Association for Behavior Analysis International

Organizations can use diversity and inclusion statements to declare their values about diversity, equity, and inclusion. These statements can outline the expectations the organization has for those associated with it. The Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI) has a diversity and inclusion statement that defines diversity and sets their expectations for inclusive and respectful behavior at ABAI events. We examined the websites and bylaws of ABAI-affiliated chapters in the United States to determine which organizations include their own diversity and inclusion statements and what specific groups were mentioned in those statements. Results indicate that overall, very few ABAI-affiliated chapters explicitly state their own diversity and inclusion statements. Recommendations for diversity, equity, and inclusion policies and statements will be discussed.

This talk will discuss the optimal procedures to teach two languages to children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) from bilingual households. We compared the acquisition of tacts when (a) teaching two languages simultaneously, (b) teaching two languages sequentially, and (c) teaching one language only (control). We also evaluated the effects of the aforementioned teaching conditions on the maintenance of tacts. Finally, we evaluated the emergence of bidirectional intraverbals following the acquisition of tacts. Based on the existing data, children learned tacts in the two languages sequentially better than simultaneously. Further, sequential learning led to poorer maintenance, compared to the control condition. Finally, one participant demonstrated better bidirectional intraverbals when she was asked to fill in the blank. These findings have direct implications for clinical practice.

In the last decade, the field of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) has committed to working on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). The work began with call-to-action papers, empirical work on cultural accommodations, and most recently, the certifying board has changed the professional standards for board-certified behavior analysts (BCBAs). An objective and measurable step that BCBAs can take to adhere to the new ethical and professional standards is to use inclusive teaching materials. Inclusive teaching materials are teaching materials that reflect the diversity of society. This study used an adapted alternating treatment design embedded into a non-concurrent multiple baseline to evaluate the effects of an inclusive versus a noninclusive set of teaching materials on skill acquisition and generalization during a listener responding tasks in an occupations program (e.g., “Touch Scientist”). We attempted to teach six preschool-aged children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to identify occupations using an inclusive set of 2-D stimuli and a non-inclusive set of 2-D stimuli. The purpose of this study was to begin empirically evaluating inclusion within the field of ABA and attempting to apply behavioral principles, such as concept formation, multiple exemplars training, and stimulus disparity, to DEI by comparing differentiation in the acquisition and generalization rates between the two teaching materials. Acquisition of this task was difficult for all participants except one, two participants mastered only the occupations associated with the inclusive materials, and three participants were withdrawn from the study. While there were many limitations to participant learning in this study, based on an occupation by condition analysis, it did not seem that the type of teaching materials was a variable. The potential limitations and future research related to inclusive teaching materials, stimulus feature manipulation, and instructional procedures for children with ASD are discussed.