Association for Behavior Analysis International

The hypothesis of this study was an intervention program comprised of elements from ABA-based intervention methods including discrete trial training (DTT), pivotal response training (PRT), social skills training (SST) and incidental teaching would improve the social skills of children with ASD and lead to generalization of those skills across conversational partners and environments. From the literature that was reviewed prior to the study, the researcher found that the practice of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) significantly improves deficits in social skills. Among ABA-based, research-supported treatment methods are DTT, PRT, SST and incidental teaching. The researcher used components of these to design a program to teach social skills to three participants. The guiding research question explored in this research study was as follows; How does a well-designed, ABA intervention method comprised of SST, DTT, PRT and incidental teaching components impact the development and generalization of social and communicative skills?

The purpose of this meta-analysis is to compile articles from several evidence-based sources to examine the effects of parent training when providing Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) services. The primary measurement tool identified in these studies were questionnaires that utilized a likert scale. Preliminary results of meta-analysis indicate that, overall, parents saw an increase across several of their child's skills by using Applied Behavior Analysis principles and procedures (McPhilemy and Dillenburger, 2013). Questionnaires and likert scales were also used to measure the stress level of parents before and after receiving Applied Behavior Analysis therapy. Preliminary results showed that parents reported feeling less stressed after their child received Applied Behavior Analysis services (Keenan, Dillenburger, Doherty, Byrne, & Gallagher, 2007). Articles reviewed also detailed specific methods of how to implement parent training through the use of video clips and child confederates (Stocco and Thompson, 2015). Parent training is a necessary component that can provide further education and assistance to families with children who engage in problem behaviors or require assistance with skill acquisition.

In Developmental support, the "Behavior consultation" technique has been proposed " to change behavior of both supporters and children" by intervention with supporters (Kato, Oishi, 2011). Until now, case studies of Behavior consultation have been built for teachers. However, applying the techniques to parents has been insufficient (Brookman-Frazee et al., 2009). Many studies on behavior consultation were focused on case studies. It is necessary to construct a systematic program in order to widely adapt this support technique. The current study was designed to make the fidelity checklist for behavior consultation and evaluate the novice consultant to demonstrate reliability and validity of this fidelity. Five mothers of children with ASD participated in this study. Consultant was the expert of developmental support and solving behavior problems. Each child was provided with development support for one year, and in parallel with support, consultation was given to parents four times. We recorded conversations during the consultation and converted it into text data. We classified verbal behavior of the consultant. As a result, we can extract consultant's verbal behavior into 11 items. We could create a fidelity checklist and can evaluate the consultation by the novice consultant using the checklist.

Families of children with autism often have a discrepancy between the availability of services in their community and their needs for services. The lack of compatibility can be either they live in distant areas or they are on long waiting lists for services. In recent decades, the technology to support online meeting has developed rapidly. Researchers have investigated that the telehealth technologies are an effective tool to increase the implementation of children's skills in parents and caregivers of children with autism. Also, they have found the effectiveness of using telehealth technologies to reach families who live in distant areas and difficult to receive services. Telehealth technology can be a tool to exchange information through electronic communications between therapists and families and also improve services to meet children's unique needs. Parents and caregivers participate in training at home with cost and time efficient. The purpose of this review is to examine the literature on parent and caregiver coaching by using telehealth technologies utilized a single-case design for families of children with autism. Researchers will provide the results and discussions on the implications for practice to bridge the gap in providing the telehealth technologies service.

Emotion recognition, both verbal and nonverbal, has been shown to be a pivotal skill in the development of meaningful relationships throughout an individual's life time. However, many individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) experience difficulty when engaging in social interactions and perspective taking skills which may inhibit their ability to develop these relationships (Cappodocia & Weiss, 2011). The present study focused on the effectiveness of a computer-based intervention program, The Transporters (Golan & Baron-Cohen, 2006), in teaching emotion recognition skills to individuals with ASD with limited language abilities. In previous research, using an experimental design with 20 children with high-functioning ASD, Golan and Baron-Cohen (2006) found that after 4 weeks of watching The Transporters the ASD intervention group significantly improved their ability to identify emotions. The current study, a multiple baseline design included three participants, ages 2-6 years old. Participants watched a minimum of 3 episodes of The Transporters focusing on a particular emotion every day for four weeks. Each participant was then tested twice weekly on their ability to identify each of the 15 emotions targeted, both receptively and through non-identical emotion recognition matching. Results revealed that The Transporters program did not consistently increase the participant's abilities to recognize the 15 emotions targeted in this study, with mastery ranging from 13-46% of emotions. Findings in the present study are contrasted to the original Golan and Baron-Cohen (2006) findings and are discussed in terms of design structure, sample size, and prerequisite skills of the participants.

A variety of prompting procedures have been used to aid in the acquisition of aquatic skills. The effectiveness of within-session and across-session variations of prompting procedures for teaching aquatic skills was evaluated for 1 participant diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The first variation, within session, consisted of varying prompts within session contingent on correct responding. The second variation, across session, consisted of using most-to-least prompting and decreasing the prompt level based on a predetermined number of correct trials (i.e., changing the prompts across sessions). Prior to implementation of both treatments, the participant was evaluated using American Red Cross Learn-to-Swim level 1 and level 2 criteria. Both treatments were evaluated using a multiple baseline across skills. Data indicated that both variations were effective on the acquisition of aquatic skills; however, varying prompts within session led to a quicker rate of acquisition. Implications for using varied prompts during swimming instruction of clients with ASD is discussed.

Rapid progress in robotics offers tremendous possibilities for innovation in training for individuals with ASDs. However, the efficacy and effectiveness research on this topic is in its infancy. This study aims to investigate how a humanoid robot can facilitate social interaction skills of kids with ASDs. Four children with ASDs age 5-10 were selected to participate in the investigation. Therapists were trained by attending workshop covering ASD, EIBI, ABA, DTT, NET and PBS, and under the supervision of a BCBA throughout this study. Each child participated in an average of thirty-two trials during a period of six months. The trials were designed to progressively move from very simple exposure to the robot to more complex opportunities for interaction. A quantitative and qualitative analysis was conducted. The four children with ASDs all showed improvement in their social interaction skills based on the multi-baseline designs across subjects. In some cases, the children used the robot as a mediator, an object of shared attention, for their interaction with other human beings. The findings clearly demonstrate the need for, and benefits of, long-term studies in order to reveal the full potential of humanoid robots in the therapy and education of children with ASDs.

Vocal stereotypy is a common characteristic of individuals with autism and can be defined as repetitive, topographically invariant vocal responses that have no apparent social function. In a community-based program this stereotypy can be particularly disruptive, stigmatizing, and can impact an individual's availability to learn. This study used a stimulus discrimination procedure using two different visual cues (green bracelet and red bracelet) in order to teach an adolescent with autism to differentiate when it was and was not appropriate to engage in self-talk. A multiple baseline design with changing criterion component was used to implement the intervention across targeted environments once control was established in the initial environment. Both stimuli were reinforced using a thick schedule of specific social praise paired with intermittent edible and contingent tangible reinforcers. Self-talk was reduced incrementally as criteria were achieved. Results indicated an increase in performance across several target skills and a 90% reduction in self-talk was achieved across environments. Generalization probes indicated that generalization could be achieved in the home setting (non-targeted environment). Social validity measures (parent survey) indicated high satisfaction with the procedures.

The purpose of this study was to extend previous research on RIRD for vocal stereotypy by comparing the effectiveness of extinction versus RIRD in reducing vocal stereotypy of a 15 year-old boy with ASD. Contingent on vocal stereotypy, during each session the researcher would interrupt vocal stereotypy by presenting vocal demands and redirection to appropriate vocalizations would occur after the student successful responded to the vocal demands. At the beginning of the study, on average, the participant engaged in vocal stereotypy for 47.9 minutes per session, which was reduced to 28 minutes per session by the end of the study. The intervention was effective in reducing vocal stereotypy and controlling the variability at which the vocal stereotypy occurred across sessions.

The purpose of the current study was to: (a) evaluate the effectiveness of a treatment package involving antecedent stimulus control and Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior (DRO) on the duration of acceptance for others to join in on the child's activity and to; (b) introduce the revised treatment package across different settings. This project was also to fulfill supervision hours of the Behavior Certified Assistant Behavior Analyst (BCaBA). Supervision was done remotely via real time video conferencing outside of the United States by Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBA). Participant is a three year old child diagnosed with Autism. First, a structured ABC analysis was conducted to determine the possible function of the problem behavior and results indicated that it may be maintained by positive reinforcement (i.e., doing something by himself). Then a multiple probe design was conducted across three settings; table activities of KNZ(Beijing KNZ Autism Family Support Center), non-table activities of KNZ and the participant's home. Finally, different activities across different family members at home were targeted to ensure generalization. Results showed an increase on the duration of quietly acceptance for other to join in participant's activity across all three settings and also across multiple family members.

Motor stereotypy is a problematic behavior commonly displayed in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that interferes with skill acquisition during academic programming. Response Interruption and Redirection (RIRD) is gaining support in reducing these behaviors, however, there are limitations specific to generalization. The current study sought to investigate the effects of RIRD in conjunction with stimulus control (SC) training and generalization probing (GP) on motor stereotypy when implemented during early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI). Eight children with ASD were assigned across four conditions using an A-B design: 1) experimental (RIRD + SC + GP), 2) traditional treatment (RIRD + GP), 3) clinical control (EIBI + GP), and 4) waitlist controls. Results demonstrated that RIRD + SC + GP produced immediate reductions in motor stereotypy to near zero rates during treatment, with reductions maintaining post-treatment. Participants receiving this intervention package also met mastery criteria across generalization conditions in the clinic setting in fewer sessions compared to other groups. Furthermore, large effect sizes (d = 0.86) were noted specific to motor stereotypy post-treatment based on parent report. Results of this study extend the literature by emphasizing the utility of combining RIRD and SC procedures to reduce motor stereotypy and enhance generalization. Considerations of using this procedure and avenues for future research are discussed.

Video modeling (VM) has demonstrated efficacy in teaching a variety of skills to learners with autism. Studies support the use of VM to teach many different skills, including: social skills, functional communication, generalized imitation, appropriate transition behavior, and vocational tasks to learners of all ages (Alexander, Ayres, Smith, Shepley, & Mataras, 2013; Cardon, 2012; Cihak, Fahrenkrog, Ayres, & Smith, 2010; O'Handley, Radley, & Whipple, 2015; Plavnick & Ferreri, 2011). This study examined the use of VM with three high school student-teacher dyads. Each of the three students learned a new skill with VM and achieved mastery criteria (80% or above across three consecutive trials); furthermore, all three teachers achieved high fidelity on the VM intervention (averages of 76.11%, 91.5%, and 91.5%). Results for both student skills and teacher fidelity are discussed. Lastly, recommendations for future research based on these findings are included.

We conducted a series of paired-stimulus preference assessments (PAs) with 5 individuals diagnosed with developmental disabilities. First, we conducted single-category PAs with edibles, leisure activities, and social consequences. Next, we conducted combined-category PAs with the highest preference items from each category. Finally, we evaluated preference for choice using an 8-item paired-stimulus PA that included choice between the highest preference item of each category, choice between the highest preference items within a category, the highest preference item from a category (no-choice), and a control. All PAs were repeated until a Pearson product-moment coefficient of at least 0.6 was achieved. For 3 participants, edibles displaced preference for leisure and social stimuli. For all participants during the choice Pas, access to an item from the highest preference category was a more reliable predictor of preference than access to choice. We conducted progressive ratio reinforcer assessments with all 5 participants using the highest preference item from each category and a control condition; for each participant, results were consistent with their PAs. We collected IOA on at least 30% of PAs and reinforcer assessments with a mean IOA score of 100% and 98% respectively.

Differential reinforcement of compliance is a common intervention for escape-maintained problem behavior that involves (a) arranging escape-extinction for problem behavior and (b) delivering a break, often with access to positive reinforcers, following compliance. The early stages of this intervention are characterized by low-work requirements with simple tasks to increase the likelihood of compliance contacting reinforcement. After this initial intervention phase, task chaining is characteristically used to increase work periods to practically useful levels. This data-based case study including a seven-year-old female diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder details task chaining following an initial differential reinforcement of compliance intervention. An increase in the quantity of a task was fulfilled and subsequently followed by an increase in the task complexity and exposure to a novel discriminative stimulus. This case study demonstrates that this approach not only reduces problem behavior and increase compliance, but also results in the development of progressively more complex skills.

Parent training is an integral part of intervention programs for children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder. Behavioral skills training has shown itself to be an effective training method. Research has shown it to be successful teaching staff and parents to implement applied behavior analysis programs, however, there has been limited research specifically on training parents to implement discrete trial training and the ability to generalize those skills to other programs. Discrete trial training is a component of many applied behavior analysis intervention programs that can lead to increased child outcomes. This study investigated the effects of using behavior skills training with three parent-child dyads. All children had an Autism Spectrum Disorder Diagnosis and both parent and child had had limited to no exposure to applied behavior analysis. Results showed that while behaviors skills training was an effective methods, generalization and social validity were mixed and long-term impact of training was likely minimal. Results were discussed in relation to developing effective and efficient parent training programs.

This research examined the barriers to assessment and intervention for people with autism in Nigeria. Participants were drawn from three different but purposive groups: 1) parents of children with autism, 2) professionals who worked directly with individuals who had autism or knew someone with autism and 3) the general population made up of individuals from all walks of life—menial labourers, corporate employees, students, church-goers, teachers and the unemployed. No standardised questionnaire was available so questionnaires were developed by the researcher. Questions were structured in a way that specific responses relevant to the research questions were elicited. Findings include the lack of adequately trained personnel that can assess and design intervention programmes for individuals with autism, low levels of awareness about autism, lack of services and cost of services as barriers. In addition, the attitude and beliefs of the people constituted barriers as well. Implications of the results were discussed with suggestions for future studies.

Historically, children with autism spectrum disorder have difficulty with medical procedures including, but not limited to, dental exams. A study by Loo, Graham, and Hughes in 2008, found that patients with autism were more likely to exhibit problem behavior (self injury, aggression, property destruction) during dental exams. Research has shown that reinforcement schedules and shaping procedures can be effective in increasing positive behaviors and teaching skills. The current study examined the use of differential reinforcement during a dental desensitization program to increase compliance with dental cleanings across several students diagnosed with autism. Baseline and preference assessments were conducted for each individual to determine level of toleration to dental cleanings and to determine potential reinforcers. Differential reinforcement was implemented for completion of task analysis steps comprised of actions completed during a dental cleaning using a set schedule of reinforcement. As progress was achieved, the schedule of reinforcement was thinned. Two individuals have progressed to generalization. Differential reinforcement has proved to be effective within this desensitization program. Inter-observer agreement was completed in 42 out of 83 sessions for one participant with an average of 100% and in 21 out of 36 sessions for a second participant with an average of 98.5%.

There are decades of research literature that support the effective application of applied behavior analysis (ABA) in schools that have students with special needs including autism spectrum disorder. Students ranging in age from preschool through secondary have benefited from ABA and its effectiveness. In light of the global economic downturn over the last decade, the costs of services for children having special needs has been analyzed and scrutinized across many levels of bureaucratic systems. Through its evidence-based methods, focus on relevant outcome data, and systematic measurement practices, ABA has offered many educational stakeholders the best way forward for one of modern society's biggest behavioral health problems. The present study partially replicates a treatment package and shows the outcomes of instruction in terms of cost in dollars using a cost benefit analysis. We reviewed three years of outcome data from an international school for students having special needs in Hong Kong. Special instruction with ABA was provided in individual, group, and inclusive classroom settings using learn units as the basic unit of instruction. A cost benefit analysis showed the relative dollar amounts of the learn unit and instructional objectives, adjusted for inflation, and compared across previous studies.

Individuals on the autism spectrum with co-occurring intellectual disorder have a delayed and very often limited academic achievement. Despite educational provisions pupils on the moderate and severe end of the spectrum fail to acquire meaningful reading and comprehension skills. This research supported by the charity RESPECT and Marie Curie actions, will focus on the reading and comprehension skills of individuals with autism and moderate to severe intellectual disability, using Headsprout early reading (HER) program on a touch screen device. The study had 6 participants with autism, 8-13 y, attending different classes of a special school. These pupils had minimal reading skills and exhibited challenges with learning readiness behaviour. Strategies were put in place to address, time on task, turn taking, waiting, read aloud and acquisition of reading skills. Single subject design using Intervention for 5-13 weeks with 2-3 lessons per week, showed gains in learning readiness behaviour and in reading skills. Pre- and post reading assessment was carried out using either Dynamic indicators of early literacy skills (DIBELS) or the Non-verbal literacy assessment (NVLA) tool.

Improving speech intelligibility in children with autism with limited vocal repertoires is the focus of many early intensive behavior programs. Phonetic hand cueing systems (HC) are commonly promoted in commercially available speech-language products (Carahaly, 2012; Kaufman, 2007; Strode, 1994), however, research on effectiveness is limited (Hall and Jordan, 1992, Jordan 1988, Klick, 1985, Stelton & Graves 1985). This series of exploratory studies examines the effectiveness of HC as a stimulus control transfer procedure to improve vowel duration and articulatory precision in participants with autism with limited vocal behavior. Results of the initial multiple baseline across HC for consonants revealed rapid acquisition of 20 HC, steady acquisition of 248 single word echoics when HC were used as an antecedent prompt, and an increase in words and phrases improved when HC were used as error correction during natural environment training. Preliminary findings of a multiple baseline design across HC for vowels with three participants showed improved vowel duration and the effectiveness of the HC as a stimulus control transfer procedure to syllables is currently being studied. Results confirm previous case study findings that phonetic hand cues may be an effective intervention in promoting speech production skills in children with autism with limited vocal repertoires.

The study aimed to evaluate the effects of a five-day parent training program to teach Chinese parents to use behavioral techniques with their children with autism. Ten parents and five children participated in the study. The training covered techniques such as reinforcement, DTT, NET. Both children and parents' behaviors were measured before and after the training. Main results indicated that parents' overall correct use of behavioral techniques improved from 25% to 78% of trials; the average number of effective DTT delivered by parents increased from five to 21 per hour after training; and the children's appropriate response to his or her name being called from 3 meters away increased from 23% to 82%; and the frequency of eye contact with parents increased from 5 to 15 per hour. Parents highly rated the training program and follow up evaluations indicated that parents continued to use the behavioral strategies with their children.

Stimulus control involves antecedent and consequent manipulations that establish a stimulus as highly correlated with the differential availability of reinforcement. A teacher's presence can come to function as a discriminative stimulus for a student's behavior through the repeated distribution of positive reinforcers contingent upon cooperation with demands. Colored cards can serve as more salient stimuli to facilitate stimulus control. In this study, an individual with autism in a behaviorally based residential program who engaged in ritualistic and routine behavior was selected as a participant. The speed with which the individual would complete routines surrounding transitions between environments had become a safety concern. A familiar teacher delivered verbal prompts ("stop" and "go slow") paired with visual stimuli (red and yellow cards, respectively) and provided edible reinforcers for responding appropriately to these prompts. This procedure was implemented across four distinct transition routines according to a multiple baseline design. Transition duration increased to acceptable levels in each context. Acceptable transition durations were based on those of a peer whose transitions were regarded as "appropriate" by staff members. In addition, successful probes were conducted with novel staff, during novel transition routines, and during non-routine activities.

Attention is a naturalistic and practical reinforcer for use in educational settings. However, limited research has been conducted on identifying preferred forms of attention among individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In addition, it remains unclear whether attention may be displaced when included in stimulus arrays with leisure and edible items. We assessed the preference and reinforcing efficacy of edible items, leisure items, and forms of attention in an individual with ASD. Independent and combined pictorial paired-stimulus preference assessments of these three stimulus categories were conducted. Next, we conducted a concurrent-operant reinforcer assessment to determine the relative and absolute reinforcing efficacy of the highly-preferred stimuli from each category. Reliability data were collected for 25% of sessions and averaged over 99.2%. Leisure and attention were found to be more highly preferred than edible items, and leisure was found to be more highly preferred than attention. All stimuli functioned as reinforcers for push-ups in reinforcer assessment.

A number of studies have demonstrated that individuals with developmental disabilities are more likely to select edible items over non-edible items in formal preference assessments such as multiple-stimulus-without-replacement. However, this phenomenon has not been examined with pretask choice preference assessments. Due to time restraints in typical practice, pretask choice preference assessments are often used in place of formal preference assessments. The purpose of this ongoing study is to determine whether individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are also more likely to select edible items in pretask choice preference assessments. The pretask choice preference assessments consist of presenting one edible and one non-edible item and instructing the participant to choose one. Data collected in phase one of this study showed that in this type of assessment children with autism spectrum disorder selected non-edible items on 54% of opportunities, and significant individual differences in percent of edibles selection were revealed: For 10 participants the percentage of edibles selection varied from 11 to 96. The second phase of the study examines pretask choice between one edible and one non-edible item identified as highest preferred in two separate multiple-stimulus-without-replacement assessments with additional participants. Ethical considerations related to using various types of reinforcers will also be discussed.

Prompting procedures are supports and assistance provided to the child to help him or her acquire skills and successfully perform behaviors [Bellini & Peters (2008, p. 864)]. Although studies have indicated teacher prompting increases social interactions, [Gunter, Fox, Brady, Shores, et al. (1988)], prompting procedures face limitations in regards to the possible inability of children to generalize social skills after prompting has been removed. Current study involved using modeling prompting strategies to teach private and public behavior, personal safety and conversation skills to 6 -8 participants under Autism Spectrum Disorder during 1 hour of social instruction per week. Results showed that modeling prompts using peers and adults as models increases the outcomes of social skills training for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Pica, the ingestion of inedible items, is prevalent among individuals with developmental disabilities (Danford & Huber, 1982) and may have serious medical implications. The purpose of this study is to assess whether a differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) program, in which exchanging found items for edible items, is effective in reducing the pica of a 9-year-old boy diagnosed with autism. In prior publications, this type of DRA was typically used in conjunction with response blocking. Therefore, this study also included a component analysis of the efficacy of the DRA with and without response blocking, as well as an analysis of the effects of therapist proximity. Results showed that keeping the therapist in close proximity helped suppress pica, even when blocking was not in place. Finally, mixed and multiple schedules were evaluated as ways to fade treatment while maintaining low levels of pica. Results to date show that both mixed and multiple schedules are effective in thinning the availability of reinforcement while maintaining low levels of pica. Interobserver agreement data were collected for 33% of sessions and averaged 96%.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are more likely to be obese than their typically developing peers (CDC, 2014). One way to combat obesity is to increase physical activity. Although there are numerous recommended strategies for increasing leisure item engagement among individuals with ASD, there is limited research on increasing physical activity among this population. In the current study, a progressive treatment approach for increasing physical activity was evaluated in an individual with ASD. Multiple baseline across exercise activities and reversal designs were used to demonstrate experimental control. Treatment conditions included prompting alone, prompting combined with noncontingent reinforcement (NCR), and prompting combined with differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA). Dependent variables included activity engagement, stereotoypy, and heart rate. Prompting combined with DRA was most effective in increasing activity with two activities (pedaling on a stationary bike and stepping up and down on a bosu ball), and prompting alone was sufficient for increasing physical activity with one activity (walking on a treadmill). Minimal differences in stereotypy and heart rate measures were observed across conditions for all activities. Interobserver agreement was calculated for 33% of sessions and averaged over 95% across dependent variables.

Catatonia is marked by behavioral features involving disturbances in speech, movement (APA, 2013). Similarly, autism spectrum disorders are defined by behavioral deficits in social interaction and restricted, repetitive behaviors and interests (APA, 2013). Autism Related Catatonia is marked by increased slowness, difficulty initiating and completing actions, increased reliance on prompting, passivity, and an increase in repetitive and ritualistic behavior (Wing & Shah, 2000). Many individuals with autism related catatonia are noted to present with posturing, freezing, and to exhibit agitated movements. Current estimates suggest that autism related catatonia is present in 12-18% of individuals with an existing autism spectrum diagnosis (DeJong, Bunton, & Hare, 2014). Empirical literature supporting evidence-based treatment for autism related catatonia is limited and includes use of medication, electroconvulsive shock therapy, and behavioral treatments (DeJong et al., 2014). The current proposal describes the modification of a self-monitoring protocol (Everett & Dennis, 2009) that was implemented with a 19 year old male with autism related catatonia to reduce motor stereotypy. The protocol included a discrimination procedure to identify motor stereotypy, establishing stimulus control, self-recording, and shaping of the absence of behavior. Data demonstrates a 38% reduction in motor stereotypy, reflecting a meaningful change in behavior that allows for increased learning opportunities. The treatment protocol was then implemented in a multiple baseline across staff design. Reductions in motor stereotypy generalized across three additional staff with some variability in maintenance data. Findings support that implementation of a self-monitoring protocol has been effective in reducing, but not extinguishing rates of motor stereotypy in an individual with autism related catatonia. Findings will be discussed relative to the complexities of autism-related catatonia.

The Behavior Technician Level One (BTL1) Certificate Program is the first ever nationally accredited training and education program for behavior technicians who are delivering over 80% of the direct ABA treatment and services to individuals diagnosed with Autism. The program achieved American National Standards Institute (ANSI) accreditation in June 2017. The competencies are solidly based in a comprehensive job analysis of the job role of the behavior technician. The program will prepare behavior technicians with a strong basic foundation in the basic concepts and principles of applied behavior analysis within the context of Autism treatment and Person Centered approaches. This certificate program is intended for workforce development to address an immediate broad service need. The achievement of ANSI accreditation sets the precedence for the need for standardized training and education for the behavior technician. Standardization of the training and education for the behavior technician is a critical component in establishing the behavior technician as a profession. Establishing the behavior technician as a profession is essential in the context of fidelity and continuity of treatment delivery to individuals diagnosed with Autism. Accreditation for the BTL1 is based upon ANSI/ASTM E2659-09 (Standard Practice for Certificate Programs). ANSI's accreditation process adheres to ISO/IEC 17011, the international standard defining quality third-party accreditation practices. The Behavior Technician Level One Certificate Program has been created and guided by an appropriate and aligned system of analysis, program design, development, implementation and evaluation. ANSI accreditation of the BTL1 Certificate Program signifies that the BTL1 certificate holder has completed a prescribed course of study designed specifically to meet predefined industry requirements-and that Innovative Learning LLC has met, and continues to meet, standards for quality improvement. ANSI accreditation is nationally and internationally recognized as a mark of quality and assures that ABA employers can have confidence that the BTL1 certificate holder has completed the prescribed course of study. Demonstrating compliance to ANSI/ASTM E2659-09 Standards, the BTL1 Certificate Program furthers the development of a well-educated, qualified, and professional workforce.

Children with autism spectrum disorders have shown more food selectivity than typically developing children. This study evaluated the long-term effects of feeding interventions for three young children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. In the first phase of treatment, a food interaction hierarchy paired with contingent reinforcement was evaluted. All three participants successfully engaged in food interaction beahviours during treatment. However, once portion sizes and amount for target foods were increased, the efficacy of the hierarchical approach decreased for all participants. This current 2 year follow-up study, compares the original experimental design to the modifications made for each participant in order to continue progress in various aspects of mealtime behaviour, specifically increasing rate of eating for two participants and decreasing packing behaviours for the other. Introducing a rate contingency for two of the participants, and texture fading procedure for the third. These modifications were successful in increase food consumption for all participants. These findings can provide additional strategies that can be used as part of a treatment package to reduce food refusal and increase food acceptance.

Parent-school communication is a highly valued type of involvement for parents of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), but parents report poor communication as a barrier to working with the schools. Although sometimes informally addressed using school-home notes, no research has examined the effects of school-home communication interventions for children with ASD. This multiple baseline across participants study evaluated the effects of school-home notes with home-based contingent reinforcement in decreasing off-task behavior of students with ASD at school. Participants included four student-parent-teacher triads. Two of the four participants showed clear behavior change, which precluded demonstration of functional relations. However, all participating parents and teachers reported the school-home note and parent-implemented contingent reinforcement were highly feasible and acceptable, and indicated positive outcomes relating to improved family-school partnership and communication. Findings of this study, which meets single case design standards and quality indicators, have relevant implications for future research and practice, including the importance of parent partnership with the school. Additionally, there is a need to replicate this study with participants who are similar to the two for whom the intervention was most clearly effective in reducing off-task behavior at school.

Functional communication training (FCT) is an efficacious treatment used to decrease problem behavior and increase communication in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). FCT involves reinforcing the emission of a functional communication response (FCR) with the functional reinforcers identified in a functional analysis and placing problem behavior on extinction (Carr & Durand, 1985). In the present study, a reversal design was used to evaluate the utility of the interview-informed synthesized contingency analysis (IISCA; Hanley, Jin, Vanselow, & Hanratty, 2014) in the identification of functional reinforcers for problem behavior to be used in subsequent FCT. The participants were two students diagnosed with ASD, who were enrolled in an early-learner program in a private school for students with ASD. Both participants engaged in severe self-injury for which previous treatments were ineffective. For both participants, the IISCA led to the identification of functional reinforcers and FCT resulted in a decrease in self-injurious behavior and an increase in the target communicative response. Interobserver agreement was assessed during 54% (for Participant 1) and 50% (for Participant 2) of sessions across assessment and treatment conditions. Mean agreement was 98% (for Participant 1) and 96% (for Participant 2).

Learning PECS is associated with improved communication and reduced problem for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). While functional analysis (FA) is best practice for determining the functions of problem behavior, there are some occasions in which severe problem behavior, or practitioner discipline and training may limit its use in communication intervention. To this end, practitioners may bypass FA and directly use PECS even though it only addresses a tangible function. Therefore, modifying the PECS protocol to teach mands across functions may be an efficient solution to address varying functions of problem behavior. In this study, we taught PECS to three children with ASD who exhibited problem behavior using the FA paradigm (e.g., LaRue et al., 2011). The children were exposed to three conditions in which PECS mands were taught: attention, tangible, and escape (e.g., LaBelle, Jones, Charlop, & Thomas, 2016). Acquisition rate of PECS mands and presence of problem behavior in training sessions were used to infer probable function of the children's problem behavior. Results showed differentiation in mand acquisition across the PECS-FA training conditions for all three children. Treatments were then designed according to PECS-FA results, and all three children decreased problem behavior and improved appropriate behavior.

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disability that impacts social interactions, as well as restrictive, repetitive, and stereotypical behaviors (DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Currently, there is an increasing trend of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), a 57% of rise from 2002 to 2006, as well as bilingualism or English Language Learners (ELL) in the US. Bilingualism is the ability to speak two languages and ELL are those who study in public systems that require modified instruction in English. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) indicated that, "the percentage of public school students in the United States who were ELLs was higher in school year 2014–15 (9.4 percent, or estimated 4.6 million students) than in 2004–05 (9.1 percent, or an estimated 4.3 million students)." (U.S. Department of Education, 2017). Due to the rising rates of bilingual individuals and the diagnosis of ASD, it is likely practitioners will work with this population during their career. The purpose of this study is to review literature on what research based interventions there are for this population. Information from 70 different articles are studied to compose of a mapping review for what literature says are the best practices for bilinguals with ASD.

Despite the fact that the presence of restricted repetitive behaviors is one of the diagnostic features of autism (American Psychological Association, 2013), these characteristics have not received the same level of attention in the research literature as social and communication deficits (Murray & Healy, 2015). Restricted repetitive patterns of play are commonly observed in individuals with autism (Wilson et al., 2017). This may result in limited contact with social reinforcement (Miller & Neuringer, 2000). Research has demonstrated that implementing lag schedules of reinforcement can increase toy play variability in children with intellectual disability (Baruni, Rapp, Lipe, & Novonty, 2014). The current study replicated and extended Baruni et al. (2014) with three children with autism in the United Arab Emirates. A non-concurrent multiple baseline design was employed to investigate the effects of lag schedules of reinforcement on producing novel toy play responses. At baseline, probes assessed novel play responses in a natural play setting. During intervention, tokens were delivered using lag 1 and 2 schedules of reinforcement. Post-intervention generalization probes, maintenance probes and social validity measures were conducted. The findings are discussed along with limitations and areas for future research.

Many children with autism experience challenges related to healthy sleeping. Poor sleep can impair availability to instruction, reduce potential skill acquisition, and disrupt quality of life for other family members. Connor, a four-year-old boy diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), began experiencing challenges related to falling and staying asleep after his parent stayed with him while he fell asleep while Connor was ill. Specifically, Connor would engage in tantrum behavior if the parent did not lay on his bed with him or attempted to leave the bed. A remotely-delivered coaching intervention was implemented to help parents manage Connor's sleep by using a bedtime routine, systematically fading proximity, and placing overnight out-of-bed behavior on an extinction schedule. Minutes of sleep and proportion of time asleep overnight increased as a result of these interventions, and outcomes generalized across settings. At the conclusion of intervention, Connor's parents were positioned outside his bedroom while he fell asleep. Limitations, future steps, and replication of these outcomes will be discussed.

Sabrina, 6-year old girl with Autism Spectrum Disorder, displayed aggressive behavior when prompted to the bathroom and lifetime history of urination and bowel movement accidents prior to intervention. After acquiring toileting skills and initiations to use the restroom, she initiated at rates high enough to be disruptive to instruction throughout the school day (i.e., at times upwards of 10 initiations per hour) following this. The hypothesized function of access to tangibles (i.e., preferred movies) was disrupted and initiations were successfully brought under control of experiencing a full bladder. Special consideration was needed given Sabrina's prior history of along A treatment package consisting of magnification of establishing operations to create teaching opportunities (i.e., increasing fluid intake), instructor prompts to use the restroom based on reliable idiosyncratic toileting precursors (rather than time intervals), and thinning reinforcement was effective to increase the percentage of toileting visits resulting in successful voids while maintaining an appropriate level of initiations and voids during school hours and zero-levels of accidents. Taken together, results suggest that toileting initiations are currently evoked by appropriate motivating operations rather than inappropriately maintained by access to tangible reinforcement. Sabrina has had only one, illness-related, accident in the past 15 months. Over the past three months, Sabrina has initiated for the restroom an average of 4 times per day in the absence of instructor-mediated reinforcement, resulting in successful voids 3.9 times per day on average.

A potential limitation of first-trial data collection is fewer teaching trials per session when compared to trial-by-trial or continuous data collection. The current study examined the effects of self-monitoring with a set criterion on the frequency of acquisition trials conducted per two-hour ABA session. Subjects were three Registered Behavior Technicians (RBTs), with low rates of teaching trials during sessions as a basis for selection. During baseline, an independent observer recorded the frequency of teaching trials and RBTs were directed to run as many trials as possible on acquisition targets. During the intervention phase, instructors were provided with a data sheet to tally each teaching trial for acquisition targets, including a set criterion for frequency. No data on the performance of the learner was collected as part of the tally. For all three participants, the number of teaching trials increased during the self-monitoring phase. The overall mean was 3.4 trials during baseline, and 22.7 trials during the intervention phase.

Previous literature has examined the efficacy of the high-probability request sequence to treat food selectivity in young children. Results of these studies have varied and have mostly been conducted with a population of children diagnose d with developmental delays or feeding disorders. The current study extended previous research by examining the efficacy of the high- probability request sequence to treat food selectivity in children diagnosed with ASD aged 3- to 5-years old in the absence of escape extinction procedures. A multiple baseline design with an embedded withdrawal condition was utilized to examine the effects of the high-probability request sequence on food acceptance across food groups. A sequential high-probability request sequence consisted of three presentations of a high-probability request immediately followed by a low- probability request. Participants were gradually exposed to nonpreferred food items through a hierarchy of responses that began with touching the food and ended with the terminal response of chewing and swallowing the food.

The Core Skills Assessment (CSA) evaluates a set of 52 socially validated foundational skills necessary for higher-level learning and independent functioning for individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and related disabilities. Understanding how performance of these skills in children with ASDs compares to typically developing children may help educators and clinicians better understand the impact of skill deficits and prioritize skills to teach, and may help in generating questions for future research. The CSA was administered to 24 typically developing children and 24 children diagnosed with ASDs in their typical school environments. Significant differences between groups were found (p<.05) for 9 skills, and 5 of these skills were related to speaker and listener repertories. Performance on all 9 of these skills in the ASD group was correlated with overall performance on the CSA for these children, further suggesting their importance as critical foundational skills and the need for prioritization in treatment. Interobserver agreement was collected in 33% of sessions and was 98% (range 80-100).

Several decades of research by Frances McSweeney and colleagues have documented decrements in operant responding over the course of basic research sessions with rats and pigeons. These decreases in rate of response are primarily due to the repeated contact with reinforcement that occurs over the course of operant sessions. Decreases in the effectiveness of reinforcement due to repeated contact is generally referred to as satiation in the applied literature but basic research has shown that this phenomenon has much more in common with respondent literature on habitation and therefore McSweeney and colleagues suggest the adoption of the term habituation to describe these effects. Despite the ubiquity of habituation to reinforcement in basic research, very little research has attempted to identify whether the same phenomenon occurs during applied behavior analytic (ABA) treatment. The current study evaluates latency to response during learning opportunities during the course of regular daily ABA sessions in children with autism in order to detect whether dishabituation to reinforcement is occurring during therapy sessions. The study is still ongoing but preliminary data suggest that habituation may be occurring for one of three participants. Frequent preference assessments and breaks during instruction likely serve to mitigate against habituation to reinforcement during high-quality ABA therapy sessions. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of behavioral skills training on the implementation of an evidence-based teaching method by student interventionists for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Three elementary school students were trained to use an applied behavior analysis (ABA) based instructional method, known as discrete trial training (DTT), to teach academic skills to children with ASD. A multiple baseline across individuals was used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the behavioral skills training and peer-mediated DTT procedures. Generalization of the interventionist's ability to teach new, previously untrained target behaviors was assessed by conducting generalization probes throughout the study. The results of this study replicated the results of previous studies that have demonstrated the utility of BST to train others to implement DTT in school settings. And, similar to previous research, peer-mediated DTT resulted in an improvement in the acquisition of targeted academic skills. Furthermore, this study provided preliminary evidence that the elementary students may generalize DTT procedures across a variety of target skills. Additional research is needed to determine the long-term effectiveness of peer-mediated DTT in school settings.

In Mexico, there is no data about the prevalence of problems in eating behavior in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The aim of this study was to identify the frequency and type of inappropriate mealtime behaviors as well as the variety of food consumed in this population. Parents of 45 children with a diagnosis of ASD answered a questionnaire to obtain information about demographic characteristics of children and their families, problematic behaviors and the type and number of foods consumed by the child and the family. Additionally, to those parents who reported inappropriate mealtime behavior for their child, we applied the Spanish version of the Questions About Behavioral Function (QABF). It was found that 63% of the children reported at least one problem behavior during mealtimes, being the most frequent to leave the table before finishing to eat. We found a correlation between the number of foods consumed by the family and the child, independently if they presented inappropriate mealtime behavior. The functions for problem behavior were predominantly escape and attention. The results of this study represent an initial approximation to the evaluation of pediatric feeding problems in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) in a Mexican population.

DSM-5 (APA, 2013) indicated that person with ASD have deficits in nonverbal communicative behaviors for social interaction. Eye-contact is a form of nonverbal behavior which serves as the basic skill for social interaction. In addition, eye-contact is also a prerequisite skill for developing joint attention mechanism. Responding to joint attention, which includes following to other's pointing and gazing, is an important ability to share affection with others,. The purpose of this study was to enhance eye contact and respond to pointing for a child with ASD. The participant was a 5-year-old nonverbal boy with autism. A single-subject of delayed multiple baseline design across behaviors was used in this study. Preference assessment was implemented before intervention to determine the reinforcers for training. The independent variable was eye contact and joint attention teaching. Eye-contact training is divided into four stages with different prompting strategies: (1)Full reinforcer: Select reinforcers such as cookies or interesting toys to draw the child's attention and make eye contact with the trainer. (2)1/2 reinforcer+1/2 gesture: Used reinforcers and then change to gesture to lead the child to make eye contact, and provided tokens or social reinforcers after an average number of responses. (3)Gesture: Guided the gaze by full gesture intervention. (4)No prompt: Call the participant's name but no prompting strategy, the child turned his face and looked at researcher's eyes. For responding joint attention intervention, the researcher made the eye contact with the participant first, then point to one of interesting toy. Contingency upon the target behavior, the participant could get some tokens and social reinforcers if he did follow to pointing. The dependent variables were the percentage of participant's eye contact and responding to pointing. Visual analysis was used to analyze the effects of the training. Findings emerged from this study: After training, the percentage of responding to eye contact and pointing increased, and the effect of the intervention can exhibit generalization to a variety of settings. The results showed positive effects on the intervention for the child with ASD. Implications and suggestions for practice and further research were also presented at the end of the paper.

An important component of independently completing daily living and vocational skills is to ensure the tasks are completed correctly and completely. We taught a 16-year-old male with autism spectrum disorder to correctly complete all steps in a task analysis for daily living and vocational skills using a prompt-delay procedure. Thereafter, we taught the client to use a self-rating checklist to self-monitor his accurate completion of all steps in the task analyses. The experimenter monitored the client's completion of the self-rating checklist and provided praise for correctly completed steps and corrective feedback for steps that were missed or inaccurately recorded on the checklist. The experimenter's proximity to the client during task completion and self-monitoring was faded to outside the room. The intervention was successful in increasing accurate completion of the skills and self-monitoring of task completion in the absence of supervision.

Tolerance of the denial or removal of preferred items or activities is a skill that is often lacking in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This deficit may be especially apparent in children whose problem behavior is maintained by access to tangible items. Tolerance training, as described by Hanley, Jin, Vanselow, and Hanratty (2014), is composed of functional communication training (FCT) for appropriate requests (e.g., "toys please"), FCT for a tolerance response (e.g., "okay"), and extinction of problem behavior and inappropriate requests. This procedure was replicated and extended with a 10 year old male with ASD, oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), and attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity (ADD/H) diagnoses hospitalized on an inpatient unit for the assessment and treatment of severe problem behavior. The purpose of the current assessment was multifaceted. It aimed to extend previous methods by (a) teaching tolerance for the unexpected termination of preferred activities, (b) teaching tolerance during contexts where delays to reinforcement mirrored the natural environment, (c) adding in non-preferred activities to the delay. Results showed low to zero rates of problem behavior across all conditions. To conclude, these data show that the procedure developed by Hanley et al. (2014) can be applied in children with a joint diagnosis of ASD, ODD, and ADD/H.

In Japan, it is common for children with developmental disabilities such as autism spectrum to make regular visits at support facilities. In 2018, the law which enables outreaching will be enforced. Due to this enforcement, severely disabled children who have difficulties with going outside will be able to receive the home-based rehabilitation. However, in the cases of those who can hardly go outside, not only the severity of disabilities, but also their serious behavior problems and poor mental health of their parents can become a difficulty. For families whose child has serious behavior problems and who have heavy burden for child-rearing, our research team designed and conducted a three-month extensive program based on functional communication training, incidental teaching and parental training.

Restricted or repetitive behavior is a symptom of autism (American Psychiatric Association, 2013), and therefore, identifying procedures to improve variable responding continues to be a research focus. Some researchers have evaluated whether variability could be improved with various prompting strategies within discrete trial instruction (DTI; Peterson, Rodriguez, & Pawich, in press; Carroll & Kodak, 2015). Peterson et al. found initial variability with the use of a variable echoic prompt during DTI of intraverbal categorization. Similarly, Carroll and Kodak demonstrated increased variability during a similar task when providing a variable echoic model with, and without, instructive feedback. Providing picture prompts within DTI could also improve variability of intraverbal categorization . Researchers found picture prompts to be efficacious in the acquisition of intraverbal tasks (Ingvarsson & Hollobaugh, 2011; Kodak, Fuchtman, & Paden, 2012; Vedora & Barry, 2016). However, we are unaware of any research evaluating the use of picture prompts on the variability of responding. We used a picture prompt to teach intraverbal categorization with four children diagnosed with autism. Initial variability occurred for all participants, but all participants emitted a dominant order for the majority of trials within sessions. Additional research should be conducted to determine teaching procedures that promote variable responding.

Relatively little research has been devoted to the treatment of problem behavior maintained by automatic reinforcement, in particular when the topography of problem behavior involves automatically maintained disruption. Data from the existent literature suggest that consequent interventions might be more effective than antecedent interventions to promote socially significant changes in problem behavior maintained by automatic reinforcement (Rapp & Vollmer, 2005). The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effects of a treatment package on the levels of disruptive behavior hypothesized to be automatically maintained, of an 11-year-old boy with autism in a school site. We used a multiple baseline design across settings to demonstrate the effects of the treatment on the levels of problem behavior. The treatment package included differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA; i.e., keeping hands close to his own body), blocking and overcorrection of target disruptive behavior. The results demonstrated that the treatment package was effective in decreasing the levels of disruption across all settings. The outcomes of the current study provide a potential treatment option for behavior maintained by automatic reinforcement. We will discuss these results in terms of the basic principles responsible for behavior change.

Community-based Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) programs often use a "mediator-model," where behavior analysts develop intervention strategies and train caregivers on program implementation (Gambrill, 2012). Programs focus on the referral area of need considered paramount to the family; however, doing so may challenge behavior analysts to operationalize conceivably unobservable behaviors. One example includes decreasing adolescent lying behavior. From a behavior-analytic approach, Fryling (2016) conceptualized lying less as something that develops internally, but rather as an interaction between the individual and their behavior as it functions within their environment. This poster focuses on extending Fryling's (2016) research by implementing a community-based ABA program focused on reducing the lying behavior of an adolescent girl with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Introducing an intervention including correspondence training and differential reinforcement of alternative behaviors decreased the participant's lying from an average of 3.1 instances a day during baseline (range = 0–8 instances) to 0.8 instances during intervention (range = 0–2 instances). This poster will additionally present parental stress reports using the Parenting Stress Index (Abidin, 2012) pre- and post-implementation. Last, program strengths and technical improvements for future implementation will be highlighted, emphasizing the importance of environmental context and family dynamics in community-based ABA program development.

We used a changing criterion design to evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention designed to teach a 12-year-old boy with autism spectrum disorder to wear an anti-strip suit to reduce anal digging in a school setting. The intervention consisted of using differential negative reinforcement of other behaviour (DNRO) to increase wearing the anti-strip suit during activities while engaging in zero rates of challenging behaviour. We trained school staff to conduct the procedures with behavioural skills training, we scored a treatment and feedback integrity checklist during implementation, and we measured interobserver agreement for 21% of sessions. Our results indicated that the duration for which the participant wore the suit systematically increased from 2 s at the start of treatment to the duration of a full school day at the termination of the study. Moreover, we observed maintenance and generalization of these effects for several months. These findings replicate prior research on DNRO and further support the use of the intervention to increase compliance with wearing protective items in practical settings.

A functional analysis indicated that problem behavior of a 9-year-old boy diagnosed with autism was sensitive to escape from specific demands (e.g., waiting, demands with limited teacher attention) and access to teacher attention and preferred tangible items. A systematic shaping procedure, based upon the methods of Ghaemmaghami, Hanley, Jessel, and Landa (2017), was used to teach a complex functional communication response to include an obtaining a listener response ("excuse me") and 6 different specific mands (e.g., escape from work, do work with me, hang out, bubbles, snacks, and toys). A skill-based treatment was implemented to teach the child to appropriately tolerate delays and denials to reinforcement using an unpredictable and variable schedule of reinforcement in which the child was taught to engage in instructional tasks without teacher attention. Throughout all teaching sessions, problem behavior occurred at zero rates. Behavior skills training and a detailed rubric was used to transfer the treatment to his teachers. Results replicate the functional assessment and treatment process described by Hanley, Jin, Vanselow, and Hanratty (2014) and demonstrate the efficacy of a training rubric for transferring skill-based treatments to relevant teachers (Rajarman, Hanley, Ruppel, & Gover, 2017). Interobserver agreement averaged 90% (range, 80-100%).

The delivery quality of Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention (EIBI) in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has been neglected. This is surprising in face of the fact that in community settings trainers often lack formal EIBI education. Using a randomized controlled design, the effect of enriched as well as regular supervision on delivered EIBI quality in ASD were compared over a period of 4-6 months. EIBI was conducted in 30 young children with ASD by preschool staff in a naturalistic setting, where n =18 of the children's trainers received enriched, and n = 12 regular supervision. In addition to the regular supervision process, the enriched supervision included video reviews on the preschool staffs performed EIBI together with an extra education on important quality factors. EIBI quality was evaluated using the York Measure of Quality of Intensive Intervention (YMQI). Compared to regular supervision, preschool staff receiving enriched supervision improved on the quality of EIBI delivery, especially for training organization and density as well goal-directed treatment. Findings endorse the significance of adequate education and supervision for delivered EIBI quality.

Therapeutic fidget devices, notably fidget spinners and fidget cubes, have been suggested to be useful for individuals with impulsivity and attention issues. The prevalence of these devices has risen tremendously in the past year. Manufacturers and sellers often make claims of benefits for individuals with autism and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorders (ADHD). However, these claims are rarely supported by any empirical evidence. This study utilized a multi-element design to compare the effects of access to a fidget cube with verbal prompts versus verbal prompts alone on off-task behaviors and for one participant, reading comprehension. The participants were two boys diagnosed with autism, ages eight and six. Results demonstrated that the fidget cube did not decrease the participants' off-task behavior nor did it increase participant Terrence's accuracy with reading comprehension questions. Off-task behavior was higher during several sessions with fidget cube access. The discussion will highlight the need for systematic evaluation of trending treatments and other interventions.

Extensive empirical support exists for the use of a standard functional analysis in the identification of function for a variety problem behaviors (Iwata et al., 1994) such as aggression, self-injury, and property destruction. However, procedural variations of the standard analysis such as the synthesis of functional contingencies and the pairwise design have also received support in the behavior analytic literature. The present study utilized three participants, 16 to18 years old with a diagnosis of autism, whose multiply maintained problem behavior was identified using modified functional analysis procedures. Treatment included individually modified delay and denial tolerance procedures as described in the Hanley et al. (2014) study. However, due to the participants' complex mand repertoires, an omnibus mand was not taught. Instead, individualized, specific mands were targeted for the delay, denial, and tolerance chaining treatment components. Results indicated low rates of problem behavior during teaching sessions, a decrease in immediate reinforcement of mands and a simultaneous increase in the number and complexity of work tasks completed during the delay to reinforcement. Results are discussed in terms of individual participant procedural modifications, delay and denial tolerance acquisition, participant generalization, and suppression of problem behavior.

Task analyses are commonly used by behavior analysts to teach complex skills across many types of tasks. One variation in task analysis teaching procedures that has been discussed in the literature has been the use of the single-opportunity method (SOM) versus the multiple-opportunity method (MOM). In the SOM, the entire task is presented, and all steps that are completed by the subject are scored as correct. Once the subject meets termination criteria the task is ended and all remaining steps are counted as incorrect. In the MOM, the therapist presents the task, and if the subject stops responding the therapist sets up the next step in the task for the subject, who then has the opportunity to respond independently. Concerns have been raised regarding how each of these methods might change the baseline performance of a task, affecting the interpretation of experimental control. The purpose of the current study, therefore, was to conduct a within-subject comparison of both the SOM and MOM procedures. We extended the within-subject procedures of Williams and Cuvo (1986) with children with autism spectrum disorder and analyzed the individual data using methods similar to those used by Alexander et al. (2015).

Many children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) show little to no interest in academic assignments that are challenging or uninteresting. This may lead to increases in disruptive behavior in order to avoid or escape non-preferred tasks. By incorporating motivational components of Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT) in homework tasks, previous studies have found faster completion rates, decreases in disruptive behavior, and improved interest (Koegel, Singh, Koegel, 2010). Overall, there is a substantial body of evidence indicating that motivation plays an important role in academic success, however, there is a gap in the literature about the incorporation of motivational strategies during academic tasks for children with ASD in classrooms. This study uses an alternating treatments design to investigate student behavior and the percentage of correct responses in reading and writing tasks during two conditions: a) Premack Principle condition and b) Natural Reinforcement Condition. The results suggested that incorporating natural reinforcers into academic tasks increased student interest, affect, and percentage of letters/words correct for two elementary students.

This study examines whether a seven-month, 20 hours-per-week Early Intensive Behavioural program (EIBI) can significantly improve skill acquisition in a sample of children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Previous research has shown that children diagnosed with ASD make significant gains in EIBI programs that provide at least 20-25 hours per week when delivered over an extended period of time. However, previous research has not yet demonstrated that these gains can be replicated in a shorter program. It was hypothesized that the short-run program under study would be effective at improving skill acquisition in children with ASD. Service data were analyzed retrospectively using a within-subjects group comparison as well as a dependent samples t-test to compare mean skill acquisition before and after receiving treatment. Children, on average, made significant skill gains from intake to exit in the seven-month program. These results have implications for both service providers and clients. The success of this program suggests that shorter programs are a valuable option for children with ASD. Additionally, short-run EIBI programs may target long wait-lists that accompany publicly funded EIBI programs and as a result more children diagnosed with ASD will have access to effective treatment.

Prior research has demonstrated that response rate pertaining to target responding can determine levels resurgence (Reed & Morgan, 2007; Da Silva, Maxwell, & Lattal, 2008). For example, the results of Da Silva et.al (2008) indicated that higher response rates during baseline produced higher levels of resurgence during extinction even when rate of reinforcement was held constant across responses. However, these results have not been replicated with clinically relevant population. In the current study, we evaluated the extent to which the results of Da Silva et.al would translate by assessing resurgence of respective mands with distinct response rates including a relative high response rate (i.e., under a FR 6 schedule of reinforcement) versus a relatively low response rate (i.e., under a FR 1 schedule of reinforcement) with an equal rate of reinforcement in individuals with autism. With our pilot participant, inconsistent with the results of previous studies, mands that were reinforced to produce low response rates during baseline recurred at higher rates during the test for resurgence relative to mands that were reinforced to produce high response rates. Future avenues of research and potential implications of the current results will be discussed.

Functional communication training (FCT) based on functional analysis (FA) results is highly effective for treating socially maintained problem behavior. In cases of multiply controlled problem behavior, combined FCT conditions have been documented to be efficient and produce immediate treatment effects (Wacker et al., 2013; Slaton, Hanley, and Raftery, 2017). In the present study, we evaluated the generality of initial FCT under combined conditions when the identified function of the target behavior was both escape from demands and access to tangibles. The participants included six families located in a large U.S. city and one family located in a small city in Greece. The caregivers received coaching from a behavior analyst via telehealth to implement FA and FCT with their children. The children participants, aged 4 years to 6 years, engaged in high rates of disruptive behavior and had autism diagnoses. Initially, all participants received FCT under combined conditions (toy removal and demand delivery). Following demonstration of treatment effects under combined conditions, the participants were tested in isolated conditions. The behavior of just one of the seven participants demonstrated immediate generalization under isolated conditions. The findings suggest that, combining conditions during FCT training may lead to treatment failures during exposure to isolated conditions or may lead to differential success following schedule thinning

Functional communication training (FCT) is the most commonly published treatment for socially reinforced problem behavior (Tiger, Hanley, & Bruzek, 2008) and involves teaching a functional communication response (FCR; e.g., "Break, please") in order to access the reinforcer maintaining problem behavior (e.g., escape from academic demands). However, teaching and evaluating separate FCRs (e.g., escape, attention, and tangible FCRs) for multiply controlled problem behavior can be time-consuming and less effective if all relevant establishing operations are not addressed simultaneously (Ghaemmaghami, Hanley, Jin, & Vanselow, 2016). One alternative is to teach an omnibus FCR (Ghaemmaghami et al., 2016; Hanley, Jin, Vanselow, & Hanratty, 2014), which is a request that produces all reinforcers known to maintain problem behavior (e.g., escape to attention and tangibles). We evaluated omnibus FCRs across successive antecedent conditions (i.e., with certain establishing operations present) for two children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder whose problem behavior was multiply maintained. The omnibus FCR quickly reduced problem behavior across all antecedent conditions for both children, albeit with more variability for one participant as compared to previously published data. We discuss our data with respect to increasing the efficiency of FCT evaluations while maintaining the precision of interventions informed by a functional analysis.

Social motivation theories of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) suggest that individuals with ASD may be relatively insensitive to social reinforcers, leading to downstream deficits in social interaction. Although tangible items may be preferred by individuals with ASD, it does not necessarily follow that social consequences are ineffective reinforcers in an absolute sense. In this study, participants completed a paired stimulus preference assessment (PSPA) for social stimuli and another for tangible stimuli. The most highly preferred stimuli were then evaluated in a combined PSPA. The top stimuli of each type were then used in concurrent-schedule reinforcer assessments. When a preference for one type of reinforcer emerged, it was removed from the array, leaving the less preferred consequence as the reinforcer in subsequent sessions. Results showed that participants tended to prefer nonsocial to social stimuli, but completed tasks at similar rates for each type of reinforcer. Thus, a relative preference for nonsocial stimuli may not be indicative of the absolute value of social stimuli as reinforcers in this population.

The purpose of the presented study was to demonstrate the efficacy of using echoic responses as differential observing responses during auditory-visual conditional discriminations that include the identity match prompt within the least-to-most prompting hierarchy. Two children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder participated in this evaluation. Sessions consisted of nine trials where three stimuli were placed on the table in front of the child and provided the vocal SD. During the intervention phase, picture cards were placed in front of the child, their hands were blocked, and they were presented the discriminative stimulus (e.g., "whistle"). If the child independently echoed the SD within 5s of the presentation, we removed our hands and allowed the child to select a card. If the child did not echo the target within 5s, we provided an additional vocal prompt (e.g. "say whistle"). Following the second vocal prompt, we allowed a selection response, regardless of the child's response to the vocal prompt. If the child engaged in an independent correct receptive response, we provided descriptive praise and access to an edible item or the iPad for 20s. If the child selected the incorrect stimulus or the prompt delay interval elapsed prior to the child engaging in a response, the therapist held up a picture identical to the target response. Both children showed increases in the percentage of correct responding, and both acquired auditory-visual conditional discriminations with teaching procedures that included the echoic DOR and the progressive delay to the identity match prompt.

A competing items assessment can be used to identify items that effectively reduce stereotypy displayed by individuals with autism. Items included in the assessment may or may not match the type of sensory reinforcement produced by stereotypy. We used an alternating treatments design to evaluate the effects of matched and unmatched items (identified in competing items assessment) on the rates of stereotypy displayed by two students with autism. For one participant, both the matched and unmatched items reduced stereotypy compared to baseline levels. When offered a choice between the two items, this participant consistently chose the matched item. For the second participant, only the matched item produced reductions in stereotypy. When offered a choice between the two items, this participant chose the unmatched item across all opportunities. Results indicated that matched items might be more effective at reducing stereotypy, even though it may not be the most preferred item.

Due the way disability services are funded in Australia, we were looking to create a new service delivery model of parent training that uses a short time frame (3 months). Our clients are school-aged children with autism, and their families. We interviewed the parents, using an adapted Functional Assessment Interview questionnaire, and conducted a parent self-efficacy questionnaire. We observed the clients over two weeks, gathering baseline data. A Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) Plan was developed. Parents will receive 5 home sessions (1 hour each). Sessions include implementation support by a BCaBA, in areas such as skills teaching, and reinforcement, using Behavioural Skills Training (BST). Parents will receive handouts, summarising topics including prompting and responding to challenging behaviour. We provide an implementation checklist, listing strategies, environmental supports, and skills teaching from the plan, to prompt parents to support the client throughout the week. Initial reports from families in regards to the service have been positive. Initial data indicate the rates of challenging behaviour have decreased for clients, and social validity data indicate parents feel more equipped to support their child. This is promising research, to show we can provide a short-term service, that is individualised, and beneficial.

Caregiver Buy-In to a behavioral intervention is a critical piece to successfully reducing problem behavior and maintaining low rates. However, there may be a gap between how a caregiver perceives their own performance and how a therapist perceives the caregiver's performance. Such a gap between what the caregiver actually does versus what is actually needed, may have large effects on the results of a behavioral intervention. A questionnaire was provided to families receiving in-home services, asking caregivers to rate different aspects of their performance (e.g., comfort, confidence, enthusiasm, accuracy). A comparable questionnaire was filled out by the behavioral therapist to compare the perceptions of the caregiver and the therapist. Preliminary results suggest that one family was able to perceive their performance in the same way as the therapist and one family perceived their performance significantly different than the therapist. Narrowing or eliminating the gap between caregiver and therapist perception of performance may result in better understanding of what is needed to acquire and maintain behavioral change.

To increase access to applied behavior analysis (ABA) training, an evaluation of the instructional effectiveness of an online ABA training program for parents/staff with children with autism spectrum disorder was conducted. There were three staff members- and one parent-child dyads who completed the program. During phase 1, online, interactive, instructional modules concerning basic behavioral principles and procedures were completed by participants until they scored 80% or higher on a knowledge assessment. Of the four participants, two staff members required supplemental instruction. During phase II, online synchronous behavioral skills training was delivered to participants by a BCBA behavior analyst using Webcam and bluetooth technology within Blackboard Collaborate software. A multiple probe design across three staff-child dyads was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the online behavioral skills training. Compared to baseline levels, each of the three staff members showed increases in percent quality training behaviors (i.e., prompting appropriate play, behavior specific praise, clear instructions) with their child following training. Using a case study design, the parent's training behaviors with her child also showed improvement. Social validation outcomes were also favorable. This online training strategy has implications to make behavioral skills training more accessible.

An effective teaching strategy for children with autism is discrete trial instruction (DTI); DTI is criticized for contributing to rote or repetitive responding, which is already one symptom of autism (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Therefore, identifying procedures to improve variable responding within DTI remains a research focus. Peterson, Rodriguez, and Pawich (in press) evaluated response variability during the acquisition of intraverbal categorization with a variable and rote vocal model prompt within an adapted alternating treatments design. They found initial variability during both conditions. It's possible only initial variability occurred due to carry over from the rote prompt condition. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate both prompt types in isolation to eliminate the possibility of carryover. During Study 1 we evaluated response variability during the acquisition of intraverbal categorization with a variable vocal model prompt for six children diagnosed with autism; initial variability occurred for all participants. During Study 2 we conducted a similar evaluation with a rote vocal model prompt with four children diagnosed with autism; initial variability occurred for three participants. Additional research is needed to determine teaching procedures that promote response variability within DTI.

Previous research has demonstrated that environmental enrichment procedures (i.e., noncontingent reinforcement) can reduce problem behavior during functional communication training. The current study applied a multi-component environmental enrichment procedure to functional communication training with a nine-year-old male diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Following preliminary assessments, we began traditional functional communication training for attention-maintained problem behavior; however, we discontinued this treatment due to the occurrence of problem behavior during pre-training. To reduce problem behavior and minimize the establishing operation for problem behavior we implemented a phase of continuous reinforcement (i.e., toyplay) followed by a phase of multi-component functional communication training including fixed-time delivery of attention plus continuous access to tangibles. Using ABA reversals, we compared the multi-component treatment varying reinforcement for mands and problem behavior across phases as well as the multi-component treatment to traditional functional communication training. We observed changes in mands in the former comparison and changes in problem behavior in the latter. We attempted, but were not able to replicate these effects with escape- and tangible-maintained problem behavior as traditional functional communication training was effective across both. We conducted toyplay probes throughout treatment and lastly, conducted reinforcement thinning across all treatments. Results offer implications for troubleshooting ineffective functional communication training programs.

In the present study we have investigated the effects of a motor training carried out in a naturalistic and inclusive context on the increase of Daily Living Skills (DLS), social and prosocial interactions, a decrease of problem behaviors and Body Mass Index (BMI). The participants were six students with Autism, with different level of verbal behavior (Greer & Ross, 2008) and an average age of 12 year and 6 months. For the DLS we create 4 different task analysis, (put and take off clothes, make a shower and take care of personal belongings) teaching by total task chaining and Constant Time Delay. for physical activity we created a curriculum based training that included jump, walk, balance and activity with ball. The results after one year of training showed a functional relation between the composite training and increase fo prosocial and social behavior, DLS and decrease of problem behavior.

This investigation studied the effectiveness for increasing spontaneous, self-initiated contextually relevant verbalizations in a 5 year, 5-month-old boy diagnosed with Autism and exhibiting minimal self-initiated language. Two distinct instructional strategies were implemented using an A-B-A design across several days within 5-minute time sample intervals noting the frequency of self-initiated verbalizations. The two instructional conditions consisted of Condition A: child determined use of language application on I-Pad with no external reinforcement, and Condition B: preferred primary reinforcers were delivered intermittently contingent upon increased self-initiated verbalizations. Results indicated a 34% reduction in verbalizations during the contingent reinforcement condition. The self-determined condition also provided a more fluid naturalistic instructional experience (Lane, Lieberman-Betz & Gust, 2015). Historically, self-determination is a relatively new behavioral concept but with historical ties to self-control (Premack & Anglin, 1973), self-regulation (Mahoney, 1976), and self-reinforcement (Rachlin, 1974). Later, the concept of self-management (Carr, et.al., 2002) brought the focus to the establishment of positive socially functional skills reducing the emphasis on decreasing socially undesirable behaviors. This positive nature of naturalistic instructional strategies spurred the current investigation.

Psychomotor development is a maturation process that allows children to acquire postural, motor, cognitive and relational skills in the first few months and years of life. In typical developing children, progression is steady and continuous, and this essentially depends on the maturation of the Central Nervous System (CNS), with varying times and modes for each child, but where it is possible to identify milestones that are reached according to a universally similar sequence (Jean Le Boulch, 2008). In motor development of students with autism or other developmental difficulties this is not true; It is also important to think that as a student with autism, motor activity can represent an important opportunity to develop functional abilities in areas that are most affected by the disorder: ??communication, social interaction, interests and behavior in general (Pontis, 2011). In the present study we have investigated the positive effects of a motor curriculum based training on the recovery of the deficit development milestone in students with developmental disabilities. we compare 2 year of training in two different groups of students; one received curriculum based training, the other one eclectic training. the results show that a curriculum based training is more efficient to recover the compromised motor milestones.

Eye-tracking equipment has traditionally been used to assess gaze behaviours across populations. However, the present studies use eye-tracking equipment as a teaching tool to operantly condition the gaze behaviour of individuals with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) towards social stimuli. Study 1 is a lab-based study in which 12 children with a diagnosis of ASD are taught to look towards social stimuli (i.e., faces) on a computer screen through reinforcement procedures in which points were accrued contingent upon the child fixating on a face for 1 second. All 12 children showed increased gaze duration and frequency towards faces post-training. Study 2 was a replication of Study 1 carried out in a classroom setting. Whilst the training was the same, the children's gaze behaviour was assessed using eye-tracking glasses in a real classroom environment. All 12 children showed increased gaze duration and frequency towards faces post-training.

The purpose of the present study is to develop a user-friendly leisure activities assessment that considers both client preference and aptitude in determining appropriate leisure activities for individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who require significant support. Two adult clients participated. The assessment is divided into three phases. During Phase 1 concurrent operant arrangements were used to develop a client profile for each of three critical leisure skills components: social interaction versus no interaction; electronic versus non-electronic tasks; and stationary tasks versus those that require movement. Learners were able to freely switch sides within session. Figures 1 and 2 show the percentage of session time learners spent on each side of room for each of the three component comparisons. Phase 2 will utilize a leisure activity matched to the profile generated in Phase 1 and compare it to an unmatched profile to determine if the clients are on-task more often for the matched activity. Phase 3 will assess client preference for the matched versus the unmatched activity using another concurrent operant paradigm. Future research will determine if clients learn new leisure activities more quickly if they are matched both to their critical skills profile and to their preference.

Photographic activity schedules have been shown to be effective at increasing appropriate and independent play skills with children with autism and other developmental disabilities (e.g., MacDuff, Krantz, & McClannahan, 1993) and are commonly used in clinical settings. However, little is known regarding the effects of fidelity of implementation of activity schedules on learner outcomes. It is possible, and likely, that improper implementation may hinder acquisition of schedule following. The purpose of the current study is to assess the level and types of errors that are being made by therapists implementing activity schedules, and to systematically evaluate the effects of poor and high procedural fidelity on learner outcomes. Data collection for this study is currently in progress. Three therapist-student dyads are participating (all students are diagnosed with autism). We have observed that therapists are making three main types of errors, and that improvements in therapist fidelity has resulted in improvements in student engagement with and acquisition of activity schedules for at least one participant.

Functional analyses have found that the presentation of different forms of attention, escape and tangible items following food refusal could maintain that behavior. In the current investigation, we conducted descriptive analyses for children who present food selectivity to determine the kind of consequences delivered by parents following food refusal and food acceptance during parent conducted meals. The participants were five typically developing children and five children with an Autism Spectrum Diagnosis. The conditional probabilities for the delivery of attention, escape and tangible objects were obtained and compared to unconditional probabilities for those same events. Results showed that attention followed by escape were the consequences delivered most frequently by parents for both groups of children. The importance of tailoring procedures developed with children with developmental disabilities to evaluate food refusal and food acceptance with typically developing children, and to compare results between groups, will be discussed.

A component analysis is being conducted for a punishment procedure that targets self-injurious behavior (SIB) maintained by escape and access to tangibles in a 16-year-old girl diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Components of the procedure includes: a contingent ponytail, vocal reprimand, blocking and/or physical redirection, and removal of reinforcers. The topographies include: hair pulling, face slapping, gagging, and hand/arm biting. All topographies of the target behaviors shared the same response class. Each component of the procedure will be systematically removed from the intervention as data on SIB are stable. Additionally, an 11-question social validity survey on a Likert Scale was administered to the participant's parents and therapists, all of whom were trained to implement the punishment procedure. Before each phase change, the survey targets the specific component that will be removed next. Questions on the survey target the validity, acceptability, preference, and reliability of treatment components. Thus far, results of this analysis indicate that SIB remains at a low, stable rate as components are removed. Additionally, results from the social validity survey suggest that the parents and therapists were likely to adhere to all of the punishment procedure components and believed all components were helpful for decreasing SIB.

Telehealth is a promising approach for delivering functional analysis and functional communication training for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) who display problem behavior (Wacker et al., 2013a; Wacker at al., 2013b). Researchers have investigated various aspects of behavioral assessment and treatment delivered via the telehealth model, such as cost benefits (Lindgren et al., 2016) and treatment fidelity (Suess, 2014). However, no research to date has evaluated dropouts within this model. The current study analyzed data from a telehealth behavioral assessment and treatment program, which is part of a randomized clinical trial of functional analysis procedures in progress across three sites (Lindgren & Wacker, 2015-2019; NIMH R01MH104363). Young children diagnosed with ASD who engaged in problem behavior and their primary caregivers participated in this study. Within a weekly assessment and treatment model employing functional communication training as the primary treatment, this study looked at the percentage of dropouts and the major themes among the reasons for dropping out. The results suggest that a common time for dropping out is prior to or at the beginning of assessment and common themes for dropouts include "family issues" and technology problems.

No previous research has been published that identified access to olfactory stimuli as a functional reinforcer maintaining severe problem behavior, however, one study has assessed olfactory preferences for individuals with developmental disabilities. In that study, Wilder et al. (2008) assessed three participants' preferences for various scents using a modified paired stimulus preference assessment procedure and subsequently confirmed the reinforcing value of these stimuli in a reinforcer assessment. In the current study, the self-injurious behavior of a 19 year old male diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and moderate intellectual disability, was assessed. A functional analysis identified that attention from a medical professional combined with the administration of liquid bandages functioned as a reinforcer. Based on the identified function, a paired choice olfactory preference assessment using methods similar to those described by Wilder et al. (2008) was conducted to identify scents that could be safely delivered on a dense schedule of reinforcement. Treatment consisted of functional communication training and noncontingent reinforcement throughout entire day using stimuli identified via the olfactory preference assessment. The effects of treatment were evaluated based on data collected continuously throughout the entire day and demonstrate the efficacy of the combined treatment for decreasing self-injurious behavior.

In Japan, existing intervention services are generally insufficient in terms of their quantity and quality to meet the identified needs of young children with ASDs and their families. To complement existing services, various ABA-based techniques combined with parental training are provided at a limited number of universities and private agencies, although of a lower intensity. This study reported of the 2-year outcomes in ASD young children who received low-intensity early behavioral intervention in community settings. Two children with ASD participated in this study. The training sessions at the training center in the university were offered once a week in about 90 minutes. Their parents participated in the parent training and trained their children at the home setting. The parents recorded movies of their home training, shared with the university staff and kindergartens using closed SNS, and received feedback from the staff. Also, the tasks at the training center were shared with kindergarten teachers through closed SNS and contributed to generalization in kindergarten. As a results, DQ and the adaptive behaviors and the other scores improved, and the generalizations were observed in their home setting and kindergarten. It was discussed that the usefulness of the support system by combining ABA with Japanese public service such as parent training and consultation to kindergarten.

The technology revolution in the past two decades has resulted in a society in which technology pervades every aspect of social and work life. In particular, the proliferation of smart phones and social media, and the necessity to use smart phone apps to navigate virtually every aspect of daily life, results in a lifestyle in which humans are connected to electronic devices on a near continuous basis. Most parents find it highly difficult to regulate phone and social media use and children often therefore never have the opportunity to learn what life is like without depending on interaction through devices. While there are certainly many threats posed by social media, there may be many potential benefits, especially to populations who may have challenges with traditional social interaction, such as those with autism. This poster reviews research on technology and autism. Results indicate that videogame use is generally negatively correlated with social success and positively correlated with challenging behavior. Little research has evaluated the potential positive contributions of social media to individuals with autism and what does exist has generally showed little or no benefit. However, relatively little research has been done on this issue and even less, or none, has been done within behavior analysis. After summarizing and discussing the current state of research, this poster provides tentative recommendation for practitioners on how to navigate social media until research is available that provides empirically derived guidelines.