Association for Behavior Analysis International

The latency-based functional analysis (FA) is a hypothesis testing strategy used to inform effective function-based interventions for students who engage in challenging behavior (Lambert et al., 2017). Despite the promise of interventions informed by this experimental analysis, some students—especially those with emotional/behavioral disorders—respond in unexpected ways. For example, the establishing operations presented during functional communication training may elicit challenging behaviors as part of a stress response or evoke them in the form of countercontrol. These unanticipated responses may signal intervention procedures are aversive to the student, indicating a need to adapt procedures to prioritize student autonomy and safety. One such modification is the Enhanced Choice Model (ECM; Rajaraman et al., 2018), where concurrently available alternatives to participating in intervention sessions are programmed. We implemented a latency-based FA and subsequent function-based intervention with an elementary student who received special education services under an emotional disturbance label. When initial functional communication training with isolated contingencies failed to reduce rates of challenging behavior, we implemented skill-based treatment (Hanley et al., 2014) within an ECM. Outcomes suggest, with a moderate degree of confidence, that the adapted intervention successfully increased the student’s tolerance for stressful classroom conditions.

A growing body of evidence indicates systematic practice with math fact families efficiently and effectively improves fluency. The present investigation tested the effects of a fluency building intervention on math facts performance with four elementary school students participating in multi-tiered systems of support. The researchers employed a multiple baseline design across three sets of fact families. Intervention components consisted of modeling the fact family followed by three, one-minute practice trials with immediate feedback delivered between each timing. The students received up to a ten-day window of intervention on one set of fact families before moving to the next set. Results suggest a significant increase in digits correct per minute and a decrease in digits incorrect per minute. Study outcomes also suggest that fluency instruction focusing on the inverse relationship between addition and subtraction operations can plausibly serve as a viable alternative to instruction with isolated and unrelated math facts. Discussion points on stimulus equivalence as well as implications for practitioners and recommendations for future research will be shared.

This literature review was conducted to synthesize the research studies that evaluated point of view video modeling and analyze the behavioral, academic, and social outcomes it had on students with autism. Video modeling has been established through research as a robust intervention with positive effects across disabilities to teach behavioral, academic, functional, social, and life skills. Methods: A literature search was conducted using the online databases ERIC and APA PsychInfo. The Boolean search string: video technology AND modeling AND point of view AND autism was used. The titles and abstracts of the articles were reviewed to identify relevance and, in order to be included in the review, studies had to meet the following criteria: (a) independent variable is POV video modeling, (b) study participants are individuals with autism, and (c) study was conducted using a single-subject research design. Results: Twenty studies met the criteria for this review. Analysis of these studies indicate a functional relation between POV video modeling and the skills and behaviors the researchers were targeting. Implications: This systematic review provides evidence that point-of-view video modeling has positive effects when used to teach play, social skills, vocational tasks, letter writing, mathematics, and transition related tasks.

We tested the effects of implementing a CABAS® based educational model for 12 adolescents and young adults, aged 13 to 21, all enrolled in a learning and research centre in Italy. We collected monthly data on the total number of Learn Units, on the learning objectives achieved and on the number of Learn Units to Criterion by each participant. Data were discussed based on graphical analysis and suggested that CABAS® can be an effective tactic for the individualized education of our Participants. Also, the model appeared to successfully adapt to the Italian welfare system, and could provide Public Services leaders with easy-to-read data on the efficiency of evidence-based treatments for adolescents and young adults. Further research should compare different treatment intensity packages and add norm-based data. This pilot project was aimed to measure treatment effectiveness and efficiency using Learn Units, with the purpose of sharing the results with the Italian Health Department and stakeholders.

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is a widely accepted science in which treatment for problem behavior reduction and skill acquisition interventions has been developed for learners diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Discrete Trial Training (DTT) is an effective teaching method within ABA that presents teaching targets in a rapid instructional format until a mastery criterion is met (Smith, 2001). Clinicians and researchers select instructional format and mastery criterion when designing the DTT protocol for their clients with ASD. Modifications in the instructional format present ratios of mastered teaching targets relative to targets in acquisition. Furthermore, the specified mastery criterion demonstrates when a skill is learned to sufficiency. The interaction of teaching format and mastery criteria options may impact the efficient acquisition and maintenance of the novel skills. The purpose of this review was to systematically categorize and evaluate instructional format and mastery criteria within a discrete trial teaching procedure for learners with developmental disabilities. The review included 15 studies organized into the following categories: Mass trial, interspersed trial, and distributed trial, as well as mastery criteria. Task interspersal (75% of those that compared instructional format) and an 80% mastery criterion correct across 3 days or sessions (80% of those that compared mastery criteria) were the most commonly identified. However, there was extreme variability across studies and future research is needed to allow clinicians to form a rationale for their treatment modification selections. Clinical implications and future directions for research are discussed.

Today, gaining competitive employment often requires searching for jobs and completing applications online, which may be a barrier for older, chronically unemployed adults with heroin addiction. In contrast, college students in the job market are presumed to be skilled with computers. To compare these populations, we measured digital literacy using interactive, online assessments (https://digitalliteracyassessment.org). Participants were 31 adults with chronic unemployment and heroin addiction (Treatment) and 115 college students enrolled in introductory computer science courses as part of their general education program (Control). Treatment participants had low median scores in assessments of Microsoft Word (52% vs. Control=83%), Microsoft PowerPoint (37% vs. Control=73%), and information literacy (49% vs. Control=67%). Although Control participants had higher median scores than Treatment participants in all domains, scores were within 10 percentage points in Social Media (difference=2.8%), Computer Basics (difference=7%), and E-mail (difference=9.2%). Employment support in addiction treatment should target computer skills to address this potential barrier to employment.

Educational policies over the past two decades have prioritized integrating students with disabilities into the general education setting. With this shift, the demographics of the general education setting have become more diverse, requiring teachers to implement a variety of behavioral and academic interventions to support the varying needs of individual students. To support teachers and students, interventions that are effective, while still socially valid, must be identified. Self-monitoring interventions have widely been used to address behavioral and academic concerns across a variety of educational and clinical settings and across a variety of disabilities. However, limited studies have examined the use of self-monitoring in the inclusive setting. Previous research would suggest that general education classroom teachers would benefit from implementing self-monitoring based intervention packages. Additionally, interventions capable of intervening on a group of students at one time, thereby reducing effort and oversight on the part of the teacher, are more favorable and socially valid. The combined use of a student-directed intervention (such as self-monitoring) and a group-based intervention (such as a group contingency) could have a significant impact on the performance of target and non-target students within a general education classroom. This study analyzes previous use of self-monitoring interventions, the possible implications of these interventions on the general education classroom setting, and makes suggestions for future research.

Brief Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT) exercises focusing on values clarification and committed action were delivered to post-master’s participants qualified to sit for the Board Certified Behavior Analyst exam in a virtual setting during a 6-week test preparation class by RogueABA. The current study was an extension of Palilunas et al. (2018) who conducted a randomized controlled trial and delivered the same exercises to master’s levels students in a university setting. The current study differed in that a single-subject experimental design was utilized, along with differing dependent variables. Following exposure to ACT exercises, there was an increase in psychological flexibility as indicated by results by the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire 2 (AAQ-2); however, there was no clear evidence of a functional relation between these ACT exercises and several overt dependent variables. It was noteworthy that Group One, who gained more psychological flexibility as measured in an AAQ-2 self-report, completed an increased percentage of asynchronous online modules immediately following exposure ACT exercises. This was evident in a withdrawal design. However, this effect was not replicated for Groups Two and Three. Furthermore, the current study serves as a proof of concept in which automated data collection methods can be utilized to measure socially significant public behaviors in addition to self-reports that are commonly used in contextual behavior science research.

Special education programming in public schools relies heavily on the use of paraprofessionals to support instructional, behavioral, and social learning for students with disabilities (SWDs), however, paraprofessionals often lack formal training in the use of evidence-based practices (EBP). Traditional lecture-style methods of professional development for school-based staff are neither cost or time-efficient, nor effective at producing long-term changes in instructional behaviors employed by staff in the classroom. Research has demonstrated that paraprofessional-level practitioners can learn to use high levels of implementation fidelity of EBPs with SWDs when provided experiential training such as coaching. We conducted a systematic and quality review of literature on the use of coaching to train paraprofessionals to implement interventions for SWDs. We reviewed 174 full-text articles for inclusion and evaluated the methodological rigor of the research. Contextual variables, including trainer and participant characteristics, target skills, and implementation fidelity were synthesized to provide a summary of strengths and gaps in the evidence. Recommendations for practice and future research will be discussed.