Association for Behavior Analysis International

The present symposium serves as investigation to the various ways in which the technology of Derived Relational Responding (DRR) and the PEAK Relational Assessment System may extend beyond the typical contexts in which it is applied and the implications for the science of behavior analysis and beyond. We will provide promising evidence supporting PEAK's use within behavior analysis and the potentially massive impacts these endeavors could have when communicating with or about other psychologies, diagnoses, and ethnicities.

beginner-intermediate behavior analysts

Applied Behavior Analytic (ABA) therapy has one of the largest bodies of literature on effective treatment interventions for children with autism. Parents, providers, teachers, and insurance companies always have to worry about how much intervention is best, and at what cost is enough. There is limited research on the effects of ABA at various hour doses per week, although most providers will always advocate for “more is better.” The current study sought to investigate the impact of a low dose of ABA at 4 hours per week compared to a larger dose of ABA at 10 hours per week, over an 8-week period. In addition to traditional discrete trial intervention, all participants received. Children’s intelligence quotients were measured before and after intervention. Preliminary results suggest that children who received the larger dose had greater gains in intelligence, but some children who received the lower dose also made positive gains. These preliminary results suggest that ABA with relational training at a low dose may still be an effective treatment option for some children if a larger dose is not available. In addition, improvements on derived relational responding skills will also be assessed and discussed.

Over the past several decades, the number of individuals that receive an education from the public-school system has increased significantly, along with an increase in equal access regardless of disability or socioeconomic status. Despite the increased access and amount of resources afforded to the educational system, a corresponding increase in academic performance and intellectual ability has not been observed. Therefore, an empirically validated method for increasing these behaviors is necessary. The current study aimed to evaluate the effect of a set of procedures based on Relational Frame Theory on academic performance and intelligence. Experimenters obtained pre-training and post-training performances by administering Curriculum-Based Measures and WISC-V IQ tests to a control group and an intervention group. Following pre-training assessment, the intervention group was exposed to a series of relational training phases, in which the participants were required to respond in accordance with arbitrarily applicable relational responding across a series of relational tasks. Following training the participants in the intervention group showed improvement in academic performance and an increase in IQ, whereas those in the control group did not. Taken together, the results add to a growing body of literature that support the use of RFT-based interventions to promote complex behaviors.

Both clinicians and applied researchers describe themselves as applied behavior analysts. This symposium includes three presentations that provide information and strategies that are relevant to both. The first presentation is on the use of praise in the demand condition of an FA, and examines its effect on escape as a reinforcer. The second examines a strategy to increase the range of preferred and reinforcing stimuli for children with autism. The third presents an alternative way to examine data that can both clarify results for researchers and provide useful information for clinicians.

Behavior analysts who work with children with disabilities including autism.

Autism Spectrum Disorder is a developmental disability characterized by social, behavioral, and communicative impairments. A primary characteristic of Autism includes restrictive and repetitive patterns of behavior. Because having few preferred items and activities can lead to educational, social, and communication barriers, it is important to identify additional preferred stimuli to incorporate into the individual’s environment. One way to identify potential reinforcers is via preference assessments. Although substantial literature exists on ways to identify preferred stimuli there may be occasions when those methods fail to identify a large variety of preferred items, or items that function as reinforcers . In these cases, another approach to increasing the variety and number of preferred and reinforcing stimuli may be to increase preference and reinforcer value for items that are readily available, but low preferred. One novel approach to doing this includes video modeling. The purpose of the current study was to assess effects of video modeling on preference and reinforcer value of previously low-preferred stimuli.

Recent studies have demonstrated the use of latency as an index of response strength in the assessment and treatment of behavior (e.g., Thomason-Sassi et al., 2011). However, latency-based single subject designs may be difficult to interpret given how latency values are depicted graphically. Although visual inspection is the primary method of analyzing single-case subject designs, previous studies have primarily focused on interrater agreement of rate or frequency as primary measures. An alternative method to depicting latency-based measures and instantaneous rate may be a useful tool for clinicians to interpret latency-based graphs and in comparing latency to non-latency-based graphs.

To determine the highest behavioral-developmental stage in non-literate populations, 40 Nepalese adults were trained and tested on stage-based isolation-of-variables instruments (thatched roof problem and laundry problem). The thatched roof problem was a culturally based variant of the laundry problem. Participants were randomly assigned to two groups depending on the order of problems given (thatched roof first or laundry first). Correct answers were reinforced monetarily. The overall mean stage performance increased from M stage 8.98 (SD = 0.97) to M stage 9.18 (SD = 1.06) from training to transfer tasks. This transfer task performance was only half a stage lower than the behavioral-developmental stage educated westerns attain (Commons & Davidson, 2015). The order in which the problems were presented had a statistically significant effect on stage score improvement F(1, 38) = 6.218, p = 0.017, η2 = 0.113. When the thatched roof problem was presented first, it led to greater stage score improvements. This could be because the thatched roof problem matched the participants’ cultural experience better than the laundry problem. The results highlight that content and reinforcement are important in assessing behavioral-developmental stage in cross-cultural populations. They also support the notion that stage performance is mostly genetic and not learned through education.

Illusions have been a topic of research for decades. Kalderon posits that an illusion is “an experience of an object o appearing F, where o is not in fact F.” Commons describes illusions as “those instances where people report the appearance of stimuli in a way that distorts their physical properties”. Illusions influence perceptual understanding. Thus, they also distort truth and knowledge. Perturbations are changes that can potentially be observed. How they are perceived altered by their way of knowing. There are four major ways of “knowing”: a) Analytical knowledge is always true irrespective of "experience" or “data”; b) Anti-Analytical knowledge is not believing in “mathematical” or “logic” knowledge; c) Phenomenological which is experiential (Art, Law, Religion); d) Empirical include Science. Forty participants were asked about different sources of knowledge. They answered 77 questions on all forms of knowledge. A principle-components factor analysis on 77 items confirmed that there were 4 clear factors showing 3 positive ways of knowing and one negation of analytic. The four factors explained 54.39% of the total variance. Factor loadings ranged from .803 to .706.

The number of behavior analysts consulting in school settings has increased significantly over the past few years. Allowing an “outsider” into the classroom can sometimes be difficult for teachers and staff. Although behavior analysts are well trained in operationally defining behaviors and developing systematic and structured intervention plans, rigid adherence to specific procedures, protocols, and practices can be counterproductive. The result of rigidity around practices is often times detrimental to children who are the recipients of cookie-cutter interventions. This panel seeks to address settings, contexts, and populations for which it may be appropriate to be more flexible as a behavior analyst. The panelists have been consulting in public and private schools for a combined 30 years; additionally, all three presenters are former school-based practitioners themselves. Data, case studies, and anecdotal experiences consulting in a variety of educational settings from a behavior analytic perspective will be shared.

Behavior analysis can be considered a science of learning. Not only does the field address how learning occurs, but it also seeks to improve teaching technologies. To make learning more efficient, the goal should be on increasing rate of acquiring individual targets and increasing generative learning. In the literature, the focus is often on explicitly taught skills (e.g. Kodak et al, 2016; Sidman, 1994). However, generative learning, the ability to demonstrate responses that have not been explicitly taught or reinforced prior, is a crucial component of efficient learning (e.g., Critchfield & Twyman, 2014). Howard, Sparkman, Cohen, Green, and Stanislaw (2005) investigated the effects of having children with an autism spectrum disorder in an intensive behavior based preschool program compared to an electric program and a control, non-intensive program. In their discussion, they point out that in order for a child with a developmental delay to close the gap with neurotypical peers, an intervention must produce learning rates that are faster than the typical peer, which was seen in the intensive behavior-based program. Thus, it is imperative to have teaching procedures which are both effective and efficient (Albarran & Sandbank, 2018) to reach this learning rate.

The target audience is both newer BCBAs as well as those who have been in the field for a long time and may continue to use certain procedures because that is what they are used to doing. It provides both an overview and more in depth view into the various methods to improve efficiency in learning.

Procedures developed to provide corrective feedback are part of many types of instructional programming (Englemann, 1988; Binder & Watkins 1990). A correction procedure is essential to the formation of operants and literature has provided some considerations that should be made in regard to correction procedures. Within the literature a large degree of variations is used within similar procedures for example reinforcement delivery; number of repetitions; errorless learning vs. error corrections (Worsdell, 2005; Cowley, Green, & Braunling-McMorrow, 1992; Koegel & Egel, 1979, Carr & Kologinsky, 1983; Wheeler & Sulzer, 1970, and Carey & Bucher, 1983; Remington & Clarke, 1983). These variations regarding error correction procedures have resulted in numerous studies with inconclusive findings (Smith et al., 2006; Turan, Moroz, & Croteau, 2012; Rodgers and Iwata, 1991). The purpose of this study included gaining a better understanding of how and why practitioners currently select error correction procedures for their students and how they may affect student progress. In this study, ten questions were presented to BCBAs using an electronic survey. Survey data and the importance of the findings will be discussed.

This study added to existing research on the use of error correction procedures when teaching children with direct instruction. Previous research has shown that different error corrections can lead to increased numbers of correct responses or objectives met depending on the individual (Turan, Moroz and Croteau, 2011; Smith et al., 2006; Carroll et al., 2015). Recent research has also suggested that different error corrections may be successful depending on the types of academic program being taught or level of a pupil’s verbal behavior (Gautreux et al., 2017). This experiment was conducted with two pupils with autism spectrum disorders aged 10 and 11, using an alternating treatments design that tested programs across listener selection, listener production, speaker and visual matching topographies. The error correction procedures utilized were variations sourced from the existing literature. As well as looking at the impact of the treatments on the individual’s responses to academic programs (created for the purposes of the study), the experiment also recorded data on the amount of inappropriate behavior that was emitted during each treatment.

Equivalence-based instructional (EBI) technology has been shown to be highly effective in teaching relations among arbitrary stimuli (Sidman, 1994). The present study examined the use of EBI to train caregivers a five-relation stimulus class consisting of the following elements: a) labels of social functions of behavior, b) descriptions of antecedent events, c) descriptions of consequence events, d) vignettes with both antecedent and consequence events, and e) function-based responses (Albright, Schnell, Reeve, & Sidener, 2016; Fienup, Covey, & Crithchfield, 2010). Initial results demonstrated a functional relation between teaching the first set of relations (A:B:C) and a significant increase within untrained relations (B:C:D:E). These results must be viewed cautiously as responding in the pre-test of the second teaching set (A:D:E) was higher than expected. This supports previous experience with these stimuli as part of the formation of the untrained class merger (B-C-D-E) relations. Demonstration of an effective EBI intervention could lead to the development of computer-based training that could assist caregivers in acquiring more efficient function-based responses to problem behavior.

Children with autism may be unable to communicate sensations such as pain to caregivers and other individuals. Inability to describe pain may have serious implications for quality of life, family interactions, and medical care. Since parent report is not a sufficient indicator of pain in children with developmental delays, it is imperative that they learn to describe sensations such as pain. A behavior analytic view suggests that children can learn to tact private events when a publicly observable event occurs simultaneously. The present study evaluated a proposed method of teaching children with autism to express stimulation of specific body parts by various objects. In a multiple baseline design across participants, each participant experienced a baseline phase, followed by an intervention phase in which tacts of stimulation to three body parts were taught, and the evaluation concluded with tests of generalization to three novel body parts. Thus far, two participants have completed the study and acquired the tacts of sensations, and a third participant has completed pre-experimental probes. The first participant successfully generalized sensation tacts to two of three body parts, and to novel objects for two of three sensations. He did not demonstrate generalization to novel sensations. This study provides a foundation for research investigating teaching children with autism to tact sensations such as pain.

Including instructive feedback (IF) targets in discrete trial training (DTT) has been shown to increase the efficiency of DTT. Students may self-echo the feedback, which mediates later responding. The present study sought to understand the role of self-echoics in the acquisition of IF by including three conditions: a typical IF procedure, a vocal mediation-blocking procedure (participants engaged in a competing vocal response after the IF was presented), and a motor-distraction procedure, (participants engaged in a motor response after the IF was presented). Inclusion of the vocal mediation-blocking task had little effect on the participants’ ability to learn the IF statements.

Behavior chains are often named as singular response units, such as tooth brushing or hand washing. However, these skills are actually complex sequences comprised of many individual responses (i.e., component steps) that, when performed in a specific order, result in the completion of a complex, composite skill. Behavior chains are often taught using chaining, with the most widely used chaining procedures commonly called forward chaining, backward chaining, and total task presentation. The purpose of this presentation is to highlight selected findings from a comprehensive literature review of the applied research on chaining from 2007 - 2017. This review was warranted given 1) that a such a broad review of chaining does not appear to have yet been conducted, 2) the last review of any kind on chaining is over 10 years old, and 3) chaining procedures are still widely used by applied behavior analysts. In addition to reviewing interesting findings from the quantitative literature review, this presentation will also include a proposal for restructuring the terminological taxonomy to be more technological and conceptually systematic. Recommendations for clinical practitioner and suggestions for future research will also be included.

A token economy is a complex system of reinforcement in which a token is delivered (or removed) contingent upon target behavior(s) and can be later exchanged for back-up reinforcers. The complexity of a token economy is derived from three-interconnected schedules of reinforcement. Following the pioneering research of Ayllon and Azrin (1965; 1968), token economies and token reinforcement has become a common component of behavioral programming. Despite the broad success of this behavioral technology, the mechanics of token reinforcement have not been thoroughly studied (Hackenberg, 2009; 2018). Further, token economy literature often contains vague or incomplete procedural descriptions (Ivy, Meindl, Overly, & Robson, 2017). The purpose of this symposium is to present and synthesize token reinforcement and token economy literature. The first presentation will examine the methods to condition token reinforcers. The second presentation will explore assessment strategies to evaluate the function of tokens. Finally, the third presentation examines the application of token economies for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Practitioners and researchers who use token economies or token reinforcement.

Token reinforcement systems are widely used in the field of applied behavior analysis to promote behavior change across settings, behaviors, and populations (e.g., individuals of typical development and with developmental delays). While previous literature reviews on token reinforcement have assessed staff training, selection of backup reinforcers, programed consequences, and generalization procedures across diverse populations, none have explicitly evaluated these procedures with individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The purpose of this systematic literature review was to extend previous analyses by evaluating applications of the token economy with individuals with ASD. The included studies were summarized across (a) participant demographics (age, gender, and diagnoses), (b) experimental setting, (c) token conditioning (d) target behavior defined, (e) inverse of target behavior, (f) programed consequences, (g) individual delivering tokens, (h) training on token delivery, (i) token production schedule, (j) exchange-production schedule, (k) token-exchange schedule, (l) token economies implemented, (m) token boards, (n) conditioned reinforcer, (o) token exchange, (p) backup reinforcer selection, (q) designated backup reinforcers, (r) opportunity to select backup reinforcer, (s) faded token economy, (t) maintenance, (u) generalization, (v) social validity, (w) procedural integrity, (x) interobserver agreement (IOA), and (y) outcomes.

Science is self-correcting, generating quantifiable and testable predictions of events in nature (basic experimental models) and influencing such events to improve the lives of people (applied clinical models). Skinner discussed the importance of understanding the behavior of scientists in his radical behavioral account, and more recent attempts have been made in other fields to develop a self-correcting and evolving science of science. In particular, model dependent realism developed by Hawking and Mlodinow (2010) puts forward contextual and pragmatic criteria for vetting competing scientific models. In the first presentation, Dr. Jordan Belisle (Missouri State University) compares four basic theories of human language learning framed within model dependent realism. He also discusses advances in the quantitative analysis of behavior that could be used to make quantitative predictions about human language. In support of a quantitative approach, the presenter will show new data that support Relational Density Theory as a model for predicting and potentially influencing higher order properties of language. In the second presentation, Dr. James Moore (Canopy Children’s Solutions) extends model dependent realism in the context of comparing applied clinical models from within a pragmatic truth criterion. Traditional models that have emphasized direct contingency control and verbal behavior are compared against contemporary treatment models in relational training and acceptance and commitment training. Finally, the discussant highlights the need for basic experimental and applied clinical models that can generate large-scale outcome research, as only by examining the utility of our models in changing the lives of people, can we move toward a more complete, adaptive, and evolved science of human behavior.

BCBAs

A defining feature of radical behaviorism is the assumption that behavioral principles can be applied to the behavior of the scientist, and indeed, to the science itself (Skinner, 1945, 1956, 1974; Chiesa, 1992). Two model dependent theories of science have been put forward by Kuhn (1962) and Hawking and Mlodinow (2010) that are largely consistent with radical behaviorism. Model dependent realism in particular establishes four criteria that can be used to compare competing models in basic science that may be useful when models are incompatible. The criteria propose that models should (a) be elegant, (b) contain few if any arbitrary or adjustable elements, (c) explain all existing observations, and (d) make quantifiable predictions about future events that are falsifiable. Current models of human language learning (verbal behavior, bidirectional naming, equivalence, and relational frame theory) are compared using these criteria to determine elements of each that are compatible, and when models are incompatible, to determine which models best explain human language. In pursuing the fourth criteria, Relational Density Theory (Belisle & Dixon, in press) is put forward as a model of higher-order and self-emergent properties of relational language that generates quantifiable predictions that can be directly tested. Data are presented that support the predictions made in Relational Density Theory, along with preliminary data in application with children with autism.

Given the current ethical standard to conduct a functional assessment when addressing problem behavior, there are a myriad of challenges for practitioners in applied settings to conduct such an assessment consistent with evidence-based practices. Ethically, we are bound to conduct the most efficient, evidence-based assessment to find the function and other maintaining variables for problem behavior then devise a plan that is most likely to be effective. This symposium will provide an overview of several perspectives by the presenters regarding ethical and legal challenges to conducting functional assessments in applied settings and offer potential practical solutions for practitioners. One potential barrier pertains to acceptance by administrators, funders, parents and others regarding implementation of traditional functional analysis methods in the behavior analysis literature (cf. Iwata et al., 1982/1994). Reliable approaches to functional analysis are currently under development that are promising in addressing acceptability, and thus alleviate ethical and legal challenges (e.gs. Bloom et. al., 2011; Hanley et. al., 2014). Presenters will offer current approaches to functional assessment and functional analysis that may serve as potential solutions to these challenges and permit for evidence-based methods in settings where these are not currently permitted and may serve to address acceptance concerns.

BCBAs, BCaBAs, School Psychologists, Psychologists,  ABA practice owners and managers, school administrators, others involved with policy and financial roles for provision of ABA services.

In this symposium, presenters will describe basic and applied research in the field of operant variability. This symposium will be chaired by Armando Machado, who will provide brief commentary between presentations. First, Galizio and Odum will share a basic research study on the generalization of reinforced variability across response topographies, levers and nosepokes, in rats. Next, Roberts, Biondolillo, and Yarbrough will show data from a basic research study examining operant variability of timing responses in rats. Next, Falcomata, Bagwell, Ringdahl, McComas, and Shpall will present a translational research study using a human operant resurgence paradigm to determine the effects of using a lag schedule as an alternative response. Lastly, Wolfe, Pound, McCammon, Chezan, and Drasgow will present a systematic review of interventions that promote variability in communication for individuals with autism. They will analyze the existing research on variability interventions for individuals with autism and make recommendations for future research and clinical applications. Finally, Allen Neuringer will serve as the discussant and will discuss theoretical implications of this research.

Basic and applied researchers; practitioners

Myriad previous studies have demonstrated the efficacy of functional communication training (FCT) for the treatment of problem behavior exhibited by individuals with disabilities. However, resurgence may occur if the treatment is challenged by lapses in fidelity. One strategy for “inoculating” against resurgence of problem behavior involves the teaching of multiple modalities of communication during FCT. In the current human operant-based study serving as an analogue to FCT, we alternated two conditions across a 3-phase resurgence preparation. During Phase A, in both conditions, a target response was reinforced on a variable ratio (VR) 10-s schedule. During Phase B, target responding was on extinction in both conditions; an alternative response was reinforced on sequential (i.e., serial) fixed ratio (FR) 1 schedules in one condition and multiple responses were reinforced on a Lag 3 schedule in the other condition. During Phase C, all responses across both conditions were on extinction and persistence of alternative responding and resurgence of targeting responding was compared across conditions. Results varied with regard to resurgence of target responding while the majority of subjects exhibited higher persistence of alternative responding in the Lag schedule condition. Future avenues of research and potential implications of the current results will be discussed.

Abstract: Some individuals with ASD do not acquire vocal language, and those who do may engage in repetitive communicative behaviors that can limit skill acquisition, access to reinforcement, and access to less restrictive settings. Basic and applied research indicate that variability, or the extent to which responses are topographically different from one another, is influenced by antecedent and consequence interventions. Our purpose in this study was to systematically review the literature on interventions to increase variable communication behaviors in individuals with ASD. We identified 31 articles through a database search, and screened them using the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) Single-Case Design Standards. Twenty studies containing 58 cases met WWC Design Standards. We coded the descriptive characteristics and strength of evidence, based on visual analysis, from each of these 20 studies. Our results indicate that mands and intraverbals were the most frequently targeted verbal operants, and that lag schedules were the most common intervention used to promote variability (65%). Most cases (72%) provide strong evidence of a functional relation between the interventions and varied communicative behavior. We will discuss the implications of our results for practice and for future research on interventions targeting variability with this population.

Every attendee at this conference, including you, is impacted by social and clinical effects of bias, racism, and cultural incompetency; it’s critical to further conceptual and theoretical study of, and practical approaches to, mitigating those effects. This is a local, global, and personal problem. Personal because of our direct experiences of discrimination. Personal, too, because you suffer bias’s negative effects as a clinician, related to client outcomes and career burnout. Locally, communities and schools continue to experience the devastating effects of bigotry and racism. Globally, we are disseminating our science and practice into new cultures but creating extraordinary ethical risk when we replicate ‘what has worked’ without culturally adapting and researching carefully. You are not immune from these concerns if you don’t work internationally. In a global world, diversity is so much more than visible differences, and your assessments, interventions, and interactions require nuanced and practiced cultural competencies: in higher education, in clinical practice, in training and supervision. Behavior science can help ameliorate these clinical and social effects in career, education, community, and international settings. We will share some of what we’ve found to work. Join us as we continue the fight to mitigate bias and increase multi-cultural competencies.

This topic of diversity, bias, burnout, and multicultural competency applies to every person living, working, and learning in the field of ABA. The topic is growing in importance, and everyone from students through seasoned doctoral level experts will benefit from exploring how all of us are affected by implicit cognition - and to learn how to culturally adapt our effective behavior analytic practices to cross-cultural, non-Western, and diverse populations of clients and students.

The effectiveness of behavior-analytic interventions for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is well- documented. However, little is known about the contextual appropriateness or translational capacity of those interventions in non-western cultures. ASD treatment centers in majority world countries lack funding for teacher or staff training. Thus, those programs rely heavily on the western community for training supports. Therefore, research on how to best culturally adapt training methods is crucial for increasing training effectiveness and sustainable dissemination of behavior-analytic services around the world. This study examined the impact of self-monitoring with performance feedback on caregivers’ use of culturally adapted praise. We also measured collateral effects on student academic engagement. Four caregivers and four students with autism in Accra, Ghana participated. Results indicated that self-monitoring and performance feedback effectively increased caregivers’ use of praise across phases. Additionally, adaptations to the topography of praise were critical for establishing desired student outcomes. This experiment provides an impetus for further examination of behavior-analytic interventions for children with autism in non-western contexts.

As the demand for behavior analytic services grow, we can expect to see increased diversity among both people seeking behavior analytic services and people seeking licensure or certification as behavior analysts. We must consider the best methods for teaching multicultural competencies to graduate students while simultaneously accommodating students from different cultural backgrounds. This case study describes a potential framework for a parallel process of remaining culturally sensitive as instructors while teaching students how to maintain their ethical responsibility of cultural sensitivity when practicing as a behavior analyst.

Approximately 30% of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder do not develop speech. As a result, there may be benefits from interventions that teach the use speech-generating devices to establish verbal behavior repertoires. Numerous studies have shown the effectiveness of teaching the use of speech-generating devices in the context of basic manding. However, extension of this research is needed to evaluate procedures for teaching advanced verbal behavior for children who use SGDs. This symposium will present empirical data related to teaching verbal behavior to children using speech-generating devices. The first single case study evaluated procedures aimed at teaching two nonvocal children with autism spectrum disorder to use a speech-generating device to mand to their peer and engage in listener responding. The second study replicates the procedures from Frampton, Wymer, Hansen, & Shillingsburg (2016) to teach children who use speech-generating devices tacts of noun-verb combinations using matrix training. Wendy Machalicek will sever as the discussant.

Target audience are practitioners, students, and researchers in the field of applied behavior analysis who work with individuals with autism who have limited communication skills.

Children with autism spectrum disorder with limited speech are often taught to use speech-generating devices as an alternative communication mode. Intervention with speech-generating devices often begins by teaching the child to mand for, or request, preferred objects. To date, research on teaching children to produce mands for actions via a speech-generating device is limited. In the present study, we evaluated procedures aimed at teaching two nonvocal children with autism spectrum disorder to use a speech-generating device to mand to their peer and engage in listener responding. Naturalistic teaching procedures were used to teach both speaker and listener behavior. We also assessed for maintenance of the skill over time. A multiple baseline design across participants design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of this intervention. Both participants acquired the mands to peer and listener responding. These results suggest the feasibility to teaching mands to peers and listener behavior to children who communicate using speech-generating devices.

Approximately 30% of individuals diagnosed with autism fail to develop vocal communication. For these individuals, Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) systems such as manual signs, picture exchange communication system (PECS), and speech generating devices (SGD) are often used. Numerous studies have shown the effectiveness of selection-based pictorial systems to promote functional communication. However, there is a dearth of research on strategies to teach advanced verbal behavior using SGDs. The current study presents a replication and extension of previous work conducted with vocal children teaching tacts of noun-verb combinations using matrix training (Frampton, Wymer, Hansen, & Shillingsburg, 2016). Three males diagnosed with autism were exposed to matrix training with mastered tacts of nouns (e.g., “elephant”) and verbs (e.g. “reading”). Two matrices were constructed (Matrix 1 and Generalization matrix), using mastered nouns and verbs. Following baseline of the matrices, diagonal targets within Matrix 1 were trained (e.g., “elephant reading”). Post-tests were conducted for the Generalization matrix followed by post-tests for Matrix 1. Two participants showed recombinative generalization with the Generalization matrix after training of diagonal targets in Matrix 1. For the third participant, correct responding with the Generalization matrix targets was observed after training with four different matrices (Matrix 1 – 4).

Is a Relational Frame Theory (RFT) really required to account for responding to complex relations between stimuli? This symposium will provide alternative accounts not requiring a hypothetical relational operant for relational responding found in both the experimental laboratory and more applied or everyday settings. The emergence of relational responding has been explained by RFT as a product of a history of multiple exemplar training. However, the formation of relational responding might be better characterized by the process of adduction. We will look at an experimental study that explores this idea. This symposium will also review procedures in applied settings that produce responding to relational stimuli that have their origin in research beginning over 60 years ago, and that have routinely been applied to establishing complex “relational responding” for decades. These procedures demonstrate that central to establishing control by relational stimuli is the non-example, and that it is discrepancy as well as sameness that is critical to establishing such control. The contribution of hierarchal and coordinate abstract tacts to understanding the acquisition of complex relational responding in both controlled and everyday settings will be described.

Basic and applied behavior analysts

When people are taught the conditional discriminations A-B and B-C, untrained conditional discriminations often emerge (e.g, B-A, C-B, A-C, C-A). A, B, and C become interchangeable events in the contingency and are said to be members of an equivalence class. Current explanations of the emergence of stimulus equivalence point to the immediate history of conditional-discrimination training (Sidman, 2000), perhaps to organismic variables (Sidman, 1992, 1994), and to a history of differential reinforcement across multiple exemplars (Hayes, 1991; Hughes & Barnes-Holmes, 2016). In addition to training history, the explanations also include some kind of selection mechanism that occurs during testing. That mechanism could be seen as a context controlling the appropriate relational response (Hayes, 1991) or as a process that screens out alternative stimulus control (Sidman, 1992). These views suggest that equivalence will emerge as a result of the right training history and favorable testing conditions. An alternative to this view is that equivalence classes may be the result of the fusion of two (or more) repertoires (Hineline, 1997), as exemplified by the process of adduction (Andronis, 1983). This presentation will explore this alternative and present an experiment relevant to this question.

Treatments of the tact often do not extend beyond the simple tact. Skinner (1957), however, described the abstract tact where the speaker’s behavior is guided by a subset of stimulus properties. The abstract tact “chair” is guided not by a specific piece of furniture, but by features of that stimulus. Layng (in press) has described such guidance as an “intradimensional” tact. Abstract tacts also include behavior under control of relations between stimuli, such as distant, larger, opposite, same, different, me, you, to believe, etc. Layng (2014; 2016; in press) describes these relations as “interdimentional” tacts. This presentation will describe how these relations may be analyzed and sequences designed for their effective teaching, often without using match-to-sample procedures. It will be argued that these procedures may more closely resemble how these relations are acquired outside the laboratory than do the match-to-sample preparations often found in the laboratory. Further, it will be shown how such interdimensional tacts form the basis of “autoclitic frames,” whereby interdimensional relations can guide both speaker and listener behavior in completely novel situations, such as, “Y believes X will…” No hypothetical arbitrarily applicable relational operant is required to understand or teach these relations.

The four presentations in this symposium illustrate how evidence based practices in instructional design and Precision Teaching can be combined in new ways to provide instruction and practice to fluency with foundational and complex math and writing learning objectives. The first three presentations will demonstrate applications of the Morningside Mathematics Foundations Fluency, progressing in their scope from within a single classroom, to two studies with a large number of participants, to a schoolwide, multi-year implementation. First, Nicole Erickson will describe the synthesis of the conceptual aspects of Singapore Primary Math’s number bond component into the Morningside Math Facts Fluency program, along with a procedure for effective classwide implementation with typical and near-typical learners. Next, Jennifer Holloway will present the results of two studies that examine the effects of Precision Teaching, frequency building, and the Morningside Math Facts Fluency program on the computation repertoires of typical learners in the United Kingdom. Third, Kathy Fox will describe a long-term, schoolwide implementation of the Morningside Model of Generative Instruction with students with autism, with particular focus to moving beyond foundational math skills and computation skills to higher order problem solving involving word problems using Morningside’s Algebra for Beginners program. Lastly, Marianne Delgado will move into the area of writing, describing an even more complex program which assessed the effect of instructional design and Precision Teaching of specific sentence combining repertoires on the syntactical maturity of middle school students’ writing. The chair will make comments on each presentation in turn as the symposium proceeds.

behavior analysts and other psychology and educational professionals

In 2016, Morningside Academy began using the popular, constructivist curriculum PrimaryMathematics (a Singapore Math program)as its core mathematics curriculum. Morningside’s team of expert teachers and instructional designers have been thoroughly investigating the application of evidence-based practices in instructional design and Precision Teaching to this curriculum in order to maximize learning outcomes with typical and near-typical learners. Nicole Erickson developed a fluency-based activity, based on Primary Mathematics’ concept of the Number Bond, to help build conceptual understanding of themathfact families taught in MorningsideMathFacts. This program teaches students simple addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division problems, then provides opportunities for students to practice these basic facts to fluency with celeration. During structured fluency blocks, students were first taught to discriminate different error patterns and prescribe appropriate interventions. Then, students learned to analyze performance data from their Standard Celeration Charts, set their personalized daily improvement goals, and construct daily celeration lines that empowered them to make within-session decisions about when academic interventions were needed. Videos of how the Number Bond component was integrated into the daily Morningside Math Facts routine and examples of peer coaching repertoires will be shown.

For the past eight years, the ASPIRE program at Haugland Learning Center has collaborated with Morningside Academy to replicate the Morningside Model of Generative Instruction (MMGI) with students with autism. This presentation will focus on student growth in the area of mathematics during that time period. Many parents and students of incoming students report math as a primary area of academic need. Students often arrive in the ASPIRE program with minimal classroom participation skills, as well as deficits of two or more years in the areas of math facts fluency and calculation. These areas of concern are addressed via direct instruction programming in coordination with the Morningside Mathematics Foundations Fluency curriculum. In addition to math fact and computation fluency, ASPIRE has recently implemented the newest Morningside Math program: Algebra for Beginners, which uses evidence-based practices in instructional design and Precision Teaching to teach students strategies for solving increasingly complex word problems. The heavy focus on constructing strong academic repertoires, and the use of unique classroom management techniques has led to several years of impressive outcome data. This presentation will discuss practices to facilitate student growth, the collection and evaluation of performance data, and data-based decision protocols. Specific examples of student growth will be presented.

The presence of 12 sentence combining skills denoting syntactic maturity was tracked, every two weeks, using 13-minute curriculum-based writing assessments (CBAs) with middle school students. Skills tracked, in order of increasing complexity, were usage of: adjectives, compound subjects, and compound predicates; adjectival, adverbial, participial, and infinitive phrases; parenthetical expressions; and adjectival, adverbial, and noun clauses. 15 students from three different classrooms participated, all using Dr. Arthur Whimbey’s Keys to Quick Writing Skills in coordination with Morningside’s Advanced Sentence Combining. Each class started their sentence combining instruction in staggered six to eight week intervals, allowing for a multiple baseline study. Data was recorded on a Standard Celeration Chart, which allowed for phase change lines as instruction on different skills occurred. Skill acquisition was analyzed for application (occurring close to instruction) or adduction (occurring further from instruction in unique combinations). Skills acquisition was compared across skill levels (high, medium, low), classrooms, and periods of instruction. Developing a twice-monthly method of assessing syntactic maturity will provide timely and useful feedback to teachers to help them provide effective instruction.

Historically, applied behavior analysts have focused on the development of interventions to address problematic behaviors that are easily defined and measured. As a result, many behavior analyst have avoided working with individuals with more complex mental health concerns such as anxiety. Mental health diagnoses involve private events and are therefore difficult to operationally define, observe, and measure. Unfortunately, non-behavioral practitioners often view aberrant behaviors in individuals with mental health diagnoses as symptoms of underlying constructs and use the diagnosis as the reason for these behaviors. As a result, these practitioners often propose more global treatments such as therapies or medications. On the other hand, behavior analysts view those behaviors as serving an environmental function that can be replaced with a more acceptable behavior serving the same function. The behavioral perspective also includes an analysis of motivating operations in the form of private events, physiological sensations, bio-behavioral states, psychological feelings, and covert tacts/mands and learning history with particular discriminative stimuli for reinforcement and punishment. The presenters in this symposium will describe tools and strategies for addressing mental health issues from a behavioral perspective.

BCBAs working in school and community settings

Up to 80% of children and youth with ASDs experience clinically significant anxiety (Leyfer, Folstein, Bacalmen, et al., 2006). Individuals with ASDs and comorbid anxiety are at increased risk for displaying externalizing behavior problems, social avoidance, and difficulties establishing/maintaining peer relationships across environments (Davis, Hess, Moree et al., 2011). A number of physiological markers associated with stress have been identified and often involve measurement of electrodermal activity (EDA)/skin conductance level or response (SCL and SCR), heart rate (HR), heart rate variability (HRV), blood pressure (BP), muscle tension, respiration/breathing patterns (Choi & Gutierrez-Osuna, 2009), and other measures such as Error-Related Brain Activity (ERN) (Rosen & Lerner, 2017), and cortisol (Moskowitz, Rosen, et al, 2017). Much of the research involving biomarkers conducted to date has been done by researchers in the medical field in lab settings with participants having various electrodes and wires attached to their bodies; however, many researchers are investigating the effectiveness of using wearable sensors that are unobtrusive and allow for measurement of physiological markers associated with stress over longer periods of time in naturalistic settings (Lakudzode & Rajbhoj, 2016; Moskowitz, Walsh, et al, 2017). New research is beginning to investigate the effectiveness or wearable biosensor devices to measure physiological indicators of stress and anxiety in naturalistic settings (Lakudzode & Rajbhoj, 2016). The purpose of this presentation is to describe a number of commercially available wearable technologies that have the capacity to measure physiological markers (biomarkers) associated with stress and anxiety. The presenters will provide an overview of current research on the use of wearable biomarker devices and discuss the implications for using these devices in applied settings.

Researchers suggest that anxiety-related concerns are among the most common presenting problems for children and adolescents with ASD (White, Oswald, Ollendick, & Scahill, 2009). Up to 80% of children with ASDs experience clinically significant anxiety (Leyfer, Folstein, Bacalmen, et al., 2006). Anxiety is a multi-component construct involving affective states (e.g., subjective fear), cognitions (e.g., thoughts, beliefs) behavioral patterns (avoidance), and associated physiological arousal (e.g., increased heart rate, changes in respiration patterns) (Moskowitz et. al 2017). Assessing anxiety in individuals with ASD and IDD is difficult due to communication deficits, difficulty distinguishing symptoms of anxiety from symptoms of ASD/IDD, and the idiosyncratic behavioral expression of anxiety in individuals with ASD/IDD (Hagopian & Jennett, 2008; While et al., 2009). Behavior analysts frequently rely on direct observation measures to quantify observable behaviors associated with anxiety, agitation, and/or stress for individuals with limited verbal skills (e.g., increased rocking, change in tone of vocalizations) while also attending to environmental variables associated with anxiety or stress. Although direct observation is effective for identifying behavioral manifestations of anxiety, this type of measurement may result in incomplete information as anxiety and stress are internal states that may not be accessible through direct observation. As a result, research on behavioral assessment and interventions for individuals with ASD/IDD has not adequately addressed the role of anxiety as a contributing factor in challenging behavior with these individuals. The purpose of this presentation is to describe how physiological information obtained from wearable devices can be used for behavioral assessment and the development of function-based interventions for anxiety-related challenging behavior. We will also provide case study examples to illustrate how these devices can be used to teach the individuals to self- regulate or use coping and/or relaxation strategies.

Complex cases of behavioral, medical, and social difficulties in adolescents can cause emotional distress for children, adolescents, and their families. Helping individuals to build an understanding of their internal emotional states as well as the motivating operations of their behaviors and emotions can decrease problem behaviors due to emotional distress. The presenter works with adolescents in both medical and school settings in a rural, impoverished area. Many of the individuals in this area lack the resources to seek mental health or behavioral services that are needed to address emotional and behavioral concerns. The presenter will describe how she bridged medical, school, and home settings using behavioral principles to address social skill deficits and anxiety in an adolescent presenting with school refusal and Autism-Spectrum Disorder related deficits.

This symposium will focus on philosophical and practical perspectives on the self in solitude and in society. Topics such as practical implications for behaviorists and behavioral interventions of a non-ontological self, relational frame theory, the RFT-informed concept of the self, the implications of "no-self" for both simple and complex behavioral interventions, and the ways in which RFT-informed behavior analysis shares considerable common ground with self-abnegating spiritual traditions will be considered. Also discussed will be the role of psychological flexibility in prosocial and helping behaviors, the relationship between self-compassion and prosocial behaviors, and implications for contextual interventions to increase prosocial behavior. Further discussion will be on the relationship between self-enhancement and self-verification in those diagnosed with depression, moral assessments of the self and others, the relationship between self-judgments of character and behaviors as well as how these judgments are formed, and whether imaginative engagement could increase the frequency of people engaging in helping behaviors.

1. Activity engagement is imperative to promoting independence, reducing the number of opportunities to engage in problem behavior (e.g., wandering), and has been associated with increasing quality of life among older adults. Given the benefits of activity engagement, it is imperative to examine how we can effectively increase engagement with preferred activities. With some activities, social attention may be a significant component and may help facilitate engagement. This symposium will include two talks: 1) Assessing Preferences for Care of People with Dementia: A Simultaneous Treatments Design and 2) Promoting Activity Engagement in Older Adults.

This presentation is tailored to practitioners and researchers in the field of behavioral gerontology; however, practitioners and researchers outside the field of behavioral gerontology are encouraged to attend. Given the importance of activity engagement, practitioners, both in and outside the field of behavioral gerontology, prioritize increasing engagement.

Older adults with intellectual disabilities are likely to have lower levels of engagement. In efforts to increase activity engagement, researchers have implemented various strategies to increase engagement (Engelman, Atlus, & Mathews, 1999; Engstrom, Mudford, & Brand, 2015). Current literature, however, has not directly compared those approaches to one another. The purpose of this study was to use an alternating treatments design to compare the following four strategies: 1) provided access to preferred items with no attention, 2) provided attention every 10 minutes for 60 seconds, 3) provided attention every 10 minutes for 10 minutes, and 4) provided 30 minutes of attention followed by 30 minutes of no attention. The participant was a 63-year old male diagnosed with moderate intellectual disability and attended an adult day program. Prior to implementing those approaches, a paired stimulus preference assessment was conducted to determine the participant’s top preferred activities. Results suggest that providing social attention for 30 minutes followed by no attention produced the greatest level of activity engagement. Implications and suggestions for future research will be discussed.

Stimulus preference assessments have previously been used with people with dementia to determine their preferences for tangible items such as edibles and leisure items. However, to date there is no literature exploring preferences for the type of social interaction that may accompany engagement with preferred activities. We used a rarely-used simultaneous treatments design to measure the preferences of people with dementia who were unable to state vocally their preferences for different contingencies of care. For example, for a participant for whom completing jigsaws was a preferred activity, we investigated whether she preferred to be provided with prompts to complete the activity jigsaw, to be left to complete the jigsaw alone, or to receive non-contingent attention during the activity. We compared simultaneous presentations of the available contingencies to sequential presentations in order to determine whether either presentation format was more effective than the other for measuring preference. Additionally, we took continuous data on engagement and indices of happiness as corollary measures of preference during the delivery of each chosen contingency. We will discuss our findings in relation to supporting people with communication difficulties and dementia, and with regard to issues of faulty stimulus control in the behavior of people with dementia.

Practitioners treating children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder will inevitably encounter the problem of decreasing repetitive behavior. One form of repetitive behaviors are obsessive compulsive behaviors, and the paucity of research in this area leaves practitioners with few options. The first presentation will describe a randomized control trial involving 37 children to evaluate the effects of Functional Behavior-based Cognitive Behavior Therapy. The second presentation will suggest how the role of respondent and operant conditioning on obsessive compulsive behavior, and the implications for assessment and treatment. The third presentation will transition into a discussion on another commonly encountered form of repetitive behavior, stereotypy. Selections for stereotypy treatment may be context-specific; as such 5 children were assessed and treated to the extent necessary within an instructional setting. The fourth presentation extends stereotypy treatment into the home. Researchers in this study designed an iOS app, the iSTIM, and assessed the utility this app as a tool to be used by parents to treat stereotypy of their own children.

Psychologists, Board Certified Behavior Analysts, Board Certified assistant Behavior Analysts, graduate students, teaching faculty

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) frequently experience obsessions and compulsions similar to those specified in DSM-5 for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) yet a paucity of research exists on treating these behaviours. Thirty-seven children (7 to 13 years old) received random assignment to a nine-week Functional Behavior-based Cognitive Behavior Therapy (Fb-CBT) or Treatment As Usual (TAU). Fb-CBT combines CBT (e.g., exposure and response prevention) and ABA elements (e.g., extinction, functional communication training and differential reinforcement) derived from functional behavioral assessment. Independent assessors administered measures pre- and post-treatment and at 6-months. Two primary outcome measures including the Repetitive Behavior Scale-Revised and the Children’s Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale indicated statistically significant differences between groups, with large corrected effect sizes (Hedge’s g = 1.00 and 1.15, respectively). Time series parent report data corroborated these findings with two-thirds of treated behaviors in Fb-CBT showing a positive treatment response. This is the first known RCT to exclusively treat OCBs in children with high functioning ASD, and suggests that CBT with ABA components may be efficacious in decreasing OCBs and associated functional impairment.

Researchers frequently argue that a child’s engagement in stereotypy may compete with his ability to acquire academic skills, engage in appropriate social interactions, or both; however, few studies have directly tested these suppositions. We used a five-phase assessment to evaluate the extent to which behavioral interventions with a progressively greater number of components were necessary to decrease stereotypy and increase correct responding during academic instructions for five children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders. For one participant, stereotypy decreased when instructors provided standard instruction without specific intervention for stereotypy. For two participants, stereotypy decreased when instructors provided standard instruction plus antecedent intervention for stereotypy with continuous music. For another participant, stereotypy decreased when instructors provided enhanced consequences for correct responding during standard instruction without either antecedent or consequent intervention for stereotypy. For the final participant, stereotypy decreased and correct responding increased when instructors provided standard instruction and consequent intervention for stereotypy.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often engage in stereotypy, which may interfere with social integration, adaptive functioning and learning. Unfortunately, many children with ASD do not have access to behavioral interventions that could effectively reduce engagement in stereotypy while improving appropriate behavior. To address this issue, we developed an iOS app, the iSTIM, designed to support parents in reducing stereotypy in their child with ASD. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the effects of the iSTIM when used by parents. More specifically, we tested the effects of the app with ten children with ASD between the ages of 3 to 12 years old within a noncurrent multiple baseline design. To date, four families have completed their participation in the study. The iSTIM reduced stereotypy in the four participants, but only increased functional engagement in one participant. The preliminary results suggest that the iSTIM may benefit from modifications to improve the clarity of the procedures of the intervention.

In this symposium, the authors will present on research evaluating different procedures to teach verbal operants to children diagnosed with autism. In the first paper, the author will describe a study examining effects of single-operant (different targets from one program presented within each trial block) and multiple-operant (different targets from multiple programs presented within each trial block) conditions on cumulative duration to mastery and percentage of independent, correct responses, for two children with autism. In the second paper, the author will present on the effect of a stimulus equivalence procedure on acquisition and maintenance of piano skills, novel piano performance, and generalization and maintenance of taught and untaught piano skills, with three individuals diagnosed with autism. In the third paper, the author will describe the effect of using a concurrent schedule of reinforcement with and without a prompting procedure to increase rates of manding for three individuals diagnosed with autism. The fourth presenter will discuss a comparison of the effects of video- versus picture-based instructional stimuli on generalization of action tacts for three children with autism.

Improving the rate of skill acquisition for children with autism is an important focus for behavior analytic researchers. Prior research showed massed-trial instruction is more efficient than task interspersal. Less research has been conducted on the commonly recommended procedure task variation, sometimes called mixing and varying across the operants. The current study extended these lines of research by comparing the efficiency of two trial-arrangement procedures for skill acquisition. In the single-operant condition, all targets from a single program (e.g., tact) were taught during trial block 1, then, only targets from the next program (e.g., listener) were taught in block 2, and only targets from the third program (e.g., intraverbal) were taught during block 3. In the multiple-operant condition, acquisition targets across the 3 programs were interspersed within each of the 3 trial blocks (i.e., a few trials from each of the tact, listener, and intraverbal programs). A combined adapted alternating treatment and multiple probe design was used with 2 young boys with autism to compare efficiency of these arrangements through percentage of correct, independent responses and cumulative duration to mastery.

Music-based interventions have been shown to benefit those with autism, improving deficits such as social behaviors, communication, and vocalizations, as well as improving behavioral excesses such as stereotypies. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effects of equivalence-based instruction (EBI) on acquisition and maintenance of piano skills, novel piano performance, and generalization and maintenance of taught and untaught piano skills among children with autism. Training consisted of auditory-visual musical stimuli in a matching-to-sample format. Following training, post-tests were conducted to test the emergence of novel untrained relations and generalization. Maintenance probes were conducted at least one week following the final post-test. Results were evaluated using a nonconcurrent multiple-probe design across participants.

Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have difficulty generalizing responses to stimuli beyond training conditions. This study investigated the effects of two types of stimulus delivery forms on generalization of action tacts to in-vivo performances: static (i.e., pictures), which are typically used during instruction and dynamic (i.e., videos), which provide stimulation similar to what a child would encounter in a natural setting. Videos were more effective and efficient for promoting generalization of action tacts to the natural environment for two of three participants. Results of an assessment to determine client preference for teaching procedure were unclear.

Perceptions of sexuality, gender identity, and relationship structures are all shaped and maintained by our verbal communities. Additionally, verbal communities often have rules (both direct and implicit) that specify appropriate roles, and which reinforce alignment with those roles and punish stepping outside of them. Because of this, individuals who adhere to the rules of a verbal community through behavior or through endogenous traits often experience privilege- social advantages or benefits for aligning with the dominant group. Relational Frame Theory (Hayes, Barnes-Holmes, & Roche, 2001) provides a framework for examining this ingrouping and outgrouping in verbal communities. This presentation provides a behavior analytic examination of identities and privilege and offers initial suggestions on behavior analytic approaches to ethically supporting clients with marginalized identities and on decreasing inequity in our verbal community at large.

Jealousy — the emotion and collection of collateral responses that occur when a person is faced with a perceived threat to an important relationship — is a common source of distress within romantic and other close interpersonal relationships (Elphinston, Feeney, Noller, Conner, & Fitzgerald, 2013). In contrast, some people report an experience of compersion – joy in response to a partner experiencing emotional or sexual attraction toward and interactions with another person (Aumer, Bellew, Ito, Hatfield, & Heck, 2014). Jealousy and compersion are collections of responses emitted by individuals in both monogamous and non-monogamous relationships, and both can be understood in terms of their surrounding environmental contingencies. This presentation explores several potential contingencies at play in situations involving jealousy, and in so doing, identifies ways in which contingencies may be altered to produce a reduction in jealous responding. Finally, potential contingencies involved in compersion are presented, and suggestions made as to how it may be fostered within relationships in which compersion is a goal.

Body image has been studied through many psychological lenses, but for transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) individuals, traditional approaches to body image which focus on body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) may not be appropriate or account for the unique verbal behavior which contributes to gender dysphoria (Garcia-Falgueras, 2014). Gender dysphoria can include a discomfort with how one is treated based on cultural perceptions of physical stimuli. Conversely, gender euphoria can include experiences of joy from being treated in ways that align with one's identity, irrespective of assumptions based on physical stimuli. Psychological inflexibility may be a useful construct to examine body image, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) tools may assist in addressing BDD. These may or may not be useful when examining gender dysphoria and gender euphoria. This paper will examine the utility of this model when examining dysmorphia when contrasted with dysphoria, the ways in which language around each may be shaped, and components of ACT tools which may be useful across populations.

Training staff in evidence-based practices is a key skill for behavior analysts. Despite the large number of studies in this area, there are still many under-researched and un-researched topics and a need for replication. This symposium, the first of two related symposia on this topic, presents three empirical papers on staff training. The first by Gormley et al., provides an overview by reporting a research synthesis of 156 staff training studies in Intellectual Disabilities including applied behavior analysis, positive behavior supports and other interventions. The second paper, by Gregori et al., evaluates the effectiveness of behavioral skills training to teach direct support staff to implement functional communication training correctly and its effects consumer mands and challenging behavior. The final paper, by Davis et al., reports a component analysis of behavioral skills training to teach volunteers in a university-based physical education program to teach motor skills to individuals with developmental disabilities. These empirical studies contribute to the growing literature on the effectiveness of behavioral skills to teach ta variety of skills in diverse contexts with individuals with autism and / or intellectual disabilities.

BCBAs in training; BCBAs requiring continuing education; applied researchers

Front line staff are a valuable asset within an intellectual disability service. Their work dictates the overall standard of care delivered by the organization. This research synthesis examines staff training in practices to support people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Systematic searches of relevant databases identified 156 papers for inclusion in the review. Practices in which staff were trained were categorized as: a) Positive Behavior Support (PBS) interventions; b) Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) interventions, or c) other interventions. The ABA category was sub-divided into: a) assessment-based; b) antecedent-based; c) consequence-based and, d) “mixed” practices. Results showed that although staff were trained in a range of evidence-based practices, many empirically supported interventions were not utilized (e.g., functional communication training and non-contingent reinforcement). Importantly, this research synthesis also highlighted a continued reliance on individualized training packages, rather than the implementation of empirically supported training models. Finally, future research should prioritize training protocols for front line staff supporting adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, as well as assessing the impact of staff training on service user outcomes. Findings from the current review provide a potential explanation for the apparent disconnect between theoretical advancements and practice in the applied setting.

Direct service providers (DSPs) are staff who support individuals with developmental disabilities (i.e., consumers) in residential, community, and employment settings. DSPs are responsible for providing a number of services including managing challenging behavior. However, DSPs often lack training in effective behavior management procedures. Behavioral skills training (BST) is an empirically supported method of staff training and has been used to teach DSPs a number of skills. However, to date, no studies have evaluated the efficacy of BST on staff implementation of complex behavioral interventions. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to examine the effects of BST on staff implementation of functional communication training (FCT). Three DPSs and consumers participated in the current study. The effects of BST on DSP and consumer behavior were evaluated using a nonconcurrent multiple baseline design. Results indicated that BST was effective in increasing DSP fidelity of FCT. However, an additional coaching phase was necessary for some DSPs to reach mastery criteria. Improvements in DSP fidelity corresponded with decreases in consumer challenging behavior and increases in appropriate communication. Findings suggest that BST is an efficient, effective, and socially valid method to train DSPs to implement FCT.

Few physical education programs address motor development challenges for individuals with developmental disabilities (DD). The Special Needs Activity Program is one exception that capitalizes on university student volunteers to assist individuals with DD in developing motor skills. Evaluating efficient and effective ways of training these volunteers may positively impact outcomes and save valuable time and resources. We conducted a component analysis of behavioural skills training for teaching volunteers how to also use the BST framework to support individuals with DD. In an alternating treatment design embedded within a multiple baseline design across five volunteers, we measured the number of BST steps that volunteers completed correctly while teaching four motor skills from the SNAP curriculum. In the initial training phase, each motor skill received a different mode of training (i.e., instructions, modeling, rehearsal, or feedback). In subsequent training phases, modes of training were combined for skills that did not reach mastery criterion. Maintenance was also assessed at a 2-week and 1-month follow-up. Results indicated that instructions, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback alone were sufficient for volunteers to meet a predetermined performance criterion; however, the full BST framework was necessary for skill maintenance. Strengths, limitations, and recommendations for future research will be discussed.

Prolonged Imaginal Exposure (PE) is one of the few efficacious treatments for treating combat-related Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD; Foa, Hembree, & Rothbaum, 2007; Gros, Tuerk, Yoder, & Acierno, 2011; Resick, Monson, & Gutner, 2007; US Veteran Affair / Department of Defense, 2017). PE has been shown to be an effective manualized treatment in both the civilian and the military populations, and it has been endorsed as a best practice for the treatment of PTSD by the United States Departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense (VA/DoD, 2017), the Institute of Medicine (IOM, 2007), and the International Society of Traumatic Stress Studies (Boa, Keene, Friedman, and Cohen, 2010). Since it works, it must somehow operate via behavioral principles. However, our review of the literature indicates that it is difficult to find a behavior analytic conceptualization of PE, or a behavior analytic explanation of its effectiveness. This paper offers a behavior analytic explanation of why PE is effective and makes recommendations for improving this treatment using ABA strategies.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is being utilized by Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) to increase the effectiveness of caregiver training, decrease behaviors associated with diagnosed psychological disorders, and augment graduate programs and other organizations. Increasingly, more attention is being given to BCBAs implementing ACT to work with adults, targeting behavioral excesses or deficits associated with mood disorders, anxiety disorders, and chronic pain (American Psychological Association, 2018). This talk will focus on the use of behavioral skills training (BST) to assist a student in gradually increasing proficiency with ACT and in a talk-based therapeutic context in general. We present an evaluation of BST to teach the student to participation and utilization of ACT behaviors by the student in ACT sessions. Specifically, we evaluated client verbal behavior relevant to the six core processes of ACT (e.g., cognitive fusion, experiential avoidance, etc.). We will also discuss the logistics of starting a pro bono practice.

As the aging population continues to grow and the prevalence of neurocognitive disorder increases, there is an increased need for behavioral gerontology and opportunities for research with a wide range of empirical questions needing to be answered. This will ultimately inform behavior analytic treatments available and increase the quality of life of older adults diagnosed with neurocognitive disorder (NCD). This symposium includes three talks that will cover wide applications of behavioral gerontology from basic preparations: (a) Stimulus control and Extinction with Older Adults with Neurocognitive Disorder: A Basic Research Study, in which researchers will present data from an ongoing evaluation on reinforcement, extinction and stimulus control; (b) Reinforcer Identification Form- a Tool to Identify Preferred Stimuli for Older Adults with Neurocognitive Disorder. Researchers will present on the development and use of a tool to assist in the identification of preferred stimuli; and (c) Lounge Layout to Facilitate Communication and Engage People with Dementia, which will expand upon previous literature by demonstrating the importance of living arrangement design and the impact of modifications of those arrangements on older adults’ communication and engagement levels.

graduate students in behavior analysis, board certified behavior analysts, behavioral gerontology practitioners, behavioral gerontology researchers.

The effects of extinction have been demonstrated in community dwelling older adults (Plaud, Plaud, & Duvillard, 1999), but to date, there have been limited empirical demonstrations of the the effects of extinction for older adults with neurocognitive disorder. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to examine whether withdrawal of a reinforcer from a previously reinforced behavior would result in behavior change for this population. This study extends a study presented last year with the use of a multielement design rather than a reversal. Preferred stimuli (pictures) were identified prior to implementation through use of a preference assessment followed by reinforcer assessment. The effects of the schedules were assessed with a computer program on a tablet PC. Conditions were signaled by the presentation of various shapes along with the buttons. The effects of reinforcement were compared with extinction and/or non-contingent reinforcement schedules. The experimental arrangement consisted of a presentation of two buttons that (a) would activate a preferred picture; (b) produce nothing (in the extinction condition); or (c) produced nothing (but pictures were available on a time-based schedule). These data will be discussed with respect to the implications for both basic and applied research.

An important line of research within behavioral gerontology has been skill acquisition and activity engagement procedures with older adults with neurocognitive disorder. A critical underlying aspect of such work is to ensure that the stimuli that are being used in these procedures are functioning as reinforcers. Currently, research on preference assessments with older adults appears to involve the arbitrary selection of items informed by existing structured, close-ended and non-individualized tools. This approach is problematic because it may lead to the identification and selection of items that may not be preferred by an individual, and can lead to poor programming. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the utility of a new tool, The Reinforcer Identification Form, and to validate the items identified by implementing a stimulus preference assessment and a modified engagement assessment.

Direct measures of indices of happiness, engagement, and communication can serve as proxies for measures of quality of life in people with dementia. The design of care settings for people with dementia is often guided by expert opinion rather than empirical data. We evaluated the effect of arranging lounge furniture in different configurations on communication, engagement with activities, and indices of happiness in people with dementia living on a specialized dementia ward. We found that the common configuration of chairs placed around the outside of the room resulted in the least communication, engagement, and indices of happiness. Communication occurred most when the furniture was arranged in small groups, and engagement occurred most when the furniture was arranged to maximize the salience of the available activities. Our data show that simple antecedent manipulations that do not require extensive staff training or involvement can improve the quality of life of people with dementia in care settings.

So, you've spent the past few years dedicated to developing yourself into the best behavior analyst you can be. You've completed hours and hours of writing papers, supervised practicum, and learning the difference between a mixed and a multiple schedule. Well, you finally did it! You successfully completed your Master's degree (CONGRATULATIONS!). But now what? Is it time to find a job as a BCBA in your local area? Is it possible your next steps might actually be more hours of writing and research labs? If you are unsure of what to do next, this event was inspired with you in mind. This panel is the perfect event to help guide you on what might be the biggest professional decision yet – getting a job as a behavior analyst or pursuing a doctoral degree? We have experts in the field who will be providing insight into the different roles masters and doctorate level personnel play in both the clinical and OBM worlds, as well as the career path for aspiring academics. At the completion of this panel, you will hopefully walk out a little more confident about getting a job or a Ph.D.!

As our field expands our analysts are exposed to various cultures, including work in international markets as well as diverse populations within our own communities. Because of the diversity of individuals we serve, there is a clear need to begin a discussion about the consideration of ethics when navigating the nuances between cultural norms. In addition, we may be missing the opportunity to support a large portion of the population due to our lack of cultural sensitivities. While this overarching discussion is broad and sometimes difficult to operationally define, there are areas of our practice that we can begin developing to create socially significant changes in the culture of our field. In this panel we would like to address how including multi-cultural competencies in our supervision process are crucial and can develop culturally sensitive practitioners. We would also like to address the ethical dilemmas we come across when working with differing cultures. As we are working in the homes of our clients for months sometimes years, and cultural sensitivity is imperative for programing, training of caregivers, and successfully achieving the client’s ultimate outcomes.

This Panel is developed for current Board Certified Behavior Analysts, and Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analysts.

There is a call for behavior analysts to research and create adaptations for those with multiple disabilities and impairments in all areas of the world. With growing attention to Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) as an approach to assist children with disabilities, ABA methodologies are spreading globally. Popular assessments available in the field, however do not adhere to individuals with multiple disabilities and significant impairments. This session will address the challenges encountered by a group of behavior analysts who spent two weeks introducing ABA to an orphanage in Fuzhou, China, that has had no prior exposure to ABA principles. The treatment plans created, incorporated child-specific adaptations for 25 children in the orphanage that are not easily assessed through common modalities. From this trip, it was ascertained that steps would need to be taken to accurately assess the skills and deficits of these children, many of whom were non-verbal, blind, and/or wheelchair bound. Since this experience, the expansion of the orphanage to include a school specializing in ABA has begun. The successes and challenges of creating an ABA school in a novel setting as well as ways to contribute to the school will be discussed.

The target audience would be for those interested in continuing their education on the global application of Applied Behavior Analysis.

Since first published (Iwata et al., 1982), the process of Functional Analysis (FA) has profoundly changed the process and effectiveness of Applied Behavior Analytical (ABA) treatment for individuals with challenging behaviors. Across ages and diagnoses, ABA has provided empirically validated evidence based treatment for behaviors maintained by attention, escape from demand, or tangibles. Yet in the years that have followed, the identification of automatic (assumed to be sensory) or undifferentiated findings has not kept pace, and this has left Behavior Analysts without a clear approach to treatment. This often results in needing to rely on default technologies that are often controversial, and less effective. In this symposium, we will discuss the potential significance of behavioral history on understanding the individual’s idiosyncratic function(s) of behavior; Looking at biological variables as potential motivating operations in further clarification of the function(s) of behavior; and working toward moving to more environmentally mediated variables informed by fine grained analysis of automatic reinforcement maintaining the behavior. Practical suggestions regarding more effective practice and research to address challenging behavior will be included.

BCBAs and BCBA-Ds in practice, as well as those providing training for Behavior Analysts

Each individual’s behavior is a result of their own ontogeny, or individual behavioral history, in the environment(s) where the behavior occurred. The concept that future behavior is influenced by past consequences is a cornerstone of the field of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). In assessing the function of present behavior, however, most Functional Analysis (FA) approaches place little or no emphasis on this important source of information. Obtaining a behavioral history can shed light on the potential function of behavior that would otherwise seem to be maintained by sensory or undifferentiated (unknown) reinforcement, but may in fact be maintained by idiosyncratic consequences. This presentation will focus on the process and value of analysis of historical information in developing a hypothesis regarding the function of challenging behavior, which is the purpose behind FA. Application of this process can significantly improve the accuracy of a FA, and potentially give rise to treatment that is more effective.

The present symposium considers two socially important topics pertinent to behavioral development; aging and planning for the future. The first presentation will focus on aging specifically. In doing so the presentation especially describes the various aspects of aging, both biological and psychological, as well as how cultural factors impact the aging process. The second presentation will focus on planning for the future, highlighting both conceptual and practical implications of this. Moreover, planning for the future will be considered in developmental perspective, and the difficulty associated with planning for the future across the lifespan is considered. This analysis will consider a number of topics, including time, distinguishing the future from the past, rule-governed behavior, and the vast contextual circumstances that impact all behavior. Given all of this, strengths and limitations of common strategies in planning for the future will be considered, and implications for understanding behavior development over time are highlighted.

Practicing behavior analysts, researchers, graduate students, those interested in behavioral development and conceptual analysis.

As verbal organisms, humans spend a great deal of their time planning for the future. Common sense tells us that this is a good thing, as we may be more prepared for that future when it inevitably arrives. Indeed, developing a general repertoire of planning behavior may be considered a good developmental target during childhood. Of course, the future individuals plan for may or may not ever happen. “Things change”, as the saying goes. One’s behavior is functionally related to number of dynamic factors, it is context dependent. While this is always the case, behavior is increasingly contextual over the course of one’s lifetime. Stimulus functions continue to evolve, and an increasingly large set of setting factors may be present or absent in any given circumstance; planning for the future can become difficult over time. Moreover, such planning may even result in less adaptation to an evolving context. This presentation considers all of this in developmental perspective, while discussing the subject-matter of behavior analysis, the constructs of time and the future, and implications from the literature on rule-governed behavior.

This session will be a panel discussion comparing and contrasting the impact School-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) and Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) have had on educational systems. Upon entry into the session, audience members will be provided a polling link, accessible via smart phones, tablets, and computers. The polling link will provide potential questions to which participants can rank order based upon what each attendee considers to be of interest. Additionally, each person can contribute a discussion topic or question for the panelists. The five top ranked questions will be addressed by the panel and an additional three to five questions suggested by participants will be randomly suggested. Questions will be presented by the chair and the panelists will alternate in responding or each be given a chance to respond, depending on the nature of the question. Topics the panel intends to cover during the session through audience questions or pre-organized questions prepared by the discussant include (a) impact on current educational laws and regulations, (b) impact on educational funding and initiatives; (c) impact on implementation of evidence-based practices; (d) impact on building system capacity, and (d) impact on social, emotional, and academic outcomes for all students.

Behavior Analysts Graduate Students University Faculty/Staff Educators

In this presentation, we report longitudinal outcomes of two systems-based organizational behavior management strategies to improve staff performance at a private, not-for-profit school for children with autism. Instructional staff at the organization undergo semiannual evaluations assessing clinical and data-analysis skills that directly impact the quality of student outcomes. As a continuing process, the organization’s management team (i.e., classroom supervisors, assistant directors, and executive director) refine measures to increase their sensitivity to specified staff behaviors and permanent products. The longitudinal data presented reflect the effectiveness of this process in improving the quality of staff training over two years as measured via staff’s clinical performance and data notebook assessments. The first part of this presentation will describe the clinical performance evaluation, report related outcome data, and describe organizational strategies for increasing the sensitivity of these evaluation measures. The second part of this presentation will then describe the data notebook evaluation measures and their development, present relevant data, and discuss the relationship between these and third-party reviewers’ findings. In both presentations, the relationship between the time cost and value of these assessments will be discussed in detail.

Directors or assistant directors of private organizations serving individuals with autism spectrum disorder; BCBA Supervisors; individuals coaching staff or parents to deliver autism intervention using applied behavior analysis; organizational behavior management professionals and researchers, especially those in the fields of human services or education.

There are seventy million people in the world with autism. Eighty five percent of those individuals live in developing countries where awareness, acceptance, and access to resources is minimal. Applied behavior analysis is the scientific approach shown to be most effective in improving the lives of those with these diagnoses. There is a pervasive need to increase the number of people with a clear understanding of ABA and proficiency in using this science to work with individuals with ASD around the world. The need for a sustainable way to increase and improve ABA-based education for individuals will be discussed. The model used by the Global Autism Project will be introduced with data about current partner participation and progress of teachers and students. The concerns and challenges of generalizing the code of ethics and conduct of the BACB to training and supervising individuals in other cultures and countries will be considered.

BCBAs and BCBA-Ds who are training and supervising teachers, RBTs and future BCBAs both within the US and aborad

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnoses appear across all ages, genders, and races. Unfortunately, there are minimal services for individuals with ASD as a result of insufficient resources, awareness, and understanding in many countries in the world. Often individuals with ASD will be considered a safety concern or ineducable which restricts their access to social environments and without an opportunity to learn social significant behaviors that would improve their lives. In other situations, centers and schools are being created in some places with little to no expertise in working with the autistic population or the principles of applied behavior analysis. As Board Certified Behavior Analysts and other experts reach out to help, many challenges and concerns have been discovered. There is an essential need for ongoing assessment towards this goal to ensure independence and sustainability with ABA teaching practices. Further, statistics about the need in various parts of the world, some of the challenges that have been faced by communities that lack expertise on teaching individuals with autism, as well as ideas on how to spread awareness, support, and training to the people in these communities will be explored.

Give a person a fish, they eat for the day; teach them to fish and they are fed for a lifetime. In 1987, the UN Brundtland Commission defined sustainable development as "meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” The same is true for international service provision. Doing for others does not help them in the long run. Whether it is attempting to support a struggling country, working with a child with autism, or training an educator to use ABA principles, the goal should always be independence. The Global Autism Project’s mission is to promote acceptance and integration worldwide by training communities in culturally relevant, sustainable practices. This is accomplished by empowering and engaging local people for lasting change in the acceptance of those with autism until there are local credentialed behaviour analysts with the skills necessary to be able to provide clinically sound services. As effective administrators they can then effectively disseminate ABA to their local community and larger geographic region. The challenges of adhering to the BACB Professional and Ethics Compliance Code across countries and cultures will be reviewed.

There are many training models for international dissemination. The Global Autism Project employs a model rooted in sustainability where the not-for-profit organization will invest in a partnership with an international service provider committed to using the principles of applied behavior analysis. As a partner, the Global Autism Project will provide 3 two-week training trips a year as well as a weekly telehealth call, with a BCBA, to provide ongoing individualized recommendations based on the needs of the partner site. Our sites progress is captured on an internally developed assessment measuring centre-wide level of achievement and data is also collected on weekly telehealth supervision engagement (e.g., completion of assignments, attendance, and “spotchecks”). A report is given after every two-week trip which outlines goals to be accomplished, mastery criteria, and sustainable method for maintenance. In addition, The Global Autism Project works to establish more BCBAs world-wide through creation of alternate pathways in established universities and having our partners establish practicum sites in partnership with the universities promoting sustainable ABA services in the country. Data from some current partner sites will be discussed.

In comprehensive treatment of autism, generative language matrix performance is being developed in a coherent conceptual framework, enabling the organizational management of productive treatment planning, trouble-shooting, and program evaluation. A four-dimensional matrix of social language skills is used to design an overall generative process of language development. The matrix of skills is addressed across generalization modalities, syntax forms, conditional discriminations, and functional communicative relationships. After generative receptive and expressive skills are developed in single-term modes, recombinative generalization is developed through matrix training; folloed by recombinative generalization in comprehension and creative language production matrix training. The organization of the language curriculum is used to control the pacing of both language and related social skills in a systematic manner, in order to result in optimal acceleration. Three studies will present data obtained from children in EIBI over the entire scope and sequence of the language matrix system.

Practitioners of EIBI; Academic Faculty

In intensive early intervention, a basic programming question often is: “how many exemplars should be taught in each program?” In the overall course of comprehensive treatment for autism, behavior therapy is initiated by establishing expressive and receptive single-term labels/tacts. Treatment is continued until the various terms of a sentence become generative response classes. Then matrix training of the individual terms is continued until recombinative multiple-term conditional discriminations are established. Recombinative matrix generalization is a special form of generative response classes. Finally, more complex and abstract comprehension modes are established and training continued until the comprehension forms become recombinative and generalized. Thus the answer to the initial question is that all programs are taught until the exemplars become generative. It is suggested that behavior therapy may more readily progress through higher levels of complexity when thee lower levels are taught until they meet generative criteria. In this investigation, clinical data on two young children’s performances with language matrix programming are presented. A multiple baseline within-subject design including systematic language matrix teaching and probes for generalization was used to document the development of generative response classes and recombinative multiple-term conditional discriminations. The progress of each child was individualized according to their baseline levels, and rates of acquisition. The systematic matrix training resulted in development of generative single-term response classes, recombinative multiple-term conditional discriminations. Generalization was programmed across different stimulus and response modes (e.g., receptive, expressive, written, comprehension) and taught across different sentence terms (e.g. subjects, actions, adjectives, prepositions). Individual programs were taught until generalization occurred to the first presentation of a novel recombination of exemplars embedded with novel distractors.

In the overall course of comprehensive treatment for autism, behavior therapy is initiated by establishing expressive and receptive single-term labels/tacts. Treatment is continued until the various terms of a sentence become generative response classes. Then matrix training of the individual terms is continued until recombinative multiple-term conditional discriminations are established. Recombinative matrix generalization is a special form of generative response classes. Finally, more complex and abstract comprehension modes are established and training continued until the comprehension forms become recombinative and generalized. It is suggested that behavior therapy may more readily progress through higher levels of complexity when thee lower levels are taught until they meet generative criteria. In this investigation, clinical data on a young child’s performances with language matrix programming are presented. A multiple baseline within-subject design including systematic language matrix teaching and probes for generalization was used to document the development of generative response classes and recombinative multiple-term conditional discriminations. The systematic matrix training resulted in development of generative single-term response classes, recombinative multiple-term conditional discriminations. Generalization was programmed across different stimulus and response modes (e.g., receptive, expressive, written, comprehension) and taught across different sentence terms (e.g. subjects, actions, adjectives, prepositions). Individual programs were taught until generalization occurred to the first presentation of a novel recombination of exemplars embedded with novel distractors.

Keene & Larsson (2013) presented a study of training of social comprehension that utilized multiple exemplars to develop generative social comprehension in children with autism. This extension of that study provides further data to show how the generative social comprehension followed prerequisite recombinative generalization through matrix training, and then itself consisted of recombinative generalization. A multiple probe design across five common childhood social concepts (e.g., sharing) was employed for each of the three children who participated in this study. Probes were conducted on the first presentation of novel children’s books as stimuli and the proportion of correct responses to the questions was measured. Training on each social concept continued until a generative mastery criterion was met in which the child responded correctly to at least 14 out of 16 questions on three consecutive novel books. The results showed that all of the children were able to answer an increasing proportion of the questions correctly to novel children’s books as stimuli. Generalization probes across untrained in-vivo social scenarios were also assessed. The children responded to a high percentage of novel questions regarding the social scenarios. In this present extension, data will be presented which shows the sequence of matrix training that preceded the implementation of social comprehension programming, and conclusions will be offered on the appropriate scope and sequence of matrix training curriculums.

Luckey, Pelletier, Miller, & Larsson (2013) presented the methods and outcomes of the implementation of systematic dynamic programming in a EIBI setting. The present study will present a replication and extension of that study, by demonstrating the use of dynamic programming to manage the implementation of matrix training in a comprehensive treatment program for autism. The use of organizational behavior management is critical to ensuring that all children are receiving the most effective matrix programming, and that treatment is optimally accelerated. Overall program evaluation data will be presented on 54 children undergoing generative language matrix programming in EIBI for autism. In addition, specific within-subject controlled studies of the treatment team performance with two children will show the effects of a system for management of clinical outcomes. During baseline, common non-dynamic management systems were in place to manage the children's language matrix programs. The clinical management system, known as Dynamic Programming was introduced via a multiple baseline design across children. Dynamic Programming is an intervention package that includes: (a) therapist self-monitoring while teaching new program exemplars, (b) therapist public posting of child mastery, (c) probes of child behavior to confirm generative mastery of matrix training, (d) dynamic adjustment of daily treatment targets based upon performance, and (e) dynamic adjustment of monthly objectives criteria based upon performance data. Results suggest that the children's rate of acquisition of generative language was accelerated through the implementation of Dynamic Programming.

Within a treatment/educational program that is highly positive, is there a place for use of aversives if that mode of treatment advances a client toward his or her full potential and optimizes the client’s quality of life? Is there a small population of clients for whom aversive stimulation falls within the individual’s right to effective treatment? This symposium will examine these issues as they played out in a recent legal case in Massachusetts. The presentations include a review of the research, how aversives (including relevant safeguards) fit into an otherwise highly positive program at the Judge Rotenberg Center and the role of media on public perceptions of JRC. Testimony of experts and legal tactics in the case will reviewed as well. The symposium will show how, following a 44 day trial that included dozens of witnesses and hundreds of pages of exhibits, a judge concluded that there is a place for ethical use of aversives. A parent will describe the impact of aversive programming on the dangerous behaviors, and on the life prospects, of his adult child.

In 2013, the Massachusetts Department of Developmental Services (DDS) filed a motion to vacate a settlement agreement that allowed the Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC) to use a skin shock device (the Graduated Electronic Decelerator (GED)), approved by the Massachusetts Probate Court on a case-by-case basis, to treat individuals with severe problem behaviors. To support the motion, DDS initially claimed that positive behavior supports rendered punishment procedures unnecessary. Later, DDS provided expert testimony that psychotropic medications combined with positive behavior supports were sufficiently effective to treat severe problem behaviors. On the other hand, JRC argued that despite the advances in psychopharmacology and behavior analysis, some individuals continued to require treatment that included the GED. Over the course of 44 trial days, hundreds of scientific articles were offered to the court and critically examined by lawyers and experts on both sides. Here, the process of presenting and critiquing the literature pertaining to severe problem behaviors is discussed using transcripts from the trial.

In a recent court case, a Massachusetts judge undertook a thorough review of the use of an aversive stimulation method (skin shock) at the Judge Rotenberg Center, the only treatment center in the U.S. to use the controversial method. This presentation will review the judge’s findings after a thorough review of the evidence, pro and con. The judge also described included numerous acts of “bad faith” by individuals within the State Department of Developmental Services in its efforts to undermine and prevent effective treatment at JRC. The presentation will address ethical issues including the likelihood of a future of institutionalization, lived out on high doses of medications that include deleterious side effects, is preferable to the thoughtful and ethical use of aversive stimulation when that treatment modality is carefully and minimally used within a treatment program that is overwhelmingly positive. Is a two-second shock, although painful, an ethical treatment if it opens the door to a life of education, community outings, employment and a quality of life that previously could not have been imagined? Ethics of the use of skin shock will be discussed and audience participation is encouraged.

Since the mid-1980's, the Judge Rotenberg Center has been embroiled in controversy that more often than not has been misrepresented by the media. For decades, we have been fighting for the right to effective treatment as well as parents’ rights to recommend what they feel is the most effective, least restrictive treatment for their children. Often the media have responded to outcries from well-intentioned but misguided individuals who have never worked with clients who exhibit high rates of behaviors that are dangerous to themselves and/or to others. Moreover, those who have most harshly criticized the use of aversives at JRC have refused to visit the Center even when invited to do so. Despite the progress made and the dramatic improvement in many clients’ quality of life, the media has portrayed what happens at the center in a negative light. This presentation will discuss the ramifications of the negative media, including protests, serious threats, and proposed regulatory changes.

This parental presentation will trace the history of a child whose high rates of extremely dangerous behaviors had resulted in his placement in, and eventual expulsion from, a number of well-respected residential placements wherein the best efforts of professionals had failed to eliminate or significantly reduce those behaviors. Several of the behaviors were life-threatening and had resulted in extreme, though necessary, restrictions on quality of life. The earlier placements had involved long-term physical restraints as well as heavy doses of psychotropic medications that produced unhealthy side-effects. After several months at the Judge Rotenberg Center during which only positive techniques were employed, there had been little improvement in the dangerous behaviors. Ultimately, I was approached about the use of aversive stimulation, skin shock, with my child. This presentation will review the behaviors, earlier failed efforts to address them, the decision-making process regarding aversives, the treatment and the outcome relative to the dangerous behaviors along with resultant changes in my child’s quality of life and potential

This symposium presents developments in the Model of Hierarchical Complexity (MHC) and what underlies the order of tasks corresponding to stages of development. The MHC is a neo-Piagetian, non-mentalistic model of developmental stages based on the hierarchical complexity of a behavioral task. A task at a higher order of complexity: 1) is defined in terms of two or more tasks at the next lower order of Hierarchical Complexity; 2) the higher order task organizes the less complex actions from the adjacent lower order actions; and 3) the lower order tasks have to be carried out non-arbitrarily. An individual is said to “be” at a developmental stage when they successfully solve the task of that order. The first paper discusses the Paradigmatic Stage 14, defined in terms of two metasystems forming a new paradigm and the Cross-Paradigmatic Stage 15, defined with actions that fit paradigms together to form new fields to reflect a coherent set of assumptions. The second paper identifies the Meta-Cross-Paradigmatic Stage 16 as the mapping and coordination of two cross-paradigms. The third paper introduces the existence of stage 17 with discussions on the continuation of stage sequence and the future of advanced stage development.

The Model of Hierarchical Complexity has identified orders and their corresponding stages through Order 16. There are examples, descriptions, and definitions of the Orders of Hierarchical Complexity through Order 15. Any order of complexity, n, operates on tasks performed at the n-1 order of complexity by coordinating them. By this logic, if cross-paradigms from Order 15 are coordinated, Order 16 is formed. Therefore, Stage 16 must exist and it can be named and defined. To date, the discourse provides empirical evidence for Order 16. For example – no cross paradigmatic solution works, they are either incomplete or inconsistent. Quarks are bound together by particles, as the universe expands, do protons and electrons fall apart? However, Stage 16 has now been named and defined as The Meta-Cross-Paradigmatic Order 16. This paper discusses examples for this order and corresponding stage. In particular, examples that map Order 15 paradigms of Physical Science and Order 15 Behavioral Science onto one another.

The dissemination of Behavior Analysis is vital to spreading the impact of behavior analytic strategies. Applied Behavior Analysis is best known for its work with Autism but can be useful in any domain. Dixon (2018) reports that in order to spread Behavior Analysis’ impact the field needs to offer technology that is useful and does not include jargon that is unapproachable to people outside the field. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy meets this criteria and has already been accepted in many fields. For example it’s use for behavioral improvement, medical conditions and staff training has been published in approximately 99 academic journals. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is based in Relational Frame Theory which has been accepted in the behavior analytic research for over 30 years. Other behavior analytic strategies support the processes of Acceptance and Commitment therapy such as motivating operations, contingency awareness training, and strategies to address the impact of delayed discounting.

Behavior Analysts and other practitioners

Consumer behavior analysis draws on behavior analysis, behavioral ecology, behavioral economics, and marketing science to further enhance the understanding of all aspects of consumption. New technologies such as in-store analytics, Internet-of-Things (IoT), customer feedback software tools, and targeted, measurable, and interactive digital media are not only changing the face of the retail landscape, but they also provide an untapped opportunity for health promotion. It is therefore safe to conclude that the world is experiencing a new emphasis on objectivity and interventions through technological innovations, analytics, and the proliferation of behavioral data. This “digital revolution” has strengthened the explanations relying on the environment-behavior interactions via technology and experimentation. In this symposium, we will discuss recent theoretical developments and empirical analyses related to how consumers adapt to a highly competitive economic environment; the grocery store. The symposium starts with a paper on connecting consumer laboratory conjoint analysis and in-store experiments for healthy food promotion. The second paper continues within the same theme of consumer/in-store studies by showcasing research combining retail analytics and consumer environmental rating. The third study goes back to the behavioral laboratory and investigates the connection between healthy food labels and consumer food choices using a within-subject experimental design. The symposium concludes with a novel study introducing healthy food innovation and focuses on how Internet-of-Things (IoT) technology influences healthy choice in the grocery setting.

“When a customer enters my store, forget me. He is king,” said John Wanamaker, a merchant and a pioneer in marketing. However compelling that slogan was, in truth the money in retail mostly resides in trade and promotional allowances from brand suppliers. As opposed to this situation, the current paper strives to arrange the environmental conditions serving the needs of the consumer. This is done by formulating the consumer problem with the aid of a few relevant and actionable attributes. Example of these are prices, consumer ratings, brand recommendations and placements, tested both in the consumer laboratory, as well as in the store so that people can make better decisions for their long-term well-being (longer, later rewards). The paper presents the methodology and findings from a few conjoint studies and in-store experiments aimed at health promotion. Of particular interest is the link between these two approaches to behavior science – that is, trying to increase the correlation between findings from hypothetical conjoint studies and in-store experiments. In this regard, we manipulate similar stimuli on both venues with the aim of increasing the predictive validity of conjoint studies.

Some scholars have described current consumer environments as obesogenic in nature and defined it as the sum of influences that the surroundings, opportunities, or condition of life have on promoting unhealthy consumption (Lake and Townshend, 2006). Wansink (2016) also refers to the hospitable environment, and the mindless buying and eating and tries to empower consumers by offering them rating scales for different food environments. The current research applies such environmental operationalization from the standpoint of one of the founders of modern management, Peter Drucker, famous for his quote “what gets measured gets managed.” The current research used rating scales and the recent advancements in in-store tracking technologies and examined 635 shopping trips derived from a major retail chain, based on a systematic sampling approach. The behavior analysis explored the buying behavior in different areas of the store (e.g., the fruit and vegetable section), from the healthiest to the unhealthiest - as judged by a consumer panel using systematic rating scales. From this we generated a health index (where shopping the healthiest area received the highest score etc.) and then we modelled this index as a function of several physical (e.g., time of day, week and month) and social stimuli (e.g., conversations and phone calls in the store) present to the consumer at the point of purchase, as well as we studied the effects of consumer effort (e.g., number of meters walked and time in the store) and rule-governance (presence of a shopping list). The contribution includes shedding a light on previously undetected and measured in-store behavior, and its functional relationship. This is important from the standpoint of further in-store experimentation, as well as it creates the possibility for some new and important stimuli for healthy food promotion and aid for self-control – health index for stores and store areas.

A within-subject experiment design aimed to identify whether participants rely on heuristics when making a series of choices of healthy food. Determining whether healthy food labels bias their choice under these conditions was of particular interest. Results (n=30) showed that participants tend to develop a heuristic in a series of healthy food choices. For some participants, healthy food labels do to some extent influenced them into making biased choices. These results reveal that consumers do find comparing healthiness of products tedious and rely on heuristics when making a choice. However, the use of healthy food labels specifically as a heuristic cue is minimal when other objective cues are available. Policymakers should attempt to marketing healthy food labels to increase trust and improve its effectiveness as a health cue, eliminating the consumer’s need for nutrition comparisons between products.

Research in the science of Applied Behavior Analysis has advanced over the last few decades. Despite our technological advancements, and the increases in certified professionals (BACB, 2018); the dissemination of effective procedures has not been widespread amongst front line workers, schools and service providers. Sharing the effective technologies from our research needs to be at the frontline of our dissemination efforts. The following talk describes the various efforts taken to disseminate effective technologies of the science of behavior through various commercial processes. The use of cutting edge technology and curriculum based programming in disseminating the science of Behavior Analysis will be discussed by this panel.

Board certified individuals, Behavior Analysts in training, teachers, school administrators, and other practitioners.

This symposium presents three experiments that uses games in order to strengthen cultural practices and the transmission and recurrence of interlocking behavior contingencies and aggregated products. The first study investigated the effect of metacontingencies on altruistic punishment. Children in pairs should agree on punish distributions of tokens made by fictional characters. The results showed effects of individual and cultural consequences on altruistic behavior, and justice judgments. The second study investigated the effects of bonus and penalties on choices related to the use of common-pool resources in Commons Dilemma Game. The results suggest that penalties favor optimal consumption early in the game, while in control and bonuses conditions the participants adopted a competitive strategy. In the third study, the board game “Nossa Turma Contra a Dengue” (Our gangue against Dengue) was developed to strengthen verbal and nonverbal dengue prevention behaviors. The results indicate that the championship was effective in promoting dengue prevention behaviors.

Altruistic Punishment is a social phenomenon that selects and maintains cooperation between genetically unrelated people in single interactions, therefore without possibility of reciprocity and minimal or absent reputation gains. Metacontingency is a unit of analysis of cultural phenomena, and describes a functional relationship between recurring interlocking behavioral contingencies resulting in an aggregate product and a selecting environment. This study aimed to investigate metacontingencies in the game of altruistic punishment with 20 pairs of children between 9 and 11, who evaluated fictional characters’ behaviors. Experimental design was ABCBAC, and communication was allowed during sessions. Conditions A were baseline. In Conditions B, points were given to the punishment of equal distributions between characters or non-punishment of unequal distributions. Conversely, in Conditions C, to the punishment of unequal distributions and non-punishment of equal ones. Verbal behaviors were recorded in order to identify accurate contingency descriptions and mythology. The main results indicated that accurate rules and communication contributed to the selection of distinct aggregated products in Conditions B and C. Moreover, some children refused to punish equal distributions.

Previous research using a video game preparation for investigating the effects of differential consequences on the use of common-pool resources revealed promising results. The game simulates an ocean fishery in which participants need to catch fish to stay “alive,” while it is necessary to save resources shared with two non-playable characters (NPCs). Participants who received extra points following moderate consumption (Bonuses condition) and participants who lost points following overconsumption (Penalties condition) needed fewer attempts than control participants to acquire optimal consumption strategies and complete the game successfully. For the present study, participants and NPCs could explicitly compete for the same resource, and participants were able to grab and release fish back into the ocean to avoid competitors’ responses. Participants were 78 college students, distributed in the same three conditions than previous research (i.e., Control, Bonuses, and Penalties). Unlike the previous study, results did not reveal a differential effect of the consequences on the number of attempts to complete the game. A detailed analysis showed that participants in Penalties conditions reached an optimal consumption early in the game, while participants in Control and Bonuses conditions readily adopted a competitive strategy, performing an increased rate of release responses.