Association for Behavior Analysis International

Dr. Jennifer Zarcone will provide opening remarks.

The proposed changes to the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) were first discussed in 1999, when key leaders of the American Psychiatric Association and the National Institute of Mental Health decided to work together on expanding the scientific basis for psychiatric diagnosis and classification. This presentation will discuss how autism is currently being diagnosed and the various factors that have made diagnosing autism more challenging. Social, behavioral, and communication challenges and the characteristics that are often associated with individuals having ASD, will be defined and explained in the context of daily living (specifically in the home and school environment). The importance of evidence-based treatments and access to various types of services meant to improve quality of life for individuals with ASD will be highlighted. The presentation will explain why it is necessary to revise the DSM IV-TR criteria and discuss the process through which the new criteria for DSM-5 Neurodevelopmental Disorders have been developed. Clinical, political, and scientific questions about the criteria will be outlined. Research that contributed to the development of the criteria and what occurred subsequent to the first drafts of the Autism Spectrum Disorders criteria will be addressed. Strategies that concerned families and service providers may use to decrease confusion and possible misuse of the new criteria will be provided.

Psychologists, behavior analysts, graduate students, and anyone interested in learning more about the DSM-5 Criteria for autism spectrum disorders.

A primary goal of early intervention services is to identify teaching strategies that will help close the gap between the skill level of children with autism spectrum disorders and that of their typically developing peers. The efficiency of instruction, or the amount of time required to teach a new skill, may be enhanced by using certain instructional strategies that have been shown to produce rapid learning or future learning. Instructive feedback is one example of an instructional strategy that can decrease training time or increase the amount of skills that a child learns during instruction. Instructive feedback has been shown to be effective in teaching new skills to children and adults with developmental disabilities in more than 20 published studies. In this presentation, Dr. Kodak will review different formats of instructive feedback and present results from several of her studies that demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of instructive feedback for teaching verbal behavior to children with autism spectrum disorders. Dr. Kodak also will discuss how specific behaviors displayed by children during instruction may be associated with the effectiveness of this procedure. Finally, she will describe how instructive feedback may be incorporated into clinical practice to maximize learning outcomes.

Psychologists, behavior analysts, practitioners, graduate students, and anyone interested in learning more about instructive feedback for children with autism.

The most common behavioral methodology used for working with children with autism is typically identified as discrete trial training (e.g., Lovaas, 2003), and usually involves a variety of structured table-top teaching activities. Another general behavioral methodology has been collectively identified as naturalistic teaching approaches (LeBlanc, Esch, Sidener, & Firth, 2006), and involves a variety of activities that are conducted in the context of a child's naturally occurring daily events (e.g., play, meal time, self-care). Both methodologies are necessary for an effective program, but they each require unique teaching skills and curricula. This presentation will suggest a framework for teaching in the natural environment guided by B. F. Skinner's analysis of verbal behavior. The main focus will be on developing a curriculum that includes natural environment training (NET) activities to teach manding, tacting, listener skills, intraverbals, matching-to-sample, imitation, social skills, and play skills, while making language instruction relevant to the child functional and fun.

Psychologists, behavior analysts, practitioners, graduate students, and anyone interested in learning more about developing a curriculum that includes natural environment training activities.

Despite a gathering consensus about the effectiveness of behavior analytic intervention for learners with autism, many school systems still struggle with the adoption, provision, and evaluation of behavior analytic programming. Furthermore, a history of exposure to poor consultation practices has resulted in frequent resistance to change agents not employed by local districts. In this presentation, Dr. Pennington will discuss contingencies at the individual and systems level that may serve as barriers to the adoption of behavior analytic practice and collaboration with consulting behavior analysts by local school systems. He will then describe his past work in capacity building through the Kentucky Autism Training Center and provide suggestions for navigating public school settings to provide consultation.

Psychologists, behavior analysts, practitioners, graduate students, and anyone interested in learning more about behavior analytic programming for learners with autism in public school settings.

Discussion and Q&A on the previous presentations by Dr. Catherine Lord, Dr. Tiffany Kodak, Dr. Mark Sundberg, and Dr. Robert Pennington.

Dr. Wayne Fisher and Dr. Jennifer Zarcone will conclude the conference and provide closing remarks.