Association for Behavior Analysis International

The ABAI President, representatives from the ABAI Executive Council, ABA Espana and the ABAI Conference Committee welcome you to the 6th International Conference in Granada, Spain. El Presidente de ABAI, representantes del Consejo Ejecutivo ABAI, de ABA España y del Comité de la Conferencia ABAI le darán la bienvenida a la 6 ª Conferencia Internacional en Granada, España.]

"Motivation" is a topic many behavior analysts have mixed feelings about, despite all the literature on "establishing" or "motivational" operations. I argue that behavior analysts, particularly in their common treatment of reinforcement, are guilty of limited vision and in many ways still tied to traditional motivational concepts—where the light is better. This is illustrated by recent discussion of putative distinctions (or none) between positive and negative reinforcement as well as naive perspectives on so-called conditioned reinforcement. Most behavior, in fact, is controlled by consequences having little, if any, relation to motivational variables. In this treatment, I provide a definition of motivation and discuss some of the common variables said to control probabilities of action. I then discuss the strange implications of the positive vs. negative reinforcement controversy and the role of the history of contingencies in controlling the effects of consequences. Finally I review the place of feedback functions in the analysis of behavior. Behavior analysis needs to search beyond its current horizons where there may be even more light—certainly more enlightenment. [Resumen: La "motivación" es un tema sobre el que muchos analistas del comportamiento tienen sentimientos encontrados, a pesar de toda la literatura sobre operaciones "de establecimiento" o "motivacionales". Yo sostengo que los analistas del comportamiento, sobre todo en su tratamiento habitual del tema del refuerzo, han pecado de adoptar una visión limitada y en muchos aspectos todavía ligada a la concepción tradicional de la motivación, aplicando el viejo aforismo de aprovechar “donde la luz es mejor”. Esto es ilustrado por la reciente discusión sobre las supuestas diferencias entre refuerzo positivo y negativo, así como por perspectivas ingenuas sobre el denominado refuerzo condicionado. La mayoría de comportamiento, de hecho, está controlado consecuencias que tienen poca, o ninguna, relación con variables motivacionales. En esta presentación proporciono una definición de la motivación y discuto algunas de las variables que frecuentemente se afirma que controlan las probabilidades de acción. Entonces discuto las extrañas implicaciones de la controversia acerca de refuerzo positivo frente a negativo y el papel de la historia de contingencias en el control de los efectos de las consecuencias. Por último, reviso el papel de las funciones de retroalimentación en el análisis del comportamiento. El análisis del comportamiento tiene que buscar más allá de sus horizontes actuales, en los que puede haber aún más luz—sin duda más “iluminación”.]

Many high-functioning children with autism possess near normal cognitive and language abilities but lack the skills necessary for successful social interactions. This symposium begins by briefly reviewing the empirically-based literature on teaching social skills to high-functioning children with autism and discussing the importance of designing social skills interventions that consider the specific needs and abilities of these children. Then three studies examining interventions designed to teach high-functioning children with autism specific skills necessary to participate in social exchanges with peers. The first study used video modeling to teach high-functioning children with autism reciprocal conversation through humorous exchanges. The second study utilized advances in technology to teach children with high-functioning autism persistence in social initiations for play bids. The final study used athletic skills training and a rules intervention to increase high-functioning children with autism’s participation in competitive group games. The findings will be discussed in terms of their contribution to the literature and implications for future research.

Many high-functioning children with autism are of normal intelligence and language abilities but fail to develop age-appropriate social skills. These deficient social skills have negative implications for their social, emotional, and classroom development. The social deficiencies of high-functioning children with autism are of particular issue because of their inclusion with typically developing peers who are more aware of these deficits. Although there is an extensive body of literature addressing the effectiveness of social skills intervention programs for children with autism in general, much less research examines social skills interventions designed specifically for high-functioning children with autism. The current presentation draws upon recent literature to discuss the importance of identifying the specific needs and abilities of this segment of the autism population. Doing so will allow researchers to design social skills intervention programs that address their needs in ways that build upon the children’s many strengths and best facilitate success in their natural environments.

Common social skills interventions that focus on simple initiations and responses are well-researched and relatively easy to teach, but offer limited learning opportunities. Mastering more advanced social interactions such as expansion of conversational topic, establishing ‘to and fro’ speech, and maintaining a verbal exchange has the potential of expanding learning opportunities for children with autism (Charlop & Kelso, 2003). Little research is available on this subject. Joke-telling is a promising form of conversational dialogue that keeps the attention of a typical peer, is naturally reinforcing to both conversational partners, and increases the likeability of the person telling the joke. Humorous exchanges also enhance physical, cognitive, language and psychosocial skill attainment and promote experience-sharing relationships (Franzini, 2002; Robinson, 1991). This study investigated the effects of teaching child-initiated social skills in the form of joke-telling using video modeling on social behavior and appropriate speech for children with autism. Preliminary results indicate that the intervention successfully taught children to engage in joke-telling with peers. Further results will discuss generalization and ecologically valid social skill to children with autism.

Social interventions that incorporate technology are the new wave of the future for children with autism because they take advantage of the inherent visual strengths of these children, are motivating, and are socially acceptable among neurotypical peers. Interventions that incorporate technology are also becoming progressively more popular because they are economical, portable, and require minimal instruction to operate. In the present study, a portable video modeling technology (PVMI) was used to teach persistence in social initiations when making bids to others to play. Two hypotheses were tested. First, it was hypothesized that children with autism would effectively learn persistence in social initiations with typical peers by using a portable video modeling technology. Second, persistence in social initiations was hypothesized to generalize and be maintained across people, settings, and skills. Results indicated that high-functioning children with autism could learn persistence in social initiations through the PVMI. All three children also continued to engage in the target behavior 1 month after the PVMI and generalized the target behavior to at least one untrained setting. Potential implications are discussed in terms of the future of portable video modeling interventions for children with autism.

Children diagnosed with autism tend to have much difficulty engaging in age-appropriate play with peers. The present study utilized a multiple baseline design to assess the effects of after-school interventions designed to improve 3 children’s play behavior during two competitive group games, handball and 4-square. During baseline, the participating children demonstrated low levels of group play. Treatment was composed of two phases. In athletic skills training, the children participated in sessions designed to teach them a sequence of progressively advanced athletic skills required to play the targeted games. During rules training, the children were instructed on and prompted to follow the rules of the targeted games. All of the children successfully mastered the athletic skills targeted for each game. Mastering the targeted athletic skills and rules training effectively increased the group play of children diagnosed with autism. Further, higher levels of group play were accompanied by increased speech. Although the children continued to demonstrate increased group play 10 to 12 weeks post intervention, the increased group play did not generalize to school recesses with neurotypical peers.

Many children with autism do not share and spontaneously seek enjoyment, interests, or achievements with other people. This skills, typically referred to as joint attention, are often seen in children of typical development at approximately nine months of age. Joint attention skills play a fundamental role in language and social development. Although, many studies have assessed joint attention skills, only a few researchers have investigated teaching procedures. In the current study, a concurrent multiple baseline design with a multiple probe across four participants with autism was used to evaluate the use of prompting, reinforcement, and script fading procedures on the acquisition of a generalized repertoire of joint attention skills. Forty-eight stimuli from four different experimenter-defined categories were used to increase generalization of joint attention skills from trained stimuli to novel stimuli. Bids for joint attention systematically increased in the presence of both training and novel stimuli and settings for all four participants.

Many children with autism do not share and spontaneously seek enjoyment, interests, or achievements with other people. This skills, typically referred to as joint attention, are often seen in children of typical development at approximately nine months of age. Joint attention skills play a fundamental role in language and social development. Although, many studies have assessed joint attention skills, only a few researchers have investigated teaching procedures. In the current study, a concurrent multiple baseline design with a multiple probe across four participants with autism was used to evaluate the use of prompting, reinforcement, and script fading procedures on the acquisition of a generalized repertoire of joint attention skills. Forty-eight stimuli from four different experimenter-defined categories were used to increase generalization of joint attention skills from trained stimuli to novel stimuli. Bids for joint attention systematically increased in the presence of both training and novel stimuli and settings for all four participants.

Interventions that teach spontaneous language are crucial for the social development of children with autism. Script fading procedures have been shown to be effective for teaching children with autism to initiate and participate in social interactions without verbal prompts from adults. Previous script and script fading research was not effective in teaching a generalized repertoire of verbal interactions with stimuli in the natural environment. In this study, four boys with autism were taught to initiate a conversation in the presence of a toy through the use of a script and script fading procedure with multiple exemplar training. Six training categories of toys were also used to increase the likelihood of generalization of verbal interactions across novel toys. A multiple-baseline with a multiple probe across-subjects design was used to assess the successes of this procedure to increase spontaneous, novel language. Script and script fading procedures along with multiple-exemplar training were demonstrated to be a successful technique for teaching individuals with autism to initiate and sustain verbal interactions under the control of stimuli present in the environment, as opposed to teacher-controlled stimuli. Additional research pertaining to the specific implementation of these procedures (e.g., fading procedures, script placement, and participant characteristics) is still needed.

An alternating-treatments design with initial baseline was used to compare the effect of two locations of auditory scripts relative to target discriminative stimuli on acquisition and maintenance of verbal initiations of interactions. Four boys with autism or PDD-NOS were taught to initiate interactions about a variety of toys. Button-activated recording devices used to play scripts were placed either on target stimuli or held out of view directly behind the participants. After devices were faded, performance was more robust for two participants in the device-visible condition, for another participant more robust in the device-not-visible condition, and no difference was observed for the remaining participant. The results indicate that fading an auditory script played out of view of a child may be equally as effective for establishing stimulus control by target items as fading an auditory script initially attached to items.

Many evidences of successful treatments for children with autism have been demonstrated based on the Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) methodology. More cases, however, are necessary in order to increase the impact in society. We present the evolution of a child with autism during one year of intervention in several verbal operants. Other study showed how to increase the mand repertoire in a natural setting. Other study demonstrated how the number of pure (spontaneous) tacts can be increased with a simple intervention by the teachers. The final study showed how the complex verbal behaviors involved in Visual Perspective Tacking can be induced in a child with autism though careful procedures. The three procedures shown in the last three presentations demonstrate that traditional ABA treatments can be improved by using the last findings from the experimental analysis of verbal behavior.

The purpose of this study was to increase the lunch-time mand repertoire of three classrooms of children in a special needs school. The special needs school is located in a large metropolitan area and it serves children from three to 14 years of age. We selected three classrooms with six students, six teachers and one head teacher. The students in all three classroom had demonstrated the ability to emit some mands and tacts. We used a multiple baseline experimental design to evaluate the effectiveness of the procedure. The procedure consisted of teaching the instructors to provide conditions where establishing operations were created artificially during lunch time to elicit mands in the children (e.g., removing the spoon and fork and ask the child to eat his food). The dependent variable was the total number of mands emitted in each classroom. The results indicated that the procedure was effective at increasing a Mand repertoire in all children. There were maintenance effects in the behavior of both instructors and children.

The present investigation is an overview on the development of verbal behaviour of a three-and-a-half-year-old girl with autism, Sara, during 5 months of intervention, in three language skills: selecting pictures-objects upon hearing its name, mands and tacts. The results show the progress in the three programs starting with word selections by discrimination, which appears to be the base to other spontaneous speech to emerge. So far Sara is able to select 96 objects by hearing its name, can emit 10 mands and 14 tacts, and this number is growing every day, making the verbal repertoire of Sara near of the one of a two-year old child with a typical verbal development.

Level 1 of visual perspective taking (VPT) consists of making correct verbal inferences about the visual perception of oneself and other person, when both are seeing different things at the same time. We have identified three prerequisites to show Level 1 of VPT in typically developing children: (a) following the gaze, (b) the discrimination between what oneself and other person can or cannot see, and (c) responding to questions that include the personal pronouns "I" and "you". The goal of this study was to analyze the Level 1 of VPT and these prerequisites in a child with autism. First, the child was evaluated in a probe of Level 1 of VPT and in 7 possible prerequisites. The child had acquired the skills of following the gaze and responding to questions that include the personal pronouns, but he did not acquire the Level 1 of VPT and the discrimination between what oneself and other person can or cannot see. Then, he was taught this type of discrimination and probed again in the Level 1 of VPT and he showed the emergence of this skill. This result replicated the obtained in typically developing children.

The effects of tacts emitted by an adult on a childs rate of pure tacts were examined. Three children with autism were exposed to 2 different conditions in 4 different settings. In Condition 1, the children received 20 trials of teacher-initiated interactions in which the child was asked the name of 20 objects during 5 minutes. Condition 2 was identical to Condition 1 with the addition that the teacher named 20 objects interspersed with the 20 trials. The number of tacts emitted by the children was recorded in both conditions. Children emitted between 1.58 and 2.68 times more tacts in Condition 2 than in Condition 1. These results indicate that teachers emission of pure tacts increased the emission of pure tacts in children with autism.

The present symposium gathers three experimental studies in the area of decision making based on choice paradigm. The first study analyzes generosity and altruism in children. Children, through the sharing game, make decisions on how to distribute resources to other children, and variables such as gender was investigated. The second study presents data on consumers behaviors regarding more and less dense schedule components. A third study presents data on risky choices. The model employed in this study used multiple trials and a forced choice paradigm between two alternatives in which the participant decided between risking or not his/her hypothetical money. An alternative offered the possibility to maintain the amount received at the beginning of the experiment, and another provided the opportunity to invest money, opting for a situation in which could have a profit or loss, both allocated at the same time in the same alternative. The questions were presented to 38 adults of both genders in a paper and pencil format, and the experimental setup in a room at the local university. The results revealed two profiles of investors. The Conservatives invested when the chances of winning are high in relation to losses; and the aggressive ones, who invested even when the chances of winning were equal to losses. Thus, variables such as probability of gain and loss proved to be decisive in the process of selecting participants.

The analysis of consumer behavior is concerned with the distribution of behavior among alternative sources of reinforcement. When several alternatives are available, one alternative may be chosen more frequently than others. We have employed two experiments with simulated online purchase situations. In both experiments, the participants were engaged in buying music albums online. They were given a virtually mp3 player and could buy music from two web shops, a green or a purple web shop, respectively. Different combinations of VI schedules were arranged for buying from two web shops. In Experiment 1, we employed different conditions with concurrent schedules (i.e., VI10/VI30, VI30/VI60, VI60/VI120). The results showed that 4 of 10 participants had more responses on the more dense than the sparse schedule component. Four of 10 participants did not show any preference among the schedule components, while two of 10 participants showed more preference for the sparse than the dense component. We wanted to replicate the results in another experiment, and the procedure in Experiment 2 was the same as in Experiment 1, except that we employed only one VI schedule component (VI15/VI30). The results in Experiment 2 showed that 3 of 5 participants responded more on the dense component than on sparse component of the concurrent schedule. Two of 5 showed the opposite response pattern.

Economic games are useful tools for decision-making studies and aim to analyze how participants allocate resources. The purpose of this research was to determine whether preschool children understand the task instructions and can demonstrate their opinions on how a resource should be distributed in a forced choice paradigm, as in the Sharing Game (Kennelly & Fantino, 2007). In a within-subjects design, two experiments were conducted involving repeated-trials over ten opportunities in which 17 male and female preschool children made choices to distribute resources (golden coins shown on a paper sheet) between themselves and an unseen, passive other, either optimally but non-competitively, equally but non-optimally, or least optimally but competitively and in an altruistic manner. It should be clear from the point of view of maximizing money that participants should always choose the option that gives them more money. The questions were presented in a paper and pen format and the experimental sessions run in a room at a public preschool. The results showed variability in the distribution of resources and a high percentage of non-optimal choice presented by the participants (Figure 1) which might have been due to lack of understanding of the task instructions. The results also showed some gender differences, girls consistently behaved more optimally (in a strictly economic sense) than boys and boys made more altruistic choices than girls. Research controlling for instruction clarity, size of the resource and nature of the items should follow up.

Economic games are useful tools for the study of decision-making and aim to analyze how participants allocate their resources. There are situations whose outcomes are both unknown and uncertain and are affected by contextual variables. A behavioral game-like experimental model can be used to assess these variables. The model employed in this study used multiple trials and a forced choice paradigm between two alternatives in which the participant decided between risking or not his/her hypothetical money. An alternative offered the possibility to maintain the amount received, and another provided the opportunity to invest money, opting for a situation in which could have a profit or loss, both allocated at the same time in the same alternative. The questions were presented to 38 adults of both genders in a paper and pencil format, and the experimental setup in a room at the local university. The results revealed two profiles of investors. The Conservatives invested when the chances of winning are high in relation to losses; and the aggressive ones, who invested even when the chances of winning were equal to losses. Thus, variables such as probability of gain and loss proved to be decisive in the process of selecting participants.

Marketing Behavior Analysis is a matter of adopting the principles of behavior to the dissemination of ABA in many fields. First of all, we would start from the users and stakeholders point of view. Nevertheless, most behavior Analysts, even if prominent, seem seldom concerned about this issue. European Universities, mainly in continental Europe, shape their people behavior in order to promote individual growth, rather than ABA development as a whole. This seems to be the reason why so many congresses are attended mostly by academicians who speak, rather than by professionals or potential users who listen. After 40 years of so many initial failures and some final astonishing success, the Italian Chapter of ABAI, AARBA, presents a complete "how to do" plan and step by step process to get wider dissemination and ABA-apostles building both in institutional, social and work environment. Examples and rules to be followed will be provided and even a troubleshooting guide will be presented, by an OBM perspective.

Given the vast number of students currently being served within Special Education programs diagnosed with Autism, direct educational services for these children must be provided by classroom assistants rather than licensed Special Education Teachers or Board Certified Behavior Analysts. As provided under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001, properly trained paraprofessionals can play important roles in schools where they can magnify and reinforce a teacher’s effect in the classroom. Unfortunately, many school districts utilize individuals in these positions who have little or no formal training or experience in this role or with this population, or provide inconsistent training experiences that have no external validity. This symposium will discuss the advantages of a standardized training program that meets the federal regulations and allows students to receive appropriate educational services.

This presentation will describe the results of a Social Validity survey completed to investigate the utility of creating a standardized certificate program for ABA classroom teaching assistants. The results support such an effort. The presentation will further review the application of these results, with the goal of increasing the quality of educational services provided to students in public schools and reducing the costs to taxpayers for placements in private programs.

Meeting the needs of adult learners, typically working full-time at the same time they are functioning as students presents a series of demands on instructors to utilize empirically based approaches that are compatible to these unique pressures. Personalized System of Instruction (PSI), often know as the Keller Plan (1968) is one option that is both research based and meets many of the adult learner needs. The presentation will cover the history and research behind this unique educational approach, and will describe how such approach can be adopted to the education of Paraprofessional employees working in school and human service organizations.

This presentation will review the potential research questions to be answered in the validation of an evidence based certificate program used to train classroom aides in the use of ABA teaching approaches. Previous research on the subject, including a review of the PSI research literature will be covered, with a focus on potential future directions. The goal of the presentation will be to establish minimal standards for the field in the identification of a program that ensures competency on the part of its' graduates.

Most parenting capacity assessments (PCAs) assume an inherent ability to parent. When a parent presents with a history of learning problems (e.g., intellectual disabilities), a presumption of incompetence is often made. PCAs for these parents usually involve intelligence and personality tests to gather evidence of parental incompetence. However, there is little evidence that such tests predict parenting abilities. Recently, Feldman and Aunos (2010) presented an alternative, empirically-supported PCA model based on a contextual view of parenting that is consistent with behavior analytic principles. This model identifies potential motivating and inhibiting variables that may support or impede successful parenting, which is defined based on direct observation of parenting skills. Such variables include the parents learning history, parental mental health, ongoing stigmatization and discrimination, poverty and social support. The presentation will include a description of the important steps of a contextually-based PCA, including the use of validated observational checklists to measure parenting skills. The presenter will show how the PCA recommendations can be used to develop family support plans and interventions to decrease the risk of child maltreatment.

The advent of laptops and hand held computers have meant that more researchers and clinicians are using continuous computerised recording to measure the socially significant behaviours of interest. However, there is no evidence to suggest that this move away from pen and paper to electronic technology is providing more accurate and precise data. This presentation will discuss the outcome of using interobserver agreement and calibration to assess the quality of data produced via three different data-recording systems (laptop, handheld computer, events within intervals using pen and paper). The implications for measurement system quality will be discussed.

The goal of this study was to establish a discussion between Criminology and Behavior Analysis considering that part of the Criminology`s object of study, which comprehends the crime, the delinquent, the victim and the social control of the crime, is also comprised by Behavior Analysis, even though they focus on different aspects of it. In order to accomplish a productive dialogue between these two sciences, a brief presentation of Criminology was necessary. Due to the extent of the object of study of this science, only the part that deals with criminal politics was selected, specifically the application of a socio-educational measure in an educational center. For this purpose, a specific educational center of freedom deprivation was analyzed and its goals, staff and operation were described. A speculative analysis of the implementation of this measure of freedom deprivation in this delimitated context was produced. For this analysis, visits to the institution and interviews with the staff and the adolescents that were experiencing the measure were made. After this analysis, we listed the contributions that Behavior Analysis could make to Criminology by the adoption of intervention strategies towards a more effective implementation of this measure concerning the achievement of their goals – the reinsertion of the adolescent in his social context and the prevention from reoccurrence of the infraction, for example. Questions concerning the limitations of this measure as it is applied in this specific educational center were raised.

Historical and conceptual analyses of the research strategies known as the single-case methods (SCMs) will be presented. I will argue that the origins of SCMs go back to the ideas of authors who recognized the importance of understanding both the generality and individuality of psychological functioning. Also, I will show that the philosophical roots of SCMs can be found in the natural sciences’ “experimental attitude” of the 19th and 20th century. Specifically, I will describe how this attitude is evident in the incipient forms of SCMs that appeared during the early days of experimental psychology. Also, I will indicate how the natural sciences’ measurement and experimental approach influenced the full development of SCMs during the advent of Behaviour Analysis (BA). I will conclude this part discussing how the relevance of SCMs in behavioural research is explained by the coherence between certain behaviouristic assumptions and the characteristics of these methods. The second part of the presentation will have a contemporary emphasis. Despite the importance of SCMs for BA and other disciplines, they are currently not widely used in psychology; moreover, they have been neglected as an alternative to the mainstream but controverted null hypothesis testing methods (NHST). In view of this, I will argue that SCMs are a legitimate option since some of the recommendations for improving the use of NHST constitute main characteristics of the SCMs. I will finish with a discussion about some of the possible reasons SCMs have been neglected.

Mohandas Gandhi often indicated that nonviolence was "a science," and he apparently meant this literally, but very little actual scientific work—almost none from a natural science perspective—has been done. In this paper, the author will outline and apply principles of behavioral systems science, an emerging data-based approach to understanding the dynamics of complex cultural systems, to the practice of effective nonviolent struggle. Behavioral systems science, which at its most sophisticated integrates autopoietic processes of internal self-organization with environmental selection, has the potential to contribute to social justice, human rights, and sustainability in ways that more mechanistic (allopoietic) cultural analytic approaches do not. It is widely accepted that strategic analysis and planning can optimize campaigns of nonviolent action and resistance, while lack of such analysis increases risks of failure and casualties. This presentation will analyze four major classes of strategic nonviolent action from a functional perspective, identifying the basic behavioral and behavioral systems dynamics involved with each, illustrating those dynamics with historical and contemporary cases. The four major classes explored here, in part adapted from work by Gene Sharp, are:(a) Constructive noncooperation; (b) Protest and persuasion;(c) Resistant noncooperation;(d) Nonviolent disruption Such analyses offer real advances to existing, largely ad hoc, understandings of effective nonviolent struggle, clarifying conditions supporting success as well as potential costs. Principles of behavioral systems science offer direction for real world experimentation, clearly an essential next step (although a challenging one to initiate). This presentation will also highlight important ethical questions that must be considered in bringing behavioral systems science to nonviolent struggle. Given the enormous human costs of violent strategies of resistance, insurgency and rebellion, and their poor record of sustainable success, the rigorous exploration of alternatives is a critically important direction for applied cultural analysis. [Resumen: Mohandas Gandhi indicó a menudo que la no violencia era una "ciencia", y al parecer afirmaba esto de forma literal. No obstante, se ha realizado muy poco trabajo científico en este ámbito; casi ninguno desde una perspectiva de la ciencia natural. En este trabajo, el autor expondrá y aplicará los principios de la ciencia de los sistemas conductuales, un enfoque emergente basado en datos dirigido a entender la dinámica de los sistemas culturales complejos, a la práctica de la lucha no violenta eficaz. La ciencia de los sistemas conductuales, que en su versión más sofisticada integra procesos autopoiéticos de auto-organización interna con la selección del medio ambiente, tiene el potencial de contribuir a la justicia social, a los derechos humanos y a la sostenibilidad de una forma que no lo hacen los enfoques analítico culturales más mecanicistas (alopoiético). Es ampliamente aceptado que el análisis estratégico y la planificación pueden optimizar las campañas de acción no violenta y resistencia, mientras que la falta de un análisis de este tipo incrementa los riesgos de fracaso y de víctimas. En esta presentación se analizan cuatro clases principales de acción estratégica no violenta desde una perspectiva funcional, identificando los sistemas dinámicos conductuales y los sistemas básicos de conducta implicados en cada uno, ilustrando dichas dinámicas con casos históricos y contemporáneos. Las cuatro clases principales estudiadas aquí, adaptadas en parte del trabajo de Gene Sharp, son los siguientes: (a) la falta de cooperación constructiva, (b) la protesta y la persuasión, (c) la falta de cooperación resistente, y (d) la interrupción no violenta. Tales análisis ofrecen avances reales respecto a las explicaciones existentes, en gran medida ad hoc, de la lucha no violenta eficaz, clarificando las condiciones que favorecen el éxito, así como los costes potenciales. Los principios de la ciencia de los sistemas conductuales ofrecen indicaciones para la experimentación en el mundo real, claramente un paso esencial (aunque un reto para sus pioneros). Esta presentación también pondrá de relieve importantes cuestiones éticas que deben ser consideradas en la aplicación de la ciencia de los sistemas conductuales a la lucha no violenta. Dados los enormes costos humanos de las estrategias violentas de resistencia, insurgencia y rebelión y su pobre historial de éxito duradero, la intensa exploración de alternativas es un área muy importante para el análisis cultural aplicado.]

Paper 1: Modeling longitudinal data of EIBI for autism in search of reliable predictors. Authors: Javier Virués-Ortega, Víctor Rodríguez-García Few studies have explored the effects of EIBI longitudinally. Longitudinal models allow identifying outcome predictors and factors of individual variation, which may in turn help to optimize intervention resources. Virués-Ortega and Rodríguez's paper will present a mixed-nonlinear model based on longitudinal data from an EIBI program in Barcelona. Paper 2: Predictors of reliable change in IQ and ABC scores following early intervention for children with autism. Authors: Sigmund Eldevik, Richard Hastings, J. Carl Hughes Abstract: We explored how age at intake, gender, cognitive and adaptive functioning and type of intervention may be related to positive outcome in a large sample (n=453) of children with autism. Positive outcome was defined as meeting criteria for reliable change in either IQ (+27 points) or ABC (+21 points) after about two years of intervention. Paper 3: Which children will benefit from early intervention? Authors: Lars Klintwall, Svein Eikeseth Abstract: A consistent finding in outcome studies is a large individual variation in response to treatment: some children exhibit huge gains whilst some children benefit little even with years of interventions. Apart from variation in therapy quality, some of these differences are likely due to child characteristics. Putative predictors such as age, IQ-scores, diagnosis and reinforcer repertoires are reviewed. Some implications for treatment emphasis are suggested. Paper 4: Long-term maintenance of EIBI effects. Author: Robert E. Remington Abstract: EIBI outcome research shows convincing effects at the end of treatment, but there is surprisingly little high-quality evidence that cognitive and behavioural changes are sustained following treatment termination. Remington’s presentation reports a 2-year follow-up of a controlled intervention study, the results of which raise critical questions regarding the long-term maintenance of immediate EIBI outcomes.

Few studies have explored the effects of EIBI longitudinally. Longitudinal models allow identifying outcome predictors and factors of individual variation, which may in turn help to optimize intervention resources. Virues-Ortega and Garcia's paper will present a mixed-nonlinear model based on longitudinal data from an EIBI program in Barcelona.

We explored how age at intake, gender, cognitive and adaptive functioning and type of intervention may be related to positive outcome in a large sample (n=453) of children with autism. Positive outcome was defined as meeting criteria for reliable change in either IQ (+27 points) or ABC (+21 points) after about two years of intervention.

EIBI outcome research shows convincing effects at the end of treatment, but there is surprisingly little high-quality evidence that cognitive and behavioural changes are sustained following treatment termination. Remington's presentation reports a 2-year follow-up of a controlled intervention study, the results of which raise critical questions regarding the long-term maintenance of immediate EIBI outcomes.

The use of restraint as an has come under increasing legal, regulatory, legislative, media, consumer, and activist scrutiny in recent years. Restraint—used either as a planned procedure or as an emergency intervention to briefly suppress dangerous behavior—has for decades generally been considered to be highly restrictive and therefore to be avoided in most circumstances, current focus on the dangers and potential abuses of restraint have made it particularly critical to take active steps to prevent the need for restraint whenever it is reasonably possible to do so. This symposium will focus on several topics relevant to restraint beginning with the ABAI prepared position statement on Seclusion & Restraint, followed by preventing the need for restraint use, including the collection, aggregation, and analysis of incident data; functional analysis of the behavior of the person being restrained and the individuals engaging in restraint; and application of organizational behavior management principles to changing the behavior of groups of staff working with individuals who might engage in behaviors that might require use of restraint as an emergency safety intervention.

The presentation will review The Association for Behavior Analysis International Position Statement on Restraint and Seclusion (2010), Timothy R. Vollmer, Louis P. Hagopian, Jon S. Bailey, Michael F. Dorsey, Gregory P. Hanley, David Lennox, Mary M. Riordan, and Scott Spreat. The task force was authorized by the Executive Council of the Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI), which generated the position statement concerning the techniques called Restraint and Seclusion. Members of the task force independently reviewed the scientific literature concerning Restraint and Seclusion and agreed unanimously to the content of the statement. The Executive Council accepted the statement and it was subsequently approved by a two-thirds majority vote of the general membership. The position statement now constitutes official ABAI policy.

Although the use of physical restraint is generally acknowledged as an occasionally necessary intervention for very dangerous behaviors, it is infrequently examined as a class of behaviors in itself. The speaker discusses various potential antecedent and consequent effects related to the use of restraint. The various stimuli associated with the use of restraints and their potential evocative and abolishing effects are also discussed. The antecedent, consequent, and motivational effects are examined both in terms of the restrainers and the person being restrained. The importance of tracking trends not only in the target behaviors of consumers, but also for the trends in restraint use across individual staff and individual consumers is discussed. The importance of the use of these data, along with other behavior assessment tools, to obtain functional relation data on behaviors associated with restraint is then discussed. Although not typically meant as a consequent intervention, the use of restraints is considered for its potential reinforcing, punishing, and motivational effects over time and this consideration is applied to a functional analysis of the behavior of trained staff and consumers.

The use of physical restraint in educational and treatment settings has come under significant scrutiny in the past year, forcing administrators to review and possibly work towards changes in organizational policy and practices. Effecting change in restraint practices at schools, institutions, and other settings typically involves primarily, if not solely, focusing on staff training sessions in the topics of regulations, rights, and, perhaps, de-escalation. Unfortunately, restraint practices in these types of settings are often part of and supported by the larger culture and history of an organization—and, as may be inadvertently supported through various administrative conventions, peer reinforcement contingencies, and training practices, to name a few. However, much like other attempts to change organizational practices and direction, effecting a change in restraint practices of an organization must influence and be influenced by many levels of the organization. The current presentation outlines the critical elements of a system-wide restraint prevention program utilizing organizational behavior management (OBM) principles and strategies including obtaining organizational commitment, establishing valid and practical data collection, comprehensive training, and system-wide interventions

We examined a series of motivating operations (MOs) and the direct effects that an establishing operation (EO) and abolishing operation (AO) may have on a discriminative stimulus. Two participants with developmental disabilities participated. A Voice Output Communication Aid (VOCA) to access arbitary reinforcers was selected as the target behavior. In Phase 1, a preference assessment was conducted. In Phase II, two VOCA devices (BIGMack® switch) that differed only in color were used to train discrimination. Discrimination was trained under two conditions, a) SD and b) S?. In Phase III, pre-session MOs (i.e. EO and AO conditions) were manipulated to verify the influence of the MO on the target behavior. Target behavior was reinforced on a fixed ratio 1 (FR-1) schedule. In Phase IV, in addition to manipulating pre-session MOs the target behavior was evaluated under extinction in both SD and S? conditions. Results indicated that in the context of extinction when pre-session EO and AO conditions were manipulated responding not only differentiated but was higher in both SD and S? conditions in the pre-session EO condition when compared to the pre-session AO condition.

When a previously neutral stimulus immediately precedes a period of access to food rats eat more food than when the access is not accompanied by the stimulus. Given that the contiguity between the stimulus and the food-access period seems to be the important variable, in this study we asked how much can the stimulus-access interval be lengthened until the effect disappears. Three rats, each living 24/7 in separate but identical experimental chambers received 10-minute access periods to food separated by 160 minutes. During the baseline the periods of access to food were presented alone, without stimuli. During subsequent conditions the 5-minute stimulus preceded each access by either 5, 10, 20, 40, 80 or 160 minutes. When the stimulus was presented in contiguity to the food access (i.e., the 5-minute interval) the three rats ate more food than during the baseline. Lengthening the stimulus-access resulted in gradual decreases in food intake, including decreases below the baseline. Decreases in food intake caused by conditioning procedures had not been reported previously but seem related to the effects of long "trace" delays, described before by Pavlov.

It is frequently assumed that children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have issues with time, and organization. Interventions often include temporal structure with visual support. However, it has not been explicitly assessed. Temporal regulation is measured with reinforcement programs such as differential reinforcement of low rates (DRL). In this schedule, a response is reinforced only if it follows the preceding response by a minimal specified interval, otherwise the counter resets. The temporal regulation is therefore required. To space their responses, children usually emit collateral behaviors (CB; e.g., singing). Moreover, in typical children, language and cognitive development are linked to temporal regulation. In this study, 7 sessions DRL5s and 7 sessions DRL20s are realized with typically developing children and children with ASD. CBs are measured in frequency and duration. Receptive language and cognitive development are also assessed. Preliminary results show important individual differences and no age effect in both groups. The CBs evolve during the experimentation, and most of the children, regardless of age, emit more gross motor behavior at the end of the DRL20s condition. These behaviors seem to be linked to a better temporal regulation than verbal and fine motor behaviors. These results, inconsistent with the literature, will be discussed.

The chronic mild stress model (CMS) exposes rats to 14 supposedly mild and stressing stimuli. Stimulation is alternated for6–10 weeks so at least one stimulus is present at all times, in order to create a chronic discomfort in the animal. The CMS model was used in the present study to investigate the influence of chronic stress on rat's reproductive function and on offspring's pulmonary response (asthma experimental model). The effects of CMS were evaluated on the following reproductive phases: (a) estrous cycle, (b) copula, (c) fecundity, (d) post-partum, (e) offspring's development and pulmonary response. Results showed (a) estrus suppression; (b) suppression of typical copula behaviors; (c) spontaneous abortions; (d) infanticide (offspring total or partial elimination) and mother abandonment; (e) offspring hyper-reactivity to pulmonary mechanical evaluation. These results suggest that CMS may be an adequate animal model to study the influence of aversive mild/chronic stimulation on rat's reproductive functions, and provide a tool to access the effects of aversive stimulation during pregnancy on offspring's development.

Impulsive behavior can be characterized as choosing a smaller sooner reinforcer (SSR) over a larger later reinforcer (LLR). Methylphenidate (Ritalin) has been shown to decrease choices of the SSR over baseline levels in rats and humans. Two possible mechanisms of the decrease in impulsive behavior is a decrease in sensitivity to reinforcement delay or an increase in sensitivity to reinforcement amount (magnitude). In the present experiment, the latter was investigated. Four pigeons responded in a concurrent-chains procedure in which responding in the initial link produced terminal-link stimuli; responding in the terminal-link produced either 2 (small) or 4 (large) presentations of milo grain. The side key that produced the small or large reinforcer varied unpredictably from session to session. Thus, the pigeons had to learn which side paid off more. After several months on the baseline procedure, all pigeons learned to track the reinforcer ratio in effect for that day; that is, response ratios approximated the reinforcer ratios in effect. For 3 of the pigeons tested so far, an intermediate dose of methylphenidate decreased sensitivity to reinforcement amount.

Four pigeons responded under a rapid-acquisition, concurrent-chains procedure in which the initial (choice) link consisted of concurrent VI 10 s schedules. The position of the terminal link schedules (FI 8 s and FI 4 s) and, hence, the delay to reinforcement associated with each option, varied across sessions according to a 31-step pseudo-random binary sequence (PRBS). After several cycles through the PRBS, response ratios tracked the immediacy ratios across sessions; preference for the option associated with the shorter delay was acquired rapidly within each session. Intermediate doses (e.g., 3.0 mg/kg) of methylphenidate tended to attenuate within-session acquisition of preference and, thus, decreased sensitivity to reinforcement delay. These effects usually occurred without substantial changes in overall response output or bias. These findings suggest that a reduction in sensitivity to delay may be a potential behavioral mechanism of action of stimulants such as methylphenidate and this mechanism may help account for effects of these drugs on "impulsive" behavior.

Choice under variability contingencies is affected by the required degree of behavioral variation. The present study investigated whether such choices are also affected by response cost. The task was to move a square from the top to the bottom of a pyramid. This task could be accomplished by means of several paths (Vary Group) or of a unique path (Repeat Group). College students had to choose between two alternatives: in one alternative, only sequences with two switches per path were eligible for reinforcement and in the other alternative, only sequences with five switches. The vary contingency reinforced least frequent and least recent paths with two (VAR 2) or five (VAR 5) switches while the repeat contingency reinforced one path with two (REP 2) or five (REP 5) switches. For the Vary Group, choices for VAR 2 increased with training as compared to choices for VAR 5 and for the Repeat Group, choices for REP 2 were inconsistent across participants. This result indicates that under vary contingencies, choices for low-cost responding prevails whereas under repeat contingencies, the cost of responding seems to be of no relevance, thus suggesting that response cost may interact with response variation in determining choice.

Great steps have been made over the past decade in developing effective intervention and prevention programs for children who are experiencing or at risk for display behavioral problems, these advances are evident for most childhood disorders. However, much work remains to be done, particularly with respect to developing coordinated services and supports that can be effectively across a variety of real-life settings to those children who most need them. Therefore, in this symposium are presented, analyzed and discussed a series of studies that illustrate a range of strategies derived from behavioral analysis for evaluation and treatment of child behavior problems in clinic and school.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the roll of instructions as mediator in mother´s responsiveness in dyads mother-child with behavior disorders in relation with normal dyads. The mothers and children that participated in this study came from a total of 30 dyads: 15 behavioral problems and 15 controls. The ages of the children oscillated among the 4 to 9 years, with an age 6.8 year-old average. The dyads were observed in three sessions of 20 minutes each one in an academic activity for a total of 30 hours of observation, by a group of trained observers using System of Capture of Observational Data SOI-I (Vite, Garcia & Rosas, 2006). Results showed that mothers were less responsive and more inclined to don't give instructions. The children were less compliant with don't instructions than do and mothers' responsiveness scores were positively correlated with their use of do instructions. There was evidence that use of these instructions mediated the high correlation between mothers' responsiveness and their children's compliance. Thus, it would make sense to argue that a mother's choice of directives will mediate or "carry" the impact of her responsiveness on her child's readiness to comply.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the fit of mother social approach on aversive and prosocial child's behavior in ten mother-child dyads. The children's ages ranged between 4 and 9 years old and mother's ages between 24 and 39. All children were referred to the Center for Psychological Services of the National University of Mexico for behavior problems. The dyads were observed in three sessions of 30 minutes each one during the course of an academic task. To evaluate the fit of mother social approach on a child's behavior, three propositions derived from the law of relative effect were tested: the hyperbolic function, strict matching and generalized matching. The results indicate that most of the interactions tend to the sub-matching of child behavior on maternal social approach and the generalized matching describes better the fit between behaviors. The findings are discussed within the context of social interactions in which both, the mother and the child behavior are adjusted according to the reinforcing proportions of each one of them to account on the problem of child behavior.

For the study of behavior problems in schools has been deemed relevant to gather information in the group context, such as: type of relationship between teacher and child, the child and his peers, the teaching style that exerts disciplinary measures or treatment strategies have been tried in the classroom. And find out the background and references to previous teachers can bring about their students. As the objective of this study was to identify the problem behaviors that present primary school students. For which 12 teachers were interviewed, sociometric test was applied to a total of 317 students and carried out observations in the classroom of 16 students of varying degrees through the Code for Instructional Structure and Student Academic Response (CISSAR), the results show the identification of a total of 14 students with behavioral problems, as well as variables associated with teachers and peers.

A common complaint of teachers is to manage behavioral problems in their classrooms, as they interfere with the acquisition and development of children's basic skills and sometimes their partners, as well as in achieving educational goals. For their study is required to conduct an ecological assessment, to understand the behavior of the teacher, student and classroom factors are influenced each other. Therefore the aim of this study was to carry out the observation of 18 children in first through sixth grade of primary education were reported by their teachers and fellow students with behavior problems. It was used the Code for Instructional Structure and Student Academic Response (CISSAR) which allows you to collect information on variables related to the teacher's behavior and focus the child's behavior and classroom ecological variables such as task and group structure. The results indicate a close relationship between teacher behavior and student response. It features a higher prevalence of verbal behavior; however observed negative behaviors that could be associated with the bullying

This lecture will present an overview of the CABAS® (Comprehensive Application of Behavior Analysis to Schooling) system, its implementation and the effects it had on the students, parents and educators throughout Italy and Bosnia and Herzegovina. CABAS® system is continually advancing the science of Applied Behavior Analysis and Education through its extensive research and application of scientific-based tactics to advancing children’s verbal behavior development from infancy to complete independence. These science driven educational “best practices” are employed every day across general, inclusion, early intervention, and special education CABAS® classrooms throughout the USA, England, Italy, and now B&H and Spain, to teach children with and without developmental delays ranging form pre-listeners and pre-speakers through readers, writers, and self-editor levels of verbal behavior. We will try to provide an analysis of the introduction of the evidence-based instructional model to classrooms in Italy and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and focus on the procedures that have been identified as crucial, foundational requirements for the success of a learner in an inclusive setting. We will provide data on the protocols for inducing important verbal capabilities, such as Naming and Observational Learning, in the classroom settings. Also, we will discuss the significance of these data in terms of advancement of behavior analysis and scientific pedagogy across Europe.

In 2 years, we applied CABAS for 10 preschoolers who did not have the prerequisites to be included in regular education classrooms and measured the impact of the implementation of a scientific model for education as students, parents and teachers outcomes. The experience raised controversial questions about the social politics of the country and produced opposite reactions: families started to advocate to have CABAS trained professionals included in their childrens educational environments, while Public School representatives working in the surrounding areas refused to discuss with researchers about the critical outcomes of teaching as an art and full inclusion as a rule. Most of all, the CABAS Pilot Project demonstrated to be a unique training opportunity for teachers. For this study, nine teachers performances were measured following 200 hours of training in a Public School classroom, in a learning centre using Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and in a CABAS classroom. The teaching performance was measured based on 5 repertoires identified as the features of the best expertise in education (Greer, 2002; Heward, 2003). Data suggested that training teachers in a comprehensive ABA environment tremendously improved teachers performance and that CABAS was the most efficient training system compared with regular education and ABA-based general training . We will discuss the significance of these data in terms of advancement of behavior analysis and scientific pedagogy.

For over 30 years CABAS (Comprehensive Application of Behavior Analysis to Schooling) model has been serving the students, parents and educators throughout the world and is continually advancing the science of Applied Behavior Analysis and Education. CABAS today serves students with and without disabilities and continues to promote high standards of educational practices and overall scientific approach to teaching in USA, England, Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Spain. It is a comprehensive system of teaching as science, that produces hundreds of experiments each year, disseminates the findings and applies the same across all classrooms it serves across the world. These science driven educational "best practices" are employed every day across general and special education CABAS classrooms to teach students ranging form pre-listeners through readers, writers, and self-editors levels of verbal behavior. Papers presented will focus on how CABAS model affected the educational practices in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The CABAS model provided a modern, effective, evidence-based, and research-driven opportunity to help children in Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and provided the evidence based pedagogy as a systematic solution to the education crisis in BiH. A Pilot Project, based on the experiences of the 30 years of research at The Fred S. Keller School, and other CABAS schools around the world, was started in 2010 and the first data suggest the Bosnian classrooms can successfully replicate the American outcomes

This paper will present effective strategies for teaching language functions to preschool and school aged students with and without developmental delays. Recent research suggests two components in the acquisition of Naming as a verbal developmental cusp— the bidirectional component that allows children to be taught the listener component directly resulting in the emergence of the speaker (and occasionally vice-versa), and the component that also allows children to learn new words for things as listener and speaker without any direct instruction (the source for the explosion in language in young children). I will present several papers including results from the implementation of protocols to induce Naming with 3-dimentional objects with 2 and 3-year olds, as well as induction of bi-directional and full Naming with preschoolers.

The purpose of this study was to test the effects of a peer-yoked contingency game on the acquisition of observational learning, Naming, and spontaneous speech in children ages 6 to 8 year old with diagnoses of Autism Spectrum Disorder and other developmental delays. Six students, 3 males and 3 female, served as the participants for this study. None of the students were able to learn through group instruction due to missing verbal capabilities, but due to the nature of their classrooms and the schools' curriculum the use of known protocols while working 1:1 to induce the missing capabilities, was not practical. Through a delayed, multiple baseline design, we sought to demonstrate the effects of a combination of protocols on the acquisition of 3 missing verbal capabilities: observational learning, Naming, and spontaneous speech. The results demonstrate the peer-yoked game board with an MEI component was effective at increasing Observational Learning, Naming and spontaneous speech capabilities in all 6 participants.

The current paper will elucidate the behavioral processes underlying the procedure currently called DRO. We will argue why we believe that DRO is a misnomer, and explain why it should be classified as a punishment procedure rather than differential reinforcement. In addition, we will introduce a term that better describes the type of negative punishment that is analogous to the avoidance type of negative reinforcement (contrasted with escape). If there are two types of negative reinforcement (escape and avoidance), then it should follow that there are also two types of negative punishment. This subset of negative punishment will allow for a more complete and coherent understanding of negative punishment and ultimately allow for the creation of new procedures that are least restrictive.

A behavioral cusp is any behavior change that brings an organism's behavior into contact with new contingencies that have far-reaching consequences, as it opens access to new reinforcers and new environments, occasions new behaviors and behaviors in new classes, and it impacts those around the organism. Recent and emerging technologies (e.g., software development, social networking, smart phones, tablet computers, remote controllers) are already in use in education, organizational behavior, self-management, and personal improvement domains, but rarely with the benefit of a thoroughgoing behavior analytic model. The emergence of these new technologies may viewed as a sort of "cusp" for behavior analysis, providing opportunities for unheralded access, measurement, and analysis of a world of behavior in real time, opening the door for far-reaching consequences for the individual and society. By bringing about robust, reliable, socially valid behavior change, behavior analysis has the potential to become the next "killer app" in that it has the power to be both integral and desired across wide-domain of new technology applications.

The study of paranormal, religious and superstitious beliefs is important due to the influence that these dispositions might exert over decisions associated to behavioral health. This study was designed as an exercise to measure by means of three methodologies, superstitious beliefs among college students in the health sciences. Sixty students from a public university participated. They answered four questionnaires exploring their fears, paranormal beliefs, and frequency of superstitious behaviors as well as their fear of death; all the questionnaires were previously validated in Mexico. Additionally students responded to a computerized emotional Stroop task that used words associated to both positive and negative superstitious behaviors. Blood pressure was monitored before and after the Stroop task. Results showed orderly results relating certain specific socio demographic profiles such as religiosity, to higher bias for negative superstitious worries. Self reports about paranormal beliefs, fear of death and fears in general, were associated to significatively different negative interference scores. Based on these findings we concluded that behavioral measures derived from the emotional Stroop task offer a promising tool to assess superstitious tendencies that might complement existing measures already used for that purpose.

Verbal behavior is often novel even though is learned through complex interactions with the environment. Thus, how the specific learned skills derive in the novel verbal behavior we observe is crucial to understand how it is produced and how verbal skills must be taught. In the present symposium, three related studies are presented. A research studied variables strongly involved in the acquisition of intraverbal skills. The two remaining studies dealt with the verbal skills known in general psychology as Visual Perspective Tacking (VPT) and Theory of Mind (TOM). The first study shows that the skills used to evaluate VPT and TOM are independent from one another. The fact that these skills are learned typically in a sequence in development does not imply that each particular child learn each skill in the same sequence or that one is a prerequisite for the next one. The second study shows that Level 1 of VPT may be induced by teaching the identified prerequisites of this skill.

The main goal of this experiment was to study the emergence of complex verbal relations. We taught two relations, either selection-based relations or topography-based, and we analised the emergence of the remaining relations, in three ways. Ten typically developing 5-year-2-month to 5-year-4-month old children participated. The relations used were AB and AC Intraverbal Tacts (e.g., “Name the country” with the picture of a woman of Pakistan --the correct response was “Pakistan”-- and “Name the tribe” with the picture of the woman --the correct response was “kalash”), BA and CA Selection-Based Relations (e.g., “Point to Pakistan/Kalash” with the pictures of women from Pakistan and Ethiopia, and the correct response was to point to the correct picture) and BC and CB Intraverbal Relations, (e.g., “Name the tribe of Pakistan” and the correct response was “kalash”). We conducted three conditions. In Condition 1 we taught AB and AC Relations, in Condition 2 we taught AB and BC Relations and in Condition 3 we taught AC and CB Relations. Thereafter we probed the remaining relations. The results showed that 8 of ten children showed the emergence of all relations after teaching 2 relations.

The main goal of this study was to identify the relations between visual perspective taking (VPT) and false belief (FB) skills. The participants were 15 typically developing children, their ages ranged from 3 to 4 years. Each participant was evaluated in one probe of Level 1 of VPT, 3 probes of Level 2 of VPT (with verbal, picture-selection, and object-selection responses), and 2 FB probes (the appearance-reality and Sally and Ann probes). Seven children passed the probe of Level 1 of VPT, 2-to-8 children passed the probes of Level 2 of VPT, and 2 children passed one or two of FB probes. This data showed that (a) 3 children passed one or more probes of Level 2 of VPT but they did not pass the probe of Level 1 of VPT, (b) a child passed the FB probes but he did not pass two of the probes of Level 2 of VPT, and (c) a child passed one FB probe but he did not pass any of the probes of Level 1 and 2 of VPT. These data show that these skills are mainly independent from one another and they could need different pre-requisites to be acquired.

Level 1 of visual perspective taking (VPT) consists of making correct verbal inferences about the visual perception of oneself and other person, when both are seeing different things at the same time. The goal of this study was to identify the prerequisite skills of the Level 1 of VPT. Six typically developing children 2 year-old participated. First, the children were evaluated in a probe of Level 1 of VPT and in 7 possible prerequisites. The children had already acquired two prerequisites the following gaze and The child had acquired the skills of following the gaze and responding to questions that include the personal pronouns "I" and "you", but they did not acquire the Level 1 of VPT and the discrimination between what oneself and other person can or cannot see. Then, the children were taught to discriminate between what they can or cannot see with the verbal responses "yes" and "no". Finally, they were probed again in the Level 1 of VPT and they showed the emergence of this capability. Therefore, we have identified a repertoire of prerequisites necessary to acquire the Level 1 of visual perspective taking.

The neurotransmitter dopamine (DA) is involved in motor and motivational aspects of behavior. Dopamine is also linked to motivation for stimuli causing pleasure, impulsiveness, and attention deficit and hyperactivity disorders (ADHD), leading some theorists to suggest that DA acts as a reward system mediating the hedonic effects of pleasant stimuli. The identification of factors maintaining drug addictions and those impairing motor functions will contribute to developing new treatment strategies and therapeutic practices. Research programs aimed to explore these ideas in systematic ways are needed. In the laboratory choice situations are prepared to assess self-control, an important aspect involved in substance abuse. This talk presents the findings obtained with a novel procedure designed to study impulsive behavior and self-control. Subjects faced a choice between two response alternatives, one providing a small-sooner (SS) amount of food contingent upon responding, and the other delivering a larger-later (LL) amount of food after a delay that increased in a systematic way (0, 5, 10, 20, 40 or 80 s) within sessions. While impulsive subjects preferred the former alternative, the self-controlled subjects preferred the latter alternative. Baselines of impulsive and self-controlled choice were used to assess the effects of drugs targeting DA receptors (D2) on the choices of subjects with DA deficiencies and subjects without DA deficiencies. The implication of present findings to develop models of ADHD and substance abuse will be discussed. [Resumen: El neurotransmisor dopamina (DA) está involucrado en los aspectos motores y motivacionales de la conducta. La dopamina también está vinculada a la motivación hacia los estímulos que causan placer, en la impulsividad y en los desórdenes de déficit de atención e hiperactividad (TDAH), lo que ha llevado a algunos teóricos a sugerir que la DA actúa como un sistema de recompensa mediando los efectos hedónicos de estímulos agradables. La identificación de los factores de mantenimiento de las drogodependencias y de aquellos implicados en las funciones motoras dañadas contribuirá al desarrollo de nuevas estrategias de tratamiento y prácticas terapéuticas. Son necesarios programas de investigación destinados a explorar estas ideas de forma sistemática. En el laboratorio las situaciones de elección están preparadas para evaluar el auto-control, un aspecto importante involucrado en el abuso de drogas. Esta conferencia presenta los resultados obtenidos con un nuevo procedimiento diseñado para estudiar el comportamiento impulsivo y el auto-control. Se enfrentó a los sujetos a una elección entre dos alternativas de respuesta, una proporcionaba una pequeña cantidad de alimento inmediata tras la respuesta, y otra en la que se entregaba una cantidad mayor de alimento pero demorada, cuyo retraso se incrementó de manera sistemática (0 , 5, 10, 20, 40 o 80 segundos) a lo largo de las sesiones. Mientras que los sujetos impulsivos prefieren la primera alternativa, los sujetos con auto-control prefieren la segunda alternativa. Se utilizaron las líneas de base de la elección impulsiva y con autocontrol para evaluar los efectos de fármacos dirigidos a los receptores de DA (D2) en las elecciones de los sujetos con deficiencias DA y sujetos sin deficiencias DA. Se discutirá la implicación de los resultados obtenidos para desarrollar modelos de TDAH y de abuso de drogas.]

This paper describes a programme of behavioral intervention for a 37-year-old male with Traumatic Brain Injury who was 16 years post-injury at the beginning of intervention. The client demonstrated poor impulse control and aggressive behaviors in the form of shouting, swearing, shaking fists and occasional property destruction. These behaviors served as a barrier to his integration into social and vocational settings. A modified cognitive behavioral therapy anger management programme was introduced. A behavioral contract was implemented prior to anger management training and a schedule of reinforcement was used to increase the quality and quantity of homework completed. This homework was used to identify funtions of the target behaviors and to monitor progress throughout the programme. Fluency training was implemented at two separate stages to teach components of the programme that the client had difficulty mastering. Behavior analysts and neuro-psychologists liaised to increase the efficacy of treatment. The nature of this partnership is discussed.

Theres no agreement in psychology, psychiatry and sociology about the conceptualization of antisocial behavior or the best treatments to diminish the presentation of it. In his book Antisocial Boys (1992) Patterson describes a model of development of the antisocial behavior different from what has been discussed before. He defines the antisocial behavior as a coercitive event, contingent to other family members or peers behaviors, that can modify or alter the probability to modify these behaviors. Thus, Pattersons theory of development stages of antisocial behavior has a similar notion to another paradigm in behavior analysis – the concept of behavioral cusps. Rosales-Ruiz and Baer (1997) define it as a behavior that can expose the individuals repertoire to new environments, specially new reinforcement and punishment contingences and new stimulus control. Antisocial behavior is under control of basic learning processes and, as a behavioral cusp, might have a learning cumulative effect as discussed by Patterson (1992). Antisocial behavior might, in terms of probability, lead to other antisocial repertoires even more severe and bring damaging consequences for the individual as to the direct and indirect social context. Therefore, its important to consider initial environments in which the antisocial behavior may develop, as the familiar environment.

Aunque existen numerosos estudios de conducta de eleccion con no humanos, pocos existen en seres humanos. Al igual que la palancas con ratas y palomas, las respuestas academicas de los estudiantes durante los examenes, asi como los intercambios comunicativos durante la conversacion, es decir, comportamiento verbal, (Skinner, 1957) tambien deberian ser susceptibles de estas evaluaciones. El hecho de que nuestra vida sea una constante toma de decisiones a traves de las multiples alternativas hace indispensable disponer de estrategias de solucion de problemas o de toma de decisiones eficaces y ajustadas a nuestras necesidades. En la actualidad, la mayoria de los problemas a los que hacemos frente cada dia son de tipo psicosocial; divorcios, problemas laborales, sociales, economicos, de salud, entre otros. Asi pues, si queremos conocer a cada uno de los mismos, nos debe interesar el conocer la estrategia mas adecuada para su solucion y el manejo del impacto emocional que producen, tanto si son o no problemas resolubles. El presente trabajo busca a traves de examinar el comportamiento verbal con respecto a la complejidad desde el punto de vista analitico conocido de la tarea. Apoyados en la ley generalizada de la igualacion (Baum, 1984) y utilizando el modelo de complejidad jerarquicas (Model of Hierarchical Complexity, MHC) desarrollado por Commons (Commons, Trudeau, Stein, Richards & Krause, 1998) donde se cuantifica el orden de complejidad jeraquica de una tarea basada en principios matematicos de como organizar la informacion se propone establecer con dos alternativas de eleccion (SI y NO) la preferencia por la resolucion de problemas de caracter social a traves de la construccion de instrumentos que permitan de forma programada establecer la probabilidad de respuesta para cada una de las alternativas asociadas a estimulos verbales (items sociales) en poblaciones susceptibles de evaluar.

Many research on choice has shown that there are a number of factors that may contribute to response allocation. Using a procedure evaluated generalized matching law (Baum, 1974), we evaluated levels of social dinamic partipation for 50 subjets who participated (UN-Habitat in Center of Economic Development of Huaca, Veracruz) in either a 20-min or 30- min with instrument ("I agree with that point"). Participants were asked any personal information in interactions for conceptualized of the conflicts (unfavorable home environment, drug and alcohol use, risk, violence, segurity, time allocation, etc.) as the reinforcer for selection of various tactics (e.g., positive verbal responses, or negative verbal responses). Delivered statements of agreement according to independent variable-interval schedules. The present study used the generalized matching law showed is to assess effects in social dinamic partipation, response-rate matching equation than by the generalized time-allocation matching equation when response allocation is characterized in terms of frequency rather than duration.

The stimulus equivalence paradigm has provided a basis for carefully controlled laboratory study of novel or emergent behavioral relations for over two decades. Sidman’s more recent (1994, 2000) theoretical treatments of stimulus equivalence have expanded original conceptualizations considerably in that all elements of a reinforcement contingency (e.g., conditional stimulus, discriminative stimulus, response, and reinforcer) are held to be members of an equivalence class. Many important developments in conceptual, experimental, and applied behavior analysis have followed from this work. This talk will review stimulus equivalence methodologies, and describe a translational series of experimental and applied studies from my lab that provide additional support for the suggestion that the reinforcer can function as a member of the equivalence class.

Data from typically developing children and those with autism show that when multi-element class-specific reinforcers (i.e., auditory and visual conditioned reinforcers, edible primary reinforcers) are employed in either simple or conditional discrimination training, each element of the reinforcer compound will function independently as a nodal class member. The practical importance of these findings is illustrated by data from equivalence teaching programs used to establish basic math skills with young typically developing children, as well as those with developmental disabilities. These results have significant applied implications with respect to efficient technologies of teaching, in addition to their theoretical relevance.

University ABA programs have grown faster than most other human service programs since 2000. California State University, Fresno, which in 2000 had an undergraduate ABA program with fewer than 25 students, now has over 200 students per year, three BCBA-approved programs, two tenure-track faculty, and two full-time lecturers. The programs include a research-based autism center that provides treatment for over 30 children and a parent-training series, both of which have become models statewide. We also provide a behavior intervention service, a direct instruction program for children who are behind academically, a support group for parents of children on the autism spectrum, and a social skills program for children on the spectrum. Recently, OBM and climate change courses have been added. With contracts of over $1,000,000, we have partnerships with many other departments on campus, community organizations, corporations, and school districts. Faculty have helped launch autism-treatment programs in the countries of Bosnia and Georgia. The programs have made a major impact in the quality of treatment and education programs for children with developmental disabilities in Central California. They grew in large part through our using the behavior analytic approach of assessing and targeting community needs. Specific techniques will be outlined.

A systems approach and behavior analytic principles are the basis of a major intervention designed to improve undergraduate students academic success at a large public research university in Miami, Florida (44,000 students). University practices involve a set of interlocking contingencies supporting the behavior of all the participants (e.g., students, advisors, administrators, faculty). Outcomes of behavioral practices are a function of the aggregate behavior of these participants in the context of the university culture. These metacontingencies constitute important units of analysis. We discuss the complexity of interrelated organizational programming that systematically provides contingencies for individual students that reinforce their constructive academic behavior towards graduation. At the aggregate level, these students behaviors lead to a shift in metacontingencies, from a culture of prolonged study and attrition to a culture of on-time graduation. We explain the individual behaviors, mechanisms, and interlocking contingencies that seem to account for a large-scale organizational change. This is an organizational paradigm shift in the way the undergraduate curriculum is administered, from unsupported, trial-and-error learning by undergraduate students searching for and pursuing a major, to a highly supported individualized shaping aimed at discerning an appropriate major early and following that curriculum successfully.

This paper describes the financial, clinical and operational turn around of a 7 million dollar ABA home based and school consulting Division of the May Institute. The May is a national organization with 100 million dollars in revenues. An OBM approach was used that centered on pinpointing the desired results and facilitating large scale behavior change using positive reinforcement. The results produced precise and useful performance metrics, improved financial and productivity performance, more effective management, increased discretionary effort, increased referrals to services and improved quality. A financial turnaround of over 1 million dollars was achieved in less than one year.

The aim of this study was to increase staff knowledge of 40 terms from the applied hehaviour analysis (ABA) literature. Twenty Irish staff members working in a school for children with autism, that utilises ABA techniques, participated. Baseline consisted of the staff members reading the ABA definition and saying the answer aloud. This see/say learning channel was used throughout the study. Pre-intervention scores showed an average across all participants of 5.73 answers correct and 5.97 answers incorrect in a one-minute timing. A multiple probe design was utilised across four groups of five participants. Each week a new group began using SAFMEDS for three one-minute timings every morning, five days a week. Staff recorded their own number of correct and incorrect answers. Probes were conducted at the start of every week of the study. Inter-observer agreement was obtained for 25% of the participants’ probes and was 93.5%. Post-intervention correct scores increased by 325% to an average of 18.57 per minute. Incorrect scores decreased by 227% to an average of 2.63 per minute. All results were displayed on Standard Celeration Charts. Results showed that SAFMEDS was an effective and time-efficient tool for staff training.

An observational longitudinal study was conducted with children 24 months old in order to explore the relationship between affective behavior displayed in mother-child dyads and level of linguistic infant behavior. Parental responses to the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory (Jackson-Maldonado et al., 2005) were used to classify level of linguistic competence of children. 14 dyads participated, of which 3 were in the delayed language group. Dyads were videotaped under free game situations at their homes, for 19-31 minutes at 24 and 30 months of age. Two taxonomies were used, one for affective behavior (Hernandez and Cortes, 2009) and another for linguistic functional complexity in the dyadic interaction (Cortes and Delgado, 2001). Results showed that children in the delayed language group and their mothers displayed less positive affect and more negative affect at 24-months in comparison with the typical language group. Children in the typical language group presented higher level of linguistic complexity associated to higher maternal negative affect at 30-months of age. Even though no relationship between positive maternal or infantile affect was associated with higher levels of children linguistic competence, this fact does not rule out that affective behavior might influence in other ways linguistic development of children.

Direct instruction is considered to be an effective strategy for supporting the development of speech / communication and other forms of discrimination and knowledge acquisition. Some applications such as Discrete Trial Teaching (DTT) require a stringent adherence to technical guidelines. While keeping procedural integrity is essential it may result in missing critical clinicians' subtleties to "hidden students' precursors" throughout the learning process. DTT and ABA are mistakenly perceived as synonymous by some professionals and parents. Nevertheless, it is suggested that clinicians will base their programs on behavioral philosophy and use their ABA knowledge to implement direct instruction effectively. Discriminations and instructional skills that are beyond the technical protocols will be demonstrated in this presentation. Such skills may be taught as part of ABA preparation courses and supported by advisors and supervisors during in-service. Examples of experiences contributing to the development of fine stimulus control in teaching academic skills will be provided.

In behavior analysis, the study of rule-governed behavior and instructional control has gained importance in recent years. The first analyzes the relationship between thinking and problem solving and the second clarifies the functional role of instruction in the control of nonverbal behavior. There have been attempts to distinguish between rule-governed behavior and following instructions. From this distinction, some analysts study the variables involved in why humans can transmit knowledge and experience to other humans. We have no evidence that nonhuman species can carry out the behavioral process of transmission, and so it is assumed that verbal behavior plays an important role. For this study, in addition behavioral performance, verbal request has been used to gather evidence of the verbal component that governs or controls the nonverbal behavior. The aim is to show an overview of research in these areas and their impact on transmission of human cultural practices. Data included from our laboratory shows the effects of the interaction between instructional history and the consequences for following instructions. Finally, we analyze how the instructional control is related to education, history and culture and as behavior analysts how we can help in understanding this relationship. [Resumen: En el análisis de la conducta, el estudio de la conducta gobernada por reglas y el control instruccional ha ganado importancia en los últimos años. El primero analiza la relación entre el pensamiento y la solución de problemas y el segundo clarifica el papel funcional de la instrucción en el control de la conducta no verbal. Ha habido intentos de distinguir entre la conducta gobernada por reglas y el seguimiento de instrucciones. Desde esa distinción, algunos analistas estudian las variables implicadas en por qué los humanos pueden transmitir conocimiento y experiencia a otros humanos. No tenemos evidencia de que las especies no humanas puedan llevar a cabo los procesos conductuales de transmisión, por lo que se asume que la conducta verbal juega un importante papel. Para su estudio, además de la ejecución conductual, las peticiones verbales han sido utilizadas para reunir evidencia sobre el componente verbal que gobierna o controla la conducta no verbal. La intención es mostrar una visión general de la investigación en esas áreas y su impacto en la transmisión de prácticas culturales humanas. Los datos incluidos de nuestro laboratorio muestran los efectos de la interacción entre la historia instruccional y las consecuencias para las siguientes instrucciones. Finalmente, analizamos como el control instruccional está relacionado con la educación, historia y cultura y cómo en calidad de analistas de conducta podemos ayudar en la comprensión de esa relación.]

Infants are phenomenal creatures that can learn amazingly fast. I will discuss how operant-learning principles have been used effectively to investigate social and cognitive phenomena in infancy. I will highlight the type of infant responses and classes of reinforcing stimuli we have tested in the laboratory, as well as procedures that researchers can use effectively to investigate infant social learning phenomena. Among the phenomena studied are: attachment and separation anxiety, join attention, social referencing, early fears (fear of the dark and fear of strangers), the role of maternal vocal imitation and motherese speech in infant vocal conditioning, and treatment of depression in infancy via couching mothers. Some recommendations for early interventions with infants "at risk" of developmental delays are offered.[Resumen: Los niños son seres excepcionales que pueden aprender sorprendentemente rápido. Voy a hablar de cómo los principios del aprendizaje operante se han usado de forma eficaz para investigar fenómenos cognitivos y sociales en la infancia. Voy a destacar el tipo de respuestas infantiles y las clases de estímulos reforzadores que hemos probado en el laboratorio, así como procedimientos que los investigadores pueden usar eficazmente para investigar fenómenos de aprendizaje social en a infancia. Entre los fenómenos estudiados están: el apego y la ansiedad de separación, atención conjunta, referencia social, miedos tempranos (miedo a la oscuridad y miedo a los extraños), el papel de la imitación vocal materna y el habla maternal en el condicionamiento vocal infantil, y el tratamiento de la depresión en la primera infancia a través del asesoramiento a las madres. Se ofrecen algunas recomendaciones para la intervención temprana con niños “en riesgo” de retraso en el desarrollo.]

Worldwide, employment rates for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are below 10% and service systems, when available, are overburdened. The Prevention Group has been conducting innovative employment-based efficacy and effectiveness research focused on competitive jobs for individuals with ASD. We report on results from five studies evaluating the effectiveness of technology-based delivery of behavioral interventions to help employment-age individuals with ASD function successfully in competitive job settings. The technology involved video modeling and two proprietary software programs that delivered audio and video prompting via iPod/iPhone and tablet-based systems. Participants worked in competitive jobs including (a) promotional events during which participants engaged in social interactions with shoppers in crowded and chaotic retail stores while wearing large inflatable mascots, (b) assisting firefighters with fire prevention education in school assemblies while wearing an inflatable mascot, and (c) packing and shipping crates for an international manufacturing company. Results demonstrated the benefits of tested strategies with individuals with ASD in challenging and complex job tasks, which required chaining of up to 108 steps. In general, technology-based prompting systems were more effective than traditional job training practices.

Studies support that joint attention is a pivotal response, once acquired has collateral effects on other areas and skill development. Considering the response components involved in joint attention, this presentation discusses the possibility that eye contact in itself, as an inherent component of joint attention, might be responsible for the collateral effects observed following the acquisition of joint attention skills. Results might have implications for interventions for children with autism, as well as other developmental disabilities.

Following functional analyses, we evaluated the use of an antecedent intervention strategy to reduce stereotyped challenging behavior in three children with ASD. The antecedent intervention consisted of exposing the children to preferred items of stereotypy (i.e., toys, instructional items etc.) until satiation occurred. The antecedent satiation intervention was embedded within a functional communication training (FCT) format (i.e., children were taught to request for items of stereotypy). Following the antecedent intervention children were exposed to a tangible-style functional analysis condition where they received access to the same preferred items contingent on challenging behavior (self-injury, aggression etc.). The antecedent intervention condition was compared to a no intervention condition using a multielement treatment design for two participants and a reversal design for the third participant. Results indicate that the antecedent FCT/satiation intervention produced reductions in challenging behavior in comparison to the no antecedent intervention for all three children.

The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) has been widely utilized for children with communication difficulties. However, there is limited research on the impact of the entire PECS training program on vocal communication in various settings. Furthermore assessment of generalization in the natural environment may be confounded through variable Motivating Operations (MO). The aim of this study was to assess generalization effects of PECS intervention on the communication of a child with language delay. A changing criterion design was used to evaluate the effect of the intervention. Dependent variables included independent PECS exchanges, vocal mands, and other vocal behaviors. Generalization data were collected in two naturalistic non-intervention settings (home and kindergarten) and in a situational probe setting designed to optimize and standardize MOs for manding. Data were collected to criterion in all six PECS training phases. The observational data show an increase in rate and complexity of spoken language associated with PECS instruction, with manding and other communication particularly evident in the situational probe setting where vocal mands rapidly replaced PECS exchanges from Phase 3 on. Possible clinical implications of the situational probe as a communication hot house are discussed.

Coronary heart disease is the number one cause of death in Brazil and developed countries being social support directly related to a decrease in its morbidity and mortality. The present study aimed to: elaborate an intervention procedure using behavioral techniques among coronary patient’s caregivers and verify the effectiveness of the intervention through the patient’s perception about the availability and satisfaction with the received social support before (M1) and after specific intervention (M 2 and M3). Three patients diagnosed with unstable angina participated in the study. The interventions with the three caregivers consisted in four 90 minute weekly individual sessions. Deferential reinforcement and self-monitoring techniques were the main behavioral strategies used. The number of given social support responses in relation to five categories (medication, eating behavior, physical activities, stress and leisure time) measured the caregiver’s behaviors. The results show that in the first moment, all patients reported moderate levels of received social support (M=3,59 for P1; M=2,95 for P2 and M=3,32 for P3). After intervention, there was an increase of the social support for all three caregivers (t=4,38 for P1; t=4,11 for P2 and t=4,11 for P3; p=0,001). The results showed the possibility of applying behavioral techniques to improve coronary patients social support.

The Programa Bolsa Familia (PBF), as an intervention in the behavioral level which aims to change cultural practices, is examined from a behavior analytic perspective. The PBF is a conditioned family grant program implemented by the Brazilian government which provides cash benefits to families under the poverty line, nearly 25% of Brazilian population, conditioned on minimum requirements based on education and health of their children. Although PBF has reached the expected aggregated products in children’s education and health status, the selection of positive cultural practices depends on the external environment. The present work describes: (1) the establishing operations that motivated the program´s implementation; (2) the possible failures in the individual contingencies and in the requirements of the external environment that maintain detrimental cultural practices; and (3) the changes in the interlocking contingencies promoted by the behavioral conditions imposed by PBF. This analysis shows that PBF is insufficient to promote the selection of the expected cultural practices in children education and health care. Additional interventions should be implemented in the behavioral and cultural levels to maintain the interlocked contingencies produced by PBF.

Severely and chronically mentally ill patients present many needs in different areas. These patients have shown lower outcomes than regular population in quality of life (QL) scales. The assessment of QL as a self-reported measurement has proved to be useful to evaluate patient’s changes before and after treatments. The purpose of this paper was to analyze the role of self-reported mood in the assessment of QL in severely and chronically mentally ill patients. Application of the Questionnaire for Quality of Life Evaluation was made to two groups. One of them was integrated by 64 university students and the other one was integrated by 42 mentally ill patients. Statistical analyses were made to describe both samples and to determinate the influence of mood scores in the entire scale. Students scored higher than patients in QL (p<0,001), and as the mood variable was higher the perception of QL was higher too (p<0,001). The assessment of QL as a self-reported measurement has proved to be useful to discriminate between different samples. But it is necessary to consider that mood variations can influence in the outcomes of these measurements, beyond the possible effects of any given treatment.

Despite advances in effective interventions for conditions such as autism and learning difficulties, many parent/carers of sons/daughters with disabilities still are not able to participate fully in social and economic life, at times experiencing high levels of stress and isolation. For most, it is difficult to adjust to demands that go hand in hand with ageing themselves as well as ageing sons/daughters. As friends and family with typically developing sons/daughters have increasing leisure time and are able to enjoy old age, these parents worry about how failing health, financial burden, and bereavement will affect their ability to cope with an ageing son/daughter with disabilities. This paper reports on experiences of parent care-givers (n= 58; aged 32-84 years), young adults with disabilities (n=9; aged 18-27 years), and social care providers (n=12; statutory, private, voluntary), and examines physical, intellectual, emotional, sensory or mental health issues related to growing older. In particular, it focuses on how behaviour analysis can help parents deal with these issues and considers how appropriate behaviour analytic understanding and intervention can improve not only the opportunities for adults with disabilities, but also enable their parent/carers to remain connected to community life in its fullest sense.

The Kennedy Krieger Institute's Neurobehavioral Unit Inpatient and Outpatient Programs specialize in the assessment and treatment of severe behavior disorders in individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Within these programs, a range of clinical and research activities are conducted. In this symposium, four papers will be presented, highlighting some of the unique applied and translational studies conducted at the Institute. The first presentation reviews findings from several studies conducted to improve performance and management of direct care staff. The second paper presents results of a longitudinal study of emerging self-injury in young children with developmental delays. The third presentation describes assessment and treatment outcomes for individuals whose problem behavior was maintained by compliance with mands. The final presentation is an examination of the overjustification effect, within the context of the provision of reinforcement for adaptive responding to children with intellectual disabilities.

The Neurobehavioral Unit (NBU) at the Kennedy Krieger Institute is recognized as a leading program in the assessment and treatment of individuals with intellectual disabilities and treatment-resistant behavioral disorders. Despite our successes with patients, we know all too well the problems associated with hiring and training entry-level employees. The NBU has broadened its application of behavior analysis to improve the performance and management of approximately 120 direct care staff. In one project, new staff was taught basic behavioral principles using two different formats, response cards or a traditional teaching strategy. Results suggest that individuals who received the response card training were more accurate and were better able to retain information on basic behavioral principles than those who received the traditional training. In another study, we increased communication between clinicians and direct care. To accomplish this, clinicians were asked to review patient-specific quizzes with staff; however, baseline data showed that only 21% of reviews were completed. After several failed interventions, reviews increased to 86% following an intervention of instructions plus feedback. Lastly, hand washing was targeted as a performance improvement project. Initially, hand washing averaged 11%. Following the introduction of a group-based lottery, hand washing increased to an average of 73%.

While self-injurious behavior (SIB) is a serious problem affecting individuals with intellectual disabilities, little is known about its early course. SIB is known to occur in very young children both with and without developmental delays. However, a clear understanding of why SIB persists in some children and not others is not known; this is necessary in order to develop prevention and early intervention strategies. In this longitudinal study, potential risk factors for persistent SIB in children ages birth to 5 years with developmental delay were assessed every three months across a two-year period. Case examples will be presented (see Figure 1), examining data from developmental testing, parent report, and direct observation from the initial, 12-month, and 24-month assessments. It is hypothesized that parent responding to child SIB and communication deficits are related to SIB persistence. Data, including conditional probabilities, examining the relationship among SIB, parent responding and child communication will be presented. For example, improvements in one childs language skills over the course of a year were associated with increased parent responding to child communication; concomitantly, decreases in SIB and other problem behavior were observed. Implications for the emergence and persistence of SIB will be discussed.

With a standard functional analysis it is commonly assumed that problem behaviors occur for attention, escape, tangible access, or automatic reinforcement. However, there is strong evidence that some individuals’ problem behaviors may have a mands function, meaning they desire to have access over their schedules of reinforcement or to control how others behave in specific situations (Bowman et al., 1997). The current study extends the literature by evaluating various assessment and treatment procedures for 42 individuals referred to a neurobehavioral unit (15 inpatient, 27 outpatient) for severe problem behavior (i.e., SIB, aggression, and/or disruption/property destruction). With each participant, functional analyses included a mands condition. Initially, interventions used to reduce problem behavior from the mands function by 80% or more from baseline included extinction, DRO/DRA, and/or FCT. However, more contemporary procedural variations for higher functioning individuals have been expanded to include antecedent management strategies (e.g., scheduled access to “My Way” time or individualized levels programs). For a small percentage of participants, punishment procedures were required for clinically significant results. Data for the efficacy, effectiveness, and social validity of treatment procedures in the natural environment will be discussed.

The overjustification effect suggests that “the strengthening of performance by reward (reinforcement) causes the unpleasant experience of being controlled by others and reduces task interest and creativity” (Eisenberger & Cameron, 1996, p. 1153). The use of reinforcement contingencies for children has been at the forefront of the overjustification controversy. In behavior analysis, the use of extrinsic rewards are perhaps most common in the context of providing reinforcers for adaptive responding to persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities. We examined overjustification effects in this context. A literature review yielded 39 data sets meeting criteria that included: (a) responding during an initial no-reinforcement phase could be compared to a second no-reinforcement phase; and (b) each reinforcer assessment data set included a reinforcement phase with a clear reinforcement effect defined as an increase in responding compared to baseline levels of responding. Effect-size calculations were used to examine both general effects and moderator variables. In general, detrimental effects of extrinsic reinforcement were equally as likely to occur or not occur, but were more likely when the target behavior occurred at relative higher levels in the absence of reinforcement. These results are discussed with regard to their relevance for educational endeavors with children with intellectual disabilities.

Errors of the A-not-B type can occur in sandbox tasks in which children are asked to retrieve an object buried at a location (A) and then at another (B). Averaged across children, the retrieval response is displaced away from B and in the direction of A, a fact consistent with the A-not-B error. This averaged distance error, however, may not be representative of individual results and may instead arise from a response distribution with multiple peaks. In this talk I summarize a recent study of the A-not-B sandbox task with young children, and I discuss its implications for quantitative models of spatial behavioral guidance across time ("memory").

The distinction between respondent and operant conditioning has a long tradition in the Analysis of Behavior. Today continues and most of textbooks on Behavior Analysis presents the respondent and operant conditioning as two distinct processes. However, different authors have questioned the existence of two distinct types of conditioning. In this communication we analyze three of the pillars underlying the distinction between respondent and operant conditioning: the role elicit or evocative of the preceding stimulation, the probabilistic character of operant conditioning and the role of consequences in both types of conditioning. We also discuss the distinction between behavior and emotion in the context of the debate on the existence of two types of conditioning.

This presentation aims to discuss the difficulty of maintaining the dichotomy aversive / non-aversive control in behavior analysis. We will approach two questions: (1) What effectively defines the aversiveness in the behavioral relations (in operant and respondent processes)? (2) There are aversive components underlying all positive reinforcement contingencies? Our analysis suggests that the concept of control is the central point for behavior analysts, concept that need to be supported by an accurate identification of the variables involved in the environment/organism relation. However, we consider that the qualification about the type of control in course is unnecessary for a precise behavior analysis.

Children and adolescents diagnosed with autism spectrum and other developmental disabilities frequently take many psychotropic drugs. None of these medications, of course, address any of the core symptoms of the disorders, but psychiatrists prescribe them as adjunctive therapy to treat such symptoms as aggression, self-injury, stereotypy and hyperactivity (mostly to no avail). These neuroleptics, antidepressants and stimulants also affect other aspects of an individual's behavior, specifically those involved in facilitating his or her adaptation to an ever changing environment. In this presentation, I will discuss how neuroleptics, antidepressants and stimulants affect the central nervous system and how they might interfere with basic behavioral processes to impede learning and memory.

Celeration is all about reaching performance fluency in a timely manner. Ogden Lindsley related celeration to agility, the capacity to rapidly and efficiently adapt to changes. Precision Teaching encapsules the concept of agile performance in its measurement of celeration. The study describes the effects of precision teaching training with multiple exemplars on reading skill in for children with learning disabilities. Multiple Exemplars Instruction was provided by a variation of topography of reading operants including textual responding, indentify synonms and find the correct word. Data show how the traning non only promote acquisition and retention of target words but it works in build an untaught repertoire. Children learn to read faster new set of words and to reach the aim in less time. According with Relational Frame Theory and Precision Teaching, the intervention promote the acquisition of higher order verbal operant relate to reading adopting fluency building strategies and a multiple exemplars training.

This study aimed to analyze the effect of training of oral counting in the acquisition of numeric conceptual behavior in preschool children. Participants were eight children, three through four years old, divided in two groups. A battery of numeric tasks was used consisting of the following stimuli ranging from 1 to 9: Arabic digits (A); sets of pictures of objects and animals (B); printed number-words (C), spoken numbers (D) and naming (E ). Participants in both groups underwent initial tests: oral counting, identity matching (AA, BB, CC), symbolic relations (AB, AC, BA, CA, BC, CB), auditory-visual matching (DA, DB, DC) and naming (AE, BE, CE). The two groups (experimental group and control group) were trained the equivalence relations between numbers and quantities (AB, AC and DA), but the oral counting was taught to the experimental group only. Participants of the experimental group performed overall better scores than the control group participants, and showed numeric conceptual behavior. The results point out to oral counting as a facilitator for the numerical equivalence.

This study aimed to analyze and systematize the possibilities of an instrument of assessment of basic numerical skills for the early grades of elementary school. Forty four first through third grade students from an elementary public school served as participants. The instrument consisted of 53 basic arithmetic tasks programmed by the software ProgMTS, mostly in a matching to sample format. The tasks consisted of simple discrimination of numbers/quantities; comparison (more/less/same/different/before/after/between/double/half); sequencing production; cardinality; counting; equivalence of sets; subsets; estimative; basic arithmetic operations with one digit and two digits; identification of unknown value; discrimination of geometric figures; word problems. First graders had a higher number of errors in 16 tasks ranging from bimodal correspondence until basic operations. The largest number of second and third graders’ errors lied on basic operations. The results demonstrated the adequacy of the instrument as an assessment tool, as well as offered important cues to the improvement of the instrument for future assessments, such as, refinements of commands, new options for performing tasks, changes in the layout of the screen to provide certain tasks, need to add new tasks. Based on these changes, new application is being conducted in a broader sample, for further evaluation.

Parents, educators, and professionals working in health settings are increasingly recognizing the need for, and advantages of, behavior analysis. The escalating demand for services means that behavior analysts must be both creative and evidence-based in identifying strategies for bringing applied behavior analysis to scale. This presentation focuses on three programs designed to train professionals to provide critical applied behavior analysis services. Munroe Meyer Institute’s PhD program in ABA is unique in its emphasis of addressing the needs of people in rural communities by building capacity in the settings in which families are likely to make contact (e.g., schools and primary care settings). Autism Training Solutions is unique in its capacity to using both technology and best practices in adult education to train professionals and paraprofessionals in educational settings in an efficient manner. Ball State University’s program is unique in its systematic analysis of adopting innovative technological advances when training graduate students of ABA. Collectively, these young programs serve as examples of creatively bringing applied behavior analysis to scale for underserved communities in which resources are limited.

The University of Nebraska Medical Centers Munroe Meyer Institute (MMI) has developed its Program in ABA with an emphasis on meeting the needs of rural Nebraskans. The Program, offered through the Medical Sciences Interdepartmental Area (MSIA) Graduate Program, has a unique emphasis on the application of ABA within school and primary care settings. Students are provided supervised experience embedded within primary care pediatric clinics and are prepared to work with physicians, nurses, and clinic support staff to address the behavioral health needs of a wide variety of children. Similarly, students are trained to address problems that arise within the context of elementary, middle, and high schools. This presentation describes a unique program that is the first of its kind in the state of Nebraska and the first one in the nation to be integrated with a University Center of Excellence on Developmental Disabilities in a university medical center. Special emphasis is given to the bringing ABA training to address the needs of people in rural communities by building capacity in the settings in which families are likely to make contact (e.g., schools and primary care settings).

The National Autism Center spearheaded the National Standards Project in 2009, which provided a standard for efficacious, research validated educational and behavioral interventions for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). With the number of individuals with autism increasing and the lack of trained professionals becoming more apparent, solutions are needed to provide training on a larger scale. Traditional training approaches such as classroom discussion, lecture, and role-playing formats require an expert and the trainees be together in the same location for a significant amount of time. Alternative training approaches may need to be developed so that trainees can access training on demand and supervisors can still oversee the training process. One such possibility is online training. Very little research has been done on the effectiveness of using online training to teach evidenced based interventions to staff/parents that teach individuals with autism. This presentation will outline and report the results of a multiple baseline design and group design study, which evaluated the impact of online training videos.

In order to meet the growing need for qualified behavior analysts, Ball State University offers a 30 hour online master’s degree in Applied Behavior Analysis. Like many on-line behavior analysis programs, it offers greater flexibility for non-traditional learners, which is more likely to increase the volume of practitioners that can be trained in applied behavior analysis. Consistent with the area of greatest demand, Ball State’s behavior analysis program provides an emphasis on training with individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Because technology advances so quickly, on-line programs in behavior analysis are uniquely positioned to provide training that is consistent with best practices in adult education. This presentation highlights the planned changes to Ball State’s program to provide the most engaging educational format that produces high degrees of both content knowledge and treatment fidelity for efficacious treatments. Special emphasis is given to increasing the use of videos in content coursework and using technology to provide supervision, including ongoing coaching and feedback.

Recently, behavior analysts have targeted behavior related to climate change. To this end, 85 undergraduate psychology majors in two upper-division learning and memory courses conducted individual AB-probe designs in the spring of 2011. Each student designed a program to increase one and decrease one climate-related behavior. Baseline, treatment and probes were one week each, with the probe coming six weeks after the treatment. Individual results are collapsed within some of the 34 separate dependent variables (including miles driven, walked and bicycled; use of reusable bags and bottles; lights and power cords turned off). Long-term effectiveness of independent variables is assessed given probe data. For example, increasing recycling was long-lasting if bins were placed in areas that reduced response effort. Results include a reduction of water use by 41 participants from 6,192 minutes per week in baseline to 3,281 in intervention, with probe data at 3,530. Twenty-eight students increased recycling California Cash recyclable containers from 267 to 1,033 with 708 recycled during probe week. The single-subject designs from which these data were collected indicate that easily-implemented strategies can result in long-term changes of climate-related behavior. Collectively these simple changes can have a large impact on a community.

Teaching Machines are actually quite ineffective, because of lack of built-in scientific principles of behavior. This situation is hard to understand, because the Three Contingencies Model assumes that Behavior is evoked by the environment and its function of its consequences. Both Antecedents and Consequences can be managed by modern simulators and mainly in the virtual environment as never before. Nevertheless, a number of experimental researches about this topic was made, often with astonishing results. In a wide experimental research in Italy with over 700 students, the adoption of Teaching Machines demonstrated great improvements in the experimental groups. Later, in two large railway companies, train drivers trained by PC-Based learning programs got impressive improvements. The main European project for the industry, ManuVAR, asked A.A.R.B.A., the Italian Chapter of ABAI, to manage the European Consortiums efforts in developing a true Virtual Reality Based Teaching Machine. Finally, AgustaWestland started to improve his training methods studying a similar device, to be used world wide. A description of such device and its capabilities would be made, and a practical demonstration will held for the audience, if allowed, by the AgustaWestland engineers.

Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is a complex genetic disorder that typically causes decreased muscle tone, short stature, incomplete sexual development, decreased cognitive capacities, problem behaviors, gastric necrosis, and a chronic feeling of hunger that can lead to excessive eating and life-threatening morbid obesity. Although the cause is complex, it results from an abnormality on the 15th chromosome. Even though there is no cure for PWS, treatment is usually done using a multi-team approach. The behavioral treatment component typically focuses on following a monitored diet, caloric training with self management, contingency contracting using food as reinforcers, exercise with food reinforcement through point systems, some form of response cost, and some form of restrictive procedure. In addition, many times food has to be locked to restrict access. These programs with restriction on the access to food have shown to be successful, but many times maintain problem behavior as the schedule of food as the primary reinforcer can not be thinned, as the individual with PWS is constantly under a deprivation state for food. This presentation will review the conceptual issues around these forms of treatment and will offer alternative behavioral procedures that do not use food as reinforcers with the use of token systems with tangible reinforcers other than food for engaging in sport related activities and exercise, non-contingent schedules of food intake, and learning to self monitor caloric food intake at their residence and out in the community. This presentation will show a case example where these procedures were used with a 17 year old child with PWS with relevant data that shows weight chart, food stealing, problem behaviors (aggressive behaviors, elopement, false allegations of abuse), and engagement in sports and exercise activities.

Clinical psychiatry and psychology have common goals in providing help for people with "mental" problems. Most of the recourses in any country with these kinds of services pour resources into the field of psychiatry, into policlinical facilities, psychiatric hospitals and to doctors in private practice. The situation of both clinical psychology and psychiatry are still much the same as clinical medicine prior to 1880. –We still do not know how the brain works. With such a handicap, we still do not have a standardized basic science oriented treatment philosophy. Countless schools, cults and essentially proprietary systems continue to flourish. Behavior is seldom the subject matter in its own right, but rather the mere expression or symptom of more important happenings inside the behaving person (Skinner, 1989). Most clinicians are still looking inside the organism for explanations of its behavior. The psychiatric diagnoses are merely labels on behavior, and therefore very different from medical diagnoses. Their value can therefore be questioned. And the use of psychopharmacological drugs is based on experimentation of their effects, rather than on a scientific understanding of how behavior is controlled or on how the central nervous system functions. Any practice based on a fundamentally unscientific theorization should be discontinued and replaced by practices with its roots in science. This presentation will focus on a behavioristic analysis of "mental" "illnesses" and the road ahead for behaviorists.

Learning by observation plays an important role in the acquisition of complex verbal skills. Even though, this topic has not received the attention it deserve in the field of behavior analysis. We present 4 studies on which observation is the main topic. In two presentations, we studied how new intraverbals can be acquired by learning more basic verbal operants or by observing the action a person performs and the objects she uses. The procedures were useful for the children to acquire these skills. The other two presentations are related to full naming. By definition, full naming occurs when a person is able to tact an object or to select that object upon hearing its name after just observing a person say the name in the presence of the objects. Thus, the two verbal skills emerge after the observation. A study aimed to know show that full naming occurs with more difficulties than traditional naming and that it occurs easier with three-dimensional stimuli than with two-dimensional stimuli.

We analyzed the emergence of intraverbals with vocal stimuli after teaching conditional discriminations with visual stimuli. Two children with autism and an adolescent with Down syndrome learned conditional discriminations in which one of two written words was randomly presented as a sample across trials and two words were presented as comparisons in each trial. The correct comparison was the word synonym with the sample (e.g., "love" and "like"). Thereafter, we probed whether the corresponding intraverbals emerged: We asked the participant, "Name a synonym of [spoken word]" and the correct response was to tell orally the word related to the spoken word during the teaching. On half the trials the experimenter said the word corresponding to the written word presented as sample; on the other half, she said the word corresponding to the written word presented as comparison. None response was reinforced. The three participants produced between 60% and 100% correct responses, which evidence the emergence of the intraverbals. These data are presented as an example of behavior of the reader as his own listener.

Naming is a verbal capability that consists of tacting an object and selecting it upon hearing its name. After acquiring this capability, children learn object-name relations quicker and, hence, it is an important achievement in development. We compared the acquisition of three types of naming in 7 typically-developing 4-year-old children. The first type of naming consisted of teaching tacts of objects and probing if the child selects them upon hearing his name (object selection) or teaching to select objects and probing if the child tacts them (classical procedure). The second type of naming consisted of presenting objects at the same time that an adult said the spoken name of it, without requiring from the child other response than attention (full naming procedure). The third type was as the second type, but pictures, instead of objects, were used. Five of the 7 children showed instances of naming. Children showed more naming with the classical procedure than with the full naming procedures and showed more naming with objects than with pictures. The results have important applications for teaching preschool children and children with learning disabilities.

The aim of this study was testing a new procedure to produce full naming and to induce the capability of full naming in 4 persons with autism. Five pictures of the same category were selected with 4 samples per picture. The participants observed the pictures in a computer screen while the teacher said the name of the picture. Then, it was probed whether the participants emitted pure tacts of the pictures. The cycle was repeated until a criterion was achieved. Then, impure tacts and picture selection upon hearing the name were probed. The participants learned the pure tacts after hearing the teacher naming the pictures, tacted the pictures when asked to name them, and selected the correct picture upon hearing their names. These data showed that the procedure served to know whether the full naming capability was acquired and to produce naming. The procedure was repeated with another 2 sets. One child demonstrated savings with the new sets, which indicate that the procedure served to induct naming. The results may have important implications to induce this capability in persons diagnosed with autism and other learning difficulties.

Learning new abilities without direct training provides the children with autism loads of opportunities to acquire new skills on their daily environment. The goal of this research was to develop a procedure effective to teach the children to learn new intraverbals through observation. Once the child was able to tact the name of an object and the name of the action done with that object we taught him to answer the question: "What is the used for?". The graphic shows the responses to this type of intraverbals before and after the child learned the tacts of the object and the action for different sets (e.g., Set 1: spoon- eat; pencil- write). Set 1 was a training set and he was directly taught the intraverbal "What is the used for?". Set 2 was suspended because the child was unable to learn all the tacts. On set 3 only half of the intraverbals tested emerged after learning the tacts of the object and the action. With the Set 4 the child did not respond to the intraverbal, he was taught the tact of the object and the action. Then the action with the object was performed in front of him and he was able to answer correctly the intraverbal. The results showed that learning to respond to these intraverbal types through observation need a specific teaching procedure.

This presentation will report a behavior-analytic research program, conducted by a multidisciplinary, multi-institutional, multi-regional network, which focuses on behavioral science and technology addressing symbolic functioning and functional deficits, particularly in children. Symbolic processes are central to human cognition. The use of symbols implies that, under certain circumstances, symbol and referent substitute for each other. Symbolic relations result from arbitrary relational learning, such as that involved in relating words and world events. Functional deficits in symbolic functioning represent a substantial challenge for affected individuals, their families, and their larger communities. The main goal of our program is the scientific analysis of symbolic function and its determinants, including: (a) identification of the necessary and sufficient conditions for development of age-appropriate symbolic functioning; (b) development and/or refinement of specific procedures for managing challenges of inter-individual variability in response to educational and/or therapeutic procedures, including those designed to improve function and also those to manage symbolic function deficits; (c) investigation and development of methodology for establishing symbolic functioning in educational and therapeutic settings. The Institute's research activities are organized into three main tracks: (a) basic, (b) translational, and (c) applied science. Broad basic science projects include studies of visual and auditory information processing in symbolic tasks, methods for effectively directing attending to relevant information in such tasks, and animal models of symbolic behavior and its prerequisites. Methods and findings from these studies are in turn translated to guide research projects investigating topics such as the development of symbolic behavior in infants and toddlers, speech perception and symbolic functioning in users of cochlear implants, development of academic skills in children with learning challenges, and evaluation of neurological status of individuals whose communication skills have been compromised due to congenital or acquired neurodevelopmental disabilities. Applied science projects focus on the development of delivery systems to foster high-quality evidence-based practices in the classroom, clinic, and other settings focusing on improvement in functional communication skills. [Resumen: Esta presentación expondrá un programa de investigación analítico-conductual, llevado a cabo por una red de trabajo multidisciplinar, multi-institucional y multi-regional, centrado en la aplicación de ciencia y la tecnología de la conducta al estudio del funcionamiento simbólico y los déficits funcionales, sobre todo en los niños. Los procesos simbólicos son fundamentales para la cognición humana. El uso de símbolos implica que, bajo ciertas circunstancias, el símbolo y su referente pueden ser sustituidos el uno por el otro. Las relaciones simbólicas son el resultado del aprendizaje relacional arbitrario, como el que está implicado en relacionar las palabras con eventos del mundo. Los déficits funcionales en el funcionamiento simbólico representan un importante desafío para los individuos afectados, sus familias y su comunidad. El objetivo principal de nuestro programa es el análisis científico de la función simbólica y sus determinantes, incluyendo: (a) la identificación de las condiciones necesarias y suficientes para el desarrollo de un funcionamiento simbólico apropiado para la edad, (b) el desarrollo y / o perfeccionamiento de los procedimientos específicos para afrontar los desafíos que plantea la variabilidad interindividual en la respuesta a los procedimientos de enseñanza y / o terapéuticos, incluyendo los destinados a mejorar la función y también aquellos otros que tratan de contrarrestar los déficits en la función simbólica, (c) la investigación y el desarrollo de una metodología para establecer el funcionamiento simbólico en entornos educativos y terapéuticos. Las actividades de investigación del Instituto se organizan en tres áreas principales: (a) básica, (b) translacional y (c) ciencia aplicada. Amplios proyectos de ciencia básica incluyen estudios sobre el procesamiento de la información auditiva y visual en tareas simbólicas, métodos para dirigir con eficacia la atención hacia la información relevante en dichas tareas, y modelos animales de conducta simbólica y sus pre-requisitas. Los métodos y las conclusiones de estos estudios son a su vez utilizados para guiar proyectos de investigación sobre temas como el desarrollo del comportamiento simbólico en bebés y niños pequeños, la percepción del habla y el funcionamiento simbólico de los usuarios de implantes cocleares, el desarrollo de habilidades académicas en niños con problemas de aprendizaje, y la evaluación del estado neurológico de personas cuya capacidad de comunicación se encuentra afectada a causa de alteraciones del desarrollo neurológico congénito o adquirido. Los proyectos de ciencia aplicada se centran en el desarrollo de sistemas encaminados a fomentar la aplicación en el aula, en la clínica y en otros entornos, de prácticas de alta calidad basadas en la evidencia, haciendo hincapié en la mejoría de las habilidades de comunicación funcionales.]

The Pyramid Approach to Education was developed by Bondy (2011) as a way to integrate behavior analysis and functional communication in public (and private) school settings. The model looks at elements related to what and how to teach within a data-based system and encourages integration from different areas of expertise typically found in school settings. We will describe the model, how it can be implemented and outcome data for students over several years.

This talk will describe the base of the Pyramid Approach to Education which involves four elements. The first involves issues related to selecting functional activities and materials for students. The second element involves motivational factors associated with using powerful, visually mediated reinforcement systems. The third element deals with the establishment of functional communication for both expressive and receptive skills. The last element addresses issues associated with contextually inappropriate behaviors and the functional analysis necessary to understand them. We will describe its application in a school in France.

Abstract: Once the Base issues of the Pyramid Approach are in place, then we describe the elements related to How to teach. These four elements include: 1) Generalization, 2) Types/formats for lessons, 3) Teaching strategies using prompting and shaping, and 4) Errorless strategies and error-correction strategies. All elements are evaluated through a data-based decision model.

The Pyramid Approach has been implemented in many classrooms in different countries. We will review the outcome for preschool and school-aged children within a state-wide public school system in the USA. Outcomes in terms of placement, language development and long-term community based changes will be described.

The Pyramid Approach blends broad spectrum behavior analysis with an emphasis on functional communication. This talk will describe how to train staff to implement the model. We will describe an ABC analysis of how staff training can utilize the basic Pyramid principles to help all staff successfully implement the model. We will describe data on gradual staff performance changes.

The learning of verbal behavior is crucial for every child and thus understanding the processes involved is crucial for teaching children with learning disabilities and development disorders. We present in this symposium three studies that show successful procedures to teach verbal behavior skills to children with autism. The first study is about Level 2 of Visual Perspective Tacking. The experimenters showed how to induce this capability to a child with autism who lacked it. The procedure was based on previous research that revealed successful procedure to induce this capability in typically-developing children. The second presentation deals with the skill to say if two objects are the same or different in a child who lacked this skill. The study showed how this skill is related to say "yes" or "no" to questions such as "Is this (name of object)?" in the presence of that object or a different one. The third presentation showed how to teach a child to ask questions about the name of unknown objects. The procedures shown in these studies can be very valuable for increase the complex verbal repertoire of children with autism.

The main goal of this experiment was to study some factors involved in the emergence of conditional discrimination based on same-diffrent concepts. A seven-year-old child with autism participated. We passed a initial probe in which we presented three pictures on the table, one on the top, the sample, and two below, the comparations. A comparation was identical to the sample and the other was different. We said “Same/Different” and the child had to select the correct comparation. After the initial probe, we taught the child to respond yes-no in the presence of a word and a picture (e.g. we presented a picture of a house and we ask “Is this a house?” --the correct response was “yes”--, or “Is this a lion?” --the correct response was “no”). After the child learned to respond correctly to this task, we passed the initial probe again. The child showed now the emergence of conditional discrimination based on same-different task. These results showed that teaching yes-no with words and pictures to a child with autism facilited the emergence of conditional discrimination based on the same-different concepts.

Level 2 of visual perspective taking (VPT) consists of responding differentially according to the visual perception of oneself and other person, when both people are seeing the same object from different perspectives. In typically developing children, we have identified three prerequisites that are necessary to succeed in at least one of the probes of Level 2 of VPT evaluated with verbal responses, as well with selection responses of photos and objects. The goal of this study was to replicate this procedure of probes in a child with autism to identify the necessary skills to show this capability. The participant was evaluated in the 3 prerequisites and in 5 probes of Level 2 of VPT. The participant had already acquired the prerequisites, and he succeeded the probes of Level 2 VPT with verbal responses, and selection of photos, but the performance in the probe with object-selection responses depended on the type of verbal stimuli of the instruction. These results replicated partially the obtained with typically developing children. Moreover, it was necessary to take into account the specificity of the stimuli for the child to succeed in some probes.

Children with autism typically fail to initiate social interactions, and learning to ask questions is a natural way to engage in social interactions. Furthermore, asking questions can be a natural way to acquire new tacts. Previous research has developed procedures to teach children to ask questions about visual stimuli (Taylor & Harris, 1995, Williams, Williams, Donley & Keller, 2001, Pérez-González & Vogt, 2003). The goal of the present study was to test skill with other sensory modalities. The participants were four children with autism (form Spain and New York). They were presented a selection task where they must point to the objects the teacher named. During this task some of the words where known by the participants and others where new for them (words in another language). The task was presented in different settings. During the training a transfer from echoic to mand procedure was used and the children learned to ask the question "What is that?" when they heard a novel word. This behavior generalized to other settings in most of the children, but some need specific training on the new settings.

Since 1979, Project 12-Ways has served families with a history of child abuse and neglect in rural southern Illinois. Services are evidence driven and occur predominantly in the families own homes. Services are based on assessment protocols that we have developed and validated to address various facets of child maltreatment such as environmental neglect, physical and sexual abuse, and domestic violence. Intervention typically occurs in a hands-on fashion directly in families' homes at timed when their clinical history suggests that they are at greatest risk for further maltreatment. Sessions with families may initially occur frequently (e.g., several times per week) and last for extended periods (e.g., several hours). Over time, the frequency and duration of sessions is typically faded in a systematic manner. In this series of papers we will present: an overview of the Project, a description of its evolution, illustrative case studies, data reflecting its impact over several years, our staff training and quality control procedures, and our experience at undertaking a direct replication in Canada. Strategies for replicating the Project in other countries will also be discussed.

An overview will be provided of Project 12-Ways' history, its clientele, staffing configuration and service tactics. The presentation will provide demographic detail of the clientele that is served, the manner in which we have developed protocols that are sensitive to various facets of abuse and neglect and how these protocols guide clinical service and decision making in the child welfare system. Specific case examples will be featured. In addition, the training and management of personnel on the Project will be described. Finally, the short and long term impact on families will be presented which indicates that a majority of the recipients of our services do not engage in any further instances of maltreatment that the state has detected.

The successful dissemination of an evidence based practice or program requires much more of an agency than merely acquiring the technical manuals of a program and undertaking in-service training with staff. Successful dissemination is actually a matter of replication which requires that the conditions essential to the success of the original program are re-created in an environment that may not necessarily be prepared to support that replication. This presentation describes an effort to replicate Project 12-Ways in Canada. The conditions that proved essential to make that replication a success and to sustain it will be described. In addition, the evidence for the success of the replication will also be presented. Finally, the obstacles to the replication will be described and how these might be overcome in future replications will be discussed.

One factor that contributes substantially to the risk of child maltreatment is domestic violence between parents or adult partners. In most instances of domestic violence, the mother or female is victim; the father or male is perpetrator. Attempts to treat or counsel victims are often unsuccessful as evident by their continued association and reliance upon the perpetrator. Indeed, it is often impossible for service providers to predict which victims will escape the relationship and which will remain vulnerable. This study demonstrates the utility of a diagnostic tool, the CARE, at measuring and predicting a woman's vulnerability to domestic violence. Women in two groups were assessed: those with a history of domestic violence, and those without. The CARE involves presenting a woman with 25 scenarios, some are typical of domestic violent situations and some are "neutral". The women is asked to describe how she would respond to the situation and her response is scored and rated for the extent to which she is able to 1) identify a problem, 2) describe why it may be a problem (insight), and 3) describe a viable solution. Initial studies support the discriminant validity of the CARE. That is, the profies and scores of women with a history of domestic violence were significantly different from those of women who had no history of domestic violence. In addition, the study demonstrated how the results of the assessment can be used to formulated a targeted intervention in specific cases of domestic violence.

In keeping with recent emphasis on the benefits to behavior analysis of translational programs of study, this symposium features a series of three talks describing very different approaches to translation. Opening remarks by the chair will set the stage for a broad consideration of translational research in behavior analysis, and why it is important to our field. The first talk will target behavioral economics as a synthesis of economics and behavior analysis, with focus on the contributions each discipline has made to the other and obstacles still to be overcome in increasing dialogue between the two. The second talk will consider the comparison between selectionism as a conceptual framework in evolutionary biology and in behavior analysis, with particular attention to the selection of systems in natural selection and the selection of behavior. The third talk will present recent data on adjunctive behavior, with emphasis on the implications of such data for understanding human problems of excess such as drug abuse, anorexia, or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

In keeping with recent emphasis on the benefits to behavior analysis of translational programs of study, this symposium features a series of three talks describing very different approaches to translation. Opening remarks by the chair will set the stage for a broad consideration of translational research in behavior analysis, and why it is important to our field. The first talk will target behavioral economics as a synthesis of economics and behavior analysis, with focus on the contributions each discipline has made to the other and obstacles still to be overcome in increasing dialogue between the two. The second talk will consider the comparison between selectionism as a conceptual framework in evolutionary biology and in behavior analysis, with particular attention to the selection of systems in natural selection and the selection of behavior. The third talk will present recent data on adjunctive behavior, with emphasis on the implications of such data for understanding human problems of excess such as drug abuse, anorexia, or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Behavioral Economics is a synthesis between Economics (Ec) and Psychology. Potential contributions from Behavior Analysis (BA) come from the fact that both assume that behavior is the relation between the organism and environmental constraints - Ec focused on human social exchanges and BA with a broader interest in behavior in general. BA is guided by philosophical and methodological principles (radical behaviorism and inductivism), whereas Ec research is not characterized by philosophical or methodological affiliations, but by their topics. The number of publications in behavioral economics under the BA approach has been increasing since the 90s, and concentrated around a select number of topics: demand elasticity (relation between prices and consumption), discount curves (decrease in reinforcement value due to delay), and choices under concurrent schedules of reinforcement. Ecs contributions to BA include the application of demand law to impulsive behavior studies and an emphasis on broader contingencies (closed or opened systems). The dialog between the two has to overcome some obstacles: (1) behavioral analysts tend to remain restricted to their scientific community, and (2) animal experimentation is not well accepted by economists. Benefits from BA-Ec alliance include a larger audience for behavior-analytic findings and application to other socially-relevant areas.

Three dimensions of selection in cultural systems. Just like evolutionary biology has its conceptual framework for understanding natural selection, behavior analysis as a selection science represents a conceptual system that is consistent with, but not identical to the one represented by biology. Description of selection of cultures /social systems will most likely require new concepts as well. The new concepts must be consistent with, but not necessarily identical to concepts from natural selection and selection of behavior. Behavior in systems is still just behavior. However, systems are different and present different contingencies for selection of behavior, which is my point of departure for approaching an understanding of cultural selection. This may involve some new concepts, again consistent with, but not identical with behavioral terms. To grasp the difference between just behavior in systems and the selection of systems, I will elaborate on what I call the three dimensions of evolution in systems.

Adjunctive behaviour is a model of excessive behaviour and as such it has been evaluated on circumstances generating repetitive (compulsive) or premature (impulsive) behaviours that might underline diseases such as drug abuse, anorexia or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The understanding of the mechanisms (of reinforcement) that might explain the development and maintenance of adjunctive behaviour therefore will be valuable for our comprehension of such health problems. In the present talk Ill present some data on excessive drinking by laboratory rats and how this behaviour is modulated by drugs of abuse or genetically-selected animals.

Students' disruptive and noncompliant behavior interrupts classroom learning and frustrates teachers. Children exhibit noncompliance in the classroom and although minor, these ongoing disturbances can escalate and cause chaos. Additionally, a few students persistently engage in more challenging behaviors, such as aggression and defiance, interfering with teaching and learning. Teachers need an effective, universal classroom management and progress monitoring system. The Social Shape Up System (SSUS: Singletary, 2008) addresses this need by integrating behavioral science and technology to provide teachers with a comprehensive system to increase appropriate behavior in students. Data from the Phase I study indicated that when teachers implemented SSUS with fidelity, rule violations decreased and instructional time increased. Additional benefits include easy monitoring of SSUS use by school leadership, additional instruction for students with challenging behavior, and access to longitudinal and objective data for parents, physicians and support personnel to plan and monitor intervention. We will conduct one of three planned studies to test the feasibility, usability, and potential efficacy of SSUS with teachers and administrators during Fall 2011. Data collected to mid-November will be included in this paper presentation.

Students who fail to acquire appropriate social and emotional skills have a lower probability of completing school, becoming employed, and becoming well-adjusted adults. This study describes a behavioral training and its effects to promote social and emotional skills to students with learning difficulties. Three students, 9 to 13 years of age, participated in the study attending a Learning Centre twice a week for six months. Their behaviours were assessed by direct observation and parent reports, following baseline measurement, several interventions were successively applied to promote each child's functional behavior. Three multiple baseline designs were used to investigate the effects of intervention.

Effects of a district-wide Positive Behavior Support Initiative will be reviewed by presenting baseline data compared to intervention data. Data will include total number of discipline referrals by race, socio-economic status, and classification as a Special Education student. Data on the types of disciplinary actions used will also be presented and range from expulsions, alternative education placements, out of school suspension, in-school suspension, detentions, and corporal punishment. Assessment and analysis procedures used as well as intervention steps implemented during the first year will be outlined. A discussion of progress as well as areas of weakness and roadblocks faced will be highlighted. Future directions will be presented. Results show a decrease in discipline referrals district-wide. This presentation will benefit participants who work in, or consult with schools and those that are interested in Organizational Behavior Management.

For the 2007 – 2008 school year three public schools implemented Positive Behavior Supports. Data is calculated on student behavior coded as minor and major behaviors. These behaviors are tracked by student, location, incident type and teacher across campus. This allows the school to problem solve challenging times of day, locations, students and allows the staff to implement research based behavioral interventions. All three schools have seen a decrease a significant decrease in referrals from 40 referrals to 2,600 hundred referrals less than the previous school year. Using the 45 minutes per referral these numbers indicates these schools have regained five days to 325 school days devoted to academics. This figure was arrived at by multiplying the number of referrals times 45 minutes, taking that total and dividing by 60 minutes to find out how many hours were spent on referrals. Once the hours have been calculated that total is divided by 6 hours which is equivalent to a school day to arrive at the number of days regained. This model has been proposed fro research in the United Kingdom to look at cost efficient measures for providing services. The implications and knowledge to date will be presented.

Workplace bullying has many definitions that often reify nouns. The first task is to identify the effects of workplace bullying. The effects range from inflicting personal harm to institutional harm. The former includes such phenomena as stress and anxiety reactions including symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); the latter includes financial hardship for the institution. The second task is to provide a functional definition of workplace bullying by de-reifying the nouns that are often used to define workplace bullying and focus on the functional effects. Workplace bullying is defined as the manipulation of controlling variables to the advantage of oneself and to the disadvantage of the targeted person(s). A theoretical analysis of both the antecedents and consequences of workplace bullying is presented. The third task examines the role of contingencies, metacontingencies and macrocontingencies that may establish and maintain workplace bullying. The current analysis presents possibilities for interventions at the individual, group, and organizational level.

A review of the workplace bullying literature identifies the effects that range from individual consequences to institutional consequences.

An overview of the psychological literature on workplace bullying indicates that the phenomenon is reified. A functional definition of workplace bullying is defined as the manipulation of controlling variables to the advantage of oneself and to the disadvantage of the targeted person(s). A theoretical analysis of both the antecedents and consequences of workplace bullying is presented.

The role of contingencies and verbally-mediated interventions are discussed for both the individual and group level.

This panel discussion will address some historical perspective on behavior analysis from various regions around the world. Topics include: lessons learned, effective strategies for development, challenges and how to overcome them. We hope that this discussion will provide an opportunity for other behavior analysis communities to start and expand their movement and to work cooperatively as a community.

This symposium involves three presentations that explore unique issues in the area of verbal behavior. While behavior analysts have long discussed and debated the topic, many interesting issues are yet to be fully considered. This group of papers addresses ongoing discussion and debate surrounding the definition of verbal behavior, encouraging a consideration of its unique features, the role of verbal observing responses and their participation in the development of complex perspective taking repertoires, and finally, the essential role of verbal behavior in religion. All three of the presentations will emphasize the unique features of verbal behavior and encourage behavior analysts to appreciate the complexity involved in psychological events which involve verbal participation.

Several movements in the area of verbal behavior have criticized and/or extended upon Skinners (1957) definition of verbal behavior. In response, advocates of Skinners analysis have recently suggested that a definition of verbal behavior is not important, suggesting that one could study language without defining it. In this presentation I will review the critical aspects of definitional acts in science, and then provide some specific implications for making progress in the area of verbal behavior. It will be argued that definitions, when properly understood as constructions, are necessary for isolating aspects of the subject matter. If behavior analysts are interested in verbal behavior, it might do us some good to consider what it is that we are so interested in.

Perspective-taking has been defined as the capacity to infer anothers thoughts, feelings, or internal states of knowledge. This is a particularly complex phenomenon, as the perceiver must take into consideration his or her own past behavior and how anothers behavior may be the same, but also notably different in various circumstances. The demonstration of the most complex form of perspective-taking is when the perceiver accurately predicts anothers behavior in novel situations. This study examines the factors involved in the initial acquisition of this repertoire with young children. It aims to determine if verbal behavior is a critical factor in the initial acquisition of perspective-taking, as had been seen to be important in the demonstration of this skill in adults.

Despite the fact that spiritistic beliefs -- whether they be organized as conventional religious dogma, dispersed as idiosyncratic notions of a higher power, or suspended in the absence of "proof" -- are incompatible with the premises of behaviorism, a great many so-called behaviorists hold such beliefs. Regrettably for these behaviorists, the arguable contention that scientists are able to abide by contradictory sets of fundamental premises so long as these sets apply to different domains of knowing does not apply when the science at issue is behavior science: In this particular case the domains are the same. It will be argued that supernatural entities are reifications of non-referential verbal constructions and that believing in the existence and power of such non-entities reflects a lack of familiarity with the premises of behaviorism as well as an inadequate understanding of verbal and other forms of complex human behavior. Further, given that the persistence of incompatible beliefs in the repertoires of a great many behaviorists adversely impacts the validity and significance of behavior science, it will be argued that these reportorial inadequacies are in need of remediation.

The most obvious way to study relationships between environment and behavior is to express a response measure, R, as a function of some physical magnitude, S. This simple approach often fails, however, and most researchers find it necessary to express behavior not as a direct function of S but as a function of an intervening variable, ψ, which is itself a function of S. Explaining behavior in terms ofψ is a fundamental task of psychophysics, whereψ is referred to as an internal sensation or subjective magnitude. Similarly, models of timing such as scalar expectancy theory express operant behavior not as a function not of physical time but of subjective time (ψ), and most theories of discounting refer to quantities such as the subjective value of reinforcement (ψ). In all cases,ψ variables have proved not only useful to the design of stimulus interventions but also fully necessary to the quantitative analysis of behavior. In this talk, I sketch an alternative interpretation ofψ variables that locate them in the objective environment. This reinterpretation is then brought to bear on a number of quantitative models of behavior, including timing, signal detection, and recognition memory. [Resumen: La manera más obvia de estudiar las relaciones entre el medio ambiente y la conducta es la de expresar una medida de respuesta, R, en función de alguna magnitud física, S. Sin embargo, este sencillo enfoque falla a menudo, y la mayoría de los investigadores consideran necesario expresar el comportamiento no como una función directa de S, sino en función de una variable interviniente, ψ, que a su vez es una función de S. Explicar la conducta en términos de ψ es una tarea fundamental de la psicofísica, donde ψ es referido como una sensación interna o magnitud subjetiva. Del mismo modo, los modelos de tiempo como la teoría de la expectativa escalar expresan el comportamiento operante no en función del tiempo físico, sino del tiempo subjetivo (ψ), y la mayoría de las teorías del descuento se refieren a variables cuantificables como el valor subjetivo del reforzador (ψ). En todos los casos, las variables ψ han demostrado ser no sólo útiles para el diseño de intervenciones, sino también totalmente necesarias para el análisis cuantitativo de la conducta. En esta charla, esbozaré una interpretación alternativa de las variables ψ que las ubica en el ambiente objetivo. Esta reinterpretación será trasladada a una serie de modelos cuantitativos de la conducta, incluyendo el “timing”, la detección de señales y la memoria de reconocimiento.]

Se va a describir un procedimiento para la enseÑanza de lenguaje receptivo referido al esquema corporal. Lo que se persigue es la comprensión de las diferentes partes que conforman el cuerpo humano, en un niÑo de diez aÑos de edad diagnosticado con Autismo. Es un niÑo con intención comunicativa, que no posee control ecoico y muestra dificultades para la realización de imitaciones y seguir instrucciones referidas al lenguaje receptivo de su propio esquema corporal. El procedimiento ha consistido en desarrollar un programa de discriminación condicional del esquema corporal sobre una imagen con la cara del propio niÑo. Para ello, se ha llevado a cabo la aplicación de dos operantes de forma consecutivas. En un primer momento, se solicita la discriminación de una imagen referidas a una parte del cuerpo, dentro de una comparación de mínimo dos imágenes. Inmediatamente, se indica al niÑo que coloque la imagen en el lugar correspondiente de la silueta. Después de realizar la segunda operante se le proporciona el refuerzo. Con este procedimiento se ha conseguido el aprendizaje de diferentes partes del cuerpo ("Boca", "Nariz", "Ojo", "Oreja", "Pelo", "Cabeza", "Pecho", "Barriga", "Pierna", "Brazo", "Mano" y "Pie") en un corto periodo de tiempo.

The aim of this work is to acquire and develop text comprehension orally in a ten-year-old and six months child diagnosed with Asperger Disorder. He is a verbal child capable of reading and writing but with difficulties to comprehend texts and select relevant information. The procedure involves the application and fading of visual and echoic support as well as the development of the intraverbal during the reading of diverse children's texts for pre-school and primary school children. The reading is firstly done by the child and then by the therapist. Once the reading is finished, the text is taken away from the child and questions related to characters, actions, places and the aim of character's actions are asked. Through this procedure it has been possible to keep a high level of attention while listening to the reading and a more appropriate response to the questions without visual support.

Previous applied studies have identified a number of effective teaching procedures to increase the verbal communication of children with developmental difficulties (e.g: mands, tacts, Kelley, Shillyngsburg, Castro, Addison and LaRue, 2007; Wallace, Iwata and Hanley, 2006). Nevertheless, these procedures not always adjust to the individual needs of some children. We will briefly describe a procedure to teach tacts in a six-year- old and seven months child with a childhood disintegrative disorder. He is a verbal child who has no emerging mands and who has so far shown some learning difficulties, retention and generalization of tacts following commonly used procedures to teach those. In this case, the child has not acquired tacts during the training sessions of tacts. A procedure where intraverbal and tacts are combined is carried out and, consequently, the performance and effectiveness of learning tacts in two or three dimensions increase. As a result, the sessions lead to an increase of spontaneous vocalization to tact and mand for reinforcing items ("ball", "water", "chair", "milk", "pencil", "glass", "comb").

One of the most common deficiencies in the verbal repertoires of children with autism and related disorders is the absence of socially appropriate vocal mands. The purpose was teaching vocal mands through social behavior in a child of five years old with verbal repertories diagnose with autism who do not often emit vocal mands. It was designed a procedure to teach complex mands using social and sensorial reinforcement (e.g., tickle, turns), it was the first step to allow the child to ask for more. Increasing the ratio of vocalizations (e.g., tickle, turns, kiss, hugs) we included tangible, edible and nonedible items (e.g., chips, DVD, music) to the procedure. Thereafter, with prompts and reinforcement contingencies the child started to make complex mands with social component to adults. Prioritizing social behavior in child diagnoses with autisms permit to gains access to environmental stimuli and contingencies that would be otherwise unavailable. These contingencies may shape other behaviors such as social play, and interactions with siblings and become in a cusp, as defined by Rosales-Ruiz and Baer (1997), is "a behavior change that has consequences for the organism beyond the change itself, some of which may be considered important".

The aim of this work is to acquire and develop text comprehension orally in a ten-year-old and six months child diagnosed with Asperger Disorder. He is a verbal child capable of reading and writing but with difficulties to comprehend texts and select relevant information. The procedure involves the application and fading of visual and echoic support as well as the development of the intraverbal during the reading of diverse childrens texts for pre-school and primary school children. The reading is firstly done by the child and then by the therapist. Once the reading is finished, the text is taken away from the child and questions related to characters, actions, places and the aim of characters actions are asked. Through this procedure it has been possible to keep a high level of attention while listening to the reading and a more appropriate response to the questions without visual support.

A Teaching Model for Reading in Spanish, based on the literacy method "Micho" combined with procedures of verbal behaviour, is described in this paper. This so-called MICHO-VB method includes the following tools: auditory perception, production of phonemes associated with meaningful sounds, visual perception of graphemes, support of sound production with gestures and fine and gross motor skills. Children are required to posses the following skills before starting to read: generalized imitation, Naming (Greer, 2008), high echoic level, general tacts and having started intraverbals. More studies are necessary to identify the pre-requisites that facilitate the learning of reading and writing. Several procedures are used to create conditioning for stories, fine motor skills, auditory orientation and conditioning, auditory discrimination and the necessary aspects to ease the learning process. The MICHO-VB method is formed by the use of shaping, fading, intraverbal teaching, token economy, systematic recording and individual and social reinforcements. Our experience in the use of this method with groups of three children is still very little, but the success in the teaching process of reading shows that with certain improvements and further research this could be an effective method for children with autism.

A significant percentage of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) fail to develop sufficient speech to meet their communication needs and are therefore candidates for augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). There is debate as to which AAC system is best suited to these children. The purpose of this study was to compare the acquisition of, and preference for, three AAC systems. Four children with autism, ages 6-13 years, were taught to mand preferred objects using speech-generating devices (SGD), picture exchange (PE), and manual signs. Intervention was introduced across participants in a multiple-baseline design and acquisition across the three AAC systems was compared in an alternating treatments design. Preference checks were conducted to determine if the children showed a preference for one AAC option over the others. All children showed increased use of AAC to make requests when intervention was introduced. One participant exhibited a preference for the SGD and PE, one did for PE, and the remaining two did for the SGD. The results support previous studies showing that individuals with ASD often show a preference for different AAC options and extend previous research by suggesting that acquisition and maintenance was better when the person used their more preferred option.

Applied behavioral analysis (ABA) was used in educational settings. Early education using the methods of ABA has shown to produce important gains in many children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) or at risk for ASD. Notably, one of the ABA-based practice is early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) has demonstrated strong evidence for its efficacy. Outcomes of many studies show that EIBI enhances IQ levels, skill development and inclusion opportunities. Also, it decreases autistic symptoms in children with ASD (e.g. Lovaas, 1987). Although ABA-based practice is utilized in Turkey, EIBI is a new development in Turkey. The purpose of this poster presentation is to provide information regarding the first year of ABA-based educational input and implementation process with one toddler at high risk for ASD. In addition, child’s performance will display according to OCIDEP-IZ results (see, Table 1). Also, qualitative data about the effects of the education on the participant will be presented. This study is expected to be useful for delivering ABA-based practice in Turkey and other international literature. Keywords: Autism, early intensive behavioral intervention, applied behavior analysis. References Lovaas, O. I. (1987). Behavioral treatment and normal educational and intellectual functioning in young autistic children. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 55, 3-9. Footnotes OCIDEP-IZ is a early childhood performance assessment tool consisting of four developmental areas: matching, imitation, receptive language and expressive language. Each developmental area consists of five characteristics (Kircaali-Iftar, G. (2007). Behavioral intervention program assesment tool for ASD. Unpublished Assessment Tool.)

Up to 90% of children with autism exhibit feeding problems, the most common is food selectivity or picky eating. Many studies have investigated interventions that are effective for children with feeding problems, however few studies have examined interventions appropriate and effective for use in the classroom setting. In the current study, shaping, a token system, positive reinforcement, and escape prevention procedures were used with one student with autism and food selectivity to increase acceptance of food. All of the sessions were conducted in a classroom setting. Results showed that the use of reinforcement and the token system were not as effective as the escape prevention procedures with differential reinforcement to increase overall food acceptance for the student.

This study explores responses for visual, auditory and tactile stimuli in order to see how to respond through interactions between robot and children labeled with autism. Robots have visual, auditory and tactile stimuli. The subject of this study are three male children labeled with autism. The method of this study three people observe and record for 14 sessions of responses of children labeled with autism to stimuli. The observation notes are analyzed by responses and frequency. The result of this study indicates children labeled with autism responses to auditory stimuli. The order of response frequency is auditory, visual, tactile stimuli. Children labeled with autism show tendency that they response better the stimuli that they prefer such as stimuli that they are familiar with. This indicates that robots that have stimuli that children labeled with autism prefer thus can be utilized for improving the outcome of interventions for children labeled with autism.

Pairing a therapist with reinforcement is commonly advised when initiating behavioural intervention programmes with children with autism. While much research has been carried out on stimulus-stimulus pairing, there has been little empirical evaluation of the effects of pairing individuals with reinforcement. The present study examined the effect of pairing a therapist with positive reinforcement on the task engagement and challenging behaviour of children with autism. Two children with autism participated in a multiple-probe across participants design. Experimental functional analyses indicated escape from task demands as the primary maintaining variable for both participants’ challenging behaviour. A therapist conducted multiple pairing sessions with each participant across a 4 week period. While an increase in task engagement was observed after the pairing procedure was introduced for one participant, the data for the second participant were not conclusive. No significant effects on challenging behaviour were observed. The present study represents an initial analysis of an under-researched topic, which merits further investigation.

The purpose of the intervention is to decrease self-injurious behavior (SIB) by blocking attempts to self-injure, differentially reinforcing behaviors other than self-injury (DRO) and increasing the ability to communicate using the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS). The study was conducted with a four-year-old boy diagnosed with Autism. The setting was a classroom with a 1:1 student to teacher ratio in an out-of-district special education school. After a functional behavior assessment was completed, we concluded that the student’s self-injurious behavior was maintained by attention, escape, gaining access to tangible items and sensory stimulation. The student was non-verbal and did not have an appropriate way to communicate a request for attention or a break. The student pointed to toys and other items he wanted. PECS was introduced to give the student a way to communicate his needs. A differential reinforcement of other behavior beginning at a one minute interval was used to reinforce the student with praise and appropriate physical interaction in the absence of self injury. The self-injurious behavior was stopped using as little physical contact as possible and no eye contact. PECS training was introduced two days after the DRO was introduced. The data showed a high rate of 134 instances of SIB prior to the intervention. The intervention decreased the instances of SIB to a low of 0. The results indicate that the combination of DRO and PECS worked to decrease the instances of SIB for this student.

The purpose of this study is to replicate the findings of Karmali, Greer, Nuzzolo- Gomez, Ross & Rivera-Valdes – Reducing Palilalia by Presenting Tact Corrections to Young Children with Autism (2005) The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 21, 145-153. A seven year old female student with autism who attends a special needs school in a large metropolitan area is the participant in this study. We are utilizing a multiple baseline design across two settings: work and play. The purpose of this intervention is to replace palilalia with mands and tacts. The procedure consists of interrupting palilalia with a tact correction. When the student engages in rapid, nonsense talk, she is interrupted with a phrase related to the task she is engaging in or about something salient to the environment. The results replicate those of the aforementioned study, indicating that this procedure is effective in the reduction of palilalia.

Regardless of the conceptual analysis of human development, all theoreticians recognize the importance of children learning skills by observing the actions of others. Numerous studies have found impairments in imitation skills (defined as when one organism duplicates the behavior modeled by another organism (Catania, 1972)), in children with autism, compared to both their typically-developing peers and those with other cognitive delays (Ham, Corely, Rajendran, Carletta, & Swanson, 2008). Recent research has found that a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is more likely to attain higher levels of development if he has some imitative skills prior to the implementation of intervention services Sallows & Graupner, 2005; Weiss, 1999). Although the development of initial imitation skills are frequently included in intervention programs for young children with ASD and are often used in the development of other critical skills including play and other social interaction skills (Ingersoll & Schreibman, 2006), there is still very little research that has identified how to teach imitation skills when children lack simple imitative skills and how to develop an effective repertoire of imitation skills in students with ASD. (Accardo, 2004; Ingersoll & Schreibman, 2006; Ryan, 2007). After a review of the literature revealed that there were a wide variety of imitative skills that were included in research articles and program development guides, an imitation skills assessment was developed (Partington, 2007) that provided the ability to assess a wide range of types of imitative skills (108 skills from 12 imitative domains). In the first study, the Partington Imitation Skills Assessment was administered to four typically developing preschoolers and demonstrated that these children could easily imitate the actions in the assessment with a high degree of accuracy. In the second study, this assessment was administered to four young children with ASD who attended a special education class prior to and following the implementation of a discrete trial program designed to teach specific imitative skills to each child. The results of the intervention indicated that the teaching strategies resulted in improvements in both the number and variety of different types of imitation skills for each of the participants.

Level 1 of visual perspective taking (VPT) consists of making correct verbal inferences about the visual perception of oneself and other person, when both are seeing different things at the same time. We have identified three prerequisites to show Level 1 of VPT in typically developing children: (a) following the gaze, (b) the discrimination between what oneself and other person can or cannot see, and (c) the personal pronouns "I" and "you" as responses. The goal of this study was to analyze the Level 1 of VPT and these prerequisites in persons with autism. The participants were 13 children and adolescents, their ages were from 5 to 19 years old. All the participants were evaluated in a target probe of Level 1 of VPT and in 7 possible prerequisites. Three participants succeeded the target probe of Level 1 of VPT and the prerequisites previously identified. The remaining participants did not succeed the target probe of Level 1 of VPT and neither all the prerequisites. This result replicated the obtained with typically developing children.

The purpose of this study was to introduce the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) to the parents who have a child with autism and enable them to participate to implementation of PECS. This study was conducted with parents of a child with autism who was attending to Developmental Disability Unit of the Research Institute for the Handicapped at Anadolu University, Turkey. A four-step parent training program was developed. Parent training sessions were administered at a meeting room in the Research Institute. Information about features and phases of PECS were introduced during the first session. Parents watched several video clips representing the implementation of PECS during this session. During the subsequent sessions information and videoclips about Phase I & II and Phase III in the PECS were presented respectively. At the end of the each session, the acquisition levels of the parents were tested. Furthermore, parents were asked to write their opinions about each session in a diary. Brief sessions were arranged at the end of the study to observe and record the behaviors of the parents and the child when they were using PECS.

This intervention was designed to decrease spitting in a nine-year-old boy with autism. The participant attends a one to one applied behavior analysis program in a large metropolitan area. Functional assessments indicated that this behavior was being maintained by automatic reinforcement. His spitting behavior occurred on a continuous basis, interfering with his learning at school and preventing him from accessing a larger community of reinforcement. For the baseline condition we collected data on a one-to-one minute interval throughout the entire school day. The procedure consisted of delivering praise and an edible reinforcer on a one-minute interval (DRO) throughout the school day. Data was compiled into 3 graphs. We graphed (1) frequency of intervals with occurrence of spitting, (2) the rate per minute of occurrences and (3) percentage of intervals in which the behavior occurred. The results indicated that the procedure was successful at decreasing spitting and extinguishing the behavior.

This case study exemplifies the power of applied behavior analysis in two important areas of the life of a child diagnosed with autism: toilet training and food selection. Toilet training is a major milestone in achieving independence in early childhood that is often delayed (or missed entirely) in children with autism. This poster will demonstrate the use of applied behavior analysis to increase independence in a preschooler diagnosed with Autism through systematic toilet training. Food selectivity is another common problem in children with Autism; in fact, their choices often include items with little or no nutritional value. The present study was designed to increase consumption of fruits and vegetables in a preschooler diagnosed with autism to find more healthy alternative edible reinforcers. The use of the Premack principle and shaping led to a decrease in problem behaviors and increase in food consumption.

The atypical antipsychotic drug clozapine has multiple pharmacological actions, some of which, including 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT2) and histamine (H1) receptor antagonist effects, are shared by the non-selective 5-HT receptor antagonist cyproheptadine. Here we examined the effects of cyproheptadine and clozapine on progressive ratio schedule performance in rats, using Killeens’s (1994) mathematical model of schedule controlled behaviour. We also assessed the effects of a conventional antipsychotic, haloperidol, and a benzodiazepine with appetite-enhancing effects, chlordiazepoxide. Clozapine (3.75, 7.5 mg kg-1) increased the motivational parameter of Killeen’s model (a) and a parameter that is inversely related to the ‘motor capacity’ of the organism (d). Haloperidol (0.05, 0.1 mg kg-1) increased d but reduced a. Chlordiazepoxide (3, 10 mg kg-1) increased a but reduced d. Interpretation based on Killeen’s model suggests that cyproheptadine and clozapine enhanced the incentive value of the reinforcer and impaired motor performance. Motor impairment may be due to sedation (possibly reflecting H1 receptor blockade). Enhancement of incentive value may reflect simultantaneous blockade of H1 and 5-HT2 receptors, which has been proposed as the mechanism underlying the appetite-enhancing effect of cyproheptadine. In agreement with previous findings, haloperidol impaired motor performance and reduced the incentive value of the reinforcer.

The Elevated Plus-Maze was adapted to assess the effects of the association between morphine administration and a previous aversive environment, in a Conditioned Place Preference procedure. This study aimed to assess environmental and pharmacological effects of addiction not assessed by other animal models. Seventy two rats were divided into six groups, in which five were administrated with morphine solution (0,0; 0,3; 1,0; 5,0 and 10,0 mg/kg) or saline and were exposed to the open or the closed arms of the maze, respectively, for four consecutive alternated days. The sixth group was only administrated with saline, not being exposed. At the fifth day, all groups were exposed to the maze in a five-minute test. As a result, without the drug administration the open arms exploration was reduced, suggesting that the aversion elicited by these compartments have enlarged. This effect was prevented by the morphine conditioning in doses of 1,0 and 5,0 mg/kg, that cause conditioned place preference at the pattern model. However, it is not prevented in the anxiolytic dose of 0,3 mg/kg. These results indicate that this procedure can assess the reinforcing effects of drugs administration, featuring the advantage of studying addiction in a context where aversive stimuli are presented.

Objectives: Behavior Change techniques are the vertebral column to obtain the clinical change. These tools are based on the learning and conditioning psychology paradigm. In this way, what's the importance of the manner that therapist express the instructions for setting up those strategies? In order to response to this question, the aim of the present research is to study the typology of therapist instructions with the goal of establishing some first hypothesis of the influence of these therapist verbalizations in clinical change. Method: 20 fragments of video-taped sessions of clients attending counseling in a private psychological clinic of Madrid were analyzed. Using an observational methodology and a coding system, the clinical sessions were registered according to the instructional categories previously elaborate and refined through the unsystematic observations of clinical sessions with The Observer XT software instrument. Results: Data were discussed in terms of find out differences in typology of instructions depending on the experience of therapist and the moment in which the treatment is. (Graphics [1]) Conclusion: Results will be useful to figure out some first hypothesis of the rule of instructions just as the importance of these verbalizations to getting the clinical change.

Each year about 100 children are injured in Iceland when they fall out of shopping-carts. The aim of this study was to try to affect the behavior of parents who place their children into the shopping-carts. A picture-card was put on the rear side of shopping-carts in four supermarkets in the Reykjavíks metropolitan area such that they faced the parent when rolling the cart. The picture-card showed a child standing in a shopping-cart but had a diagonal line accross the picture and a circle around it as is typical of traffic signs that note a ban. A mixed multiple-baseline across shops and ABA withdrawal design evaluated the effect of the intervention. Results indicated that the intervention had a major impact on parents target behavior, it decreased dramatically. This simple procedure has the potential to decrease accidents that take place as a consequence of parents placing children in shopping-carts.

The Japanese students with developmental disabilities often showed some difficulties of reading and writing response for English as second language. Many researchers argued that the matching-to-sample (MTS) procedure and constructed-response matching-to-sample (CRMTS) procedure was effective to construct the equivalence relations. After these trainings, many participants showed the transfer to other topographic responses such as reading and writing. In this study, two students with developmental disabilities participated, who had difficulties for the reading and writing in English. We developed the computer-based and mobile phone-based MTS and CRMTS training and delivered one via Internet. These students were required to select or construct the correct word as faster as they could. We collected the data included correct response rate and response time via Internet and delivered new learning set. As results, two students not only could choose and construct the correct words. There results were discussed in terms of the equivalence relations and the effectiveness of distance learning.

The present study was conducted to investigate whether a music therapy could improve communication activities of a child of age 10 with developmental disorder. The client showed difficulties in social relationships with others. Five therapy sessions were carried out based on the alternating-treatments design of applied behavior analysis. Each session consisted of baseline and intervention conditions. During the baseline, the child was presented with the no-music tasks, and received the music therapy during the intervention. The number of conversation cycles between the client and her therapist (NCC) was counted as a behavioral measure. Figure 1 shows the NCC on each therapy session. In the 1st and 2nd sessions the NCC in the intervention were lower than that of the baseline, but became higher in the following three sessions. Further, the client’s music skills improved owing to the music therapy. Furthermore, the child’s mother reported the increase of the child’s desirable communication activities in their family and her school. From these results, we concluded that applied behavior analysis could become the scientific basis for music therapy and herewith proved the effectiveness of music therapy.

Study Objective: The purpose of the study was to examine the effect of self-monitoring and token economy system on improving inappropriate behaviors of a student with developmental disabilities. Design: A-B design. Setting: A therapy room at the university and regular elementary school setting. Participant: a boy (six years old, IQ 120) with learning disabilities and ADHD participated in this study. Independent variables: self-monitoring procedure and token economy system were introduced. After the student recorded own behavior occurred at his classes, he acquired token according to self-monitoring sheets in the university. Measure: on-task behavior and aggressive behavior were evaluated. Results: After the intervention, on-task behavior was increased, and aggressive behavior was decreased. Conclusion: The results suggested that self-monitoring and token economy system were effective in improving appropriate behavior (on-task) as well as inappropriate behavior (aggression) at the school setting. These behaviors were controlled by token, and were evaluated positively by his parents and teacher who red the self-monitoring sheets. It may that the intervention of this study improved his social environment in school and home settings.

This poster presents the findings of a systematic literature review on empirical studies using iPods® and iPads® in ABA interventions for individuals with special educational needs. Portable devices, such as the iPod Touch® and the iPad®, can be useful tools to teach a range of skills to individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities. The portability of these devices means training can be provided in any setting and at any time. In addition, they are widely available and relatively cheap when compared with specialized assistive technology equipment. Numerous anecdotal reports exist on the educational benefits of iPods®, but little empirical evidence is available. The objective of this review was to provide a synthesis of the current state of research employing iPods® and iPads® to teach new skills to individuals with special educational needs. The systematic search procedure located 10 relevant studies. Results suggest these portable devices can be successfully used in interventions as, for instance, a speech generating device or to deliver video modelling instruction. The use of iPods® and iPads® in special education interventions is a relatively new research area, but findings are promising and warrant further investigation.

Music therapy has been generally used in the training of social interaction, communication, peer communication, and cooperation skills of individuals with special needs. However, there is a need to review descriptively the studies conducted on music therapy with individuals with special needs. Therefore, this study intends; (a) to present descriptively the effectiveness of music therapy, (b) to analyze and discuss various variables in the studies, (c) to propose suggestions for further studies. In the scope of this purpose, 14 studies, which corresponds to the pre-determined criteria, were found and analyzed descriptively. Individuals with autism spectrum disorders, mental retardation, emotional and behavioral retardation, rett’s syndrome, apraxy, learning disabilities, and neurological retardation were participants in these studies. Results of effectiveness studies indicated that music therapy was effective on 96 % of the participants in these studies. Discussions and suggestions for future research are provided.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of constant time delay (CTD) procedure in teaching pre-school academic skills to children with developmental disabilities in a small group teaching arrangement. In addition, the extent achieved by learning through observation in a small group teaching arrangement was also examined. Four children with developmental disabilities participated in the study. To examine the effectiveness of the CTD multiple probe design across behaviors was used. Findings of the study indicated that CTD was effective in teaching different pre-school academic skills to children with developmental disabilities by use of different stimuli in a small group teaching arrangement. Subjects were determined to retain their skills one, three, and four weeks after the training sessions were terminated, and they were also noted to generalize the target skills across different settings, people, and materials. Moreover, children were also identified to have learned the skills with high precision through observation.

The main goal of this study was to identify the relations between visual perspective taking (VPT) and false belief (FB) skills. The participants were 15 typically developing children, their ages ranged from 4-to-5 years. Each participant was evaluated in one probe of Level 1 of VPT, 3 probes of Level 2 of VPT (with verbal, picture-selection, and object-selection responses), and 2 FB probes (the appearance-reality and Sally and Ann probes). Fourteen children passed the probe of Level 1 of VPT, 15 children passed one or more of the 3 probes of Level 2 of VPT, and 10 children passed at least one of FB probes. This data showed that (a) 6 children passed the 2 FB probes, the Level 1 of VPT probe, and the Level 2 of VPT with verbal and photo selection responses, (b) 5 children did not pass the FB probes but they met the criterion in the Level 1 of VPT probe and at least in the Level 2 of VPT with verbal responses. These data show that these skills are mainly independent from one another and they could need different pre-requisites to be acquired.

Four groups were exposed to particular sequence of training using matching-to-sample task. The stimuli were colored shapes indicating a sample-comparison relation (i.e. identity, similarity and difference). In stereotypy condition, respond by repeating the same relation as in the previous trial was reinforced (i.e., always choose identity). In variability condition respond without repeating the relation chosen in the previous trial was reinforced (i.e., first trial choose identity and then similarity). The first group (n=10) was exposed only to stereotypy sequence. Second group was exposed only to variability sequence. Third group was exposed to stereotypy and variability sequence and fourth group was exposed to reverse sequence variability-stereotypy. Results showed that stereotypy training was almost 100% correct responses in all participants who were exposed only to this condition. On variability condition, correct responses increased across training sessions, but never reached 100% correct responses. Participants in stereotypy and variability groups responded in accordance with training on transfer test. The effects of training sequence on transfer were similar for third and fourth groups. Participants from both groups showed more variability. Results suggest that a particular training sequence affect transfer in conditional discrimination tasks.

Play appears often as a functional skill that allows children to engage in interactions with their peers. It is a key skill in the learning curriculum of children with disabilities. We found in the existing research many interventions targeting this behavior; the definitions, measurement, and name of the behaviors, however, vary across studies. These skills have been classified in levels, such as functional play and symbolic play. The purpose of this study was to analyze the utility of a specific behavioral definition of pretend acts and symbolic play behaviors based on previous investigations (Lifter, Sulzer-Azaroff, Anderson, & Cowdery, 1993; Blanc, Adrien, Roux, & Barthélémy, 2005). This definition tries to avoid interpretations about the mental state of the children and tries to be useful for different types of toys and props. The results showed a difference in the predominant type of play dependent on the age of the children. At lower ages children show more play episodes of contact with the toy and manipulation. The older children (2-2,8 years) show less contact play and more functional and symbolic play.

The acceptance and commitment therapy uses metaphors and experiential exercises, such as "milk-milk" verbal interaction to produce desliteralization, where the therapist tries to eliminate the emotional associations of the words. This study tries to verify into an experimental analogous situation what the specific components wich produce emotional changes are. An intergroup design with pre-post measurement was compared for four conditions: (1) this "milk-milk" exercise, (2) repetition of a personal emotional word, (3) verbal shaping of therapist from exercise to emotional word, and (4) control group. The participants were 32 university students (26 women and 6 men), randomized through conditions. The evaluation pre-post was with emotional words from 10 pictures of TAT on computer. The participants evaluated each picture about emotional words and subjective intensity of emotions. Also pre-post questionnaires (AAQ, ERQ, and ATQ) were used. The training of verbal exercises was during 2 sessions 30 minutes. The results shown that emotional evaluation did not change after verbal exercises. There were no statistical significant differences between groups. Unlike other clinical articles, the desliteralization process did not happen into a laboratory situation. We conclude that probably more exercises or time sessions are necessary or perhaps other measurement of emotional changes.

Individuals with autism often display difficulties on the acquisition of symbolic repertoires. The present study investigated the possible relation between previous discriminative repertoires and symbolic functioning in six autistic individuals, two who could perform identity matching but not arbitrary matching (ABLA level 4), and four who could perform identity and arbitrary matching (ABLA levels 5 and 6). Simple discriminations and identity matching between visual stimuli were taught on a touch-screen monitor. Selections of A1, B1 and C1 were reinforced with consequence 1 (sound 1 + edible 1) and A2, B2 and C2 were reinforced with consequence 2 (sound 2 + edible 2). All baseline relations were compatible with participant’s discriminative repertoires, but emergent relations AB, BA, AC, CA, BC and CB were compatible only with the repertoires of participants who matched ABLA levels 5/6. All participants learned the baseline, but equivalence classes were established only in three participants who matched ABLA level 5/6, although all participants showed at least one emergent performance. Results suggest an important role of discriminative repertoires as requisites for symbolic functioning and highlight the possibility that participants who did not display arbitrary matching repertoires could acquire those performances if the teaching procedure establishes the necessary requisites.

A previous study aimed to verify the ability of domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) in responding to a simple discrimination task and stimuli function reversal in the presence of the objects (non social situation) or humans (non communicative social situation). Only the chimpanzee data presented some significant difference between the conditions. It is possible that the lack of familiarity with the experiments controlled the dogs´ responding. The present study had the objective to replicate the previous study with people familiarized with the dogs. 15 subjects were used, divided into 3 groups: non social group, social group with familiarized experimenters and social group with owners. The procedure was identical to the one of the previous study, being composed of five phases: stimuli familiarization, task familiarization, stimuli preference test, simple discrimination and stimuli function reversal. The results were analyzed through the Mann-Whitney test and did not demonstrate significant differences between the three groups. The hypothesis that the human stimuli gained social function when they were familiar to the dogs was not confirmed. It is possible that the dogs´ ability in social situations is restricted to situations in which occurs communication or cooperation.

Conditional discrimination training based on physical similarity of visual stimuli was given to three dogs. On each trial, subjects were trained to nose poke a sample stimulus (e.g., A1) presented on a touch screen monitor (upper central position). Responding to the sample removed this stimulus and two comparison stimuli (A1 and A2) were presented in the side positions (left-right). Selection of the comparison stimulus physically identical to the sample produced the presentation of a food pellet. Three different techniques have been used so far, to teach the conditional discriminations: a) fading-in the S–; b) distractor stimuli used in place of S–; and c) sessions comprised by a unique sample. The learning criteria were not achieved throughout the sessions and, in most of the cases, subjects chosen the same comparison stimulus in all trials, regardless of the sample. This behavioral pattern suggests that the dogs' performance was controlled by simple discrimination (although under intermittent reinforcement). Some procedural features were pointed out as probably related to these negative results concerning identity matching. Additional modifications are been carried out in order to develop an appropriate procedure for establishing the target behavior

One of the typical experimental situations of choice behavior is the choice between forced-choice and free-choice. Forced-choice situation contains only one alternative. Free-choice situation contains multiple alternatives. Many of those studies demonstrated the preference for free-choice over forced-choice. However, it is still not clear why free-choice is preferred over forced-choice. Therefore, main purpose of the present study was to solve the problem, especially focused on the ‘controllability’ which is contained only in the free-choice. This experiment was conducted by the use of concurrent-chains schedule at the computer display. Participants were required to choose from two situations at the IL; one had controllability (2A-C situation), the other didn’t have controllability (2A-UC situation). Both situations were presented two cards at the TL. At the 2A-C, participants could choose the card in the TL; at the 2A-UC, on the other hand, the card was chosen by the computer automatically, participants couldn’t choose the card instead. In addition, this study set three conditions of irrational condition, equal condition and rational condition by a point to be provided. As a result, at three conditions, significant preferences to the controllable situation (2A-C) were observed. The present study suggests that controllability facilitates the preference for free-choice.

Previous studies have shown that food deprivation can produce a self-deprivation of water in rats. This self-deprivation has been interpreted as evidence that eating and drinking interact with each other. It has been reported that changes in ethanol intake is accompanied by alterations in the pattern of food intake. Ethanol contains enough calories to be considered a macronutrient. This study explores the effects of food deprivation on body weight and food and water consumption when ethanol is available. For this purpose, twenty-four male Wistar rats were deprived of food for 72-hours, followed by a period of 10 days with free access of food and water. After this period, subjects were exposed to two cycles of food deprivation and free access. Ethanol 10% V/V remained available throughout the experiment. The consumption of ethanol, water, food, and body weight were recorded daily. A control group was exposed to the same experimental conditions, except that food and water were available throughout the experiment and had no access to alcohol. Data showed that the availability of ethanol did not produce self-deprivation of ethanol when introduced food deprivation, increased body weight, and feed intake increased slightly in post-deprivation periods. Results are discussed in terms of the interaction between eating, drinking, and body weight under conditions of food restriction and availability of ethanol.

An underinvestigated topic in the context of Pavlovian conditioning concerns the generalization of acquired responses. If one experiences an unconditioned stimulus in relation to a certain stimulus/situation, the acquired responses typically generalize to stimuli that are somehow related to this original stimulus/situation. Most generalization research has focused on perceptual forms of generalization: responses are transferred to stimuli that share perceptual features with the original conditioned stimulus. Clinical practice and daily life experiences, however, clearly suggest that other forms of generalization exist: non-perceptual generalization, or transfer of functions between stimuli that do not share perceptual features, but rather have a symbolic or a functional relation. In this experiment, in which we made use of a conditioned suppression task, we tried to generate functional relations between different background colors, inspired by the research tradition of acquired equivalence/distinctiveness. This phenomenon is based on common outcomes or antecedents. Preliminary results suggest more transfer of conditioned suppression between colors that were followed by the same outcome in a previous phase, compared with colors that were followed by a different outcome. In future research, we will investigate whether this phenomenon can be applied to the domain of fear conditioning.

Experimental data from animal studies suggest that exposure to uncontrollable aversive stimuli produces a subsequent difficulty on operant learning (learned helplessness). However, results have been inconsistent in humans, probably due to methodological differences in relation to animal research. We sought to overcome these differences by manipulating independent variables in college students. Two groups of subjects were exposed to aversive sounds (C and U groups), and one was not manipulated (N group). For the C group, interruption of sound was contingent to variable sequences of responses; for the U group, sound duration was independent of emitted responses. U subjects were divided into four subgroups according to different kinds of feedback provided (Uc and Up), reduced instruction (Ucr), and fixed duration of sounds (Uf). After this manipulation, all participants underwent a maze-solving task. C and N groups had lower latency and greater number of correct responses in comparison to U groups. Among the latter, Up, Uf and Ucr groups showed higher latencies and failures; Uc group showed intermediate pattern. These results replicate the learned helplessness effect in humans, suggesting this procedure is adequate for its study. The role of feedback, instructions, and reinforcement schedule utilized will be discussed.

The present study compare behavioral effects in male and female rats regarding to (1) the learned helplessness (LH) effect (a session of uncontrollable shocks followed by an escape test), and (2) the LH immunization (ten sessions with the appetitive stimulus presentation followed by one of uncontrollable shocks and one for the escape test). Moreover the controllability/uncontrollability and the independent variable predictability/unpredictability were also manipulated. The subjects were randomly assigned into six groups (n= 16): four of them exposed to ten sessions, differing on the treatment at the first phase (predictable/controllable, predictable/uncontrollable, unpredictable/controllable, unpredictable/uncontrollable groups); one group exposed to two sessions (treatment and test - inescapable group) and one exposed directly to test (nonshock group). Each group was composed of two sub-groups (n = 8) of males and females. The results showed that gender was not a relevant variable for LH effect, but it interferes in the immunization effect. These results suggest that gender is a variable that need to be more investigated in the behavioral studies.

Applied behavior analysts have searched for environmental means to sustain student’s active participation in various academic activities. In this study we manipulated the presence or absence of opportunity for task choice and task difficulty on subsequent engagement in the same task during free time. We assessed 48 Japanese undergraduate students individually. The task was a set of puzzles at two levels of difficulty. Students were either free to choose a specific set of puzzles or assigned, instead, the same task in a yoked fashion. The results indicated a large amount of individual differences in the amount of time they spent on the same set of puzzles during free time. There was no uniform effect of either choice or task difficulty. Individual data analyses revealed that students who reported satisfaction with their performance were more self-engaging in the difficult puzzle during free time. Those who derived self-reinforcing effects from choosing a task continued to engage in the puzzle during recess. Reinforcer values of tasks (measured as amount of time on task) are closely associated with personal satisfaction students derive from engagement in a task. Giving a task that they can eventually solve with satisfaction would likely determine sustained efforts.

This study verified if verbal stimuli exert transitive conditioned motivating operation (TCMO) function and if its establishment differs between verbal stimuli and verbal and non-verbal stimuli. Nineteen 18-24 years old undergraduate students participated. A software presented a trial procedure task as slot machine game. Mouse and joystick were used to earn points exchanged for money. Phase 1 was conducted to establish word, pseudo-word or abstract image as a TCMO. First instance of clicking the mouse should be emitted in the presence of presumed TCMO and once a VR12 was completed, a grey circle on screen changed green for 3 seconds, when pulling the joysticks handle scored. If clicking started while absence of TCMO, the circle color changed but pulling the joysticks handle didnt score. In Phase 2 the conditioned reinforcer (green circle) was omitted to verify its effects. Phase 3 was identical to Phase 1. Results in Phase 1 indicated that the TCMO was established for 16 participants. For 13 of them, Phase 2 showed that green circle functioned as conditioned reinforcer. During Phase 3, all 16 participants presented similar performance to Phase 1. Evidence of differences among different stimuli established as TCMO during Phase 1 were observed and discussed.

Activity-based anorexia (ABA) occurs when food availability is restricted to one hour a day and wheel running is freely available the rest of the time. Under such circumstances, rats run excessively and stop eating even during food availability periods. The present study analyzed the development of ABA in two strains of rats. One group of female Wistar Han (WH) and other of female Dark Agouti (DA) were used with the same age. Maintaining the occurrence of the 1-h food period at same time of the light part of the light-dark cycle, it could be enough to develop the normal ABA behavioural in both strains rats. Far from that, the presentation of food to one hour day resulted in DA rats a pronounced body-weight loss, a low food and water intake, and an excessive locomotor activity. Then a second group of DA was used and they were exposed to three hours of food presentation, and their behavioural was more similar to the one of WH rats. At any rate the excessive activity of the DA rats prevents the normal development of ABA in them. Once again, induced control by the external agents shows that there is further research on this line.

Pimelodus blochii is a moderately small catfish common to the rivers of northern South America. Neutrally buoyant it tends to stay on or near the bottoms of rivers but is capable of swimming to the top. In a study involving two Pimelodus blochii, we attempted to use food reinforcement to condition the response of contacting a target location in a test tank. A 3D tracking system that operates on the basis of brightness contrast recorded the position of the fish. In the presence of bright light, however, the fish engaged in a strong phylogenetic escape behavior that interfered with eating. A fading procedure carried out over several months resulted in no appreciable reduction of this interfering behavior. A contingency in which contacting the target location resulted in 20 seconds of darkness with food present in the test tank was then implemented. Both fish responded to the contingency by contacting the target location when the light was on and eating the food during the 20-second periods of darkness. One fish responded almost exclusively on the operant contingency, while the other alternated between the operant and phylogenic contingencies. The results are discussed in terms of the interactions between operant and phylogenetic contingencies.

This study investigated the effects of the error on children's self-report accuracy on different topics (reading, mathematics, game, and music) and verified whether when correspondence training was conducted to only one topic, generalization of the remaining topics occurred. Five children aged 6 to 11 years-old participated. The "Doing" task consisted of reading aloud a written word, playing a computer game, announcing the result of mathematical operations, and naming different auditory or visual stimulus related to music. The "Saying" task consisted of reporting on the accuracy of the performance after the computer's automated feedback. During pretraining, the frequency of corresponding reports was evaluated as a function of the different topics presented. Participants were assigned to different sequences of topics. Correspondence training was conducted, initially, only to the topic in which participants exhibited the lowest levels of accuracy. After training criteria was met, generalized do-say correspondence of untrained topics was then tested. Results indicated that topics as reading and mathematics produced the lowest levels of correspondence. Four out of five children exhibited generalized say-do correspondence after the first correspondence training employed. Different topics seemed to control different patterns of self-report accuracy. Results on posttraining indicated do-say correspondence as a generalized operant behavior.

Identity matching-to-sample relations are an important prerequisite to document stimulus equivalence by children. This study aimed to assess whether two preverbal children, aged 17 (P17) and 20 months (P20), could demonstrate identity visual relations between four abstract toys, their pictures and videotaped moving images of them. Matching-to-sample classical tasks were conducted in an experimental setting. The procedures included response training with familiar objects/videos interspersed with test under extinction of all identity relations individually (photo-object/PO, object-video/OV, photo-video/PV) or two of the three identity relations (PV/OV). Children gave 100% correct responses during the first PO test session. P17 choices were mostly controlled by position after the first session. P20 gave three out four correct responses (75%) during test trials for OV and PV relations whereas this participant gave incorrect responses controlled by stimuli position during the repetitions of the PO test and the PV/OV tests. P20 was additionally trained for the three relations (PO/OV/PV) and gave five out six correct responses (83%) on the last two of four training sessions. Results corroborate previous reports of difficulties found by researchers when trying to obtain stable baseline relations with children without the position bias, as well as to define learning criteria by infants.

Touches of a stimulus on a touch screen monitor by one-year-old infants were shaped by successive approximations. The infants were then trained to discriminate between two stimuli appearing side by side on the screen. Each child sat on a child chair or her mother’s lap at a table facing the screen. Drawings of animals were the stimuli to be discriminated and touching the correct stimulus produced moving figures and 5 seconds of music as a reinforcer. Each session lasted 5 to 10 minutes and included 20 to 50 reinforced trials. For two of the three infants, touches to a drawing were shaped within one session; shaping took five sessions with the third. The discrimination between drawings was trained using an errorless learning procedure with two stimuli (S+ and S-). The visibility of the S-, represented by the density of the drawing, was gradually increased from 0% to 100%. When the infants were first exposed to an S- with 1% visibility (hardly visible to adults), two of them showed novelty preference, touching S- more than S+. After several training sessions, however, all infants had acquired the discrimination with an accuracy of 80% correct or better.

The objective of this study was testing the efficiency of self-monitoring- homework selection and material, evaluation and correction- as a procedure of self-regulation of learning basic arithmetic. Participated 17 students of different elementary school grades with academic deficits, used a multiple-baseline design across individuals, intergroup balanced. Phase A of the study, consisted in the complex aimed base line of arithmetic answers the measurement of the generalization of modalities [operations and written problems (O and P)], classes (with regrouping and without regrouping) and different kinds of answers (quantity of digits to operant and systematic function of the statement) of lesser complexity. Phase B, consisted of instructions, modeling, feedback and positive reinforcement, along with self-evaluation processes- self-register-self-gratification- and self-correction, distributed in two sub-groups by arithmetic conduct, balanced according to the instruction sequence introduced (OP and PO). In phase C, considered a maintenance phase, auto-monitoring was introduced. The results show acquisition, generalization and maintenance of basic arithmetic responses, which emphasizes the self-monitoring as an important procedure in the process of generalization and maintenance of basic arithmetic responses, leading to strengthening the hypothesis that behavioral self-control techniques can produce more stable rates of response that procedures external reinforcement?

Functional behavioral assessment (FBA) can facilitate the development of effective behavior intervention plans (BIPs). This study assessed the effects of increasingly demanding versions of function -based BIPs on students´ disruptive and on-task behaviors. Four male students with ADHD and long-term behavior problems participated in a team-based assessment and intervention process. The students were in 2nd to 3rd grade in two elementary schools and their teachers took part in constructing and implementing the function-based BIPs along with special education teachers and a behavioral consultant. For each student, four to seven versions of BIPs were created over the course of 6 to 13 weeks with gradually increasing demands to foster endurance and independent skills. Single subject ABAB multiple baseline designs over participants were used to demonstrate a functional relationship between BIPs and students´ disruptive and on-task behaviors in general education settings. Results showed that on-task behavior increased from an average of 56% during baseline (A) to 85% during intervention phases (B) and that the frequency of disruptive behavior decreased from on average of 24 per 20 min sessions during baseline to an average of 7 per 20 min sessions during intervention phases. Large effect sizes were observed. Limitations and implications are discussed.

Functional behavioral assessment (FBA) and behavior intervention plans (BIPs) are mandated through federal law and there is considerable evidence that these practices can improve the behavior and academic functioning of students with problem behavior. In this qualitative study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with students to determine their views on their school functioning, teacher practices, and general well-being at school, before and after function-based BIPs were implemented. These students were four boys with ADHD, 7 to 14 years old, with long-term behavior problems that were in some cases alleviated through the use of function-based BIPs. In addition, their parents as well as teachers and administrators in their schools were interviewed to determine their perspectives on FBA and BIPs practices. Findings revealed a generally positive view on function-based BIPs. Students and parents felt that the function-based BIPs had helped the students to improve their social and acdemic functioning at school. Teachers expressed that FBAs and BIPs were effective practices, but found them somewhat time-consuming and at times difficult to implement in inclusive settings. School administrators emphasized that the key to success was the teachers´ positive attitude and consistent implementation of the function-based BIPs. Limitations and implications of these findings are discussed.

This study explored students´ perspective on attending a special school for students with severe behavioral difficulties and examined the effects of Aggression Replacement Training (ART) on their anger control, social skills and moral reasoning. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used. Participants were ten students of a special school for students with behavioral and/or emotional difficulties. Most participants had diagnoses of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder and/or had symptoms of depression and/or anxiety. Teachers were asked to rate students´ social skills. Students were asked what they would do in anger-provoking situations, and to describe steps in performing particular social skills. After four months in the special school, including ten weeks of ART, the evaluation was repeated. Findings indicate that teachers found their students to be more organized, but no other significant differences emerged on the rating scales. However, students had more knowledge of social skills (d = 0.75) and knew more ways of dealing with anger (d = 0.71). The majority of students expressed that ART had helped them, and spoke of increased anger control. Most students indicated that they were unhappy at the special school, but the majority said that they had experienced ART positively.

Early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) has become a relatively widely selected intervention for children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and numerous studies have shown EIBI to be more effective than other interventions (see Eikeseth, 2009). Children with Down‘s syndrome usually receive early intervention. However, traditionally these children are not offered EIBI. The only study published on children receiving behavioral intervention with developmental disorders other than autism (Eldevik, Jahr, Eikeseth, Hastings, & Hughes, 2010) showed that they made more progress than children receiving other types of intervention. In this poster an ongoing study on the effects of EIBI for a child with Down‘s syndrome will be described. Data from a multiple baseline design indicate that the child is making progress due to the intervention, showing immediate increase in the level of correct responding from the mean of 36.7%, 0% and 0% to 99.3%, 93.6% and 72.3% respectively across different tasks. Data will also be presented on some process measures, i.e. number of intervention hours per week, average number of discrete learning trials per day and average number of mastered skills per week.

The Norwegian ABA is a registered non-profit organization. Membership is open to anyone interested in behavior analysis and its application. At present it has 900 members, and its steadily growing. The organization is run by a Board of nine members with full executive powers, chaired by a president. There are several regional affiliated chapters and two special interest groups. The Board is elected at the annual General Assembly. The Norwegian Association is an affiliated chapter of the ABA international.

A training program towards inclusion back into the regular education system, was designed for special-education students who were assigned for the transition. 15 studetns, between grades six and nine, participated in the 3-month program.A Changing Criterion Design, was used to assess the implementation of generalization planning strategies and self-management. The participating students were trained in a "simulation class", where challenging conditions, common to the regular eduation system, were presented. These conditions included fade-out of reinforcement schedules, frustrating learning experiences, big class conditions marked by noise and distractions, and more. Under these conditions, the students were required to maintain appropriate learning behaviors such as proper eye contact with the teacher, waiting while completing an assignment, appropriate speech, etc. In addition, the studetns acquired self-management strategies in the form of goal setting and self-evaluation of their own behavior and participation in class. The data suggsts that the students managed to maintain appropriate learning behaviors under increasingly more difficult and less supportive conditions. Furthermore, the participating students were able to evaluate themselves in congruence with teacher evaluations of the students.

Classwide peer tutoring (CWPT) is a pedagogy that requires students to tutor, model and assess peers performance. CWPT has been validated and widely used in general and special education. As an empirically-based pedagogy, CWPT may effectively promote improvement in physical education and therefore should be examined for its effects in this setting as well. This study aimed to investigate the effects of CWPT on students learning in physical education. The 20-day study was conducted with a third-grade class in an inner-city charter school. Participants were 6 at-risk students with social deficits. An A-B-A-B design was employed to examine the effects of CWPT on students correct performance during a two-minute karate task. Baseline phases entailed small-group instruction. Intervention phases consisted student-dyads of the same psychomotor level and reciprocal involvement in tutoring. Correct performance was defined as a trial that included critical elements as pre-stated by the teacher. Performance was directly observed and presented as percent measure of response. An average increase of 42% (range 10-90) of correct trials was inspected during the CWPT intervention, despite variability and overlaps between the phases. Most gains were demonstrated among the moderately-skilled students. Future research should examine additional tutoring arrangements that may facilitate greater improvement.

Social skills are pre-requisites for academic performance and are critical for at-risk students. Efficient education should entail empirically-based interventions to improve both academic and social skills. Classwide peer tutoring (CWPT) is a validated pedagogy that improves academic performance. Yet its effects on social skills learning were rarely examined in physical education. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of CWPT on elementary and secondary students social skills learning in Karate. Both studies were conducted in an urban charter school in third and eighth grade classes for 20 and 27 days respectively. Participants were four students at-risk from each class who had social deficits. An A-B-A-B design was utilized to examine the effects of CWPT on students social skills performance during a two-minute task. The intervention entailed same motor-level dyads who reciprocated in tutoring. Baseline entailed the teachers typical small-group instruction. The social skill measured was students ability to appropriately provide and receive feedback. Findings show an average increase of 6 (range 5-7) behaviors per task during the CWPT intervention for two eighth graders, and an increase of 9 (range 6-12) behaviors for all third graders. CWPT was more effective among elementary-age and low-skilled students.

This study explores the effects of a structured cooperative learning strategy, Classwide Student Tutoring Teams (CSST) upon 8th grade tutors and tutees use of past tense verbs in a Spanish language classroom. The study, conducted with 5 small group of students, focuses on the frequency of tutor error correction as it corresponds to tutor learning. Analysis of weekly student pre- and post-assessments, CSST tutor practice data, teacher interview, and student feedback will be used to examine the effects of CSST to improve students' accuracy in writing past tense verb conjugations in Spanish. Numbers of error corrections made by tutors were counted and correlated with percentage of change between pre- and post-assessment quizzes. As to the effects of CCST tutoring for tutors and tutees, preliminary results indicate that tutors whose home language was Spanish had the lowest pre-assessment scores and made gains equal or greater than peers on post-tests of written grammatical forms.

Failures to learn to read sight-words using picture prompts are often attributed to "blocking". The strength of this effect should depend on the number of reinforced responses to the blocking stimulus prior to its use as a prompt. Eight nondisabled adults learned to verbally label four sets of six Chinese ideograms. Sets 1 and 3 were taught to a criterion of correct responding to all six ideograms within six consecutive trials ("brief" condition). Sets 2 and 4 received four times as many teaching trials as sets 1 and 3 respectively ("extensive" condition). The ideograms were then used as prompts to teach participants to read four corresponding sets of words in an artificial alphabet, with a fixed 5s target-prompt delay. For the first two word lists taught, only two participants gave more correct unprompted responses to words taught using briefly trained versus extensively trained prompts, with six showing the opposite effect. For the second pair of word lists however, six participants gave more unprompted responses to words taught using briefly trained prompts. These results support a blocking interpretation of the effect of picture prompts on acquisition of sight-word reading. Alternative explanations of the results and implications for teaching practice are discussed.

Personnel development is now a days a very common practice within organizations, but Are we really giving the personnel the correct tools for an optimal development? If the organization decides to instruct its personnel in the fire safety area through brigades, the only way to verify the knowledge already owned and acquired during the training is through behavioral evidence because live observation is the only way to be sure how the personnel is going to react. For this research 4 brigades were used in a Mexican paper manufacturing company were no previous formal training existed, the baseline-treatment baseline (ABA) methodology was applied in the exercise of evacuating the facilities according to the active norm. Through this training the observed behaviors were increased to a 67% so the training gave excellent results but the stress factor of not knowing if it was an actual fire or just a simulation has to be considered for future studies.

In order to go one step further in the complex area of processes research, in this study we performed an analysis of verbal interaction between therapists and clients in the clinical setting. Our approach is based on the assumption that the clients? problem behaviors take place in the clinical context, not only in other contexts of their life. In this context these behaviors are manifested in the clients? verbalizations and then the therapist can shape and modify them. To test these ideas we analyzed the verbal interaction between the two protagonists of therapy in a moment to moment basis. To this end we observed and coded 92 recordings of clinical sessions using the Coding System for the Verbal Interaction in Therapy (a validated system to codify therapists? and clients? verbal behavior in clinical settings) and the Observer XT software. We used sequential analysis techniques and found different patterns of behavior in the sessions; we also went a step further in identifying functional relationships between therapist?s and client?s behaviors and ratified the possible existence of shaping processes in session. The study of interaction delivers an advance in the systematic study of the therapeutic relationship from a behavioural perspective, which in the long term will allow us to find the learning mechanisms responsible for the changes observed in clinical settings.

With the spread of electronic books, people can purchase books online easily and those who visit bookstores are getting fewer. The present study examined effects of two environmental prompts using a signboard and point-of-purchase advertising on customer's approach behavior towards a bookstore's special exhibition introducing books on developmental disorders using ABCA design. We observed the number of customers who approached the special exhibition area and saw the books. Following baseline(A), in Intervention 1(B), the signboard introducing the special exhibition was posted near the book store entrance to attract customers. In Intervention 2(C), the point-of-purchase advertising was added and displayed in the special exhibition area. As a result, in Intervention 1, the average number of customer's approach behavior toward the special exhibition increased by 47.6 % compared to Baseline 1. In Intervention 2, the customer's approach behavior increased by 65.3 % compared to Baseline 1. In Baseline 2(A), there was a gradual decline in the number of customer's approach behavior, although the overall mean remained higher than that of the initial baseline, perhaps reflecting the overall seasonal increase in customer's in December. In sum, the signboard and the point-of-purchase advertising contributed toward the increase in the number of customer's approach behavior

Behavioral coaching has often proven more effective in improving a variety of sports than standard coaching. This study investigated the effect of behavioral coaching on archery form and its score. Two female university students in the archery club participated in a behavioral coaching program. To evaluate the behavior change, a multiple baseline design across subjects was used with three phases; baseline (A), intervention (B), and follow-up (A). The shooting skill was divided into five component skills for each participant. In intervention (B), their forms were videotaped for observation and assessment of the five components. Prior to each new session, the trainer gave performance feedback from the previous session and then gave instructions for the current session. The percentage of correct component skills performed and shooting score (percentage points) were calculated for each player at each session. The results indicated that behavioral coaching improved the percentage of correct component skills performed in both participants. However, their shooting scores did not show corresponding improvements. Feedback and instructions were effective for improving archery form but the form did not immediately link to better scores. Training in fluency and concentration is the next goal in behavioral coaching of archery.

Nohgaku is a classic form of Japanese theater that continues to be performed today. Nohgaku performers wear formal montsuki kimono accompanied by hakama on the stage. The present study examined the effect of a behavioral intervention package for improving the accuracy of kimono-wearing by using an ABCA design. Participants were 3 male students who were junior members of the Nohgaku club of a university in Japan. Trainer was the first author, a chief, senior Nohgaku performer. After baseline (A), the intervention consisted of 2 parts, “Intervention 1(B)” and its improved version “Intervention 2(C)”. Correct shape in montsuki kimono was divided into 10 components. The intervention package consisted of instruction, modeling, behavioral rehearsal, feedback, and self-monitoring. The percentage of correct component skills performed was calculated for each participant in each session. After the intervention, the percentage of correct component skills performed improved in all 3 participants. Independent expert judges also evaluated post-intervention photographs of all 3 participants’ shape in kimono as being more "elegant" than those from pre-intervention. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of the behavioral training in kimono-wearing. Follow-up observation in the actual theater indicated maintenance of acquired skills. Further study is necessary to improve the fluency of kimono-wearing.

Analysis of the "rules' emitted by the therapist in different therapy cases.

With the recent advent of handheld smart phones as platforms for user-developed applications, there has been an online explosion of professional tools designed to increase efficiency and productivity in the workplace. One potential problem with early adoption of these tools is that some have the opposite effect of that intended, they slow the professional down. Once bitten, twice shy— professionals can then become hesitant to abandon practices and tools that already work. By training them to interact with those tools which are helpful, a behavior scientist can set a reinforcement trap to capture technological use. The purpose of this paper is to compare some current data collection methods and with potential tools available online for behavior analysts. These comparisons will be discussed in an effort to provide easily accessible information to disseminate behavioral packages which take advantage of some of the latest technological advances that are currently on the market.

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) techniques are well documented in the literature as effective interventions for individuals who display problem behavior. For many special educators this training is critical. Providing training to educators living in remote areas or countries where expertise is limited is a challenge. The purpose of the current study was to assess the acquisition of Functional Behavior Analysis (FBA) procedures for special education teachers after participation in training program via videoconferencing, in which the training site and the remote site were connected through the internet. Four special education teachers in Saudi Arabia who did not have previous training in FBA methods participated in the study. They received three hours of group training followed by individualized feedback from a graduate student, under the supervision of a BCBA and faculty member. Training involved role-playing, watching videotaped examples of correct implementation, and reading materials. Results indicate that all participants mastered the skills across at least two of the conditions with one participant demonstrating mastery across all four of the conditions. One participant then entered a generalization phase whereby implementing FBA procedures with a student with Autism.

This presentation reviews popular theories of gender and their present insufficiency in addressing gendered problem behaviors. The functionally inadequate assumptions of political structuralism are exposed, including mentalism, humanism, and utopianism. Functional contextualism is proposed as an alternative criterion for assessing the usefulness of concepts related to gendered behavior. By extension, the radical behaviorist theory of environmental selection is used to explain the emergence of sexually dimorphic physical and behavioral tendencies between the genders. The possible environmental antecedents of sexual assault, domestic violence, social anxiety, and paraphilias are conceptualized in operational terms, such that a functional analysis of such situations could be conducted. Behavior analysis is discussed as a potential treatment for individuals who have difficulty initiating or maintaining relationships, or find themselves engaged in dysfunctional patterns of interaction with partners. Finally, the utility of an ecological inductive analysis of human gendered behavior is presented as a functionally viable alternative to structural theories of gender.

Income may be conceived as the amount of money available for a period of time, and it may be spent or saved. In economics, if income is above its previous historic peak, it is called seasonal; if below it is called cyclical. Savings tend to increase during seasonal income periods and vary during cyclical periods. One economic theory states that such variability is due to income uncertainties, and that the savings generated during cyclical periods, called precautionary, is controlled by the reduction of income uncertainty. The negative reinforcement of precautionary savings is determined by prudence, which may be understood as a motivational operation. Economic prudence may be exemplified by an experiment in which 24 undergraduate students took part in a betting game. During six sessions, each participant bet poker chips and had the option of depositing part of their individually owned chips ("income") in a savings box. Once deposited, they could neither be betted nor lost until the end of the experiment. These deposits mimic precautionary savings, since they reduce the risk of losing chips. All deposits occurred when individual income was cyclical, and none occurred during seasonal income. The reinforcement value of precautionary savings seemed to have changed as a function of income variations.

El propósito de este trabajo fue estudiar si el tiempo de demora que transcurre desde que un niño escucha a un adulto nombrar unas fotos hasta que se le pide al niño que nombre y seleccione esas fotos, influye en el número de respuestas de cada una de las dos operantes que emiten. Participaron una niña de 6 años y un chico de 17 años, con diagnóstico de autismo. Recibían enseñanza en una escuela basada en ABA y en casa, respectivamente. Ambos habían demostrado la capacidad verbal del naming completo consistente en nombrar y señalar una serie de objetos inmediatamente después de escuchar a un adulto decir su nombre en la presencia de los objetos. El procedimiento para inducir el naming completo consistió en presentar fases sucesivas de emparejamiento de la foto con la palabra hablada del adulto y seguida la prueba de tactos y selecciones. Se manipularon tres tiempos de demora para realizar las pruebas: un minuto, quince minutos y una hora; se alternaron el orden de las pruebas de tactos y selecciones. En la mitad de los conjuntos se probó primero el tacto y después la selección y en la otra mitad a la inversa. Cada conjunto tuvo dos fotos de 2 categorías. Con demoras de un minuto no se observaron diferencias en el orden en que se realizaron las pruebas. Cuando la demora fue de una hora y de quince minutos emergieron más respuestas al probar primero la selección y después el tacto que a la inversa. Con quince minutos se necesitaron menos ensayos de emparejamiento para probar la selección que a la inversa, aunque siempre emergió una de las operantes a partir de la otra . La demora es una variable importante al inducir el naming completo en niños que se encuentra ausente y tiene muchas implicaciones prácticas.

La afasia se entiende como una incapacidad parcial o total para usar el lenguaje por disfunción cerebral. Pacientes con problemas de afasia no llegan a desarrollar determinadas funciones verbales una vez que las han perdido. El objetivo del presente trabajo consistió en estudiar las capacidades verbales que mostraban dos pacientes de 16 y 32 años afectadas de afasia que asistían al servicio de logopedia de un hospital público de su ciudad. Se analizaron, desde un punto de vista funcional, las habilidades que mostraron en una evaluación estándar para pacientes con afasia. Posteriormente, se planificó una evaluación tomando como referencia el desarrollo de las capacidades verbales que hasta ahora se ha analizado en niños en los que se encuentran ausentes las funciones verbales. Los datos mostraron que habían perdido algunas capacidades verbales básicas como el repertorio de escucha avanzado o la conducta ecoica compleja. Se diseñó un programa de intervención para inducir capacidades verbales que les permitiera avanzar en otras habilidades verbales que resultaban básicas. Se concluye que la intervención con pacientes de afasia resulta mucho más efectiva cuando se aborda desde un análisis de las funciones verbales en lugar de un análisis formal con base neurológica y cognitiva.

This study evaluates a behavioral intervention for a 9-year-old girl with selective mutism. Intervention consisted of role-play and video self-modeling. The frequency of spoken initiations, responses to questions, and communication breakdowns was measured during three social situations (i.e., ordering in a restaurant, meeting new adults, and playing with new children) and in three community settings. Results demonstrated increases in spoken initiations and responses and decreases in communication breakdowns across all situations and settings. Selective mutism is a childhood disorder in which speech occurs in some environments but not in other environments (APA, 2000). For example, a child may speak normally at home, but not speak at school or the community park. Estimates of prevalence vary but are typically less than 1% of the population (Viana, Beidel, & Rabian, 2009). Selective mutism may result in social isolation and academic failure (Kolvin & Goodyer, 1982). Previous interventions for selective mutism have involved contingency management (e.g., Watson & Kramer, 1992), practice or priming (e.g., O’Reilly et al., 2008), shaping (e.g., Masten, Stacks, Caldwell-Colbert, & Jackson, 1996), and systematic desensitization (e.g., Rye & Ullman, 1999). The current study involves a behavioral intervention for selective mutism consisting of role-play and video self-modeling (VSM). Role-play involves practicing the desired behavior and receiving feedback and reinforcement. Role-play has been shown to improve social skills in people with intellectual disability (e.g., Huang & Cuvo, 1997). VSM has been demonstrated as a potentially efficient and effective intervention to improve social and communication skills in children with emotional and behavioral disorders (e.g., Baker, Lang, & O’Reilly, 2009) and autism spectrum disorders (McCoy & Hermansen, 2007). The combination of these intervention components would seem likely to be effective at improving speech in children with selective mutism. To date, we are unaware of any behavioral intervention studies for selective mutism in which the effects of intervention were evaluated outside of the school and across multiple community settings and social situations. In this study, speech was measured during three social situations and in three community settings following role-play and VSM.

The purpose of this summary was to show the results obtained during 6 months of treatment in a three year old girl diagnosed with autism. The intervention received was intensive, early and with a curriculum based on the development of verbal behavior. The main goal of treatment was the establishment of a functional language. We measured (1) the total objectives learned on a weekly basis in all levels of development (cognitive, social/emotional, communication, motor and self sufficiency and (2) the acquisition of verbal operants (mands, tacts and intraverbals). The data are presented in two graphs as cumulative objectives attained from the onset of the treatment to date. The results show significant progress in acquisition and fluency of skills.

The purpose of this study was to assess whether the procedures designed by Dr. Douglas Greer team to teach generalized auditory matching was effective to teaching the skill a child with severe autism and serious difficulties in acquiring the listener component of naming. The results showed that the procedure was effective for our participant.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of using textual prompt for teaching mands to a child with autism who showed severe difficulties in the acquisition of operant through echoic to mand procedure. The procedure was to replace echoic prompt for textual prompt that we were fading slowly learning to get the basic mands water and bread. Results demonstrated that the incorporation of textual prompt was effective.

The purpose of this intervention was to determine if presenting a specific procedure (frames of sameness) to a child with a history of difficulty to acquire tacts, was effective. The frames of sameness were a variation of the Naming procedure (Greer). This procedure consisted of presenting four verbal operants (a) object discrimination, (b) intraverbal, (c) identical matching and (d) tact, in a sequential order, using multiple exemplars of items within a category. The pictures were presented on a computer screen. The participant was an 14 year old boy with autism who was non-verbal and who was receiving a home behavioral intervention after school hours. We did an initial baseline for tacts. Once the participant achieved the established criteria for all verbal operants, we conducted a second test to see if the tact had emerged. In this study, we found that the procedure was effective to teach tacts to this boy.