Association for Behavior Analysis International

Some have maintained that the investigation and teaching of higher cognitive function is outside the domain of behavior analysis or at least Skinners treatment of Verbal Behavior. In contrast, this presentation will argue that Skinners treatment provides the foundation for understanding a range of complex verbal phenomena important to behavior analysts or anyone interested in higher cognitive function. This is particularly true for those who build programs to teach verbal behavior skills. Building on Skinners analysis, this talk offers a heuristic that may be useful for those who design Verbal Behavior programs. This heuristic helps delineate a hierarchy of repertoires and the contingencies that define them. These extended relations include: Basic units or sameness relations, which include concepts and simple equivalence relations; linked units or ordered relations, which include principles and more complex equivalencelike relations; and combined units or generative repertoires, which include reasoning, problem solving, and the use of metaphor. Generative repertoires are of particular importance for they provide the learner with the means for more autonomous learning. Accordingly, this category will be emphasized, drawing heavily from the work of Joanne K. Robbins (and others) and her analysis of how to teach the various types of intelligence.

Recently, issues concerning Autism and Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) have received a great deal of attention. Comparisons of epidemiological data from the last 30 years suggest that there has been a significant increase in the prevalence of the disorder. However, the meaning of this increase is currently poorly understood and few population-based studies have been conducted with large U.S. samples. This talk will detail past and present efforts to document the prevalence of autism, as well as discuss implications of the apparent increase in the number of individuals affected by the spectrum of disorders. In addition, characteristics that may increase the risk for developing autism will also be discussed. The few studies that have explored possible association have mostly involved analyses of small, ethnically similar samples which may make results more difficult to generalize. Data from two investigations of large ethnically diverse populations will be highlighted and areas of future investigation will be presented.

Teachers often encounter students who present with both academic deficits and social-behavioral difficulties. Deficiencies in basic academic skills can eventually lead students to be excluded from general education classrooms, while a lack of appropriate social skills affects not only their development of advanced communicative abilities, but also further exacerbates their isolation from peers. Both of these deficit areas are strong predictors of later problems in life. Fluency training, with its emphasis on ?the student knows best? approach, offers alternate strategies for addressing these issues. Fluency training has been found to increase acquisition and retention of both component and composite skills. This presentation examines how fluency training in combination with other treatments can improve a basic academic skill (i.e., oral reading and comprehension) and social skills in young children with developmental disabilities. Results will be discussed with respect to the retention, endurance, and application of these skills in classroom settings.