Association for Behavior Analysis International

Children with autism often avoid engaging in play activities with typically developing peers. The purpose of this study was to identify the utility of photographic activity schedules, with embedded scripts, to teach three children with autism to play a complex social game. In this study we used activity schedules to train children with autism to play hide-and-seek in a group with typically developing peers. Once the activity schedules were introduced all of the participants were able to play hide-and-seek. A secondary purpose of this study was to systematically fade the activity schedules to the least intrusive version necessary. We were able to fade all of the scripts and several components of the activity schedules. The participants were able to continue to play hide-and-seek with the faded versions of the schedules, in a novel environment and 2-weeks after treatment concluded.

Children with autism often engage in repetitive behaviors and often have restricted interests. In the classroom, these features may inhibit a child's ability to vary the types of academic games they engage in. This may be particularly difficult for a child when he or she has access to items that are more preferred than academic games, such as an iPad. The purpose of this study was to embed an activity schedule within an iPad and examine the effects of that activity schedule on promoting varied application engagement with three children with autism. During baseline, participants engaged in only one application and did not vary their play. When participants were taught how to follow the activity schedule, which was embedded within the iPad, they varied their play between four applications. When the activity schedule was removed, all three participants engaged in responding that was similar to baseline. Responding increased and maintained when the activity schedule was re-introduced.

The current research describes the evidence for the British Early Special School Teaching Model (BESST), which aims to provide an education based on the principles of ABA to all young children enrolled in a special needs school.TheBESSTmodelcanbeimplementedeffectively and affordably making it available to all children who would benefit. Behaviour analysts work in a multi-disciplinary context to provide an education based on the principals of Applied Behaviour Analysis to children under the age of seven years old. Children receive 7 hours a week of 1:1 teaching, which is supplemented by group teaching. Each child has an individualised behaviour plan. Interventions are designed by Behaviour Analysts and implemented by teaching staff. Outcome data from the Vinelands Adaptive Behavior Scales, the Stanford Binet Intelligence Scales, and the Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills Revised will be presented for 13 children ages 4-7 years old. Results show that children make statistically and clinically significant gains within this model. We will discuss the data in context of providing cost effective behavioural interventions in maintained special educational needs school in the United Kingdom.

Effects of continued behavioral intervention into school age for children with developmental disorders We found better outcome in intelligence and adaptive behavior scores for those children who continued to receive behavioral intervention in school compared to those children who ended their intervention. We compare the two groups of children during intervention in preschool, at eight and nine years of age. The group of children (n=12) who received behavioral intervention in school continued to gain in intelligence and adaptive behavior scores, whereas the group that stopped (n=10) lost points. This finding supports the hypotheses that behavioral intervention can continue to benefit some children with autism and other developmental disorders well into school age. We have not been able to detect any clear indications for stopping behavioral intervention, although it appears that children with scores in the normal range have more stable scores.

This paper reports long-term outcome for 19 children with ASD who initially received EIBI and subsequently received long-term school- and home-based behavioral intervention. Mean intake age was 2 years and 11 months and mean follow-up age was 14 years and 11 months. Mean intake IQ was 55, IQ after one year of EIBI was 78, and mean follow-up IQ was 68. Mean intake Vineland Adaptive Behavior (VABS) Score was 64, VABS after one year of EIBI was 74, and VABS at follow-up was 70. Eleven of the 19 children received an IQ score and VABS score of 70 or above (Mean IQ 94 and mean VABS 86). Autism symptoms at follow-up (as assessed by the ADI-R and the CARS) is presented, so is data on the type of services the children had received after EIBI.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) reports that one in four thirteen-eighteen year olds has had an anxiety disorder in their lifetime. In 1998, Friman and colleagues encouraged behavior analysts to study anxiety but very few behavior analysts have done so. Anxiety creates a unique set of prior learning experiences, discriminative stimuli for reinforcement and punishment, and establishing operations. In this tutorial, a behavioral analysis of anxiety-related behaviors including the identification of: the effect of prior learning history of reinforcement and punishment for anxiety-related behaviors, discriminative stimuli that signal anxiety-related behaviors and establishing operations for anxiety-related behaviors will be provided. When anxiety-related behaviors are due to skill deficits, explicitly teaching coping skills, self-monitoring, and alternative responses is crucial. Using antecedent interventions with these children may be more effective than reward and punishment-based consequences from traditional behavior plans. The reduction of self-reported anxiety-related behavior by use of antecedent management and explicit instruction in self-regulation and self-monitoring strategies will be discussed.

BCBAs, psychologists, counselors, health care providers, social workers and/or teachers who serve children with developmental disabilities or children who are typically-developing who exhibit anxiety-related and challenging behaviors.

With the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requiring public school settings to provide least restrictive environments for students with disabilities, behavior analytic work within these settings is impacted by the increased complexity of clinical cases. In addition, IDEA requires the use of evidence-based practices in public school systems. Consequently, it is important for clinicians to utilize the most contemporary, effective, and efficient assessment and treatment tools available. Functional analysis methodology has time and time again proven to provide conclusive results regarding the function of behavior, and led to interventions informed by this clear understanding of behavior. Recent research in the area of functional analysis has included modified functional analyses, latency-based functional analyses, analyses of response classes and precursor behaviors, as well as methods for training public school staff to be involved in assessment. The expansion of the literature has made functional analyses more efficient and accessible in public school environments. With easier to access methods and clear conclusions regarding behavior, the role of functional analysis models and their effects on treatment decisions in public school settings is an important issue for behavior analysts to consider in their practice.

Precursor behaviors are those which both precede, and often predict the occurrence of a target response (Fahmie & Iwata, 2011). It is frequently assumed that precursor behaviors are part of the same response class as those behaviors that they precede. The role of precursors in treating potentially dangerous behavior such as self-injury, has received high levels of attention in the research, as responding to precursor responses may interrupt or decrease the probability of higher intensity behaviors (Herscovitch et al., 2009). In the current study, a brief functional analysis with a latency analysis, was conducted in a public school setting, to evaluate the degree to which precursor behaviors were part of the same response class as self-biting in a 9-year-student with Angelman syndrome. Data showed that precursor behaviors functioned as part of the same response class as self-biting. The shortest latencies to pre-cursor responses occurred during the tangible condition as compared to the attention, demand, and control conditions. While many other treatments had failed to effectively reduce self-biting, these data led to a treatment in which pre-cursor behaviors were reinforced as a method to effectively decrease self-biting across environments. These data show the importance of both assessing and treating precursor responses, particularly when faced with dangerous behaviors.

This presentation will show how teachers can incorporate tenets of behaviorally informed instruction to maximize the effectiveness of digital technology in the classroom. Several free technology tools that help teachers meet the same challenges of group instruction described in the preceding presentation will be demonstrated with audience members as students. Attendees will receive information for accessing each of the tools presented.

Effective supervision is vital when delivering quality applied behavior analysis services. However, understanding and adhering to the BACB experience standards in addition to providing effective supervision can be a challenging endeavor for behavioral practitioners at all levels. This panel will discuss two critical levels in which the provision of quality supervision is required, line therapists and supervisors. Important questions will be reviewed, such as how to select the right therapists for an ABA organization and how to ensure that supervisors are providing quality supervision. Moreover, the panel will discuss the utility of organizational behavior management and the role of a leadership team in building and implementing performance management systems that can significantly impact the efficacy of supervision, which in turn, can impact the quality of service. Each member of the panel will present systems used at each respective level, discuss findings, and contribute their own unique experiences as they pertain to each of these key areas.

A bevy of current methodological topics relevant to psychological researchers working in diverse areas is presented. Many of them are widely misunderstood. Among these topics are: (1) the recent efforts to ban null hypothesis significance tests (NHST), (2) interpretation problems surrounding both conventional (i.e., Fisher and Neyman-Pearson) and Bayesian statistical inference, (3) the relationship between p-values and replication, (4) unjustified hand wringing regarding effect declines (often claimed to cast doubt on scientific methods in general) that appear to occur in many or most areas of science, (5) the increasing salience of single-case research designs and associated analyses, and (6) the stunning effect of complex black-box statistical methods on judgment. The historical context for several of these topics is presented in order to facilitate an understanding how we have ended up in our current state.

Behavioral researchers with a strong interest in research methodology.

This symposium will include recent research on the assessment and treatment of problem behavior with a focus on implications for practice. The first study will present the translation process that was undertaken to produce a reliable and valid indirect assessment in Japanese. The second paper, will highlight the development and utilization of a flow-chart for interpreting transitional functional analyses. The third paper, will present on the effects of an FCT+DRA intervention aimed at decreasing problem behavior maintained by social negative reinforcement, while increasing both communication and compliance. All presenters will provide insight on implications related to both future research and practice.

Functional Communication Training with extinction is one approach to eliminating problem behavior and increasing appropriate behavior. When applied to problem behavior maintained by social positive reinforcement, it produces rapid decreases in problem behavior as well as socially significant increases in appropriate behavior (e.g., asking for attention or tangible items). It is equally effective for eliminating problem behavior maintained by social negative reinforcement in the form of escape; however, most caregivers are not satisfied with only increasing asking for a break. In fact, when treating problem behavior maintained by escape from tasks, socially significant behavior changes would include increasing compliance as well as asking for a break. The purpose of this study was to utilize FCT (1 min break) + Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behavior (5 min break contingent on compliance) to decrease problem behavior and ultimately increase compliance. Results demonstrate that the intervention was highly successful. Implications for practice as well as avenues for future research will be

Supervision is a critical component of the development of future practitioners of applied behavior analytic services, and required for all individuals seeking credentialing in ABA. All future professionals seek excellence in supervision, however, despite increasingly structured guidelines provided by certification and licensure organizations, variation exists in the quality and rigor of supervision experiences. Indeed, not all supervision experiences are created equal. For those developing or supporting supervision for the future behavior analyst, minimal guidance exists thus far in behavioral literature related to effective supervision management. Related disciplines have much to offer in the development of quality supervision models, and behaviorally-based literature related to training and instruction, specifically, literature on competency-based training and behavioral skills training models, can support and strengthen the development of quality supervision experiences. Finally, invested constituents have beneficial feedback to add to the supervision process. This symposium targets the developers of supervision in ABA, offering models and guidance for creating quality supervision experiences.

Bridging the gap between theory and applied practice can pose a challenge for many graduate Applied Behavior Analysis students. Employers of these scholars face the unique challenge of accommodating rigorous supervision requirements, changing course schedules and other graduate work commitments that often complicate the landscape. This presentation will discuss several strategies that employers can utilize to support graduate ABA students as they progress through the supervision requirements associated with eventual Board Certification. Specific examples of employer driven initiatives to improve quality of services provided, employee retention, and outcomes for graduate students will be provided. Methods to incentivize employees considering graduate coursework to create a larger more diverse pool of productive clinicians will be reviewed. Finally, opportunities for collaboration with local college programs and course sequences will be discussed with the ultimate priority being the quality of the overall experience for both the student and recipients of the behavior analytic services they provide.

Modeling is a component of Behavioral Skill Training, and has been shown to be effective in evoking desired behavior. Modeling, both in live and video formats, has been incorporated into many models of training successfully. Evidence suggests, however, that modeling is often omitted from supervision experiences, particularly when distance or remote supervision is utilized. This presentation reviews strategies for successfully incorporating modeling into supervision sessions for applied behavior analytic graduate students. Characteristics of the competent model are reviewed, and technical aspects of designing effective models are presented. A model for training supervisors to utilize modeling in supervision is presented.

Years of using lead in paint and gasoline resulted in widespread environmental contamination and human exposure. The particular vulnerability of the developing brain to lead puts children at particular risk for detrimental effects and numerous studies have documented the association of elevated blood lead in children with reduced IQ scores. Behavior analysis (BA)has been critical to the delineation of the specific cognitive deficits that underlie the IQ loss.BA hasrevealed deficits in learning/reversal learning that appear to result from increases in response perseveration and disruption of attention-related behaviors, particularly the ability to wait for reward. In the human environment, lead exposure occurs with many other risk factors for cognitive deficits, particularly in low socioeconomic status communities where lead levels are highest. Two such risk factors—high levels of maternal stress and early behavioral adversity in children—share pathways of brain mediation with lead, and thus could enhance or alter its behavioral toxicity. Indeed, studies in animal models show that lead-induced deficits in cognitive behaviors can be enhanced by, or even unmasked, in the presence of prenatal stress. Further, early behavioral adversity can further exacerbate the adverse effects of lead on learning.

Licensed Psychologists, certified behavior analysts, graduate students.

The presence and impact of age-related language deficits have been acknowledged both the field within the field of behavior analysis (e.g., Gross, Fuqua, Merritt, 2013; Skinner, 1957; Sundberg 1991) as well as the broader field of gerontology (Cohen-Mansfield & Werner, 1997), though relatively little research has focused on remediation of those deficits. This dearth of intervention research is partly related to the notion that age-related language deficits are the result of biological processes, as well as the limited number of behavior analysts trained to work with older adults. However, there is growing support that environmental variables can and do play a role in language deficits among older adults. This talk symposium will include to empirical talks reviewing data from a studies aimed at the assessment and treatment of age-related language deficits among older adults.

Little is known about the functional deterioration of language in older adults with dementia and in particular, about the weakening of the mand repertoire. Skinner hypothesized that operants maintained by specific sources of reinforcement (i.e., the mand) might be less susceptible to deterioration, though it appears the opposite may be true (i.e., the mand is more susceptible to weakening and the most resilient operants are the echoic and textual) (Skinner, 1957; Gross, Fuqua, Mettitt, 2013). The current study employs a multiple-baseline across participants design to examine the effects of echoic and visual prompts, along with an interrupted-behavior chain procedure to teach mands to elders with dementia and aphasia, as well as a history of strokes. For one participant, visual and echoic prompts were faded completely and independent mands were emitted to the mastery criterion. Data will be collected on additional participants.

Aphasia can severely impact an individual's ability to communicate. However, existing research on interventions is limited. The current study compared different stimulus fading procedures with an older adult diagnosed with aphasia. A multielement within a multiple baseline design across behaviors was used to measure the efficacy of each approach. Results showed that the time delay procedure was more efficient at fading prompts when teaching intraverbals.

For children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), having severe deficits in social skills prevent them from functioning in typical situations and properly navigating the social world in which we live. This symposium will consist of four research studies that use innovative behavioral approaches to address some of the pervasive challenges children with ASD face. In the first study, researchers use video modeling to teach children with ASD how to assertively respond to different bullying situations. The second study uses theatre-play as a method to teach appropriate social skills behaviors to dyads of children with ASD. The third study focuses on the need to reduce vocal stereotypy and aims to decrease inappropriate vocalizations by replacing them with appropriate singing. Finally, the last study provides a spin on teaching joint attention to lower functioning children with ASD. In these studies, multiple baseline designs were used to analyze treatment effects, generalization was assessed, and inter-observer reliability was calculated. These four studies provide new ideas to ameliorate the social challenges that children with ASD display, provide evidence-based procedures for treating a range of functioning levels of children on the spectrum, and provide potential approaches for children with ASD to navigate their social world.

Bullying is related to depression, loneliness, and social anxiety (Hawker & Boulton, 2000), and unfortunately, children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at a higher risk than their typically developing peers for becoming victims of bullying (Wainscot et al., 2008). The current study involved a video modeling intervention that aimed to teach six children with ASD how to assertively respond to physical and verbal bullying, social exclusion, and to report instances of bullying to a parent. Using a multiple baseline design, measures of appropriate responding to bullying were assessed in baseline, intervention, and generalization probes. During baseline sessions, participants appropriate responses to bullying were either nonexistent or inconsistent. Following baseline, participants were asked to watch a video of an adult assertively responding to three different types of bullying (i.e., physical bullying, verbal bullying, and social exclusion). Results showed that following the introduction of video modeling, all six participants met criterion for appropriate responding to bullying, with four participants demonstrating generalization of learned skills to a novel setting. Findings from this study have implications for the use of video modeling in teaching children with ASD the proper skills to respond to bullying.

Theatre-based programs have been shown to improve the social skills in high-functioning children with ASD, such as increased positive interaction, decreased solitary play (Guli, Semrud-Clikeman, Lerner, & Britton, 2013) and increased social perception (Corbett et al., 2011). The present study was conducted to teach social skills behaviors to children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) via a theatre intervention conducted in dyads. Specifically, a multiple baseline design across three dyads of children with ASD was used to assess the efficacy of a theatre intervention on increasing verbal social skills, nonverbal social skills, and appropriate sociodramatic play behaviors. Measurements of social skills behaviors were taken during naturalistic play sessions and baseline, as well as after theatre intervention sessions. The theatre intervention involved sessions of learning how to act out and also do improvisation of theme-based plays in dyadic pairs for several weeks. Results showed that all participants reached at least 80% criterion performance for one or more targeted social behaviors. The current study demonstrates that a theatre-based procedure, a largely untapped therapeutic technique, is an effective social skills intervention for children with ASD.

Vocal stereotypy can be disruptive and interfere with social opportunities; yet, it is often a preferred activity for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Decreasing motivating operations to engage in inappropriate forms of the behavior (e.g., sounds, high pitched speaking or singing) while increasing topographically similar appropriate behaviors might be an indicated course of treatment. In this study, we taught three children with ASD who engaged in inappropriate forms of vocal stereotypy to sing appropriately. We used a changing criterion design plus a backward chaining procedure to increase the word length of their singing phrases. After the children learned to sing a song through this procedure, we used multi-element comparisons to determine if pre-session singing sessions would decrease vocal stereotypy in their subsequent intervention sessions. Preliminary results showed that participants learned to sing appropriately, and all forms of vocal stereotypy occurred less frequently immediately after singing sessions. Discussion will focus on implications for teaching pro-social vocal behaviors as replacements for vocal stereotypies.

A key deficit in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is underdeveloped joint attention skills. Joint attention is a pivotal social communication skill that is very complex and can be difficult to teach in isolation. It may behoove us to find other ways in which joint attention might be easier to teach. In Experiment I, basic functional play was taught to three children with ASD through imitation, with joint attention embedded within the procedure. Reinforcement was contingent on joint attention during the play imitation sessions, compared to baseline in which joint attention without play was reinforced. The results demonstrated that play-based treatment can increase joint attention and that generalization of joint attention across person and setting occurred. In Experiment II, the Natural Language Paradigm (NLP; Laski, Charlop, & Schreibman, 1988), which has been shown to increase both speech and play (Gillett & LeBlanc, 2007), will be assessed to determine whether NLP can also generate and increase joint attention in children with ASD. Together, the results of these studies may hold implications for alternative ways for teaching joint attention via procedures that evoke motivating operations.

There is paucity of research examining the use video modeling to train parents to implement formats of early intervention such as Naturalistic Environmental Training (NET). The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the efficacy of video modeling to train parents to implement the Naturalistic Language Paradigm (NLP), a specific format of NET, with their children diagnosed with or suspected of having autism spectrum disorder and to extend the current literature on NLP. All three parents demonstrated accurate performance of the components of NLP with the confederate and met the mastery criterion in two or three video modeling sessions. We measured the parents accurate implementation of each NLP component skill across phases of the study. Results showed that video modeling did not teach all component skills to mastery. We also measured the generalization of the parents NLP implementation to their child and to the home setting. Generalization of the NLP component skills to sessions with their child was observed for all three participants, and generalization to the home was observed for two of the three participants. Maintenance probes conducted one and three weeks after training showed continued high levels of accurate implementation of NLP with for two parents. Implications for the use of video modeling to teach NLP to parents will be discussed.

The Promoting the Emergence of Advanced Knowledge Relational Training System (PEAK) is the first behavior analytic assessment and curriculum that is designed to promote the emergence of derived relational responding in individuals with- and without- disabilities. PEAK is grounded in Stimulus Equivalence theory and Relational Frame Theory accounts of human language and cognition, and provides an assessment of participants relational abilities with a set of curricular programs that target socially relevant skills and derivational abilities. The present set of studies will evaluate how the PEAK Equivalence assessment relates to standardized measures of intelligence, and will provide demonstrations of how programs in the PEAK curriculum can be used to teach several skills, as well as lead to corresponding changes in IQ. In addition, a demonstration of how advances in Relational Frame Theory can be incorporated into the PEAK curriculum will be provided, and the potential relationship between these more advanced relational abilities and intelligence will be discussed.

The psychological construct of intelligence encompasses a variety of capacities (ex., logic, abstract thought, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, and memory) that have been captured in contemporary psychometric measures. The most well-known surveys of intelligence provide a measure of intelligence in terms of the intelligence quotient (IQ). Standardized IQ tests have been used for placement and diagnostic purposes for over a century due to their predictive validity across several socially significant outcomes. Although purely psychometric evaluations of intelligence have generated strong results, surveys of intelligence do not provide researchers and clinicians with a framework that breaks down the behavioral units of intellect. The Promoting the Emergence of Advanced Knowledge Relational Training system (PEAK) is a behavior analytic assessment and curriculum that targets responsivity to direct training, as well as generalization and derived relational abilities. Several studies detail the relationship between the PEAK assessment and standardized measures of IQ, specifically in application with individuals with autism and other neurodegenerative disabilities. By reducing the construct of IQ into specific and measurable behavioral units, the PEAK curriculum has the potential to improve identified cognitive and language skills deficits that are related to contemporary measures of human intelligence.

Preliminary research has shown the effectiveness of the Promoting the Emergence of Advanced Knowledge Relational Training System (PEAK) curriculum in teaching a range of verbal skills, including metaphorical emotions. However, to date, minimal research has evaluated the effectiveness of PEAK in teaching children with emotional disorders contextually distorted tacts related to private emotional events metaphorically. Therefore, the current study used a concurrent multiple baseline design to train three children to make correct word-picture and vocal-picture matches between stimuli of emotional states and pictures (e.g., happy, sad, and angry; sunshine, rain, and steaming kettle). Two arbitrary stimuli served as contextual cues for relations of sameness (Context One) and opposition (Context Two). Distorted metaphorical tacts where extinguished during Context One, and reinforced during Context Two. Trial-by-trial interobserver agreement data was collected for 25% of sessions (total agreement = 100%). Following training, all students demonstrated higher than baseline accuracies on response selection and intraverbal emissions to WH questions related to emotions, for both metaphorical and distorted tacts. The results replicate and extend previous on the PEAK curriculum.

The current study used multiple exemplar training (MET) to teach perspective-taking skills to two early elementary school age children with identified developmental delays. Using a multiple probe design, participants were trained using a testing and training protocol developed for the purpose of this study, and was based on previous protocols. This protocol taught the three deictic relational frames I-YOU, HERE-THERE and NOW-THEN through the use of childrens books. Results show that relational responding can be achieved using MET as evidenced by posttest probes meeting criteria without being directly trained. Procedures were shown to not only be successful at training perspective-taking skills but the use of childrens books was a natural means to train this skill. Implications of this study give professionals in a public school a protocol to train basic skills related to empathy while also providing an objective measurement of behavior as a result of the training.

For the past several years, awareness for the ABA services has been increased dramatically in Korea. Although limited, few BCBA approved programs have launched, and the number of BCBAs/BCaBAs has been increased up to approximately 30. Much efforts are made to improve direct services, educational system, treatment delivery and staff-training. In this symposium, 4 different research projects are presented, and the topics are need assessment, FA, staff-training and face perception. Although these topics are not quite related, their results provide useful information for service delivery, on-going research and treatment outcome study in Korea. Specific implications and suggestions are discussed and practical issues will be shared.

High percentages of individuals with developmental disabilities and autism spectrum disorders engage in problem behaviors, yet effective treatment has not been provided in Korea. As a first step to establish suitable and efficient service system for problem behaviors, need assessment among direct caregivers appears necessary. The purpose of this study is to investigate the common strategies currently in practice for remediating problem behaviors in Korea and unmet psychological, educational and practical needs among caregivers. The participants included parents, teachers and para-professionals (n=172, n=324, n=474, respectively). The results are as follows. Most frequently observed problem behaviors were noncompliance and tantrum. Teachers evaluated problem behaviors more severely with slightly higher stress levels compared to other groups. Next, majority of teachers and para-professionals were willing to spend a short-term training program to enhance their ability to deal with problem behaviors. All 3 groups recognize behavior therapy as the most effective method for remediating behavior problems, yet are using different methods to deal with them in real life setting, mainly due to lack of resources. They also expressed the need for building effective consultation and referral system and systematic support to use them in their settings.

Functional Analysis (FA) is an assessment for identifying the underlying function of the problem. Despite of its utility, its use has been limited due to costs and lack of experts. Instead, Questions About Behavior Function (QABF), an indirect assessment utilizing the parents reports, has been commonly used. Nonetheless, the interchangeability of two measures has not been investigated enough. The purpose of this study is to identify the interchangeability of the FA and the QABF. Twenty four participants with Developmental Disabilities(DD) aged from 4 to 16 were recruited. Data of 16 participants who completed both measures and assessed same problem behaviors were analyzed. Each functions of behaviors identified from the QABF was compared to the one from the FA for each participants. Also, the correlations between the results of FA and QABF were conducted. As a results, congruency between the measures were found only in 3 participants(18.75%). The correlation between the measures was highest on the Attention function(r = .333) and lowest on the Tangible function(r = .004). These results indicate that the incongruity exists between direct(FA) and indirect(QABF) measures, suggesting that the use of both measures are recommended to identify the function of problem behaviors. Practical difficulties and concerns are further discussed.

Applied Behavioral Analysis(ABA) is an evidence-based treatment for persons with problem behaviors among developmental disabilities(DD) population. Typically, ABA service is provided individual bases to maximize its effectiveness. Due to high costs associated with ABA, however, there is a need for more cost-effective short-term staff training, especially in Korea where limited resources are available. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a short-term staff training to improve behavior among individuals with DD in a residential facility. A 4 week short-term staff training was administered by an ABA specialist weekly bases. Training focused on conducting functional analysis for problem behaviors, developing and implementing function-based assessment Additionally, homework was given along with feedbacks on each staff's compliance. Data on the individual's degree of problem behaviors, staff's stress and quality of life and knowledge of behavior principles were collected through the self-reported questionaires before and after the intervention to examine the effects of the training. The results showed that significant difference in pre and post scores on knowledge of behavior principles. No differences were found in other measures. The implications and limitations of this study, with directions for future research, are also discussed.

Persons with Autism Spectrum Disorder(ASD) are characterized by deficits in face perception. Recent studies have investigated an underlying mechanism of this characteristics by utilizing the adaptation paradigm which is based on norm-based coding model. These studies found that persons with ASD showed diminished aftereffects in identity, gender, and emotion perception. The purpose of this study is to investigate race-contingent aftereffects of persons with ASD compared to those of typically developing (TD) people using the adaptation paradigm. Ten children with ASD and 9 TD children were participated in this study. Morphed anti-emotional faces (happy and sad) of Asian and Caucasian were randomly presented for 4000ms as the adaptor. After the adaptation phase, participants were shown the neutral face of the same identity as the adaptor and asked to choose the most appropriate label of emotion for the face. The results showed significant interaction effect between the group (ASD and TD) and the race(Asian and Caucasian). Further analyses revealed that the aftereffects of TD group was marginally larger for Asian than the Caucasian face. No difference of size of aftereffect between races were found in ASD group. This suggests atypical race-contingent aftereffect in ASD group. Implications and limitations are further discussed.

A potential problem with the use of response prompts in applied settings to teach children with autism is that the prompts are susceptible to procedural drift. While stimulus prompts may serve an efficient and effective alternative to response prompts, these are often not utilized. This study compared the use of response prompts to a simple technological intervention using stimulus prompts. (e.g., systematically altering the intensity of S-stimuli within a PowerPoint program on a laptop computer). Three participants diagnosed with autism between the ages of 812 were taught conditional discriminations, either by response prompts or stimulus prompts, within a changing conditions design. Not only were the stimulus prompts more effective and efficient (e.g., fewer trials to criterion and fewer errors) because of the technological delivery system of the stimulus prompts, the possibility for procedural drift was eradicated. These results are discussed in terms of improving the efficacy of teaching students with autism spectrum disorders.

Students with autism spectrum disorders have been reported to demonstrate stimulus over-selectivity or restricted stimulus control (i.e., failure to respond to all the critical elements of multi-element complex stimuli). This potential may have a detrimental impact on the acquisition of academic skills for these individuals if the stimuli in question contain multiple controlling elements (i.e., learning the relation between spoken words and PECS symbols and AAC icons). This study presents a number of methodologies by which attention to, and the subsequent control by, multiple elements of a complex stimulus was demonstrated. In Experiment One, a 13-year-old non-vocal boy with an autism spectrum disorder was taught to select printed word comparisons contingent on their spoken + signed name comparisons (e.g., a complex stimulus) via errorless instruction. Following training, tests conducted in extinction verified accurate control by each element over printed word comparison. In Experiment 2, a 8 year-old student with autism spectrum disorder was taught identity-matching-to-complex samples (e.g., samples containing two, physically dissimilar yet related visual stimuli). Following training, tests conducted in extinction verified accurate control by each element. The data are discussed in terms of maximizing student learning while avoiding the potential pitfalls of error histories.

The symposium on Understanding the contingencies of systems and implementing change focuses on social, behavioral and cultural aspects of change in business and society as a whole. Change is perceived to be uncertain and complex; therefore it is often met with resistance and fear. As adaptation to change requires conscientious effort, not everyone is able to make it. The symposium attempts to demystify this uncertainty and analyze the process. The presentations dissect different cultures and schools of thought to discuss how new memes evolve, propagate and adapt and thereby play a critical role in an individuals survival. Further, the symposium will include empirical reports as well as theoretical reviews focusing on organizational change. The scope of the presentations spans across behavioral aspects of partners in start-up to stakeholder in large, top-down organizations. The presentations will emphasize the effects of reinforcement contingencies, task mastery and recognition, behavioral momentum and successful startup partnership.

Human beings face similar adaptive challenges as all other organisms. However, humans are unique in that for the last 150,000 years, most of their adaptations have been cultural. Culture may be roughly described as consisting of an extremely large set of memes, which are units of information. As humans interact within their society or social groups these memes are continually reinforced and thereby play an integral part in molding their perception of cause and effect. When individuals translocate from one country to another, specifically from one country with a relatively traditional social structure to one with a more liberal social structure, these individuals have to adapt in order to assimilate into society. This is because the memes and reinforcers of the different societies vary significantly. Cultural adaptations are spectacularly complex and essential for their survival. They are also not without an underlying biological basis of sociability, inventiveness and imitativeness. In this paper we explore the reasons around why some individuals adapt and why some are more resistant to change.

Social change is characterized by (1) the creation of powerful memes by a single individual (2) propagation of those memes to a large group of people (3) sustenance of those memes via behavioral change and transmission to associated social groups as well as to the next generation. Thus social change is complete when there is a collective change in group behavior. When large social groups adapt to a new way of thinking or behaving however behavioral momentum of social groups needs to be overcome. To displace a current group behavior with new behavior, therefore this new behavior or thinking has to be often more potent than the current behavior. In such a scenario the adoption curve of new behavior is often slow at the beginning but as time progresses the number of people who adopt increases. The pace of adoption however can range from a few months to one or two generations. Finally to sustain this change the operation of long term contingencies with long term attractors acting as reinforcers need to be at play.

The success of behavioral interventions relies in part on the accuracy with which the intervention is implemented. Coaching and performance feedback are two of the most commonly researched approaches of changing interventionist behavior in applied behavior analysis. However, the feasibility of these practices can be challenging in school and home settings. This symposium will present empirical data from four studies evaluating innovations in enhancing treatment integrity of behavior analytic interventions for young children. The first two single case research studies evaluate teacher self-monitoring on behavioral interventions fidelity in Head Start centers. The second two papers present results from parent-implement interventions to increase social-communication skills in young children with autism spectrum disorder. Dr. Peter Sturmey will offer a discussion regarding the potential impact of behavioral interventions to increase treatment fidelity among teachers and parents. He will also reflect on factors that may enhance the generalization and maintenance of teacher and parent implemented behavioral interventions

Self-monitoring is a low cost intervention that enables performance feedback while minimizing reliance on outside personnel. Self-monitoring involves observing ones own behavior and recording those observations. While self-monitoring has extensive research support in the literature as an intervention strategy for students with disabilities, relatively little research has been conducted evaluating self-monitoring for teachers. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of preschool teacher self-monitoring within a practice-based coaching framework on teacher fidelity of class-wide transitions. Results of this multiple baseline design across teachers demonstrate that teacher fidelity of transition practices increased to 100% for all three Head Start teachers with the practice-based coaching plus self-monitoring intervention. The percentage of 10 s intervals in which all children were engaged in appropriate transition behaviors also increased with the teacher intervention. Each teacher identified a student in need of additional behavioral supports during transition. Challenging behavior for each of these three students decreased to low levels following teacher self-monitoring and practice-based coaching.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a preschool teacher intervention around the use self-monitoring and the use online learning modules. The study involved two intervention phases: (a) universal supports - use of an in-service training around daily self-monitoring and instructional supports focused on language modeling strategies, and (b) secondary supports - online learning modules that provided exemplars of the operationally defined instructional supports. The first phase involved 7 Head Start lead teachers who all received the universal supports. The teachers (4 in total) who required additional professional development supports received the second phase; which provided them with access to the online learning modules. Treatment effects were evaluated using individual single-case research design (two concurrent multiple baseline designs across classrooms). The teachers daily self-reported their frequency of use of specific language modeling strategies. The results suggested that the exposure to self-monitoring was effect in increasing all teachers use of language modeling strategies. However, the use of the online learning modules, specifically the video exemplars, increased the consistent use of strategies by the teachers.

A manualized protocol designed to teach parents a series of intervention components designed to improve the language of children with autism spectrum disorders was developed and tested with 21 parent child dyads arranged in a series on multiple baseline designs. Parents were taught to (a) follow their childs lead in play; (b) match conversation turns; (c) mirror their childs play; (d) expand on childs utterances; (e) arrange the environment; and (e) prompt language at target level. Previous research aimed at teaching parents similar target skills required 24 to more than 30 sessions of instruction. The manualized protocol developed here resulted in parents reaching mastery in only 6 sessions. Child language was measured and improvements in language were found (e.g., increased mands, mean length of utterance and language diversity). This presentation will describe the development and content of the parent training protocol and present representative data from parents and their children.

The Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) has recently announced a change in the ethical guidelines for credentialed behavior analysts. Specifically, a new enforceable compliance code (i.e., Professional and Ethical Compliance Code for Behavior Analysts) was developed and will take effect in January 2016. The new Code is intended to more clearly present ethical expectations and expand the range of professional conduct (BACB, 2014). Given the new Code and its intent for creation, it seems reasonable that the new Code would affect pre-service training of behavior analysts to ensure newly credentialed behavior analysts have the prerequisite skills to understand and follow the Code. The purpose of this symposium is to provide an overview of four different training programs and how each program is providing pre-service training specific to the new Code. Presenters are from varied training programs that provide training on campus, online, hybrid (online and on campus) and within community-based practicums.

The BACB's New Ethical and Professional Compliance Code for Behavior Analysts is the standard for the professional behavior of behavior analysts. It is also our compass- the main source for information about navigating ethical challenges and inculcating the values of the profession into students and trainees. Information on how this can be approached from a teaching/training perspective will be shared. In particular, strategies for teaching ethical decision-making will be described. Specific strategies for helping young professionals to adhere to the code and to reduce their risk of noncompliance will be discussed. The need for signal detection skills and resource management skills will be highlighted. In addition, considerations for the promotion of ethical behavior will be discussed at both the individual and organization levels.

This symposium will present some of the latest research that utilizes technology in the form of videos and iPads with children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The first study evaluated the speed of acquisition and level of generalization of tacts across three different stimulus modes: picture-flashcard, video clip, and 3D object. Results indicated that two of the three participants learned tacts slightly faster when using the video clip mode compared to the other two modes. The second study evaluated if participants engaged in higher rates of problem behavior when using traditional materials or an iPad to complete school work. Results indicated that one participant only engaged in problem behavior when using traditional materials and all three participants chose to do work on the iPad when provided a choice between the two materials. Implications from the results for both studies will be discussed in detail.

Labeling everyday objects and actions is a foundational skill for the development of language (Sundberg & Partington, 1998) which is vital for reading comprehension and proficiency in vocal communication (Wood, 2001). Tacting is a complex task that encompasses objects or events with arbitrary and particular names (Greer, Yuan, & Gautreux, 2005). This study evaluated the speed of acquisition and level of generalization of tacts across three different stimulus modes: picture-flashcard, video clip, and 3D object. Three young children diagnosed with autism participated in this study. The acquisition of tacts was evaluated during Discrete Trial Training sessions (DTT). Two of the three participants learned the tacts more rapidly in the video clip condition in contrast with the picture condition. All three participants generalized the three tacts learned through a specific stimulus mode to the remaining stimulus modes. One week after the generalization test, all participants generalized to all novel 3D objects. The use of video clips to teach tacts to children with autism may be a useful method for teachers or instructors who do not have easy access to a variety of settings, as well as for the development of verbal behavior teaching programs.

Tablets are being incorporated into interventions with children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. So far research has focused mainly on academics and communication, but only one study has evaluated using tablets to decrease escape maintained behaviors. The purpose of this study was to replicate the effects of the study by Neely et al. (2013) and also determine if the tablet served as a reinforcer for three participants with escape maintained behaviors. A multiple baseline with an alternating treatment design was utilized in the first phase in which academic work was completed on either traditional materials or the tablet. The following phases for each participant were dependent on the prior phase, with a final choice phase. All participants showed lower levels of problem behaviors and higher levels of compliance when tablets were introduced contingent upon completing work. For all participants, the tablet was chosen 100% of the time, and two participants had 100% accuracy and compliance while using the tablet.

Early intensive behavioral intervention is a well-established treatment for children with autism spectrum disorders. However, many details of treatment have yet to be individually empirically evaluated. For example, ample research supports both more-structured teaching procedures (e.g., discrete trial training) and less-structured teaching procedures (e.g., natural environment training) but little research has evaluated strategies for combining them in optimal proportions. In addition, relatively little research has evaluated procedures for teaching children with autism to identify and respond to the private events of others. This symposium brings together two studies that address these topics. The symposium concludes with a discussion by Dr. Timothy Weil.

Naturalistic behavioral skill acquisition procedures have been used with children since the 1960s and continue to be an integral component of comprehensive early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) programs for children with autism. Some advocates of natural environment training (NET) suggest that NET is virtually always superior to structured teaching procedures such as discrete trial training (DTT) and several studies have compared NET-only to DTT-only and shown that NET was superior. However, it can be argued that such research evaluated what amounts to a false comparison because they evaluated DTT implemented alone. Most comprehensive EIBI programs today implement a combination of DTT and NET and few behavior analysts would suggest that DTT ever be used without any other more naturalistic approaches. Therefore, the purpose the current study is to compare NET-only to DTT combined with NET for the acquisition and generalization of verbal behavior in children with autism. This combination mirrors more closely what is actually done in contemporary comprehensive EIBI programs.

All previous research regarding perspective-taking has solely addressed the use of sight to acquire knowledge and perspective. No previous studies, of which we are aware, have sought to systematically teach children with autism how to identify and explain known and unknown information across oneself and others using a wider variety of senses. Therefore, the purpose of the current research study was to extend behavioral research on the topic of knowing by evaluating the effectiveness of a multiple exemplar training package that included rules, modeling, practice, and feedback, in teaching children with autism to identify and explain information that is known and unknown to themselves and others based on sensory perspective taking and experience.

The Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) is a behavioral measure originally created to examine derived relational responding. For over a decade, the IRAP has also been used to study a related concept, implicit bias, across multiple domains (e.g., body image, self-esteem, racism, etc.). This computerized measure of response latency has produced results that resemble data from other similar measures that were originally created to assess implicit bias. However, IRAP procedural differences allow a parsing of the experimental stimuli that produces a finer-grain analysis of implicit bias data. Some researchers have used the IRAP to investigate implicit bias related to mental illness. For example, overarching mental illness stigma and social categorization have recently been examined using a combination of both IRAP and self-report data, rather than by self-report data alone. The three presentations herein will discuss whether D-IRAP scores (implicit bias/stigma) predict willingness to interact with people suffering with schizophrenia, posttraumatic stress disorder, or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Specifically, participant responding to vignettes about interacting with people who have, and who do not have, these three diagnoses was used to assess the predictive validity of the IRAP.

This study used self-report measures and the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) to investigate the relationship between explicit and implicit biases towards schizophrenia. The participants from an introductory psychology class at a Midwestern university were randomly assigned to this study. After completing multiple self-reports, the participants read matched vignettes, created by the researchers, about two people struggling with symptoms of schizophrenia. One vignette noted the person as having been diagnosed with schizophrenia, whereas the other contained no such diagnosis. Then, after receiving IRAP instructions, participants completed an IRAP using the names of the people from the vignettes (sample stimuli) and healthy/sick words (target stimuli). Following the IRAP, the participants completed two Social Distance Scales (SDS). The SDS measured the participants willingness to interact with individuals who were specifically diagnosed with schizophrenia and individuals who received no diagnosis. The primary purpose of this study was to assess whether the D-IRAP scores (i.e., implicit bias) are predictive of differences in SDS scores for those diagnosed, and those not diagnosed, with schizophrenia. Data on these issues will be presented and discussed.

This study examined whether certain implicit and explicit bias measures could predict participant interaction with people suffering with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms. Participants were sampled from an introductory psychology class at a Midwestern university. Implicit (i.e., automatic) biases were measured using the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP), whereas explicit (i.e., more controlled) biases were measured via self-report questionnaires. After completing several self-report surveys and reading vignettes about people suffering with diagnosed and undiagnosed ADHD, participants completed an IRAP tailored to measure ADHD stigma. After the IRAP, students completed the Social Distance Scale (SDS) to measure willingness to interact with the people from the vignettes. It was hypothesized that D-IRAP and questionnaire scores would reflect stronger stigmatization toward those who carry an ADHD diagnosis compared to those who exhibit ADHD symptomology in the absence of such a diagnosis. Further, it was expected that the D-IRAP scores would better predict willingness to interact with both people who are diagnosed with, and those who are undiagnosed but suffer from, ADHD. Data regarding these issues will be discussed during this presentation.

Stigmatization can negatively impact people suffering from a diagnosed mental disorder. While some stereotypes may be attached to mental disorders in general, particular disorders may have specific stigmas. In previous mental health stigma studies, self-report (explicit bias) measures have assessed the participants attitudes toward a person diagnosed with a particular disorder. However, these measures may not be predictive of the participants behavior toward that individual. The Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP), a reasonably reliable and valid measure of implicit bias, may have utility in predicting such behavior. The present study involved (a) administering a number of self-report measures, (b) reading two vignettes about individuals struggling with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), one of which that has been diagnosed as such, (c) an IRAP involving positive and negative words associated with the health of the individuals from the vignettes, and (d) two Social Distance Scales about the people described in the vignettes. Two major hypotheses include that the D-IRAP (implicit bias) scores will reflect stronger, unfavorable stigma toward those with a PTSD diagnosis (versus those with PTSD symptoms that have not been diagnosed with PTSD), and the implicit bias scores will predict social distance scores (i.e., willingness to interact) for both vignettes.

Young adults report greater levels of drug and alcohol misuse than any other age or demographic group yet they rarely report significant substance dependence or any desire to participate in formal substance abuse treatment. Dr. Murphy's presentation will focus on novel behavioral economic approaches to understanding risk, quantifying severity, and motivating change in substance use in high-risk young adult populations. Dr. Murphy has developed and evaluated a brief behavioral economic intervention approach that attempts to increase engagement in patterns of goal-directed substance-free activities that are associated with delayed reinforcement and will describe the treatment elements and outcomes. He has also developed and evaluated demand curve and relative behavioral allocation indices of reward value and will present data on their clinical relevance in the prediction of substance abuse severity and treatment response.

Undergraduate students, graduate students, and professionals in psychology and behavior analysis

This symposium includes data from a series of three studies evaluating means for teaching and using self-instructional procedures for individuals with intellectual disabilities. Each study provides an overview of different means to teach individuals with intellectual disability to self instruct and then use that skill to learn other skills. The final study then evaluates the efficiency of self-instruction compared to teacher directed instruction. In sum, this selection of studies provides evidence and rationale for considering broader instructional targets for individuals with intellectual disability. Broadening the focus to teach pivotal skills (rather than discrete specific skills) provides opportunities for individuals to select and pursue learning across environments with a system of self-instruction. The results are discussed in relation to their potential impact for independent living, employment, and community integration. Further, the researchers will discuss the relevance of these procedures to bridge the gap from school based instruction to community instruction and transitions from high school to community settings.

This study examined the effects of a system of most-to-least prompts to teach four adolescents with moderate-to-severe intellectual and developmental disabilities to use an iPod Touch and a video prompting app (inPromptu) independently. All four students learned to use the technology and app independently and two students were able to self-direct to learn a novel skill.

This study evaluated the effectiveness of student-delivered video modeling through a video iPod as a means of teaching job-related to tasks to four young adults with autism spectrum disorder at their employment settings. All of the participants were able to independently use the mobile technology and complete three novel vocational jobs.

a. This study evaluated the effects video prompting when presented as teacher-delivered instruction (TDI) and when presented as student-delivered instruction (SDI) on skill acquisition for four adolescent or adult females with an intellectual disability. Results indicated that three participants were able to acquire a novel skill within similar a similar number of sessions and time with both TDI and SDI, while one participant only reached criterion levels of responding when instruction was provided by a teacher.

Western dualistic conceptions of "mind" and "self" create unrealistic behavioral expectations of patients for themselves, for their families, and for professionals alike. An alternative neuroscience-based conceptualization of the self allows a deeper and ultimately more forgiving model of human behavior. This lecture presents emerging perspectives on the neuroscience of self and reviews the accumulating data on the science of mindfulness meditation. Specific application of these concepts and of mindfulness training in traumatic brain injury and intellectual disorders is also discussed.

Behavior analysts and clinicians treating behavior issues in individuals with traumatic brain injuries or intellectual disabilities.

The link between basic and applied branches of behavior analysis has often flowed from the laboratory to the clinical setting. This flow has led to technologies that have promoted meaningful outcomes for clients in a variety of settings. At times however, questions arise in the applied realm that are best examined in a more controlled environment. This symposium presents three talks illustrating the intersection between basic preparations and clinical practice via what is commonly coined translational research. All three talks use preparations inspired from basic research involving human participants to inform the design of interventions commonly implemented in applied settings. Two talks discuss different aspects of interventions involving conditioned reinforcers. The first talk presents data from a study which examined establishing and maintaining the effects of conditioned reinforcers. The second talk presents data examining the generalized effects of conditioned reinforcers. The third talk presents data from an investigation of delayed punishment. Specifically, the effects of a verbal rule on the efficacy of delayed punishment were evaluated

A common characteristic of individuals with developmental disabilities is a restricted range of interest. Developing procedures to establish new reinforcers could promote the acquisition of new skills and reduce decreases in motivation related to repeated presentation of the same reinforcer or natural shifts in interest. Two procedures have been reported in the research literature on establishing neutral stimuli as conditioned reinforcerspairing and the SD procedures. Few applied studies have directly evaluated the use of these procedures. Also, additional research is necessary to determine their effectiveness and whether effects can be maintained. The purpose of this study was to (a) to compare the pairing and the SD procedures in the development of conditioned reinforcers, (b) to test the effectiveness of the reinforcers using progressive ratio (PR) schedules of reinforcement, and (c) to evaluate the robustness of reinforcing effects.

Delayed punishers are typically less effective than immediate punishers at suppressing behavior. Another disadvantage is that delayed punishers may inadvertently decrease the responses they immediately follow but are not contingent upon. Occasionally, however, delayed punishers may be necessary, so developing effective strategies to maximize the effects of a delayed punisher is crucial. One strategy for increasing the suppressive effect of a delayed punisher is to provide a verbal rule describing the contingency related to the punisher. It is unclear, however, whether this strategy minimizes the effect of the delayed punisher on contiguous (but not contingent) responses, which would be particularly important from a clinical perspective. In this study, five college-age students engaged with a computer program consisting of four conditions: immediate punishment, delayed punishment, delayed rule without punishment, and delayed rule with punishment. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the addition of a verbal rule altered the effect of a delayed punisher on both contingent and contiguous responses. Results indicate that adding a verbal rule not only increased the suppressive effect of a delayed punisher on contingent responses, but also decreased the likelihood that the delayed punisher would suppress the response it immediately followed.

All agencies that that serve populations with special needs must train direct care staff on an ongoing basis. Training that is provided directly by a behavioral consultant may often be limited due to time constraints. For this reason, it is worthwhile to explore the effectiveness of computer-based training programs. Computer-based training may enhance the generality of target skills since it is possible to include multiple exemplars in a single video or module; it also provides a standardized method of training multiple staff, which can help increase procedural integrity; and the training results in a permanent product that can be revisited as necessary to train new staff or as ‘booster’ training for seasoned staff. This symposium will highlight research from three labs that have incorporated a form of computer-based training to teach the following skills: 1) identification of safe eating practices for individuals with disabilities; 2) implementation of the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS); and 3) visual analysis of single-case AB design graphs. Presenters will discuss limitations of the work conducted to date and propose areas for future research.

An estimated eight percent of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities have a diagnosed difficulty swallowing food or liquids (dysphagia) (Chadwick 2009). These problems raise the risk of choking and can lead to serious health problems if correct protocols around eating and drinking are not followed. It is imperative to put in place interventions that prevent choking and aspiration incidents by training Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) about meal modifications and identifying dangerous situations at mealtime. In this study we used a pretest-posttest experimental design to investigate whether a scenario-based online training combined with a fifteen-minute client protocol review statistically increased DSPs knowledge of meal modifications and their ability to identify dangerous situations in scenarios and pictures. The control group received a protocol review only. Participants were randomly assigned to the experimental and control group. After the intervention, a generalization session will be conducted to determine whether the DSPs can generalize the knowledge to their clients meal protocols. Our hypothesis is that online training combined with a client protocol review will statistically improve staffs ability to 1) follow eating and drinking protocols within presented scenarios 2) identify dangerous situations during presented scenarios 3) generalize these skills to the clients they serve and maintain over time compared to DSPs that receive a protocol review only.

Training programs for pre-service behavior analysts, and common arrangements of clinical practices, too often result in ABA being siloed from other disciplines. If we are to succeed with our mission of facilitating change globally, in all meaningful domains of our lives and environments, we must successfully integrate services and research with those in different fields. Behavior analysts might also have an ethical obligation to shed light on how we might design and re-design our "contextual fit" to meet our cultural standards. Presenters from multiple disciplines: academia, linguistics, special education, and neurology, will explore how they introduce ABA into new cultures, teach pre-service professionals to program for research and collaboration with non-behavioral providers, expand their own interdisciplinary relations, and are changed personally and professionally by the experience. Panelists will also discuss their research and efforts to integrate ABA with art therapy, ceremonial and cultural participation, and religious studies while giving consideration to scientific as well as ethical dimensions that define the field of behavior analysis. We invite professionals working in medicine, psychology, business, ecology, anthropology, religious and cultural studies, sociology, and more to share their challenges and strategies. How are you creating interdisciplinary connections, opportunities, and collaboration that strengthen relationships and result in behavior analysis being integrated in larger initiatives and with other fields?

Human memory evolved subject to the constraints of nature's criterion: differential survival and reproduction. Consequently, our capacity to remember and forget is likely tuned to solving fitness-based problems, particularly those prominent in ancestral environments. Do the operating characteristics of memory continue to bear the footprint of nature's criterion? Are there mnemonic "tunings" rooted in the remnants of a stone-age brain? Work from the presenter's laboratory suggests that: (1) processing information for its survival relevance leads to superior long-term retention, better, in fact, than most known learning techniques; (2) animate (living) stimuli are remembered much better than matched inanimate (nonliving) stimuli; and (3) stimuli that have been potentially contaminated by disease are remembered especially well. Understanding how memory is used to solve adaptive problems relevant to fitness, the presenter argues, provides critical insight into how and why human memory systems formed, and why they work the way they do.

Licensed Psychologists, certified behavior analysts, graduate students.

Behavior analysts recognize the importance of incorporating motivation and reinforcement within service delivery. Additionally, behavior analytic treatment programs incorporate effective function based procedures to increase compliance with demands and decrease escape maintained challenging behavior. These procedures often include forced physical prompting and paced prompts that may increase the occurrence of challenging behavior or reduce acceptance of the procedures by caregivers and staff. This symposium explores potential ethical alternatives to traditional escape extinction using 7 Steps to Earning Instructional Control, wait-outs, and conditioning work as a reinforcer that address the problems behavior analysts face with traditional escape extinction procedures in discrete trial programming.

Behavior analytic intervention programs frequently include the use of forced prompting to earn compliance with demands and reduce escape maintained challenging behavior. This approach is effective but can result in an increase in challenging behavior if the challenging behavior is also maintained by attention or can be difficult to implement with clients who are larger in size. Additionally, caregivers and staff may not accept the use of forced prompting and may not implement the procedure during the naturally occurring routine, which also reduces the effectiveness of the procedure. The purpose of this presentation is to explore ethical considerations regarding the use of forced prompting by drawing from the BACB Guidelines for Responsible Conduct and Van Houten et al. (1988). Additionally, the presentation will explore how the 7 Steps to Earning Instructional Control addresses these ethical considerations and whether research in the basic or applied areas supports alternatives to forced prompting such as the 7 Steps as viable options for reducing escape maintained challenging behavior.

Escape-avoidance behavior is a common impediment to skill acquisition and a frequent maintaining variable for a variety of behavioral excesses. While a great number of antecedent interventions (e.g., demand fading, student choice, errorless teaching) can decrease problem behavior levels, escape- avoidance behaviors do not immediately drop to zero levels, and reactive measures invariably account for some part of the behavior intervention plan. Among potential reactive treatments, escape extinction has the greatest empirical support and is typically recommended. This presentation will demonstrate the efficacy of an alternative to escape extinction in 3 studies across 5 participants. In this procedure, task resistance is followed by a temporary withdrawal of that task and a substantial limit upon student options until the task has been completed. Though counter-intuitive (because escape-maintained behavior produces temporary escape), this procedure, colloquially known as a wait out, tends to not only decrease escape-maintained behavior, but also to improve a number of qualities of student participation. Participants will learn the rationales behind the use of wait and will see examples of how to implement the procedure.

Scientific examination of strategies that produce emergent verbal behavior is significant with respect to the potential conceptual and applied contributions to the field of Behavior Analysis and even to fields outside of Behavior Analysis. These strategies can inform important decisions regarding educational practices and can contribute to narratives and research related to stimulus control. One study compared a stimulus equivalence online teaching protocol to a standard online teaching protocol to teach single-subject research design to graduate students. A second study evaluated a mand-based training protocol to a tact- and two intraverbal-based training protocols to teach foreign language words to typically developing adults. A third study investigated the role of tact and intraverbal training in developing intraverbal naming, and the mediating effects of intraverbal naming in the formation of generalized equivalence classes in undergraduate students. A final study conducted two experiments and investigated the effects of an auditory pairing procedure on the emergence of tacts, selection responses, and intraverbals to teach information about musical instruments to 24 typically developing adults.

We analyzed the emergence of tacts, selections, and intraverbals after observing paired auditory stimuli. In Experiment 1, 12 typical developing adults were randomly assigned to two experimental conditions. In Part 1, four sounds of musical instruments were paired with their respective names spoken by the experimenter; in Part 2, the sounds were paired with their native country names. Participants in Condition 1 received Part 1 first; participants in Condition 2 received Part 2 first. After pairing, the emergence of tacts was probed. When the tacts emerged, the selections were probed. After Parts 1 and 2, the intraverbals were probed. In Experiment 2, 12 novel adults received a similar sequence, but after pairing the selections were probed and after reaching criterion the tacts were probed. The results indicate that probing the tacts or the selections after each pairing phase does not influence emergence in adults; pairing first the sound and the name and then the sound and the country seems to produce more instances of naming than pairing first the sound and the country and then pairing the sound and the name. The findings have direct implications on the teaching procedures to facilitate these types of emergence.

The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the role of intraverbal naming on the emergence of generalized equivalence classes. Seventeen undergraduates were exposed to tact training with 3 stimulus sets (A1B1C1, A2B2C2, and A3B3C3) and baseline intraverbal training (A?B? and B?C?). Formation of equivalence classes was assessed using visual-visual matching-to-sample (MTS) tasks and intraverbal tests for symmetrical (BA, B?A?, CB, C?B?) and transitive relations (AC, A?C?, CA, C?A?). Generalization MTS posttests were then presented for 4 untrained sets of stimuli. Thirteen participants passed all MTS and intraverbal posttests. Two of the remaining 4 required either tact or intraverbal remedial training in order to achieve passing criterion. Performance improved for 5 participants during the vocal MTS posttest. These findings show the efficacy of tact and intraverbal training in the formation of generalized equivalence classes. Overall, results suggest verbal mediation strategies (i.e., intraverbal naming) may have facilitated MTS performance.

A variety of traditional high and low technological applications (smart boards, communication devices, picture schedules, timers) have long shaped the way special educators approach the education of persons with disabilities. The use of smart phones, tablets, and the ubiquitous Internet to teach are now widely accepted practices, have become routine and can often be found integrated into core curriculum, all with the great expectation that the new technology will result in significant gains in knowledge and competence. Much like the typically developing population, individuals with disabilities are increasingly relying upon their I Phones to make them more independent in their daily functioning. Recent advances in both hardware and software have greatly expanded the affordability, portability and wearability of technological devices. As technology continues to develop, the potential for evolutionary applications to advance solutions of some of the most daunting challenges to identify functions of behavior, frame effective intervention and increase staff competencies is great. However, the empirical research database is deficient with studies demonstrating the effectiveness of this new technology. Although educators use technology with abandon, technology is not yet firmly identified as evidenced-based practice, particularly with the older learner. The papers in this symposium will provide data-based empirical investigations on two examples of the use of advanced technology to teach. The first paper will comprehensively review the existing research regarding the use of technology to teach and whether there is an empirical basis to support these practices. The second paper investigates the use of wireless audio and live streamed video to train staff to competently implement instructional protocols with learners with autism. The third paper focuses on evaluating the biophysical correlates associated with self-injurious behavior, attempting to demonstrate possible variables that might aid in the reduction of such problems through the use of a FitBit.

Special educators have long used technology in the education of persons with disabilities. Smart boards, communication devices, picture schedules, and timers are examples of technological strategies to teach and maintain a variety of academic, communication, and social skills. As the technology has evolved, there is currently a new generation of personal technology devices that have great potential for supporting the education of these individuals. For example, smart phones, tablets, and the ubiquitous Internet can be used to support individuals with disabilities and make them more independent in their daily functioning. These devices are being used extensively in the education of special learners, with teachers purchasing IPads, loading them with education apps, and teaching the learners to use these devices, all with the great expectation that the new technology will result in significant gains in knowledge and competence. This paper reviews the breadth and depth of technological educational strategies. Technology was classified into its abilities, the skills needed to use, the skills it targets to teach, and the characteristics of the user. A review of the literature on the degree of evidence of effectiveness showed that technology is not the panacea and promise initially believed. There is little empirical investigation of its effectiveness, and the results are mixed. Conclusions will be drawn about the future use of technology, future research studies, and the extent to which skills can be supported by these new strategies.

Over the next 10-15 years, approximately 800,000 children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis will be entering adulthood. Services for adults are likely to be decentralized with training taking place in various community settings; such as vocational environments, restaurants, exercise facilities, offices, hospitals, and during recreational activities. In adult services, the physical distance of various community placements, coupled with additional administrative and clincial responsibilities, may influence supervisors to selectively choose which programs and interventions to supervise based on the above constraints rather than the needs of students and staff. Fortunately, there is an increasing research database showing that various technologies can be successful in training and supporting staff. The purpose of this studey was to use a live-streaming device to train staff to implement instructional protocols while teaching adults with ASD across various community settings. Specifically, board certified behavior analysts listened in and viewed via a live streaming device instruction of learners and were able to provide immediate feedback to the staff to improve the fidelity to the instructional protocols. Using a multiple baseline design across participants, the findings showed that supervisors could effectively supervise staff from a distance using the live streaming technology and offer staff support that in turn reduced staff errors and increased fidelity of programming.

Identification of preferred stimuli is critical for effective intervention programs for individuals with disabilities, as this is often the first step in the identification of reinforcing stimuli. Direct preference assessments have been the gold standard for identification of preferred stimuli among individuals not capable of vocally expressing preferences. In this symposium, we present research regarding the advances in the application of preference assessments. The first presentation will introduce a new methodology for assessing preferences for social interactions. Results indicate that videos may be used to represent social interactions in a paired choice preference assessment; moreover, results of the preference assessment correlate with reinforcer value as measured by a progressive-ratio schedule assessment. The second presentation will address considerations in scheduling preference assessments prior to learning trials. Results indicate that stimulus preference remain steady across short periods of time. The final discussion will summarize these studies and highlight the applied value of the results.

It is possible that available preference assessment technologies do not fully capture momentary shifts in preference. This experiment evaluated the differential effects of three Multiple Stimulus Without Replacement (MSWO) preference assessment variations on the performance of four participants with developmental disabilities on a mastered task. No discernible difference was demonstrated via visual analysis between the Five Pre-Session Choices condition and the Five Within-Session Choices condition across all four participants for the first 10 data points. This was demonstrated through lack of differentiation between data paths in a multielement experimental design for the dependent variables of Latency to Initiation, Total Task Duration, Percentage Correct Responses, and No-Responses. Results suggested that the timing of choice opportunities did not appreciably impact reinforcer efficacy. Subsequently, a One Pre-Session Choice condition was initiated to evaluate the efficacy of a preference assessment method with lower practitioner response effort as a means to increase social validity. The introduction of this condition also resulted in undifferentiated data across all participants. Future research should continue to evaluate the effect of choice timing on reinforcer efficacy, utilizing variations of this protocol.

Individuals with Down syndrome show a distinct behavioral phenotype characterized by relative weakness in expressive language and relative strengths in social interest. The characteristic phenotype of individuals with Down syndrome develops early in infancy with delays in the duration and frequency of exploratory motor behavior (manipulating a toy in the hand) and in the onset of babbling, speech sounds and vocal imitation. We present a behavior-analytic model, which explains the early differences in exploratory motor and speech sounds. Using this model, we examined interventions for infants with Down syndrome. A behavior-analytic intervention involving multiple opportunities, prompting, and social reinforcement was used to teach three infants with Down syndrome between 5-9 months of age to emit exploratory motor behavior with the same frequency and duration as typically developing infants. We also examined contingent vocal imitation as a reinforcer to increase the rate of babbling in infants with Down syndrome. The importance of these findings and collateral changes in related skill areas will be discussed.

Maximizing outcomes for learners with Down syndrome requires an approach which is both effective and efficient. Modifying the intensity of intervention has the potential to affect the rate of skill acquisition as well as other learner behavior, such as task persistence, which alters the efficiency of intervention. We will discuss the results of study which determined the effect of varying intensity levels of discrete-trial instruction on acquisition and task persistence for young children with Down syndrome. Three children with Down syndrome were taught expressive language targets using three manipulations of intervention intensity (dose): the number of opportunities, the spacing of opportunities, and the session duration. We measured the effects of intensity on skill acquisition and task persistence (off-task behavior and affect). Children acquired targets faster in conditions in which the spacing of opportunities was shorter than conditions in which the spacing was longer. Manipulating dose produced individual differences during the different intensity levels in the two measures of task persistence.

Parents and professionals typically report problem behavior (e.g., aggression, self-injury, tantrums) as their greatest concern regarding their children with fragile X syndrome (FXS). However, there is currently a paucity of applied intervention research to reduce problem behavior and improve quality of life in this population. We will discuss the results of our study which explored whether behaviorally-based assessment and intervention targeting specific problematic contexts would result in a reduction in problem behavior and an improvement in quality of life for three children with FXS and their families. Based on the results of a functional assessment, a multi-component intervention plan was developed to teach the parents and child to effectively cope with the problematic context. A multiple baseline design was used to demonstrate intervention effects for specific high-priority contexts (bedtime, running errands, and toileting) in home and community settings. Following intervention, there were substantial improvements in problem behavior and family quality of life for all three participants within the targeted contexts. Results demonstrated that many of the behaviors observed in children with FXS are amenable to behavioral interventions that involve altering the antecedents and consequences related to such behaviors. We will also present data comparing direct versus indirect prompting in FXS.

The Performance Diagnostic Checklist Human Services (PDC-HS) is an informant-based tool designed to assess the environmental variables that contribute to poor employee performance in human service settings. Although the PDC-HS has been shown to be effective in diagnosing potential variables maintaining problem performance, it is yet unclear whether a function-based intervention identified by the PDC-HS is the only intervention that is likely to work. In the current study, the PDC-HS was administered to various supervisors to assess the potential variables maintaining low levels of providing opportunities to use verbal operants with 3 therapist-client dyads. Three of the four PDC-HS domains were evaluated. Various non-indicated interventions from the different PDC-HS domains were implemented prior to implementing an indicated intervention. Results show that the PDC-HS-indicated interventions were more effective than the PDC-HS non-indicated interventions for each dyad. Results are discussed in terms of the utility of the PDC-HS to identify appropriate interventions to manage therapist performance in human service settings.

Supplementary, contingent pay arrangements can result in improved employee productivity and may lead to the development of more efficient performance improvement plans in organizational settings. In Experiment 1, we examined the effects of various stimulus delivery arrangements on performance in a computer-based task in a simulated work context. Participants entered hypothetical client data onto a Microsoft Excel invoice and earned gift-cards for task completion according to the following four conditions: (a) fixed-ratio/high-preference stimuli (FR/HiP), (b) variable-ratio/high-preference stimuli (VR/HiP), (c) fixed-ratio/varied stimuli (FR/Var), and (d) variable-ratio/varied stimuli (VR/Var). For both participants, constant access to their highest preferred stimulus delivered under a fixed-ratio schedule produced the greatest increases in performance relative to baseline. In a second experiment, we evaluated participant preference to perform under the four stimulus delivery arrangements using a concurrent-chains schedule. Results of the preference assessment indicated that one of the participants' preference did not correspond with the stimulus condition that resulted in the highest levels of task completion or reinforcers earned during the performance evaluation.

While there is a strong consensus that applied behavior analysis (ABA) is an effective treatment for autism spectrum disorder (ASD), evidence also indicates variation in individual response to treatment. Several factors have been suggested to have an effect on ABA treatment outcomes. Some factors are specific to the child at the start of treatment (e.g., age, IQ, symptom severity, and skill level), while other factors are treatment specific (e.g., treatment intensity and treatment duration). The present studies evaluate the effects of treatment specific factors on outcomes in large and geographically diverse samples of children with ASD receiving ABA services in community-based settings. These studies investigate the relationship between treatment intensity and skill acquisition, the effects of treatment hours on outcomes across all areas of a comprehensive treatment program, and the impact of features of supervision (i.e., supervision intensity, supervisor credentials, years of experience, and caseload) on skill acquisition. The findings of these studies have significant implications on treatment delivery practices and the optimization of treatment response.

Ample research has revealed that high intensity applied behavior analysis (ABA) treatment (i.e., 30-40 hours per week) significantly improves outcomes of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, relatively few studies have directly compared higher with lower intensity treatment or investigated these effects across all domains. Two studies were conducted with groups of children receiving behavioral intervention in community-based settings. The first study evaluated the relationship between treatment intensity and learning. A regression analysis was conducted with 810 children between 1.5 and 12 years of age. Results indicated a strong linear relationship between treatment intensity and skill acquisition, where a greater number of treatment hours consistently predicted greater progress over time. The second study examined the relationship between treatment intensity and outcomes within eight treatment domains. A multiple regression analysis was conducted with 599 children. While positive effects were observed across all treatment domains, the greatest effects based on treatment intensity were seen for language, play, and academic skills, and the weakest effects seen for adaptive skills, executive function, and cognition. Treatment duration showed a relatively week impact on outcomes. These findings support existing evidence of the benefits of high intensity ABA treatment programs for children with ASD.

Applied behavior analysis (ABA) is a well-established treatment for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). While ample research has shown the benefits of high treatment intensity, very little research has investigated the role of supervision intensity or other elements of supervision in treatment outcomes. The present study examined the relationship between ABA treatment response and supervision intensity, supervisor credentials, years of experience, and caseload in a large and geographically diverse sample of children receiving ABA services in community-based settings. The present analysis included 663 children with ASD. A multiple linear regression analysis was performed to evaluate the impact of supervision and treatment intensity on learning outcomes. When analyzed together, supervision and treatment intensity accounted for slightly more of the observed variance than therapy hours alone. Additional regression analyses were conducted to evaluate the effect of supervisor credentials, years of experience, and caseload. Supervisor credentials were found to have a significant impact on treatment outcome. Supervisor years of experience and caseload were unexpectedly not found to have a meaningful relationship to skill acquisition. These findings provide guidance for best practice recommendations.

Dr. Campbell has conducted extensive research into the influence of dietary and other behavioral interventions as they relate to cardiovascular health, longevity, cancer and diabetes prevention, and a host of other medical benefits. He is a leading scholar and authority on the role of diet and lifestyle changes in the prevention and treatment of disease. He and his father published The China Study in 2005. The book details the groundbreaking work that he has completed with his father in the area of the prevalence of cancer and its relation to our dietary habits.

Licensed Psychologists, certified behavior analysts, graduate students.

In 2009, Congress gave the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the authority to limit the nicotine content of combusted tobacco products. Decades of research suggest that nicotine is the primary cause of tobacco addiction and that reducing nicotine might reduce the rate and/or prevalence of smoking and have a dramatic impact on public health. This presentation will focus on recent clinical and preclinical data that addresses the potential benefits and risks of reducing nicotine as a regulatory approach. Clinical studies indicate that marked reduction in the nicotine content of cigarettes lead to fewer cigarettes smoked per day and reduced nicotine dependence with little evidence of compensatory smoking. Preclinical data from rat models of nicotine self-administration indicate that nicotine reduction would likely also decrease the initiation of use amongst nicotine na?ve adolescent users and that other non-nicotine constituents of tobacco smoke have little effect on behavior. The primary exception is MAO inhibition, which appears to shift the dose-response curve for self-administration to the left when the cost is low (i.e., low fixed ratio). Together, these data add to a growing literature that suggests that regulated reductions in nicotine may have a positive impact on behavior and health. Funding: Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and FDA Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) (U54 DA031659). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH or the Food and Drug Administration.

Licensed Psychologists, certified behavior analysts, graduate students.

Aggregations of single-case research studies are useful in assessing the external validity of evidence in a given area. Aggregations of the literature can provide behavior analysts with a cohesive understanding of a certain practice; they can also inform us of the most effective treatments demonstrated for a specific domain of behavior. This symposium includes quantitative syntheses and meta-analyses of single-case literature on specific interventions (i.e., errorless teaching and embedding preferences) as well as on certain domains of behavior (i.e., academic skills and functional living skills). All of these reviews are focused on learning in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Individuals with ASD face unique challenges in learning and development. A common purpose to each of the reviews here is to identify the current state of the evidence for individual practices. Standards for aggregating and analyzing single-case research have undergone much refinement in recent years. Meta-analytic reviews of single-case research are only recently becoming prevalent in the special education and applied behavior analytic literature. Thus, this symposium will be useful for attendees with interest in educational interventions for individuals with ASD as well as for those interested in advancements in methods for study aggregation.

This review of single-case research is on interventions aiming to enhance academic/pre-academic skills and/or task completion and engagement during academic contexts for children with ASD in school settings. Forty-eight studies published between 1995 and 2014 were included. These articles were coded according to (a) design; (b) participant demographics; (c) setting type; (d) intervention type and implementer; (e) duration and dosage; (f) outcomes; (g) inter-rater reliability, social validity, treatment integrity, and (h) generalization and maintenance. Tau-U was used to determine overlap indices for each study and across intervention categories of literacy, math, science, social studies, engagement and task completion, and prerequisite skills. Findings showed that most studies included students in grades K-12. The mean Tau-U score across all studies was moderate to high (Tau-U = 0.74, range 0.15 - 1.00). All interventions were effective or very effective in improving targeted pre-academic or academic skills. Interventions targeting task engagement and completion had the lowest mean Tau-U (Tau-U = 0.59); approximately half of the interventions were not effective for improving task engagement and completion (Tau-U = 0.65). These results reveal the need for further research targeting academic skills for preschool students with ASD and interventions targeting on task engagement and completion.

Errorless learning, or errorless teaching, is a technology that has been developed as a way to teach individuals with autism a variety of skills. The purpose of this systematic review was to review the extant literature on errorless teaching procedures that have been used with individuals with autism. Our goal was to determine which forms of errorless teaching have been researched and what the effects of each form were in terms of learning outcomes. We conducted a comprehensive search using 7 databases and studies were included in the review if they included participants with autism, were primary research, were written in English, and directly tested the effects of errorless teaching procedures. Twenty studies met the inclusion criteria and we conducted an independent appraisal of the results and methodological quality of each study (based of the What Works Clearinghouse Procedures and Standards Handbook). We found that five different forms of errorless teaching have been researched and that, in general, errorless teaching procedures are effective at teaching discrete skills to individuals with autism. We also found that errorless procedures seem to produce learning slower than non-errorless procedures in terms of sessions to mastery. Implications for research and practice will be discussed.

A body of research has explored how embedding interests into the learning environment by modifying aspects of the original activity may facilitate positive outcomes in an area of need for individuals with ASD. We reviewed this literature base to (a) determine the quality of the evidence and (b) evaluate potential moderators of results according to variations in participant characteristics and dependent variables. Studies were included that targeted participants with ASD, included quantitative data, and compared conditions with high- versus lesser-preferred objects/activities embedded into the environment. Studies were rated on quality and evidence using two rubrics. A total of 21 studies with 86 participants were included. Thirteen studies with 42 participants targeted children in early childhood, 12 of which were single-case studies with 28 participants and 74 effects/targeted dependent variables. In evaluating the quality of this initial sample of studies, findings were mixed. There was emerging support among studies targeting social-communication type skills (e.g., joint attention). It is possible that stereotyped or repetitive behaviors associated with restricted interests of children with ASD could deter the effects of this intervention at times, such as during instructor-led activities. Professionals should structure the environment to monitor added benefit when considering use of this intervention.

This systematic review and meta-analysis analyzed peer-reviewed research concerning the generalization and maintenance of functional-living skills for individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Following the application of predetermined inclusion criteria, 31 articles (containing 32 studies) were reviewed and summarized in terms of: (a) generalization dimension, (b) generalization assessment design, (c) maintenance assessment design, (d) maintenance and generalization teaching strategy, and (e) latency to maintenance probes. Using Tau effect size and post-hoc analyses, the type of generalization and maintenance teaching strategies were analyzed as potential moderators. Outcomes identified strong effects for generalization strategies employed. Resulting maintenance effects demonstrated strong effects for baseline to maintenance contrasts. Negative effects for the train and hope method were identified using intervention to maintenance contrasts. Results indicated statistically significant findings supporting the use of training in a natural setting and training to a criterion as compared to the train and hope strategy. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

Treatment integrity is the extent to which interventionists implement treatment procedures as prescribed. Treatment integrity errors can adversely affect treatment effectiveness and impede learning for individuals with disabilities such as autism spectrum disorder. It is important to develop and refine methods of identifying treatment integrity errors and teaching staff to implement procedures consistent with their prescribed protocols. This symposium focuses on describing procedures for assessing treatment integrity, and for teaching staff to implement procedures as prescribed. Brand will present the results from a study in which a conditional probability analysis identified and quantified between-trials treatment integrity errors that occurred during discrete-trial teaching error-correction procedures. Abby will detail a study focused on the use of enhanced data sheets when assessing treatment integrity in conditional discrimination training. Luck will describe a study comparing the effectiveness of and preference for three different feedback strategies when training special education teachers (written, vocal, & video-feedback). Coln-Kwedor will present the results from two studies containing a comprehensive analysis of treatment integrity with response interruption and redirection in both naturalistic and experimental settings. These methods were effective in identifying treatment errors and teaching procedures to staff.

Treatment integrity is the extent to which interventionists implement treatment procedures consistent with their prescribed protocol. Research shows that DTT is most effective when administered with high levels of treatment integrity. The majority of treatment integrity research involving discrete-trial teaching (DTT) focuses on treatment integrity on a within-trial basis. However, treatment integrity errors can also occur on a between-trials basis. The aim of the study was to use conditional probability matrices to identify and quantify between-trials treatment integrity errors occurring during error-correction procedures. We video-recorded therapy sessions for three therapist-learner dyads at the time and place where DTT sessions usually took place. The learners were children with autism spectrum disorders who received DTT as part of their regular teaching programs. The conditional probability matrices were effective in identifying and quantifying error-correction treatment integrity errors. Also, we found that high levels of within-trial treatment integrity did not correspond to high levels of treatment integrity for the error-correction procedures.

Green (2001) and Grow and LeBlanc (2012) described practice recommendations for conducting conditional discrimination training. Grow and LeBlanc provide an example of a data sheet with the preset target stimulus for each trial along with a counterbalanced three-item array of comparison stimuli to enhance the accuracy of implementation of the recommended practices. The current study evaluated the recommendation that the enhanced data sheet might lead to higher procedural integrity on these practice recommendations compared to a standard data sheet (i.e., targets and arrays are not pre-set). Behavior therapists from two provider agencies were randomly assigned to the standard data sheet or the enhanced data sheet (e.g., Grow & LeBlanc example) condition. Participants watched a short video on the practice recommendations for a matching task and an orientation to the data sheet for the assigned condition. He or she then used the assigned data sheet while implementing the matching task with a confederate serving in the role of the child with autism. Currently, 22 participants have completed the study (11 per condition) and the final sample will include 40 total participants. The enhanced data sheet produced higher procedural implementation on each of the four targeted practice recommendations.

This study compared the effectiveness of and preference for three different feedback strategies when training six special education teachers during a 5-day summer training program. In Study 1, teachers received written or vocal feedback while learning to implement two different types of preference assessments (paired-stimulus and multiple-stimulus-without-replacement). Written feedback was more effective than vocal feedback for three teachers and vocal feedback was more effective than written feedback for two teachers. In Study 2, we compared the most effective feedback strategy from Study 1 to video-assisted feedback while training the teachers to implement two forms of discrete trial training, one involving least-to-most prompting and the other involving most-to-least prompting. Video-assisted feedback was the most effective method for three teachers and vocal feedback was the most effective for one teacher. However, vocal feedback was the most preferred method for all of the teachers. Results have important implications for the use of feedback with teachers.

Training staff to teach skills beyond the basic verbal operants involves consideration of conceptual, social and training variables. Four papers will be presented that review considerations for training peer to peer interactions, conceptual considerations related to speech perception, and two papers describing large group competency based trainings for conceptual and procedural skills relevant to complex verbal behavior for teachers of students with autism. The first study includes a description of training systems relevant to peer to peer verbal interactions focused on a manding treatment package consisting of the use of differential reinforcement and time delay procedures to effect the rate of unprompted peer mands in individuals with autism and intellectual disabilities. A behavioral interpretation of the McGurk Effect will relate conceptual issues relevant to training staff in skills related to observational skills of vocal verbal behavior. The McGurk effect is an auditory and visual phenomena in which what is seen effects what is heard. The final two papers summarize outcome data from large scale trainings focused on having staff acquire implementation skills for procedures derived from advanced concepts in verbal behavior including joint control, extended tacts, and verbal conditional discriminations.

The McGurk Effect is a perceptual phenomenon in which the combination of discrepant visual and auditory speech stimuli (e.g,. hear-ba/see-ga) produces the reports of hearing a completely novel response form (e.g., "a"). The present study attempted to explain the McGurk Effect and related phenomena in terms of principles of behavior. Skinner (1953) proposed that perception itself is behavior, and interpreting experimental results within the framework of experimentally validated behavioral principles may help to guide future research on perceptual phenomena. Additionally, the present study contributed to the analysis of the McGurk
Effect by comparing results from a discrepant isolated syllable condition (e.g., hear-ba/see-ga) with a second condition, in which the isolated syllables were presented to participants as the initial sounds of responses existing within their verbal repertoires (e.g., hear-BUST/see-GUST). The results supported the authors' hypothesis that the McGurk Effect would be stronger when syllables were presented in isolation than when they were presented in the context of whole words. Implications for training staff in observing vocal behavior will be discusse.

Outcomes of a large scale training effort for public school autism teachers in Pennsylvania include data on acquisition of conceptual skills and specific teaching programs will be presented. This session will review the structure and rationale for methods for teaching staff to implement protocols such as generative responding for tacts of actions and features, tacts of class of items and transfer to intraverbal responses. Includes description of training methods and outcomes for specific methods for developing participant conceptual competencies for extended tacts and concept development, joint control processes and issues related to verbal conditional discriminations. Training methods have included multiple formats for participant responding including choral responding, guided notes, and analogue demonstration of specific procedures. The training model has been implemented with public school teachers serving students with autism. The training represents efforts of the Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network Autism Initiative. Training participants have included a wide range of professionals employed in public schools including teachers, para-educators and various support staff including school psychologists and speech and language clinicians.

This session will review data and processes involved in the transfer of training competencies from large scale analogue training sessions to actual classroom practices. The role and function of on-site consultation from behavioral consultants involved in the Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network Applied Behavior Analysis Supports effort in supporting teams in implementing protocols related to complex verbal behavior will be presented. Consideration of the design of training includes structure of training content related to efficient data collection and analysis that can be adopted in school settings that typically do not include clinical practice staff to student ratios. Additionally, methods to insure treatment integrity for teaching protocols related to target skills such as generative responding for tacts of actions and features, tacts of class of items and transfer to intraverbal responses will be described. The data will be related to a process established to promote system-wide acceptance of behavior analytic processes for teaching complex skills.

Each paper represents a systematic approach to addressing types of behavioral excesses and deficits with individuals diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The first paper addresses a unique type of restricted and repetitive behavior that includes patterned initial-link (preference) selections during the free-choice phase of a concurrent-chains schedule. Smith et al. used a discovery-oriented approach to evaluate a method of disrupting patterned responding under arguably the most simple and salient of terminal-link contexts reinforcement versus extinction - across seven participants. The second and third papers address the common behavioral issue of perseverative speech, which is pertinent to improving social interactions. DeLisle et al. used a multiple schedule to decrease perseverative speech while maintaining manageable levels of appropriate speech with two participants. Sauter et al. evaluated the influence of, and client preference for, attention alone or combined with contingent access to preferred topics following on-topic speech with three participants. Finally, the fourth paper addresses sportsmanship, a skill relevant to social interactions with peers. Pisman et al. evaluated the effects of behavioral skills training on sportsmanship skills across different tabletop games (e.g., Candyland) with three participants. We are fortunate to have Dr. Tara Fahmie serve as the discussant.

Researchers have argued the importance of incorporating the recipients of behavior-change procedures into the treatment selection process (e.g., Hanley, 2010). When an individual has limited language capabilities, concurrent-chain schedules offer a means of assessing preference among behavior interventions and teaching strategies (Hanley, 2010). Our initial purpose was to evaluate the preference for various contexts with children diagnosed with autism who were receiving early intervention services. However, the majority of participants engaged in patterned selections consisting of one selection of each initial link, similar to how exposure trials were arranged. Thus, using a discovery-oriented approach, we evaluated a method of disrupting patterned responding under arguably the most simple and salient of terminal link arrangements (i.e., one reinforcement context versus two extinction contexts). For five of seven participants who initially demonstrated patterned responding, manipulation of the number of exposures to the reinforcement context was sufficient to produce discriminated responding. For two participants, the academic task also needed to be removed. Once discriminated responding was observed under such manipulations, discriminated responding maintained when the initial exposure arrangement was reinstated. Results are discussed in terms of the potential effects of history of exposure to errorless teaching strategies on selections during concurrent-chain schedules.

Perseverative speech, the repetition of phrases or topics, can be problematic when the responses occur at such high frequency that they interfere with instruction or typical social interactions. Previous studies have shown that perseverative speech maintained by attention can be treated through the use of a simple differential reinforcement of alternative behavior procedure, in which perseverative speech is ignored and appropriate speech results in attention (Rehfeldt & Chambers, 2003); however, this type of intervention may also result in impractically high levels of appropriate speech. In the current study, a multiple schedule was introduced to decrease problem behavior and maintain low levels of appropriate speech. First, a functional analysis was conducted on the perseverative speech of 2 participants diagnosed with developmental disabilities; results showed that their perseverative speech was maintained by attention. Next, treatment consisted of alternating between reinforcement components, during which appropriate speech was reinforced and perseverative behavior was ignored, and extinction components, during which all behavior was ignored. Schedules were gradually altered to increase the length of the extinction component.

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) may have difficulty maintaining conversation partners because of a tendency to dwell on certain topics in conversation. We evaluated the influence of, and client preference for, attention alone or combined with contingent access to preferred topics on the on-topic performance of three individuals with autism during 5-min conversations. Attention alone and combined with contingent access to preferred topics equally effective in improving participants on-topic conversation. However, participants preferred attention combined with contingent access to preferred topics. The results are discussed in the context of efficacious and socially valid interventions for improving on-topic conversation for people with autism.

Individuals diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) typically exhibit deficits in social interactions. One opportunity for these children to interact with typically developing peers includes tabletop games (e.g., Candyland), and reinforcing interactions during games may increase the future likelihood of these children playing together. We used a multiple baseline design across subjects, who were three children aged 6 to 8, to demonstrate the efficacy of behavioral skills training (BST), and we assessed stimulus generalization across games. BST consisted of trial-based teaching outside of the game context in which the skill was described and modeled and followed by the child practicing the skill. Next, within- or after-game feedback following an error was provided, which included conducting remedial teaching trials until the skill occurred. BST increased sportsmanship skills and decreased problem behavior for all three children, and after teaching was discontinued, maintenance of this performance was observed. Across one or two additional games, stimulus generalization of teaching on decreased levels of problem behavior, increased levels of appropriate behavior, or both was observed for each child. Future research should determine whether sportsmanship skills result in typically developing peers choosing to play more often with children with an ASD using a concurrent-chains schedule.

Traditional accounts of human language have focused on elementary and complex verbal operants discussed by Skinner as verbal behavior. Although this account has led to application in teaching fundamental language skills such as tacts and mands, the same empirical advances have not been shown for more sophisticated language skills that are pivotal in speaking with meaning and listening with understanding. Recently, a series of assessment and curricula have been developed in the Promoting the Emergence of Advanced Knowledge Relational Training System (PEAK) that incorporate contemporary advances in a behavior analytic understanding of language and cognition that may have applications in teaching these more advanced language skills. The present set of studies will compare the PEAK assessment to existing behavior analytic verbal behavior assessments and demonstrate how, by incorporating advances in Stimulus Equivalence theory and Relational Frame Theory, practitioners can teach complex language skills across sensory modalities. In so doing, PEAK provides a comprehensive curriculum that may have application in use with a greater range of participants, populations, and target verbal behavior skills.

Sensations such as taste, smell, and texture are important features of the stimuli we encounter on a daily basis. Much attention in the literature on language instruction has been focused on the development of receptive and expressive responding to visual and auditory stimuli, however, few studies have sought to address deficits in responding to non-audio/visual sensations such as those found in gustatory, olfactory, and tactile stimuli. Furthermore, applied investigation of instructional methods designed to promote emergent relations between the various sensory features of stimuli and the arbitrary language functions we, as the verbal community, attribute to them has been lacking. The current presentation will review the applied literature on gustatory, olfactory, and tactile discriminations, and will provide discussion on the importance of promoting derived relational responding between various sensory features of stimuli and the arbitrary language functions used to refer to such features. Data will be presented on several applications of equivalence-based instruction, derived from the PEAK-Equivalence Module, which sought to teach language skills across several sensory modalities. Emphasis will be placed on the necessary procedures required to promote derived relations between sensory modalities and on program modification for when learners require extra support.

The present study evaluated the effectiveness of the implementation of multiple exemplar training using PEAK Relational Training System: Equivalence Module (PEAK-E), and its effects on teaching complex verbal relations in four children diagnosed with autism and displayed very low vocal language skills. A multiple probe design was implemented using programs from PEAK Relational Training System: Equivalence Module. Reflexivity, symmetry, and/or equivalence were trained while teaching Equivalence: Metonymical Tacts and Equivalence: Symbolism, separately. During training for Metonymical Tacts, children were taught through a series of training trials to match a sample related word to a picture, that was not previously directly trained. During training for Equivalence: Symbolism, children were taught to match a sample second written trait to a related picture item following training that previously did not directly train the relation. The results suggest that the participants were able to demonstrate mastery of all the trained and the corresponding untrained relations. The data extend previous research by demonstrating the effectiveness of stimulus equivalence in reducing the number of skills that need to be directly taught while still achieving skill mastery, as well as providing support for PEAK-E as an effective technology for promoting the emergence of equivalence class formation in clinical settings.

While the technology of derived relational responding (DRR) has existed within the behavior analytic toolbox for over 45 years, the translation of this technology to applied usage has yet to take hold in a meaningful manner. Though prior research suggests that the utilization of DRR methods to train skills to individuals both with and without disabilities represents an effective and efficient mode of teaching, practitioners continue to primarily utilize discrete trial training of each skill they wish to increase in their clients repertoires. The PEAK Relational Training System is an assessment and curriculum tool designed to incorporate both traditional applied behavior analytic techniques as well as contemporary techniques using DRR as part of its instructional curriculum. The current talk describes several outcome studies on the effectiveness of programs within the PEAK curriculum which were designed to utilize DRR to train novel skills to individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities. The results indicated that novel skills were acquired in each of the participants instructed with DRR techniques.

Typically, applied behavior analysis has focused on individuals with developmental disabilities, including autism spectrum disorders. Often behavior analysts shy away from addressing areas such as psychopathology, trauma, anxiety and emotional aspects (e.g. depression) of medical issues. These diagnoses and their symptoms involve private events and are therefore difficult to operationally define, observe and measure. However, Friman and others have suggested that behavior analysts should not ignore these important areas because they will then be studied only by non-behaviorists. Unfortunately, non-behaviorists view aberrant behaviors in individuals with psychiatric disorders as symptoms of underlying constructs and use the diagnosis as a reason for these behaviors, proposing more global treatments such as therapies or medications. On the other hand, behaviorists view those behaviors as serving an environmental function that can be replaced with a more acceptable behavior serving the same function. The behavioral perspective would also include an analysis/understanding of establishing operations in the form of private events, physical sensations, bio-behavioral states, psychological feelings, and covert tacts/mands and learning history with particular discriminative stimuli for reinforcement or punishment. The presenters in this symposium will present their analyses of these areas from a behavioral perspective and provide treatment strategies or research methodologies that are based on these analyses.

Coping with medical diagnoses such as diabetes and asthma is particularly difficult during adolescence. Living in a rural community that is lacking in resources can make these diagnoses even more difficult, leading to behaviors that present as anxiety, depression and helplessness. Understanding how these behaviors can serve as establishing operations and have functions in the form of direct escape or socially mediated access is helpful in developing interventions that promote more positive behaviors such as treatment adherence, seeking support, and coping effectively. The presenter works with adolescents who are being treated at a school-based health clinic which serves high school students in a rural, impoverished area, some of whom are in families of migrant workers. The presenter will describe how to conduct a functional assessment and analysis of motivating operations in the treatment of behaviors related to medical disorders, using case examples of two adolescents who have been diagnosed with diabetes and asthma.

The synthesis of evidence is central to the translation of scientific knowledge into practice. Most clinical sciences use meta-analysis methodology to aggregate the evidence from multiple individual studies. Meta-analyses are often used as the final scientific product preceding the transfer of evidence to health and education decision-makers and to the wider public. The use of meta-analysis in behavior analysis has been hampered by (a) the multiple metrics used across studies, (b) the limited use of randomized and non-randomized controlled studies, (c) the absence of purposely-developed effect size estimators for single-subject experimental designs, and (d) the lack of quantitative approaches to appropriately evaluate the idiosyncrasies of individual studies and individual participants within studies. Analytical developments over the last few years have helped to overcome some of these limitations. Some of these developments are illustrated in the current series of review studies. K. Hurl's meta-analysis compares the relative effectiveness of interventions for problem behavior that were and were not preceded by a functional assessment. R. Anderson's study features a quantitative synthesis of behavioral interventions for severe feeding disorders. J. McCormack will present a meta-analysis of the differential outcome effects in clinical and non-clinical population. Finally, A. Arnold-Saritepe will present a review of evidence-based practices for severe behavior in individuals with developmental disabilities and autism.

There is a growing interest in treatments to transition children from tube feeding (e.g., nasogastric or gastrostomy tubes) to oral feeding. A number of literature reviews identify applied behaviour analysis as having the strongest evidence for the treatment of pediatric feeding disorders. However, few studies have reviewed the nutritional outcomes for tube fed children. These outcomes include primarily the reduction or elimination of tube feeds and weight gain. In addition, the individual studies available do not allow a cogent comparison of behaviour-analytic intervention with other multidisciplinary treatment studies, such as tube weaning or hunger provocation programs. In the current investigation we conducted a meta-analysis of treatments for children dependent on tube feeding, combining datasets of different metrics (e.g., single-case and group designs). This presentation will cover our meta-analysis methods, results, and implications for future research and clinical practice.

Severe behavior presents a significant challenge for both the individual and caregiver in terms of quality of life. Challenging behavior is commonly reported in individuals with intellectual disabilities, 10-15 %, however for those with autism and / or profound intellectual disabilities the prevalence is much higher, 39-65%. At least 10% of individuals in the latter category have challenging behavior that would be considered to be severe. Adolescent and young adult males make up two-thirds of this group. While the progression of severe behavior disorders has not been well documented, it would appear that the overall prognosis for this group of individuals is not good, with potentially 80% continuing to engage in these behaviors 20 years later. Many of the studies published contain complex multi-component interventions that do not always report long term follow up or generalization data. This paper aims to review the behavioral literature for the intervention of the most severe challenging behavior (e.g., aggression, property destruction and self-injurious behavior) using Reichow, Volkmar and Cicchetti?s (2008) method for evaluating and determining evidence-based practice. It is hoped that this review will support researchers and clinicians in developing effective long lasting interventions that allow those with severe behaviors to live a less restricted life in the community.

In this multi-domain symposium, the intersection of the use of computers and contingencies to address complex human behavior is addressed in various ways by each presentation. All of the talks focus on the assessment of either the tasks involved, the behavior emitted by humans, or both. The assessment of tasks is required for a clear task analysis of what is required in the various domains in which behavior change is desired. The assessment of behavior in terms of how well it matches, under-matches, or over-matches the tasks is an important part of the assessment involved in shaping behavior. In this symposium, high inter-observer reliability scores are reported by several presentations, along with effective strategies to change socially important behavior as a result of contingencies that are applied to human behavior. The use of these reliable and valid methods of assessment is important for the field of behavior analysis and beyond.

Previous research in the treatment of severe behavior problems has found the appearance of extinction bursts following the suspension of reinforcer delivery is less than common, and similar findings have been found in basic human operant research. In contrast, extinction bursts have been reported widely in animal research following suspension of reinforcer delivery, leading some to suggest a difference between humans and non-humans. We propose that extinction bursts, in fact, have not received a thorough functional analysis, and it may be premature to conclude lack of consistent findings with humans are due to species differences. The present study was designed to clarify the role response topography and stimulus modality may play in promoting extinction bursts. Twenty-five human participants watched a preferred video. Across groups, the audio or video stream was removed from playback, leaving the other stream intact. Participants could restore the video/audio stream by pressing a force-sensitive button, where either low (250 g) or high (750 g) forces were required to restore playback. At 20 and 30 minutes into the session, video/audio streams were removed, but participants could not restore playback for 20 s. The results showed that extinction bursting was more likely when baseline forces were lower and when audio streams were removed compared to the removal of video. The findings suggest that the wide variability in the observation of extinction bursts may be due to incidental differences in response topographies. Specifically, high-force topographies appear less likely to result in “bursting” during extinction. Also, reinforcer modality is shown to alter the likelihood and extent of extinction bursts.

Previous basic studies have demonstrated how different schedules of reinforcement affect the rate and force of responses (Notterman & Mintz 1965). The results of basic studies on force are relevant for applied studies on the assessment and treatment of severe problem behavior. The present study evaluated the force and rate of button pressing during continuous and intermittent reinforcement and extinction. We conducted two experiments with three children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders. In Experiment 1, two conditions were compared using a reversal design (i.e., intermittent reinforcement and extinction). In Experiment 2, three conditions were compared in a sequence using a reversal design (i.e., intermittent reinforcement, continuous reinforcement, and extinction). In summary, the results across both experiments demonstrated how changes in the schedule of reinforcement affected the rate and force of responses. The results will be discussed in terms of future applied research on the force of problem behavior during assessment and function-based intervention.

Functional Analysis (FA) methodology has become the hallmark of behavioral assessment and plenty of studies have been conducted to refine its procedures (Hanley, Iwata, & McCord, 2003). However, there is almost no research about changes in the variation of target responses as the assessment progresses. The purpose of the current study was to describe changes in the number and rate of aggression topographies observed during demand sessions of FA for four participants whose problem behavior maintained by escape. The results showed that for all participants the number of topographies decreased from the first to the last session. Also, the rate of responding for one particular topography either increased or remained at high levels after the first session while the remaining topographies of response decreased in rate. The implications of the decrease in variability in topographies of response when conducting FAs for problem behavior will be discussed as well as how this relates to research on modification of response classes.

The Good Behavior Game (GBG) is a classwide group contingency that has been shown to reduce disruptive student behavior. Previous research has shown that teachers can successfully implement the GBG in their classrooms. Although students have successfully implemented other classroom-based behavioral interventions (e.g., peer tutoring, self-management), previous research has not examined student implementation of the GBG. The current study examined the effectiveness of the GBG in 1 first-grade and 3 kindergarten classes when implemented by an experimenter, the classroom teacher, and a student. In the 3 kindergarten classes, we also examined teacher preference for teacher-led GBG, student-led GBG, or no GBG using a concurrent chains procedure. In all classes, the GBG effectively reduced disruptive behavior regardless of who implemented the GBG. We did not observe differences in the level of disruptive behavior across experimenter-, teacher-, and student-led GBG conditions. Preference for who implements the game varied across teachers. One teacher preferred student-led GBG, one teacher preferred teacher-led GBG, and one teacher did not show a consistent preference. Results of this study suggest that students as young as kindergarten-age can effectively implement the GBG and that teacher preferences should be taken into account when determining how classwide interventions are implemented.

The Good Behavior Game (GBG) is a well-documented classroom management procedure that is effective in reducing disruptive classroom behavior. Although it has been demonstrated to be extremely effective, some teachers and educators have reported that the game can be too disruptive and effortful to implement consistently in their classroom. In this study, a multiple baseline across classrooms design was used to evaluate a modified, low-effort variation of the GBG at an alternative school for children who engage in delinquent behavior. In this procedure, the experimenter explained simple rules to the class (i.e., you have to raise your hand and receive permission to talk or leave your seat) and informed them that he would be in the back of the classroom marking when rules were broken. Students were told that if they got fewer than a certain number of marks, they would win the game and receive an edible reinforcer. The experimenter then sat in the back of the class and monitored behavior intermittently. Every 5 minutes, student behavior was recorded for 30 seconds. Whenever a student broke a rule during the 30 second window, a mark was placed by their name in a book. Unlike the typical GBG, students were not informed when they broke a rule or what the mark limit was. Sessions lasted approximately 25 minutes with a total monitoring time of approximately 2 minutes per session. Substantial reductions in disruptive behavior were seen in all classrooms. Implications and future directions will be discussed.

The four presentations in this symposium illustrate how evidence-based practices in instructional design and Precision Teaching can be combined in new ways to teach core instructional objectives to typical learners of all ages, including elementary, middle school, high school, and college students. In the first presentation, Shiloh Isbell will describe her design of a web-based application to teach, reinforce, and build the fluency of organizational skills that are critical helping adolescents who are struggling in school. In the second presentation, Traci Cihon will describe the Teaching Science Lab (TSL), a teaching and research laboratory for designing and improving college teaching procedures at the University of North Texas (UNT). A core feature of the TSL process is using student data to inform subsequent revisions. In the third presentation, Andrew Kieta will describe the current procedures developed by the TSL for teaching a Behavior Principles course at UNT, including brief lectures with Active Student Responding (ASL), Thinking Aloud Problem Solving (TAPS), Precision Teaching, and an application of Goldiamonds Constructional Approach. In the fourth presentation, Sheila Habarad will describe the 3-Part Warm-Up, a synthesis of Direct Instruction and Precision Teaching to review and make fluent key prerequisite skills in learning elementary school mathematics.

The standards-based education movement in the United States largely determines what will and will not be taught in our public schools. One area the Common Core State Standards do not address is the development of organizational skills, including how to study, take notes, manage time, schedule ahead, break assignments into parts, and keep materials organized. These are fundamental skills without which students cannot be successful, but which are assumed to be learned via osmosis. This presentation chronicles one year of development and implementation of a web-based application designed to teach and reinforce crucial organizational skills in adolescent and young adult students who are struggling in school. Aspects addressed include the rationale, collaborating with others outside the field of behavior analysis and education, the design process, problems with implementation and the debugging process, user feedback, scalability, and future goals. Eight months of learner data will be analyzed within a behavior analytic framework.

Institutions of Higher Education have been increasingly encouraged to employ evidence-based practices in the classroom. However, many faculty members continue to rely on more traditional instructional methods, and even faculty members who are well versed in evidence-based teaching techniques often fall back on these traditional instructional methods. We will describe the Teaching Science Lab (TSL); a faculty-advised, course-based teaching and research laboratory consisting of undergraduate and graduate students in behavior analysis who study the application of behavior analytic approaches to college teaching, conducting research, and enhancing undergraduate and graduate student learning outcomes. The TSL is an example of how faculty members can integrate both teaching and research responsibilities while incorporating several behavioral technologies into undergraduate course design. This presentation will highlight the history, organization, current status, and future directions of the TSL with respect to the use of evidence-based practice in the college classroom, a pyramidal approach to staff training, and the current and future research agenda

Morningside introduced a new teaching procedure in the math block. This procedure is the 3-Part Warm-Up that begins prior to instruction. The series of warm-up requires the students to use a variety of channels to reinforce their learning Common Core math skills and concepts that are regularly encountered in their text books, curriculum based assessments, and state tests. The highly interactive warm-up utilizes multiple channels; see-say during board work, see/think-write/say while identifying non-examples from examples, and hear-write providing further practice with the same skill. The 3-Part Warm-up emphasizes the development of math language skills that are largely assumed or not taught. The procedure teaches critical discrimination skills that are often overlooked during instruction. We will further discuss how this warm-up has been introduced across a variety of classrooms, including both larger general education and special education. Video clips of classrooms in Ohio, Hawaii, North Carolina, and Morningside will be used.

The efficacious impact of behavioral approaches to reduce injury in industrial settings has been well documented. In light of this success, industry leaders have called on the behavioral science community to provide the same rigor and expertise to understanding and impacting behaviors related to catastrophic incidents that kill, maim, and effect communities; an area called Process Safety (Bogart, Ludwig, Staats, & Kretshmer, 2015). Specifically behavior analytic community has been challenged to a) research the behavioral root causes leading to variation threatening process safety, b) create and evaluate behavioral interventions to mitigate this variation, and c) identify the system factors that would influence the behaviors necessary to promote process safety. This symposium presents four papers responding to this call. These papers consider behavior analytic principles within the Process Safety domain while offering both direction for behavioral research on the emerging topics and offering various programmatic interventions targeting the reduction of Process Safety incidents in heavy industries.

This paper seeks to take a first step to identify the behavioral components active in process safety toward the ultimate goal of providing a scientific framework to generate applied efforts to build interventions and systems that contribute to process safety. Toward this effort we will first attempt to outline the different classes of behavior that contribute to process safety. We then will offer a behavioral definition of complacency by describing it as an operant problem akin to avoidance behavior. Behavioral variance related to complacency will then be discussed in the context of behavioral operations such as acquisition, training, rule governance and extinction. We will conclude with potential approaches to reduce complacency in process safety that consider pinpointing, competing contingencies, verbal behavior, and shaping situational awareness.

Behavior is involved in all aspects of work, from customer service, operating equipment, to leading the board of director. In the realm of safety, the importance of understanding human factors can aid in reducing and ultimately avoiding accidents and personal injury. According to the Health and Safety Executive of the United Kingdom, Human factors refers to environmental, organizational, and human factors which influence behavior at work in a way which can affect health and safety." In other words, human factors is concerned with what people are being asked to do (behavior), who is doing it (the individual and their role) and where they are working (the environmental conditions and under what organizational direction). This sounds like a job for OBM right? This presentation will provide a brief overview of human factors, the various topics that provide insight into the management of human factors in the area of process safety and conceptual and applied work integrating Organizational Behavior Management along the various topics.

Process Safety is a blend of engineering and management skills focused on preventing catastrophic accidents, particularly explosions, fires, and toxic releases, associated with the use of chemicals and petroleum products. Incidents are typically the result of multiple failures (e.g., single-point equipment failures, management inadequacies, knowledge deficiencies) and while process and technology contributes to failures, the biggest single root cause for failures is the human element. That is, behavior at the front and mid-lines, executive behaviors and decisions. At CLG weve done field research on the contributions of leadership behaviors to front-line safety performance and can demonstrate just how much leadership behavior matters. We havent teased apart the personal from process safety components, but we will make the argument that safety, both personal and process, to be most effectively managed as part of the safe reliable operations triptych. Furthermore, to pull safety out as a separate entity from operations fabricates a forced choice, often not consciously, by front line employees resulting in employees prioritizing behaviors that will maximize productivity while neglecting or inhibiting safety related performance. To support this position, we will present work from oil sands front-line supervisors through CLGs proprietary DCOM framework.

Behavior Based Safety (BBS) applies various types of safety observation to improve occupational safety in business. The purpose of the following study is to examine and compare different observation foci: peer observation, self-monitoring and a combination of both options as well as supervisor information. In addition, data were collected by experimental observers to shed light on behavior change processes in applied settings. Participants were unionized employees of the facilities management department at a Midwestern University. Target behaviors included safe lifting and vacuuming. The dependent variables were incident numbers and safety performance percentages based on participant observations and objective observations. Discrepancies in reporting and relationships between the variables were investigated as well. The different observational methods were investigated via a multiple baseline design across groups. The results show that (a) regardless of checklist type the first condition after baseline and supervisor intervention were most effective at increasing safe behavior. (b) That participants over report their own safety performance in comparison to objective observations. (c) That the BBS process yielded incident decreases and modest safety improvements of 9%. Implications of these findings on importance of accuracy, training and culture

Research on a model Therapeutic Workplace has allowed for the rigorous evaluation of the use of employment in the treatment of drug addiction. Under the Therapeutic Workplace, adults with histories of drug addiction are hired and paid to work. To promote drug abstinence or adherence to addiction medications, participants are required to provide drug-free urine samples or take prescribed addiction medications, respectively, to gain access to the workplace and/or to maintain their maximum rate of pay. Research has shown that this intervention is effective in promoting and maintaining abstinence from heroin, cocaine and alcohol and in promoting adherence to naltrexone in heroin-dependent adults. This presentation will review research on the Therapeutic Workplace and summarize major lessons that have been learned in conducting this research. In addition, the presentation will describe three models that could be used to maintain employment-based reinforcement in the treatment of drug addiction: A Social Business model, a Cooperative Employer model, and a Wage Supplement model. Overall, this program of research suggests that employment could be useful as a means of arranging and maintaining therapeutic reinforcement contingencies in the treatment of drug addiction.

Behavior analysts interested in the application of operant conditioning to the long-term treatment of drug addiction.

The current symposium will discuss recent advances, and identify future directions with regard to the understanding and treatment of automatically reinforced SIB. The first presentation will summarize existing literature on automatically reinforced SIB, and describe a recently proposed model for subtyping this heterogeneous category. The second presentation will describe the results of a replication study applying the same subtyping criteria to published datasets of cases with automatically reinforced SIB, and discuss possible avenues for future research. The Discussant will comment on these findings as well as implications for clinical practice and research.

The current study identified all cases of automatically reinforced SIB reported in the published literature since 1982. We identified 51 published datasets of automatically reinforced SIB that included sufficient data to enable us to apply the subtyping model described by Hagopian, Rooker, and Zarcone (2015). Findings from original study were largely replicated with published datasets. As reported in the original study, differentiation in the functional analysis was highly correlated with response to first line treatment (r = .71). Implications of these findings will be discussed.

The speakers in this symposium have taken translational approaches to answering applied questions regarding reinforcement and related phenomena. Although the populations or target behavior topographies addressed may not include immediate clinical targets in all three papers, all of the topics examined have important clinical applications. The following papers will be presented: Effects of Schedules of Reinforcement on Spontaneous Recovery, Sensitivity to Parameters of Positive Versus Negative Reinforcement, and Further Comparisons of Pairing Procedures Used to Condition Praise as a Reinforcer.

Programming for effective behavior-analytic instruction requires practitioners to review research to make evidence-based decisions regarding implementation. This symposium will address three aspects of behavior-analytic instruction: selecting proper correction procedures, the effectiveness of varied reinforcer pools and programming for generalization of instructional materials. There is conflicting research guiding practitioners about choosing an effective error-correction procedure when instructing children with autism. This symposium will present research and provide a discussion of the possible reinforcing effects of different correction procedures to help further the research in this area. Assessing the effects of replenished versus unreplenished reinforcer pools has implications for applied settings with limited resources when working with adolescents with autism. Results showed that novel stimuli were preferred over stimuli available in the participants environment. These results have implications about how to allocate resources when considering purchasing new stimuli as potential reinforcers. The third symposium outlines clear recommendations for specific ways to promote generalization in taught skills and will evaluate the success of programming common stimuli to achieve generalization of social skills taught in a behavior-analytic clinic when working with children with autism. Data indicate that bringing stimuli into the teaching environment may not be sufficiently effective to generalize to a new environment.

It is well documented that children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) benefit from early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI). The majority of programs for toddlers with ASD have been conducted in children's homes. Although there are some benefits to working in homes, there are a number of drawbacks such as isolation, cost, and lack of appropriate social and communicative models. The purpose of this presentation is describe the current state of knowledge about early intervention for children with ASD, including the results of two recently completed randomized clinical trials on school-based services. Implications of these results will be discussed as they apply to the basic dimensions of applied behavior analysis.

Students, family members, researchers, school administrators, private practitioners providing EIBI to children with ASD.

The debate between basic and applied researchers has existed since the inception of our field. There are many valid arguments that address the strengths of both basic and applied research. However, debate does not yield outcomes other than the products of the discussions themselves. The panelists are doctoral students in the Applied Behavior Analysis Online Department of The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. They will present a brief review of translational research conducted across four different topic areas that have solved important problems. Their presentations will be followed by open discussion, which will be moderated by a discussant. As the field of behavior analysis continues to grow, so will the number of problems we need to solve. Collaboration among basic and applied researchers as well as interdisciplinary research can provide an avenue for a wider array of solutions in an increasingly complex world. This panel presentation hopes to motivate the development of additional translational research in behavior analysis.

Recent research has shown that infants who later develop ASD have a strong preference for sensory stimuli in contrast to typically developing children, who have a strong preference for social stimuli. For infants with a preference for sensory stimuli, geometric patterns and non-speech sounds in the environment select their attention and these sensory stimuli likely function as powerful reinforcers for the behavior of the infant. As the infant grows older, they will not only attend to sensory stimuli, they will also exhibit repetitive and stereotyped behaviors to produce additional sensory reinforcement. The affinity for sensory stimuli at the cost of social stimuli may result in a negative spiral of acquiring social reinforcers and social behaviors. Consequently, the infants fail to learn by imitation and to achieve developmental milestones such as joint attention, verbal skills, and theory of mind. Typically developing infants, in contrast, will attend to the eyes and the voices of the caregivers, because these stimuli function as powerful reinforcers. These social reinforcers select additional social and verbal skills such as social smiling, imitation, joint attention and pragmatic language.

An application for a tablet to assess responding to social stimuli and geometric stimuli was developed. Two blurred visual stimuli, one social and one geometric, were presented simultaneously on the tablet screen. Whenever one of the stimuli was touched, it becomes complete for 2 seconds before getting blurred again. Dependent variable was number of touches on each type of stimuli, to determine the reinforcing property of the social stimuli and the geometric stimuli. Results showed that children with autism, on average, responded most frequently to the geometric stimuli and less frequently to the social stimuli, as compared to typically developing children and children with intellectual disabilities. We hypothesize that if social stimuli function as reinforcers for the behavior of an infant, the social reinforcers will select social- and verbal behavior, such as looking at adults, imitation, joint attention, social communication and theory of mind behavior. If sensory stimuli (such as geometric forms) function as a more potent reinforcer for an infants behavior as compared to social stimuli, the sensory reinforcers will select stereotyped and repetitive behavior rather than social and communicative behavior. Indeed, the presence of stereotyped behavior and the lack of social skills and communication define autism.

This presentation begins by reviewing recent studies examining infants preference for social stimuli and sensory stimuli. Using eye-tracking technology, studies have shown that infants who later develop ASD spend less time looking at eyes and listening to the voice of caregivers, as compared to typically developing infants. Moreover, research has shown that infants who later develop ASD show preference for geometric forms, as compared to typically developing infants and infants with learning delays. Research from our lab shows that children with ASD will not only prefer looking at geometric stimuli, but will also show increased responding when the consequence for responding is viewing geometric stimuli as compared to social stimuli, as compared to typically developing children and children with learning delays. Hence, sensory stimuli seem to function as a more powerful reinforcer for the behavior of infants developing ASD as compared to social stimuli. Sensory reinforcers will likely select a different behavioral repertoire in an infant as compared to social reinforcers. Sensory reinforcers will select stereotype behavior and other non-nonsocial behavior consistent with ASD, whereas social reinforcer will likely select attention to faces and human voices, imitation, joint attention, communication and other more advanced social skills.

The current literature lacks descriptions and program evaluations of the ever-growing number of applied behavior analytic (ABA) organizations that are providing these insurance-funded services. The degree to which organizations are adhering to the specific recommendations outlined in the empirical literature related to intervention procedures, treatment hours, qualifications of those overseeing treatment, as well as the frequency of supervision directed to the individual learner and to those providing the treatment is unclear. Furthermore, in relation to the number of organizations providing ABA services, few outcome analyses are presented in the literature. This program description provides information related to an organization providing behavior analytic services funded by insurance. Among other particulars, details related to the number of learners served, assessment and intervention procedures, level and type of supervision provided, training and oversight provided at all levels within the organization, and methods for evaluating outcomes will be shared.

The utility of the empirically validated treatment practice of Applied Behavior Analysis in the treatment of children with autism has led to funding for such treatment by health insurance carriers in many states, including California. With the description of such insurance-funded programs along with a more global analysis of outcome data presented thus far, the current paper will provide a more refined analysis of particular learner outcome data. Specifically, outcome data for a representative sample of different learners enrolled in either a focused or comprehensive applied behavior analysis insurance-funded treatment program will be presented and discussed in relation to learner specific variables. Such variables will include duration enrolled in the applied behavior analysis program, treatment hours received per week and month, treatment hours recommended weekly or monthly, standardized assessment results at intake, and standardized follow-up assessments. The need for additional outcome data will also be discussed as well as roadblocks to such analyses.

As the prevalence of autism increases, the need for certified behavior analyst who provide Applied Behavior Analysis therapy to individuals with autism increases as well. Many cities across the United States have few to no certified behavior analysts to provide these much needed services. This has lead behavior analyst to develop and implement innovative procedures for the dissemination of Applied Behavior Analysis, including the use of telemedicine. Even with these efforts, there are still many families throughout the nation that are unable to obtain Applied Behavior Analysis therapy for their children due to several constraints, including cost. In this symposium, two programs that were developed to address this issue will be presented. Both programs aimed at training parents to utilize behavior analytic strategies with their children in their daily lives. Results on the efficacy of these programs will be presented, including the impact on parent and child behavior and social validity. Implications of these results as they relate to the dissemination of Applied Behavior Analysis will be discussed.

Around the United States, access to Applied Behavior Analysis therapy for children with autism is limited by various factors including a shortage of certified behavior analysts to provide services and lack of insurance/Medicaid coverage. As such, many children who would benefit from Applied Behavior Analysis do not have access to this therapy. A short-term hands-on training was developed to teach caregivers of children with autism to implement Applied Behavior Analytic strategies with their children throughout the day. Twenty nine families were taught how to implement strategies to decrease problem behavior and increase appropriate skills in their children. Data was taken on the caregivers ability to appropriately implement the strategies; on average, caregivers increased their ability by 25 points. Most families who participated were unable to obtain Applied Behavior Analysis therapy for their children due to lack of insurance/Medicaid funding and lack of financial resources. The format of the caregiver training, outcomes of caregiver and child behavior, and social validity results will be presented. The results of this study indicate that caregivers can learn to implement behavior analytic strategies with short-term coaching and feedback. And, this has a positive impact on their childs behavior. This implicates the importance of training caregivers.

Behavior analysis is associated with varying methods to aid staff and parents in delivering strategies with high fidelity, resulting in desirable outcomes for consumers (i.e. increased pro-social skills such as making appropriate requests, reduced problem behavior or reduced parent stress).Various means and measures have been used to assess the effectiveness of staff and parent-training methodologies (Baker-Ericzen, M.J., Brookman-Frazee, L, & Stahmer, A., 2005). The current study assessed a multimodal training package utilizing an on-line course of study and in-situ coaching using two different fidelity measures (The Instructional Session Performance Checklist and the CLM Coaching Checklist). Social validity was assessed via a parent questionnaire (Parent Stress Index, 4th edition). Participants were five parents of children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and five staff employed in an outpatient facility providing behavioral services for children with ASD in central Virginia. Parents were taught to implement strategies to increase prosocial behaviors such as making requests and following directions. Fidelity measures indicated that parents implementation of effective instructional methods increased from 95 to 97% for parent-trainers, 71 to 95%. Parent stress measures indicated a decrease of nearly 10%. Implications for delivering brief, effective and efficacious training packages will be considered.

Sleep problems are prevalent among children, especially children with autism. Sleep problems negatively impact the wellbeing of both the child and their family. The good news is that most sleep problems of children are treatable by applied behavior analysts. Critical features of empirically supported behavioral intervention for sleep problems will be described along with ideas for teaching consumers about the prevalence and relevance of applied behavior analysts for addressing children's sleep problems.

Applied Behavior Analysts, BCBAs, intermediate

Drug addiction is a pernicious and prevalent problem with little available for clinical treatment. This presentation will review the presenter's recent studies that show roles for the ventral pallidum (VP), ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopamine (DA), and orexin/hypocretin brain systems in cocaine seeking and demand. A within-session behavioral economic paradigm revealed potent contributions of the VTA DA system to demand for cocaine. The presenter used designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs (DREADDs) to show that the projection from VP to VTA DA neurons is critical for cocaine seeking. Additional pharmacologic studies reveal that orexin inputs to VTA interact with glutamate inputs and those from VP to augment cocaine seeking elicited by cocaine-associated cues. The presentation concludes that DREADDs are a promising avenue for novel therapies to treat drug abuse.

Licensed Psychologists, certified behavior analysts, graduate students.

Practitioners working with developmentally disabled populations frequently contact dually diagnosed individuals that present with less common, but clinically relevant behavioral concerns such as bizarre speech and suicidal behaviors. Behavior analysts generally are not trained to evaluate or treat the specific topographies presented in these less common behaviors. However they may be the only treatment team member available to help or provide guidance to staff members. While assessment and treatment for these behaviors is theoretically the same, there are some less common factors to keep in mind when intervening functionally in complex and dangerous behaviors. Treating bizarre speech as simply attention maintained, or suicidal behaviors as simple self injury could have extreme consequences. Even when suicidal behaviors are maintained by attention, extinction or NCR may be too high risk to consider for implementation. Factors the behavior analyst should consider when evaluating and treating complex behaviors will be discussed. Possible assessment and treatment options for further investigation will be reviewed. Special consideration when responding to these behaviors may prevent injury or death, as well as improve the individual's quality of life. We will also suggest important areas for future research.

Behavior Analysts are often the only sole Mental Health Professionals in organizations supporting Individuals with Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities. Suicidal statements and attempts (suicidal behaviors) would certainly be classified as maladaptive behaviors, and it is common for support staff to ask a Behavior Analyst for guidance when these behaviors are exhibited. However, many Behavior Analysts have little or no background in Mental Health or Social Work. This leaves us woefully unprepared to confidently respond to suicidal behaviors. This session will address simple screening and prevention methods by identifying Setting Events and Establishing Operations that may increase the likelihood of a suicide attempt. Common misconceptions about suicide in general and specific to the ID/DD population will be clarified. Finally, we will suggest some possible responses to suicidal behavior for each functional behavior class. There is little awareness of suicide risk in the ID/DD population, although Individuals with ID/DD attempt and have completed suicide. Increasing awareness of Suicide Risk and promoting future research is essential to address one of the most preventable causes of death across the lifespan.

Motor vehicle collisions are the leading cause of death for young drivers ages 15-20. Young drivers are more likely to engage in risky behavior such as speeding. Studies have shown that young drivers are two to three times more likely to send a text while driving (NCSL, 2015). In 2012, more than half of the young drivers who were involved in fatal collisions failed to wear a seat belt (GHSA, 2014). All states have passed graduated driver's licensing legislation (e.g., 30 hours supervised driving) in an attempt to reduce the number of young drivers involved in collisions. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of graduated driver's licensing, seat belt, and cell phone legislation on young driver collisions across states using single-subject design methodology. Additionally, this study evaluated the effects of safety features of cars (e.g., airbags) and technology advances (e.g., iPhone) on the number of collisions. Results thus far have demonstrated that seat belt legislation and texting bans have been associated with decreases in collisions. The majority of car safety advances have been associated with decreases in fatal collisions, whereas the introduction of texting was associated with an increase in total collisions.

Our primary purpose in this study was to examine the effectiveness of teaching discriminated responding and tolerance for delay to reinforcement to two young children with autism and language delays. Our secondary purpose was to examine the childrens allocation of choices when multiple alternative activities were provided during the delay. First, we used a visual stimulus to teach each child to emit a mand to obtain access to a preferred item only when reinforcement was available (timer indicating green light; reinforcement condition) and to refrain from manding for a preferred item when reinforcement was not available (timer indicating red light; extinction condition). Next, we taught the children to tolerate delays to reinforcement by gradually increasing the duration of the extinction condition by embedding choices for alternative activities. Finally, we examined maintenance of the newly acquired delay for reinforcement skills. Data indicate that our intervention was effective in producing discriminated responding and in increasing tolerance to reinforcement. One child maintained the acquired skill 8 weeks after the intervention was discontinued. Data on choice allocation indicate both children showed a preference for a leisure activity when offered the opportunity to select an alternative activity during extinction from preferred items.

When problem behavior and verbal behavior co-occur, a listeners response to the verbal behavior may provide information on the function of problem behavior. The current study included a 16-year-old male and a 10-year-old female, both diagnosed with developmental disabilities, admitted to an inpatient unit for the treatment of problem behavior. Informal observations of the patients suggested problem behavior occurred when an adult failed to comply with requests for a specific verbal response (SVR). We initiated a functional analysis (FA) to confirm the relation between verbal behavior and problem behavior. During the test condition a therapist a) responded to requests for an SVR with a topographically incongruent verbal response, and b) complied with requests for an SVR when problem behavior occurred after the request was denied. In the control condition, the therapist complied with each request for an SVR. For both participants, results suggested problem behavior functioned to increase therapists compliance with a request for an SVR. Treatment for both participants involved a multiple schedule that rotated between intervals of differential reinforcement and extinction to reduce problem behavior and gain stimulus control over requests for SVRs. Methods for generalizing treatment procedures to similar idiosyncratic events and behaviors will be discussed.

Video-Based Instruction (VBI) is emerging as an evidence-based practice for improving skill acquisition of individuals with and without disabilities across a broad range of environments and skill sets. It has many applications for improving behavioral outcomes not only for individuals with disabilities, but also for caregivers and teachers who deliver instruction for these learners. The purpose of this symposium is to present research on various strategies for implementing VBI across providers (teachers and parents), devices (iPad, Google Glass), instructional formats (video feedback, video prompting, and simultaneous video modeling), and skill sets (daily living skills, vocational skills, and effective teacher praise). The first study presents results of a study that involved presenting simultaneous video models on Google Glass to improve vocational skills of individuals with ASD and/or IDD; the second study presents results of a study that used video feedback to improve teachers use of praise in classroom settings; and the third study presents results of a study that involved teaching parents to implement video prompting strategies presented on iPads to increase daily living skills of learners with ASD. Presenters will offer practical strategies for using VBI effectively across devices, participants, and instructional formats.

A multiple probe across participants design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of using Google Glass to teach vocational skills to three young men with autism and/or intellectual disabilities. Instructional trials involved a simultaneous video model presented on the Glass device to teach participants to pack a first aid kit. The video model had an embedded demonstration of how to use a visual checklist to prompt task completion and the generalized skill of using a visual checklist was also measured with another task (stocking a coffee station). Results indicated that all three participants demonstrated an immediate increase with independent correct responding for packing the first aid kit when simultaneous video models were presented on Google Glass. In addition two of the three participants demonstrated generalization of visual checklist usage following intervention. All students indicated that they liked using Google Glass and stated they would like to use it again in the future. The practical utility of using Google Glass as a prompting system will be discussed.

Utilizing visual resources presented on various technological devices to support individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has yielded?positive outcomes and promoted independence across a variety of skills. Parents and caregivers have not only attained these advanced?technological devices, but often actively seek to become more competent in using them. While there is?ample research to support the use of portable devices to promote daily living skills for individuals?with autism, relatively few studies have examined whether parents can be trained effectively to?deliver evidence-based practices, such as video prompts, using portable, mainstream devices. The?current study sought to evaluate parent fidelity in the implementation of behavior skills training procedures aimed at delivering video prompts to their child using an iPad. A multiple baseline across participants' design was used to determine if child participants with ASD, between the ages of 12 and 17, were able to acquire and master the steps of a targeted daily living skill. Results indicated that parents were successful in their delivery of the training procedures. Results also demonstrated that their children were able to correctly and independently complete the steps of their daily living skills with high accuracy.

Behavior analysis expiates unfair preconceptions in Italy because of the lack of scientific culture and the psychoanalytic approach, both well spread in several clinical, educational, institutional, political and academic environments. Further, there are common misconceptions of our principles themselves and their applications. ABA Chapter of Italy (AARBA) has been committed to disseminating our science since its founding in 2001 and we have challenged all those prejudices. As professionals and members of the ABA community, we tried many ways before getting partially successful: AARBA tried to influence institutions and academics first, but the evidence provided by our experiments was not enough to move them forward their conflicts of interests. So, we changed the direction of our efforts, from top-down (from institutions to clients) to bottom-up (from clients to institutions). The efficacy of our application, especially in organizational settings, developed a community that got benefit from behavior analysis and that yearly have been gathering in our annual conference, since 2004. Invited institutions to our conference could not ignore the audience and have been obliged to endorse us, sometimes under negative reinforcement. It has been a hard work but worth it. This presentation will show the results of our successful applications and experiments and the impact they had on clients in terms of benefits and on institutions, in terms of consensus.

Students and practitioners interested in reviewing a possible application of behavior analysis to business and e-learning, and in understanding how to nurture and value OBM in the civil society.

In the case of severe challenging behavior there are instances that require physical restraint in order to maintain safety for the individual served as well as others. There are many concerns with the use of physical restraint, including the possibility that restraint may serve as a reinforcer. One possible way to compete with the reinforcing effects of restraint is to find an alternative activity that the individual can access. We discuss a case in which a childs aggression often necessitated the use of physical restraint. During a functional analysis, physical play was used as reinforcer for aggression during test conditions and applied noncontingently during control sessions. Differentiated results were obtained during the functional analysis. Subsequently, the individual was taught a functional communication response that provided access to physical play. The intervention resulted in a decrease in aggression and an increase in the functional alternative response. The results of the study highlight a possible intervention for individuals with severe aggression who often require physical restraint to maintain safety, but whose aggression is also maintained by the stimulus properties associated with restraint.

There is an abundance of research on behavior analytic strategies for teaching simple skills to children with autism and related disabilities. These relatively simple skills include manding, tacting, imitating, matching, sorting, and tooth brushing. There is less research on teaching more complex skills such as engaging in conversation, initiating joint attention, and solving difficult math problems. The analysis of verbal behavior has much to contribute to the analysis of complex repertoires. This symposium centers on two complex repertoires often limited in children with autism and related disabilities: perspective taking and problem solving. The first paper, by Taylor-Santa and colleagues, is a theoretical paper and literature review paper on perspective taking. The authors offer an account of the controlling variables of perspective taking and suggest problem solving is involved in the repertoire. The second paper by Phelan and colleagues offers a conceptual analysis of problem solving and reviews applied studies examining the teaching of problem solving skills to establish complex social, communicative, and academic skills. The third paper is a study by Frampton and colleagues who taught two children with autism the problem solving strategy of sorting, sequencing, and tacting pictures to establish explanations for how to complete familiar activities.

The field of Applied Behavior Analysis is commonly criticized for teaching rote responding. However, teaching problem-solving skills to children with disabilities has produced novel responses to novel stimuli. Problem solving has been defined as manipulating stimuli to increase the probability of arriving at a solution to a problem (Palmer, 1991; Skinner, 1953). When given a problem, such as a question that involves recalling a past event, an individual problem solves and arrives at a solution by emitting “self-probes,” such as asking questions, drawing out possible solutions, and visualizing. Although people problem-solve on a daily basis, there is limited empirical guidance on teaching problem-solving strategies to individuals with disabilities. A challenge of analyzing problem solving is it often occurs covertly. In this paper, we provide a conceptual analysis of problem solving and a review of six applied, behavior analytic studies in which participants were taught to use problem-solving to improve math, communication, and social skills. The review highlights the procedures for teaching problem solving skills. The review ends with recommendations for research, as well as recommendations for incorporating the instruction of problem solving into behavior analytic programming for students with disabilities.

The current study evaluated whether children with autism could learn to use a problem solving strategy (PSS) to explain how to complete familiar activities. A multiple probe across sets (paired activities) was used to isolate the effects of tact training and the PSS. During baseline neither participant could explain how to complete familiar activities. Both participants were first taught to tact pictures that corresponded to the steps of two familiar activities (e.g., bowling and making juice) in set 1. Following tact training alone, the participants remained unable to successfully explain how to complete the tasks. A PSS consisting of sorting the pictures by activity, sequencing them in order, then tacting the position of the pictures in the sequence (e.g., "First... next... then... last") was trained. Following training of the PSS, the participants explained how to complete the first set of tasks in several contexts. For sets 2 and 3, tact training alone was sufficient to teach the children to explain how, as the use of the PSS generalized across sets. These results extend the problem solving literature through the inclusion of combined visual and verbal PSS and demonstration of generalization of the strategy to untrained sets.

This symposium includes a collection of studies exploring procedures for promoting the emergence of untrained tacts and intraverbals for children with an autism spectrum disorders. First, Casey Nottingham will present a study evaluating different arrangements for incorporating secondary targets into learning trials during tact training for children with autism. Second, Tina Dass will present a study evaluating procedures to teach children with autism to tact olfactory stimuli. Third, Jessica Cheatham will present a study examining the effects of instructive feedback on promoting variability in intraverbal responses for children with autism. Fourth, Alice Shillingsburg will present a study evaluating the effects of interspersing mastered tact and listener skills into a teaching session, on the emergence of intraverbals for children with autism. Finally, Tiffany Kodak will discuss interesting components of each study, and describe future areas of research related to skill acquisition training for children with an autism spectrum disorder.

The current study examined the effectiveness and efficiency of presenting additional targets in learning trials for individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Specifically, we compared conditions in which (a) an additional target was presented in the antecedent and consequence portion of the same learning trial, (b) two additional targets were presented in the consequence portion of the same learning trial, (c) a single additional target was presented within the consequence portion of a trial, and (d) no additional targets were presented in a trial. The results demonstrate that participants acquired the majority of additional targets that were presented in the absence of prompts and reinforcement. These findings replicate and extend the previous research in this area by demonstrating that the presentation of additional targets within learning trials may result in more efficient skill acquisition than a typical discrete trial instruction format for individuals with autism spectrum disorder.

Research on tact acquisition by children with autism spectrum disorder has focused on teaching the identification of visual stimuli. It is also important to evaluate procedures for teaching tacts of stimuli in other modalities (e.g., olfactory, tactile). The purpose of the current investigation was to evaluate the effects of an echoic-to-tact transfer of stimulus control procedure, multiple exemplar training, and the addition of secondary targets on the acquisition of item and category tacts of olfactory stimuli with three children with autism spectrum disorder. An adapted alternating treatments design (Sindelar, Rosenberg, & Wilson, 1985) was used to evaluate the effects of the intervention. All participants learned the item and category tacts following intervention and some generalization of the category tacts was demonstrated with each participant.

Instructive feedback is a teaching procedure that involves presenting a secondary target during the learning trial. Previous research has shown that learners will acquire the secondary targets in the absence of direct reinforcement. We used an adapted alternating-treatments design to compare variability in intraverbal responses across a condition with and without instructive feedback for four children with autism spectrum disorder. In both conditions, the therapist provided an instruction for the child to list items from a category, and in the condition with instructive feedback, the therapist modeled response variability during the consequence portion of the trial. Three of four participants provided more novel response combinations in the condition with instructive feedback. Findings suggest that instructive feedback may be useful for increasing variability in intraverbal responses for children with autism spectrum disorder.

The present study evaluated the emergence of intraverbal responses for two children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Prior to Experiment 1, both children could tact the name and function of 12 different picture stimuli and select the pictures by name and function; yet, they failed to demonstrate intraverbals related to the function of the items (e.g., "What do you do with item?" and "What do you use to function?"). Following Baseline, Interspersal Treatment was provided which consisted of the presentation of the previously mastered tact, tact function, listener, and listener by function prior to a probe trial for the target intraverbals. Results showed that Interspersal Treatment led to the emergence of all the intraverbals not emitted in Baseline for both participants. In Experiment 2, the emergence of intraverbals was evaluated for one participant as tact function and listener by function responses were trained. Results of Experiment 2 showed that now tact function and listener by function training was sufficient to establish the emergence of both intraverbal responses in the absence of Interspersal Treatment. These results are discussed in relation to the growing literature suggesting that establishing bi-direction speaker and listener relations facilitates the emergence of untrained skills.

Practitioners make decisions about skill-acquisition programming for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) based on best-practice recommendations in the literature. However, there is still much we do not know when providing recommendations on how to best develop and implement skill-acquisition programming. This symposium is a group of presentations that look to refine instructional procedures when teaching skills to individuals with ASD. The first presentation will evaluate the types of prompts used during discrete-trial instruction. The second presentation will compare the materials used (flashcards compared to tablets) used during discrete-trial instruction. The third presentation will examine the level of instruction necessary for preschool children to learn social skills. Finally, the fourth presentation will compare chaining procedures to teach cooking skills. The presentations will include implications for clinical practice. A discussant will review the presentations and provide suggestions for future research and clinical considerations.

Discrete-trial teaching is an evidence-based teaching strategy that may be individualized to each learner. One way to individualize discrete-trial teaching is the type of prompts which are used. Prompts may include: modelling the correct response, gesturing, providing verbal cues, and physical guidance. There is limited research on the relative efficiency and effectiveness of these different prompt types making it difficult to identify which prompt will be best for each learner (Seaver & Bourret, 2014). In addition, the learners preference for how they are taught is not always considered. The present study compared the relative effectiveness of three different prompt types to teach a receptive identification task for three boys with autism. An adapted alternating treatments design was used to compare a gesture, modeling, physical guidance, and a no-prompt control condition. For one participant, the physical prompt was the most effective. For a second participant, the model prompt was the most effective. Following mastery, a concurrent chains preference assessment was conducted to assess individual preference for prompt type. Both efficacy and client preference may be used to determine prompt selection during discrete-trial teaching.

Children with developmental disabilities are at increased risk to develop problem behavior in the absence of appropriate social and communication skills. Hanley, Heal, Tiger, and Ingvarsson (2007) created a classwide preschool life skills (PLS) program that taught young children to request teacher assistance, tolerate delays or denials in the delivery of materials, friendship skills, and functional communication skills. The purpose of the current study was to assess the effectiveness of the PLS program when implemented with children with developmental disabilities and at risk for developing classroom problem behavior. A multiple-baseline across-behaviors design was used to demonstrate the effects of instruction, differential reinforcement, and error-correction procedures that systematically increased as necessary for participants to acquire the target skills. Probes were also conducted in the classroom with adults and peers following acquisition to test for generalization. The level of instruction varied across participants. Four participants acquired the skills with least-to-most prompting and praise. Three participants required individualized instruction and reinforcers. Overall, there was little generalization of the acquired skills to peers and adults in the participants classrooms.

This study evaluated the utility of a clustered forward chaining (CFC) procedure for teaching a 23-year-old male with autism to follow written recipes. CFC incorporated elements of forward chaining and total task chaining by teaching a small number of steps (i.e., clusters) using total task chaining, and introducing new clusters sequentially, contingent upon sustained mastery of previous clusters. For each of three recipes targeted in a multiple probe design, we organized 45 total steps into 15 functional triads (i.e., read, do, record). We then organized the triads into three clusters (five triads each). We used a 5-s constant time delay to prompt responses for every step within a training cluster and immediately prompted responding for all untrained clusters. We probed for mastery of the entire response chain after demonstrations of mastery of each individual cluster (and before initiating training for a new cluster). Results showed that CFC successfully established independence of all three response chains and required considerably fewer training trials than what would have been required had we implemented a traditional forward chaining procedure. Maintenance probes 3-5 weeks after training demonstrated continued independence of all three cooking recipes.

In early intensive behavioral interventions for children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), teaching language skills (verbal operants) is a fundamental educational goal (Love, Carr, Almason, & Petursdottir, 2009). The outcomes from comparisons of teaching strategies may identify how to teach these skills more effectively and efficiently and create more preferred instructional contexts. This symposium presents advancements in how best to teach language skills (e.g., intraverbals, tacts) to children with an ASD. Majdalany et al. compared the efficacy of tact prompts and textual prompts during intraverbal teaching. Mitteer et al. evaluated the effects of including or omitting background stimuli when teaching expressive-identification of images, with an emphasis on efficiency and stimulus generalization to novel images, videos, and figurines. Lorca et al. taught children to engage in reciprocal conversational skills (e.g., asking a question following a partners statement) and assessed the emergence of intraverbal responding with novel topics. Haygood and Pence compared the efficacy, efficiency, and childrens preference for least-to-most, most-to-least with a delay, and progressive-time delay prompting hierarchies during discrete-trial training, and analyzed the correspondence between efficiency and preference. Taken together, recommendations based on these studies may assist clinicians in selecting teaching procedures that are more efficient, efficacious, and preferred.

Prompts are supplemental stimuli used to facilitate the development of novel skills. Textual prompts are written cues, while tact prompts are pictorial cues. Both textual and tact prompting techniques have been shown to be effective in the acquisition, maintenance, and generalization of intraverbal behavior in children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders. However, the direct comparison of the textual and tact prompts has yet to be conducted. In the current study, we taught one young child to engage in intraverbal behavior using tact and textual prompting techniques. Tact prompts resulted in quicker acquisition and fewer trials to criterion when compared to textual prompts. Responding maintained one week later in both textual and tact conditions. The participant scored 100% on generalization probes across people in both conditions. The participant scored 80% on generalization probes across stimuli in the tact condition, and 100% on the generalization probes across stimuli in the text condition.

Teaching children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to name (tact) images is a common skill area. Teaching with backgrounds may increase the difficulty of discriminating the target stimulus and may lead to faulty stimulus control (e.g., background images evoke the target response). However, including backgrounds may enhance stimulus generalization to additional exemplars of the category (stimulus class) with backgrounds. To date, no study has examined the effects of including or omitting backgrounds. We used an adapted alternating treatments design to evaluate the effects of teaching with and without backgrounds on acquisition and stimulus generalization to novel images, videos, and figurines. Across four participants, ages 3-4 with an ASD, we observed minimal differences in the number of sessions to mastery when teaching with backgrounds (M = 6) or without backgrounds (M = 4). Stimulus generalization occurred more often in the condition taught with backgrounds (33%) than without backgrounds (0%). When differential reinforcement was programmed during generalization tests, mastery was observed in 64% of targets taught with backgrounds and in 50% of targets taught without backgrounds. Teaching with backgrounds may produce slower acquisition of pictures but enhance generalization to images and videos exemplars containing backgrounds as compared to teaching without backgrounds .

The purpose of the current study was to investigate if novel conversation responses would generate after teaching specific conversational styles and minimal components of intraverbal responses to children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Intraverbal responses involved making general statements, asking questions, and developing conversation styles. Statement/Question and Question/Statement style of conversation were taught to three children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. The participants in the study ranged in age from 6 to 9 years. During the statement/question and question/statement, the participants discussed topics of their own interest. Then specific topics of conversation were used in these conversation styles. Finally, they were taught to ask about the interests of various conversation partners. In the generalization testing phase, the participants were able to begin conversations with others using similar conversational styles, but with novel topics (topics of various conversation partners interests) and components of each topic. Results showed that novel intraverbal responses can generate after training of minimal number of discrete stimulus-responses relationships.

Behavioral medicine is an interdisciplinary field that utilizes behavior analytic principles and methodology to identify behaviors associated with health and disease states, identify the controlling variables, and increase behaviors associated with improved health outcomes and decrease behaviors associated with illness and disease states. There are myriad studies investigating behavioral interventions to improve behaviors associated with health and disease, including blood glucose monitoring in diabetes, substance use, dietary intake, feeding disorders and food selectivity, disordered eating, sedentary and physical activity, sleeping challenges, dental hygiene, and chronic pain management. Furthermore, behavioral medicine research also targets preventative techniques to avoid health-related issues, such as early screening and self-screening for cancer, following specific recommendations for dietary consumption and physical activity to prevent obesity and other related illnesses, and accident prevention in elderly, pediatric, and work populations. Treatment adherence may also be targeted during routine medical procedures, in continued care for health conditions, such as diabetes, and following injury (e.g., compliance with physical therapy). Behavior analysts are well-equipped to address these problems of public health, yet many studies in behavioral medicine are published outside of behavior analytic journals. The purpose of this symposium is to highlight current and diverse research in the area of behavioral medicine, and to provide attendees an opportunity to hear from established researchers in the field.

Sleep problems are prevalent in typically-developing children and children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders. These problems negatively impact the health and development of youths and present challenges to parents, caregivers, and clinicians. Pharmacological interventions are commonly recommended despite limited research on their efficacy and social acceptability. Behavioral interventions shows merit as a promising alternative but has yet to draw to focus of mainstream treatment providers. We will discuss the assessment and treatment of sleep problems as an area of application of Behavioral Medicine. Efficacy data of behavioral intervention with and without pharmacological intervention on the sleep problems (i.e., sleep onset delay, night and early wakings, and problem behaviors that interfere with sleep) of children diagnosed with and without autism are presented.

Compliance with medical/dental routines is an important part of basic health care for everyone. Many diseases and illnesses are preventable or treatable, but the benefits only accrue if patients cooperate with the procedures involved in the delivery of care. Unfortunately, many children do not cooperate. This presentation will review both the respondent and operant components of medical/dental noncompliance and the common treatments for promoting compliance. The presentation will then review a program of research in applied behavior analysis (both small n and RCT) that follows the development and empirical validation of applications based on negative reinforcement in treatment of noncompliance with routine dental care in every day practice.

The field of behavioral medicine focuses on identifying the variables associated with health and disease states, and manipulating those variables to facilitate change in the behaviors relatedto improved health status. The variety of research within the behavioral medicine field is extensive. However, trends in current publication data suggest much of the research within the field is published outside of behavior analytic fora. The current presentation will review the state of behavioral medicine research in the field of behavior analysis and in other related fields. Data reviewed will focus onpublication trends in behavioral medicine research, provide an overview of health behaviors of interest, offer suggestions for future publications, and emphasize theneed to continue disseminating research both in behavior analyticjournals and conferences.

The identification of reinforcers is critical to maximize skill acquisition for individuals with autism. This symposium presents four studies detailing refinements of preference assessment procedures. In Study 1, single-operant preference assessments (SOA) effectively identified preferences (and subsequent reinforcer efficacy) for edibles, tangibles, and social stimuli for 4 individuals with autism. In Study 2, response restriction (RR) and brief response restriction (BRR) assessments were conducted with 12 individuals with autism. There was strong correlation between the RR and BRR results, but the BRR took 79% less time to complete. Study 3 evaluated whether edible, tangible, and social stimuli presented in a single-class MSWO were displaced when presented in a combined-class MSWO. Results indicated that displaced stimuli functioned as reinforcers for three children with autism. Study 4 evaluated the effects of lag schedules of reinforcement on variability in play material selection using a preference assessment format, with 5 children with autism. Lag schedules were found to be effective at increasing variability of selections for only one participant. In all studies, interobserver agreement (IOA) data were collected in a minimum of 30% of sessions, and was above 90% for all participants. These studies highlight the importance of continuing to refine preference assessment procedures.

There are many preference assessment methodologies available for identifying preference across a range of stimuli. To date, one study has used a single-operant assessment (SOA) to assess preference for social interactions. The purpose of the study was to extend previous research by evaluating a SOA to identify preference for edibles, tangibles, and social stimuli with four individuals with autism. Outcomes of the SOA were compared to outcomes from an MSWO. The SOA identified highly-preferred stimuli and correlations with the MSWO were found for some participants. The effects of top-ranked stimuli identified from SOA were then evaluated on a novel skill. Results support the use of a SOA to identify preferred edibles, tangibles, and social interactions and found that participants successfully acquired targets using stimuli identified from the SOA. Three of the four participants maintained the targets acquired and that the SOA identified an effective and efficient reinforcer. Interobserver agreement (IOA) data were collected in a minimum of 30% of sessions, and was above 90% for all participants. The procedures of the single-operant assessment were reported to be socially valid. Results support the use of an SOA to identify preference across a range of stimuli.

The response restriction (RR) preference assessment (Hanley et al., 2003) combines elements of existing preference assessments, utilizes free operant responding, and restricts items while reducing the likelihood of aberrant behavior that may occur due to denied access or insufficient duration to access reinforcers. However, the RR criteria to restrict items can be difficult to implement and the assessment can last multiple hours. In the current study, Phase 1 evaluated the validity and total duration of a brief response restriction (BRR) preference assessment. A RR, BRR, and 80-min free operant assessment were conducted twice each with 12 participants with autism. Validity results indicated a mean .69 correlation between the RR and BRR results, but the BRR took 79% less time to complete. Phase 2 evaluated that procedural integrity and implementer preference of the RR and BRR. We used enhanced training materials (Graff & Karsten, 2012) to train 10 special educators to conduct both a RR and BRR assessment. Procedural integrity scores were higher for the BRR, specifically for restriction criteria, and implementer surveys indicated preference for the BRR. Interobserver agreement (IOA) data were collected in a minimum of 30% of sessions and agreement was above 90% for all sessions

Preference assessments yield valuable clinical information important for skill acquisition and behavior reduction programs. Research has demonstrated that combining edibles and leisure items within a MSWO stimulus array can displace preference for leisure items among individuals diagnosed with profound intellectual disability. To date, no study has evaluated the potential displacement of edible, leisure, and social stimuli when combined in a single-class multiple stimulus without replacement (MSWO) preference assessment with children who have an autism spectrum disorder. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether stimuli that are highly preferred when presented in a single-class MSWO array are displaced when presented in a combined-class MSWO array. The reinforcing effectiveness of displaced stimuli was evaluated in a single-operant reinforcer assessment. Results from this study indicate that stimuli that were displaced in rank order by two or more places when presented in a combined array MSWO functioned as reinforcers for three children with autism spectrum disorder. Interobserver agreement (IOA) data were collected in a minimum of 30% of sessions and agreement was above 90% for all sessions.

Repetitive behavior is a defining feature of autism-spectrum disorder (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Children with autism tend to make invariable selections of play materials relative to their typically developing peers (Bancroft et al., in press). Lag schedules have been shown to increase behavioral variability (e.g., Cammilleri & Hanley, 2005), but they are not always effective alone (e.g., Napolitano et al., 2010). The purpose of the present study was to examine the effectiveness of a treatment hierarchy consisting of lag schedules combined with other techniques for increasing variable responding in play contexts for five children with autism aged 4 to 8 years. Across 4 activities, participants were instructed to choose an item from an array and prompted to engage in the activity associated with that item. Items were replaced between trials to allow opportunities for invariable selections. Experimental control was demonstrated using a multiple-baseline design across activities. Lag schedules alone were effective at increasing variability of selections for one participant, with generalization across activities. Variability of selections for the remaining participants did not increase until modifications were included. Interobserver agreement (IOA) data were collected in a minimum of 30% of sessions for all participants; IOA was above 90% for all participants

Behavior analysts have developed a rich technology to identify reinforcers for individuals with developmental disabilities; the studies in this symposium seek to add to this knowledge base. In Study 1, reinforcer assessments for tangible and social stimuli were conducted with 3 individuals with autism. High-preference tangible items were the most potent reinforcers for all participants, but some individuals responded more to access low-preference social interactions. In Study 2, two participants with autism participated in MSWO assessments under different schedules of reinforcement (CRF, VR2, No access). Preference hierarchies were broadly consistent across reinforcement schedules; the no access condition required the least amount of time to complete. In Study 3, the outcomes of engagement-based assessments with varied access to selected items were compared to MSWO assessments. The engagement-based and MSWO assessments identified the same highest-preferred activity for three of four individuals with autism. In Study 4, 12 individuals with no previous knowledge of preference assessments accurately implemented free operant preference assessments when provided with an antecedent-only self-instructional packet. In all studies, interobserver agreement (IOA) data were collected in at least 30% of sessions, and IOA was above 95%. The results of these studies may help clinicians better identify reinforcers for their clients

There is a wealth of research on preference assessments, but to date, no studies have been conducted to identify optimal procedures for conducting reinforcer assessments or to determine the most appropriate reinforcer assessment for tangible or social stimuli. This information is important to validate new preference assessments, to evaluate stimuli that are being established as conditioned reinforcers, and to provide evidence that the stimuli being used function as reinforcers. To address the above limitations the current study compared three reinforcer assessments with social and tangible stimuli with three individuals with autism. The items included were identified through paired-stimulus preference assessments. The tangible reinforcer assessments supported the current research as the high-preference items were the most potent reinforcers for all participants. There was more variability with the social reinforcer assessments and the concurrent-operants reinforcer assessment did not support the current research for any of the participants as findings were undifferentiated or showed higher rates of responding for the low-preference interaction than the high-preference interaction. Interobserver agreement data were obtained across 50% of sessions; mean agreement was 99%. Further research is needed to determine the best procedures to use in the reinforcer assessments and the most appropriate procedures based on participant characteristics.

Identifying preferred stimuli may be challenging for those who work with individuals with developmental disabilities, such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Preference assessments have been empirically supported and can generally be categorized as approach-based (e.g., MSWO; multiple-stimulus without replacement) described as presenting stimuli to an individual for brief periods of time and recording approach (i.e., selection) or engagement-based (e.g., SSE; single-stimulus engagement) which measures engagement with a particular item. Few studies have directly compared outcomes produced by engagement-based as compared to approach-based preference assessments. The purpose of the proposed study was to compare the outcomes of a SSE preference assessment across a 30 s, 2 min, 5 min, and a duration based on the typical trade-in time per participant to a MSWO preference assessment across open-and closed-ended activities with four young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Interobserver agreement (IOA) data were collected for 50% of sessions across participants and mean agreement was 99% (range, 97%-100%) across sessions and participants. The SSE assessments indicated that some individuals may be more sensitive to access duration than others. Results from the MSWO assessments and SSE assessments identified the same activity as highest-preferred for three of the four participants.

Following years of traditional, direct instruction to orally label numerals, an adolescent girl with autism could not orally label double-digit numbers. Despite this deficit, she could read any written word (e.g., the word thirteen) and had an intense interest in baseball and the names and team affiliations of baseball players. Past research has demonstrated that oral labeling can emerge following equivalence-based instruction (Groskreutz et al., 2010) so we designed an equivalence-based protocol to determine if oral labeling would emerge following training. We used a pretest/posttest experimental design to examine the effects of teaching specific conditional relations among complex auditory visual stimuli (i.e., Class A is the written digit and the auditory word), the written word (Class B), and the corresponding written names of baseball players (Class C) on the emergence of untaught relations and the oral labeling of digits. The format used for training and testing sessions is a match-to-sample protocol using a one-to-many training structure. Stimuli are presented on PowerPoint slides on a touch screen computer that require the participant to engage in an observing response (i.e., touch the screen) to reveal the sample stimulus and to then select the correct comparison stimulus. Prior to equivalence based instruction, pretests were conducted for all relations and for oral labeling of numerals with each set of numbers. Following pretests, A-B and B-C relations were trained. After each training session, a probe was conducted for oral labeling of numerals. Oral labeling of numerals was near zero levels on pretest measures with the exception of one target. Following EBI, the participant learned to label a total of 4 of the 6 target numerals. Post-tests for all relations were also at criterion levels. These data support past research that has found the emergence of untaught repertoires following EBI.

Reading research indicates that 90-95% of all students can achieve literacy levels at or approaching grade level. Furthermore, we have research that tells us what evidence-based practices will produce better reading outcomes for learners. Yet, nearly half of American fourth graders have not achieved a minimal level of reading fluency. Knowing what works does not guarantee improved student learning outcomes. The gap from research to practice needs to be filled by high quality implementation, or a specified set of activities designed to put into practice an activity or program. The goal of implementation is to have teachers use innovations effectively. To accomplish this, high-fidelity practitioner behavior must be created and supported. The field of Implementation Science, which is based on the concepts and principles of Applied Behavior Analysis, is the how to create hospitable environments in districts and schools where strong leadership, solid organizational structures, and educators with the necessary competencies to deliver evidenced-based practices becomes routine practice. This presentation will describe one school districts journey to improve teacher instruction, and thus learner reading outcomes utilizing Implementation Science within a Multi-Tier System of Supports (MTSS) framework.

For struggling learners, features of the academic context may come to function as conditioned aversives. The environment is smattered with letters, words, numbers and symbols, requiring sufficient academic skills to navigate successfully. When these skills are lacking, the resulting avoidance behavior has considerably different manifestations in verbal learners when compared to animal learning-based avoidance paradigms; there is no lever press to terminate aversive stimulation, and physical escape is often unavailable. Whereas physical or mechanical escape is futile, psychological escape is possible. Behaviors like arguing, giving up, changing the subject, cheating, procrastinating and �checking out�, emerge as the dominant forms of avoidance. Verbally mediated avoidance can persist even when conditions under which the repertoire was established are gone. A student whose reading skills have vastly improved may still resist reading. Exercises informed by Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Relational Frame Theory (RFT) can help students overcome language-based barriers to progress. Applying Precision Teaching's (PT) measurement and pinpointing, we can produce accelerations of academic skills while producing decelerations of avoidance behaviors. In this presentation we will demonstrate how PT can be integrated with these approaches, and curricula can be developed to support mindful and flexible behaviors in academic settings.

In this symposium, we extend the use of the term makerspace to environments that allow for the contingency-shaping of behavior-analytic interventions and verbal repertoires. A makerspace is an informal establishments where makers gather to create science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) projects of their own devising. Concomitantly, an increasing number of educational researchers are dedicating substantive time to examining the affordances of makerspaces for supporting interest, engagement, and participation in STEM learning. A defining feature of a makerspace is the informal approach in which instructions are minimized to allow for maximal contingency-shaping. Extended to the science of behavior, we propose the term "shaperspace" to describe an environment in which ABA students are challenged with behavioral excesses and deficits, and learn to employ behavior-analytic interventions primarily through successive approximations. Additionally, shaperspaces offer a verbal behavior community to differentially reinforce tractable, pragmatic descriptions over explanatory fictions. The current state of shaperspace and project-based learning community research should not obfuscate the potential benefits of such environments for facilitating the acquisition of a behavior-analytic repertoire. Nor should the current state of shaperspace research, presented here, impede rigorous behavioral research into the educational affordances of such environments.

A significant obstacle towards developing the behavior-analytic perspective is penchants for using tautological "explanatory fictions" or "mentalisms,"which obfuscate the behavioral conceptualization necessary to effectively address clinical concerns. At a university-based center serving as a field-experience site, pre-service behavior analyst participating in verbal operant training with children with Autism Spectrum Disorders were trained to write a technical description of their interactions with their client subsequent to composing a daily therapy notes. The daily therapy notes were prepared to review with the children's caregivers, and so were specifically composed in common parlance. For the technical description, however, the pre-service behavior analysts were asked to precisely describe how their manipulation of the environment supported their clients' performance and contributed to reducing challenging behavior using the concepts and principles of applied behavior analysis. Specifically, the technical description asked:(a) Which of the childs behavior are you strengthening/weakening? (b) Under what circumstances are the childs behavior excesses/deficits present? And (c) How do you manipulate the childs environment? How does your behavior affect childs responding?The supervising BCBA reviewed this documentation tallying behavior-analytic terms for cumulative examination. This paper presents the results of a multiple-baseline across participants design employed to evaluate the contingent effects of written feedback on supervisees use of behavior-analytic terminology.

The past dozen years has seen an increased interest by behavior analysts in assessing what cognitivists refer to as implicit cognitions. In response to The Implicit Association Test (IAT) by Greenwald and colleagues behavior analysts have developed and published studies focusing on verbal histories as a core process (e.g. Roche, Ruiz, O'Riordan & Hand, 2005; Gavin, Roche & Ruiz, 2008; Gavin, Roche, Ruiz, Hogan & O'Reilly, 2012; O'Reilly, Roche, Ruiz & Champion, 2013). The most recent iteration is the Function Acquisition Speed Test (FAST) developed by O'Reilly and colleagues. This symposium focuses on Gender related issues and extending the behavioral analysis of doing gender (Ruiz, 1995, 2003) and applying the FAST to assess verbal histories that the authors have demonstrated are related to implicit attitudes.An application to the gaming community is included and implications of negative gendering practices are examined.

The Function Acquisition Speed Test (FAST) is a novel implicit attitude measure that applies behavioural principles and methodology to the assessment of subjects' histories of verbal behaviour with regard to particular natural stimulus relations in the vernacular - or, more commonly, their "implicit attitudes". The implicit attitude construct is ubiquitous in social cognitive psychology, but how are "implicit attitudes" best discussed in behavioural terms? This paper will discuss the developing FAST methodology and the conceptual questions surrounding "implicit attitudes", and consider the implications for applying a functional approach to attitude measurement for intervention.

It is well established that individuals with autism spectrum disorders have deficits in joint attention and social referencing. Efforts to remediate these deficits have proven to be challenging as the source of difficulty has much to do the failure of social behaviors to function as motivation operations. In the current symposium we will present data from three lines of work in this area. In the first paper, Mary Roberts, explores the effects of using multiple exemplars to increase generalization and maintenance of joint attention. Using 36 different toys, many with a surprise element, children generalized these skills both within and across toy classes. In the second paper, Pamela Peterson, compares social orienting and social referencing performance between children with autism and typical peers in an attention to distress assessment. These data reveal that typical children orient and reference immediately while children with autism do not. In the third paper Elena Carcia-Albea examines procedures to teach children with autism to use appropriate empathetic responding. Using video priming, behavior rehearsal, and socially mediated consequences they successfully taught empathetic responding under the conditions of happiness, frustration, scared and sadness. In addition, empathetic responding generalized across novel stimuli.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of multiple exemplar training on the acquisition, maintenance and generalization of initiating joint attention (IJA). Participants were 3 typically developing children and 4 children with autism spectrum disorder. A composite score was developed based on the performance of the typical samples and used to evaluate IJA of the children with autism. Gaze shifting and commenting were taught using social reinforcement in a multiple exemplar format where training sessions were followed by probes of untrained stimuli both within and across toy classes. Results showed that the children with autism learned to initiate joint attention using social reinforcers. Multiple exemplar training was also effective in facilitating acquisition within and across toy classes and the maintenance of IJA for 3 of the 4 participants. Additionally, stimulus control generalized to a second setting and a second experimenter for all participants. IOA was collected in 31% of all sessions and agreement across all sessions was 95.6%. These results demonstrate the efficacy of using multiple exemplar training on generalization and maintenance of joint attention.

Children with autism show a marked deficit in social skills, including both social orienting and social referencing responses. The purpose of this study was two-fold. First, to evaluate the differences across social orienting and social referencing responses between typically-developing toddlers and children with autism, and secondly to evaluate a treatment protocol for teaching orienting and referencing. An adaptation of the Sigman attention to distress assessment was used which included three conditions: hurt, choke, and spill. Results showed that typical peers had higher percent of both orienting and referencing compared to children with autism. Further analysis revealed differences in the quality of these responses including latency, duration, frequency, and affective behavior. One participant was taught to orient to an adult under a condition of distress (e.g., hurt) and then to reference a familiar adult following the orienting response. Findings indicated that the use of visual prompts and social reinforcers were effective in establishing social orienting and social referencing. Interobserver agreement were collected on30% of the sessions and ranged from 80% and 100% across all training and assessment conditions. Considerations for the generalization and maintenance of these skills are discussed.

Children who display appropriate concern and interest when others are sad, happy, scared, or frustrated will likely increase their opportunities for future interactions with peers. Some individuals with autism, however, exhibit severe deficits in empathy. In the current study, a video modeling priming procedure with audio and manual prompts, behavior rehearsals, and socially mediated consequences were used to teach four children with autism a generalized repertoire of empathetic responding. Four experimenter-defined categories (happiness, frustration, scared, and sadness) were used to program for generalization of empathetic responding from trained to novel compound discriminative stimuli. A multiple-probe across participants design was used to assess the effectiveness of the treatment package. Results indicated that the treatment package was effective in the rapid acquisition of empathetic responding. Empathetic responding generalized from trained stimuli to novel stimuli within categories used for teaching and across novel categories of empathy. Empathetic responding also maintained in the absence of the video model. Inter-observer agreement and procedural integrity data were collected on 50% of the sessions and ranged from 98%-100% across all conditions and participants. Results of this study demonstrate that behavior-analytic techniques are effective in improving complex social skills, such as empathy, in children with autism.

Requests for the regulation of the practice of behavior analysis is ever increasing with the adoption of insurance coverage for ABA services. Developing licensure for practitioners of behavior analysis might be possible and could produce benefits for consumers as well as practitioners. In certain cases however, pursuing licensure can be a risky undertaking. This panel consists of individuals from three states in the US, that have recently adopted Licensure laws. Our panelists will describe the pitfalls and pivotal moments along the way. Finally, the panelists will discuss and suggest strategies that may be helpful for other states also seeking to regulate (or redefine) behavior analytic practices.

Problem behaviors (PB), such as aggression and disruption, are prevalent among individuals with developmental delays. These behaviors negatively impact development and create a stressor for caregivers. PB is often maintained by negative reinforcement (i.e., escape from demands or aversive situations). The current symposium discusses the effects of specific treatment components and variables associated with the treatment of PB maintained by negative reinforcement exhibited by individuals with developmental delays. The first presentation evaluates diaphragmatic breathing (DB), an intervention commonly recommended, which lacks quantitative evidence for reducing PB. The experimenter prompted DB contingent on precursor behaviors in a demand context and observed decreased rates of PB in one participant, while another required additional treatment components. The second presentation evaluated the weekly frequency of treatment sessions targeting tolerance of dental appointments, finding that more frequent treatment sessions may promote superior outcomes. The final presentation describes the use of a multiple schedule in the treatment of PB maintained by escape from interruption to ones environment. Multiple schedules were used to successfully thin the reinforcement schedule in treatment with two participants. This symposium provides guidelines for clinicians designing treatments for PB maintained by negative reinforcement and provides important extensions to the current literature.

Dental professionals have reported that problem behavior in individuals with autism precludes adequate care (Kuhn et at., 1994). Prior research has illustrated effective treatments for escape-maintained behavior in this context; however, there is little information on whether the amount of time between treatment sessions impacts treatment effectiveness. However, prior literature has shown that intertrial interval (ITI) duration could have an effect on skill acquisition (e.g.,Tincani et al., 2005). The purpose of this study was to determine whether the length of the ITI impacts the effectiveness of an intervention for escape-maintained problem behavior. The intervention consisted of demand fading and extinction for problem behavior; in one condition, treatment sessions were conducted weekly, and in the second condition treatment sessions were conducted 3-5 times per week. Participants included two students from a residential school for children with autism. A multiple baseline across subjects design is being used to demonstrate experimental control. Results for Subject 1 suggest that ITI is an important variable, in that more frequent sessions produce better treatment outcomes. Subject 2 has not yet experienced the second treatment condition. Inter-observer agreement was calculated for 47% of sessions with 97.4% agreement.

Up to 96% of individuals with autism spectrum disorder exhibit complex repetitive behavior (McDougle et al., 1992). Functional analyses have demonstrated that some individuals engage in problem behavior maintained by termination of interruption of repetitive or rigid behaviors, such as a therapist manipulating items the participant has arranged (e.g., Fisher, Adelinis, Thompson, Worsdell, & Zarcone, 1998; Leon, Lazarchick, Rooker, & DeLeon, 2013). In both of these previous studies, participants were taught a functional communication response to terminate or avoid the interruption, resulting in a decrease in problem behavior. However, both studies reinforced mands on a FR1 schedule, and such dense schedules of reinforcement may not always be feasible in the natural environment. The current study used a multiple schedule for two individuals whose problem behavior was determined to be maintained by avoidance of interruption of repetitive play. During the multiple schedule, participants were required to tolerate a periods of interruption of increasing duration without engaging in problem behavior. Access to repetitive play served as the reinforcer for tolerating interruptions. Results show that participants were able to tolerate periods of interruption as a result of treatment.

Observing behavior is an operant behavior that has the production of discriminative stimuli as consequence. This presentation will review the main course of the scientific production in this field, from early investigations up to some of the most recent works. To analyze this quite numerous and diverse literature, the speaker will identify and describe the basic observing-response procedures that employed humans as participants, especially children and adults. The maintenance of observing behavior by discriminative stimulus of extinction (that is, S-) compared to discriminative stimulus of reinforcement (that is, S+) will be addressed and two sets of empirical works involving adults and children with typical and atypical development will be presented. The first work will present the current advances in the study of observing behavior by tracking the participants' eye movements. The second work will focus on the role of observing responses in conditional discrimination processes that lead to the formation of equivalence classes. Based on these recent findings, the speaker will discuss how discrimination is established as the product of the main three-term contingency interlocked with the observing-response contingency.

Basic and applied researchers interested in mechanisms of behavior change. Additionally, it should be of great interest to practitioners in a variety of applied settings.

The following symposium will provide practical guidelines for training support staff in environments where they will encounter high risk aggressive behavior in the clients that they are serving. The talks will include the implementation of Registered Behavioral Technician (RBT) with direct care staff in an intensive behavioral community based setting. Alternative strategies will be reviewed in the description of a competency based staff training program in a crisis respite setting for staff encountering clients with displays of high frequency aggressive behavior. Scenarios for the safe management of potential problem behavior were presented to staff along with functional responses that they should engage in. The 3rd talk in this symposium will detail a behavioral skills training protocol and its effects on the high intensity behaviors exhibited in a small school setting by a young male student diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and mood disorder (NOS). Each of these training approaches will be accompanied by acquisition data and concomitant client behavioral responses.

The following presentation details the implementation of a changing criterion and design to address the desensitization of an adult male with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), intellectual disability (ID), and severe aggressive behavior to riding in a vehicle while in the community. The subject had a lifelong history of institutionalization and had not successfully been transported in a vehicle for close to 10 years at the time of the study. The presentation will detail the comprehensive behavioral staff training (see Registered Behavioral Technician, BACB, 2015) and integration of behavioral technicians within a comprehensive vehicle desensitization procedure. The results show that the intervention produced decreases in aggressive responding both in his residence and in the vehicle on community outings. Suggestions will be made for future studies in this area.

Back in the 1950s, fewer than 5% of Americans were non-religious. Today, nearly 30% define themselves as such. And in many other nations, rates of irreligion are even higher. This recent increase of people who describe themselves as "none" in terms of religious identification is one of the most significant demographic shifts in recent history. Who are these non-religious individuals? Are they all atheists? Agnostics? Secular Humanists? And more importantly: what do these various designations even mean? In this lecture, secular typologies and taxonomies will be covered, and secular humanism -- as a growing worldview, existential orientation, and group identification -- will be defined, explored, and explained. For as the number of non-religious men and women continues to dramatically rise both in the USA and abroad, it is more important than ever to understand those men and women who choose to live without religious affiliation or beliefs, and yet still maintain core values, morals, and convictions which influence and direct so many aspects of their lives.

Board certified behavior analysts and graduate students.

Many caregivers are playing a larger role in the service delivery of interventions to their children with developmental disabilities. These services can be provided across a variety of settings. This symposium includes four papers on behavioral parent training to address the core and associated deficits associated with autism and related development disabilities. Each study provided caregiver-implemented interventions in a particular setting or across a different medium (i.e., clinic-based, home-based, web-based, or live telehealth). Specifically, Connolly, Wilczynski, Finch and McIntosh evaluated the use of an online training to improve parent confidence within a school setting. Lea, Baker, Gillespie, Walton, and Delfs compared parent satisfaction and programmatic outcomes across three different service delivery models in a large scale parent training program. Walton, Yosick, Shillingsburg, Kansal, and Delfs evaluated the feasibility of a 12- week mand training program delivered via telehealth to the parents of preverbal children with ASD in rural Georgia. Durand and Parks modified a feeding intervention delivered in home by parents and evaluated the generalizability of the intervention. Data will be presented on individual outcomes, parent satisfaction, attendance, and other variables relevant to each study. Information on the feasibility and utility of these technologically-based parent interventions will be discussed.

Abstract: Language deficits are one of the most common presenting complaints of parents of children with ASD (De Giacomo & Fombonne, 1998). Mand Training (MT), which focuses on teaching individuals to request items, activities, or actions from others, is based on the conceptualization of language as verbal behavior first described by Skinner (Skinner, 1957). MT is an intervention for severe language delays that incorporates behavioral techniques (e.g., prompting, reinforcement, specific antecedent manipulations) within naturalistic teaching opportunities (Paul, 2008, Le Blanc et al., 2006). MT can be implemented by therapists through direct services or delivered as a caregiver-mediated intervention (Loughrey et al., 2014). Several barriers to accessing evidence-based treatment for language deficits in ASD are unfortunately, common, and include cost and distance. Other behavioral services have been previously delivered via telehealth technology; however, it is not yet clear if MT is feasible for delivery via telehealth. The purpose of this open pilot study was to evaluate the feasibility of caregiver MT in a well-characterized sample of 15 preverbal children with ASD (ages 2.0 years to 4.9 years) via telehealth in rural Georgia that participated in a 12 week MT program. Data has been collected to determine if therapists can reliably train caregivers with a high level of fidelity, if caregivers can implement MT with fidelity, if there is improvement in the childs social communication skills, and if caregivers find the use of telehealth technology acceptable.

Parent training programs based in applied behavior analysis have been utilized as an alternative to intensive behavioral interventions for children with autism to alleviate the costs for parents and lessen the disparity between the number of children with autism who need services and the number of available trained professionals. Positive outcomes of parent training programs have been found when conducted in the home, in the clinic, and more recently via telehealth services; however, more research is needed to evaluate the feasibility and comparative effectiveness. The current study evaluates a 12-week parent training program that provides strategies on teaching new skills and managing problem behavior to over 100 parents of children with autism across the three service delivery models. Collectively, the data show the parent training program increases participants parenting skills and decreases parental stress. The current analysis aimed to assess whether the parents ability to acquire new skills and evaluation of the service differed depending on the location of parent-training.

Feeding issues and difficulty during mealtime effects up to 40% of all children, ranging from picky eating to almost complete refusal or selectivity (Sharp et al., 2010). Anywhere between three and ten percent of children develop chronic feeding issues that will not resolve without specific intervention. While research on feeding treatments and their effectiveness is rather vast, the literature on parent implementation of protocols, long-term outcomes, and implementing feeding treatments solely in the home setting are much more limited. This study examined the effects of a treatment developed solely within the home setting and that focused heavily on parent training and implementation. The caregiver was trained to implement treatment and long-term gains were measured. Initially the child made remarkable gains in both variety and texture; however, these gains were lost over time. Measures of treatment integrity of caregiver were measured and modifications were made as a result of caregivers inability to maintain high integrity over time to ensure long-term success and outcomes.

Economic demand describes the consumption of a commodity across increases in price. A typical demand curve takes a monotonically decreasing form. In other words, consumption decreases as price increases. In behavioral economic preparations, price and commodity may be considered synonymous with FR value and reinforcer, respectively. Two quantitative models have been frequently used in the behavior analytic literature to describe this relation (Hursh et al., 1988; Hursh & Silberburg, 2008). We directly compared fits of the two equations across multiple data sets. In addition, we investigate the utility of model-neutral, area-under-the-curve measures of demand elasticity.

Antecedent-based interventions have been used to address a wide variety of common referral concerns for applied behavior analysts. This symposium will present four papers investigating the effect of antecedent variables on improvements in academic (Schieltz and Wacker and Hamad) and social behavior (Watkins et al. and Torelli et al.). Both Schieltz and Wacker and Hamad present data showing the effect of instructional strategies matched to academic weaknesses on decreases in problem behavior and accurate responding. Watkins and colleagues present a study in which incorporating children diagnosed with autisms interests into play activities increased pro-social behaviors, and Torelli and colleagues present data showing the positive effects of a class-wide multiple-schedule of reinforcement on student disruptive behavior. Together these four papers extend the literature investigating the creative use of antecedent strategies to improve academic and behavioral concerns. Thus, this symposium will provide attendees with information about the extension of antecedent-based interventions to issues of social concern.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether antecedent variables associated with academic tasks biased choice responding towards academic tasks with a history of negative reinforcement. Ella was a fifth grade girl diagnosed with mild intellectual disability. Academic instruction was provided at the first and second grade levels. Primary behavioral concerns were aggression and noncompliance. All procedures were conducted in a 90-min outpatient clinic. IOA was assessed across 40% of sessions and averaged 99%. Assessments were conducted within a concurrent schedules design during all phases. A preference assessment was conducted during Phase 1 to determine the relative value between positive and negative reinforcement. Results suggested that choice allocation was maintained by negative reinforcement, whereby choices occurred away from academic tasks. During Phase 2, a reinforcer assessment was conducted to determine whether positive reinforcement, in the form of attention, biased choice responding towards the academic task. Results showed that attention was not sufficient to maintain choice responding. During Phase 3, an antecedent analysis was conducted to determine whether instructional strategies biased responding towards the academic task. Results showed that choice responding switched to the academic task and improved academic performance, suggesting that the instructional strategy functioned as an abolishing operation.

The literature suggests that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) educated in inclusive settings generally do not interact with their typically developing classmates during social activities. This study assessed whether an antecedent strategy of incorporating the preferred interests of preschoolers with ASD into play activities mutually engaging to typical peers would result in an increase in social interaction. A multiple baseline design across participants (with ABAB phases embedded) was used to demonstrate the effects of the intervention on participant initiations and responses during play sessions with typical peers. Initiations and responses to typical peers increased for all four participants, and generalization to novel peers was observed. Treatment gains were maintained during six-week follow- up sessions. Recommendations for practitioners working with children with ASD in inclusive settings and potential areas of future research are discussed.

Many students exhibit behavior problems and reading difficulties in the classroom. Interventions to address these issues have been shown to be increasingly less effective after third grade. A practical model was created in this study to assist researchers and practitioners in assessment and intervention decision-making. Six first-grade students participated in the three parts of this study: (1) functional analysis; (2) reading assessment; (3) brief analysis to test the effects of antecedent interventions matched and mismatched to hypothesis for reading difficulties on off-task behavior and reading accuracy. Results from the functional analyses revealed three participants with attention-maintained problem behavior and three participants with escape-maintained problem behavior and the reading assessment revealed that all six participants exhibited skill deficits. Participants received sessions of antecedent attention and the use of an instructional strategy immediately followed by independent reading in their classroom. Results showed response covariation (i.e., low levels of off-task behavior concurrent with high levels of reading accuracy) for two of six participants when the intervention strategy was matched to hypothesis for reading difficulties. Findings suggest that under some conditions, interventions that directly address reading difficulty may have potential to concurrently decrease problem behavior and increase reading accuracy.

While research has clearly demonstrated the efficacy of stimulus preference assessments in the identification of potential reinforcers, practitioners still rely primarily on indirect methods to select these stimuli (Graff & Karsten, 2014). In the current symposium, we will explore and discuss procedural and theoretical parameters of direct preference assessment in the attempt to increase audience competence in the use of direct methods. Basic procedural issues, as well as complex questions regarding potential sources of stimulus control within the assessment context will be discussed. The focus of this symposium is not only stimulate future research, but to also challenge practitioners to increase their use of direct over indirect assessment methods.

This presentation will review three recent studies that examined the predictive validity of brief MSWOs conducted in electronic pictorial and video formats with children with autism. The first study will demonstrate the predictive validity of electronic pictorial preference assessment, conducted on an iPad, in predicting reinforcing efficacy of toys. The second study is a replication of the first study, except stimuli were depicted in video format. Finally, the third study examined the extent to which a video-based preference assessment without contingent access to chosen activities (e.g., jumping on a trampoline or playing video-games) corresponded to a video-based preference assessment with contingent access. We also examined the reliability of instructor reports in predicting obtained student preference for activities. All three studies demonstrated the effectiveness of these novel formats of preference assessments and further highlight the importance of systematic evaluation of student preference in early-intensive behavioral intervention settings.

Several research studies have demonstrated the success of using preferences as reinforcement for children with autism and other developmental disabilities (Roane, et. al., 1998). However, children with autism often become obsessed with just one or small set of items, which can relate to higher levels of challenging behaviors (Mancil, 2009). Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the effects of pairing procedures between preferred items and novelty items and the effects on subsequent item engagement and challenging behaviors during operant play conditions. A multi-element design was used to compare engagement time and challenging behaviors between highly preferred items and novelty items. Data was collected via iPad during 5-minute sessions. Prior to pairing procedures, preference assessments were conducted keeping response effort levels equal across items to identify the highly preferred items. A multiple stimulus with replacement and a paired stimulus preference was conducted on each participant. In addition, novelty items were identified for each participant and tested to ensure a zero level of engagement prior to pairing Novelty items were paired with highly preferred items for each participant. Pairing procedures consisted of requiring the participant to engage with the novelty item with the highly preferred item simultaneously. Results indicate that participants engaged in play with novelty items for significantly higher periods of time and challenging behaviors decreased following pairing procedures with highly preferred items. This study potentially impacts planning for individuals with limited preferences and obsessive interests. IOA was 95% across all conditions and reliability with each observers data was 100% across all observers.

Considerations in selecting items to include in a stimulus array for preference and subsequent reinforcer assessments are seldom addressed in the literature. While stimulus selection in preference assessments works on a utilitarian level, there is evidence to suggest that researchers might need to take additional precautions for stimulus selection practices. Specifically, research that does not consider the difference in magnitude between and within items in a stimulus array may result in a lack of correspondence between preference level and reinforcer efficacy (Halbur, Linn, & Witts, 2015). In their study, Halbur et al. (2015) found that preference levels of varying portion sizes of pizza did not reliably predict reinforcer efficacy in subsequent progressive ratio reinforcer assessments. It is our goal to extend DeLeon, Frank, Gregory, and Allman (2009), which demonstrated a correspondence between paired-stimulus preference assessments and progressive ratio reinforcer assessments, by considering magnitude across preferred and non-preferred items in a stimulus array. We conclude with a discussion on practical limitations, additional research considerations, and future directions in stimulus array selection.

Joint control was used as a method to generate novel responding in three individuals with disabilities. In the training phase, the experimenter taught the participants to select components (nouns, verbs, actions, colors, and objects) of four pictures using joint control. That is, the participants first echo the name of the specific component emitted by the experimenter (e.g., Beige), then select the appropriate picture with the specific component, and finally, tact the specific component. Each component was taught until 80% or higher accuracy was reached. Then the experimenter tested for generative responding in both the manded selection and tact repertoire. The result showed that the participants were able to select and tact the pictures using combination of the components taught in joint control. For example, Man reading a beige magazine. This study shows that joint control can be an additional way to generate novel untrained/unreinforced responses in individuals with disabilities.

A small but growing group of studies is providing increasing support for behavioral mediation of various matching and other discrimination tasks. In the current examination, we attempted to use joint control methods to teach children to count objects from a larger set (e.g., count 15 from a group of 25 objects) by introducing a verbal mediating response with response product, then gradually fading the presence of the added stimulus. Preliminary findings indicate that for children who could rote count beyond 30 but could not reliably count a specified number from a larger set, the introduction and subsequent fading of a written mediating stimulus may be an effective method to teach remote (e.g., not immediate) tasks like counting.

This study evaluated Self & Match, a self-monitoring intervention that has student-teacher match component and reinforcement, to improve appropriate classroom behavior of seven students diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, receiving applied behavior analytic services as a part of their Individualized Education Program (IEP). Using a multiple-baseline withinsubjects and across behaviors with a probe assessment design, the effectiveness of Self & Match was evaluated in the classroom setting. The results indicated that Self & Match is an effective intervention that leads to increases in appropriate classroom behavior and decreases in maladaptive classroom behavior for students with an autism spectrum disorder in the classroom setting.

Self-Monitoring/Self-Management is an evidence-based intervention for managing aberrant behaviors in school settings, so much so it is often utilized as a tier two intervention in a Response to Intervention (RtI) framework. This presentation will discuss the successful application of the Self & Match" system, a self management motivational system, for a child diagnosed with autism who was at risk for being removed from his local school district and placed in a center based program for engaging in high rates of inappropriate language. Functional behavior assessment results will be discussed, as well as outcomes from the intervention. Implications for future research will also be reviewed.

The use of self-management to assist with the management of problem behavior and to increase on-task academic behaviors has been demonstrated as an effective behavioral strategy. However, some common impediments to their wide spread use include the demands that are often placed on teachers and the ability of the student to maintain and generalize the repertoire. The current study evaluated the effects of a peer feedback component on a self-management program. Students were trained to implement a self-management procedure and then allowed to gain peer attention and feedback for achieving specific performance levels. The results of the study will be discussed followed by a discussion of the limitations of the current study and directions for future research.

An estimated 2.5 million Americans sustain an isolated or compounding brain injury. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), a diagnosis of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) affected more than 280,000 hospitalizations and 2.2 million Emergency Department visits (2010). Survivors may suffer effects lasting several days to their whole lifetime. These conditions include impairments in cognition, executive functioning, movement, sensation, and emotional and behavior functioning (CDC, 2010). Maladaptive behaviors observed following a brain injury vary across individuals. Common factors identified to contribute to their occurrence include location and severity of injury, verbal and physical skills, time post-injury, and treatment course. In addition, hospitalization and further medical treatment impact maladaptive behaviors, from pharmacological restraints to inappropriate consequence contingencies which do not address function of behavior. The purpose of this symposium is to feature several cases that have greatly benefitted from Applied Behavior Analysis procedures integrated into the Neurorehabilitation setting. Such procedures were implemented as function-based and have been observed to impact overall improvements in rehabilitation potential, level of care, and quality of life.

This talk will present a case study on a 49-year-old male who suffered a traumatic brain injury. Admission to a post-acute rehabilitation program with behavior analytic programming was prioritized for this individual due to history of maladaptive behaviors observed during hospitalization and acute care. Upon admission, confusion, agitation, swatting, body-shoving, exiting, and perseverative speech were observed. These behaviors appeared to be escape-maintained and impeded therapy. Procedures that included escape extinction were implemented. Cooperation and participation in therapy and safe behaviors, necessary for discharge and return to work, were measured pre- and post-implementation. Data monitoring indicated marked improvements ranging from 0% cooperation at admission to 100% cooperation at discharge. Post-intervention data demonstrated an increase to 100% cooperation at discharge. Data and graphical analyses will be presented, along with limitations.

Behavior analysis has grown in popularity over the past 20 years, to the point of being a high-demand service in the area of autism and developmental disabilities. Our field has an ethical code that governs our professional behavior. However, there are an increasing number of incidents of behavior analysts behaving in ways that are in conflict with ethics and best practice. Section 7 of the BACB Professional and Ethical Compliance Code obligates behavior analysts to approach behaviorists who are drifting from our ethical code, in an attempt to rectify potentially unethical situations. The panel members will start this session by briefly describing some cases where behavior analysts were engaging in ethically questionable practices and how they were resolved. The bulk of this session will provide opportunities for dialog between the audience and panel members to discuss questions of practice by audience members, and strategies to resolve these potential ethical situations. Participants will be given decision-making strategies and role-play various scenarios to better prepare them for improving the behavior of behavior analysts who may be drifting from ethical practice.

This symposium consists of three papers, each of which focuses on the behavioral analysis of cultural and social behavior. The first presentation, by Linda Parrott Hayes, focuses on cultural behavior, specifically describing its unique features relative to other types of behavior. Particular emphasis is placed on the arbitrary nature of cultural behavior, as well as it's artificiality, adequacy and inconsistency. Also addressed are conditions under which cultural behavior is acquired, modified and eliminated, along with their implications for social order. The second presentation, by Mitch Fryling, describes an analysis of interpersonal relationships, especially interpersonal closeness and conflict. Emphasis is placed on behavioral processes involved in observational learning, stimulus substitution and stimulus-stimulus relations more broadly, and the observation of another person's thoughts. The practical implications of this analysis for both educational and therapeutic interventions are provided. Finally, the third presentation, by Genevieve DeBernardis, focuses on community behavior, and in particular on the extent to which coordinated patterns of behavior contribute to eco-friendly practices.

Differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) is implemented in a variety of ways, but typically involves delivery of reinforcement following a period of time during which a target behavior did not occur. Contingency-specifying instructions occasionally are delivered at the beginning of the session, and a recent study (Watts, Wilder, Gregory, Leon, & Ditzian, 2013) in which DRO was implemented with and without instructions found that instructions were either (a) necessary to effect behavior reduction or (b) more efficient than DRO without instructions. Because these results may have been an artifact of the experimental design and procedure, we conducted a further analysis of the effects of instruction alone, DRO alone, and DRO plus instruction. Instruction alone was effective in reducing the target behavior (engagement with a highly preferred leisure item) for two of four subjects, and DRO alone and DRO plus instruction were effective for all subjects. DRO plus instruction was more efficient for one subject.

Rosales-Ruiz and Baer first wrote about the concept of behavioral cusps in 1996. However, it wasn't until the publication of a JABA article the next year (Rosales-Ruiz and Baer 1997) and a follow-up article by Bosch and Fuqua (2001) that the idea begins to spread throughout behavior analysis. A behavioral cusp is a special type of behavior change because it brings the organism in contact with new contingencies that have even more far-reaching consequences. The concept of the cusp has been both theoretically and pragmatically useful for the field of behavior analysis. In practice, the concept of the cusp helps guide the selection of target behaviors. In theory, it contributes significantly to our understanding of the way that behavior changes. This presentation will illustrate the concept of the cusp and distinguish it from other types of behavior change, such as generativity, and types of behavior, such as pivotal behaviors. It will also highlight some of the developments that have helped advance the concept of the cusp over the last 20 years and discuss the theoretical importance of the cusp concept.

This tutorial will be of interest to basic and applied researchers interested in mechanisms of behavior change and to practitioners who work in a variety of applied settings.

The present set of investigations use three separate animal species to demonstrate the fundamental processes underlying human operant behavior. The continuity of species is a core assumption of the field of behavior analysis, and the use of these invertebrate and basic mammal species highlight the role of motivation both organismically and chemically, and highlight how such variables affect responsiveness to immediate environmental contingencies. The studies will show probabilistic discounting in rats, variables affecting the motivation of cockroaches, and the effects of psychoactive chemical compounds in flatworms.

The purpose of the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) supervision experience is to improve behavior analytic, professional, and ethical repertoires of the supervisee, and monitor the performance of supervisees in the field. The independent fieldwork supervisory requirements can be a challenge for supervisees to adhere to if the individual providing supervision is not well versed in the regulations, and up-to-date on the changing requirements. The supervision experience should be carefully programmed, with competency-based assessments conducted of the supervisee's skills. There should be a clear course of study, supervisee's behavior should be operationally defined with objective and measurable goals to determine the application of their skills, and supervisees should receive prudent guidance to enhance their professional development. Supervisees should clearly demonstrate mastery of the competencies outlined in the BACB Task list. This will increase the quality of their experience, uphold the values of the field, and ensure practice requirements are of the highest fidelity and rigor. Panelists will discuss competency-based training standards, the use of a professional portfolio todocument the supervisory experience, and the use of video modeling. Challenges encountered while supervising individuals in community settings will be discussed, as well as solutions to address these issues.

Quantitative modeling is increasingly common in behavior analysis. Performance on concurrent schedules, timing, delay discounting, behavioral momentum, schedule and stimulus control, variability of inter-response times, and many other aspects of behavior, are often characterized in terms of mathematical equations and computational algorithms. This presentation outlines the advantages, challenges, and pitfalls of a quantitative analysis of behavior. In particular, this presentation is focused on identifying the outcomes that quantitative models may and may not deliver, the assumptions and pre-requisites for quantitative modeling, the risks involved in this strategy, and the tactics that minimize such risks. The presentation will introduce the concepts of model-based inference, parameter estimation, stochastic vs. deterministic models, likelihood vs. probability, parsimony vs. goodness-of-fit, Bayesian modeling, and model selection. This introduction will set the stage for the practical implementation of some of these concepts.

Licensed Psychologists and those interesed in quantitative modeling.

Prompting and reinforcement are important components of any instructional program for learners with autism spectrum disorders. The current symposium includes four papers describing modifications to prompting procedures during intraverbal and imitation training and evaluations of different reinforcement arrangements in acquisition and maintenance trials. In the first paper, imitation training was conducted using two therapists, one functioning as a model and one as a prompter. In addition, the effects of a continuous model were also evaluated. In the second paper, the efficacy and efficiency of two types of stimulus control transfer procedures for intraverbal acquisition were evaluated in a replication and extension of Coon & Miguel (2012) conducted with children with autism. In the third paper, the effects of quality of reinforcement on the speed of target acquisition were examined, and the fourth paper evaluated the effects of different schedules of reinforcement on maintenance tasks.

Previous research has shown that imitation is a beneficial skill for children because it can facilitate learning a variety of skills (e.g., through modeling). Additionally, imitation skills have been linked to desirable outcomes for children diagnosed with autism, but the skill is often lacking in this population. The purpose of the current study was to compare the effects of a second therapist on the acquisition of imitative responses to examine the possibility that the presence or absence of a delay between the therapist model and the subjects response might effect acquisition. That is, in the standard model for imitation training, the task is similar to a delayed match-to-sample procedure, which may be more difficult than matching an ongoing sample. Three participants with autism were exposed to three conditions: a 1-therapist (standard) condition, a 2-therapist (delayed) condition, and a 2-therapist (ongoing) condition. Overall results indicated that the 2-person (ongoing) condition was the most efficient with regard to acquisition. These results suggest that the benefit of a 2-therapist arrangement during imitation training can be attributed to the absence of a delay between the therapists model and the subjects response, not the assistance provided by the second therapist per se.

Mixed findings in past research on efficacy and efficiency of stimulus control transfer procedures for intraverbal acquisition might be due to exposure to those procedures (Coon & Miguel, 2012). The current study systematically replicated Coon and Miguel (2012) by evaluating the efficiency of echoic and tact prompts on the acquisition of French-to-English translations following exposure to each prompt type. We extended Coon and Miguel by (a) evaluating the effects of exposure to the procedures with children with autism spectrum disorder, (b) including behavior-specific praise and (c) evaluating participants current language repertoires. For 2 of 4 participants, the procedure with the most recent exposure resulted in faster acquisition of intraverbals, suggesting the importance of examining learning history prior to selecting teaching procedures.