Association for Behavior Analysis International

Periodically, social upheavals challenge well established cultural rules and practices. A sampling of current tensions includes what is observed between those who accept social stratification as inevitable and those who labor for social justice, between conservative, progressive, and libertarian agendas, between those who would grant remarkable power to businesses and those who would limit those powers in favor of public health and climate justice. Culturo-behavior scientists have advanced a number of strategies grounded in evolutionary, prevention, and behavior sciences, Skinner’s philosophy of science, and contemporary approaches to language and cognition. Advances in conceptual and empirical evidence for the planned use of interlocked behavior contingencies suggest that it is not too late to create a sustainable economy in which all humans matter, all voices are heard, and all can access basic goods and services. In this symposium, Giovambattista Presti, Francisco Perez, Thomas Szabo, Yukie Kurumiya, and Dennis Embry discuss these advances. At the end, Tony Biglan will provide commentary.

Board-certified behavior analysts, teachers, and psychologists

Putnam and Garrett in The Upswing document the evolution of the United States from a We to an I culture over the last 125 years. They examined how “economic inequality, political polarization, social fragmentation, cultural narcissism, racism, and gender discrimination” evolved. They concluded that these changes are constructed by “human agency.” Skinner warned us that “great changes must be made in the American way of life to prevent a potential catastrophic future.” He urged us to “use our knowledge about human behavior to create a social environment” so we can live productive lives and not jeopardize the future for those who follow us. We have been asked “why are we still not acting to save the world?.” We propose that positive change can be managed. We now have a matured science of behavior and the technologies to engineer the next steady upswing. We propose that behavior analysis is a truly unifying science. It brings together, with behavior as the thread, evolutionary, social and biological-neurological sciences within the context of selection by consequences. We propose that together, we can ignite a commitment to initiate a behavior-based cultural evolutionary process that will reframe our culture towards the greater good.

Behavior analysts have long done what Putnam (2001) said America does; that is, we have gone “bowling alone.” Our commitment to an inductive, within-subject research tradition perplexes others. They leave us be, so long as we stay clear of social and psychological issues. Yet these troubles have turned up at our own door. We struggle with issues regarding race, gender, neurodiversity, and aversive technologies. If behavior analysis is to withstand these storms, we will need to break our silence on matters all but forgotten in our history. In this talk, I chronicle the climate in which Skinner advanced the experimental analysis of behavior. I discuss the deductive approach to analyzing variability in data and its connection to the British and American eugenicists. If, as eugenicists argued, behavioral variability is intrinsic, there is reason to cease helping those who will never do well. In contrast, if behavioral variability is extrinsic, then environmental experiences can be engineered to assist all those who live. The eugenics movement went underground after WW2, but its impact on science and the helping professions remains. I argue that now is the time to break our silence and show the world that all people matter, that everyone belongs.

In recent years, behavior analysts have focused research attention on professional burnout (Brown, 2021; Daunavi et at., 2019). It seems ironic that behavior change agents that establish nurturing environments for others are not nurtured by their professional environments. One explanation for this phenomenon is that graduate programs teach behavior analysts to engineer behavior change at the level of the individual and the service industry reinforces practice at this same level of analysis. However, decades of studies show that by combining contingency management with both compassionate attention to emotions and the transmission of sustainable cultural practices, service delivery and service environments transform for the good of all. In this presentation, I will discuss training behavior analysts to engineer their service environments into nurturing, collaborative spaces with tools borrowed from culturo-behavior science, evolutionary science, and prevention science, each tethered in a quadrilateral matrix to the overarching philosophy of radical behaviorism. This approach is consistent with Skinner’s view of parallel selection processes that can be yolked together to create an appetitive, sustainable, and evolving professional field of applied behavior practice.

Compassionate applied behavior analysis (ABA) encompasses components of Trauma-informed Care and autistic-affirming socially valid assessment and treatment approaches. There is a large movement in the ABA field to promote and disseminate these practices to embrace a growing trend towards a more inclusive field. This symposium will focus on, not only how to practice compassionate ABA, but provides empirical evidence for doing so. A mixed methods survey was conducted in Study 1 to directly assess the perspectives of autistic individuals, and other stakeholders, regarding the educational decision-making process. The results from the respondents indicate the need for respecting autistic culture and selecting procedures that consider social and emotional needs. Study 2, introduces a novel, trauma-informed assessment of problem behavior that (a) reduces exposure to evocative situations that could potentially re-traumatize the individual and (b) ensures that the child maintains a level of control over their own environment. The authors validated the procedures among multiple participants by conducting function-based treatments informed by the results of the assessment to reduce problem behavior. The authors of Study 3 used the trauma-informed framework to incorporate the principles throughout the design of the entire assessment and treatment process of problem behavior. Following which, caregivers were presented with a series of questionnaires to determine the level of (a) stress experienced throughout and following the process and (b) acceptability of the comprehensive strategies employed. In Study 4, the implications of behavioral history in ABA are discussed. The authors propose how knowing an individual’s behavioral and medical history can assist in the development of compassionate treatment of problem behavior.

Audience should be interested in learning about autistic-affirming practices, trauma-informed functional analysis and treatment of problem behavior, compassionate applied behavior analysis, and the implications of behavioral and medical history.

The new perspectives of applied behavior analysis (ABA) are leading behavior analysts to assume that patients exhibiting problem behavior have experienced multiple adverse events, many of which passed the criteria to be recognized as trauma. Within the conceptual framework of Trauma-Informed Care (TIC), we will illustrate how to incorporate this framework in ABA by promoting safety, trust, and governance. We will emphasize how the core TIC commitments could be applied to the assessment and treatment of problem behavior using the Practical Functional Assessment (PFA) and Skill-Based Treatment (SBT; Hanley et al., 2014). Our participants were two autistic 6-year-old twin girls who engaged in severe problem behavior. Our intervention prioritized client safety and compassionate practice to mitigate the risk of trauma while fostering the development of skills. The full treatment was generalized to the parents. The Parenting Stress Index was used to evaluate the magnitude of stress in the parent–child system. Social validity was assessed using a 7-point scale. Results showed the effectiveness of the PFA and SBT in reducing problem behavior and in increasing communication, toleration, and cooperation skills. The caregivers reported high levels of satisfaction and usability and lower stress levels after treatment.

The roots of RFT can be traced back to an early conference paper on rule-governed behaviour in 1984. The study of rule-governed behavior in RFT has tended to be overshadowed by the study of relational frames in and of themselves. Analyses of rule-governed behavior, however, require the study of relational networks and that work has begun to emerge more frequently in recent years. This work has been underpinned, to some extent, by the emergence of a new hyper-dimensional, multi-level (HDML) framework for conceptualising research in RFT generally. The four papers in this symposium will consider some of this work. Specifically, the four papers will consider (1) the impact of relational coherence vs incoherence in establishing rule-following and speaker preferences; (2) recent attempts to explore the impact of relative differences in relational coherence on rule-following and speaker preferences; (3) the relationship between persistence in rule-following and measures of psychological distress using a relatively large dataset [approx. N=750]; (4) how the new RFT framework may encourage analyses that do not dissolve into a simple dichotomy between contingency-shaped versus rule-governed behavior, and thus facilitate a rapprochement between behavior analysts studying and human and non-human behavior.

The human capacity to follow complex rules has been suggested as a critical variable in psychological suffering. Specifically, it has been argued that an excessive reliance on verbal rules may undermine sensitivity to direct contingencies of reinforcement. However, little direct experimental evidence is available to support this assertion in the context of psychological suffering. The current paper analyses the data from a series of experiments (N = approx. 750) that explored the extent to which derived rules controlled participant responding in the face of reversed reinforcement contingencies and whether persistent rule-following correlated with a measure of psychological distress (depression, anxiety and stress scale [DASS]). Specifically, all participants completed a contingency-switching matching-to-sample (MTS) task in which the task contingencies initially supported a rule given to or partially derived by participants. After 100 trials, an un-cued contingency reversal occurred such that responding in accordance with the initial rule was now punished. A series of analyses explored the extent to which persistent rule-following after the contingency reversal correlated with the DASS. The results suggest that the link between rule-persistence and psychological distress is more complex than perhaps initially thought. Findings are discussed in the context of updates in relational frame theory (RFT).

A core postulate of relational frame theory (RFT) is that “relational framing alters the functions of behavioral processes” (Hayes et al., 2001, p.45). This postulate is central to explaining behaviors frequently observed with verbally-able humans that are rarely, if ever, seen in non-humans and are difficult to explain using traditional behavioral processes. For example, when an equivalence frame is established between three stimuli (A, B and C), and a specific function is established for A, a similar function may emerge for C in the absence of direct reinforcement. In effect, the process of relational framing extends the direct function training for the A stimulus to the derived C stimulus. Arguing that relational framing alters other behavioral processes raises two possibilities: (1) RFT involves a type of dual-process theory involving the interaction between verbal and non-verbal processes or (2) a single process theory in which all human behavior with a verbal history is best analysed as involving verbal functions. The current paper will argue, paradoxically, that the latter theoretical stance may facilitate a rapprochement between behavior analysts studying human and non-human behavior because it focuses analyses on multiple dimensions along which human behavior may differ or, critically, overlap with non-human behavior.

The effectiveness of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) derives from the ability of behavioral scientists to isolate socially-relevant behavior of interest and to create artificial behavior-environment interactions in support of that behavior. In simpler and more familiar terms, our prowess derives from our ability to create contingencies of reinforcement and establish stimulus control. As such, the scope of ABA is limited only by what we are able to measure and our ability to embed that information into a systematic protocol of feedback. Each of the four talks in this symposium use surface electromyographs to measure the electrical activity of muscles. This information is used to create contingencies of reinforcement to support the development of muscle strength. The first talk will present data on the rehabilitation of the knee in a clinical context. The second talk will present data on the use of conjugate schedules to drive muscle strength. The third talk will present data on a comparison between active and passive muscle training protocols. Finally, the fourth talk will present data on the rehabilitation of the pelvic floor by reinforcing activation of a correlated set of muscles. Taken together, these studies can help contribute to the expansion of the scope of ABA.

The flexible nature of the science of behavior lends itself to diverse applications. However, in practice, bringing the science to bear across different domains often proves challenging. The fields of medicine and physical therapy are no exception to this challenge of domain bridging. Despite these obstacles, there is a growing need for behaviorally informed approaches to health and wellness. This presentation describes a series of works centered around recovery from total knee replacement. The aim of this presentation is four-fold. First, outline a behavioral approach to asking questions that are commonly considered medical in nature. Second, describe considerations when approaching intradisciplinary collaboration and employing a patient-centered care model of applied research. Third, discuss the importance of balancing the considerations made for empirical research and those for patient quality of life as an applied researcher. Finally, present translational and applied data supporting the utility and importance of expanding the application of our science to diverse areas, such as physical therapy.

Research suggests that post-secondary vocational and independent living outcomes for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) significantly lacks behind others without identified disabilities. Rates of competitive employment remain low, with unemployment and underemployment contributing to increased poverty and decreased community access and overall quality of life. The current symposium explores service delivery models that can help to improve long-term outcomes for this population. The first presentation explores guidelines for building and establishing quality relationships with prospective employers within the community. The second presentation then outlines how a large hospital system has begun to support the IDD community through workforce diversity by developing individual and systemic systems of support. The remaining presentations highlight two research studies related to the assessment of various factors shown to be related to positive vocational and life outcomes for adults with IDD. The third presentation compares indirect and direct vocational assessments that can help with vocational matching. The fourth presentation presents data that extends these direct preference assessment procedures to leisure activities for adults, which can help facilitate participation in community activities. The symposium will conclude with remarks from our discussant.

Behavior Analysts who work with adolescents or adults with autism or other developmental disabilities. Attendees should posses intermediate knowledge of behavior analytic principles and applied behavior analytic intervention procedures.

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may often encounter difficulties with obtaining and maintaining employment. To increase the likelihood of successful employment, researchers have investigated ways to make employees with ASD more successful in the workplace, such as through identifying preferred work tasks (LaRue et al., 2020). Researchers have also developed different methods of teaching interview (Roberts et al., 2021) and job-related social skills (Grob et al., 2019; Lerman et al., 2017). These studies have provided evidence that employees with ASD diagnoses can learn to successfully navigate the social work environment in controlled, clinical environments. However, the effectiveness and long-term outcomes of these training programs may be more readily assessed through direct, on-the-job observations and coaching. To that end, establishing positive, collaborative relationships with community partners is an important part of teaching employees with ASD to succeed at work. One of the first steps in this collaboration may be to identify the behaviors or challenges that employers may perceive as barriers to employing people with ASD. To address employers’ concerns, we propose a model and offer guidelines on how to establish and build relationships with community partners and employers.

Research on competitive employment for individuals with disabilities continues to show that this group has difficulty obtaining and maintaining jobs. Correlational studies have identified several modifiable predictors of post-secondary employment including paid work experience while in high school, parental expectations, self-help and social skills (including communication), and engagement in extra-curricular and community activities. Recent behavior analytic research has expanded behavioral technology to the direct assessment and remediation of vocationally related skills and provides effective methods to address the modifiable predictors of post-secondary employment. The current presentation outlines a program developed to support increased workforce diversity and access to competitive employment for neurodiverse individuals within our system. First, we use behavior analytic strategies to directly assess vocational social skills to identify areas of support needs, to teach skills deficits, and to recommend support strategies to prospective employers. Second, we provide an internal manager/employer training program to address identified barriers to hiring individuals with disabilities, to educate them on neurodiverse diagnoses, and to teach them ways to support neurodiverse employees. Finally, we will provide a case review of one participant’s path from direct behavioral assessment to paid internship and how this can further refine our internal pathway to competitive employment.

Employment rates for adults with autism are significantly lower than those reported for any other population of adults with disabilities (Bush & Tassé, 2017). One of the most significant predictors of competitive employment for adults with autism is the use of sound assessment procedures to inform intervention (Kaya et al., 2016). LaRue and colleagues (2019) developed a skill-based vocational assessment for individuals with autism with varying abilities. The assessment evaluated preference for specific task characteristics. The authors used the assessment results to design matched and unmatched work tasks. They found that matched tasks were consistently more preferred and resulted in less disruptive behavior and more on task behavior. This assessment is useful for the purpose of modifying jobs, however it does not inform the type of industry to explore when job matching. In the current investigation, we used an extension of the assessment model proposed by LaRue and colleagues that includes environmental factors. We then compared the results of the vocational assessment to indirect methods. Preliminary data suggest that the using both the brief, skill-based vocational assessment in addition to an indirect methods may inform tasks and jobs that lead to better employment outcomes for adolescents and adults with autism.

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often have limited opportunity in choosing novel and engaging leisure activities, and behavior analysts need guidance in identifying and predicting which leisure activities their clients prefer. Three adults participated in a leisure activities assessment in three phases. During Phase 1, concurrent arrangements were used to develop a profile for each of three leisure skills components: social interaction versus no interaction; electronic versus non-electronic activities; and stationary activities versus activities that require movement. Clear preferences were found for all three participants. Phase 2 compared on-task behavior for a leisure activity matched and a leisure activity unmatched to the profile generated in Phase 1. In general, participants were on-task more often for activities matched to profile. Phase 3 assessed client preference for the matched versus the unmatched leisure activity using another concurrent arrangement. Participants preferred the matched activity. Overall, this study presents a user-friendly leisure activity assessment that considers client preference when determining suitable leisure activities for individuals with ASD who require significant support.

Applied behavior analysis has been demonstrated as effective for addressing a wide variety of socially significant issues across many populations and contexts. Yet many marginalized populations continue to be underserved and understudied. This symposium will cover a range of methods in which behavior analytic methodology may be used in the assessment and treatment of justice-involved youth. The first presentation will describe recent prevention and intervention strategies for juvenile sex trafficking (JST) within the child welfare system. The second presentation will describe a contingency management system used within a juvenile residential treatment facility to improve staff-implemented strategies for improving behavior within the facility. The final presentation uses conditional probabilities to evaluate periods of increased likelihood of challenging behavior displayed by adolescents within a juvenile residential treatment facility. Implications and future directions within juvenile justice will be discussed.

Participants should be licensed, certified, or are completing coursework to fulfill BCBA eligibility requirements.

Treatment of problematic behavior often begins with functional assessment. However, in many contexts, not all components of functional assessment are possible. That is, components of functional assessment (e.g., functional analysis) may not be feasible ethically or logistically in contexts where problematic behavior is infrequent, presents substantial risk to staff members, or both. In these contexts, behavior analysts may use indirect assessment alone to identify environmental conditions that give rise to problem behavior. Such assessments may inform treatment plans, even when the function of the behavior is unclear. The present study is a descriptive assessment of behavioral data collected by dormitory staff at a juvenile residential treatment facility. We used conditional probabilities and statistical analyses to identify setting events (e.g., days of week, time of day) that predict likelihood of problematic behavior. The findings allow clinicians and administrators within the facility allocate resources strategically to prevent and respond to problematic behavior effectively. Implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed.

Last December, 2021, Mike J. Dougher died suddenly while enjoying one of his preferred activities. This panel focuses to honor his memory as a gentleman in any kind of the academic horizons, when doing research, when discussing, when doing clinical work, when editing and reviewing, and in many and many other opportunities where problem solving was required. Of course, he was a very good friend and, again, a gentleman. In this panel, prominent academic professors will give a chance to bring to the present Michael J. Dougher` s connections between philosophical, basic and applied dimensions of the behavioural analytic perspective. His contributions were insightful in many domains. The aim of this panel is to bring them all to the table to commemorate his academic life and to increase the chance of insightful further experimental and clinical analysis.

Shape descriptors are mathematical functions applied to a polygonal profile that produce numerical values representing different characteristics of the profile. Commonly used in image processing applications, shape descriptors are useful discriminative stimuli for certain machine learning algorithms. Here we demonstrate the use of a verbal operant experimental (VOX) analysis for developing polygonal language profiles for children with autism spectrum disorder. The frequency of responses under verbal and nonverbal sources of control are plotted on a multi-axial radar chart to produce a closed polygonal profile for each participant. These language profiles are then subject to a variety of shape descriptors for quantitative comparisons over time, and in relation to the language profiles of neurotypical peers. We describe the characteristics of each shape descriptor, and explain their use in interpreting the results of the VOX analysis. Finally, we discuss the use of shape descriptors for both practitioners and researchers who seek to better understand language development, assessment, and intervention for individuals with autism and other disorders of verbal behavior.

Audio–visual conditional discriminations (AVCD) often come naturally for typically developing children through everyday interactions. However, children with autism may struggle to acquire AVCDs unless they are directly taught. These children often benefit from empirically validated treatments explicitly designed to facilitate the acquisition of this critical skill. Even with high-quality instruction, a subsection of children with autism continue to struggle. The purpose of the current study is to assess the previously cited prerequisite skills (Kodak et al. 2015, 2022; Saunders & Spradlin 1989; Fisher et al. 2019) to determine if they are correlated with the acquisition of AVCD targets, including scanning a picture array (visual discrimination), matching pictures (conditional discrimination; identity matching), responding differentially to different words (auditory discrimination), and touching a portion of the screen that reliably leads to preferred items (reinforcement tracking). We extended the existing AVCD literature by assessing the utility, efficiency, and validity of a technology-assisted battery named READI (Rapid Empirical Assessment of Discrimination Indices). Results showed that the assessment battery correlated with children’s ability to learn AVCDs efficiently. Children who demonstrated all prerequisite skills acquired new AVCD targets quickly, whereas children who failed one or more prerequisite assessments also failed to acquire new targets.

Stimulus overselectivity remains an ill-defined concept within behavior analysis, because it can be difficult to distinguish truly restrictive stimulus control from random variation. Quantitative models of bias are useful, though perhaps limited in application. Over the last 50 years, research on stimulus overselectivity has developed a pattern of assessment and intervention repeatedly marred by methodological flaws. A molecular view of overselectivity, under which restricted stimulus control has heretofore been examined, is fundamentally insufficient for analyzing this phenomenon. Instead, we propose the use of the term “overselectivity” to define temporally extended patterns of restrictive stimulus control that have resulted in disproportionate populations of responding that cannot be attributed to chance alone, and highlight examples of overselectivity within the verbal behavior of children with autism spectrum disorder. Viewed as such, stimulus overselectivity lends itself to direct observation and measurement through the statistical analysis of single-subject data. In particular, we demonstrate the use of the Cochran Q test as a means of precisely quantifying stimulus overselectivity.

Despite advances in evidence-based treatment for autism, disparities in service access, difficulties with customized training support, time constraints, and family stressors remain primary concerns for many caregivers across the globe. Current treatment models may not be accessible, individually tailored, or feasible for families experiencing such hardships or having limited resources. Caregiver-implemented intervention, often facilitated via coaching, is an increasingly widespread solution to early intervention for children with or at risk for autism (Tomeny et al., 2019). This study investigates the effects of a parent-mediated Natural Environment Training (NET) package, based explicitly on a functional analysis of learners' language (i.e., Parent-Mediated Referent-Based Instruction (PM-RBI); Mason & Andrews, 2014; 2020) on parents' fidelity in implementing these procedures. A single-subject, concurrent, multiple-baseline, across-participants design was used across three caregiver-child dyads participating in PM-RBI over 13 weeks via videoconferencing.We describe components of PM-RBI, capitalizing on NET and caregiver coaching principles, and highlight the potential PM-RBI provides to support customized, family-focused, empirically based intervention for caregivers. Potential barriers, benefits, and implications for practice and research will be discussed

Implementation science focuses on barriers and supports that educators, including behavior analysts, need when implementing evidence-based practices (EBP) in clinics and classrooms. Implementation science arose from the need to understand the research-to-practice gap that exists in the delivery of EBPs. It is a dynamic framework designed to increase understanding of how to improve and increase use of EBP. Damschroder et al. (2009) devised a Consolidated Framework for Implementation Science (CFIR) that has five domains: intervention characteristics, outer setting, inner setting, characteristics of the individuals involved, and the process of implementation. Using the constructs of the CFIR this presentation will address the recent successes and barriers of an applied single case experimental study designed to teach minimally-verbal, preschool children with ASD receptive vocabulary.

A common criticism of the interbehavioral perspective is that it does not dependably yield experimental research. This shortage of research indicates that the philosophical assumptions from which the scientific worker is operating impact the experimental design, as well as the descriptions of observed events. This presentation will clarify this misconception by focusing on the role of the scientific worker from an interbehavioral perspective. A review of the factors in the psychological event—the stimulus function, response function, interbehavioral history, setting factors, and the medium of contact (Kantor, 1958)—will be provided, with a focus on the factors being investigated by the other presenters in this symposium. The design of an experiment—the event of interest, the subject matter, and measurement of the manipulated variables—and the descriptions generated from the experiment—both qualitative and quantitative—will be considered in the context of interbehavioral experimental research. To conclude, this presentation will address some factors to consider when designing an interbehavioral experiment.

The panel discussion will encourage audience participation. Together, we will focus on how we can promote and cultivate prosocial behavior on a global scale as well as in our own communities. As John Lennon told us, “imagine all the people living life in peace.” Skinner (1973) educated us that the science of behavior plays a leading role in creating an environment where cultural evolutionary changes for the better can be selected. He urged us to act and apply our knowledge about human behavior to prevent a catastrophic future and secure a healthy world for those who follow us. To accomplish these objectives, the panel will address the need to conceptualize our mission and discuss the necessity for formal training in the cultural and evolutionary sciences so that behavior analysts can become proficient leaders that can educate their communities and promote the environment that will facilitate behavior change, such as increasing the frequency of prosocial behavior, that will be needed to live together in harmony, peace, and prosperity. This can be our gift to those who follow us!

Board-certified behavior analysts and psychologists.

Rapp (2008) described conjugate reinforcement schedules to be well utilized by developmental psychology researchers but largely ignored by behavior analysts. Subsequently, he called for behavior analysts to re-assess the potential uses and benefits of these schedules. Only recently, several evaluations of conjugate schedules have emerged in the literature, specifically as a method to manipulate response force. The first two presentations in this symposium will highlight the use of conjugate schedules to assess the preferences of adult human participants. Results of the preference assessments were compared to those of a verbal stimulus without replacement (VMSWO) assessment. The first presentation will demonstrate a method for assessing preference for visual stimuli (i.e., pictures), while the second describes the same for auditory stimuli (i.e., music). The third presentation will show an extension these studies by using auditory stimuli in a conjugate preparation as a consequent variable to control the movement of human participants on a treadmill. Taken together, these presentations describe a novel avenue of research that may have meaningful implications in a translational context.

Behavior analysts, professors, graduate-level practitioners, experimental psychologists, researchers, graduate students

In this study, researchers used a similar conjugate preparation to evaluate how response force changed based on 17 participants’ preferences for auditory stimuli. Researchers used a verbal preference assessment to evaluate each participant’s preference for listening to five genres of music; this process identified high preference (HP) and low preference (LP) music for each participant. Thereafter, researchers exposed each participant to the five music genres in a randomized order while using a force dynamometer to measure their response force to increase auditory clarity of the music. Results indicate (a) about half of the participants’ HP music genres corresponded to the genre for which they exerted the highest mean force and (b) nearly all of the participants’ LP music genres corresponded to the genre for which they exerted the lowest mean force. These findings are consistent with those from Davis et al. (2021) and further support using conjugate preparations for measuring the relative value of some stimulus events.

The utility of programmed schedules of reinforcement lies in their ability to augment or create contingencies that do not occur naturally, and facilitate behavior change when natural contingencies are insufficient. Conjugate schedules arrange relationships between continuous response-stimulus units and may be more useful in those circumstances. We applied conjugate schedules to the study of human ambulation on a treadmill. For 17 participants, music was conditional on their speed falling within a predefined “band” criteria that defined upper and lower limits for music production. We used a changing criterion design using varying band levels and widths, with a final extinction component. As the band criteria changed, the participants’ speed initially adjusted then rapidly conformed to the new band criteria, while extinction induced variability. This first study shows walking or running can be regulated by conjugate schedules and may have useful applications in the domains of exercise and human performance training.

This competition is designed to encourage, promote, and reward behavior analytic scholarship on topics and issues in DEI, both in the field of behavior analysis and more broadly. Students (graduate or undergraduate) and post-graduate professionals who have completed empirical or conceptual papers relevant to DEI that are informed, at least in part, by a behavior-analytic perspective were invited to submit.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.

Decision making in clinical applications of behavior analysis is complex. This symposium will consist of three of the papers describing applied research and one conceptual paper. The first presentation will describe a study in which the the component skills involved in ethical decision were taught to students of behavior analysis. The steps students would implement given scenarios were compared to each other and to experts. The results of this study will be discussed in terms of the instructional considerations for those teaching students to engage in ethical decisions. The second presentation is another applied study, in which the decisions of novice and expert behavior analysts were compared. Experts and novices were asked to rate risk in conducting a functional analysis with and without a structured decision-making tool. The results of this study showed that both experts and novices benefited from use of the tool. The third presentation will describe an applied study of the underlying behavioral processes involved in clinical decision making. Researchers manipulated the televisibility and short-term harm to the clients of decisions. A loss-discounting framework was used to analyze the variability in responding of participants. The final presentation will challenge the audience to consider ethical decision making in a new context—that of artificial intelligence. This paper will address the question, what are the ethical considerations when designing artificial intelligence technologies? Finally, the discussant will summarize the common themes of complex, ethical decision making and implications for the field.

Prerequisite skills are certification as a beahvior analyst, detailed knowledge of the BACB's Code of Ethics, a detailed understanding of a variety of assessments and treatments commonly used in practice, as well as common ethical challenges related to the implementation of these assessments and treatments.

Resurgence is the recurrence of a previously extinguished target response (i.e., problem behavior) following a worsening of conditions for a more recently reinforced alternative response through differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA). Researchers across the basic-applied continuum rigorously examine the behavioral processes related to resurgence and provide a better understanding of this phenomenon. Thus, this symposium incorporates recent research evaluating potential mitigation strategies across basic and applied researchers. To start, two presentations will examine data using rats as subjects. The first presentation will examine resurgence following an expanded-operant treatment through DRA. The following presentation investigates alcohol consumption through differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) treatment. The following presentation investigates the use of response cost as punishment for target responses during DRA with data collected via crowdsourcing and provides a meta-analytic review of the effects of these results. The last presentation re-evaluates and extends a prior study on treatment duration on the resurgence of destructive behavior within a clinical setting. Audience members will gain insight into variables that may contribute to treatment relapse in both the laboratory and the clinic. Dr. Kathryn Kestner will provide a discussion.

The target audience is graduate students, and faculty doing research in laboratory models of treatment relapse such as resurgence. A basic understanding of the literature on relapse and training conceptualizing experimental procedures of resurgence is recommended.

Resurgence occurs when a worsening of conditions for an alternative response increases a previously reinforced and subsequently extinguished target response. Researchers have evaluated the extent of resurgence-mitigation strategies by punishing target responses during conditions that differentially reinforce an alternative response (i.e., DRA) across different punishers (e.g., shock, response cost, timeouts) and species (e.g., rats, pigeons, fish, humans). We systematically replicated this line of research with human participants recruited via crowdsourcing using response cost as punishment. In Phase 1, we reinforced target responses with points exchangeable for money and did not reinforce alternative responses. In Phase 2, we reinforced alternative responses and parametrically manipulated the magnitude of point loss (-1, -100, -320, -1000) contingent upon target responses. During Phase 3, we arranged a resurgence test by extinguishing target and alternative responses. The results of this experiment suggest similar resurgence effects across groups. The second study was a meta-analytic review to compare the effects of these results to literature that included punishment of target response during Phase 2, across a range of punishers and species. The results of the meta-analysis suggest that including a punishment contingency reduces target responding during Phase 2 but the effects on resurgence are mixed.

Treatments for alcohol use disorders such as contingency management may result in an individual abstaining from alcohol consumption while treatment is in place. However, once treatment is discontinued, resurgence of alcohol consumption may occur. Laboratory investigations of resurgence with alcohol self-administration allow for the development of a better understanding of this phenomenon. However, many laboratory investigations involve extinction of alcohol-seeking, which may have questionable face validity as alcohol is freely available in most applied contexts during treatment and therefore abstinence is voluntary. In this study, a resurgence paradigm without extinction for ethanol seeking was used to study alcohol consumption in rats. During baseline, rats were provided with access to ethanol contingent on lever pressing. Treatment consisted of differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO). Here, food pellets were delivered following intervals with no lever pressing. During resurgence tests, both ethanol and food were unavailable. DRO treatment was successful at decreasing ethanol seeking to zero and near-zero levels for most rats. Resurgence of ethanol seeking did occur to various degrees. The findings and implications of this study are discussed through the lens of treatments for alcohol use disorder.

Providing quality therapy rooted in the principles of applied behavior analysis (ABA) to individuals with autism needs to be a multi-layered approach. While a trained behavior therapist (i.e., board certified behavior analyst, qualified behavior analyst) can develop an evidence-based program to help individuals with autism develop positive skills and extinguish problem behaviors, without: (1) parent-education, (2) sibling involvement, (3) school collaboration, and (4) proper on-going supervision, it will be difficult for the client to make meaningful progress. In this symposium, we will cover original research and published materials. Dr. Dimitriou will present key findings across his 13 published books on effective parent education support embedding elements of the eco-cultural theory. Incorporating key elements from each presentation will be pivotal in ensuring a well-rounded quality program for individuals with autism. Dr. Glugatch will review her research on providing a novel training program to siblings in order to help improve play strategies for children with autism. Dr. Kim will present her original research on how to support and train school personnel to facilitate social interactions between children with autism and their peers. Lastly, Dr. Ford will review her findings from a cross-sectional survey regarding supervision practices and satisfaction.

Professionals, practicing behavior analysts, teachers, parents, caregivers, graduate students, and undergraduate students.

Sibling relationships are a unique and special bond throughout the life span. Having a sibling with autism may present extra difficulties to form a close and meaningful relationship. While siblings play an important role in the child with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) life, there is no consistent method for involving siblings in treatment for individuals with ASD. This current study evaluated a novel treatment package including training siblings on play strategies (called play tips when communicating with the participants) in combination with a sibling support group to increase positive sibling play and perceived relationship quality. Using two concurrent multiple baseline designs, nine sibling dyads participated in the online STEPS program. Specifically, the intervention package included an online implementation of behavior skills training on simple play strategies and participation in a sibling support group. The intervention package improved quality of sibling play and increased the perceived quality of the sibling relationship.

Although the literature suggests that it is feasible to train paraprofessionals to effectively implement social interventions for students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), there is a paucity of research that addresses the social validity of these programs. The present study replicated and extended previous research on paraprofessional training, as well as assessed social validity. Our results suggest that (a) paraprofessionals can be trained to fidelity using a package consisting of lecture and performance feedback, (b) there are collateral gains for paraprofessionals following the training, (c) the social interactions between students with ASD and typically developing peers improve following paraprofessional training, and (d) there is strong social validity in regard to acceptability of the training program. Limitations and future directions are discussed.

Despite increasing empirical support for applied behavior analysis over several decades, little attention has been paid to the ways in which supervision is implemented among service providers for individuals with autism. In this study, a cross-sectional survey was designed based on the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) supervision guidelines and research literature. 125 clinicians from California service agencies completed a survey inquiring about supervision practices and satisfaction with (1) “typical” sessions and (2) sessions delivered through videoconferencing (VC) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Exploratory factor analyses were conducted to examine factor structure of supervision practice and satisfaction resulting in a three-factor model for supervision practice (i.e., supervision activities, supervisor proficiency, and clinician evaluation processes) and supervision satisfaction (i.e., satisfaction with supervision content, satisfaction with perceived level of support, and dissatisfaction with supervisory relationship). Supervision hours and individual and group meeting frequency were significant predictors of supervision practice, while supervision practice significantly predicted supervision satisfaction. Open-ended comments provided suggestions for improving supervision sessions and supervisor behavior in each delivery format. These findings provide a preliminary foundation of correlational evidence supporting the importance of specific supervision practices and how they predict clinician satisfaction, which can help prevent burnout and turnover.

ABAI’s accreditation system has been around for decades with more programs seeking accreditation over the past few years than ever before. As interest and the need for accreditation grows, we invite you to learn about the process and experiences from the perspective of a few program coordinators. The panelists’ programs represent a range of accreditation experiences. This session is designed for program coordinators and those interested in recognition and accreditation

The audience should have basic knowledge about higher education, coursework requirements, and curriculum development, and a general interest in learning about accreditation.