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The Unit of Analysis in Evidence Based Practices |
Monday, May 26, 2008 |
1:30 PM–2:20 PM |
Grand Ballroom |
Area: EDC; Domain: Theory |
CE Instructor: Susan Wilczynski, Ph.D. |
Chair: Cathy L. Watkins (California State University, Stanislaus) |
TIMOTHY A. SLOCUM (Utah State University), SUSAN WILCZYNSKI (National Autism Center) |
Dr. Susan Wilczynski is the Executive Director of the National Autism Center. In her role as the Executive Director, she oversees the National Standards Project, updates public policy-makers about evidence-based practice related to educational and behavioral interventions, develops assessment clinics specializing in the evaluation of children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders, and establishes the parent education and professional training agenda of the National Autism Center.
Dr. Wilczynski has authored numerous articles on the treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Prior to her position at the National Autism Center, she developed and directed an intensive early intervention program for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders at the Munroe-Meyer Institute. She has held academic appointments at the University of Southern Mississippi and the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Dr. Wilczynski holds a joint appointment with May Institute, where she serves as Vice President of Autism Services. She is an adjunct professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Dr. Wilczynski is a licensed psychologist and a board certified behavior analyst. |
Abstract: 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. |
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Assessment and Treatment of Idiosyncratic Response Relations in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder |
Monday, May 26, 2008 |
2:30 PM–3:20 PM |
International North |
Area: DDA; Domain: Applied Research |
CE Instructor: Henry S. Roane, Ph.D. |
Chair: Joel Eric Ringdahl (University of Iowa) |
HENRY S. ROANE (University of Nebraska Medical Center, Munroe-Meyer Institute) |
Dr. Henry S. Roane received his Ph.D. in 2000 from Louisiana State University in School Psychology with an emphasis on the assessment and treatment of behavior disorders in individuals with developmental disabilities under the supervision of Timothy Vollmer and Dorothea Lerman. He completed a pre-doctoral internship in pediatrics and psychology at the Kennedy Krieger Institute and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1999 with Cathleen Piazza and Wayne Fisher. From there he served in various positions at the Marcus Institute. At present Dr. Roane is an Associate Professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and is the Director of the Severe Behavior Disorders program at the Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders at the Munroe-Meyer Institute in Omaha, Nebraska. He is a licensed psychologist in the State of Nebraska and is a Board-certified Behavior Analyst. He is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, is on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of School Psychology, Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, and Behavior Analysis in Practice, and is on the Board of Directors for the Behavior Analysis Certification Board and the Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. His clinical and research interests focus on the treatment of severe destructive behavior problems in children and adolescents and the evaluation of reinforcement schedules in applied settings. |
Abstract: 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. |
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Licensing of Behavior Analysts |
Monday, May 26, 2008 |
2:30 PM–3:50 PM |
Grand Ballroom |
Area: CSE/DDA; Domain: Service Delivery |
Chair: Henry S. Pennypacker (University of Florida) |
CE Instructor: Michael Weinberg, Ph.D. |
Panelists: T. V. JOE LAYNG (Headsprout), JAMES A. MULICK (The Ohio State University), MICHAEL F. DORSEY (The Vinfen Corporation and Gordon College), JOSEPH D. CAUTILLI (Children Crisis Treatment Center/St. Joseph's University) |
Abstract: 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. |
T. V. JOE LAYNG (Headsprout) |
Dr. T. V. Joe Layng co-founded Headsprout and serves as the company's Senior Scientist where he led the scientific team that developed Headsprout’s patented Generative Learning Technology. This technology forms the basis of the company’s Headsprout Early Reading program, for which Joe was the chief architect.
From 1991 to 1996, Joe was the Director of the Academic Support Center, and then Dean of Public Agency and Special Training Programs and member of the President's Executive Committee at Malcolm X College in Chicago. At Malcolm X College, Joe founded the Personalized Curriculum Institute (PCI), based on the Morningside Model of Generative Instruction, for those students with high school diplomas who had skills below the eighth-grade level. He served as CEO for a computer software development and publishing firm in the 1980's.
Joe has extensive experience in instructional design, both animal and human learning sciences research, and clinical behavior analysis. His clinical practice has focused primarily on adult therapy, though not exclusively. Joe, along with others at the Behavior Analysis Research Laboratory at the University of Chicago, collaborated with Israel Goldiamond in the development and application of Systemic versus Topical functional analysis and treatment. He has provided training and served as a learning science and clinical behavior analysis consultant to corporations, universities, public agencies, and mental health facilities for over thirty years.
With Dr. Paul T. Andronis and Dr. Israel Goldiamond, Joe helped perform and publish the basic experimental work and lay the conceptual foundation for contingency adduction. Contingency adduction provides an account of how behavior shaped in one set of circumstances can be recruited for an entirely different function in another set of circumstances. He also performed and published basic experimental research on some of the variables leading to the relapse of clinically significant behavior, as well as on constructional approaches to clinical intervention. Joe holds a Ph.D. in Behavioral Science (Biopsychology) from The University of Chicago. |
JAMES A. MULICK (The Ohio State University) |
Prof. James A. Mulick received his B.A. degree in psychology from Rutgers College in New Brunswick, NJ, and then completed graduate studies at the University of Vermont, where he received his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in general psychology, specializing in learning and behavioral development. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in clinical child psychology at the Child Development Institute, Division for Disorders of Development and Learning, at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He has held clinical supervisory positions at Murdoch Center, Butner, NC, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center for Mental Retardation in Waltham, MA, and the Child Development Center of Rhode Island Hospital in Providence. Dr. Mulick has taught and held graduate faculty appointments at Northeastern University, the University of Rhode Island, and the Brown University Program in Medicine, and presently has a joint appointment as Professor in the departments of Pediatrics and Psychology at The Ohio State University, Columbus.
Professor Mulick has published over 100 articles, chapters and books in the areas of learning, developmental psychobiology, behavior analysis, mental retardation and developmental disabilities, policy analysis, and curriculum development for advanced and postdoctoral professional education. He is co-editor of the award winning Handbook of Mental Retardation, as well as the books Parent-Professional Partnerships in Developmental Disability Services, Manual of Diagnosis and Professional Practice in Mental Retardation, and Prevention of Developmental Disabilities, Controversial Therapies for Developmental Disabilities, Handbook of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. He was the Series Editor of the four-volume Transitions in Mental Retardation monograph publication sponsored by Northeast Region X of the American Association on Mental Retardation. He is a member of the editorial review boards of Disability and Health Journal and Behavioral Interventions and reviews for many scientific journals. Dr. Mulick has served in elected and appointed leadership roles in several scientific and professional societies, is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA), the American Association for Applied and Preventive Psychology, and the American Psychological Society, and a Clinical Fellow of the Behavior Therapy and Research Society. He has been elected to the APA Council of Representatives representing the Division of MRDD. He served as a founding board member of the Association for Science in Autism Treatment until 2002 and continues in an advisory role, and he serves on the advisory board of the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies. He received the Karl F. Heiser Presidential Award for Advocacy on Behalf of Professional Psychology from APA in 1998. Research interests include basic and applied behavior analysis, ecological methods in behavior analysis, early childhood and developmental psychopathology, mental retardation, psychopharmacology, and policy analysis relating to children and the handicapped. |
MICHAEL F. DORSEY (The Vinfen Corporation and Gordon College) |
Dr. Michael F. Dorsey is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst® and a licensed Psychologist. He is the Director of Clinical Services in the Mental Retardation Division of the Vinfen Corporation, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the Director of Graduate Instruction for the Summit Academy Institute at Gordon College. Additionally, Dr. Dorsey is the Founding President of the Greater Boston Association for Behavior Analysis. Dr. Dorsey earned his Ph.D. in Psychology, with a specialization in applied behavior analysis, from Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan in 1979, where he was one of Dr. Brian Iwata’s first doctoral students. During his career, Dr. Dorsey has had the unique privilege to serve on the faculty of several prestigious Universities and Colleges, including The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is an author/co-author of many professional publications, including participating with Dr. Iwata in the seminal article in the development of the Functional Analysis/Assessment methodology. Currently Dr. Dorsey spends much of his professional time conducting Independent Educational Evaluations for parents and school districts. He has testified as an Expert Witness in numerous Bureau of Special Education Appeals (BSEA) cases, as well as an Expert Witness in various Probate, Superior, and Federal Court cases involving the education and treatment of individuals diagnosed with developmental disabilities. Dr. Dorsey is an authority in the area of functional analysis, the education of children diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder and the treatment of severe challenging behavior. |
JOSEPH D. CAUTILLI (Children Crisis Treatment Center/St. Joseph's University) |
Dr. Joseph D. Cautilli received his first masters from Temple University in Counseling Psychology and his second through Temple University’s Applied Behavior Analysis program in Special Education. He completed his Ph.D. in 2005 in school psychology from Temple University. He is licensed in Pennsylvania as a counselor and is board-certified in behavior analysis. Dr. Cautilli has served as adjunct professor at two major universities. At Temple, he taught over a dozen courses in regular education, special education, and applied behavior analysis including courses on Behavioral Consultation over the course of seven years. Currently, he serves as faculty in the Applied Behavior Analysis Masters sub-track within the Criminal Justice Program at St. Joseph’s University, a program he designed. Dr. Cautilli has extensive editorial experience and severed as the Lead and founding editor for 6 journals to date. Dr. Cautilli has extensive experience in both the clinical and managerial aspects of behavioral health rehabilitation programs for children. He has written numerous articles on the subject. Dr. Cautilli also serves as an appellate due process officer in the state of Pennsylvania. He has decided on more than 100 opinions and has written more than 30. He is an active member of the behavioral community and has founded over 10 list serves on behavior analysis. In addition, he has been an active ABAI member founding three Special Interest Groups and serving as the chair of an additional special interest group. |
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The Role of the Listener in the Analysis of Verbal Behavior |
Monday, May 26, 2008 |
3:30 PM–4:50 PM |
International North |
Area: VBC/TPC; Domain: Theory |
Chair: William F. Potter (California State University, Stanislaus) |
CE Instructor: Mark L. Sundberg, Ph.D. |
Panelists: MARK L. SUNDBERG (Sundberg and Associates), DAVID C. PALMER (Smith College), PHILIP N. HINELINE (Temple University), HENRY D. SCHLINGER (California State University, Los Angeles) |
Abstract: 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. |
MARK L. SUNDBERG (Sundberg and Associates) |
Dr. Mark L. Sundberg received his doctorate degree in Applied Behavior Analysis from Western Michigan University (1980). He is the founder and past editor of the journal The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, and co-author of the books Teaching Language to Children with Autism or Other Developmental Disabilities, The ABLLS, and A Collection of Reprints on Verbal Behavior. He has published over 40 professional papers, given over 400 conference presentations and workshops, and taught 80 college courses on behavior analysis, verbal behavior, sign language, and child development. He is a past-president of the Northern California Association for Behavior Analysis, and a past-chair of ABA’s Publication Board. Dr. Sundberg has received numerous awards, including the 2001 “Distinguished Psychology Department Alumnus Award” from Western Michigan University. |
DAVID C. PALMER (Smith College) |
Dr. David C. Palmer held a bachelor’s degrees in geology and English, while devoting his post-graduate years to avoiding the draft when he chanced to pick up a copy of Walden Two from a friend’s bookshelf. He read the rest of the Skinner canon and spent the next decade trying to start an experimental community and preaching radical behaviorism to anyone who would listen. Eventually he entered graduate school under the guidance of John Donahoe. He was happy in grad school and would be there still if the University of Massachusetts had not threatened to change the locks. He has spent the last 18 years as the token behaviorist at Smith College. During that time he co-authored, with Donahoe, Learning and Complex Behavior. He continues to puzzle over the interpretation of memory, problem-solving, and, particularly, verbal behavior. He still thinks Skinner was right about nearly everything. |
PHILIP N. HINELINE (Temple University) |
Dr. Philip N. Hineline received a BA from Hamilton College and a Ph.D. from Harvard University and spent three years at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research before moving to Temple University, where he is now a Professor. While developing the “interteach format” for use in classroom teaching, he has maintained a laboratory-based teaching environment, where much of the mentoring occurs between graduate and undergraduate students. He has served as Associate Editor, as Editor, and as Review Editor of the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. He has been President of ABA International, as well as of Division 25 of the American Psychological Association, the Eastern Psychological Association, and the Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. He has received several awards for excellence in teaching, research, and service to the field, the most recent being the Fred S. Keller Behavioral Education Award, from Division 25 of the American Psychological Association. His conceptual writing has addressed the characteristics of explanatory language and the controversies that have confronted behavior analysis. His basic research has focused upon temporal extension in behavioral/psychological processes, with recent applied work evaluating behavioral interventions and addressing skill acquisition for persons who implement those interventions. |
HENRY D. SCHLINGER (California State University, Los Angeles) |
Dr. Hank Schlinger received his Ph.D. in Psychology from Western Michigan University where he also completed a post-doctoral fellowship in behavioral pharmacology. He was a professor of psychology at Western New England College in Massachusetts before moving to Los Angeles in 1999. He is now Assistant Professor of Psychology and Coordinator of the M.S. Program in Applied Behavior Analysis at California State University, Los Angeles. Dr. Schlinger has authored (or co-authored) three books Psychology: A Behavioral Overview (1990), A Behavior-Analytic View of Child Development (1995) (which was translated into Japanese), Introduction to Scientific Psychology (1998) and more than forty scientific articles. |
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