Association for Behavior Analysis International

Through the 1970s and 1980s, behavior therapists slowly transitioned – mostly – from offering interventions intended to alter a client’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Some, with the encouragement of those within the LGBTQ community like the late Dr. Charles Silverstein, realized that continuing research and clinical practice in this direction contributed to a climate of bias. Others failed until much later to recognize that the work was harmful to individuals undergoing it – some clinicians may still be learning this lesson. Conversely, behavioral strategies were slow to be advanced in the service of mitigating the effects of anti-LGBTQ bias. Funding and institutional support in this direction has also appears to have been slow, relative to the support of historic change efforts. How do we reconcile the goals of behavioral science that advocate for social justice and improvement of the human condition with its history of neglecting the perspectives and voices of marginalized people? How must our field continue to grow and change to reduce the likelihood of causing such harm in the future? Particular attention will be paid in this exploration of the relationships between behavior therapy, sexual orientation, and gender toward how ongoing bias in the field creates a context that maintains and supports harm in a global context.

Behavior analysts, students, practitioners, researchers.

Humans are biologically adapted for cooperation and cultural life in ways that other primates are not. Humans have unique motivations and cognitive skills for sharing emotions, experience, and collaborative actions (shared intentionality) that emerge in human ontogeny at around one year of age. Our nearest primate relatives do not seem to have the motivations and cognitive skills necessary to engage in activities involving collaboration, shared intentionality, and, in general, things cultural.

For Everyone

Aggressive behavior is a prevalent and challenging issue in individuals with autism, especially for those who have limited verbal ability or intellectual challenges. This presentation investigates whether changes in peripheral physiology recorded by a wearable biosensor and machine learning can be used to predict imminent aggressive behavior before it occurs in inpatient youths with autism from 4 primary care psychiatric inpatient hospitals. Research staff performed live behavioral coding of aggressive behavior while 70 inpatient study participants wore a commercially available biosensor that recorded peripheral physiological signals (cardiovascular activity, electrodermal activity, and motion). Logistic regression, support vector machines, neural networks, and domain adaptation were used to analyze time-series features extracted from biosensor data. Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) values were used to evaluate the performance of population- and person-dependent models. A total of 429 naturalistic observational coding sessions were recorded, totaling 497 hours, wherein 6665 aggressive behaviors were documented, including self-injury (3983 behaviors [59.8%]), emotion dysregulation (2063 behaviors [31.0%]), and aggression toward others (619 behaviors [9.3%]). Logistic regression was the best-performing overall classifier across all experiments; for example, it predicted aggressive behavior 3 minutes before onset with a mean AUROC of 0.80 (95% CI, 0.79-0.81). Further research will explore clinical implications and the potential for personalized interventions.

Individuals with autism, caregivers of individuals with autism, health care providers, researchers, insurers, and policymakers.

Have you heard about Augmented Reality (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR) and are wondering how these fast-growing technologies can fit into your overall learning strategy? Innovative Learning Group CEO Lisa Toenniges will give you a high-level picture of AR and VR, describe which learning situations are best suited for AR and VR, and explain how you and your clients’ organizations can iteratively develop AR and VR capabilities and organizational experience.

Education and learning practitioners interested in using Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality for learning

This presentation explores the transformative role of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning in enhancing our understanding of human behavior and informing clinical interventions. Synthetic intelligence provides novel perspectives on human intelligence, while machine learning enables the extraction of valuable insights from vast datasets. Emphasizing the inevitability of AI's integration, the presentation advocates for critical thinking in addressing concerns and engaging in conversations with technology developers. It underscores the collaborative relationship between AI and mental health clinicians, emphasizing that AI is a supportive tool rather than a replacement. The ethical considerations surrounding AI implementation are highlighted, emphasizing the necessity of nuanced discussions. Practical applications, such as using AI for early detection of developmental delays, leveraging diagnostic codes for classification, and the removal of geographical barriers through internet-based accessibility, demonstrate the tangible benefits of AI in clinical contexts. Overall, this presentation encourages a thoughtful embrace of AI's potential to revolutionize behavioral analysis and clinical interventions while maintaining a human-centric approach.

Behavior analysts and mental health clinicians

Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP) creates deep, meaningful and healing therapeutic relationships by focusing on the subtle ways clients' daily life problems occur in the therapy session. FAP uses awareness, courage and love (behaviorally defined) in the therapist-client relationship to produce significant change. Yet, you can only take your clients as far as you yourself have gone. In this talk, I will discuss the five rules of FAP that are simple but profound, and help you explore how you can bring your best self into the therapy room by facing avoidances, fears, obstacles and challenges that prevent you from flourishing personally and professionally.

Clinicians