Association for Behavior Analysis International

Applied behavior analysts base their programming on Baer, Wolf, and Risley's seven dimensions of applied behavior analysis, as described in their seminal 1968 paper in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. These dimensions describe the necessary functional, ethical, and programmatic features of good applied behavioral work, emphasizing factors that will enhance its objectivity, applied focus, validity, generality, conceptual integrity, reproducibility, and demonstrated effectiveness. While programs that are consistent with the seven dimensions might be behavioral and at least potentially effective, they still might not be well designed in the broader sense of the word. That is, a program might "work," but nevertheless be disorganized, be hard for users and consumers to understand, be unnecessarily resource intensive, lack scaleability and extensibility, and present as generally unappealing to potential adopters. This paper will introduce behavior analysts to Dieter Rams's ten principles of good design, translate the principles into behavioral terms, and suggest ways their application might improve behavioral programming--even to the manner behavior analysts present their views and programs to others. Rams was the chief designer for Braun from 1961 to 1995, and brought a modern straightforward usability and aesthetic focus to its consumer products. He emphasized aspects of design such as clarity of purpose, innovation, simplicity, longevity, understandability, and thoroughness. This presentation will propose that we are no longer a niche discipline designing programs just for ourselves and a few selected clients, but an outwardly focused profession designing for general appreciation and adoption. Thus, considerations beyond those that ensure the conceptual and scientific integrity of our programs could enhance their broader adoption and desirability.

Although the Hyper or hyporeactivity to sensory input is present in Autism Spectrum Disorder, we have a lack of studies of teaching tacts using senses other than vision. This research taught a six-year-old boy with ASD to Tact stimulus by touch, smell or hear the stimuli. The procedure was with DTT and delay of verbal prompt. We used a voice recorder for the hearing trials, and during the smell and touch sessions, the child used a sleep mask and had contact just with the aroma, or shape and texture. The 45 targets were equally divided in the three categories: sounds (e.g., bird sound), smells (e.g., bacon), and objects (e.g., car toy). The session was composed of three groups of five goals in each category. The child learned to tact 73% of aromas, 93% of the object by touch and 93% of sounds. He tried to avoid some of the aroma presented and did not learn tacting these stimuli. We discuss that children can learn tacting stimuli with different sensory input and this can interfere how this child interacts with the environment in his routine.