Association for Behavior Analysis International

There are a number of variables that have been shown to affect choice making (e.g., de Villiers & Herrnstein, 1976). One such variable is the degree to which individuals discount the value of delayed outcomes (Mazur, 1987). For example, when presented with a choice between two equivalent outcomes, one of which is available immediately, and the other of which is available following some delay, most individuals will select the immediate outcome. Recent research on delay discounting has shown that certain populations are more susceptible than others (Madden, Bickel, & Jacobs, 1999). One population that has not been included in this literature is caregivers of children with autism. There are many treatments for children with autism which claim to produce therapeutic changes in behavior with varying amounts of time. The purpose of this study was to compare the degree to which parents of children with autism with either severe problem behavior or language deficits discount delays. Data were analyzed using area under the curve (Myerson, Green, & Warusawitharana, 2001). A person that engages in more discounting will have less area under the curve than a person with a large amount of area under the curve.

The current study examined the use of delayed reinforcement in conjunction with visual and auditory cues to teach self-control to a 17-year-old male diagnosed with autism. The participant engaged in high rates of self-injurious, aggressive, and disruptive behaviors to primarily gain access to tangible items. He was able to independently request items, but waiting for them often lead to the occurrence of these behaviors. A changing criterion design was used to increase the duration that reinforcement was delayed and decreased problem behavior. During treatment, the participant selected an item from a picture menu and was prompted to wait for what he had chosen. A wait card and timer were visible and upon successful completion of the interval he was given the requested item. Sessions were conducted in a treatment room and generalization probes were initiated on his living unit. Results will be discussed in terms of the participant's ability to delay reinforcement and decrease problem behavior, as well as implications for further generalization and maintenance.

Practical issues arise when trying to intervene with escape-maintained problem behavior in adults with autism. Assessment and treatment of such classes of behavior are particularly problematic in adult populations given that they often involve increased intensity, complexity, and learning history coupled with the greater physical stature and strength of adult learners when compared to their school-age counterparts. This is particularly problematic when practitioners attempt to implement escape extinction with this population. The present study explored the possibility of addressing escape-maintained problem behavior in adults with autism by establishing a behavioral economy and manipulating the cost of desired items and activities and the value of preferred and non-preferred tasks. During baseline, the student had the opportunity to select from a variety of jobs (some preferred/some non-preferred) that paid $1 each. In addition, a menu of reinforcers was provided (some high preference/some low preference) at a cost of $1 each. The "pay" for jobs and the "price" for reinforcers were then manipulated and the effects on response allocation observed. The pilot data to this point indicate that the participant started allocating responding to lower preference jobs to access higher preference items more quickly.

Token economies have potential application for use in facilitation and maintenance of behavior change. However, findings from basic research suggest token and chained schedules yield lower response rates and longer post-reinforcement pauses when compared with similar tandem schedules of reinforcement. Applied research supports the use of token economies in increasing appropriate behavior and reducing problem behavior, but has not provided an analogue to basic research. Response rate on an arbitrary task was compared during token and tandem schedules of reinforcement. Does the use of conditioned reinforcement result in higher response rates?

Weppler et al (2010) demonstrated that a second-order token-conditioning procedure was as effective as a first-order pairing procedure in increasing preference for and the reinforcing properties of neutral stimuli. The purpose of the present study was to extend these findings by using second-order pairing to condition differential preference and reinforcing properties to a penny, nickel, and dime. Two children with autism participated in this study. Different quantities of pennies were paired with corresponding quantities of back-up reinforcers. Concurrently, a matching-to-sample procedure was used to pair a penny, nickel, or dime with 1, 5 or 10 pennies, respectively. A multiple-baseline-across-participants design was used to evaluate the effects of these procedures on the preference for each coin. The reinforcing effectiveness of each coin was assessed using a progressive-ratio schedule. The results demonstrated that the conditioning procedure systematically increased the preference for each coin for both participants. Additionally, from most-to-least preferred, coins were preferred in the order of dime, nickel, and penny. The order of preference was also positively correlated to the reinforcing effectiveness of each coin during progressive-ratio tasks.

Reinforcement for desirable behaviors is a major component of effective interventions for children with developmental disabilities. A body of behavior analytic research has examined whether behavior is influenced by the restriction of specific reinforcers to the research setting. In this literature, an open economy is said to exist when a reinforcer is available both within and outside of the research setting. A closed economy exists when an individual can gain access to a reinforcer only by performing target behaviors within an experimental session (Hursh, 1980, 1984). Basic and applied research has consistently found that animals and humans perform target behaviors more frequently under closed economies than under open economies (Hursh, 1980; Kodak, Lerman, Call, & Trosclair, 2007; Roane, Call, & Falcomata, 2005). The purpose of the current project is to extend the studies of Roane et al. (2005) and Kodak et al. (2007) by evaluating whether the type of economy influences acquisition of targeted skills in two preschool children diagnosed with autism. The baseline and experimental conditions were compared using an adapted alternating treatments design. During open economy sessions, items that are highly preferred but are available to the participant outside of the research sessions were provided contingent on accurate responding. During closed economy sessions, only one highly preferred item was provided contingent on accurate responding. This item was not available to the participant outside of the research sessions. The results indicate that the economy did not influence acquisition, but the quality of the reinforcer did. Acqusition was primarily influenced by gaining access to the participants most highly preferred item.

Applied behavior analysis procedures for skill acquisition and behavior reduction rely heavily on reinforcement procedures. Reinforcement-based procedures can be difficult to implement with learners who have restricted interests. In the current investigation, a procedure was developed with the intention of increasing the range of preferred items in three individuals with preservative interests. An initial paired choice preference assessment and reinforce assessment was conducted; which included two preferred items, and five items without a history of engagement. The two items with the lowest selection rates were targeted for the assessment. The first neutral target was paired with the highest preference item in the assessment. After at least five pairing trials, and preferably after the item showed increases in preference based on the daily multiple stimuli without replacement, a subsequent paired choice preference assessment and reinforce assessment were conducted. The same procedure was subsequently conducted on the second neutral target. The results reveal that five of the six items targeted increased in preference; however the some were only by a small degree. The reinforce assessment results indicated some increase in work allocated to access and item for one student, and none for the other two. These results indicate that it may be possible to develop preferences for individuals with autism, but the development of reinforcers may be more problematic.

One of the defining characteristics of autism is lack of development of vocal behavior. Research investigating alternative technologies that may prove effective in producing vocalizations has begun to emerge. Stimulus-stimulus pairing (SSP) is designed to establish vocal stimuli as automatic reinforcers. The current study used components of the enhanced SSP protocol as described by Esch, Carr, and Grow (2009), with a 5 year old male with autism. Two vocalizations, which were previously observed to have been emitted by the participant but not under echoic control, were presented. One of the two vocalizations was selected as a target to be paired during the SSP phase. An additional programmed reinforcement phase was conducted in order to strengthen the response targeted during the SSP phase. The targeted sound increased during the SSP phase, while the nontargeted sound remained low. The targeted sound was emitted at lower rates during the programmed reinforcement phase until a clinical modification was made that included a vocal prompt and direct reinforcement for echoic behavior. Final results indicated increased rates of and echoic control over the targeted vocalization.

It is common to teach alternative communication systems such as sign language (a topography- based system) or picture exchange systems (a selection-based system) to individuals with deficient vocal verbal repertoires. Previous researchers have demonstrated the expedited efficiency of topography-based communication systems in the acquisition of tacts, intraverbals, and receptive behavior; however, researchers have not directly compared topography- and selection-based systems in the acquisition of mands. We did so in the current study by simultaneously teaching both a selection-based mand (picture exchange) and a topography-based mand (manual sign) for identical items via an adapted alternating-treatments design. We replicated these results via a multiple baseline design across target items. We will discuss our results in terms of determining effective and efficient verbal behavior interventions.

Deficits in communication form part of the primary diagnostic criteria for autism. Even with early intensive intervention including speech instruction, some children may fail to acquire useful speech (Tincani, 2004). Training in augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) is an option for children with autism who do not readily learn speech. Two AAC modalities, sign language and picture exchange communication system (PECS), show promise for teaching communication to nonvocal learners. Given the positive reported outcomes for each modality, choosing between sign language and PECS may be difficult. This study will report preliminary results of a direct comparison of sign language and PECS training in three preschool aged children with autism using an alternating treatment design with initial baseline phase and final best-treatment phase. Imitation assessments were conducted prior to treatment to explore the relationship of pre-existing skills to the acquisition of each modality. Paired-stimulus preference assessments were conducted to identify and develop a hierarchy of preferred items to be used in communication training. Five preferred items were identified for each child, and were used in both communication modalities. Each child receives four 20-minute training sessions per day. PECS training is adapted from Bondy and Frost (1994) and manual sign is being taught in similar phases as in PECS. During the best-treatment phase only the most effective training modality will be administered to teach requests. Results will compare percentage of correct trials per session and number of mands for items in view emitted during training sessions. Rates of acquisition, and word vocalizations for each modality will also be compared.

We evaluated the utility of a blocked-trials procedure, previously described by Saunders and Spradlin (1990), to teach intraverbal discriminations to children with autism. In this procedure, individual elements of complex discriminations are targeted in separate, alternating trial blocks. The size of the trial blocks and the permitted number of errors is gradually reduced contingent on performance, and eventually the elements are presented in random order. In the current evaluation, our goal was to apply this approach to discriminations between pairs of questions that differ with respect to one word (e.g., "What do you sweep?" vs. "What do you sweep with?"). Baseline probes were conducted with several question sets, each containing 4 question pairs. We then conducted blocked-trials discrimination training with one question pair at a time, and repeated the baseline probes following mastery of each question pair. Preliminary data with one participant-an 8-year-old boy with autism-show that responding during probes reached 100% correct only for those question pairs that had been trained. The data also suggest that a reduced number of trials to criterion and a reduced number of errors might occur with repeated training. Data collection with additional participants is planned.

Functional communication training (FCT) is a differential reinforcement procedure where alternative communicative responses (e.g., vocal mand, sign, card exchange) are taught and gradually "replace" the problem behavior. This replacement occurs when the alternative response allows the individual to access the same reinforcer that previously maintained problem behaviors. In the current investigation, an ABAB design was used to examine the effects of FCT on the rate of problem behaviors with a 19-year-old female diagnosed with autism. During baseline, problem behavior resulted in caregiver's attention for 20 seconds. During treatment, an array of FCT cards (i.e., attention by caregiver and access to tangibles) were presented. Contingent on card exchanges, access to the maintaining reinforcer was provided. In addition, vocal responses began to emerge during card exchanges. During a return to baseline, vocal responses continued in the absence of the cards. These data suggested that vocal responses may have been partially evoked by the presence of the communication cards. Results will be discussed in terms of their implication for communication training.

There is a significant body of research supporting the efficacy of applied behavior analysis (ABA) as an intervention for young children with autism. While some researchers have suggested that treatment intensity (i.e., number of hours per week) is a critical variable related to treatment gains, the exact relationship between treatment intensity and outcome is not clear. The purpose of the present study is to examine the relationship between treatment intensity of ABA and improvement in language development in children with autism under the age of three. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to assess the relationship between low and high intensity groups and language gains, and to determine if the low or high intensity groups demonstrated statistically significant treatment gains in language. The implications of treatment intensity and its effects on treatment gains for young children with autism are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect on systematic staff training for center-based program serving preschool children with autism and developmental delays using the analysis of verbal behavior. One non-profit organization was given systematic approaches to staff training. The training procedure includes various training protocols, checklists, delivery procedures for discrete trial instruction of the basic verbal operants. The results were provided by students' acquisition on targeted skills based on assessment as well as the teacher's implementation fidelity. Questionnaires and interviews of staff members and teachers were used to collect the data for social validity. After training children with developmental delays made substantial progress on various skills, such as mand, tact, receptive instruction, imitation, echoic, intraverbal, play skills as well as decreased problem behaviors. The teachers' implementation fidelity measures also increased.

Children on the autism spectrum often have significant difficulties in the areas of communication and expressive language (Charlop & Haymes, 1994). Although there are many empirically supported interventions for teaching language skills to children with autism, most focus on teaching functional communication through direct reinforcement (Risley & Wolf, 1967; Wolf, Risley, & Mees, 1964; Koegel & Williams, 1980). Picture exchange communication (Charlop-Christy, Carpenter, Le,Leblanc & Kellet, 2002), functional communication training (Worsdell, Iwata, Hanley, Thompson, & Kahng, 2000), and mand training (Carol Murphy & Dermot Barnes-Holmes 2010) have all been proven effective treatment procedures to establish and expand language in children with autism. These procedures all provide a model and then deliver reinforcement for the occurrence of the targeted communicative response. The current study attempted to replicate findings suggesting that an expanded language model provided after correct responding to a model had been reinforced could result in increased language production (Werts, Wolery, Holcombe, & Fredrick, 1993). The data from the current study indicate that providing a post-reinforcement expanded model did not result in acquisition and generalized use of the expansion in three out of three subjects without additional intervention.

Circumscribed interests (CI), a class of restricted and repetitive behaviors in autism spectrum disorders (ASD), interfere with adaptive social behavior in children (Klin, Danovitch, Merz, & Volkmar, 2007). Despite this documented impairment, few studies have examined the function of CI speech, and even fewer have examined treatments for CI speech. The present study was an extension of functional analysis (FA) methodology used for bizarre speech (DeLeon, Arnold, Rodriguez-Catter, & Uy, 2003; Lancaster et al., 2004). To determine functions of CI speech in children with an ASD, a modified brief FA (Northrup et al., 1991) was conducted. After an appropriate control condition was identified, subsequent test and control conditions were presented to determine the function of CI speech in children with an ASD. Test conditions included traditional ones and also modifications to attention and demand conditions. Preliminary results indicated that attention was the function for one participant; whereas, the function identified for the second participant was automatic reinforcement. Given the uniqueness of CI speech compared to traditional problem behaviors assessed using FA, modifications to the conditions, procedures, and analysis may be necessary in order to determine functional control. Additionally, suggestions for improving the operationalization of CI speech are discussed.

Five participants, ranging from 4 to 6-years-oldand all diagnosed with autistic disorder, exhibited abnormal patterns of eye contact when engaging in verbal behavior. A multiple baseline across participates will be used to evaluate the effects of TAG (Teaching with Acoustical Guidance) procedures on the participant's eye contact patterns. The current study was designed to investigate whether the use of TAG is effective in increasing eye contact during tacting and manding as well as to investigate the subsequent effect on eye contact during manding following tact training alone. TAG procedures allow for a specific behavior to be reinforced more consistently and immediately than other types of reinforcers, such as edibles and tangibles. Since TAG eliminates the need for descriptive praise or verbal feedback, it may be useful in increasing the efficiency with which early intensive behavior interventionservices are delivered and autistic behaviors are normalized.

A 5-year-old female with autism and visual impairment engaged in self-injurious eye-poking. A series of direct observations to identify the maintaining variable(s) of eye poking did not suggest a socially mediated positive reinforcement function. Response blocking of finger-eye contact did not produce a reduction in eye poking or attempts. To address her visual impairment, an intervention to teach the participant to wear her prescription glasses involved putting mands and other activities on extinction, and making preferred foods, toys, attention and other activities contingent on the participant wearing her glasses. Although the eye glasses were prescribed for the participant's weak eyesight, teaching her to wear her glasses consistently had the unexpected collateral effect of eliminating her dangerous eye poking behavior. An unplanned reversal occurred and experimental control over eye-poking behavior has been demonstrated. The mechanism of action for the observed elimination of eye-poking is unknown. The discussion will address possible explanations and suggest future directions for their evaluation.

The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) is a well established hierarchical system for teaching picture exchange to augment communication (Frost & Bondy, 1994). It is estimated that 1/3 to1/2 of individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) do not develop functional speech (Mirenda, 2003). For such individuals use of picture exchange may be a viable treatment option to minimize maladaptive behavior. The present body of literature regarding efficacy of PECS for picture exchanges has yielded mixed results in terms of effects on communication (Carr & Felice, 2007; Carre, et al., 2009), behavior (Charlop-Christy, et al., 2002; Ganz, et al., 2009), and speech (Charlop-Christy, et al., 2002, Ganz & Simpson, 2004). The objective of this poster is to review the presently available literature on the correlation between PECS and behavior in individuals with ASD. Controlled empirical studies will be presented. Summary and Conclusion will be included, as well as identification of areas for future research.

Preceding research has revealed ways in which a typical sibling can interact with their sibling with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). As models for their sibling, the typical sibling can assume the teacher role by initiating the social interaction, and providing a method in which the sibling with ASD can better communicate (Tsao and Odom, 2006). Since children with ASD have problems with joint attention and appropriate communication with typical siblings, they may not be able to understand social cues, which results in social withdrawal (Bass and Mulick, 2007). This study first used reinforcers, and then established motivation to increase interaction between the Caucasian male dyad (Age = 4.9). Then they were guided through a play scenario with prompted play. The attention of therapists was either provided or withdrawn depending on whether the sibling with ASD appropriately responded to the sibling initiating the social interaction. It was predicted that by shifting the attention towards the responsive sibling, the non-responsive sibling was more likely to use appropriate language during play in order to regain the attention. Results suggest that over the duration of three months, prompted language became less prevalent and spontaneous language increased dramatically. Other case studies will be added.

When we begin training children to identify objects, typical practice is to begin with receptive identification and then progress to expressive identification. Sometimes we put emphasis on the receptive identification and then fail to follow with training expressive skills. Wynn and Smith (2003) suggested that generalization between expressive and receptive identification may be possible, but is not always guaranteed. The purpose of this study was to compare the expressive acquisition of picturesfor children whohad previous receptive training versus expressive acquisition of picturesfor children whodid not have previous receptive training. Three children, ranging from 2-4 years of age, with a generalized receptive repertoire and a strong echoic repertoire, were selected from an early childhood developmental delay classroom. They were taught tacts for eighty pictures, 40 of which they had previous receptive training and 40 who had no previous receptive training, broken into 20 sets.

Skinner's (1957) verbal operant, the intraverbal, accounts for several social and academic skills that children generally acquire. There is little research on how to best teach intraverbal behavior. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a tact prompt or an echoic prompt was more successful in teaching intraverbals (Fill-in-the blank phrases). A tact prompt consisted of the tutor presenting a picture to prompt the correct response while an echoic prompt consisted of the tutor vocalizing the correct response. An alternating treatments design was used to examine the effects of the two different prompt conditions. Participants were 3 male children diagnosed with autism ages 2-3 with extensive tact and echoic repertoires but with limited intraverbal repertoires. Results indicated that, while both the echoic and tact prompt conditions were successful in teaching intraverbal behavior, the echoic prompt was more effective than the tact prompt for all participants. Results were further supported in changes in a pre-test to a post-test, and by follow up sessions (for 2 children) conducted at 1 week, 2 weeks, and 1 month. This research suggests possible best practice procedures that may be used to facilitate the acquisition of intraverbals in young children with autism.

A 3-year-old boy, diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), received at-home therapy three times per week. An early intensive behavior intervention (EIBI) curriculum was developed based on assessment results and curricular goals derived from the VB-MAPP. Due to idiosyncratic factors in the home, a natural environment teaching (NET) approach was selected as most readily implementable. Acquisition data across expressive and receptive language domains were recorded and compared in 3 different categories: numbers, features, and emotions. Access to preferred play activities was used to positively reinforce completion of each session. After comparing the number of sessions it took to master each category and the percentages correct within each session, the results showed that receptive language was mastered in fewer sessions than expressive responses for the features and emotions categories while expressive numbers were mastered before receptive numbers. The results suggested that an EIBI program utilizing an NET model can yield rapid acquisition of language-based skills.

Most-to-least prompting is commonly used to teach skills to individuals with autism; however, little research has been conducted on the most effective methods for thinning reinforcement during the procedure. The purpose of this study was to compare performance percentage criteria for reinforcement thinning during most-to-least prompting to improve the efficiency of teaching novel tasks. One 8-year-old male diagnosed with autism was taught to identify novel words using a 20%, 50%, and 80% criterion for thinning reinforcement. For each condition, reinforcement was programmed following the next less intrusive prompt across sessions based upon performance within each session. In particular, a less intrusive prompt must have been used during the specified percentage of trials (i.e., 20%, 50%, or 80%) in the session before reinforcement was discontinued for responses following more intrusive prompts. In addition, the participant was exposed to a control condition in which reinforcement was delivered following all responses, regardless of the prompt level required. For this participant, the 20% criterion was the most efficient in increasing independent responding, followed by the 50% criterion. Due to lack of independent responding during the 80% and control conditions, the 20% criterion was implemented for these skills, and independent responding subsequently increased.

Clinically, behavior analysts often use different quantities of comparison stimuli when conducting match-to-sample procedures. To date, however, no studies have investigated whether different quantities of comparisons affect acquisition of matching performances. The present study examined the effects of 3 or 5 comparison stimuli on percent of correct selection responses during a match-to-sample task. The participants were three students with autism. Participants were taught to match five written names of U.S. states to their five corresponding maps of states using a 3-choice match-to-sample procedure and another five written names of states to their corresponding maps using a 5-choice match-to-sample procedure. An alternating treatment design embedded within a multiple probe design allowed a comparison of the two conditions across the three participants. The results showed that all three participants learned to match faster with the 3-choice procedure.

The acquisition skills of students with developmental disabilities has been a topic of research by many experimenters. One technique that has been shown to help students learn is to change the presentation style or materials used during teaching sessions. There are many different approaches to teaching students to acquire new skills, but research is limited in comparing stimuli presentations during discrete trials. The purpose of the following study is to compare the acquisition rate of sight words for four students with autism when presented either horizontally on a tabletop or vertically on a scan-board using a simultaneous treatment design. Preliminary results indicate that in baseline student's had a higher rate of sight-reading on the scan-board than they did on the tabletop.

Vocal mand training is a well researched procedure for teaching functional communication skills to children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) that has proven effective in past research (Bourret, Vollmer, & Rapp, 2004). In addition to deficits in functional communicative responses, many children with ASD also exhibit vocal stereotypy. Research has suggested that response interruption and redirection (RIRD) may decrease vocal stereotypy with such children (Ahearn, Clark, MacDonald, & Chung, 2007). The present study combines these two procedures to increase functional communication while reducing vocal stereotypy in a young child with autism. Furthermore, the current study extends past research by attempting to maintain reductions in vocal stereotypy following the withdrawal of redirection. This study also builds on past research by Dib & Sturmey (2007) which produced corollary reductions in stereotypy while teaching skills through discrete-trial-teaching.

Acquiring new skills can be difficult for students with autism. Research is still needed to identify a teaching procedure which helps students learn most efficiently. Three different teaching modalities were compared in a multi-element design using novel Lego constructs: 1) verbal+gestural, 2) model, and 3) manual guidance. All the procedures were taught with a forward task analysis to 5 different participants. Once a participant acquired one construct associated with a specific teaching procedure, 3 new constructs were presented and taught with the same modalities for replication purposes. In a 2nd phase, novel Lego constructs were used again to compare three different prompt fading procedures: 1) delay fading, 2) least-to-most fading, and 3) most-to-least fading. In a final generality phase, clinically relevant skills were used to replicate and generalize findings obtained in the first two phases. The results of this assessment will be used to further evaluate and develop an assessment which identifies the most efficient teaching procedure for individuals with autism.

The use of standardceleration charts is presented as a method to keep raw data in a clinical case, and used as the primary means of visual inspection. Frequency data was hand-drawn on standard celeration charts for a 13-year-old female with severe self-injurious behavior throughout all treatment phases. An analogue functional analysis was conducted prior to treatment in-home and determined function of problem behavior to be specific forms of attention related to physical contact. Treatment consisted of limiting access to physical forms of contact contingent on the occurrence of self-injury while still preventing injury. This intervention consisted of the use of artificial blocking devices to prevent injury while limiting the physical contact. Re-introduction to the school environment resulted in increases in this behavior and changes in topography that limited this type of intervention in the school setting. A natural environment functional analysis in the school setting yielded similar results regarding function of problem behavior being attention in the form of physical contact. Further treatment approaches within the school were used to fade the use of the arm splints and reduce self-injury to manageable levels.

When teaching new skills to children diagnosed with autism, skills are taught to a predetermined criteria. A criterion is selected that presumably will result in the skills maintaining after treatment ends. In the past, skills have been taught for varying numbers of days. For example, Eikeseth & Hayward (2009) taught skills to criteria for one session and Tarbox, Madrid, Aguilar, Jacobo, & Schiff (2009) taught skills to criteria for three sessions. The current study is an investigation of the effect of teaching a skill to various criteria (i.e., varying number of days at 100%) on skill maintenance for children with autism. Skills were taught to 100% accuracy for one day and then were put into a maintenance phase. In maintenance, skills were checked daily, then, if accuracy fell below 100% skills were put back into an acquisition phase and taught to 100% accuracy for the previous number of days in acquisition plus one day (i.e., skills were in acquisition for one day, then two days, then three days, etc.).

Picture prompts are often used for one of the self-management strategies to facilitate task and activity engagement for children with autism. Pierce and Schreibman (1994) point out that using pictorial self-management is efficient in that the picture book is small, is readily transported to novel settings, and can be easily faded. Recently, activity schedules are used as the cue to perform tasks independently for children with autism (McClannahan, MacDuff, & Krantz, 2002). Most children with autism often fail to perform the activities even though their skills and someone's prompts are enough to do them correctly. McClannahan and Krantz (1999) suggested that it is efficient to use activity schedules for them to perform activities and tasks independently. In this study, we examined the effect of using activity schedules to encourage a child with autism to engage in the tasks independently and to shift the next activity smoothly in elementary school settings. We also evaluated the extent to which the teacher could easily accept this procedure and could follow it strictly. As results, the participant could use the activity schedules also in school, although the materials and procedures of schedules are required some modifications fitting to school settings.

A combination of a differential reinforcement of other (DRO) behavior and non-contingent reinforcement (NCR) program was used in a school setting for a client with autism. The DRO program was used to decrease self-stimulatory behaviors by reinforcing the absence of self-stimulatory behaviors. This DRO was based on a fixed time interval that gradually increased as the client was successful at not engaging in self-stimulatory behaviors. The client would receive 1 token for every interval he succeeded and upon earning 3 tokens was given a 1 minute break where he was allowed to engage in the self-stimulatory behaviors. The NCR program was set at a 30 second fixed interval whereby the client received attention every 30 seconds throughout academic activities. For this client, allowing engagement in self-stimulatory behaviors as a form of reinforcement for refraining from engaging in the behavior during academic tasks created a high level of motivation and compliance in the classroom.

Interventions for play skills are often a component of early intervention for children with autism. Thus, developing efficient and effective teaching procedures for play skills is an important area of research. Research has demonstrated that instructive feedback is an effective procedure for increasing adaptive skills without direct training (Whalen, Schuster, Hemmeter, 1996). This study evaluated the utility of embedding instructive feedback for play skills during the reinforcement interval of a standard discrete trial for a different skill. Sarah, an 8-year-old female previously diagnosed with autism, participated in the study. Throughout the evaluation, the experimenter taught Sarah two sets of adjectives. For one set, the experimenter included play skills models during the reinforcement interval (i.e., instructive feedback). The reinforcement interval for the other set of adjectives remained unchanged. An adaptive alternating treatments design was used to evaluate the effects of instructive feedback on play skills during discrete trial training. Sarah acquired eight multi-component play skills as a result of the embedded instructive feedback. The results are discussed in terms of implications for teaching approaches in early intervention and the behavioral mechanism responsible for the behavior change.

The present study evaluates the effects of matched stimulation on disruptive stereotypic behavior in a child with autism. Following informal functional assessment in the naturalistic setting, a paired choice preference assessment will be conducted to identify functionally matched, highly preferred items for use during intervention. Baseline measures indicate high rates of disruptive stereotypic behavior (kicking and flipping doors and door handles) in the classroom. A single-subject reversal design will be utilized where treatment consisting of non-contingent access to the selected highly preferred, functionally matched stimulus will be provided and effects on behavior analyzed. Additionally, a stimulus fading procedure will be used to maintain low levels of stereotypic behavior across settings during follow up observation. Implications regarding the treatment and maintenance of disruptive stereotypic behavior using alternative stimulation of functionally same reinforcing activities will be presented, with implications for classroom productivity and academic growth noted.

Behavioral teaching methods are often used to successfully develop and expand the vocal communication repertoires of individuals with autism. The current case study explores the effect of integrating strategies from PROMPT (a neuro-developmental approach for speech production disorders) into behavioral programming for individual students with autism. In an adapted alternating treatments design embedded within a multiple baseline design, three pairs of specific vocal targets were taught (one target in each pair assigned to PROMPT or behavioral teaching). Effects were compared across teaching sessions and in generalization probes outside of the teaching sessions. Pilot data from the first participant (a 9-year-old boy with autism) show no improvement in target sound production in generalization sessions, but revealed comparable levels of correct prompted and independent target vocalization production within teaching sessions for both methods. Similarities and differences in the two approaches, as well as follow-up data from this and other participants will be presented.

A 9-year-old boy with severe behavior of constantly shaking every object was placed on an intervention based on behavior analytic principles. His behavior of shaking objects, teaching materials, and anything he had access to interfered with learning goals. When the behavior was stopped or blocked it led to immediate crying. Baseline data suggested the boy shook objects 100% duration in all settings, table top teaching, free play, natural environment training, mealtime. A behavioral intervention based on differential reinforcement of low response ratewhere he alternated between discrete trial and natural environment training versus sitting on a chair on a VI schedule allowing indulgence in stereotypic behavior was introduced. The intervention is in place for 25 hrs/week. Data collected showed a trend of reduction in stereotypic behavior and generalization was observed in 9 weeks, howeverafter a 2 week vacation, behaviors were observed at baseline levels. The intervention was repeated with shorter VI schedules and he is able to work at the table for 5 minutes without shaking objects and teaching materials, playing with toys being conditioned as reinforcers. The intervention is continuing in one-on-one setting and plans to be generalized at home.

Verbal behavior teaches manding using the principles within establishing operations-deprivation and aversions. In 1957 B. F. Skinner notes that the mand is under the functional control of relevant conditions of those motivators. Much of the research on manding has been done on using these motivators to produce requests for items, activities, edibles, etcetera. Very little research has been done on using EOs to teach manding for information, specifically for asking "why" questions. Dr. Mark Sundberg suggests research based on Skinner's analysis on verbal behavior (specifically manding) that looks at bringing verbal behavior under EO control using a stimulus transfer procedure. This study focuses on teaching a child with autism to mand for "Why?" Teaching to mand for "why" was taught to an 11-year-old child with autism by transferring the stimulus control from textual prompts to independent manding by contriving establishing operations within an AB design for which reinforcement became available upon emitting the question "Why?" Follow up sessions showed manding for "why" was a maintained manding skill.

These studies assessed social behavior in prepubescent mice in the context of our neurodevelopmental model of disorders with social components. We manipulated variables including genetic background, postnatal treatment with an autism phenotype-related toxicant (valproic acid), and the behavioral environment or conditioning history of 4 week old mouse pups. The primary behavioral objective was to increase approach to initially novel stimuli as a function of presenting those stimuli in the same spatial context as novel peers (social contextual conditioning). Results indicate that the frequency of approaching once-novel stimuli, and the frequency and type of approaching novel, non-sibling peers, is altered by one week of contextual conditioning. During contextual conditioning, mice lived in housing that alternated daily between environments "enriched" with either highly palatable cereal or the presence of a peer mouse, and environments deprived of either cereal or a peer mouse. Here we describe some of the functional relationships observed between the social behavior of a mouse and its unique history of conditioning, toxicant exposure, and/or genetic background. Results reveal that contextual manipulations enrich the behavioral environment building social rapport thus supporting social interaction in vulnerable individuals.

Intertemporal choice provides important insights into the way that individuals discount various delayed commodities. For example, drug users discount drugs at a steeper rate than they do money (Madden et al., 1999). Because stimulant users also engage in risky sexual behaviors, it is possible they also disproportionately discount delayed sexual reinforcers. Although such between-commodity comparisons advance our understanding of addiction, little is known about the mechanisms that drive these differing discounting rates. For instance, are drug reinforcers discounted steeply because they quickly loose their value, or are immediate drugs disproportionately valuable? This study of 13 treatment-seeking stimulant addicts analyzes intertemporal choices of two commodities (equated amounts of sex and money), specifically between sex nowversus sex later (S-S), money nowversus money later (M-M), sex nowversus money later (S-M), and money now versus sex later (M-S). Changes in the delayed commodity were associated with large and significant changes in discounting rates, whereas changes in the immediate commodity resulted in modest and on-significant changes. These findings suggest that stimulant users not only discount sexual reinforcers more steeply that they do money, but also that this differential discounting occurs because sexual reinforcers are rapidly devalued.

Reinforced responding has previously been conceptualized as alternating between two states: (1) periods of engagement and (2) periods of disengagement. In order to obtain quantitative estimates of these two distinct components of responding, log-survivor functions have been used to characterize rat nose-poke and, to a lesser extent, lever-press responding. The present study attempted to replicate the finding that rat lever-press responding produces a broken-stick function and also determine if the two-mode conceptualization of response rate generalizes to responding for milk reinforcers. Rats responded on a 2-component multiple schedule for milk reinforcers. Individual IRTs were collected, organized into 0.1s bins, and the proportion of IRTs longer than some time (t) was plotted as a function of time (t) on a semi-logarithmic scale in order to construct survivor functions. Similar to the matching law analysis, which has previously been used to elucidate mechanisms of drug action, survivor functions might allow one to determine whether a certain drug produces its effects by altering motor control or reinforcer efficacy.

Rats were trained in a standard conditioned place preference (CPP) procedure and examined with (+) methamphetamine (1.0- 5.6 mg/kg). One side of the chamber was paired with 3.0 mg/kg (+) methamphetamine (I.P.) while the other side was paired with saline injections (1ml/kg bwt). Dose response determinations were then made in the presence of temperatures of 75F, 68F, and 50F chamber temperatures. Methamphetamine (1.0- 5.6 mg/kg) produced dose-related increases in the overall time spent in the methamphetamine-paired side of the chamber under room temperature conditions (68F). Conversely, under the cool temperature (50F), CPP appeared at higher doses than the training dose. In the warm temperature (75F) CPP appeared at lower doses. In experiment two, rats were trained to self-administer methamphetamine (0.3 mg/ml) under a progressive ratio (PR) schedule of oral drug presentation. Response rates for different values of the PR were low and not distinct from saline. These preliminary data suggested that methamphetamine (PO) at the dose studied did not show a reinforcing function. The present data marginally support previous findings that the reinforcing properties of psychomotor stimulants may be enhanced by increases in ambient temperatures.

Substance use often peaks when estrogen levels are highest. Previous studies have shown that estradiol slightly increased caffeine self-administration by ovariectomized rats under an FI 30 schedule when a 1% saccharin + 1% caffeine solution was concurrently available. In the current study, the effects of estrogen on caffeine self-administration in the home cage were studied. Ovariectomized rats had free access to the 1% saccharin + 1% caffeine solution. On selected days estradiol (0.015 or 0.02 ug/kg) was administered in a peanut oil vehicle. Neither dose of estradiol altered the amount of saccharin + caffeine fluid consumed, although the typical decrease in food consumption and body weight for 2-3 days following estradiol administration was observed. Context, schedule-induced polydipsia vs. free home-cage access, may alter the effects of estradiol on caffeine self-administration.

Although temporal discounting is thought to model intertemporal decision-making relevant to smoking relapse, it remains unclear if changes in temporal discounting occur as a function of acute smoking abstinence. The purpose of the present study was to comprehensively examine temporal and probability discounting by cigarette smokers following smoking abstinence. Twenty-seven heavy cigarette smokers completed temporal and probability discounting asssessments following normal smoking and 24-hour smoking abstinence. Rates of discounting were calculated using an exponential-power discounting model, and analysis of estimated parameters using parametric methods indicate greater temporal discounting of hypothetical money gains following smoking abstinence compared to normal smoking. Inversely, no difference was observed in the temporal discounting of hypothetical money losses, nor in any probability discounting conditions. Though intertemporal decision-making does appear to be impacted as a function of smoking abstinence, the present results suggest it may be limited to positive outcomes.

While performance-based pay is sometimes used to increase worker productivity, few comparisons of performance-based pay to a set hourly wage exist in conditions that closely mimic a standard workplace. In the current study, participants enrolled in a therapeutic workplace for heroin abuse were paid to engage in job-skills training on multiple keyboarding training programs. On one of the training programs, a set hourly wage was earned, while on the other training program, payment was partially based on keying speed and accuracy. Total payment earned was adjusted to be nearly equal in the two conditions, and the payment method assigned to each training program was randomly determined for each participant. In the performance-based payment condition, participants keyed more, keyed more accurately, advanced further in the training programs, and reported more satisfaction with the training programs. These results will be discussed, along with participant characteristics that predicted keying performance and sensitivity to contingencies.

The effectiveness of contingency management techniques for maintaining abstinence in cigarette smoking was evaluated in the current study. Participants were three college students who reported a history of habitually smoking and who reported quitting in the last five days. The study used a within-subject alternating treatments design with contingent and non-contingent conditions, where vouchers were delivered either contingent or not contingent on low levels of carbon monoxide (CO). Participants maintained low to zero levels of smoking throughout the intervention, and breath samples indicative of smoking were more likely to occur in the non-contingent voucher condition than in the contingent voucher condition for two participants. Participants maintained low CO levels at follow-up and self-reported smoking significantly less at the end of the study than before they had quit smoking.

Behavior momentum theory suggests stimulus-reinforcer relationships determine operant behaviors resistance to change. In general, operant behavior maintained under conditions of denser reinforcement are less sensitive to disruptive manipulations than behavior maintained by leaner conditions. Though momentum theory has accounted for resistance to change data under a variety of circumstances, disruption by pharmacological agents has often failed to fall in line with the theory's predictions. We have begun a series of studies to investigate further the generality of previous findings. Pigeons were trained to respond on a multiple fixed-interval 5-minute schedule of grain delivery. During different components, the first key peck to occur after 5 minutes produced 2, 4, or 8 seconds access to grain. Several drugs were tested for their ability to disrupt fixed-interval performance. Disruption was assessed in terms of both the effects on relative response rate and on temporal patterning during the interval. Only the alpha-2 agonist clonidine disrupted response rate in a manner consistent with behavioral momentum theory. In most cases, the temporal-disrupting effects of drugs were consistent with the predictions of momentum theory: temporal patterns maintained by the largest magnitude of food delivery were less sensitive to the disrupting effects of the drugs than patterns maintained by the smaller magnitudes.

Determinants of impulsive choice may be studied by employing delay-discounting procedures in which choice is arranged between one food pellet delivered immediately and three food pellets delivered after a delay. Delay to delivery of the three food pellets can be varied across blocks within a single session, allowing for assessment of choice at a range of delays within a session. Order of delay presentation is a procedural variable that may impact level of delay discounting. Phase 1 of the present study used a group design to evaluate effects of order of delay presentation on delay discounting. Eight male Sprague-Dawley rats served as subjects and a discrete-trials, within-session delay-discounting procedure was used. For four rats, delays to delivery of the larger reinforcer increased across blocks and for four rats delays decreased. Data show that order of delay presentation has little or no effect on levels of delay discounting (impulsive choice). Phase 2 of the study is designed to assess effects of acute d-amphetamine administration on delay discounting maintained by different order of delay presentations (ascending or descending).

d-Amphetamine has been found to alter rates of delay discounting, but effects of d-amphetamine may depend on baseline levels of delay discounting. To explore this possibility, the current study was designed to generate different baseline levels of delay discounting by manipulating reinforcer magnitude across choices for either a smaller, immediate and larger, delayed reinforcer in a discrete-trials, within-session delay discounting procedure. Eight male Sprague-Dawley rats served as subjects. For four of the subjects, choice was first between one immediate and three delayed food pellets (delay increased across session) and then between two immediate and six delayed food pellets (delay increased across session. For the other four subjects, the conditions were reversed. Data show that levels of delay discounting are lower when choice is between two immediate and six delayed reinforcers than when choice is between one immediate and three delayed reinforcers. Thus, increasing the magnitude difference between the smaller, immediate reinforcer and larger, delayed reinforcer resulted in lower rates of delay discounting. Choice following d-amphetamine administration on the two baseline conditions will also be presented.

Methamphetmine (METH) abuse and dependence continue to be a growing health concern for which there are currently no approved pharmacological treatments. Drug discrimination (DD) techniques are a potential screening tool for candidate pharmacotherapies for the treatment of psychostimulant dependence. The purpose of the current research is to develop a model of DD in Japanese quail and investigate the role of the dopamine system in the discriminative stimulus effects of METH in quail. Three (N = 3) adult male Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) are being trained to discriminate METH 3.0 mg/kg (i.p.) versus saline on a semi-random order training schedule. Quail receive an injection of the training drug or saline 5 min prior to training sessions and are then presented with two response keys. Completion of 30 responses on the injection-appropriate key yields food reinforcement whereas non-specific responses are recorded but have no preprogrammed consequence. Discrimination criteria is set at > 90% overall drug-appropriate responding with fewer than 10 incorrect responses before delivery of the first reinforcer (i.e., > 75%) for 10 consecutive days. The data shown represents training performance expressed as percent drug-appropriate responses to the first reinforcer and overall across the most recent training sessions. These quail are near meeting discrimination criteria and will then enter a test phase. During the test phase, a METH dose-response function will be determined and various dopaminergic drugs will be tested for their ability to substitute for or alter the discriminative stimulus effects of METH. Drug discrimination studies with quail will contribute to translational research directed at the development of pharmacotherapies for METH dependence.

In a 1987 study, college male and female drinkers leaving a bar filled out a questionnaire about their drinking and took a breathalyzer test. Men were fairly accurate in their recall of drinking but women were less accurate. Further, men had significantly higher blood alcohol levels (BAL) than women. These differences were attributed to the greater experience men have with consuming alcohol. Given the changes in the patterns of alcohol consumption by college men and women, the study was replicated with a substantially larger sample size. It was predicted that women would be more accurate in their recall of consumption and have higher BALs than those in the 1987 sample while men would perform about the same. 80 men and 35 women participated in the current study. The results confirmed the prediction for women as the correlation between recalled consumption and breathalyzer results increased from r = .284 to r = .555 and the mean BAL increased from .04 to .92. The results for men were mixed as the accuracy of their recall declined from r = .766 to r = .636 while their BALs increased from .077 to .095. The findings are interpreted in relation to the literature on college student drinking.

In Mexico, substance abuse is a public health problem for which effective interventions have been designed. The aim of this study was to evaluate the skills acquired during brief training counseling programs which allow a rapid assessment and implementation of effective strategies in changing substance abuse. We worked with 360 health care givers, 67% women and 23% men, with a 32-year-old age average. We used a pre-experimental design and an observational system based on a checklist to evaluate five structured steps: Screening, dialoging, goals setting, the process of change's accompanying and following. The results showed that 65% of the sample mastered the ability to avoid judgments about consumption, 61% plan to follow-up sessions and 48% suggest abstinence for snuff or drugs. The results showed that the technological procedure allowed increasing the skills of brief advice compared to those who do not have the resources. It was concluded that strategies of the interventions should be reinforced and we need to provide technological processes to improve the care of substance users.

In Mexico, there exist many training programs for professionals in addictions. However, thereare few behavioral changes assessments. The aim of this study was to identify the effect of brief advice training accompanied with a description of technological procedures, over a therapist behavioral interaction. We worked with 665 health professionals from different states. We used a pre-experimental design and a Observational Code (adapted from Chamberlain et al, 1984) that evaluates six behavioral categories. The results showed high response rates in the categories of information search (1), attitude (.83) and listening (66). Particularly, was noted that getting just the description of technological processes allowed higher response rates of social interaction (information searching and positive attitude). Brief training plus procedures description was effective too. We conclude that brief advice training was effective to increased social interaction behaviors in health caregivers. However, technological description was enough to effectively replicate the behavioral procedures (Wolf, Baer and Risley, 1968).

To increase understanding of what does behavior-analytic therapists to bring about change, a database of behavior therapy sessions was created. The categories analyzed were "request for information", "facilitation", "information", "recommendation", "interpretation", "empathy", "approval" and "disagreement". Data from 626 sessions of 19 dissertations, theses and Brazilian research on behavior therapies were grouped. Some results: "request for information" showed a high percentage in the database, higher at the beginning of therapy. The more experienced the therapist, the lower the proportion of questions. "Recommendation" strategy was used less, but was present in most of the therapies and with large fluctuations. Its occurrence in the first session was low, increased and decreased again after 4 months of therapy. Experienced therapists "recommended" more than the less experienced. The category "interpretation" was one of the most frequent and showed an increasing trend. The second most frequent was "to provide consequences" ("empathy", "approval" + "disagreement") and did not show trends. "Facilitation" was stable in time and "information" presented a decreasing tendency. Experienced therapists "facilitated" more in the first sessions than the less experienced, "informed" more at the beginning of therapy, but then less, "provided more consequences" and "interpreted" with similar frequencies.

Every year thousands of people, mostly women, are victims of domestic violence. Many have been victimized multiple times over an extended period, but continue to remain in high-risk relationships. This study demonstrates the utility of a diagnostic tool to determine a woman's vulnerability to domestic violence. Specifically, a protocol, the Categorical Analysis for the Risk of Exploitation (CARE), was developed consisting of scenarios presented to women who then describe how they would behave/react in each scenario. The scenarios are designed to test the woman's vulnerability to exploitation in three areas: emotional, physical, and sexual. A fourth "neutral" category of no-risk scenarios is also included. Results from administering the CARE to women with and without a history of domestic violence support the discriminant validity of the CARE. That is, women whohad been victims of domestic violence scored significantly higher (i.e., evidenced greater risk) than women without such a history. Fortunately, initial single-case studies suggest that behavioral training on problem solving and self-protection may effect substantial reductions in risk scores on the CARE.

The literature for training of reading fluency in adults is rather limited and only a few studies have examined the generalization effects of fluency training to untrained passages. The present study used a delayed multiple probe design across subjects and precision teaching to evaluate the effects of reading support, repeated reading, and error correction procedure composed of drill and prompt on reading fluency in three university students. Generalization to unpracticed passages was also checked. All the participants read below average reading speed and one had the diagnoses of dyslexia. The aim for each participant was set as 1.5x acceleration from the average reading speed on baseline. Training consisted of 1-min timing implemented every weekday and each passage was read four times in each session or until the aim was reached, whichever occurred first. The participant recorded the best reading of the day on a standard celeration chart. When the aim was reached a new passage was introduced in the next session. After the intervention, baseline passages were represented to evaluate generalization to untrained passages. Results so far indicate that the intervention can increase reading fluency in adult students. Results for generalization and the third participant are not yet completed.

Preference assessment and reinforcer assessment are standard procedures in the treatment of problem behaviors in populations with delayed development. However, in long-term residential care for elderly individuals such procedures are not implemented. Despite the common occurrence of problem behaviors in residential care units, only a limited number of studies have examined the functional determinants of problem behaviors, and implemented functionally based interventions. Applied behavior analysis is almost unknown in the Norwegian geriatric ward system. In the current study, bachelor students have been trained in preference assessment and reinforcer assessment. We report data from an attempt to formally assess elderly clients' preferences. The instrument consists of 81 items. Both nurses and the elderly were asked to rate different stimuli. A total of 26 residents are included in the assessment.

Elderly individuals in long-term residential care often exhibit problem behaviors such as physical aggression, wandering, and repetitive vocalizations. Despite common occurrence of problem behaviors in residential care units, only a limited number of studies have examined the functional determinants of problem behaviors, and implemented functionally based interventions. As far as we have learned from behavior analytic literature, only one participant with dementia has been treated with NCE procedures (Non Contingent Escape; Baker, Hanley & Matthews, 2006) or fixed time (FT) presentation of escape possibilities. Applied behavior analysis is almost unknown in the Norwegian geriatric ward system. In the current study, bachelor students have been trained in functional assessment, reinforcer assessment, and FT procedures. We report data from the treatment of problem behaviors in a long-term residential care institution in Norway. Results are promising with a clinically significant reduction of problem behavior.

Mr. Y is a 20-year-old male who sustained a brain injury following a motor vehicle accident. He has a significant learning history, engaging in high risk behaviors which included sexual assault charges and an alcohol addiction. Following a brief stay in a rehabilitation center, he was transferred to the neurobehavioral unit, where he was exhibiting daily verbal and physical aggression, sexually and inappropriate behaviors, and a lack of insight into his personal safety. A single subject A-B design was utilized. Following baseline, a hypothesis and intervention plan was developed. This included a non-contingent reinforcement procedure and motivation system in the form of a token economy. The client provided informed consent for the intervention. The purpose of the intervention was to teach the client the necessary skills to follow a schedule of meaningful rehabilitation activities, without engaging in physical aggression. Adifferential reinforcement of alternative behaviorprocedure was also utilized. Interobserver agreementdata was collected on an intermittent basis. Train the trainer method was used and social validity measures were obtained. Following the implementation of the intervention, the frequency of physical restraint used by staff significantly reduced from a mean of 1.42 times per day, to mean of 0.025 times per day post intervention and was maintained until discharge. Participation in rehabilitation activities improved from a mean of 26 minutes per day at baseline, to a mean of 147 minutes per day following the intervention and this was maintained until discharge and his mobility improved. He was safely transitioned back to the community without requiring psychotropic medication. He began to make better decisions and reestablished social relationships. He learned the necessary skills to self regulate without becoming physically aggressive or engaging in sexually inappropriate behaviors.

The subject of this study is a 50-year-old survivor of a traumatic brain injury, whose characteristics include confusion, disorientation, global aphasia and agitation with episodes of verbal aggression. These sequelae contribute to an inability to functionally communicate verbally or through writing. The subject also performed poorly on standard matching-to-sample trials and could not make sense of written words. Secondary to this presentation the subject became confused when staff attempted to initiate activities, leading to verbal aggression, property destruction and non-follow through. However, despite these significant deficits, in specific situations the subject could display highly contextual behavior, i.e. initiating a shower after staff presented shower supplies in the bathroom. As a result this project considered verbal behavior concepts, stimulus equivalence and alternative ways of teaching match to sample in the development of a strategy to incorporate naturalistic objects already occurring within the context to certain activities. Emphasis was placed on the naturalistic nature of the objects in an effort to support a trial at home, making generalization critical to the intervention

In the current study, the experimenter will be systematically replicating and extending previous research on facial expression awareness training. The effects of facial expression recognition training will be evaluated using a multiple baseline design across subjects with individuals with acquired brain injury, and data will be analyzed using visual inspection of line-graph data. The study will be conducted in following four phases: 1) baseline, 2) labeling facial expressions and characteristics of the expressions that demonstrate the emotions of happy, sad, angry, and surprise, 3) train facial expression identification to fluency aims, and 4) generalizing same facial expressions with novel stimuli using new photographs.

Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are often prescribed psychotropic medication to treat behaviors such as aggression and self-injury. Evaluation of these medications is often based on caregiver report or changes in frequency of behavior. Rarely do care providers, however, conceptualize psychotropic medications as stimuli potentially serving as motivating operations. Instead, the view may be that medications are the solution for difficult to treat behaviors. As such, decreases in behavior should not be the only consideration when evaluating medication effectiveness. We propose that evaluations regarding the possible change in function of behavior should also be considered when using psychotropic medication to treat problematic behaviors. This research involved completing multiple functional assessments throughout psychotropic medication changes. A total of 15 participants have been enrolled in the study. Participants have included individuals with a diagnosis of intellectual disability and other comorbid diagnoses (e.g., autism) who exhibited behaviors such as aggression and self-injury. Psychotropic medication changes were recommended by treating physicians and approval for medication changes are made by treatment teams (neither of whom are affiliated with the authors). Initial interviews were conducted to determine operational definitions for problem behaviors and hypotheses regarding behavior function. Following the initial interview with caregivers, standard analogue functional analyses were conducted using a multielement design. These assessments were then repeated no less than 2 weeks after psychotropic medication changes were made. Our data revealed changes in the conditions under which behavior occurred. Below are graphs depicting data for one of our participants, Randis. These data suggest that, indeed, repeated assessments of behavior function should be conducted when evaluating the effectiveness of any given medication as both rate and conditions under which behavior occurs may change.

This study examined the ease of interpretability and reliability of visual inspection of data across five different graphical displays using a paper-based survey. Twelve participants were first asked to evaluate which graphs they preferred for interpretation of functional analysis data. Participants were then asked to interpret four different functional analysis data sets displayed in five types of graphs: line graphs, multi-element graphs, histograms, cumulative records and standard celeration charts. Results indicate that histograms, on average, took the least amount of time to analyze, but those present problems due to obscured trends and variability of the aggregate data. The multi-element graph took, on average, the longest amount of time to analyze and the reliability of analysis across observers was either similar to or worse than other graphic displays. Excluding the histogram, the cumulative record took, on average, the least amount of time to analyze and had the highest inter-rater agreement. Results are discussed with implications for future research to determine optimal systems of visual analysis.

Applying functional analysis (FA) within uncontrolled settings on chronic or complex behaviour poses significant threats to the internal validity of an assessments experimental design. These conditions may result in a lack of demonstrated experimental control leading to inconclusive, incorrect, or subjective interpretations. The following study analyzed the undifferentiated FA results of traditional linear graphic analysis of problem behaviour by averaging the relative percent difference (RPD) between an experimental condition and its preceding control condition. Case studies from the primary literature where initial FA results were undifferentiated but demonstrated masked social functions were reanalyzed using RPD. Results extrapolated a functional relationship between problem behaviour and a socially mediated reinforcer, illustrating the utility of RPD to the analysis of problem behaviour. Further research on a novel reversal design, in which each experimental condition is preceded by a control condition, and the application of RPD as an objective tool for interpreting FA results will be discussed.

Identifying environmental events that may play a role in the maintenance of inappropriate mealtime behavior is an important component in developing effective packages for the treatment of food refusal. Previously, functional analyses have been utilized to identify maintaining variables for inappropriate mealtime behavior. The current study evaluated a parent-conducted functional analysis of inappropriate mealtime behavior for a 6-year-old girl admitted to an inpatient feeding program for the assessment and treatment of feeding difficulties. Control (continuous attention and access to a preferred activity), attention, escape, and tangible conditions were evaluated within a functional analysis. Initial results indicated potential escape, attention, and tangible functions maintaining inappropriate mealtime behavior. Subsequent analysis further manipulating the presence of attention revealed low levels of inappropriate mealtime behavior during conditions in which attention was delivered continuously, and high levels of inappropriate mealtime behavior during conditions in which attention was not available. Initial results from functional analysis may have lead to false positive findings; subsequent analyses were necessary to identify what variables maintained the individuals inappropriate mealtime behavior.

Several studies have demonstrated the utility of preference assessments and reinforcer choice on adaptive responding in persons with intellectual disabilities, but few have used response accuracy, arguably the most pertinent measure in an instructional context, as the dependent measure. This study examined the effects of three consequence conditions on accuracy of academic task performance in two children diagnosed with intellectual disabilities. The conditions included praise alone, delivery of a preferred item identified prior to the analysis, and delivery of a preferred item identified prior to daily work sessions. The effects of these conditions on the cumulative number of correct responses across sessions were examined. Both preferred stimulus conditions produced a higher cumulative number of correct responses than praise in the same number of sessions. Stimuli identified daily resulted in slightly accelerated performance in one participant, but no differences in the second participant, whose most preferred stimulus was invariant across days. The results extend the findings of prior studies demonstrating the advantages of frequent preferences assessment to a response accuracy, rather than response maintenance, context.

Clinicians and researchers rely on assessments of preference to identify items and activities that are likely to function as reinforcers during assessment and intervention. Questions still remain about the stability of preference over time, the conditions under which stable preferences may be disrupted, and the reemergence of preference once it is disrupted despite continued procedural refinement. In Experiment 1, we systematically replicated past research on stability of preference. In Experiment 2, we arranged motivation operation (MO) manipulations for 9 individuals whose data in Experiment 1 met the operational definition for stability of preference. Despite identical MO manipulations across participants, the extent to which stable preferences were disrupted varied across individuals. In Experiment 3, we conducted motivation gradient assessments that were designed to detect the disruption and reemergence of motivation over the course of time. Results suggested that the motivation gradient assessment may be a useful procedure for determining the likelihood of reemergence of motivation over time.

Paired stimulus (PS) preference assessment is one of the most commonly used procedures to identify potential reinforcers (Hagopian, Long, & Rush, 2004). In the PS format (e.g., Fisher et al., 1992) the experimenter presents two items simultaneously and asks the participant to choose one. After selecting an item, the participant has brief access to it before it is removed. When the chosen item is withdrawn, the participants with problem behavior maintained by access to tangible items may engage in their problem behavior (Kang et al., 2010). Highly occurring problem behavior during the assessment may interrupt and cease the procedure. That can ultimately lead to inaccurate or no results about the potential reinforcers. Therefore this study examined a modification to the current PS formats that could be made to avoid problem behavior maintained by access to tangible items. The experimenter administered the current PS format and the modified PS format 5 times in a random order for 3 children with developmental disabilities whose problem behavior was maintained by access to tangible items. The rate of problem behavior that occurred during each format was compared. The results of the study suggest that the modified PS format was effective in reducing problem behavior. The results can provide empirical recommendations for the preference assessment.

Determining if a paired-choice preference assessment accurately predicts reinforcer value is important in order for instructional time to be used appropriately. This study evaluated the correlation between the rankings of stimuli based on a paired-choice preference assessment and the amount of responding each stimulus maintained. Three children between the ages of 4 and 9 and diagnosed with a developmental disability participated in this study. A paired-choice preference assessment was conducted with each participant to identify least-, moderately-, and highest-preferred stimuli. The stimuli were then arranged into a concurrent progressive ratio schedule to determine the reinforcing value of each stimulus. Results indicated that all stimuli functioned as reinforcers in the presence of one another with variability in responding observed across sessions and within sessions with respect to each stimulus. Additionally, the stimulus associated with the most responding during a given session varied for all participants. The results of this study along with results of similar research warrant hesitation before implementing preference assessments to identify an individual stimulus as having the highest reinforcing value.

Two frequently used preference assessment procedures are paired-stimulus (PS) and multiple-stimulus without replacement (MSWO) assessments. To assess an array of items, PS involves presenting 2 items per trial and pairing each item with every other item on subsequent trials. In contrast, MSWO involves presenting all items on the first trial. A selected item is not replaced and the remaining items are presented on the next trial, and so on until the last 2 items are presented. MSWO is more efficient than the PS procedure, but many people with developmental disabilities are unable to discriminate between more than 2 items. I evaluated the effectiveness of a simple test to predict the optimal number of items that a person can discriminate. Each participant received a PS assessment to establish a preference hierarchy among 8 items, an optimal-number test, and an MSWO assessment for the same 8 items. Contrary to what was expected, the most preferred item identified by the PS assessment was not selected above chance level during the MSWO assessment on trials when the number of items matched the optimal number.

Escape extinction is a common treatment for individuals with escaped-maintained problem behavior (Piazza, Fisher, Hanley, Remick, Contrucci, & Aitken, 1997). However, escape extinction alone may not reduce undesirable behavior to acceptable levels. Rather, programmed consequences in the form of positive and negative reinforcement contingent on compliance in the absence of problem behavior may be warranted. Researchers have examined the concurrent availability of both forms of reinforcement in demands contexts (DeLeon, Neidart, Anders, & Rodriquez-Catter, 2001; Kodak, Lerman, Volkert, & Trosclair, 2007). The participant in the current study is a 10-year-old male diagnosed with Cornelia de Lange Syndrome. The participant was exposed to two treatments for his escape-maintained destructive behavior: negative reinforcement in the form of a break and positive reinforcement in the form of a highly-preferred edible item contingent on compliance in the absence of destructive behavior. In a latter phase, the participant was able to choose between the treatment options while the reinforcement schedule was thinned. The results demonstrated that despite schedule thinning, the participant continued to choose the positive reinforcer a majority of the time.

Constant time delay is known as an effective response prompting procedure on teaching discrete as well as chained skills to individuals with various ages and disabilities. Moreover, research has shown that it is used with high treatment integrity. However, there are several barriers which may prevent to deliver instruction with high treatment integrity. This study was designed to compare the effectiveness and efficiency of constant time delay delivered with high treatment integrity and constant time delay with low treatment integrity in teaching object naming to children with developmental disabilities. Low treatment integrity was defined as not delivering controlling prompt 30% of all teaching trials. An adapted alternating treatment design was used to compare the effectiveness and efficiency of two levels of treatment integrity with constant time delay on the acquisition of the object naming. Three male students with autism participated in the study. Results showed that all three children learned their target behaviors on the criterion level with both conditions. Mixed findings were obtained for efficiency of instruction.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses associated with resetting differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) and non-resetting DRO procedures. Experiment 1 includedone participant diagnosed with autism. In this experiment, we implemented each variation of DRO in a multielement design to compare the effects of the treatment on the target behavior and the occurrence of other problem behaviors. Although the data showed similar decreases in the target behavior across each variation, higher rates of other problem behaviors were seen in the non-resetting DRO. In Experiment 2, we evaluated participant preference for procedural variation withone participant diagnosed with mild pervasive developmental disorder. The participant showed a preference for the resetting DRO. These findings suggest some possible advantages to using a resetting DRO over a non-resetting DRO. However, onlyone participant was included in each experiment; therefore, further research is needed.

When given a choice between positive or negative reinforcement for escape-maintained behavior, task difficulty and the schedule of reinforcement may influence an individual's choice (DeLeon et al., 2001). Positive reinforcement may be selected more often when the task is simple and the schedule of reinforcement is dense. When there is an increase in difficulty of tasks or when the schedule of reinforcement is thinned, a shift in preference of reinforcement may occur. The present study examined changes in preference for reinforcement for escape-maintained behavior. The participant was a 19-year-old female diagnosed with autism, cerebral palsy, mental retardation, and a seizure disorder. A functional analysis and a subsequent demand assessment determined that her problem behavior was maintained by escape from task demands. The treatment package consisted of training in picture card exchange to request positive reinforcement (snack) or negative reinforcement (break from the demands) in conjunction with extinction for maladaptive behaviors. Results showed that positive reinforcement was preferred more often. However, as the schedule of reinforcement was thinned, and as the level of demand difficulty increased, there was more variability in the participant's selection of reinforcement, and a shift in preference was observed.

Reinforcement procedures are effective in increasing compliance and reducing escape-maintained problem behavior. Many researchers have examined the effects of participant choice between positive and negative reinforcement during treatment (DeLeon, Neidert, Anders, & Vodriguez-Catter, 2001); however, these investigators have not compared the presentation of choice between reinforcers against the presentation of the same reinforcers without a choice. Studies manipulating the presentation of choices between reinforcers or tasks have produced inconsistent results, particularly in single-operant arrangements (Lerman et al., 1997; Parsons, Reid, Reynolds, & Bumgarner, 1990). In the present investigation, we conducted a component analysis to determine whether the individual exhibited differential responding dependent on the type of reinforcer provided for compliance. Three phases were evaluated including (a) a choice between a highly preferred edible and a break, (b) a highly preferred edible, and (c) a break. Results demonstrated that providing the individual with a choice between reinforcers yielded the lowest rates of problem behavior relative to providing the edible or break alone. These findings extend previous research and provide support that individuals may prefer a choice between reinforcers in the demand context.

Prompt dependency is a problem that may arise when working with individuals with developmental disabilities (Clark & Green, 2004; Oppenheimer, Saunders, & Spradlin, 1993). Differential reinforcement of compliance had been successful in increasing independent responding (Hausman, Kahng, & Ingvarsson, unpublished manuscript; Karsten & Carr, 2009). However, some tasks require an initial instruction (e.g., letter identification). Differentially reinforcing the level of prompting required has not been evaluated. A 12-year-old boy diagnosed with autism and mental retardation participated in the current study. During baseline, compliance after either the verbal prompt or gestural prompt resulted in praise only. During treatment, two conditions were evaluated. In the first condition, compliance after the verbal and gestural prompt was reinforced with praise and an edible. In the second condition, only compliance after the verbal prompt was reinforced. Results indicated that when reinforcement was contingent on compliance after the verbal prompt, compliance was high. Further, when reinforcement was provided after compliance after both the verbal and gestural prompts, compliance was low.

An alternating treatments design was used to compare the effectiveness of written versus picture/auditory schedules for increasing independent task initiation and completion of scheduled activities for three young adults who attended a community-based transition program. Participating students had developmental disabilities and/or autism and were identified as needing a great deal of prompting from adults to initiate and complete scheduled activities. Unprompted independent correct responses were measured for students who were using a written checklist that they had been using for the majority of the school year and this was compared to a picture/auditory schedule presented on an iPod Touch. Two of the three participants performed better when the iPod was used, while the third student initially performed better with the checklist and then better with the iPod as her comfort with using it increased. All three participants selected the iPod as the preferred prompting system; however, one student also indicated that she would prefer no prompting system. A discussion of the practical use of an iPod will be presented.

Early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) has become a relatively widely selected intervention for children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Numerous studies have shown EIBI to be more effective than other interventions (see Eikeseth, 2009). Children with Downs syndrome usually receive early intervention. However, traditionally these children are not offered EIBI. The only study published on children receiving behavioral intervention with developmental disorders other than autism (Eldevik, Jahr, Eikeseth, Hastings, & Hughes, 2010) showed that they made more progress than children receiving other types of interventions. In this poster an ongoing study on the effects of EIBI for a child with Down's syndrome will be described. Data from a multiple baseline design indicate that the child is making progress due to the intervention, showing immediate increase in the level of correct responding from the mean of 36.7%, 0% and 0% to 99.3%, 93.6% and 72.3% respectively across different tasks. Data will also be presented on some process measures, i.e. number of intervention hours per week, average number of discrete learning trials per day and average number of mastered skills per week.

When results of a functional analysis of severe problem behavior (Iwata et al., 1982) are inconclusive, a more specific analysis of problem behavior may be warranted for the subsequent identification of a function-based treatment. For example, if tasks included into the condition assessing negatively-reinforced behavior are considered preferred tasks by the individual, results may yield a false-positive outcome (Call, Pabico & Lomas, 2009). In these situations, identification of tasks that increase the establishing operation of the demand condition is needed. A demand assessment may be useful when little or no responding is observed during an initial functional analysis because relevant motivating operations are absent from the demand condition (Roscoe, Rooker, Pence, & Longworth, 2009). We are conducting a study to evaluate if response latency is predictive of response rate within a demand context. The dependent measures include latency to the first problem behavior (i.e., duration of time elapsed from the onset of session to the first instance of problem behavior) and rate of problem behavior. Results of this study could yield an efficient way to identify a task preference hierarchy that could be used for inclusion into a demand analysis for the assessment of problem behavior maintained by negative reinforcement.

Functional communication with extinction has been shown to be an effective treatment for escape-maintained problem behavior in individuals with developmental disabilities (e.g., Fisher, Piazza, Cataldo, Harrell, Jefferson, & Conner, 1993). Functional communication training provides such individuals with an appropriate communication method to avoid tasks (e.g., Lalli, Kasey, & Kates, 1995); however, some tasks, such as those involving self-care, are often essential and cannot be completely avoided. In the current investigation, the use of the functional communication response "later" was evaluated as a treatment component for one individual who demonstrated escape-maintained self-injurious behavior in the context of activities of daily living. When the "later" card was available, the participant was given the opportunity to defer demands and tasks to a later time. The participant was then required to complete the tasks after a brief (e.g., 5 min) delay using 3-step guided compliance. Results showed that the opportunity to postpone completion of activities of daily living reduced problem behavior for 51.2% of trials. The functional communication response was generalized to various other tasks. When functional communication for postponement was combined with additional treatment components, problem behaviors were eliminated, and compliance was observed in 98% of trials.

This study investigates the effects of a rotated protocol immersion package on the emergence of early observing responses as a prerequisite for higher order verbal behavior with students diagnosed with developmental disabilities. Nine students between the ages of 1- and 3-years-old participated in the study. The intervention consisted of total immersion in a rotation of 5 pre-listener protocols (Keohane, Delgado & Greer, 2009; Greer & Ross, 2008) designed to induce foundational verbal developmental capabilities. The protocols consisted of Sensory Matching Across the Senses, Conditioning Sustained Eye Contact of 2D and 3D Stimuli, Conditioning Adult Voices, and Conditioning Adult Faces. The students were chosen as participants because they did not reliably orient towards voices in their environment and did not respond to their names when called by the teacher. The dependent variables in the study consisted of the learn units to criteria across instructional objectives pre- and post-intervention, as well as observing responses. Other variables being investigated include sustained eye contact of two-dimensional and three-dimensional stimuli, adult voices as a conditioned reinforcer, appropriate toy play in the free-play setting and sensory matching across the five senses. A multiple probe design is used in the study, which is currently ongoing.

Increasing creativity in older adults may have beneficial effects on measures of daily functioning and overall quality of life. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of social reinforcement (i.e., verbal praise) contingent on two types of responses in an object uses task on two subsequent measures of generalized creativity. Participants were aged 60 years and older, living in the community or in an assisted and independent living facility. In a counterbalanced within subjects design, participants were asked to provide usual object uses in one session and unusual object uses in another session. There were at least two days between the two experimental sessions. During generalization tasks, participants made pictures from circles and generated story titles based on subject prompts. Reinforcing unusual uses increased subsequent production of original pictures and increased the number of story titles and original story titles compared to reinforcing usual uses. These findings suggest that providing social reinforcement for creative or unconventional responses in a task (e.g., giving unusual object uses) may increase creative responding in subsequent, unrelated tasks by older adults.

In Part 1, three adults with mild intellectual disability and with minimal skills were taught to tell the time to the nearest 5 min interval with an analogue clock. The target skill was trained in 12 phases, with different skills trained in each phase (such as the hour, half-past the hour etc). Each phase involved acquisition training, discrimination training and a review. A multiple-probe design was used over phases. The training brought about improvements in the time-telling skills of all participants. It took between 48 and 65 days, with at least 30 min of training each day. Part 2 aimed to compare the effects of fast practice, slow practice and no practice on the retention and generalization of the time-telling skill. An alternating-treatments design was used. The results indicated that, while periods without practicing led to the deterioration in the accuracy of the skill both types of practice helped to maintained it. There was no difference in the retention or generalization of the skill following rate-building to a fluency performance standard or the same amount of rate-controlled practice.

Naming is a language function that is crucial for learning and is often absent in children with developmental disabilities such as autism. Four children from 5-6 years of age were selected to engage in multiple exemplar instruction (MEI) in order to induce this capability. All of these children attended a centre-based intensive behavioural intervention (IBI) program and were selected based on the following criteria: demonstration of vocal verbal language capabilities consisting of, at minimum, one word mands and tacts, possession of the capacity to comply with instructions, possession of the capacity to be reinforced by the observation of two-dimensional visual stimuli, demonstration of the capacity for sameness, and demonstration of the lack of the full Naming capability. Initial assessment consisted of teaching matching two-dimensional novel stimuli. Following teaching, participants were selected based on the inability to demonstrate the Naming capability when given pointing, tacting, and impure tact/intraverbal tasks using the same set of materials. A delayed multiple baseline probe across participants was used and materials were counter-balanced across participants.

There's no agreement in psychology, psychiatry and sociology about the conceptualization of antisocial behavior or the best treatments to diminish the presentation of it. In his book Antisocial Boys (1992) Patterson describes a model of development of the antisocial behavior different from what has been discussed before. He defines the antisocial behavior as a coercitive event, contingent to other family member' or peer's behaviors, that can modify or alter the probability to modify these behaviors. Thus, Patterson's theory of development stages of antisocial behavior has a similar notion to another paradigm in behavior analysis-the concept of behavioral cusps. Rosales-Ruiz and Baer (1997) define it as a behavior that can expose the individual's repertoire to new environments, specially new reinforcement and punishment contingences and new stimulus control. Antisocial behavior is under control of basic learning processes and, as a behavioral cusp, might have a learning cumulative effect as discussed by Patterson (1992). Antisocial behavior might, in terms of probability, lead to other antisocial repertoires even more severe and bring damaging consequences for the individual as to the direct and indirect social context. Therefore, it's important to consider initial environments in which the antisocial behavior may develop, as the familiar environment.

A stimulus comes to be a reinforcer for an arbitrary operant response through imprinting. The present study investigated the effects of basic reinforcement schedules on chicks key-peck response rates and preferences for an imprinted stimulus. Newly hatched chicks were exposed to the moving red cylinder. After that, their preferences for the stimulus were tested in the situation where both the stimulus and a novel stimulus were simultaneously exposed to each chick. Only chicks which preferred the familiar stimulus were used as the subjects for the remaining sessions. The chicks key-peck responses were shaped by using the imprinted stimulus as a reinforcer. After the establishment of the response, they were divided into the following four groups, FR 5, FI 5 sec, VI 5 sec, and VR 5 groups. They were trained to peck the key in each schedule of reinforcement over five sessions. After the training, we carried out the second preference test. Figure 1 showed that the key-peck response rates were lower in the following order, VR, FR, VI, and FI groups. Figure 2 showed the results of two preference tests. Although two interval-schedule groups did not show any preference shift, two ratio-schedule groups showed the preference shift.

Although a number of studies have examined delay-of-reinforcement effects on variable-interval (VI) schedules (e.g., Sizemore & Lattal, 1978; Richards, 1981; Reilly & Lattal, 2004; Shahan & Lattal, 2005; Williams, 1976) less is known about the effects of delays on other schedules. The few studies that have examined delay-of-reinforcement effects on fixed-ratio (FR) schedules (Morgan, 1972; Topping, Johnson, & McGlynn, 1973; Meunier & Ryman, 1974) have failed to demonstrate the negative relation between response rate and delay duration typically seen on VI schedules, raising the possibility that delays interact differently with interval and ratio schedules. The present experiment examined this possibility by exposing behavior maintained on FR and interval schedules which were yoked to provide the same rate and temporal distribution of reinforcement to a series of delays that increased across sessions. This process was systematically replicated across a wide range of FR requirements. Orderly delay-of-reinforcement gradients were obtained for both the FR and interval schedules, yet no interaction between schedule type (i.e., FR or interval) was observed.

Key pecking was maintained on a variable-interval schedule of food reinforcement for two White Carneau pigeons during baseline. During experimental conditions, a tandem variable-time, differential-reinforcement-of-other-behavior schedule similar to that used by Lattal and Boyer (1980) was superimposed over the underlying variable-interval schedule with no change in stimulus conditions. According to this schedule, alternative reinforcement was occasionally delivered contingent upon a pause in responding of at least 5 s. Three different frequencies of alternative reinforcement were available in separate experimental conditions with alternating baseline conditions. These frequencies were arranged such that the ratios of programmed pause-dependent and response-dependent reinforcement rates across components were 3:1, 1:1, and 1:3 for both subjects. Preliminary results suggest that the subjects allocate a percentage of time to pausing that roughly matches the percent of reinforcement obtained according to the schedule of pause-dependent reinforcement. Data collection is still in progress. Further analyses will be conducted to generate a generalized matching equation for both subjects following exposure to all experimental condition. Reference Lattal, K. A., & Boyer, S. S. (1980). Alternative reinforcement effects on fixed-interval performance. The Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 34, 285-296.

The aim of the present experiment was the comparison of human schedule performance with or without awareness under mixed reinforcement schedule. We built a triaxial acceleration sensor in a game pad to include tilting, swinging and yawing of the pad in the definition of operant. Adopting these definitions of operant could make it difficult for participants to be aware of the experimental contingency and could prevent the interaction of verbal behavior with schedule performances. We examined the university students' schedule performances under mixed FI FR DRL FR schedule using this device and compared them with conventional schedule performances.

Although respondent and operant response classes are typically viewed as distinct, some research has also focused on the interplay between operant and respondent behavior (Hineline, 1986; Pear & Eldridge, 1984; Marcucella, 1981). The current experiment is a replication of Marcucellas (1981) study using a multiple schedule which suggested distinct discriminations. In the multiple schedule, short components where responding does not produce a consequence precede longer components during which a random interval-1 minute (RI 1) schedule of reinforcement was operative. The current experiment introduced modifications to Marcucellas (1981) procedures that addressed potential limitations of the original work. First, yoked pigeons included to provide support for the claim that pecks during the short components were respondent in nature. Second, the short components were lengthened from 1.5 seconds to 6 seconds to make timing favorable for respondent discrimination. Finally, a blackout period was introduced after a reinforcer was delivered during a RI- 1 minute schedule of reinforcement to strengthen the contingency between CS and US pairings. Data from the experiment support differential rates of responding during components where pecking produced a consequence and when it did not. Procedural and conceptual bases of respondent and operant conditioning including stimulus control and timing are addressed.

Previous research has shown that brief stimuli at the beginning of response-reinforcer delays can enhance operant response acquisition in rats and steady-state responding in pigeons. Multiple experiments in our lab have failed to replicate this enhancement of response acquisition in rats. In one of these experiments, the rats even experienced pre-pairing of the stimulus and food prior to response acquisition sessions. However, no attempt was made in that experiment to ensure that the stimulus-food pairings actually affected behavior; it was unclear whether the failure to replicate was due to the stimulus being ineffective during operant acquisition or if the pre-pairing was ineffective. Therefore, a modification to the procedure was made whereby hopper-checking could serve as an indicator of the ability of the food-paired stimulus to affect behavior prior to acquisition sessions. During response acquisition, this same stimulus was presented 0, 3, or 12.5 s into 30-s response reinforcer delays. No-stimulus and backward pairing controls were also investigated. Robust enhancement of response acquisition by food-paired stimuli was observed.

The purpose of this experiment was to study the acquisition of lever-pressing (R) by rats in the absence of preliminary training with intermittent-delayed conditioned reinforcement. Rats were exposed to two concurrent schedules. One of these was held constant across the experiment and consisted of a random time 60 s schedule that controlled the pairing of a 1 s illumination of the cue-light above the lever with the delivery of a food pellet. The other schedule consisted of a tandem random interval (RI) 7.5, 15 or 30 s fixed time (FT) 0, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 or 32 s that controlled the degree of intermittency and of delay of the conditioned reinforcer (Sr) after a given lever-press. Three rats each were exposed to a different combination of RI and FT values. Response rates decreased with longer R- Sr delays under the three different frequencies of Sr. At most R-Sr delays, absolute response rates were similar with the Sr frequencies set by the RI 7.5 and 15 s schedules but lower with the frequency set by the RI 30 s schedule. These findings suggest that any previously neutral stimulus that has been correlated with primary reinforcement can reinforce new responses and thus contribute to a large degree to build complex response repertoires in different individuals.

Six rats were exposed to a tandem fixed-ratio 1 differential-reinforcement-of-other-behavior 30-s schedule with reinforcer magnitude at one or six pellet(s) across groups of three rats. The rats exposed to the larger reinforcer magnitude acquired the lever-press response more rapidly than the rats exposed to the smaller reinforcer magnitude. The present results extend the literature involving response acquisition with unsignaled delayed reinforcement by systematically replicating several earlier findings, including the effects of body weight on responding maintained by unsignaled delayed reinforcement and trace conditioning with differentconditioned stimulus-unconditioned stimulusintervals.

When a brief (0.5 s) unsignaled delay to reinforcement is imposed on responding maintained by a variable-interval (VI) schedule, response rates and the number of short (< 0.5 s) interresponse times increase. At issue in the present experiment is whether a similar effect would be obtained using a schedule of reinforcement that involves a different contingency, specifically a variable-ratio (VR) schedule. Four pigeons were exposed to a multiple schedule with two components that differed based on the schedule of reinforcement in effect. In one component, the pigeons responded on a VR 50 schedule. In the other component, they responded on a VI schedule in which the distribution of reinforcers in the preceding VR component determined the intervals between reinforcers. In other words, a multiple VR 50 yoked VI schedule was arranged. Once responding stabilized, a brief unsignaled delay to reinforcement was added to both components. In the initial conditions, responding increased in the VI component for three of the four pigeons, while responding in the VR component varied across pigeons. Further replications, currently underway, are being conducted to determine the variables controlling these differences in responding.

Resurgence is characterized by the re-emergence of previously reinforced responses when alternative responses are subsequently reinforced and exposed to extinction (e.g., Bruzek, Thompson, & Peters, 2009). The current study was designed as a systematic replication of procedures described by Bruzek et al. in the context of a simulated mealtime. In Phase 1, a target response was negatively reinforced by the termination of a putative aversive auditory stimulus. Once the participant engaged in the response for a specified period of time Phase 2 began. During Phase 2, the target response was exposed to extinction. When the participant ceased to engage in the target response for a specified period of time the final phase was initiated. In Phase 3, an alternative response was reinforced while other responses were not reinforced and subsequently exposed to extinction within the same session. Resurgence occurred if the target response that was reinforced in Phase 1 increased relative to a control response when extinction was in effect for the alternative response. The results indicated that resurgence occurred for three of nine participants, and extinction-induced variability was also noted for the majority of participants. Procedural variations are described to explain deviations from results reported by Bruzek et al.

Under a variety of circumstances, rich (i.e., high reinforcer magnitude) to lean (i.e., low reinforcer magnitude) transitions are viewed as aversive relative to other transitions (rich-rich; lean-rich; lean-lean). That is, longer post-reinforcement pauses under fixed-ratio (FR) schedules, aggression, or escape are observed. In past studies, the rich-lean transition is signaled by a compound stimulus of the size of the past reinforcer and the discriminative stimulus that signals the upcoming large or small reinforcer. Using certain procedures, it is difficult to directly determine if the rich-lean transition is aversive without using both stimuli. In the present study, each transition (i.e., lean-lean, lean-rich, rich-rich, and rich-lean) is associated with a unique discriminative stimulus. Therefore, the aversive effects of each transition can be evaluated individually by using the stimulus as a punisher. Four pigeons currently are responding on a FR schedule in the presence of 4 discriminative stimuli and the reinforcer magnitude is equal. Post-reinforcement pauses are comparable across the 4 stimuli. Next the reinforcer magnitude will be adjusted to create the 4 transitions. Following stable performance, the rich-lean stimulus will be presented contingent on responding to determine the effectiveness of it as a punisher.

Token reinforcers are assumed to be relatively free from the effects of motivating operations. Although this property of token reinforcement has conceptual support, further research is needed to empirically demonstrate the veracity and limits of this assumption. This current study manipulates economy type as a motivating operation. One individual participated in this study. Open and closed economies were evaluated in an ABA reversal design. In the open economy condition the participant received pre-session access to the back-up reinforcers. In the closed economy condition the access to the back-up reinforcers was restricted. Progressive token production schedules of reinforcement were used to identify the break point for each condition. The exchange production and token exchange schedules were the same across all conditions. The results show that response rates were lower in the open economy condition, when compared to a close economy condition. The implications of open and closed economies on token based reinforcement programs will be discussed.

The sunk cost error occurs when people or animals persist in a course of action in which they have already invested time, effort, or resources in spite of having received feedback indicating that an available alternative response will likely produce a higher pay-off. Navarro and Fantino (2005) developed an experimental analogue of the decision making context in which this error can arise that was used in the current study with four pigeons as subjects. The procedure presented subjects with a choice between two response alternatives: the schedule key on which one of four ratio schedules was programmed on a given trial, and the escape key that canceled the current trial, and re-determined the ratio available on the schedule key for the next trial. In order to minimize response requirement on this task it is necessary to identify both whether it is optimal to make an escape response, and, if it is, when to do so. The current study varied the discriminability of the optimal escape point by adding stimulus changes in some conditions but not others. When signals were present, subjects made more-optimally-timed escape key responses, and also made fewer sunk cost errors.

Economic games are useful tools for the study of decision-making and aim to analyze how participants allocate their resources. There are situations whose outcomes are both unknown and uncertain and are affected by contextual variables. A behavioral game-like experimental model can be used to assess these variables. The model employed in this study used multiple trials and a forced choice paradigm between two alternatives in which the participant decided between risking or not his/her hypothetical money. An alternative offered the possibility to maintain the amount received, and another provided the opportunity to invest money, opting for a situation in which could have a profit or loss, both allocated at the same time in the same alternative. The questions were presented to 38 adults of both genders in a paper and pencil format, and the experimental setup in a room at the local university. The results revealed two profiles of investors. The Conservatives invested when the chances of winning are high in relation to losses; and the aggressive ones, who invested even when the chances of winning were equal to losses. Thus, variables such as probability of gain and loss proved to be decisive in the process of selecting participants.

Drug purchasing tasks have been successfully used with heroin, nicotine, and alcohol to assess simulated drug consumption, allowing for behavioral economic assessment of demand elasticity (sensitivity to price). However, a purchasing task for cocaine has not been investigated. The primary aim of this study was to determine the feasibility of using a cocaine purchasing task (CPT) in 35 cocaine-dependent individuals. Demand elasticity for a drug and impulsivity are considered processes fundamental to addiction. A second aim was to examine whether demand elasticity for cocaine is related to impulsivity measures, including delay discounting and the Barratt Impulsivity Scale (BIS)-11. Demand curves were generated from responses on the CPT. The validity of the CPT was supported by its correlation with self-reported cocaine use. While low demand elasticity was associated with higher scores on the BIS-11 motor subscale, greater delay discounting was more closely associated with higher scores on the BIS-11 non-planning and cognitive subscales. Elasticity was not significantly correlated with delay discounting. Although delay discounting (insensitivity to delayed contingencies) has traditionally been regarded as an aspect of impulsivity, the present data suggest that lower demand elasticity (insensitivity to price contingencies) may be an under-recognized aspect of impulsivity distinct from delay discounting.

Resurgence is defined as reoccurrence of previously reinforced behavior when recently reinforced behavior is extinguished. Most previous studies have not investigated the phenomenon quantitatively. If there is an index showing the magnitude of resurgence quantitatively, we can examine the functional relation between independent variables of resurgence and the magnitude as a dependent variable in more detail. Thus, we calculated the probability of resurgence (POR) based on response rates of the target behavior in both the elimination and the resurgence conditions for pigeons. We used the formula 1 for calculating POR. m1 is mean key-peck response rates over the last three sessions of the elimination condition for a pigeon. m2 is mean key-peck response rates for each session of the resurgence condition for that pigeon. Positive value means that subjects showed resurgence. The value of zero and negative values mean that subjects did not show resurgence. The results showed clear variation in magnitude of resurgence among pigeons. Thus, POR is an appropriate index of the magnitude of resurgence.

Previous research has demonstrated that number heads together (NHT), a peer mediated intervention, is more effective than the traditional teacher led instruction in academic areas such as language arts, social studies, and science. The current study compared the effects of two number heads together strategies during a middle school math lesson. Five middle school students with emotional behavioral disorders participated in the study. An alternating treatment design was used to determine the effectiveness of NHT upon the participating students' on-task behavior, total percentage of quiz scores, correct answer percentage on administrated quizzes and accurate completion percentage of multiplication algorithms. The current study extended the previous studies through the incorporation of a preference stimulus assessment to determine the effectives of number heads together +incentives and included the participating students Woodcock Johnson III math computation scores to determine and develop the pre-test and post-test. Social validity assessments for the participating teacher and students are included within the results. A discussion on study limitations, implications, and future research directions is included.

Writing practice quiz questions may improve quiz performance but which students benefit from this procedure? We examine student performance across "no questions" (baseline) and "questions" conditions and evaluate the performance of low baseline performers (1st quartile) versus moderate baseline performers (2nd & 3rd quartile) versus high baseline performers (4th quartile) to ascertain which students benefit most from this procedure. Sixty-five students enrolled in two social science courses, taught by the same instructor and of similar content, participated. Following baseline, students developed five multiple-choice questions, each week, relevant to material covered during that week of class (i.e., "questions" condition). A multiple baseline across courses was used to evaluate the effects of intervention on quiz performance.First quartile of one class performed significantly better in the questions condition but this was not replicated in the second class. Nevertheless, the data suggest that having students generate quiz questions is a useful didactic tool more likely to benefit those students who begin with poorer performance. Statistical analyses (ANOVA) confirmed a significant interaction between condition and baseline performance; namely, those students whose baseline scores fell in the lowest quartile improved significantly from baseline to intervention F (3) = 2.97, p = .018.

A multiple-baseline design across four students, with an embedded reversal design with two participants, was used to examine the effects of behavioral tutoring on chapter and final (pre-post) exam scores and treatment acceptability ratings. Behavioral tutoring was provided to self-selected participants once per week for 60 minutes. Significant improvement in chapter and final exam scores were obtained with exam scores equal to the mean of the class section. Behavioral tutoring was rated very acceptable by participants. Behavioral tutoring provides a structured method to enhance critical study skills, conceptual learning and improve in class performance. Large scale implementation and evaluation of behavioral tutoring with university students is needed before wide spread dissemination on college campuses.

Four preschool students were taught to say "thank you" when presented with an item from a teacher. All teaching conditions occurred in the morning, and tests for generalization occurred in the afternoon with a different teacher. Two of the four participants demonstrated acquisition and generalization of the thank you response in the consistently brief inter-trial interval teaching condition (approximately 3 s transpired between trial ending and a new trial beginning). One participant demonstrated acquisition of the response with consistently brief inter-trial interval teaching but required a progressive inter-trial interval (i.e. trials separated in time progressively longer intervals such as 3 s, 10 s, 30 s, 2 min, 4 min, then 16 min) to achieve generalized responding. Data analysis suggested that this participant's correct performance was likely influenced by the model prompt of the corrective feedback rather than the evocative event of a teacher presenting an item to the student. Results of this study suggest that when consistently brief inter-trial interval teaching does not result in generalization of skills, progressive inter-trial intervals may facilitate generalization of newly taught responses.

This study compared procedural integrity measures in two formats of match-to-sample (MTS) instruction using a multiple baseline design in which the training order was counterbalanced across 6 participants. In one format, instructional stimuli included picture cards presented on a board (tabletop format). In the other format, a laptop computer was used and stimuli were presented using PowerPoint (PowerPoint format). Training sessions were conducted as roleplays supplemented by itemized feedback on skills from a procedural integrity (PI) checklist, and continued until 100% PI was demonstrated. Itemized feedback was followed by performance improvements in 69% of opportunities. The tabletop procedure took fewer sessions to train (mean=5) than the PowerPoint procedure (mean=7), but skills learned from the PowerPoint procedure generalized more to the tabletop procedure than in the other direction (2 of the 3 participants who first completed training in the PowerPoint procedure required no additional training to run the tabletop procedure with 100% PI). During follow-up sessions, participants performed marginally better using the PowerPoint procedure (mean=90% PI) than the tabletop procedure (mean=86% PI).

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effects of the Direct Instruction Flashcard (DIF) system and Reading Racetrack procedure on mastery of core words by an 8-year-old boy with autism. A single subject multiple baseline design across three sets of core words was used to evaluate the combined use of Direct Instruction Flashcard system and Reading Racetrack procedure. A clear functional relationship was shown between core word accuracy and Direct Instruction combined with Reading Racetrack. The procedures were cost effective in terms of time, money, and effort.

An elementary student with emotional and behavioral disorders was taught to use an iPod Touch to view video models of social skills associated with independent work completion and appropriate participation in cooperative learning groups. An intervention consisting of video modeling and self-monitoring was then implemented during math group. The student showed significant improvement when video modeling was implemented but still showed some variability in his performance from across sessions. When a self-monitoring component was added using the iPod Touch, the student showed further improvements in this time on task as well as further reductions in disruptive behavior.

We used a delayed multiple probe design in this study to investigate the effects of conditioned reinforcement for observing faces with voices on the rate of learning and observing responses. Participant A, B and C were 6-year-old males diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders. The dependent variables in this study were the number of learn units to criteria and observing responses during the pre-intervention and post-intervention probe sessions. A preference assessment was also conducted during pre and post intervention probes to determine if faces with voices and/or faces voices without faces was a conditioned reinforcer. The independent variable was the observing faces with voices procedure. The results show that Participant A met criterion on his first and second interventions, Participant B met criterion on the first intervention, Participant C is currently in intervention. The post-intervention probe sessions for Participants A and B showed an increase in observing responses and an increased rate of learning. However, when the preference assessment was conducted the results showed that faces with voices were not a conditioned reinforcer. Therefore, both participants returned to intervention to condition faces with voices as reinforcers, further decrease learn units to criterion and increase observing responses.

A counterbalanced reversal design across participants was employed to compare standard learn unit conditions and modern learn unit conditions for students who have the naming capability. Three students diagnosed with autism and one typically developing first grade student participated in this study. The rate of learning, the number of sessions required to meet an objective during textual responding, was measured across three conditions: (a) standard learn unit instruction, (b) model demonstration learn units for previously incorrect textual responses, and (c) a model demonstration learn unit consisting of the participant listening to the experimenter textually respond to the whole story one time. All students had the naming capability in their verbal repertoire. Rate of learning across the three conditions was measured and compared to determine what type of instruction was the most beneficial to the students' learning. The study took place in a first gradeCaomprehensive Application of Behavior Analysis of School (CABA)AIL classroom in New Jersey. The student-to-teacher-to teacher assistant ratio in the classroom was 14:1:2. It was found that both Participants A and C's rate of learning was faster during model learn unit instruction than in standard learn unit instruction.

We report the outcome of training teachers to deliver presentations that met the criteria for learn units on rates of learning of students with autism spectrum disorder. The dependent variable in the study was student's rate of learning as measured by numbers of learn units-to-criteria for instructional objectives. The independent variable was training teachers to deliver accurate learn units via a written feedback procedure. The design utilized was a multiple baseline across participants. The participants in this study were 3-adult females enrolled in Masters Programs for education, which either recently obtained or were pursuing teacher certification. The participants taught 5 children aged 5 through 8 years old, diagnosed with autism who demonstrated significant language delays in a publicly funded special education classroom. The results of training teachers in the presentation of instruction as learn units demonstrated educationally significant outcomes for students rate of learning and the training procedures used in the study functioned to teach the teaching repertoire to the participants.

The experimenters of this study tested the effects of the speaker immersion training procedure on the numbers of independent tacts and autoclitic mands emitted by four second grade students with language delays using a time-delayed multiple probe design. The participants received daily 10-minute speaker immersion sessions in which the experimenters created multiple establishing operations to increase verbal operants. Results demonstrated increased autoclitic mands emitted across all participants following the speaker immersion intervention.

The purpose of this study was to test the effects of reading on students acquiring new tacts. During Experiment 1, the participants were three elementary school students who were placed in a self-contained CABAS® classroom within a district-based program. Participant 1 was a 10-year-old boy who functioned at a reader / writer and emerging self-editor level of verbal behavior and was selected because his reading abilities ranged from grade level and above and comprehension skills were on grade level. Participant 2 was a 12-year-old boy who functioned at a reader / writer and emerging self-editor level of verbal behavior and was selected because his reading abilities ranged from grade level and above and comprehension skills were on grade level. Participant 3 in this study was a 9-year-old male who functioned as a speaker / listener, emergent reader / writer level of verbal behavior. He was chosen for this study because he was reading fluently and wanted to test his comprehension skills. This study implemented a time-lagged multiple probe experimental design. The dependent variable was the acquisition of new tacts, while the independent variable was the reading condition. Results thus far demonstrate a functional relationship between reading comprehension and the acquisition of new tacts for Participants 1 and 2, while Participant 3 is still in treatment sessions. Experiment 2 tested the effects of tact acquisition on the same participants by having them listen to the story read orally by a teacher. The dependent variable in this experiment was the acquisition of new tacts (Set 2) while the independent variable was the second reading condition. Results show that both participants acquired the set of tacts within two sessions. Results of both studies are compared in the discussion of Experiment 2.

When it comes to English, Japanese graduate students learning behavior analysis are only good at reading because they are "trained" to read many related articles written in English. For the advancement of their research, one of the critical activities is to share their idea with many people, and English is one of the most prevalent languages for research activities. When we set an eventual goal as an international collaborative research, they are required to haveskills otherthanreading: speaking, listening, and writing. Therefore the purpose of the current study is to improve Japanese graduate students' English skills. We analyzed the use of English in terms of skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) in a collaborative research environment, and assessed them for intervention on their deficits. Two female graduate students majoring in behavior analysis participated in this study. A multiple baseline design across skills was adopted to illustrate the effects of training on four language skills. During the intervention, participants were also instructed to self-monitor their tasks at homes.

The poster will describe a project that is jointly financed by the US Department of Education and the European Commission. The project will implement an international program of study aimed to add value to the study of psychology, and specifically to allow participating students to earn an International Certificate in Applied Behavioral Studies (ICABS). Two US universities and two European universities participate in the project. During the project period, 24 American students will study in Europe for one academic semester. During the same period, 24 European students will study in one US partner university. Faculty members will carry out teaching and research assignments at partner institutions. A joint curriculum has been created to allow students to take behaviorally-oriented courses that will be the basis for obtaining the ICABS.

The present study examined the effects of the function-based classwide interventions for the students' on-task behavior during lessons in a general education classroom. Two boys, Jun and Ken, who engaged in high rate of off-task behavior and a classroom teacher participated. Descriptive functional assessment for two boys suggested that their off-task behavior occurred because of the lack of discriminative stimulus for on-task behavior. It also suggested that they were often off-task during waiting time for the next instruction. As function-based classwide interventions, two antecedent intervention components were introduced. First, the list of tasks the students in the class had to do were visually presented at the blackboard in the front of the classroom. Second, some tasks which the students could finish independently were added to the list to reduce their waiting time. The results showed that the function-based classwide interventions were effective for enhancing on-task behavior for Jun. In addition, according to the anecdotal data,his classmatesalso positively affected the interventions. On the other hand, for only Ken, the additional individualized interventions were needed to prompt and reinforce his on-task behavior. The results were discussed in terms of the functional relationship between the assessment and the intervention plan.

Analysis and reading comprehension of scientific texts is relevant for successful performance in university classrooms. Some recent research has raised the paraphrase as a promoting factor of reading comprehension. The paraphrase implies where the original idea is integrated expanding or restructuring the background, leaning on a vocabulary (lexicon) and grammatical organizers learned from past experiences, including references. The paraphrase can be considered as an initial component for the understanding of texts that can lead later in the analysis and drafting of new texts on the basis of information provided from others. Therefore this study aims to evaluate the issue text paraphrases, identifying and classifying such issue in accordance with the categories proposed in the literature. A random selection of a group of psychology students of the first courses was conducted. The materials were three texts of experimental analysis and the participants worked with them during one week for each text. The students responded to a questionnaire. The results show that students more often emit low levels of paraphrase when they identify textually the information in the paper. The students with high levels of paraphrase on the model categories where they must make inferences.

Recent studies have shown that children's play has a large influence on development. Social interaction with the peer through play builds the social skills. The purpose of this study was to observe the relation between the type of play and social interaction during recess of grade-school children. Ten children were chosen by their teacher, five of them (three boys and two girls) often played and the rest of them (two boys and three girls) did not. Based on Rubin's definition (Rubin, 2001) , the target behaviors were the type of play (group, parallel, and solitary play), and social interactions (positive, negative, and non interaction). We observed these behaviors in recess on the school ground and in the classroom during 2 weeks. The method of observation was an interval recording. The 20-min recess time was divided into 1-min intervals for recording and analysis. The occurrence rates of the target behaviors were calculated and the type of play and social interaction were analyzed. Group play and positive interaction were found to have a positive relationship as well as solitary play and non interaction. These results suggest promoting children's play is a natural way for increasing positive peer interaction.

Childrens on-task behavior decreases when engaging in tasks consisted of problems which they can not answer accurately (Gickling & Armstrong, 1978). Furthermore, even when children s performance reaches an adequate accuracy level, if the task requires effort and time to solve, the children would not choose engaging in such a task (Skinner, 1998). Therefore, we assessed the functional relationship between response effort, defined by time for solving a single problem, and on-task behavior during engagement in math computation tasks of a 7-year-old boy with difficulty in academic performance in Japan. In baseline phase, the child exhibited a decrement of on-task behavior when engaging in the effortful task. Additionally, in intervention phase, contingent praise for solving each problem improved on-task behavior, however, it could not sustain on-task behavior much longer in such a situation. The present findings suggest that, if we are to maintain on-task behavior and prevent off-task behavior during academic training, it is important to estimate the response effort, in addition to estimate the accuracy. Based on this finding, we developed a training program for this child and he has improved his math computation skills without off-task behaviors.

Constant time delay is a response prompting procedure. It can be defined as delivering prompt after task direction to ensure correct response from a learner. The studies showed that it is an effective method in teaching discrete as well as chained skills. It has been used since the early 1970s to teach various skills to individuals with various disabilities. A review of 34 research studies on the use of constant time delay in teaching various tasks is analyzed in terms of demographic variables such as participants (ages and disabilities), settings, materials, procedural variables such as probe format, delay sessions, delay interval, response interval, teaching format, outcome measures such as effectiveness, efficiency, maintenance, generalization, and social validity, and methodological adequacy such as dependent and independent variable reliability. The studies published between 1995 to 2009 are reviewed. Based upon the findings, future research needs and implications of the constant time delay interval will be discussed in the poster sessions.

Most to least prompting is a response prompting procedure and the prompt is faded systematically in an hierarchical order. The studies showed that it is an effective method in teaching discrete as well as chained skills. It has been used since the early 1970s to teach various skills to individuals with various disabilities. A review of 13 research studies on the use of most to least prompting in teaching various tasks is analyzed in terms of demographic variables such as participants (ages and disabilities), settings, materials, procedural variables such as probe format, delay sessions, delay interval, response interval, teaching format, outcome measures such as effectiveness, efficiency, maintenance, generalization, and social validity, and methodological adequacy such as dependent and independent variable reliability. The studies published between 1995 to 2009 are reviewed. Based upon the findings, future research needs and implications of the most to least prompting will be discussed in the poster sessions.

This study compared effects of positive and negative reinforcement contingencies on safety rule following behaviors. Sixty participants were randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions: positive and negative reinforcement contingencies. A computerized work task that simulated welding was developed for this study. Participants had to follow seven safety and quality related rules while performing each welding task. Participants were asked to complete 100 welding tasks and paid for their work. Participants under the positive reinforcement contingency earned a base pay of 5,000 won (equal to USD 4.50 approximately) at the beginning of the experiment and could earn additional 50 won for completing each task if they followed all of the seven rules. Participants under the negative reinforcement contingency earned 10,000 won at the beginning of the experiment and could lose 50 won for completing each task if they did not follow any rule. The two base pay amounts were displayed on the computer screen and subsequent increases and decreases in the pay amount in both conditions were displayed immediately after participants completed each task. The results showed that there was no significant difference in generating the rule following behaviors between the two groups.

Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centersinterviews are highly competitive processes for both the interviewee as well the organization interviewing applicants. There are very few truly behavioral placement sites for pre-doctoral internships. The May Institute is an organization that is behavioral in practice. Several interviewees who matched to the May wanted to take a data-based process and use it to evaluate and change the interview process for pre-doctoral interns at the May. A survey was designed to capture the different aspects of the interview process. This survey was produced on Survey Monkey and all interns who had undergone the same interview process and matched with the May where contacted via e-mail and asked to complete the survey. Based on the survey results, many changes were made to the interview process. These changes included the room set up, presentations made, and many other aspects. Following the changes in the interviews, all the new interviewees who completed the interview process were then asked to complete the survey. Upon completion of the surveys, the pre and post change results were compared. It was found that satisfaction ratings increased after the changes were implemented for the interview day and the satisfaction ratings remained stable for aspects not modified.

Ingham and Greer (1992) demonstrated that accurate teacher presentation rates increased as a function of frequency and feedback provided by supervisors using the TPRA (Teacher Performance Rate Accuracy). A collateral effect of improved student learning was found as a result. An analysis of the number of observations conducted by supervisors in a school that used applied behavior analysis as a foundation for teaching showed that over the last 3 years the numbers of observations significantly decreased. The present study sought to test the effects of several researched based tactics and measure the effectiveness of the tactics in increasing the number of observations conducted by supervisors. The tactics tested included goal setting, feedback, and negative reinforcement. A multiple baseline across staff showed that while goal setting and feedback increased the number of observations conducted, the data showed that the use of negative reinforcement had the most effective and stable increase in the data. A reversal will be initiated to test the long term maintenance of the supervisor's behavior.

Reviews indicated feedback provided to workers is the most effective intervention to change performance in organizational settings. However, supervisors hardly receive feedback on their own behaviors. This study implemented a self-management techniques to improve supervisory behaviors at a construction site in South Korea. Self-management in the current study consisted of goal setting, self-monitoring and providing reinforcers for two supervisory behaviors; (a) conducting safety observations and (b) interacting with workers for safety improvement. Two supervisors severed as participants. An AB within-group design was adopted. After baseline (A), self-management technique was implemented (B). Results suggested that self-management was effective in increasing the two supervisory behaviors. Moreover, the increased supervisory behaviors were associated with improvement in workers' safety performance.

The present study compared the effects of two types of safety management on employees' safety performance at a construction site: supervisor-based and employee-based safety management. Participants were 40 construction workers. Three supervisors conducted observations and collected data. In the supervisor-based safety management, supervisors' safety related behaviors were targeted. The supervisors (a) set a goal for the numbers of safety observation and interaction with the workers per day, (b) monitored their goal achievement daily, (c) earned small monetary reward once a month when the goal was met. In the employee-based safety management, workers' safety performance was targeted. The intervention consisted of (a) feedback, (b) goal setting, and (c) low cost rewards. Feedback was delivered biweekly to the workers. A monthly goal was set and adjusted based on the safety performance in the previous month. Also, rewards were delivered when the monthly goal was met. An ABAC design was adopted. After baseline (A), the supervisor-based safety management (B) was introduced, which was followed by a withdrawal phase (A). In the final phase, the employee-based safety management (C) was introduced. Results showed that the supervisor-based safety management was as effective as the employee-based safety management in increasing safety performance of the employees.

Early and intensive intervention based on behavior analysis improves rates of skill acquisition and decreases problem behavior for young children, particularly those with developmental disabilities or autism. Yet, promoting behavior analytic practice in rural areas is constrained by several barriers, including cost, geographic availability, and personnel availability. One way to reduce these barriers is through the delivery of behavioral services through telemedicine. Telemedicine typically involves the use of technologies, such as video or internet, in the delivery or dissemination of health information and practices. In theory, rural caregivers could be remotely trained on the implementation of behavior-analytic procedures, which would avoid some of the limitations found with in-vivo trainings. However, telemedicine delivery of services is associated with a variety of other barriers, including technology literacy, reading level, compliance with training procedures, and attrition. These barriers, and potential solutions, will be described in the context of a telemedicine-based program designed to train parents on discrete trial instruction currently being implemented in rural areas of West Virginia.

This study investigated the role of the audience on children's self-report accuracy. Participants were four 9-10-years-old children who exhibited high do-say correspondence. The "doing" task consisted of reading aloud a written word. The "saying' task consisted of reporting on the accuracy of the textual response after the computer's feedback. Pretest sessions verified the frequency of corresponding reports as a function of increasing the probability of errors. The audience test evaluated the frequency of accurate reports as a function of different audiences. Only the correct and accurate reports were followed by points. The amount of points required to obtain the high preferred item, however, was higher than the amount received during the session. After checking their total points, participants reported how many points they obtained. Self-report accuracy was evaluated in three conditions: while engaging in the task, while reporting to different audiences, and while choosing the item. Three out of four participants' self-report accuracy decreased in at least one of the three conditions as a function of the audience. For these children, correspondence training sessions were conducted. Audience seemed to be a relevant controlling variable on children's self-report accuracy since the presence of different audiences controlled different patterns of correspondence.

This study was intended to determine if there was an effect of the responses by the instructor(s)/experimenters in an online class on the textual verbal behavior (typed sentences) emitted by students during weekly chat sessions, and how student participation in the class changed as a result. The experimenters examined effects of the differential provision of positive feedback to students during both a teaching assistant condition and a professor condition in a between groups design. A teaching assistant conducted her chat session as normal, but provided a great deal of positive feedback to students who asked questions and provided comments related to the class to only half of the class. The course instructor, who also had regularly scheduled chat sessions with the students provided a great deal of positive feedback and praise for particpation among students in the remaining half of the class. Questions were answered to all students, but positive feedback for participation was not given to all of the students. Chat logs were analyzed to determine the types of verbal responses which were typed between the two groups of students who received differential positive feedback. Chat logs also analyzed the content of the students' typed behaviors, sentence length, attendance to chat sessions, and differential responses from the baseline to intervention phases.

The goal of this study was to examine the use of a stimulus equivalence protocol in the instruction of advanced learners by teaching relations among stimuli that were of gradually increasing complexity. The adequacy of a selection-based training procedure in producing topography-based responding was also evaluated. Participants were first trained on relations between the names, pictures, and chemical compositions of three different minerals. Tests for equivalence and tests to evaluate participants ability to provide typed topography-based responses to each stimulus were then administered. Participants were then trained and tested on relations for three additional minerals. Training on relations between members of the separate sets of mineral classes was then conducted using contextual cues identifying that the minerals were similar in regards to belonging to the same mineral class or having the same hardness rating. Participants were then tested to evaluate contextual control of the merger of the equivalence classes. Preliminary results show that equivalence relations emerged between the stimuli, and selection-based training is sufficient to produce proficiency in a topography-based response format.

Contextually controlled transfer of functions through equivalence relations provides a tool for exploring complex human behavior. Appropriately responding to emotional cues is a necessary social skill. Further, sensitivity to variations in emotional responding as a function of changing contextual cues is essential for effective social behavior. The present study was designed to improve upon the Tyndall, Roche, and James (2009) study and to help clarify the complex relationship between functional equivalence and stimulus equivalence. Stimuli included six neutral and six aversive pictures, as well as 12 nonsense syllables. Undergraduate students volunteered, and were tested individually, with random assignment to the neutral or aversive condition. The five phases consisted of respondent training, operant training, transfer of function test, equivalence training, and equivalence test. In prior research, the majority of participants proceeded beyond Phase 3 (transfer of function test), and those in the aversive condition required more trials to form stimulus equivalence relations. The current project resulted in 28% of participants progressing beyond Phase 3, and no significant group differences in Phases 4 and 5. All stimuli included faces, which likely made discrimination as a function of valence (neutral/aversive) more challenging.

The current study attempted to investigate syntax construction in the Brazilian Portuguese language under the perspective of equivalence class formation and multiple exemplars training. First, four classes of four stimuli each were formed: subject, verb, preposition and complement, A, B, C and D, respectively. Next, in modified constructed-response matching-to-sample task (CRMTS), four participants learned to put the sequence A1B1C1D1 together from a pool of words each corresponding to a position in the sequence. Next, linear tests for the three remaining sequences were conducted. Finally, tests for the emergence of the sequence construction using words which did not participate in the equivalence class formation procedure were introduced. The results showed that all participants learned the conditional relations, forming four concepts, and equivalence relations. They also learned the sequence and showed emergence of the sequence relations to include the remaining members of the equivalence classes and also the emergence of new sequences involving non-trained words. Although the results seem promising we found some limitations for educational applications since in Portuguese many verbs ask for the same preposition but also a single verb may ask for different prepositions. A discussion is offered on how to best develop a procedure to overcome such limitations.

This study is replicating the findings of Karmali, Greer, Nuzzolo-Gomez, Ross & Rivera-Valdes-Reducing Palilalia by Presenting Tact Corrections to Young Children with Autism (2005). The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 21, 145-153. A six-year-old female student with autism attending a special needs school in a large metropolitan area is participating in this study. We are using a multiple baseline design across two settings: work and play. The purpose of this intervention is to replace the palilalia with mands and tacts. The procedure consists of interrupting the palilalia with a tact correction. When the student engages in rapid, nonsense talk, she is interrupted by making her repeat something about the task she is engaging in or about something salient to the environment. The results are replicating those of the above aforementioned study, indicating that the procedure is effective in the reduction of palilalia.

It is evident by the amount of literature on verbal operants that it is an important skill for early learners. Impairments in communication are a core feature of autism and other developmental disorders and typically involve a delay or total lack of communicative speech (Kelly et al., 2007). It has been shown that through specific training of the verbal operants those with communication delays can be taught the verbal operants. Further research in the area of generalization is needed, as this research has only been published in the past few years. There has been research in the area of using one verbal operant to teach another functionally independent operant, however, there has been very little research done on teaching within each operant. The better method of teaching tacts using one modality of the target, such as a 2-D picture, to teach children with developmental disabilities the correct label of that object and later teaching the 3-D representation of that object is the purpose of this study.

Previous research has shown non-contingent reinforcement (NCR) to be effective in reducing problem behavior. However, including additional procedures may be necessary when NCR does not result in acceptable levels of behavior reduction. We evaluated the effectiveness of non-contingent attention (NCA) with and without a timeout procedure, on reducing attention-maintained aggression in a 9-year-old boy diagnosed with autism. The treatment protocol consisted of two conditions and was analyzed using an ABAB reversal design. Phase A consisted of non-contingent, continuous verbal and nonverbal attention from the therapist. Phase B consisted of the identical types and rate of attention as Phase A, however, the therapist discontinued NCA and left the session room for 20 seconds (i.e., timeout) on an FR 1 schedule for his aggressive behavior. The addition of a timeout procedure to NCA resulted in a mean reduction of 86% from the NCA condition (MNCA = 2.46 times per minute; MNCA + Timeout = 0.34 times per minute). These results indicate the addition of a timeout procedure to a non-contingent reinforcement schedule was necessary to provide significant reductions in problem behavior.

In this study we conducted two functional analyses with a 7-year-old male diagnosed with autism. The functional analyses were conducted seven months apart. Both functional analyses were conducted in a clinical setting. Aggression was the target behavior for the first functional analysis. Aggression was defined as hitting, biting, scratching, and kicking. The conditions included ignore, access to tangible, attention, diverted attention, escape and free-play condition. Results indicated escape from demands as the function of the aggression. A treatment analysis was conducted, in which functional communication training (FCT), the acquisition of requesting a break, was effective to reduce the aggressive behavior. During ABA therapy a new behavior, screaming, emerged. In order to identify the function of screaming, an additional functional analysis was conducted that included the same conditions as the previous study. Results indicated diverted attention maintained the screaming behavior. A treatment analysis was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of FCT to appropriately recruit attention. FCT consisted of teaching the participant to request attention.

Medication acceptance may be problematic for children with autism and related disorders for various reasons (e.g., taste, noncompliance, and texture). Caregivers may resort to coercive methods (e.g., verbal threats, punishment) to ensure medication administration, yet coercive strategies often result in the child's eventual refusal with the medication regiment (Ghuman et al. 2004). The purpose of the current study was to decrease avoidant behaviors and the use of restraint (i.e., papoose) during medication administration with a boy diagnosed with pervasive developmental disorder, bipolar disorder, and intellectual disability admitted to an inpatient unit for the assessment and treatment of destructive behaviors. During baseline, the use of restraint averaged 90.77% of each session and avoidant behaviors averaged 2.8 per minute. Prior to introducing treatment, a preferred food (yogurt) was identified via a preference assessment and training trials were conducted to teach the participant to accept his medication without the use of a restraint procedure. Over time, medications were introduced systematically into the yogurt. Across all treatment sessions, the amount of restraint needed for medication administration was 0%, and avoidant behaviors averaged 0.84 per minute. Reliability data were collected on restraint and avoidant behaviors for 30% of sessions and averaged 93% (range 90%-97%).

Sensory integrative (SI) techniques are a controversial treatment for children with autism and related disorders (Simpson et al., 2005). However, equipment utilized during SI therapies may be helpful in reducing unwanted or dangerous behavior. The current investigation conducted a treatment evaluation with an 8-year old boy, Josiah, admitted to an inpatient unit for the assessment and treatment of repetitive and severe self-injurious behavior (SIB). Josiah was diagnosed with a movement disorder, intellectual disabilities, was wheelchair bound and wore a helmet and full rigid arm restraints. His functional analysis suggested that his SIB was maintained, in part, by automatic reinforcement. The purpose of the current study was to reduce head banging and promote safety during diaper/clothing changes. A combined reversal and multi-element design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of a weighted blanket during changes in two settings. A 10 lb weighted blanket, recommended by Josiah's Occupational Therapist, was used during treatment. During baseline, Josiah averaged 14.42 head bangs per min across all evaluations and 1.28 rpm when the weighted blanket was used. Reliability data were collected for 50% of sessions and averaged 79.1%. Results suggest that weighted blankets may be helpful in reducing SIB for some individuals with intellectual disabilities.

A common report from caregivers of individuals with developmental disabilities is that problem behavior occurs in the presence of loud environments. The purpose of the current study is to assess auditory stimuli as establishing operations for problem behavior. All participants were referred by a direct care taker for reports of problem behavior occurring in the presence of specific noises. All participants resided in a residential setting for individuals diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder and engaged in severe self-injurious behavior or aggression. A five step analysis was created using both indirect and formal analyses. The results of the indirect assessment and descriptive analysis informed the stimuli used in the subsequent noise analysis. Noise analysis results informed the use of a contingent escape from noise condition of a standard functional analysis based on the procedures used by Iwata et al. (1994). Results of all previous analyses then provided information to create an informed and effective treatment.

A reoccurring challenge in using discrete trial instruction with learners with autism is maximizing learning opportunities while saving time. The present study attempted to decrease instructional time by providing extra information as instructional feedback on a current target stimulus embedded in the consequent portion of the trial. In the pilot of this study, six skills were identified in a childs educational programming, three of which were assigned as future targets (FT) in a multiple probe design across behaviors and replicated across students. The FT item extended the concept being taught in the target item. Target skills were taught employing teaching procedures commonly used in the classroom. Following each correct response on the target skill, the teacher provided instructional feedback on the FT with simultaneous delivery of reinforcement. Probes were taken to assess for generalization and maintenance. In the pilot study, a ten year old boy with autism was effectively able to decrease time to acquisition following exposure to future targets in the consequent portion of the trial. Planned extensions of the study include replications across different skill sets and comparing rates of acquisition on verbal versus visual future target information.

The present intervention sought to reduce the frequency of self-injurious behaviours and aggression and increase the rate of compliance to task demand in a young girl with an autism spectrum disorder. The basis of the intervention, as guided by a modified functional analysis, was to attenuate the aversiveness of instruction so the child would be less motivated to perform escape maintained challenging behaviours. Noncontingent escape (NCE) was selected in order to provide the child with an acceptable break from the demand situation and because of its relative ease of implementation in a clinical setting. Functional communication training was paired with NCE in order to establish an appropriate alternative communicative response. The data showed that NCE plus FCT was effective in dramatically reducing self-injurious and aggressive behaviour to levels significantly below baseline. The data also showed an increase in compliance to task demands and greater tolerance to increasing durations of task demands. The authors will discuss the effectiveness of the intervention in a clinical setting as well as the generalization of the communicative response to both home and school settings.

This study sought to compare the results of the Motivation Assessment Scale (MAS; Durand & Crimmins, 1988), Questions About Behavior Function Scale (QABF; Matson & Vollmer, 1996) and Functional Analysis Screening Tool (FAST; Iwata & DeLeon, 1996), when completed by parent informants in a sample of children and youth with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) who display challenging behaviour. Results indicated that there was low agreement between the functional hypotheses derived from each of three measures, with some patterns of non-concordence emerging. In addition, correlations between functionally analogous scales were substantially lower than expected, while correlations between non-analogous subscales were stronger than anticipated. These results suggest that clinicians choosing to rely solely on functional behaviour assessment questionnaires to assess behavioural functionmay not obtain accurate functional hypotheses, potentially resulting in ineffective intervention plans. The current study underscores the caution that must be used to interpret these questionnaires to determine the function(s) of challenging behaviour for children/youth with ASD.

Many individuals diagnosed with autism engage in repetitive, compulsive behaviors that interfere with their daily activities, routines, and instruction (e.g., daily living skills, academic skills, vocational skills). This study sought to conduct a behavioral assessment to determine the function of repetitive fixing of environmental items (e.g., turning buckets/trash cans so labels faced outward, closing doors, straightening silverware, turning visual icons, etc.) in a teenage male with autism and to evaluate a function-based intervention to decrease the fixing behavior. A functional analysis was conducted and supported the hypothesis that the fixing behavior was, at least partly, maintained by the change created in the environment that the fixing response created. An extinction-based treatment (i.e., the environment was restored to its original location) was evaluated, utilizing a reversal design, to determine its effectiveness in decreasing the compulsive fixing behavior. A review of the trend and level of the fixing behavior data suggest the environmental restoration intervention was moderately successful in decreasing fixing behavior.

Stereotypic behavior is a common barrier to the acquisition of essential learning, language and social skills in individuals with autism. The current study set out to decrease vocal stereotypy in a4-year-old boy with autism receiving40 hours a week of center based applied behavior analytic services. The intervention implemented an antecedent based strategy of scheduled tact sessions. The tact schedule yoked the inter-response time of vocal stereotypy collected in5 minute video recorded sessions. Results showed a decrease in vocal stereotypy with an unplanned abative effect on vocal responding. The abative effect of the intervention on all vocal responding prompted the discontinuation in the scheduled tact session and implementation of a response interruption and redirection (RIRD) intervention. Preliminary data supports previous studies showing a decrease in vocal stereotypy with the use of RIRD and do not indicate scheduled tact session can decrease the rate of vocal stereotypy while maintaining motivation to engage in targeted vocal responding.

The current case study examines the effects of an intensive manding program on the reduction of self-injurious head hitting behavior in a child with autism. A functional behavior assessment was completed, the results of which indicated that self injury was most likely maintained by escape from demands and access to tangibles, although attention was a secondary maintaining variable. Further analysis of ABC data indicated that self injurious behavior was not more likely to occur during any particular type of demand, or when denied access from any particular reinforcer. A mand training program was implemented across the student's school day, and included prompting verbal requests before allowing access to preferred items and break activities, reinforcing all independent requests on a FR1 schedule, and contriving establishing operations throughout school environments. At baseline the student made 49 requests day, and engaged in 130 instances of self injurious behavior. Following mand training, the student currently engages in an average of 153 requests per day, and engages in an average of 1.8 instances of self injurious behavior per day.

We examined the use of a computer program designed to teach developmentally delayed subjects number recognition. The computer program focused on numbers 1 - 10. Numbers were introduced one at a time, with increasing distractors. Various learning channels were utilized, to include hear number, touch number and see number, and select group of objects. We looked at generalization to real groups of objects and hand held flashcards. Data will be presented on standard celeration charts.

Recent studies have indicated that the teaching program based on matrix training and recombinative generalization is effective for establishing generative reading and spelling. However, there is little number of studies for autism and intellectual disabilities. We examined that matrix training leads to establish generative spelling of Japanese kana words in two children with autism. After matrix training, they showed generative spelling. However, one subject needed some supplemental training until he showed generative spelling. After rime-syllabic combinative training, he showed emergent spelling performance. The result with this subject illustrated recombinative generalization that is regarded as a basic process for generative spelling. Our results show that matrix training is effective for establishing generative spelling in children with autism and severe intellectual disabilities.

The present study was undertaken to determine whether manding to an adult once brought under the stimulus control of a specified color, in the context of a highly structured, familiar and predictable sequence, would then be transferred to a peer. As the study participant was a 5-year-old male with a history of communication disorder, a multiple baseline across settings was used to both provide experimental control without withdrawal of intervention and also to address generalization. A forward chain procedure was used during the pre-experimental training phase to teach the sequence, combined with a visual display of the items in the appropriate order and verbal and gestural prompts. The absence of items (A) was directly paired with the color of the bin (B1 ) and the color worn by the adult (B2) (A?B relation), over multiple trials, during the initial phase, using an interrupted-chain procedure to set the occasion for the manding response to the adult (B2). The stimulus items (glue C1; paper cut-out C2; and glitter C3) were directly paired with the absence of items (A?C relation). To determine if the manding response transferred, the peer (B3) wore the color that had been directly paired with the absence of items in the sequence for the interrupted chain during the second phase (B?C relation). During the generalization phase, fading of visual prompts was undertaken by gradually decreasing the size of the surface area of the color in 20% increments as the child maintained responding at criteria.

We used the whole blocking procedure combined with the exclusion procedure to teach auditory-visual discriminations. Some children with autism have difficulty learning auditory and visual discriminations with standard procedures. The blocking procedure, (Perez-Gonzalez & Williams, 2002) was derived from basic research designed to teach auditory-visual discriminations by systematically shaping the response topography. The procedure for teaching object discriminations involves presenting a single spoken word until five consecutive correct responses occur before switching to another object. The criteria for mastery is 20 consecutive responses, or three switches between objects. Initially, one object is taught at a time. After mastery, the requirement for changing the spoken word is gradually reduced. In the final stage, the objects are presented together in a random fashion.

One of the challenges in early intervention is how to teach beginning receptive language skills (i.e. auditory discrimination) to learners with autism spectrum disorder. The current case study is of a 2-year, 8-month old male with significant delays in language and social skills. To facilitate acquisition of initial receptive targets, a match-to-sample teaching procedure was suggested: systematically removing the "sample" and requiring the learner to respond to the auditory stimulus (i.e. the object label) by pointing to the correct object in the field (i.e., thereby "blending" the matching and receptive lessons). However the learner was not acquiring the specific stimulus-selection response (i.e., pointing to the object in the field after being shown the sample), which prohibited the implementation of the "blended" matching and receptive programs. After failed attempts to teach him to point to an identical comparison item after viewing the sample, a novel technique was introduced: placing the sample next to the comparison in the field as an obvious consequence (i.e., after pointing to the comparison). Acquisition of the pointing response occurred, subsequently enabling the implementation of the "blended" program. Data strongly suggest that the teaching procedures described may be helpful early intervention strategies.

Acquisition of academic skills can be challenging for students with autism. A number of students demonstrate difficulty acquiring expressive labeling of letters and numbers even once extensive labeling repertoires of common items has been established. The current study examines the effects of a teaching procedure designed to teach identification of letters through an interrupted chain procedure to students with autism, in which students learn to request missing letters in the context of ongoing activities. Activities included previously mastered matching tasks in which targeted letters were withheld, as well as modified token boards in which token letters were arranged to spell out a preferred break activity. Daily probes were conducted to check for acquisition of expressive labeling of letters, although all teaching trials were conducted within the context of a request. Results indicate that students acquired additional targets in significantly fewer teaching sessions when targets were taught using an interrupted chain procedure compared to traditional expressive identification, and that these targets were maintained over time.

Providing students with disabilities appropriate educational opportunities in inclusive educational settings has been an important focus for service providers. One of the challenges of inclusion is that many children with disabilities have difficulty learning in the traditional group instructional format associated with general education settings. One possible intervention is the use of priming on the academic material about to be taught in a general education classroom. Priming a student prior to a lesson being taught is one way to prepare a child for a lesson so that he or she already has some familiarity with the academic information that will be presented. In priming, the child is exposed to lesson material in an individual session before the teacher teaches a group lesson. There may be several variables effecting the success of priming such as the degree of similarity the priming materials have to the classroom materials, latency between priming and actual classroom presentation et cetera. This poster will describe the results of a study examining the similarity of instructional material between the priming setting and the classroom setting and its effects on learning for a boy with autism in an inclusive educational setting.

A textual immersion procedure where all prompts and instructions are delivered as text is employed with an 8-year-old hyperlexic child with autism to bring him under the stimulus control of text. The student was provided with kindergarten level worksheets in math and reading with all directions provided only in textual form. The student scored zero on all probes demonstrating the general lack of stimulus control of text in this child. The student's decoding skills are at a third grade level as measured by the QRI. In a textual immersion procedure a significant portion of the student's daily instruction was provided only in textual form, where a hierarchy of textual responses was formulated mirroring the hierarchy of responses taught in typical GMI and Vocal Direction programs. The student has met criterion of two consecutive sessions of 90% correct responding on circling, underlining and crossing out letters and symbols from a field of one. The student will now be presented with increasingly difficult tasks presented textually with a wider array of vocabulary and possible responses, all to be taught to a criterion of 90% correct. The initial probes will be re-presented at the completion of the textual immersion program demonstrating the efficacy of the program in developing stimulus control of text in this individual.

Research indicates that listener responding skills have emerged as participants move through the levels of the auditory matching procedure (Greer and Keohane, 2006; Chavez-Brown, 2005). Rehfeldt and Holmes (2009) noted that children with autism may not attend to sensory stimuli which creates the need for specialized instruction in order to increase their levels of verbal capabilities, specifically at the pre-listener level. Increasing auditory matching capabilities has been shown to be a behavioural cusp for the development of observing and discrimination skills. The current study aims to address the development of the listener responding skills fortwo children with autism, using a multi-probe design across participants, with responding to name when called by adults and peers, orienting toward adults and peers when spoken to for the 1st instance, providing sustained eye contact with a neutral stimulus relocated by adults and peers in the immediate environment, and receptive instructions with sound producing objects as the dependent measures, using the auditory match to sample with objects procedure. The steps of the procedure involve matching sound using no-sound as a non-exemplar, matching sound with non-auditory objects as non-exemplars, and matching sound using other sound producing objects in discrimination for 8 different auditory producing objects.

The ability to print legibly is critical for academic success amongst elementary school children. Learners with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) frequently have difficulty executing fine-motor tasks, which can lead to increased difficulty learning to print, and result in poor handwriting performance (Cartmill, 2006). Behavioral fluency literature indicates support for the effective application of the componentscomposite relationship, indicating that when component skills reach fluency, teaching the composite skill occurs with greater facility (Kubina and Wolfe, 2005). The current study hypothesized that initially poor writing samples consisting of letters or words written on age-appropriate lined paper could be effectively remediated by targeting the component skills of handwriting; specifically, fluently making curved and straight lines on lined paper. This poster highlights component skill remediation provided to two learners with ASD in an in-centre intensive behavioral intervention (IBI) setting. Initial data collection measured the number of accurate vs. inaccurate letters written across 3 writing samples for each learner. Intervention data will highlight fluency-based intervention for straight and curved lines on age-appropriate lined paper. Post-intervention data will demonstrate effects of fluency-based instruction on 3 writing samples taken outside of intensive teaching sessions.

Previous research has shown that children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) engage in more risk-taking behaviors and sustain more severe injuries than typically developing peers (Lee, et al., 2008; McDermott, et al., 2008; Shavelle, et al., 2001; Straub & Romanczyk, 2009). However, specific risk factors for unintentional injury in children with an ASD have yet to be investigated. This notable absence of data presents a potential obstacle for parents and service providers responsible for maintaining the safety of children in their care. Although a functional behavioral assessment (FBA) is preferable for the evaluation of variables maintaining behavior, the risk for injury inherent to applied childhood safety research requires consideration of alternative assessment approaches. In order to support the design of evidence-based injury prevention programs, this poster will present data regarding unintentional injury for 36 children with an ASD from a study conducted at Binghamton University. Due to the ethical and health considerations presented above, this study utilized parent report as an alternative means of assessing childhood injury risk in children with an ASD. Discussion will include a review of relationships between scores on the PDD-Behavior Inventory and patterns of injury. Potential future directions for applied injury prevention programs will be discussed.

Implementing effective applied behavior analysis (ABA) programming is what clinicians and educators strive to accomplish with all students. This entails timely supervision and program review from staff (ABA therapists, teachers and clinicians). This research will look at effective strategies to increase staffs abilities to make program changes in a timelier manner. Baseline data on three students with autism indicated that staff made timely program changes is 0, 6 and 14% of measured skill acquisition programs. Program change entailed either moving stimuli into generalization training or changing the teaching procedure due to lack of progress. The initial intervention entailed implementing a procedural change where program supervisors were required to directly observe each ABA therapist for a minimum of 30 minutes with the student on a weekly basis. On average this change required the program supervisor to increase student observation time to a minimum of two hours per week. Preliminary data indicate that upon implementation of this procedure with one student, there was a 2% increase in timely program changes. Additional interventions will be implemented until the rate of 90% accuracy in timely program changes has been achieved with all three students.

This study examined the perceived communication and collaboration patterns among service providers for children residentially placed. Service providers across the following four settings: residential, transportation, school, and out patient therapy clinic were surveyed. Through the study participants statement ratings and open-ended responses, researchers identified and described potential issues of concern in and around communication and collaboration patterns. Implications and recommendations for practice are included.

Many studies support the effectiveness of intensive behavioral intervention (IBI) for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs); however, very few studies have evaluated the long-term development of children following IBI. We are conducting an 8-year longitudinal study to describe the developmental trajectories of children following IBI. Direct child assessments and parent and teacher questionnaires are administered annually to measure the children's autism symptoms and development in social, communication, behavioral, and academic domains. Data are now available for 1-2 years following IBI with most participants: autism symptoms, social skills, communication, adaptive behaviors, and academic performancehave all been relatively stable. Data are available for several children for up to 5 years and with similar results. Twenty-one children are currently in the study and our goal is to follow each child for 8 years. This project contributes to the existing literature by improving understanding of IBI's long-term impact, and may help to improve early intervention programs in the future.

For children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), incidental teaching is a valuable method in both the acquisition and maintenance of a variety of important skills. However, staff use of these opportunities is often either inconsistent or nonexistent during unstructured session time. The current study evaluates the effects of implementation of a standardized data collection system targeting child-specific incidental teaching goals on the presentation of incidental teaching opportunities by direct-care staff. The data system is adapted from incidental teaching guidelines featured in Charlop-Christy (2008). Implementation of the data system is conducted through a multiple-baseline across participants design. Results indicate that the data collection system produced an increase in the number incidental teaching episodes presented by staff.

Early intensive behavior interventionis a well-established treatment for young children with autism. However, there is a paucity of information and no consensus about its efficacy in older children. This study was a file-review of community effectiveness of intensive behavioral intervention (IBI) for about 100 children aged 6 or older in IBI programs in Ontario, parallel to the earlier study of children aged 2 to 6 (Perry et al., 2008). This study examined whether children showed statistically significant and clinically significant changes on the following developmental and diagnostic measures during IBI: severity of autism, cognitive level, adaptive level, and rate of development. For example, preliminary analysis shows that autism severity declines significantly on the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (p=.002). We also categorized the children into seven subgroups: average functioning; substantial improvement; clinically significant improvement; less autistic; minimal improvement; no change; or worse. A wide range of outcomes was observed in the sample. This research provides important initial information about the potential effectiveness of IBI for children over the age of 6 years. It also has significant clinical and policy implications for appropriate service selection for older children with autism.

Telehealth videoconferencing technology offers professionals and families the possibility of remote delivery of behavior analytic services to homes and other natural environments. Although still in its infancy, a limited amount of research has examined use of live telehealth videoconferencing in the treatment of children with autism. Even fewer studies have evaluated the benefits of the remote training of caregivers by behavioral clinicians via telehealth delivered into their homes. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of providing remote instruction to caregivers via live videoconferencing. The focus is on the degree to which training by a behavior analyst from a remote location enables caregivers to accurately and consistently implement components of their childrens behavioral programs. Further, child outcomes and behavior change in response to the caregiver-implemented behavioral programs will be measured. Ratings of professional and parental satisfaction with the technology and its suitability as a medium of service delivery will also be obtained. The study provides additional analysis of the viability and effectiveness of using telehealth videoconferencing technology to extend the scope and increase the accessibility of behavior analytic services. Accumulated demonstrations of this type provide further evidence that live videoconferencing systems can augment and enhance traditionally rendered behavioral supports.

35 preschool-aged children with autism received Early Intensive Behavior Intervention, averaging 34 hours per week during year 1 and 31 hours during year 2 with weekly or biweekly supervision. After 4 years of treatment and annual re-evaluations by blind evaluators, 17 of 35 children achieved average scores in IQ (Bayley/WPPSI), language (Reynell/CELF), social skills (Vineland/CBCL) and academic achievement (Woodcock-Johnson), all improvements significant with large effect sizes. The chidren were retested by blind evaluators using the same tests 3 and 6 years later at age 10 and 13. Results showed little deterioration of scores, although a few had experienced some decrease in social skill ratings. Thus the gains made during early childhood were for the most part maintained in the teen years.

In the day to day practice of behavior analysis considerable effort is required to train and maintain the skills of therapists who deliver behavior analytic interventions. Behavior skills training (BST) has been found to be an effective strategy for improving skills and performance across child abduction prevention skills, conducting stimulus preference assessments and teaching the discrete trial process. In this study, BST was used to train nine instructor therapists (ITs) to increase their performance in delivering intensive behavior intervention (IBI), more specifically identifying, selecting and capitalizing on reinforcers. A multiple baseline design across participants was used to determine the effectiveness of the BST training package. Participants were trained to mastery in about 45 minutes per IT. The data suggests that BST is an effective and efficient training method consisting of instructions, feedback, rehearsal and modeling. Also participants reported enjoying the BST procedure and expressed a desire to be trained using that method for skills in the future.

Educators supporting students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) face unique challenges in the mainstream classroom setting. In response to these experiences, a unique model of service delivery was developed using applied behavior analysis (ABA) instructional methods to support educators and students with ASD in an elementary school in southern Ontario, Canada. An outreach team was formed to share this model of service delivery with other elementary schools within this school board. A formal investigation of the extent to which this training model influenced the perceptions of educators had not yet been conducted. Therefore, the purpose of this investigation was to understand the perceptions and teaching strategies of educators of students with ASD before and after their involvement with the outreach team. Online surveys were administered to educators before their involvement and approximately6 weeks later. Educators were significantly more optimistic and more self-assured about supporting a student with ASD in their classrooms following the outreach team's involvement. Implications of the findings from this research are discussed.

A number of variations on Azrin & Foxxs (1971) intensive toilet training protocol have been evaluated with children with developmental delays, however parents are rarely included in the treatment process and few studies include treatment acceptability data (for a review see Kroeger and Sorensen-Burnworth, 2009). The goal of the current study, therefore, was to evaluate the effectiveness and treatment acceptability of a behavioral treatment package using a parent training model conducted in an outpatient clinic. Children ages 3-7 participated in the study with their primary caregivers. All children had previously been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder and had been unsuccessful with previous attempts at toilet training. Parents were trained to implement the treatment during a 6 hour in-clinic training day and were expected to implement procedures and collect data in the home setting. On the third day after treatment was implemented, a therapist visited the home to ensure treatment fidelity and to collect IOA data. The three children who have participated thus far have all achieved continence within 10 days of starting the program. Data on the rate of continent and incontinent voids during training, treatment acceptability, and long term follow-up will be presented.

Discrete-trials teaching (DTT) is a commonly used approach for teaching children with autism in early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) programs. With rising prevalence of autism and the increase in government funded EIBI programs, there is a shortage of well-trained tutors and therapists. An effective and cost-efficient training procedure is needed to help address this problem. The present study evaluated the use of a self-instructional manual supported by a computer-aided personalized system of instruction (CAPSI) for teaching DTT to university students. Prior to studying the manual, five university students were assessed on the Discrete-Trials Teaching Evaluation Form (DTTEF) for DTT accuracy, while they taught three tasks, to a confederate role-playing a child with autism. Subsequently, the students studied a self-instructional manual using CAPSI to demonstrate mastery of study questions about DTT. Finally, participants once again attempted to teach the three tasks to a confederate role-playing a child with autism. Overall mean baseline accuracy on the DTTEF was 54.86%, and improved to 84.73% in post-treatment, a 30% improvement. The results suggest that CAPSI is an effective educational tool for the delivery of the self-instructional manual. Future research should investigate (a) how to make CAPSI even more effective, and (b) whether these results can be generalized to other populations such asapplied behavior analysistutors, parents and paraprofessionals working with children with autism.

Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS) is a 14-week, evidenced based, parent-assisted behavioral social skills intervention for teens with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) who are having difficulty making or keeping friends. Teens are taught concrete and necessary social skills for enhancing friendships, while parents learn how to successfully facilitate their teen in implementation of these skills. Among behavioral interventions, applied behavior analysis (ABA) is the most effective form of intervention for children with ASD (Koegel et. al., 1996, Homer et.al., 2002). Moreover, parent training in ABA has helped parents to effectively manage behavioral and social problems in children and adolescents (Danforth, 1998). Among social skills training programs, PEERS stands out due to its unique involvement of the facilitative role of the parent. Implementation of PEERS allows for the comprehensive exploration of the interactions between a wide range of parent and child psycho-social attributes conducive to the development and maintenance of friendships. Given that ASD places adults at a disadvantage for establishing and maintaining social relationships (Baxter, 1997), the primary emphasis of PEERS on social skills and friendships, could have a beneficial impact on the lifelong development of individuals with ASD.

Research suggests that response interruption and redirection (RIRD) can be a successful procedure to decrease vocal stereotypy produced by individuals with autism. The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of RIRD with differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) to treat vocal stereotypy for a 14-year-old boy with autism. A functional assessment was conducted which determined that the target behaviour was maintained primarily by automatic positive reinforcement. Following baseline, RIRD was implemented contingent on non-contextual vocalizations produced by the learner during intensive teaching trials, transitions between activities, and eating times. RIRD consisted of the instructor interrupting the learner and presenting three consecutive vocal demands (echoics) which the learner complied with. The vocal demands presented were related to the current context and were demands that the learner had shown previous mastery with. The DRO procedure was implemented on a fixed interval schedule of reinforcement and was thinned for every three days of a decreasing trend in the target behaviour. RIRD combined with DRO has produced a significant decrease in vocal stereotypy for this particular learner. The described intervention continues to be implemented for this learner and plans for generalization and maintenance are being explored to further expand the literature on this procedure.

Stimulus equivalence results following conditional discrimination training of n-1 relations ( n = the number of training stimuli). The outcome is the development of novel forms of stimulus control and emergence of untrained stimulus-stimulus relations (e.g., reflexivity, symmetry and transitivity). Reflexivity: matching visual stimuli based on physical similarity (identity matching-to-sample) without being trained to do so. Symmetry: accurately reversing a previously taught conditional discrimination without being trained to do so. Transitivity: the emergence of novel forms of discriminative and conditional stimulus control in the absence of direct training (Sidman & Tailby, 1982). The purpose of this study was to establish classes of equivalent stimuli with a boy with autism and brain injury. Each potential class contained two visual stimuli, the picture and the written word of dolphin's body parts and an auditory stimulus (the spoken name of the body part). Results showed that after the initial conditional discrimination training, untrained symmetrical and transitive relations emerged, documenting the formation of three, 3-member stimulus classes. Also, naming relations emerged in the absence of training Finally, a generalization test showed that the student was able to identify and name the novel pictures of dolphin's body parts and different dolphins.

Stimulus overselectivity refers to a form of restricted stimulus control in which behavior potentially could be controlled by multiple stimulus features or by multiple stimuli. This restricted stimulus control has been implicated in the behavioral deficits observed in autism spectrum disorder. Here, we report successes and failures to reduce stimulus overselectivity in people with autism. Under baseline conditions, a two-sample delayed-matching-to-sample procedure is used. A single observing response removes the sample stimuli and, after a brief delay, one of the two sample stimuli randomly appears as the comparison stimulus correlated with reinforcement. Two additional comparison stimuli also appear. Across studies, we have attempted to reduce stimulus overselectivity in this arrangement by manipulating the observing-response requirement and by attempting to establish an embedded differential-observing-response prompt. In our completed work, an increased observing-response requirement reduced stimulus overselectivity, but our attempt at using an embedded differential-observing-response prompt was unsuccessful. We also will report our ongoing work designed to understand better these aforementioned studies.

Maintaining motivation to engage in desired responding is essential to effective therapy. This study compared a brief multiple stimulus without replacement (MSWO) preference assessment using pictures without access to a MSWO procedure utilizing actual stimuli with limited access. The participant in the study is a 4.5-year-old typically developing male child receiving individual speech and language therapy twice a week for 50 minutes in an outpatient clinic. The MSWO procedure evaluated preference of ten items selected based upon parent report and therapist observation. The therapist conducted MSWO preference assessments as demonstrated in prior research. The preference of all ten items was evaluated in each of the ten sessions. Five of the ten sessions consisted of an MSWO procedure with pictures and no access to the actual item. In the remaining five sessions the actual items were presented and the participant accessed selected items briefly. The two evaluated procedures yielded different results based upon preliminary data. The study discusses the importance of the different results derived from the two procedures, social validity, and future direction of research.

Differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO), or reinforcement for the absence of the targeted problem behavior over a prescribed interval of time, has shown to be successful for reducing high-frequency problem behaviors. The current study employed a variable momentary (VM) DRO schedule plus extinction, during which reinforcement was available when no instances of the behavior were observed at the end of variable interval. A tangible reinforcement item was determined prior to treatment utilizing a multiple stimulus without replacement (MSWO) preference assessment. Access to that tangible was available for 2 minutes prior to the treatment session. The therapist was signaled on a variable interval schedule beginning at 10 seconds (+/- 30% of the interval time) and if none of the target behavior was observed for 2 seconds, the therapist provided 20-seconds access to the preferred tangible. The time intervals were then incrementally increased until the terminal 5-min interval. The progressively increased VM DRO schedule was successful in reducing the occurrence of the targeted high-frequency problem behavior.

Previous research suggests that signaling the extinction component of a multiple schedule typically results in the extinction interval acquiring aversive properties (Tiger, Hanley, & Heal, 2006). However, research has also shown the efficacy of presenting signals (i.e., tokens) during extinction intervals that, over time, acquire conditioned reinforcer properties (Tiger, Hanley, & Heal, 2006). The current study extended previous research by implementing a multiple schedule during which reinforcement intervals were signaled by a stimulus and extinction intervals contained either a) no signal or b) time-based signals across a 60-second interval. A participants preference for the presence or absence of these signals was evaluated. Results suggested that the presence of an accumulated signal every 10 seconds across extinction intervals acquired aversive properties such that a participant chose to avoid the presentation of such signals. Subsequent treatment for problem behavior suggested that the participant continued to avoid the signals presented during the extinction intervals, thus suggesting that the signals had acquired and maintained aversive properties.

This study evaluated adolescents in the foster care system who met our criteria for chronic running because they ran away from placement three or more times. The study identified 20 female runners and 20 male runners and evaluated these subjects on a large number of variables. These variables included placement type, placement duration, the reason the child was removed from their original placement, abuse history, mental health history, school records and other characteristics. Once this data was evaluated, we matched these subjects to other adolescents in the foster care system who did not have a history of running based on age, sex, race and gender. Once matched, these subjects were evaluated on a number of characteristics to identify different characteristics between individuals who ran and individuals who did not run, in hopes of identifying characteristics of chronic runners which could be used to predict an adolescents risk factors that would be useful for function based intervention strategies. Several variables were found to show significant results such as runners were more likely to be on psychotropic medications and in residential settings, and more likely to be involved in the juvenile justice system.

This study will examine the post-treatment outcomes of a sample of former students of the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center (JRC), a residential care facility that employs a highly consistent application of behavioral treatment and educational programming with some of the most behaviorally challenging individuals in the United States. The former JRC students will be evaluated post-discharge, using both a subjective General Life Adjustment rating (performed by guardians and/or former students) and objective counts of certain Quality of Life indicators. Quality of Life variables of interest will include whether or not the former JRC students utilized formal treatment services, had negative encounters with law enforcement, received psychotropic medications, pursued further education, secured employment, participated in leisure activities and engaged in meaningful relationships post-JRC discharge. Of major interest is whether or not this sample of former JRC students will show significant improvement on the measures employed over their status prior to enrolling in JRCs behavioral education and treatment program.

This poster examines the effects of a combined treatment package consisting of applied behavior analysis and psychotherapy on time spend in teacher directed academic activities, stability of mood level and reduction of target behaviors including physical aggression and property destruction and disruption for a 14-year old female student diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified. Treatment package 1, consisting only of applied behavior analysis, included differential reinforcement, a token economy, functional communication training, escape extinction and redirection. Treatment package 2, consisting of a combined approach of applied behavior analysis and psychotherapy, included differential reinforcement, a token economy, escape extinction, redirection, selective attention to non-reality based comments, extended work times and thematic lesson plans. Initial results indicate that time engaged in teacher directed academic activities and percentage of day at mood level 1 have increased within treatment package 2.

The use of indirect and direct assessment measures have been described extensively in behavior analytic literature and in training models for conducting functional assessments (O'Neill et al., 1997). Direct assessment models typically involve a form of antecedent-behavior-consequence (A-B-C) data collection. Challenges with identifying behavioral function and interpreting A-B-C results make development of effective behavior intervention plans difficult. This study evaluated the utility of A-B-C data collection using an established consequence for two individuals with developmental disabilities in a private, special education setting. Results from one student indicated that using a single consequence identified the function of the hand squeezing and led to the development of a function-based intervention plan. Functional communication training based on these results led to rapid acquisition of the alternative response and concomitant decrease in challenging behavior. Data collection is ongoing for the second individual.

This poster session will provide information and data to support the efficacy of the Focus Family Support for Autism Spectrum Disorders (FFSASD) of the Illinois Autism/Pervasive Developmental Disorders Training and Technical Assistance Project (IATTAP). This program employs an applied evaluation method that emphasizes user friendly, data-driven decision-making to improve outcomes for families with children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The Illinois Autism/Pervasive Developmental Disorders Training and Technical Assistance Project (IATTAP) is a technical assistance center of the Illinois State Board of Education that focuses on educating and supporting children with ASD and their families. Over the past 6 school years, IATTAP provided supports and services to 160 families with children with ASD throughout the state of Illinois through its FFSASD process, a combination of positive behavior supports and family-centered planning. The families were enrolled in the Systematic Information Management of Educational Outcomes (SIMEO) online evaluation system for extensive tracking of demographic, educational and behavioral outcomes. The poster session will present the continued findings from the repeated measures applied evaluation process and will present information on how these data are used by the Family Focus Facilitators to drive decision-making and change in team meetings with families of children with ASD. Fiscal year2010 IATTAP evaluation findings include: (a) decrease in loss of placement risk across home, school and community environments; (b)increase in classroom functioning; (c) decrease in individual family stressors; and (d) increase in family quality of life.

SafeCare® is a preventive parenting model that provides behavioral skills training to parents who are at-risk for child neglect. SafeCare focuses on three childcare domains: parental knowledge of child health care, home safety, and parent-child interaction. Training is conducted individually and establishes criterion levels of performance for parents to achieve before advancing to the next module. There have been over 60 studies published on Project 12-Ways/SafeCare. In one study, approximately 30% of parents were suspected of having an intellectual disability (Edwards & Lutzker, 2008). To our knowledge, there has only been one published article on the use of SafeCare with a parent with an intellectual disability (Crockett & Hird, 2010) and no studies have been published on the use of SafeCare with parents with an autism spectrum disorder. This poster will be a data-based case study demonstrating the effects of SafeCare on the parenting skills of a mother diagnosed with Asperger's Disorder across three childcare domains. Results suggest that SafeCare was an effective intervention for this mother to demonstrate mastery of the targeted parenting skills. More research is needed on behavioral skills training with parents with an autism spectrum disorder. Reliability and fidelity of implementation will also be reported.

Project 12-Ways served a family with a child who presented challenging behavior associated with a disability. Services focused on teaching the parents how to provide opportunities for the child to engage in adaptive behavior (i.e., self-care, leisure) and how to manage mild disruptions or annoyances (i.e., whining, hitting, throwing). Over the course of services, the parents also worked with the child's psychiatrist to reduce, and ultimately eliminate, dosages of psychotropic medication. The intervention was successful at improving the parents' ability to structure daily routines consistently and to appropriately respond to misbehavior. Concurrently, the child's levels of misbehavior remained low and levels of adaptive behavior increased over the course of the reduction in psychotropic medication.

The National Psychiatric Epidemiology Survey conducted in Mexico (2003) showed that prevalence of depression in adults in the last year was 4.5%. Based on the findings of this survey, 37.4% of social insurance women and men (28.9%), with depression symptoms had been diagnosed, versus 21% and 14% of not social insured, respectively. According to the authors of this survey, it is quite common that people with affective disorders demand an early service by physicians. However, their condition is not efficiently attended, as they report, due to physicians' lack of domain for accurate diagnosis and appropriate treatment in these emotional disorders, to reducing themto drug prescription. In the present research, the Beck Depression Inventory in its Mexican version (Jurado, et al., 1998), and the Suicidal Orientation Inventory (Casullo, 2003), were applied to a sample (N=151) of clients demanding either medical or psychological services at the school clinic of this campus. Results showed that 5.34% of the sample asked for medical care as the first option. Although 7.63% demanded psychology service for the first option, preference of initial professional care is not quite different between both services; hence, it is quite important that physicians improve a multidisciplinary practice.

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism has called for the use of evidence-based approaches to address high-risk drinking prevalent on many college campuses. In line with this recommendation, the present study evaluated the efficacy of two evidence-based approaches to reducing alcohol use: a behavioral self-management program and computer-assisted program. Participants were 103 college students in first year experience courses and were randomly assigned by class to participate in a computer-based program (E-Chug group), skills training program (self-management group), or control program (exercise group). The data indicate that the self-management program benefited lighter drinkers the most (whereas heavier drinkers benefited more form the E-Chug program). In addition, there was an increase in alcohol consumption among heavy drinkers in the self-management program. These data suggest that self-management programs may be best targeted toward more "typical" college students, including those students whose alcohol consumption is lighter (e.g., "social" drinkers). In contrast, the data show that this particular self-management program increased risk among heavy drinkers, and future research should address this concern.

College students engaging in unprotected sex and/or taking multiple sex partners may benefit from behavioral self-management programs for risky sexual behavior. As part of a self-management program, it is important to include activities targeted at increasing condom use. The purpose of this study is to evaluate a condom comparison activity designed to help students familiarize themselves with the various types of condoms available and identify which condoms they would be most likely to use. To date (data collection is on-going), 154 college students (58% male; 42% female) have participated by responding to a series of self-report measures related to condom use and sexual behavior, and by completing the condom comparison activity. For the comparison activity, 5 different condoms were provided for participants to rate on several characteristics (e.g., strength). Males were more likely to prefer the ultra thin condom and cite sensation as the most important condom characteristic, whereas females were more likely to prefer ribbed condoms and endorse strength as the key characteristic. Ratings of the activity and its impact on intentions to use condoms in the future will also be presented. This study helps to identify one possible activity toward self-managing safe sexual behavior.

This study measured the effects of an extensive treatment package on increasing trips to the gym per week. The treatment package included self-monitoring with a goal, self-graphing, public posting via Facebook or e-mail, and performance tracking with positive feedback. Four adults with a self-reported desire to increase their trips to the gym per week participated. Gym records were examined retrospectively as baseline data and were used to corroborate self-reports during the intervention. The intervention lasted 4 weeks, and a 3-week follow-up was conducted. The treatment package proved to be effective as all four participants met their goals every week of the intervention. Follow-up data showed that the increase in exercise did not maintain, suggesting that treatment should be gradually faded out, or variables should be arranged to increase the likelihood of continued exercise after study participation is over.

Community-based service provider agencies frequently support individuals who are at increased risk for developing challenging behavior and/or their families. Although the use of systems-wide positive behavior support (PBS) programming is prevalent within school settings, other organizational settings are just beginning this process (Sugai & Horner, 2008). The need for intensive supports often exceed organizational capacity and will likely continue to do so until agencies direct adequate energy and resources towards developing effective preventive strategies for all individuals they support. This presentation will describe a pilot project to develop a process for implementing organization-wide positive behavior support (OW-PBS) within a community-based service agency. The presenters will begin by describing a tool (currently titled The Family Support Evaluation Tool) that was developed by looking at a variety of tools in the PBS literature, (Pre-SET; Horner, Benedict, & Todd, 2005; SET; Sugai, Lewis-Palmer, Todd, & Horner, 2001). The results from the assessment found that the agency scored quite low (i.e., 26%, range 0-75%) in relation to the features of organization-wide PBS that were assessed (e.g., expectations taught, organized and predictable environment, and organization-wide general PBS training). Presenters will also share the action plan and results from the one-year follow-up assessment.

This study examined the effect of an art activity based vocational training for students with autism. Ten students with autism participated in the study as subjects. A multiple baseline design across groups was used. The intervention program consisted of drawings, sculpturing, cooking, playing musical instruments, dancing/movement, and recreational game. The results showed that there was an increase in mastery of basic skills for vocation as well as house chores and using community resources in general. Also, there was an increase in verbal/nonverbal communication and a decrease in maladaptive behaviors with all the subjects.

Generalization of critical skills required to function effectively in postsecondary settings is an important aspect of instruction that significantly influences the successful integration of students with disabilities in college environments. We examined the effects of general-case programming on teaching skills necessary to prepare for college courses to a student with Pervasive Developmental Disability Not Otherwise Specified (PPD-NOS) and mild intellectual disabilities. The participant was a 21-year-old young man, who attended a post-secondary program for students with intellectual disabilities at a southeastern university. We used a within-subject multiple baseline design (Kazdin, 1982) with generalization probes across response categories to assess the effectiveness of general-case intervention. Acquisition trials, generalization, and maintenance probes consisted of opportunities to independently respond to situations from the three response categories: (a) locating information on syllabi, (b) accessing information using technology, and (c) attaching information using technology. The intervention consisted of constant time delay, differential reinforcement, and error correction. Interobserver agreement (IOA) was calculated across all baseline and intervention phases. Results indicated successful acquisition and generalization of the new skills. The study has relevance for practitioners because of the effectiveness of general-case programming and for researchers because of the sophisticated conceptual aspects of general-case and its applications.

One deficit that defines autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is repetitive/inflexible behavior. Our project has been investigating procedures for overcoming inflexibility. Study 1 concerns stimulus control shaping for teaching nonverbal children. Beginning with an already mastered discrimination, such procedures present programmed stimulus changes across trials to teach children to attend to new stimulus features. Some children exhibit inflexible attending to unchanging features during shaping. To prevent this outcome, we have been investigating dynamic shaping methods that vary changes both across and within trials-a procedure that is designed to counteract inflexible attending. Study 2 concerns constructed response matching-to-sample (MTS) procedures. Typical procedures present a rigidly defined series of trials. Such programs may not provide optimal learning opportunities for children who tend to show behavioral inflexibility. As an alternative, we have been investigating novel MTS variants that present multiple opportunities for responding within a trial. They also require efforts to teach children to take advantage of such opportunities.Our poster will present data from a number of single-case designs from both studies that illustrate beneficial effects of the procedures.

Previous research indicates that tolerance for medical procedures can be increased by using shaping when escape is permitted (Hagopian & Thompson, 1999) and by using differential reinforcement when escape cannot be permitted (Carton & Schweitzer, 1996). The current research is an extension of studies showing the effectiveness of shaping procedures in increasing tolerance to aversive procedures. The results of a functional analysis indicated that aggressive behaviors of one child were maintained by escape from medical procedures. A treatment aimed at increasing the child's compliance and decreasing problem behavior associated with various medical procedures was evaluated using a multiple baseline design across medical procedures. A task analysis was created for each medical procedure and a shaping procedure was used to gradually increase the number of steps of each medical procedure that the child was required to tolerate. Additional treatment components consisted of escape extinction, noncontingent access to competing stimuli and preferred edibles, response cost for problem behavior, and differential reinforcement of compliance. The intervention was effective at increasing compliance and reducing problem behavior associated with medical procedures.

Teaching self-help skills to adult clients with severe self-injurious behaviours poses many challenges, especially the risk of provoking problem behaviour. The present study describes two skill-building programs in which adults with developmental disabilities and severe chronic problem behaviour were taught skills to improve their manners. The first program was an "eating neatly" procedure designed to have the client eat at a slower rate in addition to cleaning up his spills following meals. Through the use of verbal prompting and modeling at each meal, the client was taught how to take smaller bites and clean any mess that was left over. This procedure quickly led to skill acquisition and generalization. The second program taught a client an appropriate replacement behaviour for where to put small pieces of garbage. Initially the client would stuff garbage items into the house vents. He was taught how to put pieces of garbage found on the floor into an especially designed receptacle through instruction and prompt fading. Data were collected on the frequency of receptacle use and showed rapid skill acquisition. Both results demonstrate how effective planning, careful implementation, and generalization to staff can teach severe problem behaviour clients skills to improve their residential lifestyle.

With few exceptions (Hagopian et al. 2001, Pace et al., 1985) preference assessment procedures require participants to make choices. Beyond the assessment of preference, other research has demonstrated that choice itself may be reinforcing because it is correlated with differential consequences (Fisher et al., 1997). Therefore, demonstrating the ability to make choices has both social and clinical significance. Unfortunately, some individuals do not demonstrate choice-making behaviors; possibly due to a lack of opportunities to make any choices. The current study describes a 5-year-old girl who did not demonstrate the ability to indicate a choice for potential reinforcers. A series of preference assessment arrangements were evaluated to teach the participant to make choices while ensuring that the choices were based on preference. Following an inconclusive paired-choice preference assessment (Fisher et al., 1992), the participant was exposed to a single stimulus engagement (Hagopian et al., 2001) arrangement where preferences became evident. This was followed by an arrangement similar to a free-operant assessment (Roane et al., 1998), and then a return to a paired-choice format where consistent choice making was observed. Implications of these findings are discussed. Interobserver agreement data were collected for 25% of the sessions and averaged above 80%.

Some children, who are diagnosed with autism, have limited funding to receive appropriate services such as applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy. Despite the effectiveness of ABA therapy, which has been demonstrated in numerous studies, the cost can be very expensive. In order to maximize time with clients, therapists should be well-versed and making moment to moment change in any behavioral programming if necessary. One in-home therapist participated in this study. Identifying problems and finding solutions, "thinking on one's feet" was differentially reinforced with feedback from the supervisor by using the Think Aloud Protocol (TAP). Generalization in different settings will be investigated.

A common social skill deficit observed in individuals with developmental disabilities is the lack of awareness concerning their physical proximity to other individuals in their environment. The present study examined the physical proximity of three adults diagnosed with mental retardation within a residential facility. A vibrating watch was used as a tactile prompt to increase appropriate physical proximity between the participants and the individuals they were engaged with in conversation. Prior to intervention, the participants were taught to respond to the vibrating watch by raising their arm directly in front of them as a guideline of what was considered appropriate physical proximity. During intervention, sessions were presented at random for 5 minutes in which the watch vibrated on a VT60 second schedule resulting in five trials per session. When the watch vibrated, the participant would increase their distance if they were within an arm's length of another person. The participant received feedback and verbal praise after each session. On average, there was a 62% increase in appropriate distance from baseline to intervention. Experimental control was demonstrated during the reversal phase and upon reintroducing the intervention, and the last treatment condition yielded three consecutive sessions of 100% appropriate physical proximity.

Two problems have been identified within the process of educative integration recommended by the Minister of Public Education in Mexico: the difficulty that some students with special educative needs (SEN) have to socially interact with classmates and teachers, and the lack of knowledge of the teacher's strategies to establish the required self-care and social behaviors. This study's purpose was to evaluate how the principles ofbehavioral analysis implemented by previously trained teachers contribute to the acquisition of social and self-care behaviors in students with SEN. The participants were 3 students with SEN, enrolled in Veracruz rural schools, 3 special education female teachers with a degree on kindergarden education, as well as parents. A changing criterion experimental design was used in which the female teachers using the principles of behavioral analysis (chaining, molding, modeling, extinction, etc.) were teaching gradually (according to the criteria established by the experimental design) self-care behaviors: personal hygiene; getting dressed; eating; sphincter control and social behaviors: interacting with other children, getting close to adults without aggression and participating on individual activities. The obtained results proved meaningful progress in the students acquisition of such behaviors.

A nonverbal, 13-year old boy with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) with limited independence in the community participated in this study. A multiple baseline across settings determined the efficacy of video modeling via errorless learning, computer based video instruction (CBVI), and an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) system utilizing the iPod with the Proloquo2Go application for success with task completion in the community. The study extended upon previous research (Mechling & Cronin, 2006) of the benefits of CBVI to teach how to use an AAC system with ordering at fast food restaurants. A limitation of many video modeling techniques and AAC devices is their portability and variety of responses (Mechling et al., 2006; Olive, Cruz, Davis, Chan, Lang, O'Reilly, & Dickson, 2007; Schepis, Behrmann, & Sutton, 1998). This study incorporated video modeling with the iPod allowing portability and generalization from clinical to community settings both familiar and novel. It is hoped that results will reflect an increase in independence in the ability to place an order at fast food restaurants using the iPod as an AAC system. Future replication will be needed across participants examining the novelty and effectiveness of the iPod as an AAC system and video modeling tool.

This investigation evaluated the effectiveness of videotape feedback for teaching parents to train specific daily living skills using a task analysis. Parents learned by watching themselves implement specific techniques and can also identify areas of improvement. Three parents participated in the study. Parents were videotaped until they reach 90% of correct implementation. After each video, the parent and therapist watched the video. The video was paused to point out areas were the parents were following the intervention correctly. The video was also stopped where parents missed a step and feedback was provided. The data showed an increase of correct implementation from baseline to the first intervention. Data on maintenance and generalization was collected. Implications for parent training are discussed.

Self-management has been used to enhance the generalization and maintenance of treatment effects. However, few authors have systematically evaluated training procedures for teaching individuals with developmental disabilities to accurately self-record their behavior. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate a systematic training procedure for teaching an individual with a developmental disability, who also engaged in automatically reinforced motor stereotypy, to self-monitor his appropriate task engagement. First, we conducted a task assessment to identify socially important tasks that the participant had in his repertoire but did not reliably emit without prompting. Second, we evaluated a video-based training component and an in-vivo training component for teaching the participant to discriminate and self-record the target response. During video training, the participant watched himself engage in the target behavior(s), and during in-vivo training, the participant was asked to engage in the target behavior(s). The participant was instructed to self-monitor his appropriate task engagement using a variable-momentary recording schedule, and the therapist only delivered reinforcement if the participant accurately recorded his behavior during the signaled moment. The results of our training procedure and the implications of our findings for including a self-monitoring component to promote generality of treatment effects will be discussed.

The purpose of this study was to compare video priming (using self-modeling) and video reinforcement to decrease hitting, verbal defiance, and elopement in a general education setting for a 9-year-old male with Fragile X Syndrome. Behaviors were targeted because they competed with inclusion time (e.g., the student was removed from general education setting contingent on these behaviors). An alternating treatments design was used to compare three independent variables: video priming alone, video SR+ alone, and a combination of video priming and video SR+. IOA was taken for 22% of both baseline and intervention sessions with 100% agreement. Results indicate that both treatments effectively reduced maladaptive behaviors for this young man. A component analysis indicated that video SR+ had more effect at reduction of maladaptive behaviors. Overall, time spent in inclusion increased as a result of this intervention.

Training is a critical aspect to maintaining high levels of treatment integrity in staff. Using video-based training allows for flexible and repeated viewing of materials in comparison to other methods. Behavior skills training has been demonstrated in the literature as an effective training tool for discrete trial teaching methods. In this study each of these training methods were utilized to teach staff members in an adult day training facility to implement discrete trial instruction. Treatment integrity was measured across 10 skills involved in the use of discrete trial instruction. After participants received one of the training methods treatment integrity was evaluated in a natural environment through video cameras that were already present at this facility. Training was applied in a multiple baseline design across participants.

Caregivers frequently encounter the problem of food refusal among children with autism spectrum disorders and other developmental disabilities. Refusal behavior can be further complicated by the co-morbid diagnosis of food allergies. Reinforcement-based interventions may be effective in improving the feeding habits of selective eaters with special diets. The present study attempts to increase the variety of gluten-free foods accepted by a 15-year-old girl, for whom Celiac disease was recently added to her previous diagnoses of pervasive developmental disorder, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorderand mental retardation. The participant consumes a limited variety of foods by preference, and had the tendency to refuse novel foods as a gluten-free diet was introduced. Expansion of her diet is imperative as inadequate maintenance of a gluten-free diet in individuals with Celiac disease will damage the small intestine and can lead to a variety of problematic symptoms, including malnourishment and abdominal pain. A forced-choice preference assessment was used to determine foods that may serve as reinforcers, and a changing criterion research design was used to test the effectiveness of a token economy as an intervention to promote novel food acceptance and meal pacing.

Studies suggest that increasing choice-making opportunities may increase behavioral acquisition rates of and/or decrease behavioral excesses for individuals with disabilities (Kodak et al., 2007; Lerman, et al., 1997). In this field-based study, the effects of food choice and menu management are assessed relative to rates of self-injurious behavior (SIB) and aggression towards others (ATO) with an adult male diagnosed with Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS). Specifically, rates of SIB and ATO were measured under three meal conditions: Baseline, No Choice and Choice. Under the No Choice condition, the participant received three meals per day assigned by a nutritionist experienced in designing meal schedules for individuals with PWS. Under the Choice condition, the participant was instructed on how to plan and order his meals (breakfast, lunch & dinner) from a pre-set menu approved by the participants nutritionist. The menu listed the name of approved food items with a corresponding per item calorie count. The participant was required to select a minimum of two menu items per meal and limited to a daily count of 1,200 calories. Results show significant reduction in both ATO and SIB upon introduction of the Choice condition. Additionally, the participant acquired the skill of using a calculator to effectively plan out calories consumed during meals.

The use of visual stimuli such as tokens to facilitate reinforcement schedule thinning may be contraindicated with blind individuals. Studies evaluating the use of visual tokens with blind individuals have been conducted and have shown them to be effective, however the participants had some limited sight capabilities. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the use of tactile tokens with a blind adolescent diagnosed with Autism and intellectual disability who was admitted to an inpatient facility for the assessment and treatment of self-injury and aggression. Functional analyses showed that his problem behaviors were maintained, in part, by escape from demands. Tactile tokens (i.e., silicone bracelets) were used as part of adifferential reinforcement of alternative behavior/differential reinforcement of other behavior with demand fading treatment to increase compliance and decrease problem behavior. Compliance with demands in the absence of problem behavior initially resulted in edible delivery on a fixed ratio (FR) 1 schedule. The schedule of edible reinforcement was thinned to FR3 and tactile tokens were used to signal when edible reinforcement would become available. A non-concurrent multiple baseline across settings and demands design was used to evaluate treatment effects.

Escaping transitions has been shown to maintain problem behavior if the desired location change is less preferred than the current location (McCord, Thomson, & Iwata, 2001). Furthermore, interruption of a preferred activity with a location change has also been shown to occasion problem behavior (Wilder, Chen, Atwell, Pritchard, & Weinstein, 2006). However, previous research has not evaluated problem behavior associated with transitions to novel activities of greater or lesser preference. In the current study, we conducted a transition assessment to identify environmental variables maintaining problem behavior of one participant when a change in location, activity, or both occurred. During this assessment, data were collected on problem behavior associated with changes in activity preference (e.g., low preferred to high preferred). Additionally, data were collected on problem behavior associated with changes in location. Results suggested that transitioning from a high preferred to a low preferred activity yielded the highest levels of problem behavior, regardless of whether or not the change in activity involved a location change.

According to the overjustification hypothesis, the contingent provision of extrinsic rewards will decrease an individuals intrinsic motivation to engage in the behavior that resulted in the reward. Results of several meta-analyses examining variables that influence the likelihood of observing an overjustification effect have suggested that responding following the removal of extrinsic rewards is affected by the degree of initial interest. Initially, the current study sought to investigate the overjustification effect on engagement with stimuli of high, moderate, and low interest. In the absence of programmed reinforcement, high levels of engagement were observed with the high-interest stimulus, whereas moderate levels of engagement were observed with the moderate- and low-interest stimuli. Contingent edible reinforcement was then programmed given 10 s of consecutive engagement. Decreases in engagement and corresponding increases in other responses that had historically been reinforced with the edible reinforcers were observed with the high interest stimulus. Results of subsequent discovery research suggested that levels of engagement were disrupted by the contingent provision of the edible reinforcer, which may have functioned as a discriminative stimulus that occasioned competing responses.

The penile plythesmograph is a device that is commonly used with sex offenders to measure penile tumescence in the presence of various stimuli (e.g., videos of adults and prepubescent children). Showing arousal to deviant stimuli (e.g., videos of prepubescent children) has been shown to be a significant predictor of re-offense. An assumption in the field of sex offender assessment and rehabilitation is that increases in penile tumescence, once observed, are due to the age and gender of the presented stimulus. The pictures and videos that are often used as stimuli are highly complex; they often vary across a number of features (e.g., hair color, skin color, clothing type) leaving open the possibility that one of the other stimulus features, besides age and gender, are controlling the penile tumescence. The purpose of this study was to assess what effects these different features might have on the outcomes of plythesmograph assessments. Each participant was exposed to three different videos of each specific age and gender category (e.g., female 8-9-years-old), using commercially available film clips designed for such purposes. The videos differed across a number of features (e.g., skin color, clothing type). Preliminary results indicate that stimulus features other than age and gender play an important role in assessment outcomes.

Several methods of analyzing descriptive data to investigate behavior-consequence relations have been proposed and debated in recent years. Yules Q (YQ; Yule & Kendall, 1957), a statistic derived from the odds ratio, is one such method gaining increased recognition as the standard for quantifying behavior-consequence relations in children with developmental disabilities (Yoder & Feuer, 2000). An alternative method that has received relatively less attention but that nevertheless shows promise is contingency space analysis (CSA; Gibbon, Berryman, & Thompson, 1974; Matthews, Shimoff, & Catania, 1987; Martens, DiGennaro, Reed, Szczech, & Rosenthal, 2008). CSA involves a comparison of conditional probabilities and provides a visual representation of the sequential relation in operant space. In the present study, we identified two distinct points in contingency space for which the YQ statistic was the same. We then approximated schedules of reinforcement for each point and compared the effects of each schedule on response patterns in mice via an A-B-A-B reversal design.

One condition that has been considered important in repeated measures designs is if the different conditions are independent. In addition, sphericity is a condition to be met to define the degrees of freedom. When sphericity is found, it can be supposed that the variances between conditions are almost the same. Compound symmetry is a condition that shows that the different conditions in a repeated measures experiment are independent. In this work we show how compound symmetry is calculated and how a hypothesis of independence of conditions is reliably accepted. We show with a data base how to calculate a variance-covariance matrix and how to evaluate the hypothesis that the compound symmetry condition is met, and the independence of conditions.

As a researcher working with humans, it is important to know if the behavior of subjects, with regard to participation, varies as a function of time. Our subject pool often consists of college students, but because conditions are so different in the beginning of the semester compared to the end of the semester (i.e. finals), it is expected that responding will be different. Not only are conditions different, but the individuals who choose to participate in the beginning of the semester are also different from those who participate toward the end. This study was available to participants during the first 3 weeks (Time 1), and again during the last 3 weeks of the semester (Time 2). Participants were students at the University of Nevada, Reno, who were enrolled in an introductory psychology course. They were asked to complete a delayed match-to-sample task for 220 trials, in which delays were 2 or 5 seconds. Data from both timings will be compared for similarities and differences. If differences are observed, we can then further investigate which variables contribute to these differences; as well as research that will allow us to investigate a more homogeneous sample.

This work aimed to assess Catania's alternative concept of the operant empirically with hens. A coloured rectangle against a black background was displayed on a LCD monitor. An infrared matrix was mounted to the front of the LCD monitor recorded the location of all responses. In the first Experiment pecking the rectangle was produced using an autoshaping procedure. In the next experiment responding anywhere on the strip was reinforced. Then the active, reinforced zone of the rectangle was reduced based on a median split of the of the present response location distribution. The participants had no visible cue demarcating active and inactive zones of the rectangle, yet in accordance with Catania's operant, responding across all participants came to fall within the active, reinforced zone of the rectangle. The results: shifts in response distributions in relation to the changes in contingencies, offer empirical support for Catania's operant in terms of positive reinforcement across a single parameter of responding.

Self-editing behavior is a complex response-class not extensively studied in behavior analysis. Three experiments here test several possible controlling variables for self-editing during composition by college students. A keystroke-logging program measured components of editing including pauses, reviews, and edit types. Experiment 1 investigated whether available pre-response time (PRT) affected writers' self-editing components and found that the average pause length during composition was longer following a shorter PRT than following a longer PRT. Participants also reviewed the prompt more in the short PRT condition. Moreover, PRT differentially affected substitution edits by participants higher and lower on a measure of print exposure; substitutions may serve different functions for high and low print exposure writers. Experiment 2 assesses whether type of emotional experience requested by the prompt affects self-editing components. Data suggest participants edit more when prompted to write about negative experiences compared to positive or neutral experiences. Experiment 3 investigates whether perceived audience (professor vs. peer) affects self-editing components and whether prior feedback (positive vs. negative) influences self-editing of subsequent writing. These experiments confirm the influence of variables predicted by Skinner in Verbal Behavior and extend understanding of self-editing as a complex response-class.

The Tower of London (TOL) is a task that has proved successful for the study of problem solving in adult and child populations. The TOL has been used to assess the bebavior of planning and strategic thinking. As a flexible tool, the TOL has parallels to the conditional discrimination procedures traditionally used by behavioral researchers in the study of complex behavior. Both tools allow us: (a) to vary the conditions of stimulus trial to trial,(b) to establish matching relationships between the different stances of stimulus,(c) to train and evaluate performances from different levels of complexity of the task,for example the number of movements, dimensions and relations of stimulus (d) to make comparisons between age groups. The purpose of this paper was to evaluate the methodological characteristics of three versions of TOL to explore complex processes. Three versions of the TOL were used (Traditional, Modificated 1 and Modificated 2). Participants were41 psychology students divided into three groups. Each group was faced with a version of TOL. The number of moves to reach the correct solution, excess movements and duration of each trial was recorded. The results showed significant differences between the three towers in the variables measured only in blocks 5 and 6 moves. On the other hand strategies reported by participants were varied but similar between groups. The results are discussed in terms of the implications of the use of the TOL as a tool to study complex behavior

The purpose of this study was to verify the emergence of tacts and mands and the rule-following behavior through listener training. Participant was one intellectually disabled child7-years-old. The experimental stimuli were three six-stimuli sets. Set A consisted of signs of Brazilian Sign Language for safe box, key, bottle, bottle opener, box, and straw, presented in digital video clips through computer tasks. Stimulus Set B consisted of corresponding object pictures to the signs and stimulus Set C, the real objects. Rule-following test consisted of presenting the signaled instruction "Give me the key [bottle opener or straw]" with the real objects. Next, AB were taught, through matching-to-sample tasks. After criterion, the emergence of tacts and mand relations were tested. Finally, rule following was re-introduced. The results showed emergence of tact and mand relations as well as the emergence of rule-following behavior. However, the rule-following test was very similar with the computer tasks. The next step will be conducting new tests to verify the transfer of rule-following repertoire for a more complex situation and also observe some pre-requisites in order to verify the emergence of construct/following rules behaviors through speaker or listener training.

Research on perseveration has indicated that this verbal behavior can be maintained by social attention (Rehfeldt & Chambers; 2003). However, when exploring verbal operant form of perseveration, the function may appear differently (Ewing, Magee, & Ellis; 2002). The present study analyzed perseverative mands of a 16-year-old male diagnosed with autism. The functional analysis was conducted in an ABAB pairwise design comparing tangible and toy play conditions. Initially the participant was reinforced with access to the tangible item contingent upon perseveration and all other behaviors were ignored. During the second phase of the analysis perseveration was ignored and aggression was reinforced. During the initial phase no aggression occurred, however, once perseveration was placed on extinction the rates of aggression increased. The next phase of the functional analysis is to return to the initial phase of analysis. The two conditions were compared to determine that perseveration must be attended to in order to treat aggression. Implications for treatment will be discussed.

Previous research has shown that there is an error in how people attribute their own behavior in comparison to other's behavior (Ross & Nisbett, 1991). It is suggested that this is due to the access to our own behavioral history (Storms, 1973). The pattern is of special interests to behavior analysts, for the common pattern conflicts with behavior-analytic interpretation (Hineline, 1990). The current study examines whether, in the observation of a third-person, the number of the types of stimuli will act as an increase in the account leading to more situational attributions. Types of stimuli were defined as audio, video, and textual presentations. The participants viewed six vignettes and were asked to explain why the character acted in that manner in narrative format for the first three and self-report for the latter three. The language used by the participants was coded in terms of environmental or dispositional attributions in reference to temporal scales, word use, and tone. There was no significance in the number of the types of stimuli shown and the attribution bias of the behavior.

The purpose of this study is to test the reliability and validity of anxiety Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) designed to measure the aversive functional dimensions of verbal stimulus "anxiety". Thirty-two undergraduate students completed SPS, FNE and both IAT and IRAP (Time 1). A week from the experiment at Time 1, 24 participants completed the Anxiety-IRAP for testing the stability (Time 2). To test the reliability of Anxiety IRAP, we calculated Cronbach's alpha. The a was .91. For examining the test retest stability, we used correlational analysis. The results revealed the correlations betweenTime 1 and Time 2 were .80 (p < .01; Anxiety D-IRAP) and .65 (p < .01; Calmness D-IRAP). These results indicate that Anxiety IRAP has a good internal consistency and stability. To test the validity of Anxiety IRAP, one-sample t-tests were conducted. The results showed that each mean D-IRAP scores differed significantly from zero. Confirming our hypothesis, correlational analyses between Anxiety IRAP and sel-reported measures revealed no significance and week correlation was found for Anxiety IAT. These results indicate that Anxiety IRAP can measure the aversive functional dimensions of verbal stimulus "anxiety".

Reynolds (1961) defined behavioral contrast as "a change in the rate of responding during the presentation of one stimulus, in a direction away from the rate of responding prevailing during the presentation of a different stimulus." Since Reynolds' initial display of behavioral contrast in pigeons in 1961, the area has received extensive empirical research and attention. Many researchers have suggested theories as to why contrast occurs (Mash, 1969) yet there has been little agreement. Despite the large body of research on behavioral contrast using nonhuman subjects, very few researchers have examined the phenomenon with human subjects (Rovee-Collier & Capatides, 1979). Some of these applied researchers suggest that behavioral contrast occurs frequently in human behavior and may be displayed in social behavior (Ivey, 1993), verbal behavior (Tarbox & Hayes, 2005), discrimination training (Terrace, 1974), and behavior modification of individuals with disabilities (OBrien, 1968). In the current review, the researcher conducted electronic and ancestral searches of behavioral contrast studies that involved human subjects over the last 50 years (1960-2010). Using previously described methods, the author identified 10 unpublished theses/dissertations and 13 published studies meeting search criteria. Finally, the researcher discusses his findings and future implications of applied research regarding behavioral contrast.

Positive behavioral contrast may provide an animal model for increases in gambling behavior observed in pathological gambling. Chasing the bet refers to an increase in gambling behavior following exposure to losses. Similarly, positive behavioral contrast refers to an increase in responding following exposure to reduced rates of reinforcement. Ardabili, Parker , & Melville (2010) provided an initial demonstration of positive contrast using an animal model in which signaled time-outs (losses) replaced programmed reinforcers during the contrast phase of the procedure. The present study asks if the size of positive contrast will vary as a function of the rate of time-out (loss) during the contrast component. Four male Long-Evans rats will press levers in four between session contrast procedures that include a baseline and contrast phase. During baseline phases, a multiple variable-ratio 15 variable-ratio 15 schedule will program reinforcers. In all baselines, 10% of programmed reinforcers will be replaced by 5-sec time-outs. In the contrast phase of each condition, during the second component of the multiple schedule, time-outs will replace 30%, 50%, 70%, or 90% of programmed reinforcers in four different conditions presented in random order. Implications for an animal model of pathological gambling will be presented.

A randomized pretest-posttest was used to determine if choice of outcome would alter the rate of play of gamblers on a slot machine. Participants were exposed to a slot machine to determine baseline rate of play. Next, they were assessed for preference of jackpot consequences including attention (the chance to earn a spot on the "wall of fame"), escape (reduced time in the experiment), tangibles (money on a gift card), and sensory (music during slot play). Finally, participants were exposed to two slot machines on a multiple schedule with a win producing either the most-preferred or least-preferred outcome identified in the paired-choice preference assessment. Results suggest that preferred jackpot reinforcers increased rate of slot play.

Schedule-induced polydipsia occurs when food-deprived rats are exposed to intermittent presentation of food. This behavior is unusual because the rats are not deprived of water and no contingency is arranged between their drinking and the delivery of food. A view of adjunctive behavior, however, proposes that food reinforces drinking by strengthening the entire behavioral repertoire within inter-food intervals (Ardoy and Pellon, 2004). Previous studies from our laboratory showed that schedule-induced polydipsia could be acquired faster and/or to a greater degree if animals received explicit lick-food pairings. In the present research, licking was reinforced according to a tandem fixed ratio (FR) 20 fixed time (FT) 30-s food schedule. Food was delivered 30 sec after the 20th lick for each animal belonging to the 100% group; additional groups were run so that licking controlled food delivery on just 50% or 25% of the inter-food intervals. Asymptotic acquisition of schedule-induced polydipsia was highest in the 100% group, and extinction was slower after partial reinforcement. Reinforcement of licking facilitates the acquisition of schedule-induced polydisia, being both acquisition and extinction affected by the degree of contingency between the response and the consequence as in conventional operant conditioning preparations.

The purpose of this research was to evaluate the acquisition of punctuality as alife skill in students of primary education. Contingencial two systems were used: power-sanction and sharing-sanction. The study included eight students of both sexs in urban elementary school. The students were divided into two groups. It was used a counterbalanced design with pre-test-post-test and a two training phases. The groups were exposed to different sequence: (a) power-sanction and exchange-sanction, and (b) exchange-sanction and power-sanction. Students during the training phase and pre-test-post-test have to concluded a homework with limited hold time and receive feedback for their execution. The results obtained during the training phase and testing showed that students under exchange-sanction contingencies performed better than students exposed to power-sanction contingencies. That is, the first most frequently met the criteria of timeliness set.

On a multiple-schedule of reinforcement, responding is interrupted by extended pauses when a rich component is followed by a lean component. We examined the potential aversive functions of the stimulus correlated with this rich-to-lean transition. Four pigeons pecked a center key (food key) on a multiple schedule with two fixed-ratio components. The rich component ended with 7-s access to grain; the lean ended with 1-s. Each component was correlated with a distinctive key color. In the stimulus-termination conditions, at the beginning of some components, the left key was activated and a peck replaced the color on the food key with white light regardless of whether the ongoing component was rich or lean. In the schedule-termination conditions, at the beginning of some components, the right key was activated and a peck turned off the food key. A second peck on the right key relit the food key. In both conditions, the pigeons tended to peck the termination keys in the presence of the lean stimulus, regardless of the past component. More termination pecks were emitted in the stimulus-termination condition than the schedule-termination condition.

Does explicit training in a specific rule for solving problems aid or inhibit transfer when a new rule is appropriate? Work by BF Skinner and others has suggested that rule governed behavior may be less flexible than behaviors governed by contingencies. In this study college students -77 females and 28 males -were randomly assigned to conditions in which they were either informed or not informed about a rule for solving an unfamiliar number puzzle task. In Part 1, participants in both groups had up to10 minutes to solve 10 problems based on a particular rule, though only one group was explicitly taught. The other group had to discover the rule on their own. However, during this time, all participants received feedback after solving each problem. In Part 2, all participants had up to 30 minutes to solve 16 problems based on a novel rule. No feedback was given during this problem set. Participants who had not been informed about the rule in Part 1 solved significantly more problems in Part 2 than those who had been informed of the rule. Further, male participants in both groups solved significantly more problems in both conditions than did female participants. These results are consistent with findings with children on math word and verbal analogy problems and support the idea that instructed learning may inhibit problem solving flexibility compared to contingency-based learning.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the language as behavior applied to dance learning. That means, observing and developing the speech and body representation. This study on artistic behavior is based on the taxonomy proposal by Ribes and Lopez (1985). Participants in this study werefour girls aged 4 to 6-years-old of the Arts Center Katarsis from Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico. It was an applied, a-within-subject experimental design with repeated measures, consisting of four phases: pretest, training, transfer tests and post-test.Audio-visual material (photographs and video) were used allowingdifferent reference and fixed-motion pair. The participants were trained in the five aptitude levels of the taxonomy. The transfer test was similar to the experimental phase, but with new references and without feedback. The data show that the results on the transfer test and posttest seemed to depend on the acquisition level during training phase. The result suggested that observing favored the developing of the speech and body representation.

In the current study, the effects of differential reinforcement in tandem with an overcorrection procedure were applied to reading and written homework tasks in a multiple baseline design. During baseline, problem behaviors resulted in task delay via therapist attention. During differential reinforcement and overcorrection, social attention was provided contingent on instruction compliance and the duration of the homework assignment was increased contingent on problem behavior using a visual conditioned punisher. During treatment, problem behavior was eliminated during reading assignments and subsequently decreased during written assignments.

The current study compares the predictive potential of several factors implicated in student performance on academic exams: critical thinking ability, participation in class discussion, and accurate completion of homework assignments. The roles of critical thinking and participation in class discussion in exam performance have been examined and well-supported. Homework completion has long been assumed to be beneficial to student performance, but has not been as thoroughly evaluated in the literature. Inasmuch as homework assignments may task the student with analyzing course topics and providing a detailed and accurate explanation, it should provide the opportunity to review course information and practice providing a convergent response. In the current study the accuracy and completeness of student responses on course exams was evaluated and compared to critical thinking and participation in class discussion as a predictor of student exam performance. The results indicate that while critical thinking is a consistent predictor of exam performance, homework questions often proved to be the most potent predictor. Thus instructors may do well to reinforce students for accurate and thorough completion of their homework assignments.

Classroom management is a challenging aspect of teaching, particularly with respect to managing transitions. A Modified Color Wheel System (M-CWS), an intervention which targets efficient within-classroom transitions through development of activity-specific rules and procedures, was employed in a 4th-grade general education classroom. A withdrawal design was used to evaluate the effects of the intervention on the on-task (OT) behavior of 7 students. The standard 3-rule set CWS procedure was modified to include a 4th set of rules designed to situate stimulus control for cooperative learning activities. Immediately after the M-CWS was applied, OT increased. In subsequent phases, OT immediately decreased when the M-CWS was withdrawn and immediately increased when it was re-applied. With no overlapping data across baseline and M-CWS phases, the data provide compelling evidence that the M-CWS enhanced OT behavior. Results of the study add to the growing literature base supporting the internal and external validity of the CWS. As no two classrooms are identical, contextually-valid classroom management procedures should be effective, generalizable, and flexible enough to be easily modified to address specific needs. This study provides evidence for the contextual validity of the CWS by demonstrating how educators can adapt the system to fit their context.

In today's society writing skills are an important part of everyday communication and socioeconomic status. The syntactic maturity of ESL learners was evaluated using the sentence combining technique of teaching the correct usage of adjectives and adverb in chapter format. There were a total of four participants in sixth or seventh grade that spoke both Spanish and English. The participants writing quality was evaluated in each phase. In baseline and post intervention the participants were required to write stories based on writing prompts and the usage of adjectives and adverbs was counted as well as simple and complex sentences. In intervention, the participants completed worksheets which explained different ways to use adjectives and adverbs for a total of nine chapters. A fluency check was also conducted throughout the study to see if teaching adjective and adverbs in chapter format increased their ability to identify them in reading passages. The results showed that one participant decreased in the amount of simple sentences and slightly increased the amount of complex sentences andshe slightly increased in the amount of adjectives used. Whereas the other participant did not show any significant changes. Future research should continue using the sentence combining technique especially with ESL students.

Despite the importance of writing and students difficulties in mastering the skill, there is limited research on the effectiveness of comprehensive writing instruction programs. Danoff, Harris, and Graham (1993) found that students demonstrated significant improvement in their writing over a relatively short period of time when they were provided with explicit strategic instruction. The purpose of the current investigation was to develop and evaluate a comprehensive strategic writing program (first draft writing instruction, FDWI) designed to impact the performance of early primary grade students on writing narratives. FDWI incorporates four types of writing instruction: brainstorming, planning, drafting, and revising. The lesson plans include methods of direct instruction, modeling of target skills, and guided and independent practice. For all of the participating students, the FDWI program resulted in an increase in the overall quality of student writing as well as an increase in the number and quality of story elements included in their writing. Thus, FDWI seems to be a promising writing intervention for primary grade students.

Development of social skills among at-risk students has always been a major concern for educators. Teachers should utilize empirically-validated instructional strategies such as classwide peer tutoring (CWPT) that yield academic improvement among diverse students (e.g., special needs) in a variety of educational settings (e.g., physical education); but also emphasize peer interactions to occasion social skills acquisition. This 27-day study was conducted in an eighth grade physical education class at an urban charter school. Physical education was held three times per week for 45 minutes. Participants (N=2) were Hispanic and African-American at-risk boys with social and motivational deficits. An A-B-A-B design was utilized to examine the effects of CWPT on social skills performance during three karate tasks. The dependant measures were appropriately giving and receiving feedback from a peer. Baseline involved the teachers regular instruction. The CWPT intervention involved students practicing in pairs and reciprocally tutoring each other. Findings of all tasks, presented as frequency measure, show low stable social skills data during baseline; and a 5-7 average increase of social behaviors during the CWPT intervention for both students, despite variable data during the intervention. CWPT was more effective in increasing social skills during the first implementation than the second one.

Peer-assisted learning (PAL) is a behaviorally-based instructional approach that involves students tutoring, modeling and assessing their peers' performance. The effects of PAL strategies in education are widely documented yet few studies investigated its effectiveness in physical education. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of peer mediated accountability (PMA), a PAL variation, on students' learning of karate skills. This 19-day study was conducted in an inner-city charter school for students at-risk. Participants were six high, average and low-skilled third grade students. A-B-A-B single subject withdrawal design was employed to examine the effects of PMA on students' correct performance of karate skills.Phase A included the teacher's typical instruction. PMA was delivered in phase B. Correct performance was recorded when students displayed the stated critical elements. Performance data of a 4-minute task are presented as percentage measure of response. Results indicate higher percentage of correct trials during the intervention for all participants, despite variability and overlaps between typical instruction and PMA. More successful results were demonstrated among the average-skilled students. The intervention was moderately effective for the high- and low-skilled students. Other PMA pairing arrangements might improve results among high- and low-skilled students.

Physical education (PE) is a less-structured learning environment in which students are required to socially cooperate with others despite challenging conditions such as extraneous physical or emotional demands. Classwide peer tutoring (CWPT) is a teaching strategy that inherently capitalizes on peer interactions and can be conducive for the development of social skills in PE. This 20-day study was conducted at an inner-city charter school. PE was held twice per week for 45 minutes. Participants (n=4) were third grade at-risk students. Two boys were psychomotor highly-skilled; one of them was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The two girls were psychomotor low-skilled. An A-B-A-B design was conducted to examine the effects of CWPT on social skills performance during two martial arts tasks. Social skills were defined as students ability to appropriately provide and receive feedback (verbally and/or nonverbally) from a peer. Baseline entailed the teachers typical instruction. The CWPT intervention entailed same-level pairs and reciprocal engagement in tutoring. Results of the two tasks repeatedly demonstrated increase in social skills performance during CWPT for one boy and the two girls, despite variable data for the girls. Average increase was 8-10 behaviors per task. CWPT was effective in enhancing social skills in third grade PE.

One relational frame not yet extensively researched within the relational frame theory is frames of causation. In the pilot study (Parrett, McCuller, Kelso, Ninness & Rumph, 2010) we used four sets of arbitrary stimuli including pictures, nonsense words, gestures, and causal pictures. A pre-test was administered which tested all relations. A-B and B-C equivalence relations were trained across four sets of stimuli. Following the training, a post-test was administered that tested for mutual and combinatorial entailment for A, B, and C. Next, we trained D-A causal relations across two sets of stimuli. Last, the same post-test was administered again that tested for mutual and combinatorial entailment for A, B, and C. This post test also tested for combinatorial entailment for D-A and generalization for D-B and D-C. Only one student completed the study. See the below attachment for results and graphs of the results. This poster will present results of a systematic replication of Parrett, et al. (2010) in which participants will be at-risk preschoolers and thus have less advanced language skills. In addition, results suggest that simplifying the response requirements from four choices to three choices when presented with a match to sample procedure hastens acquisition of trained relations and decreases participant attrition. Linking pre-established relations to a causal stimulus can prove helpful in research and in education. Research regarding a causal relationship between stimuli will be an asset to the already established relational frames.

This poster will present findings from a federally funded research project, BEST in CLASS, that has investigated the use of a multi-component classroom-based intervention that targets early childhood teachers use of behaviorally based instructional strategies to ameliorate chronic problem behavior in high risk young children. To date, participants have included 14 early childhood teachers and 25 children (ages 3-4) identified as at-risk for emotional and behavioral disorders. The BEST in CLASS intervention employs a 14-week coaching model designed to increase teachers' use of effective instructional practices in their classrooms. The multi-component intervention includes: 1) precorrection, 2) increasing pre-academic and social opportunities to respond, 3) contingent use of behavior-specific praise, and 5) providing instructive and corrective feedback. Data were collected on teachers' rate of instructional practices and children's problem behavior prior to (pretest) and following coaching (posttest). Findings indicate increases in teachers' use of contingent specific praise, opportunities to respond, corrective feedback, and instructional feedback and decreases in children's problem behaviors following implementation of the BEST in CLASS model. These findings will be presented as well as additional data being collected during the 2010-2011 school year.

The purpose this study was to determine video prompting delivered on an iPod Touch is an effective tool for teaching cooking skills to high school students with autism spectrum disorders. The study also assessed whether or not the iPod Touch will be effective as an "electronic cookbook"by which students could independently make food preparation selections. In addition, we wanted to determine if video-based instruction delivered on an iPod Touch is practical when implemented by a classroom teacher as part of the ongoing programming of the school day. Two high school students with autism spectrum disorders were taught to access video prompts on an iPod Touch. Video prompting was implemented sequentially across the three tasks (i.e., when each student reaches a criterion level on the first skill, instruction will begin on the second skill followed by the third skill ) in the context of a multiple baseline across behaviors design. Both students learned to operate the iPod independently and learned to independently prepare all three cooking tasks. The classroom teacher was able to implement all video-based instruction on the iPods while delivering simultaneous instruction to other students in the home economics class.

Although there is little research to support the use of redirection, this behavior management strategy has been recommended for use in the classroom. The purpose of the current study was to assess the effects of redirection on disruptive behavior when the child was redirected to a relatively more preferred center or to a relatively less preferred center to the one in which disruptive behavior occurred. First, the children's most and least preferred centers were identified by recording time allocation in nine concurrently available centers via a group momentary time sample procedure. Then, following a baseline phase which consisted of delivering a mild reprimand contingent on disruptive behavior, two conditions were alternated in a counterbalanced order in which, contingent on disruptive behavior the experimenter delivered a mild reprimand and redirected the child to either a relatively more or less preferred center. For two of the three participants, an overall decrease in disruptive behavior was observed in both conditions. For one participant, redirection to a low preferred center increased disruptive behavior and redirection to a high preferred center resulted in a low stable rate of disruptive behavior.

The presentation of edibles in a school environment has been controversial, however past studies have shown that access to non-contingent edibles or "snacks" increased on-task behavior, decreased problem behavior and enhanced academic performance. The current study examined the effects of non-contingent reinforcement presented in a 4th grade math classroom by the teacher on on-task and off-task behavior. The participants were four male students-three typically developing students and one student diagnosed with a learning disability. The study used the Behavioral Observation of Students in Schools (B.O.S.S) data collection system in order to track on-task and off-task behavior on a partial and momentary time sampling system. An alternating treatment design was used and participants were observed across 27 sessions. The study compared group verses individual data collection recording methods; inconsistencies were found when reporting on task behavior. The results of this study showed a small decrease in off-task behavior and increased academic performance (averaging 13.8% higher) on days that snacks were presented non-contingently.

Attendance contracts were designed and implemented to increase school attendance, participation, and academic achievement for high school students who missed multiple days of school per semester and who struggled with passing classes. Contracts utilized rewards and consequences from the school and from their parents. At the beginning of each week the student met with an administrator, behavior specialist, or counselor to determine what they wanted to earn that week for attending all of their classes. The parents were also responsible for having that discussion during dinner the night before school for the week. Daily (dessert, staying up later, or candy) and weekly (movies, money, staying at a friend's house) rewards were given for good attendance. Consequences for missing classes or school were also given. Consequences at home were: loss of video games, cell phone, or an extra chore. At school consequences were: lunch detention, campus beautification, or after school detention. The majority of the students increased their attendance at school and in their classes, and decreased the number of classes failed per quarter and semester.

We examined the use of money as a motivator for academic progress. Subjects were given money for meeting fluency aims on computerized academics, completing assignments and other academic behaviors as determined by education staff. Subjects lost money for defined inappropriate behaviors. Money could be spent on shopping, food or at the contract store, located in the school. Monetary rewards were individualized, based on subjects' academic strengths and weaknesses. Money earned was always displayed on the subject's computer screen. Data will be presented showing the effects this had on academic progress, to include lessons passed, timings completed and overall academic effort.

Three jars is a group-oriented contingency program in which all contingency components are randomized and remain unknown to pupils. The intervention was made operational through the use of three, opaque jars: (a) Jar #1- target behavior(s) and criteria, (b) Jar #2- contingencies (i.e., whole class, small groups, and individual pupils), and (c) Jar #3- rewards. Each day, teachers privately selected target behavior(s), criteria, and target students from the first two jars (i.e., first jar contained names of target behaviors and criteria; second jar contained paper slips with "whole class", "table 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5" and "pupil's names" written on them). Selected paper slips determined which target behavior(s), and whose behavior was monitored that day. All target behaviors and criteria were posted publicly, but pupils were unaware of which and whose behavior was being monitored each day. At the end of each session, teachers announced whether the daily criteria were reached; if so, paper slips were selected from the third jar (rewards) and consequences were provided to the entire class. Three jars produced immediate and noticeable improvements across a range of pupils' academic and behavioral performance.

Single contingencies are a common treatment of choice because an individuals own behavior determines access to reinforcement. However, when two or more individuals are involved, group contingencies present an alternative to behavior analysts. Specifically, with interdependent contingencies, access to reinforcement is dependent on every individual within the group meeting the criterion. If only one member fails to meet the criterion, reinforcement is lost for the whole group. In the current investigation, an ABAB design was used to evaluate the effects of single and group contingencies on the rates of problem behavior with two elementary school aged children diagnosed with autism. During baseline, problem behaviors resulted in attention. During interdependent group contingencies, participants were taught to request and wait for the delivery of reinforcer. Following a return to baseline, problem behavior increased to high levels, however once the single contingency was reintroduced, problem behavior again decreased.

Clocklight systems have been used in classrooms and common school areas to increase "on-task" behavior and decrease undesired behaviors. A ClockLight typically consists of an analog clock connected to a light, with both devices being controlled by a wireless remote. The clock accrues time and the light is illuminated when clearly defined expectations are being met by the group. The entire group is eligible for a reward when goals for the amount of "clock time" are reached. The purpose of the following study was to (a) evaluate the effectiveness of the ClockLight System in an after-school setting, (b) assess sustainability by having teachers run the program, and (c) measure after-school program staff satisfaction with the ClockLight tool.

Although the primary premise of schoolwide positive behavioral support (SWPBS) is the provision of positive supports to all students who meet behavioral expectations will result in fewer behavior problems, surprisingly few studies have investigated the effects of various positive reinforcement rates (RR) on office discipline referral (ODR) rates. In the present study, a statewide PBS Program Evaluation Database System provided schoolwide ODR and RR data from the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 school years. Forty-four data entries from 35 schools within 11 different school districts were included in this study. To ensure schools implemented SWPBS programs with fidelity, only schools that possessed overall School-wide Evaluation Tool ratings of 80% or higher and reported monthly ODR and RR data for September through May were included. Descriptive statistics of monthly ODRs, RRs, and positive-to-negative indicator ratios for the overall sample as well as for individual schools were calculated. Results revealed no significant differences on RRs, ODRs, or positive-to-negative indicator ratios between different types of schools, but suggested schools are not appropriately responding to schoolwide data. Poster attendees will learn about the relationship between RRs and ODRs, limitations to interpreting statewide data, and procedural considerations when implementing and making SWPBS program decisions.

Incentive programs are widely used in organizations and funds provided for their development and maintenance should be carefully allotted, especially during periods of economic difficulty. The key components of creating a successful incentive program were examined and common incentive programs were compared to determine their ability to meet the outlined criteria. Contingency, timeliness, specificity, and value were found to be the most crucial components necessary when building an incentive program. Further examination of discrepancies between what literature suggests and what is actually practiced was performed. A survey was conducted of Fortune 500 companies' usage of various incentives and the responses indicated the troubled economy has produced a shift towards intangible forms of incentives and recognition, away from economically valuable items. The research suggests that incentive programs developed with behavioral based solutions promote loyalty and dedication amongst employees, a key to keeping top performers and encouraging others to achieve high performance levels.

Financial literacy is an important skill for adults functioning in mainstream society. In this study, five women residing in a drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility who worked in a therapeutic workplace were taught budgeting skills through a financial management class and feedback. Participants were asked to complete pretests and posttests before and following a budgeting class. Participants who attended the class could also choose to receive weekly feedback on their spending in the therapeutic workplace. Saving of points earned in a therapeutic workplace was evaluated using a multiple baseline design. Participants who attended the class and chose to receive feedback increased mean weekly savings by 47%, while participants who did not choose to receive feedback and only attended the financial class decreased their average savings per week by 53%. Women recovering from addiction can learn basic budgeting and personal financial management skills and learn how to save money, but both a financial class and feedback are necessary.

For many, the term applied behavior analysis is synonymous with treatments for autism. For others, it is a term which evokes the image of discrete-trial-teaching or table top instruction. Yet, for others, it is a useful approach for weight loss, smoking cessation, and managing organizational behavior. The purpose of the Dissemination of Behavior Analysis Special Interest Group (DBA SIG) is to disseminate the science of human behavior to the public at large through the promulgation of easy to understand explanations of what exactly this science is, and to help society realize the potential of this science as well as dispel myths which detract from its positive image. This SIG should be of interest to every behavior analyst as without the support of the population, our science will never reach its potential. Every behavior analyst should be continually working to put forward a positive image about our science and its practitioners. The purpose of this poster will be to represent ways for ABAI members to contribute to the accurate dissemination of behavior analysis as well as detail some current trends of the public's perception of the science in practice.

This poster will present a behavioral definition of knowledge and will include data regarding participants acceptance of the definition. Gettier (1963) challenged the long-accepted definition of knowledge as justified true belief through the use of examples that depicted a person having justified true belief while appearing not to have knowledge. It has been noted that the lack of knowledge apparent in Gettier cases is merely intuitive. That is, there is no direct proof that knowledge is lacking. It is simply the case that most people reading a Gettier case would likely agree that knowledge is not present despite justified true belief. The current study will add to this literature by introducing a behavioral account of justified true belief. I asked participants to read a series of Gettier-style cases that I created using behavioral definitions of justified, true, and belief. The data so far indicate that participants are more likely to say that the examples represent knowledge when the examples are based on the behavioral definitions of justified, true, and belief.

The purpose of the experiment was to test the effects of a peer-yoked contingency peer tutoring game on the acquisition of tacts by the tutor, as well as the number of verbal operants emitted by the participants in pre and post probe sessions. Two participants were selected from CABAS School located in a suburban area. Both students were 8-years-old with a diagnoses of autism. The design of the experiment was a multiple probe design across participants. Both participants functioned at speaker/listener and emergent reader/writer levels of verbal behavior. The dependent variables for this study were the correct verbal operants that participants emitted during free play and the acquisition of tacts that both participants learned through teaching each other with the learn units. The independent variable was peer tutoring with a peer-yoked contingency game. The results of the study showed that the peer-yoked contingency game increased both participants' emissions of verbal operants during free play sessions after both phases of the intervention. The study also demonstrated that both participants learned tacts as the tutee and the tutor during the first phase of the intervention when2D picture tacts were used, but not during the second phase when roman numerals were used as the stimuli.

This study investigated the effects of a peer-yoked contingency tact game with amultiple exemplar instruction (MEI) component on the acquisition of observational learning and naming. The participants were 2 preschool students with disabilities. Both participants were males aged 4-years-old, and were missing the observational learning and naming capabilities. The dependent variables during this study were observational learning and Naming. The design was a multiple probe design across participants. Pre-probe sessions were conducted simultaneously across both participants to control for maturation. Pre- and post-probes were conducted following each intervention, as well. The study demonstrated a functional relation between the peer-yoked contingency tact game and the acquisition of observational learning and naming.

We tested the effects of the social listener reinforcement game on the number of verbal operants emitted by two elementary aged students diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, who had emitted limited verbal operants in non-instructional settings. A multiple probe design across participants and behaviors was utilized, in which 15 min of pre- and post-intervention probes were conducted. The independent variable was the implementation of the social listener reinforcement game package that included four games designed to increase each participants opportunities to respond as a listener and a speaker, and to receive reinforcement for emitting verbal operants. The dependent variables in this study were defined as the number of mands, tacts, sequelics, "wh" questions, conversational units, vocal approvals and disapprovals emitted by participants towards each other and peers during pre- and post-intervention probes. The present study tested the effects of all four components of the social listener reinforcement game, "I Spy", "20 Questions", "Bingo" and "Peer Tutoring". The results of the study showed that the intervention increased the number of verbal operants emitted by all participants based on pre- and post-intervention probe data. Self-talk as conversational units also increased for all participants post-intervention. Keywords: social listener reinforcement, verbal operants, self-talk.

Contingency statements, or rules, are often used during meals for children with food refusal. It is not clear if contingency statements (rules) and prompts are necessary to increase consumption, or if programmed contingencies alone are sufficient. Thus, the purpose of this study was to (a) evaluate if the inclusion of rules facilitates acceptance, and reductions in food refusal, as compared to a no-rules condition, and (b) determine if children who engage in food refusal and their caregivers indicate a preference for rules or no rules. To date, one individual with food refusal has participated. Using an alternating treatments design, rules and no-rules conditions were compared to a baseline condition using a reversal design. Later, using a concurrent operants arrangement, child preference for rules or no-rules was evaluated. Results showed that levels of refusal and acceptance were similar for the rules and no-rules conditions, and both resulted in increases in food consumption. In addition, when the child was given the opportunity to choose between the two conditions, a clear preference was not observed.

Research supports significant correlations between affective instructionand a decline in discipline problems as well as improvements inacademic performance (Gresham and Elliott, 2007; Roeser, Eccles, & Sameroff, 2000). In students with autism/cognitive disabilities, problem social behavior can be compounded by other social and learning deficits. Purpose: To evaluate a behavioral interventionplan (BIP), across school settings, of a student with cognitive disabilities exhibiting poor classroom communication skills (i.e. interruptions, unsolicited comments, highly repetitive questions). Methodology: 10 minute frequencies recorded in every period (6 classes/lunch/PE), for 5 consecutive days by 2 different teachers/school staff (to insure interrater reliability and social validity of behavior definition). After baseline, the behavioral intervention (treatment) will be implemented in the class with lowest average frequency of problem behavior. Treatment includes a “report card” that allows 5 questions and 5 comments/class; differential reinforcement by teacher, and, contingent upon the student achieving this approximation to target behavior, receipt of an immediate reinforcer (free time). Data will be collected monthly. Based on progress, settings will be added incrementally to continue shaping toward target behavior. Results: Baseline and 1 month results including paired student’s t-test and chi-square analyses as appropriate.

The purposes of this study were to figure out difference of the linguistic traits in Korean Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Childre-3 (K-WISC-3), Executive Functional (EF) Test and Sentence Complete Test (SCT) among ADHD and maladjusted andtypically developingchildren. The participants were 19 elementary students who live in Daegu and Kyungsang-do (3 in ADHD, 8 in maladjustment, 8 in control). The linguistic characters were analyzed using ANOVA and post-hoc, also we made a category of similar traits and reviewed it after taking Korean Education Developmental Institute - Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (KEDI-WISC), EF task and SCT. The results of this study were as follow: First, the analysis of variances of Information, similarities, cocabulary, and comprehension index indicated significant mean difference for ADHD and maladjusted groups, with the lower scores in these groups rather than in Control. In post-hoc, the maladjusted group showed significant mean differences for similarities from the control, and this is true for ADHD and maladjusted groups in comprehension index. Secondly, word fluency of EF's task indicated significant mean difference for ADHD and maladjusted groups, with the lower scores in these groups rather in Control. In post-hoc, maladjusted group showed significant lower scores from the control. Third, maladjusted groups and ADHD written SCT and they made a mistake in spelling. Also ADHD groups were qualitatively different from maladjusted group in writing skill. Therefore, this study showed difference these group's linguistic traits among ADHD, maladjusted andtypically developingchildren. So, we suggestdeveloping educational programs for linguistic skills for each group.

The current study is the second in a series that evaluates the degradation of stimulus control over echoic (ECH) responses across a time delay. The authors assessed 11 typically-developing children on the accuracy of self-echoic (SE) responses that were evoked following a 5-s delay from the initial response. The assessment used is described in Esch et al. (2010). All participants scored at or above 50% on echoic trials and no participants emitted more correct self-echoic response than echoic responses. The authors calculated a difference score for each participant by subtracting their SE score from their ECH score. The mean difference was 3.27 (SD 5 2.10). This is compared to a mean difference of 1.0 (SD 5 2.08) in the Esch et al. study when a 2-s delay was used. The authors concluded that, when an auditory stimulus is presented and the opportunity to respond is delayed more than just a few seconds, self-echoics may be important sources of added stimulus control so that the listener response will occur when given the opportunity.