Association for Behavior Analysis International

Behavior analysts who are Board Certified now have Guidelines for Responsible Conduct that clearly define our ethical responsibilities to our clients, students, colleagues, society, and to the field of behavior analysis itself.Remaining to be codified, however, are a set of values statements that represent the best our field has to offer those individuals we serve. Often, the services we provide involve life-saving behavioral procedures. Because we are now in constant competition with other professions who work hard to sell their "values" (almost in lieu of an effective technology of behavior change), I believe it is critical that we address our own values. In a recent survey of leaders in ABA we found that the question, "What values are important for our field?" yielded a diverse range of responses from "empiricism" to "logic" to "induction" and "save the world through BF Skinner" none of which are likely to appeal to consumers.In this presentation I will attempt to offer some guidelines for the development of a set of values statements for behavior analysis that will appeal to advocates and consumers in autism, education, rehabilitation, and community treatment.

Children and adolescents can be treated effectively using functional behavioral assessment and behavioral interventions for social, emotional and medical difficulties in a variety of settings. These settings include: a hospital treating children for chronic or terminal illnesses, a permanent residence with a loving family, a group home specifically designed to treat adolescents with multiple diagnoses, and a regular public school. The speakers in this symposium will present research-based approaches from the behavioral literature, as well as techniques they have used in clinical case studies, that effectively deal with numerous social, emotional and medical difficulties in children. Diagnoses that have been given to the children in these case studies include: Cancer, Diabetes, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Conduct Disorder, Moderate Mental Retardation, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Motor Stereotypy, Depression, Psychosis, Learning Disability, School Phobia with Panic Attacks and Social Anxiety Disorder. In each of the case studies discussed, these children either: were able to be receive necessary medical treatments that were previously refused, had one or more of their diagnostic labels removed or were able to be served in a typical setting after previously being removed due to their behavioral, social and emotional difficulties.

This symposium includes four papers describing recent research on trichotillomania (chronic hair pulling) with adults and children and represents the most recent behavior analysis research in this area. The first paper describes a treatment study evaluating habit reversal and adjunct treatments for hair pulling by adults. The second study describes factors, identified from a descriptive functional assessment, that are functionally related to hair pulling by adults and that may predict treatment success and relapse. The third study reports the types of comorbid mental health conditions experienced by children diagnosed with trichotillomania seen at a specialty clinic for children with chronic hair pulling. The fourth study evaluates the utility of different self-monitoring methods for chronic hair pulling by children.

This symposium provides an overview of the Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) and summarizes research related to three of its major behavioral characteristics: food preference (poor diet), exercise, and self-injurious behavior.

B. F. Skinner (1957) provided a conceptual tool for analyzing the acquisition of language or verbal behavior. His conceptual analysis has encouraged research to emprirically verify his claims of the benefit of a natural science approach to the understanding and development of verbal behavior. During the past 25 years a body of empirical literature has emerged which has begun to provide support for the basic concepts he outlined in his theoretical analysis. The purpose of this symposium is to present four(4) data based research papers which apply Skinners conceptual analysis of verbal behavior to three (3) important topics in the treatment of children with autism, e.g. teaching the mand repertoire, use of alternative communication methods to develop vocal responding and methods to strengthen the echoic repertoire. The first two (2) papers will present data regarding methods to bring the mand repertoire under the control of motivational variables and methods to increase the number of items in the environment that will serve as a form of reinforcement. In the third paper the author will present data to support the use of sign language and other independent variables that successfully increased the frequency and variety of speech sounds produced by children with limited vocal repertoires. The last paper will provide data comparing the effects of two (2) different methods of teaching the echoic repertoire. Final comments will be offered regarding the application of these experimental findings to treatment programs for children with autism.

Explanations of the phenomenon of observational learning as well as its operational definition have been a source of debate and research since the early 1960s (Bandura &Walters, 1963; Catania, 1998; Staats, 1975; Gewirtz, 1971; Metz, 1965). Individuals with developmental disabilities, such as those with a diagnosis of autism, share a common deficit in the area of social and academic skills (Bauminger, 2002). An example of these deficits includes the ability to learn through observation, a critical repertoire in succeeding in less restrictive environments. The research reported herein provide an expanded analysis of several tactics on the development of observational learning in children with autism who did not have such repertoires.

The Douglass Developmental Disabilities Center has been in the process of incorporating Precision Teaching with frequency building procedures over the past several years in an effort to answer a multitude of research questions regarding best practice for older learners with autism. The papers will address an overview of the research outcomes compiled over a one-year period utilizing a multiple probe across subjects design. The first paper will review the results of frequency building with an adult with autism and childhood hemiplegia. Data will be presented on the acquisition of a fluency target (free-grasp/place/release) and the generalized effects of this type of instruction on vocational performance. The second paper will focus on the implementation of frequency building procedures with an adult with autism and a genetic syndrome. The results of frequency-building of conversation topics (see-say topics, followed by free-say topics) and the generalized effects of instruction on spontaneous conversation throughout the work day. The third paper will discuss the results of fine motor skill frequency building (free-grasp/place/release) for an adult with autism and cerebral palsy. The effects of frequency building on the performance of activities of daily living will be discussed. The three subjects participated in a multiple probe design, with implementation of frequency-building procedures staggered in three-month periods.

Research on naming has traditionally investigated naming in terms of its relation to stimulus equivalence or relational frames. More recently naming has also been investigated as a verbal development capability related to Skinner speaker-as-own listener and the experimental identification of multiple exemplar experiences as a sufficient intervention to induce naming in children who were missing naming capabilities. We shall present experiments on the induction of naming, its prevalence in, and relations to functionally analyzed theory of mind tests, and tests of a role of verbal behavior in equivalence relations in children with and without language delay diagnoses.

The education and treatment of individuals with aggressive destructive behavior is complicated and confounded by controversies that exist within the disabilities field. These controversies relate to treatment approaches, philosophy, ethics and ideology. This panel discussion will include a review of the literature since the 1989 NIH conference on destructive behavior, presentation of an index for assessing severity, and discussion of two cases illustrating the state of the art.

The mission of the Standards and Professional Affairs Committee (PAC) is to focus on the practice of behavior analysis, including certification, continuing education, codes of ethics, practice standards, legislation and public policy, and third party payments. This panel discussion will involve brief presentations of these topics of interest to behavior analysts who are researchers, academicians, and clinicians. The discussions and issues raised by the panel and audience will be considered by the PAC for possible presentation to the ABA Council.

Utilizing the language and theory outlined in Skinners Verbal Behavior (1957), language and learning interventions for children with autism will be explored. Empirical data from two experiments will be presented and analyzed with an emphasis on clinical first study demonstrates the effectiveness of combining motor echoic training and manipulating motivating operations to elicit generative and spontaneous verbal behavior across operant classes. The second study addresses the efficacy of training echoic rehearsal strategies to improve task performance and enable responding under joint control for autistic youth. Theoretical and process issues raised by each experiment will be addressed, particularly the superiority of topography-based, over selection-based language interventions. Additionally, the role of generalized imitation in higher order processes will be examined.

This symposium will present information about the service delivery model based on Skinners analysis of verbal behavior to serve children with autism, their parents, and their teachers that is used at Behavior Analysts, Inc. The Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills (ABLLS), will be described as the focal assessment tool used in the Strategic Teaching and Reinforcement System (STARS) model classroom. Additionally, ABLLS-training opportunities are provided on an international level and will be described in the presentation. The service delivery methods used in the STARS classroom, the STARS Integrated Sites model classrooms, the Start Teaching and Reinforcing Today (START) program which provide in-clinic and in-home services to parents, and the training activities and processes used at Behavior Analysts, Inc. will be described. Exemplary data will be provided throughout the symposium to validate the models effectiveness.

A central focus of applied behavior analysis is the demonstration of functional relationships between independent and dependent variables. The failure of an intervention to produce desired behavior change may be related to the incomplete application of the programmed independent variable. Conversely, an initially robust treatment outcome may be weakened when an intervention is not implemented will full procedural integrity. This symposium will present a series of experiments designed to explore the issue of treatment integrity in behavioral interventions. Specifically, these studies sought to determine: (1) the extent to which independent variable integrity is assessed and monitored in applied experiments, and (2) whether positive treatment outcomes maintain in the face of varying levels of procedural integrity.

Given the increased interest in the role that Precision Teaching can play in behavior analytic intervention for children with autism, our discipline has seen increased numbers of presentations and publications addressing the matter. Relatively few of these, however, have demonstrated the ways in which Precision Teaching may benefit intervention programs for children with very severe autism and very low skills. This symposium will present three data-based case studies that outline such applications.

Increased interest in the more complex social responses of individuals with autism has been evident recently. As a result, we have seen the advancement of behavioral accounts of the social deficits noted in individuals with autism and the development of teaching strategies to ameliorate such deficits. The papers in this symposium will address social deficits of individuals with autism with respect to joint attention, perspective taking, empathy, and sharing behavior. Through the use of single-subject experimental designs, the researchers have investigated strategies of teaching the above social responses to students with autism, ranging in age from pre-school to adolescence, and will demonstrate the effective use of such strategies to increase appropriate social responding in the presence of target discriminative stimuli. In addition, each presenter will define methods by which the generalization of these important social skills was targeted and the extent to which these responses were displayed under non-training conditions. Finally, each presenter will detail the acquisition and generalization of these responses through a learning-based account and comment on the importance of these skills in advancing the social repertoires of individuals with autism.

This symposium includes three research papers focusing current technological trends in Organizational Behavior Management. Each paper includes reports of data-based research conducted in warehouse settings where performance variables of interest included productivity, measured in the number of cased picked per hour, and accuracy, measured by the average numbers of errors committed by employees. The first paper reports on research where an incentive program in a distribution warehouse was enhanced by the implementation of proximal performance goals and immediate feedback based on Engineered Labor Standards and delivered on handheld scanning devises. The second paper reports on the implementation of oral prompts and immediate feedback delivered by computer-voice headsets on selectors in a warehouse. The final paper, in a separate study, compares the impact of the handheld scanning devises, where feedback is delivered visually, versus the voice headsets, where feedback is delivered through an auditory devise, on both productivity and errors. The discussant for this session will review the merits and deficiencies of each study as well as comment on the growing impact of technology on OBM interventions.

Verbal behavior deficits are central to the communication impairments of individuals with autism. Development of a vocal verbal behavior repertoire can be challenging when a learner demonstrates a lack of spoken language. Previous research and clinical demonstrations have suggested the efficacy of a stimulus-stimulus pairing procedure to develop or expand the vocal repertoire of learners with absent or limited functional vocal behavior. This session reports the impact of a stimulus-stimulus pairing procedure for two young children with autism. In the first paper, procedural variations and comparison to previously documented strategies are highlighted. In the second paper, one learners development of a vocal echoic and mand repertoire are presented, along with a discussion of other generalized effects. The third paper reports the collateral effects of the procedure demonstrated in two learners who showed a significant decrease in stereotyped vocalizations. Clinical implications and future directions will be discussed.

The literature regarding the efficacy of a stimulus-stimulus pairing procedure to increase the vocal verbal behavior of young children with autism has been promising but mixed. The current paper presents a model of implementation for use of a stimulus-stimulus pairing procedure to increase the verbal mand and echoic repertoires of two young learners with autism. Specifically, the current paper describes the impact of the stimulus pairing procedure within individual pairing sessions, and over the course of time, an aspect which has not been extensively explored in the literature. In addition, the current paper describes how the use of the pairing procedure was systematically transferred to a contingent reinforcement procedure over the course of its implementation, and presents data regarding the subsequent impact of this shift. Further, the current clinical application utilized a variety of stimuli in the pairing component of the procedure, rather than one specific stimulus paired with each target speech sound. The clinical utility of these procedural variations will be discussed.

The effects of a stimulus-stimulus pairing procedure on the production of appropriate speech sounds in a six-year-old boy with autism are presented. The student presented with a limited repertoire of speech sounds and used a picture system to communicate. Sounds were identified that the student did not emit when asked and had never been heard to emit. Using a multiple baseline design across sounds, a pairing procedure was implemented in which the instructor repeatedly produced the target sound while delivering preferred items non-contingently. The student's production of the target sound was recorded before, during, and after pairing sessions. The pairing procedure produced a measurable increase in the students production of the sound during and immediately after pairing sessions. This improvement was augmented by adding contingent reinforcement for production of the target sound in the second phase of the procedure. Probe data indicated that during the course of the procedure, the student acquired the ability to produce the sound on request and began to utilize the sound communicatively in other settings. These data support the potential contribution of the stimulus pairing procedure for increasing the vocal repertoires of individuals with autism where other procedures have been ineffective

While research and clinical case studies have demonstrated the impact of a stimulus-stimulus pairing procedure on the development of vocal verbal behavior for learners with extremely limited or absent vocal speech, there is very little literature regarding the impact of such strategies on the rates of non-functional stereotyped vocal behavior. For two learners with autism exposed to a stimulus-stimulus pairing procedure, targeted increases in functional vocalizations were accompanied by significant decreases in non-functional vocalizations and other stereotypic behavior. These changes occurred predictably during the periods immediately following the stimulus-stimulus pairing procedure, and the degree of reduction increased over time and exposure to the pairing procedure. Changes in stereotyped behavior were documented although these behaviors were not targeted specifically. Clinical and theoretical implications of these findings will be discussed.

Recent research has focused on a variety of methods to increase safety skills. However, given the on-going national growth in accidental injuries and deaths, there is a continued need for empirical investigations on the establishment of these vital skills. Three papers will be presented on teaching children safety skills. First, research will be presented on enhancing the effectiveness of behavioral skills training for teaching safety skills to prevent gun play across 45 6-7 year olds. Second, the results of implementing a group contingency to decrease dangerous playground behaviors among typically developing children will be presented. Finally, research on training safety skills to children diagnosed with autism will be presented in addition to the results of training caregivers of children from this population to decrease potential home safety hazards.

Many behavior analysts devote a considerable amount of time to teaching new skills to children and adults with developmental disabilities. The ongoing improvement of instructional procedures is likely to make teaching sessions more effective. In this symposium, papers are presented that address different aspects of instructional programming. In the first paper, the researchers compare the effectiveness of two different prompting procedures. In the second paper, the authors present a training process for special education undergraduate students to learn a range of instructional procedures that are often effective. The authors of the third paper utilized the ABLLS to guide curriculum for an adult with severe disabilities. The researchers then taught three of the identified skills and examined the results within an experimental design. Finally, in the fourth paper, the author describes a comprehensive approach to teach new skills while addressing a serious problem behavior.

The goal of intensive, ABA-based, early intervention services for young children with autism is admission to typical kindergarten or first grade. Often, the initial intervention consists of highly structured, 1:1 teaching interactions, either in a home-based or a segregated, center-based program. At some point during this intervention process, decisions are made by relevant individuals (e.g., senior clinical staff, parents, other service providers) regarding the learners readiness to make the transition to a small group preschool or inclusion environment. Many professionals refer to readiness criteria (e.g., Johnson, Mayer, & Taylor, 1996) to help guide that decision-making process. Other researchers and clinicians de-emphasize prerequisite criteria for inclusion and, instead, integrate young children with autism with typical peers right from the outset of intensive intervention. Empirical data to guide the decision-making process, to include or not to include, has been limited. The purpose of the panel is to present the range of views and practices regarding readiness criteria and inclusion of young children with autism, and will attempt to answer the ultimate question: Under what conditions should a young child with autism participate in a more typical pre-school setting?

Child Maltreatment Prevention is receiving increased attention in behavioral research and practice. Due to the associated long-term negative health and social consequences of Child Maltreatment, its prevention is also a priority for the CDC. This symposium examines the effectiveness of Parenting Programs implemented at agency and state levels. The first presentation focuses on a population-level evaluation of Triple P (Positive Parenting Program). Triple P is an evidenced-based program with five Levels of Intervention. The second presentation takes a closer look at one of the specific Levels of Intervention within Triple P (Primary Care Level 3), focusing on parents generalization of strategies across settings. The final presentation examines both Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) and Project Safe Care. PCIT was implemented within a Child Welfare Services agency. Project SafeCare was implemented both within a Child Welfare Services agency for high-risk families as well as statewide for active Child Welfare cases. These presentations will include discussions of fidelity monitoring, the challenges with large-scale implementation, and program dissemination.

Functional communication training is commonly used to treat problem behavior. However, further research is needed on factors related to the selection and maintenance of communication responses, especially during periods of extinction. In the first paper, Laura Grow and colleagues demonstrate a methodology for identifying communication responses that are already in the individuals repertoire prior to treatment and for determining if the responses are in the same response class as problem behavior. In the second paper, Carrie Dempsey and colleagues examine the benefits of using signaled versus unsignaled reinforcement while maintaining communication responses on VI schedules. In the third paper, Jeffrey Tiger and colleagues present a study on the use of signaled reinforcement with preschool-aged children. The authors examine the effects of signaled reinforcement on childrens tolerance for periods of extinction and assess the children's preference for signaled versus unsignaled reinforcement. Finally, Anna and colleagues examine a strategy for teaching children with autism to discriminate between periods of reinforcement versus extinction under multiple, naturally occurring situations.

This panel will include Stephen Suomi and will discuss and criticize his invited address which was given in the immediately-preceding time slot in the same room. Suomi will respond to questions raised by and comments of members of the panel.

Baer, Wolf, and Risley (1968, 1987) described behavior analysis as applied, behavioral, analytic, conceptual, technological, effective, and displaying generality. Each of these characteristics defines behavior analysis as a field of research and application. School-wide positive behavior support (SWPBS) is an application of behavior analysis. SWPBS also can be defined within the context of these seven characteristics, meeting the criteria for applied behavior analysis established by Baer et al. This presentation will discuss school-wide positive behavior support within the context of the seven characteristics identified by Baer et al. to demonstrate that SWPBS applies behavior analytic principles and technology to non-clinical populations to demonstrate the utility (ecological validity) of behavior analysis.

Verbal behavior and stimulus control have evolved as separate areas within behavior analysis. However, attempts have been made to combine research traditions from these two areas in order to explain and teach complex behavior. Braga-Kenyon et. al. investigated whether defined responses can be included in equivalence relations. The results so far suggest that defined responses, along with the stimulus members of an analytic unit, participate in the equivalence relation. Andrade et al. compared the effectiveness of two teaching procedures to establish auditory-visual discrimination; progressive delay of point prompts and no-delay. Results suggest, so far, that prompt delay is a more effective way to teach conditional discriminations. Such results raise questions regarding the behavioral events that take place during the delay of the prompt. Perez-Gonzales et al., investigated whether teaching operants with the same response form as the intraverbal targeted to emerge would facilitate emergence. Results suggest that teaching tacts and intraverbals with the same response as the probed intraverbals facilitates the emergence of intraverbals.

Notwithstanding B. F. Skinners comment that Historical research can take the place of scientific inquiry and give one time out for an honorable snooze, while pretending to carry on, historical research in behavior analysis directly engages the fields basic and applied science, as well as it science education. Just as behavior analysis is forward-looking, so too is historical research. With this as background, this tutorial describes the foreground -- the fields history and historiography. That is, it (a) relates the evolution of behavior analysis as a science, discipline, and profession and (b) delves into methodological considerations relevant to conducting historical research and the interpretation of its findings. The main topics I address are the value history inquiry (e.g., predicting current function), the historical subject matter (e.g., events, individuals, institutions), approaches to historical analysis (e.g., qualitative, quantitative), and the methodological considerations (e.g., zeitgeist vs. great person history). Throughout the tutorial, I interweave a history of behavior analysis that is informed by these values, areas, and methods, as well as by other considerations (e.g., origin myths; viz. the cognitive revolution). I also present historical puzzles and problems that vary widely enough to suit the interests and abilities of junior colleagues and senior scholars alike, as they seek to advance behavior analysis as a cultural practice. Finally, I describe a variety of resources that can promote effective historical inquiry. I close with some comments on what it is like to be an historian of behavior analysis.

Incidental teaching is a behavior analytic technique that can be especially useful for teaching new behaviors. Incidental teaching calls for arranging the environment so that highly reinforcing materials or activities are available to the child. But the key to incidental teaching is that the child is obligated to interact with the teacher or other adults in the environment in order to gain access to the materials or some aspect of the activity. Typically arrays of incidental teaching opportunities are arranged. In this way, naturally reinforcing interaction with teachers is optimized, as are opportunities for reinforcement. Incidental teaching has a long history of use with children with autism and it continues to be an efficient and effective teaching technique. In this invited tutorial Dr McGee will feature a review of the literature on the use of incidental teaching and offer a series of recommendations for incorporating incidental teaching in any intervention program for children with autism.

The field of behavior analysis has much to offer schools and, in recent years the number of behavior analysts working with schools has increased markedly. In this symposium we present state of the art, data-based methods of assessment and intervention that (a) illustrate how behavior analytic principles and technology can affect meaningful and positive changes in schools, and (b) demonstrate how specific strategies might be applied to assist individual students or groups of students in a school.

Autism is a complex and challenging disorder. Agencies providing services to individuals with autism and their families are faced with meeting these complex challenges in a variety of different ways across many different settings. In order to insure that these services are provided in a safe and effective way and achieve the best possible outcomes, a comprehensive quality assurance program should be in place. The quality assurance program should provide oversight to areas such as student and consumer outcomes, incidence management, program compliance, consumer and staff safety to name a few. This panel will provide an overview of a comprehensive data based quality assurance program applied within a multi-program autism service delivery agency. Specifically, strategies employed within a childrens school program, an adult services program, in-home family support programs as well as residential group homes will be discussed.

Four papers will discuss basic and applied issues relative to the assessment and treatment of various verbal operants using Skinners analysis of Verbal Behavior. The first paper (Sidener) examines stimulus control over word usage of college students during interviews. The second paper (Flood) discusses how Skinners analysis of Verbal Behavior was used to increase manding of a child with autism when a discrete trial format was ineffective. The third paper (Barker) found discrete trial instruction to be highly effective in teaching tacts to children with developmental delays when this format was embedded into everyday activities at a preschool. Finally, the fourth paper (Firth, Sidener, and Carr) examined the effects of interspersing mands and tacts during acquisition training with preschool children.

Functional Analysis has provided excellent tools to clinicians to help solve behavior problems more effectively. Research on functional analysis procedures has focused on expanding our knowledge of variables related to this assessment strategy. For example, researchers have investigated brief versus extended analyses, analogue versus in-vivo settings, and the utility of such procedures on subjects varying in age, abilities, and competence. The purpose of this symposium is to describe three studies extending functional analysis in different ways. In these papers, experimenters empirically tested the application of functional analysis to dually diagnosed subjects, focusing on transient tic disorders, and on precursors to dangerous behaviors.

Extinction is the most direct method for reducing the frequency of behavior. Nevertheless, the procedure is prone to misapplication, may produce undesirable effects, and can be difficult to implement. This presentation will consider some limitations associated with the use of extinction and will suggest alternative strategies.

This panel discussion addresses Dr. Edward K. Morriss invited tutorial on the history and historiography of behavior analysis. The panelists will comment on his main topics (e.g., the value history inquiry, approaches to historical analysis, the methodological considerations), the history of behavior analysis that he interwove among them, and related historiographic concerns (e.g., origin myths). They will address the puzzles and problems he presented and suggest how to solve them. And, they will relate what they think it is to be an historian.