Association for Behavior Analysis International

Telehealth is a service delivery tool that has been used across healthcare for decades to increase patient access to healthcare. However, the use of telehealth as a mode to increase access takes on many purposes (e.g., increase skills or knowledge) within a variety of formats (e.g., synchronous versus asynchronous; direct patient care versus consultation versus education). As the use of telehealth continues to grow in behavior analysis, the expansion of its focus and format also grows with innovative applications that continue to further our understanding of how it can best be used to fulfill the needs of our clients and workforce. As an example of this expansion, this symposium highlights the work of three different research groups who sought to (a) evaluate the effects of a telehealth model for improving the workplace social skills of adolescents with developmental disabilities, (b) understand the current literature on the use of teleeducation to improve the knowledge and practices of teachers, and (c) qualify the live coaching behaviors of therapists who supported parents via telehealth to implement functional analysis and functional communication training procedures with their children in their homes.

Intermediate audience experience with telehealth and coaching providers/caregivers and/or clients

Obtaining and maintaining employment is a critical goal for individuals transitioning into adulthood; however, high rates of unemployment continue to be demonstrated among individuals with disabilities. Deficits in transferable skills, also known as “soft skills” or “workplace social skills”, are a barrier that prevents many individuals with autism from acquiring and maintaining employment. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a technician-delivered telehealth model to teach transferable skills to adolescents and adults diagnosed with intellectual or developmental disabilities. Three individuals ages 15 to 18 years with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder participated in the study. Each participant selected three transferable skills in which they wished to improve. During intervention sessions, a BCBA shared written instructions via the screen share function of Zoom. The implementer then instructed the participant to complete the specific vocational skill and delivered least-to-most prompting with vocal instructions and model prompts. Results indicate that technician-delivered telehealth is a viable model for teaching transferable vocational skills. Limitations and areas for future research will be discussed.

Research on the delivery of behavioral assessment and treatment via telehealth has focused largely on child outcomes and parent procedural fidelity. By contrast, the behavior of the therapists coaching parents to conduct assessment and treatment has garnered little research consideration. In this study, we conducted a retrospective analysis of behavior therapists’ coaching behaviors when directing parents to conduct functional analysis (FA) and functional communication training (FCT) with their young children with autism via telehealth. Coaching behaviors for five experienced behavior therapists across seven parent-child dyads were scored using a combination of standardized and novel behavior codes. Therapists displayed more social engagement behaviors than any other type of behavior throughout the study, and rates of antecedent and consequence behaviors shifted across the FA and FCT phases. Results are discussed in relation to therapists’ goals during behavioral assessment and treatment and the implications for training behavioral therapists to coach parents via telehealth.

As the science of behavior advances, we seek new ways to understand the dynamic variables that influence behavior. With the advancement of technology, behavior analysts are better able to look "under the skin," and understand how a variety of physiological variables interact with other behavior-environment relations. In this symposium, researchers will present three recent advancements in the investigation of the interaction between physiology and behavior, including a method for identifying trauma-related stimuli in the everyday environment, an investigation of the relationship between heart rate and severe problem behavior, and a demonstration of the utility of measuring heart rate in the treatment of phobias. Each study will present unique insights into these dynamics and include practical strategies for including these measures to enhance more precise, wholistic interventions.

Intermediate to advanced; Attendees should have experience in the assessment and treatment of either severe behavior disorders or other psychological conditions (e.g., phobia).

Traumatic events can result in persistent, undesirable behavior changes, detrimental to one’s quality of life. Some "triggers,” stimuli related to traumatic events, may be difficult or impossible to avoid. People with intellectual disabilities (ID) are often unable to tact their “triggers”. Objective procedures to identify “triggers,” not requiring advanced verbal behavior, represent an opportunity for effective and compassionate care. In this study, we evaluated a method to assess the effects of trauma-related stimuli on behavior of adults with ID. We measured heartrate, freezing, scanning, choice latency, and selection order during preference assessments in the presence and absence of trauma-related stimuli. Our results suggest these additional measures used during preference assessments could be useful in identifying “triggers” for people with limited verbal communication skills. Objective procedures that can be used to identify “triggers” could improve compassionate care for people with ID and a history of exposure to traumatic events.

The PEAK Relational Training System is a standardized behavior-analytic comprehensive treatment model that has been supported by over 70 published peer-reviewed studies. This symposium will present three papers extending previous work on PEAK by examining the impact of treatment dosage, exploring a play-based assessment for early-childhood learners, and evaluating its assessment tool in classifying autism symptom severity. Specifically, the first paper will present the outcome of a systematic literature review on using play-based unstructured assessment in early-childhood intervention and preliminary results on a new play-based assessment. The second paper will focus on parameters, such as dosage, that predicted the treatment outcome of PEAK-based intervention. The third paper will examine convergent validity on the PEAK Comprehensive Assessment’s (PCA) ability in classifying autism symptom severity. Implication on the assessment and treatment delivery of PEAK will be discussed.

It would be helpful for audience members to have a basic understanding of complex language and cognition from a behavior-analytic perspective (e.g., derived relational responding, equivalence, relational frame theory, PEAK).

This presentation seeks to examine the efficacy of play-based assessments as compared to highly structured skill-based assessments when identifying treatment areas for learners enrolled in early childhood ABA programs. In order to provide the most effective treatment, it is essential that providers accurately identify the skill repertoire of their learners to include foundational skills such as early communication and learner readiness, as well as more advanced social communicative repertoires that include derived relational responding. Young learners enrolled in early intervention programs may lack necessary prerequisite skills to engage in highly structured assessments and may be more appropriately assessed in a play based format. As such, it is essential that an assessment of skills is not only robust, but adequately engages the learner. Through a systematic literature review, the current paper argues that there is a lack of empirically validated play-based assessment tools available to behavior analysts. In addition to reviewing current research surrounding play-based behavior-analytic assessments, this presentation will also provide data supporting the use of play-based assessment according to learner repertoires and provide evidence that a new play-based behavior analytic tool is both effective and utilitarian to practitioners of early childhood behavior analytic programming.

This symposium will span multiple novel and innovative areas in the delivery of relational training (RT) procedures. The presentations will include 1) basic research that compares fixed and mixed presentation during relational training and their efficacy in promoting the emergence of derived relational responding (DRR); 2) an applied study comparing traditional table-top RT and computer-assisted RT in learner engagement and robustness in DRR; 3) applied study using alternating treatment design comparing learner outcomes between table-top pen-and-paper RT and computer-assisted RT which involves a custom-built electronic data collection (EDC) system and computer-assisted RT instructions; and finally 4) an exploratory randomized controlled trial evaluating the effect of the same custom-built system on learner and staff outcomes among eight students receiving RT as part of their Individualized Education Programs (IEP) in a public school setting. Implications for improving and optimizing the delivery of RT procedures will be discussed. In sum, presentations 1-3 seek to expand research in parameters optimizing RT procedures through basic and applied research, while presentation 4 seeks to investigate the real-world impact of the above findings.

Behavior analysts, students, and faculty

There has been an increasing presence using electronic data collection (EDC) among applied behavior analysis (ABA) services. Studies show that both generic and custom-built proprietary software can effectively and accurately collect behavior data similar to traditional pen-and-paper data collection. The current study extended previous findings in evaluating the efficacy of a custom-built EDC during relational frame training based on the PEAK curriculum, given its unique procedures (e.g., scoring, relational training procedures, etc.). Eight participants were randomly assigned to two groups (Experiment VS Control), and over the course of three weeks, participants received PEAK-based relational training as part of their Individualized Education Program (IEP). After week 1, participants in the Experiment Group transitioned to the EDC, where teachers and staff used the custom-built EDC in delivering ABA services. Results show a significant interaction between group assignment and time (p < .006). The total duration needed to complete all assigned programs for participants in the Experiment Group significantly decreased after the transition to EDC (p = .003) and maintained at the reduced level in week 3 (p = .862). No significant changes were observed for participants in the Control Group (p = .676). Implications for using EDC to assist relational training were discussed.

The world saw a spike in available technology during the global pandemic of 2020 and schools led the charge to provide continued access to education from beyond the classroom walls. Teachers learned new ways of fostering engagement and students learned all kinds of new skills. Professionals found new ways of working together as colleagues who used to be down the hall - and found new colleagues across the country and the globe while battling unfathomable personal and societal adversity. The mantra of lifelong learning was on full display in education! Leveraging this increased openness and comfort with collaborating in virtual spaces, this diverse panel of colleagues and friends continues to work together remotely to serve communities with a wide range of social and ethnic backgrounds. These school-based BCBAs will share their experiences consulting with schools as they answer your questions. Join them to explore how they have met organizational and individual needs by expanding their use of virtual school-based consulting.

This session is appropriate for professionals who interface directly with the highly applied school setting. Basic understandings of behavior analysis and varied applications of principles will be assumed as part of this conversation.

It has been decades since the debut of contextual behavior science. During this time a small proportion of behavior analysts have shifted their world view from a predominate Skinnerian science to a broader definition of what behavior analysis could be. Additionally, many outside the field have also embraced this modified version of behaviorism and by doing so have made significant progress in understanding the human condition. This symposium will describe the various similarities and differences in contextual and radical behaviorism and suggest that our path to a more successful future of saving the world will require movement from our past traditions.

Behavior analysts, students, and faculty

Skinnerian Behavior Analysis has had a major and positive impact on the world. Skinner's Radical Behaviorism got many things right, including a naturalistic approach, a focus on the importance of the individual organism, a focus on processes, the contingency as an integrated unit of analysis, insistence that behavioral development was an evolutionary process and thus that behavior analysis belonged as a part of evolutionary science, a pragmatic truth criterion, and the willingness to apply behavioral principles to scientists themselves. These positive steps were undermined, however, by a failure to appreciate what was truly new about verbal behavior, and a resulting excessive reliance on principles derived solely from non-human animals. These mistakes were amplified by a lack of clarity about the role of theory, an excessive reliance on interpretation, methodological rigidity, disconnections with evolutionary science and mainstream psychological science, and professionalization driven by principles and methods that fail to respond in a timely way to advancements within the field. The result has been increasing intellectual isolation, the practical narrowing applied behavior analysis, and a crisis of sustainability within the field. This paper will argue that these problems are self-inflicted and are unnecessary given the state of the evidence. Contextual behaviorism is a proven and robust offshoot of classical radical behaviorism and BA / ABA with a body of empirical and practical products that prove that a bright future awaits behavior analysis if it can overcome the limitation of Skinner's approach to verbal behavior, and return to its rightful role as a driving force in the development of principles that help in modification of human behavior, including with those who are highly verbally competent, and doing so with high precision, scope, and depth.

After 25 years in the field of behavior analysis, it is now time to redefine what I believe is a successful and acceptable form of behaviorism. Movement beyond the ideas of “radical” behaviorism towards a contextual world view of “contextual“ behaviorism will be necessary in order to expand the impact of this approach to human behavior in any meaningful way. All sciences progress, adapt, or die. Our field is currently at a crossroads of holding onto antiquated traditions that risk the very elimination of our field. New discoveries and robust outcomes are occurring in contextual behavior science, and it is time for the current and future generations of behaviorists to adopt a contextual behaviorism, and leave behind radical behaviorism just as we have done before with methodological behaviorism.

The legitimacy of science is based on an unbiased, disinterested research and peer review system. Scientists are expected to pursue their research and publish their findings without regard to personal gain. Journal reviewers and editors are expected to perform their duties without bias due to personal gain and relationships. Conflicts of Interest (COI) arise in situations in which a person is in a position to derive personal benefit from actions or decisions made in their official capacity. COI is a critical ethical issue in scientific publications. This PDS introduces and defines COI, the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines regarding COI, provides some general guidelines for identifying and avoiding COI in scientific publication, and delves further into the complexities of COI for reviewers and COI for practitioners who seek to publish their work. Calling ABAI members, and especially student members, to a thoughtful conversation about COI in scientific publications, especially ABAI publications is a central theme of this PDS. Ample time for questions and answers is provided.

Students, and professionals

Behavior analysts frequently encounter staff such as teachers, administrators, and youth counselors who deal with youth exhibiting challenging behaviors that may be related to the trauma these youth are experiencing. Moreover, the youth who are experiencing this trauma are often youth of color who may be retraumatized by the traditional means of dealing with challenging behavior. Unfortunately, behavior analysts may lack the skills for dealing with these challenging behaviors and the related trauma and thus are unable to assist staff in their efforts. A partnership developed among the leadership of Together Helping Reduce Youth Violence for Equity (ThrYve), a program for youth at the University of Kansas, a private provider of services to youth in schools, and a university professor and doctoral student at East Carolina University. The goal of this partnership was to provide information, training, and support to staff working with youth in the ThrYve program as well as other community programs. One year later we have measures of staff attitudes and mindsets as well as behavioral observations of staff role-play and naturalistic interactions with youth.

Participants can include BCBAs, teachers, school administrators, psychologists, psychiatrists, nurses, counselors, therapists, and social workers. Participants should be familiar with terms including verbal behavior, discriminative stimuli, establishing and abolishing operations, and positive and negative reinforcement, and have experience and examples dealing with those terms.