Association for Behavior Analysis International

This talk will provide a brief overview of procedures used in the behavioral pharmacology of learning and remembering with a focus on prescription drugs used to treat clients with intellectual disabilities. The talk will also provide a more detailed analysis of research using novel procedures that vary the number of stimuli to remember as well as the retention interval. We will briefly review findings from the animal laboratory on drugs that impair learning and memory as well as the search for “cognitive enhancers.” Factors that have made it difficult to translate findings from the animal behavioral pharmacology laboratory to improvements in human learning and remembering will be discussed and we will consider the implications of these difficulties for the treatment of clients with intellectual disabilities.

Researchers and practitioners interested in the behavioral pharmacology of learning and remembering.

Ample research has demonstrated the effectiveness of behavior analytic procedures for producing substantial improvements in relatively socially meaningful behaviors, for example, severe behaviors, social behavior, and the elementary verbal operants. Relatively little behavioral research has addressed complex human verbal behavior. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a contemporary behavior analytic approach to psychotherapy that is based on an analysis of relations between complex human verbal behavior and other socially relevant overt behaviors. Although ACT has primarily been applied by clinical psychologists, its basis is entirely behavior analytic and great potential exists for combining ACT with applied behavior analysis. This symposium brings together three presentations on ACT from a behavior analytic perspective. The first presentation, by Elizabeth Meshes, is a conceptual presentation that ties together the ACT literature and the behavior analytic literature on self-control versus impulsivity (aka delay discounting). The second presentation, by Jessica Hinman, describes a study that used an ACT approach to training self-perspective taking an evaluates collateral effects on physiological measures. The third presentation, by Sebastian Garcia-Zambrano, describes a study that employed a defusion approach to training flexible self-directed verbal behavior.

Board certified behavior analysts working with individuals with autism with well developed verbal repertoires

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) was originally developed as a behavioral approach to psychotherapy for treating disorders traditionally treated by clinical psychology, including substance abuse, depression, and anxiety. However, the functional analyses that form the foundation of ACT are equally applicable to anyone who has verbal behavior and rule-governed behavior that interacts with socially meaningful overt behavior. Most problems of behavior faced by typically developing adolescents and adults involve making difficult choices between smaller short term reinforcers (e.g., avoiding work) versus larger longer-term reinforcers (e.g., successful career). Delay discounting research has shown clearly that unfavorable delays and proportions of reinforcement determine that individuals will make less favorable behavioral choices. At the core of the ACT model is the attempt to transform the function of verbal behavior such that choosing the harder choice in the short term in order to access the larger reinforcer later is more probable. This presentation will present the radical behavioral conceptual analysis behind this process and discuss applicability across work with individuals with autism, parents of children with autism, and behavioral supervision of staff. Potential for using this analysis for extending applied behavior analysis into other important areas of applied work will also be discussed.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of using Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT) with adolescents and young adults with autism to change the function of verbal statements made about the self while talking about a negative thought. Throughout the study, participants will wear an Empatica wristband measuring physiological responses. Participants will determine a negative thought they have about themselves and discuss why they believe the thought is true. Participants will then receive a version of ACT and be asked to talk about the same negative thought. Verbal statements about the self and physiological measures before and after ACT will be compared. Preliminary anecdotal results for three typically developing adults suggest that ACT was effective in increasing self-as-context statements and decreasing self-as-content and reason giving statements. Additionally, the physiological data show stabilization while discussing the negative thought after receiving ACT, suggesting that ACT can change the function of verbal statements and affect physiological responses. While little research has been done on using ACT with adolescents and young adults with autism, the preliminary and expected results of this study suggest a clinical utility of ACT to improve the way individuals with autism interact with their thoughts.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of a defusion exercise in combination with perspective- taking interactions as a brief protocol based on the Relational Frame Theory. The protocol is designed to train deictic frames (I-YOU, HERE-THERE, AND NOW-THEN) in conjunction with an exercise of defusion focused on the regulation of verbal statements about the self. A pre-post design with control group is implemented to evaluate the effects of the protocol on the probability of occurrence of self-as-context and self-as-content statements. Adolescents with autism are selected and assigned to each group based on the frequency of self-as-content statements. After the assignment of the participants to each group, each participant is interviewed individually through a structured interview aimed at identifying deictic frames and negative statements. Then, participants in the treatment group receive the protocol of defusion and deictic frames individually, and participants in the control group receive a Behavioral Skills Training session on an individual basis. Finally, participants are interviewed individually through an interview based on the identification of deictic relationships and negative statements about the self. A preliminary result showed an increase of the probability of occurrence of the self-as-context statements after the implementation of the protocol.

Promoting the Emergence of Advanced Knowledge (PEAK) Relational Training System is a four part assessment and curricula that includes programs related to direct training, training for generalization, and training via stimulus equivalence and relational frame theory. PEAK Relational Training System assessments and curricula are designed to be easily accessible by anyone, but programs with more advanced or less commonly applied verbal behavior concepts may be problematic for non-expert personnel. The current set of studies evaluate the effects of training strategies used with staff to teach them how to utilize PEAK relational training system validly. Results will be discussed.

Practitioners and therapists who conduct discrete trials with children with autism.

The present study sought to evaluate the extent to which behavioral skills training (BST) program impacted treatment integrity for six direct care staff (3 male, 3 female; aged 20-25) implementing the Promoting the Emergence of Advanced Knowledge Relational Training System (PEAK) with six individuals with autism (5 male, 1 female; aged 9-12). Students and their respective target programs were selected based on PEAK-DT PA and PEAK-DT Assessment results. BST improved overall procedural integrity for all staff involved and, more importantly, all six learners with autism improved their total percentage scores specific to the targeted programs. Generalization probes were conducted at 2-months post-BST, and all staff performance maintained well above baseline levels with novel programs. The importance of appropriate training and treatment integrity specific to the implementation of PEAK is discussed.

PEAK Relational Training System assessments and curricula are designed to be easily accessible by anyone, but programs with more advanced or less commonly applied verbal behavior concepts may be problematic for non-expert personnel. On advanced PEAK-DT programs, behavior technicians, parents, or other service implementers may choose inappropriate stimuli for training, or fail to insert stimuli at all. Three participants (2 female, 1 male; aged 21-23) working in an autism clinic demonstrated 100% accuracy in selecting appropriate stimuli to train on PEAK programs such as tacting animals and colors. However, accuracy of stimuli selected on more advanced programs (e.g., programs for metaphorical emotions, autoclitics, metonymical tacts) averaged 37% across participants in baseline conditions. In multiple baselines across two advanced PEAK programs, each participant received lists of additional multiple exemplars of appropriate stimuli to target in training. Provision of additional exemplars resulted in 93-100% accuracy across all targeted programs. Generalization probes verified participants could successfully generate additional appropriate novel stimuli for training. Results suggest that PEAK users may wish to keep records of stimuli used for programs to increase future accuracy and ease of implementation in more challenging programs.

The current studies evaluated the effectiveness of three paraprofessionals' implementation of equivalence based multiple exemplar training following behavioral skills training (BST). The paraprofessionals were trained using programs from Promoting the Emergence of Advance Knowledge Relational Training System-Equivalence (PEAK-E) and Transformation (PEAK-T) Modules. Both consist of evidence based assessment and curriculum that uses behavior analytic language and discrete trial process to promote language skills and the use of stimulus equivalence. Each was used as a tool to teach paraprofessionals how to apply equivalence training following BST. Two multiple baseline designs were used to implement a behavioral skills training package across three paraprofessionals in an autism classroom. Task analyses were used to teach symmetrical relations among weather, seasons, and months using a program in PEAK-E (data included). Results showed that paraprofessionals unfamiliar with behavior analytic language used PEAK-E to conduct multiple exemplar training following BST.

Equivalence-based instruction has utilized a one to many, many to one, and linear series training structure, with varying degrees of effectiveness. These three studies demonstrate the efficacy of equivalence-based instruction using three different training structures. In Experiment One, a participant diagnosed with autism will be taught to sort a variety of physically dissimilar items, followed by visual-visual match-to-sample training. It is expected that posttests will demonstrate the formation of generalized equivalence classes and generalization of money skills to the natural setting. Experiment Two will assess for the emergence of selection and topography-based verbal and non-verbal behavior in two children diagnosed with autism. Visual-visual conditional discrimination training and tact training will be conducted through an equivalence-based format. It is hypothesized that nine additional relations will be demonstrated following the training of three relations for each stimulus class. Experiment Three demonstrated that learners emitted substantially more errors and formed fewer equivalence classes with a trial-and-error protocol compared to an errorless learning protocol. It is anticipated that these results will be replicated when the reinforcement density is kept constant across both training conditions. These three experiments will expand upon the existing equivalence research through the use of different training structures.

This presentation is appropriate for behavior analysts of an intermediate and advanced skill level.

Equivalence based instruction has been demonstrated to be an efficient strategy for teaching a variety of individuals functional money skills; however, the generalization of the emerged relations in the natural environment has yet to be assessed. Several equivalence-based studies, conducted in laboratory settings, have utilized a variety of pictures of the stimulus class members during conditional discrimination training to form generalized equivalence classes. The purpose of the current study is to demonstrate the emergence of a minimal generalized equivalence class in an applied setting. In the current study a 14 year-old boy, diagnosed with autism, will be taught to sort a variety of physically different items (C) that can be purchased at a school store based on price. Followed by training the participant to match coins (B) to their corresponding written values (A) and items that can be purchased in a school store (C) to their corresponding assigned coin values (B). After acquisition of trained relations, all tests for a minimal generalized equivalence class and generalization probes of purchasing a variety of items in a school store will be conducted. These data will be discussed in terms of maximizing student learning and programming for stimulus generalization during conditional discrimination training.

Teaching children with autism to select members of a class by category name (e.g. selecting drum in the presence of the spoken word instrument), tact the class of a stimulus (e.g. saying furniture when shown a chair or bed), and match members within a class to one another (e.g. fork to knife; guitar to piano) are three skills that are often addressed in language acquisition programming. The applied literature, however, lacks evidence of participants demonstrating this type of class formation, as well as efficient teaching procedures to produce. The purpose of this study is to assess the efficiency and efficacy of training one arbitrary visual-visual conditional discrimination (D-B) and two tacts (B-Name and C-Name) and then testing for the emergence of nine additional untrained relations: tacting by class name (D-Name), selecting members of the class in the presence of the auditory stimulus (A-B, A-C, & A-D) and arbitrarily matching class members to one another (C-B, B-D, C-D, D-C). The participants included two children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders. It is expected that the results of this study will demonstrate the emergence of these nine untrained relations across three stimulus classes, with only three directly trained relations.

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are lifelong neurodevelopmental disabilities (Allen & Rapin, 1990). The number of referrals for evaluation of children with ASD has dramatically increased since it was first recognized as a disability in China 1982. The Mental Health Institute of Beijing University reported that more children being referred for suspected ASD than any other mental health issues, and the numbers rose 210% from 1980 to 1999. Researchers estimate that over one million children in China have autism using the prevalence rate of 6 in 1,000 from the United States (Wang, 2008). A 2001 Chinese government survey reported that intensive behavioral intervention was the most requested service by parents of children with ASD (Yang, 2003). However, there is a severe shortage of professionals who can deliver early intensive behavioral interventions (EIBI) to children with ASD in China. Approximately 90% of the children with autism never received any type of intervention. The symposium will include two experimental studies that investigated the interventions designed to improve teacher's use of EIBI to improve learning outcomes of children with autism in China.

Researchers and practitioners who are interested in early behavioral interventions for children with autism and education in China.

Procedural integrity has a direct impact on Early Intensive Behavioral Interventions (EIBI) outcomes for children with autism. Research evidence suggests that providing feedback can improve procedural integrity. The purpose of the study is to investigate the effects of delivering feedback using distance learning technologies on EIBI procedural integrity for teachers in China. Three teachers from a school serving children with autism in China participated in the study. During the baseline, we recorded and measured teachers' procedural integrity while implementing discrete trial training (DTT) and incidental teaching (IT). During the intervention, the teachers received feedback regarding their procedural integrity on either DTT or IT using distance learning technologies. In the context of an alternating treatment design, we directly compared the percentage of steps implemented correctly between the two conditions. The study showed that there was a functional relation between the intervention and teacher's improved procedural integrity. The effects were replicated when the teachers received feedback on the other procedure. The results of the study suggest that delivering feedback using distance learning technologies can be an effective intervention to improve procedural integrity for practitioners.

It is critical to find effective error-correction procedures used in early behavioral intervention (EBI) for children with autism because they tend to make persistent errors. However, studies have not provided empirical support as to whether instructors should deliver reinforcers during error correction. The purpose of this study is to compare the effects of the error correction with and without reinforcement on (a) the acquisition of a match-to-sample skill and (b) intervention preference of children with autism in China. We will recruit four children with autism from China to participate in the study. When error occurs, the instructor will first prompt the student to make a correct response. The instructor will either deliver a reinforcer or not use any reinforcers following student correct response under the respective conditions. We will use a repeated acquisition design to compare which error-correction procedure will result in faster skill acquisition. We will also assess student preference of the procedures. The results will contribute to the knowledge of effective error correction used in EBI for children with autism. In addition, we will discuss the potential mechanism responsible for error correction in the context of stimulus control and punishment. We will complete data collection in January 2018.

Organizational Behavior Management (OBM) and Behavioral Systems Analysis has had huge successes in changing variables to increase productivity and profitability over time. Contract fulfillment, as defined as contracted versus billed hours, is a concrete measurement related to profitability across any company providing intensive Applied Behavior Analysis therapy. In this symposium, presenters will be discussing the history of Organizational Behavior Management and Behavioral Systems Analysis, how one agency utilized these systems to increase contract fulfillment and the potential other benefits Organizational Behavior Management can have with an agency. This presentation will give a practical real-world look at how one organization has begun to improve an issue that plagues most ABA service providers. This will also serve as an example of how Organizational Behavior Management can be applied at a large scale to solve business-wide issues from a behavior analytic systems perspective.

BCBA practitioners, clinicians, administrators

Behavior Analysis as a science has the potential to produce significant changes in all areas that involve human behavior. Recently, the field has had a tremendous impact in the treatment of autism and other developmental disabilities, and has gained much public recognition and acceptance. However, many behavior analysts often lament the apparently narrowing focus of the field into just one subject area, and frequently ask - why haven't we done more? Outside of clinical behavior analysis, there are a number of individuals working to apply the science of behavior to a great variety of settings and populations. The present talk will present a case study of how behavior analysis has been used to influence performance in a very "non-traditional" setting - A real estate company.

The rapid change in the world of autism treatment has sparked rapid growth, and big challenges for companies providing ABA treatment services. One major challenge many such organizations encounter relates to providing all treatment hours deemed clinically necessary by ABA professionals. Under-providing hours can slow clinical progress, as clients receive fewer service hours than are deemed clinically necessary. It also presents a significant business challenge, as it leaves hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars unbilled by service providers. Many of the factors that contribute to low contract fulfillment rates are behavioral in nature, and may be improved by taking a behavior analytic approach. This presentation will present a case-study of an organization that employed OBM and Behavioral Systems Analysis to analyze and improve contract fulfillment rates. Intervention strategies included process redesigns, and implementation of task clarification and multi-level feedback systems. Preliminary data indicate the organization increased hours billed by 5% - 10% at one site, and have the potential to see increases as much as 10% - 15% organization-wide.

Change Management is a common approach to change in many organizations. The ADKAR model to change management is one of the popular change management systems being used by businesses today. Upon further inspection of the ADKAR change management model, there are many behavior analytic principles that may be extrapolated for effective organizational behavior management. If behavioral analysts are able to utilize this widely adopted practice by bridging the well-known organizational development components and verbiage of ADKAR with the underlying science and nomenclature of behavior analytics, then behavior analysts will be able to continue to make strides in supporting the ongoing needs of any organization within and outside of the ABA industry. This talk is designed to teach clinicians in the behavior analytic industry how to utilize their extensive training in behavior analysis to not only apply their knowledge to organizational behavior management, but also to generalize that knowledge across organizational systems.

Training staff is a critical component for the success of organizational interventions. Behavior analysts are often required to train staff for the organizations for whom they work or during consultations to meet the organizations goals to improve staff performance. Behavioral skills training (BST) is an effective method to training staff. BST usually includes interrelated components including instruction, modeling of the targeted skills, rehearsal, and praise or corrective feedback. In this symposium, three applications of BST will be described across three presentations. In the first presentation, the presenter will describe a study in which school staff were trained to help students initiate play with peers and engage in outdoor activities during recess. In the second presentation, the presenter will describe a study in which BST was used to train therapy staff to conduct visual analyses and make decisions based on their analyses. In the third presentation, the presenter will describe a study in which a component analysis was conducted on the components of BST within the context of training staff to implement discrete trial training procedures.

The target audience includes behavior analysts, both practitioners and researchers, who train staff or are involved in research of behavioral skills training. The contexts are applicable to those who work in organizational behavior management, and clinical and educational settings.

Data-based decision-making is an often neglected, yet extremely important behavior-analytic strategy. Behavior-analytic staff are often responsible for collecting and graphing data, but rarely analyze the data being graphed. In the current study, four employees at a behavioral organization were trained on simple visual analysis terms: level, trend, variability. Using the components of Behavioral Skills Training (BST) instructions, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback staff were trained to interpret and make decisions based on the level, trend, and variability of the data. Implications include both autonomy on the part of behavioral staff and increases in independent work time for supervisors. As data are analyzed frequently, programs can be modified and adapted as necessary to promote the speed at which clients acquire the skills being taught.

Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBA) are supervising therapists who deliver behavior analytic treatment in a variety of settings and across many different cultures. The Behavior Analyst certification is international and as such, BCBAs working abroad and within the United States often encounter cultural practices that do not align with our Professional and Ethical Code. The panelists will present examples of barriers encountered while providing services to different cultures, specifically in Brazil, the United Arab Emirates, the Mexican community in California, and the Deafblind community. Some of the issues that will be discussed include the use of technology and confidentiality, professional relationships, gift acceptance, and participation in caregiver training. The panelists will also discuss the impact of some cultural practices on the implementation of the guidelines from the Professional and Ethical Code for Behavior Analysts. Finally, the panelists will discuss training of therapists and supervisors, and the need to consider formal training on multi-cultural practices and the need to understand its impact on the implementation of our Professional and Ethical Code

BCBAs working in the applied field providing services to children with ASD and related disorders

This panel is a continuation of previous panel discussions at ABAI on Behavior Analysts Behaving Badly. This year we will present ethics cases and deconstruct them in front of the audience so they can see how we approach unethical conduct. An ethicist is a professional who is sought after for ethical advice and counsel; For this panel we have brought together three such behavior analysis ethicists who are regularly consulted to provide guidance on complex cases of unethical conduct. Toward the end of the session we will open the floor to questions from the audience and again each ethicist will respond so that the range of tactics and strategies will be apparent.

The target audience is BCBAs who are practicing in schools, homes and the community as well as clinics and agencies.

As with scientists and technicians in many fields, we applied behavior scientists use precise language and we value our language highly. In addition, we often value detail and complexity because they illustrate the depth of our analysis of behavior and of the variables that influence it. But when we attempt to engage clients, parents, colleagues in other disciplines, and others not schooled in our science, our language and the complexity of our analyses and models often become barriers. We must not be simplistic in our communication with others, but we need to learn how to be simple. We can accelerate our impact by using language, models, and concepts that make sense to ordinary people and are relatively intuitive for them. We want people to "get it," and simplicity can help. Carl Binder has spent the 47 years since he first studied with B.F. Skinner learning from masters in the field of behavior science and performance engineering, and attempting to pass on what he learns to others. He has consulted with, trained and coached educators, parents, clients, business people, training and process professionals, and others not schooled in behavior science. In this lecture he will trace a path from Skinner's elegant measurement technology through his own work in precision teaching, behavioral fluency, sales and marketing enablement, organizational performance consulting, leadership and management, and talent development with examples of how simplicity and plain language have enabled "viral" diffusion of models and methods in organizations and communities. Key takeaways will include the forewarning that things get complicated before they get simple, and that we need to develop intermediate vocabularies that link our science with the vocabularies and experience of ordinary people who can benefit from what we can provide.

Anyone who communicates about our science or application to people outside our field.

Functional Communication Training (FCT) is an effective treatment for reducing problem behavior and increasing communication responses. This symposium explores various aspects of FCT in the treatment of problem behavior (i.e., reinforcement schedule thinning, client preference, multiple schedules), while highlighting advantages and limitations. Presentations will focus on a) client preferences of schedule thinning procedures, b) the clinical utility of treatment chaining, c) variables contributing to discriminated responding within multiple schedules, and d) prevalence of resurgence during reinforcement schedule thinning. The discussant will provide a synthesis of research findings and discuss implications for clinical practice and future research.

Practitioners treating severe behavior disorders

One limitation of functional communication training (FCT) is that although problem behavior has decreased, the functional communication response (FCR) might be emitted at exceedingly high rates (Betz et al., 2013). One potential solution to this problem is establishing stimulus control of the FCR through a multiple schedule. However, several studies have demonstrated difficulty with establishing discriminated responding across multiple schedule components (Saini, Miller, & Fisher, 2016). It is unclear if the production of discriminated responding within a multiple schedule is due to the programmed stimuli, or if some other variable is responsible for the development of stimulus control. The current study seeks to evaluate the controlling variables within a multiple schedule arrangement. More specifically, if programmed stimuli, contingencies, or therapist behavior is responsible for the development of stimulus control with 3 participants with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). A pre-assessment was used to determine the verbal repertoire of all participants and results provide preliminary evidence that some level of prerequisite skill might be necessary to establish discriminated responding in the context of a multiple schedule.

Functional communication training is a well-established treatment for socially reinforced problem behavior that typically includes differential reinforcement of the functional communication response (FCR) in combination with extinction of problem behavior. However, when the schedule of reinforcement for the FCR is thinned, problem behavior may resurge. Currently, data are unavailable on the prevalence and characteristics of resurgence during reinforcement schedule thinning. In this study, we examined previously published data (i.e., Greer, Fisher, Saini, Owen, & Jones, 2016) and evaluated the prevalence of resurgence during reinforcement schedule thinning on a per-case and per-schedule-step basis. We identified resurgence in 19 of the 25 (76%) applications of reinforcement schedule thinning. In addition, we determined the magnitude of resurgence in relation to the functions of destructive behavior. In some cases, the magnitude of resurgence exceeded the mean levels of destructive behavior observed in baseline. We discuss these results relative to prior translational and applied research on resurgence.

We treated destructive behavior maintained by both social-positive (i.e., access to tangibles) and social-negative (i.e., escape from demands) reinforcement in an individual diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder using functional communication training (FCT). We then thinned the schedule of reinforcement for the tangible function using a multiple schedule (mult FCT) and later thinned the availability of escape using a chained schedule (chain FCT). Both treatments proved effective at maintaining functional communicative responses while decreasing destructive behavior to near-zero levels. In addition, treatment effects maintained when we rapidly thinned mult FCT to the terminal schedule. Throughout chain-FCT schedule thinning, we assessed client preference for each schedule-thinning arrangement (mult FCT or chain FCT) using a concurrent-chains procedure. Client preference reliably shifted from chain FCT to mult FCT as the response requirement increased and the proportion of session spent in reinforcement began to favor mult FCT. We discuss the clinical implications of these findings.

The purpose of this symposium is to evaluate the state of service delivery for adults with developmental disabilities and other diagnoses and highlight the current and potential role of behavior analysts in the support of these individuals. First, the use of Functional Analyses to support adults in behavioral journals over the past twenty years will be reviewed. The current state of policy and available resources in the state of California will then be discussed. Based on the identified social importance of evidence based practice to support adults in life transitions; the results of a national survey of behavior analysists' preparedness related to severe problem behavior will be presented. Finally, data from three adults receiving behavioral support during or after the transition to adult services will further illustrate the role behavior analysts can play during this tumultuous time. The discussant for the symposium, who brings decades of expertise in treating severe problem behavior, will then provide valuable insights to those assembled.

Behavior Analysts

Previous literature has demonstrated that interventions based on Functional Behavior Assessments produce the most effective treatment in the elimination of problem behavior for individuals diagnosed with developmental and intellectual disabilities. In addition, the literature is full of examples of the use of functional analyses and effective interventions aimed at eliminating problem behavior in children. However, where does the literature stand with respect to functional analyses and interventions with adult populations? When children grow up, what happens as they transition to a new environment (e.g., from school to a sheltered workshop) or when they get bigger in stature? Moreover, what about the assessment and treatment of individuals who develop problem behavior in adulthood, what is best evidence-based practice? This review evaluated the literature on functional analyses and interventions for adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities, autism, and other medical diagnoses (e.g., Alzheimer) to evaluate for evidence-based practices. We included articles that have been published over the last 20 years that utilized a functional analysis and intervention model to effectively treat problem behavior from behavioral journals. We coded whether the participants were under or over 21 years of age. If they were over 21, we coded for several factors: diagnosis, assessment and treatment setting , type of assessment, type of intervention, what kind of problem behavior was addressed, as well as whether maintenance, generalization, or social validity data were reported. This presentation will summarize the state of the current literature with respect to evidence-based practice for adults with problem behavior.

In 1977, the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Act, passed in the state of California to enforce human rights of individuals with developmental disabilities. More than forty years later, we are still feeling the effects of this mandate. In the state of California, behavior analysts are being called to provide increased services to adults with developmental disabilities. This increased demand for adult-focused behavior analytic services is simultaneously happening while several new initiatives are currently underway at the state policy level. The current presentation will discuss the policies behavior analysts are currently encountering regarding the transition from center based day-programs to community-based programs, self-determination, and person-centered planning. In particular, what does the "Final Rule" policy mean for our consumers, the transition away from the traditional "group home" settings, and how does this impact the movement toward self-determination and person-centered planning? Are behavior analysts in general prepared to support these changes and provide the level of services this population of adults may require?

Recently, Reed and Henley (2015) surveyed 382 individuals with respect to various types of staff and supervisory training offered to BACB certificants. Their results suggest several areas that require increased attention; in particular, half of the respondents indicated that they did not receive initial pre-service training and nearly one third of respondents indicated that they do not receive on-going training in their work setting. The outcomes of Reed and Henley's investigation provide several valuable avenues for future research and practice. It is important to note, however, that only 18.9% of respondents reported that they work in the home setting (the remainder worked in center- or school-based programs). Moreover, the topography and severity of challenging behaviors may differ across home and other settings for a given individual. As such, the purpose of the current investigation was to extend Reed and Henley by 1) surveying BACB respondents who practice in the home setting and 2) gathering more data on the nature of training and supervision received by the respondents (with attention given to severely challenging behaviors). The present study surveyed 139 BACB certificants with regard to initial and ongoing supervision for home-based services. Of that group, 125 respondents were included in a section on training and support for severe problem behavior in the home-setting. Potential benefits associated with establishing a more robust definition of on-going training and performance management will be discussed. Implications for the concept of "Continuing Education" will also be presented.

Transitioning into adulthood is a time of change and uncertainty. According to Friedman, Warfield, and Parish (2013), this is a particularly vulnerable time, as the entitlements of the children's service system end and young adults with ASD and their families encounter fragmented and underfunded systems of care which suggests that the current models of school-based transition planning are not meeting the needs of youths with ASD. Hendricks and Wehman (2006) indicate some individuals with ASD are able to successfully transition; however, most are faced with significant obstacles in multiple areas as they attempt to negotiate their way into college, work, community participation, and independent living. This transition often involves securing appropriate behavioral services and access to community resources, including educational, vocational, and tailored day programming, as well as identifying options for residential and long-term care. The purpose of this presentation will be to review the clinical outcomes for three adults with developmental disabilities who engage in severe problem behavior, and examine how behavioral support services may influence the course of their transitions. Functional analyses conducted in relevant community settings suggested that target problem behaviors were maintained by social reinforcement in the form of access to preferred items and/or escape. Treatment data, collected in each individual's relevant environment including the progression of services, will be presented. Identified barriers to continued progress and social validity outcome measures also will be discussed.

This symposium presents four basic and translational studies on naming and the effects of naming on stimulus class formation, seeking shed light on the relationship between speaker and listener behavior, and on the involvement of verbal behavior in human equivalence class formation. The first study focused on the acquisition of bidirectional speaker and listener relations, and found a greater degree of transfer from speaker to listener than from listener to speaker relations in typically developing children and one child diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. The second study examined the effects of common and intraverbal naming on equivalence class formation in kindergarten-age children who failed to demonstrate equivalence prior to learning to name the stimuli. The third study similarly investigated the effects of intraverbal naming on the acquisition of baseline matching-to-sample relations and equivalence class formation in adults. Finally, the fourth study examined the effects of training sequence on the formation of stimulus classes established via intraverbal naming in adults.

Behavior analysts; scientists; graduate students

Most Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention-manuals state that listener behavior should be mastered before training a tact repertoire. This is due partly to how typically developed children's repertoire normally develops. To date, however, only a few studies have examined this question and the results have been somewhat mixed. Participants were one child with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) aged 5 years and 11 months and 4 typical children between the age of 2 and 3 years. Using an alternating treatment design three stimuli were trained as listener behavior alternated with three stimuli trained as impure tacts. After mastering one of the conditions, transfer to the other condition were tested under extinction. The child with ASD mastered impure tacts quicker than listener behavior, as did two of the four typically developing children. All five children showed higher degree of transfer from impure tacts to listener behavior as compared to transfer from listener behavior to impure tacts. Results suggest that transfer from impure tacts to listener behavior occurs more often that transfer from listener behavior to impure tacts. Moreover, impure tacts can be acquired without first having learned to respond to the stimuli tacted as a listener.

Among others, Murray Sidman has discussed the role of naming in equivalence class formation in his book Equivalence Relations and Behavior. A Research Story. There are still disagreements about how important naming is in equivalence class formation. We asked the following research questions: Do kindergarten children form equivalence classes without any training in naming the stimuli on beforehand? Do preliminary training with homogeneous/common or heterogeneous/intraverbal naming lead to different outcome tests for equivalence class formation? In the present experiment three children aged around four years old were trained to establish six conditional discriminations in a matching to sample (MTS) format and tested for forming three 3-member classes. If failing to establish the first relation within 600 trials, they were trained in intraverbal and common naming before conducting the MTS procedure again. One child established the first relation within 600 trials and responded in accordance with stimulus equivalence (see Table 1). The two other children conducted the MTS with naming, both conditions in reversed order. The results showed that the child starting with heterogeneous naming did not respond in accordance with stimulus equivalence in this condition, but did so in the homogeneous condition. The other child starting with homogeneous naming responded in accordance with stimulus equivalence in both conditions.

Laboratory investigations are a beneficial means of evaluating socially relevant problems that are difficult to study experimentally in real-world contexts because of practical or ethical constraints. Such methods also provide a controlled environment for identifying functional relations and behavioral mechanisms responsible for the behavior of interest. This symposium includes four unique approaches to studying a range of research areas using laboratory-based methods that have implications for applied behavior analysis. The first presentation examines parametric manipulations of reinforcer dimensions of incentives on performance in a simulated online workplace. The second presentation will share findings from a laboratory investigation of varied levels of feedback accuracy and frequency on acquisition of a novel task with undergraduate participants. The third presentation used a computerized analog arrangement to examine the conditions under which differential reinforcement prevented the development of problem behavior. The final presentation evaluated the effects of conditioning histories on preference for reinforcer choice in five preschool-aged children. The symposium will conclude with comments and considerations for applied behavior analysis from a discussant.

Researchers wishing to use laboratory models to understand the controlling variables for socially relevant applied problems or practitioners hoping to gain a better understanding of laboratory-based research.

Studies have shown that children of both typical and atypical cognitive development tend to prefer contexts in which their behavior results in a choice of reinforcers rather than a single reinforcer delivered without a choice-making opportunity, even when the reinforcer received is identical across conditions. The origin of this preference has been attributed speculatively to behavioral histories in which choice making tends to be associated with differentially beneficial outcomes, but few studies have evaluated this claim and those that have yielded mixed results. The current study evaluated providing five preschool-aged children histories in which choice-making and no-choice-making contexts were differentially associated with higher-quality and larger-magnitude reinforcers and assessed changes in preference for choice and no-choice contexts in which outcomes were equated. These conditioning histories resulted in consistent and replicable shifts in child preference, indicating that choice preference is malleable through environmental experience. Thus, choice preferences may develop across children through shared learning histories.

The identification of the source of reinforcement for untaught responses has been an elusive journey for applied researchers in the field of behavior analysis. While multiple explanations for the indirect acquisition of new skills abound, the impact of the social environmental context has been less agreed upon. People depend on the indirect learning for a variety of things in their lives. Individuals watch others when they are not certain of how they should act or react in a multitude of scenarios. These environmental conditions may be social, cultural or academic. For humans success in employment, schooling and with relationships may hinge on how we critically observe our environments. We report the results of four experiments related to the acquisition of untaught responses through observational learning, social listener reinforcement and emulation each of which can be analyzed vis-a-vis a social or non-social context. The implications for educational and clinical settings are also discussed.

masters and doctoral level BCBAs

People depend on observational learning for a variety of things in their lives. Individuals watch others when they are not certain of how they should act or react to a multitude of scenarios. These environmental conditions may be social, cultural or academic. For humans success in employment, schooling and with relationships may hinge on observation. What people observe in addition to behaviors of others are the contingencies that are part of their interaction with the environmental stimuli. They are subsequently affected by how those interlocking events provide consequences for others. Recent evidence suggests distinctions between the effects of observation on the emission of previously acquired repertoires, the acquisition of new repertoires and the acquisition of observational learning as a new repertoire. Prior research has not clearly identified whether the changes in behavior from observation constituted learning because in many cases tests were not done for the presence or absence of the repertoires prior to observation. We describe new investigations reporting procedures leading to the acquisition of observational learning, and the acquisition of operants and higher order operants by observation. We also provide information on how to use observational learning for making educational and clinical decisions.

The purpose of this study was to exam the relationship between the emulation and pre-requisite cusps or capabilities. A multiple baseline design across matched triads was utilized. The study was conducted with 23 individuals diagnosed with autism. The participants ranged in ages from 3 to 13 years old (5 females and 18 males) and all of whom received over 20 hours of ABA services weekly. The participants ranged from pre-speaker/pre-listener to reader/writer levels of verbal behavior. All participants were initially probed to determine whether imitation and or emulation were present prior to the study. Imitation will be induced for all participants with baseline data of less than 80% accuracy on either imitation or emulation probes. This study will provide data on the following: correlations between emulation and cusps or capabilities, if changes in curricula are needed when imitation or emulation is in repertoire, or if consequent stimulus control is necessary for emulation.

Emulation refers to a behavior by which an individual emits one or more responses that produce an environmental change that mimics the condition of a visual model. In this study, researchers used a multiple baseline across participants design to test whether generalized emulation could be occasioned through direct training and whether the presence of generalized emulation as a behavioral repertoire would result in lower trials-to-criterion for individuals with Autism participating in a life skills oriented school program. Results are discussed as they relate to the importance of establishing emulation and improving outcomes in daily living and job skills. Further, the results discussed offer information to inform whether the presence of emulation in repertoire can impact how vocational training programs are implemented as well as indicate the level of training required to help individuals reach a greater state of independence.

In Experiment 1, I conducted a functional analysis of student rate of learning with and without a peer-yoked contingency for 12 students in Kindergarten through 2nd grade in order to determine if they had conditioned reinforcement for collaboration. Using an ABAB reversal design, I compared rate of learning as measured by learn units to criterion under two conditions: (A) rotated learn units between 2 peers with a peer-yoked contingency game board (collaborative reinforcement), and (B) rotated learn units between 2 peers without a peer-yoked contingency game board (individual reinforcement). Seven of twelve participants learned faster in the collaborative reinforcement condition, suggesting that they each had reinforcement for collaboration with a peer. Additionally, participants who demonstrated reinforcement for collaboration emitted higher levels of vocal verbal operants when yoked with a peer than the participants who did not. In Experiment 2, the participants who did not demonstrate reinforcement for collaboration were placed into a collaborative intervention, in order to determine if this potential developmental cusp could be established. In a delayed multiple probe design across dyads, four participants engaged in peer tutoring with a confederate peer, and a yoked contingency game board was utilized to reinforce their effective collaboration. Following this intervention, all four participants demonstrated a faster rate of learning when yoked with a peer, as well as increased levels of vocal verbal operants with their peers. These findings suggest a shift in reinforcement from social contract to social contact. The educational significance and implications of this potential developmental cusp are discussed.

Behavioral medicine is a field of study that integrates behavioral and biomedical sciences to improve behaviors associated with disease and health states. Behavioral medicine targets may focus on disease prevention, treatment to improve health and disease states and/or comorbidities, programming to facilitate maintenance of health behavior change, and treatments targeting adherence to medical regimes. As experts in functional analysis and behavior change, behavior analysts are well-equipped to work in the field of behavioral medicine. However, behavior analysts often do not receive specific training during coursework or continuing education focused on behavioral medicine interventions and research, and thus may be unaware of how to begin a line of research in the field. The purpose of the current panel discussion is to provide recommendations on beginning research in behavioral medicine. Panelists will provide an overview of how they entered into the field, recommendations for supervision and mentorship, and how to maintain a line of research in behavioral medicine long term.

BCBAs, BCBA-Ds, BCaBAs, Health Psychologists, Health Professionals

Gene-environment interactions are being increasingly recognized as important in the assessment and treatment of problem behavior. A notable example of this phenomenon is fragile X syndrome (FXS), a well-known single-gene cause of intellectual disability. In this symposium, we will examine how the diagnosis of FXS might be important to consider in the assessment and treatment of problem behavior. The first speaker (Tobias Britton) will describe the topographies of problem behavior commonly shown by individuals with FXS, and report on the results from a descriptive assessment of problem behavior conducted on 47 boys with FXS. The second speaker (Katerina Monlux) will describe how condition-specific in-home functional analyses can be conducted for children with FXS using a parent-coaching model. Finally, the third speaker (Arlette Bujanda-Rodriguez) will describe how function-based treatments can be administered via telehealth to decrease problem behaviors in FXS. In all three presentations, the speakers will discuss how phenotypic features common to individuals with FXS (e.g., social anxiety, aversion to transitions) need to be considered in the assessment and treatment of problem behavior in this population.

Practitioners, scientists, and educators.

Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is a rare genetic disorder that could inform potential interactions between genes and environment. In this study, we examined the topographies and potential sources of reinforcement for aggression and self-injurious behaviors reported by caregivers of boys with FXS. Data were collected on 47 boys with FXS aged 8 to 18 years using The Functional Analysis Screening Tool (FAST), a commonly used descriptive assessment to identify potential functions of problem behavior (Iwata, DeLeon, & Roscoe, 2013). Results showed that the most common form of aggressive behavior was hitting others (58.3% of cases) and the most common form of self-injurious behavior was self-biting (56.3% of cases). For both aggression and self-injury, multiple sources of social reinforcement were more likely to be identified than single sources of social reinforcement. Automatic sensory reinforcement or pain attenuation were rarely endorsed for either behavior. Taken together, these data suggest that multiple sources of social reinforcement maintain aggression and self-injury in FXS

Many individuals with fragile X syndrome (FXS), a rare genetic disorder associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), commonly show severe problem behaviors such as self-injury and aggression that can be extremely distressing to families and can severely impact the child's quality of life. In this study, we evaluated whether targeted function-based behavioral treatments for problem behaviors conducted via telehealth, could reduce problem behaviors in this disorder. Following a functional analysis, 8 caregivers of boys with FXS initially received daily coaching via telemhealth to implement function-based treatments. The frequency of telehealth sessions was subsequently faded over a 12-week period, depending on progress. Results showed that significant reductions in problem behavior occurred over the 12 week period in almost all cases. These data suggest that telehealth behavioral treatment is an effective model for reducing problem behavior in children with FXS.

The New England Center for Children, Alpine Learning Group, and The Neurobehavioral Programs at Kennedy Krieger Institute are unique clinical operations that provide applied behavior analytic-based services designed to meet the complex needs of individuals with autism and related developmental disabilities. Leaders from these three programs will discuss how their clinical practices are continuously evolving with advances in research, and how the delivery of clinical services informs their own research. Each presenter will provide examples of the products of engaging in a systematic process of integrating research and clinical service delivery. Presenters will show how the same data-based analytic approach used to address socially relevant problems at the level of the individual that is a hallmark of applied behavior analysis, can be executed at the program level to evaluate and improve clinical outcomes and generate research that contributes to scientific knowledge.

graduate students, BCBAs, psychologists, researchers, practitioners

Skinner's famous article, titled 'What's Wrong with the Western World?', warned of the dangers of distancing employees from the naturalistic outcomes of their performance. Additionally, many modern work environments increasingly crossover into home life and impact our lives more so than ever before. Given the latter developments, we discuss ways to take a more mindful and purposeful approach to organizational design that leverages 21st century technology to better connect people and organizations to the impact of their behavior on larger society. In doing so, we draw on our own consulting experiences and use of supportive contextualized assessment and intervention (e.g., Ecological Momentary Assessment, Natural Language Processing, Ecological Momentary Intervention) to alter the functions of deleterious rules impeding the performance of employees, leaders, and the organization itself.

Intermediate Behavior Analysts, Graduate Students, Professionals

For decades, researchers and practitioners have both isolated challenging behavior's controlling variables by observing the effects of systematic manipulations of antecedent and consequent events. These functional analyses (FA) have served as the basis for countless effective interventions and represent the most empirically validated approach to functional assessment currently available. In this symposium, speakers will highlight two applications of this methodology directly relevant to clinical practice. In the first talk, the presenter will explore the collateral effects of stimulant medication on child behavior by tracking rates of targeted and non-targeted responding during FAs conducted across stimulant and placebo conditions. In the second talk, the presenter will highlight some limitations of standard FA methodology and will describe how latency-based FAs might be employed to identify the function(s) of low-frequency high-intensity challenging behavior. The symposium will culminate with a discussion of each study's strengths and weaknesses and will highlight areas for future research and practical application.

Masters- and doctoral-level practitioners and scientists

Previous research has examined the influence of stimulant medication on disruptive behavior's maintaining variables in individuals diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) by conducting functional analyses across drug conditions (stimulant vs. placebo or no medication; e.g., Dicesare, McAdam, Tonner, & Varrel, 2005; Northup et al., 1997). While functional analyses conducted during no-medication conditions resulted in differential responding across conditions, functional analyses conducted during stimulant conditions resulted in low rates of disruptive behavior across conditions. We conducted functional analyses across dexmethylphenidate (DMPH) and placebo conditions in a withdrawal design for an 8-year old boy with ADHD. Results suggest disruptive behavior was maintained by attention when DMPH was present, but not when it was absent. Results also suggest DMPH may have collateral effects on the probability of non-targeted behavior (crying) as crying was present during DMPH conditions and absent during placebo conditions. Implications for future research and practice will be discussed.

Standard functional analysis arrangement work for a multitude of challenging behaviors. However, they often fall short when trying to assess low-rate, high-intensity behavior. Various manipulations have been offered as potential solutions when initial functional analyses prove inconclusive. Most often offered is for extended session length (O'Reilly 1996, Kahng et al 2001, Davis et al 2012). While this alteration can be a great assistance in ascertaining a clear function, assessments can take days, if not weeks, to complete. In order to be more efficient with time, the modified functional analysis was altered to be latency based. This assessment followed past research that the use of latency as a measure did allow for more differentiated functional analysis outcomes (Call 2009). Additionally, in moving to a latency based functional analysis, there would be the potential to complete the assessment at a faster pace allowing for less chance of injury to the individual and for appropriate treatment to be introduced sooner.

Training staff to implement effective behavioral interventions for children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) requires effective training techniques. This training can occur on a scale from one-on-one, group based, all the way to large scale internship models. The purpose of this symposium is to present two models of staff training. The first presentation describes a common model of staff training (i.e., one-on-one) that used a teaching interaction procedure (TIP) to teach three interventionists the skills to implement a TIP to target the development of social skills for children diagnosed with ASD. The second presentation describes a comprehensive internship program designed to train therapists on the historical, conceptual, and theoretical underpinnings of our field as it applies to the behavioral treatment of ASD as well as the direct implementation a comprehensive behavioral intervention for children diagnosed with ASD. Both presentations will be discussed with respect to their strengths as well as future directions.

Those in charge of training staff on providing behavioral interventions for individuals diagnosed with ASD including, but not limited to, BCBAs and BCaBAs.

The teaching interaction procedure (TIP) is an evidence based procedure that has been utilized for the development of social skills. The TIP consists of labeling the targeted skill, providing a meaningful rationale for the importance of the skill, describing the steps of the targeted skill, modeling how the skill, and providing feedback throughout the TIP. Although the TIP has been used to teach a variety of social skills for children and adolescents diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and/or other social and behavioral disorders, its use has not been evaluated to train staff. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of a TIP to teach three interventionists the skills to implement a TIP to target the development of social skills for children diagnosed with ASD. The results of a multiple baseline design showed the TIP was effective at teaching all three interventionists how to implement a TIP with children diagnosed with ASD.

The essential skills required for a behavior analyst to function as a scientist-practitioner within autism intervention are vast. As a result, many university programs, training institutes, and certifications have been developed to engender, maintain, and assess the skills required to be effective practitioners. While these systems are effective in establishing minimum competencies, the development and refinement of the skills required by the scientist-practitioner should continue after achieving these milestones (e.g., graduating, certification). One way to continue expanding and developing these skills is through behavior analytic internships. The purpose of this presentation is to provide a description of the development of an internship for autism interventionists. The internship was designed to develop/extend behavior analytic conceptual knowledge as well as develop/extend clinical skills (i.e., direct intervention). Lessons learned with the first cohort, changes made to the second cohort, and future directions with respect to research and refinements to the internship will be discussed.

With behavior analytic laboratories closing and many of the second generation of scientists reaching retirement age, basic behavior analysis is at a crossroads. The applied area is strong, because behavioral methods have achieved recognition as the treatment of choice for autism spectrum disorders and because professional certification programs and state regulatory requirements have further solidified applied behavior analysis as an established therapy. But the future of the basic area is unclear. Furthermore, because basic science provides much of the theoretical underpinning for the applied area, the future positioning of the applied area as an academic discipline is also somewhat uncertain. Constructed as an imaginary presidential address, this presentation will offer an assessment of the current status of the wider field of behavioral science and make suggestions for the future role of behavior analysis within that wider field. In "Changing Course," a recent essay in The Behavior Analyst (Vyse, 2013), I outlined personal reasons for turning my attentions away from the field of behavior analysis. The current presentation will take a different tack, imaging a new course for basic behavioral analysis (with implications for the applied area) that might help ensure the field's continued contribution to behavioral science. Among the topics considered will be: (a) the role of theory in behavioral science, (b) the limitations of a field so tightly bound to a distinct set of research methodologies, (c) future directions for graduate training, (d) the role of ABAI, and (e) the prospect of behavior analytic contributions in as yet unexplored areas. Basic behavior analysis is not alone in facing existential challenges. The "reproducibility crisis" has had profound effects on psychology and other social and biological sciences. At this moment of flux, there are new opportunities for innovation and collaboration that could strengthen our field.

Basic and applied researchers who are interested in the future of the field.

Despite growing interests in the applied behavioral analysis (ABA) training from different constituents, China is still in a great demand for training more qualified behavioral analysts and other clinical professionals who can deliver effective ABA based interventions to Chinese children with special needs. Applications of ABA to children with ASD were first introduced to China in 1990s primarily through Chinese parents and parent-run organizations. Not until the dawn of 21st century had the first ABA delegation to China from ABAI taken place. Interests from the different constituent groups (e.g., professionals in the medical field, parents of children with ASD, professionals in various clinical or rehabilitation settings for children with ASD, and special education school teachers etc.), towards ABA kept permeating since. Yet the status quo and outcomes of ABA training in China are unsatisfactory and of most concern. In this presentation, I will provide a historical review of the trends and issues surrounding the ABA training in China through the lens of special education. Based on my interactions with a few Chinese universities over the last decade regarding ABA training to university faculty and students, I will discuss the key issues and challenges. Suggestions for improvement of ABA training in China will also be discussed.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.

Assessing the preferences of animals in human care is important for many reasons. Practically speaking, an understanding of animals' preferences can help caregivers predict response patterns and enhance training and enrichment strategies. The presentations in this symposium describe efforts to apply behavior-analytic methodology to the assessment of animal preferences. Subjects include domestic and exotic animals, and formats include MSWO and PSPA preference assessments, as well as an assessment utilizing a disequilibrium perspective of reinforcer valuation. Dr. Meagan Gregory will bring her expertise in preference assessment methodology and application to bear in an analysis of the work presented.

This event is appropriate for behavior analysts who want to learn more about applying preference assessment methodology in applied animal behavior contexts.

Husbandry and medical training are critical components of animal care in zoos. Training allows animals to voluntarily participate in their own care in many ways, including day-to-day husbandry routines such as shifting and visual examinations as well as periodic medical procedures such as injections and ultrasound examinations. Maintaining these behaviors throughout an animal's life requires careful selection of reinforcers, which might be aided by the use of a preference assessment protocol. We describe the development of a multiple stimulus without replacement (MSWO) preference assessment protocol for regular use with African lions, an attempt to validate the protocol by comparing preference test choices with training trial outcomes, and next steps in applying this evidence-based practice in a new setting.

The paired-stimulus preference assessment (PSPA) has been widely accepted as the gold standard for identifying preferred items. These are then used in teaching to promote efficient learning. We examine the application of the PSPA to a group of black vultures, and discuss similarities and differences in responding across members of the same species. Applied animal training should incorporate more of these well-known behavior-analytic procedures to improve the training and quality of life for animals in captivity.

Animals in Shelters need training and/or enrichment, whether they are a social species, such as a dog or cat, or whether they are an animal that lives with humans, such as a rat or a parrot. Training can make a dog (and sometimes a cat) more adoptable, and training can be seen as an actual form of enrichment for an animal that does not live in a home. An enriched environment is one in which an animal has variety, choice and control over its daily activities, and environmental enrichment can be described as an improvement in the biological functioning of captive animals resulting from modifications to their environment. Preference assessments fulfill a need in both helping trainers and handlers to choose possible reinforcers and to discover preferences of possible enrichment food or materials. In this experiment, as array of known preference assessments were applied to a wide array of animals in an open-admission shelter; data showed that nearly all animals made choices when given the opportunity.

The Disequilibrium Model (Timberlake & Farmer-Dougan, 1991) states that the degree to which the ratio of instrumental (I) to contingent (C) responding is disrupted from a baseline bliss point (Oi/Oc) results in predictable reinforcement effects. When the contingency reduces the contingent response below baseline (I/C > Oi/Oc), a deficit is imposed for the contingent response (e.g., treat eating), and the rate of instrumental responding (e.g., initiate to human) increases. Punishment effects occur when the I/C is pushed above baseline, I/C < Oi/Oc, producing a satiation in operant responding. For example, dogs with little experience with human interaction may have different Oi/Oc baselines than experienced dogs when human-delivered treats are used to reinforce responding to human cues. The baseline rate of human approaches for inexperienced dogs may be lower, thus a contingency which requires increased approaches may result in reduced approaches to humans: a punishment effect, I/C > Oi/Oc). This paper presents data demonstrating predicted differences in reinforcer efficacy between dogs who were experienced with or those with little experience interacting with humans. The data support the predictions of the disequilibrium model, and demonstrate the importance of assessing baseline rates of both the contingent and operant response to determine reinforcer efficacy.

Response blocking and redirection can be effective in decreasing unwanted behavior, to include treatment resistant topographies, such as automatically maintained pica and self-injury. This symposium will present the results of four studies that utilized response blocking and redirection as part of a behavior intervention. Fisher et al., analyzed the effectiveness of competing items with and without response blocking and redirection in reducing treatment-resistant automatically-maintained self-injurious behavior. Priehs, Kishbaugh, Steinhauser, Cividini-Motta, and Ahearn examined the effectiveness of response blocking as compared to an overcorrection procedure when trying to treat public masturbation. Rettig, Fritz, Campbell, Williams, Smith, and Dawson examined whether blocking pica related behaviors earlier in a response hierarchy would be more effective than blocking only pica attempts. Finally, Clark, Muething, and Call sought to increase the ecological validity of response blocking and redirection procedures by examining if reductions in pica behaviors could be maintained when the discriminative stimulus associated with response blocking (i.e., caregiver or therapist) was absent. Together, these studies provide potential methods for reducing automatically-maintained behaviors through the use of response blocking and redirection procedures. Additionally, challenges associated with using response blocking and redirection will be discussed.

Professionals, practitioners, BCBAs, and clinicians.

Behavior such as masturbation is considered a part of normal sexual development and should be expected in adolescents and adults with autism (American Academy of Pediatrics, 1996). However, this behavior can be problematic when individuals engage in masturbation in public. The current study investigated the effects of overcorrection and response blocking on public masturbation (PM) of children and adolescents with autism. Initial assessments showed that PM was not sensitive to social consequences. During the treatment evaluation phase we compared overcorrection and response blocking to determine whether either procedure was successful in decreasing PM. In the overcorrection condition, the participant completed physical activities involving both hands (e.g., moving chairs, touching toes) contingent on the occurrence of any PM. In the response blocking condition, the therapist blocked all PM using physical and verbal prompts (e.g., neutrally saying, "Stop that," and moving hands away). Both procedures were effective in decreasing public masturbation but response blocking required fewer resources and time. Interobserver agreement was collected for a minimum of 30% of sessions and was 85% or greater. Clinical implications and suggestions for future research are reviewed.

Competing Stimulus Assessments (CSA) are designed to identify stimuli that when freely available, are associated with reductions in problem behavior. In addition, treatments involving noncontingent delivery of stimuli identified by CSAs are more likely to be successful in reducing automatically reinforced behavior than those involving stimuli were selected based on other methods (Rooker, Bonner, Dillon, & Zarcone, in press). Beyond simply providing free accesses to stimuli during the CSA, one approach involves examining additional procedures aimed at promoting exposure to the potential reinforcement provided by the test stimuli through prompting, and interfering with problem behavior (through response blocking; Jennet, Jann, & Hagopian, 2011). The purpose of the current study is to extend earlier research on these methods, by prompting engagement with the test stimulus, and if necessary blocking of SIB during CSA trials. The CSA was conducted under three conditions: a) stimuli were freely available, b) engagement with test stimuli was prompted, and c) engagement was prompted and SIB was blocked. Following these manipulations, we repeated the free access condition to determine increased engagement and suppression of SIB persisted in the absence of prompting and response blocking

Behavior skills training is an evidence-based training package for increasing the accuracy with which staff and caregivers implement behavioral interventions and teaching procedures. Behavior skills training packages typically include instruction, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback components. The purpose of the current symposium is to further evaluate the effectiveness of behavior skills training to increase the fidelity with which staff or caregivers implement a variety of behavior-analytic interventions and teaching procedures. The first study evaluated the effectiveness of self-monitoring following behavior skills training to increase the fidelity with which caregivers implemented three-step prompting. The second study combined group-based behavior skills training with in-situ training to teach participants to implement incidental teaching. The third study used behavior skills training and multiple exemplar training to teach participants to implement mand training. The fourth study combined behavior skills training and coaching to train teachers to arrange incidental teaching opportunities to teach verbal operants. All four studies evaluated the maintenance or generalization of skills trained during behavior skills training.

The target audience for this symposium is BCBAs or behavior analysts responsible for overseeing, training, and supervising staff or caregivers of behavior services.

This study extends the literature on caregiver training methods by assessing self-monitoring as a method for increasing caregivers' procedural integrity when implementing three-step prompting with a family member. Experimenters used a behavior skills training package and procedural integrity training to train two caregivers how to implement a three-step prompting procedure and evaluate procedural integrity. Following training, caregivers implemented the procedures with their family member and monitored their own implementation of the procedures. For one caregiver, self-monitoring was effective at increasing overall procedural integrity above mastery levels and effects maintained when self-monitoring was removed and the procedures where implemented with new instructions. The caregiver who did not master the procedures when self-evaluation was the only form of feedback received performance feedback, additional behavioral skills training, and post-session performance feedback. Results obtained from this study provide useful information about the effectiveness of self-monitoring as a method of performance feedback for caregivers and demonstrates that the way procedural integrity is evaluated may influence the perceived effectiveness of an intervention.

Active engagement broadly refers to the delivery of reinforcers and use of incidental teaching to promote skill acquisition and language development. In school settings, incidental teaching is vital to promoting learning and positive behavioral outcomes. However, training staff to actively engage with children can be difficult and resource intensive. We used a multiple-baseline across-participants design to evaluate the use of group-based behavior skills training and in-situ training with seven trainees to increase their implementation of incidental teaching procedures to preschool children with developmental disabilities within an integrated classroom. The group-based behavior skills training consisted of the trainer delivering a presentation describing procedures, modeling the skills, and providing feedback after role-plays. During in-situ teaching, the trainer delivered feedback as participants implemented incidental teaching. The group-based behavior skills training increased incidental teaching with six participants; however, only one participant met mastery levels. In-situ training was necessary to increase levels of incidental teaching to mastery with six participants. Incidental teaching skills maintained for 1 to 20 weeks.

Children with autism spectrum disorder and other developmental disabilities typically have delays in their communication skills. It is important for teachers and other school personnel to have an understanding of the different verbal operants and how to use incidental teaching to teach children to emit mands, tacts, and intraverbal responses. The purpose of the study was to use a multiple-baseline across-participants design to evaluate behavior skills training with classroom coaching to train school personnel to use incidental teaching to teach verbal behavior. Six females who were currently enrolled in a practicum to become bachelor's level or Master's level Special Education teachers participated. Trainees were provided with instructions on each verbal operant and observed the experimenter modeling how to use incidental teaching to arrange opportunities to teach a child with autism spectrum disorder the targeted verbal operant (mand, tact, or intraverbal). Following the model, the trainee worked with the child while the experimenter provided coaching in the form of in-situ feedback and feedback following each session. Behavior skills training and coaching was effective to increase participants' use of incidental teaching to teach mands, tacts, and intraverbals.

In the behavior analytic literature, there are several effective studies highlighting sport performance and improving the efficiency of specific sport topographies, such as in gymnastics and football. The studies presented will highlight findings demonstrated through behavior analytic studies on golf, swimming, and dance. Children and adult populations will both be considered, along with differing diagnostic criteria.

Practitioners interested in research relating to skill acquisition in sports using TAGteach™

Teaching with Acoustical Guidance™ (TAGteach™) involves providing a brief and consistent sound in the form of a clicker or beep to provide feedback on a targeted behavior, which has demonstrated positive effects for athletic skill acquisition. This study is a replication of Quinn, Miltenberger, and Fogel (2015), and uses a multiple baseline design across behaviors to examine the effects of TAGteach methods on the acquisition of novel dance movements. The participants in this study were three typically developing children aged 5–9 years old who regularly participate in a dance studio program. The findings demonstrated more rapid and generalized skill sets for different topographies of targeted dance movements: a turn, kick, and leap. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

Teaching with Acoustical Guidance™ (TAGteach™), has been demonstrated as effective in sport performance literature across various topographies and types of sports. The following study is an extension of Quinn, Miltenberger, and Fogel (2015), and uses a multiple baseline design across behaviors to examine the effects of TAGteach methods on the acquisition of novel dance movements. The participant in this study was a child with multiple diagnoses who participates in regular dance instruction. Results indicated that the use of TAGteach resulted in rapid skill acquisition for three different topographies of advanced targeted dance movements: a turn, kick, and leap. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

Drowning is a leading cause of unintentional death among children worldwide. Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at higher risk for incidents of drowning then their non-disabled peers. Mastering water safety skills, such as underwater submersion, has been associated with a decreased risk for incidents of drowning. Using a combined multiple-baseline and changing-criterion design, this study examined the effects of a behavioral treatment package consisting of shaping, prompting, and positive reinforcement utilized to teach three young children to demonstrate underwater submersion during weekly swimming lessons. During baseline, none of the participants submerged their head underwater despite previous modeling and instruction. Following the implementation of the behavioral treatment package, all three participants submerged their entire head underwater. Each participant maintained this skill following instruction and later developed more advanced swimming abilities utilizing the mastered skill of underwater submersion. This research is a demonstration of the application of behavioral techniques to teach an extra-curricular sporting skill that also can save a child's life.

In competitive sports at all levels, skill acquisition and improvement is an area of focus for many athletes. Several studies have been done to examine the use of operant conditioning or behavioral coaching on acquiring or improving new skills in several different sports. The following study seeks to examine the use of TAGteach™ and video modeling and feedback with experienced golfer ranging in age from 20 to over 40. This study will also examine the generalization of acquired or improved skills to the golf course.

Assessing individuals' preferences for and the efficacy of stimuli used during behavioral interventions as well as the interventions themselves remains an important topic for research. In this symposium, novel applications of preference and reinforcer assessments will be presented. The research includes: (a) a methodology for assessing preference for social interactions (N=5); (b) an evaluation of edible versus leisure item displacement during preference assessments (N=26); (c) a comparison of individuals' responding for highly and moderately preferred stimuli under varying reinforcement parameters (N=6); and (d) a quantitative review of published research that assessed participants' preferences for instructional activities (N=132). Respectively, results of these studies showed that (a) differences in individual preferences for social interactions were observed; (b) edible stimuli do not always displace leisure stimuli in preference assessments; (c) insensitivity to changing reinforcement contingencies is response-specific and does not reflect a general pattern of responding; and (d) preference for instructional activities often, but not always, corresponded to treatment efficacy. Collectively, results of these studies further demonstrate the idiosyncratic nature of individual preferences and reemphasize the importance of conducting preference and reinforcer assessments prior to and during behavioral treatment. Implications for clinical practice will be discussed.

Clinicians, researchers

Results of recent research suggest that automatically reinforced SIB (ASIB) appears comprised of distinct subtypes. One subtype (Subtype-ASIB) appears highly insensitive to concurrently available alternative reinforcement in both the context of assessment and treatment. It remains unclear whether this observed insensitivity to disruption by alternative reinforcement reflects a broader pattern of insensitive responding for these individuals across other responses, or whether it is specific to ASIB. As a preliminary means of addressing this question, the current study compared arbitrary responses (i.e., button presses) of six individuals' socially-reinforced SIB (n=3) or Subtype-2 ASIB (n=3) under various reinforcement conditions. Specifically, button pressing, which was reinforced using preferred edible stimuli, was examined under continuous, progressive-ratio, and extinction schedules. Results did not indicate any differences in sensitivity to schedule changes across groups. That is, individuals with Subtype-2 ASIB showed comparably similar degrees of sensitivity to schedule changes relative to individuals whose SIB was maintained by social reinforcement. These results provide preliminary evidence that insensitivity to disruption of SIB by alternative reinforcement, which is the hallmark of Subtype-2 ASIB, is specific to ASIB as a response class and does reflect a general insensitivity to alternative reinforcement across other response classes.

Empirical evidence shows that early and intensive behavioral interventions result in better treatment outcomes and are therefore considered the intervention of choice for treating individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. In many instances practical constraints prevent individuals from receiving intensive behavioral treatments and low-intensity interventions are provided instead. In this symposium, We will report outcome of low-intensity behavioral interventions across different sites, and with a variety of assessment tools, including the Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program (VB-MAPP), the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale, Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS), IQ scores, and other related measures.

Clinicians who provide treatments for individuals with autism spectrum disorder

Early Behavioral Intervention for children is provided through a range of different service models across countries. Supervision and consultancy on Early Behavioral Intervention for children with autism are available through public taxpayer-funded centers in Oslo (STI) and Bergen (AA), Norway. The day-to-day intervention is done in the child's local mainstream pre-school. An intervention team is formed based on the extra resources (person) provided through the child's special educational needs statement - along with the ordinary staff in the preschool. Also, students doing practicums are part of the intervention teams. We have compared outcomes of 46 children with autism (2-6 years of age at intake) who received services of moderate intensity (10-20 weekly intervention hours) through STI and AA with a comparison group of 28 children receiving treatment as usual of similar intensity. After two years, children receiving behavioral intervention had larger gains in IQ scores, adaptive behavior composite scores. The children in the behavioral intervention group also scored significantly better on a measure of autism severity. Strengths and weaknesses of this intervention model are discussed.

Skinner argued that behavior analysis was part of the larger field of evolutionary approaches. Advances in evolution science and in a contextual behavioral account of human language suggest that human beings have common motivations that needed to be taking into account when dealing with possible reinforcers for human behavior. In this talk I will argue that a small set of typical human yearnings emerge from this way of thinking, and surprisingly, that these connect behavioral thinking to some ideas often seen as oppositional to behavioral thinking.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.

The symposium includes three studies that targeted healthcare and hygiene routines for individuals with developmental disabilities. The first presentation evaluated the utility of a total-task chaining procedure to teach female adolescents with autism spectrum disorder to care for menses followed by assessing responding in a non-training setting and in the absence of an instructor. The second presentation examined a forward chaining procedure combined with positive and negative reinforcement for task tolerance to establish compliance with hygiene routines and extinguish problem behavior for an individual diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and down syndrome. The third presentation conducted a treatment procedure that consisted of demand fading and differential reinforcement both with and without extinction, and evaluated the negative side effects associated with the use of extinction to assess the extent to which extinction can be safely included when teaching compliance with healthcare procedures. Collectively these studies provide support for the value of teaching the healthcare needs for individuals with developmental disabilities.

Target audience are practitioners and researchers who serve the needs of individuals with autism spectrum disorder and other developmental disabilities.

Feminine hygiene skills, including steps required for care of menses, is a skill that nearly all young females with autism spectrum disorder need to be taught. Little applied research has focused on procedures to teach these skills. Two studies have demonstrated chaining to be a successful procedure in teaching related skills. This study extends methods used by Veazey et al. (2016) on using total-task chaining to teach females with autism to care for menses by programming for and assessing generalization in novel settings and in the absence of an instructor. Results demonstrate increases in correct responding across conditions for two participants, and generalization was demonstrated for one participant.

Hygiene related tasks are commonly non-preferred tasks for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, but individuals who engage in problem behavior to escape and avoid these tasks are at particular risk for infection, dental decay, and potential social ostracization. This presentation describes a case study in which we established compliance with hygiene routines including tooth brushing, shaving, hair combing, and the application of chap stick with a 21-year old male diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and down syndrome who displayed escape-maintained aggression and property destruction. The model for each of these tasks was to (a) conduct a task analysis of each task, (b) gradually introduce each step of the task analysis using forward chaining, (c) provide positive and negative reinforcement for task tolerance, and (d) extinguish problem behavior. Following acquisition of these tasks, we completed parent training and observed successful generalization of tolerance to applying deodorant and lotion, changing clothing, and spraying cologne.

The presence of certain stimuli during healthcare procedures (e.g., haircuts, dental) may evoke noncompliance in children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (Shumacher & Rapp, 2011). Noncompliance with such procedures can be a serious problem, especially when sharp objects are involved. Numerous interventions have been described, several of which included the use of extinction (e.g., Allen & Stokes, 1987; Cuvo, et al., 2010). However, the use of extinction treatment procedures may be associated with increased problem behavior. We evaluated a treatment procedure that included demand fading and differential reinforcement both with and without extinction. Additionally, negative side effects associated with the use of extinction were evaluated. A multiple-baseline-across-subjects design was combined with a multiple-probe design to evaluate acquisition, maintenance, and generalization. Ten young children with IDD participated. Results showed successful increases in compliance both in the presence and absence of extinction. However, acquisition was much slower without extinction. Further, the use of extinction was associated with moderate increases in problem behavior and negative vocalizations. This study extends behavior-analytic literature by assessing the extent to which extinction can be safely included as a treatment component when teaching compliance with healthcare procedures.

Life is full of choices between moderate-value rewards and risky higher-valued rewards (e.g., a decent restaurant that always has room versus a fabulous restaurant that is often full). One factor that influences risk preference is how these options are presented. When choices are described (common in behavioral economics), people are typically more risk seeking when choices involve losses (e.g., -$20 vs a 50/50 chance of -$40) than when they involve gains (e.g., +$20 vs. a 50/50 chance of +$40). In contrast, if outcomes are learned through experience (typical in operant research), people tend to be more risk seeking for relative gains that for relative losses. We proposed an extreme-outcome hypothesis, in which the best and worst outcomes have more impact than moderate outcomes on experience-based choices and on self-reported memory. In several studies, we have shown that outcomes at the ends of a distribution are weighted more, leading to biases in choice behavior and over-estimations in memory; moreover, these effects on choice and memory are correlated. The effects are also context dependent—outcomes are overweighted only when they are the best or worst outcomes in the current context. The fluidity of risky choice has implications for understanding risky behaviors such as gambling.

Graduate students and researchers interested in behavioral analysis, choice behavior, or gambling.

With the enactment of Senate Bill 946 in California, Easterseals has experienced unprecedented growth. This growth presented many challenges, including standardizing the treatment model across seven clinical locations to be congruent. In January 2017, Easterseals Bay Area Clinical Services enacted the standard that every six month authorization, a client will receive a developmental assessment and curriculum assessment. In addition to this, it became apparent that a standardized approach to assessment was necessary. A tool was created establishing the recommendation criteria for which curriculum based assessment to use and how many hours are deemed medically necessary. These recommendations are based on the following components of the client's learner profile: client age, Vineland 3 scores, Parenting Stress Index and/or Vineland 3 Maladaptive Behavior index. This tool was introduced to Easterseals Bay Area clinical staff in October 2017, with full implementation by January 2018. The curriculums recommended, the hours recommended, and results of this full implementation will be discussed in how it impacts ease of treatment planning, increased confidence in treatment recommendations for practitioners, and decrease in number of different curriculums used across seven clinical offices.

BCBA ABA Agencies

As the field of Applied Behavior Analysis has grown over the last two decades, a variety of curriculum based assessments have also been introduced. Some curriculums focus on specific domains, such as verbal behavior or social skills, while others focus on skills that are at the center of developmental or academic milestones. Further, there are also curriculum based assessments that focus on specific functional skills needed for daily living, outside of any developmental or age based protocol. As of January 2017, Easterseals Bay Area clinicians were implementing at least eight different curriculum based assessments across the seven offices. Members of the clinical leadership team met in June 2017 and started researching the different curriculums to identify those that best represented Easterseals Bay Area client needs and to standardize the use of these assessments across offices. Comparisons of each curriculum based assessment researched and the process of choosing the final three being recommended for Easterseals clients will be discussed.

Counting, measurement quality, and displaying behavioral data often occurs via interval time-sampling, interobserver agreement, and linear graphing. Each practice has a long history within behavior analysis. However, each has evoked debate as to its usefulness. Interval time-sampling, for example, epitomizes a discontinuous time-based method of measurement. Adopting such a system of data collection leads to over or underestimating the occurrence of behavior. The most common metric to determine measurement quality calculates the agreement between two independent observers for the same phenomena. In fact, the measure establishes believability rather than quality between observations. Once measured and assessed, behavior data appear on linear graphs. Yet linear graphs visually display an absolute amount of change and do not offer important behavior change statistics.The panel will address questions about each of the previously mentioned measurement and data display practices. A discussion surrounding the weakness of each practice and potential solutions will occur. Audience members will have opportunities to interact with the panel.

Practicing/Certified Behavior Analysts, Instructors of Behavior Analytic Content, Behavioral Researchers

Investigating Verbal Behavior can be challenging due to its speed of emission, complex topography and the multiple controlling variables that often summates into a single response. Various technologies have been successfully used by many branches of science to further investigations within those fields. This symposium will examine the use of some readily available technology for research conducted in Behavior Analysis, but with particular emphasis in the area of Verbal Behavior. Speech to Text recognition, eye-trackers and computers in general will be three technologies discussed, among others. Some examples of these technologies being used for research purposes will be presented, as well as potential use of each of them. Over the years these tools have become inexpensive, ubiquitous and more accessible to people unfamiliar with the technology used to develop and deploy them. Some of these advances, and methods used to implement them in behavioral research will be examined. In addition, several of these technologies will be demonstrated in the symposium.

All Behavior Analysts who are interested in research or application.

In 2010 David Palmer proposed that eye movement could be measured as an observable dependent variable and may complement existing measures of complex behavior. A brief review of eye tracking research as utilized in nicotine and tobacco research will be provided. Eye-movement tracking has been utilized to study standard tobacco marketing as well as a response to interventions that reduce the likelihood of purchasing tobacco products (e.g., graphic health displays). Palmer (2010) also proposed that eye movement may be the relevant stimulus in tacts of relation among visual stimuli (e.g., "Above," as in Above the refrigerator). It has been assumed that the stimulus positions control the tact of relation, but it is possible that this tact may be controlled as a response to the behavior of the eye movement as the eye orients towards the space above the refrigerator. The second part of this presentation will focus on a review of the behavioral literature on eye-movement tracking following Palmer's (2010) call for additional research on eye-movement tracking. This review will emphasize the conceptual position of eye movement as the relevant stimulus in the tact of relation among visual stimuli.

The population of the United States has been increasingly culturally and linguistically diverse for many years. In spite of this growing diversity, these groups are significantly underrepresented in the research literature for applied behavior analysis and special education. Practice guidelines have not been developed to address the needs of these populations, many of whom are served by behavior analysts. Previous research has found that language preference and language of intervention are some of the variables that need to be systematically addressed through research applications. This symposium will include the results of two intervention studies focusing on how linguistic differences affect intervention generalization (FCT), behavioral assessment (functional analysis), language preference, and skill acquisition. To aid researchers and practitioners working directly with these groups, a position paper reviewing bilingual literature and providing recommendations for practice for bilingual learners with ASD and a systematic literature review on the recruitment and retention of participants in research who are economically, linguistically, and culturally diverse are also included. Practice recommendations and areas of future research for these growing populations will be presented.

Practitioners and researchers

Resurgence of problem behavior following effective functional communication training (FCT) can occur if the functional communication response (FCR) contacts a barrier, such as lack of generalization across communication partners. One barrier to generalization may be language variations among communication partners. We evaluated the effect of language of implementation on functional analysis and functional communication training outcomes for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Linguistic diversity and choice of language may be particularly important to children with ASD as core communication deficits often contribute to engagement in problem behavior. Participants were three children with ASD who engaged in problem behavior and whose parents reported Spanish was primarily spoken in the home setting. Assessment conducted in both English and Spanish identified the behaviors were maintained by escape from demands in both languages. FCT was conducted in the English language and probes for generalization to the Spanish language were conducted. Results indicate that intervention may generalize naturally across languages as one participant code switched. However, two participants required specific instruction in both languages. Implications for practice and future research will be discussed.

Recent research has suggested language of instruction may have an effect of the behavior of children with autism spectrum disorder during instructional sessions. This study aims to add to the literature base by evaluating preference of instructional language as a potential variable that may account for differences in problem behavior and skill acquisition during instructional settings. There were three participants for this study. All of the children were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. All of the participants came from a Spanish speaking family. In the first phase of the study, functional analysis were conducted in both English and Spanish. The results of functional analysis demonstrated the behavior was maintained by escape from demands. In the second phase of the study, a language preference assessment was conducted using a concurrent operant design embedded into an ABAB reversal. In the final phase, skill acquisition will be evaluated using novel responses in both English and Spanish with the schedule of reinforcement held constant.

Special education intervention literature largely fails to report participant demographics; moreover, when race or ethnicity are reported, it reflects a homogeneous, majority culture (Artiles et al., 1997; Sinclair et al., in press; Vasquez et al., 2011). Researchers in special education and behavior analysis have called for an increase in diversity of participants with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other developmental disorders (DD) (Sinclair et al., in press), but few studies have empirically evaluated the relation between recruitment and retention strategies and increased diversity for these participants. A conceptual framework for increasing the inclusion of diverse participants in research involving parents and children with ASD and other DD will be presented. Findings are presented from a systematic literature review (i.e. electronic database searches, ancestral search) from studies published between 2011-2016 evaluating recruitment and retention strategies and papers offering conceptual frameworks to recruit and retain diverse participants in parent implemented interventions. Findings are discussed across the 41studies in relation to variables such as: (a) demographics, (b) recruitment and retention strategies, (d) attrition rate, (e) social validity, etc. A conceptual framework for increasing the inclusion of diverse participants in research involving parents and their children with ASD and other DD will be presented.

The practice of advising bilingual parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to speak in a single language, often the majority language of the region, with their child with ASD seems to be common. Such advice, however, is not grounded on empirical evidence but appears to be based more on logical arguments and assumptions. This presentation will discuss fears surrounding dual language exposure, empirical evidence supporting bilingualism in children with ASD, and key steps that clinicians can consider taking to better address the needs of diverse learners. Specifically, clinicians can inquire about a family's language usage and preferences, address fears about dual language exposure, and support parents in their use of heritage language through parent training.

In this symposium, we will discuss the effects of escape extinction in the treatment of pediatric feeding problems and describe treatments for food selectivity that involve choices, progressively increasing eating requirements, and differential reinforcement of appropriate eating without nonremoval of the spoon. Our first presenter will discuss the effects of escape extinction and differential reinforcement on selective eating. Our second presenter will identify the prevalence of extinction bursts during escape extinction interventions for food refusal. The third presenter will discuss the effects of an intervention that involves offering choices and shaping appropriate eating using synthesized reinforcers. The last presenter will review a treatment package that incorporates choice, differential reinforcement, stimulus fading, and modified escape extinction (nonremoval of the plate).

Behavior analysts, graduate students, educators, practitioners

Repetitive and restricted response patterns are one of the core features of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which includes "resistance to change," behavior. Children with ASD may display resistance to change in the form of food selectivity. In fact, Schreck, Williams, and Smith (2004) found that 72% of children diagnosed with ASD had these types of feeding difficulties. In the current study, we demonstrated that our behavior-analysis intervention reduced resistance to change in the form of food selectivity to clinically acceptable levels for two participants between the ages of 3 and 8 diagnosed with ASD. We were able to shift the participants' responding from resistive feeding responses (e.g., always selecting hot dogs and cheerios) to alternative, appropriate feeding responses (e.g., selecting healthier target foods like chicken and green beans) by using differential reinforcement of alternative behavior and escape extinction. The treatment effects maintained when escape extinction was no longer in place. These results have implications for the treatment of other symptoms of resistance to change as well as the generalization of treatment effects from one symptom to another.

Food selectivity is a pervasive problem and affects up to 45% and 80% of individuals with and without disabilities, respectively. Food selectivity and mealtime problem behavior have primarily been treated through differential reinforcement and various forms of escape extinction. Escape extinction, while efficacious, may result in increased aggression, gagging, or vomiting and, therefore, may not be feasible to implement under some conditions. In response, we describe a model for addressing food selectivity without extinction for five young children who were highly selective eaters. The model involved: (a) indirectly and directly measuring food preferences in order to identify foods that established mealtime problem behavior and other foods that could be used as reinforcers, (b) evaluating the variables maintaining mealtime problem behavior through an interview-informed synthesized contingency analysis (IISCA), and (c) incorporating the assessment results into a progressive treatment process that relied on choice making opportunities and differential and synthesized reinforcement of successive approximations to eating.

Food selectivity (eating a narrow range of foods) is a common problem in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Common dietary patterns in children with ASD include strong preference for processed foods coinciding with a bias against fruits and vegetables. Food selectivity in ASD increases the risk of underlying nutritional deficiencies and related medical complications, underscoring the need to identify effective interventions. While behavioral intervention is well-established for food refusal in young children, relatively few studies have examined treatment of food selectivity in ASD - particularly among older children who may require adaptations to established methods (e.g., non-removal of the spoon). This study evaluated the use of a treatment protocol involving choice, stimulus fading, reinforcement, and a modified extinction procedure (non-removal of the plate). Four male children (8-13 years) with food selectivity and ASD admitted to an intensive multidisciplinary day program received intervention based on established inclusion criteria. Mean number of foods accepted increased from 8 at admission to 28 at the time of discharge. These results provide provisional support for the use of this treatment package as an alternative to more well-documented extinction-based procedures among older children with ASD who can engage in a choice-based treatment model.

We present 4 papers that address new behavior analytic advances in teaching functional reading, writing, and math repertoires across a range of students with and without disabilities. The first paper tests the effects of a behavior momentum blending procedure on the acquisition of textual and spelling responses with preschool students with disabilities. The second paper reports the establishment of conditioned reinforcement of math with pre-kindergarten students on the acquisition of student's rate of learning of new math repertoires. The third paper utilizes a writer immersion procedure to increase student's functional writing repertoires (i.e., to write to affect the behavior of a reader) for middle and high school students with disabilities. The fourth paper used an editing and writing package to test the effects of teaching middle school students with disabilities to write functional math algorithms for solving word problems. The four papers will be discussed in terms of the reinforcement sources for function in verbal behavior.

The target audience for this symposium includes professionals that work in a school setting (i.e., implements behavior analytic procedures in the school setting)

In 2 experiments, I tested the effects of a behavioral momentum blending procedure on the accuracy of component and composite textual and spelling responses emitted by 5 preschool students with disabilities using a multiple probe design across participants. The participants were between 3 and 4 years old and were selected to participate because they emitted low numbers of correct textual responses to words comprised of previously mastered phoneme-grapheme correspondences. Dependent measures in the experiment included blending responses to novel text stimuli, composite vocal blending responses, and spelling responses. Prior to the intervention, the participants were taught to textually respond to a set of known, regular words comprised of up to 5 phoneme-grapheme correspondences at a target rate. During the behavioral momentum blending intervention, participants responded to these words, presented in rapid succession by the experimenter, followed by the immediate presentation of novel words. The experimenter provided a vocal model of the component phonemes which was faded during each phase of intervention. Results for both experiments showed increases in textual, spelling, and vocal blending responses for all participants. These findings are discussed with regard to blending as a potentially critical speaker-as-own listener cusp in the establishment of reader repertoires.

In two experiments, we sought to teach middle and high school students with disabilities the function of writing (i.e., to write to affect the behavior of a reader). In Experiment 1, we compared two writing procedures: writing instruction with learn units and a writer immersion procedure. The dependent variables included structural and functional writing measures for descriptive writing tasks. The results of Experiment 1 demonstrated that both the learn unit condition and writer immersion condition resulted in increases in functional writing repertoires. Experiment 2 sought to use a writer immersion package with learn units embedded to increase student's functional writing repertoires using writing tasks specific to academic subjects (i.e., math, science, and social studies). The dependent variables included structural and functional writing measures for descriptive writing tasks. The results of Experiment 2 will be discussed in terms of effective writing practices and the importance of integrating the procedure across academic areas.

I tested the effects of a writing/editing package on the functional writing for 7 middle school students with disabilities using a multiple probe across dyads design. The dependent variables were 1) functional components of a math algorithm written by a participant and solved by a naïve adult reader; 2) written rationale for why each operation was used and why the problem needed to be solved; and 3) resistance to extinction measures for solving above grade level algebra problems as a measure of reinforcement value. The independent variable was an editing and writing package for producing a written explanation for specific steps to solve a multi-step math problem. The participant as the writer produced a written math algorithm, and the participant as the editor provided questions to the writer so that a rewrite would help the editor solve the math problem correctly. Criterion was achieved when the writer produced a written explanation with all four necessary functional components and required no additional rewrites. The results will be discussed in terms of the importance of establishing functional writing repertoires, and the establishment of "why" when only how to solve a problem was taught.

Functional Analysis is the standard in Behavior Analysis for the identification of those variables responsible for the maintenance of challenging behavior. Over the past 35 years literally thousands of replications and extensions of the initial Iwata, Dorsey, Slifer, Bauman and Richmond (1982) have been published, extending the procedure across settings, populations, types of behaviors assessed, etc. The current symposium will review research on the latest iteration in this process, the Interview Informed Synthesized Contingency (IISCA).

University Faculty, ABA Researchers, ABA graduate students

Since its inception, the functional analysis methodology (FA) described by Iwata, Dorsey, Slifer, Bauman, and Richman (1982/1994)has consistently been referred to as the "gold standard" for identifying the controlling variables that maintain behavior. The FA is unique in that it specifically manipulates variables to help isolate various reinforcing contingencies. The behavior analytic literature is abundant with evidence in the use of the FA to guide clinicians toward function-based interventions to effectively treat problem behavior(s). Although the general definition does not require a commitment to specific procedures, multiple functional analysis formats have been developed to address specific concerns (e.g., practicality, efficiency, safety). Recently, an emerging literature has proposed yet another modification of the original FA methodology, utilizing synthesized contingencies to determine the function(s) of behavior, followed by its hypothesized treatment. The objective of this review is to evaluate the current literature on the synthesized functional analysis (SFA) approach proposed by Hanley, Jin, Vanselow and Hanratty (2014). We provide an objective review of the history, some of the procedural variations, and novel interpretations. We will also discuss future research as well as clinical considerations.

Despite the prevalence of breaks in treatments for escape-maintained problem behavior, no studies have empirically evaluated preference for different break environments (e.g., break with attention and/or tangibles). In this study, a pictorial preference assessment was conducted with 2 individuals with autism to identify preferred break environments. Assessed breaks were based on indirect assessments and direct observations. The highest- (HP) and lowest-preferred (LP) break environments and a control with no associated break were included in a reinforcer assessment using a reversal design within a concurrent-chains arrangement. Participants selected a multi-task sequence (initial link) associated with one of the break environments (terminal link). Phase A evaluated the reinforcing properties of all three break environments; the HP was removed in Phase B. Both participants allocated more responding to HP than LP, and LP than control, suggesting that breaks functioned as reinforcers. Interobserver agreement and procedural integrity were assessed in at least 33% of assessment trials; mean agreement and integrity scores were at least 98%. Social validity measures indicated that the results were useful for clinical programming.

Problem behavior has been a scientific focus of behavior analytic intervention since the inception of the discipline. Iwata, Dorsey, Slifer, Bauman, and Richman (1982/1994) demonstrated the isolation of variables in analogue conditions to analyze and determine the maintaining functions of problem behaviors and refer to this process as a functional analysis (FA). Hanley, Jin, Vanselow, & Hanratty, 2014) suggests that synthesizing these variables and the addition of an open-ended interview may determine function more efficiently and accurately called the Interview-Informed, Synthesized Contingency Analysis (IISCA). The purpose of this presentation is to replicate and extend the current literature by exploring the utility of the IISCA with clients seen within a private practice setting (i.e. clinic and in-home) who engage in severe problem behavior. These participants are referred based on an "at-risk" of out of home placement due to the severity of behaviors.

Functional Analysis literature has culminated in over a three thousand replications, modifications and extensions, making it the gold standard in experimental assessment and most frequently used by researchers as an initial assessment to guide treatment interventions for problem behavior (Beavers, Iwata, & Lerman, 2013). The purpose of this paper is replicate and to extend the current literature by exploring the utility of the IISCA in private practice, more specifically, within a more natural setting (i.e. home, group home, dayhab) and within anolder population that engage in severe problem behavior that inhibits participants from participating in their daily activities (i.e school, social, work).

One of the more unique things about dogs is their particularly social and affiliative disposition towards people. In fact, the idea of sociability is particularly important in the animal shelter setting, where decisions about who lives and dies are made. This symposium will cover all aspects of dog-human sociability in the shelter, from considering sociability from a behavior analytic perspective to validating (and questioning) typical sociability assessments to ensuring that we encourage particular social behaviors from dog to encourage adoption.

Practitioners who are interested in social behavior in different species and the factors that might affect it.

There are a variety of procedures used to measure canine sociability, and these methods vary both systematically and unsystematically. The tests are typically used in isolation; thus, it is unclear whether they measure the same concept. The purpose of this three-part study was to determine whether a wide range of canine sociability tests would each produce the same results. Experiment 1 examined the effects of minor methodological changes for detecting social behavior in a shelter setting; we employed a mixed-subjects design to assess whether experimenter position (standing, sitting, or kneeling) and presence of affection (petting and praise or none) affect leashed dogs' social behaviors. In Experiment 2, we tested the effects of leash presence on a range of social behaviors including time in proximity, gazing, and touching. Experiment 3 explored the relationship between sociability and potentially related concepts using reinforcer efficacy, following, pointing, and attachment paradigms. Results indicated moderate consistency within tests, but very low correlations between behaviors on different tests. The findings suggest that minor methodological deviations can affect a dog's performance on a sociability test, and sociability may not be linked to attachment or social cognition.

The need for behavioral interventions that increase adoption rates are crucial to animal shelters. A recent intervention, based on each dog’s preference for toys in addition to structuring the first interaction between the dog and adopter was successful in increasing adoption rates by 68% in one municipal shelter site. The benefits and feasibility of this intervention remained to be established using a large-scale randomized and controlled multi-site study. Nine animal shelters in four states in the US were enrolled into a multiple baseline design. Each shelter was randomly assigned to 2-5 months of the baseline condition, in which they continued their current unstructured adoption counseling program, followed by 3-6 months of the experimental condition (total of 8 months each). During the experimental condition, the staff were asked to conduct the intervention. Throughout the study, data was recorded using automated equipment that tracked the number of adopter-dog interactions and the number of interactions that resulted in an adoption.

Sociability is thought to be an important factor for shelter dog adoption success. One way of assessing sociability is to determine dogs' preference for human interaction. A straightforward way of assessing preference is using a concurrent schedule in which dogs can choose to interact with one individual or another, and measuring the time spent with each alternative. We used a concurrent schedule to assess shelter dogs' preference for petting or food and petting or vocal praise. We found that some shelter dogs preferred food but many prefer petting, which is in contrast to owned dogs. However, petting was preferred to vocal praise across shelter dogs and owned dogs. Finally, we assessed how quickly shelter dogs would form a preference for one stranger over another. In a 10 minute session, shelter dogs showed a preference for one individual over another with a magnitude of preference similar to owned dogs' preference for their owners. Our results point to ways to assess sociability and the interactions that might enhance it. They will also help us facilitate effective dog-human relationships.

Impairments in communication and social interactions along with restricted or repetitive patterns of behavior comprise the core characteristics of autism (DSM-5). These deficits often manifest as deficient play skills, especially when play includes a social context. The play skills of children with autism may appear rote or repetitive. Additionally, play skills may lack the key component of language whether solitary or when play includes peers. Behavioral research supports the use of script training as well as manipulations of reinforcement schedules to teach children with autism play skills as well as social interactions. However, additional research is warranted to address topics such as skill generalization and maintenance once scripts or programed reinforcement schedules are removed. This symposium will focus on 3 studies, each with a specific aim to address these skills in children with autism. One study utilizes scripts and script fading to addresses verbal behavior during play for 3 dyads of children with autism. A second study addresses variability of play and play skill generalization through the use of a Lag schedule. While the final study evaluates script format (auditory or textual) and the efficiency of producing contextually-appropriate spontaneous language in children with autism. Implications for generalization, skill maintenance, as well as future research possibilities will be discussed.

Practitioners and Researchers

Decades of research suggest that script training approaches can be used to teach social skills to children with autism. The current study extended this line of research by applying script training procedures to an activity with embedded reinforcement (i.e., a treasure hunt) among pairs of children with autism. In baseline, the children did not initiate social interactions with one another. During treatment, text scripts were used to teach the target child to recruit attention from a peer and echoic prompts were used to teach the peer to comment in response to the target child. During the post-test, the children in 2 out of the 3 pairs consistently emitted recruits for attention and reciprocal comments without any adult mediated reinforcement. Implications for observational learning, script fading, generalization, and the use of rules to assist in the removal of adult support will be discussed.

One of the defining characteristics of autism is the presence of excessive repetitive behaviors. Many children with autism engage in rigid and repetitive play. Researchers have shown that variability of play behavior, among other behaviors, can be increased through contingencies of reinforcement. However, little is known regarding generalization of response variability beyond the specific responses that are trained. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of combining multiple exemplar training with discrimination training on promoting generalization of varied play behavior to untrained play materials. After increasing variability of play behavior by implementing lag schedules across multiple play sets, we observed generalization of varied play to untrained play sets with all three participants.

Children with autism often have difficulty producing spontaneous language and social initiations (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013). Current research suggests that scripts are an effective tool for teaching children diagnosed with autism play based initiations (Reagon & Higbee, 2009). While there are data to support the effectiveness of script and script fading procedures, there is little to no information regarding the relative effectiveness of the auditory versus textual script formats for children with autism. The purpose of the present investigation was to determine which script format, auditory or textual, was the most efficient at producing contextually-appropriate spontaneous language in three children between 3 and 5 years old with autism.

Racial discrimination is widespread and exists in all culture as social contingencies in different forms (Guerin, 2003). Verbal behavior may provide one of the form of racism as well as the possible solution/prevention for the forming racism. The school and community may need to act differently toward the racism language to reduce the value. Racism may be conceptualized from many perspectives similarly, the contingencies which maintain racism may be just as varied. On a basic level, behavior analysts believe that racism is a learned behavior and maintained through consequences on reinforcement, punishment and extinction. Is it possible to apply those same contingencies to change racist behavior, or does the behavior come into contact with punishers far too infrequently to extinguish it? Could it be that even our behavior principles are biased when working with non-Western European American? Take for example, teaching a tasks analysis is directly opposite of the holistic learning approach commonly used in Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, Arabs, and some Asian Americans cultures (McIntyre, n.d.). In another example, the "task oriented" concept of the Premack Principle, favors Western European Americans as opposed to "people oriented" cultures (McIntyre, n.d.)

BCBAs, BCaBAs, RBTs, clinicans

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.

Assessment and treatment of severe behavior disorders carries inherent risk to the client and/or staff due to the topography and/or magnitude of the target behavior. The studies presented in this symposium will address modifications to assessment procedures and treatment strategies to reduce the occurrence of severe behavior and increase the safety of the clinical process. Specifically, the approach of identifying precursors to problem behavior and placing reinforcement contingencies on precursors during functional analysis, rather than severe problem behavior, will be addressed, as well as strategies involving latency as the dependent measure during assessment and treatment. The first presentation will address a simplified, trial-based approach for selecting precursors for further assessment, as well as evaluate the effects of a structured indirect assessment for caregivers to nominate potential precursors. The second presentation will describe a model of progressing through assessment strategies (i.e., multiple-respondent anecdotal assessment, trial-based precursor analysis, functional analysis of precursor behavior, and functional analysis of severe behavior only when necessary) to develop a function-based intervention while minimizing the occurrence of severe problem behavior. Finally, the third presentation will evaluate the use of latency as the dependent measure during functional analyses in an outpatient setting, as well as during treatment to reduce risk.

Practitioners who assess and treat problem behavior

Functional analysis provides a well-validated methodology for assessing environmental influences on severe problem behavior; however, standard functional analyses pose potential risk because they involve procedures specifically designed to evoke severe behavior. Previous studies have examined strategies to improve the efficiency of and reduce risks related to the functional analysis process. The purpose of the present series of studies was to develop and evaluate a decision-making framework in which a series of evidence-based assessments and analyses is implemented in a systematic, escalating fashion, until sufficient evidence to form a function-based intervention is obtained. The model incorporates several evidence-based procedures, including multiple-respondent anecdotal assessment, trial-based precursor analysis, functional analysis of precursor behavior, and, if necessary, functional analysis of severe behavior. These assessments are arranged in a series, such that procedures that are least likely to produce large amounts of severe behavior are presented before those that are increasingly likely to result in severe behavior. When data permit the development of a hypothesis about the operant contingency maintaining problem behavior, that hypothesis can be tested using a test-control analysis using either noncontingent or differential reinforcement as a control/treatment.

4. One challenge to typical functional analyses (FAs) is that repeated occurrence of the problem behavior is required to determine the function of the behavior, which can pose risks to the client or therapist in the case of severe or dangerous behavior. Previous research has demonstrated that results of latency FA typically correspond with the results of a standard FA (Thomason-Sassi, Iwata, Neidert, & Roscoe, 2011). In fact, correspondence was shown in 90% of cases in that study. This outcome was significant because the use of latency as a dependent measure resulted in fewer instances of problem behavior. However, the assessments were conducted in a setting (and potentially therapists) familiar to the participants. The purpose of this study is to determine the extent to which similar results are obtained in an outpatient setting where unfamiliar therapists typically work with the client in a novel setting. In addition, treatment including functional communication training (FCT) and noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) using latency as a dependent measure will be evaluated to determine whether latency corresponds with rate and the extent to which typical treatment sessions might be modified to further reduce risks posed by severe problem behavior.

In 1971, in Beyond Freedom and Dignity, Skinner provided a broad and comprehensive analysis for why behavior analysis had been generally ignored by the mainstream. Now, in 2018, has all that much changed? Yes, there are many more today who can claim the title "Behavior Analyst," and the explosion of behavioral intervention services for individuals with autism has led to greater recognition of one of the science's significant (and successful) applications, at least in the US, but do we now have a seat at the table and are we invited out to play with others? The world is a big place and whilst some of us may still describe ourselves as the "happy few," the response effort involved in international growth remains hampered by the same issues described by Skinner nearly 50 years earlier, and some new ones, so let's talk about this, what we are doing, what we would like to do, and how we can make the world a better place.

BCaBAs, BCBAs and BCBA-Ds

The neural code and mechanisms that underlie the generation of behavior has been difficult to crack. Innate behaviors such as aggression, fear, and mating may pose a tractable model because they are highly conserved across evolution, their proper regulation and display is essential for fitness, and some of the essential circuit, amygdala and hypothalamus, are known. However, the identity of the precise neurons and logic of the circuits that generate these innate behaviors remains largely unknown and therefore unstudied. In the mouse, all of these essential behaviors can be robustly initiated by olfactory cues. We have identified specific sensory ligands that now enable us to precisely stimulate and identify the neural mechanisms that generate behavior. We are creating and assessing novel tools to be able to identify and manipulate the circuits that generate behavior. In addition, we are studying how the sensory information elicits variable responses depending on state, gender, or the complexity of the environment.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.

A conditional discrimination is a four-term contingency, and behavior controlled by both auditory and visual stimuli is an auditory-visual conditional discrimination (i.e., AVCD; receptive identification). Conditional discriminations like AVCD are relevant to many repertoires targeted in behavior analytic interventions and research on how to teach these repertoires is warranted. Bergmann et al., evaluated the efficacy and efficiency of three auditory discrimination procedures with two typically developing children; results suggested do-this/do-that was efficacious and most efficient in three of five comparisons. Gee, Hiett, Devine, and Petursdottir examined sample first and comparison first in AVCD training with error correction with typically developing children. The authors found that when error correction did not insert a delay, it was efficacious with both stimulus-order conditions. Cubicciotti, Vladescu, Reeve, Carroll, and Schnell investigated multiple stimulus orders (e.g., sample first, simultaneous) on acquisition of AVCD with three children with ASD. Idiosyncratic findings were reported. DiSanti, Eikeseth, and Eldevik employed two procedural arrangements to teach AVCD to children diagnosed with ASD. The structured mix was more efficacious for learners with less advanced AVCD repertoires whereas both arrangements were efficacious for learners with more advanced repertoires. Discussion on clinical implications and directions for future research will follow.

The target audience is individuals conducting research and providing applied behavior analytic academic and behavioral interventions to individuals in need like children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.

An auditory discrimination is when behavior comes under the control of auditory stimuli (e.g., sounds, words) in one's environment. To maximize benefit from instruction and function appropriately in the environment, one must develop a reliable auditory discrimination repertoire. A paucity of research on how to assess and teach auditory discrimination is currently available in the behavior-analytic literature. This translational study examined the efficacy and efficiency of three different conditions, go/no-go, do this/do that, and auditory match-to-sample, using a nonconcurrent multiple baseline design across participants and embedded adapted alternating treatments design to demonstrate auditory discrimination with two typically developing preschool girls. Do this/do that was the most efficacious and efficient procedure in three of five comparisons. Go/no-go was the most efficacious and efficient procedure in two comparisons following several procedural modifications including error correction. Auditory match-to-sample was never the most efficient condition. Implications for applied research and future directions will be discussed.

In laboratory studies, conditional discrimination acquisition typically proceeds via trial and error as subjects contact the consequences of correct and incorrect responses in a matching-to-sample (MTS) task. In practical applications, by contrast, differential reinforcement is typically combined with prompting and prompt-fading strategies. The present study followed up on previous data on stimulus presentation arrangements in auditory-visual conditional discrimination training by examining if the effects of prompted error correction trials depended on stimulus presentation format (sample first vs. comparison first). Six typically developing children participated in two N=3 experiments. Each participant received eight sessions of instruction, two in each of four conditions, with new stimuli in each session. The dependent measure was accuracy in the last two trial blocks of each session. In Experiment 1, error correction reliably increased all participants' performance in the comparison-first but not in the sample-first condition. In Experiment 2, when the error correction procedure was altered such that it no longer created a delay between sample and comparison presentation in the sample-first condition, error correction reliably increased accuracy in both conditions. When a sample-first presentation format is used, prompts may be ineffective if they intervene between sample and comparison presentation.

Children with autism spectrum disorder are typically taught conditional discriminations using a match-to-sample arrangement. Consideration should be given to the temporal order in which antecedent stimuli (the sample and comparison stimuli) are presented during match-to-sample trials, as various arrangements have been used in the extant literature. The purpose of the current study was to compare four stimulus presentation orders on the acquisition of auditory-visual conditional discriminations. More specifically we included a clinically-relevant population (three children with autism spectrum disorder), employed clinically-relevant teaching procedures, and included two presentation formats not included in previous comparison evaluations (simultaneous and sample-first with re-presentation conditions). The results of the current study indicated that the most efficient method, regardless of measurement scale evaluated, for presenting stimuli during MTS trials was learner specific. More specifically, the simultaneous procedure was most efficient for Adam, the comparison-first arrangement was most efficient for Zeek, and the sample-first and sample-first with re-presentation arrangements were essentially both most efficient for Max. We will discuss results in light of previous studies and make suggestions for future research.

Individuals diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often engage in repetitive and stereotypical behavior (APA, 2013). These repetitive behaviors can often interfere with skill acquisition, can be stigmatizing, and, in some cases, be can be dangerous. As these types of behavior are usually maintained by automatic reinforcement, identifying effective treatment strategies can be particularly challenging. Response interruption and redirection (RIRD) is one of few empirically-supported intervention strategies that has been effective for the treatment of repetitive behavior (Ahearn, Clark, MacDonald, & Chung, 2007). While the evidence is clear regarding the effectiveness of RIRD, the extent to which other treatment components may enhance its effectiveness is unclear. Differential reinforcement procedures may represent a useful adjunctive intervention component for RIRD treatments. The purpose of the current symposium is to share research findings regarding the effects of RIRD in conjunction with other treatment components, such as differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) and differential reinforcement of incompatible behavior (DRI).

Content would be appropriate for masters level practitioners and above (BCBAs)

Individuals with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often engage in repetitive and stereotypic behavior (APA, 2013) which may be disruptive to others but also hinder acquisition of appropriate behaviors. Ahearn and colleagues (2007) employed a response interruption and response redirection procedure (RIRD) to decrease stereotypy however limited research has evaluated whether reinforcement-based procedures, alone or in combination with RIRD, result in similar or greater suppression of stereotypy. The purpose of the current study was to examine the effects on RIRD, DRA, and RIRD plus DRA on levels of stereotypy and appropriate item engagement. Participants were two children diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or another disability who engaged in stereotypy. This study employed a combination of reversal and multielement designs to evaluate the effects of these interventions. The results showed that both RIRD and RIRD plus DRA resulted in greater suppression of stereotypy than DRA alone and that, in general, appropriate item engagement remained at low levels. We discuss clinical implications and areas for future research.

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders often engage in stereotypical or ritualistic behavior. Pica and mouthing are common forms of ritualistic behavior. The empirical literature has indicated that the use of competing items and response interruption and redirection (RIRD) can be effective for addressing these forms of ritualistic behavior (e.g., Horner et. al., 1991; Piazza et al., 2000; Zhou et al., 2000). In the current investigation, we assessed the use of an alternative item (bracelet) and response interruption and redirection for a 15 year old adolescent male diagnosed with ASD using a reversal design. The student engaged in high levels of object mouthing throughout his school day during baseline. During intervention, the student was given continuous access to an alternative source (silicone bracelet) and was taught an alternative response (biting the bracelet) with RIRD in place in the event that mouthing occurred. The implementation of the alternative item reduced mouthing non-edible objects to approximately 80% from baseline.

As individuals with autism age, available supports for promoting community integration dwindle, while their needs remain the same or grow. Specifically, challenging behavior is often reported as a barrier to successful community integration for this population (Allen, Lowe, Moore, & Brophy, 2007). In order to provide opportunities to engage in community-based activities, it is important to address challenging behaviors that can interfere with these activities. For the present study, a reversal design was utilized to display the efficacy of a Differential Reinforcement of Incompatible Behavior (DRI) schedule for food stealing exhibited by a 33 year-old man with autism. Results of the study demonstrated significant decreases in food stealing attempts when provided access to reinforcement contingent on engaging in a response incompatible with food stealing.

Characteristics of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) include restricted patterns of interest, stereotypical behavior, and insistence on sameness (ASD; American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Further, individuals with ASD may engage in ritualistic behaviors which include, but are not limited to excessive straitening or arranging, tapping, or ordering of objects. Ritualistic behavior often interferes with on-task behaviors and can result in safety issues and concerns for developing and maintaining meaningful community opportunities. Interruption or redirection of these ritualized patterns of behaviors have resulted in maladaptive behaviors (e.g. Sigafoos, Green, Payne, O'Reilly, & Lancioni, 2009). As individuals with ASD age, the severity of challenging behavior can be considerably more intense and complex resulting in time-consuming and, often, ineffective assessments and treatments. Several studies have conducted functional analyses of maladaptive behavior caused by interruptions of ritualistic behavior (Hagopian, Bruzek, Bowman, & Jennett, 2007; Sigafoos et al., 2009; Rispoli, Camargo, Machalicek, Lang, & Sigafoos, 2014). While studies have examined various treatment options for addressing challenging behavior evoked by restricted access to rituals in children with ASD, there is a dearth of literature related to older learners and adults with ASD. The purpose of the current investigation was to examine the effects of functional communication training with signaled delays to address challenging behaviors maintained by restricted access to rituals for a 29-year old man with ASD. The results showed that functional communication training was an effective treatment for reducing challenging behavior maintained by restricted access to ritualistic behavior.

Young children may come into contact with unsafe situations that may lead to abduction, drowning, firearm discharge, accidental poisonings, or spread of infection and illness. Damaging outcomes from these situations could be prevented if the children were taught how to appropriately respond in those conditions. As such, the development of effective procedures for teaching children how to react in these situations is of significant need. The research presented in this symposium will explore (a) using behavior skills training, multiple exemplar training, and discrimination training (across strangers and familiar adults) to teach abduction-prevention skills; (b) using video modeling for training abduction-prevention skills; (c) teaching a three-step safety response in the presence of a variety of dangerous stimuli using behavioral skills training plus in-situ training; and (d) teaching appropriate handwashing to prevent the spread of infections using video modeling and visual feedback. We are fortunate to have Dr. Linda LeBlanc, one of the most productive and well-respected researchers in applied behavior analysis, serve as our discussant.

Behavior Analysts

Although the abduction of a child by an unknown adult is unlikely to occur in a child's lifetime, the consequences are serious and devastating. In response to recent reports of an abduction in the area, we sought to replicate previous research on using behavior skills training (BST) to teach abduction-prevention skills to children with autism by demonstrating its efficacy during in-situ probes across four different types of lures delivered by unknown adults. In addition, because undesirable generalization to known adults may occur, particularly with children with autism, we extended this literature by testing the effects of our training on following matched instructions to leave with known adults. No feedback was provided during in-situ probes. Participants learned to engage in appropriate safety behavior when presented with a lure from an unknown adult; however, undesirable generalization was observed with the known adult. Discriminated responding across unknown and known adults was observed following discrimination training. These results generalized across settings and maintained up to 3 months for two participants.

While much of the behavior analytic literature focuses on teaching skills to individuals with disabilities, there is less extensive research assessing skill sets typically-developing individuals, which may also benefit people with disabilities. The first study evaluates refinements to a model for teaching eye contact to children with autism spectrum disorder. This is followed by a study using a descriptive analysis for eye contact in typically developing adults, with a goal of providing normative data for research in eye contact interventions. The third study focuses on teaching group home staff to increase the frequency of praise given to foster children. While this intervention was of direct benefit to typically-developing children, the procedure focused on teaching staff, which may benefit a number of populations under group home staff care. The last study evaluates teaching culinary skills to adults with Traumatic Brain Injury.

The target audience of this symposium are clinicians and researchers interested interventions for people with and without disabilities.

Cook et al. (2017) recently described a progressive model for teaching children with autism spectrum disorder to provide eye contact with an instructor following a name call. The model included the following phases: contingent praise only; contingent edibles plus praise; stimulus prompts plus contingent edibles and praise; contingent video and praise; schedule thinning; generalization assessments; and maintenance evaluations. In the present study, we evaluated the extent to which modifications to the model were needed to train 15 children with ASD to engage in eye contact. Results show that 11 of 15 participants acquired eye contact with the progressive model; however, 8 participants required one or more procedural modifications to the model. Results also show that participants who acquired eye contact with or without modifications continued to display high levels of the behavior during follow-up probes. For those participants who acquired eye contact in this study, three did not require any modifications, six required one modification, and two required multiple modifications. The most frequently employed modification across participants was prompts to sit (PTS). Specifically, investigators' addition of PTS produced mastery-level eye contact for 4 of 6 participants who received the modification. Taken together with the findings from the Cook et al. (2017) study, results suggest that adding a PTS sub-phase (when low eye contact correlates with low in-seat behavior) to the progressive model could increase training efficiency.

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder have demonstrated difficulty initiating and maintaining eye contact from early infancy into adulthood (Jones & Klin, 2013). Interventions that target improving eye contact are of paramount importance given that eye contact and appropriate use of eye gaze during social interactions may function as a behavioral cusp that provides access to other environments and contingencies (Bosch & Fuqua, 2001). Currently, normative data regarding appropriate eye contact are lacking in the literature. The purpose of the current study was to use descriptive analyses to collect normative data on levels eye contact exhibited by typically developing college students during a brief social encounter. A secondary aim of the study was to assess whether the probability of eye contact increased or decreased in the presence of vocalizations. Participants engaged in a 5-min social interaction with trained confederates wearing video recording glasses. High levels of eye contact and vocalizations were observed across all participants. Conditional percentages indicated that vocalizations decreased participant's engagement in eye contact. Lower proportions of eye contact occurred during periods of vocalizations. Findings suggest that although high levels of eye contact are observed during brief social interactions, eye contact is more likely to occur when an individual is not engaging in vocalizations.

This study used a combination of a multiple baseline across participants and a reversal design to evaluate the effects of a MotivAider on the frequency of behavior specific praise provided by staff members to youth at a residential facility for youth in the foster care system. Two staff members were given a brief training on providing behavior specific praise and were instructed to wear the MotivAider on their hip and to delivery behavior specific praise whenever the MotivAider vibrated. Results demonstrated an increase in the frequency of behavior specific praise delivered by staff to the youth when wearing the MotivAider.

Individuals with Traumatic Brain Injury often need to be taught independent living skills in order to reintegrate into community settings. This study examined the use of video modeling to teach culinary skills to three individuals with Traumatic Brain Injury. Video modeling is easily accessible, inexpensive, and not reliant on an additional person to directly teach skills. For all three participants, video modeling resulted in increases in cooking skills using a task analysis created for each food item prepared. For one participant, the skills maintained over two weeks and generalized to a novel food. For another participant video modeling was insufficient in reaching high skill levels therefore a second phase utilizing reinforcement and corrective feedback was implemented. This phase demonstrated with the additional component including reinforcement and corrective feedback, the third participant reached high skill levels.

This symposium includes four talks that span basic to applied experimental investigations using a behavioral economic framework. Two of the presentations summarize behavioral economic demand analyses. Novak will share findings of a study that assessed the effects of incentive arrangements on college student performance on a computerized group work task. Naud will describe results of a study that examined the extent to which digital and print media interact with operant demand and delay of gratification, using the "marshmallow test" with preschool children. The remaining two presentations will summarize discounting analyses. Stancato will present a study that assessed whether college students are more likely to complete or pass on a terminal investment, after previously completing an initial investment, as it relates to sunk cost and alcohol use. Call will then share results of an investigation on caregivers' choice between immediate or delayed access to services for children with problem behavior or skill deficits. The symposium will conclude with discussant remarks by Mikhail Koffarnus.

Researchers and practitioners interested in applying behavioral economic analyses to socially relevant problems

Humans exhibit a bias against delayed outcomes (Critchfield & Kollins, 2001). This predisposition has been most often shown for delayed monetary rewards (Dixon, Mui Ker Lik, Green, & Myerson 2013) and consumable commodities, such as food (Green, Myerson, Holt, Slevin, & Estle 2004) or drugs (Madden, Petry, Badger, & Bickel 1997). Delay discounting studies have resulted in quantitative models that account for the data from these paradigms well. Recently, Call et al. (2015) demonstrated that when parents of children with ASD and problem behavior made choices between treatments that would produce cessation of their child's problem behavior immediately or after a delay, they discounted the results of delayed treatment outcomes in a manner consistent with temporal discounting. This study extended those of Call et al. in two ways: a) treatment outcomes were presented as a percentage of treatment goals each treatment would achieve, rather than periods of differing durations without problem behavior, and b) half of the participants (n=20) were caregivers of children with ASD receiving treatment for problem behavior, whereas the other half were caregivers whose children were receiving treatment for skill deficits. Results showed that caregivers of children with problem behavior discounted delayed treatment outcomes more steeply.

The affordability, quality, and overall success of higher education remains a national interest for the 21st century (Hunt & Tierney, 2006), and therefore, there is a demand for identifying and incorporating cost-effective teaching components that support college student success. Recent research demonstrates undergraduate courses that incorporate active learning strategies, as opposed to the traditional lecture, increase student performance and decrease student failure rate (Freeman et al., 2014). There are a plethora of ways to incorporate active learning into college courses, and this symposium will provide an overview of several different options. Glodowski and Thompson will review ways to incorporate quizzes into higher education courses to support ideal student behavior. Information regarding the use of SAFMEDS and precision teaching will be presented by Sweeney and Iverson. Neyman and Weber will describe their use of application exercises to improve students' data-based decision-making skills. And finally, Killu will provide an overview of strategies to increase individual and group engagement in and out of class; as well as potential barriers, and solutions to the barriers, for implementing the strategies. Members who attend will attain a better understanding of various options to improve student engagement, and ideally student success, in college courses.

Master's or Doctoral level behavior analysts who teach at the undergraduate level

Several researchers have shown quizzes effectively support college student success; however, instructors can implement quizzes in multiple ways. We searched peer-reviewed journals and carefully reviewed published studies that evaluated the effects of quizzes on college student behavior in undergraduate courses; when we could not find examples of research conducted in college classes, we reviewed studies conducted in academic settings at other levels (i.e., middle school, high school, and graduate school) or in laboratory settings with college students. We used this body of literature to develop evidence-based recommendations for how instructors can program quizzes to improve college student preparation, class attendance, class participation, and performance on exams. Instructors can follow the provided recommendations to implement quizzes that support ideal student behavior necessary for success in higher education.

This demonstration project evaluated the effectiveness of SAFMEDS on the classwide acquisition and fluency of basic concepts in curriculum-based assessment/Precision Teaching course. SAFMEDS, an acronym for "Say All Fast a Minute Each Day Shuffle," was coined by Lindsley (1983) as a functional flashcard procedure for building large repertoires of sight words in a given content area. Second, the instructor wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to model the importance of frequent and daily measurement of curriculum through the use of the SAFMEDS procedure with the class. The perspective of this project was to implement SAFMEDS procedures as a means of teaching college level students to recognize important concepts related to instruction covered in a curriculum-based assessment/Precision Teaching course. Additionally, these SAFMEDS instructional procedures combined with Precision Teaching measurement approaches provide an opportunity to model and engage in the development of skills related to frequent and daily measurement of curriculum through the use of the SAFMEDS procedures. Further, the ongoing repeated practice procedures and formative evaluation procedures assure the pre-service teachers in this course practice essential skills necessary for successful implementation of appropriate and measurably effective instructional practices for future use in their respective classrooms and professional settings.

Engaging students as part of the learning process has a great deal of evidence and support (Brophy & Good, 1986; Bulger, Mohr, & Walls, 2002; Rosenshine & Furst, 1973; Walls, 1999). Rosenshine and Furst (1973) were first to address the topic and stated that engagement and content were key in effective teaching. Since that time, further research has identified key components regarding student learning that includes four areas. These areas are outcomes, content clarity, engagement, and enthusiasm (Bulger, Mohr, & Walls, 2002; Walls, 1999). Although much information is available, many teaching faculty maintain a lecture style of presenting information to students. Modifying instruction to include active engagement is not difficult and can assist with increased understanding of the content. This presentation is designed to model several ways to more actively engage students to increase their decision-making capabilities. Building content mastery slowly through application exercises, practicing and using data recording, analyzing video clips, as well as using case studies to teach how to ask the right questions provides students with skills to help them analyze critical features and make instructional decisions that will likely benefit the needs of the children in the classroom.

This symposium describes novel applications of behavior analytic training procedures across a variety of applied settings. In the first presentation, Erath will share results from a study that evaluated the effects of pyramidal behavioral skills training (BST) on the extent to which novice trainers used BST to teach new staff how to implement behavioral procedures. Next, Kamana will describe a study using BST and in-situ feedback to increase staff implementation of healthy behavioral practices within settings serving adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Silva will summarize the findings of a study that assessed whether a generic treatment integrity measure could be used to demonstrate mastery of several teaching procedures when compared to a program specific-treatment integrity measure within a school setting. The last presentation by McGarry will describe a study that evaluated the effectiveness of an adapted training protocol for teaching therapists to interact with their clients in the natural environment. The symposium will conclude with discussant remarks by Dr. David Wilder.

Practitioners Researchers

Providing high quality services to adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) is difficult despite policies and procedures implemented by various entities (Parsons, Cash, & Reed, 1989). Studies conducted in residential facilities (e.g., Parsons et al., 1989) and day-treatment programs (e.g., Reid, Parsons, & Green 2001) have reported that adults with IDD are typically engaged in low levels of appropriate behavior and relatively high levels of inappropriate behavior. In addition, staff often lack the skills for providing consumers with engaging environments (Parsons & Rollyson, 2004), potentially resulting in inadequate service delivery. Therefore, there is need for effective methods for training staff to provide engaging environments and good practices following inappropriate behavior to adults with IDD. The purpose of this study is to use Behavioral Skills Training (BST) and in-situ feedback to increase staff implementation of healthy behavioral practices including (a) providing high quality, positive interactions, (b) providing choices and promoting engagement in appropriate leisure activities, (c) delivering effective instructions, and (d) implementing good practices following disruptive behavior. Results show increased levels of staff engagement in the target healthy behavioral practices across all 18 residential homes and day programs.

Training behavioral therapists tends to focus on teaching accurate implementation of behavioral intervention programs in the form of discrete trial training. One criticism of this type of intervention is it shapes rote responding from clients and does not embed opportunities for generalization of skills to the natural environment. The aim of the proposed study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a training protocol adapted from McNeil and Hembree-Kigin (2010), a program of therapeutic play with the goal of strengthening communication and the quality of the interactions between caregiver and child, for teaching therapists to interact with their clients in the natural environment. Eight registered behavioral technicians were trained to implement the naturalistic behavioral intervention protocol using behavioral skills training, which included six positive behaviors targeted for increase and five negative behaviors targeted for decrease. All participants reached mastery criteria of 95% positive behaviors during a five-min session, maintained skills at follow-up session, and demonstrated generalization of skills with novel clients.

Behavior analytic treatments have demonstrated effectiveness across populations, age groups, settings, and the many social issues they target. One potential weakness of applied research, however, is the frequent absence of long-term follow-up data and technical descriptions of the procedures used to program for generalization and maintenance. Generality may be the most neglected of our applied framework, even though it is a critical component of social validity. The presenters will explore this challenge through an examination of the literature and through studies with unique generalization approaches and a focus on maintenance of treatment outcomes.

Behaviour analytic researchers, educators, and practitionners

Functional analysis (FA) has become one of the most relied upon assessments within our field and is typically used to make treatment decisions. However, relatively little is known about the stability of function over time or how changes in behavioral function impact treatment success or maintenance. This study examines the long-term effects of FA-informed treatments, specifically the duration of treatment, reported follow-up data, and data regarding the stability of the function during and following treatment. Studies included in this review are those that used the results of an FA to identify and implement an appropriate treatment. This study contributes to the literature in two important ways: first, it details the current trends in long-term follow up and the collection of longitudinal data on treatment outcomes, and second, it provides directions for future research on the stability of function over time and the implications of functional stability on treatment maintenance.

Mediator training has a long history in ABA. While the need and strategies for programming generalization and maintenance were acknowledged by Stokes and Baer over 40 years ago, programming for generalization and maintenance of mediator skills still is not commonplace. The presenter will describe several of his studies that programmed generalization and long-term maintenance of direct-care staff and parent ABA behavior change skills. He will highlight the applicability of general case training for mediator skill generalization and the systematic thinning of home visits and reinforcement for maintenance of parenting skills.

Augmentative/alternative communication (AAC) systems are often used by children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and communication impairments. Some AAC systems, such as the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS; Bondy & Frost, 1994), have been extensively researched and are considered evidence-based practice for individuals with ASD (Wong, 2013). However, many parents and practitioners opt to use alternative AAC systems, including speech-generating devices (SGDs) on tablet-based applications (e.g., Proloquo2go, PECS IV App). SGDs offer several benefits, including the voice output feature, which is easily understood and reduces the requirement for users to obtain the attention of their listener, and the ability to easily add and expand vocabulary in a compact and efficient manner (Lorrah et al., 2014). Despite these advantages, SGDs currently lack sufficient empirical support to be considered evidence-based practice. Further, the impact on associated vocal behaviour is relatively unknown. This symposium will present two research studies, both of which evaluate the effects of a tablet-based communication system (i.e., PECS IV App) on the vocal communication of young children with ASD. Results will be discussed in terms of implications for selecting and training AAC communication systems. Practical considerations for the use of SGDs with children with ASD will be discussed.

Graduate level practitioners and researchers

Given the identified benefits of SGD's there is increasing pressure on clinicians to transition children from picture-based communication systems (e.g., PECS) to SGD's, including tablet-based applications (e.g., PECS IV App). Although there is emerging research exploring the use of SGD's to teach manding (e.g., Sigafoos et al., 2013), tacting (e.g., Kagohara et al., 2012), and the use of SGD's compared to other AAC's (Lorah et al., 2013), little is known about the effects of SGD use on the vocal behaviour of children with ASD (Gevarter et al., 2013; Schlosser, & Wendt, 2008). Specifically, the impact on vocalizations during the transition from a low-tech system (pictures) to a high-tech system (iPad) remains relatively unknown. This multiple-baseline design across participants' study explored the vocal behaviour of four children with ASD across three conditions: (a) PECS (book), (b) PECS IV App (no voice output), and (c) PECS IV App (with voice output). Treatment fidelity data were collected while training PECS Phase IV (pictures) and while training the PECS IV App. Results will be discussed in terms of the implications of transitioning from low- to high-tech devices, and the impact of the voice output feature, on the vocal behaviour of young children with ASD.

Individuals with ASD typically have deficits in complex language. The first study, evaluated a behavior interruption chain strategy to mand for information. Specifically, an establishing operation was contrived by withholding a highly preferred item. Once a participant manded "when," access to the item was made contingent on the completion of a mediating response. The second study evaluated the most efficacious procedure to teach prepositions. Prepositions were trained as a mand by placing a highly preferred item either on top of or next to a bin or as a tact by placing a highly preferred item either inside or under a bin. Access to the items was provided contingent upon a mand or tact that included a preposition, depending on the contingency arrangement for the particular training condition. Following training of one verbal operant, transfer to the other verbal operant was assessed. The third study evaluated the effectiveness of a set of procedures taken from the PEAK-T curriculum in teaching perspective taking responses of here/now and then/later to children with ASD. Participants were taught to correctly respond to single-reversal deictic relations given a set of stimuli and were tested for the transfer of the skill to a set of untrained stimuli.

Board Certified Behavior Analysts and Graduate students

Children with autism spectrum disorder tend to communicate using simple mands for tangibles and rarely mand for information without explicit training. The current study examined the effectiveness of using behavior chain interruption strategy to teach adolescents with autism spectrum disorder to mand for information. Specifically, an establishing operation was contrived by withholding a highly preferred stimulus. Participants were taught to mand for this currently unavailable stimulus. Once a participant manded "when," experimenters stated that the stimulus would be available after the completion of a mediating response. Abolishing operations were contrived by complying with a participant's mands. Results indicated that a behavior chain interruption procedure was an effective method to teach a generalized repertoire of mands for "when" across participants. Results indicated that using preferred items and providing a denial statement successfully contrived an EO to mand "when." Interspersing AO trials allowed mands for "when" to come under appropriate establishing operation control. Generalization data indicated that this skill successfully generalized to novel materials and settings across participants. Using a naturalistic teaching procedure and incorporating multiple exemplar training facilitated generalization. Results replicate and extend previous research by demonstrating that all participants acquired this skill using a behavior chain interruption strategy.

Although prepositions are commonly taught during early intervention service delivery, there is limited research evaluating the most efficacious and efficient procedures for teaching them. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate two methods for teaching prepositions as a verbal operant. The first method sought to train prepositions as a mand by placing a highly preferred item (as determined through a multiple stimulus without replacement preference assessment) either on top of or next to a bin and providing access to this item contingent upon a correct mand that included a preposition. The second method sought to train prepositions as a tact by placing a highly preferred item either inside or under a bin and providing access to highly preferred items contingent upon responding tact that included a preposition. Following training of one verbal operant, transfer to the other verbal operant was assessed. The current study utilized a multiple baseline across participants with an embedded adapted alternating treatments design, and included five male participants with autism spectrum disorder. All participants acquired prepositions during mand training, with three of the five participants acquiring prepositions more rapidly during mand training as opposed to tact training.

From a Relational Frame Theory analysis, deictic relations account for perspective taking responses. Perspective taking skills are often lacking in the repertoire of individuals with disabilities, therefore, this population could benefit from procedures to teach perspective taking skills. Currently, limited literature exists with procedures for establishing perspective taking skills when they are lacking. The current study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a set of procedures taken from the PEAK-T curriculum in teaching perspective taking responses of here/now and then/later to children with autism. Baseline performances suggested that participants demonstrated high levels of correct responding when presented simple here/there and then/later deictic relations, but demonstrated low levels of correct responding when presented simple-reversal here/there and then/later deictic relations. Participants were taught to correctly respond to single-reversal deictic relations given a set of stimuli (set 1) and were tested for the transfer of the skill to a set of untrained stimuli (set 2). Following training, both participants not only correctly responded to the trained set of stimuli (set 1), but also demonstrated mastery of the untrained stimuli (set 2). The data suggest that individuals with autism can be taught perspective taking skills, and they can generalize responding when presented novel stimuli.

Applied behavior analysis (ABA) interventions, including at least some discrete trial teaching (DTT), are often considered the standard of care for preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder. However, it is unclear whether community agencies can sustain effective early ABA intervention over time. Also, alternatives to DTT, often emphasizing naturalistic child-led interactions, have generated increasing empirical support in recent years, and it is unclear how these approaches should be integrated into ABA interventions. In this symposium, the first presentation documents sustainability of effective services in a quasi-experimental study of 94 participants, age 18-75 months at onset of intervention, seen for three years (48 children in early intensive ABA at a community agency and 46 matched children in early childhood services as usual). The second presentation shows single subject data for eight participants, age 2-5 years, in a Sequential Multiple Assignment Randomized Trial aimed at tailoring DTT and Verbal Behavior techniques to the needs of individual children. The third presentation describes a three-center, randomized clinical trial that compared DTT to an empirically supported naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention, JASPER, in 161 children, age 33-54 months. Although DTT and JASPER differ markedly in intervention content and method, outcomes were mostly similar across interventions.

Providers and researchers who work in early intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder

This study examined whether outcomes in early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) during a university-led multisite project could be replicated by the same community agency independently of the project. Participants, age 18-75 months at onset of intervention, were 48 children with autism spectrum disorder enrolled in 35 hours per week of publicly-funded, community-based EIBI for three years and 46 children who were matched on baseline characteristics and received early childhood services as usual (SAU) through local early childhood special education providers. Linear mixed models indicated that EIBI participants improved significantly more than SAU participants on standardized tests of IQ, nonverbal IQ, adaptive behavior, and academic achievement, administered by independent evaluators. Although limited by the use of a matched comparison group rather than random assignment, the study provides evidence for the sustainability of effective EIBI in community settings for children with ASD who start intervention at varying ages throughout early childhood.

As high as 47-48% of children receiving Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention (EIBI) have been reported to experience optimal outcomes; however, the responses of children who do not respond optimally to EIBI vary widely. One source of variability in treatment response may be the model of EIBI implemented. Preliminary data will be presented from a 16-week treatment outcome study comparing two behavior analytic models of Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention (EIBI) for children ages 2-5 years old diagnosed with autism: 1) the Lovaas/UCLA Model (LM) and 2) the Verbal Behavior Model (VBM). The study used a dynamic experimental design (i.e., Sequential Multiple Assignment Randomized Trial; SMART) developed to inform adaptive treatment strategies. Participants were randomly assigned either to low-intensity LM or VBM conditions and received 90-minute sessions 3 times/week. At the end of the first 8 weeks, it was determined whether the child was responding to the intervention. Participants slow to respond were randomly assigned to receive either an intensified version of the initial intervention or the unassigned intervention for an additional 8 weeks. Preliminary empirical evidence of participants'responses to LM and VBM conditions will be presented and we will discuss how the outcomes of the study inform adaptive treatment decisions.

Learning to be "your own best therapist" may be essential to becoming a competent and joyful practitioner. An informed self-care repertoire often leads to satisfying ways to manage stress and deal with emotional issues; and, importantly, it prepares the practitioner to help other analysts take care of themselves and their clients. To accomplish such results, we suggest a self-care approach that draws from basic learning principles and self-management strategies, combined with the values, attitudes, and practices of mindfulness meditation. Using this approach, I'll describe how I revamped my daily life for a more satisfying and productive existence. Initially, the aim was to address health and emotional issues; later, the focus turned to maintenance and elaboration of skills learned. My procedures targeted both public and private events and included: direct and indirect measures, journaling, formal and informal practices, and social networking. Recent variants of the program use neurofeedback and experience sampling technologies to monitor and evaluate formal and informal practices, respectively. The outcomes have been remarkably satisfying, "cusp like" in nature, and impactful across several key personal values: health and wellness, relationships, professional and personal growth. Colleagues have conducted similar investigations and achieved satisfying results. College students have responded favorably to a program designed expressly for emerging adults, and selected graduates are being groomed as peer facilitators in the program. Our hope is to offer the program college-wide to help address growing concerns about students' health and wellness.

Anyone interested in the topic.

Currently, the planet is experiencing a series of record breaking storms, melting ice caps and sea level rise, ocean acidification, the loss of coral reefs, deforestation, drought, and the sixth mass extinction of plants and animals, which is occurring up to 100 times more quickly than pre-human mass extinctions. In short, the world is becoming increasingly less inhabitable for organisms, and we, human organisms, are far from doing all that we could to ensure its thriving. Behaving with ecological responsibility, however, not only involves greater effort for fewer immediate reinforcers, but often involves exposure to significant aversive contingencies. For this reason, the dominant education interventions tend to fall short of effecting the kind of behavior change necessary for even minor changes to our current planetary course, behavior analysts have the opportunity to make real impact. This panel will discuss behavioral conceptualizations of action vs. complacency in the face of the climate change, and the role of behavior analysis in promoting ecological behavior.

Behavior analysts and behavior therapists with an interest in discussing obstacles to educating the public and encouraging/implementing change, discussing the historical role of Behavior Analysis in climate change education, and discussing potential avenues for Behavior Analysis intervention in the future.

The effects on children's developmental trajectory other than phylogenetic can be environmental, like the effects of the poverty and post- war outdated systems of health and education in Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H). The goal of "EDUS- Education for All", a non-for-profit organization in B&H was the advancement of early childhood development for children with developmental delays and disorders through science of behavior. Through partnership with USAID, UNICEF-B&H and relevant ministries, EDUS was able to work on developing whole systems of Early Detection and Intervention for B&H. This included creating standardized screening and assessment tools and training for professionals who were to deliver services to children identified with developmental disorders. Professional staff in health clinics and governmental day-care programs with appropriate standardized tools and training became providers of an early detection and intervention services throughout the country, while EDUS teachers trained to be strategic scientists, became the trainers and mentors. In this symposium, we will present first two steps in the system creation, development of early detection standardized tool and training protocols for the teacher trainers-mentors. The two studies were both done in order to advance skills of the professional staff and therefore children they work with in the B&H. The importance of the science of behavior in developing such tools and trainings and the data-driven systems as the key for monitoring and evaluation of all the steps will be discussed.

graduate level students, professionals, supervisors, program coordinators, college professors, teachers of teachers

Anxiety disorders are the most common of internalizing problems, and current studies show that one in five children in every classroom is at risk to develop high levels of anxiety (Boyd et al., 2000). Because these students are more likely to be quiet and follow the directions (Herzig-Anderson et al., 2014), teachers do not pay attention until they become more serious. As a result, they are usually left unidentified and untreated in school settings (Kendall, 1994). Placing these children without treatment may cause a significant adverse impact on children?s relationship with peers and teachers (Bittner et al., 2007), and can cause the lack of interest in learning (Beidel et al., 2000). This study will present specific issues with identification, prevention and treatment of high levels of anxiety in school settings. The paper will provide an overview of addressing anxiety in school settings, and guidance on how to identify students with or at risk for high levels of anxiety within the Multi-Tiered System of Supports?(MTSS). Then, key issues related to teachers and parents in treatment will be provided. At the end of the study, evidence-based interventions for each tier of MTSS with appropriate measures of anxiety will be demonstrated.

Teaching novice teachers to analyze data and make correct teaching decisions in order to improve students? outcomes in Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) was the goal of the study. We measured the effects of the mastery of the teacher decision protocol on the acquisition of new skills by students diagnosed with developmental disorders. Twenty-seven teachers from nine EDUS experimental ABA Early Intervention, Preschool and Kindergarten classrooms participated in the study. They had no previous formal ABA training or education, EDUS had to train them and create strategic scientist in order to provide services for children that had no other options for education. Since teacher training is one of the main components of CABAS? and EDUS systems, this study was a systematic replication of several CABAS? publications. In this presentation I would like to analyze and discuss some of the trials and stipulations I encountered providing teacher training in B&H according to the very high CABAS? standards. How trying to change an education system that is outdated and communist past heavy, is not an easy task even when you have science on your side. With this data summary of the past year of teacher training, I would like to show you that change is possible. We will discuss concrete teacher training steps and the effects they had on the numbers of skills sixty students acquired pre and post the intervention. We were able to create teachers who were strategic scientist and therefore increase numbers of objectives achieved across all the classrooms.

Children's optimal development is hampered by risks in the child's environment that get exacerbated by poor economic and social systems like the ones in Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H). Good systems detect risk factors and atypical development, and support the individual needs of families and young children through parent education and direct early intervention in the first few years of the child's life. Such systems rely on science, data, and use validated measuring tools. With the support of USAID and in partnership with UNICEF and the relevant ministries in B&H, EDUS worked on developing such systems, which can provide evidence-based early detection and intervention based on the science of behavior. We created and standardized a behavioral developmental tool for early detection and monitoring of early childhood development on the sample of 1100 children with and without disabilities. Throughout the process, we compared development of matched pairs of children with disabilities vs. typically developing children vs. low-SES children in B&H. Once published, this tool with the intense training of the professionals enabled a creation of Early Detection System in the country. In the phase II of the project, with the funding from the USAID, we were able to develop an App for early detection and monitoring of the development of children birth through six years old. The behavioral screening and behavioral intervention tools were then used in EDUS Early Intervention and Preschool ABA programs and those pre-post data will be presented. The data show the effectiveness of behavioral developmental approach for early detection and intervention in B&H. I will talk about promoting early childhood development through concrete steps, measures, tools and applications, all utilizing the science of Applied Behavior Analysis in B&H.

The global rise of entrepreneurship has left no stone unturned. Behavior analysts are now well-positioned to start their own companies due to several factors: a demand for services that increases the supply, possession of credentials within a field that is increasingly finding new applications and a small population of individuals providing models for how to break out into other markets. Moreover, encouraging and educating aspiring entrepreneurs to develop ethical, successful businesses is advantageous for the growth and dissemination of behavior analysis, as we are able to dismantle our stereotypes and redefine the field. In this panel, each contributor offers their own experience and resources on the topics of marketing, branding, financial logistics, ethical scaling and creating a purpose-driven niche.

Behavior Analysts in Practice, including but not limited to those with credentials from the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB).

What can you do to support children who are aggressive and disruptive? Through an interactive Prezi presentation, paired with case studies, research, and a group discussion, participants will explore Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), attachment, temperament, emotional milestones, expulsion, and early childhood mental health consultation.

Mental health professionals, school psychologists, and educators who work with young children.

This panel discussion will provide a dialog on the potential schism between basic and applied behavior analysis. Panelists will discuss their experiences in the conduct of translational research that informs basic process or applied technologies. Panelists will also share their interpretations on what constitutes "translational" research, the role of translational research in bridging divides between basic and applied sciences, and how researchers might arrange translational research programs in ways that advance both basic and applied science. Finally, panelists will suggest potential fruitful avenues for future translational research.

Researchers or consumers of behavior-analytic research.

Women face various barriers in society and in particular within academia. Recent media trends across the globe suggest that the 'glass ceiling' is starting to crack for women across businesses and industries, but is not yet fully broken. This panel will discuss important considerations and tips for the success of Applied Behavior Analysts seeking or just beginning a career in academia. The following topics will be covered: applying to and landing a job in academia via traditional and non-traditional routes; navigating gender biases in the workplace; building a community of support within and outside your field; integrating research, teaching, and service activities; and maintaining a healthy work-life balance. All three panelists are Program Coordinators/Directors of their respective graduate program and represent varied teaching, research, and clinical experiences.

applied behavior analysts (graduate students or post-docs) seeking a position in academia, applied behavior analysts working in academia during (pre-tenure)

Ample research has demonstrated the effectiveness of applied behavior analytic procedures for decreasing challenging behaviors in individuals with autism and other developmental disorders. However, some challenges in the area of behavior reduction remain relatively vexing. Reducing automatically reinforced or habitual behaviors can be particularly challenging. It is not surprising, then, that many of the empirically validated treatments available for these behaviors are consequence manipulations that likely involve punishment. This symposium contains two talks that evaluate novel antecedent-based interventions for challenging behaviors; one consisting of music and the other consisting of a habit reversal treatment package.

BCBAs, Program Supervisors

Significant empirical evidence supports the utility of behavioral treatments for habitual behaviors such as stuttering and repetitive movements (e.g., motor tics) in children and adults, however, less empirical support is available for the treatment of such behaviors with children with autism. Behavioral treatment packages for habit reversal are often employed; yet involve multiple components that may prove unnecessary. The current paper utilizes a nonconcurrent multiple baseline across participants design to demonstrate the effect of two components of the habit reversal treatment package, namely, awareness training and social support for children with autism. Moreover, various procedural modifications are described and evaluated in relation to challenges with the acquisition of response detection and the generalization of treatment gains. Results indicate decreases in the targeted behavioral excess and are discussed in terms of the utility and implications of these components and subsequent modifications within treatment sessions. Considerations related to inclusion of such treatment packages in an overall treatment plan for insurance funded Applied Behavior Analysis services as well as suggestions for future research will be discussed.

The 21st century is said to be the century of interdisciplinarity. With a plethora of social and cultural issues in dire need of reform, it is critical that we recognize the call for interprofessional collaboration. While a number of academics and professionals talk about interdisciplinary work, few effectively practice what they preach in terms of training and application. Skinner viewed behavior analysis as a science with far-reaching potential. He claimed that behavior scientists could extend our application of behavior science to broader social issues (e.g., climate change, overpopulation, obesity, etc.), but even his ideas have yet to come to fruition. While various suggestions can be put forth as to why, most can agree that we as behavior scientists have a great potential to disseminate our science. As a way to foster a discussion about interdisciplinary work, this panel will focus on collaborations that have the ability to achieve remarkable scientific, cultural, and societal progress. Panelists will use several examples and nonexamples to guide our discussion so that attendees are better equipped to work collaboratively with researchers or practitioners in other disciplines.

Practitioners, Researchers, and Student Members

Despite the excellent work carried out on the subject, from an outsider’s perspective one could argue that the bidirectional operant has not been explicitly appreciated for what would seem to be its most valuable asset, namely as a manifestation of a new class of operant behavior. What distinguishes this higher-order operant, as it is called, from simple operant behavior and what constitutes its bi-directionality? These questions are addressed in an attempt to understand verbal behavior acquisition from a developmental and evolutionary perspective. Comparative data are reported which support the view that the bidirectional operant is an exemplar of extreme life-stage modularity during acquisition of verbal behavior and may be functionally homologous to the biological phenomenon of complete metamorphosis. The presentation concludes with a consideration of the potential relevance of operant bi-directionality as a behavioral phenotype which underlies the accelerated transformation of learning in a world unhinged.

Both researchers and practitioners.

Behavioral skills training (BST) procedures are one approach to teaching complex skills based on the principles of applied behavior analysis. Clinicians and researchers have successfully implemented BST across a wide range of skills while working with children, adolescents, care providers, and paid staff. Extension of BST to fields of burgeoning interest to behavior analysts, such as behavioral gerontology and higher education remains limited. In this symposium, we will describe how BST can be applied in three diverse settings. The first presentation will describe how BST was applied to teach adaptive living skills for individuals with ASD transitioning to adulthood in a community setting using college students as instructors. The second presentation will share the results of a BST intervention designed to support college faculty members to adopt new teaching techniques over the course of an academic semester. The final presentation will provide a comparison of interventions commonly used to support care providers of older adults with cognitive loss, then make a case for the utility of BST as an intervention appropriate to this growing population.

Clinicians working within diverse settings, designing behavior change programs.

In this study, community service gaps were identified in relation to the development of adaptive living skills for individuals with ASD transitioning from adolescence to adulthood. A scan of the literature was conducted to identify evidence based practices for this population and target skill area. In the initial phases of research, the Assessment of Functional Living SkillsCommunity Participation Protocol was used to identify target skills in 8 participants diagnosed with ASD, and subsequently these skills were taught in a five-week skills group format called the "Life Prep Course." A treatment package that included Behavioral Skills Training, Video Modelling and In-Vivo Generalization opportunities was implemented. Assessment scores, probe data and social validity scores were collected to demonstrate the effectiveness and acceptability of the intervention. Results showed that the participants acquired the targeted skills. Specifically, 6/8 participants increased their assessment score by over 10% upon reassessment. Generalization of skills was moderate, and was demonstrated to be at 80% success by week 5 of the program. Participants and caregivers reported high levels of satisfaction with the intervention. In upcoming phases of research, maintenance will be assessed, and a replication of the "Life Prep Course" will be conducted.

The landscape of higher education is evolving. Students are accustomed to almost continuous use of their mobile devices. As a result, professors may feel pressure to incorporate technologically savvy instruction into their practice with the goal of leveraging those devices to improve learning outcomes. While professors often have expert content knowledge and/or research expertise they may not have well developed pedagogical or technological skills. This may leave faculty members who are motivated to adopt new teaching techniques uncertain how to proceed. In addition, attempts to incorporate technology in the classroom may not have the desired effect further discouraging experimentation with new techniques. Behavioral skills training (BST) has been demonstrated to be effective in numerous settings with varied participants. The purpose of this presentation is to describe the effect of a modified BST procedure on faculty adoption of technology-enhanced teaching practices. The intervention spanned one academic semester, used a changing criterion design, and incorporated instructions, modeling, rehearsal, performance feedback, and goal setting. The results of the intervention were positive, with participants endorsing the approach.

Most older adults with cognitive loss live at home and are cared for by family members. Family care partners require skills to effectively assist their loved ones with basic and instrumental activities of daily living, with managing co-occurring chronic illnesses, and with the emotional and behavioral changes associated with cognitive decline. Family care partners predominantly receive interventions addressing caregiver stress, burden, and depression. These interventions neglect skills-based approaches that would otherwise equip care partners to implement behavioral interventions targeting their loved one's presenting problems. Additionally, increased skills might alleviate stress, burden, and depressed behavior related to overwhelming task demand. Despite care partner need for skills, the application of evidence-based training practices such as Behavioral Skills Training (BST) remains unevaluated. Both prevalence of use and potential efficacy of in-home BST for care partners of adults with cognitive loss are unexamined. A detailed comparison of interventions for family care partners of adults with cognitive loss will be provided, and aspects related to the implementation of behavior analytic methods assessing for and informing skill-based interventions will be discussed.

Classrooms worldwide report difficulties with implementing systematic, manageable approaches to creating effective educational environments. The Pyramid Approach to Education (Bondy, 2011) provides a systematic and manageable framework for creating effective environments using elements of applied behavior analysis. This model and it's systematic and functional approach have achieved worldwide appeal while achieving meaningful outcomes for learners. Structural elements of the Pyramid target the creation of functional activities, use of powerful reinforcement systems, teaching a range of critical communication skills, and the functional assessment of contextually inappropriate behavior. Instructional elements include planning for generalization, matching each skill to a lesson format, carefully choosing teaching and error correction strategies. Data collection and most importantly, analysis are central to the overall functioning of a Pyramid Classroom. A key distinction from other approaches involving the application of applied behavior analysis is that classroom teachers and all other support staff are empowered to teach - within the parameters of good science, but it is not a "one size" fits all approach. Teaching staff are involved in the decision making process and lesson development for all students with an emphasis on individual needs while maintaining both group and individual learning. This symposium will present an overview and implementation from several perspectives. Data will be presented from a school program where several classrooms have achieved Pyramid Certified Classroom Status. Within that program, leadership teams have been created to foster the maintenance of implementation. Programs in a variety of countries using the Pyramid Approach to Education will be described and attendant results discussed.

Members of multi-disciplinary teams including teachers, speech-language pathologists, behavior analysts. Anyone who actively participates in the supervision and direct service delivery required to set up and maintain classrooms.

Pyramid Educational Consultants has offices in 14 countries with nearly 40 Pyramid Consultants who provide both training and consultation services. All training and consultation involves a description of or direct application of The Pyramid Approach to Education, a systematic framework for designing effective educational environments. One example of the direct application of the Pyramid Approach is a Pyramid Certified Classroom, a process that involves training and consultative guidance on implementing the nine elements of the Pyramid Approach to Education. The Pyramid elements are implemented in a specific sequence as the sequence is an essential component of this approach. Upon successful demonstration of the items listed on the Pyramid Classroom Checklist in one element, consultation begins in the next. Throughout this process teams design/build their own effective environment, one is not prescribed. This consultation and certification approach has been successfully implemented in classrooms worldwide. How teams across the globe implement the Pyramid Approach as well as the similarities and differences will be highlighted in this presentation.

In-situ staff training often involves verbal feedback, which tends to be delayed and may be distracting to staff. In this study, we evaluated the efficacy of an auditory clicker sound as a conditioned reinforcer to train behavior interventionists' relevant clinical skills during in-situ training. A multiple-baseline across behaviors design indicated that the intervention was effective in increasing all target behaviors for all three participants. For two of the participants, we conducted maintenance probes one to five weeks after the final training session and performance continued to occur at a high level. Although the participants ranked the contingent clicker presentation as less disruptive and fairer than typical feedback methods, they ranked it as slightly less helpful, slightly less worthwhile, and slightly less pleasant than typical feedback methods. Two of the three participants asked for this procedure to be used for other clinical skills outside the scope of the study. Findings of this study can offer a different and perhaps more practical approach to in-situ staff training.

Behavior Analysts, Behavior Analysts in training, para-professionals, ABA masters students

Successful intervention requires ongoing evaluation in the form of objective data to determine the effects of treatment. The importance of ongoing data collection with the ability to make changes to treatment plans based on immediate information is essential to the treatment of individuals requiring behavioral interventions. However, if those implementing behavior intervention fail to submit this information, data-based decisions cannot be made. Support for the effectiveness of Organizational Behavior Management (OBM) procedures for improving and or maintaining staff performance in the human services field has been well documented. The use of group contingencies have been used in an organizational setting to decrease staff problem behavior and a variation of a group contingency has used to decrease staff absenteeism. However, previous studies have not determined the most effective components to Group Oriented Contingency based procedures to change staff behavior. A group multiple baseline will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of a single intervention (e.g., lottery-based group contingency) procedure with the addition of the remaining intervention (e.g., performance feedback) across 4 groupings of staff providing behavior intervention services.

Stimulus functions are transferred or transformed across relational networks. Studies in our laboratory, for instance, have shown that evaluative functions of meaningful stimuli, such as facial emotional expressions, transfer to abstract stimuli equivalent to them. These abstract stimuli become symbols of the emotional expressions. However, stimuli related by opposition to happy facial expressions are subsequently rated as sad. This has been confirmed with several measurement procedures, such as Semantic Differential ratings, IRAP, Semantic Priming, and Event-Related Potentials. The influential cultural anthropologist Clifford Geertz has characterized cultures as sets of symbolic devices that control behavior. Transfer and transformation of stimulus functions across relational networks may be the foundation of a behavioral account of how symbolic devices control behavior. In this presentation we will focus on cultural phenomena such as attitudes, values, and aesthetic responses, interpreting them on the basis of transformation of evaluative, consequential and discriminative functions in complex stimulus networks. Thus, the concept of attitude, in mainstream Psychology, although not precisely defined, points toward evaluative responses to stimuli. These evaluations may often originate in direct conditioning experiences with the stimuli. They may also be based on experience with stimuli related by equivalence or other types of relations. Similar analyses will be advanced for values and aesthetic responses. Skinner defined values in terms of reinforcers, and studies have confirmed that reinforcing (and punishing) functions are also transformed in relational networks, so that humans may value stimuli based on their experience with related stimuli. Works of art constitute complex packages of stimuli that participate in complex relational networks. Although responses to art may, to some extent, involve phylogenic dispositions, personal histories will shape individual responses to a work of art.

Researchers or students interested in basic and translational research on stimulus equivalence and transfer of functions and social and cultural implications.

Abundant research highlights the importance of early detection and intervention for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). As a result, regulations and funding have primarily targeted services and research to support identification and skill acquisition of children. However, a large proportion of children with IDD who age out of the public school system continue to exhibit significant skill deficits throughout adulthood. Without appropriate supports and services, these adults experience limited employment prospects, fewer opportunities for independent living, poor community integration, and diminished quality of life. There is a large body of ABA intervention research documenting evidence-based practices for children with IDD in the domains of communication, socialization, and prosocial behavior; however, only a handful of studies have examined ABA strategies targeting adults with IDD. In this session, the expert panelists will address issues in the delivery of evidence-based ABA services for adults with IDD. Panelists will discuss their successes and challenges in implementing evidence-based services in the context of scarce financial resources within complex adult service delivery systems. Specifically, issues of sexuality, appropriate use of psychotropic medications, and opportunities for new research will be discussed. Finally, the panelists will open the floor for discussion of next steps to improve service delivery for adults with IDD.

BCBA/ BCaBA

Over the past several decades, the field of applied behavior analysis has made significant contributions to improving the success and quality of life of individuals with autism and related disorders. The social significance of this influence has shifted public opinion and consequently informed policy and legislative decisions across the country. Currently, considerable resources are allocated to providing evidence-based services to bridge the functional and chronological age gap for toddlers and school-age children diagnosed with autism. The availability of evidence-based services for these individuals, however, tends to diminish as they mature into adulthood. The assembled panel consists of scientist-practitioners, each who have contributed to the peer-reviewed literature in applied behavior analysis and � through their clinical work � have significantly impacted the lives of adolescents and adults with developmental disabilities who engage in severe problem behavior, as well as their families. The panelists are an invaluable resource for behavior analysts who wish to support this largely underserved population.

Behavior Analysts, Policy Makers, and Community Partners

Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are widely considered the standard for demonstrating the efficacy of treatment. While the use of single case designs common in behavior analysis is vital, the use of other methodologies such as RCTs allow behavior analysts to combine procedures into a package and evaluate on a large scale (Smith, 2013). This symposium will present the results of four RCTs investigating behavioral interventions. Argumedes, Lanovaz, & Larivee conducted a RCT that compared the effectiveness of the Prevent-Teach-Reinforce model to a three-hour parent training session. Martin, Anderson, Smith, & Iovannone developed a comprehensive intervention in schools for subsequent validation using a RCT. Mruzek and colleagues conducted a RCT of an iOS-based app for toilet training. Finally, Lomas Mevers and colleagues conducted a RCT that evaluated a multidisciplinary treatment for encopresis. Together, these studies provide potential methods for RCTs for researchers to conduct RCTs in order to evaluate behavioral interventions. Additionally, challenges associated with conducting RCTs will be discussed.

The target audience is behavior analysts and researchers interested in conducting or conducting randomized controlled trials of behavioral interventions.

Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) often engage in high levels of challenging behaviors, which can be difficult to reduce for parents in home settings. The purpose of our study was to examine the effects of adapting the Prevent-Teach-Reinforce model (PTR) model to support parents in reducing challenging behaviors in children with ASD. We conducted a randomized controlled trial to compare the effect of the PTR to a less intensive intervention (i.e., 3-hr training) on challenging and desirable behaviors. In total, 25 families participated in the study. Participants were 12 years old or younger, had a diagnosis of ASD and presented at least one serious and frequent challenging behavior at home. We conducted mixed between-within design analysis of variance (3 x 2 ANOVA), combining the repeated measures (three assessments) and the treatment groups (PTR-F vs. Training). The PTR and the 3-hr parental training both reduced challenging behaviors and increased desirable behaviors. Moreover, parents implemented the PTR model with high fidelity and rated it highly for social acceptability. Overall, our results indicate that the PTR model may serve as a relevant intensive intervention for families struggling with serious behavioral issues at home for children with ASD.

Across social science and health fields, randomized controlled trails (RCTs) are generally considered the "gold standard" of demonstrating the efficacy of treatments by drawing comparisons between treatment and control groups. While single-case designs (SCDs) tend to be the preferred method in applied behavior analysis for documenting a functional relation between a response and environmental variables, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) may be more appropriate for demonstrating the scalability of a standardized treatment. This presentation will review the process of developing and validating Students with Autism Accessing General Education (SAAGE), a comprehensive, modular intervention for students with autism spectrum disorder using targeted focus groups, a feasibility study, and a subsequent randomized controlled trial in schools. Preliminary data from the RCT will be presented, and we will illustrate ways in which RCT and SCD methods were employed simultaneously to evaluate the initial effectiveness of the SAAGE model. Additionally, challenges associated with conducting RCTs in complex applied settings such as schools will be discussed.

Teaching children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) toileting skills can be a burdensome and time-consuming task for all persons involved; therefore, we developed an iOS-based app with a transmitter/disposable sensor and corresponding manualized intervention. The app signaled the onset of urination, time-stamped accidents for analysis, reminded parents to reinforce intervals of continence, provided a visual outlet for parents to communicate reinforcement, and afforded opportunity for timely feedback from clinicians. We compared this intervention with an intervention that employs standard behavioral treatment in a pilot randomized controlled trial of 33 children with ASD aged 3–6 years with urinary incontinence. Parents in both groups received initial training and 4 booster consultations over three months. Results support the feasibility of parent-mediated toilet training studies (e.g., 84% retention rate, 92% fidelity of parent-implemented intervention). Parents employed the app and related technology with few difficulties or malfunctions. There were no statistically significant group differences for rate of urine accidents, toilet usage or satisfaction at close of intervention or 3-month follow-up; however, the alarm group trended toward greater rate of skill acquisition with significantly less day-to-day intervention. Further development of alarm and related technology and future comparative studies with a greater number of participants are warranted.

A large percentage of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are delayed in achieving bowel continence or never achieve it at all. This problem has tremendous ramifications for these individuals and their families (can limit access to educational opportunities, and carries significant social stigma). Previous interventions for encopresis have either been unsuccessful or required implementation over very long periods. The current study is a small randomized controlled trial (RCT) evaluating an interdisciplinary approach to treatment. The study uses over-the-counter medications to elicit predictable bowel movements, which are then reinforced. Independence is increased by fading out medications and training caregivers to implement all procedures. This study demonstrated the efficacy of this approach with 20 individuals with ASD and encopresis within a RCT using a waitlist control. We found children that were randomized to the treatment group achieved significant increases in continence when compared to children randomized to the waitlist control group.

Applied Behavior Analysis has strongly been associated with American theorists and practitioners. The spread of ABA outside of the United States has seen consistent growth in the past few decades, although it is likely that the application of behavior analysis to school programs for children with autism in many nations is not meeting the needs of children and their families. Efforts have been initiated in multiple nations to begin filling that gap. Included in this session will be descriptions of educational services guided by the principles of ABA in the United Kingdom, Italy, Poland, The Czech Republic and the Republic of China. Each presentation will provide a review of the status of efforts to spread behavior analysis to schools in each nation. Francesca degli Espinosa will provide a comparison of educational practices derived from behavior analysis in the United Kingdom with those provided in Italy. Marta Sierocka will discuss recent efforts to expand school based services in both the private segment and in public schools in Poland. Also included will be a discussion of an expansion of training opportunities in ABA. Recent work to establish a public school program in the Czech Republic will be reviewed by Amiris Dipuglia. That review will discuss details of the process of establishing a first public school class and the efforts of advocate parents in conjunction with international support to expand the effort. Finally, Mike Miklos will review a recent raining effort completed in Beijing Province to train a large number of educators on the basics of programming verbal skills for students with autism. Data from that training will be compared with the results of similar competency-based trainings completed with educators in the United States.

Board Certified Behavior Analysts Board Certified Associate Behavior Analysts School Psychologists Educators

Over the past four years an effort to develop a public school program based on the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis has been in progress in the Czech Republic. The first classroom opened it's doors to students in September of 2017 in the city of Prague. That classroom organization adopted in that class is based on a training model developed through the Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network. This session will describe the political and behavioral training process which has resulted in a greater acceptance of ABA in public school programs in the Czech Republic. The necessary collaboration between parent advocacy, governmental agencies, various university programs, and the Behavior Analysis Certification Board has occurred. While the advent of single classroom is a milestone, the general goal is to develop a range of services in Czech public schools for students with autism across the country. A review of the initiative toward that end will be presented.

An increasing advocacy for evidence based interventions for students with autism has occurred in Poland. While there exists a clear right to education for students with disabilities, only recently has Applied Behavior Analysis begun to be incorporated into schools. At the current time, ABA services for children with autism are provided primarily by private schools and agencies. The base of support for ABA in Poland is through non-profit agencies. The movement to expand ABA as a standard for instructional design will be described. Recent legislation regarding the staffing of schools may have significant implications for behavior analysis in school settings. While across Poland, school-based autism interventions continue to be derived from an eclectic menu of intervention models, a dedicated group of professionals are forming coalitions to promote evidence-based practices in the schools. Further refinement of educational regulations and increasing the cohort of Board Certified Behavior Analysts are priorities for the development of behavior analysis in Poland.

In the past fifteen years, several countries in Europe have witnessed an increase in the application of behavioural analytic approaches to education. Although united in a common market, with regards to mainstream and specialist education, great differences exist among the various European countries. For example, in Italy, mainstream education is compulsory, regardless of disability and level of functioning. In the UK, mainstream or specialist school attendance is largely based on parental preference. Irrespective of key differences in the educational systems, in both countries, children with autism and their families face similar challenges in accessing state-funded evidence-based practice. The overwhelming use of TEACCH based approaches, Sensory Integration Therapy and, in some contexts, Facilitated Communication represents a daily challenge for behaviour analysts and the dissemination of scientific approaches to the education of children with autism. Despite such difficulties, particularly in Italy, the certification and practice of ABA have grown significantly in the past 10 years leading to increasing acceptance of behavioural interventions in schools and rehabilitation centres. This presentation will focus on key similarities and differences in the delivery of ABA-based intervention for autism between Italy and the UK and will illustrate some examples of best practice in Italy.

The results of a competency-based training completed with over 100 participants in the Beijing Province will be reviewed and compared to performance outcomes for similar groups provided the same training in Pennsylvania. Effective practice is reliant on effective staff training. Large scale training in the skills needed to deliver effective behavioral interventions is developing within the People's Republic of China. Participants at the training in China included mostly teachers, but also various providers of medical services. Access to school based ABA services is often the result of collaboration between medical providers and school services. Included will be a review of training outcome data in relation to participant acquisition of key conceptual skills and the practice of instructional protocols. The session will provide examples of training methodologies including choral responding, guided notes, and guided practice of instructional protocols. Training efforts will be discussed in relation to the overall movement to increase the availability of interventions derived from a behavior analysis for children with autism in China.

Previous literature supports the use of a functional analysis to identify reinforcers maintaining inappropriate mealtime behavior and to indicate necessary treatment components for children with feeding disorders (Bachmeyer et al., 2009; Piazza et al., 2003). However, additional research is necessary to further refine function-based assessment that will result in the development of enhanced function-based interventions. The majority of research has shown that children's inappropriate mealtime behavior is maintained by negative reinforcement in the form of escape from bites or drinks (Volkert & Piazza, 2012). Therefore, escape extinction is often warranted. However, less is known about the generalization and maintenance of these effects over time. Basic and translational research presents an opportunity to understand the variables that influence long-term outcomes of behavioral interventions. Saini and colleagues will present a meta-analysis of functional analysis procedures and outcomes in pediatric feeding disorders. Kirkwood and colleagues will present results of a comparison of a function-based treatment to a nonindicated treatment of inappropriate mealtime behavior. Ibañez and colleagues will present a translational evaluation of renewal of inappropriate mealtime behavior. Finally, Wathen and colleagues will present the results of multiple-context training to mitigate resurgence in children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.

Researchers and clinicians who are interested in learning about the assessment and treatment of pediatric feeding disorders and those who wish to gain an understanding of resurgence and renewal.

Functional analysis methodology was refined and adapted for children who engaged in refusal behavior during mealtime situations over a decade ago. In Study 1, we evaluated 86 functional analyses of inappropriate mealtime behavior across a variety of dimensions. We highlight procedural differences across studies that could affect functional analysis outcomes and describe the state of the literature on functional analysis in pediatric feeding disorders. In Study 2, we conducted effect-size analyses to determine whether treatments based on a prior functional analysis led to more robust and efficacious treatment effects (i.e., reductions in inappropriate mealtime behavior) than those not based on the results of a functional analysis. We discuss the implications of our results with respect to (a) the assessment and treatment of pediatric feeding disorders, (b) functional analysis methodology as applied to inappropriate behavior that occurs during the mealtime context, and (c) areas of future investigation that could potentially resolve existing gaps in the literature.

Previous literature supports the use of a functional analysis to identify reinforcers maintaining inappropriate mealtime behavior and to indicate the necessary treatment components for children diagnosed with feeding disorders (Bachmeyer et al., 2009; Piazza et al., 2003). However, within the field of behavior analysis, clinicians often train caregivers on treatment components that may not be function-based or indicated. Training caregivers on nonindicated treatments may be unnecessary and can result in additional time and effort for both caregivers and clinicians. In the current study, we assessed the potential effects (e.g., no decrease in inappropriate mealtime behavior, low levels of acceptance, and poor treatment integrity) of including an additional, nonindicated treatment component (i.e., attention extinction) and compared it to a function-based, indicated treatment with two children whose functional analysis of inappropriate mealtime behavior indicated only an escape function. So far, results indicated that inappropriate mealtime behavior decreased, acceptance increased, and treatment integrity increased across both the indicated and nonindicated treatments for both children. Implications of implementing nonindicated treatment components are discussed further.

Resurgence is a form of treatment relapse observed when a previously extinguished response returns following the discontinuation or reduction in rate of reinforcement of a more recently reinforced response. This study used a translational approach to examine multiple-context training as a potential method to mitigate resurgence in three children with ASD. In Phase 1, we reinforced target responding with edibles on a variable-ratio schedule in Context A. In Phase 2, we reinforced alternative responding on a continuous schedule and discontinued reinforcement for the target response across either Context B only or Context B, C and D. In Phase 3, we returned Context A while discontinuing reinforcement for the alternative response and continuing to withhold reinforcement for the target response. Each participant experienced all three phases twice: Once with one context in Phase 2 and once with three contexts in Phase 2. We compared resurgence of target responding in Phase 3 following one context or multiple contexts in Phase 2. Multiple-context training did not significantly mitigate resurgence of the target response observed in the third phase. The current study and other translational examinations of treatment relapse provide a method to evaluate techniques to enhance the generality and durability of behavioral interventions.

In the current symposium, the authors will present a series translational and applied studies related to reinforcement schedules and reinforcement parameters. In the first presentation, Harman and colleagues will present two studies that demonstrate the interaction between delays to reinforcement and different parameters of reinforcement with typically developing adults. In the second presentation, Falligant and colleagues will present a three-part study evaluating the relationship between response force and conjugate schedules of reinforcement with typically developing adults. In the third presentation, Donovan and colleagues will present a study evaluating the effectiveness, efficiency, and preference for different magnitudes of reinforcement for teaching an arbitrary and novel skill. In the fourth presentation, Frewing and colleagues will present a study evaluating the effectiveness, efficiency, and preference for different reinforcement schedules during skill acquisition programs for children with autism spectrum disorder. Finally, DeLeon will discuss the four studies in terms of future research directions and possible clinical implications.

Researchers and practitioners

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which common parameters of reinforcement (quantity, quality, magnitude, and duration of reinforcement) interact with delays to reinforcement in hypothetical and response-based measures of delay discounting. In Experiment 1, 42 participants responded to a series of hypothetical scenarios in four different conditions involving different sums of money and delays to reinforcement. Each condition manipulated the sum of money across one of the four parameters of reinforcement. Area under curve measurements (AUC) demonstrated idiosyncratic differences in discounting patterns across conditions. Participants with similar discounting patterns were grouped for further comparisons. In Experiment 2, participants responded in a progressive-ratio procedure in which the completion of each successive step resulted in a successive increase in an actual sum of money available to the participant. The sum of money was manipulated according to the reinforcement parameters in the four conditions. Data from two participants showed that the condition that yielded the highest AUC measure in the hypothetical delay discounting procedure also yielded the highest break point in the progressive-ratio procedure. The findings from this study may inform basic and applied scientists seeking to manipulate a parameter of reinforcement during assessments.

In conjugate schedules of reinforcement, the amplitude or intensity of a reinforcing event is proportional to an aspect of the target behavior or response (e.g., MacAleese, Ghezzi, & Rapp, 2015; Rapp, 2008). In a novel series of experiments, MacAleese et al. demonstrated that changes in clarity of a visual stimulus conjugately reinforced an arbitrary target response in a sample of undergraduates. In Experiment 1, we extended the results from MacAleese et al. (2015) by evaluating whether different parameters of response-contingent volume change in audiovisual stimuli conjugately reinforced responses on a force transducer in a sample of undergraduates. In Experiment 2, we evaluated the degree to which responding was maintained when conjugate changes in the volume of audiovisual stimuli (either high-preferred or low-preferred) were provided as a consequence for exerting force on the manipulandum, in addition to assessing the degree to which responding maintained when it did not produce changes in auditory stimuli (i.e., extinction). In Experiment 3, we evaluated the degree to which responding was maintained across multiple extinction components. Results from these experiments indicate response force covaries with changes to the amount of force required to produce conjugate changes in audiovisual stimulation. Furthermore, results suggest force may be an important index of response effort and preference across low-and-high preferred stimuli within this conjugate schedule framework.

Previous comparisons of differential reinforcement and nondifferential reinforcement in skill acquisition programs have often produced participant-specific results. Further investigation of factors that influence the effectiveness and efficiency of differential reinforcement and nondifferential reinforcement may help practitioners arrange reinforcement contingencies that maximize instructional efficiency. Specifically, given the variability in results of comparisons of differential and nondifferential reinforcement across participants, it may be valuable to conduct within-participant replications of comparisons of differential and nondifferential reinforcement. In the present study, we used an adapted alternating treatments design embedded within a concurrent multiple-probe design to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of differential reinforcement, nondifferential reinforcement, and extinction when teaching language skills to two children with autism spectrum disorder. We conducted three evaluations, across a minimum of two different skills for each participant (i.e., tacts, intraverbals). We used a concurrent chains arrangement to evaluate learner preference for differential reinforcement, nondifferential reinforcement, and extinction when teaching language skills to two children with autism spectrum disorder. We will discuss the results in terms of clinical implications and directions for future research.

Social behavior is a topic of enormous scientific importance that spans disciplines from neuroscience to anthropology. While the topic has received a good deal of empirical and theoretical attention outside behavior analysis, it has largely been neglected within the field. This is unfortunate because behavior analysis has much to contribute to this field, both methodologically and conceptually. This session brings together recent work from several labs, exploring different facets of social behavior: Franceschini and colleagues on research with rats in a social foraging paradigm based on public goods games; Borges and colleagues on research with humans on coordinated responding in a gaming context; Avila and colleagues on research with humans on social discounting and altruism; and Browning and Shahan on research with rats on resurgence and relapse following extinction of social reinforcement. Together, the work illustrates some trends in the experimental analysis of behavior, showing more broadly how behavior-analytic methods and concepts might contribute to the burgeoning area of social behavior.

Students, researchers, practitioners

The Public Goods Game (PGG) is an experimental procedure typically used with 2+ humans to study economic interactions. Subjects share a limited environmental resource to which all have access to. To avoid overexploitation, they must establish some form of social regulation ("equilibrium"). A common finding is that some subjects "free ride", by accessing more resources than their peers. Over the past years, we've been searching for functional PGG parallels with rats. In our current model, two rats work in adjacent operant chambers separated by a transparent wall. Each chamber offers a CONC (PR FR) schedule. The PR is a geometric progressive ratio (PR) that increases with each reinforcement delivery. It resets back to its lowest value every time the subject earns a reinforcement on the FR. In the baseline phase, each subject works independently; in the social phase, reinforcements from the FR schedule resets the PR in both chambers. In the social phase, one rat tends to work exclusively on the PR ("free ride"), while the other switches and resets the PR for both chambers. We are currently exploring experimental interventions to reduce or prevent free-riding, which may potentially orient future policies for human situations.

When two or more people behave in concert with respect to a common environment, the conjoint behavior could be selected similar to individual operant behavior (discrete responses). Consequently, a coordinated sequence of responses could be considered an integrated behavioral unit, liable to have properties differentiated by consequences. Two experiments were performed to explore the processes and patterns of temporal differentiation of the integrated behavioral unit. A chessboard with only two pieces was presented to pairs of undergraduate students, on a notebook screen. Each piece could only be moved alternately, as the knight's movement. The pieces meeting in the center of the chessboard was defined as the integrated behavioral effect. In experiment 1, two pairs of participants worked on schedules of differential reinforcement of low rates and differential reinforcement of high rates, in an ABABC design. In experiment 2, three pairs participated on a schedule of differential reinforcement of response duration with different values (7 s; 13 s; 16 s; 19 s; and 22 s). In general, the results indicated similarities among the operant literature and data obtained. It suggested that mutual cooperative groups could be studied as an integrated behavioral unit, which could be considered more than the sum of its parts.

In this symposium, we celebrate the work of our mentor, Dr. Maria R. Ruiz. Maria's work balanced her commitment to the experimental analysis of behavior, to radical behaviorism, and to the application of behavior analysis in service to individual consumers and humanity at large. Sharing the science, philosophy, and practice of behavior analysis with others was one of the great joys of her life. Presentations will focus on (a) her graduate training and early translational research; (b) her study of social prejudice and discrimination through the lens of derived relational responding; (c) her theoretical and conceptual contributions, particularly with respect to contextualism, radical behaviorism, and feminist theory; and (d) her commitment to empowering her students not only by teaching them about behavior analysis, but also by encouraging perspective taking and critical thinking. In the last minutes of the symposium, an opportunity will be provided for attendees who choose to do so to share their memories of Maria.

College graduates and above with training in behavior analysis.

Maria Ruiz was mentored by Hank Pennypacker at the University of Florida and trained in the experimental analysis of behavior. During her time in graduate school, she conducted translational research addressing problems of learning and behavior in individuals with developmental disabilities. She continued to apply behavior analysis in her work to improve the lives of individuals with developmental disabilities and their families throughout her career. This presentation will include a description of Dr. Ruiz's research in self-injury and stimulus overselectivity, and a discussion of the pragmatic and humanistic values that were the basis of Dr. Ruiz's approach to educating children with autism.

Maria Ruiz was a tireless advocate for groups who experience prejudice and discrimination. Her dedication in this area is reflected in her work on a behaviorist conceptualization of the development of implicit prejudice and discrimination. Working in collaboration with Bryan Roche and his colleagues, she demonstrated that implicit prejudice (i.e., verbal relations that may not be readily tacted by individuals) could be created in the laboratory using a derived relational responding task involving arbitrary stimuli (Gavin, Roche, & Ruiz, 2008). Expanding on their work, Maria and her colleagues developed the Function Acquisition Speed Test (FAST) as a behavioral alternative to implicit measures (e.g., the Implicit Association Test). The FAST is both a method of training stimulus equivalence classes and a tool for assessing the emergence of non-reinforced (i.e., derived) relations among stimuli. Providing a behavioral measure and understanding of implicit prejudice and discrimination avoids the difficulties inherent in mentalistic ontologies and points toward possible methods of changing discriminatory behaviors. This talk will examine Marias work in implicit prejudice and discrimination, as well as potential future directions and implications.

In this presentation, the evolution of Maria Ruiz's (1950–2017) conceptual writings on the alliance between feminist epistemology and radical behaviorism will be revisited. Over 20 years ago, Ruiz's (1995) groundbreaking paper on the points of contact in feminist and behavior analytic theories appeared in Psychology of Women Quarterly. Written primarily for a feminist audience, Ruiz argued that radical behaviorism's appeal to a contextual understanding of human behavior was similar in kind to a feminist epistemology grounded in the experiences of women and other marginalized groups. Behavior analysis also offers feminism an understanding of human behavior that rejects the personal pathologization of behavior that feminists agree have environmental determinants in oppressive sociopolitical systems. Further, behavior analytic principles have the potential to enhance acts of resistance, the means by which we increase the likelihood that cultural practices are designed for the good of all. While the alliance between feminism and behavior analysis has long had the potential to strengthen both disciplines, it has yet to be fully realized by either community. As behavior analysts look to broaden their impact on social issues, Ruiz's call to action has taken on renewed urgency during this particularly volatile time in our cultural history.

Maria Ruiz will be remembered for many contributions to our field—theory, philosophy, science, application. However, her pedagogical contributions may prove to be paramount. Over her 36 years as a professor in the psychology department at Rollins College, Dr. Ruiz created distinctions for her students that allowed them to find their own voices and question traditional cultural practices—within and outside of psychology. Her feminist pedagogy led to the development of sophisticated critical thinking skills and empowerment for the many students she mentored. The current paper will illustrate the importance of Dr. Ruiz's unique pedagogical practices with respect to the advancement of our science and our ability to impact the world.

The successful dissemination of ABA methodologies into public school classrooms requires efficient, low-cost staff training models. In this presentation, I will describe a line of research on an intensive, five-day training program for public school teachers and paraprofessionals that covers foundational skills in ABA. Highlights from a line of research spanning more than 20 years will be described, along with the implications of working with teachers and paraprofessionals in public school settings.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.

Behavior analysis principles have been exhaustively replicated and applied, as we're well aware. The sustainability community, however, is frequently not aware of the full scope of our science. Climate change exemplifies the tragedy of the commons with its delay discounting: rampant greenhouse gas emissions for short-term reinforcers, externalizing and delaying the mammoth aversive consequences. Similarly, "choice architecture" and other portions of behavioral economics - a significant part of the sustainability effort - are built on learning principles. In this symposium, we'll examine where our principles have successfully been incorporated - and where they are overlooked, misused, or ignored. Through more interdisciplinary collaboration, behavior analysis has the opportunity to build significantly on its existing contributions to the critical challenge of climate change mitigation.

Bachelor's or master's level

The speaker is a behavior analyst working as a research psychologist at the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies and Energy & Efficiency Institute. She will share her experience working on issues related to sustainability in an interdisciplinary research environment. In particular, she will discuss opportunities for (and progress toward) integrating behavior analysis principles in two areas of energy and transportation research: eco-feedback and eco-driving. Eco-feedback--providing people with information about their resource consumption with the aim of promoting sustainable behavior--is a strategy pioneered by behavior analysts in the late 70s-early 80s, but since then largely abandoned by behavior analysts and left to the more cognitive-oriented fields of environmental psychology and human-computer interaction. This talk will introduce a theory of eco-feedback that builds on behavior analysis principles and suggest opportunities for behavior analysts to get involved in eco-feedback research and initiatives. Another area discussed will be eco-driving--driver behaviors that increase vehicle fuel efficiency. This is an area of research that has been dominated by engineers and transportation researchers, with more attention to vehicle behavior than human behavior. Additional examples of integrating behavior analysis principles, theories, and methodologies will be reviewed briefly.

B. F. Skinner's 1981 Selection by Consequences was a call for us to use the science of behavior to meliorate world problems. With emerging research, models, and practices of the last 20 years, more behavior analysts are directing applied programs toward cultural problems such as poverty, education, organizational safety, and climate change. For five years, the work of interdisciplinary, cooperative groups at Fresno State has led to administrative support for an Institute of Water and Sustainability. The function of this institute is to coordinate research across colleges, ensure best practices on campus through Facilities, coordinate student and facility projects, develop a sustainability minor, and to educate and interact with the greater community. The use of behavior analytic principles is seen as integral to our work, has been well accepted by group members from a wide variety of backgrounds, and has enhanced our outcomes.

Life as a self-sustaining behavior analytic entrepreneur is an experiential roller coaster ride. At times, you feel like your business is succeeding while other times you may feel like everything is crashing down. This panel brings that discussion into the public eye with three behavior analytic business women. They share their stories of what it is really like to live each day trying to make it on their own. In doing so, we forego technical discussions pertaining to how to start a business, write a business plan, or secure funding. Instead, we will discuss what it is like to "cut the cord" as an employee transitioning to self-employement, how to find your entrepreneurial passions, and best practices to help ensure that you will make it on your own. We will also discuss the role of entrepreneurship as a vehicle for furthering Skinner's original vision of a technology of behavior for the world.

Graduate students and professionals.

The need for Organizational Behavior Management (OBM) applications in human service settings has become more and more apparent. The first paper in this symposium will present a quantitative literature review of research on OBM in human service settings, discussing trends, strengths, and opportunities, including the need to conduct more preintervention assessments before implementing OBM interventions. This second paper will highlight survey research that demonstrates the need for clinical behavior analysts to obtain training in OBM and compares clinicians' concerns with the current research trends highlighted in the first paper. The last paper will describe an OBM intervention in an early intervention center, where the effects of scorecards on typically high and typically low performers was evaluated.

Supervising behavior analysts working in human service settings that serve clinical populations; supervisors can be at a manager or director level

One approach that can be used to improve effectiveness and efficiency in human service settings (HSS) is organizational behavior management (OBM). However, OBM has not been widely adopted in HSS and more research is needed to improve organization-wide adoption and application. In addition, although several quantitative reviews of various aspects of OBM have been conducted, none to date has specifically looked at the role of OBM specific to HSS. Thus, the present review was conducted to look at the literature on OBM in HSS that was published in the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management (JOBM), the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (JABA), and Behavior Analysis in Practice (BAP) from 1990–2016. Trends across client populations served, settings for conducting research, employee populations targeted, the use of pre-intervention assessments, the specific dependent variables measured, and the types of independent variables used will be described. Recommendations for future research will also be provided.

Applied behavior analysts working in human service settings (HSS) train and supervise staff, design systems, and do other tasks related to organizational behavior management (OBM). Consistent with these practices, the Fifth Edition Task List from the Behavior Analyst Certification Board has placed additional emphasis on the need for supervision and OBM training for all clinical behavior analysts. To better understand the role of OBM in HSS, we created a survey for clinical behavior analysts. Respondents were 164 individuals who worked in clinical or human service settings as behavior analysts and who supervised at least one other person. We also coded ten director-level and ten manager-level job descriptions for behavior analysts in HSS to see what kinds of OBM training employers ask for and what kind of OBM job duties employers advertise. Data obtained are discussed in terms of how they can illuminate the links between what clinical behavior analysts are trained to do, what companies advertise they want their clinicians to do, and what those clinicians actually do once they enter the workforce.

The present study evaluated the impact of scorecards on behavior technicians' performance in an early intervention center. Eight technicians participated in the study, each receiving a weekly scorecard. Baseline measures determined the performance level of participants, with four of the highest performers and four of the lowest performers being selected as the participants for this study. The scorecards included measures drawn from an employee survey which sought to identify essential job duties. From the survey results, four measures were selected that corresponded with pre-existing data collection methods. These included: timeliness, programs ran, data entry, and provision of feedback. Initially, there was a modest increase in performance for four of the technicians when scorecard delivery was introduced. Scorecard dimensions were further altered to assess the impact of the modifications on typically high and low performers. Implications and areas of future research will be discussed.

How is it that the best businesses in Peru and even the Congress hire people with autism and developmental disorders, some who have worked for 22 years continuously? Because they have found that they are good workers, don't gossip, ask for more work, and are loyal to the business where they work. Centro Ann Sullivan del Peru (CASP) has more than 100 students working in 46 businesses; 60% of them have autism. All receive the same pay and benefits as other employees and are included in all social activities in their work places. Many help their families economically by paying for utilities like water and electricity, paying for the medication of their parents, or even starting the construction of their own home. CASP students/workers receive the same social benefits as all Peruvian workers. It is important that persons with developmental disorders, especially those from extreme poverty, work in a supported employment program because it leads to including them in all aspects of society and because it leads to poverty reduction.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.

Technology is a tool that can be used to provide access to or improve behavior analytic services. As advancements in technology occur, the technological resources for behavior analysts improve and open new doors. Teleconsultation, electronic data collection, and simulations are just a few of the technological avenues that are available to behavior analysts. While this growth is exciting, there are occasionally growing pains when implementing new technologies. Clinicians beginning or looking to begin the use of new technology to assist in behavior analytic services often encounter unplanned issues such as connectivity problems, privacy concerns, low-quality resources, and many more. Although difficulties in technology can sometimes be discouraging for clinicians trying to provide high quality services, planning for these difficulties can drastically minimize the setbacks. The purpose of this panel is to discuss issues encountered when beginning to use technology and the remedies for resolving them. The presenters will specifically discuss their experiences with telecommunication, electronic data collection, and Teachlive simulation technologies.

BCBAs

Behavior analysts face dilemmas everyday without obvious professional or ethical solutions. Practitioners have a science to help change behavior, but this isn't enough. Surrounding ethical contingencies must be considered when selecting the best course of action. The BACB's Professional and Ethical Compliance Code for Behavior AnalystsTM provides an excellent resource. The Code should guide decisions so that the best interest and well- being of the client is always prioritized. Application of the Compliance Code is not always clear-cut or easy, however, the Code elements provide a backdrop for ethical decision making. Practice using the Code will assist the practitioner in exploring appropriate options. This presentation will highlight a variety of real-life examples with identification of applicable Code elements and options for resolution. Scenarios will include the areas of child welfare, developmental disabilities, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Applied Behavior Analysis clinics, supervision, and academic settings. Participants will have the opportunity to interact and apply Code elements to existing scenarios and possible solutions.

Students in ABA graduate programs, BCaBAs, BCBAs, BCBA-Ds

Social media and increasingly accessible telecommunication technologies have helped ABA reach remote areas of the globe, bringing experts in touch with those who would otherwise not have access. But just who are these experts, and how much can they help? The Code applies to our digital behavior as well, so examples will be provided of ethical dilemmas, relevant code elements, and the appropriate course of action.

A subset of children with autism and related neurodevelopmental conditions develop persistent and clinically significant challenging behaviors like aggression and self-injury. Addressing this significant public health concern in an effective, practical, and scale-able manner has been one of the clear success stories of applied behavior analysis. Evidenced-based behavioral assessments and interventions effectively manage and treat a variety of challenging behaviors once they develop. However, this approach typically requires continued application of the intervention across a significant portion of the lifespan and as a result can be costly and resource-intensive. These potential limitations have motivated the start of a paradigm shift away from intervention and towards prevention. The search is on for malleable risk factors that occur early and that are associated with the persistence of challenging behaviors. In my talk I will describe our on-going program of research-to-practice activities in this area. First, I will discuss what is often taken as an overly simplistic “biology versus environment” dichotomy in this area. Instead of some form of subtyping, one could explore how behavior and underlying biology may change over time if the aberrant behavior persists. I will describe findings from our research that indicate that the persistence of challenging behaviors into adulthood can engender both behavioral and physiological changes - suggesting a potential interplay of biology and behavior that could conceivably drive treatment resistance over time. Next, I will describe on-going research focusing on isolating a set of pivotal child behaviors and parent-child interaction patterns early in development that are associated with emerging challenging behaviors in children with autism. These studies have focused on how language develops and interacts with early forms of aberrant behavior. Finally, I will describe our on-going research-to-practice work in this area that is focusing on developing and testing both home-based and a preschool-based approaches for preventing the development of challenging behaviors.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.

We present a series of studies that evaluate operant learning procedures for early acquisition of social behaviors in three populations: infants at risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), children with ASD, and children with neurotypical development. This symposium extends the findings of Pelaez and colleagues (1996, 2011, 2012) by showcasing parent-training procedures where the caregivers implement the operant-learning principles of reinforcement. The first presenter highlights early behavioral markers for autism and the use of socially-mediated reinforcement procedures such as synchronized reinforcement to sustain infant eye contact (i.e., attention). The second presentation discusses procedures for increasing infant vocalizations and extends those findings to infants at risk of ASD. The third study compares two forms of social reinforcement on the acquisition of vocalizations as well as joint attention procedures with neurotypical infants. The fourth presentation reports on the acquisition of joint attention responses to three different types of caregiver bids in children with ASD. The discussant highlights the developmental sequencing of these social skills as well as prerequisite repertoires for early learning of communication and other more complex social skills like perspective taking. The operant procedures and the data reported have significant implications for future research and for effective interventions with children with ASD.

Masters & PhD Level Students, Practitioners, and Researchers

Lower incidences of eye contact marks one of the first indicators of social disability in infancy. Parents are important contributors to infants' early social development and can successfully increase engagement behaviors such as eye contact and positive affect with young children at risk of autism. This presentation reviews the at-risk literature indicating early behavioral markers, and discusses the use of socially-mediated reinforcement procedures to strengthen infant eye contact. The current study replicate and extends the findings of Pelaez and colleagues (1996), evaluating a parent training model where caregivers are taught an operant-learning procedure consisting of contingent smiling, verbal praise, and rhythmic touch to establish eye contact in the natural environment. The assumption is that teaching early social behaviors such as eye contact in young children can promote learning of other—prerequisite—skills required to develop complex social and communicative behaviors. Further, the importance of establishing contingencies of reinforcement during mother-child interactions are stressed.

The emission of vocalizations during early infancy serves as the preverbal foundation for the development of subsequent complex language skills later in childhood. Research on interventions that facilitate the acquisition of these preverbal skills during infancy, and the subsequent extension of this methodology to at risk populations is discussed and conceptualized. The present research illustrates the use of two forms of contingent social reinforcement (vocal imitation and Motherese speech) delivered in a parent-training model, and their effects on increasing the overall rate of vocalizations in infants at risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The presenter concludes that establishing and increasing the rates of pre-verbal vocalizations during early infancy among infants at risk may help facilitate the development of more complex language and potentially mitigate the severity of language delays in later childhood.

Replicating Neimy et al., (2017), five children diagnosed with autism ranging in age from 3-5 years old participated in a joint attention operant learning procedure. Using an ABAB reversal in a multiple baseline across participants' design, three of the five children met mastery criterion for independent, correct responding. Joint attention responses were defined as first making eye contact with a therapist, switching their gaze to a novel object, and then returning their gaze to the therapist. In baseline conditions, children were exposed to different types of interactions with the therapist and the objects but were not provided any reinforcement nor any correction, regardless of their responses. In Treatment 1, three different bid types were used by the therapists: show, point, or engage. Responses were either reinforced or corrected. In Treatment 2, only one type of bid was used, the "show" bid. Responses were either reinforced or corrected. All five children showed evidence of differential responding during treatment conditions when compared to baseline conditions. Results are discussed in terms of the theory of joint attention and its importance as a prerequisite skill which is thought to be significant in terms of social and communicative development for all children.

School-aged children with autism receive most of their treatment in public schools. This is especially true for children from low-resourced communities, who are much less likely to receive supplemental treatments aside from their educational program. However, evidence-based practices for students with autism are often implemented with low fidelity in schools. Efforts to improve the implementation of evidence-based practices in schools often comprise training and consultation to improve teacher's skills and use of these practices. However, barriers unrelated to teacher skill may also impede the implementation of evidence-based practice in schools. This symposium includes a series of presentations describing large-scale efforts to improve implementation of evidence-based practice in schools. The first will present a summary of qualitative interviews with autism support teachers describing their challenges with implementing evidence-based practice in their classrooms. The second will present data regarding implementation fidelity and barriers to implementation in a randomized trial of Classroom Pivotal Response Training. The third will present data regarding teachers' intentions to use discrete trial training and pivotal response training and actual use of these interventions throughout the school year. The final presentation will provide recommendations for behavior analysts consulting in schools targeted toward addressing organizational and systemic barriers to implementation through effective consultation.

Behavior analysts consulting in schools

Teacher implementation of Classroom Pivotal Response Teaching was evaluated using a large-scale, randomized waitlist-control design. Classroom Pivotal Response Training is an evidence-based, naturalistic behavioral intervention adapted from Pivotal Response Training to be delivered by teachers in classroom settings. Teachers (n=109) and students (n=256) from 17 school districts participated. Training procedures included 12 hours of small group didactic instruction, goal setting, supervised exercises and role-playing. Individual coaching followed at weekly, then monthly intervals. Teacher fidelity of Classroom Pivotal Response Training was measured throughout the school year by coaches in vivo while teachers implemented Classroom Pivotal Response Training with their students during regular classroom activities. Fidelity was also coded by trained observers naïve to the training condition via video. Multilevel models indicated significantly higher fidelity, as coded by naïve observers, for teachers who completed training as compared to control teachers (B=0.27, p=.001). Seventy-three percent of teachers met trainer-rated fidelity after an average of 7.6 coaching sessions. Sustainment of Classroom Pivotal Response Training fidelity during the school year following training was challenging. Potential enhancements to intervention adoption and implementation may involve increased teacher engagement and organizational leadership support. Future directions include a current randomized trial testing methods of facilitating increased engagement and leadership support to promote greater teacher fidelity and subsequent positive child-level outcomes.

Evidence-based practices for students with autism often are implemented with low fidelity in public schools. Poor implementation may relate to characteristics of teachers or characteristics of the schools in which they work. The Theory of Planned Behavior posits that an individual's intention to perform a certain behavior is the most proximal determinant of that behavior, when individuals have the ability to act on their intentions. If teachers' intentions are low, efforts should focus on improving intentions. If teachers' intentions are high but implementation is poor, efforts should focus on removing barriers to acting on intentions. To determine the association between intentions and evidence-based practice implementation, we surveyed 64 autism support teachers at the beginning of the school year in one school district about their intentions to use discrete trial training and pivotal response training using a validated 7-point likert scale (1 = low intentions, 7 = high intentions). Use of each intervention was assessed monthly throughout the school year and rated on a 5 point likert scale (0 = no use, 4 = daily use). Teachers received training and consultation in discrete trial training and pivotal response training throughout the school year. On average teachers reported high intentions to use pivotal response training (mean = 5.8) and discrete trial training (mean = 5.9), while use of both was low (pivotal response training mean use = .48, discrete trial mean use = .69). Intentions were not correlated with use. These findings suggest that while teachers have high intentions to implement evidence-based practices, they often face barriers not addressed through traditional models of training and consultation that prevent use.

Traditional behavioral consultation focuses on changing teachers’ behavior to improve implementation of evidence-based practices for students with autism in schools. When behavior change is limited, consultants often rely on the behavioral consultation literature to identify effective consultation strategies, including collaborative problem solving, rapport building, training, and in-vivo coaching. However, there are many organizational and systemic barriers to implementation of evidence-based practices for students with autism in public schools that are not addressed through traditional models of behavioral consultation. While a traditional model of behavioral consultation may improve teachers’ skill and motivation to implement evidence-based practices in their classrooms, failure to address systemic barriers can limit the success and sustainability of these interventions. By addressing systems-level variables that affect individual performance, behavior analysts can broaden their focus to strategies that more meaningfully modify teachers’ implementation of evidence-based practices. Here we present an overview of the system-based action plan currently implemented through consultation to teachers of students with autism in a large, under-resourced, urban school district. Recommendations for behavior analysts providing consultation to teachers in under-resourced school settings will be offered, with a focus on consultation strategies intended to overcome barriers to implementation of evidence-based practices in these settings.

United States politics are currently more divisive than they have been in decades, with individuals across the political spectrum expressing fear and uncertainty about the future. Amongst these fears is the perception of a real and present threat to the rights many see as defining the U.S. as a country. Indeed, lay people and experts alike express significant concern about the protection of basic human rights like safety, security, and health care. And these concerns extend beyond our borders. And these concerns are not without good reason. With this in mind, what role might we have as scientists and professionals committed to affecting behavior change for the better of humanity? Behavior Analysis, as a whole, is no stranger to advocacy. Behavior analysts have mobilized and organized to protect consumers from harm and ensure the survival of our profession. What, then, could be if we poured that same effort into creating cultural change to promote civil rights on a local, national, or even global scale? This panel will focus on (1) the analysis of the current political climate from a behavioral perspective and (2) the role of behavior analysis in protecting civil rights with a specific emphasis on immediately accessible and effective actions.

Behavior analysts and behavior therapists with an interest in behavior regarding politics, behavior regarding civil rights, and ways to intervene in the community.

When we set out to educate the whole child, we must design academic goals, provide instruction in self-management and self-instruction, teach problem solving, and promote expansion of the child's community of reinforcers (Greer, 2002). Often overlooked, but essential to each of these facets of instruction is the use of self-dialogue. Children talk to themselves at an early age in environments that recruit problem solving; self-dialogue occurs naturally (Berk, 1994). However, in the school environment the effective use of self-dialogue, which is essential to the development of reasoning skills, must often be taught. This is particularly true for children with special needs. This presentation will describe the need, and effective procedures for establishing reasoning skills. Two strategies presented include Talk Aloud Problem Solving (TAPS) and Question Generating. When equipped with these repertoires learners can tackle a range of academic and social problems that may otherwise occasion avoidance. A healthy educational environment fosters talking out loud, provides challenging problems, and values self-instruction.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.

As behavior analysts, we have the responsibility of training other individuals (parents, educators, or Registered Behavior Technicians) to deliver service or accurate instruction directly to our clients. Much research has demonstrated that instructor accuracy (i.e., errorless instructional delivery) is critical for learner outcomes. There is a significant quantity of behavior analytic literature that discusses evidenced-based methods for improving teacher training and supervision. In this symposium, we present an experimental analysis of the necessary components that constitute effective and efficient supervision and identify tactics to increase supervision by clinical management. In summary, this experimental study established the following: 1) supervisor accuracy in presentation of instructional trials across student programming is a required prerequisite for training and supervising others, 2) observing others deliver instruction via video training, Powerpoint presentations, or role playing are ineffective methods of increasing teacher accuracy, 3) the controlling variable for how teacher accuracy is achieved is through the use of direct, objective measurement of instruction using the Teacher Performance Rate Accuracy Scale (TPRAS) provided during in situ supervision, and 4) self-monitoring one's own instructional delivery through conducting TPRAS on oneself is another effective way to increase teacher accuracy.

BCBAs, BCaBAs, and any individuals who are responsible for training and supervising RBTs, paraprofessionals, and/or school aides in direct instruction with learners.

Supervision of Registered Behavior Technicians (RBT) in the field of Applied Behavior Analysis is a key quality indicator to providing the best outcomes for consumers. Previous research has demonstrated that the Teacher Performance Rate and Accuracy Scale (TPRA) measure is the most effective tool used to increase instructional accuracy of instructors in the field by providing immediate and objective feedback. In contrast, the frequency of which a Clinical BCBA Managers implement the TPRA measure with RBTs is to be considered. The purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of a yoked-contingency tactic to increase the implementation of TPRAs with a group of 3 BCBA managers who delivered very few TPRAs during RBT supervision sessions, using a delayed multiple probe design across groups of participants. The dependent variable is the number of TPRAs each BCBA manager completed per day. The independent variable is the implementation of a yoked- contingency tactic, in which individuals in a group must work together to access reinforcement (Greer & Ross, 2008). This study is on-going, however, current results indicate that a yoked-contingency intervention is overall an effective tactic to increase TPRAs delivered by current BCBA manager participants during sessions.

Video games and "gaming" have become a global form of entertainment and leisure activity reaching back to the 1970's release of "Pong." This presentation will further discuss aspects of a contingency analysis first presented at ABAI 2017 which provided a foundation analysis of contingencies that influence game play, with an added discussion of variables that influence player selection of games across genres.

Members who are interested in a contingency analysis of video game behavior

Competent behavior analytic practice with diverse client populations is an essential element of ethically bound service delivery (Behavior Analyst Certification Board, 2016). Behavior analysts must be prepared to address service delivery factors related to working with diverse client populations (Hughes Fong, Ficklin & Lee, 2017). What are examples of these diverse client groups and what challenges do they present for the behavior analyst? How exactly does the profession of behavior analysis meet these challenges? The Professional and Ethical Compliance Code for Behavior Analysts requires that practitioners obtain additional training and/or consultation when issues of diversity impact programming effectiveness (Behavior Analyst Certification Board, 2016). This ethical obligation necessitates further evaluation of the current behavior analytic literature base on this subject matter, consideration of academic and professional training practices for behavior analysts and recommendations for current service providers (Fong, Catagnus, Brodhead, Quigley & Field, 2016). This panel will address these considerations by discussing the impact diversity factors may have on service delivery (e.g. assessment, treatment and caregiver training).

BCBA/BCBA-D educators, supervisors and practitioners

The Behavior Analyst Certification Board's (BACB's) Professional and Ethical Compliance Code for Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) describes the professional and ethical behavior that all BCBAs, Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analysts (BCaBAs), and Registered Behavior Technicians (RBTs) must adhere to (BACB, 2016). Supervision is an integral part to becoming a competent behavior analyst and integral to the service delivery of the RBT. Differing roles lead to different applications of the BACB's ethical code. Business owners, BCBAs, and RBTs all perform different aspects of service to their clients, therefore, their experience in applying the ethical code to real life situations often varies. It is crucial to discuss the role of supervision and how that relates to the ethical code, due to those instances in which parts of the ethical code conflict with each other, the role we perform, and the real world scenario that professionals are faced with. Professionals often experience situations where there is no simple solution whereby the BACB's ethical code and reality meet up seamlessly, therefore, our symposium seeks to compare the multitude of viewpoints ranging from business owner to RBT and discuss suggestions for resolving these differences in point of view in an ethical way.

Board certified behavior analysts, Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analysts, Registered Behavior Technicians, Business Owners

The Behavior Analyst Certification Board's (BACB's) Professional and Ethical Compliance Code for Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) describes the professional and ethical behavior that all BCBAs, Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analysts (BCaBAs), and Registered Behavior Technicians (RBTs) must adhere to (BACB, 2016). Supervision is an integral part to becoming a competent behavior analyst and integral to the service delivery of the RBT. Differing roles lead to different applications of the BACB's ethical code. Business owners, BCBAs, and RBTs all perform different aspects of service to their clients, therefore, their experience in applying the ethical code to real life situations often varies. It is crucial to discuss the role of supervision and how that relates to the ethical code, due to those instances in which parts of the ethical code conflict with each other, the role we perform, and the real world scenario that professionals are faced with. Professionals often experience situations where there is no simple solution whereby the BACB's ethical code and reality meet up seamlessly, therefore, our symposium seeks to compare the multitude of viewpoints ranging from business owner to RBT and discuss suggestions for resolving these differences in point of view in an ethical way.

The Behavior Analyst Certification Board's (BACB's) Professional and Ethical Compliance Code for Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) describes the professional and ethical behavior that all BCBAs, Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analysts (BCaBAs), and Registered Behavior Technicians (RBTs) must adhere to (BACB, 2016). Supervision is an integral part to becoming a competent behavior analyst and integral to the service delivery of the RBT. Differing roles lead to different applications of the BACB's ethical code. Business owners, BCBAs, and RBTs all perform different aspects of service to their clients, therefore, their experience in applying the ethical code to real life situations often varies. It is crucial to discuss the role of supervision and how that relates to the ethical code, due to those instances in which parts of the ethical code conflict with each other, the role we perform, and the real world scenario that professionals are faced with. Professionals often experience situations where there is no simple solution whereby the BACB's ethical code and reality meet up seamlessly, therefore, our symposium seeks to compare the multitude of viewpoints ranging from business owner to RBT and discuss suggestions for resolving these differences in point of view in an ethical way.

The Behavior Analyst Certification Board's (BACB's) Professional and Ethical Compliance Code for Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) describes the professional and ethical behavior that all BCBAs, Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analysts (BCaBAs), and Registered Behavior Technicians (RBTs) must adhere to (BACB, 2016). Supervision is an integral part to becoming a competent behavior analyst and integral to the service delivery of the RBT. Differing roles lead to different applications of the BACB's ethical code. Business owners, BCBAs, and RBTs all perform different aspects of service to their clients, therefore, their experience in applying the ethical code to real life situations often varies. It is crucial to discuss the role of supervision and how that relates to the ethical code, due to those instances in which parts of the ethical code conflict with each other, the role we perform, and the real world scenario that professionals are faced with. Professionals often experience situations where there is no simple solution whereby the BACB's ethical code and reality meet up seamlessly, therefore, our symposium seeks to compare the multitude of viewpoints ranging from business owner to RBT and discuss suggestions for resolving these differences in point of view in an ethical way.

Behavior analysts are called to provide socially acceptable interventions for children and adults across a variety of behavior problems, including socio-emotional challenges and deficits. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) has been shown to be an effective therapeutic intervention across psychological, behavioral, and socio-cultural topographies. While promising, more work is needed to determine behavioral effects of ACT with children and young adults. Similarly, research on the development of psychological surveys and assessments specifically targeting theoretical concepts such as values and delayed discounting is warranted. Therefore, the purpose of the current symposium is twofold. The first paper will present research using ACT on student engagement in on and off-task behaviors in the classroom. The second paper will present findings from a new assessment tool developed to help clinicians identify and interpret values as choice allocation. With the use of a discussant, the proposed symposium will offer behavior analysts further evidence into how to use ACT with children and young adults with various emotional challenges.

Target audience is BCBAs, BCaBAs, and psychologists as appropriate.

The purpose of the present study was to replicate previous research on using ACT for children with Autism and emotional challenges. A nonconcurrent multiple baseline with withdrawal design was used to determine the effects of an ACT intervention on student engagement in on-task and off-task behaviors. Seventeen students (n=7 classroom 1; n=10 classroom 2) completed 20min of group ACT sessions three times a week, for 10-15 weeks. Target behaviors were tracked using a PLAYCHECK 20s momentary time sample procedure during classroom observational periods. During baseline, students across classrooms engaged in moderately high rates of off-task behavior, when compared to rates of on-task behaviors. However, when treatment was implemented, students immediately engaged in higher rates of on-task behaviors (M percentage of responses across baseline (BL) and treatment (Tx): Class 1 BL = 44%, Tx= 70%; Class 2 M BL= 38%, Tx= 61%), when compared to off-task (Class 1 M BL= 45%, Tx= 23%; Class 2 M BL= 60%, Tx= 32%). While preliminary, the current treatment approach may be beneficial for behavior analysts looking for prevention strategies to use in their clinical practice.

Values, from a clinical application perspective, are defined as chosen qualities of purposive action that are linked to patterns of behavior that help to increase an individual's access to reinforcement. We will describe two different, yet compatible behavioral scientific theories of values as both choice allocation in a discounting framework, as well as verbally constructed hierarchical relations as described in Relational Frame Theory. The first conceptualization is supported with data showing convergent validity between participant responses on delay and social discounting surveys, and self-reported values on the Valued Living Questionnaire. The second conceptualization is supported by basic experimental analyses examining the influence of hierarchical relations in college students. Finally, we will demonstrate the effectiveness of a values-based technology for improving the educational values of college students, with corresponding improvements in academic performance and psychological flexibility in a randomized control trial evaluation. These studies support behavioral modelling of values and the development of applied technologies that make use of values-based intervention strategies.