Association for Behavior Analysis International

The habitual behaviors of spouses toward each other are arguably the most fundamental units of behavior within a marriage, and present the most readily observed and potentially most readily addressed foci for making improvements, including sometimes the so called "private behaviors" of attitudes, opinions, feelings, and the like. Most marriage counseling and therapy however currently uses a cognitive behavioral model, which is invariably far too heavily weighted on the "cognitive" often difficult to understand aspects, and far too light on specifically addressing the behaviors. Changing behavior can often be the most efficient, and effective, way to change attitudes and opinions (it is much easier to feel warmly toward a spouse who hasnt tracked mud over a freshly cleaned floor, over spent the checking account, or made lewd comments to one's boss or in-laws). This paper highlights components of a behaviorally based approach to effecting desired marital behavior change, including identification of desired behaviors, and use of behaviorally sound techniques to develop them into maintained and appropriately generalized habits. The topic and teaching can be helpful for conference attendees applying such behavior change professionally in their practices, as well as within the confines of their own marriages.

Understanding how clinical services are accessed and utilized by young children suspected to have ASD is important when developing models of care for early ASD identification for early access to intervention services. ASD research continues to be a developing field in the Arab world, yet there is has been some growth in ASD services available to affected families, and a push towards improving existing educational and social services for ASD children in Saudi Arabia. This retrospective study examines the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of a convenience sample of children diagnosed with ASD at the ASD Diagnostic Clinic at the Center for Autism Research (CFAR) in Riyadh. Secondly, the experience of seeking ASD diagnostic assessment will be reviewed by examining the timing and nature of parents’ initial worries; the timing and nature of child assessments; types of diagnoses given; types of intervention and treatment received prior to presentation at the CFAR ASD Diagnostic clinic. Lastly, we will examine if sociodemographic variables, severity of ASD symptoms, developmental delays, adaptive functioning levels, and medication use was associated to earlier ASD diagnosis and utilization of intervention services.