Association for Behavior Analysis International

Functional communication training is one of the most popular treatment approaches for challenging behavior among children with autism spectrum disorder. However, challenges pertaining to response variability, resurgence of challenging behavior, and overuse of a single mand may inhibit sustained implementation of FCT. This symposium presents three single case design studies on adaptations and extensions of FCT to address these challenges. The first paper evaluates FCT with lag schedules of reinforcement with preschool aged children on persistence and generalization of mands and the reduction of challenging behavior resurgence. The second paper illustrates a procedure for mand discrimination training for children with autism who communicate using augmentative and alternative communication. The third paper demonstrates the utility of comparing different function-based mands, not only in treating challenging behavior, but also in evaluating the validity of synthesized trial-based functional analysis results. Suggestions for further extending FCT in research and implications for practice are discussed.

Board Certified Behavior Analysts and practitioners who design and implement function-based interventions for challenging behavior in applied settings.

Functional communication training (FCT) is an evidence-based intervention that while often effective, can result in rote responding, reduced generalizability of target behavior, and resurgence of challenging behavior (CB) during treatment lapses. Lag schedules of reinforcement have been successfully used to address these concerns. This study is a systematic, conceptual replication of Falcomata and colleagues’ (2018) single case analysis, in which an increasing lag schedule was applied within FCT to increase the variability and persistence of appropriate responding while maintaining low levels of CB during treatment. We replicated and extended this research by including participants aged 3-5, retaining mand materials during baseline, comparing contingency strength between unreinforced mands and subsequent mands or CB across conditions, assessing generalization to new communication partners, and assessing social validity. Our replication provides evidence regarding the effects of the intervention on appropriate communication and CB during treatment and lapses in treatment with young children with autism.

Children with autism and complex communication needs often use augmentative and alternative communication systems (AAC) to express wants and needs. When children request something that is unavailable, the denied request can lead to problem behavior. Teaching children to discriminate the availability of reinforcers can decrease the risk of appropriate communication leading to problem behavior. One potential solution is to introduce discrimination training, a strategy frequently used to reduce challenging behavior, within a child’s AAC system. This study adds nuance to discrimination training by signaling the availability of reinforcement within an AAC system. We used a multiple probe across behaviors design to examine the effects of implementing discrimination training through visual cues into a low tech AAC device. Results revealed a functional relation between the use of discrimination training and the child’s contextually appropriate mands for preferred items.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disability that can cause significant social, nonverbal communication and behavioral challenges. There is often nothing about how people with ASD look that sets them apart from other people. They may, however, communicate, interact, behave, and learn in ways that are different from most other people. Because there is no definitive medical test, diagnosing ASD can be difficult. Research has shown that intervention can improve a child’s overall development and the earlier it occurs, the more effective it may be. In this symposium, we introduce a diagnostic tool designed to improve a very early diagnosis of autism. The tool is informed by extensive research on the Model of Hierarchical Complexity, a behavioral developmental model of tasks. The Model allows for the scaling of behaviors, tasks, reinforcers, stimuli, etc. in terms of their Hierarchical Complexity, a form of difficulty. This kind of scaling explains developmental sequences. The symposium first describes the Behavioral Developmental Autism Instrument, including how it was devised and comparing it to other assessments. The second paper illustrates how the Model of Hierarchical Complexity can be used to generate a developmental sequence of reinforcers. The third paper applies the model to curriculum development.

People who are interested in knowing how the interventions work for instance when to know where to stop, which behavioral developmental stage to intervene at and what behavioral stage the child is functioning.

Operant conditioning procedures are used to investigate various developmental phenomena in infants, including attention, perception, memory, language, and emotional and socialization processes (e.g., Gewirtz & Pelaez-Nogueras, 1992). The choice of what reinforcers to use has been conducted in somewhat of an ad hoc manner. This presentation introduces a way to scale reinforcers in terms of their likely effectiveness for children at different behavioral stages of development. Reinforcers are scaled in terms of their complexity using the Model of Hierarchical Complexity. This model applies a mathematically based scale to different tasks and behaviors (including reinforcing events). A brief example would be that for some children perhaps only a food-based reinforcer would work. For another saying “Good job” would work. Using this model, we have generated an ordered list of reinforcers. This can be used with individual children to ascertain which specific reinforcers are effective for each particular child. Ultimately it will provide a list of a large number of reinforcing events that may be effective when working with a wide range of children.

In attempting to “Save the Word with Behavior Analysis” behavior analysts are tasked with implementation of evidence-based interventions across a variety of populations. One quickly finds them selves struggling between decisions regarding treatment fidelity vs. the need to respond to client preference and cultural needs and differences. Responding to environmental contexts of learners and families is crucial for success. An example, from an ABA clinic in China, of a reinforcement based feeding procedure that used a commercially available resource from the West will be presented. A review of research - backed treatment focused on reinforcement - based procedures will be presented.

Behavior Analysts

This panel provides an overview of value-based healthcare and the rationale for using norm-referenced and criterion- referenced assessments in ABA. All panelists are involved in a pilot project to measure the impact of applied behavior analytic treatment for individuals with autism. During the last two decades, heated debates have erupted among professionals within applied behavior analysis (ABA) regarding how to appropriately measure a client’s response to treatment. There remains a lack of consensus among behavior analysts regarding the use of norm-referenced and criterion-referenced measures. However, much of the healthcare industry is moving toward a value-based care approach. Behavior analysts working with healthcare funders are in a position to lead the discussion regarding outcome measures. Panelists will discuss the use of a battery of assessments implemented over a two-year span in a community-based setting. Finally, panelists will highlight the rationale for assessments included in the pilot project, challenges regarding staff training, development of systems to manage data collection, and analysis of the impact on service delivery.

The target audience is BCBAs providing services or overseeing the provision of services to individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities.

An organizational approach to psychopharmacology in a behavior analytic residential treatment program is discussed. Our treatment teams and psychiatrist collaborate to reduce psychotropic medications, when clinically appropriate, for individuals with severe problem behavior. Our clients have typically attended previous residential treatment facilities, have been rejected from other placements, and are admitted to our program on a variety of psychotropic medications. We discuss changes in major problem behaviors following medication reduction and discontinuation. In many cases, we are able to successfully discontinue the use of psychotropic medications while concurrently implementing a comprehensive and intensive behavioral treatment program. Effective, program-wide behavioral interventions are reviewed. Several case studies highlight various level and trend changes observed when titrating psychotropic medications. Subsequently, a retrospective analysis examines the impact of clonidine withdrawal or discontinuation on the frequency of aggressive and self-injurious behavior. Aggressive and self-injurious behavior decelerates following clonidine discontinuation for the majority of the sample. Treatment providers should also be aware of temporary increases (i.e., agitation withdrawal) in problem behavior following medication reduction. Ethical considerations surrounding boundaries of competence, consultation, treatment efficacy, and least restrictive procedures are discussed.

behavior analysts, psychologists, behavioral scientists

Objectivity, accountability, replicability, verifiability: these are a sample of the cornerstones of the science of behaviour analysis. As a field, we emphasize developing direct measurement systems to promote accountability. These systems may add value across client services and service delivery models that may not always incorporate direct measurement protocols. For example, my co-investigator and I developed a program evaluation tool, guided by behavior analytic measurement practices, to examine how well services align with respective best-practice recommendations in a government-funded service supporting adults with acquired brain injury. Direct measurement systems may also add substantial value to psychopharmacology in treating challenging behavior in individuals with disabilities (e.g., intellectual and developmental disabilities; acquired brain injury). In fact, recent literature has concluded medication monitoring processes in this context are poor or non-existent. Clients often receive concurrent, but separate, psychopharmacological and behavioural interventions. In some cases, psychiatry and behaviour analysts working together. These relatively rare arrangements present behavior analysts with an opportunity to promote systematic data collection to efficiently identify medication impact on behavior (e.g., adaptive, maladaptive), including side effects. Unfortunately, behavior analysts do not often receive formal training relevant to psychotropic medications. Promoting behavior analysis as a valuable component in the context of psychopharmacological intervention means having behavior analysts well-trained in this area. One step towards this goal may be to establish an evidence-based training protocol enabling behavior analysts to perform effectively when collaboration opportunities arises. I will describe a research project exploring the clinical utility and feasibility of a Medications Guidelines Tool and training for behavior analysts.

Behavioral practitioners; applied researchers

Dr. Alison Cox received her Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Manitoba. She is also a Board Certified Behavior Analyst – Doctoral. Throughout her Ph.D., Dr. Cox was involved in a variety of research initiatives ranging from developing measures to reliably identify preference in individuals with profound multiple disabilities to teaching children and adolescents with autism to successfully undergo MRI procedures. As an Assistant Professor in the Applied Disability Studies program at Brock University her research interests continue to be diverse. However, her primary interests lay in behavioral medicine, including examining the effects of psychotropic medication on behaviour. Through her current and past research and clinical experiences Dr. Cox has developed specific expertise in assessing and treating severe challenging behaviour in individuals with dual diagnosis and acquired brain injury, supporting skill acquisition in individuals with dual diagnosis and autism, and supervising early intensive behavioural intervention programs. Dr. Cox has presented her work at international and national conferences, is published in several prominent behaviour analytic journals, and serves as a peer-reviewer across a range of journals in the disabilities field. Finally, Dr. Cox currently serves on the Ontario Association for Behaviour Analysis (ONTABA) Adult Task Force and recently co-authored a best-practice guidelines document entitled Evidence-based Practices for Individuals with Challenging Behaviour: Recommendations for Caregiver, Practitioners, and Policy Makers.

Gender and sexual minorities (GSM) are estimated to comprise between 4% and 10% of the population, but are twice as likely to experience mental health problems. Social stigma and a lack of laws to protect their rights are some of the major contributors of increased stress, anxiety, depression, substance abuse, and suicidal ideation for the LGBTQIA+ population. GSM can also be reluctant to seek treatment, as there is a mistrust of healthcare providers that has built up due to a history of discrimination, a lack of training, and shortage of understanding of the experiences of GSM. Behavior analytic and behaviorally-inspired interventions are amongst the most effective for treating depression, substance abuse, anxiety, and other psychological difficulties. Behavior analysis has only recently, however, begun to make a unique contribution to conceptualizing and addressing LGBTQIA+ issues. The purpose of this panel is to offer perspectives on the status of behavior analytic contributions to promoting GSM well-being, in terms of building a robust body of behavior analytic research and developing and making available behavior analytic services. Discussants will also address the contingencies that have slowed the progress of behavior analysis in this domain as well as ethical matters involving GSM.

ABAI members interested in learning more about gender and sexual minorities' issues.

Research has shown that parents of children with ASD are among the most stressed as compared to all other parents, including those who have children with other psychiatric conditions and developmental disabilities (Hayes & Watson, 2013). Parents of children with ASD are chronically stressed because the demands of the family environment often exceed the parent’s ability to cope. There are few evidence-based interventions available for professionals to use with parents of a child with ASD: some use cognitive therapies, such as meditation, some use social support to reduce stress and mental health problems, and others use implement parent training to improve child behavior. Few if any combine both mental health and behavioral approaches, and none of these are designed for implementation by school personnel. This presentation describes findings from a multi-year transdisciplinary investigation into the most common stressors for parents of preschool children with ASD attending a CABAS® model school. Specifically, in two studies we surveyed parents to determine their reported levels of stress and common stressors, as well as parents’ mental and physical wellbeing, self-care, and self-efficacy skills. In the first study we also examined mother-child interactions during free-play and demand situations in order to determine possible target behaviors for intervention. Implications of the findings and suggestions for interventions will be discussed.

Those interested in parent education and interventions to help parents cope with the stresses of parenting a child with ASD. These may include practitioners, educators, researchers, or parents themselves.

The first study tested the efficacy of an intensive blending intervention on the acquisition of blending and segmenting skills as well as the rate of acquisition of new textual response targets. Using a multiple probe design, Hwang-Nesbit & Greer found that the rate of acquisition of new textual responses increased as a function of this intervention, as well as mastery of new blending and segmenting skills. In the second study, Mellon, Greer, Bakaev, and Pedrero-Davila tested the effects of a multiple exemplar instruction across vocal and written response topographies for transparent words. The participants were selected because they did not emit correct responses in one response topography when transparent words were taught in a different response topography. Results indicated that multiple exemplar instruction was functionally related to establishing joint stimulus control across these topographies. These studies have implications for struggling readers as well as different educational methodologies utilized in American education.

BCBAs BCaBAs Educators Administrators

We tested the effects of multiple exemplar instruction (MEI) on the transformation of stimulus function across written and vocal spelling responses for transparent words. Participants were chosen because they demonstrated joint stimulus control for vocal and written spelling with nontransparent words. These participants emitted correct vocal spelling responses for nontransparent words after learning those responses in a written topography, but did not demonstrate correct responses for transparent words from the same instructional practice. A multiple probe design was used to test the effects of the intervention on the spelling behavior of 6 kindergarten students with and without disabilities. During the intervention the participants were taught vocal and written spelling responses for a novel set of 5 transparent words using MEI. The dependent variable was the number of correct untaught vocal spelling responses for a set of 20 consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words. All participants emitted correct untaught vocal spelling responses after the intervention and performed the behavior with the same accuracy as written spelling responses before the intervention. Results of this study are discussed in terms of its implications in the different self-dictation responses in spelling transparent and non-transparent words and the application of MEI as an instructional tool to establishing joint stimulus control.

In 1950, Skinner published an article titled “Are Theories of Learning Necessary?” which was widely misunderstood and misrepresented as arguing that theories in science were not necessary. In fact, he was arguing that explanations of behavior consisting of explanatory fictions were not only not necessary, but faulty. Skinner’s choice of the term “theory” in that context was unfortunate. Elsewhere (e.g., Skinner, 1957), Skinner has used the term “interpretation” to refer to his extrapolation of the basic principles of operant behavior from the experimental laboratory to the understanding of complex behavior, including behavior he called verbal. This was also an unfortunate choice because what he called interpretation was nothing less than a theoretical analysis. In this instance, the standard term “theory” would have been more appropriate. In the present talk, I offer one view of what theories in science are and how they originate, and then I discuss what a behavior-analytic theory is and how it has been, and continues to be, applied to understanding complex human behavior. As with theories in the natural sciences, behavior-analytic theory does not posit circular explanations, does not commit the nominal fallacy or the reification fallacy, and is parsimonious. In other words, the statements comprising the theory point to observable or potentially observable and testable events.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.

Henry D. (Hank) Schlinger Jr. received his Ph.D. in psychology (applied behavior analysis) from Western Michigan University (WMU) under the supervision of Jack Michael. He then completed a two-year National Institutes of Health-funded post-doctoral fellowship in behavioral pharmacology also at WMU with Alan Poling. Dr. Schlinger was a full tenured professor of psychology at Western New England University in Springfield, MA, before moving to Los Angeles in 1998. He is now professor of psychology and former director of the M. S. Program in Applied Behavior Analysis in the Department of Psychology at California State University, Los Angeles. Dr. Schlinger has published 80 scholarly articles, chapters, and commentaries in more than 30 different journals. He also has authored or co-authored three books, Psychology: A Behavioral Overview (1990), A Behavior-Analytic View of Child Development (1995) (which was translated into Japanese), and Introduction to Scientific Psychology (1998). He is past editor of The Analysis of Verbal Behavior and The Behavior Analyst and sits on the editorial boards of several other journals. He also serves on the Board of Trustees of the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies and on the Advisory Board of The Venus Project (https://www.resourcebasedeconomy.org/advisory-board/). He received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Department of Psychology at Western Michigan University in 2012, and the Jack Michael Award for Outstanding Contributions in Verbal Behavior from the Verbal Behavior Special Interest Group of the Association for Behavior Analysis International in 2015.

The dissemination of behavior analysis is an essential albeit often challenging piece of practice for a behavior analyst. Successful dissemination of behavior analysis can result in significant gains for the science in research, practice, and beyond. One such benefit is the increased access to behavior analytic services to individuals in need. Several avenues toward dissemination have been suggested, one of which includes collaboration with professionals outside of behavior analysis and those within behavior analysis, yet in varying industries. The current symposium describes three projects that undertook the challenging task of dissemination through collaboration to create something missing from the current environment, yet desperately needed to better serve those requiring applied behavior analysis services. The first paper describes the collaboration with local and county school districts resulting in the creation of behavior analytic non-public school intended to create a learning environment for those unable at access education in their local public schools. The second paper describes the impact of collaboration and dissemination on the creation of a behavior analytic support program within general and special education public classrooms. The final paper discusses how dissemination and subsequent collaboration can address hiring difficulties and access to care when working with local universities.

BCBA's, Administrators in behavior analytic practice, Administrators within public education settings, University professors

Early intervention for young children with autism spectrum disorder has historically been rooted within two distinct theoretical foundations: behavioral and developmental sciences. Proponents of each discipline have traditionally held opposing views toward treatment, with little collaboration. A recent shift in autism intervention has led to the emergence of a group of interventions that incorporate elements from both developmental and behavioral science. These naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions (NDBI) have been used effectively in a variety of settings with improvements in child and family outcomes. This symposium includes a series of presentations describing the application of naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions across a range of settings, with a focus on describing the integration of developmental and behavioral science in each. The first presentation will provide a broad overview of naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions, including a description of its core components. The second presentation will describe the implementation of naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions in a hospital-based clinic setting, including data related to the characteristics of children enrolled in the program. The third will describe child outcomes from a group-based delivery of naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention for preschool-aged children. The final presentation will shed light on the actual use of naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention strategies within community settings by describing the self-reported utilization of developmental and behavioral strategies from a large sample of applied behavior analysis providers.

Behavior analysts, behavior therapists, early intervention providers

Group-learning models for young children with autism provide environments rich with opportunities for teaching social communication and interaction skills. Comprehensive preschool programs that incorporate naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention (NDBI) strategies have produced improvements in children’s social communication skills, social engagement, and core ASD symptoms (Stahmer & Ingersoll, 2004; Strain & Bovey, 2011). This presentation will provide an overview of an NDBI treatment model delivered within a group program for preschool-aged children with autism. A description of the treatment model and subsequent changes in children’s social communication skills for 20 preschool-aged children enrolled in the program will be discussed. Staff fidelity was measured using a direct observation fidelity tool designed to measure the core components of a group-based NDBI model. Fidelity was high and averaged over 87% accuracy across all NDBI components. Changes in children’s social communication were measured at baseline and following six months of intervention using the Social Communication Checklist, a curriculum-based measure of social communication. Improvements were observed across all domains, with significant improvements in the group’s overall social communication score (p < .05), social engagement (p <.01), and play skills (p <.05). Implications for research and practice incorporating naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions into group-based treatment programs will be discussed.

Naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions (NDBIs; Schreibman et al., 2015) are a class of early interventions for autism spectrum disorder with growing empirical support, however, their similarity to Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) as delivered in the community is unknown. This online survey-based study characterized the self-reported utilization of developmental and behavioral intervention techniques in a large sample of ABA providers (n=368) and explored what aspects of provider background predict utilization. Respondents rated the extent to which they used each of a number of intervention techniques in a recent session with a specific child. ABA providers self-reported less use of developmental techniques than behavioral techniques, t(356)=-26.35, p<0.001. Providers with greater self-reported competency in NDBIs reported more frequent use of developmental techniques (Table 1); NDBI competency was not related to use of behavioral techniques, which were reported at high levels across providers. Point-biserial correlations indicated some trending relationships with training background such that providers with a background in psychology reported greater use of developmental techniques and those with backgrounds in ABA and special education reported less use (Table 1). Results suggest that further research on the similarities and differences between NDBIs and ABA delivered in the community is warranted.

This symposium presents some of the latest developments in behavioral variability research. The opening paper outlines a comparison of video-modelling (VM) and VM plus lag schedules to increase variability of intraverbal responses to social questions among adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Issues with generalization and maintenance of intervention outcomes and how to measure same will be discussed. The next study used lag schedules to increase variability in toy selections of children with ASD. There was an associated increase in appropriate play and decrease in stereotypy, while multiple generalization probes revealed generalization across people and settings but not stimuli. Next is a long-awaited investigation into the level of variability in activities of neurotypical preschoolers that details a novel measurement system. This study provides important information for those working on increasing variability in play and other activities in children with developmental disabilities; these are increasingly frequent topics of applied variability research. The final paper describes a basic study investigating generalization of reinforced variability in rats. In the applied field, researchers are striving to understand generalization effects of variation across multiple repertoires; this study adds to our understanding of these processes. This set of papers, together with our Discussant, the leading expert in this field, aims to address some of the many interesting questions that have been raised as more and more researchers identify behavioral variability as an important field of study.

BCBAs, BCBA-Ds, anyone interested in variability in basic or applied fields.

This study investigated the effects of video modelling alone (VM) and video modelling plus a lag 2 schedule of reinforcement (VM + lag 2) on the variability of intraverbal responses to social questions for two adults with autism. It used an alternating treatments design with embedded multiple baseline. The questions ‘How are you?’, ‘What do you like to do?’, and ‘Can you tell me something about you?’ were targeted in this study, with different questions being randomly allocated to either VM, VM + lag or best treatment conditions. Variability in responding was measured by calculating, for each session, the mean number of responses from which each one differed. For both participants, variability was higher in the VM + lag 2 condition, hence, this was used in the best treatment condition. Novel responses emerged in both treatment conditions so, while variability did not increase in the VM alone condition, participants did learn new responses from the video models. A one-month maintenance check revealed that responses to questions targeted with VM+ lag 2 were more variable than those targeted by VM alone. During generalization sessions in novel settings, variability was concordant with that observed in the training location for all questions.

Sexual behavior is a complex and wide-reaching topic. And though sexual stimulation is considered to be a primary reinforcer for most, there is frequently shame and stigma associated with sexual behavior, leaving it under-discussed within our field. This symposium examines an array of ethical considerations pertaining to sexual behavior, from direct client interventions and supports around assent and noncompliance, to scholarship and theory on sex and risk, to legal considerations in sex education and censorship, to dissemination of behavior analytic analysis as it benefits pleasure-based sex education at large. Presenters will discuss resulting data and their implications as applicable, and will discuss recommendations for future research, instruction, and applied projects.

Practicing BCBAs and BCaBAs

Functional analyses (FAs) aim to identify reinforcers related to problem behavior and provide a baseline context for treatment evaluation. In this symposium, the first paper presents a review of the literature on compliance with mands, which is a behavior function sometimes demonstrated by individuals with moderate to advanced language repertoires. The second paper describes a controlled consecutive case series (CCCS) for the escape from attention function, which, while common as a possible behavioral phenotype in some genetic conditions, is not traditionally assessed in FAs. The third paper illuminates the heterogeneous nature of aggressive behavior (e.g. severity, topography, function), with an emphasis on response patterns that occur across FA test and control conditions. The final paper describes a CCCS analysis of two methods for thinning multiple schedules to derive more practical and efficient treatments. A terminal probe method, designed to minimize unnecessary steps in the schedule thinning process, is compared with the more traditional progressive thinning method. Across papers, we illustrate how FA provides context for innovation in the assessment and treatment of problem behavior. This context can inform a fined-tuned assessment approach that is generalizable across a wide range of populations and derives effective interventions.

Development of effective strategies for modifying staff behavior can have a positive impact on the learning and behavioral outcomes for students and clients in a variety of settings. This symposium will describe four studies focused on the utilization of varying forms of feedback to improve staff training outcomes. In the first study, Austin and colleagues evaluate the use of graphic feedback and goal-setting on the number of learning opportunities staff present to classroom students during instructional time. The second presentation will include a study by Shuler and colleagues that focuses on the generalization of classroom-management strategies to therapeutic-riding lessons. More specifically, the study evaluates the effectiveness of written and graphical feedback, provided to instructors, on increases in labeled praise and rider opportunities to respond. In the third study, Kamana and colleagues evaluate the utility of behavioral skills training and on-the-job feedback for increasing the healthy behavioral practices of staff in a program for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. In the final study, Molony and Ringdahl evaluate the effects of in-service training and frequency of performance feedback on the maintenance of direct-care staffs’ appropriate interactions with clients. Each presentation will highlight unique considerations for staff training strategies. Finally, Dr. Dave Wilder will discuss the collective findings and areas for future research.

Advanced graduate students, BCaBA, BCBA, BCBA-D, Educators, Administrators

Decades of research on training staff to provide active treatment (e.g., Parsons, Rollyson, & Reid, 2004) has suggested (a) its importance for decreasing problem behavior and increasing appropriate behavior and (b) the efficacy of behavioral skills training (BST; Parsons, Rollyson, & Reid, 2012) and on-the-job feedback (Van OOrsouw, Embregts, Bosman, & Jahoda, 2009) for increasing important staff behaviors in programs for adults with IDD. Recently, discussion papers (e.g., Ala’i-Rosales et al., 2018) and a few research studies (e.g., St. Peter & Marsteller, 2017) have suggested the potential utility of using FBA and function-based interventions to derive preventive approaches for problem behavior. The purpose of the current study was to create a prevention approach based on common functions of problem behavior and effective function-based interventions to create four healthy behavioral practices. We used BST and on-the job feedback to increase implementation of these practices across over 150 staff. The current paper will present pre-post training analyses of individual staff performance as well as individual staff performance in observations following initial training versus subsequent observations in which on-the-job feedback was provided. Outcomes suggested increases in all practices for most staff but little consistent difference between BST alone and on-the-job feedback.

As our professional numbers grow in size, it is imperative that we plan and support this growth and ask ourselves crucial questions pertaining to how to set up individuals and behavioral agencies for success. Specifically, what systems are necessary to be in place for all of these newly certified behavior analysts and registered behavior technicians? It’s a well-known fact that a large majority of Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) have been certified for two years or less. This creates a pyramid effect with a smaller number of more experienced BCBAs supervising and supporting a greater number of BCBAs with less experience. This symposium will explore various topics pertaining to this question including: 1) A mentorship system that agencies can duplicate; 2) A system of reinforcement aimed at clincians who exceed expectations, thus reducing turn-over and increasing employee satisfaction; 3) Competency based systems for reviewing performance and aligning salaries and bonuses based on competency achievements, and 4) How each component listed above integrates together to create a behavior system. Keywords: Organizational Behavior Management, Behavior Systems Analysis, Supervision, Mentorship

BCBAs

Single-case designs have been central to the development of a science of behavior analysis. However, other health and social sciences have not embraced their adoption as widely as behavior analysts. Potential explanations for this lack of adoption include the complexity of analyzing single-case data objectively as well as the limited consideration of group data. The purpose of our symposium is to present recent research that addresses the aforementioned limitations. The first presentation will describe a script designed to automatically analyze functional analysis data based on previously published rules. The second presentation will examine whether artificial intelligence can accurately make decisions using AB graphs. The third presentation will discuss the validity of using nonoverlap effect size measures to aid clinical decision-making. The final presentation will introduce hybrid designs, which involve a combination of single-case and group methodologies. As whole, the presentations will provide an overview of innovations in the use of single-case methodology for both practitioners and researchers.

BCBAs BCBA-Ds

Single-case experimental designs often require extended baselines or the withdrawal of treatment, which may not be feasible or ethical in some practical settings. The quasi-experimental AB design is a potential alternative, but more research is needed on its validity. The purpose of our study was to examine the validity of using nonoverlap measures of effect size to detect changes in AB designs using simulated data. In our analyses, we determined thresholds for three effect size measures beyond which the type I error rate would remain below .05, and then examined if using these thresholds would provide sufficient power. Overall, our analyses show that some effect size measures may provide adequate control over type I error rate and sufficient power when analyzing data from AB designs. In sum, our results suggest that practitioners may use quasi-experimental AB designs in combination with effect size to rigorously assess progress in practice.

Efficacious training procedures are critical for teaching new skills to caregivers, behavioral and non-behavioral professionals, and students. Each paper in this symposium uses applied research to evaluate and demonstrate the training of different skills to establish effective training procedures. Andersen, Haney, Hansen, and Peterson evaluated systematic fading and immediate verbal prompts to teach new staff to collect data on multiple behaviors simultaneously using an electronic data collection system. Ibañez, Peters, Bacotti, Lloveras, and Vollmer evaluated the effects of a training package consisting of instructions, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback, to teach behavior analysts and occupational therapy providers to conduct a structured mealtime assessment. Lehardy, Luczynski, Hood, and McKeown made a video tutorial to teach Master’s students to create publication-quality multiple-baseline graphs using Microsoft Excel. Phillips, Fisher, and Hardee developed an e-learning computer module to train caregivers to implement functional communication training as an intervention for severe problem behavior. Dr. Florence DiGennaro Reed, an expert on training and performance management, will serve as the discussant for these papers.

Master's and Doctoral students, behavioral and non-behavioral professionals.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often display feeding problems such as consumption of a limited variety of foods (Schreck, Williams, & Smith, 2004). It is also common for these children to be enrolled in early and intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) services for comprehensive treatment (Roane, Fisher, & Carr, 2016. Combined, these factors make it possible that behavior analysts will have a role in a child’s clinical care related to feeding. In addition, children with ASD are often attending regular appointments for occupational therapy (OT) and on occasion those providers are targeting feeding problems. However, given that the etiology of pediatric feeding disorders is complex and multifactorial (Peterson & Ibanez, 2018), OT providers and BCBAs should ensure they have sufficient training and a setting that is appropriate for assessment and treatment. Therefore, we evaluated the effects of a training package, including instructions, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback, for training BCBAs in an EIBI setting and OT providers to conduct a structured mealtime assessment. Training resulted in increases in their integrity of protocol implementation, and we observed replication of these effects for all participants.

Maximizing student learning outcomes is a goal at every level of instruction. For undergraduate and graduate students in behavior analysis, the stakes may be even higher given the clinical implications and leadership roles BCaBAs and BCBAs take on immediately following graduation and certification. Therefore, it is critical to identify evidence-based approaches to engage students with course content, not only to pass the certification exam, but also to enhance client outcomes. The four studies in this symposium describe ways in which to do just that. The first study evaluated the effects of active student responding and competition among on-campus undergraduate students. The remaining three studies were conducted with graduate students in a fully online asynchronous program. This included two intervention studies, one examining choice of practice activity and the second evaluating the effects of self-monitoring on quiz grades. The final study examined academic procrastination using a delay discounting task with the aim of identifying possible interventions to decrease procrastination. Taken together, these research findings expand the scope of effective instructional strategies in both the face-to-face and online classrooms.

Behavior analysts who teach undergraduate and graduate students

Self-monitoring is an evidence-based intervention that has been shown to be widely effective in addressing a range of target behaviors (Weston et al., 2019; Wills & Mason, 2014). In the academic context, it has demonstrated increases in the performance of elementary, middle, and high school students both with and without disabilities (Graham-Day, Gardner, & Hsin, 2010; Wolfe, Heron, & Goddard, 2000), but there is limited information available regarding use of self-monitoring among graduate students. Graduate students struggle with time management given the many competing contingencies they are faced with (Hanshaw, Mason, & Loh, 2019). This study evaluated the effect of self-monitoring on quiz grades among graduate students in a fully online, asynchronous behavior analysis course. There were three conditions that were evaluated including instructions only, instructions with self-monitoring, and control wherein there were no expectations stated for daily engagement with the course content. Students allocated more time across days during the self-monitoring condition and performed better on quizzes in comparison to the instruction only condition. Results will be discussed with regard to social validity and implications for instructors.

Strong engagement in meaningful social skills is shown in research to impact inclusion in community settings for individuals diagnosed autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Yet, engagement in meaningful social skills is often challenging, as this is a defining characteristic of ASD. Extant literature indicates that social skills are most successfully acquired when taught through naturalistic and embedded instruction in established routines. A commonly occurring routine in most classroom, home, and community settings is mealtime. The symposium will present findings from three studies examining the effects of implementation of Snack Talk in a self-contained preschool classroom serving children specifically diagnosed with ASD, an inclusion preschool classroom, as well as an adult academy serving individuals with ASD and other related developmental disabilities. Results indicated increases in engagement in social communication across all populations of participants, demonstrating strong functional relationship and overall acceptability of intervention as a whole.

Practitioners

Early childhood classrooms are dramatically changing as education systems across the country push for more settings that are inclusive. For students to meaningfully engage in inclusive settings, strong repertoires of social skills are needed. Yet, for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), engagement in meaningful social skills is often challenging. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of “Snack Talk”, a visual communication support, aimed at increasing the communication engagement of five preschool children with autism. A reversal design across participants was used to analyze the relation between implementation of “Snack Talk” and social engagement. Generalization probe results demonstrated conversation engagement increased across all participants. A functional relationship was established between the teaching phase (baseline and intervention data collection phases) and generalization, demonstrating a strong generalized effect of intervention.

As rates of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnoses continue to rise, adult service providers are challenged to support a growing number of adults with autism. Indeed, outcomes for adults with ASD are typically poor, with individuals reporting lower levels of social support, relationships, gainful employment, and quality of life. Although there have been strides made in identifying evidence-based social interventions for individuals with autism, the preponderance of participants within studies are children. As such, targeted social skills and social communication interventions that are aligned with the needs of adults are warranted. The purpose of this presentation is to report findings from the implementation of “Snack Talk”, a naturalistic visual communication support, with five adults with ASD and other developmental disabilities. “Snack Talk” is implemented during mealtime and is designed to expand community membership and the social networks of adults with autism through increasing conversation engagement with peers. A reversal design across participants was employed to analyze the effectiveness of the intervention. Results demonstrate that conversation engagement increased across all participants in intervention and generalization phases compared to baseline.

Advances in genetics, molecular biology, and cognitive neuroscience offer hope for personalized treatment and improved outcomes in those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, the promise of precision medicine is limited by a lack of mechanistic models that explain phenotypic and etiological heterogeneity; instead of using such models to identify subgroups likely to respond to specific treatments, the field relies on service availability, trial-and-error, and clinical judgment to make treatment decisions. In line with the computational psychiatry objective, my research integrates mathematical models of behavior and brain activity to establish neurocognitive models that can successfully predict individual social and nonsocial learning profiles. Specifically, I am formally comparing the suitability of various computational models to capture selective deficits in social learning of individuals with ASD, as well as variability in both social and nonsocial learning across typically developing youth and those with ASD. Identifying how these model-based predictions are implemented in the brain will allow us to identify neural architecture underlying learning in therapeutically relevant contexts. The long-term goal of this research line is to apply these computational models to inform, refine, and individualize diagnosis, education, and treatment of youth with ASD.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.

I am an Assistant Professor of cognitive neuroscience in the Psychology department at George Washington University (GWU). I am also affiliated with the Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders Institute at GWU. My research combines computational and neuroscientific methods to understand the neurobiological mechanisms underlying learning in neurotypical and clinical populations, especially autism spectrum disorder. I have expertise in designing naturalistic tasks to assess social decision making in behavior and brain function, conducting longitudinal clinical studies, computational modeling and developmental cognitive neuroscience. I have recently been awarded the Bridge to Independence Award by the Simons Foundation for Autism Research to study learning in autism with a computational neuroscientific approach and its implications for treatment.

Discrete trial teaching (DTT) is a commonly used approach to teach a variety of skills for individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Two studies will be presented within this symposium that involve comparisons of different approaches to DTT. The first study compared equivalence based instruction (EBI) to DTT using an adapted alternating treatments design with typically developing adult participants and children diagnosed with ASD. The second study utilized a group design to compare the effectiveness of conventional and progressive approaches to DTT when teaching tact relations (sometimes referred to as expressive labels) to children diagnosed with ASD. Both studies will be discussed with respect to their strengths, limitations, and potential future directions by the discussant.

This symposium will be beneficial to all behavior analysts especially those interested in maximizing teaching methodologies for individuals diagnosed with ASD.

Research has continually found equivalence-based instruction (EBI) to be effective and efficient, with recent research extending these findings to individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). EBI has also been compared to more traditional approaches to teaching, such as traditional lectures, reading assignments, and video lectures. However, the authors are unaware of any comparisons of EBI to other similar, behavior analytic approaches such as discrete trial teaching (DTT). The purpose of this study was to compare EBI to DTT using an adapted alternating treatments design with typically developing adults and children diagnosed with ASD. The two teaching approaches were evaluated with respect to mastery of trained relations, emergence of untrained relations, and participant preferences. The results will be discussed with respect to their implications for practice and research.

There are a variety of recommendations or guidelines for interventionists when implementing discrete trial teaching (DTT) for individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). These guidelines typically involve a protocol being the main source of control for the interventionist’s behavior that outlines what instruction to give, reinforcer to use, and when to use and fade prompting strategies. However, recent research has demonstrated strategies in which the main sources of control for the interventionist are relevant to the learner’s behavior and involves in-the-moment assessment, or clinical judgement, when making decisions to modify variables within intervention. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of conventional and progressive approaches to DTT when teaching tact relations (sometimes referred to as expressive labels) to children diagnosed with ASD. The effectiveness and efficiency of each approach was evaluated across several dependent variables. The results of a randomized clinical trial will be discussed with respect to implications for clinical practice and future research.

Healthcare settings, emergency departments (ED), and inpatient units can often be associated with stressors and triggers that may ultimately lead to increased levels of challenging behavior and noncompliance with medical procedures. Problem behaviors directly produce many negative effects on the individual who exhibits them including physical harm, exclusion and stigmatization, as well as reduced access to routine/preventative care (Davis & Gavidia-Payne, 2009; Hall, Bouldin, Andresen, & Ali, 2012). Problem behaviors can also be a source of frustration for providers who deliver medical care due to lack of knowledge and training on how best to serve children with behavioral health needs. Although behavior analysts are often familiar with training other disciplines on the use of behavior intervention strategies to decrease challenging behavior, healthcare systems present unique experiences and challenges when trying to disseminate effective behavior analytic strategies. The invited panelists will present three perspectives on working with children in healthcare settings. Topics will include providing clinical care through a behavioral consultation model, transdisciplinary training approaches and policy development for crisis prevention, applying antecedent- and reinforcement-based programs appropriately to improve treatment outcomes, and challenges with establishing applied behavior analysis (ABA) within medical settings.

Behavior analysts, healthcare providers,

Behavior analysts have made an enormous impact in the treatment of autism and related disabilities, but what about other areas? Behavior analysts are trained to understand behavior and the conditions under which is it governed. However, how does this repertoire position a behavior analyst to practice in other markets, such as health, sports, fitness and nutrition? This panel will explore several key questions related to entrepreneurship in health, sports and fitness; such as how to transition into new markets? What skill sets and/or certification are needed to practice? How to network and build relationships with professionals outside of behavior analysis? With a focus on building a business in health, sports, fitness and nutrition, each panelist will contribute their own unique experiences as it pertains to entrepreneurship, networking, education and self-management.

Board Certified Behavior Analysts and Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analysts

The field of Applied Behavior Analysis has experienced tremendous growth since its inception. According to the Behavior Analyst Certification Board®, between the years 2016 and 2018, the total number of certified behavior analysts has increased by over 30%, and the total number of registered behavior technicians® has nearly doubled. An essential component for obtaining and maintaining these certifications include supervision hours. The Behavior Analyst Certification Board® has provided task lists regarding the items and topics required for adequate supervision; however, no components of cultural responsiveness and awareness are included. With the increase of behavior analysis within culturally diverse populations, it is imperative that our field develop new and innovative ways of including cultural competency into the Board Certified Behavior Analyst® and Registered Behavior Technician® supervision experience. Many behavior analysts have reported not receiving sufficient training within the areas of diversity and cultural responsiveness and feel unprepared to serve diverse clients and communities adequately. This workshop is designed to address the gap in formal training specific to the lack of diversity and cultural responsiveness across the supervision continuum.

Registered Behavior Technicians; Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analysts; Board Certified Behavior Analysts

Behavior analysts need to understand the process of child development in order to understand the development of atypical behavior. Behavior analysis has increasingly focused on treatment of problem behavior but seldom examines the process of development itself. Behavioral systems theory (BST) is a fundamentally behavioral approach to understanding the developmental process. BST combines dynamic systems and developmental systems theories with the principles of behavior analysis. This symposium identifies recent developments in the field of behavioral development since the publication of Child and Adolescent Development: A Behavioral Systems Approach by Novak and Pelaez. The talks will review the principles of behavioral systems theory and identify new trends in behavior analysis that have emerged in recent years. The first paper will outline BST’s principles. It will present some new concepts that have emerged in both behavior analysis and developmental psychology relevant to BST. The second paper will examine basic areas of research in child development, including cognitive, social learning, communication and language development and present relevant new research in these areas. The final paper will present a behavioral systems application to problem behaviors such as Autism Spectrum Disorder and ADHD. A review of research literature relevant to these areas will be covered.

Educators, practitioners, and researchers interested in the area of child development.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is marked by social communication and interaction impairments and restricted and repetitive behaviors (RRBs), yet little is understood about the etiology of these impairments and there are few successful treatment interventions. The expression and severity of social impairments can vary widely across individuals, so more objective bio-behavioral markers that measure the process of how interactions unfold over time will greatly enhance our understanding and could lead to targeting of interventions to particular subgroups of patients. Engagement in restrictive and repetitive behaviors can compound the social communication and interaction difficulties, so a fuller understanding of the contextual factors that influence the expression of RRBs is also need. In this talk, I argue that social synchrony may be a useful dynamic bio-marker of social ability in children and adolescents with ASD. The relevance of social synchrony and coupled oscillator-based modeling of synchronization for understanding social impairment in ASD will be discussed and synchronization ability for spontaneous and intentional interpersonal coordination in children and adolescents with and without ASD will be compared. In addition, I will present data that evaluates the relationship between synchronization ability and more traditional clinical and social cognitive measures of social ability and evaluate the influence of social and motor context on the presentation of RRBs and language production during conversation. Finally, the promise of social synchronization ability for providing a measure with heightened resolution to identify the essential qualities of social performance in naturalistic situations and isolate underlying neural mechanisms that may be disrupted in ASD will be discussed and directions for future research and potential interventions outlined.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.

In 1892, William James brought Hugo Münsterberg from Freiburg to direct the new, Harvard Psychological Laboratory that James had created in the Philosophy Department. Münsterberg had trained under William Wundt in Leipzig, who had pioneered an experimental method to explore the relationship between mental events and physical experience. The New Psychology banished the old method of introspection. Instead, it relied on highly controlled experiments with equipment borrowed from the domains of physics and physiology. Researchers studied the psychology of the senses, the timing of mental acts, judgement, memory, and attention. Starting with these “prism, pendulum, and chronograph philosophers,” as James called them, this talk will conclude with B. F. Skinner and his experiments on operant conditioning, reinforcement, and learning. Special attention will be paid to early apparatus such as reaction keys, prototype operant chambers, cumulative recorders, and teaching machines. The apparatus, laboratory records, memoranda, and correspondence of James, Munsterberg, and Skinner survive at Harvard University and can be accessed by scholars interested in the development of their thought.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.

Sara Schechner, Ph.D. is the David P. Wheatland Curator of the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments at Harvard University, where she is also on the faculty of the History of Science Department.  She has served as Secretary of the Scientific Instrument Commission of the International Union of History and Philosophy of Science and Technology.  She has published widely on the history of astronomy, scientific instruments, and material culture and has curated numerous exhibitions, including several on the history of psychology.

Schechner earned degrees in physics and the history and philosophy of science from Harvard and Cambridge.  Before returning to Harvard, she was chief curator at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, and curated exhibits for the Smithsonian Institution, the American Astronomical Society, and the American Physical Society.  Schechner’s research, teaching, and exhibition work has earned her many awards.  She is the 2019 recipient of the Paul Bunge Prize from the German Chemical Society and the German Bunsen Society for Physical Chemistry, which is regarded worldwide as the most important honor in the history of scientific instruments.  She has also received the prestigious LeRoy E. Doggett Prize for Historical Astronomy from the American Astronomical Society, the Joseph H. Hazen Education Prize of the History of Science Society, and the Great Exhibitions Award of the British Society for the History of Science.

Previous research has demonstrated the effectiveness of behavioral skills training (BST) to train staff and caregivers to implement various behavioral interventions and to teach young children socially significant skills. Efficacious and efficient training and teaching procedures remain an essential focus of research for scientists and practitioners; especially, for special populations and complex skills. The purpose of this symposium is to discuss evaluations and applications of BST procedures across consumers of behavior analytic services. In the first presentation, Arthur assessed the effects of BST to teach safety skills to children with Williams Syndrome. The second presentation by Plattner, Van Boxel, and Proctor examined a BST protocol to train staff to implement pairing procedures with children with autism. The third paper by Preas and Mathews evaluated and compared the effects of BST versus feedback alone to train caregivers to implement activities of daily living skills teaching procedures with their child with autism. The presenters will include a discussion of future directions for research and applications of BST.

BCBA-D, BCBA, BCaBA, RBT, LP, LBA (researchers, clinicians, and practitioners)

Williams syndrome (WS) is a rare genetic disorder affecting 1in 7500 to 1 in 20,000 people. A trademark characteristic of Williams syndrome is hypersociability; being overly friendly and socially disinhibited which puts this population at risk for social vulnerability, exploitation, and abuse. This is a significant concern for parents of children with WS and warrants intervention. The current study used a multiple baseline probe design across participants to evaluate the effectiveness of behavioral skills training (BST) to teach safe responding to strangers in children with WS. The study consisted of three phases: 1) baseline in situ assessments in community settings, 2) BST in the home setting, and 3) in situ assessments in the community following mastery of BST. One participant responded with all four components taught during BST and post-BST in situ assessments by the second probe. The second participant scored low during initial post-BST in situ assessments and required a booster BST session. Following the booster session, the second participant responded appropriately to lures of strangers during in situ assessments. The results suggest that BST can be an effective procedure for teaching responding to strangers with this population.

Evidence-based practice (EBP) is a commonly used term in the field of applied behavior analysis (ABA); however, disagreement or misunderstanding regarding what EBP is and how to engage in evidence-based decision making persist. In this symposium, we will attempt to clarify the definition of EBP in ABA and we will discuss the role that EBP plays in different domains of ABA and ethical practice. First, Dr. Bethany Contreras will discuss the definition of EBP and will offer specific suggestions on how practitioners can use EBP to guide their decision making. Next, Dr. Audrey Hoffmann will discuss how EBP may be embedded within coursework and supervision in order to improve ethical decision-making in novice behavior analysts. Finally, Dr. Shanun Kunnavatana will discuss challenges to EBP in clinical practice, and potential solutions to promote EBP.

Practicing BCaBAs, BCBAs, supervising BCBAs, and behavior analysts involved in higher education and the training of BCBAs.

EBP provides a useful framework for teaching decision-making skills and ethical practice to novice behavior analysts. This presentation will provide a brief introduction to EBP and go over the importance of including EBP within training programs for behavior analysts (both in higher education and in supervised practice). Suggestions for embedding EBP into course sequences and supervision practices will be provided as well as discussing potential barriers to training a complex behavioral repertoire such as ethical evidence-based decision-making. The presentation will highlight the importance of novice behavior analysts basing decisions on the best available research evidence, considering the client values and context, and improving and appropriately utilizing their clinical expertise as behavior analysts.

Ethical and effective practice requires behavior analysts to be able to make complex decisions that evaluate not only the evidence for certain interventions but also determine whether critical components of the intervention will be possible given an individual’s context and values, as well as those of other stakeholders involved. This approach requires behavior analysts to be both analytical and flexible in their decision making. Although, EBP provides a framework for navigating these decisions, the process is often perceived as daunting and not utilized to its full potential. This presentation discusses the potential reasons why EBP is not yet common in clinical practice and how individuals and organizations may overcome some of the challenges to move toward EBP and better clinical decision making.

Behavioral economic methods are increasingly applied in various disciplines and areas of human and non-human research. Although these approaches have good support across populations and disciplines, relatively few researchers have extended this approach and perspective to assessments and interventions for individuals with developmental disabilities (e.g., autism). Such extensions are both timely and warranted for Behavior Analysts, as behavioral economic approaches have been particularly suited to evaluating complex response-reinforcer relationships under complex, real-world conditions. The papers invited for this symposium have been selected to provide a broad, scoping review of the current state of applied behavioral economics in assessments and interventions developed for individuals with developmental disabilities. Particular emphasis is based on the behavioral economic concept of demand and novel extensions of token economy procedures. The behavioral economic concept of demand is presented here in the context of individualized reinforcer assessments and functional communication training undergoing schedule thinning. Novel extensions of the token economy are also reviewed, evaluating the effects of loss aversion on responding.

Master's level behavior analysts

Methods for evaluating individual preference and choice are regularly included in Behavior Analytic research and practice. A variety of methods have been put forward to evaluate preference though these methods rarely evaluate choices under effortful, treatment-like conditions. A fundamental disconnect between these contexts invites the possibility that stimuli identified may not be preferred in treatment-like conditions and this can jeopardize the effectiveness of otherwise appropriate treatment. Recent attempts to address this disconnect have incorporated elements of Behavioral Economics. In this study, we systematically review the scope and range of Behavioral Economic procedures that have been formally evaluated in the literature. Studies were included in the review if Behavioral Economic elements were incorporated into assessments and interventions designed for individuals with developmental disabilities. Results indicated that the level of support for assessments and interventions incorporating Behavioral Economic elements is still emerging and additional research continues to be necessary.

Matching (Herrnstein, 1961) has been demonstrated with appetitive and aversive stimuli, including when appetitive and aversive stimuli are simultaneously presented (Farley & Fantino, 1978). Interestingly, in contexts where a single response produces both reinforcement and punishment, some research has demonstrated that a punisher subtracted more value than a reinforcer added (Rasmussen & Newland, 2008). We assessed the purported asymmetry of reinforcement and punishment for three individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID). We established tokens as reinforcers and evaluated the effects of simultaneous token gain and loss schedule in a progressive manner. Losses gradually became denser to identify a schedule at which the individual would not respond. Finally, we demonstrated that the loss contingency was directly responsible for the cessation of responding, as responding maintained when an equal density of reinforcement was available for gain without the loss contingency. Mixed findings were obtained; however, these results suggest that an asymmetry between punishment and reinforcement is present for some individuals with ID. Suggestions for future research and implications for practitioners will be discussed.

Behavior analytic interventions delivered via telehealth have undergone a number of experimental evaluations with evidence supporting the use of telehealth to reduce problem behavior and increase functional communication. This symposium presents the results of four studies, conducted across three research groups, evaluating innovations in the assessment and treatment of problem behavior via telehealth. First, researchers will present advances in assessment including results from a brief functional analysis delivered via telehealth (Talk 1) and results from a randomized control trial comparing brief observations conducted via telehealth to functional analysis conducted via telehealth (Talk 2). Regarding functional communication treatment, researchers will present results from an intercontinental telehealth-mediated intervention with demonstrated results and acceptability (Talk 3). Researchers will also present on the generalizability of FCT beyond telehealth training contexts (Talk 4). Finally, as a leader in this area of Behavior Analysis, Dr. Jennifer McComas, will discuss the studies, findings, and implications for research and practice.

Practicing BCBAs and Researchers

Many children have do not have access to ABA services due to geographic distance from a provider. Telehealth technology can increase children’s access to effective interventions. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of parent-implemented brief functional analysis and function-based intervention with coaching delivered via telehealth technology. Children with autism, age birth to 17 years old, and their parents were eligible to participate in the study. Parents conducted a brief functional analysis, with coaching provided by a researcher via telehealth technology. Following the brief functional analysis, the parent implemented a function-based intervention. The efficacy of the function-based intervention was evaluated using a reversal design. Data collection is ongoing. Implications for practice and directions for future research will be discussed.

Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are deemed the “gold standard” of scientific research. By contrast, research in applied behavior analysis rarely employs this type of study, which may limit the acceptance of many common and effective behavior analytic procedures. Recently, two large-N RCTs have been conducted using telehealth to provide scientific validation of both FA and FCT procedures (Lindgren & Wacker, 2011-2015; Lindgren & Wacker, 2015-2019). In the initial study, a multi-site RCT of FCT, Lindgren et al. (under review) found FCT superior to a delayed control. In the current study, an RCT of functional analysis (FA) procedures was conducted to determine whether FA procedures are superior to brief observations. A preliminary comparison of treatment outcomes suggests that treatment following an FA may not be more efficient or result in greater reduction in problem behavior than treatment following brief observations. Possible reasons for the findings, implications for practice and recommendations for future research will be discussed.

Interventions combining functional analysis (FA) and functional communication training (FCT) are effective in mitigating socially maintained problem behaviors. Recent studies evaluating the effectiveness of using telehealth to train caregivers across large geographical distances in the United States (Wacker et al., 2016) and internationally (Tsami & Lerman, 2019) indicate that this modality can increase families’ accessibility to evidence-based interventions for problem behavior, such as FCT. Additionally, the telehealth model reduces service costs while maintaining caregiver procedural integrity (Ferguson et al., 2018). Providing these services to international families might decrease barriers to effective treatment and promote parental well- being (e.g., reduce stress and depression; Frantz et al., 2018). In this study, practitioners and interpreters in the United States remotely coached six caregivers of children with autism residing in two developing countries in Asia (i.e., Pakistan and Vietnam) to implement FA and FCT. All children reached the 90% reduction of problem behavior criterion and acquired the communicative response. Additionally, all caregivers indicated that the procedures were acceptable. The impact of training on levels of parenting stress, psychological distress, and self- efficacy also will be discussed. Overall, our findings suggest telehealth is a feasible modality for service delivery in Asia

Functional communication training (FCT) is a well-established treatment for problem behavior in young children with autism (National Autism Center, 2015; Wong et al., 2014). Parent-mediated FCT delivered in the home, but facilitated by therapists through telehealth is an effective approach that extends the treatment model into a natural context (Lindgren et al., 2016). Despite an extensive literature base supporting FCT, little is known about the generalized effects of FCT outside of the training context. In this study, generalization of treatment effects were evaluated as part of a large multi-site study on parent-delivered FCT for children with autism using telehealth. To meet this purpose, data were collected from pre- and post-treatment parent ratings of targeted and non-targeted problem behavior in settings and contexts outside of the training conditions. Results suggest that the effects of FCT may extend beyond the behaviors and contexts targeted for treatment. Possible reasons for successful generalization, implications for practice, and suggestions for future research will be discussed.

Recent behavior-analytic efforts to the competent dissemination of acceptance and commitment training (ACT) have dramatically increased. The current symposium seeks to add to the ways in which practicing behavior analysts may more confidently-equipped to use ACT within their practices. The first presentation investigates the extent to which coherence between values and self-management strategies may improve treatment outcomes in a college population.We then empirically explore practical applications of ACT within an ASD population. Finally, we introduce evidence of the success of ACT via the AIM curriculum with a rather unique population. Implications to the overall successes and utility of ACT in daily practices, as well as ways to increase positive outcomes, are discussed.

beginner-intermediate behavior analyst

This presentation describes the development of a custom-made “ACT for Kids” workbook and the initial phases of testing its effectiveness for decreasing challenging behaviors and increasing self-management skills in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The study is still currently in the data collection phase and initial data suggest it is effective. In this presentation, we will describe in a practical manner the steps that were taken to transform the ACT Hexaflex and Matrix into stimuli that children with ASD would be able to consume and respond to independently. Results from the one participant completed thus far showed that the “ACT for Kids Workbook” decreased the participant’s maladaptive behaviors while consequently increasing his use of ACT-based self-management skills in his daily life. Findings from the social validity interview revealed that parents of this participant saw a significant increase in independent self-management skills across settings and environments, when ABA team members were not present.

Many parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder around the world have limited or no access to behavior analytic knowledge or services leaving them without support or guidance. Training parents with behavior analytic knowledge or skills can potentially overcome this issue. The purpose of this symposium is to present two different parent training programs designed to provide skills and knowledge that parents need to improve the quality of life for their children and families. The first presentation will discuss a program in which parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder learned the steps necessary to implement an early intervention program. The project was conducted in India. The second presentation will discuss four barriers that get in the way of parents’ access to behavior analytic knowledge: time, place, money, and prerequisite skills, and will introduce a web-based parent training program designed to overcome these barriers.

BACB Certificants

The effectiveness of Early Intervention (EI) program is widely documented to increase the behavioural outcomes of children diagnosed with Autism. Studies have demonstrated positive outcomes for parent-implemented EI approaches for skill development. The majority of these evidence-based interventions have been conducted in the US and Europe, there is increasing interest in adapting evidence-based interventions to different cultures. The current study will share outcome data from a 6-week, ABA-based parent-implemented EI program from Bangalore, India. 81 children (range 18 mo.- 60 mo.) and their caregivers enrolled in the program. The goals were adapted from ABLLS-R and included validated instructional procedures. The parents were trained to use errorless teaching for skill acquisition and behaviour management strategies. The result of the program demonstrated significant gains across all domains, supporting the existing literature. Parents reported high levels (M = 28.2 out of 30) of social validity for the program. Further, the outcome for parents demonstrated significant gains in the acquisition of training skills . These findings have implications for cultural adaptations of evidence-based interventions. These findings are timely as there is a growing recognition of the prevalence of ASD and need for EI services in India, yet a limited number of certified behaviour analysts.

This symposium presents data from three studies that used behavioral skills training (BST) to teach staff members to implement behavioral assessment and treatment. The first study, presented by Kacie McGarry, trained staff members to conduct trial-based functional analyses via Telehealth. The second study, presented by Julia Iannaccone, evaluated a video-aided BST model to train staff members to conduct function-based treatments. The third study, presented by Catherine Kishel, evaluated the effects of professional development activities and BST on staff implementation and educators' perceptions of prompting procedures.

BCBAs

Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) face significant challenges that are exacerbated by severe problematic behavior. Direct care staff are often not adequately trained to support adults with problem behavior, at least in part, due to limited funding for adult service providers. Whereas behavior analysts possess effective training tools, such as behavior skills training (BST), these training techniques can be time consuming, and thus, costly. The present study examined a video aided BST model using video models and critiques, to improve the efficiency of training without compromising effectiveness. Video models replaced the traditional live demonstration, and video critiques, in which errors were intentionally embedded, were used in combination with response cards to practice and provide feedback instead of the traditional individual role play practice. Results indicated that video aided BST effectively and efficiently trained direct care staff of adults with ASD to implement a function-based treatment of severe problem behavior with 100% accuracy following a standard, one session training lasting 1.5 hours. The current study provides evidence of an effective model of staff training when time and resources are limited.

While research supports the use of evidence-based practices (EBPs) informed by applied behavior analysis for teaching individuals with ASD, several barriers exist towards regular implementation. EBPs are used infrequently in classrooms (Morrier, Hess, & Heflin, 2010) and are often perceived negatively by educators (Allen & Bowles, 2014). As a result, treatment integrity and adherence to EBPs in practice are adversely affected. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of professional development (PD) activities that incorporated active learning with ongoing coaching and feedback on treatment integrity and adherence to most-to-least prompt fading strategies. Specifically, Behavioral Skills Training (BST; Parsons, Rollyson, Iverson, & Reid, 2012) and side-by-side coaching and feedback (Kretlow, Cooke, & Wood, 2012) were implemented with educators of adults with ASD. A multiple baseline across participants design was employed to evaluate the effects of BST. Further, statistical analyses (Pearson correlational coefficient, descriptive statistics) were employed to examine if educator perceptions of EBPs were affected by the proposed PD activities. Findings suggested PD activities applied in this study enhanced treatment integrity implementing most-to-least prompt fading with sustained adherence. Further, participants reported more positive perceptions of EBPs following the professional development activities.

Children receive psychotropic medications for many reasons, including the management of hyperactivity or attention deficits and the reduction of aggressive or destructive behavior. These problems are frequently amenable to behavioral interventions. Many children seen by applied behavior analysts are on psychotropic medications. Ideally, the behavior analyst can work closely with prescribers to balance behavioral and pharmacological interventions, to the child’s benefit, and terminate medications when they are no longer warranted. Often, however, psychotropics are overused and collaborations with prescribers are difficult to forge. In this symposium, we address psychotropic medication use for behavioral problems from three perspectives. Annette Griffith will discuss the ethical and practical considerations for behavior analysts who work with clients on psychotropic medication. Jennifer Zarcone will discuss the emergence of state and national policy surrounding the use of psychotropic medication. Chris Newland will examine the practice of “deprescribing,” namely, how long a prescription lasts once it is initiated. Together, these speakers will provide an in-depth view of psychotropic drug use in children that will be of value to the practitioner who works with individual clients as well as to the researcher interested in coupling behavioral and pharmacological interventions rationally.

The target audience is applied researchers and practitioners who are interested in the relative contribution of behavioral and pharmacological approaches to managing clinical syndromes. Practitioners will learn practical guidelines when working with clients on medication, their ethical obligations, and the role of state policy guidelines. Applied researchers will learn about different kinds of psychotropic medications and how they might be used. All will learn about how long prescriptions can be active once they are initiated.

There are many factors that influence policy at the state and national level when medication is prescribed for children and other vulnerable individuals. For these individuals, medications are often prescribed “off label” once approved by the FDA, before dosing and side effects profiles have been developed. Many professional groups have practice parameters that guide providers in their prescription practices as they relate to specific diagnoses and conditions (e.g., The Work Group on Quality Issues, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 1997). Many states have begun to enact policies and regulations around prescription practices that result from legal issues. For example, Massachusetts has a policy for adults who are unable to consent to treatment called the Rogers Guardianship. The guardian can authorize “extraordinary” medical treatment for the adult, usually related to the use of antipsychotic medication. While the policy has the best of intentions, there are many factors that limit how effectively it is implemented. In this review, state and national policies related to prescription practices will be reviewed and the positive and negative impact of these policies will be discussed.

There are four areas of primary concern to the military when meeting the needs of their personnel, especially those who have been deployed to war zones and return with various kinds of problems not acceptable in continued military life or in civilian life. Traumatic brain Injury and post-traumatic stress disorder are the two topics addressed in this symposium. Not discussed will be bodily physical injuries and suicide. The presentation will view all branches of service but primarily the Air Force, Navy, Marines, and the Army. Within the topic of traumatic brain injuries will be a review of the important literature and an overview of the problem behaviors. When investigating traumatic brain injury’s problem behaviors, both public and private events of those recovering are important and relevant targets for examination and rehabilitation work. The presentation on post-traumatic stress disorder behaviors will look at the taxonomy of those behaviors. These are usually stated behaviorally but very broadly, for example, stressors, alterations in cognition or mood, or guilt. Each of these and many more behaviors can be defined much more specifically, then examined and researched behaviorally to help ameliorate the needs of returning veterans.

professionals in the field; BCBA at all levels including through BCBA-D

Psychosocial interventions have much to offer youth in medical and educational settings. Administrators need to perceive costs of time and resources being outweighed by health benefits. Being specific and operationally defining terms can aid interdisciplinary understanding and cooperation. Reinforcement can help develop and maintain positive interactions. Feasibility may be enhanced by using a group format, a cost-effective and efficient way for youth to gain information, share common experiences, and learn from each other and from professionals. The benefits of a group format would not be realized unless a psychosocial intervention were accepted by the youth participating and implemented with fidelity. They must share their own experiences and respectfully listen as others share their experiences and be open to information about how they can improve their well-being. Positive reinforcement can make the experience more rewarding and strengthen specific behaviors such as sharing, listening and participating. Group cohesiveness can be increased by establishing and reinforcing clear expectations. Reinforcement can be helpful for motivating youth to participate in every aspect of the program (role playing, completing assignments). The presenters in this symposium will discuss ways in which the addition of behavior management strategies can enhance acceptability, feasibility and fidelity of psychosocial interventions.

At the completion of this symposium, participants will be able to:

1. State the ways in which behavior management strategies can enhance acceptability, feasibility and fidelity of psychosocial interventions.
2. Describe how behavioral strategies were used to facilitate implementation of a stress-management intervention at a camp for youth with Type 1 diabetes.
3. Describe how behavioral strategies were used to facilitate implementation of a mindfulness intervention in high school physical education classes.
4. Describe how behavioral strategies were used to facilitate implementation of an ACT-based intervention in high school physical education classes.

Behavioral Strategies Facilitating Implementation of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in High School Physical Education Classes Universal social and emotional learning curricula have demonstrated efficacy within a framework providing multi-tiered systems of support and represent promising methods for addressing youth mental health with a broad scope. Unfortunately, implementation of social emotional learning curricula presents multiple barriers to implementation and limited understanding of the processes of change, necessary procedures, relevant contextual variables, and differential impact of curricula on positive student functioning with high school students. Traditional models used to address mental health in adolescents often take a deficit-oriented approach. An emerging developmental model of behavior change incorporates principles of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Positive Psychology, Behaviorism, Relational Frame Theory, and Evolution Science to target functional classes of behavior and facilitate health-promoting behaviors in youth. Students (n = 118) were recruited from 6 Health/PE classes in a rural, underserved high school. Participants in the enhanced Health/PE condition received 6 weeks of a version of ACT as a universal preventive intervention targeting social and emotional learning skills, sleep hygiene, and physical activity. Behavior management strategies in the form of the Good Behavior Game were used to facilitate cooperation and participation of the high school students. The enhanced Health/PE curriculum was feasibly implemented with satisfaction from students and teachers.

Despite the rise of nicotine vaping and its recent public scares, cigarette smoking remains the single most preventable cause of premature death in the USA and for many other parts of the world. Smoking kills over 7 million people a year. Smoking fits well with the principles of applied behavior analysis because it is a highly repetitious behavior maintained by its consequences. Early applications of functional analysis and conditioning led to promising treatments for helping people stop smoking but as group and individual face-to-face therapies they were hampered high intensity, cost, and low scalability. Fortunately, the rise of digital technologies and telehealth has a recreated the ability for provide behavioral therapies for smoking cessation on a broad scale at lower cost. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), a contemporary form of clinical behavior analysis based on Skinner’s philosophy of Radical Behaviorism, is becoming a prominent therapeutic approach to digital and telehealth delivered smoking cessation. ACT teaches functional analysis, present moment awareness, and values-based living to help people cope with urges and stay committed to living smoke free. I will show how my research team translates ACT principles into concrete and highly accessible treatment programs on platforms including telephone-delivered behaviorial coaching, websites, smartphone apps, and chatbots for smoking cessation. This translational research is an iterative process of expert clinician input, user testing, and rapid prototyping. Once developed, we test each of these delivery platforms in both small and large-scale randomized controlled trials comparing the ACT program with standard cognitive behavioral programs. I will share the latest results of these trials and how our interventions have already reached over 50,000 people. I will close with highlighting the future directions of our research, including applications to treatment of obesity.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.

Dr. Jonathan Bricker’s passion is to scale up behavioral therapies into high reach public health intervention programs.  He is an internationally recognized scientific leader in the behavioral therapy called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). He focuses ACT on skills for self-control, particularly for quitting smoking and other addictions. His programs have been developed and tested on many platforms, including apps, chatbots, websites, and telephone coaching that reach thousands of people daily. Rather than encouraging people to ignore cravings, his approach to ACT is to focus on becoming aware of triggers for cravings and choosing not to act on them. His smoking cessation programs have achieved success rates that are double that of other programs—cutting cigarette use by 75 percent. Dr. Bricker has over 85 scientific publication and has received $14 million in US Government NIH grants, predominantly for WebQuit, iCanQuit and the TALK study of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for smoking cessation. His research and expert testimony was instrumental in Washington State passing a law to increase the minimum age of tobacco sales to 21.

He founded and leads the Health And Behavioral Innovations in Technology lab (which goes by the apt acronym: HABIT), which is part of the Public Health Sciences Division, at the Fred Hutch Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington. Dr. Bricker’s expertise in his field has led him to his current role of senior editor of the journal, Addiction. His TEDx talk, “The Secret to Self-Control” has been viewed nearly 5 million times, and has been translated into ten languages.

Empathy is perhaps the most important skill that a behavior analyst can possess. Though many behavior analyst struggle with understanding families, there are many of us who have, to borrow a phrase, waled a mile in their shoes. This panel consists of participants who have been in two roles: behavior analysts and parent of neurodiverse children. We will discuss the effect that this has had on our families and professional lives, the challenges and joys of raising neurodiverse children, and how our experience has impacted us professionally.

BCBAs in direct service with families

Noncompliance with healthcare procedures is a widespread problem, especially for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Noncompliance and avoidant behavior during dental exams (and other healthcare procedures) is problematic because it may a) affect completion and quality of the procedure, b) limit access to necessary healthcare and lead to increased health risks, and/or c) pose risk of injury to the individual. The majority of research in this area has been single-case design studies that describe the use of treatment packages consisting of a variety of components. This symposium consists of three studies involving the use of similar treatment procedures to increase compliance with dental examinations. Two studies are large-N studies of noncompliance by adults with IDD, and one study is an analysis of the degree to which treatment effects from a simulated dental environment generalize and maintain in the actual dental setting.

Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, including autism spectrum disorders, experience significant barriers to medical care, including routine dental exams and procedures (e.g., x-rays). While existing research suggests several strategies for increasing patient compliance with dental exams and procedures, this body of literature is limited and provides minimal guidance for programming for generalization to dental clinics. In this presentation, we will share data from a pilot study in which we collaborated with a local dentist to evaluate the effects of a desensitization procedure with community-based probes for children diagnosed with autism in which results were mixed. We will also share findings from a recent systematic literature review investigating the effectiveness and sustainability of interventions intended to increase dental compliance. Finally, we will present considerations for conducting research related to increasing compliance to medical procedures for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, as well as future directions for this work.

Many adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are noncompliant during routine dental exams. Nonetheless, the majority of research in this area has been conducted with children (Kupzyk & Allen, 2019). In this study, we report the preliminary findings of a large-N study of noncompliance among adults with IDD who had a history of receiving sedation, general anesthesia, or restraint during dental exams. First, we evaluated compliance with a mock dental exam under a baseline condition consisting of several evidence-based procedures, including praise for compliance and frequent noncontingent breaks, in the absence of escape extinction. Participants who did not comply with all steps received increasingly more complex intervention components (e.g., noncontingent access to preferred items [NCR], gradual exposure) until they complied with all steps of the exam. Participants then received an exam by a dentist using the same intervention components. Of the 24 individuals who have participated thus far, 8 (33%) did not require additional intervention components beyond the baseline condition and 5 (20%) required less than three treatment sessions with NCR. These findings suggest that a noteworthy percentage of adults with IDD are unnecessarily exposed to risky procedures during routine dental exams.

Child noncompliance with healthcare routines is a widely reported problem. Recent research varies widely with respect to treatment strategies and inclusion of maintenance and generalizations strategies for increasing compliance during healthcare routines. Harrison, Zonneveld, Bernstein, and Neidert (in preparation) evaluated a reinforcement-based treatment procedure both with and without extinction in an analogue setting to increase child compliance during two healthcare routines: dental examinations and getting a haircut). Six children experienced treatment without extinction. Compliance increased for two children during baseline. Compliance increased for four children following treatment. However, treatment effects (acquisition of compliance) were slow, and the degree of overall generalization to the actual setting varied. Two children experienced treatment with extinction. Acquisition of compliance was drastically faster than those exhibited by children who experienced treatment without extinction, but the degree of overall generalization to the actual setting maintained variable. The current study involves a retrospective, more detailed examination of maintenance and generalization patterns across all participants to identify aspects of the treatment strategies that may lead to more consistent maintenance and generalization effects. Preliminary results suggest that programming for variance of steps presented, variance of order of steps, environmental specific stimuli, and removal of treatment procedures in the analogue setting may be necessary.

The papers in this symposium involve teaching foundational verbal behavior skills to individuals with pre-speaker and pre-listener verbal levels utilizing stimulus-stimulus pairing procedures derived from Greer, Pistoljevic, Cahill, and Du (2011). The first paper will examine the role of conditioned reinforcement in learning to attend to faces and voices as well as the role of conditioned reinforcement for tracking objects in the emergence of joint attention. The second paper describes the effects of identical procedures on attending to faces and voices. The discussant highlights the developmental sequencing of these early verbal skills as well as prerequisite repertoires for early learning of communication and other more complex social skills such as perspective taking.

Graduate students, current Master's or Doctoral level practitioners in the field of behavior analysis

Two experiments were conducted to test the effectiveness of conditioned reinforcement on inducing observing and joint attention responses in two children with autism. The dependent variables were 3 probes: 1) attending to voices and faces, 2) general observing responses in the classroom, and 3) joint attention to teacher-initiated bids. The experimenter conducted two experiments in a non-concurrent multiple probe design across participants who functioned at pre-listener/pre-speaker levels of verbal behavior. In the first experiment, all pre-probes demonstrated that the participants did not have faces, voices, object tracking or joint attending as a conditioned reinforcer. The independent variable for the first experiment was a conjugate reinforcement procedure which was a systematic replication of Greer, Pistoljevic, Cahill, and Du (2011) for faces and voices only. The results demonstrated that after the face/voice conditioning protocol was implemented, observing responses to faces and voices and general observing responses in the classroom increased for both participants but not for joint attention. A second experiment was subsequently conducted in which a conjugate reinforcement procedure was implemented to teach object tracking and induce joint attention.

The following study sought to investigate the prerequisite repertoires associated with the emergence of joint attention in children with autism spectrum disorder. A multiple baseline design across participants was utilized, in a replication with modifications of Greer, Pistoljevic, Cahill, and Du (2011). The experimental variables included instructional procedures designed to teach the acquisition of conditioned reinforcement of adult faces and voices. The dependent measure involved participants’ observing responses in the natural environment, which was assessed through pre and post experimental probes. Joint attention was also probed prior to, during, and following the implementation of the independent variables such that potential emergence could be examined and measured. Results showed an increase in joint attention responses in post intervention probes as compared to baseline levels for participants, suggesting that the skill may be been induced through the acquisition of conditioned reinforcement for faces, and voices. Additionally, a functional relationship was demonstrated between the increase in the emission of participants’ observing responses and the implementation of conditioning procedures for faces and voices The findings of the study provide information that can help support the development of joint attention in individuals with autism spectrum and the identification of the repertoires that may be essential in its emergence.

Providing tiered positive behavioral supports for students often requires working with multidisciplinary teams (Brodhead, 2015). Multidisciplinary teams include individuals with a variety of professional identities, including board-certified behavior analysts, special/general educators, speech pathologists, school psychologists, counselors and more working collectively. Most of these professions have ethical codes or guidelines that practitioners are expected to adhere to and in some cases may conflict. The panel will discuss how individuals governed by differing and potentially conflicting ethical codes can work together to provide effective behavior supports for all students. We will examine different ethical codes across various disciplines on how they are alike, and where they might conflict. Several ethical dilemmas will be addressed by presenting scenarios often faced by professionals developing and implementing behavioral supports while talking through relevant ethical codes and contextual variables that ought to be considered. Issues such as scope of competence, certification and licensure, evidence-based practice, effective treatment, philosophical differences, coaching, and more will be discussed. A web-based polling platform will be used to solicit questions/scenarios from attendees. The panel will answer questions and discuss scenarios presented by the audience by addressing the relevant ethical issues and propose possible resolutions and encourage alternative solutions from attendees.

Individuals across disciplines that work in schools.

In 2005 Ioannidis proclaimed “Why Most Published Research Findings Are False.” RetractionWatch has cataloged over 20,000 scientific papers that have been withdrawn since 2010. The “replication crisis” is not the result of a few bad actors but rather is a systems problem. This presentation reviews “replication crisis” from a behavioral systems analysis perspective, identifies the metatcontogencies of the “countability culture” in academia and research that maintain the problem, and proposes solutions based on open science practices, ethical standards and methodological pluralism, noting that OBM research has been a leader in this regard.

Researchers, scholars, scientists, and graduate students.

Donald Hantula earned undergraduate degrees from Emory University and graduate degrees from University of Notre Dame and is currently with the Department of Psychology, Decision making Laboratory, and Interdisciplinary Program in Applied Behavior Analysis at Temple University. He has previously held academic positions in Occupational Health Promotion at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Human Resource Management at King’s College and Management Information Systems at St. Joseph’s University, and also as Director of Decision, Risk and Management Sciences at the National Science Foundation. He is the immediate past editor of Perspectives on Behavior Science and presently serves as Coordinator of the ABAI Publications Board and on the ABAI VCS board. He has published over 100 articles and chapters and his research interests include finding rational explanations for seemingly irrational decisions, quantitative analysis of behavior, consumer choices for sustainable products and practices, integrating behavioral and digital technology and ethical implications of OBM.

Aggressive behavior can pose serious risks, including bodily injury to others, hospitalizations, and encounters with law enforcement. Some risks can be reduced by responding in ways to keep others safe, such as wearing protective equipment or engaging in personal protective behaviors (e.g., blocking, evading, etc.). This symposium will address various strategies for improving safety-related behaviors of staff and caregivers during episodes of aggression. Specifically, employees were taught to wear protective equipment (study 1), caregivers were taught to respond in particular ways to situations in which precursors to aggression occur (study 2), and caregivers were taught personal protection skills (e.g., blocking and evading) during aggressive episodes (study 3).

Researchers and practitioners (e.g., BCBAs)

Employees working in human service organizations serving individuals who engage in high intensity aggression are more susceptible to sustaining injuries throughout the course of their workday. These types of organizations often require employees to adhere to safety guidelines, which may include utilizing protective equipment to minimize the severity of injuries if client-to-staff contact does occur. Despite protective equipment being prescribed in clients’ treatment plans at a private day school, employees were often observed engaging in at-risk performance by working with clients without the prescribed protective equipment. To assess the variables maintaining at-risk performance demonstrated by direct care staff, we administered the Performance Diagnostic Checklist – Safety (PDC-S) across 3 classrooms. Results from the PDC-S varied by classroom and individualized treatment packages were implemented in each classroom utilizing a multiple baseline design. Results indicated increases in the use of prescribed protective equipment and will be discussed in tandem with lagging indicators and outcomes.

Naturalistic teaching strategies involve incorporation of natural environments, natural change agents, and naturally occurring stimulus conditions and teaching contexts into instruction. One way to do this is to create instructional programs that are more game-like in design. These game-based programs can help to establish important social repertoires (e.g., taking turns, hiding eyes and waiting, being a good sport) as well as the primary skills that are targeted. This tutorial will review examples of game-based instruction and recommendations for modifying structured teaching to be more game-like and naturalistic.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.

Linda A. LeBlanc, Ph.D., BCBA-D, Licensed Psychologist is the President of LeBlanc Behavioral Consulting. She is the Editor in Chief of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis and is a former Associated Editor of Behavior Analysis in Practice, The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, and Education and Treatment of Children. She previously served as a professor at Claremont McKenna College, Western Michigan University and Auburn University and as the Executive Director of Trumpet Behavioral Health, leading the creation of large-scale systems for clinical standards, quality assurance, and research. She has over 110 publications in the areas of behavioral treatment of autism, technology-based behavioral interventions, supervision and mentorship, leadership, and systems development in human services. She is the 2016 recipient of the American Psychological Association Nathan H. Azrin Award for Distinguished Contribution in Applied Behavior Analysis.

This presentation will argue that what might be called “The Nurture Consilience” provides a framework for guiding the further evolution of our societies. E. O. Wilson describes consilience as “the linking of facts and fact-based theory across disciplines to create a common groundwork of explanation.” I will prevent evidence from evolutionary biology, behavior analysis, development, clinical, and social psychology, and medicine about the nurturing conditions that humans need to thrive and the toxic conditions that undermine wellbeing and promote the development of a constellation of psychological, behavioral, and health problems. Research has identified programs, policies, and practices that replace toxic conditions with environments that limit opportunities and influences for problem behavior, richly reinforce diverse forms of prosocial behavior, and cultivate psychological flexibility. However, advocacy for free market economics has corrupted virtually every sector of society; practices in business, health care, education, criminal justice, media, and government have been selected by their contribution to the wealth of a small segment of the population; the majority of people have been harmed. I will describe how we can evolve societies that foster general wellbeing, by creating contingencies that select practices that minimize harm and contribute to the general wellbeing.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.

Board Certified Behavior Analysts are credentialed through education, fieldwork, and an exam. The fieldwork portion is an opportunity to learn and utilize behavior analytic principles for future independent practice under the supervision of an already credentialed behavior analyst. Although fieldwork guidelines are provided by the Behavior Analyst Certification Board, the implementation of the fieldwork varies across organizations and behavior analysts. The latitude of implementation within the fieldwork guidelines is helpful for implementing quality pre service training in various different contexts and to meet the needs of the trainee. The purpose of this symposium is to provide a review of different organizational practices to training pre service behavior analysts. Each presentation will provide an overview of a training practice that is applicable to the entire fieldwork requirements or to a specific portion. Attention is given to training professionalism as part of the fieldwork requirements. Each presentation will also provide barriers to implementation to provide attendees complete information for evaluating context fit within their organizations or individual supervision practices.

This symposium is for practitioners supervising pre-service behavior analysts. Additionally, individuals seeking certification may benefit from learning different approaches to supervision.

In the practice of ABA, the use of experimentation and hence, experimental analysis is often overlooked. Consequently, graduate students studying applied behavior analysis and working in applied settings have fewer opportunities to practice utilizing single subject/ single case designs during a supervised fieldwork experience. The implications for the practice of ABA are significant; less experimentation and experimental analysis results in clinical decisions that may incur more error and less effective treatments. This presentation overviews the use of behavioral skills training (BST) to teach graduate students the use of single-subject design for conducting experimental analyses. Two case examples conducted by graduate students are presented.

It is 2020 and we are hoping to get online teaching better than 20/20! We are a team of teachers who have one common goal: put good quality behavior analysts in the field. In our own unique way, we strive to create content that is not only best practices, but also tech-friendly. It has to transcend through the opaqueness of online teaching. Our students generally are full-time applied behavior analysis professionals who are preparing for their Behavior Analysis Certification Board's certification. So, we have to utilize teaching tools that only enhance and then sharpen their behavior analysis portfolio. This panel aims to dissect various layers of teaching tools we use to reach this goal. Specifically, tools such as discussion board, open licensing, assignment, and group projects will be featured.

Graduate students, instructors, University faculty

An overwhelming evidence base exists in support of derived relational responding as an overarching generalized operant. To date, however, fewer investigations of the extent to which frames of coordination serve as a foundation upon which other relational responding occurs has not been thoroughly explored. Further, the degree to which relational training approaches catalyze derived relational responding across sensory modalities, frame types, and non-linear training approaches has yet to be explored. To that end, the present symposium sought to expand the reach of derived relational responding as a generalized operant to more complex relational frames and investigates the ways in which we might both train and test for derived relational responding across sensory modalities and frame types.

intermediate-advanced

This symposium reviews four studies conducted in a school for children and young adults diagnosed with autism and a learning disability. Teachers within the school are encouraged to replicate research conducted in other settings (schools and clinics) and to evaluate the results of their work. They are encouraged to conduct basic research to determine the effectiveness of different tactics in the classroom and also advanced research in terms of inducing emergent behaviour. The first two studies in this symposium focused on rate of learning and observational learning. Comparisons were made between different stimuli used and teaching from peers versus teaching from teachers. The remaining two studies focused on generalised imitation and response variability during play. All studies required some level of systematic analysis of initial results with adaptations made to procedures in order to progress forwards. A school setting that encourages and reinforces research within its setting clearly results in positive outcomes for the student population.

Postgraduates, BCBAs, teachers

The importance of high quality teaching is widely known; however many additional components will also affect the success criteria for a programme mastery; pupil’s motivation being one of them. There are many scientifically tested tactics to address it, such as increasing the ratio of reinforcement for a pupil, vicarious reinforcement or Premack Principle. However, despite pupils being so highly reinforced in ABA settings, sometimes implementation of an additional tactic such as peer tutoring can increase their motivation even further. This research tested the hypothesis that the pupils will meet objectives quicker when taught by peers than teachers due to the reinforcing aspects of peer interaction. Four participants diagnosed with autism took part in the study; the pupils were paired for the length of the research. The results showed that learning is highly individualised and many additional variables should be taken into consideration when analysing it, as peer tutoring resulted in the significant increase of tact acquisition for one pupil but not the other. After completion of the study, additional tests were conducted to determine if pupils acquired the cusp of Observational Learning.

This study evaluated the effects of discrimination training of known and unknown stimuli on the acquisition of observational learning for young people diagnosed with autism. Extending the research of DeQuinzio, Taylor and Tomasi (2018), the objective was to determine whether the results were generalisable to young adults by replicating the study. Four participants from an independent Comprehensive Application of Behavior Analysis to Schooling (CABAS?) school for children and young people diagnosed with autism were included in the study. The participants were aged between 16 and 17 years old. The study used a multiple baseline across participants design and included an initial pre-test to identify known and unknown stimuli for each participant. The dependent variable was the percentage of correct responses during tests sessions conducted 10-minutes post baseline, training and generalisation sessions. There were four trial types included in these sessions, known reinforced trials, known feedback trials, unknown reinforced trials and unknown feedback trials. The independent variable was the discrimination training; this consisted of teaching the participants to discriminate between reinforced responses of a confederate participant from the responses of a confederate participant that were followed by feedback in the presence of both known and unknown stimuli.

It is common for children diagnosed with autism to exhibit limited pretend play skills due to delays in their social repertoire combined with the tendency to emit stereotypical and repetitive sequences. Neurotypical children learn to play and develop related verbal operants by watching and engaging with others. Children diagnosed with autism may have limited observational learning skills and if attending specialist settings may not access appropriate peer models. Previous research has evaluated video modelling, peer modelling and pivotal response training to increase play responses with varied degrees of success. The current study took place in a Comprehensive Application of Behavior Analysis to Schooling (CABAS®) setting with teaching primarily based on the learn unit; a three-term contingency used to teach skills across repertoires with generalisation and novel responding demonstrated as a result. A multiple probe design was used. Baseline observations suggested that although participants demonstrated some pretend play responses and related verbal operants, these were limited for all three participants. The study evaluated if the learn unit alone led to increased play responses and verbal operants or if a more intensive protocol was required. Implications of results are discussed with alternative approaches to further develop the impacts of the intervention highlighted.

The Practical Functional Assessment and Skill-Based Treatment process has been shown to reduce problem behavior by teaching individuals functional communication, toleration of delays to reinforcement, and contextually appropriate behavior during those delays. Teaching procedures typically involved some form of escape extinction. Some settings and circumstances, however, have necessitated the development of procedures that do not rely on escape extinction for their efficacy. One promising model, called the Enhanced Choice Model (ECM, Rajaraman, et al. 2019), involves the participant having the choice to (a) participate in treatment sessions, (b) leave the treatment sessions and access reinforcers noncontingently, or (c) leaving the treatment context altogether (e.g., going back to their regular classroom). This current symposium highlights extensions of this model to a public-school setting in which three educators learned and implemented treatment components as a means of generalizing treatment outcomes. The second presentation will examine specific mands as a generalized outcome of the public school application. The third presentation describes a distance-based telehealth case in which the caregivers implemented all assessment and treatment components. The final presentation will be a literature review on the tendency for individuals to prefer contingent reinforcement, a potential factor in the efficacy of the ECM model.

The target audience for this session includes practicing behavior analysts who oversee behavior change programs that address severe problem and behavioral scientists who would like to learn more about the extent to which organisms will allocate their responding to contingent vs. non-contingent access to reinforcement when concurrent schedules of reinforcement are available.

Skill-based treatment (SBT) is a promising intervention package in which alternative responses to problem behavior, including an ‘omnibus’ mand (e.g., “excuse me, may I please have my way?”), are evoked and reinforced using synthesized contingencies (Hanley et al., 2014). A critical component of synthesized reinforcement in SBT is therapist compliance with (i.e., reinforcement of) all reasonable client mands. Thus, although specific mands are not explicitly trained via SBT, they may be strengthened as a byproduct of procedures for reinforcing explicitly taught alternatives to problem behavior. In this two-part study, 6 elementary students with emotional/behavioral disorders participated in an Enhanced Choice Model of SBT (Rajaraman et al., 2018). Novel therapists conducted specific mand assessments at baseline and post-treatment time points to evaluate the extent to which students emitted specific mands and problem behavior when single-contingency establishing operations were presented and the first response observed (i.e., specific mand or problem behavior) was reinforced. Results indicated problem behavior was more likely at baseline, while specific mands were more likely post-treatment. These preliminary data suggest specific mands may emerge or be strengthened over the course of ECM-SBT. Assessment and treatment procedures, proximal and generalized student outcomes, and implications for practice will be discussed.

Santiago, Hanley, Moore, and Jin (2016) showed that the interview-informed synthesized contingency analysis (IISCA; see Hanley, Jin, Vanselow, & Hanratty, 2014) and skill-based treatment process can result in socially validated outcomes when caregivers serve as interventionists during treatment sessions. However, many families who would benefit from receiving similar functional analytic services do not have access to professionals trained to implement functional analyses or function-based treatments. Advancements in teleconferencing technology may allow families without access to local professional support to receive functional analytic services. For example, Suess et al. (2016) demonstrated that when a BCBA provides implementation support via teleconference, parents can assess and treat their children’s problem behavior in their homes. We taught parents of children with autism to implement the IISCA and skill-based treatment process in their homes exclusively through teleconference support. To address additional safety concerns in the home setting, the enhanced choice model of treatment (Rajaraman et al., 2019) was used with one participant. Parents achieved differentiated functional analyses and a 100% reduction in problem behavior relative to baseline.

Abstract: 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

The field of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) was dramatically influenced by Iwata and colleagues (1982/1994) when they established a systematic method to analyze and understand challenging behavior through standard functional analysis (FA). In the years that followed, the field of ABA has greatly progressed. With the hundreds of published studies demonstrating the value of FA in developing function-based treatment, has also come clarification of limitations and areas where the FA process as initially described was not as effective. Rather than an end in-and-of itself, FA as originally described was intended as a starting point. Dr. Michael Dorsey (2018) reminded us that the purpose of their seminal work was to go toward a functional analysis of self-injury, indicating that additional revision and contribution would be expected. Unfortunately, some behavior analysts have elevated the standard FA as the only and final method for assessing and treating challenging behaviors; the “gold standard”. As the field has progressed, FA results leading to inconclusive results, or not effectively conceptualizing establishing idiosyncratic evocative events in the individual’s natural environment have been identified. Additionally, despite a significant literature base supporting biological components of complex behaviors, little behavioral research has been done in this area in recent years, and little has been incorporated into functional analysis methodologies. This presentation will propose the synthesis of biological and environmental variables when analyzing function. Possible methods of incorporating diagnostic characteristics of developmental disorders and physiological correlates of problem behavior into the functional analysis process will be discussed.

Nationally, approximately 60% of fourth grade and eighth grade students read at or below a basic level (U.S. Department of Education, 2019), which places them at a greater risk for negative social and academic outcomes both during school and after completing school (Hernandez, 2012). The studies in this symposium present four interventions to improve reading outcomes for older students with reading delays and to deliver training procedures to the teachers who instruct struggling readers. Interventions include: 1) book conditioning procedures to increase the value of reading for middle school students, 2) self-monitoring procedures to increase reading comprehension for elementary school students, 3) video-observation procedures to train graduate student tutors to implement reading curricula , and 4) behavioral skills training to train adult education tutors to teach parents with low literacy. Results of each intervention are discussed in terms of their practical implications for reading instruction for struggling readers.

Graduate students, supervisors, teachers, BCBAs

Comprehension is an essential component of reading proficiency that produces long-term gains for learners. However, many upper elementary school-age children struggle with reading comprehension. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effects of a self-monitoring intervention on reading comprehension for three elementary school-age children with reading delays. Two studies were conducted. In Study 1, behavioral skills training was used to teach participants the elements of a story retell and how-to self-monitor their own story retells. In Study 2, a multiple baseline design across participants was used to evaluate the effects of self-monitoring on four dependent variables: a) oral retell accuracy, b) oral retell fluency, c) oral reading fluency, and d) responses to comprehension questions. Results of Study 1 suggest that behavioral skills training was used to effectively teach the elements of a story retell and self-monitoring to all three participants. Results of Study 2 suggest that self-monitoring increased oral retelling fluency, oral retelling accuracy, and reading comprehension. Few differences were observed for oral reading fluency. Results, limitations, and implications for reading instruction are discussed.  

Research suggests that secondary students with reading delays may lack reading motivation, which can be defined as the temporal reinforcement value of texts for an individual. However, reading motivation may be a critical component of their acquisition of reading proficiency. The purpose of the current study was to compare the effects of two research-based reading interventions - sustained silent reading and modified reciprocal reading - on the reading motivation of middle school students with reading delays. Participants were four 6th-grade students who were grouped into dyads in a reading intervention classroom. The primary dependent variable was book engagement under pairing and test conditions. Book engagement was defined as the percentage of time during which participants contacted or manipulated pages of books, made eye movements from left to right and top to bottom on pages of books, flipped pages, and talked about books. The secondary dependent variable was the number of correct responses on a written comprehension check. Reading interventions were 10 minutes of sustained silent reading and 10 minutes of a modified reciprocal reading procedure that included stimulus-stimulus pairing, a yoked contingency, and feedback from a teacher. An alternating treatment design with baseline and a final treatment phase was used to evaluate the effects of the two treatments. Results indicated that sustained silent reading increased reading engagement for two participants and that reciprocal reading increased reading engagement for two participants. Results are discussed in terms of existing research and extensions to reading instruction for middle school students with reading delays.

The present study evaluated the effects of a behavioral skills training package (BST) on training adult literacy tutors to implement the steps of BST when teaching parents with low literacy. Four adult literacy tutors participated in the study along with one parent with low literacy. The primary dependent variable was the percentage of steps of the BST package implemented correctly during tutor training probe measures. Secondary measures were taken on the parents’ performance of each step of the literacy activities on which they were trained. In baseline, all tutors were provided with instructions for performing two literacy activities and tutors demonstrated how they would train each literacy activity with a parent or confederate researcher at their literacy site. During the BST session, tutors were trained on how to implement the BST package when training a parent on performing an Interactive Read Aloud literacy activity. Following the BST session, tutors again demonstrated how they would train each literacy activity as a maintenance measure. Their performance was probed in session with a parent when possible. Results suggested that following the BST session, tutor performance improved in implementing the steps of the BST package with parents and parent confederates during maintenance probes. Acceptability measures showed high approval ratings with the training package. Results are discussed with regard to practical considerations when training various populations.

The current study evaluates the effects of structured self-observations to record rate and accuracy of learn units on the participants’ subsequent implementation of reading curricula. Four graduate student participants were trained to implement reading curricula using instruction, modeling, and access to the written instructions accompanying each of the reading curricula. The dependent variables were the accuracy and rate of antecedents, consequences, and total learn units for the lesson. A secondary dependent variable was the rate of social praise and token delivery contingent on student behavior during the lesson aligned with the four rules established each session. During intervention, participants were trained to record learn units using the Teacher Performance Rate and Accuracy Scale (TPRA) and observed videos of their own reading sessions to score accuracy and rate of learn unit delivery. Following each observation, teachers presented a reading lesson and the dependent variables of accuracy and rate of learn units as well as token delivery were measured without feedback. Results suggest that structured self-observations of learn units improved the accuracy of consequences and total learn units as all four participants averaged a higher accuracy of both antecedents and consequences in intervention than baseline, with two participants showing significant improvement upon intervention. The rate of correct learn units also improved for two of the four participants during structured self-observation intervention. Implications of these findings for training teachers to use behavioral reading curricula are discussed as well as how these findings relate to existing research on structured self-observations and teaching training.

The voice and inclusion of people of diverse cultural identities is expanding within the world and within our discipline. This expansion presents both tensions and possibilities. Ideally, applied behavior analysts should be developing increasingly more cultural responsiveness in all aspects of research and practice. That is not the case. Cultural responsiveness is closely yoked with lived experience, social justice, and the kyriarchy. The purpose of this presentation is to explore worldviews in the context of coloniality and to then relate this to our disciplinary and personal responses to power and efforts to contribute to a more socially just world. This includes consideration of global trends, the aims and history of our discipline, womanist and determinist worldviews, and ethics. The presentation will close with a discussion of pathways to cultural responsiveness and social justice.

Behavior analysts interested in culture, social justice, applied research, practice

Functional analysis (FA; Iwata, Dorsey, Slifer, Bauman, & Richman, 1982/1994) advanced the field of applied behavior analysis by offering a technology for identifying behavioral function, allowing for the development of individualized and effective interventions. The generality of FA has been demonstrated in hundreds of replications across various clinical populations, forms of problem behavior, and settings. In the current symposium, three papers will be presented that offer refinements or novel applications of FA methodology. The presenter of the first paper will describe a modified FA to address a problematic form of vocal behavior, immediate echolalia, exhibited by individuals with autism. The presenter of the second paper will describe refinements of a trial-based FA conducted with multiples (i.e., twins). The presenter of the third paper will describe use of a telemedicine model to conduct a trial-based FA of problem behavior exhibited by individuals with a rare condition (SYGNAP1-related intellectual disability).

Individuals who have familiarity with functional analysis and wish to learn more about procedural refinements and novel applications of this approach.

Research on the assessment of problem behavior in multiples (i.e., twins, triplets, etc.) has been limited. The primary aim of this study was to report trial-based functional analysis outcomes for two sets of multiples with autism spectrum disorder who are participating in an ongoing, longitudinal study that our research group is conducting. Within each pair of multiples, we found considerable similarity in terms of behavioral sensitivity to specific stimuli. A secondary aim of this study was to present a novel method for graphing and analyzing trial-based functional analysis outcomes. Rather than graphing occurrence/nonoccurrence data in bar graphs as is traditional in trial-based functional analyses, we measured participants’ latency to respond during trials and graphed those data in line graphs. This method revealed across- and within-trial patterns of responding that were useful in our analysis. The current study extends previous research on the assessment of problem behavior in multiples and extends trial-based functional analysis research by presenting an alternative method for graphing and analyzing results.

Functional behavioral phenotyping (FBP) involves the cataloguing the behaviors and determining the reasons why these behaviors occur in specific genetic disorders and psychological conditions. This manner of phenotyping offers great promise in the area of intellectual and developmental disabilities, as understanding a FBP may lead to the discovery of generalized response patterns (ways of responding that are characteristic) present in a population. The development of a FBP for a population would have immediate practical significance in clinical assessment and treatment. However, when a disorder or condition is rare, it may be very difficult to develop a FBP for that population. The current study offers a potential solution to this barrier, by using a telemedicine model to assess the problem behavior of individuals with SYNGAP1-related intellectual disability (a rare condition). Further, the current study offers a proof-of-concept demonstration for how the data required for a FBP may be gathered in a time- and resource-sensitive manner by conducting caregiver-implemented, trial-based functional analyses with three individuals diagnosed with SYNGAP1-related intellectual disability. Implications of this demonstration will be discussed.

Derived relational responding (DRR) has a seat at the operant table. The present symposium seeks to extend the reach of DRR and relational training procedures to populations not often targeted using methods not often implemented. First, we explore relational training efforts within an elderly population and discuss implications of DRR as it relates to neuroplasticity. Second, we discuss the novel ocular observing responses and their relation to DRR. Finally, we take an inside look to PEAK-Life by exploring both basic and applied implications of its pending release.

intermediate-advanced

As the Baby Boomer Generation ages, the number of individuals affected by dementia and cognitive decline will increase dramatically.As these rates climb and no cure in site, interventions are needed to help aid in the wide-ranging impact dementia will have.Relational Frame Theory (RFT), a contemporary behavior-analytic account of complex human language and cognition, offers an avenue to develop interventions designed to strengthen behaviors conventionally regarded as memory.The current study aimed to evaluate the effect of a set of procedures based on RFT for dementia severity and memory. Experimenters obtained pre-training and post-training performances by administering the M-ACE and WISC-IV memory 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 memory and a decrease in dementia severity, whereas those in the control group did not. This studyaddsto the growing literature supporting the use of RFT-based interventions to address those areas of concern for individuals affected by dementia and cognitive decline.

The purpose of this symposium is to discuss steps clinicians can take to better serve clients of diverse cultural backgrounds. The first presenter will define cultural reciprocity, discuss its role in the evidence-based practice of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), and describe how it can culturally enhance services. The second presenter will talk about the effectiveness of using Fotonovelas, a culturally and linguistically appropriate intervention, to teach behavior change procedures to Hispanic families. The third presenter will discuss the importance of readability of behavior plans and present data on readability assessments conducted on behavior plan samples gathered from around the U.S. The last presenter will talk about using Prevent-Teach-Reinforce for Families (PTR-F) with Hispanic families of young children with ASD.

BCaBA BCBA BCBA-D

This study assessed the feasibility of the newly manualized Prevent Teach Reinforce for Families (PTR-F) for use with Hispanic families of young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) who have difficulty adjusting to family routine. The study involved three families of children with ASD ages 3 to 6 years old who participated in the 5-step PTR-F process and who implemented the PTR intervention plan during naturally occurring family routines. A multiple-baseline across participants design was employed to examine the preliminary evidence of the efficacy of using the PTR-F for children with ASD. The results indicated that Hispanic parents successfully implemented intervention strategies with the help of a facilitator using the PTR-F manual. All children’s alternate desirable behavior increased and problem behavior reduced a significant amount when the PTR-F intervention was implemented by the parents. The parents reported high social validity when implementing the PTR-F intervention.

Implicit bias refers to "actions or judgments that are under the control of automatically activated evaluation, without the performer's awareness of that causation" (Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998, p. 1464). Related professionals, such as education, mental health, and medical experts, are working to address the topic of racial and ethnic bias, as well as the impact on the communities in which they serve. Though this is the case in surrounding fields, this topic continues to be a less discussed area within behavior analysis. Mental health researchers have shown consequences of racial bias leads to various negative outcomes for diverse consumers. Implicit bias research has also been well studied in the educational field related to its overuse of punishment procedures. Lastly, medical field professionals have discovered the connection between implicit bias and medical intervention used for certain racial groups. Given the amount of pre-existing research, behavior analysts can take advantage of the existing knowledge base to better serve stakeholders of the field, our clients. This panel will discuss methods for behavior analysts to examine their own biases with the purpose of rendering culturally and socially valid services.

BCBA, BCBA-D

Behavior analysts frequently say "the rat is always right" or "the learner is always right" but do not always focus their attention on the behavior and responding of the student in the moment to determine how to apply the science of behavior analysis. Members of this panel will discuss how behavior analysts can encourage more responsive teaching with their learners by developing more flexible protocols, attending to learner behavior, developing creative protocols for teaching receptive language skills, and how to respond to data using the Standard Celeration Chart to adjust teaching procedures. The panel will concluded by providing ttendees with the opportunity to ask the panel questions relating to attending to learner responding.

This panel is intended for individuals with at least 2 years of certification experience who are responsible for making decisions about their clients in the moment and training others to do the same.

In recent years technological progress has made it possible to design more and more modern vehicles that satisfy new safety standards required by society and law. Despite this and the many awareness-raising campaigns aimed at promoting safer driving in line with contemporary society values, the number of driving accidents has been far from zero. One reason is surely because very few have so far considered the matter from a behavioral point of view. The development of an app to deliver consequences to drivers is an essential but small part of a wide-ranging project that must necessarily involve all the relevant stakeholders, if we really want to impact our driving habits.

OBMers, entrepreneurs with truck-fleets, HSE and logistics managers

There are a number of applied studies demonstrating how to effectively supervise and teach clinical skills in autism service provision such as data collection, behavioral assessment, and intervention (e.g., behavioral skills training). However, there is a paucity of research on how to teach professional behavior such as communicating effectively to different audiences, establishing healthy boundaries, and prioritizing time-sensitive tasks. As professors and clinical supervisors in the area of autism spectrum disorder, we use principles of behavior analysis and applications from organizational behavior management to teach our supervisees clinical and professional skills. A panel of faculty from academic programs and directors from an autism service provider will discuss the following topics: (1) the critical skills and behaviors of supervisors and supervisees used to support professional behavior, (2) how applications from organizational behavior management can be used to establish effective supervisory systems and processes, and (3) how the panelists have established, evaluated, and maintained effective supervisory systems in their own organizations.

Practitioners in autism service provision, professors in academic settings, leaders of organizations providing autism services

This talk will discuss learning arrangements – or the combination of instructional components that affect skill acquisition. Often, skill acquisition programming is developed and evaluated by comparing some instructional package to no instructional package (baseline responding). This is useful toward developing technologies that are likely to produce the intended outcomes. Many years of such research has produced a large “toolbox” of applied behavior analysis intervention approaches. But, for an instructor working with a specific learner, what combination of instructional components should the instructor choose? This talk will discuss the comparative effectiveness of different learning arrangements and instructional components that promote both effective and efficient learning. Research that will be discussed includes components such as trial arrangements and mastery criterioa and how these components differentially affect skill acquisition.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.

Daniel M. Fienup is an Associate Professor of Applied Behavior Analysis at Teachers College, Columbia University. He received his Master’s in Applied Behavior Analysis from Southern Illinois University and his Ph.D. in School Psychology from Illinois State University. Dr. Fienup and his students conduct research on instructional design and educational performance. Dr. Fienup is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Behavioral Education and The Analysis of Verbal Behavior. He also serves on the editorial board for Behavior Analysis in Practice, the Psychological Record, Behavior Analysis: Research and Practice, Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, and Behavior Development. He serves on the Licensed Behavior Analyst New York state board and is a past board member of the New York State Association for Behavior Analysis.

This symposium presents three applications of the science of human behavior to the improvement of eating and health-related behaviors. First, a social media-based group contingency related to meal preparation will be discussed, followed by a conceptually-systematic model of how to use online video to change meal preparation behaviors. Finally, the presenters will demonstrate how supervisors can adapt the 5th edition BACB task list to help supervisees serve individuals with ineffective eating and activity repertoires.

The target audience for this event is advanced practitioners, supervisors, and teachers of behavior analysis.

The number of students enrolled in behavior analysis programs has been increasing exponentially over the past ten years. As part of the educational preparation for the BCBA exam and certification, these students must accrue supervised experiences in which they apply their classroom-based skills to real world behavior change. As previously noted (Luke, Carr, & Wilder, 2018), many instructors and students have mistakenly interpreted the supervised experience requirements to be specific to the field of Autism service provision. This paper presents a model of how supervision of fieldwork and concentrated fieldwork could include experiences that address problematic eating and activity-related health behaviors in neurotypical populations. The model is intended to assist supervisors of behavior analysis students by giving specific suggestions for how students could accrue supervised experience in this growing subspecialty (Behavior Analysis in Health and Fitness, 2019; Normand, Dallery, & Ong, 2015).

Students in graduate level training programs for behavior analysis may be required to serve in supervisory roles as soon as they graduate and become certified as BCBAs. To date, university that provide graduate level training programs in behavior analysis include limited opportunities for students to practice behaviors that are essential to building their supervisory skill set. These skills may include delivering effective feedback, assessing and monitoring supervisees’ progress, modeling effective professional, interpersonal and ethical behaviors, the ability to manage time effectively, plan a head and organize their own and their supervisees’ schedules to name a few. Students who graduate from programs for behavior analysis may find themselves overwhelmed by the workload and ill-equipped to handle the supervisory responsibilities that often are an integral part of becoming a BCBA. This panel seeks to provide behavior analysis graduate students and current supervisors in the field the opportunity to listen to experts share their experience and learn from them how they manage their time effectively while providing high quality supervision for a team of supervisees. The audience is invited to ask the panelists about their strategies and systems they have developed over the years to support their work as supervisors.

Graduate students in programs for behavior analysis and behavior analysts who serve as supervisors in the field

The current symposium is a synthesis of efforts at various points in the Relational Training System assessment and curriculum. The first talk provides a conceptualization as to how we might make better-informed decisions relative to program selection and intervention approaches in the context of PEAK using a case conceptualization tool. The second talk investigates relationships between derived relational responding and executive processing deficits in children. Finally, we highlight pre-post change scores relative to the PEAK Comprehensive Assessment for children diagnosed with autism given exposure to PEAK in a special education context. Implications and utility of these findings are discussed.

beginning-intermediate behavior analysts

The PEAK Relational Training System contains a comprehensive assessment and curriculum designed to target global language and cognitive skills in children with autism and related disabilities. Although research on PEAK has grown considerably, more research is needed within applied contexts in which this tool is likely to be utilized. We conducted PEAK at a special education school over the course of 3 months with 5 children with autism. PEAK instructions was systematically embedded within their school day for up-to 2 hours, supplementing other instructional strategies. The efficacy of PEAK instruction was evaluated using a multiple baseline across skills experimental design, replicated across the 5 children. We overview how this design can be embedded within any applied setting, allowing for the on-going experimental analysis of behavior within sacrificing assurance that children are receiving on-going effective education. In addition, we conducted the PEAK Comprehensive Assessment at the onset of the study and following 3 moths of training, where the PCA provides an estimate of global repertiores across direct training, generalization, equivalence, and relational learning skill sets. Results suggested a significant increase in PCA scores across all participants.

Advances in Relational Frame Theory have begun to allow Applied Behavior Analytic treatments for children with autism to focus on higher-order or global repertiores of behavior. Executive functioning deficits are common in children with autism that can severely impact quality of life in several domains. We review three studies that speak to the importance of targeting executive functioning deficits in children with autism using relational training and testing procedure. The first study provides a comprehensive literature review comparing functional neurological activity when completing traditional executive functioning tasks and when deriving combinatorially entailed relations. Results suggest that common neurological processes are involved in the completion of both tasks. The second study provides another systematic review that shows an exponentiation of research utilizing derived relational responding technologies to teach new skills to children with autism within the major behavior analytic journals. The third study empirically evaluates the construct validity of the PEAK Comprehensive Assessment (PCA) as a tool to measure verbal operants and relational operants that may be related to executive functioning processes. Convergent and divergent components of the PCA are discussed in the context of developing treatments for children with autism from a Relational Frame Theory account.

Promoting Emergence of Advanced Knowledge Relational Training System (PEAK) is a four-volume curriculum targeting Direct Training, Generalization, Equivalence, and Transformation. Research to date has shown behavioral skills training (BST) to be effective at training staff to implement PEAK. While timely, little is known about the extent to which staff’s self-efficacy (or verbal behavior about one’s competency) influences implementation of PEAK. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to determine if a thorough case conceptualization model (CCM) can increase implementer self-efficacy. The CCM was developed to establish problem solving opportunities for implementers and supervisors to use during feedback sessions. Three implementer-child dyads were subjected to a multiple-baseline design wherein implementers were first trained how to implement PEAK before starting treatment as usual (baseline). Next, participants were handed the CCM tool during the instruction phase but were not given any specific feedback on how to use it. Finally, during the feedback phase, all implementers were instructed on how to use the CCM and how to derive feedback from it. Throughout all phases, client PEAK scores, implementation scores from staff, and self-reported self-efficacy Likert rating scale was assessed. Overall, all participants showed increase self-efficacy scores following CCM feedback. Implications will be discussed.

The current symposium provides a discussion of research studies aimed at producing generative responding, including evaluations of multiple exemplar training, instructive feedback, and matrix training. The first paper will present a study that compared the efficacy and efficiency of serial multiple exemplar training, concurrent multiple exemplar training, and instructive feedback for producing generalization of tacts of various stimuli types with individuals with autism spectrum disorder. The second paper will present a study that assessed recombinative generalization with novel combinations of abstract stimuli by programming specific training histories for undergraduate students during matrix training. The third paper will present a study that taught who, what, and where intraverbal-tacts using matrix training, and evaluated the efficacy of matrix training across two matrices. The fourth paper will present a study that evaluated the efficacy and efficiency of incorporating instructive feedback within matrix training to teach children with autism spectrum disorder to label objects and adjectives.

The target audience is professionals and researchers in behavior analysis.

Programming for generalization is a critical component of applied behavior analysis. Previous research has evaluated several procedures for achieving stimulus generalization in the context of tact training with children with autism spectrum disorder, including serial multiple exemplar training (S-MET), concurrent multiple exemplar training (C-MET), and instructive feedback (IF). Although previous research has compared some or all of these procedures, results have been mixed. In the present study, we used an adapted alternating treatments design to directly compare the efficacy and efficiency of S-MET, C-MET, and IF for producing generalization of tacts of various types of stimuli (e.g., color photographs, black and white outlines, colored drawings) with four males with autism spectrum disorder. For most participants, C-MET led to generalization in the fewest training sessions, followed by IF. These results suggest that S-MET is unlikely to lead to generalization more efficiently than other conditions, but that the ideal training arrangement may be idiosyncratic.

The functional analysis is used to identify the function of problem behavior (Iwata, Dorsey, Slifer, Bauman, & Richman, 1982/1994), which in-turn, is used to develop a function-based treatment to decrease the problem behavior (Hanley, Iwata, & McCord, 2003). The purpose of the current symposium is to present four studies that investigate a variety questions related to the functional analysis and function-based treatments. The first presentation will examine the effects of the functional analysis on problem behavior outside of session. The second will be on the evaluation of the trial-based functional analysis to assess problem behavior evoked by ritual interruption. The third will be on the utilization of an indirect assessment to systematically individualize the initial component durations used during schedule thinning following functional communication training. The fourth will use a translational approach to examine whether the history of reinforcement affects resurgence. Dr. Megan Boyle of Missouri State University will then provide a discussion on each study and provide insight on how research and practice on functional analysis and function-based treatments continue to evolve.

Clinicians and individuals in academia

Indirect assessments are widely used in the development of behavior interventions. To date, there are no indirect assessments that can be used to evaluate the extent to which children who engage in problem behavior wait to receive reinforcement. However, there are effective behavior interventions to increase waiting. Functional communication training (FCT) and schedule thinning have been identified as effective interventions to increase waiting in children who engage in problem behavior maintained by social contingencies. Therefore, we conducted three studies to evaluate the use of an indirect assessment to increase waiting within an FCT and schedule treatment package in children with developmental disabilities. The purpose of the study was to develop the Waiting Assessment Interview Tool (WAIT) and to use the WAIT completed by informants to systematically individualize the initial component durations used during the schedule thinning procedure. A secondary purpose was to use the informants’ preferred waiting times as final waiting targets for all subjects.

Value-based healthcare or value-based care (VBC) represents a healthcare delivery model where providers receive payment based on outcomes. With VBC agreements, providers in the healthcare space are preferentially rewarded and compensated for helping clients improve their health, decrease the incidence and effects of chronic disease, and live healthier lives with evidence-based approaches. When applied to behavior analysis, VBC means providers in the behavioral healthcare space will be preferentially rewarded and compensated for helping clients improve their behavioral outcomes, decrease the incidence of chronic challenging behaviors, and live more productive lives with evidence-based approaches derived from the science of behavior. VBC has not yet arrived in behavior analysis but when it does, it will fundamentally shift the relationship between service provision and reimbursement. Providers will achieve greater efficiencies by spending more time on new, prevention-based services, thus leading to a reduction with time devoted mainly to chronic challenging behavior. The following symposium will offer different presentations each approaching VBC and how it can impact behavior analysis.

BCBAs, BCBA-Ds, clinical directors

Value-based healthcare (VBC) will change the way behavior analysts provide care. New delivery models will stress a team-oriented approach to client care and the sharing of data with an emphasis on coordinated care and easily measured outcomes. The present study builds VBC by examining whether Precision Teaching (PT) would enhance the quality of care already demonstrated by behavior analysis (BA). The study examined the following: (1) Pinpointing behavior - using a standard framework for precisely labeling target behaviors; (2) Element-compound analysis - analyzing constituent behavioral elements for a behavioral compound and applying the analysis to existing curricula and other data targets; (3) Dimensional measurement - applying universal and absolute metrics that quantify behavioral measures; and (4) Standard visual display - implementing a graph that quantifies behavior change, maintains visual consistency from analyst to analyst, reduces interpretative errors, facilitates pattern recognition, and offers the most accurate model for present data. Decision making data comparing the two groups indicated a marked increase in decisions made in the BA + PT group. Furthermore, when examined outcome measures for the BA + PT, the Vineland and Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist showed substantial gains. Also, social validity scores also point to satisfaction with the experimental procedures of PT added to BA.

Value Based Healthcare (VBH) has been a model within the medical field for the past decade. Due to the complexities of measuring behavioral health outcomes, however, VBH is only now moving into the behavioral health field. Health Resource Services Administration is starting to connect behavioral health providers reimbursements to their ability to deliver quality services through an efficient treatment model. ABA providers will need to overcome idiosyncratic approaches to measuring outcomes in order to qualify for preferred reimbursement within the expanding VBH model. This paper will review outcome data from an ABA treatment model using a precision measurement system aimed at accelerate client outcomes. This model includes training RBTs to make data-based decisions, teaching foundational skills to fluency to ensure skills are retained and generalized, and by implementing an instructional curriculum that allows for new skills to be learned without direct training. Finally, discussion will include how insurance companies have responded to our approach to solve the VBH application to ABA services for children with ASD.

As downward payor pressure affecting reimbursement rates and hours continues to build, behavior analysts must precisely and objectively quantify value delivered as a function of time invested. Behavior analysts have at their disposal varying degrees and dimensions of clinical data with which to describe value. These include but are not limited to the number of learning opportunities, goals attained, decisions made, percent growth per pinpointed skill or percent reduction in targeted maladaptive behaviors, change in variance over time, a projected time window of when goals may be met, percent of skills that return to maintenance or intervention post mastery, and how well skills have generalized into the home, school, and community environments. Access to and inclusion of the aforementioned methods of describing value per function of time varies based on three facets of clinical service delivery: 1) the sophistication of the clinical service delivery model including supervisorial rigor; 2) the tooling deployed to assist the clinician in the collection and analysis of data; and 3) the educational and experiential histories of the clinician and supporting care team. This presentation will explore how present day and near-term future technologies may assist in each of the three facets to automate, standardize, and reliably document, analyze, and communicate value in a multidimensional quantitative model.

This symposium will address how economic demand can be used to understand a variety of issues, with a focus on substance use disorders such as smoking, alcohol use, and non-prescription stimulant use. Results generated using hypothetical, as well as laboratory-based, demand tasks will be described. Although these methods can, and have, been applied to a broad range of topics, some potential limitations will also be explored. The symposium will end with a discussion about the implications of the research presented.

Individuals interested in behavioral economics and how it can be applied to a variety of topics, including substance use disorders.

The FDA has authority to regulate cigarette nicotine content. Reducing nicotine might reduce smoking. In an ongoing study, smokers (n=30) completed operant sessions. Participants worked for cigarette puffs across a range of fixed-ratio requirements (Lindsley plunger; FR-10 to FR-10,000 for 3-puffs), with full- (14.8 mg/g) and reduced-nicotine (4.8, 2.2, or 1.3 mg/g across participants) cigarettes available alone and concurrently. Following initial demand sessions, participants were given reduced-nicotine cigarettes to smoke over a three-week exposure period. Participants returned to the laboratory to repeat demand sessions. Demand did not differ between full-nicotine and reduced-nicotine cigarettes. Similarly, as full-nicotine FR increased, concurrently-available reduced-nicotine cigarette consumption increased. There was a reduction in demand for full- and reduced-nicotine content cigarettes following the exposure period in the single-item but not concurrent demand procedures. Data suggest similar demand across nicotine content; that prolonged nicotine-reduction might decrease cigarette demand; and that reduced-nicotine cigarettes may substitute for full-nicotine cigarettes.

Children are diagnosed with a feeding disorder when they do not eat an adequate quantity or variety of foods, sustain an appropriate weight, or grow (Palmer & Horn, 1978; Piazza & Carroll-Hernandez, 2004). Applied behavior analytic interventions have proven effective in the treatment of pediatric feeding disorders (Volkert & Piazza, 2012). Preference for flavors develop in a variety of ways in typical eating individuals (Capaldi, 1996), however, if and how preference occurs for individuals with feeding disorders is less known. The current symposium includes two studies that evaluated preference for nonpreferred foods and examined shifts in preference before, during, and after applied behavior analytic intervention in children with feeding disorders. An additional study used preferred foods during treatment involving a high-probability sequence with and without escape extinction to increase consumption of healthy, nonpreferred foods. The effectiveness of applied behavior analytic interventions to treat feedings problems may be influenced by treatment integrity. The final study examines various components of behavior skills training in isolation and in combination to increase correct implementation of feeding protocols.

Board Certified Behavior Analysts

Exposure to noxious stimuli in the context of eating results in avoidance behavior in nonhuman animals (Garcia & Kellog, 1966), which may be the same mechanism by which feeding disorders can develop in some children. For example, if a child were to experience pain, discomfort, or excessive emesis shortly following mealtimes, he or she may be more likely to avoid certain foods, flavors, textures, or mealtime altogether in the future. However, little is known about the development of food preferences for children with feeding disorders. The goal of our investigation primarily focused on identifying whether intervention for the feeding disorder resulted in preference changes for foods as a function of exposure. In the current investigation, we replicated an earlier study (Zeleny et al., 2019) with additional participants and evaluated whether food preferences of children with feeding disorders changed over the course of intervention. We conducted repeated free- and random-choice preference assessments with foods to which we either exposed or did not expose children with a feeding disorder during clinical treatment. We observed a shift in preference following exposure to exposed foods throughout the preference assessments, suggesting that preferences for foods may have changed due to exposure during treatment.

The high-probability (high-p) instructional sequence is a non-intrusive procedure that involves the presentation of a series of high-p requests followed by 1 low-probability request. To date, only 9 studies have examined its effectiveness to treat food selectivity in children, and results of these studies have been mixed. In the current study, we used a multielement design to compare the effectiveness and efficiency of 2 iterations of the high-p sequence to increase the consumption of healthy food in picky eaters. One iteration of the high-p instructional sequence consisted of the researcher presenting 3 bites of a preferred food on a spoon to the child and the other consisted of the researcher presenting 3 bites of an empty spoon to the child. Preliminary results show that nonremoval of the spoon may be necessary to increase consumption for some children. We will discuss the results within the context of treatment implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research.

Pediatric feeding problems are present in approximately 50% of the general population and 90% of children with autism spectrum disorder. Much research has been conducted to evaluate behavioral interventions aimed at addressing these problems. In research and clinical protocols, it’s reported that trained staff implement the treatments. However, it’s unclear how much of the variability observed in the results of behavioral interventions for feeding is a result of differences in the therapist's ability to implement the treatment reliably. This study evaluated different training packages containing all of or some of the following components: written instructions, verbal instructions, video modeling, rehearsal, feedback, and task clarification. Three groups were evaluated across staff members and two groups were evaluated across caregivers. It is expected that the use of these treatment components will increase protocol adherences across novel staff and caregivers with varying levels of acquisition conditional to the group they are exposed to.

Classrooms are complex environments that require teachers to implement a variety of classroom management strategies to minimize problem behavior and maximize learning time. Given the difficulty of implementing behavioral interventions in the school setting, there is a need for teacher training and support. This symposium presents school-based intervention studies focused on teacher consultation to assist public school teachers in creating a classroom context where they use positive, proactive behavior management strategies to foster success for students with behavioral difficulties. Study 1 promoted equity in teachers' use of behavior-specific praise through self-monitoring and performance feedback. Studies 2 and 3 used the Prevent-Teach-Reinforce consultation model to improve classroom behavior of students with behavioral difficulties. Study 4 focused on promoting positive teacher interactions with students and decreasing student off-task behavior through teacher training on using differential reinforcement of other behaviors (DRO) and response cost token economy as a class-wide intervention.

Practitioners

This presentation introduces the results of a study that examined the impact of equity-focused teacher self-monitoring and performance feedback on establishing proportionate praise and discipline practices across students in four elementary school classrooms. A multiple-baseline design across participants was used to demonstrate that training teachers to practice self-monitoring and providing equity-focused performance feedback increased all participating teachers’ delivery of proportionate behavior-specific praise and decrease negative feedback given to diverse students.

The Prevent-Teach-Reinforce (PTR) model presents a useful teacher consultation tool to disseminate evidence-based practices into the classroom setting for teachers to create behavioral changes of students with behavioral challenges. This presentation outlines the impact of using the PTR model on three students with autism spectrum disorders in secondary school classrooms. A multiple-baseline across participants design was employed to demonstrate positive outcomes of using PTR in increasing appropriate classroom behavior and reducing problem behavior of the target students. Social validity assessments indicated both groups of students and teachers were highly satisfied with the process and outcomes of using the PTR model.

This paper presents the outcomes of implementing PTR within the multi-tiered systems of support for three students engaging in high levels of problem behavior served in three classrooms at two public elementary schools. A multiple baseline across participants design was used to evaluate the impact of using the prevent-teach-reinforce (PTR) model on student problem and replacement behaviors. Findings indicated that the classroom teachers effectively participated in the PTR assessment and intervention process, implementing the PTR intervention with fidelity, which resulted in decreases in problem behavior and increases in replacement behavior for all three participating students in both target and generalization academic times.

The presentation describes the outcomes of using differential reinforcement of other behaviors (DRO) and response cost as a class-wide intervention in implementing a token economy in one kindergarten and one 1st-grade classrooms. Using an alternating treatments design with an additional baseline phase, the study compared the impact of using DRO versus response cost on student off-task behavior and teacher positive and negative statements. Results indicated that while both DRO and response cost were effective in decreasing all six target students’ off-task behavior, three students engaged in lower levels of off-task behavior during DRO. One teacher's negative statements slightly decreased during implementation of both procedures.  

Many students with autism and other developmental disabilities have difficulty sequencing their own behavior during free-choice situations. Rather, they rely on adults to prompt them to engage in particular activities. Many do not interact appropriately with play materials or may select one activity and engage in it for an extended period of time. Photographic activity schedules have been shown to be an effective tool to teach children to sequence their own behavior and transition smoothly between multiple activities. Children learn to follow the visual cues in the activity schedule to make transitions instead of relying on adult-provided prompts. Activity schedules also provide a context for teaching basic and complex choice-making behavior. As children develop verbal behavior, social scripts can also be added and then later faded to promote social interaction. Activity schedules have been used successfully in a variety of settings with both children and adults with various disabilities. They are easy to use and can be adapted to most environments. In the present tutorial, participants will learn how to use activity schedules with clients/students as well as learn about recent research on using these techniques to promote complex social play.

Practitioners and applied researchers.

Dr. Thomas S. Higbee is a Professor and Interim Department Head in the Department of Special Education and Rehabilitation at Utah State University and Executive Director of the Autism Support Services: Education, Research, and Training (ASSERT) program, an early intensive behavioral intervention program for children with autism that he founded in 2003. He is a doctoral-level Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA-D) and a Licensed Behavior Analyst in the state of Utah. He is also chair of the Disability Disciplines doctoral program at Utah State University. His research focuses on the development of effective educational and behavioral interventions for children with autism spectrum disorders and related disabilities as well as the development of effective training strategies for teaching parents and professionals to implement effective interventions. He is a former associate editor for the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (JABA) and the European Journal of Behavior Analysis. Dr. Higbee is committed to the dissemination of effective behavioral interventions and has helped to create intensive behavior analytic preschool and school programs for children with autism and related disorders in Brazil, Russia, Portugal, and throughout his home state of Utah. He is the past president of the Utah Association for Behavior Analysis (UtABA) and has served as a member of the Practice Board of the Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI) and the Psychologist Licensing Board of the state of Utah.

Leaders, managers, organizational members, and consumers in human service industry.

Current literature suggests most pairing procedures are used to teach the acquisition of skill, while few studies aim to decrease challenging behaviors through the use of stimulus or verbal pairing procedures. The presentations in this symposium will examine the use of pairing in the form of visual stimuli, as well as pairing specific verbal cues, to target a decrease in challenging behaviors surrounding restricted, repetitive interests and compliance, in preschool-age children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The first presentation will include research on the use of green and red 2D visuals to decrease the presence of inappropriate train behavior and sounds, in a three-year-old male with autism. The second presentation will examine an intervention focused on increasing compliance and flexible responding within a classroom setting for three males with ASD, by pairing specific verbal cues for each expected response. The third presentation will include research on decreasing the frequency of inappropriate door-related behaviors demonstrated by three, three-year-old males with ASD, through the use of 2D visuals located on the doors and specific rules delivered to each participant. Results from all three interventions suggest that using stimulus and/or verbal pairing procedures, along with systematic fading techniques and schedules of reinforcement, are effective in increasing the opportunities for learning by decreasing challenging and repetitive behaviors.

The target audience for this symposium is practicing behavior analysts.

Engaging in highly restricted play or having fixated interests that are abnormal in intensity, is a core symptom associated with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnosis (DSM-V). This may result in excessive amounts of time spent engaging with, or talking about, items of a specific theme. In the current study, a stimulus pairing intervention was utilized to decrease the presence of train-related fixated interest behaviors as demonstrated by a four-year-old male with autism. Teaching phases included systematically increasing the amount of time the participant was required to refrain from engaging in train-related behaviors or sounds in the presence of a red 2-D picture card. Train-related fixated interest behaviors were encouraged during optional, designated breaks within a specified space, as identified by a green 2-D picture card. This space encouraged cooperative play between the participant and clinician, with train materials present. Results suggest this intervention produced an effective way to decrease the presence of fixated interest behaviors, and to increase engagement with a variety of age-appropriate activities.

For individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), learning to discriminate between stimuli can influence the ability to respond to multiple cues across varying contexts. These foundational skills can lead to larger gains in the generalization of skills, which supports an overall greater flexibility for individuals with ASD. By learning to increase flexibility when responding to multiple cues, individuals can learn to discriminate when inflexibility is acceptable. The goal of the present study was to use discrimination training to teach three children with ASD to comply with negotiable versus non-negotiable demands in a classroom setting, along with the reduction of stereotyped responses. Compliant responses to both non-negotiable and negotiable demands were reinforced on a fixed-ratio schedule. The participants received tokens for compliant responses, and the reinforcement schedule was thinned as each participant’s compliant behavior improved. Non-compliance to negotiable demands was also reinforced by allowing escape from the demand. During instances of non-compliance to non-negotiable demands, researchers utilized escape extinction. Results demonstrate improvement in each child’s compliant behavior to non-negotiable demands, as well as increased compliance with negotiable demands. In addition, data reveal a reduction in stereotyped and/or defiant behaviors for all children compared to baseline levels, for both types of demands.

Individuals with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) commonly engage in high rates of and high intensity restrictive or repetitive behaviors (DSM-V). These may lead to stigmatization, decreased opportunities to learn from the environment, and in extreme cases, may put an individual at risk for injury or even death. The current study examined the use of a stimulus pairing intervention to decrease the frequency of door-related restrictive behaviors as demonstrated by three, three-year-old males with autism. Colored cards were introduced and paired with specific rules to teach the individuals when a door was and was not accessible, and an error correction procedure was put in place. Door-related restrictive behaviors were encouraged with designated doors that did not affect the safety of the individual, as identified by a green 2-D picture card. Results suggest this intervention produced an effective way to decrease the presence of door-related behaviors for all participants. Future research includes determining effective training techniques to allow caregivers to implement similar stimulus pairing procedures in order to promote maintenance and generalization of the learned skill.

Although there has been systematic gains and strides to serving children with autism, the fact still exists that the majority of individuals with autism spectrum disorder will require some degree of supportive services into adulthood (Howlin et al, 2004). There continues to be an ongoing crisis in terms of available services for adults with ASD, after they leave the entitled world of children's services (Gerhardt & Lanier, 2011). As such, clinicians working within the adult service model must have a strong focus on training and supervision to work within their resources to bring the best possible clinical care to adults with ASD. The projects included in this symposium focus on training and supervision with an emphasis on social validity of staff working with adult learners.

BCBAs, BCaBAs, RBTs

Prompting and error correction are two common components of discrete trial teaching. Given their documented effectiveness, clinicians may have difficulty selecting which prompting or error correction procedure to select under varying conditions. This symposium includes two studies which compared different prompting or error correction procedures to teach language skills for individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. These comparisons may help to identify the conditions under which different approaches may be more effective or preferred. Practical implications and future research will be discussed. The discussant will provide further considerations on how this research can be used in clinical settings and what is needed in future research.

Any persons involved in comprehensive behavioral intervention for individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.

This study compared simultaneous prompting to an error correction procedure for teaching three children with Autism Spectrum Disorder expressive labels. Using a parallel treatment design nested into a multiple probe design, each participant was taught how to expressively label six pictures of sports teams or cartoon characters with the simultaneous prompting procedure and six pictures of another different sports teams or cartoon characters with the error correction. The goal was to evaluate the effectiveness, efficiency, and acquisition during teaching for each participant across the two conditions. Results indicated that both teaching procedures were effective, with high rates of maintenance, and all participants responded correctly during the majority of teaching trials.

Many prompting systems have been evaluated to effectively and efficiently teach individuals to read sight words. Comparative studies on prompting systems provide information about the strengths and weaknesses of different prompting systems. Information gathered from comparative studies can be beneficial when selecting a prompting system that may work best for each learner. This study compared the relative effectiveness and efficiency of least-to-most prompting and flexible prompt fading to teach sight words for three children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. An adapted alternating treatment design was used to compare the two prompting systems. Practical implications and future research will be discussed.

The panel session will provide ABAI student members pivotal perspectives from three professionals in navigating and communicating with the professional world of applied behavior analysis (ABA). This 50-minute panel session will allow ABAI members to interact with professionals in a conversation-like format. As well as ask questions regarding effective networking styles. The three professionals, Dr. Ross, Dr. Baker, and Dr. Joslyn, come from diverse backgrounds of ABA, including areas such as special education in PK-12 schools, behavioral gerontology, and crime and delinquency. The panel will address topics such as why networking is an important skill to acquire, how to make a great first impression with big names in the field, and tips and tricks on how to develop and improve one’s skill set. Discussions of interactions will not be limited to interacting with professionals in the field of ABA but also prospective mentors, employers, and clients. This panel intends to address questions we may have when networking with professionals. The panel seeks to aid students in learning how to make strong connections to increase their success as professionals in the field of ABA.

ABAI members, graduate students, and other individuals who want to learn how to network and communicate with other professionals in the field effectively.

Shortly after the development of robust methods to analyze the function of problem behavior, researchers and clinicians began using this information to design function-based interventions. Some of the earliest interventions began with reinforcing appropriate, alternative behavior and providing the reinforcer that maintains problem behavior on a time-based schedule. As these procedures advanced, researchers and clinicians began bringing function-based treatment under stimulus control. The effects of function-based intervention are robust and sustainable. Additionally, function-based intervention allows for a wide-range of adaptations, based on an individual's problem behavior and the current context. More recently, researchers have begun evaluating these adaptations in the context of promoting long-term change for individuals in their everyday environment. In this symposium, presenters will focus on some of the adaptations, including stimulus fading during Functional Communication Training, schedule thinning using chained and multiple schedules, and using differential reinforcement of low rates to increase the time between emission of mands.

BCBAs and Applied Researchers

Functional analysis (FA) methodology and function-based treatment is a constantly evolving science informed by both issues encountered in practice and recent scientific literature. This symposium includes studies on the role of activity transitions, synthesized contingencies, and treatment integrity in the assessment and treatment of problem behavior. The first study illustrates the role of transitions across activities of varying preferences in the maintenance of escape-maintained problem behavior for individuals with developmental disabilities and offers a model for assessing and developing a reinforcement-based treatment. The second study compares outcomes of isolated and synthesized contingency FAs and functional communication training (FCT) based on the outcomes of each FA. In a final phase, experimenters evaluated participant preference for treatment. The third study evaluates the effects of reduced treatment integrity on problem behavior treated with FCT, and then illustrates the use of a booster-style intervention designed to mitigate the effects of reduced treatment integrity during FCT under a multiple schedule arrangement.

Researchers and clinicians working on functional analysis and function-based treatment of problem behavior

This symposium includes three talks describing procedural variations for the establishment of stimulus control and equivalence classes. The first talk describes an applied go/no-go procedure to establish simple discriminative control over selection responses in two children with autism. The second study describes an alternative method for the establishment of conditional relations between auditory-visual stimuli involving a go/no-go procedure with successive matching. Finally, the third study explored a specific parameter of matching-to-sample training in which the incorrect trial was repeated, suggesting that such procedure enhances maintenance of skills. Overall, these data have directly implications for both basic research and clinical practice

Researchers and clinicians

The current study investigated the conditions necessary for stimulus to acquire control of skill acquisition. Two learners diagnosed with autism, ages 7 and 9, both with long history of little to zero rate of skill acquisition in their ABA programs. Skinner’s (1938) successive method, “Go and no-go” stimulus control training was used to teach pre-mand training with the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS). The successive method was then followed by “Go-right/go-left successive procedure” developed by Harrison (1984), and then Go-right/go-left with simultaneous stimulus presentation (Harlow, 1950). The results show that participants acquired initial discrimination of PECS icons in approximately 88 sessions and maintained the skills 3 months after the introduction of first discrimination method.

In this symposium, the authors will present research on self-control training (SCT) in natural settings. The first presenter will review the literature on self-control training procedures that aim to instruct individuals to make more optimal choices that produce delayed results. To evaluate the effectiveness of SCT, we conducted a quantitative analysis of articles published between 1998 and 2019 across peer-reviewed journals. Findings from the literature review revealed that the four most utilized intervention components are (a) delay fading, (b) intervening activities, (c) rules, and (d) signals. Overall, these four treatment components have been shown to be most effective. The second presenter will discuss her study that evaluated both the presentation of rules and providing a task demand to complete, concurrent with the delay to the larger reinforcer. This study evaluates both of these interventions singly as well as in a combined package intervention. Results indicated that while both concurrent activities and rules had an effect on the majority of children, the package intervention was the most consistent and effective intervention.

The current symposium serves participants interested in learning treatment for impulsive responding.

Behavior can be defined as anything a person does. Understanding everyday processes and why we do things the way we do is often not analyzed but is taken for granted as this is just how we do it. Lean Six Sigma can be intimidating to those who are just learning about the concept due to the overwhelming amount of information on this topic. But it doesn’t have to be! Lean Six Sigma is a process improvement methodology designed to eliminate problems, remove waste and inefficiency, and improve working conditions to provide a better response to customers' needs. Currently healthcare, finance, manufacturing, IT and other field are using Lean Six Sigma. Even complete strangers to Lean Six Sigma can gain a working knowledge of how the methodology works. They need only develop a basic Lean Six Sigma literacy by becoming acquainted with the fundamentals. This session will help start your journey towards becoming successful using Lean Six Sigma with easy-to-understand methods and tools that can be applied to behavior analytic principles for overall business process improvement, quality management and healthy behavior change.

Anyone interested in learning about Lean Six Sigma and how to apply it to their practice.

Jennifer is the Director of the Performance Improvement Department at the Medical University of South Carolina and a retired Air Force E9 Chief Master Sergeant with 32 years of clinical, administrative, and performance improvement experience in hospital, ambulatory care, and dental facilities in a variety of settings worldwide.

Jennifer is an accomplished trainer and her practical experience has taken her into many types of industries including healthcare, supply chain, service organizations, aerospace, and manufacturing. She is an invited speaker to numerous conferences, webinars, and symposiums.

She supports MUSC’s executive leadership in the deployment of Lean Six Sigma throughout the organization. Jennifer manages Six Sigma Black and Green Belts, develops and teaches curriculum for Lean Six Sigma education, drives system-wide projects, and customizes Lean Six Sigma methodology to best suit MUSC’s needs.

She is an adjunct faculty member in MUSC College of Health Professions and College of Nursing. She has an MBA in Human Resources and BS in Occupational Education Health Administration. Jennifer is a certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt and also holds a LEAN Sensei Certification from Villanova University. Jennifer is a member of the American Society for Quality (ASQ), the Institute of Industrial and System Engineers (IISE), Society of Health Systems (SHS), Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) and Project Management Institute (PMI). She also serves on the American Quality Institute Green Belt International Standard Technical Committee.

Behavior analysts work in diverse settings including clinics, centers, schools, hospitals, and other large, community-based "systems". Behavior analysts also work with a diverse population of clients (e.g., those with developmental disabilities, mental health disorders, comorbid diagnoses) and employees (e.g., direct care staff, nurses, doctors, teachers, behavior technicians, behavior analysts, administrators). Providing high-quality orientation, onboarding, and training experiences to employees with diverse experience and education requires significant development, implementation, and evaluation of these "staff training" systems to ensure the best outcomes for clients and their staff. Using a behavioral systems approach, each of the authors in this symposium will describe the orientation, onboarding, and/or training systems within their large systems while discussing the evaluation required to further inform system development.

Behavior Analysts, Supervisors, Administrators

While much of the early research in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) focused on individuals with mental health disorders and individuals with developmental disabilities, more recent history in ABA with individuals with developmental disabilities has flourished while its active role with those with mental health diagnoses has diminished. Additionally, there is a proliferation of comorbid diagnosis of mental health conditions for individuals with developmental disabilities such as ASD. There is also a focus on utilizing psychotropic medication as either a primary or supplementary treatment component for behavioral excesses. The current paper describes an in-service staff training model aimed at orienting psychiatric nursing and support staff to the field of Applied Behavior Analysis, and how ABA can be an integral part of a multidisciplinary approach to assessment and treatment in an acute in-patient psychiatric unit for children and adolescents. Melding a psychiatric nursing model aimed at both acute behavioral stabilization and medication assessment and management with a functional behavioral approach and the resulting barriers to integration will be discussed.

Being sensitive and understanding one’s emotions and the emotions of others is considered critical to social behavior. Some may fail to adequately develop such sensitivity and understanding without direct intervention. One such intervention is to help a learner to tact private stimuli arising from their body as a particular emotion. Such training relies upon inferring what stimuli might be accompanying certain “emotional behavior.” This approach assumes that there are readily identifiable unique private stimuli associated with such behavior. The task is to help a learner identify and name (tact) these stimuli. Another approach is to help children to identify emotions that others are experiencing based upon facial expression. It is assumed that there are readily identifiable facial expressions linked to consistent private emotions. Analysis of data from hundreds of neuroscience studies and thousands of subjects suggest both of these approaches may be flawed. This symposium will first present neuroscience data which challenge the assumption that there are unique private stimuli or brain circuitry associated with emotion, and that suggests there is no evidence that facial expressions reflect emotion. It will then suggest a formulation and interventions consistent with both these data and a consequential contingency analysis.

Professional involved in the teaching or behavioral intervention with those who may be developmentally challenged, and those involved with clinical behavioral intervention.

Credentialed behavior analysts are expected to follow the Professional and Ethical Compliance Code (BACB, 2014). The Code itself provides general and specific guidance on acceptable behavior. As the practice of behavior analysis continues to expand (i.e., number of credentialed behavior analysts, breadth of applications of the science, and depth of application within a practice area), discussion of how the Code applies to various situations and variables is important. An area of need is understanding how credentialed behavior analysts and support personnel (e.g., finance, human resource) perceive the application of the Code in practice. Understanding these perceptions can guide the profession, organizations, and individual practitioners in developing preventive and responsive ethical practices. Additionally, current practice situations (i.e., rural practice and international dissemination) warrant specific discussion and relevance to specific Codes. The purpose of this symposium is to share survey data of employees from a mid-sized human service agency regarding ethical perceptions, discuss practice of behavior analysis in rural areas, and the ethical international dissemination of behavior analysis.

Practice organization administration, practitioners, university personnel responsible for training behavior analysts, supervisors of students completing fieldwork requirements, and students.

The practice of Applied Behavior Analysis in rural communities provides ample fodder for unique situations and ethical code violations. Surveys were sent to Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) in the state of Oklahoma, a state with only 103 certified individuals, regarding ethical codes most observed to be violated. In addition to few practitioners in the state, almost 80% of Oklahoma’s certificants live within a 20 mile radius from two main hubs of service delivery. This leaves a small number to provide services for the rest of the state's mostly rural areas. Results of the survey indicate multiple relationships, poor supervision and boundary of competence as the greatest areas of concern. Aside from the short supply of supervisors putting a strain on the supervisee: supervisor ratio, other possible variables that contribute to these violations include a lack of resources within the schools, physical distance to other BCBAs for referrals, working in tight knit communities, and within a culture that defaults to the use of punishment procedures. Knowing the most violated codes within a particular community allows preventative strategies to be implemented. In this case, having a network of mentors, holiday gift reminders, and strict practices for social media are a few of those suggested for our rural practioners.

Preface. A Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) holds the minimum credential necessary to offer Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) services within the certificant’s scope of experience/expertise. A BCBA wishing to offer services in their own name, by starting a private practice, faces substantial considerations beyond basic clinical competence. Ethical Considerations. Section 1.02 of the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) Ethics Code provides that BCBAs only offer services within the boundaries of available competence. In addition to basic clinical competence, operating a private ABA practice requires expertise in various administrative areas including: insurance contracts and procedure, personnel management, billing and collections, business law, accounting and payroll, cashflow management, and general business administration. Personal/Market Surveys. To evaluate the practicality of establishing a practice, the prospective entrepreneur should survey: (1) personal resources and existing responsibilities, and (2) the ABA business conditions existing in the prospective geographic market (demand for services, competition, funding sources, population density, traffic, technician availability, pay rates, etc.). Business Plan. A business plan typically reflects: specific goals/expectations, timelines, key personnel, defined target market(s), pro-forma budgets, cost-analyses, detailed consideration of in-house vs. outsourcing of administrative functions, personnel recruitment and training plans, definition and assignment of specific management team functions, policy/procedural documentation, and clinical/administrative quality control.

BCBAs interested in starting or participating in the opening and/or operations of an ABA practice constitute the target audience.

First impressions and experiences are everything to BCBAs, and their experience starts when they sign that first contract at a fieldwork or practicum site. When BACB students look for places of both current and future employment, it begins with their practicums and independent fieldwork experience outcomes, which ultimately shape them as an analyst. The response cost (both physical and financial) on a company of taking a student in and training them is high. When those students leave for employment elsewhere once they reach that pivotal point of credentialing, the reinforcement of taking in students is diminished across the company and the supervising BCBA. So, how do we get them to stay? If students feel supported, engaged, challenged academically and practically, and that they have the opportunity to flourish during their student experiences, they are more likely to stay and begin their analytic career at the sites that they do their fieldwork hours. We seek to discuss our current mentor program, both content and structure, and to assess its ability to produce competent, critical thinking, driven, and ethical future BCBAs, and the rate at which those BCBAs ultimately remain to begin employment with our company.

This event targets BCBAs who supervise or are interested in becoming supervisors.

Much attention in our field has been focused on examining the effectiveness of possible interventions in facilitating students' learning or improving their performance. In this symposium, we'd like to discuss the importance of evaluating the efficiency of behavioral interventions. We will present weekly system-wide data from three different centers in three different countries (Italy, Korea and US). Our goals is to identify the key elements in efficient learning and teaching for young children with developmental delays. We hope our studies could shed some light on cost-effective interventions for program supervisors and school directors.

Audience with basic understanding of ABA intervention, trials, and short term objectives.

In many European Countries, including Italy, governments are struggling to provide children with ASD with early and intensive behavioral interventions within the free Public Health and Education System. While access to early diagnosis is improving, the lack of criteria in ABA effectiveness is hindering the direct application of the science. With the aim to measure treatment effectiveness and efficiency and share the results with national parents’ Associations and the Health Department, we tested the effects of implementing a CABAS® based educational model for 18 young kids, all enrolled in a learning and research centre in Italy. We collected monthly data on total number of Learn Units and learning objectives achieved by each Participant. Centre-wide data on rate of response opportunities to criterion were also analyzed and compared with those registered for a control group of 24 children with ASD of the same age, who were receiving free behavioral interventions for four hours a week only. Data suggest that the CABAS® model can be successfully adapted for different welfare systems and can provide Public Services’ leaders with easy-to-read data on how intensivity of early intervention could be individualized. Further research should compare different treatment’s intensivity packages and add norm-based data.

In South Korea, the number of the prevalence of children with ASD is comparable to that of the USA, now climbed up to 1 in 38. Our presentation will report data collected from KAVBA center in Seoul, South Korea, as a direct replication of the CABAS model. Pre and post data of 11 students aged 3 to 5 years olds who enrolled in the year of 03/2017-02/2018 were reported. PEP-R were used for pre and post assessments. With the intervention, the mean developmental gain across 11 children was 27.6 months with an average from 16 months to 50 months. More than half of them showed more than a whole year’s developmental gain. A comprehensive curriculum, and staff training and daily based supervision utilizing TPRA and Decision Analysis Protocol were critical elements for bringing above mentioned outcomes. Data from the one- year intensive behavior intervention in this one year time provided for discussion on effective and cost-efficient service for children with ASD in South Korea.

Fred S. Keller School is a behavior analytic early intervention and preschool program for children with and without developmental disabilities from 18 mon to 5 years old. Keller school is the oldest Comprehensive Application of Behavior Analysis to Schooling (CABAS) accredited programs. At Keller school, we strive to increase daily instruction students receive (measured by number of learn units) and decrease the number of instructional trials required to meet an objective (measured by the learn units to criterion). At a micro level, the learn units to criterion show how fast a student learns and how efficient a teacher teaches. At the macro level, it shows how efficient and cost-effective an educational model is. We are going to present the center-wide data on the number of learn units to criterion, cost per learn unit and cost per short term objective over the past 3 years. We propose the relatively low and stable level of all three measures was a function of an evidence-based decision algorithm, system-wide teacher training, verbal behavior development protocol interventions, among others.

Behavior analysis can bring together multidisciplinary teams responsible for effective programming for diverse clients with concurrent mental health and medical diagnoses. Even so, the early experiences of many ABA program participants and supervisees are characterized by exposure to only a small slice of the many client populations who could benefit from ABA. This panel assembles professionals, professors, and practitioners spanning community practice, medical and university environments to address audience questions on the intersection between behavior analysis and treatment of behavior related to mental health. Discussion points will include answers to recent questions posed by community members and students to university professors and those disseminating behavior analysis on social media, including: What ethical considerations are involved as I treat behavior in a person with concurrent mental health diagnoses? How do we form effective collaborations in mental health and medical hospital settings? How does behavior analysis look in an interdisciplinary environment, and how can I expand my boundaries of competence related to more diverse settings?

Intermediate skill behavior analysis level

Basic and applied behavior analysts with an interest in stimulus control.

For years there have been many efforts to reform the American educational system. These efforts have not been successful. The reform efforts have generally focused on specific educational innovations to the neglect of a systems analysis necessary to achieve the benefits of the innovation. Tom Gilbert’s seminal book, Human Competence: Engineering Worthy Performance (1978) provides a comprehensive systems analysis. In this session, we will present Gilbert’s Behavior Engineering Model and consider how it can be productively applied to the education system to improve student outcomes. Teachers are the focus in this session because they are primarily responsible for influencing student outcomes; however, for them to succeed, the educational system must create the necessary conditions for them to be effective. The Behavioral Engineering Model offers six conditions for competent performance. The first three describe environmental supports necessary. The second three conditions describe what is necessary to assure that the individual performer has the necessary repertoires to effectively educate students. In this session one of the presenters will describe the environmental conditions necessary and the other presenter will describe the personal repertoires and the responsibility of the system to assure they are present

The target audience for this symposium are BCBAs that work in public schools, individuals that are engaged in systems change, and anyone interested in educational reform.

Novice teachers and unlicensed classroom staff (aides or paraprofessionals) may not have sufficient training in evidence based practices to instruct, assess, and engage diverse learners. High teacher and staff turn-over negatively effects students and is costly to schools across the country. There is a high cost associated with finding, hiring, and training a new staff (Milanowski & Odden, 2007). School districts need to identify evidence-based strategies and provide effective training to keep novice teachers in the classroom. Teacher preparation programs provide limited instruction on classroom management strategies and school districts are left with the challenge of providing thorough and on-going professional development. Additionally, there is often limited time or opportunity for paraprofessionals to receive training in evidence based teaching and behavior reduction strategies, which puts time at a premium for any training which paraprofessionals do receive (Giangrecco, Suter, & Doyle, 2010). Schools need efficient and effective means to train classroom staff in evidence based practices. This presentation provides 3 examples of effective and efficient procedures for training school staff novel skills. First, we will review data from a study that used Behavior Skills Training (BST) and alternating methods of objective and evaluative feedback to increase the rate of behavior specific praise with novice teachers. The next presenter will examine the effects of BST for paraprofessionals on prompting and contriving communication exchanges with students who use augmentative and alternative communication devices. Finally, we will share the results of a workshop that included lecture, a card game, and video modeling to teach paraprofessionals how to conduct three conditions of a functional analysis.

Practitioners, graduate students, and teachers

Many assessment tools have been developed to assess a specific range of behaviors with specific populations. In addition, they often have a substantial body of research supporting their effectiveness to do so. Two examples of this are Functional Analysis (FA) methodology and the Performance Diagnostic Checklist (PDC), with the former most commonly used with individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities to assess significant behavioral excesses, and the latter most commonly used with adults in organizations to assess barriers to effective work performance. Such tools may have greater utility outside of these immediate areas and this symposium will present two examples of such expansion. The first presentation will discuss the use of FA procedures with 10 individuals on a simple data-entry task. Results suggest that the various antecedent and consequence variables presented were not differentially effective and that goal setting and rule-governed behavior may be responsible for the maintenance of behavior. The second presentation will discuss the use of the PDC to improve the health behaviors of four athletes. The resulting interventions produced some mixed results and the implications and future directions will be discussed. The symposium will conclude with some comments and thoughts from our esteemed discussant.

Practicing BCBAs, BCBAs who are administrators or supervise others, BCBAs practicing in areas of health behaviors or in the areas of sports performance

Behavior Analytic therapy centers use the assistance of hiring directors and recruiters more and more to find Registered Behavior Technicians to provide medically necessary treatment to individuals with Autism. The use of these positions are becoming more ubiquitous as our field continues to scale. Although helpful, recruiters and hiring directors have little to no experience with the day to day tasks of an RBT. This session will discuss the use of Virtual Reality exposure simulations in the use of disseminating what ABA treatment is, who this therapy can assist (e.g., individuals with target behaviors for reduction) and what are some of the expected soft and technical skills needed for this position. Also, this technology can be used as a training tool for new RBT recruits. Virtual reality allows for training directors to test and train new RBT recruits on the technical and soft skills used within a therapy setting, prior to placing said RBT on a case. The panel will also discuss the ethical ramifications when using this technology during the training and recruitment process and provide suggestions for future simulation creation and future case uses of this emerging technology within a clinical setting.

BCBAs, BCaBAs

International dissemination of behavior science is important for the continued growth of our field. The spread of behavior analysis potentiates the amelioration of much suffering around the world through enhanced educational practices, environmental conservation efforts and enhanced treatment for those with special needs. However, issues related to technical language have thwarted dissemination of behavior science. Matters such as agency and the tri-polar nature of behavior analytic accounts have made dissemination difficult even amongst native English speakers. This panel will explore the challenges of translating technical language from English into different languages, the impact that various approaches to translation have had on dissemination efforts and advice for best practices going forward.

Behavior analysts interested in international dissemination.