Association for Behavior Analysis International

The efficacy of Applied Behavior Analysis in treating young children with autism in one-to-one settings has been well-established in research, but what happens when those children grow into adolescence and adulthood? For many teens and adults on the spectrum, continued life-long services are critical to creating independent and happy lives, and a change in approach is essential. At Project HOPE Foundation, these needs are being addressed in a variety of ways. Hope ALIVE provides group services to young adults on the spectrum with the goals of building independence and gaining meaningful employment; Hope ALIVE Junior provides a classroom for adolescents focusing on life skills, communication, reduction of severe maladaptive behavior, community engagement, and preparation for the vocational and service options that students will face as adults; and Bridging the Gap utilizes Applied Behavior Analysis in classrooms that focus on traditional academics as well as social skills and classroom readiness. These programs apply evidence-based individualized interventions in group settings to adolescents and adults across the autism spectrum in innovative ways to continue to meet their changing needs.

Hope ALIVE transfers the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis to a group setting to help participants build independence and gain meaningful employment. Hope ALIVE focuses on Academics, Life skills, Interests, Vocational Opportunities, and Experiences, while using evidence-based principles to prompt, shape, and reinforce new and growing skills, and to reduce the occurrence of maladaptive behaviors that serve as a barrier to successful outcomes. This innovative program applies the well-documented techniques and principles of Applied Behavior Analysis in a group setting with young adults; participants have shown measurable and significant progress. Although the vast majority of behavior analytic services available to people on the autism spectrum serve young children, the principles of behavior apply to adults, as well. Hope ALIVE seeks to expand the vast base of research in ABA to help young adults achieve greater independence, meaningful employment, and happy lives.

Dr. Machado willpresent a Spencean, synthetic approach to interval timing in animals, an approach grounded on the hypothesis that temporal generalization gradients may combine to produce complex forms of behavior. The hypothesis is instantiated by the Learning-to-Time (LeT) model. First,he will review how LeT accounts for the generalization gradients obtained in prototypical timing procedures. Then,he will show how, by combining these gradients, LeT accounts for more complex data and some surprising findings. Finally,he will discuss some current obstacles to our understanding of timing, including the boundary conditions of generalization gradients, the possibility of inhibitory temporal gradients, and how temporal memories are created, accessed, and retrieved.

Licensed behavior analysts, psychologists, graduate students.

Panelists will discuss how they implemented a clinically sound Applied Behavior Analytic (ABA) public school hybrid model in a failing private day school serving children diagnosed with Autism and Intellectual Disability. The failing school had parents who were outraged with the programming, along with funding agents and public school liaisons removing students at alarming rates. Panelists will highlight the implementation of structured teaching, verbal behavior interventions, the use of technology, fidelity checklists, and Organizational Behavior Management methodology that increased the goals met by 430% and a data collection system that last resulted in over 1.6 million data points gathered and graphically displayed. Unlike many ABA-based schools, , the Sarah Dooley Center is modeled on the look, rhythm and feel of a public school which has resulted in a tremendous increase in students being transferred back to their local public schools. We have also partially implemented a cloud-based verbal curriculum. Results of on-going studies on the efficiency and efficacy of cloud-based assessment, instruction and curricula will be discussed.

We have initiated, replicated, and extended a programmatic line of research for establishing operant procedures to investigate infant learning and to help young children who are at risk for developing autism or other developmental disorders acquire social repertoires. Infant engagement responses such as vocalizations, eye contact, joint attention, and social referencing are critical developmental milestones that serve as prerequisites for early communication and social skills (Pelaez, 2009). The emphasis in this symposium is that operant learning procedures can be successful in establishing early social-learning repertoires. The first presenter identifies the early behavioral indicators of at-risk infants. She examines the typical infant operant responses studied (e.g., vocalizations, gaze, kicking, smiles, gaze away) and the social conditioned reinforcers used (e.g., adult smiles, touch, nods, cooing, imitating, picking up) in the study of infant social learning. The presenter highlights the operant-learning procedures that have been useful in investigating infant phenomena like mother-infant attachment, acquisition of fears, joint attention, social referencing, and early communication. The second presentation analyzes previous research on behavioral procedures used to establish infant eye contact using a synchronized reinforcement procedure. The third presentation reviews existing research on procedures using two forms of social reinforcement (adult vocal imitation and motherese speech) for increasing early vocalizations among infants and young children. The fourth presentation examines the acquisition of joint-attention and social referencing repertoires via the operant-learning paradigm among typically and atypically developing infants and toddlers. The discussant will comment on these ongoing programs of research and future directions and implications of the research.

Operant conditioning procedures have been used very effectively to investigate infant social learning (Gewirtz & Pelaez, 1992; Novak & Pelaez, 2004; Pelaez, Virues, & Gewirtz, 2011, 2012). Infants and young children who are at risk of developing autism or other developmental disorders can benefit from early interventions that use operant principles and procedures (Neimy, et al., in press). In this presentation we will identify the early behavioral indicators of at-risk infants; examine the typical infant operant responses studied (e.g., vocalizations, eye gaze, kicking, smiles, gaze away) and discuss the conditioned social reinforcers often used in the study of infant social learning (e.g., adult smiles, touch, nods, cooing, imitating, picking up). We will highlight the infant phenomena that has been studied, including mother-infant attachment, the effects of maternal depression on infant learning, the acquisition of fears, joint attention, social referencing, and early learning of imitation.

Parents can successfully increase engagement behaviors such as eye contact and positive affect with young children at risk of autism and other developmental disorders. This presentation reviews and discusses a synchronized reinforcement procedure, described by Pelaez and colleagues (1996), that can strengthen infant eye contact. The procedure includes brief parental training where mothers are taught to provide simultaneous behaviors such as smiling, verbal praise, and rhythmic touch contingently to reinforce infant eye contact in the natural environment. The assumptions is that establishing eye contact in young children can aid the learning of other foundational skills required to build social communicative behaviors. The current presentation stresses the importance of establishing contingencies of reinforcement during mother-child interactions.

Through recent empirical work in behavioral systems analysis, behavior analysis is increasingly placing itself in a position to theorize effectively and test empirically educated guesses about the functioning of leadership decision making in organizations. Change in complex organizations such as medical schools is a challenging and lengthy process. In their role as guides, leaders create new verbal relations between the current and future state of the organization, and between the future organization and its niche in the future environment. On the other hand, by recognizing individuals' implicit responding and values, leaders can design and implement effective organizational contingencies that promote wellness and effective team dynamics. This symposium will outline the collaborative efforts of the School of Medicine and Behavior Analysis Program at the University of Nevada, Reno. Presentations will highlight the creation, and adoption of behavior analytic assessments and interventions throughout an organization-wide curricular restructuring at the School of Medicine.

In 2012, the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine (UNR Med) adopted a behavioral analytics framework to guide a number of change processes including curricular restructuring. Over the following few years, this framework was also applied to faculty development and the creation of a new office for continuous institutional assessment. In the context of significant state wide changes in medical education, we extended our behavioral analytical framework for strategic planning. Over the course of one year we applied an iterative approach to institution-wide strategic planning that relied upon data-based decision making and continuous feedback loops. The process produced a systemic plan to guide us through our next phase of development. The newly articulated direction of UNR Med will be actualized through both strong leadership and by engaging the entire school of medicine community. Re-evaluating institutional goals and objectives will facilitate UNR Meds effective interaction with larger metacontingencies of healthcare and medical education in the state of Nevada.

Despite having seemingly greater access to medical and mental health care, as well as medical and behavioral knowledge, medical students and residents suffer from a higher prevalence of depression than do age-matched controls, and physicians have a higher risk of suicide than the general population. The prevalence of depression in medical students and residents appears to have increased over the last 20 years. The prevalence of burnout, a different but related construct to depression, is roughly 50% in all recent studies of medical students and physicians. Depression, if undiagnosed and untreated, is associated with cognitive dysfunction, loss of empathy, professional dysfunction and low esteem, and suicide risk. Burnout is associated with exhaustion, depersonalization, low professional satisfaction and unethical professional behaviors.These data areof great concernto medical educators,and are considered one of the major challenges facing medical education today. This concern is leading to new approaches to assessment, building resilience, eliminating the stigma of seeking diagnosis and treatment, and reducing adverse educational environments, requiring new tools for enhancing self-awareness, providing measurable feedback on behavioral changes, and developing new approaches to teaching.

Preventable adverse events have been identified as the nation's third leading cause of death in the United States. Faulty teamwork and communication amongst healthcare providers has been identified as the root cause of such adverse events. To enhance teamwork, communication, andas a resultpatient safety, the incorporation of interprofessional education (IPE) into healthcare training has been advised. Introduced in June 2011, the I-PASS handoff bundle curriculum is one evidence-based technology currently used in IPE settings. Interprofessional teams who have completed the I-PASS handoff curriculum demonstrate improved communication, coordination, and leadership skills within groups. One component that remains missing, however, is the psychological training of individual values and perspective-taking skills. Within behavior analysis, a methodology known as ACTraining exists to address these psychological deficits. Given this information, the current study implemented a comprehensive IPE programbased on the I-PASS curriculum, ACTraining literature, and descriptive analytic measurement methodsinto a medical and nursing school. Behavioral assessment procedures (e.g., simulated patient handoffs) and measures related to interprofessional communication were taken before, during, and after exposure to the curriculum intervention.

Armies across the world have used both respondent and operant conditioning in initial training and task implementation for millennia. However, no military organization credits its use of such conditioning in the training of its troops. Grossman (On Killing, 1996), in his retrospective analysis of training is one of the very rare authors who stated that the US Army and Marine Corps rely on applications of the conditioning techniques of Pavlov and Skinner. The transition back to civilian life can prove difficult for those who have been deployed. The two studies presented here and their analyses are grounded in behavior analysis and standard celeration chart methodology. One presentation reports data from the US Air Force on suicide issues with deployed and returning troops. It also gives the estimated occurrence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in all branches of the US military. Salem State University (Massachusetts, US) has implemented a program to assist returning military veterans with university success through the use of SAFMEDS cards (Say All Fast, Minute Every Day, Shuffled). Conclusions from both studies lead to the importance of using behavior analysis, both respondent and operant, with deployed and returning troops.

Suicide, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and traumatic brain injury (TBI) are some of the current issues the US military. Even though US military suicides occur less frequently in the Air Force, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard than in the Army, data from the US Air Force is the most detailed and complete. All data, however, show that suicide remains an issue among US troops. Suicide rates have increased since deployments that came after 2001. PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) estimates remain about the same for troops returning from Vietnam and from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, that is, between 18% and 25% of the returning veterans whether they are active duty, National Guard or reservists have PTSD. This presentation will include data displays from all branches of the US military and will include suicide, PTSD, and TBI data.

Adjusting to an academic environment is challenging for many students, and especially the veteran student population. Transitions from military service to civilian life are often difficult due to a shifting role in identity and in the structure of the environments. Layering the challenges of beginning a new academic career and beginning their life as a student can be overwhelming. The goal of the current study was to provide students with a way to structure their time to become more effective at studying, and thus help with the adaptation to university. A series of workshops was developed that include instruction and practice using SAFMEDs (Say All Fast, Minute Each Day, Shuffled) and the PQ4R (Preview, Question, Read, Recite, Reflect, and Review) method. In this presentation, SAFMEDs fluency data will be presented along with an evaluation of the complexity of questions developed using the PQ4R method. In addition, discussion of longitudinal plans for evaluating and extending the workshop program will be included.

Scientists talk in a variety of ways. Some scientists primarily participate in philosophical discourse, whereas others may focus on research, and still others primarily apply the science in practice settings. By and large, workers in these different areas tend to speak in different ways, and this is likely related to their different aims. The present symposium involves two presentations which directly address ways of speaking about events in science, including common confusions engendered by different ways of speaking, and ways in which progress may be both stunted and enhanced by these different ways of speaking. The first presentation focuses on the relationship between philosophical discourse and investigation specifically, calling into question the extent to which philosophical discourse amounts to nothing more than talk and no action. The second presentation focuses on the relationship between theory and practice, and specifically, the extent to which different ways of speaking about different practices can both compromise and strengthen scientific progress. A discussant will provide commentary on these issues. It is hoped that attention to these topics will stimulate further conceptual work, research, and practice in the field of behavior analysis.

Sciences subjected to formal system building operations find their enterprises articulated in a collection of constructs serving to identify their unique subject matters, coupled with sets of premises pertaining to their origins, developments, structures, and relations with the subject matters of other sciences. This is what would ordinarily be called the philosophy of a systematic science. In accord with this philosophy and guided by it are organizations of specialized activity comprising the remaining aspects of a scientific enterprise, namely its investigative, interpretive and applied sub-domains. The manner in which the subject matter of a science is handled, including the terminology with which its operations are described, vary across these domains. For example, in the language of investigation, psychological events exhibit dependency relations; while in philosophical discourse, their interdependence is asserted. Failure to appreciate this variance, especially when the investigative domain of a science is over-valued, engenders spurious arguments among scientists. This paper addresses arguments of this sort among psychological scientists of the behavioral and interbehavioral varieties wherein the latter are held by the former to be all talk and no action. The aim of this paper is to dispel this confusion.

The growth and development of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) has led to widespread dissemination efforts around the globe. While this is a good thing, there have been a number of somewhat unforeseen consequences related to the rapid growth of ABA. This presentation describes the role of theories in the practice of ABA. The example of autism treatment will be considered as an example, especially the great variety of seemingly different more or less behavioral treatments, each with their own unique labels and descriptions. The implications of talking about interventions in this way are considered, and the eventual impact on science and clinical work is described. Ultimately, the audience is cautioned against placing too much emphasis on the language used to describe various intervention packages and urged to pursue a behavioral analysis of such packages. The perceived value of doing so rests upon an understanding of how scientific disciplines make progress, which will be a recurrent theme throughout the presentation. Surely, it isnt all just semantics, for descriptions of things impact how we respond to those things, including what research questions we ask about them, eventually impacting the clinical services we provide.

Supervision of professionals in the field of Behavior Analysis is multifaceted. The BACB® Professional and Ethical Compliance Code for Behavior Analysis provides guidance for effective supervisory practices, as supervision impacts both the supervisee and consumers. The purpose of this article is 1) to discuss rationales and consequences relative to supervision issues, 2) to provide directions for professional development in each of the seven identified supervisory areas within the code and 3) to set the occasion for critical discourse relative to supervision. Case examples are used to illustrate each of the seven supervisory subcomponents of the “Behavior Analysts as Supervisors” section of the Code. A rationale is provided for each component, as well as a discussion of possible undesirable consequences resulting from not following the rule. While the code provides clear expectations of the desired behavior, this article explores more of the subtle nuances inherent in each section of the supervision code, with the goal of achieving a better understanding of the Code and enhancing supervisory skills.

Feeding is a behavior essential for survival of every living organism. It guarantees adequate and varied supply of nutriments to maintain appropriate energy levels for basal metabolism, physical activity, growth, and reproduction. In mammals, the maintenance of a high metabolic rate to preserve constant temperature requires constant availability of a sufficient amount of energy stores. The balance between energy demand and expenditure is finely tuned by a constant dialog between homeostatic and hedonic brain systems, and peripheral signals to regulate feeding behavior and energy homeostasis. Understanding mechanisms that control feeding behavior remain a current and crucial scientific subject for understanding both etiology and potential therapeutic approaches of eating disorders that include some forms of obesity, on one hand, and severe forms of anorexia nervosa (AN) on the other. The purpose of this presentation is to describe some of the current animal models used to better understand the feeding behavior and eating disorders with a special focus on AN.

Board certified behavior analysts, licensed psychologists, graduate students.

Decades of research demonstrate that some behavior-analtyic procedures are empirically-supported treatments for food refusal exhibited by children diagnosed with feeding disorders. However, studies examining assessment methodologies to determine the most specific, effective, and efficient function-based interventions are lacking in the behavioral feeding literature. Further, studies demonstrating the effectiveness of function-based interventions to specifically treat varied topographies of feeding problems are scarce. This symposium will discuss recent advancements to a function-based approach of treating pediatric feeding problems. Specifically, Sean Casey will discuss the use of descriptive analyses to determine which procedures are necessary for effective treatment. Melanie Bachmeyer will discuss the correspondence of descriptive and functional analyses of inappropriate mealtime behaviors and the outcomes of interventions matched to each. Finally, Kathryn Peterson will discuss the results of a comparison study between behavior-analytic treatment and a wait-list control group with children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder who exhibit severe food selectivity.

The impact of applied behavior analysis methodologies to address feeding issues has enjoyed unparalleled success (Sharp et al., 2010). However, most of the literature has been demonstrated that treatment is most likely to occur in the medically oriented settings conducted with trained therapists. There are fewer published studies that are occurring in the naturalistic settings (i.e., schools and homes) with parents and school staff being utilized as the therapists during treatment meals (e.g., Gentry & Luiselli, 2008). Descriptive analyses (Mace & Lalli, 1991) offer the clinician the opportunity to see how each care provider responds to the childs bite acceptance and refusal behaviors which can lead to identification of the schedules of care-provider responses to the childs behaviors. This information can then be used to determine what schedule manipulations (i.e., bite acceptance, refusal, or both) to focus for treatment. The usefulness of this information can expedite and maximize treatment success and help to avid the usage of overly complex procedures and avoidance of highly intrusive procedures for some children. Such procedures may be difficult to maintain by feeders who are unlikely to have any training in applied behavior analysis (e.g., parents, school associates). In this study, descriptive analyses were used to identify the naturally occurring responses for bite acceptance and food refusal behaviors for the care-providers of several young children who possessed total food refusal or food selectivity. The results of these assessments and their concomitant treatment procedures are discussed.

Many children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have feeding difficulties, namely food selectivity (i.e., consumption of a limited variety of foods by type or texture). Food selectivity inevitably leads to inadequate dietary intake, which is associated with learning and behavior problems. If left untreated, children with food selectivity also may suffer from malnutrition or other health problems (e.g., constipation, Type II diabetes). Currently, treatments for pediatric feeding disorders based on ABA research have the most empirical support (Volkert & Piazza, 2012); however, there are not as many studies demonstrating the effectiveness of ABA in the treatment of food selectivity. Health professionals often recommend that caregivers wait to see if their child?s feeding difficulties resolve over time, independent of treatment, or suggest alternative treatments that do not have empirical support. In the current study, we compared ABA treatment to a wait-list control group. Independent acceptance of foods increased for children who received applied behavior analysis, but not for children in the wait-list control group. We subsequently implemented applied behavior analysis treatment with the children from the wait-list control and observed a similar increase in independent acceptance across all foods.

After over five decades of research in behavior analysis devoted to behaviors of making and choosing music, learning of behaviors, teaching behavior and a cybernetic teaching system, as well as verbal behavior and its development, I think I have really been studying reinforcers rather than behavior. I shall describe why I think that identifying and establishing reinforcers that humans can learn (or not learn) to contact suggests the sources of multiple responses to single stimuli and single responses to multiple stimuli. Build reinforcers and the reinforcers will continue to add new responses, new motivational conditions, and numerous discriminative stimuli. Learned reinforcers and motivational conditions make complex human behaviors and contextual control possible.

Licensed behavior analysts, psychologists, graduate students.

Although punishing consequences have been shown to reduce harmful or unwanted behavior when other methods fail, the use of punishment in behavioral interventions has largely been abandoned due to ethical concerns. There is a need for new approaches to punishment that do not produce unwanted side effects. Such methods must be assessed in terms of ethical viability and overall punishment efficacy. That is, the extent to which the punishment approach successfully reduces the future probability of targeted behavior. This symposium presents new approaches to the investigation of punishment and the development of punishment procedures. Presentations will show that a functionally negative stimulus may alone act as a punishing consequence with animals, and considers the extent to which this method may be used to punish sub-optimal choice behavior in animals and humans. Presentations also consider the use of delay to reinforcement as a punishing consequence, and the extent to which environmental variables may moderate the efficacy of punishment of positively reinforced behavior, thereby modelling a component process of some psychopathological phenomena.

The use of punishment in treatments designed to reduce harmful behavior has largely been abandoned for ethical reasons. However, the use of positive reinforcement in behavioural treatments may fail to reduce harmful behavior to safe levels. Use of a functionally "negative" stimulus as an operant punishing consequence offers a new approach to punishment. The present study uses an animal model to investigate whether presentation of a negative stimulus will punish the behavior it follows. Six pigeons are used. The target behavior is key pecks for positive reinforcement. One stimulus (S+) predicts response-contingent food deliveries on a variable interval schedule. Simultaneously, a negative stimulus previously associated with the absence of food (S-) is presented on a variable rate schedule. Food deliveries are not withheld when the S- stimulus is presented. Results show that the overall rate of key pecking for food by pigeons is suppressed when key-pecking also produces the negative stimulus. Therefore, a negative stimulus alone has the potential to be a punishing consequence. Ongoing research investigates the extent to which different environmental variables impact the functional reliability of a negative stimulus as a punishing consequence, and the extent to which a negative stimulus may punish choice. This research provides a foundation for the continued investigation of new approaches to punishment that reduce unwanted behavior without raising ethical concerns.

Behavioral principles have significant relevance to the prevention and minimisation of harm in a number of health-related areas. They are, however, under-utilised. Recent research in New Zealand shows that compulsory interruptions of gambling have marginal benefits. Basic research using animal models suggests that, given appropriate pre-training, punishment of sub-optimal choice strategies may be demonstrated using an ethically sound approach, and that these effects might be mirrored in humans. Our ongoing research investigates the extent to which this approach may be integrated into a simulation of an Electronic Gaming Machine (EGM, poker/pokie machine, slot machine). In most jurisdictions, the majority of gambling-related harm is attributable to gambling excessively on EGMs which are underpinned by sophisticated variations of variable ratio schedules. The present research investigates how, as part of the ongoing gaming experience, specific game symbols may acquire aversive properties, be embedded within the game, and made contingent on excessive or harmful gambling. The implications will be discussed in terms of harm minimization in gambling and related contexts with humans.

When responding delays the delivery of a reinforcer and the reinforcer is obtained by not responding in a specific way, such procedure (named resetting delay / omission training) is an effective method to reduce specific target behaviors. The efficacy of such procedure depends on the duration of the delay, on delays being signaled or not, on application of delays from the outset of training or after training is well established, and on the specific contingency between behavior and consequence, among other factors. Variations in the response-dependent resetting delay procedure involve the use of non-resetting delays (delays being not reset during the delays) or the use of protective response-reinforcer delays. These other methods have advantages in order to investigate theoretical issues, but in general response-contingent delays result in a decrement in response rate that represent effective alternative techniques to suppress behavior in comparison to traditional punishment. This will be illustrated here by their use on modulating schedule-induced drinking in rats, a laboratory model that has been regarded useful for understanding behavioral excess.

Reinforced acts are often subjected to punishment, as when the incautious consumption of prey is terminated in its theft by a rival, or when an enjoyable conversation is cut short by an unconsidered comment. The termination of threats of such punishment generally requires a temporary cessation of ongoing reinforced acts, a cessation which may become less probable as the terminal reinforcer for ongoing behavior approaches. In a test of this notion, pigeons' pecks to a green key were reinforced on ratio schedules; after a random number of pecks during each ratio run, a second key was concurrently and briefly lit red, accompanied by a tone. A single keypeck to red terminated the warning signal and averted a forthcoming blackout period and a zeroing of the green keypeck counter. The probability of warning signal termination was observed to be an inverse function of the number of responses remaining for terminal reinforcement, despite a greater loss of effort when punishment occurred later in a ratio run. The preemptive self-exposure to warnings observed in many psychological disorders, introduced early to maximum effect in evoking a course of behavior incompatible with the continuation of enticing censured acts, may constitute an instance of this process.

A large and continually growing research base has demonstrated the potential for functional analysis (FA)-informed interventions to eliminate challenging behavior in controlled environments. However, some may question the validity of intervention models through which contrived FAs conducted in analogue settings are used as the basis for subsequent treatment validation (Talk 1). Others may raise concerns about FAs designed without consideration of factors related to cultural and linguistic diversity (Talk 2). During intervention, there is little doubt that well designed differential reinforcement programs can simultaneously suppress unwanted behavior and increase wanted behavior; however, surprisingly little applied research has highlighted strategies for incorporating cultural factors (Talk 2) or client preference (Talk 3) into determining what is wanted. Finally, the social validity of interventions may be greatest when desirable treatment effects generalize across all relevant people and settings. However, behavior analysts face an uphill battle when attempting to ensure generality of treatment effects to relevant settings at times during which behavior analysts cannot be present to collect data or coach care providers (Talk 4).

This study evaluated the effect of language of implementation on functional analysis and functional communication training for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Linguistic diversity and choice of language may be particularly important to children with ASD as core communication deficits often contribute to engagement in challenging behavior. Unfortunately, little research has been conducted to identify the impact of culture and language on functional analysis or behavior intervention outcomes. We will present the results of two studies which investigate differences in treatment effectiveness based on language of assessment and intervention.

Functional communication training (FCT) is a common function-based behavioral intervention used to decrease problem behavior by teaching an alternative communication response. Therapists often arbitrarily select the topography of the alternative response. Assessing individual mand topography preference may increase treatment effectiveness and promote self-determination in the development of interventions. This study sought to reduce arbitrary selection of FCT mand topography by determining preference during response training and acquisition for two adults with no functional communication skills. Results were used to implement FCT and reduce problem behavior.

Generalization is essential to the social validity of effective intervention. However, it is difficult to evaluate the generality of therapeutic gains across all facets of a clients life because therapists are not available to collect data at these times. One solution is parent report; however, ensuring consistent and accurate data without presenting undue burden to family is challenging. In our study, we employed an automated texting system to send parents daily individualized-behavioral questions at prescribed times during all phases of intervention (i.e., assessment through discharge). Responding remained high throughout the investigation, suggesting texting may be a viable reporting option (although questions about reliability/accuracy remain). Importantly, obtained data indicate that problem behavior persisted outside of therapeutic sessions for the duration of the study; even after it had been eliminated during these sessions by parents who were trained to fidelity via BST. These results suggest a greater focus on generalization is merited.

Applied behavior analysis can be utilized to affect a wide range of socially significant behaviors across a diverse number of populations. This symposium seeks to address additional areas, practices, and populations that can benefit from applied behavior analysis, and the ways in which behavior analysts can find themselves in these fields. The presenters will discuss their own work in traditionally established recipients of ABA services, review their progress in diversifying the recipients of applied behavior analysis, and provide future directions to be pursued. Historical, legal, and ethical barriers to applied behavior analysis in a variety of domains will be addressed, as well as introducing avenues by which behavior analysts can enter and improve other fields using the science of human behavior. This symposium will explore a number of diverse domains in which behavior analysis can work to improve the lives of a number of populations by affecting socially significant behaviors.

This presentation is an illustration of how both data-based decision making processes and technological tools are relevant in applied settings and how the latter can influence the former in a meaningful and powerful way. Simon Lergs-Dejardin will present a case of a young girl with Potocki-Lupski syndrom that had no functional communication prior to intervention. The intervention consisted in developing a fine motor repertoire (the Big 6) through fluency-based instruction to promote the use of the tablet in order to communicate with a selection-based app. The success of this case will show that both technology of teaching (fluency-based instruction through Precision Teaching, Big 6 and Clicker training), and technology of tools (the use of an on online application to chart data on Standard Celeration Charts aka Chartlytics and the section-based application) are a powerful combination in behavior analysis and should be the standard when one work with students with special needs.

Although behavior analytic services for students with autism and other developmental disabilities remain marginal (only around 30 Certified Behavior Analysts are registered in France), it is growing year after year due to increasing demand by parents and caretakers. The result of this growth is that behavior analysis, or ABA, becomes synonymous with autism treatment despite the our history of working with various populations, settings, and social significant events. Currently there are few Behavior Analysts in France that work outside the field of developmental and related disabilities. In order to extend behavior analysis outside the field of autism, professionals need to address other disabilities and needs. The presenters believe that a good starting point would be to help meet the difficulties that occur within school, as it represents a large number of children and adolescents. During this presentation, Simon and Dorothe Lergs-Dejardin will present the state of evidence-based practices (i.e., Precision Teaching) for students with special needs in France, show data that they have collected about the need for these kinds of services, and provide the process they went through in order to open the first specialized center in France.

Over the past 20 years, there has been a renewed interest in designing educational environments that lead to various practical outcomes for learners. Educational endeavors may be conceptualized as falling within several categories: formal public education, formal private education, independent studies, athletic activities, musical activities, and day-to-day learning through an individual's life. In the past decade, the creation of individual learning opportunities through internet-based applications increased. Behavior analysis, historically aligned with formulating instructional design methods, can lend a helping hand to create meaningful educational opportunities for people of varying ages and ability. An educational technology startup (Institute of Meaningful Instruction, LLC) in Reno, Nevada launched in 2015 with the mission to expand the human potential through instructional material. This presentation will cover the founders approaches to creating instructional materials in-line with the mission and outside mainstream ABA approaches and populations. Successes, failures, and suggestions for the future will be presented.

We will present outcome of early behavioral Iitervention for children with autism from two community based intervention Centers in Norway. First, the Centre for Early Intervention in Oslo, Norway will present outcome following two years of low intensity behavioral intervention for 26 children with autism. They are compared to a group of 25children that have received eclectic special education. Next, the Department of Autism in Bergen, Norway will present outcome after one year of behavioral intervention for 28 children, and compare this to a group of 23 children that were provided generic special education of similar intensity. Finally, we will present outcome from a group of 13 children that continued a behavioral intervention program through third grade in school (age 10), and compare this to a group of children where behavioral intervention was ended when they started school (age 6).

We evaluated outcome of low intensity early behavioral intervention (about 12 weekly intervention hours) for children with autism as it was provided by the public Centre for Early intervention in Oslo, Norway. All the children (n=26) that completed two years of intervention between 2011 and 2016 are included in the study, and outcome was compared to a group of children that received eclectic special education. We measured outcome on autism severity, general intelligence and adaptive behavior. All though, the intervention was less intensive than what is recommended in the literature, the behavioral group did significantly better than the eclectic comparison group. Nevertheless, average gains were more modest than what is reported for more intensive programs.

We evaluate outcome following one year of intensive behavioral intervention (about 20 weekly intervention hours) provided through the public Department of Autism. in the City of Bergen, Norway. All children (n=28) that completed one year of intervention between 2011 and 2016 were included in the evaluation. Outcome was measured in terms of autism severity, adaptive behaviors and the occurrence of problem behaviors and compared to a group of children receiving generic special education.

We found better outcome in intelligence and adaptive behavior scores at age 10, for those children who continued to receive behavioral intervention in school compared to those children who ended their intervention at age 6. The groups had similar gains following intervention on pre-school.The group of children (n=11) that continued their behavioral intervention in school continued to gain in intelligence and adaptive behavior scores, whereas the group that stopped (n=8) lost points. This finding supports the hypotheses that behavioral intervention can continue to benefit some children with autism well into school age.

The literature regarding the use of physical guidance in schools is scant, perhaps due to the controversial nature of the topic. The studies presented evaluate the effects of one component of a comprehensive treatment, systematic physical assistance and graduated fading of physical guidance to decrease aggressive behavior and to increase on-task participation in children with autism. A comprehensive review and discussion of several different physical guidance training packages were undertaken and a training package from the Professional Crisis Management Association (2002), referred to as Professional Crisis Management (PCM), was selected. The settings used for this evaluation were different public French ABA schools (managed by 2 different Associations). These schools provide services for children with autism ranging in age from 3 to 18 years old. This 4-day PCM training was chosen because: 1) it provides strong emphasis on prevention and de-escalation; 2) considerable time is spent training staff on managing disruptive but non-dangerous behaviors, something particularly applicable to the classroom setting; 3) it narrowly defines crisis as behaviors which are dangerously disruptive or continuously self-injurious or aggressive; 4) the training clearly states that physical assistance is not to be used for discipline or compliance; 5) the physical component of all procedures is both safe and as dignified as possible. Additionally, the PCM program also includes physical feedback designed to assist the student in learning that physical assistance is immediately and systematically reduced as a consequence of reductions in physical resistence . Data collected on two behaviors: on-task behavior and aggressive behavior

The study was completed to evaluate the effects of systematically using and fading physical feedback to decrease aggressive behavior and to increase on-task participation for one child with autism. The setting is a French ABA school. This study includes a multiple baseline across teachers design. Baseline data was collected on two behaviors: on-task behavior and aggression. Aggressive behavior was defined as: (a) throwing and destroying objects; or (b) biting, hitting, scratching, or kicking other people. The student was considered on task when he was: (a) following the teacher's instructions; (b) orienting appropriately toward the teacher or task; or (c) seeking help in the proper manner (e.g., raising hand). Data were recorded in students classroom during 15 min of the class period as the students participated in the normal class activities. Data were collected once a day, using time sampling (30 seconds interval). A follow-up phase (6 months later) indicates that on-task behavior remains at high rates. Moreover, no aggressive behaviors were observed during this follow-up phase.

The study was completed to evaluate the effects of systematically using and fading physical feedback to decrease aggressive behavior and to increase on-task participation for students with autism during transitions This study includes a multiple baseline across teachers design. Students were considered on task when: (a) transitioning from point A to point B as instructed. Data were recorded in student's transitions, during 2 hours sessions with at least 10 opportunities for transitions. Data will be presented that includes baseline, treatment and follow-up conditions.

France has been condemned for discrimination against people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) by the Council of Europe. Indeed, in 2014, the Council of Europe concluded that the rights of people with ASD were violated with regards to their right to education. The aim of this symposium is to try to apprehend why France seems to lag behind the rest of Europe with regards to autism. We will start by studying the legal and political evolution with regards to autism, then we will focus on the qualitative and quantitative means made available to individuals with autistic disorders in France, focusing more particularly on the daily difficulties encountered by an experimental ABA based center. Finally, we will explore the challenges related to the dissemination of the principles of behavior analysis in France by exploring the issue of postsecondary training and education provided to the future practitioners and the language barrier from English to French.

France is readily lacking training in ABA. There is only one University providing an ABA master degree and implementing research in EAB and ABA and on average 15 students graduate every year. The aim of this program is to train students to implement ABA treatments according to the BCBA's certification. But, the lack of current training options in France is also problematic for practitioners. Postsecondary training and education provided to the future practitioners rarely mention behavioral techniques. The few French centers providing ABA treatments for ASD children thus have to train their own staff. The language barrier is also an issue. The existing materials and literature used in ABA treatments have yet to be translated to French for it to be more accessible. For example, the French version of the ABLLS has been published a few years ago. The BACB, which contributes to disseminating professional standards mainly through its professional certification programs is also working on this language issue. Indeed, the BCBA & BCaBA examinations are to be translated and the French version is scheduled for 2018. These translations should make it easier for more and more French people to be able to implement and also supervise effective ABA treatments.

French government agreed to the opening of a center in the North of France in 2008. In this center, 20 children with ASD, age 0-20 years old, received ABA treatments 36hrs per week in mean and behavioral intervention is provided for free. Behavioral intervention is implemented in all of children's life settings (home, schools, daily care ). This center is experimental and has for main goal to prove effectiveness of ABA treatments. It was crucial step for France because at that time ABA was not recognized as being profitable for children with ASD. Since the opening of this center four children have completed their treatments and some are engaged into professional skills training. French ministry of Health has recommended in March 2012 the implementation of ABA treatments for children with ASD. But people still think that these children need multidisciplinary treatments (eclectic interventions) and ABA still remains perceived as a higher cost treatment (humanly and financially speaking). Furthermore, France is nowadays tremendously lacking formation in ABA. So, difficulties are daily encountered in the center in finding trained staff, organizing a training system for the staff, the parents and the partners in schools.

Albeit, the tremendous expansion in research on ASD during the last decades, the fact that numerous theoretical frameworks are actively looking for the etiology of autistic disorders, the emergence of various treatment packages, the countless governmental reports and guidelines and the millions spent on ASD, a great majority of individuals with ASD are still either suffering from strong autistic disorders and are in inmate facilities or have mild autistic disorders and are struggling with mostly unmet needs for education, employment, housing services and support. This paper aims at investigating and better understanding the current treatment of autistic disorders in France. We will start by studying the legal and political evolution with regards to autism, then we will focus on the qualitative and quantitative means made available to individuals with autistic disorders in France. Finally, we will explore the cost incurred by the government and families of individuals with autistic disorders.

An important modern challenge concerns how to make sure that we use the behavioral science that we already have. However, it is also a challenge to make sure we have the basic science that we need. For example, when working with children with autism, both of these challenges seem constantly relevant. Although basic behavioral science may in some areas be far more advanced than what we have thus far been able to implement in the general services for children with autism, there are also some striking holes in our basic knowledge. The present paper will address some of these shortcomings. For example, when children with autism deviate from other children in the range of stimuli that reinforce their behavior, a highly relevant question concerns how, most effectively to establish new stimuli as conditioned reinforcers. We do not really know. Further, if we simply establish standard reinforcing stimuli, such as other peoples nods and smiles, as conditioned reinforcers, can the children learn standard things from the natural environment, like typically developing children, without much contrived “teaching?” Another important issue has to do with the fact that shaping requires behavioral variability, and we need to know more about how such variability is most effectively established?

Licensed behavior analysts, psychologists, graduate students.

Pernicious patterns of behavior termed thought, anxiety, mood and personality "disorders" have long been recognized to be related to social punishment, but the relationship remains poorly specified, limiting the effectiveness of preventative and therapeutic interventions. This presentation reviews findings of a series of experiments supporting a view that seemingly maladaptive patterns of behavior such as stereotypic repetition, self-denigration, and idiosyncratic perception serve to terminate stimuli produced in the inchoate emission of socially-punished response forms, a process in which aspects of effective avoidance are reinforced adventitiously.

Licensed behavior analysts, psychologists, graduate students.

Behavior-based safety (BBS) entails the application of principles of behavior within systemic management of behaviors critical to occupational health, safety and environmental concerns (HSE). Scientific organizations that promote the application of behavior analysis to socially significant concerns (e.g., Cambridge Center fore Behavioral Studies - CCBS, Association for the Advancement of Radical Behavior Analysis - AARBA) provide an important role in advocating for effective behavioral solutions. This panel discussion considers the development, history, procedures, and results of accreditation/certification processes that assess the quality of BBS applications. Panelists are leaders in BBS and represent international efforts at the forefront of efforts promoting effective behavior management.

This session will showcase three presentations which highlight the behavioral change processes needed for durable, meaningful, and measurable changes in human behavior. The first paper will describe a series of findings between relational responding and intelligence in children with autism. The second paper will review the literature on multiple exemplar training on the development of relational response repertoires. The third paper illustrates that when staff are taught components of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, clients' lives improve because staff change their own behavior. Together this series of papers reveal a wide range of cutting edge behavioral research and analyses of complex language processes.

The theoretical correspondence between the response families described in Relational Frame Theory and the types of behaviors measured in conventional tests of intelligence are well documented, and recent evidence has suggested that improving relational verbal responding can lead to corresponding increases in IQ. Two assessments developed by this research team provide a comprehensive analysis of individuals' abilities to derive non-arbitrary and arbitrary relations, allowing for a direct comparison of the relationship between participants' relational verbal repertoire and intelligence. The first assessment, PEAK-Equivalence pre-assessment (PEAK-E-PA) evaluates the development of multi-modal coordinated relations. The second assessment, PEAK-Transformation pre-assessment (PEAK-T-PA) evaluates the relational development across each of the relational frame families. Obtained results suggest that there exists a strong, significant relationship between these two assessments and conventional IQ tests, with implications for a behavioral analysis of intelligent behavior.

In the behavior analytic literature, two terms are often used interchangeably; namely multiple exemplar training (MET) and multiple exemplar instruction (MEI). The current paper attempted to define both terms, according to their procedural applications, as identified in a review of the existing body of empirical work. More specifically, studies on naming, stimulus equivalence, and relational frame theory were reviewed and analyzed. Procedures were categorized according to their similarities and differences, irrespective of theoretical orientation. Definitions of the terms are proposed, based upon the distinctions in their applications across these areas of study, as well as their outcomes. Additionally, a new term is proposed, with the intent of refining the precision of behavior analytic language pertaining to these procedures and terms. A discussion of the conceptual systems underlying both procedures is included in the hopes of providing a basis for further discussion and research, with the ultimate goal of generating clearer definitions and conceptual analyses.

This presentation will highlight component analyses of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in persons with developmental disorders, as well as front-line staff working with adults with severe developmental disabilities. The studies share in common the application of single components of the ACT in isolation while examining their impact on an objective, reliable measures of behavior change. For example, young adults with developmental disorders participated in cognitive defusion and mindfulness exercises, and a functional relationship was established with the interventions and their performance during a role-play interview task. In addition, frontline staff participated in values clarification workshops related to their jobs and work with clients with severe developmental disorders, and a functional relationship was observed between the values trainings and staff engagement with clients. Implications for the application of components of ACT in services for people with developmental disorders will be described.

We used innovative techniques, and included siblings and peers, in play settings to address the social deficits commonly seen in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD; American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Four research studies will be presented. In the first study, a sibling-mediated intervention using the Natural Language Paradigm (NLP) was used to increase appropriate speech of children with ASD during play. Occurrences of happiness and joint attention also increased during these play/speech sessions. In the second study, a theatre-based intervention increased the social skills and socio-dramatic play of dyads of children with ASD. The third study presented a fading prompt program to teach individuals with ASD to ride a bike, while also measuring verbal and non-verbal social behaviors. We saw a trend in that as bike-riding independence increased, so did social behavior. Lastly, a Behavioral Skills Training program was used to teach athletically skilled children with ASD to teach their playmates appropriate play. Ancillary social behaviors yielded positive gains. Taken together, these four studies demonstrate ways to teach play, treat in play settings, and incorporate siblings and peers into intervention.

Sibling-mediated interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can potentially improve joint attention (Ferraioli & Harris, 2011) and increase engagement (Celiberti & Harris, 1993). The current study used a multiple baseline design across three sibling and child with ASD dyads to assess whether siblings could use the Natural Language Paradigm (NLP) to increase appropriate verbal behavior of their brother during play. Indices of happiness, joint attention, and appropriate play were measured. Each dyad engaged in free-play sessions during baseline. Following baseline, siblings learned to implement NLP with a trained therapist. After reaching mastery criterion, siblings conducted NLP play sessions with their brother with ASD. Results indicated that siblings effectively learned and implemented NLP, and that sibling-mediated NLP was associated with increases in appropriate language for two of the three children with ASD. Measures of happiness increased for all three children with ASD, and joint attention increased for two children with ASD. The implications of this study point toward further investigation of using sibling-mediated interventions to increase the social behaviors of children with ASD.

Theatre interventions have been used to remediate the social skills deficits in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In general, theatre interventions consist of performing skits, theatrical productions (Corbett et al., 2011; Goldstein & Cisar, 1992), and role-play in games (Guli, Semrud-Clikeman, Lerner, & Britton, 2013). In the present study, a multiple baseline design was used to assess the efficacy of a theatre-based treatment that aimed to teach play and social skills to three dyads of children with ASD. Measures of socio-dramatic play, verbal social behavior, and nonverbal social behavior were used. Each dyad participated in baseline, which consisted of five-minute free-play sessions. During intervention, the dyads engaged in warm up activities, put on costumes, practiced and performed skits. Results indicated that during baseline, there was little or inconsistent evidence of appropriate social behavior. Following treatment, all three dyads met criterion for nonverbal social behavior, and each participant displayed increases in all three dependent measures. The results of this study suggest that a theatre intervention offers promise as an effective play and social skills intervention.

Recreational activities, like riding a bike, can provide individuals with the opportunity to improve their health (Lang et al., 2010), increase their independence (McIlvenny, 2014) and socialize with peers (McDonald & Ulrich, 2009). For individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), learning to successfully and independently ride a two-wheeled bike may be quite difficult. An AB design replicated across five individuals with ASD was used to measure a bike prompt fading program, implemented by the iCan Shine organization, that aimed to teach participants to ride a two-wheeled bike independently. Ancillary measures of verbal and non-verbal social behaviors and happiness behaviors were also taken. Using adaptive bicycle equipment, including rollers and rear handles, the participants safely practiced bike-riding skills. Following the fading program, all five participants successfully rode a two-wheeled bike independently, and evidence of all three ancillary social behaviors increased from pre- to post-training. Interestingly, non-verbal social behaviors increased with practice during each fading step and decreased when the level of difficulty was changed. The results of this study indicated that a fading program effectively taught individuals with ASD to independently ride a bike, and that this process may have offered individuals the opportunity to engage in appropriate social interaction.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are often lacking in appropriate play and athletic skills (Weiss & Harris, 2001). It is therefore a common occurrence that peers and siblings often view them as a less desirable playmate (Banda, 2015). However, for those children with ASD who do have such skills, it may be appropriate to take advantage of their skills so that they can become a desired playmate. In the present study, an eleven-year-old male with ASD became an athletic instructor for two playmates. Researchers used a multiple baseline across participants and skills design to assess the effects of the child with ASD using behavioral skills training (BST), on the skateboarding skills of his playmates. Social behaviors of joint attention and conversation were also measured before and after training for all three children. Results indicated that the playmates acquired most skills when taught by the child with ASD via BST. Improvements in social behavior were also observed for all of the children following training. Discussion will focus on the implications of interventions mediated by individuals with ASD, as well as on considerations for structuring their teaching interactions.

Applied Behavior Analysis services are increasingly delivered in locations outside of North America. Providing ABA services to diverse populations in international settings creates substantial challenges for Behavior Analysts. Among the many practical challenges are those related to language and communication; integrating local social, cultural, and religious practices into intervention; advocacy and efforts to increase awareness of disabilities; local regulation, government relations, and government support for services; and availability of qualified local personnel. Each of these challenges must be considered when developing and delivering ABA services outside one's own familiar area. In this symposium, presenters will discuss considerations related to these challenges as experienced during service delivery in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and India. Sharifa Yateem will discuss advocacy, government relations, and establishing linkages with higher education institutions. She will also describe her experience establishing the UAE-ABA Affiliated Chapter. Saleh Shaalan will discuss factors that lead to adoption of a bilingual ABA curriculum. He will also present data on a longitudinal study of bilingual vocabulary acquisition in children with autism. Amber Mandler and Amy Atwell will present challenges and successes in establishing ABA services in Kuwait and India, respectively.

A frequently-heard expression is that it "takes a village" to raise a child. But for a child with autism, it takes more than a village. To establish effective and sustainable autism services requires the involvement of individuals, organizations, and government authorities. Program developers, parents, practitioners, and government must all be involved in program development to ensure long-term viability. Autism services often cross government agency boundaries as well: health, education, social affairs, higher education, and even immigration authorities (when hiring expatriates) may be involved. This places a special challenge on program developers, who must be aware of regulations and policies of all concerned government entities. Advocacy for autism services often begins with parents but may also involve practitioners and program representatives. This presentation will include information about the various agencies that helped support the creation of an effective and sustainable autism program in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, as well as a description of the establishment of the UAE ABAI Affiliated Chapter.

When the New England Center for Children-Abu Dhabi started its in 2007, a decision was made to implement bilingual service delivery, where children receive ABA services in both English, the lingua franca of UAE and the medium of instruction of the NECC parent program in the US, and Emirati Arabic, the native language of most of our clients. This policy raised concerns among families and professionals due to the common practice of limiting exposure of children with ASD to one language only. We discuss the rationale for our policy and the different cultural, linguistic, and other practical factors that we considered when implementing this policy. We also present evidence from the literature on bilingualism in children with ASD and from our own research that justifies our position on bilingual exposure in ASD. The findings of our longitudinal study of our bilingually exposed students show that a bilingual ABA-based intervention has no detrimental effects on the dominant language(s) of our students. These findings support the growing body of literature that finds no evidence for the common practice of recommending the exposure of children with ASD who come from bilingual backgrounds to one language only.

The first center in Kuwait to provide services to children with autism opened over 20 years ago. In the past two decades, the number and quality of centers has gradually increased. In the past six years, Applied Behavior Analysis has become more known and utilized in the country. The practice of ABA in Kuwait faces resistance; however, there is a growing base of support from parents and schools who see positively correlated progress in the children for whom they care. Increasing independence for one child improves the quality of life for a family, making it more likely for them to share their hope and progress with others. As support grows and social stigmatization decreases, service delivery can be tailored better to meet the needs of individuals. Community outreach, school collaboration, and parent education are among the successful practices to be discussed in this symposium. A synthesis of past and current barriers to progress will also be presented, with suggestions for future development.

Easterseals Southern California has been serving individuals with Autism and other developmental disabilities for many years. The recent growth in ABA based services has led to the growth of the supervisor position for both BCBAs and mid-tier managers. This panel will consist of several members of the Easterseals Autism Leadership team who have experienced personal growth in the field and now lead a team of hundreds of supervisors. The panel will discuss factors that have led to supervisory growth, development, succession planning and strategies that Easterseals has taken to retain supervisors. Topics include but are not limited to: Leadership Structure Supervisor Engagement Supervision of Managers A Formal Mentorship Program Professional Growth of Leaders through University Partnerships Educational Advancement for Supervisors Job Enhancements through Research, Workgroups and other Opportunities Measurement and Feedback of Leaders through Scorecards Training and Feedback for Supervisors The presentations/discussion will be followed by a question/answer period.

Principles of behavior ought to be shared by human and non-human organisms. However, many studies have shown that in similar circumstances human behavior often differs from non-human behavior. This discourse explores some variables that uniquely operate on human behavior. The most critical feature of human operant behavior is that verbal behavior and nonverbal behavior are intermingled in time. Both verbal and nonverbal responses may enter into common three-term contingencies of reinforcement and punishment. For example, verbal stimuli can evoke emotional changes and can work effectively as an establishing operations. For example, aversive verbal messages spoken or written by others may lead people to engage in avoidance behavior. Verbal events can also function as discriminative stimuli or reinforcing stimuli, as shown in our daily life. Thus, to clarify the variables controlling human operant behavior, an integrated perspective on human behavior must include an analysis not only of how verbal behavior and nonverbal behavior interact with each other, but also of what happens when verbal and nonverbal contingencies conflict with each other and produce inconsistencies in verbal-nonverbal correspondences.

Licensed behavior analysts, psychologists, graduate students.

An evidence-based effective and efficient education models for young children with ASD and other Developmental Disorders, based on the CABAS 40 years of research in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), has been a goal for several educators in Italy and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Introducing teaching as ABA was a logical step in order to provide novel methodologies in early childhood programs. Today, we will hear how CABAS model affected the educational practices in several Early Intervention programs in Italy and B&H, and what prognosis a different intensity of intervention can yield for children with Autism and other Developmental Disorders. The efficacy and efficiency of different intensity of Early Intervention and Preschool ABA programs were analyzed via several standardized diagnostic, assessment and monitoring tools. The outcomes of each are discussed in more details and the analysis of the effects on the level of functioning for children in these programs are discussed. The data from these studies are also discussed in terms of program design, significance of evidence-based early childhood developmental approach, and implications such results can have on health and education policies in the countries.

We investigated the efficacy and effectiveness of implementing different intensivity CABAS- based (Greer, 1994; 2002) early intervention programs, and analyzed results including diagnostic standardized tests. Thus, we could communicate with School and Health Public Agencies, advocate for the creation of a database, share research with other fields and impact local health policies. Participants were 7 children aged 2 to 5, diagnosed with autism and showing a pre-listener and pre-speaker level of verbal behavior (Greer & Ross, 2008). They were selected for the study because they had an early-diagnosis but no evidence-based interventions provided by their School or Health Department. A pre-post probe single subject design for each participant was implemented, with pre-post group statistical analysis (ANOVA).The dependent variables were the scores, collected for each child by a blind clinician, before and after 12 months of intervention, using the tests ADOS-2, (Lord et al., 1989), CARS (Shopler et al., 1988) and PEP-3 (Shopler et al., 2004). Results showed high social and statistical significance for every kid. The study is in progress: more participants should be added and follow up data should be collected. Results are discussed in terms of efficacy, efficiency, social impact and sustainability of early intervention programs.

In partnership with UNICEF-B&H and relevant ministries in B&H, EDUS was able to work on developing a system of Early Detection and Intervention for the country, to provide services based on a behavioral but transdisciplinary approach. We have created and standardized a behavioral developmental instrument, to detect and monitor early childhood development and tested it on over 1100 children. This tool enabled a creation of Early Detection System in the country. I will talk to you about the process of standardization and the creation of the B&H developmental norms. Also, the screening behavioral developmental tool was then used for 2 years in EDUS Early Intervention and Preschool ABA programs and pre-post data from those classrooms will be presented here to show the effectiveness of CABAS� based ABA program with 30 children. CABAS� component classrooms and the intense ABA programming was the independent variable. I will talk about promoting early childhood development through concrete steps, measures, tools and applications using the science of Applied Behavior Analysis in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Through partnership with UNICEF-B&H and relevant ministries, EDUS was able to work on developing a whole system of Early Detection and Intervention for Bosnia and Herzegovina. This included creating EDUS Guides for Developmental Assessment and Creation of the Individualized Education Program for children ages 0-3 and 3-6. Guides are both the developmental behavioral assessment and curriculum for children ages 0-3 and 3-6. They have been tested and used for the past 3 years in EDUS early intervention and kindergarten programs. Dependent variable in this analysis was number of skills in students repertoire and number of acquired skills post applied behavior analytic intervention assessed with EDUS Guides. All EDUS classrooms implemented programs/curricula scripted from the Guides. All data on the students learning and advancement through curriculum were collected as responses to learn units, based on the CABAS model of teaching as a science (independent variable). The results showed an increase in numbers of mastered skills across all developmental domains in a curriculum.

Aesthetic responses are pervasive in human behavior and therefore deserving of scientific study. The term aesthetic is associated with certain types of surprise-tinged emotional responses evoked by stimuli consisting of synergetic interactions (interactions that have transformative effects) among elements that may be neutral individually. Such interactions are pervasive in nature (chemical reagents reacting to create another substance, DNA creating organisms, or photosynthesis creating leaves). Depending on art form or discipline, the interacting elements may be sounds, visual stimuli, words, abstract concepts, flavors, or actions of others. Artists, composers, poets, performers, chefs, etc. create aesthetic effects by assembling and combining these into “synergetic brews.” The synergetic interactions become stimuli for individuals who have a relevant priming history—familiarity with the elements of the brew and the memes of the relevant culture. Aesthetic responses occur when suitable potentiating circumstances prevail. Aesthetic responses have reinforcing effects traceable to their biological utility during our evolution. Such biological utility can be the result of certain types of instructional or informative events that result in surprise, often upon disconfirmation of expectations, expansion or refreshment of existing conceptual classes or relations; or learning of new concepts or relations. Examples drawn from music, poetry, visual arts, performing arts, and other disciplines, illustrate how artists, composers, poets, etc. use a limited set of devices to create synergetic brews. Some of these involve repetition, symmetry, and parsimony. Orators, actors, and other performing artists include, in their synergetic brews, emotionalizing elements generated by the audience’s mirroring of the performer’s emotional displays.

Licensed behavior analysts, psychologists, graduate students.

Changes in funding, delivery models, and other variables over the past 20 years have affected applied behavior analysis (ABA) services for people with autism. This symposium reviews some of these changes and their likely contribution to treatment outcomes for individuals with autism

Many individuals with autism have significant communication deficits. Attempts to address those deficits often entail individual or small group speech and language services being provided separately from, and/or in addition to, ABA services. We describe an integrated model where the expertise of a speech and language pathologist is utilized in a comprehensive ABA treatment program for young children with autism. Outcomes from this integrated model are compared with those resulting from an eclectic approach (i.e.,,a mixture of services such as low levels of ABA, speech and language pathology, sensory integration therapy, etc.). The benefits of the integrated model are outlined.

Which intervention to provide to young children with autism is among the most important decisions made by parents, teachers, clinicians, funders, and policymakers. Multiple studies have compared intensive ABA intervention to the most widely available alternative for young children with autism, eclectic (mixed-method) treatment. Results showed that ABA treatment consistently out- performed the eclectic model on standardized measures of cognitive functioning and adaptive skills (e.g., Howard, Sparkman, Cohen, Green, & Stanislaw, 2005; Howard, Stanislaw, Green, Sparkman, & Cohen, 2014). For instance, Howard et al (2014) found that after 3 years of treatment, more than 60% of the children who received intensive ABA scored in the normal range of cognitive functioning compared to only 25% of the children who received eclectic interventions, even when the latter was intensive and specifically designed for children with autism. Implications of findings that early intensive ABA intervention can prevent intellectual disabilities are discussed in terms of child well-being, independent adult functioning, and associated costs.

Intensive, comprehensive ABA intervention for young children with autism has been shown to be highly effective (e.g., Howard, Sparkman, Cohen, Green, and Stanislaw, 2005; Howard, Stanislaw, Green, Sparkman, and Cohen, 2014; Eldevik, Hastings, Hughes, Jahr, Eikeseth, & Cross, 2010). Historically these services have been provided in homes, university clinics, or private schools. This presentation describes a center-based model for delivery of comprehensive, intensive ABA intervention. Defining features, benefits, and challenges of such programs are described, and suggestions for adding components to clients treatment packages are offered.

In many locations in the United States, public policies now state that ABA services for people with autism are to be covered by health insurance. Successes and difficulties with adoption and enforcement of those policies are summarized. Suggested strategies for persuading healthcare systems in other jurisdictions to fund ABA services as medically necessary behavioral health treatments are offered.

The purpose of the current symposium is to present some experimental and conceptual issues within equivalence class formation. The first paper by Arntzen and Nartey is an experiment on pre-training with pictorial stimuli. In one group, all stimuli were abstract shapes and in another group C stimuli were pictures with the remainder being abstract shapes. For the remaining five groups, however, various preliminary training involving the establishment of conditional relations between the abstract C stimuli and the familiar picture stimuli were done prior to the attempt to form equivalence classes. The main finding was that the effect of the pre-training groups that produced class enhancement to that of the PIC group, enhancement seems to be a function of increasing delay duration. The second paper (Steingrimsdottir & Arntzen) focus on tracing some of the variables that we have manipulated when exploring the possibility of using paper-and-pencil test instead of the computerized training and testing, as the former can be much quicker than the latter. As can be seen in Figure 2, some variables were more likely to lead to the establishment of the conditional discriminations during training. The third paper by Hansen and Arntzen employ a within-participant design. Fifteen participants were randomly presented for one of three different MTS training sequences, one part of the training sequence per day on three consecutive days, in order to establish five 3-member classes in a concurrent training format, using the MTO, OTM, and LS training structures. As can be seen in Figures 3, differences in sequential pattern of eye-fixation to both sample and comparison stimuli, as a function of both training structure and training structure sequence. Results have applied value, as effects of eye movement economy are discussed. The fourth paper by Fields and Arntzen discuss to maximize the speed of forming equivalence classes which is desirable in applied settings. This involves minimizing the trials and time needed to acquire all of the baselines that are the prerequisites for the classes, minimizing the trials needed to document the emergence of the classes and maximizing the proportion of participants who form the classes or yield. Finally, procedures that reliably produce the delayed emergence of equivalence classes an area that has been substantially under-explored.

Eighty-four participants in seven groups of 12 attempted to form three 5-member equivalence classes (A/B/C/D/E). In one group, all stimuli were abstract shapes and in another group C stimuli were pictures with the remainder being abstract shapes. For the remaining five groups, however, various preliminary training involving the establishment of conditional relations between the abstract C stimuli and the familiar picture stimuli were done prior to the attempt to form equivalence classes. Afterwards, they attempted to form equivalence classes using the same stimuli set as the ABS group. In the SMTS group, arbitrary conditional discriminations were formed between the abstract C and the familiar C-stimuli using simultaneous matching-to-sample while 0 s, 3 s, 6 s and 9 s delayed matching-to-sample procedures were used in the 0s, 3s, 6s and 9s groups. The main findings showed that 6.7 % of participants in the ABS formed classes while 83.3 % formed classes with C-PIC (see Figure 1). Thus, the formation of equivalence classes is enhanced with the inclusion of familiar pictures as middle nodes in a set of other meaningless stimuli. Furthermore, comparing the effect of the pre-training groups that produced class enhancement to that of the PIC group, enhancement seems to be a function of increasing delay duration.

When using computerized matching-to-sample each training trial starts with a presentation of a sample stimulus, followed by three (sometimes two) or more comparison stimuli. Upon a selection of one of the comparison stimuli, the participant is exposed to programmed consequences in accordance to experimenter defined correct/incorrect responding. During the course of the computerized training, the participants learn the experimenter defined conditional discriminations, and when responding in accordance to a set training criterion, the experimenter tests for whether the training has led to stimulus equivalence class formation. However, this training arrangement can be time consuming. The current presentation will trace some of the variables that we have manipulated when exploring the possibility of using paper-and-pencil test instead of the computerized training and testing, as the former can be much quicker than the latter. The results show some variables that were more likely to lead to the establishment of the conditional discriminations during training. However, the currently manipulated variables have not lead to stimulus-equivalence class formation. The results will be discussed along with providing information about future directions.

The use of Functional Analysis (FA; Iwata et al., 1982/1994) has been established as the standard for determining the function of a specific problem behavior for several years. The technology has extended its initial applications with adults whom engaged in severe self-injury to: 1) persons of all ages, 2) with various levels of functioning (e.g., persons with multiple severe disabilities to typically developing children), 3) who display different topographical forms of challenging behavior (e.g., aggression, destruction, elopement, etc.), and 4) across various settings (i.e., residential settings, hospitals and clinics, and schools). Thus, FAs have been demonstrating to be an assessment technology that has broad reaching implications for nearly all individuals who display challenging behaviors. As a result, the field has produced various procedural modifications (i.e., Indirect Assessments, Descriptive Assessments, and other Experimental Analyses) of the FA that make up the constellation of technologies under the umbrella term "Functional Based Assessments" (FBA) because of the various limitations of FA's. These limitations (e.g., lack of training, time to conduct) are often cited as reasons for why FBA technologies are seldom used is schools. To permit broader usage of FBAs, specifically in school based settings, having professionals who possessed the skills and knowledge (i.e., breadth) of the technologies that make up the FBA continuum would better permit the "system" to have the capability to work with a larger universe of students who possessed challenging behaviors. In this symposium, four different teams will discuss their the process of training educational staff in the continuum of FBA technologies and discuss the resulting outcomes for the targeted school-based professional trainees who were trained by each model as well as the concomitant outcomes for the students and consequently the schools who were benefited by increased access and usage of FBA technologies. Finally, discussion will center of the broader implications of these training models.

The primary aim of this study was to develop, implement and evaluate the effectiveness of a web based training program in the area of functional behavior assessments (FBA) and behavioral interventions. As higher levels of challenging behavior are observed across students in special education (SPED) schools in Singapore, this training program was offered to special educators that are involved in the direct care of these children. To cater to a larger target audience, the training program was offered across two instructional modalities: a) traditional face to face workshops and b) Web Based Instruction (WBI). Specifically, the study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of each instructional modality in meeting the professional development needs of SPED school teachers in the area of FBA and behavioral interventions. We hypothesized that both instructional modalities would be equally effective in meeting professional development needs of SPED school teachers. The descriptive and quantitative outcomes of this study would suggest that WBI could be used as an alternative sustainable tool for conducting future training workshops in FBA and behavioral interventions for in-service teachers in Singapore and worldwide via online learning platforms. Thus, building human resource capacity for meeting unserved needs.

Even when practitioners understand the importance of function-based interventions for challenging behaviors, their skill and confidence deficits may prevent them from incorporating valid data within the Functional Behavioral Assessments (FBA) they are required to develop and implement. The Tennessee Department of Education contracted board certified behavior analysts (BCBAs) from Vanderbilts Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders (TRIAD) to pilot a program training 8 school-based consultants (e.g. school psychology, special education) to improve the quality of their FBAs for students. In a small-scale replication of the work of Bassingthwaite, Casey, Wacker and colleagues, TRIAD BCBAs conducted behavioral skills training using a combination of live and telepresence support to teach trainees how to plan, conduct, and analyze preference assessments and descriptive assessments, and to synthesize assessment results into a valid and complete FBA. This presentation will include data reflecting consistent, marked improvements in trainee knowledge and self-assessment of their skills over the course of the project, along with rising procedural fidelity, inter-observer agreement, and accuracy for assessments and reports generated. These findings suggest that these training procedures are likely to result in improved FBAs conducted by school-based consultants, and include several practical implications.

The present study sought to extend the current literature on utilizing behavioral skills training (BST) to teach practitioners how to implement functional analyses (FA). Using a multiple baseline design across participants, this study measured the effects of using a remote BST package on accurate implementation of FA procedures. Specifically, we used the latest HIPAA-secure teleconsultation technology and BST to train 10 practitioners who had limited formal training in FA methodologies. Each participant experienced four phases, which included baseline (only instructions with simulated clients), BST (instructions, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback with simulated clients), post training probes (probes with simulated clients), and in-situ probes (probes with actual clients). All participants increased their performance in conducting FAs during the remote BST phase. Seven out ten participants maintained their performance at or above mastery criterion during post-training probes with simulated clients and during in-situ probes with actual clients. These results suggest that the use of remote technology for training purposes could be a cost-effective and feasible solution to increase the quality of services and number of trained professionals in underserved rural areas.

This presentation will address the theme of complexity and the need and possible contribution of the science of behavior to cope with complex problems in a rapidly changing world.

Licensed behavior analysts, psychologists, graduate students.