Association for Behavior Analysis International

Academics, practitioners, animal trainers, dog owners, zookeepers, animal researchers

Advancing research and clinical practice in applied behavior analysis requires critical evaluation and integration of the scientific literature. Synthesizing research across published and unpublished studies enables behavior analysts to make evidence-based decisions in clinical practice, evaluate potential sources of bias in the literature, and identify critical gaps in our understanding of behavioral science. Two common research synthesis approaches include systematic reviews and quantitative meta-analyses. These types of studies are distinct from other literature reviews due to their adherence to strict guidelines for conducting comprehensive literature searches, article screening, data extraction, data analysis, and reporting of results. This presentation will discuss the strengths and limitations of systematic reviews and meta-analyses in behavior analysis, with an emphasis on methodological recommendations and practical tools. Specific topics will include choosing a research question and defining the scope of the review, pre-registration, and adhering to international guidelines for conducting literature searches, study selection, data extraction, evaluating study quality and publication bias. An overview of common quantitative analyses used in meta-analyses and effective ways to present results will also be discussed. Finally, the presenter will share his experiences with software and database management tools for increasing efficiency and transparency at each phase of the review. Examples from published systematic-reviews and meta-analyses from the presenter’s research on behavioral economics of substance use and psychiatric disorders team will be discussed to illustrate the promise and pitfalls of these studies. The overall goal of this presentation is to provide attendees with methodological techniques for conducting reviews which can be translated to their respective specialty areas in applied behavior analysis.

Behavior analysts and basic researchers with at basic, intermediate, and advanced experience levels. No prior experience with systematic reviews or quantitative analyses is required, but familiarity will be helpful for some of the advanced topics.

In the Czech Republic, as with many countries in Central and Eastern Europe, practices rooted in the science of applied behavior analysis (ABA) have had to fight to gain ground since the area's relatively recent rise from communist oppression. While there are services (e.g., early care centers, specialized schools, etc..), they customarily provide low intensity care or non-evidenced treatments. Generally speaking, governments have historically spent their limited public resources on unvalidated services. Unfortunately, the voice of science has been underused in selecting education or social services. As a result, the region has struggled amid the landscape of an ABA service desert, being plagued by misinformation, hosting overworked and under supported behaviors analysts, missing necessary funding, and facing the backlash of threatened professionals from other disciplines. Regardless, driven advocates of ABA have successfully propelled dissemination and built quality practical applications over the last decade. This presentation shares the burgeoning ABA projects of the region looking at: (1) the local Technology Agency of the Czech Republic's (TACR) two year ABA telehealth project, (2) the European Union Erasmus+ supported collaborative projects in ABA as EuroBA, the A Class, and Positive Parenting, and (3) a glimpse of the Czech Republic's process of legally recognizing the profession of behavior analyst. Discussing this modern trajectory of the science, including potential roadmaps for the advancement of ABA in similar locales, the development of culturally competent and sustainable practices, and applied research outcomes, aims to inspire not only those supporting ABA development beyond North America and Western Europe, but also those looking to reflect on best ethical practices in telehealth, caregiver training, teacher training, and practitioner standards.

Behavior analytic professionals currently working in, or planning to work in, areas where there is a dearth of ABA services. Behavioral professionals looking to reflect on best ethical practices in telehealth, caregiver training, teacher training, and practitioner standards.

Pediatric Feeding Problems (PFP) occur in a high number of children, especially in those with developmental disabilities. If untreated, these problems can have negative effects on a child’s health such as malnutrition, severe weight loss, and delayed growth. They can also negatively impact socialization and produce high levels of caregiver stress. In this talk, we will discuss some of our research done in this area emphasizing the development of cross-cultural collaboration. In order to do this, we will discuss the different steps followed for the treatment of PFP: assessment, intervention, and caregiver training and we will present some of our work conducted in each area. We will show data on the prevalence of PFP in the Mexican population using a small sample of kids with an ASD diagnosis, then we will describe evaluations using conditional probabilities of food refusal and acceptance in typically developed children and children with an ASD diagnosis. We will describe the implementation of antecedent (high-probability instructional sequences, pairing, and fading) and consequence-based strategies (reinforcement and escape extinction). Finally, we will describe the implementation of Behavioral Skills Training to teach caregivers to implement some of these procedures. We will make special emphasis on 1) considerations to select interventions, 2) cultural differences between México and USA that could impact treatment options, 3) the relevance of collaborating with other behavior analysts to advance our knowledge and quality of treatments, 4) futures lines of research, and 5) the future of services in México. Several studies were conducted in collaboration with Jonathan K. Fernand.

Board certified behavior analysts, licensed psychologists, students

Students, Faculty, Other Professionals

Practitioners, Researchers, Supervisors, and Trainers

The purpose of this presentation is to discuss how verbal behavior research on reading can positively impact children’s academic outcomes. Low reading proficiency significantly affects children, their families, and their communities. For instance, third grade children who cannot read proficiently are four times less likely to graduate from high school than those who can. When students do not graduate from high school, they are more likely to have lower wages and poorer health outcomes than high school graduates. In fact, over time, low literacy costs society billions of dollars in lost earnings, employability, and related social outcomes. For these reasons, ensuring that all children have access to effective reading instruction is critical. In this presentation, I will describe the importance of proficient literacy for historically marginalized children such as children with disabilities and economically disadvantaged children. I will then describe how research on reading in verbal behavior analysis has identified effective instructional practices that can impact children’s reading outcomes. This presentation will conclude with recommendations for addressing educational inequities by advocating for literacy as a form of social justice.

The target audience for this presentation is behavior analysts and educators interested in PK-12 education and in reading instruction. The target audience also includes behavior analysts and educators who are interested in issues of social justice.

Traditional wisdom suggests that consequential operations (e.g., positive reinforcement) should occur immediately following target behavior to promote acquisition, maintenance, or both. Further, state-of-the-art preference assessment technologies have been used to identify potential reinforcers, wherein items selected first are deemed to be the more effective potential reinforcers, than say, items selected last. However, recent research has shown that many individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) prefer to wait and have accumulated access to their reinforcers, rather than experience small but immediate access to their reinforcers. Similarly, an extensive, robust, and non-behavior analytic literature on human decision making has shown that when selecting the order of a sequence of events (e.g., meet with an abrasive family member, or have dinner at your most preferred restaurant), people typically prefer an improving series of events when the choice involves a sequence of outcomes. That is, people typically choose to meet with the abrasive aunt first, and to have the highly preferred dinner, last. The preference for “saving the best for last,” or preference for an improving sequence has been termed negative time preference. In this presentation I will present abbreviated summaries of our research on distributed as compared to accumulated access and factors that contribute to and work against negative time preference. Collectively, this work has involved typically developing preschool children, children and adolescents with IDD and college students.

Scientists, Behavior Analysts, Practitioners

The field of OBM has done a tremendous job of documenting effective evidence-based procedures and techniques to improve performance at work. However, we do not always make the connection between our OBM techniques and what has been known since the early days of our science about how to reduce the likelihood of counter-control or strong negative reactions to behavior change techniques. In this presentation, Dr. Austin will describe a few areas of traditional OBM where the approach in implementation produces differential outcomes. Unfortunately, there is there are little data there are a few data to support these claims but sometimes experience must be our guide. Dr. Austin will discuss approaches to setting clear expectations, to having difficult conversations, delivering and receiving feedback, and delivering reinforcement that can help leaders build rapport and create behavior change more rapidly.

BCBA/BCBA-D

Some of the most basic tenets of behavior analysis are that the explanation of all behaviour should be in terms of interactions with the environment, that behavior is changed by its consequences in the ways specified by a modern version of the law of effect, that those behavior changes contribute a great deal to the behavioral repertoire that is observed, and that these principles apply to the behavior of many animal species including humans, whose covert and verbal behavior is also determined by the same principles. Various areas of recent empirical and theoretical development may threaten some of these tenets. Consequent questions discussed in this paper will include: Is there evidence that response strengthening doesn’t occur, and does this have implications for the ubiquity of the law of effect? Can we maintain a strong version of phylogenetic continuity of learning principles given the evidence from animal cognition studies on the one hand, and relational frame theory on the other? And do studies of observational learning in human development suggest that we have overestimated the role of the law of effect?

Those who have taken postgraduate course in behavior analysis

All care givers for individuals with autism.

Behavior analysts and scientists interested in the improvement of the public image of science

Behaviour analysts in academic and practitioner roles, from advanced undergraduate to postgraduate levels