Association for Behavior Analysis International

Vocal stereotypy which includes non-contextual vocalizations and socially inappropriate speech presents itself as a problem behavior in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Vocal Stereotypy functions as a barrier to efficient learning for the individual emitting the behavior. It also socially isolates the individual engaging in the behavior and restricts his access to social reinforcement. Response Interruption and Redirection (RIRD) has emerged as a well-documented method of increasing contextually appropriate vocalizations and decreasing inappropriate (non-contextual) speech and sounds. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the decrease in occurrence of inappropriate vocalizations that served no communicative purpose and was automatically maintained. The participant in the single subject study was a teenager with a diagnosis of ASD who exhibited high levels of vocal stereotypy. Each instance of vocal stereotypy emitted by the participant resulted in vocal demands being placed on him by the therapist in a clinical setting. The therapist withdrew the vocal demands once the participant successfully responded to three consecutive demands without engaging in Vocal Stereotypy. The follow up probes conducted by the specific therapist who had implemented the procedure earlier showed that Vocal Stereotypy was maintained at post treatment levels.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a lifelong developmental disability that is characterized by challenges with social communication and social interaction as well as repetitive behaviours, interests, or activities (Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). An effective instructional approach for children with ASD is Discrete Trials Teaching (DTT). Mindfulness training has been applied to improve attention, reflection, and skillful responding (Bishop et al., 2004) and has been found to improve work performance (Bond & Bunce, 2003; Ostafin & Kassman, 2012; Ruedy & Schweitzer, 2010; Singh et al., 2009, 2015). Therefore, the present study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a mindfulness training program on procedural fidelity of staff conducting DTT with children with ASD. Participants will consist of six autism tutors and their clients from St.Amant Autism Programs. In a concurrent multiple-baseline design across participants, two trained observers will record the accuracy with which autism tutors deliver prescribed DTT steps. During the intervention phase, autism tutors will complete the mindfulness training program. Observations of tutors' DTT performance will continue during this phase. A follow-up phase will be implemented one week following the cessation of the intervention phase in which observations of tutors' DTT performance will resume for 5 days.

Fathers of children with autism are influential in their children's development and care, yet struggle with accepting the diagnosis and finding effective support systems for their children. Barriers such as job constraints and minimal training opportunities limit fathers' abilities to be more involved in their children's care. Service providers and educators need to be sensitive to the fathers' distinct needs and address their concerns through training and education separate from the mothers. As fathers learn to adapt to the demands related to their children's diagnosis of autism they experience a sense of empowerment and increase their level of involvement. Empirical studies addressing inclusionary practices for fathers of children with autism are limited and present as a gap in the extant literature. This poster will review existing literature on the barriers and concerns experienced by fathers as they manage the internal and external challenges encountered while raising children diagnosed with autism, including suggestions for service providers and educators involved in parent training.

While previous reviews provide a snapshot of the current status of the research quality within autism spectrum disorder (ASD)-focused journals, including only English language studies does not represent the quality of the literature published in languages other than English. To evaluate the overall quality of ASD intervention research, this current review summarizes inter-rater reliability (IRR) and treatment fidelity trends in ASD-focused research published in major Japanese and Taiwanese special education journals. To conduct this review, the following steps were taken: (a) literature search of the seven prominent journals in ASD and single-case research in Japan and Taiwan, (b) assessment of potential studies against pre-set inclusion and exclusion criteria, and (c) study coding of descriptive study characteristics and measures of reliability and treatment fidelity. As a result, a total of 198 articles met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Overall increasing trends in the number of articles that reported IRR data with acceptable levels were observed over time in the Japanese journals while no such trend was found in the Taiwanese journals. In contrast, it was found that no article published in the Japanese journals had reported treatment fidelity data while overall increasing trends in the number of articles that reported treatment fidelity data with acceptable quality degrees were observed in the Taiwanese journals. To improve the overall quality of ASD intervention research, efforts should be made to report both IRR and treatment fidelity data with acceptable quality degrees both in English-language and Asian-language journals.

Several research studies have demonstrated the success of using 30-40 hours per week of ABA therapy with young learners. However, client schedules and ability to participate in long sessions may limit hours available for therapy. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the effects of lower hours of ABA therapy provided on progress made as measured by VB MAPP milestones. Clients were assessed initially with the VB-MAPP Milestones Assessment, which is designed to provide a representative sample of a child's existing verbal and related skills. The assessment contains 170 measurable learning and language milestones that are sequenced and balanced across 3 developmental levels (0-18 months, 18-30 months, and 30-48 months). The skills assessed include mand, tact, echoic, intraverbal, listener, motor imitation, independent play, social and social play, visual perceptual and matching-to-sample, linguistic structure, group and classroom skills, and early academics. Data was collected by reassessing clients using the VB MAPP every 3-4 months after clients' participation in 25 hours or less per week of 1:1 therapy. Results indicate that clients who received 25 hours or less of quality ABA therapy were able to make significant progress as measured using the VB MAPP. Client gains ranged between an increase of 52 points and 95.5. points. This study potentially impacts planning for individuals diagnosed with autism in terms of prescription of ABA hours.

Previous research has shown that time-out procedures can have a positive influence on compliance. The effect of giving a warning prior to a time-out has also been investigated with results showing that in the short run compliance improves when warnings are given; however, in the long run, compliance is better when warnings are not given. The current study examined whether similar results are found if multiple warnings are given before a time-out, using an ABCD design counterbalanced across participants. The participants were children with a history of noncompliance, and a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (n = 3). Parents implemented the procedure and received pre-training and post session feedback. We found that percentage compliance to initial instruction was highest in the no warning condition followed by the one warning condition and lowest in the multiple warnings condition. We also found that overall compliance was higher than compliance to initial instruction in the two warning conditions. The results of this study will benefit parents as they gain an understanding of the factors that influence compliance, which they can then implement in home or community.

When a child diagnosed with ASD is minimally verbal, speech-generating devices are commonly used to promote functional communication, which decreases problem behaviors and increases access to normalized environments (Tiger, Hanley, & Bruzek, 2008). However, limited research has evaluated icon discrimination, a necessary skill for producing accurate communication responses (Lorah, Crouser, Gilroy, Tincani, & Hantula, 2014). This study replicates and extends the procedures of Lorah and colleagues (2014) in a naturalistic setting. A communication training protocol was implemented in which the number of icons on an iPad were systematically increased using stimulus prompts. The terminal step in the protocol included an array of four icons corresponding to high-preferred toys. Correspondence checks (Bondy & Frost, 1994) were conducted to evaluate icon discrimination. The two participants in this study had diagnoses of ASD, were minimally verbal, and had not received previous communication training with an iPad. Our results indicated that, consistent with Lorah and colleagues (2014), the protocol successfully produced accurate requesting for both participants. Implications for clinical practice will be discussed, such as how to efficiently teach accurate communication with an SGD in a naturalistic environment.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a pervasive developmental disorder characterized by impairments in social communication, and restricted and repetitive interests and activities. While not a defining characteristic of ASD, many individuals with this diagnosis display issues with impulsivity. The presence of impulsivity can be pervasive and dramatically affects the intervention process. In the scientific literature, impulsivity is often conceptualized as an issue with temporal discounting. Temporal discounting refers to the decrease in the present value of reinforcers as a function of the delay of their receipt. Researchers have outlined some procedures for evaluating delay discounting in human populations. However, much of this research is limited to hypothetical choices with typically developing populations. Additionally, little research has been conducted comparing impulsivity of individuals with Autism who are lower functioning to typically developing individuals using real as opposed to hypothetical choices. The purpose of the current investigation was the employ delay discounting procedures with both neurotypical individuals and individuals with ASDs. In the investigation, participants were given choices between an impulsive choice and a self-controlled choice. Indifference points were plotted. The preliminary results suggest that individuals with ASD may respond more impulsively than neurotypical peers.

Operant responses of looking, listening, tasting, smelling, and touching are characteristically developed very early in typically developing infants (Novak & Pelaez, 2004). Unfortunately, this is not the case for children and served as the premis of this study. The purpose of this paper was to investigate the effects of a rotated protocol immersion procedure on early observing responses in children with disabilities. A systematic extension to the research conducted by Keohane, Greer, and Luke (2008) on the use of rotated protocol immersion on the increase in observing responses in children with developmental disabilities was implemented. This allowed for the investigation of the effects of quicker presentations and ultimately faster protocol cycle in the increase of observing responses, rate of learning, and overall decrease in learn units to criterion. Results indicated various significant changes in the dependent measures examined throughout this study.

Individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often have difficulties sustaining attention to relevant auditory and/or visual information. One procedure that has been utilized clinically, but not evaluated experimentally, has been the use of a "Secret Word" program to improve auditory attending. Within this procedure the learner is told a "Secret Word" (e.g., ball) and a particular action to engage in each time the word is said (e.g., touching his/her head). Engaging in the specified action when the word is said sets the occasion for reinforcement, while engaging in the response in the absence of the "Secret Word" occasions corrective feedback. In the present study, a reversal design was utilized to evaluate the effectiveness of the "Secret Word" procedure within a group of three children diagnosed with ASD to improve auditory attending in the context of a therapist reading a book. The results demonstrated that the "Secret Word" procedure was effective at improving auditory attending for all participants in the group.

Preference assessments are used to identify items for application as reinforcers in behavior analytic practice. What we do not know is if hierarchies will maintain as ratio-requirements increase. Separately, the field of behavioral economics has provided alternate measures of the effects of reinforcers. For example, the QO parameter from the exponential demand equation could be an indicator of an item's value, as this parameter predicts what consumption of an item will be when it is free (similar to the context of a preference assessment). After conducting preference assessments at increasing ratio-requirements (FR1, 3, 12, 24, 48) for 4 individuals with autism, we compared QO and percent selection values from the preference assessments to determine whether the measures correlated. Interobserver agreement was calculated across all participants for 33% of sessions, and ranged from 93-100% agreement. For all participants, there was a strong correlation, suggesting coherence between the measures of reinforcing efficacy.

Core diagnostic features of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are a marked delay in communication, social skills, and repetitive interests. A continued area of research for the field of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is increasing the areas of social communication for children with ASD. A variety of prompts have been utilized with children with ASD in order to increase social communication. More specifically, research has shown that the use of textual prompts has effectively increased communication skills with children with ASD. The purpose of the current study was to increase initiation of verbal behavior, utilizing textual prompts across environments. Results indicated that the participant increased his initiation of intraverbals and tacting during play activities, across peers and family members. Although, the intervention indicates the efficacy of textual prompts, the sample size is a limitation and does not necessarily support generalization of procedures to additional participants. Further research should include a larger sample size, with continued analysis on multiple control of verbal behavior within social situations.

Tablets are viable tools to be used as speech generating devices (SGDs) with individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other developmental disabilities. These devices have successfully been used to request preferred items, label objects, share information, and engage in social niceties. However, more empirical studies are needed to evaluate the efficacy of utilizing handheld multipurpose electronic devices to teach multistep social-communication skills to children with ASD and other developmental disabilities. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to examine the effectiveness of systematic instruction in teaching iPad-based multistep social-communication skills to children with ASD and other developmental disabilities. Three participants with ASD and other developmental disabilities between 7-10 years of age with no prior experience with using Proloquo2Go app were recruited. The results indicated that the intervention was effective in teaching multistep social-communication skills. The participants were successful in using the iPad to perform the multistep sequence in requesting, saying "thank you," and answering personal questions. Also, some participants were successful in generalizing the iPad-based multistep sequence across new items, common-communication partners, and personal questions.

This study was a partial replication of Rehfeld & Granna (2012). The purpose was to evaluate the effect a three-part procedure (i.e., tacting, sorting, and vocal imitation) on responding to 'where' questions. Four children with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder participated. Participants acquired intraverbal responses for an average of 36 common items in an average of 15 sessions. The discussion will describe common procedures to teach responding to "wh" questions as well as reported limitations of these procedures from the literature. Discussion will focus on benefit of combining common procedures as well as future directions to evaluate the indicial impact of each components of the procedure and an evaluation of efficiency in teaching this skill.

Addressing the conversational difficulties of those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is of vital importance as conversational turn-taking is a governing rule of discourse that facilitates positive relationships with peers. Accordingly, this study examined the effectiveness of an intervention to develop the conversation skills of 10 adolescents (12-14 years), diagnosed with ASD. Group interventions, as opposed to an individual intervention, were selected to provide opportunities to practice social skills with peers. The intervention was based on Elliot and Gresham's Social Skill Improvement System and included target behaviours, 1) reciprocal turn-taking during conversations and 2) active listening during conversations. A multiple probe across three groups design was used to assess performances on both behaviours. While there was low variability at baseline across all groups both social behaviours improved following the introduction of the intervention and provided support for the SSIS group instruction procedure for social skill training and early adolescence as an opportune time for intervention. However, maintenance and generalisation of target behaviours declined from maintenance phase to follow-up with teachers and parents reporting no lasting improvement in the participants' social skills. Further research exploring ways of enhancing maintenance and generalization of treatment effects is warranted.