Association for Behavior Analysis International

This symposium will cover several aspects of measuring behavioral outcomes when individuals have been prescribed psychotropic medication. While the focus is on individuals with developmental disabilities, this information could be used with a wide range of individuals with a variety of diagnoses. The presentations will focus on methods for collecting data via several different analog (e.g., functional analysis) and assessment procedures that can inform decision making about whether the psychotropic medication is having the intended effect. The goal is to provide practitioners with assessments that they are able to implement in a variety of settings.

graduate students, faculty, clinical providers, educators, administrators, researchers

Psychotropic medications are commonly prescribed in a polypharmacy fashion to adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities who engage in problem behavior to treat and reduce behavior; however, the impact these medications (and subsequent changes in medication) have on the behavior they are intended to treat are not well understood. A study was conducted to evaluate the extent to which changes in psychotropic medication regimens altered functional relations between problem behavior and the environment for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This presentation will provide data for two of the participants whose behaviors (i.e., aggression, self-injurious behavior, stereotypy, and presence of adverse side effects) were monitored over several months (7 and 23 month) via direct observation and functional analyses. The results of this study revealed that changes in medication were associated with changes in assessment results. These findings suggest continued surveillance of behavior function when using psychotropic medication to address problem behavior (Funding: NICHD grant #: 1R15HD072497-01).

Staff turnover negatively affects the quality of interventions that clinicians provide to individuals diagnosed with autism. The turnover rate for Behavior Interventionists providing applied behavior analysis (ABA) services to individuals with autism is exceptionally high, and a significant percentage are voluntary resignations. A frontline Behavior Interventionist’s job duties are typically characterized by variables that have been correlated with high turnover rates in other industries. One such variable is consistency of work. This panel will present retention rates across a representative sample of US clinics that provide behavioral interventions to individuals with autism. The presenters will provide results of a study that evaluated the role of consistency of work as represented by parent and staff session cancellations on staff turnover. Finally, strategies in the areas of work/pay stability, leadership, and new-hire turnover that have helped increase retention will be presented. Based on the retention status within the organization, next steps will be discussed.

Board Certified Behavior Analysts, service providers, and academic faculty.

Critical, or higher-order thinking, is the hallmark of higher education. It is important to go beyond training in education, and develop a more complex behavioral repertoire. In this symposium, the presenters will be discussing their work on the use of interteaching, and combining interteaching with equivalence based instruction (EBI). It will be argued that either of these approaches alone produce better teaching outcomes, and that some topics lend themselves to additional methods such as using EBI to teach more complex topics. These approaches are efficient, and can be modified for use in face-to-face, and online, courses. Finally, using either or both in combination with programmed instruction will be discussed.

Any student, professor, or individuals who train professionals.

Interteaching is an active learning strategy based upon Personalized System of Instruction. Pairs or groups discuss a series of questions based upon the readings and other course materials. While there is a rich body of literature supporting interteaching, only two articles are available that look at the implementation of interteaching in an online environment. Given that online courses are often asynchronous, many discussions occur without the instructor present to provide feedback. The current study will examine whether the presence of an instructor during online synchronous meetings of small groups affects the participation and quality of discussion in these groups. Two 8-week online courses were examined. For 4/8 synchronous sessions scheduled, the instructor will log in and provide approximately 20 minutes of guidance and feedback to the students. Percentage of intervals on task, as defined as discussing the interteaching assignment or related topics (i.e., excluding other assignments, personal discussion, instructor requirements, or general course information) will be measured for each student.

Many have been inspired by B. F. Skinner’s vision of how the science of behavior can improve culture. However, the understanding of “culture” has different meanings within our scientific community, challenging our conceptual framework and interpretation of applied work. This symposium explores ontological and epistemological aspects of “cultural analysis” from a behavioral perspective; discusses “culture” as a complex adaptive system, with many integrated moving parts; and illustrates how culturo-behavioral analysis can complement the work of Nobel-prize winner Elinor Ostrom in the management of common pool resources.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.

Sigrid Glenn is Regents Professor Emeritus at the University of North Texas.  She was the founding chair of UNT’s Department of Behavior Analysis and the founder and former director of UNT’s Behavior Analysis Online program. Her published research includes work in conceptual, experimental and applied areas; current interests are primarily conceptual and philosophical, especially as these pertain to culturo-behavioral systems. Dr. Glenn is past president of ABAI and a founding fellow of the Association. She was the 2015 recipient of the Award for Distinguished Service to Behavior Analysis. Other awards include TxABA Award for Career Contributions to Behavior Analysis in Texas; CalABA’s Award for Outstanding Contributions to Behavior Analysis; the Michael Hemingway Award for Advancement of Behavior Analysis; the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies Ellen P. Reese Award in Recognition for Significant Contributions to Communication of Behavioral Concepts; and--most important to her--the ABAI 2008 Student Committee Award for Outstanding Mentorship of students.

Although the operation of social reinforcement is widely cited as an important variable in social interactions, there is relatively little basic research on its controlling variables. One way of isolating these variables is with nonhuman animals under controlled laboratory conditions. The papers invited for this symposium are examples of doing just that. Ackerman examines social contingencies that might determine the sharing of a single source of reinforcement. Hackenberg and colleagues consider social reinforcement in an economic context and compare its effects to those of food reinforcement. Okouchi and his colleagues addresses the problem of mutual reinforcement and some of the factors that determine whether or not it is a viable concept when examined experimentally. Saeki and his colleagues examine the effects of sharing reinforcement sources or not on choice behavior. The studies in this symposium also illustrate the multidimensional nature of social reinforcement and suggest the importance of developing clear definitions when invoking it in discussions of human behavior. (159 words)

This symposium is suitable for a wide range of audiences, from beginning practitioners to seasoned ones.

Cooperation requires that the reinforcers for each participant be equitable and that they depend on the other’s behavior. In this study, cooperation between two pigeons was trained in a systematic replication of an earlier study using rats and electric shock avoidance. Standing on a platform was reinforced with food from a hopper 30 cm away. After standing occurred consistently, two stimulus conditions were added such that in the presence of one hopper approach was reinforced and in the presence of the other standing on the platform was reinforced. The functions of these stimuli was reversed for the two pigeons. That is, the light that was the S+ for hopper approach for Pigeon A was the S+ for standing on the platform for Pigeon B. When behavior was under stimulus control, the pigeons were placed together in the study space. Over sessions, the lights were gradually removed and stimulus control was transferred to the co-actor’s behavior. Thus, the terminal performance was two interlocking response chains: as one pigeon approached the hopper the other approached the platform. After one pigeon ate for a time-limited period, the two switched positions. The results are discussed as social contingencies in interlocking chained schedules.

Many studies on cooperation in nonhuman animals have shown that they do not increase cooperative choices and fail to maximize rewards in the prisoner’s dilemma game. Some studies reported that pigeons did not show preference for cooperation even when the other player adopted the tit-for-tat (TFT) strategy, where choosing cooperation leads to maximization of the reward. The present study examined pigeons’ cooperative choices in game situations that represented a more natural setting than in the previous studies. Seventeen pigeons were used as subjects. In the experiment, each pigeon walked to choose between the “shared” and “unshared” feeding sites where food pellets determined by the game structure conditions (the prisoner’s dilemma game or chicken game) were presented. The other player was a computer using the TFT or random (RND) strategy; however, other pigeon could be seen at the “shared” feeding site in the “stooge” condition. The results show that choice proportion for the “shared” feeding site (cooperation) was significantly higher in the “stooge” than in the “no-stooge” condition, and higher in the TFT than in the RND condition (Figure 1). These results suggest that pigeons can act more cooperatively in nature than in the laboratory.

There are several factors that clinicians should consider when designing skill acquisition programs for individuals with autism, such as identifying and arranging reinforcers effectively, and identifying effective prompting strategies. In this symposium, we will review three studies that illustrate these concepts. In Study 1, preference for and the reinforcer efficacy of social stimuli was assessed using a video-based preference assessment and subsequent reinforcer assessments. The video-based preference assessment results were predictive of the reinforcer assessment results for two individuals with autism, thus providing a valuable technology to identify social reinforcers to be used in programming. In Study 2, six individuals with developmental disabilities were taught simple discriminations; reinforcers were delivered for correct responses under satiation and deprivation conditions. Five of 6 participants acquired skills faster when pre-session access to reinforcers was withheld. In Study 3, instructional assessments were conducted with three individuals with autism spectrum disorder to identify the most efficient prompt type and prompt-fading procedure for teaching auditory-visual conditional discriminations. The results demonstrated learner-specific outcomes for the prompt type assessment while the least-to-most prompt fading procedure was most efficient for all participants. Taken together, these studies illustrate factors that clinicians should consider when implementing skill acquisition programs.

Practitioners and clinicians who are responsible for developing and implementing skill acquisition programs for individuals with autism spectrum disorders and developmental and intellectual disabilities.

Pictorial depictions of social stimuli are most common for preference assessments of social interactions (Kelly, Roscoe, Hanley, & Schlichenmeyer, 2014; Lang et al., 2014). However, social stimuli are dynamic and videos may better depict the salient features of social stimuli (Synder, Higbee, & Dayton, 2012). The purpose of the study was to assess the preference and reinforcing value of social stimuli using a video-based preference assessment and subsequent reinforcer assessment. Two children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder between 3- and 5-years old participated in the study. The study was conducted in three phases. First, the experimenter interviewed caregivers to identify a list of preferred social interactions. Next, the experimenter evaluated the top six ranked social stimuli using a video-based, paired-choice preference assessment. Finally, the experimenter evaluated the reinforcing quality of high- and low-preference social stimuli using a concurrent operants, progressive-ratio reinforcer assessment. The experimenter collected reliability and procedural integrity data for at least 33% of sessions and met or exceeded 95%. The video-based preference assessment results were predictive of the reinforcer assessment results. The results will be discussed in terms of future research directions and clinical practice.

Assessment plays a vital role in the programming and education of students with autism spectrum disorder, but few published studies have evaluated the use of assessments to identify the most efficient instructional practices for individuals with autism spectrum disorder. This is problematic as these individuals often have difficulty acquiring skills and the procedures that may be efficient with one individual may not be for others. In this study, we conducted instructional assessments to identify the most efficient prompt type (model, partial physical, full physical) and prompt-fading procedure (progressive delay, most-to-least, least-to-most) for teaching auditory-visual conditional discriminations for three individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Each assessment was conducted at least twice, and a final generality test combined the most and the least efficient prompt type and prompt-fading procedure for teaching novel auditory-visual conditional discriminations. The results demonstrated learner-specific outcomes for the prompt type assessment while the least-to-most prompt fading procedure was most efficient for all participants. Interobserver agreement was above 90% on all dependent measures.

We have initiated, replicated, and extended a programmatic line of behavior-analytic research to facilitate and establish early social skills in infants at-risk of developing autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Infant social engagement responses including vocalizations, echoics, joint attention, and social referencing are considered critical developmental milestones that serve as fundamental prerequisites for early communication and social skills (Pelaez, 2009). Treatment based on the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) has been consistently regarded as the most efficacious treatment for symptoms of ASD, and as such, has been similarly shown to be effective in teaching emerging social skills to infants at risk of ASD. Specifically, the first presenter will briefly identify the early behavioral indicators of at-risk infants, and overview the application of a brief ABA-based parent treatment model for promoting early infant vocalizations and emerging echoic response. The second presenter will examine the acquisition of joint attention and social referencing repertoires via an operant-learning paradigm arrangement among infants at-risk of ASD and Fragile X syndrome. The discussant will comment on these ongoing programs of research on early social skills in at-risk infant populations using ABA, and explore future directions and implications of this research.

Undergraduate; Graduate; Practitioners; Parents

Infants who have not yet received any diagnoses often display markers, deficits, and behavioral indicators, that make them “at-risk” of a later ASD diagnosis. Among the hallmark diagnostic criteria of ASD are limitations and impairments in language and communication. Interventions to promote and encourage vocalizations in infants at risk of ASD as early as possible are of utmost priority. The present investigation compares the use of three different operant reinforcers to promote vocalizations, echoic approximations, and echoics with topographical correspondence in three infants at-risk of ASD. The results reliably confirmed findings from similar research (Bendixen & Pelaez, 2010; Pelaez, Virues, & Gewirtz, 2011a and 2011b) that contingent reinforcement procedures are more effective than non-contingent reinforcement procedures. Specifically, the vocal imitation condition reliably produced higher rates and accuracy of all three targeted responses: a) vocalizations, b) echoic approximations, and c) echoics with one-to-one correspondence. Implications of the present study highlight the important role of systematically and contingently arranging the social consequences delivered by the caregiver to promote the vocal behavior of an infant at-risk. Future research and application are discussed in the context of ASD prevention, optimal infant-caregiver environmental arrangements, misplaced contingencies, and the establishment of caregivers as social reinforcers.

Dr. Iversen received his Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from University of Copenhagen, Denmark (1978). He is professor of experimental psychology at University of North Florida, Jacksonville, since 1986. His research has addressed basic mechanisms of operant behavior, primarily in non-human subjects. Examples are detailed analyses of effects of individual reinforcements in rats, intermittent reinforcement of stimulus control in rats, visual guidance of drawing in chimpanzees. Research has also involved operant conditioning of brainwaves in humans to enable communication in completely paralyzed ALS patients. He has served on the board of Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior for 5 3-year terms and currently serves on the boards of European Journal of Behavior Analysis and Mexican Journal of Behavior Analysis. Dr. Iversen believes that strong methodology is necessary to advance science of behavior, and he has developed several automated methods to shape and control behavior as well as methods to analyze complex data from behavioral experiments. Together with Professor K. A. Lattal from University of West Virginia, Morgantown, Dr. Iversen edited a two-volume text on methodology in operant conditioning (1991) and together with Dr. Wendon Henton wrote a book on response patterns in classical and operant conditioning (1978). In addition, he has published several papers that document development of behavior control techniques and methods of data analysis.

Acquisition of operant behavior customarily takes place within a few minutes for standard response units such as brief lever presses, and the process of operant acquisition is often referred to as “simple”. However, research shows that acquisition may consist of several different processes operating at different times within the overall acquisition process. Experiments will illustrate the different processes when acquisition is “slowed down” by making response units more complex by adding dimensional requirements such as duration, direction, distance, or speed to the response. Examples will range from lever presses that are studied in duration and direction, through wheel running studied as length, direction, and speed of individual run bouts, and sequences of different responses. Acquisition of complex response units is also demonstrated in chimpanzees drawing in different directions with a finger on a monitor and further illustrated for the human EEG (electroencephalogram) where different EEG patterns can be brought under stimulus control. In operant acquisition, already existing responses can be selected and modified, and non-existing responses can be created by reinforcement contingencies. The defined response unit and the arranged contingencies of reinforcement are crucial variables in acquisition of operant behavior. The distinction between response selection and response creation is not always heeded in the literature but has implications for both experimental and applied research.

Graduate students, researchers, and experienced clinicians.

The effectiveness of clinical systems, such as the implementation of Behavior Support Plans (BSP), relies not only on the technological sophistication of the written plan, but also on the ability of direct service staff to accurately and consistently implement the system. This symposium will include three presentations incorporating the staff training, supervisory training, and performance-monitoring systems for clinical programming that have evolved over the past 20 years at Melmark New England: a private, not for profit, community-based organization serving children and adults with autism spectrum disorders, acquired brain injury, neurological diseases and disorders, and severe challenging behaviors. The first presentation will provide a brief review of the OBM literature on effective systems development. Following this review, system development will be exemplified through behavior support plan systems. The third presentation will detail how knowledge and performance based systems are incorporated into new hire and on-the-job training ensure initial competency. The final presentation will outline a system of supervisory training essential to monitoring and maintenance of staff performance. The goal of this symposium will be to provide participants with empirically-based systems to ensure competent and accurate implementation of clinical systems.

Information presented during this symposium would be appropriate for students and those training in ABA and OBM programs, professionals within the field of Special Education, ABA/OBM, middle management, as well as administration and leadership personnel human service organizations.

The application of the science of behavior of the organization, or organizational behavior management (OBM) can be described and implemented in a process that parallels the application of the science of the individual, or applied behavior analysis (ABA). Through an example of the development an organization-wide behavior support plan (BSP) system, this presentation will review the process of case conceptualization of OBM. Several variations of case conceptualization in OBM are presented throughout the literature. This presentation will summarize these steps as described by Wilder, Austin, and Casella (2009) in its description of the development of an organization-wide BSP system over 20 years of service delivery. Following the sequence of case conceptualization, the presentation will begin with a description of the overall goals of the BSP system and specific targets to be addressed. The discussion will then continue through the process with a description of the variability in BSP design and implementation prior to the development of the organizational system and assessment of variables responsible for such variability. The conclusion of the presentation will complete the case conceptualization through a description of the system that was developed, the results of implementation, and ongoing evaluation of the system.

This symposium includes three presentations on recent advances in behavior analytic approaches to training. The first presentation evaluated the effectiveness of using video-based instruction to train parents to implement guided compliance and a token economy. The results indicated that all parents learned the guided compliance protocol and correctly implemented a token economy following the introduction of training. The second presentation sought to train teachers to implement behavioral interventions for students with autism spectrum disorder within a modular intervention framework. The results indicated that the modular approach was feasible and preliminarily efficacious. The third presentation evaluated the effectiveness of a training package to teach individuals to arrange safe sleep environments for infants—an important consideration that may reduce sudden infant death syndrome. The results indicated that all participants made unsafe errors during baseline, arranged correct environments following training, and demonstrated generalized responding.

The target audience is behavior analysts and school psychologists.

Noncompliance can be a concern for some children with autism and can affect their interactions with their parents. A token economy may be an effective and easily transportable strategy for parents to provide reinforcement to their children for compliance with directions. The results of this study (a) systematically replicated Spiegel, Kisamore, Vladescu, and Karsten (2016) by training parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to implement guided compliance and (b) evaluated the effects of video-based instruction to train parents of children with autism to implement a token economy to reinforce compliance and to decrease the need for the presence of a trainer by incorporating a self-scoring checklist. Participants learned to correctly implement a token economy and evaluated their own performance via video recordings. These results provide clinicians with a means of teaching parents of children with ASD to implement a token economy and decrease the need for the presence of a trainer by incorporating a self-scoring checklist. Interobserver agreement data were collected data for 35% of all sessions and mean agreement was above 97% for all participants.

Magnus Johansson is a licensed psychologist, former CEO of a private care organization, and with 10 years of experience working as a consultant, primarily with leadership and organizational development using Organizational Behavior Management and Contextual Behavioral Science. During 2015-2017, Magnus was project manager for cultural adaption and pilot testing of the PAX Good Behavior Game in Sweden (www.paxiskolan.se), collaborating with Ata Ghaderi at Karolinska Institutet as PI, and Dennis Embry at the PAXIS Institute.

In 2017 Magnus initiated a Ph.D. research project at Oslo Metropolitan University. The aim is to develop a way to measure Nurturing Work Environments, and to investigate the effects of interventions to improve nurturance, using the concept of evidence-based kernels supported by an Ecological Momentary Assessment smartphone app. Anthony Biglan and Ingunn Sandaker are supervisors in the project.

The Good Behavior Game (GBG) has decades of research in classrooms with positive short-term and long-term effects impacting a broad range of outcomes, such as reduced behavioral problems, preventing substance abuse and improving educational attainment (Kellam et al., 2011). GBG has its roots in the behavior analytic tradition (Barrish, Saunders & Wolf, 1969) and PAX GBG (e.g., Streimann et al., 2017) has evolved by increased inclusion of the students as well as adding several evidence-based kernels (Embry & Biglan, 2008) to create a set of tools for teachers to use in their everyday classroom activities within the regular school curriculum. Adapting PAX GBG, which was created in the USA, to accommodate the cultural differences in Swedish schools was an important undertaking before conducting a pilot trial. This presentation will detail the process of cultural adaption and its outcomes, as well as describe the application and co-dependence of several of the evidence-based kernels included in PAX GBG. Implementation strategy, adherence and future recommendations based on experiences from the pilot trial will also be discussed. The pilot trial was a within-subjects design, with 14 classrooms in grades 1-2. Outcomes were assessed before the intervention and after five months, using classroom level observations by independent observers, as well as teachers and parents filling out Strength and Difficulties Questionnaires for the participating students. Results showed large effects on both observations and teacher's SDQ-ratings. Uniquely, this trial also investigated teachers' perceived stress, indicating a very large decrease in stress levels.

Those interested in universal prevention and strategies to create nurturing, happy, and productive classrooms.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) display characteristic communication deficits that interfere not only with verbal behavior but with social interactions as well. Researchers continue with their endeavors to find creative solutions and novel approaches. The present symposium includes four studies in which innovative interventions have been designed to help children on the spectrum advance in their social communication. In the first presentation, a new form of script prompting, a picture-script intervention, was created to teach minimal verbalizers to speak in full sentences. In the second presentation, children with limited verbal skills were taught to approach and initiate a verbal request for play to a peer using the Multiple Incidental Teaching Sessions (MITS) procedure. Presentation 3 discusses the use of heritage language for bilingual children with ASD during parent presented Natural Language Paradigm (NLP) sessions. Finally, the last study presents results from an assessment of social language during indoor versus outdoor social skills groups. Taken together, this symposium provides new interventions and adaptions to facilitate the children’s social communication. Exciting prospects can be drawn as we look forward to continued success in teaching communication to children with autism spectrum disorder.

Target audience includes graduate students, BCBAs, BCaBAs, RBTs and other practitioners working with children, adolescents, and adults with autism spectrum disorder.

Typically, communication interventions target nonverbal children and highly verbal children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but fewer focus on those in the middle who are considered “phrase speakers.” It may be possible to adjust the highly successful script programs that have been designed for verbal children for these phrase speakers (Charlop-Christy & Kelso, 2003). The present study used a multiple baseline design across participants to examine the effects of a picture-based script program with four school-aged, phrase speakers with ASD. Picture cards, similar to those used in PECS, were set up on a sentence strip, for the children to say. Each sentence contained verb pictures (to eat, to play), quantity pictures (numbers), size pictures (big, little), colors (red, orange, green), and nouns (candy, cars). Essentially, the child learned to say, “I want to play big blue cars” as opposed to “I want car.” The pictures were faded out until the child used only speech. Initial results indicate significant increases in mean length of utterances across all four participants. Results also indicate generalization to unfamiliar therapists in unfamiliar settings across three of the four participants. Findings from the current study may yield implications for communication interventions for phrase speakers with ASD.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may experience severe speech delays and language deficits (Schreibman, 1988) that as a result can restrict their already limited social skills (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5th edition). To address these concerns, the present study examined the use of Multiple Incidental Teaching Sessions (MITS) paired with an incremental time delay to teach appropriate verbal initiations for play to children with ASD. This study used a multiple baseline design across six participants with ASD. Each child was taught to ask their peer to play with them via MITS. In baseline, all six children did not consistently ask their peer to play. During intervention, all of the children learned quickly to independently ask their peers to play. Five of the six children generalized the skill to a new setting and to their sibling. Maintenance was also seen at 6-months. These finding provide support for the use of MITS in teaching social verbal initiations to children with ASD.

Little research has been done with bilingual children in their heritage language with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as practitioners and parents fear that exposing a child with ASD to more than one language will cause further delays in language development and other core deficit areas (Kremer-Sadlik, 2005). Yet recent research has found that exposure to and the use of heritage languages can be advantageous (Lim & Charlop, 2018). However, research has yet to explore how exposure to both one’s heritage language and English can impact a child with ASD’s language abilities and verbal behavior. The present study used a multiple baseline design across four parent-child dyads to assess bilingual language acquisition using the Natural Language Paradigm (NLP; Laski, Charlop & Schreibman, 1987; Spector & Charlop, 2018). Following free-play baseline sessions, four mothers were taught to implement NLP in both their heritage language (i.e., Spanish, Korean) and English. To control for treatment effects, NLP was counter-balanced across the four parent-child dyads. Upon the implementation of NLP, regardless of language condition, each child’s appropriate verbalizations increased during NLP treatment sessions and in free-play probe sessions. Findings from the current study may yield implications for language interventions for bilingual children with ASD.

Nonhuman (and human) animals interact in a variety of ways in natural settings, patterns of behavior often described by such labels as cooperation, coordination, and aggression. The studies reported in this symposium were designed to study these basic social interactions in laboratory animals using both conventional operant conditioning research methods and combinations of the latter with field research methods. Blosser examined the development of coordination between responding of two pigeons when one nominally controls the reinforcement of the other, but her results reveal in a stark way the reciprocity between teacher and pupil in learning. Carvalho uses conventional reinforcement schedules with the interesting twist that responses of two organisms coordinated with one another are required for reinforcement. Pitts and colleagues further explore the controlling variables of aggressive behavior of an actor toward a co-actor as stimuli associated with the upcoming reinforcement schedule impact aggressive behavior of the actor. The results of each study extend the understanding of basic behavioral processes that operate on individual behavior to that of organisms bound together by social contingencies.

This symposium is suitable for a wide range of audiences, from beginning practitioners to seasoned ones.

At this invited symposium, four different scenarios of Behavior Analysis field devoted to ASD (Autism Spectrum disorder) will be presented. Hübner, from Brazil, after giving a brief Brazilian scenario of Behavior Analysis, related to ASD, will describe how a Public University (University of São Paulo, USP) can play an important role in helping academic preparation of students to attend children with ASD and their parents, as well as offering services to prepare therapists to work in the field. Through step-by-step application of Behavioral Systems Analysis tools, USP Center for ASD (CAIS) was transformed: a specific undergraduate discipline, entitled Applied of Behavior Analysis to Autism, was created, guaranteeing greater visibility and stability of the work carried out by CAIS and, consequently, a higher number of undergraduate students enrolled in each semester, among other improvements that will be discussed. Williams, from USA and Spain, will bring her life’s experience as a scientist/practitioner in Applied Behavior Analysis, discussing challenges of maintaining such an approach in applied settings, while maintaining contact with the breakthroughs and extensions arising from ongoing applied research. Stromberg, from Sweden, will provide an overview of the development of behavior analytic services at the Autism Center for Young Children in Stockholm, as well as a national perspective on the use of Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention (EIBI) at other publicly funded habilitation centers. Finally, Eldevik, from Norway, will also focus on EIBI challenges in the country, such as having experts in ABA oversee, properly trained staff implement the intervention, getting parents involved and providing a minimum of 20 hours per week intensive intervention. Recent outcome data about dose-response relationship between weekly hours and outcome will be discussed.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.

The main objective of the presentation is to demonstrate the effects of behavioral systems analysis, more specifically, the Behavioral Systems Engineering Model, in the improvement of services provided by the Center for Autism and Social Inclusion, (CAIS-USP). In a country where health services are deficient and where there is a good number of students interested in Behavior Analysis, the Public University can play an important role in helping the academic preparation of students to attend children with autism and, at the same time, giving services to prepare therapist to work in the field. With step-by-step application of Behavioral Systems Analysis tools, CAIS- USP was transformed. The main results were the establishment of feedback data, such as pre and post test data performed by the therapists before and after classes, the results of the discrete trial assessment to which the therapists were submitted to, data on the frequency in class and its correlation with the results of evaluations. The results involved information about the alumni, regarding the performance in the autism area and the results of the children ´s assessments in the VB-Mapp, before and after the beginning of the interventions. Another result of the present study was the creation of a specific undergraduate discipline, entitled Applied of Behavior Analysis to Autism, guaranteeing greater visibility and stability of the work carried out by CAIS and, consequently, a higher number of undergraduate students enrolled in each semester. Considering all the stages of the applied intervention model, the conclusion is that the most fundamental one was the definition of the macrosystem and the mission of the CAIS. From these definitions, several processes had been redesigned and tasks were distributed, allowing the collection of feedback data, fundamental for the planning and decisions taken in each semester.

Today I will talk about my life’s experience as a scientist/practitioner of applied behavior analysis. In this presentation I would like to speak about the importance and challenges of maintaining such an approach in applied settings while maintaining contact with the breakthroughs and extensions arising from ongoing applied research.

Dr. Gladys Williams leads the program on autism and verbal behavior at the David Gregory School in NJ. She is the founder and director of Centro CIEL in Barcelona and Oviedo, Spain, and of LearnMore, inc. and institution to promote effective teaching strategies. Dr. Williams earned her doctoral degree in Special Education and Behavior Analysis from Columbia University - Teachers College, where she was a recipient of the Fred S. Keller Research Grant to study language development and autism. She has been granted several awards for her contributions in the field of applied behavior analysis. Dr. Williams has published 18 articles in peer reviewed journals such as the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, American Journal on Mental Retardation, Teaching Exceptional Children, etc. She has participated as guest reviewer for JABA, Behavior and Social Issues, and The Behavior Analyst. She is a frequent guest speaker in Europe and South America. At this time, Dr. Williams’ main objective is to implement effective strategies to teach functional verbal language to nonverbal children and to investigate strategies and techniques to facilitate social skills and functional language acquisition. Her quest is to utilize the behavioral technology to benefit children around the world.

For the past thirty years Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention (EIBI) has been implemented in Norway and other European countries. In most countries it has been a challenge to deliver EIBI according to some suggested minimum standards. The most common challenges have been: to have experts in ABA oversee, and properly trained staff implement the intervention, to get parents involved and to provide intervention in the home, and to provide intensive intervention (a minimum of 20 hours per week). As a result of this, the outcome of EIBI has generally been moderate. However, outcome of EIBI has been much better than “treatment as usual”. Outcome reported from various studies in Europe confirm a dose-response relationship between weekly hours and outcome. I will present recent outcome data from a study where we compared effects of EIBI provided 10 hours a week and 20 hours a week. The outcome will be related to EIBI benchmarks.

Reinforcement is fundamental to the analysis of behavior. Indeed, reinforcement plays a key role in most theoretical and philosophical work in behavior analysis, basic research in the experimental analysis of behavior, and in the application of behavioral principles towards socially significant behavior change. While the basics of reinforcement processes are well known to behavior analysts, researchers have continued to study reinforcement over the years, including the exploration of various details pertinent to different theories of reinforcement. The present symposium involves two presentations on the topic of reinforcement. The first presentation focuses on recent research related to various theories of reinforcement in the experimental analysis of behavior, including that pertaining to momentum, conditioned reinforcement, and response strength. After providing an overview of recent work in the area, questions about reinforcement as we know it are raised, setting the stage for the second presentation. The second presentation provides an alternative conceptualization of reinforcement. Problems with common ways of speaking about reinforcement in behavior analysis are highlighted, and an analysis of reinforcement as a setting factor is provided. The symposium concludes with a discussant commenting on various themes reviewed during the presentations.

Master's and doctoral level behavior analysts interested in learning more about reinforcement theory and alternative conceptualizations of reinforcement processes.

Problem behavior that threatens the safety, dignity, or autonomy of children or adults is a matter of objective social importance. When caregivers seek a safe, dignified, and autonomous lifestyle for those in their care, the specific assessment and treatment practices employed will impact both the behavioral outcomes and acceptability of the treatment process. When Hanley and colleagues (2014) shared their first evaluation of the Interview-Informed Synthesized Contingency Analysis (IISCA) and its accompanying skill-based treatment (SBT), they introduced a practical functional assessment and treatment methodology that replaced problem behavior with functional communication and contextually-appropriate behavior, through a process that caregivers rated as highly acceptable. While the results of that initial demonstration were compelling, it has been through several subsequent replications and demonstrations that we have been better able to understand the extent to which results similar to those reported by Hanley et al. can be expected when the IISCA and SBT are applied in different settings and with different implementers. Within this symposium, the effects of the IISCA and SBT are evaluated in diverse applications that add to our understanding of the generalizability and replicability of the procedures published by Hanley and colleagues. Two presentations will be included in this symposium that feature data from home and school settings with a variety of treatment implementers.

Researchers, practicing behavior analysts, graduate students in applied behavior analysis

Many children with autism exhibit severe problem behavior such as aggression, self-injury, or property destruction. In order to develop an effective treatment of problem behavior, applied researchers suggest first conducting a functional analysis, which involves the manipulation of environmental events believed to be contributing to the problem behavior. However, clinicians often avoid conducting a functional analysis due to safety concerns related to the programmed evocation of problem behavior. The interview-informed synthesized contingency analysis (IISCA) is a specific functional analysis format that is intended to be safe and efficient. We conducted this study to determine the level of severity observed when conducting the IISCA for three children diagnosed with autism. We identified and categorized multiple forms of problem behavior including less-dangerous precursors to be evaluated for each participant. We found that, although some of the severe topographies (e.g., aggression, SIB) were likely to be observed during the functional analysis, the majority of instances of problem behavior were likely to be precursors (e.g., loud vocalizations, stomping). This suggests that the IISCA may be a safer alternative to other functional analysis formats.

Behavioral interventions based on functional assessment have proven to be effective for reducing problem behavior like self-injury, aggression and/or disruption. Few studies include both the functional assessment and treatment process. Hanley, Jin, Vanselow and Hanratty (2014) described an interview-informed functional analysis and a function-based treatment package to reduce problem behavior in children with Autism Spectrum Diagnosis (ASD). Research on the approach described by Hanley et al. (2014) has mostly been conducted in a clinical setting. The present study is a systematic replication of Hanley et al. (2014) in a home setting. The interviewed-informed functional analysis and the function-based treatment were all conducted by the parents. The participant was their one nine-year-old boy with ASD and severe problem behavior. The result showed improvements in the severe problem behavior (kicking, self-injury, loud voice, destruction of objects) and an increase in appropriate responses. The parents reported that the responses were also used in other relevant situations. This suggest that parents can implement the intervention at home with regular consultation. These findings add support to the growing evidence-base of this approach.

Please join us for a panel discussion with invited presenters from multiple disciplines who will provide their perspectives about the future of behavior analysis. Following, we will share concluding remarks.