Association for Behavior Analysis International

TAPS (Talk Aloud Problem Solving) has evolved from Bloom’s critical observations of student thinking and reasoning skills at a top American university (1950) to Whimbey’s Cognitive Therapy (1970) that provided exercises to address the wide-ranging needs of students from elementary age to college preparation. Whimbey and Lochhead (1979) observed how great thinkers reasoned through their professional world and published a wide-range of exercises leading to graduate school success and notable medical school admission rates. Whether the “problem solver” is a scholar, a scientist, an artist, a writer, a child, a parent, or an entrepreneur, certain qualities are required to successfully tackle the problem solving environment. The repertoires have been named Problem Solver, Active Listener, and Observer (Robbins, 2011) and require talking aloud to reason through problems that otherwise may not have been solved. This process is akin to what Skinner (1969) described as an “inspection of reinforcement contingencies” such that behavior can be described that meets contingency requirements without direct contingency shaping or rules. This symposium shares recent modifications and new applications of TAPS instruction in a clinical setting, a behavior analysis research lab, teacher training sessions, and a business venture.

Educators, entrepreneurs, those working with children with autism

Individuals require problem solving skills to navigate their environments. Academics, daily living skills, and social skills are just a few areas that require constant problem solving. Children with autism are taught verbal behavior skills specific to their deficits. The VBMAPP (Sundberg, 2014) and the ABLLS-R (Partington, 2010) are tools for assessing language skills in early learners and serve as curriculum guides for practitioners. Once learners progress beyond these assessments, complex language skills such as problem solving need to be assessed then systematically taught. The Early Behavioral Intervention curriculum (EBIC) (Degli Espinosa, 2011) measures the presence or absence of a variety of skills for advanced learners, such as problem solving, and may demonstrate if a learner needs explicit instruction in various content areas. Developed from problem solving pioneers, Talk Aloud Problem Solving (TAPS), is a program that promotes problem solving, analytical thinking, and reasoning skills. TAPS has been effective in teaching students in classroom settings (Robbins, 2011). Therefore, this presentation will discuss the procedures involved in assessing and systematically teaching problem solving to learners with autism diagnoses. Due to the nature of autism service delivery, some adaptations to the TAPS program were made to be applied in one-on-one settings.

Are you thinking about starting a business in the field of ABA? The journey breathes excitement into your every cell and exhales all of your overwhelming thoughts for each moment you are planning this vision. Behavior Analysis has a tool for these novel situations and complex problems you will face, Talk Aloud Problem Solving (TAPS). Robbins’ (1996) instruction is based upon Bloom’s (1950) and Whimbey’s (1975) analyses of the covert behavior of problem solving. The component skills that expert problem solvers engage in to develop this systematic technology are made explicit. Learn about the steps to designing a business plan while integrating and leveraging TAPS. Specifically, the Business Canvas Model by Strategyzer serves as an excellent tool to break business planning into functional yet cohesive and comprehensive elements. At the same time, the steps of TAPS will be overlaid at each element of the Business Canvas Model to illustrate its power. My personal entrepreneurial experience will be used as your model while sharing tips of successful actions and lessons learned.