Association for Behavior Analysis International

Contingent Skin Shock (CSS), within a comprehensive behavior program, is a useful (often life-saving) procedure for a small group of individuals who engage in various topographies of severe problem behaviors that are refractory to typical behavioral interventions. Opponents of CSS are often unwilling to weigh the associated risks and benefits, state that all problem behaviors can be effectively treated without CSS, and opine that skin shock is not appropriate for people who are cognitively typical. Here, we present a risk benefit analysis amongst CSS, psychotropic medications, and restraint. In addition, we describe problem behaviors that, at this time, cannot be successfully treated without CSS. Finally, we describe the usefulness of CSS with cognitively typical individuals.

Skinners vision for behavior analysis was that it would become a mainstream science pertinent to both the minor and major problems of everyday human life. Clearly his vision has not been realized. Behavioral analysis has produced extraordinary findings in its basic domain and made multiple major contributions in several applied domainsbut the best known of these contributions have been in the tails of the normal distribution of human problems (e.g., developmental disabilities). General applicability of behavior analysis to human problems is still seen as very limited by those outside the field. If behavior analysis is to become a mainstream science it will simply have to address more mainstream problems. Potential examples are virtually limitless. Behavioral methods can be or have been used to address such problems as the behavior problems of powerful despots who have yet to graduate from kindergarten, soiling and wetting--not just in children but also in the aged, other behavior problems in the elderly, sleep and sleeplessness, anxious behavior, depressed behavior, andno kidding--male fertility. This presentation will cover a range of problems that have either benefited from or could benefit from behavior analysis and that are extensive both in terms of the frequency of their occurrence and their relevance to mainstream human life.

The application of behavior analysis to treat behavioral deficits in children with autism spectrum disorder has resulted in substantial progress in improving overall functioning and quality of life. This symposium will provide a summary of research focused on acquisition of a variety of behaviors.

In the 1977 evaluation of Project Follow Through, Direct Instruction (DI) students outperformed control group students and students in the other experimental programs on all academic measures: DI students moved from the 20th percentile (typical performance for children of poverty) to approximately the 50th percentile (typical performance for mainstream students). Research on the effectiveness of DI with other special needs populations has focused predominately on high-incidence disabilities (learning disabilities, communication anbehavior disorders, mild mental retardation) while investigations regarding the effectiveness of DI with low-incidence disabilities (autism, TBImoderate to severe mental retardation) appear infrequently in the literature (e.g. Journal of Direct Instruction, Vol. 5, No. 1). Although anecdotal accounts concerning the effectiveness of DI procedures with the moderate to severe population have been reported (e.g. Filer and Kozma, CCBS Autism Conference, 2006), experimental validation of DI methodology has been infrequent. The present symposium is a review of three single-subject research projects that investigate group vs. individual instruction, the promotion of math and reading fluency development, and responding to WH questions. Positive outcomes and limitations of DI methodology for individuals with moderate to severe disabilities will be discussed and implications for future research will be addressed.

The papers in this symposium will describe low-cost and relatively non-invasive interventions to increase healthy behavior in typically developing adult populations.

Three bodies of research regarding improving parent-child interactions, teaching parenting skills to parents of children with disabilities and helping parents cope with the stress of parenting children with disabilities are presented. The focus of each is to improve parent skills personally, interpersonally, and/or in terms of their interactions with their children.

Making data-based treatment decisions has been and continues to be a hallmark of applied behavior analytic programming. However, the integrity of data collection behavior and measures of interobserver agreement may influence the interpretation of the data thus influencing treatment decisions. The presentations in this symposium present evaluations regarding the occurrence of data collection, the accuracy of the data collected, and measures of interobserver agreement. The first study examined the effects of an antecedent intervention and an antecedent intervention with feedback and public posting on staff data collection. The second investigation assessed the effects of visual performance feedback in the form of graphed data on staff data collection. The third study evaluated the feasibility and utility of a laboratory model within the framework of Signal Detection Theory for examining observer accuracy. The final study compared five measures of interobserver agreement and evaluated the sensitivity to differences in rate of each measure.

Behavioral economics refers to the sub-field of behavior analysis in which responding is viewed as an interaction between price and consumption. Although economic principles are commonly utilized in the experimental analysis of behavior, such analyses have only recently been presented in the applied literature. In the current symposium, four lines of research will be presented in which principles of behavioral economics are applied to problems of applied significance. In the first study, the price of highly preferred stimulus was increased by manipulating the distance required to access the stimuli. Results demonstrated the emergence of substitutable reinforcers as response requirements increased. In the second investigation, demand elasticity was evaluated within the context of a positive reinforcement-based treatment for negatively reinforced problem behavior. In the third study, the exchange interval for a classroom-wide token economy was either immediate or delayed (24 hours). Results indicated that the immediate exchange produced higher levels of task behavior relative to baseline and the delayed exchange condition. The final study involved a token economy in which exchange schedules were manipulated in the context of ongoing program implementation to evaluate the effects of price variations on token exchange.

We present four papers on naming as a verbal developmental cusp involving multiple experiments. Findings are reported on the relation between acquisition of naming for 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional stimuli with preschoolers, the relation between reading comprehension and naming vs. the role of phonemes, the role of the echoic as reinforcer, and the source of the reinforcement, for naming, and the effects of naming on reading comprehension with academically delayed middle school students.

These three papers review theory and findings in the analysis of complex cognitive phenomena from other psychological disciplines. The first paper in this symposium reports recent findings in mainstream language research on the development of language in young children. It is hoped that this will contribute to early intervention research. The second paper reviews novel experimental manipulations in neuroscience that offer the opportunity for behavioural control beneath the skin. The third paper review work in the area of concept formation and categorization from both cognitive and behavioural traditions in order to highlight new questions for the experimental analysis of complex human behaviour.

Morningside Academy's assessment, curriculum, and instructional methods continue to evolve as best practices are developed in the research literature and through tryout and revision in our lab school. Today's symposium focuses upon four new developments at Morningside: retelling to enhance reading comprehension, math tool skills instruction, assessment of writing, and our overall system of assessment.

The objective of this symposium will be to present some complex issues in business settings, the methodologies introduced to promote behavioral improvement with targeted outcomes, and the results to date.

Currently, one-hundred and twenty university course sequences are approved by the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) and thirteen university programs are accredited by the Association for Behavior Analysis International to provide post-secondary training in the area of applied behavior analysis. Each of these programs seeks to teach adults about the science of behavior analysis, to prepare graduates for the acquisition of credentials in the field of behavior analysis, and, to some extent, to prepare the newly credentialed practitioner to demonstrate the principles and knowledge learned in a variety of applied settings. To this end, faculty and administrators in higher education programs must make decisions regarding instructional design. Programs providing experiential learning opportunities for students must determine how these programs can result in a transfer of acquired knowledge to a variety of applied settings. Faculty assisting students in preparing for credentialing examinations must identify effective methods for students to prepare for the rigor of an international examination. This symposium presents four papers devoted to the instruction of graduate students in a behavior analytic program. Topics include effective instructional design models, supervision of behavior analysts, study tactics, and assisting students in cross-disciplinary applications of methodological practice.

This is an 80-minute session that presents mentoring, and how it relates to clinical supervision, professional practice and professional development. The primary format is a collection of video interviews, with several behavior analysts from across the country. Portions of the presentation were initially presented in the Primary Authors Presidential Address at the Florida Association for Behavior Analysis in September, 2007. Interviewees include Murray Sidman, Nate Azrin, Tim Vollmer, Richard Foxx, Mark Koorland, Julie Vargas, Hank Pennypacker, Jack Michael, and others, as well as the secondary authors. Interviewees were asked: Who were your mentors when you started out?, Who were your mentors/peers as you became established in behavior analysis?, and What persons or projects are you most proud of in which you had a mentoring-type role? These themes are used to emphasize the importance of having mentors and clinical peers throughout ones career, why peer review is so important to practitioners and their consumers, as well as showing the interconnectedness of all behavior analysts and how we all must support and strengthen our least-proficient practitioners to strengthen our profession.

It has been said that explaining the mental illness has changed from blaming the mother to blaming the brain. The latter refers to the wide acceptance of the theory that abnormal brain chemistry can explain mental illness. The talk will include a look at the biochemical theories of mental illness by reviewing some of the historical roots, examine the logic and empirical evidence used to support these theories, and discuss why these theories are so popular.

This invited tutorial will present useful information regarding funding for behavioral research. Dr. Oliver Wirth, a Researcher at National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), will discuss the current atmosphere at NIOSH regarding funding behavioral safety research. He will provide strategies and tactics for increasing successfully funded grant applications. Dr. Kent Anger, a Senior Scientist and Associate Director from Oregon Health and Science University, will share his successful experiences with obtaining federal extramural funding. He will demystify the process of submitting a successfully funded grant from the identification of a fundable line of research to interpretation of the application review. This will be a unique experience to hear perspectives from both sides of the grant application process.

The current series of papers outline a functional-analytic research program into the development of a method of behavioral implicit testing that can rival the ubiquitous Implicit Association Test. The first paper in the series outlines the Implicit Association Test and suggests avenues of research for understanding the core processes of the test in behavioral terms. The second paper describes a laboratory experiment designed to examine the utility of a behavioral Implicit Relations Test in identifying a laboratory-created history of arbitrary stimulus associations. The third paper reports on an application of the Implicit Relations Test to identify differences in the verbal categorization of adult, child, sexual and nonsexual stimuli across a sample of normal adult men and women. Finally, the fourth paper analyzes the stability of verbal categorization responses across multiple exposures to an Implicit Association Test and an Implicit Relations Test using a common stimulus set.

Stereotypic behavior maintained by automatic reinforcement displayed by individuals with autism continues to present challenges to clinicians. Assessment procedures have focused on identifying conditions under which the behavior is more and less likely to occur, as well as stimuli that compete with the occurrence of the behavior. Treatment options have focused on the fixed time delivery of competing reinforcers (i.e., NCR), differential reinforcement of competing responses, response interruption, redirection of the target behavior, and the use of negative punishment (e.g., timeout or response cost). In this symposium, 3 studies will be presented describing treatment strategies used in the treatment of stereotypic behavior in individuals with autism. Treatment procedures will include the use of noncontingent access to matched sensory stimuli, differential reinforcement of alternate competing responses, response interruption and redirection, response cost, or some combination thereof. Findings will be discussed in terms of the applications of interventions for individuals with autism.

Social communication and social cognition consists of a multitude of skills and behaviors that are radically affected by the triad of deficits characteristically seen in children with autism. Although early, pervasive deficits in social communication and cognition skills are considered hallmark features of autism, less is known about how these deficits manifest themselves in children who have participated in and benefited from effective intervention. This data-based symposium will take an empirical look at social communication and social cognition in children with autism. In Dr. Jones presentation, he discusses how his systematic observations of naturally occurring family interactions revealed joint attention deficits not previously measured in 20 high functioning children with autism who received previous intensive intervention. Dr. Leon-Guerrero will follow with her examination of the effectiveness of a Skillstreaming Early Childhood curriculum in friendship groups on facilitating the development of developmentally appropriate social skills in four preschool children with autism. Penny Williams completes the presentations with her examination of teaching a middle school student with autism to self monitor appropriate on task behavior and appropriate behavior during work tasks. Taken together, these presentations form a compelling example of how much we have yet to discover about the social communication and social cognitive deficits of children with autism and how to remediate them.

The Faison School is a publicly funded private school located in Richmond, Virginia and affiliated with Virginia Commonwealth University. The school provides educational services to students ranging in age from 2 to 22 years. The school employs CABAS components including the learn unit, TPRA, data decision protocol, and tactics to increase verbal behavior levels, academic literacy, and expanded communities of reinforcers. In the total school program, behavior analytic strategies are applied to all aspects of the school including student curriculum, teacher training, and assessments. The following presentations show data resulting from the implementation of tactics to: (1) develop curriculum to increase language; (2) to increase academic, social, and play skills;(3) to increase self-management and independence within the community; and (4) to develop and implement interventions to increase the habilitation of all students.

The field of applied behavior analysis has long prided itself in its generation of effective treatment approaches which are conceptually systematic and socially valid. This symposium highlights several interventions designed to promote the least restrictive educational setting while addressing serious, challenging behaviors exhibited by individuals with disabilities. The findings will be discussed with regards to balancing the dignity of the individual with the safety of students and staff.

In the field of applied behavior analysis, much focus is placed on the intense training needs of young children with autism. Many educators believe that adolescents and adults with autism are less likely to make significant strides than their younger counterparts. Precision Teaching with frequency building procedures is one method that holds promise as an efficient and effective means of instruction for younger and older learners. These papers represent pilot research that examines the effects of frequency building. This research also compares the effects of various procedural aspects of frequency-building procedures as well as begins to investigate the comparative effectiveness to other ABA techniques.

Traditionally, behavior analysts treat children with autism in more individualized, home-based settings using discrete trial methods. Only when these children with autism have learned all the prerequisite skills will traditional behavior analysts treat them in more group, school-based settings and then, usually with shadowing or structured adult-led interventions. The presenters in this symposium are treating children with autism in group, school-based settings using behavioral interventions. They are using techniques that are more innovative, such as video modeling and writing activities. Additionally, they are dealing with a variety of task domains: adaptive, such as self-help skills; academic, such as literacy; and emotional, such as dealing with anxiety. Each of the presenters in this symposium works with children with autism in real-life less-than-ideal conditions and indirectly by working with teachers and aids who are not specifically trained in behavioral methodology, yet have demonstrated positive outcomes for the children with autism who are being served.

This symposium describes a rural, four-county, community mental health authoritys efforts to expand and upgrade its applied behavior analysis services in the context of clinical, administrative, financial, and geographic challenges. The agencys baseline situation is discussed with respect to each of these issues. Key data-based indicators related to clinical practice, staff training costs, and general and consumer-specific levels of physical intervention use are presented. The goals, structure, and various benefits of a significant reorganization resulting in a team-based agency solution are presented. Several major challenges and their unique solutions at the system and clinical practice level are discussed in detail. The objective achievements of the new model are compared to baseline indicators, several additional practical lessons and continuing challenges are highlighted, and future directions are discussed. The overall agency experience offers a model for organizing and delivering more efficient and effective applied behavior analysis services that is supported by some outcome data, while also identifying persistent issues and the need for continued development.

Floridas Behavior Analysis Services Program is a statewide program for dependent children and caregivers. Board certified behavior analysts from the University of South Florida and the University of Florida work with parents, staff, and children. More recently, these behavior analysts have been requested to work specifically with high risk teens. Prior research has shown that youth who exit the foster care system at 18 (i.e., those who age out of the system) have insufficient skills to obtain employment, housing, and social relationships that are necessary for successful independent living outcomes (Iglehart, 1994). Running away from placements has also been and remains another significant problem with teenage youth in foster care. Three presentations within the current symposium will discuss outcome results with at-risk youth. The first two presentations will discuss a modified version of the Parenting Tools curriculum for young adults. Both studies reported success in teaching teens specific tools or social skills to improve interactions. The final presentation will describe the results of a study to evaluate the effects of using a Youth Interaction Tool (YIT) to decrease youth runaway behavior. The YIT was used to determine the function of running, resulting in effective treatment strategies to decrease running.

Analysis and interpretation of data in order to identify functional relations is a hallmark of behavior analysis. The talks included in this symposium focus on the evaluation of differing methods of analyzing data and, in particular, the degree to which differing data analysis methods facilitate the detection of extinction bursts, treatment effects, and changes in the reliability of data collection.

This symposium will 1) discuss the historical roots of research into the variables responsible for pausing on ratio schedules of reinforcement, including the use of multiple and mixed schedules to assess the relative influence of events that precede and follow the pause; 2) present recent research further clarifying the roles of conditioned inhibitory effects of reinforcement and of varying ratio size and reinforcer magnitude in multiple fixed-ratio schedules; and 3) discuss the implications of what we know about the causes of the ratio pause for behavioral interruptions in humans, such as procrastination and neglect

A fast-paced series of 13 speakers will present their latest efforts in instructional design, including academic instruction in reading, math and grammar for children and youth; effective school practices; college teaching; generic professional development; training for university trustees; training for parents and teachers of children with disabilities; and programming and software development issues.

Because many public schools are failing to produce students with the knowledge and skills they need for successful lives, there is a growing demand by parents, employers, and other taxpayers for more effective schools. This symposium will describe the educational practices implemented by three effective schools and examine the evidence that these practices are responsible for their superior learning outcomes.

A founding dimension of applied behavior analysis is the focus on socially significant problems (Baer, Wolf, & Risely, 1968). In a post-9/11 world the improvement of safety, security, and vigilance behaviors has been viewed as such a problem. Recent examples have shown how basic and applied behavior analysis research can improve Homeland Security. The current session seeks to provide an update to this emerging research and broaden the scope of analysis and interventions discussed.

With a growing interest in behavior analysis around the world, particularly for children with autism, many behavior analysts are called upon to provide services and supervision in far-flung regions with few services and supports. Distance technologies such as Web-based video conferencing, electronic video review, and simple phone calls can provide an efficient means of providing consultative services, and can also provide a means of establishing behavior analytic services in communities where none were formerly present. Distance-based supervision can mean the difference between a community with a growing number of certified behavior analysts, associate behavior analysts, and an ABA affiliate chapter, or a community with loosely tied practitioners "doing the best they can". Remote coaching can efficiently reach teachers and instructional assistants in classrooms that otherwise would rarely have supervision opportunities. However, the use of distance technologies also presents unique practical and ethical issues with regards to ensuring the effectiveness of this type of consultation, and exacerbates the difficulties inherent in any non-employee supervision arrangement. In this presentation, panel members will discuss the joys and tribulations of providing and receiving "virtual" supervision and coaching.

This symposium presents a review and 3 empirical papers on the acquisition of expressive language. The first two papers offer procedures to increase vocalizations with children who vocalize little. The Esch et al. paper used a lag schedule to increase vocal variability to train an echoic with children who had a diagnosis of autism. The Shillingsburg et al. paper used an extinction procedure to teach vocal mands with children who signed. To determine the efficacy of a common language instruction practice, the Petursdottir and Carr paper reviewed the literature on teaching receptive before expressive repertoires. The Williams et al. paper presented a procedure to teach children with a diagnosis of autism to label abstract figures as previously trained numerals.

Much of behavior, including self-administration of abused drugs, may be conceptualized as involving a choice among available alternatives. Laboratory research involving non-humans has substantially contributed to our understanding of the behavioral determinants of drug choice. It has been demonstrated that the relative magnitude of drug and non-drug reinforcers, as well as relative cost, frequency and probability of reinforcement can all influence the choice to take a drug. Recent research has suggested that the choice to self-administer a drug may be strongly influenced by the rate at which the value of delayed reinforcers is discounted. Research with non-humans has much to contribute to our understanding of this conceptualization. In addition to helping us understand environmental determinants of drug abuse, basic research with non-humans can help suggest behavioral treatment strategies that may be useful alone or in conjunction with pharmacological treatment.

Distance learning is here to stay and growing fast. To "grow" our field and compete in today's educational world, "we happy few" need to embrace this opportunity to disseminate our knowledge into remote areas and provide courses for degrees and certification requirements. This tutorial will provide an overview of what it takes to set up and manage distance learning courses. Topics of the tutorial include: the Instruction, Delivery methods, Technology, Costs, and Ongoing course administration with the focus on student learning. Based on our own extensive experience at the University of North Texas as well as research on how others handle their online courses, the tutorial addresses these questions: Where do I start? What's involved? What's different about "distance" learning? Can I do it myself, or what kind of help do I need? What kinds of instruction work best? How much will it cost? Will students be successful learners? How will I know?

This SIG emphasizes environmental-unit behavior-unit interactions; recent progress in evolutionary developmental biology--evo-devoprovides potentially useful templates for refining the definition of such units, and broadening possibilities of the modes in which they interact. Among these concepts are heterochrony, variation by changes in temporal sequence, such as neoteny; the role of modularity in evolution; how modifications of developmental processes lead to the production of novel features; the role of developmental plasticity in evolution; how ecology impacts development and evolutionary change; and the developmental basis of homoplasy and homology. As a familiar example, a homology in biology is any similarity between characters that is due their shared ancestry; in functional analysis, great efforts are taken to identify the variables of which behavior is a function. Is it useful to treat those that are under the control of the same reinforcer as homologs, and those that merely share a similar topography as analogs? Is the ability of the homeobox to activate correlated sets of genes enlightening for the analysis of establishing stimuli? Do the various forms of paedomorphisis and peramorphosisthe juvenilezation/senescization of morphologyhave analogs in behavior? Does the efficiency of evolution, crafting endless forms most beautiful from a meager number of genes, suggest mechanisms for the blossoming of creative behavior in homo Sapiens? In this collaborative presentation, the evo-devo concepts will be explained and serve as stimuli; groups of the audience will be encouraged to respond with behavioral analogs of the biological processes, and evaluate their potential utility.

The movement for evidence based practices (EBP) in education, psychology, and other human services presents a tremendous opportunity for behavior analysts. This movement is attempting to do what behavior analysts have tried to do for so long to promote practices that are supported by specific evidence demonstrating effectiveness. However, substantial challenges must be overcome if EBP are to succeed in increasing the effectiveness of human services. Among these challenges is that of identifying units of practice that might be validated as evidence-based. Potential units of practice might be relatively micro (e.g., reinforcing correct responses) or relatively macro (e.g., Direct Instruction combined with Positive Behavioral Supports). In addition, units of practice might be separately validated for each context and population, or they might be validated across such variables. Thus, the EBP movement faces classic questions of generalizability of research findings. This paper will explore several approaches to these questions including (1) Skinners discussion of basic behavioral units, (2) experimental methodologists discussions of generality of research findings, and (3) systems of EBP in other fields. Suggestions for continuing the development of EBP will be derived from this discussion.

This symposium will present research efforts at Behavior Analysts, Inc., an agency that specializes in consultation and training in applied behavior analysis and verbal behavior. Data from the latest research on imitation, the ABLLS-R, and interventions at the STARS School will be presented.

Students with autism often learn behaviors more readily when presented with visual stimuli vs. auditory stimuli. However, visual prompts paired with auditory stimuli can be difficult to fade because the student attends more strongly to the visual stimuli and stimulus control is not transferred. At Nashoba Learning Group, we have successfully used, and faded, visual response prompts that must be manipulated by the student in order to produce a response to the auditory stimuli. In this case, the student must attend to the auditory stimuli in order to properly manipulate the visual stimu These visual prompts are first manipulated by the student, then are used as a reference by the student, and then are faded. We hypothesize that this technique is successful because the student must attend to the auditory stimuli and then associate it with a proper manipulation of the visual stimuli. The visual stimuli is systematically faded as the student learns to use his or her memory of the stimuli to perform the manipulation needed to produce a response. This technique has worked across a variety of learners and for a variety of skills.

The VB-MAPP Barriers Assessment (Sundberg, in press) provides an analysis and assessment of 21 common language and learning barriers faced by children with autism. Research utilizing this assessment in applied settings for children with autism spectrum disorders will be presented. Three case studies will be discussed, addressing the assessment, treatment, and outcomes for learners with defective skill repertoires.

It is often difficult for individuals with autism to effectively interact with others because of their deficits in social skill development, difficulties in reading social cues, and the often too common failure of skill generalization and maintenance. Yet, social interaction with others is critically important in all aspects of life. In this symposium, researchers will share data from three studies targeting the development and generalization of social skills. The presenters will highlight the importance of behavior analytic teaching strategies, such as modeling, script and script-fading procedures, prompting, and reinforcement, when targeting social skills. Specifically, data collected through the conduct of single-subject experimental investigations will be presented in reference to the development of greeting skills, sharing, and empathetic responding. In addition, the researchers will describe the extent to which such skills were acquired during training conditions, as well as the extent to which skills generalized from training to non-training situations. Finally, the presenters will discuss the importance of programming for the development of important social and language responses when educating individuals with autism.

When first described by Lovaas, EIBI involved high intensity, about 40 hours per week. Due to shortages in funding, this is not always possible. Studies of lower hours have been quite low. What is the result of 25 hours per week? For families on a waiting list for funding, what is the effect of parent training plus 10-15 hours of 1:1? There have been many studies of the immediate effects of EIBI, but what are the children like as teens? Finally, we present an observation of the effect of no treatment for approximately 1 year.

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) present with specific challenges in their social communication skills and behaviors. Many educational team members lack specialized training in autism while they have many students with ASD on their caseloads. This symposium will describe a federally funded, multidisciplinary training program for a variety of professionals working with children with ASD. Early childhood special education teachers, school counselors, school psychologists, agency ABA therapists, speech pathologists and other professionals have received training through this program. Outcome data from graduate research projects will also be presented demonstrating improved skills for children in educational settings.

This symposium will highlight behavioral interventions with children and adults with acquired brain injuries (ABI) and neglect. Treatment methodologies including fluency training to decrease aphasia, reinforcement to decrease response latency and DRH to decrease problematic mealtime behaviors will be discussed.

These studies tested the effects of a sequential application of a selected series of pre-listener and listener verbal developmental protocols, and changes in the participants observing responses and related levels of verbal developmental capabilities. Pre- and post-probes tested for increases in observing responses, rate of acquisition of new learning, and changes in verbal developmental levels for each participant. The results demonstrated the effectiveness of implementing the protocols according to a verbal developmental sequence as related to the induction of pre-listener and listener verbal capabilities or developmental cusps.

An important goal for behavior analysts is the dissemination of the principles of behavior analysis to the community. Part of this process is the incorporation of behavior analytic practices in public school settings. Common challenges to this process include planning and delivering staff training, the incorporation of effective and appropriate data collection systems, balancing student schedules and conducting functional assessments. Additionally, the delivery of services in the public school environment often means working as part of a multi-disciplinary team. The variables presented by a public school environment are such that effective communication is often as important as the intervention itself. The goal of this panel discussion is to bring together a number of individuals in the field of applied behavior analysis who are delivering services in public schools in a variety of roles. The panel will answer questions related to effective applications of ABA in public school settings, challenges they have encountered, and solutions they have developed. The panel will also take questions from the audience.

To date most school-wide positive behavior support (SW-PBS) have been implemented in elementary schools, with limited attention to implementation in middle and high schools. Furthermore, too often SW-PBS programs do not include the use of systematic screening procedures to identify students for targeted supports. This symposium includes three papers. The first paper reports baseline, 1st, and 2nd year implementation data on a successful application of SW-PBS in a rural high school of 1,200 students. Outcome data revealed a reduction in office daily referrals, a reduction in expulsions, and an increase in attendance. The second paper reports findings of two studies, one conducted with middle school students (n = 500) in a rural setting and a second conducted with middle school students (n = 528) in an urban setting, of the reliability and validity of the Student Risk Screening Scale (SRSS; Drummond, 1994). Results revealed high internal consistency, testretest stability, and convergent validity with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (Goodman, 1997). The third paper reports findings of PBS implemented in two rural elementary schools, with an emphasis on the role of systematic screenings. We conclude with a discussion of the importance of systematic screenings as core component of SW-PBS programs.

The current crisis in mathematics education recognized by a variety of reports, studies, and commentators could have serious long-term effects on children world wide. In response to this crisis a number of behavior analysts have targeted mathematics as a curriculum area for developing evidence-based practices. In particular, with recent advances in computer technology, there has been a strong interest in developing and evaluating internet and other forms of electronic curricula. Two examples are iPASS a middle school mathematics curriculum from iLearn,Inc., and Morningside Mathematics Foundations, a program from Morningside Academy. This symposium will present the current data used to evaluate these programs, methodological developments used to gather data, and systems issues related to school adoption and teacher use. Emphasis will be given to descriptions of the how these programs have integrated single-subject methods with program evaluation methods, methods for evaluating teacher and other professional implementation, and more traditional random controlled studies to create a thorough method of empirical validation.

We report on five protocols and tactics that have been shown to be effective in (1) altering the reinforcement value of teacher consequences, (2) inducing pre-reader verbal capabilities, and (3) exapanding existing pre-reader verbal repertoires. All participants were students with disabilities between the ages of 2 and 7. The verbal capabilities presented include generalized imitation, pure tacts, and naming.

Autism is a neurological disorder characterized by several core symptoms (e.g., social withdrawal, repetitive behavior). Many individuals with autism also display associated destructive behavior (e.g., self-injury, aggression). Functional analysis has emerged as the primary method of assessing those variables that maintain destructive behavior (e.g., positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement). However, among some individuals with autism, functional analysis outcomes are sometimes ambiguous. This presentation will describe several cases in which initial functional analyses did not identify the maintaining reinforcement contingency for destructive behavior. For all cases, descriptive observations yielded information that led to the identification of an idiosyncratic maintaining reinforcement contingency. Specifically, destructive behavior was maintained by contingent access to repetitive behavior. Following these assessments, treatments were developed in which the participants were taught an alternative method of accessing repetitive behavior. Finally, we developed alternate, more socially appropriate forms of repetitive behavior for each participant. The results of these cases will be discussed in relation to examining interactions between core symptoms of autism and the occurrence of destructive behavior.

In recent years, the need for qualified behavior analysts meeting has been growing nationally. A particular need area for services for children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders, and Aspergers syndrome is on the rise. There appear to be many more individuals, providers, and schools in need of services by qualified behavior analysts, which is exemplified by the data indicating alarmingly high rates of autism in the United States. Thus, there has been a strain on systems that are unable to provide needed services, in part due to fewer available BACB certificants than need may dictate. Additionally, behavior analysts typically are not eligible for third party payment by Medicaid or managed care, and there is a need to ensure consumer protection and adherence to ethical standards. One approach that has been proposed to address these concerns is pursuing licensure for behavior analysts. Proponents of licensure believe it would permit service delivery by qualified behavior analysts, will allow for greater assurance of meeting ethical standards and enhanced consumer protection, and increase likelihood of third party payment. The panel will present both pro and con views, and permit the audience to form its own opinions on this important issue.

The symposium will consist of a presentation discussing ethical and clinical issues that guide work on problem behavior and data-based presentations showing applications of treatment plans to reduce problem behaviors in two children with autism. In the first presentation, the least restrictive treatment model will be debated and an intervention triad to address problem behavior will be presented. In the second and third presentation, results of using non-aversive and aversive procedures will be shown.

This symposium will cover topics in autism intervention in both center-based and home-based programming for a range of skills. Papers will include designing instruction for advanced pragmatic skills, programming for teens, generalization tracking across home and school instruction, and a case study on student outcomes after years of Precision Teaching based instruction.

Errors in the delivery of health care services are estimated to account for 90,000 deaths per year in the United States. Many of these deaths are traceable to failures in team coordination and communication among health care workers. Other high risk industries, such as aviation, have greatly reduced error rates through comprehensive simulation-based skill assessment and training programs. We suggest that many of the simulation-based training and quality control strategies developed in aviation can be extrapolated to health care, if, and only if, a number of modifications are made to reflect unique aspects of health care (non-standardized work environments, rotating team composition, poorly delineated roles and chains of command, absence of systematic training in key skills). We describe the preliminary stages of the development of a simulation-based assessment and training system for heath care workers, known as in-situ simulation. The features of this model include the development of scenarios composed of a number of event sets designed to challenge critical health care skills (e.g., problem solving, team coordination, error detection and correction). Simulations are orchestrated in the health care setting in an effort to increase the fidelity of the surrounding environment and to sample the real-world interface between health care workers and support services (e.g., lab and blood services). We describe the development and validation of a taxonomy of health care skills that can be used to evaluate the performance of health care teams. We also describe a facilitated debriefing strategy that is used to promote self- evaluation of critical communication, problem solving and error detection skills by health care workers who have completed an in-situ simulation.

Individuals who exhibit chronic, high frequency and/or high intensity problem behaviors are often treated with combinations of pharmaceutical, antecedent, reinforcement, and other interventions based on behavior function. The repeated failure of these interventions often results in high doses of psychotropic medications and a highly restrictive environment. Here, we describe the effectiveness of contingent skin-shock, administered via the Graduated Electronic Decelerator, combined with a dense schedule of reinforcement in treating refractory problem behaviors. In addition, common myths and omissions associated with contingent shock are discussed. Finally, the behavioral treatment of non-mentally retarded/autistic persons will be discussed.

This panel discussion will emphasize environmental-unit behavior-unit interactions. According to Peter Killeen, recent progress in evolutionary developmental biologyevo-devoprovides potentially useful templates for refining the definition of such units, and broadening possibilities of the modes in which they interact. Among these concepts are heterochrony, variation by changes in temporal sequence, such as neoteny; the role of modularity in evolution; how modifications of developmental processes lead to the production of novel features; the role of developmental plasticity in evolution; how ecology impacts development and evolutionary change; and the developmental basis of homoplasy and homology. As a familiar example, a homology in biology is any similarity between characters that is due their shared ancestry; in functional analysis, great efforts are taken to identify the variables of which behavior is a function. Is it useful to treat those that are under the control of the same reinforcer as homologs, and those that merely share a similar topography as analogs? Is the ability of the homeobox to activate correlated sets of genes enlightening for the analysis of establishing stimuli? Do the various forms of paedomorphisis and peramorphosisthe juvenilezation/senescization of morphologyhave analogs in behavior? Does the efficiency of evolution, crafting endless forms most beautiful from a meager number of genes, suggest mechanisms for the blossoming of creative behavior in Homo sapiens? The members of this panel discussion will address these evo-devo concepts. The audience will be encouraged to participate with behavioral analogs of the biological processes, and evaluate their potential utility.

Reinforcement is certainly one of the most pervasive principles of behavior analysis. Unfortunately, in classroom settings many practitioners (a) fail to effectively apply this principle, (b) do not account for extraneous sources of reinforcement (thus rendering programs ineffective), and (c) do not understand the link between environments rich in reinforcement and persistence of behavior. Three papers will be presented in this symposium. In the first presentation, pilot data will be presented on an instructional program designed to teach pre-service teachers how to effectively use positive reinforcement in the classroom. In the second, a study that examined the effects of interspersing brief academic tasks within long academic tasks will be presented. In the final presentation, we present data for a model of resilience based on Nevins theory of behavioral momentum. The basis of this theory is that behaviors emitted in environments rich in reinforcement are more resistant to change than behaviors emitted in environments associated with relatively low levels of reinforcement. Descriptive and analog experimental data are presented in support of this behavioral model of resilience. The common link among these three presentations is the importance of accounting for, and taking advantage of all sources of reinforcement in the classroom.

School-Wide Positive Behavior Support (SW-PBS) represents a hierarchical system of proactive interventions to increase positive behaviors in the school setting. At the school-wide level, supports address promoting positive behaviors for all students. Supports at the classroom level increase student engagement and decrease disruptive behaviors. Individual supports are designed for students whose behavior has not responded to school-wide and classroom interventions. In this symposium, 4 papers will be presented on various aspects of classroom level interventions. Natural rates of praise and reprimands found in elementary classrooms and the effects of teacher attention on student engagement will be discussed. A measurement tool for classroom level interventions will be presented and classroom level interventions will be described. Finally, methods for changing the classroom environment will be discussed.

Applied behavior analysis can offer small business owners solutions to challenges they face on a daily basis. Employee performance can be improved by working with owners and managers to implement techniques based on the fundamental principles of behavior through proven scientific methodologies. The current session shares three investigations of behavioral technology in privately owned small business settings. Two studies focused on customer service behaviors of employees at privately-owned businesses. The third study targeted safety behaviors at privately-owned business.

Problem behavior maintained by automatic reinforcement can be difficult to treat because the reinforcer is directly produced by the response. Reinforcement based interventions, such as noncontingent and contingent reinforcement for an appropriate response, have been found effective for reducing automatically-reinforced behavior. However, often more direct interventions, such as response blocking and overcorrection, are required for obtaining successful outcomes. This symposium will include four presentations discussing research on the assessment and treatment of automatically-reinforced behavior. A variety of response topographies will be reviewed, including rumination, vomiting, echolalia, motor stereotypy, and self-restraint.

This symposium contains presentations on verbal behavior training for children with autism. The first paper will review approaches to mand training. The second paper will present data on a chaining procedure for increasing the complexity of echoics. The third paper will compare picture exchange to manual sign in the acquisition of mands. The symposium will be concluded by a discussion.

In this symposium we present recent research regarding use of motivating operations when working with persons with autism and developmental disabilities. The first presentation summarizes the effects of motivating operations on the leisure activity of playing games with peers. Results show that prior access to reinforcers for challenging behavior reduced that challenging behavior during the leisure activity for three participants. The second presentation examines the effects of pre-session access to reinforcers for challenging behavior on such behavior during regular classroom activities. The third presentation summarizes the effects of prior access to reinforcers on the acquisition and generalization of mands across a variety of classroom settings. The final presentation explores methods for determining indicators of satiation with tangible items.

The extent to which noncontingent access to structurally matched stimulation decreased stereotypy in children diagnosed with autism and other developmental disabilities was evaluated in each study. Lanovaz and Rapp evaluated the extent to which both unconditioned and conditioned motivating operations could be used to alter stereotypy. Swanson and Rapp evaluated the within-session patterns of stereotypy to determine if competing stimulation exerted differential effects at the beginning, middle, or end of each session. Smith and Rapp assessed whether conjugate-controlled vs. experimenter-controlled noncontingent preferred stimulation was more efficacious for decreasing stereotypy and also which intervention was preferred by the participants. Finally, Frewing and Rapp used a conditional percentage analysis from a free-operant preference assessment to accurately predict which stimuli would be most effective for decreasing stereotypy. The behavior changes produced in each experiment are discussed in terms of the utility of procedures for altering the value of automatically reinforced behavior.

Listening is action, as one can plainly see when someone abruptly turns off the stereo in the middle of a stirring passage of music. We sing along to music, and we speak along with speakers, but the dimensions of this behavior are obscure, and the role it plays in the complex effects verbal behavior has on the listener is unknown. A common misunderstanding about Skinner's(1957) analysis of verbal behavior is that he neglects the behavior of the listener. It is true that he shifts the primary focus of the analysis to the speaker. However, the listener still plays a critical role in a behavioral analysis of language. For example, in reacting to autoclitics, if autoclitic relations are to be operative, the listener's discriminations must coordinate with those of the speaker. This panel will explore the range of potential listener behavior and discuss the extent to which interpretations of complex behavior require an understanding of it, and whether the domain is experimentally too intractable to bring into order.

This tutorial will focus on the comments made in the preceding panel discussion on the topic of licensure of behavior analysts by Joseph Cautilli, Ph.D., BCBA. In his presentation, Dr. Cautilli presented a comparison analysis of the professionalism of Behavior Analysis and other professions, with regard to licensure and their histories. This tutorial will present some parallel histories of development with other professions including psychology, social work, speech, and the NBCC (certification for counselors). The issue of licensure for behavior analysts is indeed a controversial one with myriad guild, professional and legal ramifications and considerations. Given the now 50 year history of Behavior Analysis flagship journal, JEBA, and 40 years if JABA, as well as the creation of the BACB in 2000, now the standard for behavior analyst practitioners in the United States and other countries, has the time come for licensure? The reasons for licensure and what makes it different from certification will be presented. Ethical and legal ramifications (protecting the public), as well as third party payment, are among the main distinctions, and reasons for pursuing licensure.