeting program included a differential reinforcement of alternative behaviour (DRA) procedure to reinforce the participant for staying within her monthly budget. Treatment integrity data were collected. Results of this study showed that the participant achieved 100% treatment integrity with her budgeting program across 4 weeks. The participant continuously maintained over $1000 in her bank account once the budgeting program was introduced. The participant maintained 100% treatment integrity with her monthly budget across two maintenance probes. A follow-up social validity interview indicated high rates of satisfaction and benefit from the participant.

A functional behavior assessment determined that a 64 male in a group home displayed self-injurious behavior in the form of head hitting, yelling, and property destruction to escape from demand and/or obtain attention. Training residential staff to implement a DRO+ extinction procedure and to utilize specific antecedent strategies reduced the behavior over time as staff treatment fidelity increased. Randy received points in a DRO for 5 daily intervals in which no problem behaviors were displayed. Each successful interval contributed a point towards an end of day reward as well as earning Randy a smaller reinforcer for that interval. Antecedent strategies included priming before demands, non-contingent attention, staff interacting with Randy at the beginning of their shifts, and staff responding to Randy's attempts to socialize with a thorough social response. The behavioral strategies outlined above resulted in a decreasing trend for all of the behavior topographies and over a six-month period self-injurious behavior went from an average of 105.9 per day over the month of April to 11.7 per day over the month of October. Data improved similarly for yelling from 31.4 (average per day April) to 9.93 (average per day October) and property destruction from 35 to 1.55.

Individuals with significant disabilities often struggle to gain and maintain employment. The ability to self-manage behavior can directly impact employment opportunities for this population. The purpose of this review was to summarize and analyze the literature on using self-management interventions to improve the vocational skills of individuals with significant disabilities. Forty-six articles published between 1978 and 2017 were included. Results indicated that most participants were successful in self-managing their behavior across a variety of vocational skills and settings; however, most studies focused on the use of self-delivered prompts while fewer studies included self-monitoring, self-recording, or self-delivery of consequences as part of the intervention, and these studies tended to show less of an effect. In addition, the review also examined how interventions were applied across participant characteristics. Demographic data indicated that a large majority of the studies included only participants with moderate and severe disabilities, rather than those individuals with profound disabilities. Additionally, a majority of studies focused on older individuals rather than transition-age youth. The implications of the results, as well as potential directions for future research will be discussed.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of the individualized positive behavior support on classroom distruptive behaviors of two special school students with multiple disabilities. The participants were students with dual diagnosis, which are intellectual disabilities and visual impairment. They were 3rd grade students in a special school. The study utilized multiple baseline design across subjects, and measured behaviors using partial interval recording. Functional behavior assessment was also conducted using direct observation, interviews with the teacher and the motivational assessment scale (MAS). Student's personal profiles were analyzed to identify the function of the behavior. The dependent variables were the classroom disruptive behaviors demonstrated by students during class: out of seat behavior, making noise verbally, banging the desk, chatting with peers during the instruction, and lying down on the floor. The findings from the study indicated that the individualized positive behavior supports (i.e., antecedent strategies, alternative behavioral strategies, and consequent strategies) were helpful reducing the disruptive behaviors of the two students with multiple disabilities during both intervention and maintenance phase. Effect size of PEM were 100% of student A and 87.5% of student B. The relults of the study suggested the direction of future research. The followings are the table of current research findings mean percentage of occurrence for classroom distruptive behavior using Interval recording unit : % student A M Range baseline: 55.9 (31.7-76.7) intervention: 8.1 (0-24.1) maintenance:10.9 (0-21.7) student B M Range baseline: 42.4 (13.3-58.5) intervention:31.2 (6.7-73.7) maintenance:17.8 (13.3-23.3)

Although individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) struggle to develop adequate writing skills, no meta-analysis quantifying the effects of existing writing interventions for this population of learners has yet been conducted. The purpose of this poster is to present results from a meta-analysis on 20 writing interventions (16 single-case studies and four group studies) for students with IDD. The included studies yielded a total of 35 effect sizes. A random-effects model was used to determine overall effects, and a mixed-effects model was used to evaluate the effects of moderating variables. Group study effects are reported using Hedge's g and single-case study effects are reported using phi coefficients. Results from the main effects indicate that the writing interventions, overall, had a positive impact on participants' writing performance. The following moderators were analyzed: intervention type, SRSD vs. non-SRSD studies, writing modality (i.e., handwriting vs typing), intervention length, and whether spelling was a measured component. Preliminary analyses indicate that strategy interventions produced the largest effect size, and SRSD interventions yielded larger improvements than non-SRSD interventions. Study results will be tied to both recommendations for practice and future research.

Levels systems for the treatment of severe problem behavior have been evaluated and found to be effective for decreasing severe problem behaviors (Hagopian et al., 2002). The levels system can be used across settings and involves changing the level, specified by type and amount of reinforcement available, contingent on specific behavioral criteria. The purpose of the current study was to extend previous research to evaluate the levels system with an additional reinforcement contingency that included the opportunity for participants to earn a preferred, larger magnitude reinforcer contingent on appropriate behavior (i.e., "superstar" outings or activities). Participants included 6 individuals admitted to an inpatient unit for the assessment and treatment of severe problem behavior. All participants were verbal and followed complex instructions. Interventions for all participants included a level 3 (differential reinforcement and an enriched environment) and level 2 (response cost); however, 2 participants also had a level 1 contingency (response reduction procedure). Contingent on meeting specific criteria within level 3, participants earned their chosen superstar outing/activity. Results suggest that a levels system with an overarching, larger magnitude reinforcer, such as the "superstar" outing, can effectively reduce the occurrence of severe problem behavior.

Students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) struggle to write. The present study investigated the effects of a multicomponent intervention on the paragraph-writing skills of three secondary students with IDD. The paragraph instruction (PI) phase included three lessons delivered via the model-lead-test procedures of explicit instruction and focused on the parts of a simple sentence, capitalization and punctuation errors, and paragraph-writing with picture-word prompts. The frequency-building to a performance criterion (FBPC) phase consisted of repeated 3-minute timings on picture-word prompts similar in design to the dependent variable. This phase concluded when students met a pre-determined performance criterion. Participants received immediate and corrective feedback during both phases. The dependent variable was a 3-minute timed paragraph-writing probe administered at the end of each session. Each probe contained four images depicting a series of related events and several words related to the pictures. The probes were evaluated with a rubric that assessed sentence-level elements (e.g., capitalization, punctuation, grammar) of each sentence in the participants' paragraphs. A multiple probe across participants design was used to detect a functional relation between the intervention and the dependent measure. Data anlaysis revealed mixed effects for the first participant and immediate effects for the second and third participants.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of positive behavior support(PBS) on the behaviors and attitude of young children with/without developmental delays in an inclusive early childhood kindergarten classroom. The subjects of this study include 24 young children without disabilities and one child with developmental delays in an inclusive five-year-old age group classroom at S Kindergarten in Gangwon Province in South Korea. The research design of this study was in a one-group pretest-posttest group design to examine the effects of positive behavior support at the class level on the prosocial behavior, peer acceptance for a young child with developmental delay, and problem behaviors of young children with developmental delays. The study also employed a multiple baseline design across settings as a single subject design to examine the effects of positive behavior support at the individualized level either the participation in group activities and problem behavior of a young child with developmental delay. The research question were as follows 1) Does classroom wide positive behavior support influence on behavior and attitude of children with/without disabilities? 2)Does individualized positive behavior support influence on the problem behavior and activity participation behavior of a child with developmental delays? The findings were as follows: first, classroom wide positive behavior support resulted in a significant increase to young children's prosocial behavior and peer acceptance for a young child with developmental delay. Also, their problem behaviors reduced significantly in an inclusive classroom. Secondly, individualized positive behavior support increased the activity participation and reduced problem behavior of a young child with developmental delay. The effects of intervention maintained in generalization phase after the experiment.

Challenging behavior is common among individuals with developmental disabilities (DD; Emerson et al., 2001). Challenging behavior is likely to increase over time and can lead to poor educational outcomes (Levy & Perry, 2011). The purpose of this review to (a) summarize the behavioral interventions to reduce challenging behaviors of adolescents (ages 12-18) with DD's implemented in school-based settings and (b) to evaluate the quality of school-based behavioral interventions. Three separate searches in four electronic databases and a search of ancestry were used to identify articles published during the last 20 years (1997–2017). Fifty studies met the criteria for this review. All included studies will be evaluated against the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Standards for Evidence-Based Practice in Special Education and summarized descriptively according to: (a) participant characteristics, (b) intervention setting, (c) challenging behavior, (d) function of the challenging behavior, (e) study design, (f) interventionist, (g) intervention, and (h) study outcomes. Interpretation of findings, implications for practice, and areas for future research will be discussed.

Group contingencies have been studied in order to establish useful procedures to reinforce behavior of individuals operating within a larger group.Within the behavioral literature, the effects of various aspects of group contingencies on individual performance have been investigated, such as the different types of group contingencies, contingencies with randomized components, and applications of group contingencies across various settings, populations, and behaviors. This study evaluated the relation between the size of the group and its effect on individual performance within a group context. Fourteen participants across two group homes were exposed to independent and interdependent group contingencies with varying group sizes, and their performance on a self-selected task was examined. Performance data within subjects, comparing the two group sizes will be summarized. In addition, a between subjects analysis, comparing data between the two different types of group contingencies will be presented. Participants' performances across smaller and larger group sizes will be discussed, in addition to future applications of group contingencies in consideration of these results.

Self-control is defined as the choice for a larger delayed reinforcer over a smaller immediate reinforcer (i.e., impulsivity; Ainslie, 1974; Schweitzer & Sulzer-Azaroff, 1988). Children diagnosed with disorders as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity or Autism, often make impulsive choices and have difficulties tolerating delays. Furthermore, in a choice situation, problem behavior could be maintained by smaller immediate reinforcers and appropriate behavior by larger delayed reinforcers, which results in the exhibit of greater problem behavior (Fisher & Mazur, 1997). In applied research, procedures as delay fading, concurrent activity, punish the impulsive choice, signal the delay, choose the duration of delay or use qualitatively different reinforcers, have resulted in the establishment of self-control and delay tolerance and in the decrement of problem behavior in children. A review of the procedures to establish self-control and delay tolerance in children and their theoretical behavior basis (e.g., concurrent activity and conditioned reinforcement) will be discussed. Additionally, future directions in the applied research of self-control will be reviewed, including the generalization of self-control, and the evaluation of commitment, chain-procedures or delay variation (i.e., procedures that have been effective in basic research) to establish self-control in children.

In order to better understand the possible relationship between choice making and challenging behavior, a systematic review of the literature was conducted. A systematic search of the literature identified fourteen studies that implemented choice making to reduce challenging behavior among individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The articles were analyzed and summarized according to participant characteristics, functional behavior assessment, and choice-making intervention characteristics. Several patterns were identified in the literature. First, most studies evaluated the effects of choice making with participants 12 years or younger. Second, fewer than half of the studies conducted a functional analysis prior to intervention. Finally, most choice making interventions were conducted with academic tasks. Overall, the existing literature represents a variety of choice-making approaches including choices within activities (e.g., choice of materials) and across activities (e.g., selection of activity). The literature further indicates that both choice making within and across activities is a successful intervention to reduce challenging behavior. Areas for future research were identified including a need for more studies to compare effectiveness of within and across activities.

The Society of Rehabilitation of the Mentally Challenged (SOREM) serves 120 students with various cognitive disabilities in Chandigarh, India. The school is committed to supporting the successful transition of SOREM students into mainstream schools or the work force. Some of the vocational programs offered at SOREM include; block printing, candle and jewelry making, needlework, and masala packaging. A recent vocational placement at SOREM is creating organic colourful powders for Holi which is a spring festival of love and colour celebrated throughout India and Nepal. The goal for SOREM's vocational programs is to teach the students to work together in a progressive assembly to complete all the necessary steps from cutting the flowers used for the organic powder to packaging and taking orders. Students are taught to complete as many steps of the chain as possible. A total task forward chain was used and data was collected weekly on the student's performance. Data show that most students are demonstrating independence. Further, a scoring rubric was used to weigh gestural prompts as being a superior (less intrusive) prompt to physical prompts so when the data was graphed, classroom improvement was visually represented.

Experimental functional analyses are by far the most empirically supported methods for assessing the function of challenging behavior and yet they remain the least utilized by practitioners. Practitioners cite several concerns regarding experimental functional analyses as reasons for their poor adoption, one of which is the duration of time required to complete an experimental functional analysis. Very brief functional analyses (i.e., one session of each condition) have been evaluated and have produced mixed results. Much longer analyses (e.g., 5-10 sessions of each condition) highly reliably produce useful results. However, little or no previous research has attempted to identify approximately how many sessions of each condition are generally needed to produce interpretable results. The current study consists of a quantitative review of published functional analysis graphs of varying durations to determine the degree of agreement with final functional analysis outcomes with only two sessions of each condition, three sessions, and so on. The results of the review show that, as analyses are shorter in duration, they generally produce less reliable results, but that analyses as short as three sessions of each condition often produce sound results. Implications for future research will be discussed and recommendations for practitioners will be presented.

The intensity of a target behavior (or severity/magnitude) may correspond to the social significance and priority of that behavior for intervention. However, the extent to which researchers measure this dimension is unclear. The purpose of this brief review was to determine how researchers publishing in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis over the past five years have discussed and/or measured intensity of behavior. Results showed that, of the 346 articles, 10% referenced the intensity, severity, force, or magnitude of target behaviors; only 17% of those articles (less than 2% of all articles) included a corresponding measurement system. Each measurement system had substantial limitations, such as limited generalizability and high subjectivity. Future research should consider development of a more generalizable, objective system for measuring the intensity of target behaviors.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often exhibit noncompliance in the form of negative vocalizations, avoidant responses (e.g., pulling away), elopement, and aggression to avoid hygiene and grooming routines (e.g., tooth brushing, hair cutting, nail cutting). Prior research has shown that stimulus fading across a stimulus hierarchy has effectively decreased avoidant responses and increased compliance during oral hygiene routines, such as tooth brushing (Bishop et al., 2013). We attempted to replicate the effects of stimulus fading in the current study. That is, we used a modified stimulus fading hierarchy to increase compliance with hair and nail cutting routines for three children with ASD. Following an escape baseline, we implemented reinforcement for compliance on an FR 1 schedule, which failed to increase compliance for any of the participants. We then added stimulus fading, which effectively increased compliance and decreased avoidant responses for one participant. For the other three participants, we added escape extinction to the stimulus fading hierarchy, which increased compliance and decreased avoidant responses to clinically acceptable levels for these children. In addition, once compliance increased, we observed generalization to novel clinicians and caregivers.

Functional Analysis (FA) has long been the established best practice for identifying the function maintaining problem behavior and informing treatment decisions for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) (Iwata et al., 1982). Although conducting a rigorous FA may result in reliable findings (Iwata et al., 1994), FA also requires highly controlled contingencies, takes longer to complete, may result in increased risk to the client (Carr & Durrand, 1985), and can be challenging when assessing multiple topographies or functions of problem behavior (Hanley et al., 2003). This study compares two approaches to caregiver-conducted assessment with therapist coaching via telehealth: the FA and the Brief Assessment of Motivation (BAM). The BAM is an open-ended caregiver interview with single exposure to contingencies of a toy play (control), social attention, escape from demands, and tangible conditions in which a caregiver is instructed to respond to problem behavior as they typically would. The BAM is completed within three 1-hour sessions. In contrast, the FA is conducted with client-specific contingencies and control conditions, continuing until differentiation and function are determined. Twenty-one participants were randomly assigned to receive either the BAM only or both BAM and FA. Preliminary data show the average number of sessions to identify function is 30.8 in the FA in comparison to 7.5 sessions for the BAM with significant agreement in identified function across assessments. For participants who received the FA, treatment outcomes (90% reduction in problem behavior) were met in an average of 33.6 sessions. Participants who received the BAM met treatment outcomes in an average of 31.7 sessions. The discussion presents questions as to the efficiency and necessity of the FA.

Akers, Retzlaff, Fisher, Greer, Kaminiski, and DeSouza (under review) demonstrated that a conditional multiple schedule could be used to teach discriminated manding of correct functional communication responses (FCRs) across several reinforcement (i.e., SD) and extinction (i.e., S?) conditions. Specifically, three reinforcement conditions (i.e., attention, tangible, and both) were signaled and alternated with an extinction condition. Discriminated manding was observed for two out of the three participants. The current study extended the procedures described by Keevy et al. by requiring compliance with a fixed number of instructions during the S? (i.e., chained schedule) before a reinforcement condition (i.e., SD's) was made available for one participant diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. We used a multiple-baseline-across-conditions design to evaluate the effectiveness of the teaching procedures. In addition, results of pre- and post-training probes of the conditional compound schedule indicated that the participant demonstrated discriminative responding when all were combined in a conditional compound schedule once discriminations were acquired under separate teaching conditions. This study demonstrated the utility of a conditional compound schedule to teach one participant to discriminate the availability and unavailability of reinforcement for multiple FCRs. Clinical implications regarding the efficiency of the procedures and generality of the findings are discussed.

Bruxism, typified by excessive teeth grinding, is a form of self-injurious behavior that has garnered relatively little attention in the behavioral literature. Automatically maintained behavior can be difficult to treat because it often precludes the manipulation of socially mediated maintaining stimuli. The inability to block bruxism exacerbates this challenge and poses unique barriers to treatment. The present study examined bruxism exhibited by a 13-year-old girl with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Results of a functional analysis indicated that the behavior occurred independent of programmed establishing operations and occurred almost exclusively while the participant was engaged with preferred leisure items. The first intervention examined was a 5-s response cost procedure. This proved ineffective when implemented in isolation. However, when paired with a competing edible item, identified via a competing items assessment, the response cost proved effective at reducing the rate of bruxism. The social validity of existing bruxism interventions and the present intervention are discussed. Directions for future research in both bruxism and other idiosyncratic challenging behaviors are explored.

The purpose of this study was to teach three children with developmental disabilities the opposing properties of rough/smooth and hard/soft using tactile and nonvisual stimuli. Participants were presented a sample object with a tactile quality then taught to select the opposite tactile object from an array without looking. All of the comparison tactile objects were placed within a stimulus box so that the participants were unable to see the stimuli for that trial. Participants were told to, "feel this," then reach into the stimulus box and told to, "find the opposite," correct answers were trained through discrete trial training. Novel stimuli were utilized as test probes in order to assess the generalization of the skills. All three participants acquired the skill through discrimination training and were able to demonstrate generalization to the novel stimuli sets. Two-week maintenance probes were conducted for all participants. Following maintenance, all three participants were able to continue to discriminate the tactile objects and demonstrate generalization of the skill. The results of the study support the use of discrete trial training for teaching abstraction of opposing tactile properties.

Abstract Auditory-visual conditional discriminations are often difficult for children with autism spectrum disorder or another developmental disability to develop naturally (see Grow & LeBlanc, 2013 for a review). This type of listener behavior requires an individual to select a correct comparison picture following the presentation of an auditory discriminative stimulus. Certain teaching approaches has proven effective in the acquisition of auditory-visual conditional discrimination for learners who do not acquire the skill from the natural environment. For example, the conditional-only method aided by the addition of an (a) an observing response, or a differential observing response and (b) prompting procedures that promote attending to relevant stimulus features (Grow & LeBlanc, 2013). The purpose of the current study was to (a) evaluate the effectiveness of using an echoic response as the differential observing response during the auditory-visual conditional discrimination trials that included an identity match prompt within the least-to-most prompting hierarchy and (b) assess for the emergence of a tact repertoire, following training on auditory-visual conditional discriminations. Results for one child suggested that the inclusion of an echoic differential observing response (DOR) may have facilitated the emergence of untrained tacts acquisition.

The Avoidance and Fusion Questionnaire for Youth (AFQ-Y) is a 17-item self-report measure that can be implemented with children and adolescents to provide a measure of inflexible and avoidance driven responding. Previous research has examined the applicability and validity of the AFQ-Y with typically developed individuals, however, limited research exists in terms of its applicability to individuals with autism. The purpose of the present study was to extend previous literature by determining the applicability of the AFQ-Y to children and adolescents with autism, as a function of their abilities to derive mutually entailed relations. The AFQ-Y was conducted across 54 participants, followed by the PEAK-E pre-assessment, an assessment designed to provide a measure of an individual's ability to form equivalence relations. Several analyses were conducted with the data to determine the extent to which mutual entailment relates to psychological flexibility. Overall, the results suggest that the AFQ-Y may have greater utility for individuals that demonstrate mutually entailed responses, than those who do not demonstrate mutually entailed responses. The findings yield significant implications in terms of the applicability of the AFQ-Y and contextual behavior analytic treatment approaches to individuals with autism.

Behavior analysts working with children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and other intellectual disabilities are commonly asked for assistance with toilet training. To date, we have recommended evidence-based toilet training procedures. However, we do not know whether the procedures are best for children with ASD. Greer et al. (2016) evaluated the effectiveness of three typical components presented within a toilet training package: sit schedule, underwear vs. diapers (or pull ups), and differential reinforcement. These components were evaluated with 19 typically-developing children and one child diagnosed with ASD. The aim of the current study is to 1) evaluate the generality of the procedures implemented by Greer et al. with children with ASD. 2) to empirically evaluate elimination patterns to allow researchers to identify modifications necessary for individualized toilet training. It is hypothesized that the treatment package proposed by Greer et al. (2016) will be effective for only some subjects. For those that the treatment package is ineffective, elimination patterns will assist in determining potential modifications (i.e., increasing fluid intake, increasing scheduled sits, increasing sit duration, etc.). The proposed study will create a tool for caregivers and professionals to effectively toilet train children with ASD and related disabilities.

Decades of research in behavior analysis have demonstrated that discrimination between schedules of reinforcement occurs more quickly and efficiently when multiple schedules are used compared to mixed schedules. The use of multiple schedules has been shown to be effective at reducing high rates of manding for individuals who use picture exchange cards. However, with the rise in technology, many children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities are learning communication skills (i.e., manding) using new augmentative and alternative communication devices such as the Proloquo2go™ application on the iPad®. To date, no studies have extended multiple schedules in order to signal periods of reinforcement availability and extinction using these forms of technology. The current study will extend the literature of multiple schedules as a proof of concept to current technology.

Interventions for food selectivity in children with autism often lack direct assessment of feeding or inappropriate mealtime behavior prior to treatment implementation (Silbaugh et al., 2016). When a pre-treatment assessment is completed, a technological description of inclusion criteria and assessment methods are not always included, and caregiver input is not necessarily utilized. The present study describes an assessment process modeled after the interview informed synthesized contingency analysis (IISCA; Hanley et al., 2014). Caregivers of children who are described as picky or selective were asked to complete the Selective Eating Screening Tool, a food preference survey, and a brief interview. These tools provided information about the child's mealtime behavior and food preferences, foods that the caregiver would like the child to eat, and reinforcement contingencies that may influence mealtime behavior. This information was used to populate a single stimulus preference analysis and, for some participants, a functional analysis. Interobserver agreement averaged 98% (range, 80% to 100%) for all variables measured. The outcomes of this assessment process were used to inform a function- and skill-based treatment of food selectivity.

Difficulty in transitioning from high to low preferred activity is a challenge with some children with developmental disabilities (Sainato, Strain, Lefebvre, & Rapp, 1987). Compliance training for parents included using behavior momentum (Mace et al., 1988); errorless compliance (Ducharme & Popynick, 1993); and prompting with a 10-sec delay and physical guidance (Miles & Wilder, 2009). In the current study, a 10-year old boy complied with 13% parent delivered verbal instructions, to transition from high-p to low-p instructions in baseline conditions. Parents were trained to use picture cues without verbal instructions for transitioning from trampoline (high-p) to swings, see-saw, table-top, and computer (low-p). Minimal physical prompts such as nudges, gestural prompts and body blocks for attempts to run to a non-targeted activity were used. A brief reversal to verbal instructions on day 9, 15 and 16 indicated a gradual improvement in compliance to 55%, 71% and 92% respectively for transitioning on parent verbal instructions. This suggested picture cues can play an effective role in the transfer of stimulus control to verbal instructions during compliance training. Yes/No data was taken and IOA was 100%. Parents reported high degree of social validity in implementing the process.

Many children with autism have difficulty learning skills such as visual-visual matching, motor imitation, and social responses such as greetings. For some children with autism, this problem in learning may be related to the degree to which the child attends to antecedent stimuli (e.g., instructions from a teacher, a model from a teacher or peer, or the presentation of academic materials such as pictures and objects). On the other hand, many children with autism appear to have strong preferences for technology such as computers and tablets and can be observed to visually attend at high rates when engaging with technology. The current study evaluated and compared the effects of presenting instructional antecedents using traditional presentation methods (i.e., teacher-presented) with technology-based methods (i.e., video presented on an iPad) for one child with autism. Experimental control was demonstrated in a multiple-baseline across behaviors design. The results showed that the video-based antecedent presentation resulted in acquisition of visual-visual non-conditional matching, generalized imitation, and social greetings, while there was no effect for identifying body parts. Following the video intervention, generalization of acquired responses was observed in the traditional presentation condition (i.e., teacher-presented antecedents). Interobserver agreement was collected in 36% of sessions and there was a mean agreement of 98%.

Child noncompliance during dental exams and haircuts can prevent the successful completion of these procedures (e.g., Allen, Stanley, & McPherson, 1990; Cuvo, Godard, Huckfeldt, & DeMattei; Shumacher & Rapp, 2011). This problem is exacerbated when the procedure involves the use of sharp objects (e.g., dental scrapper, scissors) that can cause physical injury to children who exhibit noncompliance, problem behavior, or other avoidant behaviors during the procedure. We examined the effectiveness of a treatment package consisting of demand fading, synchronous reinforcement, and escape on the acquisition and generalization of compliance of 2 young children with autism spectrum disorder during a dental exam (participant 1) and a haircut (participant 2). Results showed that the treatment package was effective for increasing compliance in an analogue setting for both children and generalization to the natural setting was achieved for one child. Results are discussed in terms of treatment implications and the importance of programming for generalization.

Cause and effect is a concept that involves an understanding of why events occur, specifically, the relationship between an action and the outcome. Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are often deficient in this skill, which is necessary for a greater understanding of their surrounding world, including the actions of others. This poster details a case study examining the use of direct instruction to teach a child with ASD the concept of cause and effect by systematically teaching the child appropriate responses to cause and effect questions that gradually increased in complexity. By breaking down the concept of cause and effect into four types of questions (e.g. "What happened when (explanation of cause)," "What will you do/what will happen if (explanation of cause)," "Why shouldn't you/wouldn't you (action)," "Why (explanation of effect)"), the concept was presented to the child in a manner that systematically increased in difficulty. The child demonstrated mastery of all four types of questions, providing preliminary evidence that children with ASD can be taught the complex skill of cause and effect.

According to Roscoe and colleagues (2015), about one-third of behavioral analysts employ functional analysis procedures to determine a behavioral treatment plan and greater than half of all behavior analysts believe descriptive assessments are sufficient for determining function of problem behavior. Although there is great importance in efficiently determining behavioral function (i.e., less likelihood of behavioral strengthening, more rapid initiation of treatment), the ability to implement an efficient treatment (i.e., rapid reductions in problem behavior) based on the outcome of such an assessment is also of great importance. To determine the value of a standard functional analysis, a randomized clinical trial of functional analysis procedures using telehealth is currently underway across three research sites. In this study, young children with autism were randomly assigned to either a brief structural assessment group or an extended functional analysis group and treatment matching the assessment outcome continued until problem behavior was reduced by 80% over baseline and manding was independent. This poster will provide preliminary data on the length of treatment required to reach criteria for both groups and the implications of any differences.

Language and cognitive intervention using ABA therapy can be sometimes difficult to come by in certain regions of the country or for parents that may not have insurance. By teaching parents how to utilize intervention techniques, more children may receive adequate treatment. Two parents and their children with autism were participants in the current study using the PEAK Relational Training System- Direct Training module (PEAK-DT). The procedure first required the parents to read information on how to implement the programs found in the introduction of the PEAK-DT module. Following this step, the parents observed their child's therapy sessions conducted at an ABA clinic by student therapists. Next, parents were instructed to implement three programs and received feedback from the child's therapist.. Implementation fidelity was collected based on the parent performance and child progress was recorded based on percent correct responding within the actual program. Each parent was able to successfully implement programs within the PEAK-DT module within their child's therapy sessions and the children were accurately responding and mastering skills taught to them by their parents. This study implies that parents may be able to utilize the PEAK Relational Training System with their children when provided training by ABA therapists. Additionally, future research should assess these procedures with the other three PEAK modules.

The prospect of using robots to mediate therapy is exciting because specific skills can be taught in the absence of a therapist, thus extending teaching time for clients. However, systematic literature reviews have reported a lack of concurrence in the effectiveness of robot-mediated therapy. Despite current empirical evidence supporting the effectiveness of behavioral interventions for remediation of symptoms associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), the research in robot-mediated interventions for this population is published outside of behavior analysis. Therefore, the purpose of this poster is to provide behavior analysts with information regarding the current literature base and how robots are being used. We reviewed 15 studies examined by Begum, Serna, and Yanco (2016) and extended their analyses to include information about the dependent measures as well as the specifications of the robots. We found that the most common dependent variables were imitation (40%), attending (20%), prompt level required to evoke target behaviors (20%), and social skills (20%; e.g., greetings). The robot was most often human operated (60%) and served as a therapist (67%; i.e., delivered instructions, models, and/or praise). We will discuss the implications of our findings with respect to how behavior analysts can contribute to this line of research.

Relational Training promotes the development of derived language and cognitive skills for children with autism or related disabilities, which is theoretically based out of Relational Frame Theory (RFT). RFT is an account of human language and cognition that focuses on derivations of language through relational frame families such as sameness, difference, and opposition. The present study evaluated the efficacy of a training procedure teaching the relational frame of opposition as well as promoting derivations of untrained relations for children with autism using arbitrary symbols. A multiple baseline design was utilized across three participants to teach oppositional properties of culturally relevant stimuli for Emojis. Additionally, arbitrary symbols were taught to represent the emotions corresponding with the Emojis. Furthermore, probes were conducted across baseline and treatment conditions to test for the transformation of stimulus function for each participant. The results of the initial analysis indicated that the participants acquired the skill and support the efficacy and usefulness of relational training for teaching arbitrary and culturally relevant frames of opposition. Finally, these results have implications surrounding the advancement of technologies for teaching complex language and cognitive skills to children with autism.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that greatly impacts social, communication, and educational outcomes (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). One-to-one instruction (e.g., Discrete-Trial-Instruction) is one of the most widespread and heavily researched interventions for learners with ASD (Smith, 2001; Stahmer et al., 2005). Although effective, intensive one-to-one teaching methodologies may be costly and difficult to implement in many non-clinical educational settings (Collins, 2012; Smith, 2001). Alternatively, group instruction may be a more efficient method of delivering programming. Instructive feedback (IF), and stimulus equivalence are two methods that have been implemented in group instructional formats (e.g., Ledford & Wolery, 2013; Rehfeldt et al., 2003). Individually, each has been effective in increasing the emergence of skills that were not directly taught, but there has not been an investigation of the effects of combining these two strategies. In the current study investigated combing IF and stimulus equivalence procedures with six participants with ASD to determine if equivalence classes emerged both through direct teaching, and through observational learning.

Learners with developmental disabilities need specially engineered environments to acquire listener responding skills (Drash & Tudor, 1993; Lovaas, 1977). Ash an 11-year old boy with autism had profound difficulties in audio-visual-conditional discrimination of stimuli from same class. He also failed to acquire discrimination training involving matching to sample (Saunders & Spradlin, 1989), or differential observing response using sign, and avoiding targets with a history of errors (Grow & LeBlanc, 1998). This experiment used novel stimuli with and without signs with 4 fruit stimuli and 4 animal stimuli. Results showed rapid acquisition of conditional discrimination within 4-16 days on a 5-Y mastery criteria. A detailed counterbalanced assessment showed 95% correct identification in 3 fruits and 78% correct responding with 3 animals. These are significantly higher than chance levels confirming the acquisition of discrimination. The results suggest that using novel stimuli, using block of trials and teaching targets with no prior history of failures and was effective in learning discrimination within class however acquisition for targets taught rates with and without signs remained unaltered.

Joint attention (JA) is a cluster of prelinguistic behaviors (i.e., eye gaze alternation between partner and referent and gestures) to communicate nonverbally and is an important component of early social-communicative skills (Bruinsma, Koegel, & Koegel, 2004). Responsive JA occurs when the adult gazes and or points to a referent and the child shifts gaze to the referent and back to the parent. Initiated JA occurs when the child establishes a gaze shift between a partner and the referent to direct the partners attention. The purpose of this study was to measure child initiated and responsive JA (Whalen & Schreibman, 2003) and the proportion of child responses to parent initiated opportunities during parent-implemented free play sessions in the family homes and delivered via telehealth for two young girls with autism. Visual analysis results indicated that parents provided a moderately high and stable range of JA opportunities for children to respond to JA, with child JA responses covaried with parent initiated opportunities. Overall, children engaged in more JA responses than JA initiations. Future implications from this study include viable codes to measure JA either because of JA intervention or as a potential collateral gain during early communication intervention.

Prompt dependency is the overreliance of a cue meant to induce a person to perform a desired behavior. This can be a significant problem in children receiving services for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and can prevent generalization and further skill acquisition. Group learning is the ability to acquire new skills in an environment with one instructor and more than one learner. The present study investigated one treatment method to overcome prompt dependency for 3 children with ASD who had already mastered a skill in an individual instruction setting, but inconsistently demonstrated the skill in a group setting without a prompt from support staff. The goal of this study was to demonstrate that stimulus control could be transferred from the controlling prompt to the instructor by systematically increasing the number of peers present when instruction is delivered and decreasing the reinforcement ratio. Our results showed that this procedure was effective in maintaining responding, and all students were able to achieve a markedly improved level of responding in a group. Limitations and implications for practice are discussed.

Despite the wide-scale availability of effective screening tools for young children, waits for diagnostic assessment are still quite lengthy and impede access to early intervention services. Early accurate diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and access to Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) services currently represents a challenging public health and clinical practice issue. Lack of access to autism screening and/or ABA services contributes to substantial family stress. We tested the impact of embedding a behavioral health provider within the primary care setting with an explicit focus on rapid ASD identification and access to ABA services. Patients were seen in pediatric primary care clinics, which increased coordination and continuity in the medical home. Based on this model, several significant advantages were noted related to the latency to evaluation and diagnosis as well as the median age at diagnosis. Three pilot models with varying levels of ABA consultation were provided to children with an ASD diagnosis to address needs such as challenging behavior, communication, self-help, and social skills. This model potentially represents a more realistic and efficient model for advancing ASD identification and initiation of services.

Children with feeding disorders may exhibit packing, which is defined as holding food in the mouth for a prolonged period of time. There are various treatment approaches to address packing, including redistribution, offering a chaser, texture manipulations, and reinforcement contingencies; however, these treatments are not always effective. Buckley and Newchok (2005) found that simultaneous presentation, a treatment previously identified to increase acceptance, reduced packing in one child; however, they did not fade out simultaneous presentation. The current study aimed to expand Buckley and Newchok's study by using simultaneous presentation to decrease packing, and then systematically fading out simultaneous presentation while maintaining high levels of mouth cleans (swallowing within 30 seconds). The study included one 4-year-old male diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and severe food selectivity who packed 100% of nonpreferred bites. A reversal design was conducted to demonstrate experimental control of simultaneous presentation, and the ratio of preferred to nonpreferred bites was systematically faded during treatment until generalization occurred during a final reversal to baseline. Packing decreased to 0%, and mouth cleans increased to 100%, when preferred foods were presented simultaneously. Packing remained at 0%, and mouth cleans at 100%, in the absence of preferred foods following systematic fading.

A token is an object that is provided contingent on appropriate behavior and is later exchanged for back up reinforcers (Cooper, Heron, Heward, 2007). Token economies have become one of the most successful, behaviorally-based applications within the field of applied behavior analysis (Hackenberg, 2009). There have been minimal published studies which evaluated ways to increase the duration for wearing prescription prosthetics and no known studies which employed the use of a token economy to increase wearing. Previous research evaluated increasing prosthetic compliance and duration of wearing a prescribed prosthetic has employed the use of non-contingent reinforcement (Richling et al., 2011), response cost, and response blocking (DeLeon et al., 2008;). This study expanded current research to increase prosthetic wearing using tokens. Prior to treatment, a functional analysis was conducted to evaluate the participant's hearing aid refusal behavior and a subsequent treatment package was assessed. The skill did not generalize to the natural environment and due to medical necessity a new treatment was examined. The current study evaluated the effectiveness of a token economy to increase the duration an individual wore their hearing aids. A token was delivered contingent upon hearing aid wearing for a prescribed interval. Once the terminal number of tokens were earned, the individual was provided with enthusiastic attention and an extended enriched break. Our findings suggest that the use of a token economy may have been successful at increasing the duration that an individual wears their hearing aids. However, it should be noted that a limitation of this study is that the removal of the intervention did not lead to a subsequent decrease in duration of hearing aid wearing. This limitation could be attributed to session therapist's attention having control over the behavior. This will be addressed in an upcoming component analysis.

One of the key findings from the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention demonstrated lower prevalence rates of an Autism Spectrum Disorder in non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic groups compared with non-Hispanic White children (Community Report on Autism, 2016). Suggesting, mild-moderate cases of Autism might be under-diagnosed in these groups as well as cultural differences in seeking psychological and medical diagnoses. In order to provide high quality interventions to all toddlers with or at risk for ASD, there is a need to conduct further research, which includes diversity across race, ethnicity and cultures to assess the impact of services across these groups. In this pilot study, we compare the outcomes/impact of a brief caregiver training series on development of social communication skills across three ethnic groups (non-Hispanic White, non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic) in two regions of the state of Tennessee. Preliminary data suggests comparable increases in social communication skills. Caregiver's of non-Hispanic White children reported a decreased ability to help their children and take them on routine errands following six intervention sessions. Data collection will continue through January 2018, for service delivery. We predict all three ethnic groups will report similar outcomes with higher outcomes reported in one of the two state regions.

Three children with autism who could not demonstrate correct responding in terms of the contextual cue "different" were taught through multiple exemplar discrete trial training to responding distinctively to a subset of stimuli. Baseline results show that the participants could not demonstrate correct responding above baseline levels for non-arbitrary stimuli that were either the same or different. Following direct reinforcement and prompting for a subset of stimuli, the participants could not only demonstrate correct responding in terms of the first set of relational stimuli, but could also demonstrate correct responding in terms of a second, untrained set of stimuli. This result further suggests that relational responding in terms of frames of distinction may be a higher-order operant that can be established in children with autism. Training and testing procedures were taken from the PEAK-Transformation curriculum to aid in clinical replication and in research.

Twenty children with autism or a related disability participated in the present study, evaluating the efficacy of medium-dosage, comprehensive PEAK relational training on target skill acquisition of relational (i.e., equivalence and RFT-based) and non-relational (e.g., tacts and mands) skills. A subset of the participants served as a quasi-experimental control group and received low-dosage (1-3 hours per week) verbal behavior training guided exclusively by the PEAK-Direct Training module, approximately replicating conditions from results reported by McKeel et al. (2014). Skill acquisition was then compared to participants who received medium-dosage (4 to 12 hours per week) comprehensive relational language training guided by each of the four PEAK modules (Direct Training, Generalization, Equivalence, Transformation). The results showed a significant difference between the two groups in terms of skill acquisition, and differences in terms of the different training modules were compared. A third group of subjects were instructed in both groups in a pre-post format, and results showed that skill acquisition improved once the low-dosage comprehensive training was introduced. Implications for systems level analysis is compared.

Although the science of behavior analysis is well-established, the broad integration of ABA into the fields of healthcare, education, housing and employment is still very much a work on progress. Among the forces mediating this process, laws and legal institutions may either be strong allies or powerful hindrances. The poster will address some of the key laws and concepts of which behavior analysts performing research or working in the field should be aware.

We developed a checklist modelled from existing OBM procedural barriers measures to determine knowledge (rule-governance), access (antecedent), and consequence (reinforcement) variables that may preclude families from accessing ABA services. The checklist was then used to evaluate barriers to treatment for 30 families in the Southern Illinois region to determine if the items could isolate specific barriers to each family in order to tailor services to ensure that families can access ABA. Results from our sample elucidated both knowledge and access variables, where families identified that, although they are aware that ABA is an option, they largely failed to provide a correct description of ABA. In addition, although all families indicated that they would like to receive ABA services for their child with autism, these services were largely unavailable, or they did not know where to locate treatment options. All parents indicated that ABA treatment would be beneficial for their child. Results have implications for assessing for access barriers using ABA techniques, as well as in evaluating common barriers local to an area, such as Southern Illinois in the current study.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether children with autism acquired school readiness skills such as social skills and school rules through video modeling intervention using iPad. Two children with autism participated in this study. We used multiple baseline design across stimulus sets to evaluate the treatment effect. Children received a 30-minute intervention at laboratory once in a week, and 10-minute intervention using iPad at home from the parent every day for 4 weeks at home. In the intervention phase at laboratory, children watched the 9 videos on iPad. The content of the video was to speak to, praise, and comfort a friend. Participants were required to say the correct phrase and do a role play about the video. They also watched the video on the iPad with parents every day at home. In the baseline, probe, and follow up phase, experimenter showed video to children halfway and asked what we should say at such times. The results showed that the proportion of correct phrase increased in a short period of time. In the follow-up, it was possible to answer by thinking about the phrase themselves, not the predetermined serifs.

Derived relational responding has been of increasing interest is the field at large, and in the applied domain. Specifically, derived relational responding is seeing increased attention in its relevance to autism treatment. Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention (EIBI) is the behavioral treatment of choice for autism. While it is acknowledged that behavioral interventions are effective, a critique of this approach is that empirically, little attention is given to training, evaluating, and promoting generalized responding. Such generalized responding is critical to the emergence of novel behavior. Children with autism are often substantially delayed when compared to age matched peers. Teaching technologies that rely solely on teaching isolated and discrete responses divorced from functionally related relations will be insufficient in efficiently ameliorating language deficits in children with autism. Some have suggested that and understanding of derived relational responding is what has been absent from a behavioral account, and teaching technology of language. Therefore, ongoing assessments and teaching technologies informed by the derived relational responding literature could be useful to this end. The present study is a preliminary investigation of derived relational responding throughout the courses of EIBI treatment.

Individuals with autism are increasingly using tablet devices for a range of activities including accessing highly preferred content. Many individuals with autism may also use tablets for less preferred yet important uses such as educational or communicative purposes. When tablets are used for multiple purposes varying in preference, it may be difficult for some individuals to transition between highly preferred activities and less preferred uses of the device. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of teaching discriminated use of a tablet device used for multiple purposes. Participants included three children with autism, ages 5-9. We measured percentage of compliance and latency to compliance with instructions to access a high- and low-preferred app within a reversal design. All participants engaged in low levels of compliance with high latency to compliance during baseline sessions. Once the discrimination training procedure was implemented latency to compliance decreased and percentage compliance increased. The procedures were effective in increasing appropriate use of the tablet device for multiple uses in all participants. This study has implications for individuals working with children with autism who engage in problematic behavior when using tablet computers for multiple uses.

Adult contingent vocal imitation (ACVI) is a practice whereby an adult imitates the vocal behavior of a child. This procedure has been associated with increases in vocal responding, and imitative vocal responding of the child. This procedure was implemented with a young boy with autism who, at the start of the study, made very few vocal and very fewer imitative responses. After the implementation of the ACVI procedure an increase in vocal and imitative vocal respo nding was observed. Additionally, typical echoic training was successfully implemented after the ACVI procedure. Increasing vocal and imitative vocal responding is paramount to the development of verbal behavior. While additional research is needed, ACVI may be an effective strategy increasing vocal and imitative vocal responding for those who make few vocal and fewer imitative vocal responses.

Training parents have been used as a cost-effective alternative to disseminate the intervention based on applied behavior analysis in Brazil, while also promoting more generalization of the acquired skills. It has been already demonstrated that parents are able to implement teaching procedures with high integrity. However, high fluency while implementing these procedures—which is also a characteristic discussed as important by the current literature—hasn't been widely approached with this public. Therefore, this research aims to implement a procedure to increase fluency with parents of children with autism. The study has been already conducted with 2 participants, and a third one is in progress. All of the participants should have presented at least 80% of accuracy while implementing discrete trials in order to participate in this study. A changing criterion design was used to assess the effects of verbal instructions and feedback (independent variable) on the participants' fluency (trials per minute—dependent variable) while implementing discrete trials with their children. Beth's fluency had an increase of 3 trials per minute (2.4 on the last baseline session vs. 5.4 on the last post treatment session). Vanessa's fluency had an increase of 4.3 trials per minute (1.3 on the last baseline session vs. 5.6 on the last post treatment session). Until this point, this research presents data that qualifies the procedures used here as promising to better increase the efficiency of parents when implementing teaching programs. Future researchers could replicate this procedure with more participants and assess the effects of increasing fluency on the children's behavior.

Many adolescents and young adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often engage in rigid behavioral routines, including rigid self-rules. These routines may make it difficult for them to effectively adapt and respond to unforeseen changes in life, which may result in ill-adaptive avoidance behaviors in the future, all characteristics of psychological inflexibility (Pahnke, Lundgren, Hursti & Hirvikoski, 2013). The purpose of Club 57 is to provide an environment where adolescents and young adults with ASD are able to socialize, develop friendships with peers, and acquire new social skills, all while receiving Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT) services that promote engagement in behavioral repertoires consistent with valued living. Between February and December 2017, Club 57 has served more than 30 individuals ranging in age from 13 to 28 years old. Pre- and post-test assessments were administered to 14 participants Assessments indirectly measured levels of psychological inflexibility, experiential avoidance, social anxiety, and cognitive fusion. Overall, analyses of the assessment results found a statistically significant difference responses for three of the four assessments, suggesting an overall improvement in psychological flexibility. Given the number of adolescents and young adults with ASD that experience anxiety, depression, and social isolation, programming that directly addresses these experiences will be discussed along with the clinical significance of the results.

Pica, or the ingestion of inedible items, is a relatively uncommon problematic behavior, however, among individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, the prevalence is higher. Pica poses significant threat to health and can even result in death. Applied research has examined many different treatments to reduce instances of pica, including but not limited to: differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA), functional communication training (FCT), increasing response effort, blocking, and overcorrection. The current study will evaluate multiple treatments for pica as well examine DRA as a treatment for individuals with autism spectrum disorder as well as assess generalization across multiple items and settings.

Often, practitioners face the issue that stimulus control does not transfer from a 1:1 therapist-to-child instructional arrangement to a group setting, i.e., children may not respond correctly to instructions presented in a group format that they would otherwise respond correctly to. One purpose of this study was to compare individuals' compliance with instructions during group instruction versus 1:1 instruction. Another purpose was to identify variables that influenced whether children responded correctly and independently to group instructions (e.g., "Everybody, clap your hands") versus individual instructions (e.g., "Bobby, stand up") during group activities. This evaluation was conducted with four participants with autism using a reversal design. In every session, the same 5 mastered gross motor imitation and 5 listener response tasks were presented. The dependent variables measured were percentage of independent, correct individual responses, percentage of independent, correct group responses, and the percentage of each session engaged in hypothesized "competing behaviors" (e.g., turning the body away from the instructor, engaging with peers, etc., operationally defined for each individual). Initially, an ABAB reversal was conducted to evaluate individual differences in responding between 1:1 instruction (Phase A) and 4:1 group instruction (Phase B). During Phase A, all 10 instructions were presented in random order with praise delivered following correct responses. During Phase B, group and individual instructions were randomly presented to each child, and praise was delivered following correct responses. During this initial evaluation, all children responded correctly during nearly 100% of opportunities during 1:1 instructional sessions (A). However, during the group instruction baseline (B), percentage of overall correct responding decreased across participants. Further, all children consistently erred or failed to respond more frequently when presented with group instructions (e.g., "Everybody, do this") than individual instructions (e.g., "Bobby, touch your head"). Following the second group baseline phase (B), interventions (e.g., individualized applications of differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO), a fixed-ratio 1 (FR 1) schedule of reinforcement for correct, independent responses, etc.) were tested and altered as appropriate for each participant within the reversal framework. Results of this study emphasized the importance of evaluating responding under various circumstances, specifically, during group instruction.

Currently, interventions for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder(ASD), which usually focus on improving social skills and cognitive function, are costly both in terms of time and monetary funds. In order to create a more cost-effective method, the authors developed two mobile application based training programs, ?Yface, a social skills training program, and ?Ycog?, a cognitive function training program for children with ASD. In order to investigate the effectiveness of the training programs, social skills and cognitive function was assessed for each participant before the start and after the completion of the training program Based on the results, the two training programs were effective in improving each targeted area?social skills or cognitive function. In order to generalize the effectiveness of the programs, the ?Yface? and ?Ycog? training program was distributed on the mobile application market. The training program is currently downloadable for anyone who is interested in the program under the condition that the participant consents to the study and completes a pre-assessment prior to training. 2 months after the distribution of the training program, 106 participants for ?Yface? and 102 participants for ?Ycog? were recruited, and from these participants, 37 participants for ?Yface? and 40 participants for ?Ycog? dropped out of the program due to the age criteria of the program. Thus, 69 participants for ?Yface? and 62 participants for ?Ycog? started training through the program. In order to investigate the consistent usage of the program, the authors calculated the percentage of the people who trained through program more than 3 times a week. Currently, 56% of the participants for ?Yface? and 54% participants for ?Ycog? are training through the program at least 3 times a week, which shows a very low participation rate in the program. This can be explained through several possible reasons Firstly, possible participants may feel uncomfortable consenting and completing a pre-assessment prior to the training program. Secondly, the program does not remind participants of the training which may cause problems in promoting continuous participation for ASD children, which results in parents having to prompt their child to keep using the training program. Lastly, difficulty with technical problems are hard to improve due to outsourcing of the actual development of the program. Thus, to further investigate and develop more cost-effective programs, further studies are needed to verify the effectiveness of consistent training.

Research has well established the benefits of early, intensive behavioral interventions in regards to positive behavioral, social, and cognitive changes (e.g., Virues-Ortega, 2010; Warren et al., 2011; Remington et al., 2007; etc.). This single case presentation displays the benefits of early and ongoing intervention services in a home and community based setting to significantly impact children and families affected by autism. Structured and systematic behavioral interventions were used to decrease the level of aberrant behavior displayed by a young, non-vocal girl with autism after initiating early, intensive, in-home intervention services. In addition, teaching procedures were implemented to increase a variety of early learner, communication, social, and functional skills to compete with and replace aberrant behaviors. Aberrant behaviors included aggression, severe self-injury (in the form of hand biting and hair pulling), dropping, and a variety of noncompliant behaviors (e.g., growling, swiping, etc.). Continued intervention allowed for long-term maintenance and follow up data, indicating overall low and stable levels of observed aberrant behaviors in the home environment. Data acquired from other environments (e.g., school) also suggest the occurrence of behavioral contrast. Data in this single case presentation span a period of four years, with consistent and comparable data collection over time.

Being able to answer yes-no preferential questions (that is, "Do you want...?) is a critical skill for young children with autism. Failure to correctly answer such questions can bring outcomes different from their true intentions, sometimes causing the children to engage in problem behaviors. To date, only a few studies have been published to examine procedures designed to teach children with autism to answer yes-no preferential questions. The purpose of this study is to address limitations in the literature and examine effectiveness of a procedure based on the previous studies to teach young children with autism to answer yes-no preferential questions. Three 4- to 10-year old children with autism who did not meet predetermined criteria during incidental teaching participated in the study. A delayed multiple baseline design across participants was used. Intervention procedure implemented by behaviour interventionists include: (a) use of two or three highly preferred and highly aversive items; (b) use of prompts; (c) access to desired items or withdrawal of aversive items upon correct responses; and (d) removal of preferred items or presentation of aversive items upon incorrect responses. The result documented a clear pattern of improvement in the children's responses to yes-no preferential questions following the intervention.

Social skills are a commonly identified deficit in repertoires of individuals with autism. However, the vast majority of literature on social skills concentrates on strengthening said skills in children with autism. These children eventually proceed through adolescence and adulthood. Thus, it is important to expand upon the research regarding social skills in adolescents and young adults with autism, which is currently limited. Participants of the current study will be taught three different social skills by a peer using observational learning. The model will be trained by experimenters using behavioral skills training until demonstrating mastery of the skill. They will then be taught how to model the skill for the participant. The three social skills chosen for each participant have been identified as deficits in their daily lives and include initiating and ending conversations, using appropriate humor, and making a phone call. Progress regarding mastery of skills will be measured via a multiple-probe across skills design for three participants. Implications regarding results of using observation learning with adults with autism will be further discussed.

Individuals with developmental disabilities face worsened post-secondary outcomes. In an effort to mitigate barriers, Wisconsin Promise has provided additional services to Social Security recipients, including tele-behavioral consultation where shortages of BCBAs exist in collaboration with University of Oregon. A 17-year-old with autism and her father were referred to address vocal stereotypy (VS) and aggression occasioned by interruption of VS. Consultation procedures were implemented at a distance using telehealth equipment. Following indirect functional behavior assessment, the parent implemented a multielement and alternating treatment functional analysis (FA). Results of the FA suggested that VS was automatically maintained. The effects of matched stimuli (auditory input) was assessed; rate of VS was minimally affected by the addition of matched stimuli. The parent implemented each strategy (response interruption and redirection (RIRD), differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO), control condition) with his daughter with coaching from the researcher to evaluate comparative effectiveness of interventions using a multicomponent treatment comparison design. Both RIRD and DRO resulted in decreased VS and other challenging behavior when compared to control condition, with DRO resulting in largest decrease. DRO and subsequent reinforcement fading was used to decrease VS and systematically increase DRO intervals. Implications and directions for future research are presented.

Private and public schools claiming to specialize in the education of those with Autism Spectrum Disorders offer different types of services for their students. We recruited parents and teachers from approximately 800 schools indicating they specialized in education for children with autism across the nation. Parents (n=200) and teachers (n=180) responded to which types of autism treatments and therapies they preferred for their students and children with autism spectrum disorder. Results indicated a variety of both evidence-based and unsupported autism treatments were preferred by teachers and parents alike. Additionally, a variety of factors (e.g., colleague recommendations, media, etc) were reported to influence both autism school teachers and parents of children with autism spectrum disorder for what treatments and educational interventions to use for children with autism. These results have implications for dissemination of evidence based treatments according to the factors related to treatment choice and treatment preference.

Children with autism have challenges with generalization and therefore it is critical for clinicians to plan for generalization at the onset of teaching skills. The purpose of this study was to investigate a procedure for sufficient exemplar training that can potentially lead to generalized responding with untrained exemplars. The number of sufficient exemplars to lead to generalized responding was evaluated with one participant; an 8-year-old boy with autism. His principle mode of communication was typing and therefore all responses for this study were typed. This participant was taught subject/action labeling (e.g., "Daddy is drinking"). A matrix was created in order to identify all possible subject/action label exemplars. Generalization was defined as the correct use of subject/action labels for five consecutive untrained exemplars. During baseline, all exemplars were probed to ensure the participant did not demonstrate this skill. Then the first objective was taught systematically using discrete trial training. Untrained objectives were probed after teaching each exemplar. Exemplars were taught until the participant responded correctly for five untrained exemplars. The participant required systematic teaching of 56 exemplars before generalized responding was established. The matrix allowed the researchers to organize the exemplars and to pinpoint when the participant did not require formal training.

Providing an appropriate number of trials is an important part of treating children with autism. Low trial counts can be caused by a variety of factors including low motivation to run trials or a lack of skills or understanding of how to run certain trials. If too few trials of a given goal are presented, client progress will be adversely affected (e.g., Smith, 2001, Cummings & Carr, 2009). The present study utilized graphical feedback to increase trial counts in 11 direct care staff working with clients with autism. Graphical feedback has been previously used to improve various behaviors such as increasing social worker's billable hours (Clayton & Hayes, 2014) and improving performance of direct care staff in residential settings (Reedy, Luiselli, & Thibadeau 2001). In this study, during baseline, client programs were reviewed to assess the average number of trials being delivered per hour. During intervention, the participants were split into 2 groups; one group received individualized weekly graphical data depicting only their trial counts, while the second group received weekly graphical data representing the group's average trial counts. Results found that graphical feedback was an effective, non-intrusive way to increase trial counts across all participants. Increased trial counts also generalized to other programs and other clients. Results will be discussed in terms of why graphical feedback is so effective, the differences between individual and group feedback, and the impact on children's learning.

The current study investigated parent-child interactions in children with autism, children with Down syndrome, and typically developing children. Thirty-six parent-child dyads were observed during seven-minute play sessions, and the following behaviors were measured using partial interval recording: commands, comments, social engagement, attention bids, requests for assistance, eye contact, andF manipulation of objects. Results suggested that children with autism produced more nonverbal comments than typically developing children and fewer nonverbal comments than children with Down syndrome. Children with autism produced fewer bids for social engagement than typically developing children. Finally, children with autism responded more to parents' commands than children in other groups. Transactional relationships among parents' and children's behaviors were also investigated, and the following patterns were observed: (a) increases in parents' social engagement bids were associated with increases in children's comments and decreases in children's manipulation of objects; (b) as parents' commands increased, children's bids for social engagement decreased; (c) as parents' responses to children's comments increased, children's responses to parents' comments also increased; and (d) higher levels of children manipulating objects were associated with lower parental response to children's comments. Clinical implications of these results are discussed.

Reading comprehension is an important early academic skill that may pose challenges for some children with autism. Previous research (Valentino, Conine, Delfs, & Furlow, 2015) has reported effective methods for teaching children with autism to retell short stories that were previously read to them, as a possible first step in establishing a reading comprehension repertoire. We replicated and extended this prior work with three school-aged children with autism using a multiple baseline across stories and a non-concurrent multiple baseline across participants. Participants were exposed to an initial baseline, a reading with reinforcement condition (treatment 1), and a backward chaining with textual prompts condition (treatment 2). All three participants emitted mastery-level recall of stories more rapidly and under less complex intervention procedures than in prior research. Improvements in story recall were associated with increases in correct answers to basic comprehension questions, and generalized improvements in recall were observed across multiple stories. We also conducted standardized reading assessments with all participants before and after the study. These data have important implications for behavior analysts and educators providing reading intervention to children with autism, and suggest several possible avenues for future research on reading comprehension and recall.

This case study replicated and extended previous research on response interruption and redirection (RIRD) within an in-home service delivery model. These data are an important demonstration of successful implementation of RIRD interventions by parents in a home-based environment. Ivan, a 12-year-old male diagnosed with autism, engaged in high rates of vocal stereotypy across home, school, and community environments. It was determined that vocal stereotypy was automatically maintained and caregivers agreed to the implementation of RIRD. A board certified behavior analyst (BCBA) conducted RIRD sessions in home and community settings until vocal stereotypy reduced to 80% of baseline levels. Parents were trained in RIRD protocols and implemented the intervention in the home for 1 hour sessions with little change in vocal stereotypy. Then, parents increased to 2 hour sessions which lead to a reduction in vocal stereotypy from baseline. Next, the parents implemented RIRD for full days and the results show that parent directed response interruption and redirection sessions maintained near 0 levels of vocal stereotypy. These data demonstrate that caregivers can successfully decrease vocal stereotypy utilizing response interruption and redirection procedures in a home-based setting.

Toilet training is a key developmental step and crucial daily living skill for any child. However, children with developmental disabilities are often delayed in achieving or never achieve toileting independence. For example, up to 25% of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) were reported to suffer from daytime enuresis (Simonoff, Pickles, Charman, Chandler, Loucas, & Baird, 2008; von Gontard, Pirrung, Miemczyk, & Equit, 2015) and more than 50% of a sample of preschool children with severe intellectual disabilities were classified as not toilet trained (Smith, Eikeseth, Klevstrand, Lovaas, 1997). Behavioral treatments for incontinence have been studied and shown to result in successful outcomes (e.g., Chung, 2007; Foxx & Azrin, 1971; Kroger & Sorensen-Burnworth, 2009; Leblanc, Carr, Crossett, Bennett, & Detweiler, 2005; Post & Kirkpatrick, 2004). However, many of the described procedures incorporate extensive therapist or caregiver time until success is achieved. The current study evaluated a caregiver implemented intervention package across six children diagnosed with developmental disabilities. The toilet training protocol incorporated a 2 hour initial meeting, a 6 hour on-site training, and a 1 hour follow-up appointment. Intervention components included: (a) differential reinforcement for continence, (b) use of a progressive sit schedule, (c) communication training, and (d) urine sensor. A non-concurrent multiple baseline across subjects design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention package. Results indicate that the frequency of continent voids increased across all participants Incontinent voids also decreased for half of the participants.

Differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) is a common behavior change procedure used to increase a desirable behavior and simultaneously decrease a problematic behavior. This study expands on previous research by using differential reinforcement without extinction to teach communication responses, while decreasing severe problem behavior. In this study, Joey a four-year-old boy diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder was exposed to functional communication and tolerance response conditions. Contingent on communication responses longer, higher-quality reinforcement intervals were delivered, while problem behavior resulted in the delivery of shorter, lower-quality reinforcement intervals. Reinforcement intervals were faded in a response chaining condition in which the number and difficulty of demands were increased. Communication responses, as well as compliance with adult lead instruction resulted in higher quality and longer reinforcement intervals, while problem behavior including noncompliance resulted in shorter, lower quality reinforcement intervals. The results showed that differential reinforcement without extinction was successful in decreasing severe problem behavior of aggression and disruptive behaviors, while increasing communication skills and compliance.

Research on current behavior analytic practices indicates that functional analyses are not commonly utilized outside of research and clinic contexts (Oliver, Pratt, & Normand, 2015; Roscoe et al., 2015). Rather, most behavior analysts deem descriptive assessments as sufficient for guiding treatment choice. Our research team, consisting of the University of Iowa, Marcus Autism Center, and the University of Houston-Clear Lake, is currently conducting an NIH-funded randomized controlled trial of functional analysis (FA) procedures to investigate whether FA procedures provide more effective or more efficient outcomes over current practice. Young children with autism are randomized to either a brief assessment model, which includes a one-hour antecedent analysis or a standard functional analysis, followed by treatment tailored to the assessment outcomes. As part of this study, we are interested in the social validity of FAs according to the parents of children being assessed and the therapists providing the assessments. This poster will provide data on the perception and acceptability of FA versus brief assessment methods for parents and therapists from our study. Additionally, we will discuss the implications for behavior analytic practice.

Traditional habit reversal training (HRT) consisting of awareness training, competing response training, social motivational support, and generalization has been used to treat various motor tics and habit behaviors, such as trichotillomania, in typically developing populations (Azrin & Nunn, 1973). Simplified habit reversal (SHR), using fewer HRT components has been used for individuals with autism and intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD) (e.g., Cavalari, DuBard, & Luiselli, 2014; Miltenberger, Fuqua, & Woods, 1998) out of concern that persons with autism or IDD may not respond to some components; most notably awareness training and social motivational support. The current study expands on the limited habit reversal literature in individuals with disabilities by utilizing all four components of HRT in the treatment of severe skin picking for a 17 year old male diagnosed with autism and mild intellectual disability. By modifying the awareness training and social motivational support procedures, in addition to programming treatment generalization across settings, significant reductions in the participant's skin picking were obtained. These reductions were maintained at 1 and 3-month follow-up. Results are discussed in terms of adapting HRT for individuals with autism and IDD.

The functional analysis (FA) described by Iwata, Dorsey, Slifer, Bauman, and Richman (1982/1994) defined methodology for experimentally identifying problem behavior response classes. Since the time of that publication, hundreds of research articles on functional analysis have been published and a large variety of methodological variations have been developed. To add to the literature describing current behavior analytic practice with regard to functional analyses, we conducted a descriptive assessment of the functional analysis methods at a large, behavior analytic school for children diagnosed with autism. Out of the 344 functional analyses conducted, the most common behavior topographies examined were self-injurious behavior (27%) and aggression (24%). Examination of these functional analyses will also add to the literature surrounding the common maintaining variable(s) for these response topographies, as was previously summarized by Iwata et al (1994). On average, 4 functional analyses were conducted for each student with 18 sessions per functional analysis. The most common dependent variable was response rate and the most common variables tested were attention and escape from demands.

This study evaluated the use of reinforcer variation and choice in teaching academic skills to mastery, without the use of extinction. Participants included three children between the ages of three and 18, all diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders and receiving behavior analytic services. Academic skills were identified by each participant's service team. Participants were exposed to four differential reinforcement conditions. In the varied/constant condition, correct responses resulted in the delivery of one of three high-preference reinforcers, while prompted responses resulted in the delivery of the same high-preference reinforcer. In the choice/varied condition, correct responses resulted in the participant choice from three high-preference reinforcers, while prompted responses resulted in the delivery of one of the three high-preference reinforcers. In the choice/constant condition, correct responses resulted in the participant choice from three high-preference reinforcers, while prompted responses resulted in the delivery of one high-preference reinforcer. In the constant/constant condition, correct or prompted responses resulted in the delivery of one high-preference reinforcer. The results showed that two participants reached mastery in fewer sessions in the choice/constant condition, while the other reached mastery in fewer sessions with the constant/constant condition. These results show that skills can be taught utilizing choice and reinforcer variation.

A visual acuity test is typically conducted by an ophthalmologist to determine one's ability to discriminate between shapes, details, and objects. These tests are difficult to execute with children with intellectual disabilities, particularly if they lack verbal behavior. There is little research on visual acuity in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The purpose of the current study was to assess the visual acuity of Hunter, a 13-year old male admitted to an inpatient unit for the treatment of severe self-injurious behavior that led to detached retinas in both eyes and partially successful retinal reattachment. The ophthalmologist was unable to provide an exact estimate of Hunter's visual acuity without an intrusive exam, thus making it difficult to prepare academic and communication stimuli. In order to evaluate his visual acuity, Hunter was presented a choice between two high-preferred stimuli represented on picture cards of gradually decreasing size. A correspondence check was used to determine if Hunter made an accurate choice. Results indicated there was no decrement in accuracy as we decreased picture size to 0.5 x 1.5. Additionally, an eye exam under anesthesia was conducted to check Hunter's visual acuity, intraocular pressure, and to test his refraction, which confirmed the results of this assessment.

Research on idiosyncratic functions for problem behaviors identified more than 30 idiosyncratic variables that influence responding during functional analyses, including social positive or negative relations and automatic reinforcement relations (Schlichenmeyer, Roscoe, Rooker, Wheeler, & Dube, 2013). In one study with an automatic reinforcement relation, aggressive behaviors were found to be maintained by access to ritualistic behavior (Hausman, Kahng, Farrell, Camille & Mongeon, 2009). In the current study, problem behavior was determined to be maintained by the opportunity to engage in pica. The participant was a 16-year-old boy diagnosed with Cri-du-chat, autism, and severe intellectual disability admitted to an inpatient unit for the assessment and treatment of severe problem behavior. A functional analysis of pica showed it was maintained by automatic reinforcement. An initial functional analysis was inconclusive for elopement and dropping behaviors. Subsequent functional assessments, in which tests conditions were enhanced with baited pica items, found that dropping and elopement served to gain access to pica items. Treatment consisted of functional communication with signaled availability, response blocking, and redirection for pica. Across all assessments, reliability data were collected for 66.26% of sessions. Reliability data averaged 95.54% for dropping, 98.11% for eloping, and 98.28% for pica.

Bannerman et al. (1990) emphasized the importance of incorporating client input into treatment. Often, social acceptability scales are administered to caregivers; however, it is also important to consider client preferences (Wolf, 1978). The current study focuses on extending previous literature regarding client's social acceptability of treatment components. The study included a 15-year-old female diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder and mild Intellectual Disability who was admitted to an inpatient hospital for the assessment and treatment of severe problem behavior. After conducting a functional analysis, a treatment plan was developed to target her severe problem behaviors. The participant independently rated her treatment on a 5-point Likert scale including 11-14 questions (e.g., "I like having treatment everyday") on a weekly basis. Data suggest that the intervention was generally acceptable; however, it is unclear whether acceptability and subsequent changes to treatment based on participant feedback alone resulted in positive treatment outcomes. Regardless, we should determine methods to measure client acceptability and incorporate their feedback, when possible. This was designed as a pilot study to develop and modify acceptability questionnaires for use with individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Future research should evaluate acceptability scales with these individuals and more closely evaluate corresponding treatment effects.

A behavioral skills training package was utilized to teach a direct support professional working in a day program to implement a chaining procedure to teach meal preparation skills. A case study was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the training package, which consisted of written and verbal instructions, instructor and video modeling, rehearsal, and feedback. Results indicated that the behavior skills training package produced improvements in the direct support professionals implementation of the chaining procedure to teach meal preparation skills to an adult with autism.

In this project, curriculum assessments were conducted for 20 participants with Autism Spectrum Disorder in the school setting. The assessments were completed by students of the Autism and Behavioural Science Graduate Certificate Program at St. Lawrence College who were completing a field placement requirement under the supervision of a behaviour analyst. For each participant, a report with recommendations was provided to school staff and parents outlining areas of strength and those for development. Participants also received skills based instruction based on the identified goals resulting from the assessment. Eight participants were reassessed after 6 months. Social validity was also assessed via an open ended questionnaire given to educational staff involved in the project. Results indicated that 6/8 participants who were reassessed showed an increase in their score after 6 months and on average, the percentage change in score was 19%. In addition, 13/16 participants who received skills based instruction were able to learn the targeted skill within the field placement time frame. School staff supported the social validity of the project, and requested it be replicated in future years.

Some individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may engage in problem behavior (e.g., noncompliance, aggression, self-injurious behavior) during hygiene-related tasks, such as haircuts. Refusal to comply can make regular maintenance of the individual?s hair nearly impossible for caregivers and professionals. Components of haircuts that often evoked problem behavior (e.g., negative vocalizations, blocking brush or scissors with hands) for a 6-year old male with ASD were identified, and duration of these components were systematically increased while he had access to an iPad. The steps included brushing dry hair, opening and closing scissors near head, donning a cape, dropping hair trimmings on and near body, and trimming hair. Duration of sessions increased from 10 s to 15 min. Praise and access to preferred items were provided contingent on compliance throughout the session. Graduated exposure and differential reinforcement reduced problem behavior and increased compliance with the introduction of more intrusive activities and longer duration of sessions with the client?s therapists and parents. Considerations for implementation and additional steps to prepare for a haircut by a professional stylist will be discussed.

A series of assessments were conducted with a 14 year old male, diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, who engages in high rates of stereotypy. Swatting at small specks of debris, such as dirt, and repetitive rocking behaviors by the participant directly impacted his access to instruction and appropriate leisure activities during his school day. A functional analysis was conducted to confirm the hypothesis that the behavior was automatically reinforcing. Standard as well as non-standard functional analysis sessions were conducted and data indicated that swatting occurred at the highest rates when the environment was rich with debris and when the behavior was not blocked. Swatting occurred at the lowest rates when the environment was cleared of all debris and the behavior was physically blocked by the teacher. A standard Competing Stimulus Assessments was conducted during which a variety of stimuli were made available to the participant. Subsequent competing stimulus assessment sessions were conducted wherein a redirection procedure and response blocking were implemented when the participant did not engage with the target items or engaged in stereotypy. Three items were identified as possible competing stimuli. These results were validated within the classroom setting through access to the three competing items as well as implementation of blocking and redirection procedures when stereotypy was observed. IOA data were collected across 38% of assessment sessions and agreement was calculated at 91.3%

[Study Objective] The child with autism left the table in the middle of the meal. She also during training with therapist wouldn't approach even when using snack as a reinforcer. Therefore "Half-Full Method" was applied to her, which was that the child was served small portion that can be eaten without leaving the seat. After then, she can have another portion upon completion if she requests it. The purpose of this study examined the effect of "Half-Full Method" to shape a behavior of meal completion with errorless. ?Method? Subject: the girl with autism and severe mental retardation, non-speaking, 5 years old at the start of study, in year-round facilities. Setting: home and school facilities Target: To finish all food placed on dish. Intervention: the girl's whole meal is divided into 10 equal parts, of which 2 parts (20%) are placed on her dish. If the girl requests a second helping of food, another 10% is placed on the plate. That is then repeated until the whole meal is completed. When the girl leaves the seat or signals completion, the meal ends. Even if the child returns or asks for food again, no more will be given until the next meal. Success Criterion: If the girl maintains a positive reaction for one month, the initial serving amount is increased by 10%. ?Result? The intervention was started at the girl's home. When during the second meal after the program started the girl left the seat, the meal was ended and she started crying hard. After that, both leaving food uneaten on the plate and getting up from the seat completely ended. Due to those problems continuing to be an issue at the school facility, the intervention moved on to being practiced there as well. The girl responded to the intervention positively at school as well as at home. Also, approaching the therapist during training sessions increased to over 80%. ?Discussion? The food presentation was changed from the previous method of simply placing a whole meal's worth of food on her plate to allotting a small portion and giving a more helpings if the girl finished what was on her plate until meal completion was achieved. In the future we will consider increasing the number of cases using this "Half-Full Method."

The field of telehealth has emerged as a potential means of disseminating applied behavior analytic services to rural communities and underserved areas. The purpose of this project was to provide parent-directed treatment for individuals with autism spectrum disorder with supervision and training provided by a Board Certified Behavior Analyst—Doctoral Level via telehealth. The two-year project aims to train 550 parents of children with autism in ABA techniques to address a priority problem for their family. The project is now in the second year and initial data collected regarding the feasibility and usability of the program from both parent report and in-service BCBA reports will be be presented. Implications for practice and future research will be discussed.

Individuals with autism often lack response variability in their behavioral repertoires, which can lead to difficulty with problem solving and adaptive skills. A lack of response variability in young children with autism is often observed as rigid toy play behavior. Lag schedules of reinforcement have been used to increase variability in vocal behavior (Susa & Schlinger, 2012) and simple toy play behaviors in children with autism (Napolitano et al., 2010). The maximum schedule criterion in most previous studies is a Lag 3. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effects of a Lag 5 schedule on variability in toy play responses using complex toys that provide the opportunity for greater response variability. A changing criterion design was used to evaluate the Lag 5 schedule in two children with autism, and a prompting procedure was implemented if the criterion was not met for three sessions. One participant met criterion for the Lag 5 schedule, and the second participant met criterion for a Lag 4 schedule before the intervention was discontinued due to services ending. Generalization probes revealed variability in responding with novel toys at slightly lower rates than trained toys.

Group contingencies and behavior skills training are common and successful procedures used to teach social skills to children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. However, little research exists on whether competitive or cooperative components of group contingencies effect skill acquisition and if students have a preference for either of these components. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare skill acquisition and preference for competitive and cooperative group teaching arrangements for a small-group of 7-year olds with Autism Spectrum Disorder. We used a multielement and multiple baseline design to compare acquisition rates and a concurrent chains arrangement to assess preference. In two teaching conditions, experimenters used behavioral skills training embedded in various activities to teach social skills. The conditions differed in that one involved teams competing for a goal while the other involved the entire group participating to reach the goal. Additional collection of data during free play sessions that followed both the competitive and cooperative conditions of our study provided information on unprompted social interactions. Results showed that teaching was effective in both conditions for all children, preference was idiosyncratic across children, and the type of group contingency may have influenced some features of free play.

This program evaluation study compares results from two communication assessments following the implementation of two different caregiver training curricula. The MacArthur-Bates Short Form Vocabulary Checklist (MCDI) and Communication Skills Behavior Scales Caregiver Questionnaire (CSBS) were administered before and after caregiver training intervention. Currently, 21 families of young children (18-34 months) have completed services and data in this ongoing study. Intervention includes six 60-minute caregiver training sessions and curriculum is selected based on caregiver interview, family early interventionist interview, consultant observation and understanding of family priorities. Previous research has shown increasing play and social skills is a foundational skill for increasing communication skills. Overall, children who received the social play intervention scored higher on the communication assessments and generally showed more emerging communication skills prior to intervention. Preliminary data suggests that they also have increased scores in the number of words used as well as slightly higher increases in the number of words understood according to the MCDI. Children receiving the communication curriculum show slightly higher results on the CSBS, likely due to the emphasis on nonverbal and symbolic communication for children who generally had lower communication skills prior to intervention. Both curricula resulted in increases across all assessments following intervention.

This current project is a replication and extension of previous research where group instruction was superior in 5 out of 9 students with Autism (Autism (Melton, Hansen, & McGrale, 2013). Research generally indicates students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) learn best 1:1, with teaching practices based on the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis. However, this may not continue to be functional for all students across settings and time. There is a growing body of literature to support group instruction as an effective teaching format; however, research comparing 1:1 and group instructional arrangements is minimal, as well as the guides to properly conduct group instruction. The current project uses an alternating treatments design to compare 1:1 vs. small group instructional formats. The project took place in a center for students with Autism and included 2 male students, ages 10 and 12. The dependent measures are skill acquisition and observational learning and the independent measures include an errorless teaching procedure and individualized reinforcement systems. Inter-observer agreement and procedural fidelity measures will be collected. The results of skill acquisition of materials will be discussed.

Video modeling is a common method to teach skills to adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Video modeling, similar to in-person instruction, uses observational learning to promote response acquisition, but instead uses pre-recorded footage of a model completing the targeted task correctly. Research suggests that video modeling is more efficient in producing acquisition and generalization of various functional skills relative to in-vivo instruction (Charlop-Christy, Le, & Freeman, 2000). However, few studies have directly compared the effects of different methods of video modeling, such as traditional video modeling (i.e., with a model fully in frame filmed as if the person watching was watching in-vivo instruction; TVM) or point-of-view video modeling (i.e., with only the hands of a model in the frame filmed as if the person watching were completing the task themselves; POV). The purpose of the current study was to replicate and extend previous literature by comparing the efficacy of TVM and POV video prompting for teaching a variety of tasks using a combined multielement and multiple baseline design with three participants with ASD. We also assessed preference for POV and TVM using a concurrent-chains procedure. Results indicated that POV produced the fastest skill acquisition and was generally more preferred.

Children with autism may require remedial strategies to develop conditional discrimination repertoires. For example, Slocum, Miller, and Tiger (2012) used a blocked-trials procedure to teach identity matching to a child with autism. Unlike previous studies (Saunders & Spradlin 1989 & 1990, Perez-Gonzalez & Williams, 2002, Williams, Perez-Gonzalez & Queiroz, 2005), Slocum et al. did not require fading of the block size to obtain discriminated performance. We attempted to replicate and extend Slocum et al. to the teaching of auditory conditional discriminations. Our participants included four children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder with little to no auditory conditional discriminations prior to the start of our study. We began by replicating the sequence of intervention phases used by Slocum et al., including the use of a blocking procedure when a mixed-trial format was ineffective. However, we only replicated the effects of Slocum et al.'s blocking procedure for one participant. Thus, we evaluated a series of supplementary interventions such as removing reinforcement for prompted responses, using partial physical prompts, and incorporating modified blocking procedures (e.g., mass trialing one target until mastery followed by fading the block size). Data collection is ongoing.

Buzz, a 5-year-old boy diagnosed with autism was engaging in zero continent voids per day. In order to prepare Buzz for school in the fall, we evaluated procedures outline by Greer et al. (2016) and Azrin and Foxx (1973). We first replicated baseline procedures outlined by Greer et al., which included scheduled sits and isolated reinforcers while wearing a diaper. After 11 visits with no treatment effect, we introduced training outlined by Azrin and Foxx. During the first condition of doll simulation, the therapist manipulated and modeled appropriate toileting behaviors with the doll (i.e., having the doll void in the toilet, flush the toilet, and wash her hands). When no effect was observed, we moved to the second condition, in which we used least-to-most prompting to teach Buzz to independently manipulate the doll to complete the steps of toilet training. Buzz met mastery criteria, but there was no increase in his continent voids. Next, we referenced Azrin and Foxx (1971) and followed their rapid method of toileting procedures. Currently, Buzz attends clinic from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and has increased his continent voids to two per clinic visit and decreased incontinent voids to one per clinic visit.

A functional analysis is an experiment designed to determine the maintaining variables of operant behavior. In applied settings it is crucial to accurately determine the maintaining variables of challenging behavior in order to design and implement effective interventions (Lang, et al. 2009). This study used both an analogue and a trial-based functional analysis with a 4-year-old boy diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Challenging behavior was not evoked in any of the conditions in the analogue functional analysis, while challenging behavior was evoked under both the denied access and demand conditions in the trial-based functional analysis. When conducting a functional analysis in applied practice, it is important to consider the type of functional analysis which will yield the most accurate results with the resources available. Examining the setting in which the behavior of interest occurs and which environmental variables may have the greatest impact on the behavior are crucial components to determining the most appropriate functional analysis format to use.

Functional-analysis (FA) methodology (Iwata, Dorsey, Slifer, Bauman, & Richman, 1982/1994) has become the prominent assessment procedure for determining the function of problem behavior (Beavers, Iwata, & Lerman, 2013). The interview-informed synthesized contingency analysis (IISCA; Hanley, Jin, Vanselow, & Hanratty, 2014) is a modification in which indirect and descriptive assessments inform the reinforcement contingency used during a control condition and a single test condition. However, Fisher, Greer, Romani, Zangrillo, and Owen (2016) found that the IISCA included irrelevant contingencies for 80% (4 of 5) of the applications. We replicated the procedures used by Fisher et al. (2016) by comparing the IISCA to a standard FA for 12 participants. We also extended the procedures by including a standard-synthesized contingency analysis (SSCA) which included all of the typical putative reinforcers reported in the literature (i.e., attention, tangible items, and escape). When comparing results to the standard FA, the IISCA included irrelevant contingencies for 83.3% (10 of 12) and excluded relevant contingencies for 8.3% (1 of 12) of applications while the SSCA included irrelevant contingencies, but did not exclude relevant contingencies, for all applications.

Multiple schedules are commonly used to thin schedules of reinforcement once functional communication (FC) is in place (Hagopian et al., 2011). The most common way to alternate between periods of SD and S-Delta in the multiple schedule is to alternate between each schedule multiple times in one session (e.g., 45s SD and 15s S-Delta; Hanley, Iwata & Thompson, 2001). An alternative way to schedule thin is to have a single S-delta interval during the middle of the session with longer duration SD intervals at the beginning and end of session. The S-delta interval is then gradually increased over time. This method for introducing schedule thinning could be more effective due to the long duration of SD and short duration of S-delta that minimizes extinction bursts and more gradually introduces the S-delta period. The current study includes at least 1 participant, a 14 year old male diagnosed with Autism. Following the successful introduction of FC, one S-delta period within a multiple schedule was introduced and gradually increased over time until the terminal goal was achieved. With one S-delta period, low rates of problem behavior were observed throughout the schedule thinning process and maintained during generalization to the home environment.

Improving the rate of acquisition and maintenance of skills taught to children with autism through discrete trial instruction is an important focus for behavior analytic researchers. Mass trialing (i.e., several back-to-back repetitions of acquisition targets) has been shown to be more efficient than task interspersal (i.e., presenting previously mastered skills between acquisition targets). However, little research has been conducted on a commonly recommended procedure known as task variation, sometimes called mixing and varying across the operants. The current study combined and extended these lines of research by comparing the efficiency of two commonly used trial arrangement procedures for skill acquisition. In the single operant arrangement, all targets from a single program (e.g., tacting class) were taught during block 1, then all targets from another program (e.g., listener identification in scenes) were taught in block 2, and finally all targets from a third program (e.g., intraverbal answers to "wh" questions) were taught during block 3. In the multiple operant arrangement, acquisition targets across the 3 programs were interspersed within each of the 3 blocks (e.g., tact, listener, and intraverbal mixed together). A combined adapted alternating treatment and multiple probe design was used with multiple participants with autism to compare these arrangements using percentage of correct responses, duration to criterion, and cumulative number of targets mastered.

Urinary incontinence can be a significant obstacle to self-sufficiency for children with autism spectrum disorder. This condition is often accompanied by social stigma and reduced quality of life. The successful training of independent toileting skills increases the child's independence and reduces the burden placed on caregivers. Implementation of behavioral treatment for enuresis, consisting of scheduled sits and reinforcement for continent voids, has been effective in reducing incontinence and increasing self-initiations to go to the bathroom. However, little attention has been paid to how to promote self-initiations for children who depend on a sit schedule. The establishing operation to self-initiate for the bathroom takes time to build, and thus it can be difficult to know when it is at strength. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate a protocol that did not control for the establishing operation and assessed the transfer of stimulus control of self-initiations following the completion of the protocol. Training consisted of progressive time delay, proximity fading, and reinforcement for self-initiations. The protocol was evaluated with four children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder following successful enuresis training on a 60-minute sit schedule. The results were inconsistent across participants, warranting further research in this area.

Children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often have feeding problems, specifically food selectivity. Pediatric feeding disorders have been identified in as high as 90% of children diagnosed with ASD (Kodak & Piazza, 2008). The purpose of this project was to evaluate the prevalence of pediatric food refusal and food selectivity of children with ASD in an intensive pediatric feeding program to assess and treat children with severe food refusal. We reviewed charts from 2016 admissions (N=78) to assess the demographics of each patient with ASD. Nearly 40% of patients admitted to an intensive feeding program were diagnosed with ASD. The review also indicated that of these children, almost all patients met goals to decrease inappropriate mealtime behavior and increase food variety when behavior-analytic procedures were implemented. Finally, for nearly 45% of the children, all admission goals were met, suggesting that an intensive behavior-analytic approach to treat food refusal was successful.

Two challenges that applied behavior analysts regularly have to tackle are using efficient teaching procedures and experimentally validating the effectiveness of instructional procedures. The purpose of this study was to provide an example of how these challenges can be addressed in the context of providing clinically appropriate services. The participant was a 3-year-old boy diagnosed with autism who attended a university-based autism treatment center. The first 2 language acquisition programs introduced during discrete trial instruction were tacting parts and features of objects/pictures and listener identification of (pointing to) parts and features of objects/pictures. Implementation of these two programs was carefully arranged to experimentally investigate which instructional arrangements might be most efficient for this learner using a multiple probe with embedded alternating treatments design. The specific areas investigated were transfer across the operants, from tact to listener and listener to tact, and the minimum number of exemplars that needed to be taught to obtain generalized responding. Eighteen items that the participant could tact were selected. For each item, 2, 3, or 4 unknown parts and features were identified as acquisition targets. This yielded 54 targets to be taught. In addition, for each item, 6 exemplars were used. Tacting and pointing to the parts and features of each item, using all 6 exemplars, was tested using pre- and post-training probes. During teaching, 9 items (27 part/feature targets) were taught as tacts and 9 items (27 part/feature targets) were taught as listener responses. In addition, for both tact and listener targets, 3 items were taught using only 1 exemplar (with 5 to test for generalization), 3 items were taught rotating across 2 exemplars (with 4 to test for generalization), and 3 items were taught rotating across 3 exemplars (with 3 to test for generalization). The results of this study were evaluated in terms of their implications for which operant, tact or listener, is more efficient to teach because it is likely to result in transfer to the other and in terms of the minimum number of exemplars necessary to teach in order to obtain generalized responding.

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often engage in repetitive and stereotyped vocalizations that persist in the absence of social consequences, also known as vocal stereotypy. Persistent vocal stereotypy, due to its physical characteristics, greatly interferes with other people and decreases the chance of inclusion of the individuals with this behavior. Previous reviews (Lanovaz, et al. 2012; DiGennaro Reed, et al. 2012) have synthesized the literature on vocal stereotypy interventions, however, there has been no attempt to evaluate the quality of research. The purpose of this review is to summarize and evaluate the quality of vocal stereotypy intervention for individuals with ASD by using What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) Procedures and Standards (2016). There were 61 studies that resulted from an electric search of three databases and a search of ancestry. 5 randomly selected articles out of 61 are planned to be used as code training articles. 85% of agreement is needed before the first and second raters can move into independent inter-rater agreement coding for 100% of the articles. Quality indicators mentioned in the standards will be used as coding criteria. Summary of research findings and implications for future research will be discussed.

Children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often have patterns of restrictive and repetitive behaviors and interests such as food selectivity. Video modeling can be used to decrease food selectivity in children diagnosed with ASD (Dotson et al., 2017). Effects of video modeling and role-playing on food selectivity (acceptance of non-preferred food) in five different children diagnosed with ASD were evaluated in the current study. Video modeling and role playing decreased food selectivity in all five children and these effects were maintained during a follow-up phase. These results add to a growing body of literature showing conditions under which video modeling can be used to decrease food selectivity in children diagnosed with ASD.

Children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often engage in high rates of stereotypic and repetitive vocalizations. These behaviors may be socially stigmatizing, interfere with opportunities to learn, and impact daily functioning. Consequence-based interventions, such as differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO), response interruption and redirection (RIRD), contingent demands, and immediate response cost, have been shown to decrease vocal stereotypy; however, these interventions can be time-consuming and challenging to consistently implement. The purpose of the current study was to examine the effects of a delayed response cost protocol with a paired discriminative stimulus on the frequency of vocal stereotypy in outpatient behavioral therapy sessions for two male children with autism. The response cost procedure was implemented at the conclusion of a toy play session, which ranged from 5-15 minutes, if vocal stereotypy occurred at a threshold level. Results of the multielement study design showed that vocal stereotypy maintained by automatic reinforcement decreased when the delayed response cost was implemented as compared to toy play without response cost.

Vollmer et al. (2001) used random selection to calculate background probabilities for comparison with conditional probabilities of events and behavior. This method of random selection of 50 samples of windows between 5 and 20 s in duration across variable session lengths may result in random error in background probability estimates obtained. In this study, we conducted a Monte Carlo simulation in which we examined the amount of variability in the background probability calculations as a function of the number of samples, the amount of events in the data streams, and the size of the calculation windows. We found that sampling may result in random error that can affect identification of positive or negative contingencies between behavior and subsequent environmental events. These errors in identifying functional relations have the possibility of affecting treatment selection and outcome. Our analysis suggests that researchers should consider the possibility of sampling error when using this sampling method.

A 3-year-old male (twin) who is diagnosed with ASD is currently receiving 1:1 ABA intensive and social skills group therapy at bedrock clinic and research center. He is currently engaging in an interfering behavior, which is hindering skill acquisition. The purpose of the project is to conduct a behavior change in an individual. The target behavior is perseverating over dinosaur toy, which is enabling problem behavior. To conduct the behavior change, extinction and DRA (Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behavior) procedures are incorporated both at the clinic and in the home settings. Baseline data on the repetitive mands and how long the tantrum occurs in a day at the clinic is taken for three days before the implementation of the intervention. During the baseline the tantrum lasted between 128 to 130 minutes and 68 and 75 for the repetitive mands for time he is at the clinic in a day and a reduction of zero for tantrums and near zero levels for repetitive manding.

The present study examined the development of a self-evaluation method of own speech rate by using video with two children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. By editing the speed of the video that shot the conversation scene of the participant, 31 videos of different speeds were created. With the original speed as 100%, videos with speeds (from 50% to 200%) were created every 5%.These videos were presented to the participants in random order and asked to degree of favorable Impression (0 to 100) for each ones. As a result, the participants evaluated that most favorable speed was the extent from 75% to 90%. That is, children with Autism Spectrum Disorder like speech rate a little slower than usual speech rate, and degree of favorable Impression of original speech rate was 75. After conducting the self-evaluation, the mean number of clause per minute of participants in conversation decreased and approached their desired speech rate.

Study objective: The purpose of this study was to allow ASD children with intellectual disabilities to be able to classify their own clothes into thin and thick by discrimination training based on stimulus equivalence. Setting: This experiment was conducted individually in a laboratory of university. Participant: A 13 years old child diagnosed with ASD and intellectual disabilities participated. Procedures: The multipurpose Matching to Sample Task (MMTS) that was an application for PC was used to train the distinction of clothes between "thin" or "thick" (4 different photo pictures). Results: By teaching child the discrimination of the 4 kinds of clothes, the other 4 kinds of clothes were also discriminated. Furthermore, the participant became possible to choose a suitable clothes for room temperature after being trained to choose thin clothes in the case of more than 25 degrees room temperature.

Recent research suggested that synchronization is important for the early behavioral intervention (Sekine & Yamamoto, 2017; Srinivasan et al., 2016). Though behavior analysts have not interpreted synchronization using their terms, we should incorporate synchronization into the early behavioral intervention to increase the outcome. A child diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder participated in this study. The experimental procedure is as follows: The experimenter presented his hand while saying "touch me" after getting the eye contact. Immediately after the child touched, the experimenter presented the model again. The dependent variables and data collection are as follows: We defined one turn as the participant's response that sequentially occurred within 3s after the experimenter presented a model. We defined unit as the turns sequentially occurred within 3s. We measured intervals of each model presented by the experimenter (Inter-Trial-Interval; ITI) and intervals of response of the participant (Inter-Response-Time; IRT). We also measured the duration of each unit. Fig.1 shows ITI and IRT of each turn. The difference between ITI and IRT of the last 30 turns decreased than the first 30 turns. Fig.2 shows the duration of each unit. As IRT and ITI matched, the duration increased. We could define synchronization using behavioral terms.

Two of the key missions for WeKair Institute of Technology for Autism Rehabilitation are to spread the knowledge of behavior analysis to professionals and parents, and to offer online to offline (O2O) services to children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in China. In order to dissimilate the practical use of ABA principles in the education and treatment of children with special needs, WeKair has been working closely with China Association of Persons with Psychiatric Disability and their Relatives (CAPPDR) to provide free ABA training classes in 2017 which included online training videos, seminars for up to 11,000 individuals, and full-day training in five major cities for over 1,300 ASD parents and professionals. As WeKair develops and matures, we offer innovative telehealth solutions such as mobile Apps and a series of ABA training courses in 2018 and beyond to meet the increasing demands on how to systematically apply ABA techniques in training, intervention and inclusive education. In addition, we plan to open our state-of-art intervention center in a brand-new 21,500-squre feet facility in Nanjing in second quarter of 2018. The goal is to empower the parents and teachers with ABA expertise to work more effectively for the long term wellbeing of ASD children.

We completed a systematic replication of O'Reilly et al. (2007). O'Reilly et al. compared the delivery of attention to the delivery of no attention, to subsequent alone and attention-extinction conditions. Different than O'Reilly et al., our method compared 10-minute presessions, with and without tangible items, that occurred prior to completing the tangible condition in a functional analysis (Iwata et al., 1984/1992). In one presession, highly preferred tangible items were presented and in the second presession, tangible items were absent. The tangible session condition was set at 5-minutes. This research was significant and relevant because O'Reilly et al. (2007) found that presession access to attention influenced responding observed in the immediately following attention conditions, and thus was a direct effect of the MO on the behavior. Our study expanded upon O'Reilly et al. which allows us to further refine functional analyses to avoid Type I or Type II errors.