Association for Behavior Analysis International

Hypothetical purchase tasks capture ecologically informed preferences for a given reinforcer across a range of prices. They are convenient tools for deriving estimates of reinforcer demand. This symposium involves innovative applications of the hypothetical purchasing task methodology, specifically attending to alternative or competing reinforcers. Four studies assess (1) demand for alcohol when other options are available and characterizing these options as substitutes, complements, or independent; (2) demand for sleep considering nappers and non-nappers, across contextual manipulations and including chores that compete with sleep; (3) demand for alcohol under consideration of relevant, next-day priorities; and (4) alcohol and non-alcohol consumption patterns of student athletes and non-athletes. Understanding relative reinforcer value will aid the development of novel therapeutic targets to alleviate public health concerns.

In collaboration with educators in the Eastern Cape townships of South Africa since 2004, PEER International (Partnerships for Educational Excellence and Research) has shared the Morningside Model of Generative Instruction. Professional development and coaching sessions were held in Gqebehra (formerly Port Elizabeth) utilizing a train-the-trainer model. Shifting from a focus on literacy to numeracy, video conferencing was employed during the pandemic with educators at Charles Duna Primary School and educators in the U.S. The effort blended the South African curricula from Maths Rainbow, Singapore Math and Spring Math, and analyzed objectives from a component - composite approach. The initial 2022 inquiry from the faculty of Charles Duna was to find a maths related resource similar to Headsprout, the reading program provided to PEER schools who had computers and internet access. Math Playground was made available, however, it is not a programmed sequence and more explicit instruction was needed. Diagnostic assessments, administered in isiXhosa, had to be translated to inform the video conferencing sessions. Unlike the United States, standardized testing and curriculum-based assessments are not readily available. The pilot program presented here will be implemented in the 2023 school year in maths instruction from Grade R (Reception) through Grade 7.

Climate change has been identified as a “super wicked problem” and is one of the most pressing issues facing humanity today. The Sustainability Work Group of the Behaviorists for Social Responsibility Special Interest Group (BFSR SIG) is focused on applying the matrix analysis to sectors linked to behavior analysis, primarily sectors comprised of behavior analysts (e.g., ABAI affiliate chapters, SIGs, practitioners). Over the past year the work group has focused on identifying practices that ABAI affiliate chapters can take support to their membership in engaging in pro-environmental behaviors and taking climate action, and making their regional conferences more green. This presentation will discuss those practices. Additionally, the work group has developed a survey to support conference organizers in evaluating their current practices in relation to sustainability. The survey is currently being piloted with some affiliate chapters. In this presentation the survey will be shared along with a description of the development of the survey and discussion of future directions.

According to Sidman (2010), Skinner (1938) was able to produce fast learning when teaching his rats to press a lever because he started by teaching them how the reinforcement procedure was going to work. This is usually called magazine training in the laboratory. The learner must understand when reinforcement is available, where to go or what to do to access the reinforcer, how to consume the reinforcer, and how to go back to training after finishing the reinforcer. Skinner more specifically described these behaviors as a behavior chain, as reinforcement involves a series of actions on the part of the learner. Early behavior analysts who worked in both laboratory and applied settings knew that it was crucial to begin with magazine training. However, many modern behavior analysts do not understand the important skills that a learner learns during this step. Without this foundation, learners are not fully prepared for future learning. This symposium will show how starting with reinforcement system training leads to accelerated learning in applied settings.

BCBAs, clinical directors, animal trainers

Clicker training and positive reinforcement training are growing in popularity among horse owners. However, there is a lack of systematic, step-by-step procedures for owners to follow when introducing a horse to clicker training. Some professional trainers advocate for “charging” the clicker; other trainers begin straightaway with teaching a new behavior, such as touching a target or turning the head away. The lack of precise instructions means that some horses perform unwanted, and potentially dangerous, behaviors during initial training sessions, including nipping, biting, pushing, and searching the person for food. These behaviors may be accidentally reinforced and may discourage owners from continuing with positive reinforcement training. This presentation will describe a step-by-step approach for introducing horses to positive reinforcement training. Horses learned how to consume the reinforcer, where the reinforcer would be delivered, and when the reinforcer would be delivered. Next, the horses learned three additional behaviors, including touching a target, backing up, and stay. Results showed that horses were able to learn the reinforcement system with few or no errors and that starting with reinforcement system training produced accelerated learning on other tasks.

Most therapy procedures for children with autism are based in positive reinforcement. Recommendations for the application of positive reinforcement have often been based on characteristics of the reinforcer, such as size, immediacy, level of deprivation, and the schedule used. However, there are other factors that are also important in the successful application of positive reinforcement, including aspects related to how the reinforcer is delivered. Related to this, Skinner (1938) discussed how reinforcement involves a chain of behaviors. In the context of autism therapy, reinforcement involves the interaction of two organisms, the therapist and child, and these interactions create an interlocking chain of behaviors. Yet, this chain of interactions is often not explicitly taught, resulting in unwanted behaviors and slower progress for the child. This presentation will describe a procedure and data collection system for evaluating reinforcement systems during therapy sessions. Results show that rebuilding faulty reinforcement systems leads to more teaching opportunities and accelerated learning.

Human behavior has an impact on many public health concerns, such as the spread of infectious disease. As such behavior analysts are in a unique position to contribute to public health research and practice at all three intervention levels: primary (e.g., prevention), secondary (e.g., screening), and tertiary (e.g., treatment). Public health differs from behavior analysis in that it is focused on health at the community and population level rather than the individual level. However, we can still contribute a number of our methodologies in assessment, measurement, and intervention to this area. The panelists will share their experiences in applying behavior analysis to public health and will be available to answer questions from students, particularly as they relate to dissemination, branching out within behavior analysis, and networking with like-minded professionals.

Graduate students, Behavior Analysts

Activity transitions are sometimes associated with challenging behavior, perhaps especially when transitions are from higher to lower preference activities. We compared the effects of two methods of prompting activity transitions on pausing and challenging behavior. Participants were two students at a school for children with autism. The two methods, advance notice and intervening activity, were presented in a multi-element design. higher, moderate, and lower preference activities (HP, MP, and LP) were identified using preference assessments. In the advance notice condition the participant was informed that he had 1 more minute with the HP before he was cued to engage in the LP. In the intervening activity condition, the participant was provided with an MP for 1 min before he was cued to engage with the LP. Pausing started when the participant was cued to begin the LP and ended with the first active response. For one participant, the intervening activity condition resulted in shorter transition times and fewer instances of challenging behavior. For the other participant there was no difference between the two conditions. For some individuals, scheduling a period of engagement with a moderate preference activity may result in shorter times to engagement in the next activity.

Ethics is an important construct in the field of behavior analysis for numerous reasons. However, the utilization of distinct ethical practices and the different theoretical conceptualizations of ethics have only recently began to attract more attention from our field as a whole. In this symposium, we will attempt to offer applied and theoretical applications of ethics and ethical practices. First, Andrea Michaels will describe the current state of ethics within applied behavior analysis via data gathered from a scoping literature review. Next, Will Fleming will discuss a molar, interbehavioral approach with regards to analyzing the ethics of behavior analysis as an applied science. Finally, Dr. Ilene Schwartz will describe how behavior analysts identify ethical dilemmas in practice, how they make ethical decisions, and what resources are used during the decision-making process.

This symposium is intended for a target audience at an intermediate instruction level. It is encouraged that attendees are familiar with the BACB ethics code, are current on ethics-related literature within behavior analysis, and are also familiar with the philosophical underpinnings of the field to a certain extent. It will also be beneficial for attendees to assess their own professional experiences within behavior analysis and identify potential ethical dilemmas they have previously faced prior to attending this symposium.

Renewal is the recurrence of a previously eliminated behavior following a change in context. Previous research has demonstrated that when target and alternative behaviors were associated with different reinforcers, re-presenting the target reinforcer non-contingently produced relapse. Relapse was mitigated, however, when the reinforcer associated with the alternative response was re-presented. The current study evaluated whether fading reinforcer type during Phase 2 of a relapse preparation would mitigate renewal. During Phase 1, one type of reinforcer (O1) was contingent on rats lever pressing. During Phase 2, reinforcement was presented non-contingently on a fixed schedule, consisting of O1 and a new reinforcer type (O2). For one group (Forward Fading), the percentage of O1 delivered increased across sessions, while the percentage of O2 decreased. For the other fading group (Reverse Fading), reinforcement fading occurred in the opposite manner, while the control group only received O2. Phase 3 consisted of noncontingent delivery of O1 only to test for renewal. Results indicated that the direction of reinforcement fading did not differentially affect relapse between the fading groups. Further, both fading groups demonstrated attenuation of relapse relative to the control, where robust renewal occurred. Implications of these findings and directions for future research will be discussed.

Renewal is the reemergence of a previously reduced response following a context change. ABA renewal was evaluated in a series of human-operant experiments during which adults engaged with a computer task with three colored circles (a target response and two alternative responses). Each experiment followed a standard 3-phase relapse arrangement. Context changes were represented by the background screen color, which progressed according to an ABA context arrangement. The target response was reinforced in Phase 1 (Context A) and then reduced according to a differential reinforcement procedure in Phase 2 (Context B). In Phase 2, there were concurrently available asymmetrical choice options with varied magnitudes of reinforcement. For some participants, target responding was on extinction. For others, the target response continued to be reinforced with a lower magnitude of points relative to the alternative responses. Phase 3 was the renewal test in the presence of Context A. Renewal occurred for most participants across experiments; therefore, we evaluated context fading to mitigate renewal. At the end of Phase 2, the background color of the screen gradually shifted from Context B to Context A. Clinical implications for the occurrence of renewal in concurrent-operant arrangements and mitigation strategies based on context-fading will be discussed.

Identifying component skills necessary for the emergence of intraverbal tacts, or verbal responses under control of both a verbal and nonverbal antecedent stimulus, is important because the occasion for this skill often occurs in a child’s everyday life (Palmer, 2016). Previous research has begun to identify a sequence of component skills that may lead to the emergence of multiply controlled intraverbals. However, it remains unclear which component skills are necessary versus sufficient. Our study sought to evaluate a subset of component skills evaluated in previous research that, conceptually, should be sufficient for emergence of intraverbal tacts. We found intraverbal tacts emerged to mastery criteria for all participants, only following acquisition of both element tacts and intraverbal categorizations. These data suggest these component skills may be sufficient for intraverbal tact emergence.

Autoclitics are secondary verbal operants that are controlled by a feature of the conditions that evoke a primary verbal operant such as a tact or mand. Among the types described by Skinner (1957), qualifying autoclitics extend, negate, or assert a speaker’s primary verbal response and modify the intensity or direction of the listener’s behavior. In the only study to date on teaching qualifying autoclitics, Howard and Rice (1988) established autoclitics that indicated weak stimulus control (e.g., “like a [primary tact]”) with four neurotypical preschool children. However, generalization to newly acquired tacts was limited. In Experiment 1, we extended Howard and Rice to four autistic children while using simultaneous teaching procedures and observed generalization across sets and newly acquired tacts. In Experiment 2, we evaluated the effects of multiple exemplar training on generalization of autoclitics across sets of naturalistic stimuli. Across participants, gradual increases in autoclitics occurred across untaught stimuli after teaching with one or more sets.

The Morningside Model of Generative Instruction (MMGI) has been applied to teaching written performance to both typical and non-typical children and adult learners. Explicit instruction, frequency building to criterion, and classroom management procedures derived from evolutionary theory and student participation are key components of MMGI. First, Paige Sherlund-Pelfrey will provide a systematic review of the evidence of the effectiveness of explicit instruction and frequency building to criterion as methods to build writing skills with typical and non-typical elementary and middle school children. Second, Alyssa McElroy will describe a specific study that evaluated Morningside’s Writing Persuasive Compositions program, which includes explicit instruction and frequency building to criterion, to teach persuasive writing to college students with disabilities. Finally, Hannah Jenkins will detail a system for teaching students to set learning, organizational, and citizenship behaviors, as well as procedures for transitioning from the Good Behavior Game to the Mystery Behavior Game, to set the context for effective writing instruction.

Professionals interested in behavioral education, direct instruction, Precision teaching/frequency building, Response to Intervention, Good Behavior Game, and special education. Audience should have a basic understanding of applied behavior analysis as applied to academic learning behavior.

Proficient writing skills are critical for academic, vocational, and social outcomes for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). However, many individuals struggle to develop proficient writing repertoires (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2012; Whitby & Mancil, 2009). This study sought to teach eight college students with disabilities to write four types of persuasive sentences (e.g., thesis statement, major point, minor point, transition sentence) using a modified explicit instruction program and frequency building to a performance criterion sessions. Five of the eight participants met criteria for all four sentence types and demonstrated maintenance skills during follow-up sessions. Future directions regarding instructional strategies for college-level writing will be discussed.

Applied behavior analysis (ABA) has historically been implemented and carried out most commonly in clinical settings with adults and children diagnosed with autism and developmental disabilities. Within recent years, the field of ABA has been disseminating its implementation of services and interventions to other settings and populations. Behavior analysts at ATBx, LLC have been providing ABA services within juvenile detention and residential facilities within the past 5 years. The presentations in this symposium include the implementation of facility wide program assessments and interventions, strategies to increase “buy in” with professionals from other disciplines, review of utilizing neuroscience data within juvenile justice settings and a review of the current allocation of resources within the system and its effect on recidivism and problem behaviors to avoid release.

Behavior Analyst and those in trainging

Applied Behavior Analysis services are provided in a variety of settings and with different populations of clients, including in juvenile justice facilities. ABA services provided in these facilities include individualized behavioral services with behavior intensive youth, facility wide interventions, staff training and consultation. The data examined in this presentation will look at an initial assessment of a facility before ABA services were implemented and a follow up after one year of comprehensive ABA services. The results show that in the year that ABA services were implemented, there was an increase in staff proficiency, positive interactions among staff and youth and implementation of daily routines.

Many youth committed to Juvenile Justice programs will engage in higher frequencies of problem behaviors closer to their release date in order to access additional resources and avoid returning to an aversive, unsafe or traumatizing environment. This occurs because the current system disproportionately allocates resources to mental health therapies rather than providing youth access to treatments and resources that will teach adaptive real life skills such as budgeting, job skills, obtaining housing, etc. In this presentation we will review case studies of youth who voluntarily committed themselves to the criminal justice system.