Association for Behavior Analysis International

For the past 10 years, demands for ABA services for persons with autism and developmental disabilities have been increased tremendously in Korea. Despite lack of trained professions and systematic support from government and communities, few processes have been made for the past few years. In this symposium, details of four ABA services currently practiced in Korean clinical settings across diverse age groups are introduced. Overall, they all produce positive results, though many practical matters should be addressed and resolved. Especially unique issues regarding providing clinical services as well as conducting research project in Korea are discussed.

Self-monitoring has been successfully implemented in clinical settings as an alternative to teacher-managed activities or contingencies. The current study examined the effectiveness of a self-monitoring in reducing problem behaviors (e.g., talking to oneself loudly, cutting in lines, and taking up too much space when sitting) in subway. The participants were a 23-year-old male with autism and a 22-year-old female with DD. Multiple baseline design across participants was used and data was collected while participants used the subway system. After the initial baseline condition, participants were given an educational session for public etiquette(A). Followed by this, a self-monitor ing system(B) was introduced to monitor their problem behaviors. Decrease in problem behaviors was observed afte an educational session, but this was shortly followed by a sharp increase. Significant reduction of problem behaviors were noted soon after the self-monitoring system was introduced, which lasted three weeks after the withdrawal of the intervention. Implications for applying self-monitoring in community settings are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the maual for treating problem behaviors among people with developmental disabilities, which was developed by the Seoul National Hospital and Yonsei Behavioral Psychology Lab. Participants were 30 special education teachers (5M & 25F) with ages from 24 to 51(M= 35.34, SD= 7.00), who has more than 1 child/adolescent with severe problem behaviors in her/his classroom. The hands-on type manual consisted of 9 chapters along with 5 treatment cases. The manual provided detailed procedures and forms. The training lasted for 2 hours per session for 10 weeks. Teachers completed Behaivor Vignetts Test, Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey(MBI-GS), Parenting Stress Index(PSI-Difficult Child)prior to and after the training. Frequency of students' problem behaviors as well as teachers' caring stress were collected daily using the Developmental Behavior Checklist-Monitoring chart(DBC-M). Dependent t-test(within subject comparison) and visual analysis was conducted to examine the effectivenss of the training. The results showed significant changes in knowledge of how to manage problem behaviors after the training. Also, the perceived level of stress were decreased mariginally. These results suggest that training increased the level of knowledge, and decreased the level of psychological distress and job burnout among teacher. Further implications and limitations of this study are discussed.

Korea ABA Institute was founded in July, 2014 to provide ABA program for young children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. The objective of the program is to enhance childrens basic learning skills and group environment adjustment and parenting skills for parents. The program provides an individualized 1 to 1 DTT treatment and a group lesson for children to easily adapt to group environment in the future. There is a weekly group educational program for parents so that they can understand ABA and basic parenting method and the parents can have personal approach by participating the treatment scene while their child is being treated. In order for the program to be effective, childrens treatment data are thoroughly collected and based on these data, we create cumulative graphs in time accordance on every behavior criteria to assess childs progress in real time. To assess overall effectiveness of the treatment program, children and parents are evaluated in psychological test and the baseline of performance level is measured in early stage of the treatment. The assessment is re-evaluated every 6 month or every year. Currently, there are 12 children aged from 24 months to 60 months diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder being treated, and there are 3 classes divided according to their developmental level. As of now in October 2014, based on accumulated graphs, there is an individual difference but overall, the children are acquiring behaviors in faster pace and the learning rate is gradually increasing as time progresses.

This study investigated the impact of a long-term food exposure program for typically developing toddlers to increase their consumption of vegetables. A total of 47 young children ages from 1 to 4 participated in this research and were randomly assigned to either a training program or a wait-list control group. In an experimental group, a food exposure program was conducted twice a week for 10 minutes, in which children were exposed to diverse vegetables via games and plays. All children were assessed on their vegetable consumption before and after the exposure program in the laboratory setting as well as real life setting. The results indicated that children in the trainig program consumed vegetables significantly more than the control group after the training in the laboratory setting. Also, the nutritional analysis of their daily food records showed the increased level of acsorbic acid (vitamin C) and folic acid after the training in real life settings, which are both related to vegetable consumption. These findings suggest that a direct exposure program may not only be effective in increasing vegatable consumption, but also have positive effects on overall nutrient intake. The limitations of this study as well as thedirections for future research are discussed.