Association for Behavior Analysis International

Presenting Author: Dr. Francesca Degli Espinosa

At ABAI's 2026 Behavior Technician Conference in February 2026, Dr. Francesca Degli Espinosa presented Now We’re at the Table: What do we do? Getting the learner to the table is only the beginning. Before any teaching of novel skills can start, the structured teaching environment must be predictable, reinforcing, and free of conflict. This session will focus on the foundational repertoires that turn structured teaching into a cooperative chain between learner and educator. Through practical examples, the presentation will illustrate how to shape clean response cycles, focusing on how to build the components of the basic learning contingency (consumption, release, ready-to-learn response) and how to arrange the physical and social environment so that responses emerge with minimal prompting.

Instruction Level: Intermediate

Target Audience: Behavioural technicians and direct implementers

Learning Objectives:

1. Describe how to organise the environment to create predictable signals and transitions.
2. Differentiate the components of the basic learning contingency
3. Describe how to shape a clean response cycle with minimal verbal guidance.