Association for Behavior Analysis International

The Company We Keep It is said that we are known by the company we keep. It is a way of acknowledging that we act like those with whom we surround ourselves, particularly as pertains to our core beliefs and values. The core beliefs and values of behavior analysts -- in being decidedly unusual in the history of reflections on the human condition – made for a particularly small group of companions in the early days. It was a group of radical naturalists with high hopes of saving the world by way of a profoundly different understanding of human behavior. That understanding enabled the development of highly efficacious applications, making a place for increasing numbers of practitioners. Ours is, as such, no longer a small group and as the core beliefs and values of large groups tend to have less cohesion than those of their smaller counterparts, it is worth considering whether we can still be known by the company we keep.

Operant Conditioning to Address Poverty-Related Health Disparities Poverty is a pervasive risk factor underlying poor health. Our research shows that operant conditioning can address poverty-related health disparities. This presentation will describe two key findings of this research. 1) Financial reinforcement for HIV viral suppression can maintain long-term HIV viral suppression in low-income adults living with HIV. 2) A reinforcement-based therapeutic workplace can maintain drug abstinence, promote employment, and reduce poverty. Under the therapeutic workplace, unemployed adults are hired and paid to work, and required to provide drug-free urine samples to maintain access to the workplace and/or maximum pay. The therapeutic workplace could serve as a model anti-poverty program, particularly for people with histories of drug addiction or other health problems.

Since 2007, APOPO’s Mine Action Program has released nearly 86 million square meters of land to local communities, freeing over 5.8 million people from the threat of land mines and avoiding an estimated 58,000 injuries and deaths. In 2017, APOPO completed all work in Mozambique after the country was declared to be mine free (a year ahead of schedule). It has now shifted its de-mining efforts to other countries, such as Cambodia, where it is partnering with the Cambodian Mine Action Centre. APOPO is collaborating closely with partners like Humanity Inclusion and Mines Advisory Group to develop iterations of its existing rat and dog mine-detection technology, in order to speed up the process of detecting cluster munition remnants and urban area IEDs‚ which are increasingly becoming important parts of humanitarian mine action. Since 2007, APOPO’s Tuberculosis Program has evaluated hundreds of thousands of samples, identified over 13,000 tuberculosis patients, and prevented an estimated 32,000 additional infections. In Maputo, Mozambique, APOPO’s detection method has led to a 40 percent increase in the tuberculosis detection rate.

All convention registrants are welcome and encouraged to attend.

Shelter cats who exhibit problem behavior are less likely to be adopted and may be euthanized. Functional analysis has been shown useful for identifying the variables that maintain problem behavior in some nonhuman animals. However, traditional functional analysis methodology can be difficult to use in shelter settings. Trial-based functional analyses (TBFAs), which are conducted in the natural environment and require few instances of problem behavior, may be useful. However, the efficacy of TBFAs has not been demonstrated with non-humans. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the TBFA for use with shelter cat problem behavior. TBFAs were conducted on the aggressive behavior of three cats and the results were used to create a function-based interventions. Results showed that problem behaviors were maintained by escape from humans and function-based treatments reduced problem behaviors to below 80% of baseline levels. Implications and practical issues will be discussed.

The field of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is facing tumultuous discussion regarding ethics, quality, and organizational status (Silbaugh & El Fattal, 2021). Clinical quality at large ABA agencies requires alignment unilaterally from the executive team through the individual provider to be effective. Identifying and adopting a model that aligns with evidence based practice, safety, compassion, dignity and respect may provide a guiding compass for organizations looking to improve the quality of their services and achieve meaningful outcomes. This symposium includes four presentations that will outline how a nationwide organization has integrated the values of the Practical Functional Assessment (PFA) and Skill Based Treatment (SBT) to develop a Response to Intervention model, called the Foundations to Care, that starts with an entry level behavior intervention plan for all clients, then utilizes the PFA and SBT as components for the assessment and treatment of interfering behavior. The first presentation provides an outline of the major components of the entry level behavior plan, the Foundational Plan and preliminary data from its adoption across initial training and implementation efforts. The second presentation will describe the adoption of the PFA as a functional analysis to inform treatment and organization-wide data supporting its effective and efficient use. The third presentation will highlight the impact of Skill Based Treatment across interfering behaviors and skill acquisition domains. The fourth presentation will provide an overview of the mentorship model used to train clinicians in all components of the Foundations of Care and its effect on clinical practice. The discussant will comment on large-scale adoption of evidence-based, values driven care which leads to socially valid changes in the lives of clients and their families.

Audience members should have foundational skills in the area of behavior intervention, building interventions from assessment, program design, shaping, and an understanding of functional analysis

The Foundational Plan (FP) is part of a tier one Response-to-Intervention (RTI model) aimed at improving treatment implementation and reducing barriers to learning skills (Hughes & Dexter, 2011). The Foundational Plan identifies optimal teaching opportunities by first identifying what Happy-Relaxed-Engaged (HRE) looks like for the client and then establishes best practices for introducing learning opportunities, creating an enriched environment, reducing aversive stimuli, setting boundaries, and creating therapeutic alliance. In line with values of client-centered care, there are specific instructions related to necessary routines and how to respond to interfering behaviors in a way that focuses on prevention and de-escalation (Holburn, 1997). The FP has been a successful standalone intervention for some clients with significant drops in high intensity and dangerous behaviors; data highlighting the impact of this tier one intervention on a large scale will be presented.

The Practical Functional Assessment is a functional analysis methodology that identifies strong control of interfering behavior utilizing ecologically relevant and synthesized reinforcement contingencies (Jessel et al., 2016). Given its effectiveness as a component of a functional assessment model, the PFA may provide clinicians with a practical and replicable approach that can inform treatment (Hanley et al., 2014). More importantly, the evidence of efficacious outcomes suggests that the PFA has strong utility in the treatment of interfering behaviors (Rajaraman et al., 2022). This presentation will describe a decision making model for evidence based practice and apply that to the ethical decisions we should make surrounding functional analysis throughout clinical practice (Spencer et al., 2012). Organizational wide data describing the use of functional analyses, its safety, efficiency, outcomes, and practical application will be discussed supporting the findings of Jessel et al. (2016).

Within the current climate of ABA services, implementation of best practices are not always sufficient at producing lasting change and widespread adoption of interventions by those who regularly engage with the individuals we serve. Selection of effective treatment packages must also consider the social validity, contextual fit of interventions in order to align with evidence based practices (Slocum et al., 2014). SBT is an evidence-based intervention which has demonstrated significant social validity across implementers, clients, and families (Hanley et al., 2014). Throughout the progression of this treatment, core skills of communication, toleration, and cooperation are targeted through contingency based reinforcement thinning with safety as its top priority (Jessel et al., 2018). Within this presentation, data surrounding the impact of SBT on overall client progress towards skill mastery and reduction of interfering behavior, as well as an analysis of social validity from clients, caregivers, and staff will be discussed.

Utilizing the PFA and SBT process for assessment and treatment of interfering behaviors has resulted in safe and practically informed function-based treatments, substantial reduction in levels of interfering behaviors, and the acquisition of socially significant skill repertoires (Hanley et al., 2014; Jessel et al., 2018). Often, the training of these procedures is isolated in agencies to those with direct, ongoing access to a trainer and relevant resources, or those who have invested resources into independently learning the process. In order to shift a large organization spanning multiple states towards new practices, methods must be developed to support efficient and effective scaling of these practices while ensuring fidelity and socially valid outcomes from a distance. While efforts have been made to investigate various training modalities on these processes (Pollack et al., 2021; Whalen et al., 2021), the effects of incorporating multiple modes of remote training and consultation have not been investigated. The presenter will provide a brief overview of a remote mentorship model consisting of synchronous and asynchronous training, individual and group consultation to train clinicians in the implementation of the PFA and SBT processes. The effects and social validity data of this model will be presented

Leaf and colleagues (2016) described what they called a progressive approach to applied behavior analysis (ABA) as it relates to autism and autism intervention. This approach is distinguished from a conventional approach to ABA in that the main source of control of the interventionist’s behavior is the client and the client’s context. As a result, a progressive approach to ABA is client centered, comprehensive, and flexible which requires the interventionist to constantly assess and change their behavior based on relevant variables. This symposium includes three presentations discussing methods, training, and research related to a progressive approach to ABA. The first presentation will discuss several methods that fall within a progressive approach to ABA. The second presentation will discuss training and the challenges with training interventionists to implement a progressive approach to ABA. The final presentation will discuss suggestions on how to conduct research on this approach and related challenges with conducting research on a progressive approach.

This symposium would be of benefit for anyone providing supervision to behavior technicians providing services for autistics/individuals diagnosed with ASD (e.g., BCaBAs, BCBAs). This symposium would be of benefit for anyone interested in conducting research on flexible approaches to intervention that require in-the-moment assessment of relevant variables (e.g., BCBAs, applied researchers).

As the research on a progressive approach to ABA continues to grow, it is important to consider the skills required to implement such procedures and effective training methods teach interventionists to implement such procedures. While many of the skill sets used for implementation are also used when training others, it is important to discuss how these skills compare and contrast when translated to a training setting. The purpose of this presentation is to provide a description of methods used to train others to implement a progressive approach to ABA, potential challenges that might arise related to this training, and future directions for research as it relates to training interventionists on a progressive approach to ABA.

Data collection is important for a variety of reasons: it is the primary basis for clinical decisions, it is required by the Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts, and it is required by many, if not most, payors of ABA services. As such, data collection is the backbone of applied behavior analysis (ABA). Data can be recorded automatically or recorded by the observer. The prevalence of observer measurement in ABA settings raises many interesting questions: how accurate are data being recorded? Are we using the best measurement systems? Are we measuring data collection integrity (DCI)? Are data being recorded as the behavior occur? Who records data? What level of training is provided to those recording data? Is data being recorded by paper and pencil or electronically? What are some of the available data collection platforms? Can we aggregate data? What levels of analysis can be conducted with data recorded? This panel will invite the audience to participate in an active discussion on data collection, the options available, and some pros and cons of varied systems.

The audience should be well-versed in multiple data collection practices as described by the BACB task list.

Developmental theory is the foundation for how child development is predominately understood by our science as well as our society. This is of special significance for practitioners, as these sets of assumptions impact treatment decision-making. However, developmental theories from mainstream developmental psychology and behavior science are separate and distinct. Yet, an incomplete understanding of these theories may lead to misconceptions on the developmental process, which, in turn, may influence expectations on what are perceived to be reasonable standards in development. This paper will provide a review of dominant theories from mainstream developmental psychology and behavior science, and delineate between developmental milestones, stages, and cusps. The implications of conflicting theories and how they affect societal expectations for the child-caregiver dyad will be examined. Considerations for practitioners on how these theories impact decision-making on when and how certain developmental goals are met will be discussed.

Accounting for the participating variables present during an abusive episode featuring infant crying will lead to a richer understanding of the event and, therefore, will better inform prevention work. As a social event, abusive episodes necessitate at least two individuals, and thus requires a multi-perspective analysis. As an episode typically taking place during early infancy, infant abusive head trauma related to crying must account for individual biology, psychological history, current stimulus and response functions, and social history with respect to each other. Kantor’s field theory approach to behavior, interbehaviorism, considers such factors as participatory in the event. In this talk, I will lay out an initial sketch of potential participatory factors that will likely need exploration in building an account of the abusive episode. In doing so, attention will be given to connecting these elements to prevention work.

Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) exhibit problem behaviors maintained by a variety of reinforcement contingencies. These same behaviors also often contact specific consequences in the environment as caregivers attempt to reduce those responses. The present symposium comprises three studies that each seek to evaluate an aspect of the contingencies most relevant to problem behavior. We begin by detailing an analogue assessment of the functional effects of idiosyncratic consequences to the problem behavior of five children with ASD. The next paper details an evaluation of child preference for one of two reinforcers within the context of multiply controlled problem behavior and discusses how preference can be incorporated into schedule thinning during treatment. The final paper discusses a manipulation of several parameters of reinforcement (e.g., magnitude, response effort) within a concurrent schedule intervention that does not require extinction. Taken together, the papers presented provide a synthesis of information regarding the nuances of consequences to problem behavior; additionally, implications for ethical treatment that incorporates client choice are highlighted.

Target audience members include graduate students pursuing the master's degree and board certification and/or a PhD in behavior analysis. Audience members should have an understanding of functional analysis methodology as well as an understanding of concurrent schedule arrangements.

The development of early reading skills is essential for overall academic success. Although behavior analysts are well-equipped to teach a variety of skills, behavior-analytic research on reading-related repertoires commonly includes less optimal training arrangements or target skills misaligned with best practices described in the educational literature. The purpose of the current study was to extend the research on reading interventions by evaluating the effectiveness of one emergent learning procedure on teaching letter-sound correspondence to children. In the current study, five participants at risk for reading failure completed simple discrimination training with intermodal (i.e., visual and auditory) compound class-specific consequences. The S+ included a correctly oriented lowercase letter and was presented with two incorrectly oriented versions of the same letter (i.e., the distractor stimuli). Selections of the S+ resulted in the presentation of the compound class-specific consequence which included the corresponding printed uppercase letter and the dictated letter sound. Following mastery of simple discrimination training, emergence of six arbitrary relations was assessed. For five of the eight evaluations, participants exhibited emergence of all targeted relations including the textual relation. These results suggest that the current emergent learning procedures may represent an effective method for establishing reading prerequisite skills.

Learning a new language can be a time-consuming and painstaking process. Chinese-speaking immigrants are often faced with the challenge of learning English after they arrive in the United States. Therefore, finding an efficient and effective way to learn English is of great importance. The aim of this experiment was to examine the effects of matrix training on reading onset-rime words with 13 adult English language learners. The experimental design was a multiple probe design across submatrices. In Experiment I, teaching and probes occurred in individual sessions using a probe-train-probe format. The instructor first taught the diagonal and overlap targets and subsequently probed for recombinative generalization of the untaught targets. In Experiment II, the instructor taught the overlap targets in group instruction, then subsequently probed for recombinative generalization of the untaught targets in a one-on-one setting. The results indicated that 13 English language learners benefited from overlap training instruction. Practical applications of teaching English reading using matrix training were discussed.

Research has suggested specialized fonts can help children with dyslexia read faster and more accurately, but these claims have rarely been evaluated with adults diagnosed with dyslexia. The present study examined the extent to which different fonts affected the reading performance of three adults with dyslexia. Data on reading accuracy and efficiency were collected during 1-min sessions, and post-study preference ratings were obtained. During baseline sessions, participants read a randomly selected list of nonsense words printed in Times New Roman font. During test sessions, word lists were printed in either Dyslexie, Times New Roman with interspacing, Arial, or Arial with interspacing. The font for each test session was randomly alternated across sessions using a multielement design. Each participant experienced a reversal back to baseline, and a second series of test sessions. Results indicated variable accuracy and efficiency scores across fonts with only one participant (P1) attaining improvements in both accuracy and efficiency with the same font (Dyslexie). However, all participants reported preferring the font with which they demonstrated the best improvements in accuracy, efficiency, or both. These preliminary results suggest font preference might affect reading accuracy and efficiency and indicate that further research is both necessary and warranted.

One of the most common concerns expressed by caregivers of children diagnosed with autism is related to challenges in the development of communication skills. Often children with autism require specialized intervention to promote language and communication skills. The current study examined the efficacy of Direct Instruction Language for Learning (DI-LL) in preschool and young school age children diagnosed with autism who also exhibited moderate language difficulties. DI-LL is a highly structured, commercially available curriculum designed to target expressive and receptive language abilities. This study included 83 participants who were randomized to receive 6 months of DI-LL or Treatment as Usual (TAU). The intervention was delivered twice per week for approximately 90 minutes per session. Using the Clinical Global Impressions-Improvements (CGI-I) scale, 54.8% of children who received DI-LL were rated as “much improved” or “very much improved” compared to only 21.9% of children randomized to TAU. Further, 55.5% of children who received the intervention achieved a clinically meaningful improvement on the standardized language measure compared to only 29.3% of those in the TAU condition. Overall, these results suggest that the Language for Learning program is an effective intervention to promote language skills in young children with autism.

The included papers discuss Behavior Skills Training (BST), Video-Based Training (VBT) and ways of utilizing virtual platforms to provide education to a diverse group of stakeholders. Researchers examined the value, effectiveness, and accessibility of such programs on the skill development of their learners. BST is known to be an effective method of teaching skills and maintaining skill retention. BST programs may be time-consuming and inaccessible to specific groups of stakeholders. Using VBT and virtual training platforms to educate stakeholders and teach high-demand skills may increase accessibility in these areas. Researchers have been successful in utilizing virtual platforms to conduct trainings for stakeholders across various disciplines. Presenters will discuss the efficacy of virtual modalities to disseminate training on behavior management, statistical analysis, arrangement of safe infant sleeping environments, and trial-based functional analysis. Stakeholders receiving training included medical professionals, behavior analysts, and caregivers. Results indicated that virtual training can be a useful tool in educating stakeholders and maintaining skill retention over time.

Individuals offering direct therapy, RBT, BCaBAs, BCBAs, BCBA-Ds.

Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) experience major health disparities compared to those without disabilities (CDC, 2019). Some of these disparities may be due to increased rate of fear behavior exhibited by individuals with IDD in response to medical environments and lack of physician training on how to treat individuals with IDD. This study assessed the efficacy of a virtual 3-hr training to prepare medical students to implement behavior management techniques that could be integrated within the context of a typical wellness examination. Results indicated that training was effective at increasing the participants’ correct implementation of the techniques in roleplay and with patients with IDD attending a local university-based medical center for a checkup. Responding maintained at high levels during the 2-week maintenance assessment.

Surveys provide us with a better understanding of commonly implemented procedures in practice. This symposium will present data from four studies that used surveys completed by BACB certificants at various levels across a variety of topics. These included questions regarding a) types of preference assessments implemented, b) factors that influence changing reinforcers on a momentary basis, c) the use of social and non-social reinforcers, and d) the use of a medical vs social model when identifying target behaviors. A discussion regarding the findings will be presented in addition to future directions to guide behavior-analytic practice.

Researchers and practitioners who are certified as at least an RBT, of have more than 2 years of experience working with individuals diagnosed with intellectual or developmental disabilities.

Recent research has developed several methods that are effective at identifying individualized social reinforcers and utilizing social reinforcers may be beneficial for several reasons. However, the relative likelihood of utilizing social versus non-social reinforcers in research and practice remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to evaluate how likely behavior analysts (BAs) are to employ social versus non-social reinforcers in research and practice. We surveyed 362 BACB certificants to determine how likely BAs were to utilize different types of reinforcers in practice and reviewed the past 7 years of research in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis to determine how likely BAs were to utilize different types of reinforcers in research. Results suggest that non-social reinforcers are used more frequently than social reinforcers in research and practice. In both cases, when social reinforcers were employed, they were often generic not individualized. Finally, we surveyed verified course sequence coordinators to evaluate how educational practices may contribute to these clinical and research practices. Our results suggest many course sequences do not cover the identification of social reinforcers and, when they do, little time is allocated to doing so. Implications and recommendations for future research and practice are discussed.

This symposium includes four talks that each represent a novel application of behavioral skills training. Braren will share findings of an experiment evaluating the effects of a one-time training workshop with behavioral skills training and instructional video modeling components on self-advocacy skills of direct care staff working in a human service organization. Ruby will describe the results of an experiment evaluating the effects of video-based training with and without on-screen text on procedural integrity of discrete trial training and a multiple stimulus without replacement preference assessment procedures. Day-Watkins will describe the results of an experiment evaluating the effects of behavioral skills training on caregiver arrangement of safe infant sleeping environments during both training and naturalistic contexts. Finally, McKenna will discuss the results of an experiment evaluating the effects of behavioral skills training on the extent to which children with food allergies identify and appropriately respond to foods they are allergic to.

Presentations during this symposium will be delivered at an intermediate instruction level. Target audience members should be familiar with the common components of behavioral skills training (i.e., instruction, model, rehearsal, feedback) to maximize learning during this symposium.

The United States has the highest per capita healthcare spending in the world, but some of the worst healthcare outcomes. The US lags behind other similarly developed countries with regard to life expectancy and preventable deaths in spite of US healthcare costs being nearly twice that of comparable countries. A major factor that could be responsible for this are the upfront costs of healthcare access being placed on the individual in forms of private insurance, co-pays, and deductibles, thus deterring healthcare utilization. Three experiments using crowdsourced samples (Amazon Mechanical Turk, 200 per experiment) were conducted to examine how hypothetical healthcare seeking for three common symptoms (headache, nausea, and cough) was affected by duration of symptoms, severity of symptoms, and cost to access healthcare. Decision-making generally followed a hyperbolic form, while increased costs of healthcare resulted in significant delays of access to healthcare regardless of symptom severity. Shallower delay discounting was positively associated with physical health, while steeper delay discounting was positively associated with earlier treatment seeking. The results of these experiments can provide insight into health decision-making and help inform areas of policy reform to improve health outcomes in the US.

When disseminating behavior analysis in communities that do not have an established behavior analytic profession, it is often important to collaborate with colleagues in different professions to develop capacity. In Puerto Rico, there is a dearth of ABA services and training programs, however, our survey research showed that education and health professionals in the island have high interest and need in receiving training in behavior analysis. In addition, there is a high incidence of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and need for ABA services. In this talk I will present survey data demonstrating interest in behavior analysis across professions in Puerto Rico. In addition, I will share our efforts in increasing capacity in applied behavior analysis (ABA) in Puerto Rico, in particular, the collaborative projects with colleagues from different professions (e.g., psychology, public health, special education, speech and language) along with behavior analyst colleagues. I will speak to the importance of empowering professionals already working in the community in order to make meaningful, sustainable and culturally appropriate changes in capacity.

Health care industries represent the most frequently endorsed work setting for behavior analysts (Burning Glass Technologies, 2015). Further, this research indicates that there continues to be a strong demand for behavior analysts working in health care industries. Within these setting, behavior analysts may be employed in a variety of clinical positions with clients with a range of presenting concerns and diagnoses, such as neurodevelopmental disabilities, anxiety/mood concerns, significant medical complications, suicidality, and psychosis. While behavior analysts need to ensure they are practicing within their scope of competence and not treating disorders or conditions in which they have not received training (BACB, 2020), behavior analysts possess significant experience with and knowledge of experimental analysis, demonstration of functional relations, and data-driven decision-making that can provide a significant contribution to multidisciplinary teams. The purpose of this presentation will be to highlight the role of behavior analysts working within multidisciplinary teams in a hospital setting. A focus will be on the integration of behavior analysts within inpatient, partial hospitalization, and outpatient settings. Considerations for ethics, collaboration, and multidisciplinary care will be discussed.

More and more behavior analysts practice in multidisciplinary environments; that is, in settings in which professionals from multiple disciplines assess, design interventions, and treat clients. However, many of these services are being provided in parallel, such that interventions and programs are complementary but not necessarily coordinated. Fewer behavior analysts, though, provide interdisciplinary services, in which programs designed by multidisciplinary professionals are fully integrated and coordinated with one another. Interdisciplinary services not only provide an avenue for clients to receive a more comprehensive approach to intervention, but they may improve outcomes by strategically incorporating goals across disciplines and minimize duplication of effort by various professionals. Using illustrative case-example data, this presentation will describe how interdisciplinary collaboration can build upon the multidisciplinary work many behavior analysts already practice to enhance the role of the behavior analyst on a treatment team and to maximize treatment outcomes for clients.

The global community is facing an onslaught of wide-ranging, multi-determined, and vexing cross-national conflicts, environmental threats, political and social upheavals, human and animal migrations, health and economic inequities, and human rights violations, to name a few prominent social ills. Culturo-behavior science (CBS) has evolved into a behavior analytic approach that draws on concepts like the metacontingency and context to analyze and intervene with social and cultural problems on the systems level. The increase in prominence achieved by CBS can be seen in recent books (e.g., Cihon & Mattaini, 2020) and journal issues (e.g., Perspectives on Behavior Science, Hantula, 2019) devoted to it, as well as in the growth of Behavior and Social Issues, the ABAI journal devoted exclusively to addressing social problems through behavior analysis. This symposium, sponsored by Behaviorists for Social Responsibility, presents recent CBS work on two urgent global problems that potentially have Earth-threatening consequences: war and climate change.

Behavior analysts interested in applying their skills to systemic social problems

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 was accompanied by torrents of state-promulgated propaganda. From the behavior analytic perspective, propaganda is promoted through antecedent stimulus control, as demonstrated by Rakos (1993) for the first US-Iraq war; this analysis categorized US war propaganda missives in terms of stimulus equivalence, motivating operations, rules, and discriminative stimuli and assessed their functional impact. The current inquiry follows a similar strategy, but updates the analysis by using newer conceptual tools like the metacontingency and contextual behavior science. This examination of the Russian propaganda effort reveals it to be less successful than the US campaign in 1990. A comparison of the propaganda strategies used by the US in 1990 with those used by Russia in 2022 expose important similarities in stimulus control tactics, despite the two countries’ political and ideological differences. But the analysis also suggests key differences that may contribute to the lesser impact of the Russian propaganda effort.

There has been a long standing call for the application of applied behavior analysis to problems of social importance. Applied behavior analysis practitioners are encouraged to provide socially valid care and to affect meaningful change. To do so, a practitioner must first identify meaningful goals and then teach them. This symposium will include a discussion on the evaluation of a training package designed to teach practitioners of behavior analysis to write meaningful goals. The presentation will also discuss strategies for teaching meaningful goals related to bullying and sexuality education to adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). An overview of goal selection, teaching procedures, and effectiveness of teaching will be discussed. This symposium will also include recommendations for future directions for the goals of ABA as pertaining to meaningful programming.

The audience should include practicing behavior analysts or behavior analysts in training (BCBA, BCaBA), looking either to refine practice skills or prepare to utilize best practices after becoming certified. Prerequisite skills should include an understanding of basic behavior analytic principles, experience working with adolescents with an autism spectrum disorder or another developmental or intellectual disability, and preferably experience writing skill acquisition goals and developing programming for these clients. The presentations in this symposium will enhance practice abilities for those working with and writing goals for these populations within the context of a behavior analytic lens.

While the field of applied behavior analysis is in a position to affect meaningful change in the outcomes of clients on the autism spectrum, it is currently coming short of doing so. This presentation will show that while research exists for teaching how to write goals structurally, there is a gap in the literature for teaching practitioners how to write goals that are meaningful and impact adult outcomes. Data will be presented from a treatment package aimed at guiding the goal writing of behavior analyst practitioners to help increase the inclusion of goals that are meaningful, socially valid, and highly individualized in order to positively impact the trajectory of a client with autism.

Adolescents diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) commonly display deficits with social communication, including difficulties with communicating their thoughts and feelings, advocating, and resolving conflict. These deficits make it difficult for adolescents with ASD to effectively respond to bullying, which places them at a significantly increased risk of being bullied than that of typically developing peers. This increased risk indicates the importance of remediating social skills deficits correlated with an increased risk of bullying. One intervention shown to effectively increase social skills for adolescents with ASD is the Teaching Interaction Procedure (TIP). This presentation will review the effectiveness of the TIP for teaching three adolescents diagnosed with ASD to emit a chain of social responses in response to being bullied.

Sexuality education is extremely important for persons with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). While there is much research supporting the need for sexuality education for people with autism, there is little experimental demonstration of teaching about sexuality for this population. This presentation will review a study which used an adapted alternating treatment design with control to evaluate two teaching methods (discrete trial teaching and behavioural skills training) to teach three children with autism two component skills related to sexuality safety. An in-situ probe was used to assess demonstration of skill in a natural environment setting. While all participants acquired both skills in teaching settings, in either teaching modality, in-situ probes of skill were demonstrated with variability and inconsistency for all participants. Future directions related to in-situ responding, as well as teaching component sexuality skills are suggested.

Contingency management is based on the principles of positive reinforcement and has been used to improve a variety of health-related behaviors. In this talk I will review two NIH-funded trials on using contingency management to improve attendance at a secondary prevention program (cardiac rehabilitation) among patients enrolled in Medicaid. In the first trial, contingency management was tested for improving attendance at cardiac rehabilitation against a control condition. In the second trial, we tested the effects of contingency management, case management (informed by the community reinforcement approach), and their combination, on improving attendance. I will review the effects of contingency management on cardiac rehabilitation attendance across the two trials as well as comment on selected secondary outcomes of clinical interest such as improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness, changes in anxious and depressive symptomology, and hospitalizations. Additionally, I will share initial findings about the benefits of adding case management to the contingency management model.

Experimental/Applied/Clinical/Health

Motivational Interviewing (MI) has been used by clinical psychologists, social workers, licensed therapists, and others in the helping professions for many years. More recently, some behavior analysts have started using this strategy in their research and MI workshops have been offered to behavior analysts, although behavior analysts rarely receive the requisite training other types of licensed professionals receive prior to becoming licensed. The purpose of this talk is to (1) introduce the audience to the basic components of MI, (2) discuss behavioral principles that are compatible with MI strategies and that help us understand why and how MI might be effectively used, and (3) identify settings, populations, and conditions, with examples, under which MI might be ethically and effectively used by behavior analysts.

Graduate students, BCBAs, and BCBA-Ds

Behavior analysts have an ethical duty to disseminate the science and practice of behavior analysis to the public, including third-party funders and government agencies. The success of such initiatives has been observed in the widespread adoption of funding for applied behavior analytic (ABA) services for the autism community in the United States. Given this funding, behavior analysts have become synonymous with treatment for the autism community. However, behavior analytic technologies can positively impact a wide variety of populations and behaviors at both an individual and societal level. Behavior analysts would benefit from learning the skills to promote the expansion of services to other areas. This panel, sponsored by the Behaviorists for Social Responsibility Special Interest Group and Values to Action, will explore the lessons learned from advocacy for securing ABA funding for the autism community and discuss common obstacles to accessing funding, as well as opportunities for expansion of public advocacy for ABA practices into other social services (e.g., juvenile justice, child welfare, mental health) and social justice areas (e.g., racial justice, discrimination, health and education equity) through advocacy in local, state, and the federal government.

Interested individuals should have a basic understanding of behavior analytic concepts and principles.

Federal mandates require that students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are provided access and make progress in the general education curriculum. Unfortunately, data suggest that academic instruction for this population of students is often inadequate. In this session, the presenters will describe three externally funded projects incorporating behavior analytic strategies to improve academic outcomes for students with IDD in the areas of literacy and engineering. The presenters will describe how behavior analytic practices were embedded within curricula, applied to teach variety of skills, and how educational professionals were trained and supported to implement the project packages. Finally, the presenters will discuss results from group and single case design studies evaluating the projects’ efficacy on academic skills and additional outcomes (e.g., inclusive opportunities, social skill development). They will present each projects’ findings, limitations, and implications regarding the design of behavior analytic curricula and programs aligned with academic standards for students with IDD.

Beginners

What does it mean to provide "supervision"? The term "supervision" seems to have come to mean many different things within the field of behavior analysis. This is particularly true when comparing how the term is used in ABA professional certification/development circles versus OBM circles. In this talk, I will describe the various functions of supervision in human service settings, and discuss the role that OBM plays (or does not play) in each. Additionally, I will discuss the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) required of performers within each supervision function, and provide recommendations for how supervisors might gain those KSAs beyond the required BACB® supervision training and coursework.

Behavior analysts have constructed constraints to limit the sorts of behavior that qualify as behavior analytic research. These community standards are primarily methodological in nature. That is, we limit the methods that are acceptable in behavior analytic research. For example, behavior analysts have a strong preference for single-subject research designs. If a study does not feature a single-subject design, then the community is more likely to judge it as non-behavior analytic. Behavior analysts have benefited enormously from the imposition of these constraints. They have helped to focus scientific inquiry within behavior analysis. They have also helped to differentiate behavior analysis from other related disciplines. And critically, the methodological preferences of the behavior analytic community have produced exceptionally strong empirical and conceptual foundations for the discipline. However, it is not clear that behavior analysts are currently taking full advantage of these strong foundations. Our concepts and procedures are now mature, and it is no longer necessary to appeal to methodology to define our discipline. We are in position to benefit from methodological expansion, but have underexploited this advantage for decades. This has been brought into sharper focus by the professionalization of the discipline and an increase in academic interdisciplinarity. In this social context, new kinds research questions become important to behavior analysts. Our traditional methods are not ideal for answering the full range of new questions. Calls for methodological expansion have increased in recent years, and there is evidence that more behavior analysts are starting to heed these calls. The primary purpose of this presentation is to convince listeners of this claim: Methodological constraints limit progress toward better prediction and control of behavior. An age of methodological agnosticism is upon us. Research questions will and should hold primacy over methods. We will answer our questions by whatever methods are best suited to do so, without heeding historical constraints. So freed, we will be able to answer new kinds of questions, better support practitioners, and increase our impact in modern behavioral science.

All behavior analysts

Treatment strategies based in applied behavior analysis have evolved greatly over the last few decades, allowing for multiple tools that clinicians can pull from to meet treatment goals. For example, several different prompting methods, mand modalities, and reinforcer arrangements are empirically supported for use with individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. When multiple treatment may be effective, it is crucial for therapists to incorporate client choice to guide treatment development. In doing so, we can both promote the autonomy of the client and select the strategy that is most likely to be preferred and effective. The aim of this symposium is to present four empirical demonstrations of methods to incorporate choice into treatment planning. Two studies present replications and extensions of assessments for preferred mand modalities. The third study discusses preference for reinforcement arrangements, extending past work to younger individuals who are often excluded from choice-based research. Last, we present a novel assessment to evaluate the efficacy, and subsequent preference, for various prompt methods used to treat escape-maintained challenging behavior.

Attendees should understand the basics of the interventions discussed (escape extinction, prompting procedures, functional communication training, and differential reinforcement).

Fifty percent of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) never develop functional speech (Kasari et al., 2014; Lord et al., 1999) and often engage in challenging behaviors such as harm to self, others, and property. As such, identifying a functional method of communication for these individuals is paramount. The selection of the most appropriate communication modality should be individualized and empirically evaluated. Research has compared various AAC modalities and determined the most appropriate method based on various factors such as proficiency, effort, and preference (e.g., Ringdahl et al., 2016). The current presentation will report on a consecutive controlled-case series design from 2022-2023 in which a mand topography assessment was conducted using a multi-element design for children with complex communication needs. Additionally, collateral interfering behaviors were also observed and reviewed for the selection of the final augmentative and alternative (AAC) communication modality. Child and caregiver preferences were also assessed and considered within the final AAC selection, and demonstrations of the successful modality were programmed for generalization across relevant variables.

Behavioral interventions to reduce problem behavior typically utilize dense schedules of alternative reinforcement. Following a reduction in problem behavior, schedule thinning is implemented to make the intervention more feasible in natural environments. Hagopian et al. (2004) compared two different approaches to schedule thinning: a dense-to-lean (DTL) and fixed-lean (FL) approach. In the DTL condition, a dense reinforcement schedule was initially implemented and then progressively faded to a terminal schedule. In the FL condition, a lean schedule of reinforcement was implemented at the outset—one that was equivalent to the terminal schedule of the DTL condition. In the current study, we replicated procedures described by Hagopian et al. (2004) to examine FL schedule thinning approaches following functional communication training with three individuals admitted to an inpatient unit for severe problem behavior. Our results suggest that the FL schedule thinning approach may represent an efficient and effective method for rapidly reducing the density of alternative reinforcement during schedule thinning. Considerations for clinical practice are discussed.

The use of Functional Communication Training (FCT) to treat severe maladaptive behavior has been associated with limited treatment effects when implemented without extinction (Hagopian et al., 1998). Nevertheless, extinction is not always possible, for example, in adult service settings where individuals are at times larger and stronger than their therapists. To reallocate responding from a problematic behavior to a functional communication response (FCR), previous research suggests manipulating the parameters of the reinforcer (i.e., quality, duration/ magnitude, immediacy/ delay) in favor of the FCR. The purpose of the present study was to assess the effectiveness and social validity of functional communication without extinction and instead, using reinforcer parameter manipulation to treat the severe problem behavior of three adults diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Manipulating all parameters of the reinforcer within functional communication without extinction substantially reduced problem behavior for all participants, and the procedures were associated with high social validity scores. The results support the use of reinforcer parameter manipulation in situations when extinction is not a possible or feasible component of a problem behavior intervention.

Multiple schedules are commonly used to thin the schedule of reinforcement following functional communication training (FCT; Hagopian et al., 2011). One method of schedule thinning involves slowly introducing periods of signaled extinction for the functional communication response (FCR) and gradually increasing the duration of the extinction period (Hanley et al., 2001). Betz et al., 2013 demonstrated that a two-part multiple schedule approach (i.e., 60 s / 60 s; 60 s / 240 s) was effective in decreasing the overall level of the FCR while maintaining low rates of problem behavior without the lengthy schedule-thinning procedure. Despite those positive findings, participants in Betz et al. did not have an intellectual or developmental disability (IDD) and responded well to verbal instruction. The purpose of this study was to a) replicate the procedures described by Betz et al. with children diagnosed with an IDD with limited language and b) evaluate the efficacy of a terminal probe (60 s / 240 s) as the first multiple schedule exposure. Preliminary results show that the terminal probe was successful in decreasing the rate of the FCR and maintaining low levels of problem behavior for one of two participants.

Variables impacting the long-term maintenance of interventions such as functional communication training (FCT) continues to be an important area of research that cuts across both experimental and applied domains. Previous research has demonstrated that preferred mands persist to a greater extent than their less preferred counter parts following similar reinforcement histories. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the persistence of mands following enhancements to the dimensions of reinforcement for independent manding during functional communication training (FCT). In this study, during FCT, high and low preferred mands were trained using a multiple schedule. In two of the three conditions, the high and low preferred mands were trained as usual, while the third condition trained and enhanced the reinforcement history for the low preferred mand by manipulating one dimension of reinforcement (i.e., reinforcer rate, reinforcer magnitude) to three times the exposure in the training as usual condition. When problem behavior was reduced by 80% of baseline levels, independent manding occurred across 80% of opportunities, and reinforcement rates occurred within 10% of programmed conditions during FCT, treatment was disrupted with extinction. Across enhancement manipulations, results suggested that, despite enhanced reinforcement histories for low preferred mands, high preferred mands persisted to a greater extent.

This symposium will include innovative procedures and preparations aimed at the development of equivalence classes across populations. In the first paper, Paula Debert will present on the use of the identity matching procedure with compound stimuli with children with autism. In the second paper, Jillian Sordello will present on use of the successive matching-to-sample procedure with auditory stimuli consisting of common sounds with adults. In the third paper, Vanessa Lee will present on use of tact and intraverbal training to establish four-member classes with adults. In the fourth paper, Sarah Frampton will present on the inclusion of note-taking during baseline relations training with five-member classes with adults. Findings from these studies and implications for research in equivalence class formation will be discussed by Kenneth Reeve.

BCBAs and BCBA-Ds. Attendees should be familiar with conditional discrimination training in a matching-to-sample format. Attendees should be able to describe relations of reflexivity, symmetry, transitivity, and equivalence.

The Identity Matching procedure (IMTS) with compound stimuli is an alternative to the standard matching-to-sample to establish emergent arbitrary conditional relations with adults and typically developing children. The present study evaluated whether the IMTS procedure with compound stimuli would establish these emergent performances in children with autism. Three children with autism accomplished tasks in a computer and were exposed to the following experimental phases: Pre-test of A-B relations, Pre-test of AC and CA relations, IMTS training of AB-AB relations, Post-test of A-B relations, Post-test of B-A relations, Post-test of AC-B relations, Post-test of C-B relations, Post-test of B-C relations and Post-test of A-C and C-A relations. The results showed that all children achieved the learning criteria with IMTS procedure with compound stimuli in one or two training sessions and two of them showed performances indicative of the emergence of all relations in the posttests. These results indicate that the IMTS procedure with compound stimuli provides fast acquisition of trained relations and is an effective alternative to establish emergent conditional relations in children with autism.

In the school setting school-based professionals have difficulty using function-based approaches to support students engaging in consistent problem behaviors, specifically in students with emotional and behavioral disorder (EBD). This study evaluated the use of the Prevent-Teach-Reinforce (PTR), an individualized function-based intervention model for a 16-year-old high school student with EBD who was served in an alternative education setting. Through a team-based planning process that included the student and his classroom teacher, a function-based PTR intervention plan was implemented to address the student’s disruptive behavior and teach replacement behaviors of academic engagement and asking for help. An A-B design was used to demonstrate the impact of using the PTR model on the student’s behaviors. The results showed that after the PTR intervention was implemented, the student’s disruptive behavior decreased and replacement behaviors increased. The immediacy of the intervention suggest that the PTR can be implemented in an alternative school setting for students with EBD displaying persistent severe problem, with the involvement of the student.

There are a number of assessments and interventions that are utilized to improve performance in organizations. However, how and when to use these assessments and interventions requires further research. The current symposium looks at several studies aimed at optimizing employee performance, that is, knowing what to intervene on, in what way, and at what organizational level to make the best use of resources. The first two studies will focus on treatment integrity – first at the performer level and second at the systems level. We will provide data on how procedural errors impact treatment integrity and discuss how analyzing them at the systems (organizational) level informs intervention. The second two studies will then highlight how we can utilize untapped resources and customize multi-component interventions. Specifically, we will present research on using co-worker communication to motivate employee performance and how priority weighting and goal difficulty affects behavior and results on performance scorecards. Implications for how these findings can influence decisions and interventions organization-wide will then be discussed. Overall, these studies will highlight how data can be utilized to enhance employee behavior and provide guidance to organizations on how to select and customize interventions for optimal employee performance.

Intermediate – Background and/or education in ABA, familiar with single-subject and group design research methodology, understanding of rule-governed behavior

Procedural integrity is the extent to which an intervention is implemented as designed (Gresham, 2004). Research shows that integrity impacts clinical outcomes (e.g., DiGennaro et al., 2005; Gresham et al., 1993). That is, higher clinical outcomes are associated with higher levels of integrity. Supervisors are tasked with the responsibility to collect integrity data on their team’s performance, as required by the board (BACB, 2020). However, it is unknown how these data are collected, or what analysis and subsequent action supervisors or organizational leaders take once the data are collected. With the permission of our customers, deidentified integrity data were aggregated and analyzed across a few hundred employees. All data were collected electronically and aggregated to display performance over time. Based on these data, suggestions for subsequent supervisor and organization-wide action are provided to improve their organization-wide and team’s performance, and ultimately impact clinical outcomes. We posit that organizations must use their integrity data to guide their individual, team, and organization-wide supervision efforts. The benefits of aggregating and analyzing integrity data, as well as recommendations for what supervisors should do with those data are discussed.

Recent research suggests that statements by supervisors may function as verbal motivating operations and alter employee performance, but it is unknown if similar effects would be seen if delivered by another source. The supervisor is usually the primary agent of change in performance management practices. However, given the numerous job responsibilities of a supervisor, it would be beneficial to examine the potential effects of interventions delivered by a source other than the supervisor, such as a co-worker. The current study used an analogue work setting with a simulated new hire orientation, a confederate supervisor and co-worker, and concurrently available work tasks. There were 10 participants and a single-subject, counterbalanced reversal design was used to investigate the effects of alternative sources of rule statement delivery on employee performance. Despite some mixed results, overall findings support the performance-enhancing effects of motivational statements. Additionally, responding to the different sources delivering the motivational statements (i.e., co-worker versus supervisor) was comparable and suggests the source of rule delivery in organizations may not matter. As such, it is possible that motivational statements delivered by co-workers is a viable, cost-effective way to motivate employee performance, though additional research is needed to confirm these findings.

The field of Organization Behavior Management (OBM) frequently utilizes multi-component interventions, one of which is the performance scorecard. The performance scorecard combines elements such as goal setting, feedback and reinforcement to increase 3-5 behaviors or results. In addition, these behaviors/results are weighted so that some types of performance receive more credit than others. It has been suggested that this is beneficial and communicates relative priorities to employees, but how this affects performance has yet to be empirically tested. Therefore, the present study investigated manipulation of priority weighting and the effect on performance on concurrently available tasks in a workplace analogue. The study included five participants and utilized a single-subject multiple baseline and reversal design to compare equally-weighted and priority-weighted scorecards. Overall, there was an increase in performance when a scorecard was introduced relative to baseline (no scorecard condition). Results also suggested that priority weighting had some influence on behavior, including increases in behavior weighted more heavily but also decreases in behaviors weighted less heavily. However, additional variables such as goal difficulty and task preference, also influenced the effects of the priority weights and deserve further consideration.

This symposium includes four papers that involve the assessment and training of caregivers. In the first paper, Kacie McGarry will present a study involving the evaluation of an online training to increase parent’s language-promoting behavior. Results of the study point to next steps for evaluating training methods and the secondary effects of the training of their child’s behavior. In the second paper, Madison Molve will present a study describing an evaluation of BST to teach caregivers to identify choking hazards. Results of the study were consistent with previous research on using BST to teach hazard identification. In the third paper, Cressida Pacia will present a study evaluating the social validity and effectiveness of the Parent-Coaching Assessment, Individualization, and Response Stressors (PAIRS) tool to increase attendance and goal attainment. Results from further data analysis, as well as clinical implications, will be discussed. The fourth paper, presented by Daniel Kwak, explores the development and validation of a tool to inform culturally responsive parent training. Results found that the Values-Centered Assessment Tool (VCAT) was a valid and useful tool.

N/A-Basic level for entry level clinicians or clinicians of all ranges

Best practice for early intervention for children with autism includes integration of behavioural and developmental strategies, caregiver involvement, focus on pivotal skills, and individualization (Zwaigenbaum et al., 2015). While evidence-based interventions meet these criteria (e.g., Project ImPACT; Ingersoll & Dvortcsak, 2013), behaviour analysts report difficulty engaging caregivers and tailoring interventions (Ingersoll et al., 2020). The Parent-coaching Assessment, Individualization, and Response to Stressors (PAIRS; Pacia et al., 2022) was developed to bridge this gap. This study explores social validity and preliminary effectiveness of PAIRS when used alongside Project ImPACT. Seventeenparent-child dyads receiving services from two community agencies participated. Participants from Agency A received Project ImPACT (treatment as usual; TAU), while participants from Agency B received Project ImPACT + PAIRS. Social validity was evaluated through interviews with parents and providers, and preliminary effectiveness was measured by comparing attendance and parent fidelity of strategy implementation. Preliminary qualitative data review found parents were satisfied with Project ImPACT + PAIRS, and providers found PAIRS feasible and acceptable. Preliminary quantitative data review found higher attendance and a larger increase from baseline in parent fidelity in the PAIRS group. Interestingly, higher fidelity scores were found in the TAU group. Results from further data analysis, as well as clinical implications, will be discussed.

Like any science, a science of behavior seeks to measure its phenomena and explain them. Measurement entails ontological commitments, and from an ontological viewpoint, behavior is process, measured by the time it takes up. Since time is limited, activities must compete with one another for time. The Law of Allocation states that the relative time taken up by an activity equals the activity’s relative competitive weight. Explaining behavioral allocation means finding the determiners of competitive weight. The two basic determiners are induction and covariance. The Law of Induction states that behavior depends on environmental events that affect reproductive success—phylogenetically important events (PIEs). PIEs induce both adjunctive behavior and operant behavior: adjunctive behavior because of phylogenetic contingencies; operant behavior because of ontogenetic contingencies. The law of covariance applies to ontogenetic contingencies. A PIE induces an operant activity when the rate of that PIE covaries with the rate of the operant activity. Otherwise neutral events also induce operant activities and adjunctive activities when such events covary with PIEs. Such inducers have commonly been called discriminative stimuli and conditional stimuli. Induction far exceeds reinforcement in explanatory power. The three laws of allocation, induction, and covariance explain most known behavioral phenomena.

Behavior analysts of all stripes

Most behavior analytic toileting research is dedicated to urinary continence. However, when bowel movement continence is not achieved it can quickly become the number one concern for caregivers due to the impact bowel incontinence can have on an individual’s health and independence. Achieving bowel continence has far-reaching health and social benefits. When concomitant improvements in bowel movements do not occur once urine training is achieved, practitioners need to consider an array of factors related to the assessment and treatment of bowel movements. This symposium will provide an overview of the behavioral literature in this area with recommendations for future research as well as provide practical strategies for the assessment and treatment of bowel movement problems, through an applied study that focuses on treatment strategies for existing toileting habits that delay bowel movement training.

The target audience for this symposium is active practitioners in the field of behavior analysis working with clients who do not display bowel continence. The literature review component of the symposium is designed to identify researched interventions for bowel incontinence to assist practitioners in identifying potential interventions that may be used to resolve bowel incontinence. This paper also includes a call to expand research related to this topic with specific suggestions for both researchers and practitioners. The second paper presents a model for addressing stalled acquisition of bowel training with a specific assessment followed by an intervention based on shaping and fading. Participant data are shared. The discussant has recently (2021) published a paper on this topic in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are currently revolutionizing how we work and interact in our daily lives. In behavior analysis, one specific area of application that shows tremendous potential involves the assessment and treatment of autism. However, behavior analysts have been slow to adopt machine learning algorithms despite their promising nature. This presentation aims to provide a gentle introduction to artificial intelligence and machine learning while discussing potential applications to autism services. First, the invited session will define and describe what are artificial intelligence and machine learning. Then, the talk will cover recent exemplars of machine learning in autism research from the presenter’s work. Some exemplars include the monitoring of treatment progress, the identification of behavioral function, the selection of behavioral interventions, and the measurement of stereotypy. Finally, some benefits and drawbacks of applying machine learning to solve problems of social significance will be discussed. Overall, the presentation should provide a balanced overview of what artificial intelligence and machine learning may do (and not do) to support both practitioners and researchers in autism.

Currently practicing behavior analysts and advanced graduate students

Staff training is one of the most critical components of implementing high quality Applied Behavior Analytic services. While staff training may always include the basic principles of behavior analysis, the topics should also address less technical components including information on Autism, compassionate care, and professionalism. This panel presentation will outline best practices in the elements of staff training. The role of the direct support staff along with supervisory staff will be discussed. Panelists will share strategies that have helped promote a high skill level, bolster staff confidence, and a strong understanding of Autism and Applied Behavior Analysis. Examples of powerpoint presentations, staff competency exams, and video demonstrations will be shared.

N/A

Children with neurodevelopmental disabilities are twice as likely to be admitted to the hospital and almost three times as likely to have multiple admissions to the emergency department compared to their neurotypical peers. Many children with neurodevelopmental disabilities also engage in behavior that poses a risk of harm to themselves or others and impedes their access to medical care—both contribute to lengthy inpatient admissions. The effects of improperly managing such behavior in the hospital can be extensive. Staff encounter higher rates of injury and greater levels of stress. Hospitals experience large financial deficits. Caregivers report decreased satisfaction in services with continued delays to their child accessing medical care. The invited panelists will share their perspectives on overcoming the barriers to serving these patients by presenting avenues for navigating the hospital system. The discussion generally will entail training and supervising staff, accounting for various stakeholders’ needs, and identifying tactics to disseminate the importance of science.

Advanced; necessary requisite skills and companies for attendees to gain the most from the panel discussion included (a) completion of graduate-level work focusing on applied behavior analysis, (b) licensure and credentials as someone able to legally and ethically provide behavior-analytic services, (c) some experience beyond graduate school working in the healthcare setting.

The field of behavior analysis has recently undertaken incorporation of trauma-informed practices and acknowledgement of the contribution of emotional history to behavior (Friman, 2021; Rajaraman et al. 2022). However, it remains challenging to contact relevant literature within behavior analysis on the topic of behavior shaped through exposure to adverse experiences. With this paper, we will present foundational articles and research from inside and outside the field of behavior analysis to assist behavioral practitioners in the incorporation of trauma-informed practices. We will identify examples of theoretical and research-based papers to help behavior analysts define their role in addressing behavior shaped through traumatic events and give a starting point for practitioners to begin to better address the behavioral effects of adverse events on clients and provide appropriate treatment,

In recent years there has been increased awareness of the pervasive, long-term deleterious effects of emotional trauma on human behavior which has provided the impetus for what has become known as trauma-informed care. In this presentation, the more focused concept of trauma-informed practice will be discussed as it applies to behavior analysts working with persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities potentially at-risk for trauma. By virtue of their specialized training in the principles and observation of behavior, behavior analysts are in a unique position to screen and assess for trauma in this population. An expanded four-term contingency framework for conceptualizing trauma is presented which incorporates recent advances in our understanding of the role and characteristics of biological setting factors, remote and proximate motivating operations, stress vulnerabilities, and antecedent control of behavior. A protocol based on the principles of practical functional assessment of low-frequency, variable behaviors; measurement of co-occurring psychophysiological events, retrospective behavior analysis, and data triangulation which is designed to be part of the multidisciplinary evaluation and treatment planning process, will be presented.

The target audience includes those who are interested in promoting equity through large-scale social changes.

Functional communication training (FCT) is the most commonly used treatment for socially reinforced destructive behavior. Despite its efficacy in teaching functional communication requests (FCRs) and reducing destructive behavior, continuous reinforcement is not often feasible. Researchers have arranged multiple schedules in which two or more reinforcement schedules (continuous reinforcement; extinction) operate for FCRs, each correlated with a unique stimulus (e.g., green/red cards). This treatment, mult FCT, is effective at reducing destructive behavior, FCRs, and reinforcer deliveries. Much of mult-FCT research has involved (a) rapid alternations between reinforcement and extinction components and (b) the use of physical discriminative stimuli like index cards or poster boards. The current symposium describes adaptations of this arrangement. Kurywczak et al. evaluated the insertion of an extinction component in between two reinforcement components, as opposed to rapid schedule alternations, with four children with autism. Angley et al. assessed embedding discriminative stimuli directly into a communication device (e.g., coloring the communication icons themselves) with an adult with autism. Both mult-FCT extensions resulted in (a) a reduction in reinforcement to practical levels, (b) FCRs occurring near exclusively during the reinforcement component, and (c) suppression of destructive behavior. Dr. Brian Greer will discuss these findings and implications.

This symposium is ideal for BCBAs or BCBA-Ds who conduct functional communication training and are familiar with its literature. Terms such as multiple schedules and the treatment arrangement will be explained.

Challenging behaviors can produce negative implications for individuals that engage in these behaviors. The literature suggests that functioned-based treatments are the most effective in addressing these maladaptive behaviors such as functional communication training (FCT; Carr & Durrand, 1986). The limitations with research regarding these interventions are that it requires dense rates of reinforcement that are more difficult to maintain in the natural environment leading clinicians to schedule thin using arrangements such as multiple schedules. (Fisher et al., 1998; Hagopian et al., 2011; Saini et al., 2016). Traditionally, clinicians run multiple schedules by alternating between the reinforcement (SD) and extinction (S-Delta) components for a pre-determined session length (e.g., 10 minutes). The current study evaluates the effects of a Multiple schedule using an embedded middle S-delta component with 4 participants diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Participants were exposed first to an SD interval then an S-Delta component then followed by another SD interval as opposed to the rapid alternation of SD, S-Delta components. Results across all four participants showed a significant decrease in challenging behaviors.

Functional communication training (FCT) is a highly effective intervention for teaching communication responses and reducing destructive behavior. FCT has been used across communication modalities, from vocal-verbal behavior or to an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device. Bringing communication responses under discriminative control of a multiple schedule allow individuals to identify when communication responses will be reinforced while reducing reinforcement to practical levels. Although researchers have used physical discriminative stimuli in conjunction with an AAC device, no study has embedded the stimuli directly into the device where the communication icons reside. In the current study, we taught a non-vocal adult with autism and persistent communication requests to emit a variety of requests only when a reinforcement was signaled by the color of the AAC icon. We demonstrated the efficacy of this approach with two unique pairs of discriminative stimuli for tangible and edible items, thinning reinforcement for each stimulus class independently. We then rapidly transferred control to new icons and integrated both classes of stimuli into a single AAC grid. This first demonstration of embedding discriminative stimuli into an AAC device represents a promising advancement for non-vocal individuals who may not readily respond to delay or denial cues.

Impulsive behavior is the preference of a smaller sooner (SS) reinforcer over a larger later (LL) reinforcer; the opposite is self-control behavior. Despite major advances in our understanding of factors that influence impulsive preference (e.g., fading, framing, and priming procedures to reduce delay discounting), there is a need to expand the assessment of relevant variables and procedures that affect impulsive choice to less studied contexts. The first presentation will examine delay discounting of a recommended autism spectrum disorder (ASD) treatment in parents of children recently diagnosed with ASD and others asked to imagine being in the same situation. The second presentation will discuss the notion of negative values and asymmetries in discounting (e.g., in social discounting, people could choose to take money from others instead of giving money) and will examine negative values and asymmetries in data from individuals exposed to scenarios in which they would choose to quit or not smoking, report negative versus positive affect, and take money from others instead of giving. The third presentation will analyze the findings of an experiment that tested the effects of different probabilities of noncontingent money loss on the impulsive responses of college students and will compare these findings with previous research that has tested other forms of aversive stimulation (intense noise, cold water, and unpleasant images).

intermediate

We examined decision-making factors in parents’ treatment-option choices for children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We presented 31 parents of children recently diagnosed with ASD with a demographic questionnaire, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI; Spielberger et al., 1983), the Parenting Stress Index, 4th ed., Short Form (PSI-4-SF; Abidin, 2012), and a delay-discounting task. We also administered the same tasks to 14 people we asked to imagine having a child diagnosed recently with ASD. In the delay-discounting task, participants chose between a recommended treatment and another option. We varied the recommended treatment’s annual cost ($195.31–$12,800,000.00) using an adjusting-amount procedure (Holt et al., 2003) that reset to $50,000.00 at the start of each waitlist duration. We varied the recommended treatment’s waitlist duration (immediately–128 weeks) by starting at the shortest or longest duration and progressively increasing or decreasing every nine trials. The other treatment option was always cost-free and available immediately. Regardless of group affiliation (actual child vs. imagined), STAI responses, or PSI-4-SF responses, most (64.44%) participants gave responses that indicated waitlist duration (i.e., delay) did not affect their treatment choices. This result suggests delay may not affect ASD treatment choices in the same manner it affects many other commodities.

Flora et al. (1992) reported that noncontingent aversive noise increased impulsive responses during a choice task in which participants earned points exchangeable for money. The impulsive option immediately produced 2 points. The self-controlled option produced 10 points after a 16-s delay. It is unclear if other type of aversive stimulation (e.g., symbolic, non-pain related; Crosbie, 1998) would produce the same effect. Twenty-four college students (12 men and 12 women) were exposed to three probabilities of noncontingent point loss (0, .03, .05) during a replication Flora et al.’s choice task. In the absence of point loss (0 probability), participants overall showed a moderate preference for the LL option (approximately 65%), which closely reproduced the choice pattern reported by Flora et al.’s (1992) in their control group (no aversive noise). Self-control responses decreased with the introduction of the point-loss conditions. Lower proportion of LL responses were observed under the .05 probability, as compared to 0 and .03, which approached indifference (approximately 51% LL). Although the same pattern was observed in women and men, women overall showed higher proportion of LL responses across all conditions, and their number of LL responses seemed to have been less affected by the higher probability of point loss (.05), as compared to men. These findings overall support the generality of the effect of noncontingent aversive noise on impulsive responses reported by Flora et al. (i.e., increments in impulsive choice towards indifference).

The new "Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts," published by the Behavior Analyst Certification Board, is the newest iteration of our ethical obligations as behavior analysts. As our ethical requirements grow and clarify, there continues to be ethical lapses amongst the professionals in our field. Ethical drift continues. This panel, comprised of four members of the ABA ethics hotline, will present several case studies of ethical dilemmas, and each panel member will talk through how s/he thinks about each case, discussing interpretations, possible actions, and eventual resolutions. This panel has presented at ABAI for the past several years and has been very well attended.

There are no prerequisite skills - ethical behavior is required by all who practice in our field. We are targeting behavior analysts who work with humans and non-humans; ethics apply to all we do.

This panel will discuss the design of constructional clinical and other behavioral interventions informed by a nonlinear contingency analysis (NCA). NCA considers disturbing patterns to be a successful adaptation to the current consequential context and its history. Accordingly, it often does not attempt to directly change the presenting complaint, or any associated thoughts or feelings. Instead alternative contingencies, in partnership with the client, are designed that provide the same or greater benefit as the disturbing pattern, but at less cost. When certain patterns are completely off occasion from that of the disturbing pattern, and participate in contingencies that serve to potentiate the benefits of the disturbing pattern, systemic intervention is often required. Such intervention often results in changes in the disturbing pattern, and any accompanying thoughts and feelings, without direct intervention. From time to time immediate relief may be provided by topical interventions as systemic intervention is underway. In this way there can be a mix of a variety of behavioral and related interventions when solving behavior problems. The panelists have extensive experience applying NCA in a variety of settings across different populations—clinics, schools, in-home, zoos, and wildlife conservations. They will answer questions posed by the chair and audience, and discuss how they have been able to provide NCA applications and how behavioral practitioners from a wide spectrum of approaches might benefit for NCA.

Practitioners of ABA, animal trainers, clinicians, BCBAs, RBTs

Although scientific endeavors strive to be objective, they are the work of individuals whose unique perspectives and experiences impact their research and interpretations of the world and data. Institutionalized discrimination – based on race, gender, national origin, disability, and socioeconomic position, among others – persists in academic and scientific institutions. Further, such discrimination has created barriers for individuals from minoritized groups to participate in building and adding their perspectives to our science. For the field of behavior analysis to truly “diversify,” we must actively engage in behaviors that foster inclusive and safe learning environments for students, engage in collaborative work, and incorporate culturally responsive research and mentorship practices. This talk will review where we are as a field, showcase exemplars of culturally responsive practices, and propose steps for moving forward.

Students, Researchers, BCBAs

This panel briefly describe the work of Dr. Billy Baum as they discuss how it has influenced their own work and perspectives on Behavior Analysis.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.

I obtained my doctorate from Oxford University in 1974, supervised in part by Jock Millenson who had been trained in operant conditioning at Columbia University, New York.  Since then I have been in academic posts in Northern Ireland and have been a full professor since 1986. I published textbooks on behaviour analysis from 1979 to 2002, and some of these remain in print. As well as teaching undergraduate and postgraduate courses, I  have  successfully supervised 50 students  who  have  obtained PhDs  in fields including, experimental analysis of behaviour, applied behaviour analysis, psychopharmacology, behavioural neuroscience, experimental psychology, applied psychology. Three PhD’s were concerned with behavioural strategies to address environmental issues. In 1977 I was co-founder of the group, Behaviour Analysis in Ireland which became a chapter of ABAI. In 2004, the group became the Division of Behaviour Analysis of the Psychological Society of Ireland, and I was the Division chair from 2009 to 2020. I organised the Third European Meeting for the Experimental Analysis of Behaviour in Dublin, Ireland 1999, and have co-organised 15 annual conferences of the Division of Behaviour Analysis from 2007 to 2023. I was on the program committee for the ABAI 11th International conference, Dublin 2022.   In 2014, I was awarded a Doctorate of Science by Ulster University for career research on the experimental analysis of behaviour.  In 2018 I was appointed as a  Fellow, Association for Behavior Analysis International.  From 2014 to 2023, I have given a series of papers on conceptual issues in behaviour analysis (including behavioural accounts of consciousness and the metaphysical basis of behaviour analysis). Recent empirical work is mostly on the application of behavior analysis in mainstream education.  

Dr. Shahan received his Ph.D. in Psychology from West Virginia University in 1998. He was a postdoc at the University of Vermont, and then a Research Assistant Professor at the University of New Hampshire. He was the recipient of the 2006 B.F. Skinner Young Researcher Award and the 2023 Distinguished Contribution to Basic Behavior Analysis Award, both from Division 25 of APA. He is presently a Professor in the Psychology Department at Utah State University. Dr. Shahan’s research focuses on fundamental processes in learning, adaptation, and behavioral regulation with an emphasis on development, testing, and translation of quantitative theories of operant behavior. Much of his research has used animal models to examine how reinforcement and reinforcement-related stimuli contribute to attention, decision making, persistence, and relapse. His research has been supported for more than 20 years by various institutes at NIH including NIMH, NIAAA, NIDA, and NICHD. Dr. Shahan is a Fellow of ABAI and has served as an Associate Editor and Guest Editor for the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, president of the Society for the Quantitative Analyses of Behavior, and chair of the Biobehavioral Regulation, Learning and Ethology study section at NIH. 

Therapist pairing and instructional fading procedures that precede intensive behavioral treatment can facilitate rapport building and reduce the likelihood of problem behavior occurring during intervention. The current study sought to replicate findings by Shillingsburg et al. (2019) on the effectiveness of a structured pairing and instructional fading protocol in a community-based clinic. The procedures were conducted with two preschool-aged boys who were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to evaluate the effect of the procedures on problem behavior as well as proximity to therapist and compliance with therapist instructional demands. Results indicated effectiveness of the procedures across participants in a community-based clinic setting. Specifically, problem behavior during sessions remained low and compliance remained high as number of instructional demands were faded in.

An AB demonstration experimental design was used to determine if the implementation of peer yoked contingencies would correlate in an increase in a learner’s peer approval statements, while simultaneously decreasing the learner’s disapproving statements to peers, compared to baseline measures (Morgan, et. al, 2020). Peer yoked contingencies involve yoking peers together where they practice communication to each other, cooperative interactions, and working together towards “beating” the teacher (Greer & Ross, 2008). Typically, children with ASD do not have conditioned reinforcement for peers, therefore, they do not view peers as a source of potential reinforcement (Lawson & Walsh, 2007). The three participants chosen for this study were between the ages 7-9, diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, and exhibited both high frequency of peer disapprovals and low frequency of peer approvals in non-instructional settings. Researchers examined peer yoked contingency boards (peer tutoring, I-Spy, and Bingo) as the independent variables for this study (Greer & Ross, 2008). The dependent variable for the study was the difference in peer approvals and disapprovals in non-instructional settings comparing pre-probe and post-probe data. Post probe data revealed a decrease in peer disapprovals for all the participants in the study and a substantial increase in peer approvals for two of the participants.

Strategies to reduce challenging classroom behaviors often rely on external agents to manage contingencies, putting an unsustainable burden on teachers, administrators, and others. Fortunately, studies have shown self-management procedures to be effective across differing populations. However, these studies have commonly paired self-management with external reinforcement, limiting conclusions about the utility of self-management procedures themselves. In this study, I investigate the isolated effects of self-management on student’s on-task behavior through an operant analysis. Three elementary-aged students, receiving ABA services at a special education school, will be taught to self-record their on-task behavior using a Gymboss miniMAX Interval Timer cueing them at variable intervals. Using a changing criterion design, I will demonstrate whether a functional relation between self-recording and on-task behavior exists. Following baseline, participants will be trained to self-record using Behavior Skills Training, then a series of phases will be implemented to gradually increase the interval schedule. To isolate the effects of self-management, feedback or reinforcement will not be provided. During baseline, participants demonstrated low and variable levels of on-task behavior. Upon implementation of the self-recording procedure, the rate of on-task behavior increased in a stepwise manner, suggesting that this self-management intervention is effective at improving the on-task behavior of participants.

Individuals with autism (ASD) often exhibit challenging behaviors during health- and self-care routines. Children may require sedation to complete necessary routines, which increases risks when participating in medical care. Caregivers may also avoid completing vital self-care routines due to the fear their child experiences. Current evidence suggests that graduated exposure treatment packages are effective at increasing tolerance during healthcare procedures. Graduated exposure consists of exposing an individual to a hierarchy of stimuli from least to most feared, which have previously caused fear-based responses (e.g., negative vocalizations, disruptions, attempts to leave). Although graduated exposure has been shown to increase tolerance, this procedure can be resource intensive. The purpose of the current study was to extend previous research by examining procedures to increase the efficiency of graduated exposure. Four children with ASD were exposed to a treatment package that included graduated exposure, distraction, and frequent terminal probes to teach a variety of health- and self-care routines. The results showed that the treatment package was effective at increasing tolerance with routines. Additionally, frequent terminal probes allowed participants to skip unnecessary steps and increased the efficiency of the treatment package. Future research and clinical implications will be discussed.

For over 50 years, intervention methods informed by the principles of applied behavior analysis (ABA) have been empirically researched and clinically implemented with autistics/individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Despite the plethora of evidence for the effectiveness of ABA-based interventions, some autism rights and neurodiversity activists have expressed concerns with ABA-based interventions. Concerns have included discontent with historical events, issues with assent, issues with behavior analytic procedures, issues with what we are teaching, ableism, masking, and possible harm that we are causing. These concerns are continually raised and discussed in various platforms (e.g., social media, conferences, in peer-reviewed papers). The purpose of this panel is to examine some of the expressed concerns about ABA-based interventions and suggest productive ways of moving forward to help provide the best outcomes for autistics/individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. The panelist members will provide a variety of different perspectives (e.g., behavior analysts, clinicians, autistic adults).

This panel would be beneficial to any behavior analyst currently in the practice wing of the field providing behavioral intervention for autistics/individuals diagnosed with ASD (e.g., RBTs, BCaBAs, BCBAs, paraprofessionals).

Quality services in behavior analysis depend in great measure on stability of team members. Attrition has historically been a stumbling block to providing quality services in schools, day programs, residential programs, clinics, and home settings. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and its devastating effect around the globe, organizations are now forced to contend with what has been referred to as the “great resignation”. This panel will bring together perspectives on this issue from three different levels in a behavior analytical organization (owner, chief clinical officer, and technician). The owner will discuss the importance of having policies to address desired schedule by technicians, the impact of contract and rates on financial sustainability, and the balance between profitability and investing in clinical resources. The chief clinical officer will discuss the importance of clinical standards when designing the technician cycle from onboarding to training, to performance management. The technician will provide perspective on personal experience and will highlight practices that increase satisfaction with employment.

N/A Basic

The authors of this paper qualitatively investigated the critiques of ABA that have been raised by the autism community and their advocates to identify patterns of concerns and utilize such critiques to inform the development of the person-centered compassionate care (PCCC) framework. The paper provides an overview of possible barriers to compassionate care in ABA, defines Person-Centered Compassionate care, identifies its core values as it relates to ABA, and provides future directions for researchers and practitioners.

Adapted group-based Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) has been linked to a number of benefits for children with ASD, anxiety and ADHD, including increased social interactions, skill generalization, coping strategies, and emotional regulation. Further, it provides clinicians with the ability to work with children simultaneously, making it more accessible to a larger number of individuals at potentially reduced costs. This symposium includes two presentations on the application of adapted group-based CBT for children and youth with ASD, anxiety and ADHD. The first presentation will provide a synthesis of best practices and clinical recommendations for implementing adapted group-CBT for children with ASD and anxiety and/or obsessive compulsive behaviours. The second presentation is a direct application of these best practices within a blended dance and behaviour therapy program for children with ADHD in mental health day treatment. Together, these presentations will provide practical information for clinicians coupled with a direct application of adapted group-CBT.

Target audience members should have or be working toward BCBA certification and have a thorough understanding of basic behaviour principles. No knowledge of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is required.

Many children with high functioning autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience mental health challenges, such as obsessive-compulsive behaviours (OCBs) and anxiety. While a number of studies have been published evaluating adapted group-based Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) with and without behaviour analytic strategies for treating OCBs and anxiety, a synthesis of best practices for clinical implementation is sorely needed. Upon review of existing literature, we chose to highlight best practices across four key areas—(a) consent, assent, and child voice; (b) compassionate care; (c) parent involvement; and (d) ASD adaptations (e.g., simplifying instructions, providing structure and predictability). The aim of this presentation is to provide clinicians with a cohesive summary of best practices across these four areas so they can effectively provide adapted group-based CBT to children with ASD and anxiety and/or OCBs. Further, we provide empirically informed recommendations that can be implemented by frontline clinicians as well as examples from evidence-based adapted CBT programs for children with ASD to further illustrate these recommendations.

A manualized program, Dance with a B-E-A-T (Behavior Analysis and Therapy), was embedded within children’s day treatment. Our program combines recreational dance with behavior analysis and therapy to help facilitate improvements in motor skills, social skills, emotional regulation, and self-coping. The present study used therapeutic components, such as antecedent strategies, a token economy, relaxation, constructive self-talk and covert coping strategies. Five participants with ADHD and anxiety (7-9 years) participated with the aim of teaching three dance combinations and facilitating social-emotional coping. Observational probes at pre- and post-test measured percentage of dance skills completed correctly using a task analysis for each dance skill. Results suggested a positive impact on the group’s physical and social skills. There was a statistically significant improvement in correct steps between pre- and post-test for two of the three dance skills and the mean IOA score was 86%. Treatment integrity for program implementation was 91%. The Consumer Satisfaction Questionnaire indicated that the day treatment counsellor and teacher were extremely satisfied with the program. Qualitative data from satisfaction questionnaires, case notes and a word cloud conducted with children and staff suggested that participants had a very positive experience. Implications and current iterations of the program will be discussed.

This symposium will include three recently completed projects by the 2021 Behavior Analysis in Health, Sport, and Fitness Special Interest Group (HSF SIG) research grant recipients. The purpose of the HSF SIG Small Research Grant is to support experimental research that demonstrates the application of behavior analysis to address human behavior in the areas of health, sport, or fitness. Additional goals of this program are to disseminate behavior analytic research and practice and to expand research opportunities for students of behavior analysis. The first presentation will describe a study that evaluates whether ultramarathon runners who discount more steeply across monetary delay discounting tasks than non-ultrarunning peers. It then takes a within group analysis to evaluate whether motivation and presumed effort would cause additional changes to discounting rates. The second presentation will examine the effects of self-monitoring and goal setting on the number of elevated heart rate minutes accrued each week in overweight adults. The final presentation will describe a study that investigated the use of a remote video-based training on the ball direction prediction in goalkeepers. This study investigated components of a BST approach and slow motion videos as a possible training intervention. Recipients of the 2023 HSF SIG Small Research Grant will be announced at the end of the session.

graduate students, researchers, behavior analysts interested in the application of behavior analysis to health, sport, and fitness

Ultramarathon running is a quickly developing sport with a growing research base (Garbisu-Hualde & Santos-Concejero, 2020). Despite findings that imply that ultramarathon runners make unhealthy decisions, other findings suggest that ultramarathon runners are less likely to take risks and more likely to be health motivated (Hoffman & Krouse, 2018). This study aims to evaluate whether ultramarathon runners who ran The Barkley Fall Calssic in 2022, discount more steeply across monetary delay discounting tasks than non-ultrarunning peers. It then takes a within group analysis to evaluate whether motivation and presumed effort would cause additional changes to discounting rates. This research seeks to extend the work of Ostaszewski et al. (2013) on cognitive and physical effort on discounting rates as well as Kopetz et al. (2021) on motivation and discounting. Lastly this study seeks to create a functioning model to predict whether motivation or effort cause certain ultramarathon runners to discount race completion more steeply than others and if coaches can utilize this knowledge to improve training and race performance.

The CDC recommends that adults engage in moderate physical activity for 150 minutes or vigorous activity for 75 minutes each week. These measures can be observed with ease with the assistance of a heart rate monitor. The present research utilizes a changing criterion design with an embedded withdrawal to evaluate the effects of self-monitoring and feedback on the number of minutes participants engage in an elevated heart rate. The participants in this study were adults over the age of 18, overweight with a BMI of at least 25, and had an interest in losing weight. Participant’s selected weekly goals, wore a smart watch daily, and engaged in self-monitoring. Self-monitoring consisted of hand graphing their data if they reach their weekly goal and submitting a checklist and supplemental materials to the researcher each week. The majority of the current research in behavior analysis focuses on increasing daily distance traveled and/or steps taken through a pedometer. Although these studies have shown positive results, they do not account for intensity in real time and assume the intensity based on the topography and/or description of the behavior. Thus, this study holds potential to expand the current literature regarding self-monitoring and weight loss.

The target audience includes those interested in medication treatment trials and research in autism and developmental disabilities, those involved in the development of new tools and strategies to measure behavioral outcomes in clinical trials

A unique characteristic of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is the possibility of being updated and enhanced according to clinically-relevant conceptualization and research conducted within Relational Frame Theory (RFT). Defusion and self-based exercises are distinctive components of ACT. However, they might be seen as interactions only suitable for individuals with sophisticated verbal repertoires. This presentation will discuss different RFT conceptualizations of the processes involved in defusion and self-based exercises and the empirical evidence obtained from experimental analogs. First, we will present examples of different types of defusion and self-based exercises. Second, different theoretical proposals of the processes involved in these exercises will be discussed. Third, we will review laboratory research conducted to understand defusion and self-based exercises. Fourthly, we will discuss how RFT conceptualization and research could help to improve the efficacy of these types of exercises. Lastly, we will suggest how defusion and self-based exercises can be adapted to individuals with less sophisticated verbal repertoires.

Researchers and practitioners interested in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Relational Frame Theory

Anorexia nervosa is a disorder characterized by the high failure of treatment approaches, both psychological and pharmacological. The low rate of clinical success may be due to a mischaracterization in most commonly used classifications, which implies a therapeutic approach focused on non-nuclear symptoms and delayed diagnosis. Some authors point out that core symptomatology of food rejection and distortions in the body image could develop in late stages and be the result of the neurological affectation of malnutrition, rather than the cause of the disorder. The activity-based anorexia protocol has been widely accepted as an animal model of the disorder and has been used to test possible treatments for anorexia nervosa. There is experimental evidence in activity anorexia suggesting that excessive activity is a crucial factor in the development of the phenomenon. The aim of this presentation is to review the results from animal research using the activity-based anorexia model with an emphasis on the evidence and possible explanatory mechanisms of excessive activity. Results obtained in our laboratory suggest that the combination of food restriction and exercise is the way to develop anorexia. Increased activity is a common foraging response in mammals subjected to food restriction. This activity is expressed more frequently under diet, which facilitates its subsequent increase by mechanisms of reinforcement and induction. It has been proposed that the contingencies established by western culture encourage people to be involved in exercise and diet regimes, which in some individuals may lead to the combination of strong food restriction and hyperactivity, initiating the cycle of anorexia. These results are in line with historical descriptions of the disorder and new clinical and research evidence that reports an excessive physical activity in a high proportion of diagnosed patients. The proposed theoretical view will be based on basic and clinical research data of several studies that point in a similar direction, to propose a framework that can guide future research and clinical approaches to anorexia nervosa.

People interested in behavioral approaches to eating disorders.

Educators in public schools face a diverse student population, requiring them to address unique academic and adaptive needs, encourage self-regulation, and decrease challenging behavior. Pre-service teachers receive some classroom management training in their preparation programs, yet this is limited and often leaves teachers with minimal understanding of preventing and responding to disruptive classroom behavior. Limited resources and budgets are common barriers to further in-service training for educators, burdening school administrators with increasing maladaptive behaviors and teacher burnout. One solution is strengthening the partnership between Behavior Analysts and schools through consultation. This panel will discuss various frameworks and share their experiences of providing ABA consultation in public schools (Pre-K through Secondary) to support diverse student populations and stakeholders. Panelists will explicitly highlight three consulting frameworks, each addressing unique school needs and settings: a multi-year consultation, a framework based on the Registered Behavior Technician Task List (2nd ed.), and a framework supporting regional district needs in rural areas. Panelists will discuss lessons learned, challenges, and ethically responsible problem-solving using the Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts (2020). Finally, panelists will discuss the impact of legislation on available resources and the implementation of ABA in schools. Attendee participation is highly encouraged. Questions and experience-sharing are welcome throughout the session.

Students should have completed some coursework toward their BCBAs and have experience working or practicum experiences in school settings. Professionals should be BCBAs or educators working with BCBAs looking to learn key factors in teaming in schools and have experience with behavior consulting or would like to pursue this partnership.

As more and more individuals are getting certified as BCBAs (Behavior Analyst Certification Board, 2021), there are increased opportunities to grow as a clinical leader. Only a small percentage of BCBAs start their own practice and become their own bosses, while many BCBAs work for organizations or institutions for the bulk of their careers. Even a smaller number of BCBAs make it to the highest level of the clinical leadership role in mid-to-large ABA organizations. In recent years, more resources and training opportunities to be an effective supervisor have become widely available, yet there are limited opportunities to learn how to be a leader within an ABA organization with the current climate of business operations in the field. Leading a large group of BCBAs and RBTs on top of working collaboratively with the operations team and other service providers requires far more than being a great BCBA. This panel discussion addresses some critical learning opportunities, difficult decision-making experiences, strategies, and tips to be a successful leader.

Any BCBAs who are currently practicing as a case manager (supervise groups of RBTs) and interested in learning some tips on how to become a successful and effective clinical leader/supervisor at a mid- to large- sized ABA organization.

Behavior analysis graduate programs must train their students to be culturally responsive and aware so that they are prepared to effectively serve a diverse clientele. One important strategy for helping students gain cultural responsiveness and awareness is embedding diversity, equity, and inclusion materials into behavior analysis graduate course sequences. However, little guidance exists for selecting content related to diversity, equity, and inclusion within behavior analysis to include in behavior analytic coursework. This symposium will present two papers to address topic recommendations and readings that can be embededded into typical course structures into behavior analytic graduate programs.

Faculty, instructors, and supervisors in behavior analysis

Children with intellectual and developmental disabilities spend most of their day with parents, caregivers, and/or school personnel. In order to have a meaningful impact, behavior analysts must successfully collaborate with natural change agents such as parents and educators in developing and implementing interventions to reduce challenging behavior and increase communication in home and school settings. Therefore, behavior analysts need to develop skills to collaboratively design interventions well-suited for the natural environment as well as teach and coach natural change agents to implement the intervention. This symposium will highlight four studies in which interventions to reduce challenging behavior and/or improve communication that were designed to be implemented in homes and schools by parents and school personnel. These studies sought to evaluate (a) a comparison of two function-based interventions implemented by school personnel in an inclusive classroom, (b) telehealth coaching to support a father’s implementation of enhanced milieu teaching, (c) an FCT intervention modified to meet the needs of the father implementing the intervention, and (d) a participatory action research collaboration with an elementary school to improve class-wide function related intervention teams.

Audience members should have the following prerequisite skills and competencies: 1. Common functions of challenging behavior. 2. Functional communication training 3. Differential reinforcement 4. Noncontingent reinforcement 5. Enhanced milieu teaching

Decades of research have highlighted the benefits of inclusive education to students with disabilities. Per special education law, students with disabilities have the right to be educated with their peers without disabilities. However, there are multiple barriers to creating successful inclusive experiences for all students. Specifically, teachers have noted problem behavior as a key reason for segregating students into more restrictive environments. Training teachers and other school personnel to implement function-based interventions for students with disabilities can help overcome this barrier to inclusion. This presentation shares findings from a study comparing the effects of noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) and differential reinforcement of an alternative behavior (DRA) in inclusive school settings with students with severe disabilities using an alternating treatments design. Three elementary-aged students with severe disabilities participated in the study. School personnel were trained using behavior skills training (BST) to implement each intervention. Data were gathered on (a) occurrences of problem behavior; (b) on-task behavior; (c) treatment fidelity; and (d) social validity (school personnel and participant). Results provided insight into the potential differences in effectiveness and social validity across the two interventions in inclusive school settings with students with severe disabilities.

Naturalistic communication interventions embedded into play routines have been effectively taught to parents of young children with autism. Enhanced Milieu Teaching (EMT) strategies can be taught during naturally occurring play routines within the home, with a focus on parents arranging the environment, following their child’s lead, and imitating and modeling language use. However, most parent-mediated interventions have focused on mothers as intervention agents, although fathers may be just as effective. The present study was specifically designed to meet the needs of fathers, including: short, flexible, weekly telehealth coaching sessions outside of typical working hours in which the child did not need to be present; targeting natural father-child play routines; and initial training on autism and the principles of behavior analysis. One father-son dyad was recruited to participate. Father implementation of EMT strategies and child expressive communication were evaluated using a multiple baseline across behaviors design. Results indicate that the father was able to increase his use of EMT strategies, which resulted in an increase in child manding. Future implications of naturalistic communication interventions targeting fathers of children with autism are discussed.

Many individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) engage in challenging behaviors. A common intervention for challenging behavior is functional communication training (FCT). FCT teaches the individual a different response to access the reinforcer of the challenging behavior. Common functions of challenging behavior are access to attention, access to tangibles, and escape from demands. There are situations where the challenging behavior is so severe that challenging behavior persists even when there is a 0-second delay to emit the targeted communication response. We had one participant, named Mostafa. Mostafa was a 4-year-old white male, who engaged in tangibly maintained challenging behavior. Mostafa engaged in high levels of challenging behavior even with a 0-second delay. We modified FCT procedures to abolish the motivation to engage in challenging behavior. The modified FCT procedures involved Mostafa requesting for a piece of a toy, so the entire toy did not have to be removed. Once we modified FCT procedures, Mostafa’s communication increased, and challenging behavior decreased. We will discuss the implications this case has for clinical practice.

This session will describe a participatory action research (PAR) collaboration with an elementary school to improve the school’s implementation of Tier I class-wide behavior supports using a pyramidal training model. Researchers trained two school-based coaches – an instructional coach and a kindergarten teacher - to fidelity in Class-wide Function Related Intervention Teams (CW-FIT) and Practice-Based Coaching. We used a multiple-baseline across classrooms design to evaluate the effects of school-based coach-delivered training and coaching on four general education teachers’ implementation fidelity of CW-FIT. Rate per minute of behavior-specific praise and reprimand statements were also measured. Distal student outcome data were collected on student whole-class on-task behavior. Results indicated a functional relation between pyramidal training and general education teachers’ implementation of CW-FIT and an increase in rates of behavior-specific praise; no change in reprimand statements was observed. Student whole-class on-task behavior also improved across all classrooms when teachers implemented CW-FIT to fidelity. Teachers found pyramidal training, coaching, and the use of CW-FIT in their classrooms to be acceptable and feasible. Benefits and challenges of using a pyramidal training model to support class-wide behavior interventions in schools will be discussed.

Dogs have been trained for lung cancer detection, but the methods and results have varied widely. We aimed to clarify dogs’ capacity to detect lung cancer under operationally viable conditions. Using an automated apparatus, we trained dogs to indicate the presence of breath samples from individuals with lung cancer. We then conducted a blind test by interspersing samples of unknown status among samples with known status so that correct indications could be reinforced intermittently. Despite efforts to make blind samples indistinguishable from training samples, we observed a significant bias away from indicating blind samples as positive. We also observed a significant reduction in accuracy with both blind samples and training samples during the blind test. Following the blind test, we retrained the dogs and recovered the higher accuracy initially obtained. These findings raise some critical theoretical questions related to stimulus control. Notably, the findings suggest that highly complex discriminations are more likely to be disrupted by intermittent reinforcement than simple discriminations; they also suggest that alternative sources of stimulus control are more likely to emerge with complex discriminations. The findings also raise practical questions related to the clinical utility of dogs as detectors of cancer.

There’s a lot more to adopting electronic data collection systems than simply throwing out the paper and pencils. The presenters in this symposium will share their experiences utilizing electronic data collection systems in classrooms with individuals with autism spectrum disorder with high support needs. First, staff members must be trained to utilize the electronic data collection system. Tyree Davis will present data on use of the teaching interaction procedure to train staff members to build CentralReach © program books. Next, staff members must collect data in the classroom and teach the relevant targets. Becky Barall will discuss use of an enhanced data sheet to increase the frequency of data collection and teaching of instructional targets. Then, data must be actively reviewed to promote student outcomes. Kara Driscoll will share the effects of an interdisciplinary data review process implemented across classrooms to increase goal attainment. Finally, electronic systems should be leveraged to create universally designed programming. Kathryn Davies and Courtney Bright will present on class-wide implementation of picture-based activity schedules supported by CentralReach ©. Dr. Kerry Conde will discuss these projects and share insight on the role of technology in applied behavior analysis services.

The intended audience for the presentation is teachers, BCBAs, BCBA-Ds. Attendees should have competencies in basic forms of data collection and analysis.

Data-based decision-making (DBDM) is an essential component of evidence-based educational services. However, use of data in schools to analyze and change instructional practices may not always be occurring (Silva et al., 2021). Collecting data alone without instructional changes does not affect student performance (Stecker et al., 2005). We evaluated a treatment package aimed at increasing individualized education program (IEP) goal achievement through improvements to progress monitoring systems within a non-public school serving children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It utilizes data in four main components of the IEP process: (a) assessment data (b) linking assessment data to the development of IEP goals, (c) frequent progress monitoring of goals, and (d) the analysis of goal progress after instructional changes are made. The researchers compared the final progress reports for IEPs completed before and after all intervention components were in place for 10 students. Overall, annual IEP objective achievement increased by an average of 2.1 goals per student (23.6% increase) and the percentage of goals achieved increased from 49.7% to 85.3% on average. This treatment package resulted in increased achievement of annual goals, showing the importance of utilizing DBDM to make instructional changes.

As a branch of applied mathematics, information theory provides a set of tools and axioms for describing the patterning and structure of streams of events. Such streams are an indispensable form of data for learning theory. While measurements of disorder, or “entropy,” are now widely familiar to academics and laypeople, these only represent the tip of information theory’s iceberg. In concert with probability theory, its tools make possible the measure of how surprising an event is (contingent on some probabilistic expectation), how interrelated streams of events are, and how costly it is to translate between different sets of expectations. In this tutorial, I will give an overview of a practical toolkit of information-theoretic measures that can be used to make normative predictions about experimental designs. I will also introduce a strategy for how to measure the degree of correspondence between a model and data in a way that allows entirely different classes of statistical model to be compared with one another. Throughout, my emphasis will be on making these calculations practical for working experimentalists, so that these tools can be put to work in service of advancing learning theory.

Graduate students, experimental psychologists, and quantitative behavior analysts

Researchers and Clinicians

Academics, practitioners, animal trainers, dog trainers.

This symposium will address clinical challenges facing professional working in brain injury rehabilitation. This population offers unique dynamics that impact treatment and future program development. A functional-based language assessment tool to better identify the complex deficits and help treat important skills with the neurologically impaired will be presented. Developing guidelines for treating difficult behavior following brain injury could assist clinicians in effective implementation of rehabilitation.

Basic

This presentation will discuss evidence found on the effectiveness of behavior interventions with single-case experimental design methodology including behavior interventions that may display sufficient evidence to assist in the development of recommendations for management of behaviors in adults following moderate to severe TBI. Evaluation was completed on thirty-four studies that met inclusion criteria to review the effect of treatment interventions on defined target behaviors. Results will be presented on studies rated as having large, medium, small and no effect sizes. A trend was observed for lower internal validity scores in large and medium effect size studies. Randomization, blinded provider and assessor, and assessment of treatment adherence were the internal validity items consistently unlikely to be met. Single-case methodology was found to produce large and medium effect sizes for behavior interventions targeting difficulties in behavior regulation following moderate to severe brain injury. The strength of the evidence, however, was limited due to study designs that failed to meet internal validity criteria designed to reduce risk of bias when studying single subject interventions. Strategies will be outlined to improve the quality of study methodology and reduce the risk of bias, which may then provide better evidence to develop treatment guidelines for behavior interventions.

Language deficits are common following neurocognitive disorder (NCD), yet behavior analysts serving this growing population do not have a validated, function-based assessment to guide language programming. Gross, Fuqua, and Merritt (2013) developed and piloted the Verbal Behavior Assessment Battery (VBAB) to evaluate language deficits for older adults with dementia, but researchers have yet to replicate this study or evaluate this tool for adults following acquired brain injury (ABI). We expanded the VBAB to better capture the complex changes that may occur following ABI. We conducted the revised assessment with five adults with severe ABI and a matched control participant and found 1) varying deficits across ABI participants, 2) significant differences between the performance of ABI and control participants, 3) acceptable test-retest reliability, and 4) evidence for both functional independence and interdependence of verbal operants. Our discussion will focus on methodological considerations and potential refinement of the assessment for future clinical use.

In the United States, it is sometimes taken for granted that those who stand for Black Lives Matter are also pro-choice and anti-death penalty, even though these topics and issues are not clearly interrelated functionally or topographically. Have you wondered why those who practice racism also seem to practice homophobism, are pro-life, and believe in cutting taxes? To move towards a more socially just society, we must first understand the interrelatedness of seemingly unrelated topics including racism, classism, ageism, abortion, taxation, abolishing police, and freedom. Stimulus class formation occurs when a group of stimuli evoke functionally similar responses. The panelists and chair of this presentation have conducted preliminary exploratory research and hypothesized that stimulus classes exist that evoke responses with topics that are seemingly different, both topographically and functionally, often sometimes contradictory. Further, we will discuss how to identify functional reinforcers that establish beliefs (i.e., verbal behavior) and actions. A conversation regarding stimulus equivalence and nonequivalence of extremist parties will occur, focusing on the behavioral phenomena that both form and maintain these classes as well as how to change them.

This panel discusses interlocking contingencies, stimulus class formation, and stimulus equivalence and nonequivalence. Participants should be well versed in these topics prior to attending.

Functional communication training is an effective and established method to teach an appropriate replacement behavior, including mands, for individuals with developmental disabilities. Clinicians choose a mand topography for a functional communication response based on many factors, including available resources, response effort, and the client’s previous learning history. However, few studies systematically examine how to select an appropriate mand topography. Furthermore, there is inadequate knowledge of how preference for mand topography influences proficiency and usage. Incorporating client preference for mand topography prior to intervention may lead to better outcomes, such as facilitating efficiency of behavior acquisition, supporting treatment sustainability, and maintaining treatment effects. Despite these potential benefits, proficiency and preference are rarely studied simultaneously, and therefore the predictive value of proficiency on preference is not well-understood. In this symposium, we evaluate how to systematically identify appropriate mand topographies, assess client preference for mand topographies in different regions of the United States, and examine the relationship between proficiency and preference for mand topographies. We propose future directions for clinicians and researchers in this line of work.

Practitioners and applied researchers should have a strong understanding of functional communication training, preference assessments, and single-case design.

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.

A key component of effective behavioral services is comprehensive assessment for program planning purposes. Behavior analysts are also required to involve clients and relevant stakeholders in selecting and designing assessments (p. 11 Ethics Code). Assessments must also be behavioral and evidence-based (section 2.13). Not only is assessment addressed with the Ethics Code, it is addressed within the BCBA Task List (i.e., record review, determining need, identifying and prioritizing behavior change goals, assessing relevant strengths and deficits, and several other areas). Assessment is also linked to components of the Ethics Code that relate to “conform with legal and professional requirements” (section 1.02). Many BCBAs will work in school settings with students who have disabilities and who are afforded protections under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), with these components also reflected in state laws. One of the key components of IDEA is appropriate evaluation. This session will focus on assessment practices for behavior analysts with examples of assessments that may be legally required for students with disabilities in public school settings. The focus will demonstrate how various school-required assessments meet the requirements of being behavioral, evidence-based, and leading to program planning based on identified strengths and deficits.

This keynote will focus on breaking the silos that inadvertently separate related and overlapping school efforts to promote positive student outcomes for students with minoritized and marginalized identities. Attendees will learn how to leverage related data to inform cultural responsive and affirming practices with students from marginalized and minoritized backgrounds. Recommendations for practice will be discussed.

ABA Practitioners, professionals working in schools

The field of applied behavior analysis (ABA) is growing exponentially, as are the organizations that are providing ABA services. Maintaining quality can be challenging during periods of rapid growth. Regardless of an organization’s size, scaling quality care is vital for the continued success of our field and for the patients we serve. When considering sustainable systems change, we are obligated by our ethical code to develop a system that benefits others, treats others with compassion, dignity, respect, integrity, and ensures competence. At Centria, we have developed a clinical framework that begins with understanding our client's values from the start of care. As Montrose Wolf outlined eloquently in 1978, as practitioners, we should continually ask ourselves if what we are doing matters to those with whom we are working (Wolf, 1978). It’s a simple question, but one that can often get lost in the middle of a therapeutic plan based upon standardized and criterion-referenced assessments. During this panel, we will be discussing the development of our patient-centered, values-aligned approach to therapeutic intervention. We'll discuss a multi-step process across a large-scale system, including; communication strategies, our mentorship model, training systems, and the development of tools to assess outcomes and monitor implementation.

The audience should have an introductory understanding of delivering aba therapy, management of staff, and experience with training staff to deliver aba therapy.

As criticism of the field of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) increases in intensity, there have been growing calls for reform. In response to these criticisms, the field has also seen an increase in discussions of social justice and compassion. In this symposium we will discuss how social justice and compassion are vital to fostering human dignity and quality of life for our consumers. The first presentation will discuss current criticisms and the rationale for growth and evolution within the field of ABA. Building on the original seven dimensions of ABA and incorporating lessons learned from more than 50 years of practice within our field, we propose compassion as the eighth dimension of ABA. The second presentation will cover social justice as a core tenet of applied behavior analysis. We will present social validity and social invalidity as measures of quality of life. This presentation will conclude with suggestions for behavior analysts to engage in meaningful actions towards transformation.

Intermediate. Audience members should have a basic understanding of theory and philosophy of behavior analysis and have an understanding of the seven dimensions and their application.

The goal of Applied Behavior Analysis has always been to help our clients achieve the goals that are important to them and improve their lives in ways that they choose. Over more than half a century, this approach has proven successful in changing lives. But we are now hearing growing criticism that behavior analysts have lost sight of this objective through problematic application of strategies and procedures and ignoring the science and analysis —sometimes to the detriment of clients’ needs and concerns. In this paper, we propose a reconceptualization of the practice of ABA, adding compassion to the current dimensions that have represented our field for several decades, to help behavior analysts find their way back to implementing interventions in a compassionate, responsive, and humble manner that includes working with our consumers and our critics, and listening to perspectives that can help us improve our practice.

The present symposium will focus on molecular analyses of seemingly ubiquitous intervention procedures. In the first presentation, Olga Meleshkevich will share her investigation of the relationship between echoic and listener responses with children with autism. In the second presentation, Kara LaCroix will share findings from a review of the shaping literature. Both presentations will shed light on the critical mechanisms behind these commonplace procedures. Lesley Shawler will discuss implications of these findings and future directions for molecular analyses of behavior.

Some understanding of verbal operants and Skinner's verbal behavior conceptualization of language development

Professional organizations for behavior analysts and the Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts (Behavior Analyst Certification Board, 2020) are intended to protect vulnerable populations receiving applied behavior analysis (ABA) services and offer service providers support and accountability in upholding guidelines set to protect clients. When selecting practices in alignment with professional guidelines, behavior analysts also may want to confer with the research literature to ensure their selections are evidence-based. This symposium includes four presentations, each one showcasing a dataset related to an area of ethical need within the field. The first presentation will discuss survey results about researchers’ use of practices to obtain consent and assent from research participants. The second presentation will cover survey results regarding clinicians’ use of assessments and behavioral procedures to minimize behaviors that may cause harm. The third presentation will share results from an experiment comparing the efficacy and acceptability of using parents’ preferred or non-preferred language during behavioral skills training. The fourth presentation will consider results from a systematic review of recent literature in behavioral journals involving autistic people, comparing the use of deficit-based vs. strengths-based terminology. Amy Gravino (A.S.C.O.T Consulting, LLC) will discuss these four presentations based on her experiences and perspective.

The target audience includes BCBAs or BCBA-Ds providing ABA services and/or conducting ABA research. The pre-requisites include knowledge of the Code of Ethics for Behavior Analysts and the ability to make evidence-based decisions.

Autism and disability research are shifting to a strengths-based approach including acceptance of characteristic differences and recognizing differences can be socially constrained. Advocates have suggested that terminology surrounding autism may negatively impact service delivery and people on the autism spectrum. In response, advocates have published recommendations for alternative terms to use in autism research. We aimed to identify how behavioral researchers describe autism and intervention supports to determine whether current language practices are consistent with recommendations. We conducted a systematic review using PRISMA-S guidelines for articles involving autistic people in 2021, yielding 2360 articles across 242 peer-reviewed journals. We will present results from articles in behavioral journals (n = 98 articles). We specifically examined the use of traditional deficit-based language relative to recommended alternative terms. Initial findings suggest that behavioral researchers still predominantly use terms consistent with a deficit-based model as opposed to strength-based alternatives; however, this is consistent with autism discourse across other disciplines of research as well. We will discuss ethical and practical implications of such language choices and provide recommendations for behavioral researchers.

Successful behavior change interventions often fail to scale, limiting their impact. Analysis of the contingencies surrounding large-scale change is frequently required; indeed, the entire field of implementation science focuses on this challenge. Established empirical methods reminiscent of functional analysis - sometimes called "barriers analysis” or “determinants analysis” - identify potential barriers to adoption, and suggest ways to surmount them. A nonlinear analysis of the contingencies and meta-contingencies enhances this exercise. In this symposium, we use a comparative approach to deconstruct attempts to scale up interventions in organizations, large-n autism service delivery, K-12 education, and environmental sustainability. Interdisciplinary insights will add to the lessons learned. Developing a successful intervention is only the first step in an implementation process leading to meaningful large-scale change. And as prominently illustrated the case of climate change, we are rapidly running out of time to scale up.

Intermediate: understand contingency analysis, meta-contingences

This symposium features four fantastic presentations extending behavior analytic methodology to infants and toddlers. First, Dr. Carolynn Kohn will present research surrounding the common assertion that infants have unlearned preferences for prosociality, and results suggest that few infants reliably made choices. Dr. Kohn will emphasize the value of single-case designs and repeated measures. Second, Carley Smith will present on extending behavior analytic preference assessment methodology to infants as young as six-months-old. Carley’s presentation will highlight what behaviors best indicate preference. Dr. Hayley Neimy will present on the efficacy of different operant social reinforcement procedures to promote vocalizations in neurodiverse infants in single- and dual-language households, and results highlight the importance of teaching caregivers to provide contingent reinforcement to improve early social communication skills in their children. Fourth, Dr. Katerina Monlux will present on teaching parents, in-person and through telehealth, strategies to establish joint attention and social referencing skills in neurodiverse toddlers. The results replicate the efficacy of an operant learning paradigm when teaching these skills. We are excited and honored to have Dr. Martha Pelaez as our discussant given her expertise and passion for this area of research.

Understanding of the application of behavior analysis in developmental psychology; elicited behavior compared to operant behavior.

Identification of reinforcers is an essential component when teaching new skills to individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders. Commonly, a preference assessment is used to identify potent reinforcers. However, it is unknown if common methodology used to identify preferences for children and adults with neurodevelopmental disabilities also can be used for children under two years old. The purpose of this study was to evaluate efficacious methods to determine preference in infants as young as six-months-old. In addition to evaluating the efficacy of commonly used preference assessment methods (e.g., free operant versus paired stimulus preference assessments), we also evaluated if behaviors, other than a reach response, could reliably predict preference. We discuss the implications of our findings on expanding behavior analytic interventions to a younger population. In addition, we will provide recommendations on how to respond when infants do not have the prerequisite skills to participate in standardized preference assessments.

Behavior analysts often rely on aggregate measures of behavior to conduct functional analyses and assess the efficacy of their treatments. These aggregate measures, nonetheless, obscure informative features of behavior. A more fine-grained analysis of how motivated behavior unfolds over time, for instance, suggests that, even in a relatively constant environment, motivated behavior is organized in bouts of engagement. Although this is likely in part an artifact of how behavior is measured, it reveals that (a) motivational, cognitive, and sensorimotor processes that underlie observable actions are, in principle, separable, and (b) the most important functional impact of reinforcement is not on conditioned responses or operants, but on behavioral states that give rise to those responses. This tutorial will discuss key insights on behavior that emerge from its temporal organization, the relation of this organization to theories of motivated behavior, and the analytical and procedural approaches to the estimation of organizational parameters.

Board certified behavior analysts and graduate students.

Naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions (NDBIs) are a group of evidence based early interventions that use a variety of strategies from developmental and behavioral sciences. Despite strong and growing evidence base, NDBIs are not implemented on a wide scale. Our panelists will answer frequently asked questions related to funding, data collection, resource considerations, training, fidelity, and more.

Practicing BCBAs, BCBA-Ds and researchers in the field. Prerequisite skills include a general understanding of what NDBIs are.

Acceptance of care, quality of care and outcomes of care are all influenced by the cultural responsiveness of the clinicians delivering that care. Nowhere has this been clearer than in service delivery in the Caribbean. Our panelists from the Cayman Islands, St. Croix and Curacao will provide a brief introduction of who they are and the roles they play and have played in behavior analysis in the Caribbean. After these introductions, our chair from Puerto Rico will moderate a discussion based on questions from the audience focused on exploring the importance of cultural responsiveness and values-based care in communities where access to care has been limited; mental health stigmas still exist; and cultural factors must be taken into consideration. This panel is appropriate for anyone interested in learning more about starting services outside the United States or in rural/remote areas in the United Stated where services are not yet accessible, and barriers to care including cultural barriers exist.

Behavior analysts with at least 1-2 years of experience.

Children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (e.g., autism) require more visits to the emergency department than neurotypical children. This, in part, is due to the escalation of challenging behavior to crisis state and higher rates of co-occurring medical conditions. Challenging behavior also makes providing preventative and routine medical care difficult, often resulting in longer lengths of stay and more invasive forms of medical care (e.g., restraint or inpatient hospitalization) for procedures that typically are completed in less-restrictive settings. The invited panelists will present their perspectives on the application of behavior analysis and patient-centered care in hospital settings. Considerations for establishing care models for patients with intellectual and developmental disabilities and challenging behavior will be discussed.

Advanced; necessary requisite skills and companies for attendees to gain the most from the panel discussion included (a) completion of graduate-level work focusing on applied behavior analysis, (b) licensure and credentials as someone able to legally and ethically provide behavior-analytic services, (c) some experience beyond graduate school working in the healthcare setting.