Association for Behavior Analysis International

A meeting of board members to discuss the annual convention program.

Join the Health, Sport, and Fitness SIG for a fun 3-5 mile run on Sunday, May 27. We will meet in the lobby of the Hyatt and head out for anywhere from 3 to 5 miles (less is welcome too!). Let us know if you can join on our Facebook event (https://www.facebook.com/events/409829599475470/) or email hsf.abai@gmail.com. We'll split up in pace and distance groups and head out the Hyatt's red Embarcadero route. All paces welcome. Run/walk and strollers welcome as well!

Joint Attending and Social Referencing (JA/SR) most often involves two or more people simultaneously attending to the same constellation or elements of an environmental event. As a critical "learning-to-learn" repertoire, JA/SR is an important foundation for learners to acquire and master. By definition, JA/SR is a social phenomenon; however, it is also solipsistic in that joint attending may occur within the individual as a fusion of "speaker/listener" repertoires that allow for self-referencing and self-talk that guides what an individual attends to at any one time. This panel will present a draft taxonomy of JS/SR intended to formalize and categorize the variables responsible for the emergence and growth of JS/SR competencies throughout a person's lifetime.

Practitioners who are interested in how to organize and delivery effective programming to develop extended joint attending and social referencing repertoires in their clients.

Parent training models have been shown to improve effectiveness of intervention for individuals with autism (Leaf, Cihon, Weinkauf, Oppenheim-Leaf, Taubman, & Leaf, 2017). Research has shown that various types of support, education, and training improved skills of both caregivers and learners with autism across domains. This symposium will present further evidence of applying evidence-based practices to effectively train parents to implement intervention procedures with their children with autism. One symposium will focus on sleep training, while the other examines effects of latency of video modeling to train a parent to accurately implement teaching procedures. Data presented will support treatment outcomes for both parents and learners, and procedural details will be provided through the use of descriptions and videos. Discussions of implication of results as they related to sleep training and using video modeling to train parents, as well as future directions, will be included.

Effective parent training procedures require competent trainers, extensive training time, and often occur in clinic settings. Video modeling has successfully been used for staff and parent training across various skills (Catania, Almeida, Liu-Constant, & Reed, 2009; Vladescu, Carroll, Paden & Kodak, 2012; Hancock, Kaiser & Delaney, 2002). Despite its effectiveness, the literature is limited, necessitating a component analyses to determine variables essential for most effective and efficient training that yield to generalization of caregivers' skills. The purpose of this study was to implement video modeling to train a grandparent to accurately teach new skills to her grandson with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Additionally, effects of increasing latency between watching the video model and implementing the teaching procedure on grandparent's accuracy of implementation in the home environment were studied. A multiple-baseline design across 4 skills was used to train a grandparent to teach reading, spelling, adding, and copying to a 5-year old. Data indicate increase in caregiver's performance and child's acquisition across skills. Generalization probes, treatment integrity, and social validity data will be presented.

Disturbances in sleep patterns for individuals with autism are commonly reported (Sweeney & Botts, 2008). Issues reported by caregivers include sleeping in bed with the child, frequent night waking, and higher rates of challenging behaviors due to lack of sleep. The purpose of this study was to enhance the establishing operations and discriminative stimuli for behavioral quietude and to weaken the contingencies for sleep-interfering behavior (Piazza & Fisher, 1991). An individualized treatment package was developed based on Jin, Hanley, & Beaulieu (2013). Components of the intervention included three antecedent strategies: reducing sleep onset latency by establishing a bedtime corresponding to natural sleep patterns; a period of highly stimulating activities (e.g. access to physical/verbal attention in the form of game play, screen time), followed by a period of quietude (bedtime routine including shower, tooth brushing and story time). Specific procedures/responses to sleep-interfering behaviors will be discussed. Data indicate a stable trend for sleep onset latency, and decreasing trend of duration.

Interventions that focus on fostering contact with values and building values-consistent patterns of behavior have been shown to increase awareness of and openness to aversive experiences, as well as effective, committed action in the presence of those experiences. These findings suggest a powerful role for values in facilitating desirable behavior change � not only for clients but also family of clients and even practitioners themselves. As a result, values-interventions are increasingly included in clinical behavior analysis (often explicitly, as in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Behavior Activation Therapy for Depression). However, much of the research on values interventions focuses on psychotherapeutic definitions of the term and applied contexts. Given the growing role of values interventions in behavior analytic practice, it is important to conceptualize them in behavior analytic terms so that they may be studied with precision, scope and depth. The aim of this panel is to examine values from a behavior analytic perspective, then discuss their application and usefulness in traditional behavioral interventions.

Behavior analysts or behavior therapists with an interest in values as behavioral phenomena or values-based interventions.

Many people outside of behavior analysis believe that creativity and philosophical skills are innate talents and cannot be taught to students without such talent. Fine arts and philosophy faculty generally agree that creativity and philosophical thought can be shaped to at least some degree with specific forms of practice. Consistent with those and behavior analytic assumptions, research has shown that students can develop an ability to engage in creative and philosophical behaviors. Teachers would likely more effectively arrange practice for students to gain these skills using teaching techniques derived from behavior analysis than from traditional approaches. This panel will discuss definitions of creative and philosophical behaviors, the importance of these skills, teachers' role in the development of such skills, and behavioral approaches to teaching them. Through this panel, we hope to develop future research ideas of how best to assess these behaviors, modify the classroom environment, and foster teacher-student interactions that are conducive to furthering the growth of students' creativity and philosophical skills.

Service providers, higher education instructors, school professionals, teachers, people interested in philosophy and/or creativity

This symposium will showcase the application of a Pay for Performance Systems in a Class Action Settlement organization and an ABA company. Attendees will learn about the benefits of Pay for Performance and rationale for implementing this type of system, based on data going back several decades. Presenters will walk attendees through this case study illustrating the process steps: initial behavioral systems analysis interviews and recommendations; designing weighted scorecards for the organization, departments, and individuals; collecting data (baseline, measurement, and pay for performance phases); analyzing data and sharing with the relevant departments and individuals; and finally providing coaching and feedback to individuals based on scorecard results. Presenters will also share lessons they learned related to designing, implementing, and sustaining a pay-for-performance system.

Organizational supervisors, managers, or owners; any one who manages employees/staff.

This presentation will showcase the application of a Pay for Performance System in a Class Action Settlement organization. Attendees will learn about the benefits of Pay for Performance and rationale for implementing this type of system, based on data going back several decades. Presenters will walk attendees through this case study illustrating the process steps: initial behavioral systems analysis interviews and recommendations; designing weighted scorecards for the organization, departments, and individuals; collecting data (baseline, measurement, and pay for performance phases); analyzing data and sharing with the relevant departments and individuals; and finally providing coaching and feedback to individuals based on scorecard results. Presenters will also share lessons they learned related to designing, implementing, and sustaining a pay-for-performance system.

Many companies in the applied behavior analysis (ABA) arena utilize payment structures that focus on completion of billable hours versus incentive based systems that target improved quality and outcomes for their clients. With healthcare costs at an all-time high and an insurance industry poised to change to value-based models of care, the time is now for ABA organizations to move away from time-based pay formats and into the realm of performance-based pay. This talk will chronicle the journey of one ABA company through the development and implementation of a pay for performance system that balances business and financial goals with ethical strategies. The presentation will include details on the initial assessment of the company's performance, identification of performance measures, design of the performance improvement system in accordance with the BACB Professional and Ethical Compliance Code, and implementation challenges and successes.

Behavior analysts are frequently trained to implement specific procedures found within behavioral and educational journals. However, practitioners frequently encounter situations that do not exactly apply to this literature base. This panel will discuss how to ethically apply the science of behavior analysis using an evidence-based practice model focused on clinical expertise, the individual client, and the best available research. Panelists will discuss how they have successfully applied this model to address common barriers to learning such as weak motivation, escape maintained challenging behavior, prompt dependence, and developing instructional control. Each panelist has significant experience and expertise with applying the science of behavior analysis as a whole and determining the most effective intervention for each client based on the methods and principles of this science as opposed to broadly and generically applying popular procedures with each client. Audience members will be given the opportunity at the end of the panel to ask the panelists for their expertise in ethically addressing common barriers to learning.

This panel is most appropriate for intermediate level or higher behavior analysts who have been practicing for several years and wish to learn more about how to enhance the scientific application of behavior analysis within the practitioner setting.

This session will be a panel discussion of the impact and perceptions of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) within Positive Behavior Support (PBS). Upon entry into the panel, audience will be provided a link to a polling website to select from a per-determined list of questions/topics they would like to panelists to discuss. Audience can also contribute additional questions via the polling site. Questions will be selected based upon highest to lowest ranking of scores and the panelists will alternate responding or each be given a chance to respond, depending on the nature of the question. Questions will be derived from the following topics: (a) Foundations of ABA will be explored from a vantage point of classically trained behavior analysts who practice within PBS frameworks. Early history of ABA influencing applications of PBS along with debates from both sides will be discussed. (b) ABA and PBS in practice will highlight how PBS practices are rooted to behavior analytical principles. Multi-tiered systems of support will be examined from the perspective of behavior analysis and PBS terminology will be viewed through the lens of behavior analytical verbal behavior. Key points will be to enlighten attendees that although terminology may be different, foundational principles are the same. (c) Debunking the Myths of ABA and PBS will explore the common misconceptions held by practitioners who may not have a rich understanding of each contributing discipline. ABA and PBS are not strangers to each other, yet many practitioners maintain common misinterpretations and misunderstandings (e.g., ABA is only consequence-bases; PBS does not apply any consequences; ABA is only for autism; PBS is ABA-light, etc.). By debunking these fallacies, more accurate information will be disseminated along with a more thorough appreciation for behavior analytical principles as essential in the application of PBS.

Practitioners, Educators, Supervisors, Researchers, University Faculty, Graduate Students

We will present research based on the application of a systems approach to instruction that places the learners at the center of the matrix and emphasizes on-going rule-governed communication among the component parts. In this model the data generated through the measurement of each client's responses drive the system. Clinicians are trained through modules that provide in situ opportunities specifically related to the accurate implementation of Clients' programs, choice of strategies and tactics, materials and selection of new short term and long term objectives. The composition of the curriculum for the clients is logical and empirical and based on verbal development milestones. Assessments that identify learning rates, pre-requisite skill deficits and missing verbal developmental capabilities are used to pinpoint the potential source of each client's instructional problems and suggest rule-governed approaches to remediation. The results of the studies we will present show that the implementation of a rule governed organizational matrix to train clinicians supports increases in academic literacy, communication and social skills for pre-school and elementary school age clients diagnosed with autism and related communication disabilities in 1:1 settings.

Teachers, BCBA's, School Supervisors, Clinic Supervisors, Staff Trainers

We tested the effects of a clinic wide systems approach to supervision including the completion of PSI (Personalized System of Instruction) modules based on increasing levels of verbal complexity, and in-situ training. The clinic provided 1:1 services for preschool to school age clients and used the CABAS (Comprehensive Application of Behavior Analysis to Schooling) model of supervision. The clinics' mentors provided support, modeled scientific tacts and intraverbals in response to clients' instructional problems in situ, provided instructional resources and collected and analyzed clinic wide data. The dependent variables for the clinicians were the completion of modules, the number of errorless TPRA's (Teacher Performance Rate Accuracy), the number of errorless strategic and tactical decisions made and the number of errorless scientific tacts, intraverbals and research based tactics they implemented pre and post intervention. The independent variables consisted of a treatment package that included strategic questions and answers related to learn unit presentations, the visual display of data and instruction in using a rule governed algorithm to analyze instructional problems. Results showed increases in the clinicians' use of scientific tacts, intraverbals and research based tactics post intervention, as well as increases in clients' learning across the curriculum measured.

ABA service providers recognize the need to develop supervision practices that produce quality outcomes. Complex interactions between supervisors and clinicians should result in effective treatment through accurate instruction and delivery of behavioral interventions. This paper offers a procedure to implement an individualized supervision model and a measurement system to analyze the quality of the products with a focus on the interlocking contingencies within the system. The CABAS model has provided a science of teaching that can be applied across settings and provides a system to measure student and teacher behavior. We sought to develop and implement a standardized system of individualized instruction for supervisors and clinicians utilizing components of the CABAS model in an established private ABA clinic. The clinic provides home, school, and clinic-based services to clients between the ages of 2 to 22. This paper describes the system and components currently in place, a method for implementation, and outcome data analysis.

We tested the effects of a rule-governed algorithm in situ and line technicians' analysis of instructional problems and clients' learn units to criterion. We used a multiple baseline design across six participants who worked at a private center and provided 1:1 instruction for preschool to school age clients diagnosed with autism. The participants showed an interest in learning about the scientific vocabulary used at the center. The independent variable was the rule governed algorithm with scientific questions and answers related to an analysis of the learn unit in context. The dependent variables were the number of intact learn units presented, pre- and post-probe data for responses to scientific questions as selection and production responses for the line technicians and responses to learn unit presentations and learn units to criterion for the clients taught. As the participants became more proficient in utilizing the vocabulary of the science they began to think through instructional problems and became self-observers of the instruction they presented to their clients. Results showed a significant increase in the line technicians' analysis of instructional problems utilizing scientific tacts, increases in correct responses and decreases in learn units to criterion for the clients taught.

Demonstrating the efficacy of behavior analysis with respect to real-world problems is one key to dissemination of our science. Accomplishment of this objective requires presentation of our science in a manner obviously relevant to and easily understood by potential consumers. One emerging movement that has been successful to this end is within the area of applied animal behavior. Last year, leaders of this movement provided accounts of their efforts within special settings, and provided recommendations for addressing potential challenges likely to present during interdisciplinary collaborations. This year, the discussion will be continued with new accounts of collaborative efforts that have advanced our science in under-served areas of applied animal behavior. Further suggestions for extending our reach to new populations, and discussion of techniques for doing so, will be provided. While presented in the context of applied animal behavior, invaluable information will be provided for anyone interested in sharing the science of behavior.

Board Certified Behavior Analysts and others who aspire to extend the reach of behavior analysis through practice, especially in, but not limited to, the area of applied animal behavior.

ABA principles, procedures and ethical standards are directly relevant to improving the quality of life for zoo animals. A basic course was developed to improve zoo keepers ABA knowledge and skills. In this presentation, the course learning objectives will be discussed along with three case studies in which the fundamental tools of ABA (e.g., functional assessment and intervention design), were successfully applied to a self-injuring elephant, a fearful rhino, and an orangutan surrogate mother roughly handling a young baby.

As speakers in this symposium will demonstrate, the principles, procedures and ethical standards of ABA are relevant to improving the quality of life for zoo animals. But as in most animal settings, to increase the well-being of an animal in a zoo, you must first engage with their humans. This presentation will take a look at a typical day in the life of an animal caregiver, and discuss how this knowledge should inform how scientists approach and effectively engage with these institutions. There is great potential in the collaboration between behavior analytic researchers and captive animal environments. The goal of this presentation is to share some approaches that have yielded both effective and ineffective means for this type of collaboration.

Horses have a long history as domestic livestock and working animals, which has shaped and continues to influence policies and management practices. A growing demographic of horse owners have demanded change, and applied animal behaviorists are stepping up to meet that demand. Horse owners are typically dispersed, living in rural areas, and they seek advice about behavior issues from their local veterinarians, farriers, or trainers, very few of whom have received education in equine behavior. A top-down approach to disseminating information about ABA can help address these challenges. We teach an e-course on resolving fear-based behaviors in horses, and have marketed it to professionals by offering continuing education units. The course also has practical value to equine professionals; flight is horse's primary defense, thus fear-based behaviors are common and can impact the horse's health and performance, create a risk of serious injury to horses and humans, and result in lost revenue and increased expenses. An advantage to a top-down approach is that most equine professionals already have the skills and experience to successfully implement methods taught remotely. In addition, the course increases recognition of the role behaviorists play in equine care, distinct from veterinary care and training.

Nearly 20 organizations nationwide are responsible for training guide dogs. Overwhelmingly, they report less-than-ideal behavioral outcomes. In fact, the nation's most successful guide dog organization report that the majority of dogs are dismissed from their training program secondary to problem behaviors that are not medical or so-called species-specific. This is problematic because poor behavioral outcomes limit the extent to which the visually-impaired may engage safely with their communities. This presentation will provide an account of the gaps found in the literature addressing guide dog training, and offer behavior scientists suggestions for further developing a pragmatic line of research. Additionally, this presentation will discuss opportunities for the behavior scientist to contribute to development of assessment and training methods that aim to improve the quality of life of the guide dog, its trainers, and its consumers. Finally, with such ambitious objectives towards influencing the training of guide dogs, strategies for amicable collaborations will be provided.

The current symposium examines procedures for teaching social skills to children with autism and related disorders, including the utilization of group reinforcement contingencies, behavioral skills training, curriculum-based instruction, and the establishment of rules. The first paper is a data-based discussion regarding the use of an interdependent group contingency to increase the social interactions and motor skills of children with autism spectrum disorder and their typically developing peers during indoor rock climbing sessions. The second presentation examines the efficacy of behavioral skills training and group contingencies to teach various social skills to elementary-aged boys diagnosed with autism in a clinic setting. The third paper presents outcome data on the utility of curriculum-based, group training targeting age-appropriate social skills for children diagnosed with autism and related disorders. The second and third papers also will address data collection and experimental design challenges that may be encountered during group service delivery. The fourth paper is a literature-review, which will discuss recent research on rule-governed behavior in applied settings.

Board Certified Behavior Analysts, Registered Behavior Technicians, students in the field of ABA or related disciplines

Children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are often less physically active and involved in the community than their typically developing peers. This is a concern given the many detrimental outcomes of a sedentary lifestyle, as well as the consideration that individuals with ASD may face challenges with many forms of physical activity. Indoor rock climbing may be a good option for children with ASD due to the sport's physical and social characteristics. A multiple baseline design across participants was used to examine the effects of an interdependent group contingency on the social interactions of children with ASD and their typically developing peers. The dependent variable was the rate of positive, negative, and neutral social interactions between the participant and peer; the independent variable was the group contingency, wherein reinforcement was provided for the participant and peer reaching predetermined climbing goals. The participant's motor proficiency was also measured. Results suggest that participants engaged in more positive and neutral social interactions during the interdependent group contingency, and a brief reversal showed some generalization to a new peer in the absence of the group contingency.

Children diagnosed with autism generally present with deficits in social skills, including talking and playing with peers, making eye contact, and appropriately responding to the emotions and preferences of others (Centers for Disease Control, 2017). Behavioral skills training (BST) and group contingencies are evidence-based interventions used in treatment (Hood et al., 2017; Peter & Thompson, 2015; Speltz et al., 1982). Six males diagnosed with autism participated in an eight-week social skills group in which BST (i.e., oral instructions and rules, adult modeling, and practice with feedback) and interdependent and independent group contingencies were used to teach a variety of social skills. Most participants mastered the skills taught and all participants demonstrated improvements on a post-intervention skill assessment. Social validity questionnaires completed by the children's parents demonstrated that parents thought the group was helpful for their child and resulted in meaningful progress. Issues and limitations associated with using group contingencies with young children, forming social skills groups based on client age and skill-level, and employing experimental designs in a service-delivery setting will also be discussed.

Many individuals who demonstrate social delays participate in structured "play groups." Some play groups claim to target the development of social skills, but often are unstructured or over-reliant on contrived training opportunities. Unlike typical play groups, more formalized programs that aim to improve age-appropriate skills, are supported by Regional Centers and insurance agencies in California. There is a paucity of research on outcomes for these programs, however, and limited information about the extent to which they measure progress, promote generalization or maintenance, and provide caregiver training. Curriculum-based, group social skills training seeks to address these concerns across various domains including: having or joining conversations, using social media and the internet, or dealing with bullies. The purpose of this presentation will be to review the progress of 12 individuals with autism or related disorders who partook in a curriculum-based, group social skills program. Participants ranged in age from 6 to 16 years and demonstrated significant social delays. Outcome data from four groups will be presented, and the variables associated with group contingencies and rule governance also will be discussed.

A substantial amount of evidence from basic research has shown that rules can effectively control behavior, even when they conflict with actual contingencies of reinforcement. However, relatively few studies have evaluated rule-governed behavior in applied settings. This presentation consists of a literature review of research on rule-governed behavior in applied settings. The effects of interventions incorporating rule-governed behavior will be discussed, as well as their potential for creating behavior change that is generalized across populations and settings. Given the potential power of rules, it is surprising that rule-governed behavior has not received more attention in the empirical literature. The presentation concludes with recommendations for both practitioners and researchers.

A large body of research has demonstrated the benefit of conducting a functional analysis (FA) prior to initiating the treatment of destructive behavior. For example, multiple studies have shown that when function-based treatments are used, reinforcement-based procedures are more likely to be effective and punishment procedures are often unnecessary (Greer, Fisher, Saini, Owen, & Jones, 2016; Kuhn, DeLeon, Fisher, & Wilke, 1999; Pelios, Morren, Tesch, & Axelrod, 1999; Smith, Iwata, Vollmer, & Zarcone, 1992). Although research has repeatedly shown the benefits of FA, many clinicians continue to use less reliable assessment methods to identify the function of destructive behavior, in part due to their ease of implementation. The purpose of this symposium is to explore the efficiency and accuracy of a number of functional analysis variations. The presentations will cover (a) a translational investigation of individual versus synthesized contingencies during FA, (b) structured criterion used to investigate the efficiency of various FA types, and (c) the progression from brief to more extended FA methods.

clinicians, clinical researchers

Research has evaluated the reliability and validity of structured criteria for inspecting functional-analysis (FA) results on a post-hoc basis (i.e., post-hoc visual inspection (PHVI). However, most behavior analysts inspect FAs using ongoing visual inspection (OVI), and the validity of applying structured criteria during OVI remains unknown. We evaluated the validity and efficiency of applying structured criteria on an ongoing basis by comparing the interpretations produced through OVI with (a) PHVI, (b) authors' post-hoc interpretations (PHAI), and (c) the consensus of these two post-hoc analyses. Ongoing visual inspection predicted the results of (a) PHVI and the consensus interpretations with a very high degree of accuracy and (b) PHAI with a reasonably high degree of accuracy. Furthermore, the PHVI and PHAI results involved 32 FA sessions, on average, whereas the OVI required only 19 FA sessions to accurately identify the function(s) of problem behavior. Findings are discussed relative to other methods designed to increase the accuracy and efficiency of FAs.

Originating in the mid-1960s, functional analysis (FA) has become the gold standard method for understanding the environmental variables that come to shape and maintain problematic behaviors such as aggression, self-injury, and property destruction. Over the decades a number of studies have refined FA methods, attempting to influence the overall efficiency of the analysis, including experimental design and procedural modifications. In the present review, we used ongoing visual-inspection criteria and basic probability theory to compare and analyze levels of efficiency across FA types. We found the pairwise design, multielement design, and synthesized analyses to be about equally efficient with respect to the average number of sessions conducted per function tested, and found the trial-based and synthesized contingency analysis to be the two most efficient with respect to the average duration per function tested. We discuss the implications of these findings in the broader context of efficiency and provide recommendations for maximizing efficiency during an FA. We also discuss other qualitative procedural details that may influence the overall efficiency of an FA.

Despite the utility of functional analysis methodology, not all functional analyses produce differentiated results. Factors such as interaction effects, multiple control, or methodological inefficiencies may compromise obtaining differentiated outcomes. Vollmer et. al. (1995) proposed an assessment sequence for progressing from brief to extended experimental analyses. Since this publication; however, various studies have addressed other methods to improve the efficiency and efficacy of functional analysis methodology. The purpose of the current study was to update and extend the assessment sequence proposed by Vollmer et. al. (1995) for progressing from brief to extended experimental analyses. Specifically, our assessment model incorporated several procedural refinements developed over the years since the Vollmer et. al. (1995) model was proposed. The current model incorporated five phases including extended ignore, brief functional analysis, extended functional analysis, extended ignore, and reversal. We conducted assessments with 20 participants diagnosed with autism or other related disabilities. Participants were referred to 3 different clinics for functional analyses due the occurrence of various topographies of problem behavior. Overall, results validate previous assessment modifications proposed in the literature, support the utility of the updated model, and provide new and valuable insight regarding the assessment of problem behavior.

A qualitative characteristic of individuals diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) includes deficits in social skills. It is important that practitioners address social skill deficits effectively to enhance social interactions. This symposium will highlight innovative methods to assess and enhance social skills with individuals with ASD. The first paper will present on the effects of video modeling on scripted statements with dyads of individuals with ASD during mastered leisure activities. The second paper will discuss the use of a packaged intervention consisting of video modeling and video feedback for teaching social skills to adolescents with autism during leisure. The third presentation will discuss an innovative approach using textual prompts via text messaging to increase conversational skills with individuals with ASD. The fourth and final paper will discuss the use of an assessment and a training program to enhance social interactions with individuals with ASD. Limitations, clinical implications and areas of research will be discussed.

undergraduates, graduate students, parents, and practictioners

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often display deficits in social and conversational skills. Methods to address social deficits include the use of video modeling. There is dearth of research targeting conversational skills using video-based instruction with individuals with ASD as conversational recipients. We evaluated the effects of video modeling on scripted statements during leisure activities to dyads of children with ASD using a multiple probe across activities design. Video modeling alone was found to be effective for three of the participants. Video modeling with tangible reinforcement was needed for one participant to learn scripted statements whereas tangible reinforcement and additional prompts were needed for two participants. Generalization was assessed across novel peers and data were variable across participants. Results were found to maintain across one and three weeks after mastery and goals and outcomes were reported as socially valid. Limitations and areas of future research will be discussed.

Teaching relevant social skills during engagement with leisure activities may promote natural interactions and enhance the benefits of leisure. The present study evaluated the effect and generalization of a treatment hierarchy starting with a video modeling and video feedback package (VMVF) for teaching social skills to adolescents with autism during leisure. Participants were between the ages of 15 and 21 with ASD and attended a residential school. Six target social skills determined to be important in typical leisure based interactions were divided into three domains: (a) initiating joint participation, (b) conversation relevant to activities, and (c) prosocial interactions. Experimental control was demonstrated using a multiple-baseline within participants design. Participants were shown one of the video models twice successively at the start of the session. Following the session, participants were shown the video recording and given feedback in the form of praise or suggestions for improvement. Additional treatment components of the package included naturalistic prompting and arbitrary reinforcers. Although VMVF alone had limited success, the additional treatment components produced an increase in targeted social skills. Interobserver agreement was calculated in 40% of sessions with a score of 94%.

The present study used a multiple baseline design across 4 dyads of children with autism spectrum disorder to assess the efficacy of a text message prompt on smartphones to teach conversational speech during play time. During treatment, each child was taught to use text messages that prompted conversational phrases sent to their smartphones positioned beside them during dyad play. These texts were sent in, during real time play, by experimenters seated just outside the play area. The texts were then faded out, and the smartphones were then gradually removed from of the play area. Results indicated that each dyad maintained appropriate conversations with each other. Generalization of both previously scripted and unscripted phrases with non-trained peers and across untrained settings occurred. The results are discussed in terms of using simple texting on cell phones to occasion conversational speech for children with autism.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is characterized by impaired social interaction and communication. Skill deficits are most noticeable in social behavior and these deficits may be related to atypical responsiveness to social stimuli. The current study sought to examine how individuals with an ASD allocated their behavior in the presence of others pre and post social exchange training and to evaluate the qualitative changes in social behavior following training. One adult and three children with an ASD participated. Relative preference for social interaction and the qualitative state of social engagement during social interaction were measured. Participants then received training to initiate and sustain a social exchange. Prompting and reinforcement, in the form of preferred social consequences, were provided. Following social exchange training, the results suggested an increased preference for social interaction for some participants and a qualitatively richer state of social engagement for all participants. All sessions were videotaped and more than 33% of sessions, across both assessment and training, were scored by 2 trained observers. Interobserver agreement (IOA) ranged between 84% - 100%. Social validity data indicated that the obtained coordinated joint interaction state of engagement of the study participants was reflective of the states of engagement in typically developing persons.

The subdiscipline of behavioral science known as "operant behavioral economics" (hereafter termed simply "behavioral economics") integrates concepts from microeconomic theory and behavior analysis. Behavioral economics provides scientists, researchers, practitioners, and policy makers with unique insights into motivation and reinforcer efficacy. Of particular noteworthiness is the influence of behavioral economics in the domains of addiction, behavioral pharmacology, and empirical public policy. Central to behavioral economics' success is its unique demand curve analysis that quantifies the degree to which an organism/agency defends its baseline rate of consumption of a target commodity (i.e., its blisspoint). Recent advances in data collection for demand curve studies, as well as the quantitative modeling and analysis of subsequent data, have advanced both the theoretical interpretations and practical applications of behavioral economic principles. This symposium highlights these recent advances in both data collection for and quantitative analyses of demand curves. Contributors will provide data-based recommendations for best practices in this line of research.

Advanced; Researchers with an interest in behavioral economics or quantitative analysis.

In the application of behavioral economic principles to issues of societal importance, a critical unit of analysis is unit elasticity—termed Pmax—which represents the price value at which inelastic demand shifts to elastic. The Pmax price point may thereby serve as a target price for excise taxation, price regulation boundaries, or understanding how consumers value commodities against real-world market prices. Quantifying Pmax is dependent on quantification of demand to generate demand curve parameters. Recent advances in demand analysis have yielded competing models of demand, but the extent to which these models influence Pmax has not yet been explored—this is particularly alarming given the proliferation of Pmax applications to inform federally funded projects tasked with informing regulatory policy. This study extracted existing data from seminal articles containing demand curves for substances of abuse. The exponential and exponentiated demand models were used to generate best-fit parameter values, which were input into Hursh's (2014) exact Pmax equation, as well as slope-based Pmax values independent of a theoretical model of unit elasiticty. We identified alarming discrepancies in Pmax across the exponential and exponentiated models, suggesting the field must address modeling issues before proceeding with applying these analyses to inform policy-level decisions.

The alcohol purchase task has been considered a gold standard tool for measuring demand for alcohol. Although different alcohol purchase tasks have been used in many experimental studies, there is no research on the procedural differences between the different versions of alcohol purchase tasks that have been used to measure demand. The present study sought to examine the extent to which market price anchor placement in purchase task price sequences influence demand. We recruited 298 participants from Amazon Mechanical Turk to complete an alcohol purchase task with four different possible price sequences. Price sequences represented standard, left, right, or center placement of market values. We stratified participants across the four different price sequences. Nonsystematic data were removed (trend: 8.7%; bounce: 3.0%; reversals from zero: 3.6%); we analyzed remaining data using exponential and exponentiated demand equations. Exponential analyses indicate no significant differences in demand between responses in any of the four price sequences; whereas exponentiated analyses indicate a significant difference between groups. This research is valuable in considering how purchase tasks are used to inform public policy and used to guide creation of clinical scales for alcohol demand. Implications for best practice will be discussed.

Behavioral economic demand offers a multi-dimensional evaluation of drug reinforcement and abuse liability. However, generating demand curves with self-administration is time consuming and costly. Human researchers sometimes use hypothetical drug purchasing tasks as quick, cost-efficient alternatives, in which a participant self-reports how many units of a described drug he/she would purchase at a range of prices. Two limitations of typical purchasing tasks are: 1) commodities are described rather than experienced, and 2) inability to control for expectancy (placebo effect). We developed the Double-Blind Drug Purchasing Task, a hybrid task in which we administered drugs and placebos in separate double-blind sessions. Participants then made hypothetical purchase decisions at the conclusion of each session in reference to the drug/placebo administered. We administered this task to 56 users of either cocaine, methamphetamine, or alcohol. Drug purchasing decreased reliably as an orderly function of price. Drug was reliably purchased more than placebo. Elasticity tended to be negatively correlated with clinically relevant variables: money spent on drug and use frequency. Ongoing research is comparing the novel task against operant laboratory demand methods in tobacco users purchasing/earning cigarettes. The DBPT may serve as an efficient method for determining drug demand under pharmacologically rigorous, placebo-controlled conditions.

Clinical behavioral psychology and behavior analysis are tightly related. Though political differences have left a gap between these areas of behavioral science, many empirically supported psychotherapy approaches are based on behavioral principles. This symposium will present behavioral-oriented clinical interventions whose theoretical foundations rely on behavior analysis and contextual behavioral science. We will present the achievements and scope of Behavioral Activation, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP), and Parent Training. We will provide evidence connecting behavioral principles and clinical practices, and the future areas of research in which behavior analysts and clinical psychologists could collaborate to improve therapeutic services by conducting translational and applied research. We will discuss scenarios where the implementation of therapeutic tools from these therapies could be utilized by behavior analysts to boost their interventions and some others where referral to clinical psychologists are needed. We seek to build a bridge between clinical psychologists and behavior analysts to reduce the burden of both professional areas and promote collaboration to strengthen behavioral science. Behavior analysts in interdisciplinary settings will learn how their mental health colleagues apply a behavioral perspective to complex human action.

Target audience for this symposium are graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, behavior analysts and clinical psychologist working in private practice and academia.

Behavioral activation (BA) is one of the most widely researched and disseminated treatments for clinical depression. Originally formulated as a component of cognitive-behavioral therapy, BA has emerged as a cost-effective, efficacious, and portable stand-alone intervention. The theoretical roots of BA are planted firmly in the operant work of Skinner and Ferster. Early empirical research by Lewinsohn inspired a wave of behavior therapists, including those who researched similar yet divergent treatment delivery methods. As behavior therapy widened its scope and considered the role of affect and cognition, research has continued examining the core behavioral processes thought to be the heart of BA, including collaboratively identifying reinforcers, structured activity scheduling, and weekly evaluation. While multiple iterations of BA have augmented treatment with modules such as relaxation training, social skills training, and values or long-term goals assessment, basic behavioral principles remain the engine under the hood. Behavior analysts will find the theoretical grounds of BA to be familiar territory, while contemporary empirical findings will provide an updated assessment of where BA can go next.

Numerous research has shown DBT to be an effective treatment for a wide variety of disorders including but not limited to borderline personality disorders, substance use and dependence disorders, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and eating disorders. DBT involves teaching and training clients through the use of behaviorally based skills which implemented across a variety of settings and situations. Particularly, DBT has developed guidelines to teach clients to tact their emotions based on the discriminative stimulus in the environment where these are evoked. This therapy also promotes effective interpersonal behaviors with the aim of improving clients global functioning. Due to its widespread applicability knowing, and the utility of its basic skills for a wide variety of clients, DBT can prove to be an invaluable addition to behavior analysts interventions. This presentation will address the achievements and scope of DBT, its application across a variety of settings and situations and the potential implications of its tools for behavioral analysts.

Behavioral Parent Training (BPT) is characterized for using traditional behavioral procedures such as differential reinforcement, extinction, and time-out to modify problem behaviors, and to establish more appropriate behaviors in children. Although these procedures have been very effective in establishing new behavior, the fact is that important areas in parent training have been left behind. For example, addressing the impact of private events in dealing with stressful events, values, and mindfulness methods. Therefore, the objective of this presentation is two-fold. First, provide a state of the art of the behavioral intervention to parents with neuro-typical children and children with intellectual disabilities. Second, describe the evidence of these new methods to parents training. Behavior analyst have been very reluctant to implement values and mindfulness procedure in to their practice. We will provide some guidelines how to do it in their clinical work.

Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP) is a behavioral principle-driven intervention focused on promoting therapeutic changes within the context of therapeutic relationship. FAP primary goal is enhancing social functioning while reducing socially ineffective behaviors through modifying clients' social contingencies of reinforcement in-session. Functional analysis is the foundation of FAP, and based on that, therapists evoke, redirect, reinforce, and generalize clients' clinically relevant behaviors. Although FAP represents the natural transition from applied behavior analysis to clinical behavior analysis in the therapeutic relationship context, FAP is not widely known by researchers and practitioners in behavior analysis. Based on that, this presentation seeks to expose the potential utility of FAP for applied behavior analysts and prospective areas of collaboration between researchers from both fields. On the applied area, a FAP-approach would particularly benefit for applied behavior analysists who interact with high-functional clients and family members, enhancing their therapeutic relationship and social connection. On the research field, a translational research agenda that explores the link between FAP-applications and its basic roots, the parameters of reinforcement within the clinical setting, the role of motivational operations in the therapeutic relationship, so forth. would help to extend the scope of behavioral science to other human-relevant areas.

Function-based treatments for problem behavior are well studied using single-subject designs, but there is less research using larger samples. While single-subject designs are an important cornerstone of behavior analysis, larger sample sizes allow us to answer different questions and disseminate results to novel audiences. Two of the studies in this symposium analyze resurgence and relapse in clinical populations. These concepts are well studied in basic research but the prevalence in applied settings is unclear. These studies used consecutive-case review designs to answer this question and identify the prevalence in patients undergoing treatment for problem behavior. The third study also used a consecutive case series design to analyze treatment results for inappropriate sexual behavior, which is an incredibly problematic, but understudied, topography. By using a large-N design, the researchers were able to assess treatment efficacy in a format that easily disseminates to professionals outside of our field. The last talk focuses on a literature review for automatically-maintained problem behavior. In using this large sample found in past research, they identified trends in assessment that may predict the types of treatment components necessary. The implications of use of large-N designs in these projects allowed for solving novel and important research questions.

Professional clinicians and researchers in the field of psychology and behavior analysis who work with children who engage in problem behavior. I also believe this presentation qualified for psychology CEUS (PSY), but this was not an option listed above.

A consecutive controlled case-series design (Hagopian, Rooker, Jessel, & DeLeon, 2013) was used to examine resurgence of problem behavior during implementation of a multiple schedule of reinforcement and during subsequent thinning steps. Multiple schedules signal the availability of reinforcement by correlating a unique stimulus with the presence or absence of reinforcement following a targeted response (Saini, Miller, Fisher, 2014). Resurgence was defined as the occurrence of problem behavior at a rate that exceeded levels observed during baseline or the prior multiple-schedule thinning step in at least one of the next 10 sessions (Volkert, Lerman, Call, & Trosclair-Lasserre, 2009). Data were collected from clients of an intensive day treatment program over an eight year period whose treatment for problem behavior included a multiple schedule component. Resurgence was coded after the multiple schedule was introduced and following each subsequent thinning step. Data were collected on a variety of different participant characteristics including: age, topography of problem behavior(s) (e.g., aggression, self-injury, pica), and confirmed function(s) of problem behavior. Implications for thinning the schedule of reinforcement in a multiple schedule will be discussed.

This study used a consecutive controlled case-series design (Hagopian, Rooker, Jessel, & DeLeon, 2013) to examine the prevalence of renewal when treatments for problem behavior were generalized. Renewal is defined as the reemergence of a previously extinguished response when the stimulus context changes (Kelley, Liddon, Ribeiro, & Greif, 2015). For example, when renewal is applied to the treatment of problem behavior, problem behavior is initially observed in the home. Next, treatment is implemented in a different setting and problem behavior decreases or extinguishes. Finally, when treatment is generalized back to the home, problem behavior may reemerge. This treatment relapse effect has significant implications for clinicians generalizing treatments for problem behavior. Data were analyzed from all clients over a six year period who were admitted to a day treatment program for the treatment of problem behavior. Renewal was coded if problem behavior was observed at a rate in the first 10 sessions in the new stimulus context higher than that of the 10 sessions preceding generalization. Data were also collected on participant and treatment characteristics including: topography(s) of problem behavior, identified function(s) of problem behavior and treatment components. Implications for the treatment of problem behavior and generalization are discussed.

Effective training of paraprofessionals is critical in creating behavior change for children with developmental disabilities, yet many paraprofessionals receive limited professional development or support in implementing behavior plans. Therefore, it is necessary to examine the training procedures for paraprofessionals to identify the most efficient, cost-effective approaches to increase a paraprofessional's ability to implement a behavior plan with fidelity. The research included in this symposium addresses a variety of approaches to training, including behavioral skills training and practice-based coaching to increase paraprofessionals' skills in implementing behavior change procedures. These studies note the marked increases in treatment fidelity after training as well as reductions in challenging behavior and increases in adaptive skills in the children the paraprofessionals work with in home, school, and community settings. In sum, these studies outline several evidence-based approaches to training paraprofessionals in executing behavior plans with fidelity. Limitations and future areas of research will also be addressed.

Behavior analysts working with paraprofessionals

Ensuring educational progress for students with moderate-to-severe developmental disabilities requires exposure to well executed evidence-based practices. This necessitates that the special education workforce, including paraprofessionals, be well-trained. Yet evidence regarding effective training mechanisms for paraprofessionals is limited. A multiple baseline design across five teachers was used to evaluate the impact of online instructional modules and a Practice-Based Coaching (PBC) model with teacher-as-coach on their paraprofessionals' fidelity of discrete trial training (DTT). Implementation of the instructional modules yielded little to no change in paraprofessionals' DTT fidelity, however, a clear functional relation between PBC and improvement in paraprofessionals' fidelity of implementation of DTT was demonstrated.

Extensive research suggests naturalistic approaches, including Enhanced Milieu Teaching (EMT), improve the acquisition, generalization, and maintenance of communication skills among children with developmental disabilities (DD). Limited research has examined professional development for paraeducators, particularly related to communication interventions. The current study uses a randomized, single-case multiple baseline design across participants to address the impact of a training package on paraeducator's use of EMT with a child dyad and subsequent child communication gains. Data is presented for four paraeducators and seven preschool children with DD. A visual analysis of the data is presented, in addition to an interpretation of Tau-U and Hedge's g effect sizes. Results indicate increases in paraeducator's fidelity of implementation of EMT, with large effects. There were increases in child communication, with large effects for prompted communication and small effects for independent communication. Paraeducators were able to generalize their use of strategies across additional students in the preschool classroom. The results of the study have promising implications regarding successful training procedures for paraeducators working with young children with DD. Future research should continue to examine effective, yet more cost-effective training programs for paraeducators.

Paraprofessionals spend the most time with the neediest students, but receive the least amount of training and support. All target students in the study had developmental disabilities, were between the ages of three and five, and had a history of challenging behavior. Paraprofessionals in the study were recruited because they had the least experience and training administering behavior support plans (BSPs) in their setting. A multi-level consultation model was used to train paraprofessionals to implement individualized BSPs. First, paraprofessionals were trained in a one-on-one setting how to implement the BSPs using behavioral skills training. Next, adherence to the BSP was monitored by independent observers and additional support was delivered contingent on meeting an adherence criterion. Through a cascading logic, data showed that paraprofessionals engaged in immediately and substantively higher levels of BSP adherence following application of the multilevel consultation model, and as a result, students engaged in immediately and substantively lower rates of challenging behavior (d = -1.5 to -4.4), which maintained over time. With minimal training provided to each paraprofessional across the study (M = 151.2 minutes), and dramatic observed changes in challenging behavior, the multilevel consultation model proved highly efficient and effective.

The purpose of this study was to train teachers to coach paraprofessionals in the use of FCT to treat challenging behavior in young children with disabilities. Our first set of participants included a preschool special education teacher, a paraprofessional, and a child aged five years. We utilized a non-concurrent multiple baseline design across three paraprofessionals to examine the effects of practice-based coaching on (a) FCT treatment fidelity of the paraprofessional, and (b) challenging behavior and appropriate communication of the child. We trained teachers in FCT and coaching procedures, after which the teachers trained their paraprofessionals in FCT and provided coaching throughout the intervention phase. Our preliminary results with the first set of participants indicated the paraprofessional was able to implement FCT independently with high fidelity, which led to a decrease in challenging behavior and increase in appropriate communication in the child. Implications for future research and practice will be discussed.

The research in behavioral gerontology is a small but important line of behavior-analytic research. A growing aging population with growing prevalence of diagnosed neurocognitive disorder means that this line of research is essential, and will help to identify the role that applied behavior analysis can play in treatment of behaviors associated with neurocognitive disorder. Successful treatment should result in increased quality of life for older adults diagnosed with the disorder. This symposium will include four talks across a range of topics including: Topic 1: Mand training for an older adults with a communication deficit Topic 2: The Effects of Reinforcement and Extinction on Responding by Older Adults with Cognitive Impairment Topic 3: Maintenance of matching-to-sample performance in a woman with neurocognitive disorder Topic 4: Reducing inappropriate spitting in an older adult with vascular dementia

The effects of extinction have been demonstrated in community dwelling older adults (Plaud, Plaud, & Duvillard, 1999), but to date, the effects of extinction have not been empirically demonstrated for older adults with neurocognitive disorder. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to examine whether withdrawal of a reinforcer from a previously reinforced behavior would result in behavior change for this population. Preferred stimuli (pictures) were identified prior to implementation through use of a preference assessment followed by reinforcer assessment. The effects of the schedules were assessed with a computer program on a tablet PC. Conditions were signaled by the presentation of various shapes along with the buttons. The effects of reinforcement were compared with extinction and/or non-contingent reinforcement schedules. The experimental arrangement consisted of a presentation of two buttons that (a) would activate a preferred picture; (b) produce nothing (in the extinction condition); or (c) produced nothing (but pictures were available on a time-based schedule). These data will be discussed with respect to the implications for both basic and applied research. This study is a replication of a previous study conducted by Baker, Seefeldt, Hathaway, Fairchild, Hood, Beattie, and Ringdahl (2013).

In the present study an 89-year old woman with the neurocognitive disorder, Alzheimer disease, participated. The purpose of the experiment was to study stimulus control issues and to study how the relations between stimuli were maintained over time. The participant was presented for different types of sorting tests and matching-to sample (MTS) training and tests for emergent relations. The stimuli used were pictures of her relatives, their names, and their family relation. Furthermore, the participant was presented for two follow-up tests. The first follow-up test nine months later including sorting tests. In the second follow-up, the participant was presented for both MTS training and tests, as in the conditions she was presented for one year earlier. The results from the follow-up tests showed that the percentage of correct sorting of stimuli decreased as a function of time. However, the results from the MTS training were maintained in the second follow-up condition.

In the presence of neurocognitive impairment, older adults often engage in behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD; verbal or physical aggression, wandering). To address these behaviors, researchers have implemented behavioral interventions to reduce BPSD (Baker, Hanley, & Mathew, 2006; Buchanan & Fisher, 2002); however, no study has implemented an intervention to reduce inappropriate spitting. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to reduce the frequency of spitting on the floor during meals. The participant was a 74-year old male diagnosed with vascular dementia and as deaf. Results from an antecedent functional analysis demonstrated a higher rate of spitting per minute when the participant had access to food and drink in the dining room. The effects of the intervention were evaluated using a reversal design. During this presentation, we will discuss the results and the clinical implications of this study.

Older adults diagnosed with neurocognitive disorder often have difficulties with communication. There is a growing literature base that is applying Skinners analysis of verbal behavior to remediate communication deficits among older adults with neurocognitive disorders. Previously, researchers have evaluated intervention strategies aimed at teaching this population picture-based (Trahan,Donaldson, McNabney, and Kahng, 2014) as well as vocal mands (Oleson & Baker, 2014). The efficacy of such training is likely predicated on identifying an existing repertoire or teaching a new repertoire to engage in the mand response. In the current study, we, sought to teach mands to an older adult with neurocognitive disorder. He was diagnosed as deaf, but had never been taught sign language. Additionally, he was reported to have no communicative responses as a result of a traumatic brain injury. During this presentation, we will discuss and review data on the assessment process that helped identified repertoires that we could then use for mand training. This presentation will also focus on the clinical implications for verbal behavior assessments that can inform interventions for older adults with neurocognitive disorders.

Every event occurs in the context of time, but time is more relevant for some events than for others. When events occur regularly at a particular time after a marker event, behavior comes under control by time elapsed since the marker event. Yet even when the correlation between time and events is perfect, control by time is imperfect. This symposium explores factors that influence the strength of temporal control, including the duration to be discriminated, the reinforcers associated with particular times, and the time-based contingency itself. We discuss procedures where time is a discriminative stimulus for when to begin responding, to stop responding, to withhold responding, or to change between different responses, as well as procedures in which time signals the non-contingent occurrence of a reinforcer. We assess similarities between control by time and by other stimuli that are exteroceptive, discretely different, or intermittently present, across a range of subjects including pigeons, rats, and dogs.

Domestic dogs completed a temporal bisection procedure that required them to respond to one lever following a short-light-signal duration and to another lever following a longer light-signal duration. The durations of short and long stimuli were varied across four conditions (0.5 2.0 s, 1.0 4.0 s, 2.0 8.0 s and 4.0 16.0 s). Intermediate durations, along with the original training stimuli, were presented during generalization tests. The dogs bisected the intervals near the geometric mean of the short and long stimulus pair. Weber fractions were not constant, instead they were well described by a U-shaped function. These results replicate the findings of Church and Deluty (1977) where the points of subjective equality also close to the geometric mean, as well as Bizo et al. (2006) and Zeiler (1991) who also demonstrated departures from Weber's Law.

How do reinforcers affect control by time-based contingencies? Four pigeons worked on a two-key concurrent schedule where the reinforcer ratio reversed once a fixed amount of time had elapsed since the most recent reinforcer. Thus, one response was more likely to produce a reinforcer before the reversal, while the other response was more likely to produce a reinforcer after the reversal. Across conditions, the percentage of reinforcers arranged before the reversal was manipulated from 5 to 95%. The magnitude of the change in choice around the reversal was greater when reinforcers were more equally distributed before and after the reversal, but the speed with which choice changed, and the time at which it reversed, was much less affected by the reinforcers. Thus, numbers of reinforcers appeared to influence discrimination of the contingency before and after the change, rather than the time of the reversal.These findings are not consistent with theories that assume that reinforcers alter discrimination of time itself, but can be understood in terms of discrimination of the relation between responses and reinforcers in time and space.

Organisms exposed to intermittent reinforcement schedules display behaviors that consistently occur throughout the inter-reinforcement intervals, even when no overt contingency has been arranged between those behaviors (adjunctive) and reinforcer occurrence. The most studied example of adjunctive behavior is schedule-induced drinking, characterized by an elevated licking to a waterspout when food is intermittently delivered. Under different experimental protocols we have been examining if adjunctive drinking serves time estimation, by means of performance under fixed interval schedules and peak probes, the bi-peak or bisection procedures. Results are generally consistent with a role of chaining of adjunctive behavior that serves organization of behavior in time rather than actual time estimation. A further role of adjunctive behavior that needs to receive some consideration is the subjective shortening of the pass of time while awaiting for the reinforcer.

In two experiments, male and female C57 mice were trained to withhold a response for either 3 or 6 s under a differential reinforcement of low rates (DRL) schedule of reinforcement, or under a fixed minimum interval (FMI) schedule. In DRL, reinforcement (sucrose pellet in Experiment 1; diluted sweetened condensed milk in Experiment 2) was contingent on the interval between two consecutive lever presses (LP mice) or two consecutive nose-pokes (NP mice). In FMI, reinforcement was contingent on similar intervals, but terminated with a head entry into the feeder. In DRL, but not in FMI, performance varied between LP and NP mice, between levels of deprivation, and between types of reinforcers. These results are consistent with previous data from rats, suggesting that FMI provides measures of response-inhibition capacity and timing that are more robust to motivational and sensorimotor variables than DRL. We suggest these difference between FMI and DRL are likely due to the differential discriminability and function of responses between DRL and FMI.

Higher education is an excellent setting for the application of behavioral technologies. This symposium will include four data-based presentations on behavior-analytic procedures with college students. Two presentations will focus on improving student performance in college classrooms, and two presentations will focus on teaching interviewing and public speaking skills. In the first presentation, Cynthia Nava will present an evaluation of concept programming using student-generated exemplars in a behavior analysis course. Next, Dr. Megan Heinicke will present a comparison of two types of response card systems in an upper-division psychology course. In the third presentation, Vinthia Wirantana will present an evaluation of behavioral skills training to train career resource center staff to use behavioral skills training to teach job interview skills. In the final presentation, Christina Montes will present an evaluation of awareness training to decrease speech disfluencies during public speaking. The symposium will conclude with a discussion by Dr. Jennifer Austin.

Researchers, teachers, and resource providers

Many of today's leading scholars and practitioners of behavior analysis were once undergraduate students learning the foundational concepts for the first time in a college classroom. Few studies exist on instructional strategies to improve the acquisition of behavioral concepts (e.g., positive reinforcement) in college students. Those that do exist (e.g., Miller & Weaver, 1976) were conducted before web-based technologies became a staple of college life. Our study extends existing research by systematically evaluating the effects of "concept programming" using multi-media examples of the behavioral principles generated by graduate students. First, we assigned graduate students to create examples (pictures/videos, captions, and descriptions) of the behavioral principles in their everyday lives. Next, we curated an online bank of these multi-media examples corresponding to four topics (respondent conditioning, reinforcement, antecedent control, extinction and punishment) taught in an undergraduate behavior analysis course. We used a multiple probe and between-group design to evaluate the effects of access alone and access with probes for critical thinking on concept formation. We also assessed student preference for multi-media, peer-generated examples compared to traditional textbook examples. Results of the study will be discussed in the context of instructional design, student preference, and culturally responsive practices in higher education.

Behavioral skills training (BST) has been shown to improve job interview skills of college students (Hollandsworth, Glazeski, & Dressel, 1978; Stocco, Thompson, Hart, & Soriano, 2017). Students can receive interview training through college Career Resource Centers (CRCs), but it is unclear if CRCs use BST. Subsequently, if BST is not used, it is unknown whether BST produces better outcomes than a typical CRC training or whether professionals in those settings would embrace the use of BST. To address these gaps in the literature, we taught CRC staff to use BST when teaching college students to answer interview questions; we measured the number of BST steps used in comparison to a baseline that consisted of typical CRC training. In addition, we measured the percent of appropriate answers provided by college students during simulated interviews conducted after typical CRC training and BST. We used a nonconcurrent multiple baseline across three staff-student dyads to evaluate the effects. Results thus far show that CRC staff use some, but not all, BST steps during typical training. So far, after receiving training on BST, staff increased the use of BST steps, and we have observed collateral improvement in student performance during simulated interviews. However, data collection is only complete for one of the three dyads. Following the completion of all dyads, we will collect staff and student data on the social validity of procedures and outcomes.

Past behavior-analytic research has focused on reducing speech disfluencies, such as "um" or "like," via punishment procedures. More recently, Mancuso and Miltenberger (2016) found habit reversal was effective in decreasing speech disfluencies. However, habit reversal can be a lengthy intervention package and the specific components responsible for behavior change are often unknown. Spieler and Miltenberger (2017) also evaluated awareness training, one component of habit reversal, as a stand-alone treatment and found the procedure was only effective with additional booster sessions. We systematically replicated these prior investigations by evaluating awareness training as a sole intervention with more stringent mastery criterion with four college students. We also measured collateral effects of treatment on participants'use of additional, untargeted filler word topographies and rate of speech. We found awareness training was effective for all participants without the use of booster sessions, and covariation between targeted filler words and secondary dependent variables was idiosyncratic across participants.

As demand grows for behavior analytic services so do requirements and standards from various stakeholders. Attracting, onboarding and retaining front-line staff is becoming increasingly complex. Given all of the relevant standards and expectations BCBAs/BCaBAs are expected to be familiar with (both within the Behavior Analyst Certification Board's [BACB's] scope and those of external groups), service provider organizations are uniquely positioned to provide support to their own team members. This group of professionals in Behavior Analysis, business and Human resources will review the successful implementation of recruiting, onboarding and credentialing Registered Behavior Technicians.

Behavior Analyst that oversees training and onboarding processes

Hiring and retaining talent is critical to the success of every organization. We have all heard the phrase "The War on Finding Talent" but we are fighting an even bigger war within our organizations in trying to keep our talent. When an employee becomes disengaged, they are less productive and start to look elsewhere for job satisfaction. Although turnover is inevitable, there are preventative strategies we can implement to reduce "agency hopping" and increase our employee tenure. Do you know which of your employees are engaged and committed to your organization? Do you have a plan for those who are not? It's more efficient to retain a quality employee than recruit, train, and orient a replacement. We will identify key drivers of employee engagement, retention and performance and develop a loyal and committed workforce. This presentation will give you 5 strategies you can implement immediately to increase engagement, decrease turnover, and maximize your contributions positively to your bottom-line.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention an estimated 2.5 million people nationwide sustain a brain injury each year, with myriad implications and complications for the individual, their family and the rehabilitation community. As the incidence of brain injury is increasing so too is the need for effective assessment and treatment, as well as public awareness and education. This symposium will feature four presentations from the experimental and applied realms of behavior analysis intended to address these needs. In the first study, findings from a replication and extension of a previous inquiry into the functional independence of verbal operants will be presented. The second paper will describe function-based interventions for two individuals that reduced "exiting" behavior and increased participation, respectively. In the third paper a differential reinforcement procedure to address agitated and aggressive behavior maintained by negative reinforcement will be presented, including video. In the final presentation, three cases will be reviewed where token economy-based interventions were utilized to reduce challenging behaviors maintained by positive and negative reinforcement. Discussion of the utility and implications of these papers will be presented as a demonstration of the effectiveness of behavior analysis for treatment of individuals with traumatic brain injuries.

The target audience for this symposium includes practitioners in the rehabilitation fields, individuals working with survivors of TBI, as well as those interested in translational research.

Disruptive behavior including attempts to escape challenges and access tangibles are frequently seen after traumatic brain injuries (TBI). The first case study will be presented on a 60-year-old male who was involved in a motor vehicle accident (MVA) who suffered a TBI. Problematic behaviors such as nonparticipation, confabulations, elopement, and posing a high safety risk warranted functioned-based treatment. An "Early Departure" program was implemented to address exiting and refusals baseline levels of (e.g., 13% exiting and 50% refusals across twelve weeks) to 0% exiting and 25% refusals at discharge. The second case study will be presented on a 38-year-old-female with an acquired brain injury secondary to anoxia. Problematic behaviors included kicking, hitting, biting, nonparticipation, and major sleep-wake disturbances. Implementation of rapport building, planned ignoring, hand-over-hand and differential reinforcement of alternative behaviors resulted in observed participation levels at 100% from 0% at baseline. Additional improvements and positive outcomes will also be discussed. Data and graphical analyses will be presented, along with limitations.

Token economies, through establishing and utilizing conditioned and generalized reinforcers provide a highly effective conceptual and procedural framework in which behavior analysts can work to manipulate types and schedules of reinforcement to produce behavior change. A well constructed token economy can meet essential immediacy requirements to promote the acquisition of behavior as well as allow for the systematic adjustment of types and schedules of reinforcement to strengthen and maintain behavior over time. These properties are especially well suited to addressing challenging behavior in the adult brain injury population. In brain injury rehabilitation, the behavior change process is often complicated by organic deficits such as frontal lobe impairment, memory impairment, anosognosia, etc. The utilization of token economies in working with adult survivors of brain injury with neurobehavioral complications will be discussed, and data will be presented for three adult subjects that demonstrate the efficacy of token economies in implementing differential reinforcement of other and alternative behavior procedures to reduce key target behaviors, including at risk mobility, sexually intrusive behaviors, aggression, etc. Each case will illustrate individualized interventions as well as rehabilitation goals.

Since before Skinner’s “Selection by consequences,” behavior analysts have acknowledged the natural alliance among the sciences that commonly rely on selection as a fundamental cause and sufficient explanation of behavior. In that vein, several behavior analysts have explicitly called for a closer integration of evolution and behavior science, and some have incorporated evolutionary principles in proposed expansions and modifications of behavior theory. However, it is only recently that a fully integrated, data-driven, evolution-based science of behavior has emerged with both conceptual and empirical implications for behavior scientists. A fundamental assumption of this approach is the reciprocal influence of evolution on behavioral processes at multiple levels of analysis, individual, symbolic and cultural. The participants in this panel are the principal architects of this integration, and each will discuss their specific conceptual and empirical contributions. A panel discussion format was selected specifically to allow audience participation in the discussion.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.

Training direct service providers to implement programming with fidelity is integral to the success of any program within the field of behavior analysis. In addition, we recognize the caregivers? key role in ensuring consistency in the daily life of clients outside the direct service provision environment. With an understanding that both of these roles are equally important to the overall success of programming from acquisition to maintenance, the authors in this symposium seek to improve training modalities for both parties through evidence-based, behavior analytic procedures. These studies employ both single-subject and group designs to answer empirical questions about the most effective ways to ensure direct service providers and caregivers alike, are equipped with the knowledge and tools they need to facilitate the most optimal outcome for each client.

The content of this symposium is appropriate for all levels of training and certification.

In behavior analytic practice, it is imperative that consumers receive programming as quickly as possible to ensure maximum effects (Reichow, Barton, Boyd, & Hume, 2012). In addition, it is vital that the individual delivering these services are adequately trained. The purpose of this study is to compare two CBI methods, one didactic and one active responding, to evaluate the effectiveness of knowledge acquisition in individuals seeking the Registered Behavior Technician (RBT) certification. Participants included eight individuals seeking certification for the purposes of either working in a home-based agency delivering applied behavior analysis (ABA) programming to individuals on the autism spectrum, or for application in a public school district classroom. The authors randomly assigned participants to one of four groups, which included training in either a didactic model or an active student responding (ASR) model, utilizing a modified Solomon four-group design.

There is a large body of research indicating that when positive behaviour support is implemented within schools, there are decreases in school discipline referrals and challenging behaviour Carr et al., 1999; Dunlap & Carr, 1997, Gore et al., 2013; LaVigna, Christian, & Willis, 2005). There are only two studies that have used school wide positive behaviour support in a school where the majority of students have been diagnosed with intellectual disabilities. This study implemented positive behavior support school wide for a school with the majority of students diagnosed with an intellectual disability using validated measures and direct observations with both school staff and students. Results indicated increases in positive feedback to students were achievable after five hours of training in positive behaviour support. Additionally, student incidents were lower for five of the six students observed in this study. Individual data, limitations, barriers, and future directions will also be discussed.

As more children are being diagnosed with ASD prior to the age of three, early intervention is recommended and considered best practice. While the nature of parent involvement can vary across approaches, it is essential that parents learn strategies to implement at home during everyday activities (CDC, 2017). This paper will examine the feasibility of implementing a parent-mediated naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention for young children with ASD, in the home setting. The researcher developed a 12-week intervention program, and used Behavior Skills Training (BST) to train parents to fidelity, on the six motivational procedures of Pivotal Response Training (PRT) during everyday routines. A multiple baseline design was used across nine parent-child dyads. Results of the study show that in addition to parents achieving fidelity with the intervention procedures, there were also improvements in social communication behaviors, and a decrease in challenging behaviors for all child participants. Additionally, parents reported lower levels of stress and were overall satisfied with the intervention.

Telehealth includes various forms of technology that can be used in the behavior field to train, supervise and consult. Current research supports the use of telehealth in consultation, parent training, and behavior technician training, however fidelity of performance is a common limitation across studies (Fisher et al., 2014; Suess et al., 2014; Wacker et al., 2013). The present study utilized a delayed multiple baseline design across three participants to measure the fidelity of behavior technician performance following telehealth training. Pre-test and baseline probes were used prior to training to assess participant's initial knowledge of Precision Teaching. Following telehealth training, a series of three competency assessments were administered to probe participants post knowledge, along with a generalization and maintenance probe that included role-playing. Results indicate that prior to telehealth training participant's performance was 40% correct or below and following telehealth training participant's performance was at 85% correct or above for competency. Participant performance was maintained during maintenance and generalization phases with scores between 80% and 100% correct.

Chair: Laurie Tarter, Psy.D., BCBA Presenters: Karelix Alicea, M.S., BCBA, Janet Vasquez, M.S., BCBA, Kimberly Woolery, M.S., BCBA Behavior analytic service delivery not only involves the participation of the client, but their parents and caregivers as well. There are several factors that impact the outcome of Applied Behavior Analysis services for clients. Some factors include various parenting styles, the level of buy-in, and the caregivers' willingness and availability to participate in Applied Behavior Analysis sessions. The panel will discuss the paramount role of parents and other caregivers within the Applied Behavior Analysis service delivery system from several different perspectives, including business policies, ethical considerations, method of service delivery (i.e., in-vivo vs. telehealth) and also incorporating the family systems perspective. Each panel member will address and present on a particular area of expertise, all while sharing personal stories and insights on their challenges and triumphs in working with caregivers in the field of Applied Behavior Analysis.

The target audience are those who supervise ABA programs for clients with caretakers or parents. It will also target those who might run an ABA agency from a business standpoint.

According to Gartner research, 5.5 million new devices will connect every day this year and contribute to the Internet of Things (IoT). An estimated 6.4 billion IoT devices were expected to be used globally in 2016 alone. With forecast estimates of up to 20.8 billion IoT devices by 2020, analytics and data science professionals will need new and improved tools to explore and make sense of these massive datasets. Similarly, Goldman Sachs reports that VR software development for healthcare alone is set to reach revenues of approximately $5.1 billion by 2025 and market adaptability set to begin at the enterprise level. Two areas that will be of importance to the world, and arguably the future of behavior analysis, are artificial intelligence and machine learning. Behavioral Science can contribute immensely towards these areas given our reliance on a coherent and systematic approach to philosophy, theory, experimental analysis, and practical applications to real-world issues. This panel seeks to address the potential avenues to pursue this future. The presenters will discuss their personal views and promising avenues for pursuit. Following will be an open discussion with attendees on inviting other perspectives and future directions and implications for the scientist-practitioner.

Precision Teaching and fluency-based instruction provide valuable behavioral engineering to produce effective student learning. University instructors may find it difficult to incorporate some aspects of fluency-based instruction in their courses due to various administrative behavior-environment contingencies that are imposed on them that are not present in other educational settings. Some of these contingency arrangements can include the number of days per week that classes meet, students who have learning histories associated with accuracy-only assessment measures, and the time associated with trying to make chart-based decisions for each individual student. This symposium address curricular design considerations that may make it easier to include Precision Teaching and fluency-based instructional in higher education courses. The first presentation examines procedural implementations of SAFMEDS (Say All Fast Minute Each Day Shuffled; fluency cards). The second presentation covers an adaptation of SAFMEDS using a see-type learning channel (TAFMEDS), a fluency-based extension going beyond a see-say learning channel. Both sets of researchers comment on the curricular considerations as evaluated through standard behavior measures of student success.

university faculty and course instructors

Research into the fluency-building tactics named SAFMEDS (Say All Fast Minute Each Day Shuffled) has implications for instruction at all academic levels. Several researchers have studied the effects of SAFMEDS in undergraduate courses; however, not all of the salient variables, or their relationships, have been fully analyzed. In the current investigation, experimenters collected behavioral data across four semesters of undergraduate introductory behavior analysis courses. The effects of two procedural manipulations were evaluated in relation to undergraduate students' performance frequencies (N = 305) on weekly checkouts with two to four decks of see term/say definition SAFMEDS. One procedural manipulation explored the differences in performance frequencies when students practiced four times a week (summer semesters) as compared to two times a week (fall semesters). The other procedural manipulation analyzed the comparative effects of two or four cumulative stability checkouts per semester. Results suggested that students' performance frequencies improve as a function of repeated practice regardless of the frequency of cumulative stability checks. The results are discussed in the context of fluency-building strategies that support undergraduate student performance, and the pragmatic considerations course instructors might consider when adopting fluency-building tactics in the college classroom.

Precision Teaching and fluency-based instruction are have been used effectively in many educational settings. University settings present some challenges compared to K-12 settings: most classes do not meet daily, yet daily practice has been asserted to be an important component for producing fluency. Instructors often incorporate SAFMEDS (Say All Fast Minute Each Day Shuffled) flashcards in their courses but instructors are unable to monitor students' practice outside of class sessions. An alternative to the see-say learning channel of SAFMEDS may be the see-type learning channel in the less explored TAFMEDS (Type All Fast Minute Each Day Shuffled). We arranged a point contingency on daily, timed-practice of TAFMEDS with undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory behavior analysis course. Behavior analytic terms were divided into four sets of 18 terms. Students' performance frequencies were assessed daily. Daily practice culminated in four checkouts in which students engaged in activities related to the TAFMEDS regarding their endurance, application, stability and performance in different learning channels. Results showed that daily practice correlated with higher daily performance frequencies. The findings are discussed in terms how to incorporate fluency-based instruction in university settings and how TAFMEDS practice might better prepare students for more traditional university-based assessments.

The presentation will tell a research story about the search for verbal mediation in delayed matching-to-sample arrangements and emergent relations. By telling the story, a series of experiments will be presented. Terms as simultaneous and delayed matching-to-sample (DMTS) and emergent relations will be discussed. Research using DMTS procedures has shown that equivalence class formation has increased as a function of increasing delays between sample and comparison. For example, a 9-s delay enhanced equivalence class formation more than a 0-s delay. So, the question "why" has been asked. Thus, in research on DMTS, it has been argued that the naming the stimuli in the delay might bridge the gap between the sample offset and the comparison presentation. Therefore, we have tried to influence the matching performance by introducing a variety of distracting tasks in the delay between the sample offset and the comparison onset. The main findings from such experiments have shown how the tasks presented in the delay influenced the responding in accordance with stimulus equivalence. Finally, experiments employing "silent dog" and talk-aloud procedures have accumulated valuable information of what participants are talking about in the presence of the sample, in the delay, and when the comparisons are presented.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.

A large and growing body of literature is available on effective interventions to address the core deficits of autism spectrum disorder and related comorbidities (i.e., challenging behavior). For young children with autism, however, it becomes important to target these behaviors through the training of natural change agents like parents to implement these supports. Parent training on strategies to improve social communication and decrease challenging behavior is of particular interest to increase overall family quality of life. This symposium will present a series of studies using innovative methodologies to train parents on core deficits and co-morbidities of autism spectrum disorder, including parents who may typically be at risk of missing out on critical services. This symposium will include results of a study that trained parents to complete brief functional analyses to better understand challenging behavior taking place at home, a parent training on increasing parent child interactions for Hispanic parents of children with autism, a home-based parent training for early social communication skills for young children with autism, and a parent training delivered via telehealth for families in rural settings. Implications for overcoming barriers to parent training and tailoring parent training practices to unique populations will be discussed.

Children often engage in different patterns of challenging behavior with their parents as compared to professionals. For this reason, it is important to include parents in the assessment of challenging behavior if the intended intervention agent is the parent. The purpose of the present study was to assess the accuracy and feasibility of a parent-implemented brief functional analysis in the home setting. A parent-implemented brief functional analysis, using a brief reversal design, was implemented with each participant. Following the functional analysis, the experimenters conducted a treatment evaluation utilizing an alternating treatment design. The conditions in the alternating treatment design were functional communication training and baseline. Results from the first participant indicate that the brief functional analysis led to the development of an effective function-based intervention. In addition, the brief functional analysis required fewer than 90 minutes and the parent rated the brief functional analysis as socially valid. Data collection is ongoing and we plan to conduct the procedures with at least two more parent-child dyads, for a total of three parent-child dyads. We anticipate that data collection will be complete in February 2018.

The field of telehealth has emerged as a potential means of disseminating applied behavior analytic services to rural communities and underserved areas. The purpose of this project was to provide parent-directed treatment for individuals with autism spectrum disorder with supervision and training provided by a Board Certified Behavior Analyst—Doctoral Level via telehealth. The two-year project aims to train 550 parents of children with autism in ABA techniques to address a priority problem for their family. The project is now in the second year and initial data collected regarding the feasibility and usability of the program, program impacts on parent knowledge of targeted skill, and reported parental stressors will be presented. Preliminary results indicate statistically significant change in parent knowledge of targeted skills following training (p < .001). There were also significant correlations between moderators like education level and family size with both pre-test and post-test scores (p < 0.05). Implications for practice and future research will be discussed.

Parental involvement in early behavioral intervention for children with autism has been shown to improve outcomes; however, there is limited research involving Hispanic parents. We taught six Hispanic mothers to provide a child-directed naturalistic behavioral intervention package that emphasized responsive interaction with their young children with autism. A concurrent multiple baseline across parent-child dyads and standardized measures of child language outcomes were used to evaluate parents' treatment fidelity and children's response to intervention. Social validity data were also collected. Results suggest parents acquired the intervention skills and that children's verbal utterance frequency and mean length of utterance improved. Although experimental control was evidenced in the multiple baseline design, there was no statistically significant difference in the standardized assessments of expressive and receptive language in the children. Social validity data suggested the training program and intervention procedures were acceptable, effective, and efficient. Child outcomes were rated as meaningful improvements. The importance of replication and extension with understudied populations is discussed with emphasis on social validity measures. Limitations to the current study are noted and addressed in suggestions for future research.

Numerous developmental difficulties are noted to differentiate young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) from typically developing children and these developmental disabilities center on social and communication skills. These skills include but are not limited to imitation skills, manding, and joint attention. In the current study, we used a multiple baseline design across these three behaviors for two child-parent dyads to investigate the effectiveness and generalization of a parent-implemented social-communication intervention. Parents received training on the use of least-to-most prompting strategies as well as general strategies and coaching until they reached the criterion for treatment fidelity. Results indicated that parents' fidelity of implementation increased following parent training and coaching. In addition, there was an increase in child participants' imitation, manding, and response to joint attention skills. Both parents and children were able to generalize the increased skills to novel stimuli. The results of the study are discussed regarding the impact of parent behaviors on generalization and maintenance of child behaviors. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

The symposium includes four talks that broadly address instructional considerations when establishing new skills for learners with autism spectrum disorder. The first talk evaluated the acquisition of imitative responses that did and did not produce a permanent product. Parallels to basic research and clinical implications for imitation training will be discussed. The second talk evaluated the acquisition and generalization of yes and no responding across verbal operants. Results will be discussed in light of previous related studies. The third talk evaluated the effects of three instructional set sizes on the acquisition of tacts. Variables that may influence the optimal set size and considerations for clinical practice will be presented. The fourth talk evaluated the usefulness of a equivalence-based instruction to establish WH-concepts. Collectively, these studies support consideration for aspects of instruction to promote acquisition of new skills for learners with autism spectrum disorder.

Practitioners of behavior analysis and school psychology.

We sought to replicate and extend Shillingsburg, Kelley, Roane, Kisamore, and Brown (2009) by examining the acquisition and generalization of yes and no responses across verbal operants (mand, tact, and intraverbal). Three children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder participated. We identified four yes and four no targets per verbal operant (12 stimuli total) and used a multiple baseline design across verbal operants to teach yes and no responses as mands, tacts, and intraverbals. Training consisted of massed, 10-trial sessions with a progressive prompt delay of one yes and one no target response from the targeted verbal operant. Targets were considered mastered based on three consecutive correct probe trials, conducted each day before training sessions. Following mastery of each target, generalization sessions of that response (yes or no) across verbal operants was examined. We extended Shillingsburg et al. by conducting additional generalization sessions that included varied trials (yes and no targets alternated randomly within a session) across verbal operants following mastery of each operant. Our extension aims to address a limitation of previous research by examining the effects of varied yes and no generalization probes across verbal operants and the discriminability that single-response training promotes.

We used a pretest/posttest experimental design to examine the effects of teaching conditional relations among stimuli representing WH-concepts on the emergence of untaught relations, receptive and expressive identification of WH-concepts in sentences, and sorting tasks. Match-to-sample was used to train the conditional discriminations using a simple to complex training protocol and a linear training structure. Pretests for all relations were below 50%, with the exception of C-B, and posttest scores were at or above 80% for all relations. We also observed the emergence of sorting and receptive and expressive identification. Although new relations emerged following EBI and the task for sorting pictures into WH categories emerged as well, the participant still could not demonstrated other receptive or expressive identification tasks to criterion levels when the WH-concepts were in the contexts of sentences. Future training sets might include sentences as equivalence stimuli used during training. Implications for the limits of EBI with this learner will be discussed.

There are multiple health concerns linked to a poor diet and lack of physical activity, including diabetes and heart disease (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). Furthermore, in the United States, people are failing to meet dietary and physical activity guidelines at an alarming rate. The field of Behavior Analysis has conducted some research to increase healthy eating and exercise but more work is needed. The current symposium will present recent advances in this area, including optimal uses of goal setting and reinforcement contingencies for exercise and utilizing gamification and stimulus exposure to increase healthy food selection and consumption. First, Hernandez et al. will present on the differential impact of a negative reinforcement contingency versus goal setting on step count. Peck's study will also target step count, but with adults with a mental health disability, and evaluate the effects of daily goal setting and positive reinforcement. The third study by Assemi et al. looks at healthy food selection, specifically at the effects of health information on shopping behavior and implicit and explicit measures of verbal responding. Finally, the study by Chavira et al., evaluates the effects of gamification and taste exposure on elementary school children's preference for and consumption of fruits and vegetables.

Board Certified Behavior Analysts and others working with adults or children on improving physical activity or healthy eating

In general, American adults understand that physical activity is good for their health, yet it has been estimated that less than 5% of adults actually meet CDC recommendations of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week, an exertion level equivalent of a brisk walk. Contingencies that promote problematic behaviors make it difficult for individuals to engage in behavior that would benefit them in the long term. Thus, the application of contingency management strategies in which immediate consequences for healthy behaviors are contrived to compete with problematic competing contingencies, may be effective in increasing behaviors that produce positive cumulative effects. The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of experimenter funded negative reinforcement contingency contracts and feedback with a goal setting with feedback intervention. A Fitbit Zip device was used to measure the frequency of daily step total goals met. Goals were individualized and calculated by averaging the steps taken during a screening period increased by a negotiated percentage of a minimum of 20-25% in experiment 1, and a minimum of 50% in experiment 2. Results indicated that participants met their daily step goals more often and on average had higher daily step counts during the contract condition. These findings support the use of negative reinforcement monetary contracts in physical activity interventions.

One of the greatest threats to the well-being of mentally-disabled adults is their sedentary lifestyles. In fact, approximately half of all individuals living in community settings do not engage in any type of regular leisurely physical activity (Draheim, Williams, & McCubbin, 2002). As such, research is needed to help increase activity engagement among this population. In 2014, LaLonde et al. increased daily steps of young adults diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder using goal-setting and contingent incentives. The current study aimed to replicate LaLonde et al. (2014)'s findings, and increase the daily steps of six adult individuals with a mental health disability. These adults ranged in age from 25-80 years. Participants were each given Fitbit tracking device, and tools to assist with tracking steps and preserving the Fitbit. After a baseline period with no goal in place, researchers set a goal based on each individual's average steps per day during baseline. Intervention consisted of setting a daily step goal, and then providing a reward and increasing the goal by ten percent each time it was met. Results showed that the majority of participants were able to double their average steps per week during the course of the study.

This symposium discusses human and animal research related to a wide variety of contexts that can be considered as choice situations. The speakers' research includes the identification of conditions that induce deliberation between relatively similar choice options in pigeons, investigations of variables affecting the choice of pigeons in concurrent ratio schedules of reinforcement, behavioral economic analyses of the impact of constant versus qualitatively varied reinforcers on responding by humans and rats, and the control of saccadic eye movements of humans under concurrent schedules of reinforcement. While these studies differ widely in the selection of species and procedures, together they contribute to a better understanding of the conditions under which choice is sensitive to environmental manipulations.

Latency to choose between alternatives appears to increase with smaller differences in value in primates, but not in birds. This differential effect across species indicates a potential route to investigate the evolution of covert deliberation. We investigated the effect of value differential on choice latency in pigeons, varying either just the delay of reinforcement associated with each alternative (Experiments 1-3), or varying both the delay and amount of reinforcement (Experiment 4). Latency to choose the sooner of otherwise equivalent reinforcers did not vary systematically with delay differential. However, latency to choose the preferred delay-amount combination increased as preference approached indifference. These results suggest that covert deliberation in pigeons emerges when multiple dimensions of reinforcement compete for control over choice.

During behavioral interventions, practitioners commonly use a variety of reinforcers to maintain behaviors. Despite the ubiquity of this practice, few studies have compared the effects of varied and constant reinforcers on responding. Furthermore, the studies yielded mixed results. Varied reinforcers do not consistently maintain higher relative response rates. The origin of such mixed results could be the interaction among the stimuli used as reinforcers (the degree of substitutability).The effects of varied versus constant reinforcers on response rates and choice were determined in the present study. Two experiments were conducted with either human participants or rats as subjects. In both experiments, the degree of substitutability between pairs of stimuli was determined using concurrent operant arrangements. After identifying pairs of substitute and complementary reinforcers, the effects of constant versus varied reinforcers on response rates was determined using multiple schedules of reinforcement. During a final condition, choice between constant and varied reinforcers was assessed using a concurrent schedule. Results showed that varied reinforcers generated higher response rates and were preferred over constant reinforcers when complementary reinforcers were used. The results suggest that only certain types of reinforcers endow each other with reinforcing properties, resulting in higher response rates relative to constant reinforcer presentation.

Saccade latencies are conventionally viewed as reflecting the accumulation of information underlying decision-making processes. However, we have previously shown that latency distributions may be strongly affected by reinforcement contingencies (Madelain et al., 2007). Here we further probe whether one can control one’s own reaction times. In a first series of experiments, participants had to choose between “short” and “long” saccadic latencies (80-300ms range) in a set of concurrent interval schedules. The relative proportions of latencies matched the relative proportions of reinforcers earned from each option (sensitivity up to 0.95), following the generalized matching law (Baum, 1974). In a second series of experiments, we assessed whether “short” and “long” latencies (80-500ms range) could be placed under discriminative control in a visual search task. We used a latency-contingent display in which finding the target was made contingent upon specific saccadic latencies. In probe trials we found considerable differences in latency distributions depending on the discriminative stimuli (on average 72ms). Altogether, our results reveal that learned contingencies might considerably affect the allocation of saccades in time and provide strong evidence of the ability to choose when to saccade, extending saccade triggering well beyond conventional information accumulation hypothesis.

Our understanding of the development of simple and conditional discriminations has accelerated over the last two decades because of innovations in the procedures we use to arrange and study behavior-environment interactions. This symposium presents four more examples of innovations in the study of stimulus control. The first paper, by Braaten and Arntzen, describes the development of selective attention during identity matching training with compound stimuli. The results document the development of selective attention under different training conditions. The second paper, by Ayres-Pereira and Arntzen, examines the effects of two different training structures on the development of large (9-member) stimulus equivalence classes. They report that training structures are differentially effective in producing equivalence relations. The third paper, by Niland and Vaidya, asks if common reinforcers in two-term, stimulus-reinforcer and response-reinforcer, arrangements are sufficient to produce emergent simple discriminations. The results are related to Sidman's theory of equivalence relations. Finally, the fourth paper, by Wiist and Vaidya, asks if differential outcome procedures are more or less effective than nondifferential outcomes in establishing audio-visual conditional discriminations in children with diagnoses of ASD. The results are interpreted in terms of Sidman's theory of equivalence relations.

This experiment compared the outcomes of two training structures, One-to-Many (OTM) and Many-to-One (MTO), on the emergence of three 9-member equivalence classes in college students. Forty-two adults participated in the experiment, half of them were exposed to the MTO and the other half to the OTM training structure. Both groups trained 24 baseline relations and were tested for the emergence of 192 derived relations under a simultaneous protocol. The OTM group trained the baseline relations AB, AC, AD, AE, AF, AG, AH, and AI, and the MTO group trained BA, CA, DA, EA, FA, GA, HA, and IA. The test evaluated the emergence of symmetrical and equivalence relations, and the maintenance of baseline relations. All participants responded in accordance with stimulus equivalence, wherein one showed delayed emergence after the MTO and three showed delayed emergence after the OTM training structure. Preliminary analysis did not show significant differences between groups in the average number of trials required to learn the baseline relations, but in the number of correct responses in the test (see Table 1). Participants in the MTO group scored significantly more in equivalence test trials, than participants in the OTM group.

By most accounts, a stimulus must be correlated with reinforcement for a response in order for the stimulus to acquire discriminative function; however, sometimes stimuli acquire control over responses which have never been reinforced in their presence. How and why does this occur? Morse and Skinner (1958) demonstrated that a stimulus can acquire some discriminative properties when a response-independent reinforcer is provided in its presence and later that same reinforcer is presented contingent on a specific response in the absence of that stimulus. The purpose of this study is to systematically replicate Morse and Skinner (1958) to explore the possibility of emergent simple discriminations with human subjects. Preliminary data from six subjects indicates that when the stimulus and response share a relation to a common element, response rate and resistance to extinction in the presence of that stimulus is greater than rate and resistance in the presence of a stimulus which does not share a common element with the response. These results lend themselves to a discussion of how and why some stimuli acquire discriminative function and provides some evidence for the argument that reinforcers and responses are members of the equivalence class and can facilitate emergent behavior.

The differential outcomes effect (DOE) refers to an observed increase in rates of acquisition of simple or conditional relations when the contingencies of reinforcement arrange for reinforcers to be uniquely correlated with a particular stimulus or response relative to conditions where the reinforcers are not uniquely correlated with either stimulus or response. This effect has been robustly documented in the literature with nonhuman subjects. This study asked whether the DOE would be observed with children with ASD learning audio-visual conditional relations. Two participants learned two sets of 3 audio-visual conditional relations. For one set, the training conditions arranged for each of the three conditional relations to be uniquely correlated with a particular reinforcing stimulus (hereafter, the DO condition). For the second set, the training conditions arranged for the same reinforcer to be used for all three audio-visual conditional relations (hereafter, the NDO condition). Early results show that audio-visual conditional relations were acquired faster under the DO condition relative to the NDO outcomes condition (accuracy in DO condition was 30.8% higher on average than in NDO condition). These data suggest that differential outcomes should be more thoroughly investigated with children with diagnoses of ASD.

Undergraduate student success and preparedness are top priorities in higher education. Behavior analysis has a clear home in the college classroom, but experimental analyses in this domain are relatively rare. The current symposium highlights several innovative approaches to the application of behavior analysis in the college classroom and presents data on their efficacy. First, Dr. Debra Berry Malmberg will provide an overview of the manner in which gamification was applied to a large, online course in the psychology major. Second, Jose Solares will present the outcomes of a study comparing a traditional online section to a gamified online section of that same online psychology course. Third, Dr. Kristy Park will present a study on group contingencies and the use of a digital scoreboard in a special education teacher preparation course. Fourth, Elizabeth Krulder will present a study evaluating the gamification of an electronic voting system in an undergraduate history of psychology course. The symposium will conclude with a discussion from Dr. Gregory Madden.

Despite the steady growth of online courses in higher education, debates persist regarding the impact of this platform on learner outcomes when compared to traditional face-to-face courses. Published research on this topic has occurred largely outside of the behavior analytic community. However, the incorporation of educational strategies rooted in behavior analysis undoubtedly influence the efficacy of online instruction. Gamification is one strategy based on behavioral principles that has been used in various contexts with great success (e.g., health, sustainability), though little research exists on its application in higher education settings. Gamification is using elements of games in non-game contexts, and we identified key elements of gamification that could be used in an online course: narrative, choice, levels, badges, goals, challenge, and enhanced feedback. In this project, we designed these elements within a learning management system to provide a gamified asynchronous online course. This presentation will review these applications and positive findings of social validity from students in the course.

This symposium will describe how behavior emitted by practitioners and their clients follows fundamental laws of behavior discovered in the basic laboratory. The presenters take a radical-behaviorist approach to explaining interesting behavior of their clients, as well as of themselves and other practitioners, in the context of applied practice. The purpose of this symposium is to illustrate the utility of conceptualizing behavior in terms of basic concepts, and of applying those concepts in conceptually systematic ways to applied problems. Such practices can lead to more efficient treatment and better outcomes for clients, yet many practitioners do not follow this approach. Instead, they use techniques based on topography and function, without necessarily considering the context in which behavior occurs, or they follow rules about techniques they should and should not use, such as differential reinforcement and punishment, respectively. Many practitioners are fluent in function-based approaches but do not consider behavioral concepts that are less salient for them, such as the Matching Law, conditioned motivating operations, complex schedules of reinforcement, adjunctive behavior, response generalization, and Skinner's (1953) analysis of emotion. Specific conceptualizations, applications, and case studies will be presented, and implications of a contextual, fundamental approach to practice will be discussed.

Masters-level and doctoral-level behavior analysts who are applied practitioners or who are interested in how basic concepts apply to human behavior; behavior analysts interested in basic, applied, and translational research; radical behaviorists

In 1960 Isaacs, Thomas, and Goldiamond used behavior-analytic techniques and chewing gum to get two "psychotic" patients to speak after 14 and 19 years of not speaking at all. The report was amazing, yet one behavior analyst reader reacted that there were a lot of limitations: there was no preference assessment or functional analysis or control over other variables in the environment. The authors had effected socially significant behavior change using behavioral techniques and gum, that likely improved the patients' lives immeasurably, yet the reader was concerned that they did not follow the rules that this reader had been taught to follow. This presentation will argue that going back to basics, to basic laboratory findings and to the early days of behavior modification, can significantly improve the practice of applied behavior analysis. Interesting behavior that is difficult to explain in a technological and conceptually systematic way will be conceptualized in terms of basic behavioral processes, and effective treatments based on that interpretation will be presented. The take-home point is that unexpected, inexplicable behavior is simple—it follows the laws of behavior. Sometimes it follows obscure laws and sometimes lots of them at the same time, but it is lawful nonetheless.

The occurrence of automatically maintained challenging behavior presents a number of clinical problems related to efficiency in selecting interventions, as well as insuring effective interventions can be carried out in the natural context. Although a number of interventions are present in the literature, many of these demonstrations are carried out in tightly controlled clinical contexts. The following papers will provide suggestions for the efficient selection of interventions for automatically maintained behavior, as well as demonstrations of intervention methodologies that may be amenable to implementation in naturalistic contexts.

The target audience for this symposium will be practitioners who are working with clients/learners that engage in automatically maintained challenging behavior. Researchers interested in the assessment and treatment of automatically maintained behavior will also benefit from attendance.

Vocal stereotypy is a commonly occurring challenging behavior in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that is frequently maintained by automatic reinforcement and often interferes with skill acquisition. Matched stimulation (MS), and response interruption and redirection (RIRD) are two interventions that have been demonstrated to be effective in reducing the occurrence of vocal stereotypy with participants with ASD. Although both are effective, they may be limited by interrupted data-collection methods, and the cumbersome nature of the procedures. In the current study, a combination of MS in the form of noncontingent music and RIRD was more effective at reducing vocal stereotypy to support on-task behavior than RIRD alone when continuous data-collection procedures were implemented. The results suggested that the combined intervention resulted in greater suppression of vocal stereotypy and increased occurrences of on-task behavior in both participants. Additionally, RIRD required fewer implementations and had a shorter duration when combined with MS. Data suggest that the combination of MS and RIRD may be an effective intervention outside of controlled experimental settings.

Recent literature suggests categorizing behaviors maintained by an automatic function may increase treatment efficacy by allowing for faster identification of interventions that are likely to be effective. This has been demonstrated with automatic self-injurious behaviors (Berg, et al., 2016; Hagopian et al., 2015). To assess the generality of the model used by Berg et al., (2016), the current study examined its effectiveness for automatically maintained stereotypy in children with a diagnosis of autism. A functional analysis was conducted to determine that the stereotypy was maintained by automatic reinforcement. A concurrent operants assessment was also conducted with each participant as needed. An intervention based on the resulting pattern of responding was implemented, and data were analyzed to determine if the model's treatment recommendation was effective. The results varied, but the intervention prescribed by the pattern of responding was not always the most effective. The implications of and future directions for the application of this model to other topographies of automatically reinforced behaviors, such as stereotypy, will be discussed.

Response interruption and redirection (RIRD) is a common treatment used to decrease levels of automatically reinforced vocal stereotypy. During RIRD, when a learner engages in vocal stereotypy, they are interrupted and required to engage in a series of responses, which are incompatible with their vocal stereotypy (answering social questions, engaging in echoic responses), before being redirected to their current activity (Ahearn, Clark, MacDonald, & Chung, 2007). The current available literature on RIRD supports the efficacy of RIRD in controlled setting, but less is known about the effectiveness of RIRD during typical academic and vocational tasks in the natural environment (Martinez and Betz 2013). Using stimulus control procedures implemented in a classroom, Slaton and Hanley (2016) found that blocking motor stereotypy was more effective when chain schedules were used rather than multiple schedules. The purpose of the present experiment is to replicate Slaton and Hanley (2016) using RIRD to decrease levels of vocal stereotypy in students with Autism Spectrum Disorder during academic and vocational school-based sessions. Results suggest that chain schedules are more effective at increasing task completion and decreasing stereotypy for participants.

Approximately 25 % of self-injurious behavior is maintained by automatic reinforcement. This function of self- injurious behavior is significantly less understood than self-injury maintained by social reinforcement (Hagopian, Rooker & Zarcone, 2015). In 2015, Hagopian, Rooker & Zarcone conceptualized various subtypes of self injurious behavior based on patterns of responding during functional analyses and the presence of self restraint behavior. The current symposium will incorporate these seminal findings into applied research regarding the assessment and treatment of self- injurious behavior.

Practitioners in applied settings.

Self- injurious behavior that is maintained by automatic reinforcement can be categorized into three different subtypes. These subtypes are conceptualized based on the presence of self-restraint and patterns of responding during functional analysis (Hagopian, Rooker & Zarcone, 2015). In this conceptual framework, subtype 3 is the presence of self-restraint behavior. This specific subtype is often most resistant to treatment. Hagopain, Rooker & Zarcone (2015) found that of the 39 individuals with automatically reinforced self-injurious behavior, only 20.5% met the criteria for subtype 3. Banda, McAfee & Hart (2012) published a single case study in which an ABAB design was used to establish that rates of self-injury were significantly lower when self-restraint was allowed. Systematic fading of the self-restraint materials resulted in low rates of self-injury and no self-restraint. The current study replicates and extends on the work of Banda et al., (2012) in order to decrease severe self-injurious behavior and the use of self-restraint materials in an adult male.

Competing stimulus assessments (CSAs) have been used for nearly two decades to identify stimuli that effectively compete with automatically reinforced self-injurious behavior (ASIB; Fisher, O'Connor, Kurtz, DeLeon, & Gotjen, 2000; Jennett, Jann, & Hagopian, 2011). Competing stimuli are identified by comparing the rate or percentage of occurrence of ASIB in a control condition absent of any external sources of stimulation to conditions in which a stimulus is present. Stimuli that reduce ASIB to clinically significant levels are then characterized as competing stimuli. Some individuals who engage in ASIB also engage in self-restraint (SR), behavior that is incompatible with or prevents SIB (e.g., sitting on one's hands; Oliver, Murphy, Hall, Arron, & Leggett, 2003). If SR effectively eliminates ASIB, the identification of competing stimuli for ASIB becomes difficult. In those cases, measuring SR as the dependent variable and observing how stimuli alter both its occurrence and the occurrence of ASIB may be a viable option. The current study describes the use of a CSA to identify stimuli that compete with both SR and ASIB, and will discuss how covariation in SR and ASIB in a CSA might inform us about the relation between these responses.

Educational and behavior analytic programs for individuals with autism spectrum disorders and developmental delays often target discrimination training with auditory and visual stimuli. Several procedures may facilitate the acquisition of conditional discriminations. This symposium reviews three studies conducted with individuals with autism spectrum disorders that evaluated procedures, specifically different stimulus presentations, used to teach conditional discriminations. The first two studies compared the effectiveness of a sample-first and a comparison-first stimulus presentation. These studies were systematic replications of Petursdottir and Aguilar (2016). The third study compared the effectiveness and efficiency of teaching auditory-visual conditional discriminations in sets of two, three, and four auditory-visual stimuli pairs. The implications of these procedures for practitioners and recommendations for future researchers will be discussed.

Board Certified Behavior Analysts providing and supervising ABA services for individuals with ASD.

This study evaluated two different stimulus presentations were during auditory visual discrimination training. Acquisition during a sample-first procedure, in which the sample stimulus was presented before the comparison stimuli, was compared to a comparison-first procedure in which the sample presentation was delayed and presented after the comparison stimuli. We extended prior research by a) evaluating the efficiency of the two stimulus presentations for two teenagers with Autism Spectrum Disorders, b) conducting the evaluations in tabletop format, and c) incorporating a prompt delay procedure. The results indicated that both participants learned more quickly in the comparison-first condition, a finding that differed from Petursdottir and Aguilar (2016) and recommendations derived from laboratory research. In the second phase, we evaluated if systematic exposure to stimulus presentations affected responding during subsequent comparisons. The role of individual learning histories and their effects on learning with different stimulus presentations is discussed.

Receptive identification trials involve reinforcement of a particular comparison selection (e.g., pointing to a picture) conditional upon the presence of a specific sample stimulus (e.g., a spoken word). Consistent with common laboratory practices and related clinical recommendations, Petursdottir & Aguilar (2016) found a reliable sample-first advantage when they taught children to identify birds and flags. More recent unpublished data suggest that this sample-first advantage may be less reliable when error correction is implemented. Our follow up studies investigated the use of picture prompts during error correction and have produced mixed results. Notably, all of our previous studies were conducted with typically developing children via laptop computers. Such questions about procedural minutia may not greatly affect acquisition for these children, thus the purpose of the current study is to compare acquisition under sample-first and comparison-first conditions (with error correction) for children with ASD using table-top teaching methods as is typically performed in EIBI settings. Participants were two boys (8 years, 5 months and 6 years, 7 months) with limited receptive and expressive repertoires. Results show a significant comparison-first advantage for both participants, and follow up data collection is recommended.

Clinicians and researchers use several teaching strategies that vary in terms of the number of comparison stimuli during training (e.g., blocked-trials procedure, the conditional-only method). Sidman (1987) argued that instructors should include more than two comparisons during conditional discrimination training to reduce the likelihood of false positive or false negative results. Researchers have yet to evaluate how the size of the comparison might affect the acquisition of auditory-visual conditional discriminations. The purpose of the study was to compare the effectiveness and efficiency of teaching auditory-visual conditional discriminations in sets of two, three, and four auditory-visual stimuli pairs. Two children aged 3- and 6-years old who had been previously diagnosed with ASD participated in the study. The experimenter taught 12 relations in each of the experimental conditions. An adapted alternating treatments design was used to compare efficiency and effectiveness of teaching conditional discriminations in different set sizes. The results will be discussed in terms of clinical implications and directions for future research.

This presentation will introduce the latest thinking on the mechanisms of action of psychedelic compounds such as LSD and psilocybin. Dr. Carhart-Harris will present the results of his functional brain imaging work with compounds such as psilocybin, LSD, and DMT, and discuss what these findings tell us about how these drugs alter brain function to alter consciousness. He will also presenthis latest findings on psilocybin with psychological support for treatment resistant depression, including brain imaging findings suggesting how the treatment is working.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.

Dissemination of Applied Behavior Analysis is in an early development phase in mainland China. Service providers, higher education institutions, and practitioners are building capacity within the population dense country that has clearly identified needs for the science. This session will address the ethical challenges of dissemination of the science and practical strategies the panelists have utilized to address these challenges. Disseminating knowledge of applied behavior analysis and engaging in behavior analytic service where the science is emerging is rewarding, yet challenges unique to providing intervention in low resources geographical regions as well as cross-cultural requirements of those engaging in the dissemination work exist. The application of maintaining ethical professional and scientific relationships within the construct of cultural differences will be addressed. Participants on the panel include native and non-native professionals to China, all who have worked in-country for multiple years. Success will be shared as well as challenges that continue to exist.

BCBA, BCABA and other interested attendees.

Behavior analysis has made contributions in the development of evidence-based interventions for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and there is a growing evidence base for behavior-analytic interventions for older adults with dementia (now called major neurocognitive disorder). The increased prevalence of dementia in people with IDD means that behavior analysts are likely to encounter people with a comorbid diagnosis in their work, and this under-represented population in the literature warrants further study. There is emerging evidence that a deterioration in stimulus control occurs in people with dementia. However, there is a paucity of applied and basic research specifically evaluating the factors influencing how stimulus control may change, and how these changes can be ameliorated. We may need to consider certain interventions that rely on unimpaired stimulus control, or ensure the salience of stimuli used during interventions. This symposium is comprised of two papers assessing issues of stimulus control in people with dementia and IDD. The papers will be followed by a discussion addressing the current applied and basic evidence for stimulus control deficits in this population, and possible directions for future research.

Behaviour analysts and behaviour analytic researchers interested in behavioural gerontology.

We conducted a review of the last 20 years of behavioral gerontology research with people with IDD who develop dementia and found a total of six behavior-analytic studies. The six studies were analyzed based on the seven dimensions of applied behavior analysis as articulated by Baer, Wolf, and Risley (1968) to determine overarching themes, and to conduct an analysis of the audiences likely reached by these publications. Based on the unique challenges we identified for behavior analysts working with people with IDD that develop dementia, we implemented a study to assess an alternative to functional analyses with this population. Experimental functional analyses require discrimination, which can be in deficit in people with dementia. Therefore, we will present the results of the use of conditional probability analyses as an alternative method of assessing challenging behavior. Although conditional probability analyses are correlational, functional analyses may not produce clear results due to discrimination issues.

This symposium will describe the application of Interview Informed Synthesized Contingency Analysis (IISCA) to the development of functional analyses and function-based treatments. The first presentation will examine the predictive validity of open-ended interviews to develop hypotheses that are tested in experimental analyses to determine the function of problem behavior. The second presentation will review a treatment designed to address a problem behavior maintained by multiple reinforcers, one of which cannot be easily removed/terminated (access to a pool). The final presentation will compare the effectiveness of different procedures used to thin the schedule of reinforcement for an FCT program derived from an IISCA.

This symposium is intended for professionals who are board certified in behavior analysis.

Some researchers have argued against the use of indirect assessments such as interviews as the primary method to inform functional analysis design because interviews often yield inaccurate or incomplete information regarding the conditions under which problem behaviors occur. However, much of the extant literature on interviews has come from interview methods that involve close-ended questions (i.e., respondents are required to make a binary yes/no response). The extent to which open-ended interviews are limited in a similar manner is unknown and thus we investigated whether open-ended interviews could be used to inform functional analysis design. Four children who engaged in severe problem behavior participated. First, two raters independently interviewed a single caregiver for each child to determine if the open-ended interview would yield reliable correspondence between raters. Second, hypotheses generated by the two raters based on their respective interviews were tested in an analogue functional analysis. We found generally positive correspondence between raters as well as with functional analysis outcomes suggesting that open-ended interviews may have good predictive validity when designing functional analyses.

Children are required to transition from one location to another throughout their day. Problem behavior (e.g., tantrums, refusal) is often the result when children are asked to transition between activities in school (MacDuff, Krantz, & Mclannahan, 1993), between bedtime routines (Mindell, Kuhn, Lewin, Meltzer, & Sadeh, 2006), or from rich-to-lean environments (see e.g., Jessel, Hanley, Ghaemmaghami, 2016). We completed an Interview Informed Synthesized Contingency Analysis (IISCA) for two individuals diagnosed with autism who engaged in refusal behavior when asked to leave the pool area. The results of the IISCA suggest that pool refusal behavior was maintained by social negative reinforcement in the form of escaping the demand to leave the pool and maintained by positive reinforcement to continue to access the pool area. Treatment consists of allowing brief escape (10 seconds) when pool refusal behavior was emitted plus reinforcement. The effectiveness of preferred edible items and tangible items delivered to the participants' contingent upon leaving the pool area and entering the changing room were evaluated during treatment. This study extends the literature in two ways. First, the study evaluates the efficacy of a function-based treatment following the completion of the IISCA for transition refusal behavior in novel context (i.e., pool area). Second, the study evaluates the effectiveness of delivering competing reinforcement (i.e., edible and tangible items) when a preferred location (i.e., pool) cannot be removed.

Many countries, including the US, the UK andNorthern Ireland, face continuing problems in developing literacy and reading skills in primary education with substantial numbers of children missing national literacy targets. Behaviour analysis of human development focusses on the need to specify key skills that comprise any higher-order activity and then train them explicitly in a program that is individualised for every child. In the case of reading, there is widespread agreement that key skills are phonemic awareness, use of phonics, fluency, guided oral reading, and acquisition of new vocabulary words. The Headsprout Early Reading program, developed by behaviour analysts, is an online package which targets each of the skills through intensive systematic phonics training. It thus makes use of computer-based instruction which, when used effectively, promotes higher levels of student engagement and enjoyment. A number of published studies of use of Headsprout have shown efficacy and efficiency in increasing the reading skills of individuals with autism and with typically developing learners within the classroom and home based settings. We have carried out several studies within mainstream schools in Northern Ireland using Headsprout to improve the reading skills of child at risk of failing to achieve literacy targets and have obtained encouraging results. The next stage is to achieve school district-wide implementation of this type of intervention. This requires us to meet many challenges in sustaining behaviour-based interventions in schools. Some of these will be outlined, and it will be suggested that, to improve our progress in this important task, we can draw on the huge literature on how to make interventions for autism effective and sustained.

All those interested in delivering behavior programs in mainstream education.

The ability to time accurately is important in a range of circumstances, from choosing in situations where time since a past event dictates where reinforcers are likely to be in the present, to choosing between reinforcers that will occur in the future. Time exerts relatively strong control over behaviour, even when other stimuli provide more reliable information about reinforcer availability. However, accuracy and precision of timing depends on a variety of environmental factors. This symposium explores factors that enhance or disrupt timing. We discuss timing processes underlying behavior in a variety of procedures, when timing is the most reliable stimulus signaling the likely availability of reinforcers, and when stimuli other than time are more reliable cues for the likely availability of reinforcers. Talks investigate how timing processes depend on other cues such as location, reinforcer rate, and how timing in the present is affected by past experience under time-based contingencies. We discuss the implications of findings for theories of timing, and for understanding the role of time in self control.

In a midsession reversal task animals are required to do a simultaneous color discrimination between S+ and S-, and half way through the session contingencies are reversed. Typical performance of anticipation and perseveration errors around the reversal point, suggests that the effect of reinforcement is modulated by the time elapsed from the beginning of the session. In this task, some manipulations of the reinforcement rate produce biases in pigeons' performance consistent with the idea of time-regulated behavior. Other manipulations of the reinforcement rate seem to disrupt timing and enhance the control of local cues. These results can only be accounted by hybrid models of learning that take into consideration the combined effect of reinforcement and time over behavior. The Learning-to-Time model accounts for performance in this task when behavior is under temporal control and accurately predicts the observed biases. Altogether, model simulations and experimental data suggest important implications for current learning theories.

Recent research has supported a notion of time as a stimulus dimension that competes for control over behavior with other dimensions, such as location. In this experiment, pigeons were exposed to a temporal bisection task, with side keys associated to short and long stimulus durations (i.e., 3 s- left, 12 s- right). Then, intermediate durations were also presented without reinforcement. Keys were spatially set apart in a long operant chamber, and floor panels recorded location throughout trials. After acquisition, movement patterns were stereotypical in long-duration trials: Birds would go to the short side and, after about 4.5 s, leave for the long side. When differential reinforcement was provided for correct "long" and "short" key pecks, animals switched to the long side earlier when the "long" response produced more reinforcement, and later when it produced less. These manipulations also disrupted the stereotypical pattern: after leaving for the long side, pigeons returned to the short side depending on their location in the moment the duration ended (i.e., stimulus turns off). It is likely that location gained behavioral control because the differential payoff reduced the probability that the animal engaged in timing. However, the mechanisms behind this effect are still unclear.

Timing processes have been implicated as potential mechanisms of interventions hypothesized to improve self-controlled choice. Specifically, exposure to delayed reinforcement and interval-based schedules has been shown to reduce subsequent impulsive choice while also improving temporal discrimination. However, the mechanism behind these interventions remains unclear. If improvement in timing processes is an underlying factor in previous intervention studies, then it is likely that similar timing improvements will occur when timing is assessed in isolation. In the current study, timing was assessed using a peak procedure prior to and following exposure to a differential-reinforcement-of-low-rate (DRL) schedule in mice. Across three treatment groups, mice experienced a DRL schedule that was the same value, half the value, or one and a half the value of the fixed-interval schedule used in the peak procedure. A control group remained on the peak procedure. Following the DRL intervention, timing was reassessed using the same peak procedure. In contrast to previous reports, the DRL intervention produced a transient degradation in timing precision via increased peak spread. It is possible that previous DRL interventions may have functioned to decrease sensitivity to immediacy in some circumstances leading to alterations in impulsive choice.

There are many known disadvantages to employee turnover such as decreased consumer satisfaction, increased effort to maintain clinical intergrity and increased costs to an organization to name a few. Given this, there are many advantages to knowing more about the factors associated with retention. In the presence of such information, directors of behavior analytic service organizations could begin to identify the precursors that lead to turnover and implement antecedent interventions that increase employee retention and satisfaction. The three papers in this symposium will focus on factors associated with employee turnover. Specifically, employee satisfaction, work place conflict and staff turnover will be the topics of the individual presentations. All presenters will share their data based results while highlighting the implications of their results on staff turnover and satisfaction in the workplace. In addition, each presenter will share suggestions for future research so that these important topics can continue to be addressed given the larger implications of efficient service delivery to our consumers.

Graduate students, practicing behavior analysts

This study took place as a post-hoc analysis in the context of a national accreditation process, designed to measure organizational health and clinical quality. A total of 68 service providers—who collectively employ approximately 6,000 clinical staff and service approximately 5,000 clients—were evaluated on over 50 clinical quality indicators. Two quality indicators explored are staff satisfaction with employment and caregiver satisfaction with behavioral treatment provided. The purpose of this analysis was to investigate the relationship of overall staff job satisfaction to compensation, career development, work engagement, relationship management, work environment, and scheduling. Staff satisfaction was also correlated with caregiver satisfaction with their child's treatment program, scheduling, staff, caregiver involvement and their child's progress. Trends in relation to caregiver ratings of providers and staff satisfaction will be discussed.

Workplace conflict is prevalent in healthcare and education, and has been correlated with lowered job satisfaction and burnout. In this study, we distributed a survey to 600 Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBA's) through the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) to determine the rate and impact of workplace conflict for behavior analysts. Participants reported that they experienced the highest rate of workplace conflict with teachers, caregivers, colleagues, and supervisees. We found that the likelihood of voluntary turnover and lost cases are significantly related to self-reported rates of workplace conflict. BCBA's who are more likely to leave their current job report higher rates of conflict than those who are less likely to leave their job. Furthermore, BCBA's who report having lost clinical cases report higher rates of unresolved workplace conflict compared to those who have not lost a case. Also, there was no difference in the self-reported rate of workplace conflict for BCBA's who have been credentialed for a greater number of years, indicating that more years of experience in the field alone is not sufficient to reduce the likelihood of conflict. The results of our survey indicate that BCBA's would benefit from receiving formal training on how to resolve conflict that occurs in the workplace.

Employee satisfaction is a recognized factor that promotes increased retention of team members. With retention, increased consistency can be offered to consumers. Service organizations that offer services to children with autism have a particularly vested interest in producing this outcome given the deficits characteristic of learners on the spectrum. In addition, we have access to the principles of our science and tools offered by organizational behavior management (OBM) to examine employee satisfaction. Despite this, little research has examined these factors. This presentation will discuss the results of employee reported satisfaction, measured throughout the implementation of specific interventions aimed to increase satisfaction. Data were collected on satisfaction throughout baseline and intervention phases and intervention was evaluated with the use of a multiple baseline across service locations within the same organization. The data reveal that satisfaction, within our organization, was variable across the clinical positions with more senior team members reporting increased satisfaction and the specific variables that produced these outcomes were difficult to isolate. These results will be discussed in detail while reporting additional data that were collected on other measures of interest, such as attendance and retention. Future directions for those examining employee satisfaction will also be detailed.

While behavior analysts have focused their attention on a variety of socially important topics over the years, relatively less attention has been given to other topics, especially those which involve what may be considered complex human behavior. The first presentation focuses on one intersection of some of these topics, and addresses the topics altruism, selfishness, and the self. In particular, the first presentation aims to re-conceptualize the common distinction between altruistic and selfish behavior as well as the more general distinction between the self and others. While many topics are avoided because of their complexity, other topics may even be seen as beyond the scope of what a science of behavior could possibly address. The second presentation focuses on one such topic, that of Romantic Love. Indeed, while the topic may seem to be too difficult, complex, or in some way beyond that which the science of behavior could address, the second paper provides an alternative view. The discussant will provide commentary, identify common themes, and point to additional research needed such that an increasingly comprehensive natural science of behavior may continue to develop.

Advanced graduate students, BCBAs interested in complex behavior, researchers, teachers, etc.

We assessed a novel method to measure behavior frequency. Utilizing the Life Performance Research's Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) device and a data filter, we counted response frequency derived from Euler angle and linear acceleration data associated with instances of simulated self-injurious behavior. When compared to a frequency counts of trained observers, the response rates were equivalent. Visual inspection of graphs showing Euler angle, linear acceleration, and temporal location (determined by observers and the data filter) show the filter is accurate when compared to observers. The measurement procedure successfully differentiated between hits to the head and leg, as well as less forceful touches to those same areas. Taken together, the data show the feasibility of automatic measurement of behavior with the potential to improve aspects of research and practice in behavior analysis.

Board Certified Behavior Analysts,

We assessed a novel method to measure behavior frequency. Utilizing the Life Performance Research's Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) device and a data filter, we counted response frequency derived from Euler angle and linear acceleration data associated with instances of simulated self-injurious behavior. When compared to a frequency counts of trained observers, the response rates were equivalent. Visual inspection of graphs showing Euler angle, linear acceleration, and temporal location (determined by observers and the data filter) show the filter is accurate when compared to observers. The measurement procedure successfully differentiated between hits to the head and leg, as well as less forceful touches to those same areas. Taken together, the data show the feasibility of automatic measurement of behavior with the potential to improve aspects of research and practice in behavior analysis.

Developing Filters Using data generated from inertial measurement (IMU) units is a difficult, time consuming, and essential exercise. Here, we summarize the steps taken in developing a filter for one self-injurious response. We review raw IMU data and illustrate the process of identifying threshold values for counting. Once an IMU filter is created, there are a number of practical problems that must be solved. Battery life, Bluetooth connectivity, data storage, IMU placement, and many other variables affect the utility of measurement. Finally, we summarize our experiences with artificial intelligence filter development and various inertial measurement devices.

Philosophical doubt is one of the core attitudes upon which science should be based...and yet, we often hesitate to question what "is" within our field and science. The present symposium provides preliminary investigations to common practices within our field and provides analyses as to their viability in a field geared towards efficiency couched in evidence-based practice.

The target audience is RBTs and BCBAs who are beginner-moderate in their levels of experience specific to behavior-analytic practice.

Traditional video modeling and prompting accounts often supplement said interventions with stimulus and response prompts to promote the acquisition of some behavior. The present study investigated the extent to which video clip length alone impacts the acquisition of a novel skill via video prompting (i.e., in the absence of additional prompts). Results suggest that longer durations of clip length facilitated skill acquisition, yet gains were diminishing as the response requirement increased in the absence of additional prompts for four of four participants. The implications of video prompting are discussed.

Organizational Behavior Management (OBM) uses principles of applied behavior analysis (ABA) and applies it to the fields of business and industry. Within the human services field, there tend to be many skills deficits in direct support staff members. The use of strategies derived from behavior analysis and organizational behavior management can be applied to aid the performance of staff members within this field. In the current study, OBM strategies were used to increase daily data completion of several direct support staff members in an adult supported living organization in central Missouri. A multiple baseline across participants experimental design was utilized. Staff members increased daily data collection completion to near 100%, following antecedent and consequence interventions by behavioral staff members. Staff were provided with personally selected reinforcers for appropriate data completion. Keywords: organizational behavior management, human services, and direct support workers

The purpose of the study was to extend the research on Differential Negative Reinforcement of Other Behavior (DNRO). The procedure involved the removal of a stimulus (i.e., glasses in this case) contingent on the absence of a behavior that increases the probability of those alternative behaviors occurring in the future. Results indicate that the implementation of DNRO alone didn't facilitate acceptance of glasses-wearing behavior but required an additional reinforcement-based component to increase said behavior. The implications and viability of DNRO procedures alone are discussed.

Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, and others have brought us innovation that both surprise and delight us. They not only produced new widgets, they are responsible for changing the way people live and work. Both advocated as essential the application of basic principles of science, engineering, and design in the creation of new technologies. Contrasted to reasoning from basic principles is reasoning from analogy. Much of what is created comes from this approach. In our initial design attempts we search for how others approached the problem. How did company X build an electric car? Reasoning from analogy may limit what we can do and prevent us from applying the full power of our science and technology in solving fundamental problems. Three products created at Headsprout, Inc. from 1999 to 2010 and the current approach taken by ChangePartner, Inc. today represent efforts to build applications at scale that rely on reasoning from basic principles. These efforts will be used to illustrate the power of the approach and suggest that searching for analogs, including, at times, previous applied research or applications, may be detrimental to applying the experimental and applied analysis of behavior at scale to new and interesting areas and problems.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.

Research has demonstrated that only roughly 63% of students beginning college complete a bachelors degree within 6 years (Berkner, He & Forrest Cataldi, 2002). Some proposed explanations of these data resort to blaming the types of students enrolled in college, stating that more high school students with lower achievement are being accepted into university settings (Berliner & Biddle, 1995). To better help educators, the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U; 2007) specified goals and objectives for undergraduate educational outcomes. Behavior analysis poses a solution to this problem by offering a variety of methods that have demonstrated increases in academic achievement in higher education (Bernstein & Chase, 2013). The first presentation will focus on analyzing instructional content and arranging teaching strategies to promote concept learning in higher education. The second presentation will discuss the effects of SAFMEDS on college students performance as compared to practice multiple-choice questions, demonstrating one way to include fluency based instruction in the classroom.

The target audience for this symposium is any professional in the field of behavior analysis who is interested in or currently teaching behavior analysis, either at the university level or training level.

Techniques aimed at building fluency are thought to promote efficient learning and retention (Quigley, Peterson, Frieder, & Peck, 2017). One method for gaining fluency is a specialized method of studying flashcards called Say All Fast a Minute Every Day Shuffled (SAFMEDS). The aim of the current study was to evaluate the extent to which using SAFMEDS affected performance in a traditional college course. We compared exam grades of students assigned to study SAFMEDS to those of students assigned to practice multiple-choice questions. The participants were undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory course on behavior principles. Students were assigned home and in-class practices of either SAFMEDS or multiple-choice questions, and they were graded on fluency and accuracy during in-class performances. Nearly three times as many students enrolled in the multiple-choice sections received low exam grades (D or F letter grades) compared to students enrolled in the SAFMEDS sections. These differences occurred despite no significant differences in the GPA or academic standing of participants across groups. This research demonstrated a meaningful outcome of using SAFMEDS with college students and presents one method for arranging fluency activities in a traditional college course.

The indicators of high quality training of behavior analysts who will work as practitioners remain somewhat controversial. Some researchers argue that faculty research productivity is correlated to improved practitioner training (Dixon, Reed, Smith, Belisle, & Jackson, 2015) while others have argued for alternative quality indicators of training programs including exam pass rates (e.g. Ahearn, Green, Riordan, & Weatherly, 2015). An inescapable reality is that high quality doctoral training programs provide the essential faculty to enter into the training pipeline and as such promoting practitioner entry into doctoral training programs should be a consideration for improving the quality of practitioner training. Doctoral training programs in applied behavior analysis and related fields provide future scholars with advanced coursework, but also apprenticeship in research design and supervised college teaching. A panel of faculty from doctoral training programs in special education and educational psychology discuss the following topics: (a) if and why practitioners should consider a Ph.D., (b) selection of a Ph.D. program and faculty advisor, (c) developing a competitive application for doctoral programs, (d) funding Ph.D. program, and (e) life after the Ph.D. as faculty.

board certified behavior analysts; graduate students; faculty in doctoral degree granting programs

Children without naming skills may have to learn new speaker and listener behavior through the direct reinforcement and/or corrections by other people. Naming allows children to learn these verbal functions from incidental experiences. Experiments trying to clarify the basic processes of how children acquire naming could both contribute to a greater understanding of determinants of language development, and to the development of effective procedures for use in applied settings. We present two research projects related to establishment of naming in preschool children with autism. The first paper reports using an operant discrimination procedure to condition social stimuli as reinforcers as intervention to acquire naming skills. Then, the operants included in naming were exposed for these consequences through singular exemplar instruction. The second paper reports the effects of a sufficient exemplar training procedure in establishing naming in three children. The results showed that training one exemplar at a time to mastery could be an effective procedure.

Naming is defined as a verbal capacity where a child will respond both as a listener and as a speaker after hearing and observing another person give name to a stimulus. A common way to teach naming is training sets of exemplars concurrently. The aim of the present study was to examine whether a sufficient exemplar procedure, training listener and speaker behavior for one item at a time, could result in naming. Naming probes were conducted prior to training of each untrained exemplars to see if generalization to new exemplars occurred. The probes consisted of the experimenter first tacting an item while the participants were observing, and then conducting listener and speaker probes to see if the participants could identify the item. Generalization probes were conducted to observe if generalization from training to other settings and people occurred. A non-concurrent multiple probe design was used to evaluate the effect of the intervention for three pre-school children with autism. Results showed that two out of three participants showed naming skills, and the third participant improved her performance. The results suggest that a sufficient exemplar training procedure is effective in establishing naming. Sufficient exemplar training seems especially suitable for monitoring generalization effects during intervention as it allows for a large degree of individualization.

With the rapid expansion of interventions integrating therapy dogs into behavioral and educational programs with children in recent years, research into these interventions has not caught up. This symposium will cover human-animal interactions from both the child and the dog perspective. Three talks will present research on the impact of animal-assisted interventions on children and one on therapy dogs' welfare and perceptions of these programs. Discussions will include strategies of integrating human-animal interaction research into the principles of behavior analysis.

The use of Animal-Assisted Interventions (AAI) with individuals with developmental disabilities is becoming increasingly popular and often targets social skill deficits, one of the main concerns associated with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). To date, there is little evidence to support the use of AAI to improve social skills for children with ASD. The purpose of this study was to critically evaluate AAI using a therapy dog to increase social skills in young children with ASD. Participants were ages 3-8 years, diagnosed with ASD, and able to speak in short sentences. Alternating treatments and reversal designs were used to compare conditions in which (1) a therapy dog was not present, (2) access to a therapy dog was noncontingent, (3) access to a therapy dog was contingent on interacting with a therapist, and (4) access to another preferred item was contingent on interacting with a therapist. Results varied across participants. While contingent access to the therapy dog did increase social interactions for some participants, it was the most effective intervention for only one participant. These results have important implications for the field. Practitioners should be aware that some clients may be better-suited for AAI than others.

Previous research has shown that therapy dogs may function as reinforcers for some children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD); however notable limitations in the original study design warranted a partial replication and extension of the results. In Experiment 1 we measured changes in the rate of responding correctly to educational tasks across five conditions in a multielement design with five children with ASD. The conditions were contingent praise (negative control), contingent leisure item (positive control), contingent therapy dog, noncontingent therapy dog, and a combined contingent leisure item and noncontingent therapy dog. We assessed preference for items/dog before and after the experiment as well as preference for conditions at the end of the experiment. Saliva samples were collected from each child before and after every session for determination of cortisol concentration. Experiment 1 did not reveal clear trends as data for most participants were not differentiated across conditions. In Experiment 2, we used a reversal design with six children to ease discrimination of conditions and to clarify whether the combined experimental condition can produce higher or equivalent responding as the contingent leisure condition.

With the growing practice of incorporating dogs into therapy settings, understanding how the therapy dogs are affected may be key in providing better welfare. Therapy dogs often undergo situations where they may experience unpredictable interactions; however, it is unclear how dogs perceive interactions. Through three separate experiments, this study aims to observe stress and affiliative behaviors of therapy dogs during successive exposure to the same children with autism spectrum disorder over several months. For the first experiment, nine therapy dog-child dyads (nine children, five dogs) were assessed alongside a study with experimental ABA-type educational sessions. A second experiment added baseline observations to provide further investigation into the stress during session. Experiment three was conducted to determine if children were aversive to the therapy dogs. In general, dogs did not appear to habituate to the children across sessions. Dogs in this study had individual differences and perceive children differently. Touching the dog and poking the dog's face increases stress behavior in dogs. In order to increase the human-animal bond between therapy dogs and the people they impact, recognizing stress and affiliative behavior in therapy dogs may lead to improvements to welfare conditions.

The present study tested whether pet dogs have stress-buffering effects for children during a validated laboratory-based protocol, the Trier Social Stress Test for Children (TSST-C). Participants were 101 children aged 7–12 years with their primary caregivers and pet dogs. Children were randomly assigned in the TSST-C to a pet present condition or one of two comparison conditions: parent present or no support figure present. Baseline, response, and recovery indices of perceived stress and cortisol levels were based on children's self-reported feelings of stress and salivary cortisol. In addition, behavioral sociability of dogs and interactions with children were behaviorally coded. Results indicated that pet dog presence significantly buffered the perceived stress response in comparison to children in the alone and parent present conditions. No main condition effect was observed for cortisol. Further, behavioral sociability scoring of the dogs was also correlated with child reported attachment to the dog, indicating the importance of dog-child interaction.

The causes of pediatric feeding disorders are often multifactorial and may include interactions between medical conditions, oral-motor difficulties, and behavioral mismanagement (Babbitt, Hoch, & Coe, 1994; Piazza, 2008). Feeding disorders can range from mild to severe relative to their impact on nutrition and growth. Mild problems might include self-feeding skill deficits or difficulty transitioning to age-appropriate textures (Piazza & Carroll-Hernandez, 2004), whereas more severe difficulties could involve total food and liquid refusal, which may lead to substantial weight loss, malnourishment, and growth impairments (Piazza, & Carroll-Hernandez, 2004). The purpose of the current symposium will be to review effective treatments for pediatric feeding disorders including antecedent interventions and caregiver training. The first presentation will compare variations of redistribution and bolus placement as treatment for packing. The second presentation will compare the effects of demand fading in terms of bolus placement and size, with and without escape extinction to treat food refusal. The third presentation will review the effects of simultaneous presentation of table textured foods to increase chewing and decrease latency to mouth clean. The final presentation will evaluate whether consumption would occur with caregivers following therapist-implemented nonremoval of the spoon with two caregiver-child dyads.

Individuals interested in learning more about the assessment and treatment of pediatric feeding disorders. For BCBAs, BCaBCs, RBTs, and any other practitioners.

Packing (holding food in the mouth) is a problematic mealtime behavior displayed by children with feeding disorders that results in prolonged meal durations and decreased caloric intake (Gulotta et al., 2005). Clinically, packing often emerges following treatment with nonremoval of the spoon, or bite persistence, which is a well-supported intervention for increasing acceptance and reducing refusal behavior. Redistribution represents the treatment with the most empirical support for reducing packing. The procedure involves the feeder collecting the food from the mouth with a utensil after the bite has been deposited and then placing it mid-tongue. Emerging evidence, however, also supports the use of an alternative bolus placement (e.g., flipped-spoon or Nuk presentation) as a treatment to decrease packing and latency to clean mouth (Stubbs et al., 2017). The current study presents data on brief protocol assessments conducted when packing emerged for two children participating in a day-treatment program for total food refusal. We compared variations of redistribution (e.g., different time intervals) and/or bolus placement within or across meal blocks to determine the course of subsequent treatment for each participant. The implications of conducting brief assessments for clinical decision making and the use of redistribution procedures to treat packing will be discussed.

Investigators have shown that manipulating placement and/or size of bite presentations may alter the response effort involved in eating and thus the likelihood of inappropriate mealtime behavior exhibited by children diagnosed with feeding disorders (Dolezal, 2006; Kerwin, Ahearn, Eicher, & Burd, 1995; Sharp & Jaquess, 2009). To our knowledge, no studies have systematically compared the effects of demand fading with and without escape extinction to escape extinction in isolation to treat pediatric food refusal. We conducted an assessment to determine the effects of varying bolus sizes and bite placements on the inappropriate mealtime behavior, compliance, and negative vocalizations of 3 children diagnosed with feeding disorders. Then, we used a combined multielement and reversal design to compare the effects of demand fading along bite placement and/or bolus size combined with escape extinction and escape extinction alone. Results showed that escape extinction was necessary; however, escape extinction combined with demand fading was associated with beneficial effects (i.e., more stable compliance and decreased inappropriate mealtime behavior and negative vocalizations) for all children. Interobserver agreement was collected during at least 33% of sessions and was above 80% for all children. Conceptual and clinical implications of these findings will be discussed.

Children diagnosed with a pediatric feeding disorder may show deficits with oral motor skills necessary (i.e., chewing, tongue lateralization) to consume table textured foods. These children may display skill deficits if they remain dependent on pureed foods for an extended period of time. To address these deficits, it is common to implement a skill training protocol. However, some children may learn the basic skills to chew and swallow but it may not transition to all foods or chewing/swallowing in a timely manner may be problematic. In order to increase consumption of these foods and decrease other behaviors such as gagging, children must learn to chew and swallow efficiently. The purpose of this study was to increase chewing and decrease latency to mouth cleans using simultaneous presentation. The first participant swallowed mixed textured foods without chewing and the second participant would pack soft table textured foods. For both participants, foods that were consumed efficiently were paired with foods that were not. The results of this study showed that when simultaneous presentation was implemented, chewing increased (first participant) and latency to mouth cleans decreased (second participant). These data are discussed in relation to skills training and achieving age-typical eating patterns.

Pediatric feeding problems can occur in upwards of 35% of typically developing children and 90% of children with developmental disabilities. Although the effects of a feeding problem (e.g., weight loss, malnutrition, death) represent drastic long-term outcomes, an increased occurrence of inappropriate mealtime behavior (e.g., aggression, disruption) contributes to increased family stress in the short term. Procedures relying on escape extinction (e.g., Nonremoval of the spoon) are common methods in treating feeding problems given that they are typically maintained by social-negative reinforcement. Although escape extinction is highly efficacious, it remains unclear to what extent children will eat with their caregivers following therapist-implemented procedures in clinics or inpatient-care facilities. The purpose of the current study was to directly test whether consumption would occur with caregivers following therapist-implemented nonremoval of the spoon with two caregiver-child dyads. In addition, we sought to test what procedures were required for caregivers to improve their feeding skills whether generalization occurred or not. Data suggest that some parents might not need to be directly trained. In addition, training (e.g., instructions, role play), when necessary, might be easier for caregivers following therapist-implemented feeding evaluations.

Individuals with disabilities who engage in self-injurious behavior may be at-risk of serious injury and, in rare circumstances, can benefit from the use of mechanical restraints (e.g., helmets, arm splints, mitts). However, the use of mechanical restraints in schools continues to be the topic of much debate. Many states do not provide regulations or policies around their use, and many educators lack the necessary training to use them effectively. Although there are many concerns about the use of mechanical restraints in schools, most of the controversy comes from misuse or misunderstanding. In this presentation, practitioners will be exposed to a case study to learn about best practices for working with schools to implement behavior plans utilizing mechanical restraints. Through this case study, we will discuss a restraint analysis, restraint use, restraint fading, and using behavior skills training to teach school staff how to use the mechanical restraints. We will also address how behavior analysts can work more effectively with school staff to achieve improved outcomes for students and how behavior analysts can inform the process of incorporating behavior plans into students' Individualized Education Plans (IEPs).

The What Works Clearinghouse based high-quality professional development model entitled as Tell, Show, Try, Apply (TSTA) method was used to train secondary special education teachers about knowledge of transition planning and knowledge of IEP (Individualized Education Program) goal development and functionality for students with moderate to severe disabilities. A total of 22 teachers of students participated in the training and assessments. The impact of the in-service training was evaluated to determine its effects on secondary special education teachers' knowledge. In addition, generalization to an untrained area for developing functional goals was taken. Results indicated that the training was effective not only in increasing teachers' knowledge but also generalization across content. Several recommendations for future research related to the in-service training were proposed.

Matrix training has been used to promote generalized responding in the demonstration of targeted object, action, language routines (Goldstein & Mousetis, 1989; Dauphin, Kinney, & Stromer, 2004) by presenting the learner with stimuli in pairs and then assessing generalization across novel combinations of the same stimuli. Although this procedure is effective in determining emergence of untrained relations given the presentation of pairs, it deviates from a typical play scenario in which all materials are available at once. The present study was conducted to design a method of evaluating to a practical degree, generalization demonstrated in matrix training. Using a 3x3 matrix, two participants were taught to perform motor actions and vocalizations with three pairs of toys with video modeling. Following acquisition of trained targets, participants were exposed to two generalization tests repeatedly. In one test, materials were presented to the participant in pairs as they typically are in matrix training. In the other test, all materials were presented to the participant at one time. Both participants demonstrated more motor actions and vocalizations across learned and unlearned targets when objects were presented in pairs as compared to being presented will all materials at once.

Restrictive and repetitive behaviors, often referred to stereotypy, are one component of the diagnostic criteria observed on children with autism, as it is widely known to impacts the teaching and development of communication, socialization, play, and adaptive behaviors. Among the most common treatment procedures is the response interruption and redirection (RIRD) procedure that involves the addition of topographically incompatible response requirement that results in a reduction in rates of stereotypy. The goal of the present research was to develop an alternative to this punishment procedure that focus on the acquisition of appropriate routines that do not include repetitive patterns and that promote generalization. One participant was taught three new 1-min play routines using different play materials using video modeling procedures using a multiple baseline across activities experimental design. Following acquisition of the appropriate target skills, stereotypy was measured during the 1-min and an additional 9-min of access to those activities. Results showed that acquisition of appropriate play skills reduced the rates of stereotypy and that its effects extended beyond the 1-min directly trained. Procedures that teaching appropriate routines and that generalize without the use of punishment should be considered as an alternative to RIRD.

Repetitive and stereotypic motor movements or vocal behavior are one of diagnostic characteristics of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Motor stereotypy can interfere with the acquisition and demonstration of many adaptive skills. Additionally, the occurrence of repetitive motor behavior in young children with ASD may socially stigmatize individuals and limit the development and maintenance of peer relationships. The current study evaluated the effects of a differential reinforcement procedure used to establish control over motor stereotypy. Control over motor stereotypy was established in the training condition (while wearing the bracelet), and its use was then expanded to non-training settings. In the second experimental phase, the child was taught a multi-step self-monitoring program using the bracelet procedure. The data indicate that the procedure was effective in decreasing the occurrence of motor stereotypy across all evaluated settings for longer durations. During the course of the intervention social interactions made by the child increased over baseline levels. Although motor stereotypy was not completely eliminated by the procedure, the reduction was significant as was the increase in social interactions. The findings are discussed in terms of social validity and establishment and transfer of stimulus control.

Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are characterized by difficulties in social interactions and presence of repetitive behaviors and restrictive interests (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). These characteristics can affect their daily functions and pose problems in obtaining and maintaining stable employment (Shattuck, et al., 2012; Taylor and Seltzer, 2012). This tendency increases for individuals with a comorbid diagnosis such as Intellectual Disability (ID). In addition, their limited or lack of ability to engage in leisure activities can affect a quality of life (Garcia-Villmaisar, & Dattilo, 2010; Patterson, & Pegg, 2009). Given a handful of studies focused on this important skills, especially for adults with ASD and ID, the present study examined the efficacy of a most-to-least prompting procedure on independent leisure engagement of six adults with ASD and ID using iPads. Additionally, this study investigated the impact of a visual schedule on the participants’ independent transitioning between leisure activities on the iPads. Further, a survey was conducted to explore social validity of the interventions, including social perceptions of the use of these commonly available devices and the stigma associated with these devices.

Scientists cite clinical trials hundreds of times while decision makers use clinical trials and meta-analyses as the foundation for policies affecting millions. By contrast, JABA papers live a silent and unassuming life. Historically, applied behavior analysis has disregarded the potential for an "applied behavioral synthesis." The vast majority of our empirical literature is composed of experimental analyses of molecular processes often evaluating the impact of discrete reinforcement-based procedures on few behaviors of interest over a limited period of time. We lack a conceptual framework to translate experimentally sound baby steps into service and treatment models that have to be comprehensive and longitudinal in nature. This talk will explore strategies for synthesizing behavior-analytic evidence that would be compatible with both the single-subject experimental tradition of applied behavior analysis, and the outcome research standards of mainstream clinical sciences. The end goal of this approach is to develop efficient channels to translate applied behavior analysis into service models that policy and health decision-makers could find acceptable.

Board certified behavior analysts, licensed psychologists, graduate students.

A diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) typically presents with deficits in communication, socialization, and play. This presentation aims to address the effects of systematic instruction aimed to increase social initiations during shared book reading and pretend play skills of young children with ASD. Results of the independent studies indicate that systematic instruction and reinforcement of targeted behaviors within pretend play and book reading activities can increase participation and skill repertoire. In one study, the effectiveness of an intervention to increase independent initiations of three young children with ASD during shared book experiences was examined using the multiple probe design. The intervention resulted an increase in verbal responses to adult initiations and children's independent verbal commenting with pointing to direct the adult's attention to an image in the shared book. Findings suggest that children with ASD can independently initiate and respond during shared book experiences when behaviors are systematically taught and reinforced. In a separate study, changes in toy selection, during a multiple stimulus without replacement (MSWO) preference assessment, were targeted by teaching pretend play skills with a task analysis, the use of direct reinforcement, and stimulus-stimulus pairing procedures. Results indicate that exposure to toys and teaching a child how to play with the toy have an effect on the preference for that toy.

Practicing BCBAs

Children diagnosed with autism are known to have behavioral deviations in play. Children diagnosed with autism often participate in stereotypy rather than appropriate play due to a small repertoire of reinforcers (Koegel, Firestone, Kramme & Dunlap, 1974). Research regarding play skills has discovered that new choices can be conditioned through stimulus-stimulus pairing (Nuzzolo-Gomez, Leonard, Ortiz, Rivera & Greer, 2002). Egel (1981), found that children diagnosed with autism frequently struggle with motivation for educational activities. Children with a variety of reinforcers are more motivated, on-task, and have less satiation than when offered unchanging reinforcement. This suggests that if a child with autism does not have a large repertoire of reinforcers, she will be easily satiated on few preferred items and progress can stagnate. In the current study changes in toy selection, during a multiple stimulus without replacement (MSWO) preference assessment, were targeted by teaching pretend play skills with a task analysis, the use of direct reinforcement, and stimulus-stimulus pairing procedures. Results indicate that exposure to toys and teaching a child how to play with the toy have an effect on the preference for that toy. The pairing procedure shows inconsistent results.

Children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder demonstrate delays in early social interaction skills, such as responding to and initiating interactions with others (Freeden & Koegel, 2006). The effectiveness of an intervention to increase independent initiations of three young children with ASD during shared book experiences was examined. Using the multiple probe design, children's responses and initiations with a social partner were measured during baseline, intervention, and mastery sessions with generalization probes to novel books occurring during each phase. The intervention resulted an increase in verbal responses to adult initiations and children's independent pointing and verbal commenting to direct the adult's attention to an image in the shared book. Findings suggest that young children with ASD can independently initiate and respond during shared book experiences across various books when behaviors are systematically taught and reinforced. Future research should investigate effects of the current intervention combined with shared reading interventions aimed to increase early literacy skills in young children with ASD.

More than five decades of research have documented the effectiveness of applied behavior analytic (ABA) treatment for individuals with autism spectrum disorder. The ABA service delivery industry has proliferated accordingly and various models of ABA treatment have been largely influenced by the research and practice sites where they originated. As clinical practices have spread, many traditional practices that have been components of larger models have maintained, regardless of whether research has shown those individual components to be crucial. This symposium brings together two presentations that reevaluate traditional practices and discuss directions for future research and practice. The first presentation, by Lisa Stoddard, discusses the concept of purpose-driven understanding at the level of the direct implementer ABA therapist. The second presentation, by Erin Herbe, is a program evaluation of the effects of transitioning from all-trials data collection to first trial data collection in a multiple baseline across three children with autism. The symposium concludes with a discussion by Dr. Amanda Adams.

Board certified behavior analysts working with children with autism and interested in staff training and data collection issues

Procedural integrity has been emphasized as a critical piece of applied behavior analysis (ABA) service delivery and research, since the beginnings of our field. Baer, Wolf, and Risley (1968) emphasized the importance of ABA procedures being described with technological precision, so that they can be replicated by others. Accordingly, the need for consistency is almost universally emphasized when training entry-level ABA therapists. A common practice across service delivery agencies has been to train entry-level ABA therapists to implement treatment protocols with a high degree of precision but training entry-level therapists on the overall purpose of individual programs may be less common. This presentation will revisit this common practice and discuss potential strengths and limitations. A behavioral conceptual analysis will be made in terms of therapist attending behavior and what various training practices may inadvertently result in (e.g., therapists paying more attention to data collection than to the teaching interaction, etc.). Potential directions for research and practice will be discussed.

Ethics are paramount in human services, especially behavior analysis (Goldiamond, 2002). The Behavior Analysis Certification Board (BACB) has developed a code of ethics to determine ethical behavior in practitioners (Board, B. A. C. (2014). The development of this skill set, in practitioners, is of the utmost importance to continue to move the field forward. Located within the code of ethics is section 5, titled Behavior Analysts as Supervisors (Board, B. A. C., (2014). The BACB has recently released new supervision guidelines that outline a more stringent process to allow supervision to occur based on data collected and analyzed. Within applied behavior analysis, psychology and other human services the use of behavior skills training (BST), fluency, and other proven teaching methodology much be used to establish competency of skills is well established (St. Lawrence, J. S., Jefferson, K. W., Alleyne, E., & Brasfield, T. L. (1995). This however has not been readily applied to ethical behavior decision-making (Trevino & Youngblood, 1990). This paper will discuss how BST and other proven teaching methods can be applied to teach competency to decision making when ethical issues arise in clinical practice utilizing restraint.

Practitioners and Clinicians

PBS was developed in the 1990s as a way to address challenging behavior and enhance the quality of life of individuals with varying disabilities. While the use of reinforcement is essential and one of the most powerful tools in the Applied Behavior Analysis tool box, when all reinforcement and other positive strategies have been explored and are not success in addressing dangerous, challenging behaviors other methods of intervention must be considered. Contingent restraint is an intervention that has been used to successfully decrease or eliminate self-injurious or aggressive behaviors with individuals with developmental disabilities. ABAI hold specific standards addressing the use of contingent restraint and all guidelines were adhered to during the implementation of a restraint protocol with an adolescent diagnosed with autism who engaged in severe self-injury and aggression. Functional assessment indicated both behaviors were maintained by escape. Aggression had an additional reinforcing component of making aggressive contact with staff and self-injury had an additional automatic component. The protocol was carefully monitored and over 180 days' results yielded significant decreases in both target behaviors with an increase in compliance and mastery of critical life skills contributing to an overall better quality of life for the participant and his family.

Restraint has been a controversial component of treatment plans and emergency safety plans in the field of Applied Behavior Analysis (Bailey et al., 2010). At times restraint may be necessary to maintain safety for clients and for staff members. The literature supports that injury rates are lower for both staff and clients when restraint is used as a component of a behavior support plan rather than as an emergency procedure (Williams, 2010). When restraint is included in behavior support plans it is a primary ethical concern for clinicians to fade restraint in the safest manner possible. The purpose of the current study was to replicate and extend on the methods used in Luiselli, Pace & Dunn (2006).

The United States is in the midst of an opioid epidemic. Opioid use disorder is largely maintained through positive reinforcing mechanisms (a euphoric high following use of opioid agonists like heroin and OxyContin), and negative reinforcement (relief from the prominent withdrawal syndrome following removal of the drug in persons with opioid physical dependence). Opioid use disorder is distinct from other forms of drug use disorder in that numerous FDA-approved medications are available to address the positive and negative reinforcing aspects of opioid use disorder, including provision of opioid agonists for an extended period (maintenance) or reductions in doses over time (detoxification) to enable relapse prevention treatment. Yet, despite these resources a large number of patients do not succeed in treatment. Our research is using behavioral pharmacological paradigms to better understand mechanisms underlying individual differences in opioid response. The overall goal of this research is to inform development of new medications and methods to more effectively tailor treatment regimens to individuals. This talk will provide an overview of some human laboratory studies being conducted to inform clinical treatment of opioid use disorder and will present the results from some ongoing behavioral pharmacological efforts to examine mechanisms underlying individual response to opioids.

Board certified behavior analysts, licensed psychologists, graduate students.

The symposium will outline a brief history of behavior analysis and emphasize the broad scope of its philosophy, its science, and its practice. While early behavior analysis aspired to find solutions for virtually all matters of human concern, modern behavior analysis has been subdivided into clinical, applied, and basic domains, and current research and training of behavior analysts tend to be focused on service provision in autism spectrum and other developmental disorders. Consequences of such narrow training will be discussed, first in terms of curriculum design and training missions, and then in terms of the practical implications of narrow training. To preserve ABAI's mission to contribute to the wellbeing of society, behavior analysts need training consistent with the regulatory frameworks supporting a broad scope of practice and the tools necessary to effectively address contextual factors that impact science and practice with diverse populations. The symposium is relevant to students, practitioners, and researchers who have an interest to train, practice, or study the philosophy and the science of behavior analysis broadly.

The symposium is relevant to students, practitioners, and researchers who have an interest to train, practice, or study the philosophy and the science of behavior analysis broadly.

While behavior analysis can be applied to all areas of human concern, it is difficult for behavior analysts to obtain training consistent with professional standards and regulations that govern working with clinical presentations other than Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities (IDD). It is a tragic irony that the majority of evidence-based behavior therapies for psychological disorders have their roots in behavior analysis, yet it is rare for Association for Behavior Analysis International or Behavior Analyst Certification Board accredited training programs to produce graduates eligible to legally and ethically use these therapies. These training limitations reflect the failure of early leaders in our field to track professional practice metacontingencies, and it will take a substantial and coordinated effort by the behavior analysis community to realign our training programs with the demands of the regulatory environment. An overview of the regulatory landscape for broad scope of practice service provision will be provided and the essential elements of training programs for behavior analysts to be qualified to work in diverse settings and diverse clients as clinical psychologists will be described. Changing training programs will come at great cost, but will be necessary for behavior analysis to thrive beyond ASD and IDD.

In 1967, the year of the Detroit riots, Martin Luther King Jr. emphasized that behavioral science plays a role in social movements. He challenged attendees of the American Psychological Association's annual conference to examine their assumptions about what constitutes "maladjustment" in social conditions that demand change rather than complacency. He asked whether a failure to adjust might not be the contextually appropriate response. More than half a century later, we propose it is time for behavior analysts to heed MLK's call and investigate how social contingencies might influence and skew our views of "inappropriate" or "maladaptive" behavior and inadvertently perpetuate assumptions or practices that are inconsistent with the science and the philosophy of behavior analysis. Unexamined assumptions might affect how we treat people with marginalized identities, among them older adults and people with disabilities, people with persistent mental health diagnoses, women, ethnic and racial minorities, members of the LGBT community, and people with lower socioeconomic status. We suggest that broad training in behavior analysis is required to safeguard the field's humanism, and we will give clinical/applied examples to support our argument.

Selection is central in everything we do, from the highest-level decisions (which candidate should I vote for?) to the lowest (where should I move my eyes next?). So what determines when a stimulus will be selected for action, versus being ignored? Research on attentional selection has shown that stimuli with distinctive physical features (color, brightness, loudness, etc.) can exert control over our behavior even when this conflicts with the goal of our current task; for example, when driving we might be distracted by a loud noise from the back seat. Recent work has gone further by demonstrating that distraction is not purely a function of the physical salience of stimuli: it is also influenced by prior learning about association with reward. I will review evidence for this value-modulated attentional capture effect from behavioral studies, eye-tracking, and EEG, showing that rewards exert a rapid and pervasive influence on attentional selection. This effect is somewhat analogous to demonstrations of sign-tracking in nonhuman animals, and (much as for sign-tracking) preliminary evidence indicates it might be related to development of addictive behaviors. Finally, I will describe evidence suggesting that counterproductive effects of reward on attention can be reduced, if not overcome, via instrumental conditioning.

Behavior analysts interested in the psychology of learning and attention, and in psychological mechanisms of addiction.

This paper will provide a critical evaluation of the appropriateness of single-case designs in validating academic curricular programs. Considerations in this evaluation will include fidelity of curricular implementation, measurement of skills, and scope and coverage of program implementation. The findings of a recent article in Behavior Modification by McKenna et al. (2017) were reanalyzed with consideration given to important aspects of curriculum validation and the tenets of single-case design. The results demonstrate that single-case researchers do not and/or cannot meet important requirements of academic curricular program validation.

Prompt-dependency is a common problem amongst individuals with developmental disabilities. Individuals who are “prompt-dependent” often appear to simply wait to be prompted rather than engaging in the target behavior, regardless of the power of the reinforcement available to them for completing said behavior. Because practitioners cannot simply allow the individuals they work with to wait indefinitely, prompting often becomes a necessary component in these situations. In this symposium, presenters will posit that we should re-examine the way that we look at prompts and instead of only treating them as an antecedent to the target behaviors, should also explore their impact as a consequence for the behaviors occurring during this “active-waiting” period. Is it possible that the prompts being used to encourage the performance of a target behavior are actually reinforcing the active-waiting behaviors that precede them? Presenters will discuss ways to analyze and treat prompts as consequential stimuli, or reinforcers, and the types of treatment procedures that may be informed by this re-labeling.

Practitioners

Prompt maintained behavior is a commonly reported concern for individuals receiving intervention services (Hume, Loftin, & Lantz, 2009). Reliance on adult prompts can contribute to poor long-term outcomes for adults with autism. This study will evaluate the use of signaled extinction (removal of adult prompts) with the use of a work alone card to promote independence and reduction of emotional responding during various activities in which the participant had demonstrated mastery. The intervention was selected following a functional analysis on prompt maintained behavior. Signaled extinction versus a control condition will be evaluated using multielement and reversal designs across different activities with an adolescent with autism in a school setting. The results are discussed in terms of the utility for adolescents and young adults with histories of prompt maintained behavior.

Traditionally behavior analysts have evaluated prompts in terms of their stimulus properties as antecedent stimuli that evoke a desired response. Indeed, Cooper, Heron, and Heward (2007) defines them as "supplementary antecedent stimuli used to occasion a correct response in the presence of an SD that will eventually control behavior" (p. 287). However, prompts, specifically their termination or presentation, can also be consequences of behavior. For example, the termination of prompts is often an element of the "demand" condition in functional analyses, which have been studied extensively (see Hanley, Iwata, & McCord, 2003 for a review). Moreover, prompts can be delivered as an element of error correction. However, research has not yet investigated whether prompts, apart from other procedures, can function as negative or positive reinforcers. Thus, the current set of experiments evaluates the effects of prompt presentation and termination on tantrum and choice behavior.

Improvement in skills for individuals with developmental disabilities and autism requires highly concentrated exposure to evidence-based interventions delivered with a high degree of procedural integrity. Thus, maximizing progress necessitates interventions be available across settings and that those professionals charged with delivery be well-trained. Accomplishing this requires identification of training methods that are not only effective but feasible within the natural contexts. Behavior skills training (BST) and Practice-Based Coaching (PBC) are two professional development strategies with evidence of increasing skills for service providers across a variety of contexts including schools, clinics, and day treatment programs. However, strategies aimed at increasing the efficiency and sustainability of both types of professional development are needed. This symposium will present studies that explore variations in both methods, such as group delivery and self-monitoring, to train day treatment service providers, teachers, and future behavior analysts in day treatment programs, schools, and clinics. Suggestions for future research and implications for practice will be discussed.

BCBAs who provide training and professional development for teachers and service providers in community centers and/or day treatment programs as well as BCBAs that supervice BCBA supervisees

Behavior skills training (BST) has been shown to be an effective strategy for teaching new skills. Current research indicates that feedback and modeling may be the most active components of BST for teaching some skills. Self-monitoring may be a viable option for sustained training effects, thus increasing the potential for continued skill across time. Given the evidence suggesting its efficacy for use as a training package, BST should be considered as an option for training future behavior analysts to implement behavior change strategies. Further, training future practitioners to engage in self-monitoring skills may enhance training and promote generalized skills across time. The current study compares two BST training packages, one with instructor feedback and one with self-monitoring, in an multielement design embedded within a multiple baseline across participants design to train masters level graduate students to conduct preference assessments. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of instructor feedback and self-monitoring on treatment integrity outcomes by determining whether instructor feedback and self-monitoring are effective strategies to promote desirable outcomes when training preservice behavior analysts to conduct preference assessments.

Evidence-based practices have the potential to improve outcomes for students with developmental disabilities yet these practices are rarely implemented accurately. For example, teachers are not supported during the implementation process and are rarely evaluated on the degree to which the specific intervention has been conducted as intended. Therefore, the exact implementation of an evidence-based practice is limited and has been characterized as "one shot" due to the lack of systematic follow-up necessary to sustain the evidence-base practice. Teachers have reported little follow-up training on the programs they were expected to use and therefore utilized the components that "worked for them." The failure to implement these practices to fidelity and sustain the use of these practices is considered to be a large part of the poor outcomes experienced by students in special education programs. Research notes that teachers must receive instruction and feedback from instructors in order to implement evidence-based practice (Kennedy & Thomas, 2012; Lane, Bocian, MacMillan, & Greshman, 2004). Furthermore, numerous researchers have documented increased implementation of evidence-based strategies when instruction, coaching, and feedback are provided. Practice-based coaching is one method for accomplishing this yet is often resource prohibitive when provided on a teacher-by-teach basis. Group practice-based coaching, however is one option to train teachers to a high degree of fidelity with fewer personnel resources. Utilizing a multiple-baseline design across groups of teachers, this study evaluated the functional relationship between implementation of practice-based coaching in a group format and increases in teachers' fidelity of implementation of discrete trial training for students with developmental disabilities. Implementation of practice-based coaching resulted in an immediate increase in percentage of steps implemented correctly for all groups with each individual teacher reaching the criterion of 85% accuracy within three coaching sessions. Social validity and implications for practice will be discussed.

Recent graduates and current graduate students working out the world have found innovative ways to communicate the science of behavior with a large ranging audience. These are there stories.

undergraduates, graduate students, teachers, practitioners

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by repetitive and invariant behaviors and impairments in social communication skills (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Deficits in social communication skills among individuals with ASD often affect both vocal and nonvocal communication. Social communication deficits can interfere with an individual's ability to develop and maintain relationships (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). This symposium will include four presentations related to social and communication skills in individuals with ASD. The first study conducted an assessment of conversation skills with college students diagnosed with ASD and provided intervention based on the three most significant deficits identified. The second study evaluated the effects computer-based training and role-play with peers on the conversation skills of adults diagnosed with ASD. The third study evaluated the effects of joint video modeling on the vocalizations and play actions of preschool children diagnosed with ASD. The final study compared the effects of response-contingent stimulus pairing and operant discrimination training on conditioning neutral vocal stimuli as reinforcers for children diagnosed with ASD. We will discuss the implications of the studies in terms of teaching social and communication skills to individuals diagnosed with ASD.

Clinicians, practitioners, researchers

Many individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) currently attend college, and increasing numbers of students with ASD are expected to enroll in the upcoming years. Within this population, pragmatic language and behavior is often a primary deficit. However, limited investigation of assessment and intervention for social language deficits in postsecondary students with ASD has resulted in a paucity of evidenced-based support for this population. In this study, we extended an assessment of conversation skills initially administered to a child and two adolescents with ASD (Hood, Luczynski, & Mitteer, 2017) to college students with ASD and provided intervention based on the three most significant deficits identified. Intervention consisted of Behavioral Skills Training (BST) with additional in-situ training if the skill did not initially generalize to novel conversation partners and settings. Results for one participant thus far suggest that extending the modified assessment to adults with high-functioning ASD may be appropriate as an initial evaluation of weak pragmatic abilities. Results also provide empirical support for implementing BST to improve conversations skills with this population.

Previous research has demonstrated that behavioral skills training (BST) is highly effective in teaching new skills to individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but implementation may be challenging in a group format. In the current study, we combined computer-based training (CBT) and role-play with peers to simultaneously target the conversation skills of five adults diagnosed with ASD. Experimenters initially identified three unique conversation skill deficits for each participant. During training, participants received the definition, rationale, and video demonstrations of their individualized target behaviors via CBT. Participants then practiced the skills by speaking with other participants during 5-min conversations while receiving delayed feedback from the experimenter. Generalization probes with non-training peers and typically developing adults were conducted throughout all phases. Three participants mastered all three target skills, one participant mastered two target skills, and one participant mastered one target skill across eight, 2-hour sessions. Eleven of the total 12 skills targeted during the training generalized to novel peers and typically developing adults. Maintenance was assessed 6 weeks following the training conclusion. Ten of the 12 skills maintained at the 6-week follow-up session. Results have implications for developing effective, practical approaches for teaching conversation skills in a group format.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) require explicit interventions that target pretend play behaviors with their peers (Ingersoll, 2010; Hume, Bellini & Pratt, 2005). In Joint Video Modeling (JVM) researchers present a video model to both a typical peer and a child with ASD simultaneously, and contrive opportunities to imitate behaviors observed in the video. JVM has been demonstrated effective for teaching scripted responses but gains in unscripted responses have not been observed. The present investigation, evaluated the effects of JVM with three preschool children with ASD in an inclusive preschool setting. A multiple probe across participants design was used to evaluate the effects of JVM on scripted and unscripted verbalizations and play actions during baseline, intervention and generalization probes. The participants demonstrated an increase in scripted and unscripted verbalizations during pretend play with typically developing peers. Consistent with previous investigations (MacDonald e 2009; Maione & Miranda, 2006) JVM may be an effective intervention for increasing novel pretend play among children with ASD.

Traditional applied behavior analytic treatment options for individuals with autism have been empirically supported and implemented in clinical practice for many years. The impact of these treatments have been pivotal for reducing challenging behavior and increasing skill repertoires for individuals with autism. Although these traditional methods have provided significant change for many people, as a science we must continue to explore new technologies and improve methodologies for teaching new skills and complex repertoires. One of these new technologies includes the Promoting the Emergence of Advanced Knowledge Relational Training System (PEAK), which is comprised of four assessment and curriculum modules that range from traditional verbal behavior to teaching complex relational skills through relational training. The current symposium will explore how the PEAK Relational Training System promotes relational learning and how these skills are correlated with measures of intelligence, executive functioning, challenging behavior, and other verbal assessments. Construct validity will also be examined for newly released PEAK pre-assessments. Additionally, samples of how the skills in the PEAK system align with normative age groups will be examined.The implications of these psychometric properties and relational responding for the treatment of individuals with autism will be discussed.

Clinicians, ABA Therapists, BCBA's, RBTS, Students of Behavior Analysis

When considering evidence-based treatments for clients, it is imperative for practitioners to research the validity of any assessments used. Utilizing assessment tools that are empirically supported and thoroughly researched aid practitioners in delivering effective and efficient interventions. The purpose of the present study was to examine the assessment components in the Promoting the Emergence of Advanced Knowledge (PEAK) Relational Training System Direct Training Module for children with autism. Research is warranted on the psychometric properties of the PEAK DT module assessments to ensure practitioners have an accurate depiction of the utility of the indirect and pre-assessment packages, and their respective agreeance with direct assessment scores. With a better understanding of the statistical relations between factor scores, our field as a science can benefit by ensuring that we are administering assessments that best serve our clients, in addition to bridging communication gaps between applied behavior analysis and other scientific communities. Assessments were completed for 30 children with autism, with parents having completed indirect assessments, and pre-assessment and direct assessment packages completed in a clinical setting, and agreement was calculated across each PEAK DT Factor. Results indicate that the PEAK DT Preassessment yields moderate agreement with the PEAK DT Indirect completed by parents, and that the Preassessment appears to predict performance on the Direct Assessment module. IOA was collected across 40% of sessions and averaged 95%.

Given the rising number of individuals diagnosed with autism and other developmental disabilities or intellectual impairments, it is imperative that treatment address the behavioral deficits and excesses associated with these individuals' diagnoses. While treating these issues is of utmost importance, we also need to find effective, and efficient, empirically-based treatments. One method of potentially increasing the efficiency of training is to use derived relational responding to facilitate the acquisition of targeted skills. The current studies seek to assess how a sample of typically developing individuals compare to a sample of individuals with autism on a behavior analytic assessment: The PEAK Equivalence Module. (PEAK-E; Dixon, 2015). Two experiments were conducted to assess the performance of these individuals on the PEAK-E. The results of their performance were then analyzed to determine at what age various skills assessed by the PEAK-E Pre-Assessment might be expected to emerge in a typically developing population, and how the results of the PEAK-E Pre-Assessment with individuals with autism relate to the results of their typically developing peers. The results and implications of these findings will be discussed.

Establishing an appropriate mand repertoire is an important first step during interventions for individuals with challenging behavior, complex communication needs, or both. Although mands are the most frequently studied verbal operant from the functional taxonomy proposed by B.F. Skinner (Sautter & LeBlanc, 2006), much is still unknown about the instructional circumstances that are critical to their acquisition and maintenance. The first talk describes research that compared the efficiency with which practitioners might bring established mands under discriminative control (via multiple schedules) while maintaining low levels of problem behavior using arbitrary or naturalistic stimuli. The second talk in this symposium describes a study which evaluated the probability of mand acquisition during a modified functional communication training (FCT) program in which instruction was only provided when functional reinforcers were abolished. The third talk describes the antecedents and consequences necessary to bring mands for "when" under appropriate environmental control and highlights a training protocol that incorporated these variables into an effective intervention for three participants. The final talk describes research which evaluates the effectiveness of a training protocol designed to teach care providers to implement discrimination training with high fidelity. The symposium ends with a discussion that synthesizes emergent themes.

Master's and doctoral-level practitioners and researchers

Following FCT, it is common to thin the schedule of reinforcement through a multiple schedule in which components are signaled via "arranged," or arbitrary, SDs. For example, colored cards are often used to signal SD and S-delta periods. A few published studies have also reported the use of "naturalistic," or socially valid SDs, including caregivers talking on the phone ("busy") and caregivers reading ("not busy") (Kuhn, Chirighin, & Zelenka, 2010; Leon, Hausman, Kahng, & Becraft, 2010; Shamlian et al., 2016). Even fewer have reported comparisons between the types of schedule-thinning stimuli (cf. Shamlian et al., 2016). The current study replicates and extends the schedule-thinning literature by comparing rates of mand differentiation and problem behavior during schedule thinning following FCT with arranged and naturalistic SDs with a child with autism. The current study will also replicate procedures used by Betz, Fisher, Roane, Mintz, and Owen (2013) by evaluating the extent to which arranged and naturalistic SDs facilitate rapid schedule thinning (i.e., increasing the duration of S-delta periods without gradual thinning).

Children with autism spectrum disorders struggle with many verbal operants, including mands, and especially mands for information, as the relevant consequence is not an immediate tangible stimulus. The purpose of this study was to extend the work of Shillingsburg et al. (2011), Somers et al. (2014), and Landa et al. (2017) by teaching three children with autism spectrum disorder to mand, "when?" under appropriate antecedent and consequence control. In other words, the current study sought to teach children to request information in appropriate and relevant contexts. Trials were alternated between previously mastered mands for information, AO (item), AO (information), and EO conditions across 5 unavailability statements, 17 items, multiple instructors, and multiple settings. All three participants learned to mand, "when?" under appropriate antecedent control and demonstrated generalization with novel instructors and in natural situations. Other mands for information (i.e., "where?") were maintained. Recommendations for future research on manding for information will be discussed.

Behavioral coaching methods apply behavior analytic principles and strategies (e.g., positive and negative reinforcement, task analyzing skills, and behavioral skills training) and have been used to improve performance across a variety of sport and fitness skills (e.g., Luiselli, Wood, & Reed, 2011). Previous research has demonstrated the effectiveness of various behavioral coaching strategies to teach a variety of sport and fitness skills, such as soccer (Brobst & Ward, 2002), football (Harrison & Pyles, 2013; Stokes, Luiselli, & Reed, 2010), dance (Quinn, Miltenberger, & Fogel, 2015), basketball (Kladopoulos & McComas, 2001), and golf (Fogel, Weil, & Burris, 2010). This symposium reviews four studies designed to evaluate (a) the TAGteach intervention package to teach beginner yoga poses to novice adult yoga practitioners, (b) a negative reinforcement procedure to improve passing performance of female college lacrosse players, (c) behavioral skills training to improve field hockey hits of young players, and (d) auditory feedback to improve throwing a "right cross" in adult mixed martial arts students. Across all studies, results demonstrated the effectiveness of these behavioral coaching methods to improve independent performance of these sports and fitness skills. Results are discussed in terms of implications, limitations, and considerations for future research.

Graduate students Teachers and coaches Behavior Analysts

This study examined the use of negative reinforcement to improve performance of female college athletes. Twelve varsity lacrosse players who attended a private college in the Southeastern United States participated in the study. The team coaches wanted players to "put names on passes" defined as saying the name of a player who should catch the ball at least one second before the catch. A total of 100 passes were recorded during a practice and for every 20 passes that included a name, the players had to run one less of five mandatory end-of-practice sprints. The intervention was evaluated using an ABAB design. Results indicated that negative reinforcement was successful for improving names on passes but performance did not sustain when the intervention was removed. Players rated the intervention as acceptable but only 7 out of 12 thought it should continue to be used in future practices.

Thomas Gilbert’s book (1978) titled “Human Competence” took us beyond training toward a rigorous approach to improving performance in organizations. His behavior engineering model has guided behavior analytic research and applications with an emphasis on parsimony, elegance and usefulness of associated methodologies. Throughout the years, the powerful partnership between Tom and Marilyn Gilbert leading to the publication of Human Competence, and many revolutionary training modules and consulting reports perhaps has not received the well-deserved acknowledgement given its impact and influence. By drawing upon their pioneering work in behavior analysis, Marilyn Gilbert and colleagues will highlight the impact of this partnership by providing an overview and discussion of Tom and Marilyn Gilbert’s unpublished account of human competence during the latter part of Tom Gilbert’s life. Moreover, the presentations will highlight the foundational influence of Gilberts’ Human Competence on recent technological advancements in instructional design and behavioral systems applications.

Academicians, students, and practitioners who are interested in performance improvement in organizations.

This presentation will provide an overview of the Gilberts' contribution to instructional design technologies that have revolutionized teaching practices in many educational settings. Gilberts' model focuses on designing the environment in which the student learns instead of changing the student. With the behavior engineering model, those responsible for performance improvement and maintenance can diagnose for, make priorities among, and plan performance improvement solutions in the classroom.

Tom Gilbert replaced what he called "the cult of behavior" with a focus on valuable accomplishments produced by behavior, a major contribution that launched a seismic shift for those who followed. This shift has been challenging, not only for applied behaviorists, but also for ordinary people. We are more accustomed to observing and discussing behavior, whether precisely or not, than identifying the valuable accomplishments produced by that behavior, especially when the accomplishments are less tangible than deliverables or widgets, for example decisions, relationships, or recommendations. Another of Gilbert's major contributions, the behavior engineering model, extended the variables of behavior influence from contingencies of reinforcement to a framework including physical and social elements of the work environment, prior repertoire, variations in reinforcement value, and other factors that are seldom relevant in research with starved laboratory animals in simplified experimental chambers. But Gilbert's labels for the cells in his behavior engineering model were not self-explanatory, and open to interpretation, challenging consistent comprehension, communication, and application. The presenter has adapted and refined these two contributions—a focus on accomplishments and a more complete model of behavior influences—using simple visual models and user-tested plain English to enable rapid communication and collaboration among performance experts, their clients and stakeholders. This presentation describes developments based on Gilbert's contributions, as they have evolved over several decades, and summarizes practical implications for enabling leaders, managers, performance professionals, and individual contributors at any level and in any function in organizations to collaborate for continuous performance improvement.

Although only briefly mentioned in Human Competence, Tom Gilbert wrote extensively about his method for teaching learners new concepts, principles, facts and skills, which he called mathetics. Mathetics included a generic instructional delivery procedure with three phases: (a) demonstrating skills, concepts, and principles to learners; (b) guiding learners as they practice; and (c) testing students to see if they have achieved mastery. Mathetics also incorporated procedures for designing instructional materials, such as how to identify and organize stimuli and responses from instructional goals, and how to incorporate behavioral procedures such as shaping and back chaining during instruction. I will describe mathetics and how it has been adapted as the core of instructional delivery in Engelmann's Direct Instruction and our own Morningside Model of Generative Instruction (MMGI). I will also describe the content of two important unpublished chapters that Gilbert wrote, which contain new ideas and procedures for mathetical design and delivery.

In high reliability organizations (HROs), procedural adherence to highly structured work plans is crucial to achieving organizational goals and averting catastrophes. BP's oil rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico (Macondo) was a bellwether event signaling the importance of managing interlocking human factors in HROs. Gilbert's BEM and vantage points provide a strong foundation for behavioral systems engineering to establish and maintain adherence to work routines in highly engineered, highly technical environments (e.g., aviation, nuclear power, oil & gas exploration, medicine). Two behavioral challenges face managers of HROs. First, crews need to follow well established procedures with little deviation to achieve milestones. Second, on occasion, crews encounter anomalies not addressed in standard work instructions. During these crises, crews must stop following standard procedures, assess changing conditions and adapt their behavior to the unexpected events in order to avert catastrophe. Behavioral systems engineering integrates human behavior with automated systems to adapt complex processes to changing contexts. Thus management of human behavior is one factor in a highly engineered system that can be designed to respond to both challenges (maintain routines, adjust to crises). This paper considers Gilbert's analysis for designing control systems of crew members' behavior in HROs.

While the neurodiversity movement gains traction among individuals with developmental disabilities and their families, the behavior analytic literature is nearly silent on the topic. Lack of knowledge of the neurodiversity movement threatens to undermine behavior analysts ability to understand client goals while misconceptions about ABA found in some quarters of the neurodiversity literature can lead potential clients to be unnecessarily hostile toward behavior analysis. As such, an improved appreciation for neurodiversity has implications for the ethical provision of high-quality behavior analytic services. Symposium attendees will: (a) be introduced to the neurodiversity perspective and the primary concerns proponents of neurodiversity have with ABA interventions; (b) be able to articulate the commonalities between a behavioral worldview and a neurodiversity perspective that make the two natural allies; (c) be able to identify ways in which the neurodiversity perspective can be integrated into behavior analytic interventions; and, (d) be able to discuss the intersection between neurodiversity and the ethics.

Practicing BCBAs, BCaBAs, RBTs, as well as others with a general interest in autism, intellectual disabilities, and/or neurodiversity.

Neurodiversity, a movement closely allied with a general disability rights perspective, rejects a pathological view of autism and other diagnostic categories found in the DSM-5. Rather, the proponent of neurodiversity holds that "mental disorders" are a type of diversity, fundamentally no different than gender, race, or religion. The neurodiversity perspective is gaining prominence and there is growing literature exploring the implications of the neurodiversity perspective across a variety of domains. Unfortunately, a notable and unanswered strand in this literature is profoundly antagonistic toward applied behavior analysis (ABA), viewing ABA as an arch-nemesis of neurodiversity. In contrast to this strand in the literature, given ABA’s emphasis on environmental causes and the plasticity of behavior, ABA is a natural ally of the neurodiversity movement. The parallels between the neurodiversity perspective and ABA have important implications for the how behavior analysts should conceptualize and implement therapy. Understanding the parallels between the neurodiversity movement and ABA can be important for involving clients in the planning process and articulating these commonalities can help remove environmental barriers to the successful implementation of a behavior-change program.

In this paper autism is analyzed as a hypothetical construct to explain how an Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnosis functions to derail scientific investigations of autistic behavior. To support this argument, we employ a series of behavioral phenomenological investigations to analyze potential sources of control over the verbal behavior of parents, who were asked to observe their children with autism and record explanations for each occurrence of problem behavior. Autistic behaviors were recorded cumulatively, and the parents' explanatory responses were then mapped onto the cumulative records to identify the controlling relations for each response. We then analyzed the parents' responses for mentalistic explanations for the children's problem behaviors. Parent reports are discussed in terms of the prevalence of mentalisms, the stimulus control exerted by autistic behavior, the relationship between parent and child, the conditioning of parents' observations throughout and across observation sessions, and how fictional explanations function for the speaker. We conclude with a discussion of the role of behavioral phenomenology in elucidating the histories of reinforcement provided by the verbal communities of parents of children with autism. The ethical implications of understanding the function of mentalisms will be discussed in relation to third-party involvement in services.

The term "neurodiversity" is frequently used to discuss autism spectrum disorder as a variation in functioning rather than a disorder of the individual. This arm of disability studies is directly in line with molar behaviorism, which seeks understanding through temporally-extended patterns of behavior instead of appealing to molecular causality. The explanations for autism, like that of all behavior, are found outside of the person. Given a particular history of reinforcement, the present environment may be either enabling or disabling; what Uexküll (1926) referred to as the "functional tinting" of controlling stimuli. The purpose of the present discussion is to describe a theoretical model for how autistic behavior is conditioned over time, with implications for behavior-analytic intervention. We use the word autism to describe teleological patterns of behavior that are distributively skewed from the Gaussian bell curve, and propose that the term autistic best describes the convergent multiple control over behavior that is otherwise perfectly neurotypical given the circumstances. Accordingly, our goal as behavior analysts is never to change the individual, but to demonstrate how environmental modifications can shift a population of responses back towards the center, thereby reducing the "tint" and increasing access to a greater number of environmental affordances. Reconceptualizing autism in this way can inform the individualized tailoring of behavior analytic services as well as help shape behavior analytic program objectives.

To receive special education services in the United States public schools, students must meet the eligibility criteria for one of the 13 disability categories designated by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (2004). To access services, predefined criteria from one of these examples must adversely affect the student's academic performance to a "disabling" degree. But aside from qualifying the student for services, these disability labels serve a number of other functions for the students who receive them. Here we argue that the use of disability labels results in equivalence formations that relate the specific behavior of one individual classified with a particular category with all members of that set. Disability labels point to the history of reinforcement of the individuals who carry them, but they do not necessarily dictate a particular teaching methodology or instructional intervention. In this way, "disability" is examined as a function of the environment instead of a characteristic of the person. DSM-5 diagnositic classifications, special education categories, and insurance codes, all of which compose the infrastructure for providing access to much needed services may also be the antithesis of effective intervention. The ethical implications of this understanding of disability labels will be discussed in relation to a client's right to effective treatment.

The purpose of this symposium is to promote teaching the history of behavior analysis (HoBA) across the curriculum by giving it away. Many behavior-analytic curricula could be strengthened by teaching a stand-alone HoBA course or by systematically integrating HoBA with the content of other courses (e.g., on research methods, principles, application, theory, ethics). Few instructors, though, are historically trained to teach a stand-alone course or to integrate HoBA into their courses. This symposium is designed to help. It will consist of four presentations: (a) one on teaching HoBA as a course unto itself and one each on teaching HoBA in courses on (b) the conceptual foundations of behavior analysis (e.g., radical behaviorism), (c) the experimental analysis of behavior (i.e., basic principles, processes), and (d) applied behavior analysis (e.g., dimensions, interventions). The latter three presentations will address teaching HoBA as a one-week stand-alone unit in their courses and/or as integrated into the courses' other units (e.g., operationism, reinforcement, social validity). All four presentations describe assigned and recommended readings and rationales for including them. [Footnote: The symposium's title was inspired, in part, by George Miller's 1969 presidential address to the American Psychological Association.]

Instructors of behavior analysis courses wanting to integrate the history of behavior analysis into their curriculum and courses.

In recent years, emphasis has been placed on bringing the experimental and applied branches of behavior analysis together. Translational research helps to bridge the gap between basic and applied research. Translational research can take a number of forms, from extensions to humans and proof of concept research, to experimental analysis of applied practices to understand underlying mechanisms. The present symposium presents a range of studies from three different labs connected by the theme of translational research. Researchers will present work form the following areas: factors involved in token reinforcement effectiveness (Weyman), training structures that may reduce resurgence in differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (Diaz-Salvat), discrimination difficulty as a moderator for the effectiveness of the differential outcomes procedure, which uses specific reinforcement to enhance conditional discrimination learning (McCormack), and applications of the differential outcomes procedure to teach verbal behavior (Perez-Bustamante). These studies provide examples of research along the spectrum of translational research, consisting of extensions to humans, human operant studies, and clinical extensions of basic processes.

Pracitioners in ABA.

The differential outcomes procedure has been shown to enhance conditional discrimination learning in human populations, especially in clinical populations with learning or memory impairments. In animals, the effects of the procedure are more pronounced when subjects are pre-exposed to the stimulus-outcome pairings before training. In this study we compared the effects of pre-exposure to differential outcomes on tact acquisition of six primary school children with developmental disabilities. Differential outcomes pre-training was embedded in a receptive-to-expressive training structure similar to that used in early intensive behavioral interventions based on the UCLA model. That is, participants were exposed to the differential outcomes procedure prior to tact training via matching-to-sample listener training. Most participants showed faster acquisition of tacts when pre-exposed to the differential outcomes pairings, when compared to non-differential outcomes training. Additionally, participants also showed improved maintenance and generalization to a novel therapist. The study provides evidence for the effectiveness of the differential outcomes procedure in teaching verbal behaivour, as well as potential effectiveness of the differential outcomes procedure in teaching lasting and generalized behavior changed.

For decades, functional analysis and treatment has been the gold standard for identifying environmental causes of problem behavior and developing function-based treatments in human applied settings. While the extension of functional analysis and treatment of nonhuman animals is not new, it is also an area with unlimited opportunity for demonstrating species generality. This symposium presents data-based evidence of successful functional analysis, treatment, and extensions for compulsive behavior in a border collie, feather-plucking in a black vulture, and undesirable vocal behavior in a guinea pig. This symposium presents continued empirical evidence of the utility and feasibility of functional analysis and treatment to nonhuman species.

This symposium is geared toward any animal care professionals as well as professional behavior analysts working with animals (pets or exotics) or having an interest in applied behavior analysis in animals.

Feather plucking (FP) is a maladaptive behavior observed in captive avian species. This self-injurious behavior results in damage to and removal of feathers and skin tissue, resulting in animal welfare and financial consequences. The etiology and maintenance of FP have been hypothesized through medical and environmental processes, yet a definitive solution has not been found. The current study investigated the environmental variables maintaining the FP of a Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus), as well as evaluated a function-based treatment for this behavior. The behavior was found to be maintained by positive reinforcement in the form of contingent attention. Treatment consisted of noncontingent reinforcement followed by schedule thinning to shape up a treatment schedule more compatible with caretaker's schedules. Results further demonstrate the validity of function-based assessment and treatment with captive animals.

In an initial study, a guinea pig's loud squeaking (sometimes called "wheeking") was subjected to a functional analysis assessment and treatment. Loud squeaking occurred in the presence of an auditory stimulus of the rustling of plastic bags followed by food pellet delivery. A functional analysis was inconclusive, but indicated a possible automatic function. Treatment involved differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) that led to progressive reductions in loud squeaking. In 1-year follow up probes, occurrences of loud squeaking following bag rustling remained low. Subsequently, loud squeaking began to occur in previously unobserved conditions (i.e., opening of the refrigerator door). The current study examined procedures to assess and reduce loud squeaking in the newly observed conditions. Results from the previous and current study, as well as the practitioner's experiences on assessing and treating non-human animal problem behaviors are discussed. Implications are also discussed, including extending applied technologies to guinea pig owners, increasing satisfaction with guinea pig ownership, and reducing surrenders. Additionally, procedures and results indicate utility for functional analysis and behavior interventions for non-humans in a home setting.

Approximately 1 in every 4 children with autism experience significant behavioral challenges (Kaat & Lecavelier, 2013). Behavioral parent training has been demonstrated to be effective, especially when the principles can be applied within the context of family life (Lucyshyn et al., 2015). Unfortunately, only about one-half of parents complete such training, and many do not implement strategies consistently (Chacko et al, 2016). Stress has been suggested as primary contributors to this nonadherence (Dumas, Wolf, Fisman, & Culligan, 2009). Therefore, it may be beneficial to integrate practices known to protect parents against such risks? such as mindfulness (Singh et al., 2014) ? into behavioral parent training, an approach we refer to as Practiced Routines (PR). Two studies (a randomized comparison trial and single-case design) that evaluated the effects of the PR parent training program will be presented. The PR program teaches parents to apply comprehensive, function-based behavioral and mindfulness practices within the context of natural family routines. This training is designed to be delivered in three weeks with homework in between. Whereas the participants showed significant improvements in parent and child outcomes, both studies showed variability in responding. This may indicate that there is a need for adaptations in administration, including possibly multiple levels of intervention targeted to parents? and/or children?s needs. Abstract 1: A randomized trial was used to evaluate PR and an active comparison condition (Teaching Routines; TR). TR was a self-directed online program focused on using applied behavior analysis principles to teach daily routines (e.g., task analysis, environmental arrangement). The PR program included similar content, but focused more on functions and incorporated mindfulness practice. In addition, PR was facilitated by parent educators via online meetings. Seventy-seven parents participated in the PR group and 79 participated in TR. Outcome measures included child behavior ratings (adaptive and maladaptive), knowledge about ABA principles, parental stress, self-efficacy, mindful parenting, and family quality of life. Statistical analyses indicate that both groups experienced significant improvements across measures immediately following treatment and at follow-up. Post treatment, the PR group reported improvement in child adaptive behavior, which TR did not. Parenting stress reduction was evident at both post-treatment and follow-up for the PR group. Differences in knowledge were the only condition effects, with PR demonstrating significantly more knowledge gains at both posttest and follow-up. Data and examples of the program elements will be displayed, along with a discussion of methodological issues that could have led the results and implications for additional research. Abstract 2: A concurrent randomized multiple baseline across three mother-child dyads single-case design was employed to evaluate the effects of the Practiced Routines program delivered face-to-face. Three mothers and their children (ages three, five, and eight years old) with autism spectrum disorder participated. Data were collected during naturally-occurring family routines (playtime with sibling, cleaning up toys, and dinner). Increases in parent behavioral strategy use were observed for two of three mothers. Child challenging behavior decreased for two of three dyads. Visual analysis combined with a standardized mean difference analysis (Hedge?s g) revealed mixed results, with a medium effect found for increases in behavioral strategy use and small-moderate effects found for decreases in parent stress and child challenging behavior at the study level. One mother qualified for follow-up coaching, which involved performance feedback that further increased the level of her independent use of behavioral strategies. All three mothers rated the social validity of the program favorably. Implications for research and practice will be discussed.

Behavior analysts

A randomized trial was used to evaluate PR and an active comparison condition (Teaching Routines; TR). TR was a self-directed online program focused on using applied behavior analysis principles to teach daily routines (e.g., task analysis, environmental arrangement). The PR program included similar content, but focused more on functions and incorporated mindfulness practice. In addition, PR was facilitated by parent educators via online meetings. Seventy-seven parents participated in the PR group and 79 participated in TR. Outcome measures included child behavior ratings (adaptive and maladaptive), knowledge about ABA principles, parental stress, self-efficacy, mindful parenting, and family quality of life. Statistical analyses indicate that both groups experienced significant improvements across measures immediately following treatment and at follow-up. Post treatment, the PR group reported improvement in child adaptive behavior, which TR did not. Parenting stress reduction was evident at both post-treatment and follow-up for the PR group. Differences in knowledge were the only condition effects, with PR demonstrating significantly more knowledge gains at both posttest and follow-up. Data and examples of the program elements will be displayed, along with a discussion of methodological issues that could have led the results and implications for additional research.

A concurrent randomized multiple baseline across three mother-child dyads single-case design was employed to evaluate the effects of the Practiced Routines program delivered face-to-face. Three mothers and their children (ages three, five, and eight years old) with autism spectrum disorder participated. Data were collected during naturally-occurring family routines (playtime with sibling, cleaning up toys, and dinner). Increases in parent behavioral strategy use were observed for two of three mothers. Child challenging behavior decreased for two of three dyads. Visual analysis combined with a standardized mean difference analysis (Hedge's g) revealed mixed results, with a medium effect found for increases in behavioral strategy use and small-moderate effects found for decreases in parent stress and child challenging behavior at the study level. One mother qualified for follow-up coaching, which involved performance feedback that further increased the level of her independent use of behavioral strategies. All three mothers rated the social validity of the program favorably. Implications for research and practice will be discussed.

This presentation will discuss two parent-coaching interventions employed for a number of families in a private school for children with autism. We consider the two outcomes targeted (i.e., a generalized repertoire of managing contingencies of reinforcement, and children's healthy weight and body mass index) critical to address early in intervention, with important long-term benefits as they are maintained. Though the same general procedures are used across families within each intervention, a number of variables are individualized during implementation. This flexibility within a standardized framework allows delivery of parent coaching that is efficient, but also effective. First, we will discuss an intervention to teach parents skills of managing contingencies of reinforcement for their children with autism in various settings and contexts. Next, we will describe a multidisciplinary approach to teach weight management skills to parents for their children with autism. To conclude, we will discuss the benefits of this program-level approach to parent coaching interventions in the greater context of systems-based provision of behavioral intervention services. The presentation will thus offer both interventionists working directly with children/parents, and those in management/supervision roles, insights into useful parent coaching procedures for two very different skills related to autism intervention.

The target audience is BCBA-D's, BCBA's, or other behavior analysis professionals who directly teach children with autism, provide coaching to children's parents on interacting with and teaching their children with autism, are interested in behavior-analytic weight management interventions, and/or implement or are interested in behavioral systems analysis.

We employed a systematic approach to coaching parents of young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to become skillful agents of behavior change across a variety of settings, contexts, and child behavior. Specifically, parents were taught to manage contingencies: (a) at school, at home, and in the community; (b) surrounding children's initiations, anticipated undesirable behaviors, and undesirable behaviors occurring in vivo; and (c) with expectations of child behavior and across specific activities individualized to child needs and parent concerns. Dependent variables were (a) percentage of opportunities during which a parent correctly managed contingencies, (b) percentage of intervals with children's on-task behavior, and (c) percentage of intervals in which children engaged in undesirable behavior (e.g., stereotypy, disruptive behavior). Treatment effects across parents are positive, with parents increasing contingency management skills from baseline to criterion levels across a variety of settings, contexts, and child behaviors with rapid acquisition across numerous successive phases. In all cases, these were associated with concomitant increases in children's on-task behaviors to criterion levels and decreases in child undesirable behaviors to zero- or near-zero levels. Variability in skill acquisition patterns across parents, settings, contexts, and child behaviors are discussed, as is the impact of each individualized condition sequence.

The school nurse, in collaboration from classroom teachers, teacher supervisors, and the school's executive director, implemented a parent-coaching intervention package to help reverse unhealthy trends in children's body mass index (BMI). Overweight and obesity, especially among children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a growing national concern with imminent and lifelong health implications. Via routine school screenings, three children and two young adults with ASD were identified as overweight, obese, or underweight. Parents were coached to measure and report children's food consumption, increase the proportion of healthy foods in the child's diet by reducing servings of nutritionally poor foods (e.g., cookies, chips), increasing servings of nutrient-rich foods (e.g., vegetables, fruits), and increasing daily physical activity using a shaping procedure. Coaching at school and/or at home and supplemental teaching to increasing food repertoires at school were implemented based on individual student needs. Results indicate reversal of trend in BMI for all five students; two students achieved healthy-range BMI, and two achieved BMI designations healthier than those prior to intervention. Improved outcomes are predicted for the fifth student by time of presentation. Outcomes represent an effective, individualized, school-based multidisciplinary collaboration of behavior analysts, health professionals, and parents to manage unhealthy weight in students with ASD.

Early intervention literature recommends the use of pairing at the onset of treatment and as a component of ongoing therapy. Pre-session pairing is designed to function as an antecedent intervention to improve the therapeutic environment by decreasing interfering behavior during structured teaching (e.g., discrete trial teaching). Pre-session pairing consists of multiple types of interactions between a therapist and client in an unstructured format (e.g., play) and procedures are described as a therapist delivering preferred tangible items and/or activities to a client prior to introducing demands. Given the frequency with which pre-session pairing is utilized in clinical practice, the empirical support for the procedure is limited. It is currently unknown how pre-session pairing functions as an antecedent manipulation. The current symposium aims to further clarify the procedures effect on motivating operations and behaviors that are evoked by said motivating operations. The first study examined how pre-session pairing affects motivating operations for social positive and social negative reinforcement through the use of a progressive-ratio schedule. The second study examined how three therapeutic conditions (pre-session pairing, free play, and DTI-only) implemented as antecedent interventions can affect rates of acquisition of skills commonly targeted in early intervention programming.

Practitioners and individuals in academia are the target audience for this talk.

Quality of life may in part be measured by the extent to which our time is filled with satisfying work and leisure experiences. Development of independent broad leisure and vocational repertoires for individuals with developmental disabilities may require a range of interventions. This symposium will review a series of behavior analytic procedures used to enhance leisure and vocational repertoires and subsequently improve quality of life for individuals with ASD. The first paper will present on the effects of a procedure for transferring stimulus control over initiating leisure from a verbal directive to natural cues in the environment. The second paper will examine methods for increasing preference for leisure activities. The third presentation will review a case study in which behavior analytic technologies were used to produce job skills and ultimately to arrange for job placement. Clinical implications and areas for further research will be discussed.

BCBA's

Teaching leisure activities to mastery is an important first step in providing individuals with developmental disabilities with a broad-based leisure repertoire that can provide enrichment during periods of low structure. However, unless engaging with the newly acquired activity arranges new reinforcement, independent sustained participation in the activity may be unlikely absent arbitrary reinforcers. The purpose of the present study was to, in Study 1, evaluate whether teaching a leisure activity to mastery resulted in increased preference for the activity. Participants included two adolescent young men diagnosed with ASD. Preference was assessed using an engagement-based preference assessment, the Brief Response Restriction (BRR). If teaching the skill to mastery was ineffective at elevating preference for the activity we evaluated, in Phase 2, we evaluated the effect of embedding an existing reinforcer that would typically co-occur with the activity. We taught complex leisure skills to mastery for both participants and increased preference of all trained activities. Implications for development of broad-based leisure repertoires will be discussed. IOA was collected in 33% of sessions with an agreement score of 91%.

The job market provides unique challenges for individuals with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), as evidenced by poor outcomes with job placement (i.e., unemployment rates as high as 90%) and job compensation. Currently, Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) has provided limited contributions to more optimal outcomes, despite having an ideal technology. That is, there are a plethora of data showing the effectiveness of skill acquisition procedures pertaining to basic vocational skills (e.g., folding laundry, sweeping, envelope stuffing, etc.). By contrast, there is relatively little data on the effect of ABA therapy on job placement and job compensation. The purpose of this case study will be to outline how ABA technologies were utilized to establish both essential job skills (e.g., table setting, table cleanup, restaurant navigation, accepting feedback, etc.) and job placement for a 22-year-old male diagnosed with an ASD. Further, we will outline a model for managing the unique nature of job placement. The model provided will review employment matching, goal development, collaboration between service delivery teams, employee trainings, and transition planning. The outlined approach was shown to be successful across two job sites (i.e., a pizza shop and a coffee shop), as the participant has sustained employment with minimal support at the time of this study at both locations.

Behavior analysts shy away from addressing behaviors related to psychopathology, callousness and unemotionality, and anxiety. These diagnoses and their symptoms involve private events and are therefore difficult to operationally define, observe and measure. However, Friman and others have suggested that behavior analysts should not ignore these important areas because they will then be studied only by non-behaviorists. Unfortunately, non-behaviorists view aberrant behaviors in individuals with psychiatric disorders as symptoms of underlying constructs and use the diagnosis as a reason for these behaviors, proposing more global treatments such as therapies or medications. On the other hand, behaviorists view those behaviors as serving an environmental function that can be replaced with a more acceptable behavior serving the same function. The behavioral perspective would also include an analysis/understanding of establishing operations in the form of private events, physical sensations, bio-behavioral states, psychological feelings, covert tacts/mands and learning history with particular discriminative stimuli for reinforcement or punishment. The presenters in this symposium will present their analyses of these areas from a behavioral perspective and provide treatment strategies or research methodologies that are based on these analyses.

Behavior analysts, psychologists, psychiatrists, counselors, social workers, teachers, direct care staff, administrators

The development of anti-social behavior may be due to a decreased sensitivity to certain types of social reinforcement, as well as social punishment. One class of stimuli that is especially relevant to the development of prosocial interaction is signs of damage. Skinner proposed that aggression is primarily reinforced by inflicting harm, and that the reinforcement utility was learned, as well as innate. Signs of damage, such as screaming, crying, or the sight of bruises or blood, are said to function as such reinforcers. However, these signs typically occur at the end of a confrontation, and may instead be functioning as discriminative stimuli for preventing further attack. Interestingly, response similarities have been demonstrated between children with callous and unemotional (CU) traits, and children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We consider work that has investigated the reactions to social reinforcement and signs of damage among children diagnosed with ASD and CU traits, and discuss the relevance with regard to the development of antisocial behavior, diagnostic classification, labeling, and treatment.

Up to 80% of children and youth with ASDs experience clinically significant anxiety (Leyfer, Folstein, Bacalmen, et al., 2006). Individuals with ASDs and comorbid anxiety are at increased risk for displaying externalizing behavior problems, social avoidance, and difficulties establishing/maintaining peer relationships across environments (Davis, Hess, Moree et al., 2011). New research is beginning to investigate the effectiveness or wearable biosensor devices to measure physiological indicators of stress and anxiety in naturalistic settings (Lakudzode & Rajbhoj, 2016). The purpose of this presentation is to describe how physiological information obtained from wearable devices can be used to alert clients or practitioners to the need for interventions and relaxation techniques aimed at recognizing the body's anxiety response. We will also provide case study examples to illustrate how these devices can be used to teach the individuals to self-regulate or use coping and/or relaxation strategies, which in turn could improve the ability of individuals to navigate life demands with greater effectiveness.

Behavior is controlled by antecedent stimuli and by contingent consequences. In the natural world, these antecedent stimuli and consequences often consist of multiple elements (e.g., color and line orientation) or dimensions (e.g., reinforcer magnitude and frequency). In such environments, behavior may come under the control of more than one element and/or dimension. Understanding what affects such divided control is critical for identifying the stimuli and consequences that maintain behavior, as well as for establishing control over behavior (as in behavior modification procedures). The research presented in this symposium explores divided control over behavior by stimuli and outcomes. Presentations will cover topics such as how informative stimuli control behavior, how stimuli that signal redundant or conflicting information compete for stimulus control, and the role of reinforcer frequency in divided control. The findings presented in this symposium are likely to be relevant to both experimental and applied researchers interested in how stimuli and outcomes can jointly control behavior in complex environments.

When behavior is controlled by multiple stimuli, stimuli associated with relatively higher reinforcer rates exert greater control over behavior. It is presently unclear whether this is also the case when stimuli signal conflicting contingencies. We investigated whether relative reinforcer rates determine divided stimulus control when stimuli signaled conflicting information about the location of the next reinforcer. Pigeons chose a left or right key conditional on the presentation of a sample stimulus. We varied the reinforcer rate associated with each stimulus in separate conditions. To investigate divided stimulus control, two stimuli were presented simultaneously in unreinforced test trials (Experiment 1), or the sample stimulus itself consisted of two simultaneously presented stimuli (Experiment 2). In Experiment 2, one stimulus (chosen randomly) signaled the next reinforcer location. When simultaneously presented stimuli signaled the same reinforcer location, subjects chose this location. When the stimuli signaled different locations, response ratios to the sample stimuli and to the choice keys approximately matched reinforcer ratios. That is, stimuli associated with higher reinforcer rates exerted greater control. Thus, divided control by conflicting stimuli also depends on relative reinforcer rates.

Cue conflict has a long history in the study of learning. Paradigms using cue-conflict procedures, such as overshadowing and blocking, have played an important role in the development and assessment of diverse theories of learning. We report a series of experiments investigating overshadowing of spatial cues to understand the role associative processes play in acquisition and expression of cued spatial behavior. Pigeons were reinforced with grain for pecking a visual target presented on a touchscreen. The location of the target could be signaled by one or more visual cues (i.e., landmarks) located elsewhere on the screen. Using this procedure, we investigated the theoretical basis of spatial learning in overshadowing. Our results indicate that, like conventional overshadowing, spatial overshadowing is governed by an associative process and likely reflects a learning deficit. Next, we report a series of experiments demonstrating similar overshadowing-like cue conflict effects at the time of test, which cannot be explained by a learning deficit but instead by competition between signals based on their relative salience. Both lines of research bear on the central issue of learning and performance processes that govern stimulus control of behavior.

Behavior analytic research to date has revealed that gambling behavior is influenced by a variety of environmental variables, such as verbal behavior and the contingencies of reinforcement associated with the games themselves. For instance, while slot machines operate on a random ratio reinforcement schedule, structural variables (e.g., outcomes such as near misses or losses disguised as wins) have been shown to influence how people gamble. While emerging research on environmental variables continues, more information is needed in regards to functional relationships between environmental variables, verbal behaviors, and gambling. Therefore, the current symposium will highlight environmental aspects that control gambling. The first paper will discuss the effect of rules on blackjack. Four participants were exposed to two rule conditions to determine how rules may impact the degree to which gamblers 'let it ride' or place larger bets upon winning a hand. The second paper will discuss a new methodology useful in assessing the maintaining variables of gambling (e.g., access to social attention, escape from gambling termination, bonus points and rewards, and sensory stimulation). Finally, the third paper will discuss the effects of losses disguised as wins on preference for slot machines. Future directions for research and clinical practice will be discussed.

The target audience for the present symposium will be BCBA's, BCaBAs, and psychologists.

Gambling is a popular activity in the United States. Past research on gambling behavior has focused on rule following. The purpose of the present study was to (a) replicate the findings of Dixon (2000) and (b) extend the findings to risky choice making. Four participants, two male, were exposed to an electronic blackjack game and different rules throughout the study in a multiple baseline design. Participants were first exposed to a faulty rule followed by a correct rule in a multiple baseline design. Each participant first played without rules during baseline. Following baseline the experimenter told the participants a faulty rule, that let it ride bets increased the odds of winning. Following a period of play under the faulty rule, participants were informed that the let it ride bets did not increase odds of winning, and were in fact riskier wagers. All participants significantly increased risky betting during the faulty rules condition, and three participants decreased risky betting following the presentation of the correct rule. The present study replicated past findings by demonstrating that rule following can be weakened rather than eliminated through contact with contradictory rules.

Functional assessments are useful in informing treatment, but can often be time consuming. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to develop and test a rapid functional assessment for gambling behavior. To assess the effect of different consequences on gambling behavior a multielement design with a withdrawal component was used. A concurrent random ratio and fixed interval 30s schedule was used to deliver reinforcement on four five-reel casino replica slot machines. The tangible machine provided points toward earning a preferred item. The attention machine produced conversation from an experimenter, while the escape machine provided additional play time. The sensory machine simulated a slot machine typically found in a casino environment. Five recreational gamblers were exposed to a forced choice prior to a ten-minute free play phase. Experimenters then restricted participants from the most played machine for two minutes before allowing access to all machines again. Results for four of five participants indicated two preferred machines of varying strength. Results for the fifth participant were undifferentiated. The results suggest that this functional assessment can quickly identify potential functions of gambling behavior, which would allow therapists to design and begin effective treatment more quickly.

"Losses Disguised as Wins (LDWs)" are slot machine outcomes in which the payout of a given spin is a fraction of the original bet. These losses are "disguised" when paired with visual and auditory stimuli associated with a win. The current research investigated the influence of LDWs on preference amongst game options as well as preferences between concurrently available slots. Naturalistic observation of multiline slot play revealed gamblers overwhelmingly preferred 20 lines, given the option between 20, 10, 5, and 1 line. An analysis of each of the 4 game options revealed LDWs parametrically increased as additional lines were played, despite no observed economic advantage. These data suggest LDWs may in part influence choice allocation amongst varying number of lines. This phenomenon was replicated in a laboratory setting where participants chose amongst concurrently available computerized slot machines where payout magnitudes were manipulated and systematically decreased for slots offering LDWs. Again players showed preference for slots with this game mechanism regardless of actual payouts suggesting gamblers attend to lights and sounds in some cases more than wins and losses. These findings have clear implications for treatment providers seeking to understand addictive mechanisms and slot machine preferences.

Although many clinical practices are requiring the Registered Behavioral Technician (RBT) credential, it is still uncommon to see RBT's working in the schools. Teachers and paraprofessionals can benefit from the RBT credential to give them the basic ABA knowledge that they need to manage behavior, develop IEP goals, build skills in students, and further their own careers. Select schools in the U.S. are embracing the RBT credential and working to provide the training and supervision for their teachers and paraprofessionals. Schools face certain barriers to doing this such as professional development time (particularly for paraprofessionals), cost, and buy-in from district leadership. This panel will discuss the essential needs for RBTs in the school system, the barriers to training and supervision, and challenges in scaling district wide. The ethical considerations for schools will be discussed as well as future directions for providing schools with the education and tools that they need to give teachers and paraprofessionals the ABA training that they need. School districts from Colorado and Connecticut will present their data and procedures for RBTs in their districts, as well as how they plan to utilize RBTs with students, and expand opportunities for staff to get the credential.

Behavior analysts of all levels working within school districts or working with school districts.

This symposium presents a series of three studies designed to examine the use of Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI) on teaching reading to both adults with intellectual disabilities and children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The first paper was a clustered randomized comparison design was used to investigate the Edmark Reading Program (ERP) and to compare its efficacy in teaching reading outcomes in its table-top (n =16) and CAI (n=15) versions. The second paper evaluates the effects of Headsprout Early Reading in the developing of reading with six adults with learning disabilities. A multiple baseline probe design across participants was used. The third paper presents the outcomes of a parent led intervention. Participants across groups were matched according to level of entry of the reading intervention and were subsequently randomly assigned to either an experimental (n = 13) or control (n = 13) condition as recruited. The study used a between-groups design to evaluate the effects of Headsprout on the reading outcomes and print motivation of children with ASD.

BCBA

A clustered randomized comparison design was used to investigate the Edmark Reading Program (ERP) and to compare its efficacy in teaching reading outcomes using both table-top and software format. A sample of 31 participants with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder were assigned to conditions using cluster random sampling. Participants were exposed to ERP in one of two conditions, table-top presentation (TTI) or computerized assisted instruction (CAI), for one full school semester. Assessments of reading ability were conducted before and after exposure to ERP on word reading, accuracy, rate, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. This study demonstrated that when ERP, TTI and CAI formats were compared, there were statistically significant differences found in favor of TTI on reading accuracy, reading rate, and phonemic awareness, specifically first sound fluency. Results indicate the efficacy of the table-top presentation of the reading program in these particular reading outcomes. The findings are discussed in light of existing research and the cost-benefit of both presentations

Many adults with Intellectual disability can have difficulty gaining reading skills acquisition. A multiple probe design across six participants was used to examine the effectiveness of Headsprout Early Reading. Participants were assigned to dyads (based on baseline probe), with two participants placed on the same baseline. Accuracy of sprout cards was the dependent variable selected for decisions in relation to implementation. Results indicated that Headsprout Early Reading had high social validity across participants, their parents and facilitators of the program. Outcome results also indicated an improvement in reading accuracy and fluency for all participants.

A between-groups design was used to evaluate the Headsprout on the reading outcomes and print motivation of a sample of 26 children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Headsprout was implemented by parents in their homes, who received training on in the identification of learning difficulties whereby additional support was provided to participants based on these specific learning problems. Results demonstrated that participants who received Headsprout showed greater gains in word reading, non-word reading, and the target sound and words of Headsprout. The results of print motivation demonstrated that only the print material specific to the program had an increase in preference at post-tests. Findings indicate that this reading program can be successfully implemented with children with ASD by parents in the home environment, with the addition of adaptations and learning support.

Technology is advancing at an unprecedented rate and is likely to continue to progress in a global society with high demands for efficiency. As technology evolves, new devices and new applications are emerging, which allow behavior analysts to develop more efficient, accessible, and personalized systems. The members of this panel bring considerable knowledge and experience in this content area and will advise on how various technologies (e.g., computer applications, e-learning, virtual reality, robotics, telehealth) can be leveraged to enhance application and dissemination of behavior analysis.

Behavior analysts that function as practitioners, supervisors, educators, innovators, and researchers.

The rise of entrepreneurship in behavior analysis and other professional arenas has created waves across the globe, changing forever the ways in which businesses operate. Social media has become a ubiquitous tool critical for marketing, branding, engaging and disseminating content. As LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook cement themselves into our personal and organizational lives, we must as a field approach with care and creativity in order to remain aligned to our unique models and ethical boundaries. In this panel we discuss our experiences in networking, ethics and finding our niche while using social media in behavior analysis.

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

This panel will consider the application of behavior analytic principles to clinical problems occurring in developmentally normal, free-feeding adolescent and adult clients. The members of this panel have investigated widening the scope of behavior analysis to attend to a broad range of philosophical and clinically important behaviors less frequently considered in our literature. While the panel will be conversational and include interaction with the audience, several important issues seem to merit discussion. Among those are concerns about the dramatic reduction in work on rule-governance or verbal control and how verbal control interacts with contingencies of reinforcement over time. Issues will be discussed concerning the units of analysis that characterizes research in verbal behavior and how it might miss or underestimate the complexity of real-world verbal behavior, especially as it pertains to personal narratives and the development of extended patterns of behavior over time in pursuit of abstract values. The panel will also raise issues about the use of middle-level terms to explain behavioral principles to the practice community, as well as how this impacts many behavior analysts’ opposition to behavior-behavior relations in causal analysis. At an applied level the panel will discuss the role of direct contingency control in areas such as incontinence, Tourette’s Syndrome, sleep disorders, disruptive behavior, and delinquency. The role of contingent control in interpersonal interactions will be discussed, and the challenges in the use of natural interpersonal contingencies in promoting the development of complex social behavior will be considered.

In spite of the growing knowledge and application of the scientific principles of behavior, these principles have not been extensively disseminated to the general population (Carr & Fox, 2009). The use of current technology to enhance the dissemination of ABA has been proposed by behavior analysts in the past (Axelrod, Moyer, & Berry, 1990; Plaud, 1996), and many behavior analysts have advocated for the use of conversational language rather than technical language (Bailey, 1991; Binder, 1991; Foxx, 1996; Lindsley, 1991; Rolider, Axelrod, & Van Houten, 1998). More research is needed to assess the impact of language used for disseminating ABA within specific cultural groups. Additionally, it is important to investigate what modalities (e.g., YouTube videos, interactive presentations, presentation slides, etc.) are most impactful in helping the general public learn about Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), as well as which modalities lead to individuals making favorable statements about ABA. This symposium presents the findings from recent studies that assessed the perspectives of adults who were not affiliated with ABA, and explores the potential utility of Internet videos, presentation slides, and interactive exercises to disseminate key concepts related to ABA.

This symposium is appropriate for BCBAs and BCaBAs

The current study examined the effect of three different multimedia presentations about applied behavior analysis (ABA) on the responding of African American adults. Assessments measured participants' levels of factual knowledge about ABA before and after each presentation, which included two PowerPoint presentations (one interactive, one non-interactive) and an emotional narrative video about ABA. Participants responded to questions about their evaluations of each of the three presentation styles, as well as a final questionnaire comparing all three presentations. The results showed that all participants felt more informed about the field of ABA after participating in the study and that the majority of participants would recommend ABA therapy to their future colleagues, clients, family, and friends based on the presentations in the study. Additionally, correct responding on the post-assessment increased as a result of the successive presentations for the majority of participants, with the two PowerPoint presentations showing similar levels of effectiveness. Overall, the participants showed a slight preference for the Colorful Interactive presentation, which included videos of various ABA concepts and a response card activity. Implications for dissemination of ABA to the African American community will be discussed within the context of the study's results.

Language is a complex adaptive system (CAS). Its evolution, development in learners, and use are historically contingent and emergent. Its patterns emerge from social interaction in an environment, which both structures and is structured by iterative language use. Frequently-occurring patterns provide the system some stability; however, change is immanent in the system, brought about by its users co-adapting to an ever-changing environment. It is this co-adaptation that is the source of creativity and innovation in meaning making in a pragmatically appropriate manner. This view of language as a CAS represents a challenge to more traditional views of second language development. It suggests that there is neither linguistic innateness nor an endpoint to the development, certainly not one that is isomorphic with native speaker use. It at least partly explains why there is ubiquitous variability in the process and why given the nature of the process the learner's linguistic system is free to develop along alternative trajectories. These claims will be supported with both corpus and longitudinal developmental data.

Researchers and practitioners interested in theories of language and language development.

Search for stimulus class formation in animals has been elusive. There is no replication of reported positive findings. An experimental model should allow replication intra and inter subjects, with reduced variability, in any laboratory minimally equipped. True matching to sample - MTS has been demonstrated for identity but not for arbitrary stimulus relations in Capuchin Monkeys. Monkeys with history of generalized identity MTS were trained with success in a repeated shift simple simultaneous discrimination procedure with 3 and 12 stimuli to choose the stimulus of a category. Twelve categories with 5 members each were positive in shifts. Later they showed consistent performance when a new stimulus was introduced in each category. Silhouettes were then introduced and consistent performance was obtained. Transfer of simple discrimination to new stimulus, including silhouettes, is still stimulus generalization. Icons will be inserted and training will be provided if necessary. Arbitrary stimuli will be inserted to form a functional class with 5 pictures, one silhouette, one icon and one arbitrary stimulus in each class. Transfer to category conditional discrimination in the MTS format with 3 and 12 simultaneous comparisons with the pictures will be tested and trained if necessary. Emergence of conditional relations of silhouettes, icons and arbitrary stimuli -trained in the simple discrimination format- to the pictures will be tested. Consistent association of arbitrary members to every baseline member with training of symmetric and transitive relations may facilitate the insertion of the new stimulus into the category set by functionality.

Behavior analysts have been investigating false memories using the stimulus equivalence paradigm. In this experiment, we aimed to investigate if transfer of different function after equivalence class formation would affect false memories. The Experimental Group (EG) learned matching-to-sample (MTS) relations to establish three four-member (Classes 1, 2 and 3) and three 12-member (Classes 4, 5 and 6) equivalence classes. Stimuli were familiar pictures (nodes) and nonsense words. In Classes 4, 5 and 6, the familiar stimuli were pictures of faces portraying emotions of happiness, neutrality, and anger, respectively. Participants who meet criteria in equivalence MTS tests and participants who did not perform any MTS tasks (control group- CG) evaluated two nonsense words from Classes 4, 5 and 6 and the pictures portraying emotions, using the Sematic Differential (SD). A week later, participants from EG saw three lists with nine nonsense words from Classes 4, 5 and 6, in a total of 27 stimuli in the list. After a three minutes distracter task, participants saw three new lists composed by all stimuli from previously list (Targets), the remaining nonsense words form Classes 5, 4 and 6 (Critical Distractors) and the nonsense words from Classes 1, 2 and 3 (Non-related distracters). Participants should indicate witch stimuli were presented on the first lists. The seven participants from EG who finished the experiment evaluated the nonsense words of each equivalence class similar to the evaluation of the faces by the CG. They also recognized significantly more critical than non-related distracters only in the list composed by stimuli from neutral class.

The current study tested if names given by adult participants to the stimuli when asked to talk aloud became a part of the stimulus classes. Training the conditional discriminations and testing for emergent relations was conducted with a Many-to-One training structure in 6-s delayed Matching-to-Sample (DMTS) setup, with potentially three 3-member classes. After the test, the vocal names given by the participants were included as textual stimuli in sorting tests. In the sorting tests, the three first stimuli drawn from the stack of cards were names given by the participant, one name from each class. The next nine stimuli were the stimuli used in the DMTS procedure, with the three last stimuli in the stack being the stimuli corresponding with the names at the beginning of the stack. If the participants put a stimulus on top of one of the names, the card with the name automatically hid the stimulus. Initial results show that the names given by the participants become a part of the stimulus classes (see Table 1). Thus, the three-member classes seemingly also include the names participants give the stimuli.

This experiment investigated whether mixing baseline among symmetry and equivalence test trials enhances the yields of equivalence class formation. Twenty adults were exposed to two test protocols, in counterbalanced order: Simultaneous with Baseline Intermixed and Simultaneous with Post-test of Baseline (Conditions A and B, respectively). The conditions varied in respect to the test procedure and stimuli set. Both started by training AB, AC, AD, and AE relations concurrently. Next, a test assessed the maintenance of baseline and the emergence of symmetry (BA, CA, DA, EA) and equivalence (BC, BD, BE, CB, CD, CE, DB, DC, DE, EB, EC, ED) relations. In Condition A, baseline, symmetry, and equivalence test trials were presented simultaneously. In Condition B, baseline test trials were presented after the test for symmetry and equivalence intermixed. All participants formed equivalence classes in both conditions. Condition A presented slightly lower yields of immediate emergence (16 participants) than Condition B (18). Three out of the four participants with delayed emergence in Condition A initially failed in symmetry trials; the other two in Condition B, failed exclusively in equivalence trials. Condition A produced significantly faster responses to the first five equivalence test trials.

The role of instructions in stimulus equivalence research has often been discussed without being considerably empirically investigated. Generally, as little information as possible are given to participants, to limit the potential effects of instructions on stimulus equivalence responding. In this present stimulus equivalence experiment, instructions are investigated by using a linear series training structure with three 3-member classes. Participants were assigned to either one of three conditions, consisting of: general instructions (e.g., "your task is to find out which stimuli that belongs together"), specific instructions (e.g., "this stimulus is a fish and belongs together with the car which is this stimulus") or a control group without instructions about the task. The depended measures are number of training trials and equivalence responding. As shown in Table 1, the results show that the condition with general instructions gave a higher result of equivalence responding (i.e., 60 %) compared to the other conditions (i.e., 10 % and 0 %, respectively).

Symmetry is an emergent relation for stimulus equivalence. Although human participants are relatively easy to show evidence for symmetry, nonhuman animals typically do not. However, Urcuioli (2008) reported that pigeons demonstrated symmetry in his studies using successive (go / no-go) matching-to-sample procedure, and proposed a theory of pigeons' equivalence-class formation. In the present study, we checked Urcuioli's experiment. Four pigeons received hue-form arbitrary, hue-hue, and form-form identity matching training. In the training, fixed-interval (FI) 5-s schedule was arranged to positive trials and extinction (EXT) was arranged to negative trials. Each training session consisted of 48 positive and 48 negative trials that randomly appeared. Each pigeon was trained until it achieved a discrimination ratio of 0.80 or higher on each matching task for 5 of 6 consecutive training sessions. After the training, form-hue symmetrical relations was tested in non-reinforced trials. The test consisted of 104 trials that included 96 training trials and 8 symmetry probe trials. Figure 1 shows the results of four pigeons. Three of them (P1, P4, P5) responded more to the positive comparison stimuli than to the negative comparison stimuli and demonstrated symmetry. As we reproduced the results of Urcuioli's experiment, we conclude that Urcuioli's theory is correct.

Understanding how symbolic behavior may be enhanced can result in advances in the development of applied technologies. Participants in this study were eighteen university students ranging from 18-40 years (average = 29 years). Participants were asked to group 15 flashcards with black-and-white abstract shapes individually printed on them. Participants were then assigned to one of the two groups: Tact or Mand. Participants in the Tact Group were taught to say "Paf" in the presence of shape 1; "Vek" for shape 2, and "Zog" for shape 3. Participants in the Mand Group were asked to choose three snack items of their choice and were taught to mand for exchanging shape 1 for snack 1, shape 2 for snack 2, and shape 3 for snack 3. After serial training of AB, BC, CD, and DE relations, all probes for stimulus equivalence were presented in one block. Participants were again asked to group flashcards. Results showed no differences between groups suggesting that pre-training stimuli to exert control over tact and mand responses do not produce equivalence class enhancement. We suggest other types of pre-training of verbal operants to clarify the role of stimuli with a trained history to control verbal behavior in equivalence class formation.

Neuroscientific measures such as electroencephalography (EEG) can increase our understanding of complex human behavior. The N400 component is a negative peak elicited 400 ms after stimulus presentation and was originally observed when the end of a sentence was not related with the word presented before. The N400 is not observed if a relation has been established between the stimuli. The N400 effect also applies when the stimuli are not directly trained as in the test for equivalence class formation and can also be elicited by other meaningful stimuli, including pictures. This can be argued to be a measure of the relational strength between two stimuli as a result of the participant's learning history. The current poster presents an experiment with six healthy adult volunteers where we investigated the N400 during a priming procedure after forming three 3-member classes with C-stimuli as familiar pictures. The results showed a reduction of the N400 component over repeated presentations of the unrelated stimulus pairs when the unrelated stimulus pairs were analyzed separately in four consecutive blocks (see Figure 1). Hence, the findings indicate a possible habituation after repeated stimulus pair presentation.

In the present experiment, 12 conditional discriminations were trained as a baseline for three 5-member equivalence classes. All stimuli were abstract shapes. The research question was to study the effect of introducing new stimuli in a sorting test after MTS training or after MTS training and testing. In the experiment, 30 adults participated randomly assigned in two groups. Group 1 had the MTS training and test, followed by a sorting test, while Group 2 had the MTS training, sorting, MTS test and another sorting. Both groups were presented for five new stimuli in the sorting tests. The results show that 13 out of 15 participants in Group 2 sort the new stimuli in the experiment-defined classes (see Figure 1). In Group 1, four out of 15 participants sort new stimuli in the experiment-defined classes, while five participants sort the new stimuli together with three of the experiment-defined classes. In Group 1, three participants do not form equivalence classes. In Group 2, one participant does not respond in accordance with stimulus equivalence. There are higher total scores during MTS test in Group 2 than in Group 1, but the difference is not significant.

The present integrated series of experiments was designed to identify whether the differential order of exposure to test phases (Standard, Inverse, Mixed) respect of a training structure Many to One (MTO), One to Many (OTM) or Lineal Series (SL) has an effect on the emergence on the emergence of equivalence relations. Sixty psychology undergraduates from several universities of Guadalajara participated in the experiments. A Matching To Sample task software was programmed to training the conditionals discriminations (three conditions) and to testing three 3-member equivalence sets of stimuli, symmetry, transitivity and equivalence in four conditions. Overall, for these preparations we observe an effect, it seems has identified an explicit interaction between certain training structure and certain order of exposure to test phases. Hence, the results suggest that the performance in testing for emergence relations depends of order of exposure to test phases respect of the training structure used. Furthermore the accuracy was better with the SL training structure.

Saccade adaptation is a form of motor learning that maintains saccade accuracy in response to new sensorimotor contingencies. We know that reinforcement learning can induce saccade adaptation. Previously, an arbitrary reinforcer was used such as an auditory tone or viewing the target on the fovea to control saccades amplitude. This experiment asks whether changes in saccade amplitude may be induced by the ability to perform a visual discrimination task as a consequence. In a 4AFC task, five subjects were instructed to report which symbol was briefly (60ms) displayed across the whole screen immediately after a saccade. The possibility to perform the discriminative task was contingent on meeting a specific saccade amplitude criterion: when saccades did not meet the criterion, one of four irrelevant symbols was displayed such that the participant could not perform the discriminative task. We observed consistent changes in saccadic amplitude across sessions that followed the criterion manipulations. We conclude that saccades are operant behavior reinforced by the ability to perform visual tasks.

A procedure to study self-controlled behavior is the "refraining-from-eating" situation in which a food dispenser is presented once (SR1) within a repetitive time cycle, and it can be presented again (SR2) after the cycle has elapsed according to the following contingency: If the pigeon tries to consume SR1, the food is immediately withdrawn and the SR2 presentation is cancelled; if, however, the pigeon refrains from attempting to consume SR1, then it can consume SR2. In the present study, the contribution of stimulus control to "refraining" from taking SR1 was assessed. The effects of (a) signaling both SR1 and SR2 with the same color, (b) signaling both the SR1 and SR2 with different colors, (c) adding a houselight during SR1, and (d) adding a response key (which did not have to be pecked) during SR1 were evaluated. Fewer SR1 interruptions occurred when different stimuli signaled each food-dispenser presentation than when the same stimulus signaled both food presentations. When an illuminated response key was presented concurrently with SR1, interruptions were markedly reduced, to near-zero levels in those pigeons that pecked the key. These data are evidence that "resistance to temptation," an example of self-controlled behavior, is affected by stimulus control.

When reinforcement is contingent on a response in the presence of a compound stimulus, the contingency will be satisfied even if the response occurs under the control of only one of the elements. In this study, 12 bees received simple discrimination training followed by probes of stimulus control for isolated elements of the compound. The learning criterion was at least 90% of correct responses in two consecutive blocks of 20 trials. For half of the bees, the positive stimulus (S +) was a circle with blue border and white center and the S- was a circle with black border and yellow center; for the other half, the function of the stimuli was reversed. In the Probes phase, each compound was decomposed into two elements (a circular border and the inner circle) and all combinations of two elements were probed, in 16 trials. Stimulus control by both positive elements was strong for 8 of 12 bees (but somehow higher for the inner element of the circle), while four bees showed evidence of responding almost exclusively to only one of the positive elements. Probing stimulus control after discrimination training with compounds should be a standard protocol to identifying restricted stimulus control. Key word: discrimination learning, stimulus control, compound stimuli, bees

Available procedures to study working memory capacity in rodents generally use manual arena or maze tasks. For example, the odor span task uses an incrementing non-matching- to-sample procedure in which digging in cups scented with novel olfactory stimuli results in reinforcement on each trial, while responses to previously presented stimuli are not reinforced. The present study modified this procedure for use in an automated operant chamber using a 15-channel olfactometer. Rats were trained on a go, no-go procedure to make nose-poke responses in a port through which odorants were delivered. Responses to each odorant were reinforced on an FI 5-s schedule the first time it was presented, but once an odor had been presented, responses to that odor were no longer reinforced. Rats rapidly learned to differentiate between session-novel and session-familiar odors and responded at high rates to new stimuli and much lower rates to repeated stimuli. Determinants of remembering were assessed by manipulating a number of variables including frequency and recency of repeated odors, a mid-session delay, and a distractor task. Accuracy was affected by all these variables, but the greatest disruption was observed after a mid-session delay, with or without a distractor task.

When a light source is aimed at a surface, its luminous flux is dispersed across the surface. The intensity of the surface illumination defines "illuminance." Rats, as nocturnal animals, are sensitive to illuminance. Our interest is in their ability to discriminate small changes in relatively low levels of illuminance. Two rats' lever presses were maintained on a multiple schedule in which a variable-interval schedule of food reinforcement alternated with extinction. The components were signaled by different degrees of illuminance as measured in lux near the floor of the chamber. Across five conditions, we studied illuminance levels ranging from 0 lux (complete darkness) to 64 lux. The pairs of stimuli were arranged to produce absolute differences from 6 lux to 28 lux. The proportion of responding in the presence of S+ (the discrimination ratio) was used to assess the rats' ability to discriminate between the pairs of stimuli. Each rat's discrimination ratio was highest in the condition in which one of the stimuli was 0 lux (S- for one rat, S+ for the other). There was no systematic difference across the other conditions, with ratios consistently above 0.80. These results indicate that rats can discriminate relatively small differences in illuminance.

Forgetting the names of significant others can be demanding for people diagnosed with neurocognitive disorders (NCD) and their significant others. Therefore, the purpose of this experiment was to study the effect of using the simultaneous protocol (SP) and the Simple-to-Complex (STC) protocol while exploring stimulus control of relatives' names, faces, and family relations in a patient diagnosed with Vascular Dementia. We also studied different lengths of the inter-trial-interval (ITI) (i.e., 2000 ms vs. 5000 ms).The experimental conditions were presented using a single-subject experimental design, ABA1B1A1B1 with the SP in the A and A1 conditions, and the STC in the B and B1 conditions. The A1 and B1 conditions had 5000 ms ITI. The results showed that the participant made a number of incorrect responses during intial tests for responding in accordance with stimulus equivalence. However, with the use of the STC and increased ITI, the participant responded correctly on the different conditional discriminations and responded in accordance with stimulus equivalence in the last experimental condition.

The intruded stimulus (IS) paradigm explores the extent to which temporal control and stimulus control affect responding (Farmer & Schoenfeld, 1966). In this paradigm, a keylight color change is imposed on a fixed interval (FI) schedule. Deviations in responding from the expected FI scallop reflect control of the IS. In the current study, the IS paradigm was utilized with four Silver King pigeons. After establishing baseline responding on a FI 60 s schedule reinforcement, researchers administered two trial types in a series of sessions. Each session included 30 baseline trials and 30 IS trials randomly interspersed. Baseline trials consisted of an IS1 presentation for 10 s at the trial onset (immediately following reinforcement from the previous trial). IS trials included IS1 at the trial onset with the additional presentation of IS2 for either 5 or 10 s at different temporal locations. Results suggest the IS1 functioned as a stimulus delta (S?). Furthermore, the extent of stimulus control by IS2 was a function of distance from the reinforcer. Disruption of responding by IS2 was observed for both IS2 duration values (5 and 10 s).

Transfer of stimulus function within equivalence classes has been shown to vary as a function of both varying delays in delayed matching-to-sample and number of nodes. Fourteen adult participants were allocated to two experimental groups (simultaneous and 0-sec delayed MTS) and trained with twelve conditional discriminations (AB/BC/CD/EF) in a linear series (LS) training structure. The training was followed by testing the formation of three 6-member equivalence classes. The A-stimuli consisted of three different facial expressions where each expression was shown by four different individuals. The A1 stimuli were four angry faces, the A2 stimuli were four neutral faces, and the A3 stimuli were four happy faces. For each group, five participants rated the D stimuli and two participants rated the F stimuli by a Semantic Differential rating scale. The main findings show a correspondence between the facial expressions and the Semantic Differential Scale ratings for both groups. Participants in the DMTS group required a higher number of training trials to criterion than the SMTS group.

Verbal processing has been proposed to be necessary for associative learning in humans; however, numerous reports of first-order learning in preverbal infants refute this view for first-order learning. But there are no published reports of higher-order conditioning that test this hypothesis with nonverbal humans. Here we assessed the necessity of verbal skills for higher-order associative learning in preverbal babies. We employed a sensory preconditioning procedure that was quick and used no instructions. CS2-CS1 and CS3-CS4 trials were presented during phase 1, and CS1-US+ and CS3-US- trials were presented during phase 2. The CSs were colored geometric shapes, the US+s were entertaining video clips, and the US- an unpleasant sound. The conditioned response was looking at the location where the US+s had appeared. At test, babies exhibited conditioned responding to CS2, despite their being nonverbal. Thus, verbal processing is unnecessary for higher-order learning as well as first-order learning. In addition, our eye-tracking preparation for babies could provide a useful tool for examining cognitive functioning very early in human development without any instructions.

This work aimed to identify the effect of ontogenetic response cost on cultural selection in an experimental microculture. Three groups of three participants played a pizza game. The participants had to choose 6 ingredients of 20 possibilities. The IBC was the sequence of six ingredients, chosen by the participants. The AP was the pizza resulted of choses. The cultural consequence was 60 points if the pizza was the one expected for the current condition. The experiment was divided in two Phases. In Phase 1, the response cost consisted in solving individual tangran puzzles, every time they chose correct ingredients of pizza that received 60 points. In second Phase the correctament ingredientes choses demands the solution of n tangrans for the group and the participants decided how many puzzles each one would solve. In both phases, the conditions were: A baseline; BCD with 1/2/3 individual tangrans by correct ingredient for Phase 1 and 2/4/6 tangrans for the group at Phase 2. The results showed that individual response cost produced avoidance and low production of cultural consequences. In Phase 2, the response cost wasn't enough to produce avoidance, and the cultural consequences were systematically produced and greater than the other possibilities of IBC.

A progressive-ratio (PR) schedule is a schedule in which the response requirement increases following completion of the previous schedule requirement. PR schedules are used as a measure of reinforcer efficacy. Break points tell us how strong a reinforcer is: high breakpoints indicate that a reinforcer is more potent, and low breakpoints indicate that a reinforcer is less potent. However, there are no standardized methods for determining PR array values or breakpoint criteria. This study examined basic and applied PR schedules in the literature via a PsychInfo search, using key words "progressive ratio" and "schedule," and reviewed studies from the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis and the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. Data were categorized by schedule type, stability criterion, termination criterion, breakpoint, response topography, and basic/applied. No published studies included schedule correlated stimuli. Future research should systematically evaluate the effectiveness of these procedural differences and identify variables that will increase stability in PR schedules. Interobserver agreement was 100% for 38.5% of data sets.

Differential reinforcement of low rates (DRL schedules) have been used in the experimental analysis of behavior as baselines to study other variables. They have also been used in applied settings to reduce rates of responding. Bruner and Revusky (1961) studied response patterns in humans during a DRL schedule using an apparatus with four keys. Although only one key was part of the DRL contingency, the experimenters observed identifiable patterns of responding on the other three keys. They suggested that these alternative, collateral responses helped the participants meet the DRL requirement. The first purpose of the current study was to replicate Bruner and Revusky's results using the Portable Operant Research and Teaching Lab (PORTL). A second purpose was to examine how response patterns would change as the number of alternative responses decreased. Preliminary results showed that patterns of behavior similar to those observed by Bruner and Revusky can be obtained using PORTL and that some participants were still able to meet the DRL requirements even with fewer experimenter-provided alternatives.

Humanoid robots (aka humanoids) may offer several advantages for experimental analysis of human behavior. Much like operant chambers, humanoids can be programmed to record data and deliver consequences for specific responses. However, the concept thaFt participants' behaviors can come under the control of a robot's behaviors has not been tested. Therefore, the purpose of our study was to investigate whether Meebie, a humanoid robot, simulating a child engaging in compliance and noncompliance, could be used to gain systematic control over participants' behaviors. In Phase 1, participants'target responses (e.g., touching Meebie's head) resulted in Meebie complying with participants' instructions. During Phase 2, Meebie engaged in noncompliance regardless of the participants' behavior. We programmed Meebie to collect data on participants' responses, and generated cumulative records, to determine whether their behavior was being shaped. In Phase 1, 2 of 3 participants' cumulative touches to the target sensor were higher than touches to other sensors. During Phase 2, cumulative touches to all sensors decreased. Our preliminary findings support the use of a humanoid robot as an operandum to study human behavior; however, variables such as rule-governance and schedules of reinforcement should be taken into consideration with regard to analysis of human behavior.

Economic demand for alcoholic beverages can be assessed using the Alcohol Purchase Task (APT) where participants hypothetically buy drinks at escalating prices. The APT allows for detailed behavioral economic analyses including elasticity and breakpoint. Previous research has demonstrated that hypothetical academic constraints decrease certain measures of demand. In this experiment, participants completed two abbreviated versions of the APT with distinct prices over a similar range. In the experimental (EXP) version, participants were told that they had an exam the next morning, while the control (CTRL) version explicitly told them that they did not have an exam or class the next day. A full 2X2 factorial experiment was conducted where participants received 1) CTRL then EXP versions of APT, 2) EXP then CTRL versions of the APT, 3) CTRL then CTRL, or 4) EXP then EXP. Results from sixty participants (n=65) directly replicated within-subject the effects of academic constraints on alcohol purchasing demonstrated between groups. Demand curves obtained from the CTRL version first saw a reduction in that curve under the EXP version. Conversely, participants that saw the EXP version first showed an increase in demand in the subsequent CTRL version. There were no changes in the CTRL-CTRL or EXP-EXP conditions.

Positive and negative reinforcement contingencies have been compared in terms of preference, but what remain unclear are their differential effects on reaction time and accuracy while controlling other variables. Participants took part in a sound discrimination task involving random mixed-trial presentation of positive and negative reinforcement contingencies. Participants' goal was to identify whether the tone was shorter or longer than 600 milliseconds. On positive reinforcement trials, participants only received feedback and money tallies if they identified the sound length correctly, with each correct response in the positive reinforcement trials earning the participant 10 cents. On negative reinforcement trials, the participants only received feedback and money tallies if they identified the sound length incorrectly, with incorrect trials subtracting 10 cents from the participants' total money (which began at $4.00 to equalize the weights of the positive and negative reinforcement contingencies). Results indicated negative correlations between comparison stimulus duration and reaction time with different slopes between positive and negative reinforcement trials. These findings may have implications for improving training techniques and are evaluated within the context of Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs) such as the P300 speller device.

Overt behavior always requires moving objects—including the organism itself—certain distances to function. Those distances can be characterized by both the absolute minimum distance an object must be moved to function and the aggregate minimum distances an object could be moved to function. While the effects of distance have not been extensively studied by behavior analysts, they have been researched by computer scientists, particularly those interested with Fitts' Law. In regards to computer cursors, two-dimensional models based on Fitts' Law typically state that the average time to move a cursor to a target area on the screen is a function of the distance between the cursor and the target area and the height and width of the target area. The current project compared the predictability of models based on Fitts' Law to broader, more behavioral-economic models using data from a human operant task similar to tasks used in Fitts' Law research. Molecular interactions between interresponse time, pausing, and response distance were also assessed.

This poster describes the development of an effect size measure called Ratio of Distances (RD), developed by Carlin and Costello (in preparation). Communication between the psychological disciplines may improve if both group and single case experimental research used comparable measures of effect size. In group research, effect size measures that reflect distance between means (e.g., Cohen's d) are commonly used. The goal of the present work was to develop a measure that can be easily compared to effect size measures (e.g., d), used in group research. Modeled from other effect size measures, we developed a measure of level change for single case experimental research that met several practical requirements: the measure is adaptable to designs with varying numbers of observations per, and across, phases. The measure is adaptable to situations in which slope does and does not exist. The measure has no ceiling, as is the limitation with commonly used overlap-based measures of effect size. The measure is computationally transparent and easily performed using widely available analysis tools.

Nakajima & Izumida (2015) demonstrated that students' price estimation of consumer items are increased by credit card logos presented with the items. This study aimed to replicate that effect with a Mexican student sample. An experiment was conducted with 10 pictures of consumer items to estimate its price. All pictures for the first group (n=25) were presented without the credit card logos, for the second group all pictures were presented with credit card logos (n=23), and in the third group (n=22) the logos were shown in 50% of trials. As shown in the original study, the pairing of credit card logos increased the average price of consumer items. Results show that students that owned a credit card (n=27) were more likely to increase the price of consumer items compared to those that didn't own any credit card, suggesting that participants' history with credit card use affect their price estimation. Although gender was not controlled, higher price estimation was observed particularly in women. Implications for product advertising and consumer experience with credit cards in low income countries is discussed.